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Reporting from Santiago, Chile Five-year plans in the Land of the Free? Apparently it’s not that far off from reality. Yesterday Senator Tom Harkin introduced S. 544, “a bill to require the President to develop a comprehensive national manufacturing strategy.” In effect, Senator Harkin wants the President to centrally plan the economy. Never
Reporting from Santiago, Chile There is no such thing as a ‘good’ fiat currency. Any model in which a tiny banking elite wields dictatorial control over a nation’s unbacked paper money supply is deeply flawed. The concept itself is dangerous, and comparing fiat currencies is like debating which is the ‘least harmful’ poison.
Reporting from Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile It’s a pretty sad state of affairs in the Land of the Free when they have to pass a law making it illegal for the government to assassinate its own citizens. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening. Late last week, US Senator Ted Cruz introduced Senate bill S.505,
Reporting from Santiago, Chile The Dow Jones Industrial Average, one of the key benchmarks of the US stock market, has soundly surpassed its all-time high. And most of the investing world is toasting their collective success and celebrating the recovery. It’s a funny thing, really. Most investors only think in terms of ‘nominal’
Reporting from Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile Throughout history, bankrupt governments in decline almost ALWAYS fall back on a time-tested playbook. This includes imposing controls on EVERYTHING– wage and price controls, trade controls, capital controls, border controls, people controls. Everything. And this idea goes back to the dawn of human civilization. The Third Dynasty
March 1, 2013 Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile For the last few weeks, I’ve had a steady stream of visitors make the trek down to Chile to escape the Northern Hemisphere winter and get a little taste of freedom. Chile is a place that will soon be the easiest place in the world to
Reporting from Santiago, Chile I really hate to beat a dead horse, but I wouldn’t be doing my job for you if I didn’t point out some of the most intellectually dishonest, self-aggrandizing Bernanke-speak to come out of the Fed Chairman’s testimony yesterday: “[The Federal Reserve has] 25 years of success in keeping
Reporting from Santiago, Chile “There is no bar to this nation’s holding one of its own citizens as an enemy combatant.” — US Senator Carl Levin My dictionary defines the word “sociopath” as “a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience. I
Reporting from Santiago, Chile By 1789, a lot of French people were starving. Their economy had long since deteriorated into a weak, pitiful shell. Decades of unsustainable spending had left the French treasury depleted. The currency was being rapidly debased. Food was scarce, and expensive. Perhaps most famously, though, the French monarchy was
[Editor’s note: Tim Price, Director of Investment at PFP Wealth Management and frequent Sovereign Man contributor is filling in from London, England while Simon is touring agricultural property today.] When Moody’s downgraded the UK’s sovereign credit rating last week it was something of an anti-climax. The ratings agencies long ago lost what little
Reporting from Santiago, Chile Apparently the Latino version of Jusin Beiber is in town. I have no idea who this kid is, but as I was walking into the W Hotel last night for a meeting, there were hundreds and hundreds of adoring prepubescent girls lining the metal cordon that had been set
Reporting from Santiago, Chile In another brilliant move aimed at destroying the few table scraps of economic freedom which remain in the Land of the Free, a bipartisan group of esteemed lawmakers in the United States Congress has introduced the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013. Remember the golden rule of legislation: the more
“Price is what you pay; value is what you get.”– Warren Buffett Warren Buffett’s aphorism has been rightly celebrated. But to be a true value investor, it helps to have values. Courtesy of near-zero interest rates and global competitive currency debauchery, it is increasingly difficult to assess the value of anything, as denominated
Reporting from Buenos Aires, Argentina Selling snake oil and issuing unbacked paper currency are not so different. They’re both wildly successful ploys for the guys pulling the strings. And they’re both complete scams that depend solely on the confidence of a willing, ignorant public. But once the confidence begins to erode, the fraud
Five full years on from the financial crisis, stock markets have regained lost ground and are within striking distance of new record highs. Yet, it’s only NOW, after all the gains from the bottom have been made, that the investing crowd is starting to put money back into stocks. Curious. When stocks were