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January 7, 2011 Valparaiso, Chile Valparaiso is Chile’s largest and most famous beach town, only about a 2 hour drive from Santiago. It’s summertime here, so it looks more like the south of France or coastal Spain than you would expect of a relatively unknown place like Chile. This is typically the reaction
January 6, 2011 Santiago, Chile Without a doubt, the existing global financial system depends on the widespread use of fiat currencies issued by insolvent governments. The wealth of the world’s large financial institutions requires that there be currencies with sufficient size and circulation to absorb massive capital flows. The current system is based
January 5, 2011 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Sometimes opportunity arises in the most bizarre (and unfortunate) circumstances. You’ve probably seen the news from Australia– a huge portion of the country is under water, and it’s a state of emergency. Tim Staermose, our friend, partner, and resident investment guru, is on the ground in Queensland
January 4, 2011 Santiago, Chile Latvia is broke… I’m talking flat broke– more than Spain, Greece, California, etc. And because this small Baltic, former Soviet republic is not in the Eurozone, it’s generally been left for dead by the EU’s larger economies save a few handouts here and there. Latvia has recently taken
January 3, 2011 Santiago, Chile Welcome back, and happy New Year. After a wonderful, relaxing weekend here in beautiful Santiago that involved meeting up with a couple of subscribers, I’m buckling down to the business at hand that will include finalizing preparations for our upcoming workshop, as well as exploring initial plans for
December 30, 2010 Santiago, Chile I left Argentina last night by plane– I decided to skip out on the drive through Patagonia for now so that I can get on more quickly with the business of scouting locations for our sustainable community. I have a few leads that I’m excited about and didn’t
December 29, 2010 Buenos Aires, Argentina Looking back over the year’s dispatches is like a walk down memory lane for me– I usually remember exactly where I was and what I was doing at the time when I sat down to write to you, and that constant journey has taken me across dozens
Buenos Aires, Argentina December 28, 2010 As we’re quickly approaching the end of December, I thought it would be appropriate to republish a few letters from earlier this year. 2010 brought substantial growth for this community– our numbers swelled, and I know that many readers probably missed some important letters from earlier days.
December 24, 2010 Santiago, Chile It’s a long flight from Auckland to Santiago. Hell, it’s a long flight from Auckland to anywhere. You know, Australia is about 15 hours from anywhere, and New Zealand is 3 hours from Australia… so it’s out there. My primary mission over the last three weeks in New
December 21, 2010 Auckland, New Zealand My friend Doug Casey has frequently written that you’ll know the bull market for gold has peaked when there’s a picture of a golden bull tearing up the dollar or the New York Stock Exchange on the cover of Time Magazine. I have a similar view, but
December 20, 2010 Auckland, New Zealand One of my favorite movies is the Matrix. I remember when it came out over 11-years ago, my best friend went to go see it. He called me immediately afterward and said, “I just saw the Matrix. You need to stop whatever you’re doing and come see
December 17, 2010 Auckland, New Zealand Earlier this week, the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals (one step below the Supreme Court) made an important ruling that should please anyone who longs for freedom. In US vs. Warshak, the court ruled that government agents must obtain a warrant in order to compel Internet
December 15, 2010 Wellington, New Zealand Do you remember the good old days the when it used to be illegal for governments to spy on their citizens? I don’t either… but I’m told that it used to be illegal. Oh how times have changed. The British government went out of control years ago;
December 14, 2010 Nelson, New Zealand Professor Hans Rosling is a sword-swallower. Crazy, I know. But as freakish and mesmerizing as that talent may be, the data that he has been compiling about developing countries is even more mesmerizing, and I promise it will surprise even the most worldly and well traveled among
December 13, 2010 Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand Even before Edward Gibbon published his famous treatise in the late 1700s, historians have frequently debated the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire. Some, like Gibbon, argued that Roman society’s moral decline was the root cause, while others such as Toynbee suggested that