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Somewhere after paying over $100 for a tank of gas, $35 for a haircut, and $15 for a fast food sandwich, it dawned on me last week. The euro is terribly overpriced against the dollar. I wrote about this extensively last week, arguing that, because of a litany of taxes and fees, and
In my Sovereign Man daily e-letter, I like to discuss real solutions to the issues and challenges we all face… often these solutions include things like business opportunities overseas, great investment ideas, and profiles of different foreign countries. Occasionally, the solutions that I present are a bit… sensitive. Today and tomorrow I am
We all know that Google is in bed with the government… I suppose it’s nice that CEO Eric Schmidt is at least open about it. In a recent interview with CNBC, Schmidt effectively admits that Google archives everything about a user– web searches (google), email and contact lists (gmail), online office documents (google
So much for BMW’s run-flat tires. Believe it or not, I’m actually sitting on the side of the A3 motorway in central Germany, about halfway between Frankfurt and Munich, waiting for the tow-truck to arrive. Apparently you’re supposed to be able to drive on these tires even when they’re flat… and with such
I spent a couple of days this week in a fast BMW with Matt, my friend and business partner. We had a meeting in southern Spain yesterday with a key figure in the world of second passports, and we raced at speeds up to 250 km/h so that we could make the meeting
It took three speeding tickets in the south of France on the way from Monaco to Barcelona, but we made it to Spain late yesterday evening. I had forgotten how expensive it is to drive in France. Fuel is among the most expensive in Europe thanks to a series of extraordinarily high taxes.
I hold it as a guiding principle that there is quite literally a world of opportunity out there… and this goes especially for business. Years ago, there were limited consumer markets available where entrepreneurs could sell their products and services. Today, the playing field has truly leveled. Emerging Asian economies have a burgeoning
It’s true what they say about the Autobahn… there really is no speed limit. I’ve been in the car all day with my close friend and business partner Matt, racing our BMW from Stuttgart to Monaco. Our goal is to reach Spain by the end of this week where we have some important
Over the weekend in Vienna, I had the pleasure of dining with a very interesting gentleman (I’ll call him “Chris”) who is a subscriber and new inductee into the Atlas 400 club that I’ve mentioned before. Chris travels extensively, like me, and we discussed how many countries are quickly becoming police states. In
Seriously… isn’t it time the investment community stopped listening to the rating agencies? Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P– these are the usual suspects who completely missed the boat on the US sub-prime debacle. Back in 2005, they gave pristine credit ratings to risky mortgage portfolios stuffed full of borrowers who are notorious for not
I’m spending a few days in the Baltics to review how things have changed since I was last here over the summer. This region was among the hardest hit in the world, and as I have stated numerous times, I’m convinced it will end with a devaluation in Latvia. The big news of
I tend to shy away from politics and policy. Sure I’ve discussed taxes, privacy, and healthcare a few times, but I don’t normally whine about government too much because (a) it’s unproductive, and (b) living a ‘multiple flag’ lifestyle means that governments have little impact on me. Last night, though, President Obama spoke
I’m sitting in a comfortable, overstuffed leather chair this morning typing away at this letter while a team of local women give me a traditional Thai foot massage. 30 minutes in the chair will set me back about $4, and I can’t think of a better way to part with my money.
The ticking time bomb in Dubai finally exploded late last week. On the eve of their most important Muslim holiday, which happened to coincide with the eve of Thanksgiving in the west, Dubai authorities made two statements spaced a few hours apart. The first– that the heavily indebted, government-owned flagship holding company Dubai
Long ago, physical commodities were used as a mediums of exchange… gold and silver were quite popular because they were scarce, divisible, durable, and hard to replicate. If you had a few extra ounces laying around and wanted to store it securely, you would seek out the people who dealt with precious metals