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The two couldn’t be in a starker contrast—the serenity, peacefulness, and jovial atmosphere of the fourth Thursday of November, and the mayhem, mind-numbness, and scavenging that follows the next day. How can often the same people that on Thanksgiving are spending time with their families in a holiday spirit, in a blissful and
November 27, 2013 Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile Do you remember the days when travel used to be glamorous and sexy? The mere prospect of getting on an airplane was tremendously exciting. Friends and family would come with you to the gate to see you off and pick you up. Today, millions of passengers
November 26, 2013 Santiago, Chile On the flight down to Chile the other day from the US, I opened up a local Texas newspaper to an article entitled something like: “Getting the most out of your savings account”. The reporter went on to list all the banks in the area where you could
November 25, 2013 London, England [Editor’s Note: Tim Price, Director of Investment at PFP Wealth Management and frequent Sovereign Man contributor is filling in for Simon today.] “In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” — Robert Arnott Valuations still matter. Assuming that one is -investing- as opposed to -speculating-, initial valuation (i.e.
November 22, 2013 Dallas, Texas In George Orwell’s seminal work 1984, there’s a really great scene early in the book between Winston (the main character) and Syme, a low-level functionary at the Ministry of Truth. Syme is working on the 11th Edition of the Newspeak Dictionary, and he explains to Winston how the
November 21, 2013 Miami, Florida Today I’m in Miami at a conference on Global Residency and Citizenship where I’m slated to speak this afternoon as part of a panel. So far it’s been really interesting; there are several Presidents, Prime Ministers, Finance Ministers, Ambassadors, etc. from a number of countries– Malta, Cyprus, St.
November 19, 2013 En route from Hong Kong to the United States Senator Tom Carper (Delaware) is confused about Bitcoin. As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, this is how Carper framed his opening remarks yesterday at a hearing about digital currencies– with complete, incoherent confusion. Carper’s hearing
November 18, 2013 Hong Kong You’ve probably heard by now that there’s a politician in Russia trying to ban the dollar, calling it a Ponzi scheme. 20 years ago this would have been considered blasphemous. 10 years ago it would have been laughed at. Today, it’s taken seriously. And with good reason. If
November 14, 2013 Bangkok, Thailand “It’s a big club…. and you ain’t in it.” – George Carlin Irony: The woman who is set to become one of the most powerful people in the world begins her confirmation hearing today. And few people have ever even heard of her. It must be a byproduct
November 13, 2013 Singapore By the early 4th century AD, the Roman Empire was suffering tremendous turmoil, including plague, barbarian invasions, deep recession, civil wars, coups, etc. Much of this had been brought on by Rome’s utterly dismal economic condition. The government simply did not have enough money to sustain its operations, let
November 11, 2013 Singapore I’m here today with about 100 special guests who have flown in to Singapore from all corners of the world for an intensive 2-day offshore tactics workshop. Singapore is a great place to hold such an event as it’s easily one of the most financially stable jurisdictions on the
November 6, 2013 Bangkok, Thailand Last week, the US Treasury Department released a statement amid great fanfare and triumph, that the federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2013 was ‘only’ $680 billion. Yes, the sad state of affairs today is that a deficit of ‘only’ $680 billion is actually considered good news. Now,
November 5, 2013 Bangkok, Thailand [Editor’s Note: What follows was originally published in Notes from the Field exactly one year ago.] Just over 400-years ago today, a group of 13 conspirators were caught trying to assassinate King James I of England and blow up the House of Lords in what became known as
November 1, 2013 Bangkok, Thailand “Yes, I believe it is in the nation’s best interest to put all the phone records into a lockbox that we could search.” — General Keith B. Alexander, Director of the NSA, September 2013 These government chimpanzees are truly amazing. Despite an interminable series of embarrassing scandals, they
October 31, 2013 Sydney, Australia Hot off the presses, the IRS just issued a notice of its annual inflation adjustments for the 2014 tax year. According to the release, the inflation adjustment is 1.6%. So now, for example, couples earning more than $457,600 will fall in the 39.6% marginal tax bracket, as opposed