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Now I’ve seen everything. For anybody who thought that the Obama phone or giving out food stamps to 50 million Americans was ridiculous, the Turkish government is taking campaign promises to a whole new level. “Once you have a job, salary and food. What is left? A wife.” Turkish Prime Minister told voters
1,426. That’s the number of Americans who renounced their US citizenship last quarter according to the US government’s report just released this morning. That’s a record high for a single quarter, easily beating the last record high set earlier this year, which beat the previous record high set in 2013. This is clearly
I’m in New Haven today to attend the funeral of Irwin Schiff, who unfortunately passed away last weekend. If you’ve never heard of Irwin, he was one of the original “tax protestors”. He believed not only that paying federal income was unconstitutional, but actually went so far as to stop paying tax altogether.
I have a pretty bad travel habit of always waiting until the last minute to head to the airport. Some people like to get to the airport three hours early. I’m not one of those people. In fact, when I flew to Bogota a few weeks ago from Santiago, I arrived to the
Last week Credit Suisse released its annual Global Wealth Report. The big headline grabber was their analysis showing that the top 1% of people now own 50% of the world’s wealth. That is true and rather astonishing. However, the report had another finding that was even more astonishing and largely overlooked. What they
When I was a kid, I used to proudly wear around a T-shirt explaining different economic systems using ‘two cows’ as a metaphor. It started off like this: Socialism: You have two cows. Give one to your neighbor. Then Communism: You have two cows. The government takes both and gives you some milk.
The Road to Ruin, as they say, is paved with good intentions. So I suppose the road to hell is paved in the best of intentions. And that’s how most laws often start: with the BEST of intentions. That was certainly the case when Barack Obama signed the HIRE Act into law in 2011.
When I was a kid growing up in the early 80s, the United States was the undisputed dominant superpower in the world. The US dollar was awe-inspiring; on a trade-weighted basis, the dollar index was at an all-time high, and had never been as strong ever before… or since. And the dollar’s strength
In 49 BC, a defiant Julius Caesar stood in front of his army at the River Rubicon and made the biggest decision of his life. It was strictly forbidden by Roman law for a general lead his army out of its province and into Rome. And the Rubicon marked the boundary. “Alea iacta
Forget Norway. Japan. Iceland. Switzerland. Or any of the other places around the world that are notorious for being painful on the wallet. Venezuela is now the most expensive country in the world, hands down. To give you an idea, the cost of a 15-minute taxi ride to the beach yesterday afternoon totaled
Just in case anyone still foolishly believes that there’s a shred of decency left in the ‘justice’ system in the Land of the Free, I would humbly present exhibit A: Edward Snowden. In a recent interview with the BBC, Edward Snowden disclosed that he has offered numerous times to the US government to
Last night after a flurry of legal meetings and property tours throughout the day, I had drinks with a Canadian real estate developer who set up shop here in Medellin a few years ago. He told me a great story about his family background– he comes from a long line of real estate
Roughly 100 kilometers outside of Medellin, Colombia’s second largest city, is a veritable paradise. I spent an incredible weekend with some friends there, high up in the Andes riding horseback and exploring the quaint coffee villages of Colombia’s beautiful highlands. It was amazing. The weather is just perfect. The high altitude at about
Yesterday the leading presidential candidate in the Land of the Free released his tax plan in the Wall Street Journal. And the Donald certainly did not disappoint his supporters. His tax plan is bold, aiming to drastically simplify the tax code and reduce the number of individual income tax brackets down to four.
Nearly four months ago on June 2nd, something very unusual happened in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The price of propane actually became negative, hitting an unbelievable -0.625 cents per gallon. It’s hard to believe that the price of a productive commodity could become so beat down by the market that producers would practically have
