My inbox has been flooded lately with questions about a luxury real estate development in northern Argentina called La Estancia de Cafayate. Undoubtedly, the volume of emails is a strong indicator of the number of people thinking about expatriation.
Rather than answer the questions myself, though, I decided that it was a good occasion for me to reach out to my own network and call the man himself, Doug Casey, who is developing the project.
Doug and I spent some time chatting about the project, his thoughts on Argentina, investing, and networking with fellow expats. In full disclosure, I have absolutely no financial interest in the property whatsoever in any capacity. Furthermore, I have not purchased a lot at the property because, as a nomadic single male, I am not an ideal candidate.
The weather and scenery are spectacular, and the amenities in the development are second to none– I have seen it with my own eyes, and Doug really did a great job putting together a first class community, right down to the cigar bar.
As I mention in the interview, though, there are a multitude of beautiful places in the world. One of the things that sets Cafayate apart is that it is a clear example of an ‘open door’ to a fascinating and intriguing network of individuals.
I wrote about this in the Network Infiltration Black Paper– finding a network’s open door often means being a customer first, whether through a club membership or real estate development. It is the natural way to get noticed and provides an opportunity to start building relationships.
Cafayate is a great example– other buyers in the project include successful investors and entrepreneurs, influential foreigners, high ranking corporate executives, etc., each of whom is ‘philosophically sound’ as Doug explains it.
Becoming part of the community is an opportunity to build relationships with this network of successful individuals, including Doug himself, who will be living and spending time in Cafayate.
While the project and its network are definitely not for everyone, Doug’s commentary is entertaining and valuable for all. I challenge him on his view of Argentine politics, and we enjoy some laughs, especially when I get him to speak Spanish.
You can listen to the interview by selecting one of the streaming audio options below; to download it, right click one of the selections and click “Save As” to save it to your computer.
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 the pot while it is slowly heated to a boil. By the time the frog realizes the danger, it is too late.
The metaphor is used to describe how society is allowing itself to be slowly boiled– small changes that go unchallenged will lead to imminent danger.
History has seen plenty of examples– everyone always cites Nazi Germany or Rwanda, but there are countless others that don’t involve fascism or genocide. I think today’s Argentina illustrates this point clearly.
After that country’s 2002 economic collapse, Argentina’s legislative assembly granted extraordinary power to the president on the grounds that unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures.
Seven years later, the president is still holding on to those powers, and usurping even more. The federal government completely dominates Argentina’s economy, either directly through shareholder control, or indirectly through regulation. Government sponsored thugs execute a mafia-like grassroots agenda, and now the government is seeking to limit the voice of what little free press remains.
The moral of Argentina’s story is simple: the greater the power given to the government, the less likely they will ever relinquish it.
In the United States, the growing tide of government power over the last decade has been equally disturbing. Each passing bill– the USA PATRIOT Act, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, etc. raises the temperature in our collective pot of water by a few degrees.
One by one, some frogs are wising up and are starting to jump out
I find the recent morass to be especially boiling. The CFTC, under the spurious motive of protecting the people, has announced hearings to discuss limiting oil speculation… this is the first step in price controls, and methinks corn and wheat cannot be that far behind.
Further regulatory developments include a proposal coming from the FDIC to limit the size and scope of commercial banks. Comrade Bernanke has endorsed the idea, indicating that it is ‘legitimate’ to artificially restrict the growth and profitability of a private enterprise.
And now we have, within the last few days, the economic luminaries on Capitol Hill unveiling a special tax on the nation’s top earners to pay for the 1,000+ page health care bill… that no one has actually read.
Without even a cursory understanding of the bill, Congress is proposing to legislate the majority of Americans into health care by legislating a minority of Americans out of their wealth. Perhaps the ’stimulus surtax’ will follow close behind.
Is it getting warm yet?
As a casual outsider who has checked out of the nation-state system, I find myself curiously peering inside from time to time wondering about that boiling point… what will it take for people to finally realize the peril that they are in?
It’s clear to me that subscribers to this letter are a cut above. You are a thinker who will keep working to improve your personal lot in life despite the foolish behavior of politicians. But each of us has a breaking point… a point where we, like Howard Beale in the film Network (clip below), decide that we’re just not going to take it anymore.
What’s your breaking point? I’d like to know. Make your voice heard by commenting below.
Greetings– lots of questions this week so I’m going to jump right into it:
MARK NESTMANN INTERVIEW
Thanks for the emails and comments from yesterday’s Nestmann interview, I’ll try to do more things like this… and thanks to Matt for doing such a great job on the interview. The most common question was whether there is a great book like Nestmann’s Lifeboat Strategy specifically for Canadians.
We asked Mark, and he said to check out How to Tax a Billionaire by Doug Smith. Mark also works with several prominent Canadian asset protection lawyers, and you can contact him on his website for referrals.
LITHUANIA
Several people asked about citizenship in Lithuania– My understanding, as it has been explained to me by a government minister, is that if you can prove that you have ancestors who were Lithuanian citizens prior to 1940, the government will award you citizenship with little red tape. A trusted contact here gave me the name of a lawyer who can help– Marius Tamosiunas, office number +370 5 249 7100. PLEASE do not flood him with calls unless you meet the above criteria and have the proof in hand.
Today I wanted to get down to the business of answering some of your questions from earlier this week:
First of all, I apologize if I failed to make things clear when I started this letter: I am no longer part of Without Borders; Notes from the Field is not affiliated with Casey Research or Without Borders. Furthermore, Notes is free and not tied to any other subscription that you might have.
LITHUANIA:
I received one question about the passport program– Lithuania has a very straightforward citizenship program as long as your ancestors were born before 1940. You can also marry a Lithuanian, and citizenship is granted after 3-years. My understanding from speaking to the Minister of Justice is that there is little red tape in the program.
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 World War II. After years of military dictatorship, several revolutions, and a crippling financial crisis, Argentina has never regained its status as a stable, developed nation.
The current president of Argentina is Cristina Fernandez Kirchner, wife of her predecessor Nestor Kirchner. The couple has been in power since 2003 and has been extraordinarily effective at consolidating power at the federal executive level. They are among the most anti-market leaders in the world whose policies have continued to waste and squander Argentina’s natural wealth.