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May 27, 2010 Chicago, IL, USA Uruguay is one of the countries that generally receives a lot of praise and positive commentary in the expatriate blogosphere. It’s often referred to as the “Switzerland of South America,” or compared directly to Paris… probably by people who have been to neither Switzerland nor Paris. The
May 26, 2010 Chicago, IL, USA If you’re shopping around for a tier 1, first world second citizenship, you might find a solution in Canada (unless of course you’re a native Canadian). In my view, Canada offers two key advantages. First, a Canadian passport is an incredibly valuable travel document– Canadians are generally
May 25, 2010 Chicago, IL, USA I woke up this morning to a rather interesting newspaper headline: “Private Wages Fall in Historic Pay Shift” The article went on to explain how wages from the private sector, as a percentage of total US personal income, have shrunk to their lowest level in history. In
Are you Jewish? Do you want to be? If so, you’re entitled to an Israeli passport. In Israel, the “Law of Return” provides means for all Jews, and individuals of Jewish ancestry, to acquire Israeli residency and citizenship. Israeli law defines Jewish ancestry as having at least one Jewish parent or grandparent. In
May 21, 2010 Quad Cities, IA, USA It’s been a lovely few days here in America’s heartland… I’ve been able to catch up with some of my friends, but to be honest with you, I’m aching to get back on a plane and get out here. I’ve decided to wait it out for
May 20, 2010 Quad Cities, IA, USA The New Zealand government just announced something that I find rather surprising… but a step in the right direction. Concerned about debt levels, both public and private, they’ve announced changes to the tax code which encourage savings and investment, and discourage consumption. Specifically, the government is
May 19, 2010 Quad Cities, IA, USA I wanted to send you a short note today from America’s heartland to tell you what I’m doing with my investment capital, and why. I’m closing out almost all of my speculative positions and going to sit on the sidelines for a bit because I’m concerned
I generally don’t spend very much time in the US. I think there are more desirable places out there… and to me, the US is just like any other country in decline like Italy or Spain– I really enjoy it as a tourist, I just don’t care enough for the politics or media
May 17, 2010 Undisclosed location You’ve probably seen some clips on the news about the political current unrest in Thailand, and some headlines like “CHAOS IN THAILAND!” These headlines are inaccurate. Thailand, the country, is not in chaos. The political unrest is taking place in a small section of Bangkok, and this is
May 14, 2010 Undisclosed location I want to start off today by once again thanking you for all the well-wishing emails after my operation this week. I read through a large backlog of email last night, and I was truly humbled by all the positive energy and goodwill out there. Thank you. With
May 13, 2010 Undisclosed Location Ask yourself an important question: how will you know when the proverbial fat lady is about to sing? In our regular conversations, we talk a lot about the importance of being prepared… history is full of examples of pigs that got slaughtered for not being prepared, for not
May 12, 2010 Undisclosed Location First of all, I really want to thank all the well-wishers who were kind enough to write me and wish me luck on my operation yesterday. Everything went off without a hitch, and I’m already feeling much better. I will unfortunately need to stay in place for a
May 10, 2010 Undisclosed location I’m going under the knife tomorrow… it’s a little unexpected, but apparently I need a rather urgent surgical procedure performed, and the doctors here have fit me in at their first available time. To be honest with you, I’m pretty disappointed– no, not because of the operation. These
May 6, 2010 Undisclosed Location If you’ll kindly indulge me, I will jump right into this week’s questions. First, Jeff writes, “Simon- you really called the gold/euro short (XAUEUR), I’m up 25% since you mentioned it. Where do you see it going now?” The European-induced panic is causing a rush to ‘quality’ once
May 6, 2010 Undisclosed Location Most people don’t realize how many countries out there are dollarized. In some countries, like El Salvador, Panama, Palau, Ecuador, etc. the US dollar officially circulates in the economy. In others, like Cambodia and Zimbabwe, the US dollar is the de facto currency, which means that they officially