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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
June 22, 2010 Oxford, England In our daily conversations, we talk a lot about planting multiple flags– this is the practice of diversifying sovereign risk in order to protect or asses and our assets. After all, sovereign risk is the greatest risk we face today as investors, entrepreneurs, professionals, and free individuals. Governments
June 18, 2010 Madrid, Spain Long haul flights from South America generally tend to leave in the evening, usually between 7pm and 1am. The airlines do this so that you arrive first thing in the morning and can catch any connecting flight you may need… which is nice for travelers. The flight schedule
April 30, 2010 Las Vegas, NV It’s chilly in Las Vegas, but I’m having a great time meeting so many subscribers here at the Casey conference; I’m pleased at how many have turned up for the event, and I’m always humbled by the exceptional people we have in our community. My only regret
April 8, 2010 Panama City, Panama Do you remember that really awkward phase we all went through as adolescents? Growth spurts, voice changes, menstruation, and yes, pimples– in the end, while we all came out of it more mature and grown up, there was a difficult and sometimes painful transition period in which
March 26, 2010 Vancouver, BC I’m headed to Panama shortly where I look forward to meeting up with my friends and colleagues in the Atlas 400 group. We’re going to an exclusive deep-sea fishing resort for a few days, and afterwards I plan on taking up some unfinished business in Panama. One of
March 23, 2010 Hong Kong, SAR The banking system in Hong Kong is one of the most advanced in the world, and if you’re shopping around for a place to plant a banking flag, you should definitely consider it. As a jurisdiction, Hong Kong was effectively founded and built into a global financial
March 5, 2010 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Greetings from Malaysia, where I’m spending an extended weekend before heading briefly to Singapore on business. I’ll tell you more about the country next week… but if you’re interested in Asia, it should definitely be on your radar. Before turning to this week’s questions, I wanted to
Thanks to completely draconian US-led regulation, opening a bank account anywhere is about as fun as a barium enema. Opening a foreign bank account can be an even greater nightmare. Most of the time, a foreign bank will want you standing there, in person, to open an account, as well as to provide
January 29, 2010 Boquete, Panama It’s a beautiful day in the Panamanian highlands, and I’m taking the opportunity to explore the countryside for undervalued land deals. The Chiriqui province of Panama, where I am now, is sort of like the Panamanian version of Texas– fiercely independent and proud… locals consider themselves to be
Blair is in her early 40s from Southern California. She’s intelligent, fairly aggressive, and an experienced financial executive at a mid-sized manufacturing company. In total, she has about $250,000 in savings, some of which she used to buy property in Panama. She is single with no children and has been traveling to Panama
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 7, 2010 Reporting from: Estepona, Spain I’ve long believed that exchange controls will eventually return to the developed world, specifically in the United States and Western Europe. Struggling to find buyers of their debt, these governments will likely impose strict penalties for net outflows and retail currency transactions. Unfortunately, most people will
Reporting from: Malaga, Spain I do not have tremendous faith in world ‘leaders’ (as ridiculous a moniker as that is to use); last month’s debacle in Copenhagen only further underscored how perverse and ineffective the existing political process is, and everyone is really starting to see it. The Social Contract is deteriorating rapidly,
