Welcome to the September 2010
Free Edition Of The Dollar Vigilante
Volume I, Issue 3 / September 2010
Dear fellow Dollar Vigilante,
We have another power-packed free issue of segments and snippets from our subscription based newsletter this month!
While news of economic collapse was quiet for the summer as most of Euroland and the northern hemisphere took their long summer vacations they will all soon be returning back to their offices and will realize that, still, most of the countries in Europe, the US, Japan, the UK and more are all completely insolvent.
Perhaps in anticipation of this the overall stock market sold off significantly in August. The Dow and Nasdaq were pushed lower while, as we go to publish, gold has risen to within a few dollars of its all-time high. Our gold holdings and gold stocks which our subscribers have access to have done very well throughout August.
In our Expatriation section we feature one of the countries we consider to be the "safest" place to hide out for the next few years as economic collapse happens and possibly even wars follow.
As we go to publish we just finished watching the speech from the Criminal-in-Chief of the United States, Barack Obama. CNN actually had a countdown to his speech throughout the day, down to the hour, minute and second! This isn't New Year's Eve, we thought! But CNN wanted to make it look as though the whole world was waiting with baited breath to hear what this Marxist sociopath had to say. And, of course, what he said were all basically lies and misinformation as Private Parts points out in his column, Dispatch From Within The Belly of the Beast.
As a final note, for those with any interest in meeting me in person I will be attending "Casey's Gold & Resource Summit" in Carlsbad, California from October 1st to the 3rd. They put on excellent conferences and cover many of the topics we cover here from a variety of different angles. I am told the conference will soon be sold out but if you wish to attend, try to get a seat at their website: http://www.caseyresearch.com/crpmkt/crpSolo.php?id=194&ppref=JEF194EA0810A. If you do plan to attend or even just live in the San Diego area and would like to meet for a cocktail please email me directly at TDV@dollarvigilante.com.
And please note that this free newsletter only has a small portion of the information available in the Basic & Full subscriber issues. If you find this information of value and want more please subscribe to one of our subscription products. We offer pay as you go monthly subscriptions so if you find that after one or two month's the full subscription isn't for you, you can easily unsubscribe.
Let’s begin!
Jeff Berwick
Chief Editor
The Big Picture
By Jeff Berwick
It is like the entire world flip-flopped 20 years ago.
Twenty years ago communism was still hanging on in the USSR and China still hadn't quite emerged from the Communist fog while the USA was still seen as a bastion of free markets.
Twenty years ago a prudent, conservative financial portfolio would include a mix of large US industrial and bank stocks and government and corporate bonds.
Segue to today and China and Russia, and many of the former Soviet states are, in many ways, more free market than the US. And the US, now, is much closer to being outright communist, with central control of banking, real estate (Fannie May & Freddie Mac), transportation (Amtrack, General Motors), the public education system and with its tentacles intertwined into every facet of American life with rules, regulations, subsidies and taxes.
A portfolio that worked very well for the last 20 years, in US stocks and bonds has now gone from being very conservative to extremely risky.
This is never reported to the American sheeple via their government mass media cabal but many of the largest players in the financial markets, including TDV, have stated, openly, that almost all large western nations will default on their debts and/or promises (Social Security etc) at some point in the near future.
Arnaud Mares, an Executive Director for Morgan Stanley in London stated in a research report this month that, "the question is not whether they (large advanced economies) will renege on their promises, but rather on which of their promises they will renege, and what form this default will take."
Just looking at the balance sheet of every major western country from the USA to the UK, France, Spain, Ireland and many more and it is plain-as-day obvious that there is no way they can ever repay their debts. And once interest rates begin to rise, which they will, they won't even be able to make interest payments on their debt.
Yet, the American sheeple, based on experience from the last 30 years are stampeding into what they think is the most conservative investment: US government bonds. Little do they know that this is now the riskiest "asset" on the planet.
The Bond Bubble
How do the public do it? It's almost magical the way that they do the exact wrong thing at the exact wrong moment.
Right when people should be fleeing US & other western sovereign debt they are all running headlong into the coming disaster.
After the stock market collapse in 2008 investors fled with what remaining funds they had into government bonds. In 2009 investors added a record $376 billion to bond fund holdings, up exponentially from 2008, when only $28 billion was invested into this sector.
The bond sector cooled for most of 2009 but it is nearing record highs yet again. Look at this chart of the 30 year US Treasury Bond price.
Sadly, the great majority of people are doing this as a reaction after losing a great portion of their net worth during the market collapse of 2008. Reacting intelligently, Americans began to save more following the crash of '08. The American saving rate climbed to a one-year high of 6.4% in June. Unfortunately, for them, looking back at the last 20 years of their experience, they assume that US government Treasury Bills are the safest place to be.
Little do they know they are about to lose the last bit of wealth they have remaining. And all they are doing, in the process, is lending their last vestiges of saved wealth to the government to be completely wasted.
A Generational Perfect Storm - Boomerang Kids Meet the Homeless Baby Boomers
The Baby Boomers
At one end of the spectrum, the baby boomers have been getting annihilated. Not all, of course, but the majority. They lost trillions in the crash of '08 and now, like scared lemmings, are running headlong into the next great disaster, US Government bonds, where they will likely lose a significant portion of what they have remaining.
And, just as the baby boomers lose their last bit of savings the US government will announce that the bankrupt Social Security system will either be gone, altogether, or the payments will be inflated into worthlessness. This year, for the first time in nearly 30 years, Social Security will pay out more benefits than it receives in payroll taxes. The same goes for 2011 and by 2015 the program is expected to regularly operate with an annual deficit.
And for the baby boomers who have corporate pensions, who do you think lost the most money in the stock collapse of '08 and is also one of those running headlong into the coming bond implosion? You got it. The pension funds.
The Iowa state pension fund’s value dropped over $3 billion in the course of 2008, putting it at a total DEFICIT of nearly $5 billion. A report by the University of Kansas described that state’s pension fund as “bankrupt,” with a projected shortfall between assets and payout obligations of $8.3 billion in the next 25 years.
The New York state retirement fund lost $23 billion in 2008. And the largest fund of them all, the California Public Employee Retirement System (CALPERS) and the California State Teacher Retirement System (CALSTRS), together lost a total of $100 billion of their high of $260 billion in assets after the 2008 crash.
In other words, just as the baby boomers have been wiped out by the stock collapse of '08 and the coming bond collapse they will look to fall back upon their pensions and Social Security. Both of which will either be gone or inflated to levels not even allowing a meagre existence.
And that is if the government itself does not confiscate ALL pensions and retirement savings and demand that they be put into soon-to-be-worthless government debt. Far fetched? Spain's secretary of state for social security, Octavio Granada, was recently quoted as saying that - BY THE END OF 2010 - some 90% of ALL Spanish pension savings will be "invested" in domestic government debt. Spain isn't some 3rd world banana republic and they are already moving strongly in this direction. With trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, where else can the US Government hope to get the money to fund all their debt?
So, that leaves two last options for baby boomers HOPING to retire. The value of their house and their "retirement" savings.
The housing market has been decimated, as is public knowledge, but many don't realize it is still going to get worse. Much worse.
A record 25.5% drop in home sales was just reported in July and has contributed to a record level of unsold inventories of homes for sale.
Inventories of existing homes for sale as measured by months supply broke an all-time record in July. Normally it would take four to five months to sell the outstanding amount of homes for sale in the US. The current amount of supply available will take 12.5 months to sell at current levels.
This level of supply will put additional downward pressure on house prices. Total housing inventory at the end of July increased 2.5% to 3.98 million existing homes available for sale.
And so, just as Ma' and Pa' find themselves wiped out from the crash of '08 and the coming bond collapse they will receive notice that their pensions have gone under and/or have been cut back dramatically. They will then look to try to sell their home, or at least get a reverse-mortgage to get some sort of income, but the value of their house will have dropped massively.
As for savings, in a 2009 Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute’s, 53% of workers in the U.S. have less than $25,000 in total savings and investments and even most of that will likely disappear in the bond collapse and we will see millions of destitute baby boomers.
Where will they turn, to their kids?
Boomerang Kids
Much has been written over the last decade or two about “Boomerang Kids”. The term, generally, means an adult in their 20s, 30s and sometimes 40s who returns home to live with their parents after an unsuccessful foray in the real world.
Often this condition is caused by the inflationary world we have been living in for the last few decades. Stealth inflation has slowly stolen from everyone leaving many younger people without the ability to afford even basic living expenses much less a home for themselves. Not to mention student loans sometimes reaching into the 6 figures, for a degree most of them will never use or need, that they’ll be paying off for much of their adult life.
These 20, 30 and 40-somethings are heavily indebted and looking at a job market as estimated by Shadowstats.com (the most reliable measure of US unemployment) with unemployment at 22% and rising.
In fact, there is a new name for all the people who have been unemployed for years: "the '99ers". These people, who already number more than a million, are Americans who have already used up their 99 weeks (nearly 2 years) of unemployment benefits. You can see just how dire and desperate the situation is for millions of Americans by checking out the forum at a site called Unemployed Friends. It is a message board for the unemployed in America and, sadly, countless of the messages talk of and end in suicide.
And so, what happens when the heavily indebted, unemployed, depressed and sometimes suicidal boomerang kids find that mom & pop not only had to reverse mortgage their home just to make basic living expenses and may soon be looking to the working-age child to provide them with a means of subsistence?
We don’t know the answer to that but it isn’t going to be pretty.
*Editors note: This is part of the reason we write TDV, to help people realize what is coming and to prepare through saving, getting out of debt, taking any wealth out of traditional investments such as stocks and bonds, investing in gold and other precious metals and keeping a survival level of food and water in your home. And if you live in an area (major US or European cities) where trouble may arise try to move away, preferably to another country until the storm passes. If you know anyone who you believe may be at risk of being in the situation as described above please pass on this issue of our newsletter to help awaken them to protect themselves.
Downgrade Wars & Greece Update
It's been a relatively quiet summer. It seems that most of the population in the Northern hemisphere nations have retired to their watering holes to enjoy the 2 months of summer sun and tried to forget about the ongoing problems.
But you didn't believe the propaganda that Europe's "austerity measures" had ended all the problems, did you? Of course you didn't, you are a TDV reader.
Irish Overall Index (ISEQ) 1 Year Chart
Summer ended a little early in Ireland as the boys from S&P returned to work on August 25 and downgraded Ireland one notch to AA- and assigned a negative outlook. Ireland's Overall Index (ISEQ) has now collapsed from a high of 3,500 to 2,600 (25%) in the space of 3 months.
Meanwhile, in Greece, the Athex Composite made an Obama like "hope" bounce from below 1,500 in June to a high near 1,750 in early August but has now retreated back to near 1,500 again.
The yield on Greek debt rose to more than 900 basis points above that of Germany on the same day as the Ireland downgrade. That is its highest level since the European Union and IMF created a 750 billion-euro bailout package in May. The Irish-German yield spread rose to a record 347 basis points on August 25.
Germany's Spiegel reported on the situation in Greece on August 18th, "Stores are closing, tax revenues are falling and unemployment has hit an unbelievable 70% in some places."
However, it should be pointed out, that the Greeks are much more able to handle this type of financial chaos than the Americans.
Here's Why.
Greece Can Handle It, The US Cannot
We have spent time in Greece personally. From Athens to many of Greece's most beautiful islands, including Myknonos, Ios and Santorini. In addition, our sources on the ground in Greece tell us that aside from the government workers (teachers, police, etc) in the socialist system, life is going on as usual at the moment. Greece, which many refer to as the "Mexico of Europe", has a much different culture than in America.
Much like in Mexico, the Greek people and their government aren't attached at the hip the way Americans are today. As well, most people never got leveraged and indebted there like in the US. If you have a house in Greece or Mexico, you have a house. If you have a house in the US, unless you are old or fairly wealthy, you live in the house the bank owns.
Greece still exists very much under the village and family structure type system that's used to fending for itself. Providing for itself. And, except under the most unusual of circumstances, has no direct contact or association with the government and banks.
Our Greek sources, in an admittedly unscientific survey, estimate that 90% of Greeks still live this way. And, they say, for them, not much has changed. For the 10% that weaned into the American way of credit and non-savings, they are in trouble. But that is the minority.
The Greek people will get through this. We can't say as much for the US.
And So, Where To Hide?
Returning full circle to where we began, given the ongoing global financial crisis and collapse, how do you even begin to construct a conservative portfolio today?
What worked in the 80's and 90's is anathema today. A smattering of large cap American industrial and banks stocks and US Government Tbills and corporate bonds are a sure recipe for disaster over anything but the short term.
We've already spoken in past issues about a general percentage of asset allocations. In the August issue we gave a general allocation of 30% gold bullion, 20% short term cash (in various forms, USD, CDN, Yen etc), 15% gold mining majors, 15% agriculture & commodities, 15% gold and silver junior stocks and 5% in uranium.
However, here is a VERY important thing to take note of. International diversification is key! To buy ALL of these items in ONE country is highly risky.
For example, you could be an American living in Texas and buy the exact percentages we recommended. You could have bought gold bullion and stored it in your home and in a bank safety-deposit box in Houston. You could have put 20% in cash in a US Dollar bank account at Citibank. You bought 15% in gold mining majors whose main operations are in the US and you hold those stock certificates in a US brokerage account. You bought some junior mining stocks, which our Full Subscribers have access to, who are all based in the US into the same brokerage account.
You could have followed our recommendations to the T. But you have just put all your assets at dire risk. Why? You have them all in one country.
What would happen tomorrow when due to the Chinese selling Treasury Bonds, (which they have been doing at a steady pace for months now) it causes the US dollar to plummet on foreign exchange markets and causes a stampede out of Treasuries. Instantly Ben Bernanke would meet with President Obama and demand that foreign exchange controls be put on all accounts in the US to attempt to stop the flight from the US Dollar.
This would further cause panic. Citibank would go under along with 20% of your total cash assets. Gold would skyrocket but you can bet that the US Government would be well aware of this and would place, at minimum, some sort of sales tax on gold, if not outright confiscation. The tax they choose could be as high as 50% or more. Whatever amount they decide. They've got all the guns. They make the rules.
So, you'd have wealth in your gold but you'd be stuck to sell it to get anything else of value for it except in the black market where, if caught by Homeland Security, you risk being put in one of the hundreds of detention centers currently being built by Haliburton with these type of situations in mind.
You may have kept some cash hidden under your mattress so you head for the airport to get out of the US to avoid all the chaos. But the government is already there and already using cash-sniffing dogs. Think we are kidding? http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7b9_1265973374 . They are already positioned at most major US airports.
As well, US stock exchanges would likely be shuttered as they drop precipitously, leaving the rest of your assets in your brokerage account inaccessible.
And this can happen in other countries than the US. Areas at distinct risk include basically all of the Eurozone, Canada, Australia and more.
The point being, international diversification is more important now than it has ever been.
Don't just have one bank. Have at least one other bank outside of your jurisdiction. If you live in the US, have one in Hong Kong or Singapore.
Don't just have one brokerage account. If you have one in the US, have at least one other in Luxembourg (Internaxx), Hong Kong, Panama or one of the numerous caribbean tax haven countries such as Turks & Caicos.
Many Americans, so used to living under oppression and having nearly no freedoms will ask, is it "legal" to have a bank or brokerage account outside the US? The answer is, yes, it is still fully legal. You may have to report its existence and pay taxes on any interest, dividend or capital gains income, but it is still allowed - so do it while you can.
As for storage of gold, there are two excellent outfits that help you store your gold & silver in vaults from Switzerland to the UK to Hong Kong and more. They are Goldmoney.com and Bullionvault.com.
Obviously to go through the trouble of all this you would need liquid assets worth, probably, more than $50,000 USD. Otherwise the time and effort to set up all these accounts may not be worth it.
However, easily building liquid assets of over $50,000 can be achieved in the next 12-24 months solely by investing in the stocks and investments we have been recommending. The stocks our Full Subscribers have access to were up the following amounts in August: 16.7%, 7.25% and 5.63%. Subscribe now to get access to these past stock recommendations and upcoming recommendations.
Geographical Diversification of Mining Stocks
Even if you don't have the assets to bother setting up bank and brokerage accounts abroad but do have a small portfolio of investments in your local brokerage account you still need to be very cautious about diversifying and spreading out your risk between countries.
For example, let's say you own 5 gold major stocks and 5 junior mining stocks. You need to make sure that you don't have more than 20% of your total in any one jurisdiction.
Why? When governments are strapped for cash they scurry around and try to find the one or two industries that are making money. Invariably, in the coming years, one of the only industries making money will be precious metals mining. And, as soon as they notice that, it is all they can do to not slap on a new large tax, tariff or even nationalize the companies in whole.
We've seen examples of this already in places such as the US (The Hardrock Mining & Reclamation Act of 2009) and Australia (Australian Mining Tax). Both of these have come under fire and may not go through YET. But these sort of political robberies are just par for the course in the world we live in today. Similar occurrences have happened in Ecuador (Ecuador Suspends Mining), Eritrea and many more.
Therefore, as a prudent, conservative investor it is absolutely critical to ensure you have your mining properties spread out to avoid risk.
An excellent resource for assessing risks in various jurisdictions is the Fraser Institute that puts out an annual survey of mining companies asking them their thoughts on the jurisdictions in which they work.
Below is a chart showing how much confidence mining companies have in the current taxation in the region and in the taxation regime.
You may be surprised to see countries such as Botswana and Papua New Guinea near the top and jurisdictions such as Colorado and California near the bottom, but these are the realities as the people with their boots on the ground see them.
Conclusion
And so, even if you don't have the current assets to begin international diversification, be prepared to do so as soon as you achieve a certain amount of wealth.
And for those that do have the capability, we urge you to begin doing so IMMEDIATELY. We are not talking years anymore. It is literally months before many of these types of currency controls and issues begin.
And for those looking to expatriate not only their wealth but themselves, please check our Expatriation section this month where we feature the country we consider to be THE safest and most comfortable in which to sit out the coming financial system collapse in luxury, for very little money.
The Markets
August has been kind to our portfolio - especially in relation to the majority of investors. While your average market participant experienced the worst August in nine years, with the Dow (1 year chart below) down 4.3% in August and the Nasdaq down 6.2%, our holdings skyrocketed.
Gold surged 5.46% in the last month and as per the chart below, barely registered a down day throughout all of August.
But the big story, as we pointed out in our Big Picture section, has been the ongoing bull market in the US Treasury market. Many believe the continued drop in bond yields and bad economic news portend a deflationary depression ahead. But they've got it wrong. We explain further in our Basic & Full Subscription newsletter. You can subscribe here.
Expatriation of Ass and Assets
By Jeff Berwick
“Because you can’t fight City Hall, but you can leave town”
We are often asked, "If the worst case scenario occurs and the entire global financial system collapses and the world enters into a period of chaos for a time, where is the safest place to be situated?"
To answer that, let's begin by recounting what may be an urban legend, but whether true or not, makes our point.
In the early 1940s it was reported that a man from Europe saw the coming conflict arising in Europe and even foresaw that England and America would possibly be drawn into the battle as well. Given this he looked at a map and tried to pick the "safest" place he could possibly think of as far away from war as possible to "hide out" for a few years. Innocently enough, he chose a tropical paradise, thousands of miles from anywhere, to the northeast of Australia, in the Solomon Islands.
By stroke of fate, on August 7, 1942, the Allied forces launched attacks against the Japanese in the Solomon Islands with simultaneous naval bombardments and amphibious landings on the Florida Islands at Tulagi and Red Beach on Guadalcanal. The Solomon Islands theatre was considered to be the location of some of the most intense fighting in World War II and by the time it was over tens of thousands were dead.
And so, suffice it to say, that given a bit of bad luck and bad timing, no where is a 100% sure thing.
However, if we had to pick one country that we see as being one of the least likely to have major problems in the upcoming financial collapse, Argentina would be near the top of our list.
ARGENTINA
There are numerous reasons which we will outline below which makes us believe Argentina has an excellent chance of surviving the coming crisis in stride. The #1 reason, however, is that Argentina has had their own currency and financial collapse twice already in the last twenty years and look set to be well on their way to their third!
In other words, mention "financial system and currency collapse" to an Argentine and the response is most likely to be a shrugging of the shoulders and, "Otra vez?" (Again?)
The other reasons for considering Argentina include cost, quality of life, lifestyle and more as outlined below in "The Basics".
THE BASICS
I have personally visited Buenos Aires a few times but never ventured further out into the country but from all accounts I have heard the country has immense beauty with a wide-open diverse growing climate with very fertile soil and breathtaking sweeping mountains and ski slopes with blue water rivers and 
Argentina's Andes Mountainsbeautiful beaches with clear and cold water for diving.
But someone once said, "Argentina is a place blessed by God but cursed by it's government," and that is probably the best way to sum it up.
In many ways Argentina is more European than Europe, in that massive migrant populations from Africa and the Middle East are quickly changing the face of most European centers. Meanwhile spending time in Buenos Aires definitely has the feel of a European capital - the way they used to be. It is nothing but light skinned people for the most part. 86.4% of Argentine's self-identify as being of European descent.
Unfortunately, for Argentina, the Europeans brought all their wonky Euro-socialist ideas along with them and have spent the last century ruining the potential of the country which once stood as a world leader.
Take, as example, one of Argentina's most well known political periods, made famous by Andrew Lloyd Weber's 1978, "Evita". Everyone has heard the theme song, since covered by the likes of Madonna, of, "Don't Cry For Me Argentina."
Other Beautiful Scenery In Argentina
Those words were supposedly spoken by Eva Perón, the wife of President Juan Perón in the early 1950s. She actually held the official title of, get this, "Head of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of Argentina"! It's no wonder her story ends in tears!
And it's been one socialist disaster after another ever since. What more would you expect from a country who still holds a sociopathic sicko like Marxist Che Guevara in such high esteem. At The Dollar Vigilante we have a soft spot in our heart for almost any anti-government revolutionary. But Che was only in favor of overthrowing the government in order to put in his own twisted brand of Marxism. Something which still, to this day, has left a curse over Cuba.
However, we shouldn't dwell on the government in Argentina too much because, for our purposes, it isn't of too much concern. We are only looking at Argentina as a possible place to wait out the passing global financial storm.
RESIDENCY
For this reason, we won't delve much into residency in Argentina. Our preferred way of using Argentina is as a place to "live" as a tourist. However, for those who wish to gain residency in Argentina it is a fairly straight-forward process, albeit a long one. For your first three years you can get what is called a "temporary residency". After that, for 2 years you can get a "permanent residency". After those 5 years you can apply for citizenship if you so choose, although we don't recommend it (see below).
In fact, we don't even recommend getting residency even if you want to live in Argentina. It is far preferable to just visit, and even have an apartment or house/ranch in Argentina and stay as a tourist for as long as you like. We hear there is hardly even a slap on the wrist for overstaying a tourist visa. Plus, if you live in a place like Buenos Aires, it is just a short half hour flight or 3 hour ferry ride to Montevideo, Uruguay. Or depending on what other part of Argentina you are situated, you can make easy excursions into Paraguay, Chile or Brazil as well to restart the clock on your tourist visa.
CITIZENSHIP/PASSPORT
For much the same reason we don't recommend becoming a resident of Argentina (the government) we don't recommend going through the trouble of becoming a citizen. However if this is something you wish to do, once your 5 years of residency are complete you are eligible for citizenship. But while an Argentine passport is a decent travel document we attempt not to become citizens of countries where the government takes an active role in what it's citizens can or cannot do. So, unless you really want to live there for the rest of your life and are comfortable with whatever obligations the government may throw on you, we again suggest just living in the country as a tourist.
LIVING/TOURIST
This is the area where we have a great interest in Argentina. Owning a condo in Buenos Aires or a nice ranch house anywhere in the country is an excellent way to escape "the world" for the next few years. Buenos Aires, like many large cities, has its "seedy" areas but the nice areas are quite cheap. You can find a very livable condo in a nice area for under $100,000. Much less depending on what you are willing to do without.
But the living costs and the quality of life is what really attracts us to Argentina. As we stated earlier, you can have world class cuisine, world class wines and world class ambience and service for the same amount you'd pay at T.G.I.F's in the US or McDonalds in Europe! As for downsides, Argentina is about as far away as you can get from nearly anywhere (this can also be considered an upside as the further you are away from trouble spots during the financial collapse the better). Expect a minimum 12 hour air journey to Buenos Aires from almost anywhere except from other countries in South America - and even from there it can still be 5 hours or more as the continent is so massive.
And for those who are willing and able to spend a bit more (quite a bit more, actually), one of my mentor's (in terms of knowledge I have learned from him over the years), Doug Casey, has started a luxury resort in Argentina aimed at expats who want to escape the coming financial collapse and stay in comfort with other like-minded people. It is located in the northern province of Salta and while I have not visited it personally, it looks phenomenal.
It has its own health club, winery and world class golf course. You can get more info at http://lec.com.ar.
If you would like more information on this development I have asked them to set-up a personal email address solely for our readers in order to get priority responses from them. Send an email to TDV@lec.com.ar to request more information if you are interested.
Stay tuned next month when I will tell you why everything the "news" is saying about Mexico is wrong and why it is actually the safest place in North America.
Dispatch From Within The Belly of the Beast
By Private Parts
Editor’s Note: We include these casual comments from a former US NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) currently working as a contractor of the US Government on the ground in Afghanistan as an eye-opening look into what American taxpayer dollars are being used for in the “War on Terror”
Hello from Afghanistan!
President Karzai made a surprising announcement last week when he gave all private security companies (PSC) in Afghanistan 4 months to disband. He gave a nice speech about it actually, claiming PSC’s “loot and steal from the Afghan people”, have links to criminal groups, fund insurgents, etc. etc.
But while Karzai always talks a good game, he is the king of disingenuousness. And this is probably just an attempt to distract the US from their new anti-corruption probes into several of his top officials in Kabul.
While Karzai may actually try to force some of the international PSC’s out by the end of the year, I’m sure he’ll find a way to keep all of his ex-US Special Forces “shooters” who provide his own security. And I’m sure Karzai will give an exception to the Afghan PSC that his cousin owns. And all the Afghan PSC’s that helped supplement the Afghan Police in “election polling station security” last year (most of whom are really just various warlords’ fighters dressed up as “security guards”), I’m sure they’ll get a pass too. There’s no telling how many voters they intimidated and coerced into casting ballots for Karzai last year. Karzai will definitely need their support again when it’s time to steal another election.
Personally, I’ve enjoyed watching some of the Afghan PSC’s, even if just out of sick bemusement. The Afghan PSC’s that secure the fuel convoys entering from Iran will often attack or hijack each other’s shipments trying to discredit each other and trying to steal each other’s contracts. While some of the Afghan PSC’s in the east and south have been caught paying protection to the Taliban to ensure delivery of their cargo. Ironic, since much of the security contract funds originate from the US, and only to have a portion of it paid directly to the Taliban. The US taxpayers should be so proud.
As for the international PSC’s, I doubt much will change. The Afghan National Security Force can’t even be trusted to show up to work sober and not high, do you really think any international agency will trust them to secure either personnel or cargo? And it’s not like the US has another 30,000 troops ready to deploy to pick up the slack if all the PSC’s disappear. With polls showing 60% of Americans think the War in Afghanistan is a lost cause, that’s just not an option.
So I’m pretty confident this all just bluster from Karzai trying to get some breathing room from the US State Department so he and his cronies can go back to pillaging and plundering before the whole country collapses and the Taliban takes over again.
But even if Karzai does go through with his threat to revoke the rights to carry weapons for internationals inside Afghanistan, which would put all of us contractors out of work, I’m not really worried about it. For hired guns there’s always someone hiring.
And just now, while Obama is congratulating himself for the “end of combat operations” and “troop withdrawal from Iraq”, the US State Department (DoS) will soon be sending tens of thousands of additional contractors to secure and support their 5 massive DoS camps in Baghdad, Erbil, Basra, Kirkuk and Mosul. I’ve also been seeing quite a few new job postings for “security” in Pakistan. Only the US government could jump from one quagmire to another like that, on your dime of course.
Regards,
Pvt. Parts
Q&A – Ask The Dollar Vigilante
Q: I am a full subscriber and thank you for all the work you do! I also want to thank you for adding info about the importance of Self Defense. Beside you and Gerald Celente it is rare to even hear of this most important need. I have a good size martial arts organization specializing in nerve incapacitation and as such if you ever need input in this area please let me know as I offer it to you as a thank you free of obligation.
Sincerely,
Evan Pantazi
www.Kyusho.com
A: Thank you for your note, Evan. As we often mention, we don't just want The Dollar Vigilante to be a one-way newsletter. It is our hope to build a world-wide network of freedom-loving individuals who are awake to the tyranny of governments and the central banks that empower them. As you can see from the note above from a TDV subscriber, Evan is an interesting individual who has founded an entire new form of self-defense and health through "vital points" (essentially, pressure points). He has also written several books on the topic (http://www.amazon.com/Evan-Pantazi/e/B0036F7KT0). Evan is fairly typical of our subscriber base which includes authors, fund managers, self-made billionaires and more.
We intend to start a message board on our website soon solely for subscribers so you can meet and talk amongst yourselves. As well, please join our Facebook page at http://facebook.com/DollarVigilante as another means to keep in contact.
At some point in the next year we may host a subscriber-only TDV conference where we can all get together and trade news and information from all of our areas of expertise. The first conference may be in Acapulco, Mexico where I am currently located.
As the US Dollar and global financial system collapse continues it will be very important to have a network of like minded individuals who may able to offer support and information at crucial moments and that is part of what we wish to accomplish here at TDV.
Please email any questions or comments you have at any time to TDV@dollarvigilante.com and every month we will endeavor to answer them either publicly or privately.
Conclusion & Items to Watch in Coming Weeks
What is it about September and October that something interesting usually happens in the capital markets? Undoubtedly something of interest will happen between now and our October 1st issue but what exactly is anyone's guess. The problems in Greece have not gone away and Credit Default Swaps on Greek debt have nearly returned to their highs during the last crisis indicating more problems are soon to come on that front. Meanwhile, in the US we watch with interest as the US media seems to be sending out trial balloons by quoting, regularly, other directors of the Federal Reserve. This is in great contrast to when Alan Greenspan was the Chairman of the Fed. When "the Maestro" was the head of the Fed you never heard from anyone but him. But in recent months the President of the St. Louis wing of the Federal Reserve, James Bullard, has been featured more and more in the US media. What is different about him than Bernanke? Unbelievably, he is even MORE of an inflationist than Helicopter Ben! Keep your eye on this.
In the coming week we will be releasing another junior gold mining stock recommendation to Full Subscribers. We believe that having 15-30% of your portfolio in junior gold mining companies is an excellent way to survive the coming financial storm and even profit from it. Subscribe here to receive our stock recommendations.
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"The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the greatest liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth." - H.L. Mencken