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August 26, 2013 Spoleto, Italy The Villa where I’ve been staying for the last week is one of my favorite spots in the world. When I first found it nearly two years ago, I couldn’t believe it. The home is exquisite– it’s a 14-bedroom chateau situated on 25 acres of wine grapes and
August 22, 2013 Spoleto, Italy One of the really great things about being in Italy is that this whole country serves as a constant reminder that wealth and power in the world are constantly shifting. Two thousand years ago, Italy (Rome specifically) was the pinnacle of civilization, at the forefront of medicine, art,
August 21, 2013 Spoleto, Italy Each summer, I’ve taken to renting a beautiful wine and olive estate in the Italian countryside and inviting some of the most interesting people I know for a week of lively discussion and debate. It’s an annual ritual I’ve recently adopted; there’s no format, just a gathering of
August 20, 2013 Rome, Italy It was just last week in the Land of the Free that a Federal judge declared Bitcoin to be a currency. And almost immediately after, the SEC announced ‘investigations’ into the digital currency. (You remember the SEC, the guys who are tasked with protecting the public from dodgy
On August 19th, 43 BC, 2056 years ago to the day, a twenty year old soldier born Gaius Octavius Thurinus assumed control of the most powerful civilization on the planet. Standing in front of his Army that he had just marched into Rome, Gaius forced the Senate to ‘elect’ him to the highest
Capital controls are the ultimate ‘smoking gun’ to evidence the complete collapse of an insolvent government. Only the most desperate governments have to restrict the free-flow of capital across their borders. And once they hit, you know the endgame is near. Capital controls can take a variety of forms… often as blunt as
August 12, 2013 Makarska, Croatia This one is too ridiculous to not pass along. I’ve long written that desperate governments try to ‘control’ everything as they slide into insolvency. They impose capital controls, exchange controls, wage and price controls, gun controls, border controls, and more. But the government of Argentina has really taken
August 9, 2013 Makarska, Croatia It just never stops. Here on the European continent, the bureaucrats who run the EU have recently proven to the world how much a ‘government guarantee’ is really worth. We’ve been discussing in this column lately how the modern banking system is a total fraud– that dictatorial control
August 8, 2013 Makarska, Croatia A massive 1,131 individuals renounced their US citizenship last quarter, according to data that has yet to be officially released (though I was able to procure an advanced copy). This is a HUGE jump. Compared to the same quarter last year in which 188 people renounced their US
August 7, 2013 Makarska, Croatia I recently received some disturbing news that I felt critical to pass on to you. As we’ve been writing for over four years now, it’s long been a common approach for government sliding into insolvency to confiscate wealth from their own citizens. Charles I of England infamously commandeered
August 2, 2013 Trakai, Lithuania In any discussion about privacy, there’s invariably someone who says, “Well, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.” What a bunch of baloney. This may be one of the most ignorant statements ever uttered yet it’s held by a wide majority of people who
August 1, 2013 Trakai, Lithuania Today is one of my favorite days of the year. If you’re a long-time subscriber, you may know that I hold an annual ‘Liberty and Entrepreneurship Camp’ every summer in Lithuania. This year’s camp starts today. Overall it’s the seventh camp that I’ve participated in, and the fourth
July 30, 2013 Vilnius, Lithuania Is there such a thing as a ‘safe’ fiat currency? The term itself is as intellectually disingenuous as terms like ‘fair tax’ or ‘government innovation’. But as we’ve been exploring recently why modern central banking is completely dysfunctional, it does beg the question– is any currency ‘safe’? Let’s
July 29, 2013 Kiev, Ukraine Here’s a question– if you’re in the Land of the Free, do you think those green pieces of paper in your wallet are dollars? They’re not. A US dollar was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 as 416 grains of standard silver. No, those green pieces of
July 26, 2013 Kiev, Ukraine Over the past several decades, people around the world have become so brainwashed that few people really give much thought anymore to the safety of their currency. It’s not something people really understand… there’s apparently some Wizard of Oz type figure at the top of the hill pulling
