SEARCH
September 19, 2011 Franschhoek, South Africa I had a really bizarre weekend involving a rather drunk, unkempt, American celebrity who happened to be visiting Cape Town, and also watching a group of Southern Right whales off the Cape of Good Hope. The whales were more interesting, they’re some of the world’s oldest permanent
September 16, 2011 Cape Town, South Africa I had breakfast this morning with the head of business development for one of the world’s largest travel companies, and he told me an absolutely hilarious story that I wanted to share with you. The company has aggressively expanded into Asia, often in places where
September 14, 2011 Cape Town, South Africa Three years ago today, my best friend called me and told me to turn on my television. I remember the way he described it– “Lehman is finished.” The TV showed guys packing up their desks on Sunday afternoon, moving out of their offices forever. That was
September 13, 2011 Manila, Philippines I came across an interesting real estate deal the other day here in Manila. It was for a tiny, one bedroom condo of 45 square meters (just under 500 square feet). The building is under construction and isn’t -scheduled- for completion until late 2012 or early 2013. Asking
September 12, 2011 London, England Speaker’s Corner is a lively section of Hyde Park (the London equivalent of New York’s Central Park) where debate and impromptu speeches take place. It’s a public forum in its purest sense– people literally stand on a small box or stool to speak their minds about anything, often
September 9, 2011 London, England I wanted to dedicate today’s Q&A to a topic that we have been receiving a huge volume of questions about lately: passports. This subject is becoming quite popular as the developed world continues to deteriorate, and I wanted to shed some light on the issue based on my
September 8, 2011 Beirut, Lebanon Government economic statistics are all lies and gorilla math… and one of their most creative frauds is the unemployment figure. Intuitively, when they say ‘the unemployment rate is 9%,’ that would suggest to the average Joe that 9% of the labor force is, in fact, unemployed. Oh no.
September 7, 2011 Cairo, Egypt Revolution. It’s a funny word when you think about it. In political terms, ‘revolution’ conjures images of heroes battling tyrants, of all-out forcible insurrection in the name of freedom and change. From a celestial perspective, however, ‘revolution’ denotes one complete orbit of a planetary body around its center,
September 6, 2011 Cairo, Egypt Holy Red Screen, Batman! If you haven’t seen the news, the Swiss National Bank has just announced that it is putting a ceiling on the franc’s appreciation against the euro… effectively abandoning its economic sovereignty and putting its future in the hands of woefully corrupt and incompetent bureaucrats.
September 5, 2011 Lefkosa, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus A few hundred years ago, some rather courageous men and women decided that they’d had enough of living under someone else’s rule– that the right of self-determination was stronger than any benefit or protection from living under a corrupt government. The US Declaration of
September 2, 2011 Malta I’ve just finished up a whirlwind week here in Malta meeting up with old contacts and making new ones. This place has a really incredible history dating back over 7,000 years, and the island played a pivotal role in civilizations from the ancient Greeks to the British Empire. Today,
September 1, 2011 Toronto, Canada [Editor’s note: Craig Ballantyne of InternetIndependence.com is filling in for Simon today. If you’re looking for ways to build alternate sources of income, Craig’s free site is absolutely one of the very best resources out there.] I got my entrepreneurial start in the fitness industry and have dedicated
August 30, 2011 Malta Despite the mind-numbing mantra we constantly hear from our political leaders and central bankers that inflation does not exist, there are certain parts of our lives where even a freeze-dried coffee bean can see that prices are clearly rising: At the grocery store. At the doctor’s office. At the
August 29, 2011 Santiago, Chile You’ve probably heard that old saying– ‘if you’re not a socialist by the time you’re 20, you have no heart. If you’re still one by the time you’re 30, you have no brain.’ This is true everywhere in the world. Even in capitalist bastions like Hong Kong, there
August 26, 2011 Zell am See, Austria Greetings from sunny Zell am See, easily one of the most tranquil places on the planet. Before I launch into this week’s questions, I first want to give kudos to our Asia partner and Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose. As you may know, Tim runs our
