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Travel mishaps occur from time to time… though the airline completely losing my reservation is a new one for me. I was all set to leave Europe a few days ago when a rather unfortunate ‘booking oversight’ derailed my plans for spending the weekend in New York City. In this case, I was
LATVIA / SWEDISH BANKS The link between the fate of Latvia and the stock price of Sweden’s major banks became even more apparent this week. On Monday, Latvia’s government announced that it had rejected a bailout deal with the IMF, spurring new concerns of devaluation. In response, investors sold off shares of Sweden’s
As much as I love the city, I’m here in Vienna today on a mission– gold storage. After yesterday’s missive about Panamanian safety deposit boxes, I thought it appropriate to follow-up with a couple of strong solutions for offshore gold storage, and Austria certainly fits the bill. First of all, if you love
Something is afoot in Panama that I want to tell you about. Several banks, including Banvivienda and HSBC, have recently announced that they will discontinue renting safety deposit boxes. Customers who currently rent boxes will have until the end of the year to vacate their belongings. Furthermore, some banks that formerly used to
Remember that Croatian commando-turned-entrepreneur from dinner last night? Well it turns out he’s an aerobatic stunt pilot too… he’s got an old Soviet-made aircraft that is only designed to do one thing– be as unstable as possible. It does the trick. This morning around 11am Central European Time, we met at a private
Croatia, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and the drive down here has been spectacular. From Budapest, the drive to Croatia took me south along highway M7, which arcs gently across Hungary’s rolling hills and hot springs. But what brings me here is not the beauty
Burgers make better economic indicators than official statistics ever could. As I travel, I typically perform an informal price study of my own basket of consumer goods– a loaf of bread, a pack of cigarettes, a liter of petrol, and a handful of… non-family friendly wares. This is the type of information that
Nationalized healthcare doesn’t work, and I’ll tell you why: I hold as my personal mantra in life that governments screw up everything they touch… and this goes for all governments, not just the United States Congress. As I travel the world looking for great opportunities, I always try to understand the quality and
Poland– it’s a beautiful, inexpensive country with a stable economy, gorgeous women, and fantastic food… so what am I doing here exactly? Looking for citizenship. The country has been dominated, broken apart, and put back together so many times, Poland actually has multiple nationality laws on the books for former migrants, refugees, and
All- there were a lot of great comments and questions this week, I will review several here: LATVIA Excellent insights on Latvia and the way to trade the devaluation. Johan from Sweden asks if we are too late shorting Sweden’s banks. I think not, and here’s why: Swedbank, one of the largest Swedish
You probably know the story of the boiling frog. The premise is simple. If a frog is placed in a pot of water that is already boiling, it will immediately sense danger and jump out, relatively unscathed. If it is placed in a pot of cool water, the frog will happily stay in
A final note on Latvia today before I put the Baltics to bed for now– Yesterday I argued that Latvia is definitely headed for devaluation, and that European governments are practically bending over backwards to make sure we know about it. In comments yesterday, the astute Mr. Marriott pointed out that the grey
Yesterday I talked about the demise of the Latvian economy and how it will foretell the future of California. Today I want to talk about the opportunity I see to profit from it. I have seen the face of crisis before, both in the military and as a civilian. But rarely have I
I found out this weekend that Paul Krugman is wrong about Latvia. For months, mainstream luminaries like Krugman have been telling me that Latvia is the next Argentina, and that the country is on the verge of economic collapse… wait, stop– what does this even mean? Have the lights suddenly gone out? is
Earlier today, amid much pomp and fanfare, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) opened the sealed bids for the canal expansion project. Audience members looked on eagerly like it was the Academy Award for best picture… The lowest bidder? A consortium led by Italy’s Impregilo, ringing in for a cool $3.12 billion. Wait, wait,
