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July 6, 2010 Berlin, Germany Last Friday, I read about how the US workforce shrank by over 650,000 in June, one of the sharpest contractions ever. Private sector hiring was also less than expected, suggesting that joblessness in the US will remain sluggish. Always ready to spin a bad story, US politicians immediately
July 2, 2010 Copenhagen, Denmark I’m in a bit of a rush this morning as I have to catch a plane to Copenhagen; it’s a great, clean city with lots of English speaking people and a reasonable banking system– I’ll tell you more about it next week. Before moving on to this week’s
July 1, 2010 Oxford, England — Happy Canada Day — One aspect of multiple flags that I don’t address too much is using corporations to your advantage. This is an important strategy that I think you should consider, and there are several reasons for doing so. Most importantly, governments generally respect businesses a
June 30, 2010 Oxford, UK I’m impressed by many insightful responses we received from yesterday’s letter. I’d really encourage you to browse the comments section and see how everyone weighed in on the topic of politicians protecting their interests at the expense of our civil liberties. It’s important to explore these issues from
June 29, 2010 Oxford, England My apologies for not writing to you yesterday… I was angry (a rare occurrence for me), and I hate writing to my friends when I’m angry. You see, the G8/G20 summits took place over the weekend in Toronto, and everything about these events simply boils my blood. To
June 25, 2010 Barcelona, Spain It’s early in the morning here in Barcelona– the part of day they refer to as ‘madrugada’ in Spanish… near dawn. I’m just wrapping a few things up here before heading out on a long drive. My weekend plans entail meeting up with a rather eclectic group of
June 24, 2010 Barcelona, Spain At the spur of the moment, I decided to fly to Barcelona yesterday to attend the ‘Fiesta de San Juan’. It’s common in many parts of Europe and Latin America to celebrate the official, astrological first day of summer, which also happens to be the longest day (and
June 23, 2010 Oxford, England Yesterday in the UK, something happened that has significant implications for us all. Old western economies are clearly losing their dominance. Particularly in Europe, the costs of broken pension plans and entitlement programs are bankrupting entire economies. Yet, national governments continue to perversely borrow and consume; politicians have
June 22, 2010 Oxford, England In our daily conversations, we talk a lot about planting multiple flags– this is the practice of diversifying sovereign risk in order to protect or asses and our assets. After all, sovereign risk is the greatest risk we face today as investors, entrepreneurs, professionals, and free individuals. Governments
June 21, 2010 London, UK While I have been traveling around Latin America and Europe for the last few weeks, there has been one constant in my travels: World Cup football. I’m not a huge fan of the sport, but as an amateur athlete I appreciate the excitement and spectacle of international competition,
June 18, 2010 Madrid, Spain Long haul flights from South America generally tend to leave in the evening, usually between 7pm and 1am. The airlines do this so that you arrive first thing in the morning and can catch any connecting flight you may need… which is nice for travelers. The flight schedule
June 17, 2010 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil I’m dashing off to the airport this afternoon to catch my flight to Europe… but I wanted to leave you with a few final notes about Brazil. First, to properly set your expectations, Brazil is not poor– it’s not some third world country where everyone is
June 16, 2010 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil *** Today’s content is for subscriber’s only. If you’d like to receive a copy of this letter, make sure you sign up for Notes from the Field.
June 15, 2010 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Here’s the best way that I can describe Rio de Janeiro– it’s what you get when you mix the gorgeous vistas of Vancouver with the beach culture of Miami, the chaos and squalor of Mexico City, and the carefree attitude of the Caribbean. Rio is one
June 14, 2010 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil It’s nice to be back in Brazil again… if you haven’t been to this country, I highly recommend that you check it out. Brazil is one of the largest countries on earth in terms of both land mass and population (over 200 million); consequently, there is
