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January 19, 2010 Mexico City (DF), Mexico For such a pale skinned gringo, his Spanish was impeccable. We were both sitting in the business class lounge at the airport, and the fluidity with which he was prattling away in Spanish on his mobile phone caught my attention. Ordinarily, given his very light complexion
If I have been too subtle in the past, let me be absolutely clear this afternoon: the time to do something, the time to take action to safeguard your future and your families livelihood, is NOW. I’m more impassioned than usual this morning… and with reason. Reluctantly, I tuned in to Team Obama’s
January 6, 2010 Reporting from: Estepona, Spain I’m sitting now in lovely Estepona, Spain– a coastal town on the Mediterranean that experienced a massive property boom over the last decade. The community I’m in is anchored by a five-star Ritz Carlton golf resort, and surrounded on all sides by the mountains or the
If he keeps this up, they might start calling it Panama, Inc. Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli has been in office less than 6-months, yet to the extent that it is politically possible, he seems bent on running Panama with the same vision as when he ran the chain of supermarkets that made him
First of all, thanks to all the well-wishers (especially Dusty) after my accident… your concern is much appreciated, and I’m feeling a lot better. Today I want to talk about real estate in Thailand, and particularly here in Pattaya. I’ve spent the last few days scouting property, and talking to agents, developers, and
I need to start off today’s missive with an important update. Last month I wrote a few articles about something that I believe is an absolute no-brainer if you have retirement savings– setting up a self-directed IRA. Most retirement savings plans are locked in to a handful of investment options– employees are forced
I’ve received a few questions recently about a piece of legislation recently passed in Panama known as Resolution 52. A bit of background– the construction boom and ensuing real estate bubble for Panama City condominiums lasted from 2003 until approximately 2007. Tens of thousands of units were designed and sold off-plan to speculators,
Roughly $100 billion. Even in today’s world where politicians throw out the word ‘trillion’ as if it were a casual dinner garnish, $100 billion is still a lot of money… especially when you’re desperate to sustain glimmers of economic growth and trying to plug a budget shortfall that amounts to 13% of GDP.
I can barely type today… I’m actually one-handing it this morning. Why? Because my other hand is thrust victoriously in the air celebrating the renomination of Comrade Bernanke to his post at the Federal Reserve. Yes, the man who has overseen the most unprecedented expansion of the central bank’s balance sheet in history
It was a nice enough place… about 1500 square feet, 3 bedrooms, nicely furnished, and even had a sliver of an ocean view. Best of all, it wasn’t in gringo-ville. “How much rent are they asking?” I posed to the real estate agent who was fawning closely on my heels. He reeked of
About a month ago I was attending a private, invitation-only meeting with some of the finest unconventional minds in finance. We gathered for three days at a luxurious oceanside resort on the Maryland coast to have an open exchange of ideas, debate our philosophies, and play poker ’til dawn. Lobo Tigre, editor of
Argentina is still doomed. If you don’t know Argentine politics well, I’ll give you a quick history: the country has vast natural resource wealth and was once one of the richest in the world. It has been serially run by a group of incompetents ever since the Perons first came to power after
