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It’s been way too long since I’ve visited Managua, and since I was already nearby in Colombia, I thought it would make sense to come check out Nicaragua once again. One of the people on my staff has a father from Nicaragua, and we were able to obtain a Nicaraguan passport for her
On Friday March 15, 2013–just over three years ago–people across the entire nation of Cyprus went to bed believing that everything was OK. The next morning they woke up to a different reality. It turned out that their banking system was totally broke. After suffering enormous losses, banks no longer had sufficient liquidity
On September 25, 1794, US President George Washington issued a proclamation authorizing the use of military force against a group of defiant citizens. It had all started a few years before when a handful of politicians had succeeded in passing an excise tax on liquor, something that became known as the Whiskey Tax.
Late last week, a consortium of financial regulators in the United States, including the Federal Reserve and the FDIC, issued an astonishing condemnation of the US banking system. Most notably, they highlighted “continuing gaps between industry practices and the expectations for safe and sound banking.” This is part of an annual report they
World champion boxer Roy Jones Junior is something of a Renaissance Man. Roy Jones raps. Roy Jones fights. Roy Jones farms. Roy Jones designs fragrances (‘the scent of victory in a bottle’). Roy Jones refers to Roy Jones in the third person. And Roy Jones loves Roy Jones. This latter quality was on
One of the more unfortunate developments in human civilization over the last century is the devolution of money. In fact, the word ‘money’ has now become synonymous with those funny pieces of paper that are conjured out of thin air by unelected central bankers. Or even more ridiculous, ‘money’ has become the electronic
August 6, 2015 Vilnius Lithuania Here’s a great example of how an important rule that may affect your life gets BURIED within a giant piece of legislation— At first glance the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 doesn’t seem like it should have any impact on foreign bank
August 4, 2015 Vilnius, Lithuania On April 2, 2001, the price of gold closed the market trading session at $255.30. And that was the lowest price that gold has seen ever since. In US dollar terms, gold closed the 2001 calendar year higher than it did in 2000. Then it did the same
June 25, 2015 Bali, Indonesia If you’re filling out your FBAR this weekend, here are some things to keep in mind. The FBAR is a disclosure form, not a tax form. So even though it goes to the treasury department, it’s not like there’s any money owed. Nonetheless, this is not something to
May 26, 2015 Santiago, Chile Of all the peculiarities about human nature, one of the most interesting in my opinion is that we’re so resistant to change. Humans simply don’t deal with it well. We tend to root. We find comfort in familiarity. And, even when the familiar becomes unpleasant, we still put
May 15, 2015 New York City Remember all that talk about “taper” last year? After years of conjuring trillions of dollars out of thin air and rapidly expanding its balance sheet, the Federal Reserve promised to end its unprecedented ‘Quantitative Easing’ (QE) programs. In total the Fed’s balance sheet exploded from $800 billion
We have entered a most bizarre and unprecedented age in the financial system where there’s risk in just about everything that we do. Indiscriminately investing in stocks at their all-time highs carries enormous risk, and financial history is unkind to people who fail to learn that lesson. To buy bonds, on the other
May 13, 2015 En route to New York One of the many experiences uniquely endured by Americans is having to confess your sins once a year to the federal government. Specifically, Uncle Sam requires most individuals with foreign bank and financial accounts to fess up and disclose on an annual basis. In fact,
April 29, 2015 Mexico City, Mexico Kim Dotcom is a giant in many senses of the word. As the founder of file sharing website Mega Upload, he brazenly thumbed his nose at every international copyright law in existence. He spent his fortune lavishly on the quintessential playboy lifestyle that most people only dream
In May 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote one of the most prescient statements of his career: “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” Jefferson was living in Paris at the time serving as the Minister to France at a time when the United States was still