The US is losing 9.5 acres of farmland per minute

Agriculture field The US is losing 9.5 acres of farmland per minute

November 19, 2014
Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile

More than six thousand years ago, the most advanced civilization on planet was Sumer, rulers of the fertile plains of ancient Mesopotamia in modern day Iraq.

The Sumerians weren’t powerful from their military strength or political system; rather, it was agriculture that developed their civilization.

Quite simply, the ancient Sumerians had developed techniques to produce far more agriculture than they could possibly consume.

This food surplus meant that they could build up a large pool of savings to be used in trade, or to feed workers who could pursue other careers like science and architecture.

Nearly every great civilization ever since has shared the same characteristics– being able to produce more than it consumes.

In fact, no society can survive without the ability to feed itself. We’ve seen this throughout history.

When the Sumerians’ complex , centrally-planned network of canals failed to adequately irrigate their farmland, the civilization quickly declined.

The Roman Empire was notorious for routinely invading other lands looking to secure additional sources of food.

During the American Civil War, a large part of the Union’s strategy was to cut off the South from its food sources, and burn to the ground every acre of farmland they could find.

And despite decades of economic hardship, the French Revolution finally kicked off in 1789 because the nation could no longer feed itself… and people were starving.

Early on in US history, the country’s strength came from this same ability to produce more than it consumed.

And over the centuries the US became farmer to the world, exporting interminable quantities of food like a never-ended breadbasket.

But that trend peaked long ago.

Over the past five years, for example, the amount of farmland in the US has decreased by 5 million acres each year, often due to land development or aging farmers quitting the business.

This is equivalent to losing nearly one square mile of farmland every hour, or 9.5 acres per minute.

The same trend is taking place in China, where more than 40% of the country’s arable land has been lost in recent years due to development, drought, and topsoil erosion.

Yet while we’re seeing a dramatic decline in the amount of farmland available per person in the world’s largest powers, demand is rapidly increasing.

I’m not just talking about population growth, which is a given. There’s also the growth in demand that comes with economic development.

As a nation’s wealth increases, so does its demand for food.

The billion people across Asia being lifted out of poverty into the middle class are consuming more Calories than ever before, and consuming meat for the first time ever.

Raising animals for meat production requires far more land per Calorie than growing fruits, vegetables, and grains.

So not only are people consuming more Calories, but they’re also requiring more land per Calorie.

This is a clearly unsustainable trend: the world needs more farmland per capita to meet food production needs at a time when the amount of farmland is in decline.

On top of all this are the water challenges that many parts of the world are experiencing. California is a great example.

It’s well known that the entire state of California is experiencing EXTREME drought conditions.

What’s less known is that, along with many other crops, California is the world’s top almond producer.

The state produces 80% of the global almond supply, completely dwarfing production in the rest of the world combined.

Yet at the same time, California almond growers consume nearly 10% of the state’s water supply.

Think about it– when you export agriculture, you are also exporting all the resources and inputs that go into producing that agriculture.

So at a time when the entire state is suffering from extreme drought, California almond farmers are essentially exporting 10% of the state’s dwindling water supply.

This math doesn’t add up. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that, at a minimum, the price of almonds is due to rise dramatically in the coming years.

Almonds are just one example. We can see this across the board with food in general.

For most crops, yields peaked long ago; in other words, human beings are already extracting the maximum amount of tons, kilos, bushels, etc. per acre.

And thanks to absurd government and monetary policy, we’re simultaneously seeing rising production costs, as well as idiotic incentives to turn food into inefficient fuel. Or subsidies which pay farmers to not grow at all.

These trends are all converging at the same time, suggesting a long-term rise in food prices, and in some cases even shortages.

This isn’t some sensational, headline-grabbing nonsense. It’s simple arithmetic based on objective, publicly available data.

And it’s a trend that will affect nearly everyone on the planet.

On a small scale, you can do well for yourself by planting a small garden with some fruit and nut trees in your own backyard. Worst case you enhance your property value and have a small supply of organic food.

On a larger scale, owning productive farmland and selling food across the value chain may turn out to be one of the best investments of the decade.

But with farmland prices at all-time highs in the US, and water availability highly questionable, the real opportunities lie overseas. More on that tomorrow.

PS. You might also be interested in our latest post on how to protect yourself from Civil Asset Forfeiture.

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Civil Asset Forfeiture: What you can do about it

Civil Asset Forfeiture Civil Asset Forfeiture: What you can do about it

November 19, 2014
Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile

Tan Nguyen was stopped on the highway for driving three miles over the speed limit. The policeman searched the car and found a briefcase of money that Tan said he just won at a casino.

There weren’t any drugs to be found, but suddenly the cop said he smelled marijuana and confiscated the money.

Now, if you or I were to have taken Tan’s money at the point of a gun, it would be called armed robbery, and we’d go to jail.

But when the state does it, it’s called Civil Asset Forfeiture. And it’s perfectly legal.

What’s more, they’re able to commit this highway robbery without a shred of proof or evidence. And then it’s up to the victims to prove their innocence to get the money back.

It’s not surprising that the system is being abused. It’s such easy money.

And what do these police departments do with the money that they steal? Whatever they want, as it turns out.

Police departments in the Land of the Free have used seized funds for things like a margarita machine, a Zamboni (that thing that cleans the ice on a rink), hiring a clown, or a trip to Hawaii.

And as infuriating as these examples all are, often overlooked are the more sinister examples of what these funds have been used for.

Take the $227,390 used to purchase an 8-ton Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck (yes, that spells BEARCAT).

Or the $54,000 spent on twenty-seven military grade M-4 assault rifles. (Both by of these were in Georgia).

Between $382,000 on license-plate readers, $208,000 on electronic surveillance tools, and an undisclosed amount on a “cell site simulator” that can surreptitiously track cellphones—you can see that the stolen money is being used to get better at cracking down on your liberties even further.

The institution that claims to be there to protect is now among the biggest threats to liberty.

Think about it– you have a far greater chance of having your assets wrongfully seized than being the victim of some terrorist attack.

What can you do about it? First off– don’t drive around with a lot of cash. And definitely don’t try to leave the country with a lot of cash.

Leaving the country with more than $10,000 requires making a report with the federal government’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), as if it’s some sort of crime to move cash overseas.

Bottom line, if you want to move a lot of wealth, there are better options.

For smaller amounts under $25,000, a few gold coins in your briefcase are a lot less conspicuous than bricks of cash.

If you have trustworthy sources (premium members- see our previous alerts about this), you can buy rare coins and collectibles that are worth much more.

For example, a single five cent buffalo nickel in excellent condition can be worth half a million dollars or more. This is something that you could stick in your pocket and walk out of the country, and no one would ever know.

Digital currency is another option. Through cold storage and paper wallets, millions of dollars worth of digital currency can be held in a simple, random string of characters.

Civil asset forfeiture is clearly a growing problem. But all of the tools and technology already exist to take back your freedom and make sure you don’t become another statistic.

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WARNING: new international gang of thieves make the IS and Somali pirates look like amateurs

Balaclava thief WARNING: new international gang of thieves make the IS and Somali pirates look like amateurs

November 18, 2014
Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile

When the two young petty thieves, Rinconete and Cortadillo, came to Seville they were quickly censured for stealing.

To their surprise, it wasn’t for the theft itself, but instead because they were not registered with the local thieves’ guild.

In this upside-down world imagined by Miguel Cervantes, theft was not a crime, but a craft—performed in the name of God and justice.

And like any other craftsmen of the day, the thieves had formed a guild. There they provided training and support to their members, while maintaining an exclusive right to engage in the trade.

This past month, a real-life guild of thieves was formed. With 51 governments pledging their support to each other for the protection of their ignoble craft of theft. And another 30 pledging to join by 2018.

From day one, governments have been pilfering their citizens’ assets through taxation, claiming a monopoly on thievery.

From the largest institution to the pettiest pickpocket, anyone else who tries to engage in theft is severely punished, as governments work to protect their exclusive right to steal.

Frighteningly, they do this all out in the open, believing that they actually have a moral right to commit theft.

You can see this delusion in the US government’s claims that last year they “lost out” on $337 billion from people avoiding taxes. As if they have some moral claim to the money they’d failed to pilfer.

Nonetheless, they use this claim to justify actively hunting down and penalizing anyone who takes action to avoid being stolen from.

The ones that are doing this are the bankrupt countries, and the deeper they slide into debt, the more desperate they become.

Which is why these broke governments are now joining forces, pledging to to collect and share information amongst themselves about citizens’ bank accounts, taxes, assets and income outside local tax jurisdictions.

Basically—I’ll help you steal from your citizens if you help me steal from mine.

Both the punishment and the likelihood of getting caught for tax evasion are growing. Don’t even bother trying.

However that doesn’t mean that you have no choice but to sit there and let your self be stolen from.

While there are still ways of legally reducing your tax burden from within a country, your best option is to move and diversify.

Diversification is key, because if you have all your eggs in one bankrupt basket, you are really taking on extraordinary risk.

Moving some assets abroad can legitimately reduce some of this risk. And an even greater strategy is considering moving yourself.

Citizens of most countries have the benefit of divorcing themselves from the tax system simply by moving abroad.

It’s a bit more onerous for US citizens. But for Americans living abroad, it’s still possible to earn roughly $100,000 without paying income tax.

In fact, between the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, Foreign Housing Exclusion, SEP IRA contributions, and more, an American couple can sock away roughly $300,000 per year while paying almost zero income tax.

And if you become a resident of Puerto Rico (which any American can do), it’s possibly to completely eliminate US federal income tax on any amount of money.

By doing so, not only are you taking yourself out of the reach of this gang of thieves, but you are also casting a vote with your feet.

More important than the ballot box, this is a vote that actually counts. And one you have complete control over.

(Don’t worry– if you can’t move, there are still plenty of options to reduce your tax burden and take back your freedom. More on this in upcoming letters.)

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You have two options. One can bring you a world of opportunity.

Tianjin Bridge China You have two options. One can bring you a world of opportunity.

November 18, 2014
Santiago, Chile

Walking across a bridge with ornate classical Roman sculptures trimmed in gold,
I turned down a little Italian street to meet up with a friend for lunch.

As the aroma of pizza wafted around me, I couldn’t help but feel that something was out of place.

It wasn’t the food. It wasn’t me. In fact, it was the street itself.

Because despite all the evidence around me, I wasn’t actually in Italy. I was in Tianjin, China.

Here in the midst of sky-high apartment buildings is a little Italian neighborhood, a historical remnant of the days when the port city was sectioned off by the Western powers.

The Middle Kingdom had once been the most technologically and culturally advanced in the world, but from thinking they were at the top, they had stopped trying to learn from those around them.

So confident in their superiority the Chinese elite had no idea how far from the top they’d fallen.

Thus, when Westerners came to Chinese shores seeking to open up trade, they were flatly rejected.

After all, what did these white devils have to offer them? Were the Chinese supposed to be impressed by these cheap, boring pieces of cloth? Anyone could tell that Chinese silks were far superior.

(Remember, at one point it was the British that were the ones with the cheap manufactured goods.)

With better weaponry and cheaper industrial goods the Western powers easily overwhelmed the Qing empire, saddling the government with huge indemnities and forcing the door open for them to enter the country and trade.

Unrest began to stir across the country. In 1900 this culminated in the anti-foreign ‘Boxer Rebellion’ that launched attacks on foreign businesses and people in Northern China.

Eight of the foreign powers united to quash the rebellion, and once they did, the foreign states took the port town of Tianjin and split it amongst themselves as payback.

No person, business, or country likes to find out that they’ve lost their edge. But the sooner that fact is accepted, the quicker they can get to learning and improving in order to regain that dominance.

In that situation there are essentially two options: you can either get angry and try to reject the fact that the world is changing or you can position yourself to take advantage of it.

Choosing the first option, the Boxers’ actions actually led to greater Western control of China. Achieving exactly the opposite of what they’d intended.

Whereas those that decided to work with the foreigners not only survived, but thrived, taking advantage of the influx of capital, knowledge and cheap products.

Deeply submerged in debt and with increasingly slowing economies, the US and Europe are facing the same two options today as China did merely a century earlier.

Rather than the Italian Concession in Tianjin, we are now seeing an influx of Chinese to Italy.

Businesses that can’t keep up with the heavy regulatory and tax burdens imposed by the Italian government are looking to sell, and the Chinese have the capital and interest to buy.

So while the economy may look bleak in Italy, thanks to globalization there is still an abundance of business opportunities there.

Take for example the three guys who created http://ift.tt/1bhWkBz, which quite literally means “sell to Chinese”. The concept is simple—to help connect the Italian sellers of businesses, real estate and etc. with the Chinese market—and they’re doing great.

The simple shift in attitude, to view outsiders as an opportunity rather than a threat creates a new whole world of possibilities. Those who do that stand to profit most.

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Mission Accomplished: Stock market, number of homeless children, both reach all-time highs.

Homeless United States Mission Accomplished: Stock market, number of homeless children, both reach all time highs.

November 17, 2014
Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile

Something is dreadfully wrong with this picture.

In a report just released today by the National Center on Family Homelessness, a team of academics has demonstrated that the number of homeless children in the Land of the Free now stands at 2.5 million.

This is far and away an all-time high and constitutes roughly one out of every 30 children in America.

The report goes on to explain that among the major causes of this problem are the continuing impacts of the Great Recession that began in 2008.

Funny thing, someone ought to tell these homeless kids that the economy is doing great. Of course, we know this to be true because the stock market is near its all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average now stands at 17,633, just off its all-time high.

Also near its all-time highs is the bond market, and coincidentally, the US debt—which is now within spitting distance of $18 trillion.

In other words, if these kids ever do manage to pick themselves up off the streets, they’ll work their entire lives to pay off a debt that they never signed up for.

And it all comes down to a completely perverse, corrupt, debt-based paper money system.

Yes, no matter what happens in the world, there are always going to be rich and poor. And as painful as it may be, there will always be homeless children. That’s not really the point.

For the most part, financial wealth used to be something that people had to work to achieve. They had to produce something valuable for consumers. They had to develop new technologies and be innovative. They had to take chances and in many cases risk it all.

That’s less and less the case today.

Today one’s station in life is much more tied to how you grew up. If you were born poor, you have a 70% chance of staying poor (according to a recent study from the Pew Charitable Trust).

And needless to say, if you’re born rich, you’re going to stay rich. Much of that is due to the monetary system.

In our system today, unelected central bankers wield total control of the money supply. In their sole discretion, they have conjured trillions of dollars out of thin air, and have thus greatly inflated the money supply.

This monetary inflation has created a number of effects.

On one hand there has been substantial asset price inflation. We’ve seen the prices of stocks, bonds, luxury properties, etc. hitting fresh highs again and again.

And, naturally, it’s people who are already very wealthy who own these assets.

Then there’s the other side– retail price inflation. Think ‘cost of living’. Rent. Food. Fuel. Medical costs. All the stuff that normal people need to live.

Both asset prices and retail prices have gone up.

Now, if you’re already very wealthy, you might spend as little as 1% of your annual income on living expenses, and you keep the other 99% to invest in these assets that keep hitting fresh highs.

In this case, retail price inflation is irrelevant; central bankers are putting so much money in your pocket you don’t even notice the increase in retail prices.

Then there’s the case for everyone else. People who struggle to make ends meet and have to spend 99% of their income on living expenses. If they’re lucky they save 1% of their income.

Obviously to these folks, retail price inflation eats away at their living standards. And a substantial portion of them fall out of the system entirely and end up on the streets.

Again, this isn’t intended to rant against wealth. We tell our students each year at our entrepreneurship camps– wealth accumulated by producing valuable products and services, through hard work, great ideas, and risk-taking, is pure and noble.

By creating wealth for yourself you create wealth for others, and you create progress for humanity.

But we’re not talking about wealth creation. We’re talking about theft.

This system puts money in the pockets of people who are already wealthy by sacrificing the purchasing power and savings of everyone else. The rich get richer, the middle class gets hollowed out, and pensioners get squeezed.

They have completely broken capitalism and replaced it with state-sponsored welfare for select corporations and special interests. Totally destroying upward mobility in the process.

If you want a brighter future for your children look for growth, look for where the possibility of your child ending up on the street is not even an option.

Moving abroad is not just a luxury for wealthier families. In fact the less you have, the more crucial it is to get out of a system that is stacked against you.

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Nine of the biggest myths that people believe about the system

Myths about the United States Nine of the biggest myths that people believe about the system

November 14, 2014
Santiago, Chile

Years ago, an elderly, frail Japanese martial arts master once boasted a 200-0 record against his opponents.

He claimed to have a unique power that allowed him to inflict serious injury on people without actually laying a finger on them.

Was it Chi? Magic? None of the above. It was a total scam. But that didn’t matter.

You see, the legend of the master’s powers turned out to be far more powerful than reality.

His core following of students believed in the master so much that they would fling themselves across the dojo whenever he raised his pinky finger.

And anyone who saw the display would become transfixed by the perception of the mater’s extraordinary abilities. It was an incredible case of mass delusion.

Everyone believed it, including the master himself. He was so confident in his skills that he put up a $5,000 challenge that he could beat any fighter in the world.

A mixed martial arts champion accepted the wager, and the result wasn’t pretty.

As you can see in the video, the master is quickly knocked to the ground with a broken nose and a pool of blood. Observers scramble to find a doctor to come to his aid.

You can almost hear the sound of reality quickly taking hold from the gasps of his students. No one could bring themselves to believe that the master had been so quickly beaten.

To an outsider, it seems so obvious that this guy is a phony (just watch the video). But mass delusion is an incredibly powerful force.

We see the same effects in the West today—mass delusions everywhere.

People seem to believe their governments are almighty beings capable of performing magic—water into wine, debt into wealth.

Here are some of the biggest myths we see in the system today:

1. The dollar will continue to be the dominant currency.

This is a total farce. Grumblings grow louder around the world to establish a new non-dollar financial system, and China has taken the lead to make this a reality.

2. The US is still the dominant military power in the world.

If you measure by the quality of trained personnel, this is true. But what good is all of that military power if you can’t afford to do anything with it?

3. The police exist to protect the people.

Wrong again. With so much civil asset forfeiture taking place at the point of a gun (federally funded assault rifles), it’s clear they’re far more concerned about protecting those that maintain the status quo than protecting you.

4. Elections make a difference

Completely false. Most Western governments borrow money to pay interest on the money they’ve already borrowed.

In the US, they spend so much on mandatory entitlements and interest they could eliminate almost the entire government and still not run a balanced budget.

At that level of desperation, it matters not who’s in power.

5. Your bank is safe

Your bank might HAVE a safe. But if you look at objective data, many banks in the West have incredibly thin levels of capital and liquidity—the exact opposite of what a safe bank is supposed to have.

Oh yeah, they’re backed by poorly capitalized deposit insurance funds, which are guaranteed by insolvent governments.

And bear in mind that even if your bank is reasonably capitalized, you are still guaranteed to lose money on a tax adjusted, inflation adjusted basis if you you’re holding your savings there.

6. You have to go to college in order to get ahead

Quite the opposite—going to college in many cases can get you behind; just ask any 36-year old still paying down that $100,000 student loan debt.

The world is a big place full of opportunity. Skills and experience matter more than pieces of paper.

Here’s a better option, especially for young people: head overseas, and become an apprentice to a successful, knowledgeable individual that you respect.

Any young person who thinks that going to college is a good idea should just ask any of their unemployed friends saddled with $100,000 of debt if it was worth it.

7. I saw it on TV so it must be true.

Ufff. The mainstream media exist to paint a distorted version of reality so that people are kept placated, docile and largely clueless about what really goes on in the world.

8. Debt doesn’t matter because we owe it to ourselves

Whoever first said this must have a lot of whips and chains in his closet because he seems to enjoy pain.

If we owe the debt to ‘ourselves,’ that means that we will need to default on ourselves.

This means no more Social Security, Medicare, etc. It means causing the US Federal Reserve to become insolvent and spark a currency crisis. It means causing the collapse of every bank in the country.

Sure, no biggie.

9. The United States is the Land of the Free

Draconian surveillance efforts on its citizens. Punitive taxes, fines and regulation. Rising police state. Telling people what they can or can’t put in their bodies, how to grow their food, who to adore, who to hate. Preventing them to collect their own rainwater and live off the grid.

The list goes on and on. And so do the myths. Are there any more that you see? Let us know here, or on our Facebook page.

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This is the only vote that counts

Choose freedom vote This is the only vote that counts

November 14, 2014
Santiago, Chile

What’s the biggest lure of elections? That people have the ability to change things by voting someone else in power. At least in theory.

I try not to get too caught up in US politics these days, because that’s one of my favorite parts about going international—I don’t have to get sucked into it all on a regular basis.

US politics tends to affect you wherever you go, so more often than I’d like to I do end up check in on what’s happening.

If you’ve been following the election, I’m sure you know that the Republicans won a majority of the Senate and Obama responded by saying, “I hear you”, but now I’m just going to use Executive Orders to get things done.

That seems a bit anti-climactic wouldn’t you say? All that time and money spent campaigning, all those people interrupting their normal days to go vote—just to be in the same situation as before? For ‘change’ to be hollow?

People in Hong Kong have been asking themselves: is it democracy if the Chinese Communist Party chooses all the candidates?

Along the same lines, in the US when the opposition party takes control of the legislature and the president responds by saying that’s nice, but I’m going to go ahead with whatever I want to do anyway—is that democracy?

To me, this is the kind of thing you’d expect in a volatile third-world country that is pretending to be a democracy in order to receive international support.

It’s not real. Putting your vote in there doesn’t make a difference.

In fact, more than that, voting for politicians demonstrates that you accept the system. You might have your gripes with it, but you still have faith that it is fair and that it works.

It’s like coming home every night to an abusive spouse. You can say, it’s a good system at heart. I can make it change.

But in reality, that’s not going to happen. And by sticking around, you will just go down with it.

In the same way people are duped in every election cycle—“If we can just get the right guy in power…”

It doesn’t matter. The new guy just turns into the last guy. Because the whole system is broken.

As we said earlier this week, the US government debt has increased from $2.8 trillion to $18 trillion in 25 years. The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet has expanded from $285 billion to $4.5 trillion in the same time.

The US is borrowing money just to pay interest on the money it has already borrowed. This is the point of no return. It is arithmetically impossible for the US to ever repay its gigantic debt, since it just keeps adding on to it year after year.

To even start considering it, the US would first have to live within its means by balancing the budget—which would mean eliminating expenses for the military, Social Security and Medicare, which already consume more than 100% of the government’s tax revenue.

Of course, no politician is ever going to do that. So it really doesn’t matter who is in power.

Therefore a far more powerful way to vote is with your life actions.

Vote with your money by trading your dollars for productive assets, land, and precious metals. By doing that, you’re consciously deciding not to be involved in this corrupt debt-based system.

An even larger vote is by deciding to leave. By voting with your feet.

Opting out means that you no longer endorse the system, and that you are establishing your preferences by selecting one that is better. One that treats its citizens better and has more to offer you.

Demonstrating your opinion through your actions is far more powerful than expressing it on a piece of paper.

Is a single vote enough to make a difference?

In the electoral system definitely not. You’ve seen that yourself just this past week.

However, when it comes to voting with your money and your feet by leaving the country, you definitely can make a difference—first of all for yourself.

At once, you can gain greater freedom, richer experiences, and multitudes of opportunity. A better life and positive change? That’s what the point of voting is, isn’t it?

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Here’s what I think the financial system will look like in the future

pharoah future gold Heres what I think the financial system will look like in the future

November 12, 2014
Santiago, Chile

Thousands of years ago whenever the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt passed away, they were buried with all of their gold in a specially constructed tomb.

The idea was to ward off thieves with booby traps and other perils so that these perceived demigods could enjoy their riches for eternity.

It worked. In the case of Tutankhamen, his gold was untouched by both thieves and desperate government tax collectors for thousands of years.

In the Pharaohs’ day, gold was money. Today, it might be even more important than ever.

As advanced as our modern civilization may be, we’ve been playing with fire for more than a century. Every single experiment with unbacked paper money throughout history failed.

And though today’s economists like to think that ‘this time is different,’ our own experiment with paper money will share the same fate.

It’s already moving in that direction. The bubble in fiat currency is now so large that it has simultaneously created all-time highs in nearly every major financial asset class, particularly stocks and bonds.

Bear in mind that these are not tangible assets, but rather ‘paper assets’—nothing more than claims on promises made by others (stockbrokerages, politicians, etc.)

So in other words, the explosion in the supply of paper money has created dangerous bubbles in paper assets. Funny how that works.

And at this point there are no good options remaining to gracefully end the experiment.

Any direction that central bankers go risks inflation, deflation, hyperinflation, or the collapse of financial markets.

If they print, they create inflation. If they don’t print they get deflation.

If they print too much they get hyperinflation. And if they so much as utter the wrong word then financial markets go into a panic.

The situation has become so bizarre that we’re now seeing negative interest rates across Europe.

Central bankers are conspicuously trying to whip up confidence in their poorly capitalized banking systems.

And wealthy emerging markets are moving to build their own financial infrastructure that no longer depends on the West.

This is clearly a system on the slide. And it’s not the first time this has happened.

Throughout history there have always been major shifts in the global financial system.

Reserve currencies change. The way people engage in commerce changes. The rules of the game change.

This time is no different. And we’re currently experiencing the early stages of yet another historic shift.

No one can say for certain what the next iteration of the financial system will look like. But there are a few things we can say for sure-

Today, the US dollar, US government, and US central bank form the cornerstones of the global financial system.

But that game is quickly drawing to a close.

The rest of the world is sick and tired of the US arrogantly dictating rules for everyone else to follow.

They’re sick and tired of the US going deeply into debt and pawning its bonds off to everyone else as ‘risk free’.

So it’s a safe bet that in the future, US paper money and debt is not going to be anywhere near as important as they are today.

We’ll also likely see a new system where banks are far less relevant.

All the technology and all of the resources already exist today to effectively eliminate the need for banks.

Decentralized crypto-currencies and transaction platforms already exist. You no longer need to hold your cash at a bank when you can simply store it in the blockchain.

(This may sound esoteric, but consider that most currency is already stored in digital form. Your bank balance doesn’t really exist except in the digital world.)

You no longer need to apply for a home mortgage or bank loan when entire networks of peer-to-peer lending platforms exist.

For every function that a bank serves, there is technology today that does it better, faster, and cheaper.

It’s time for these financial dinosaurs to hit the historical dustbin.

Again, this is a normal trend of history. The horse and buggy went away a long time ago due to changes in technology. So will fiat currency and conventional banking.

Nothing is going to change immediately. But as Hemingway said, this trend will unfold gradually, then suddenly.

So it does make sense for now to consider your options now, particularly real assets like productive land, operating businesses, and yes, gold.

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Three super safe and private facilities to store gold abroad

gold bars vault Three super safe and private facilities to store gold abroad

November 12, 2014
Santiago, Chile

At USD $1160, a lot of gold owners are looking at the paper price right now and panicking.

The conventional wisdom is that, because it takes fewer pieces of paper to buy an ounce, gold is a bad ‘investment’.

This isn’t the right idea. It shouldn’t be viewed as an investment at all.

Gold isn’t something that you buy with paper currency hoping to sell it later on down the road for even more paper currency.

Rather, the entire point of gold is to trade paper currency for something that can hold its value over the long-term, yet is still liquid, divisible, and universally recognizable.

There are almost zero assets that fit the bill. Gold is one of the few.

Gold is real. It has its own challenges (including counterfeit, manipulation, etc.) that make it far from perfect. But it’s physical, tangible, and cannot be conjured out of thin air by central bankers.

What’s more, it’s one of the only -private- forms of money remaining, and it’s a great way to transport a substantial amount of savings abroad without anyone knowing.

I’ve long been an advocate of moving a portion of one’s savings overseas.

After all, what’s the sense of leaving 100% of your assets within a country ruled by a morally and financially bankrupt government that treats you like a dairy cow?

Moving some of your gold abroad to a jurisdiction that prides itself on maintaining a high level of financial security and privacy protects you against legal thievery your government might commit against you.

Sure, it’s a risk that might never come to fruition. But you won’t be worse off for having stashed some of your gold away privately in a safe, stable jurisdiction.

Consider these three to start:

Singapore

Singapore is currently the world’s top destination for gold storage.

It’s one of the safest places on the planet. There’s practically zero crime. Corruption isn’t an issue, as it’s one of the most transparent places in the world.

Prices for gold storage are incredibly competitive, and with recent legislation that eliminated import duties and taxes on investment-grade gold, premiums are dropping.

(Investment grade precious metals include gold Maple Leaf, Buffalo, Kangaroo, and Panda coins. US Eagles and South African Krugerrands are not tax-exempt as their purity is too low. Silver Eagles, however, qualify for tax exemption.)

Singapore is also home to The Safe House (www.thesafehouse.sg), hands down one of the most advanced precious metals storage facilities in the world.

(Note: I am a director of The Safe House’s parent company, though I have no share ownership.)

Switzerland

Switzerland is the most traditional privacy and financial storage destination. It has many decades behind it as THE place for offshore finance.

And while the Swiss banking industry has suffered a severe blow in recent years from intense pressure from the US, its sophistication, level of service and professionalism in all things related to finance and money is still unparalleled.

It’s a great place for offshore precious metals storage. In fact, all the major online gold services outsource their physical storage to companies such as ViaMat in Switzerland.

ViaMat doesn’t do business with US customers anymore, but there’s a private secure storage option in either Basel or Lugano, called CasaForte (www.casaforte.ch).

Austria

Austria is a very “gold oriented” society. Walk around Vienna and ask the average person what the price of gold is and they’ll likely be able to tell you.
You see it everywhere in town, there is no shortage of places to buy and sell gold, including at just about every single bank in the country.
Furthermore, the Austrian government is not hemorrhaging cash like the United States or Spain. As a result of these factors, the likelihood of a drastic policy change on gold ownership is low.
Bank safety deposit boxes are plentiful, but there is a private facility in Vienna called Das Safe (www.dassafe.com) that I find to be much better.

The reason is because Das Safe is one of the only places in the country (and Europe) where you can store your precious metals anonymously.

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