Schiff Sovereign Podcast

Aug 16/2020

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  At the center of Sovereign Man’s core ethos is the indisputable view that the United States is in decline. I take absolutely zero pleasure in writing that statement. But it’s incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to objectively appraise the bountiful evidence at hand and not reach the same conclusion. Consider the following: US government finances[...]
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  In 1898, a Polish author named Jan Bloch published a 3,000+ page volume on modern warfare entitled Future War and its Economic Consequences. Bloch had studied military technology and saw the rapid pace with which destructive new weapons and munitions were being developed. And he came to the conclusion that the next war would be[...]
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  Throughout history, whenever there has been a major shift in the world, it has usually been accompanied by a single iconic event that is associated with that change. For example, historians often point to 476 AD as the year that the Western Roman Empire fell, when Odoacer and his barbarians forced the abdication of the[...]
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  Last June, during the European Central Bank forum, the host asked the chairman of the Federal Reserve about inflation. The Fed Chairman responded, “I think we now understand better how little we understand about inflation.” “Uh, that’s not very reassuring,” the host chuckled. Talk about an understatement. It’s downright terrifying. This is the Fed Chairman—[...]
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  Two weeks ago, I told you that the US government had just published its annual financial report. The government by its own admission lost $4.1 TRILLION in FY 2022. And this is 34% worse than the the previous year’s $3.1 trillion loss. And the rest of the financial report only gets worse from there... They[...]
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  Imagine if Elon Musk stood up one day and told the world, “My #1 goal is for Tesla stock to lose 2% of its value every year.” First of all, people would probably rightfully conclude that Elon had finally lost his mind. And second, everyone would dump the stock. Who would possibly want to own[...]
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  There’s hardly anything that POTUS loves to brag about more than his ‘economic success’. He is, after all, a self-proclaimed “capitalist”. Even in last week’s State of the Union address, he boldly claimed that he “cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion-- the largest deficit reduction in American history.” And he’s made that same[...]
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  Most people have a peasant mentality. Throughout human history, in fact, the vast majority of people never thought much beyond their tiny village, let alone traveled. But there have always been some people who have had the intellectual courage and curiosity to think far beyond their own borders. And they’ve often been richly rewarded for[...]
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  Gold is really an amazing metal when you think about it. It doesn’t corrode. Coins buried underground or sunk at the bottom of the ocean for hundreds of years are routinely pulled up and brushed off, and they’re good as new. This strength and durability is precisely what makes gold so interesting as an inflation[...]
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  As a member of the Boards of Directors of several companies, I regularly attend board meetings to help oversee and guide businesses. One company in our portfolio is run by some very sharp and talented young guys who have created one of the first metaverse advertising companies. It’s growing rapidly, and they’re even expanding into[...]
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  On January 24, 1971, a Swiss-German university professor managed to raise money from the European Commission to fund his new idea— he wanted to start a business conference that would become a major global brand. He secured the funding and held the first conference the following month in the tiny Swiss town of Davos; it[...]
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  By the third century AD, it was hard to imagine Rome being in worse condition. Historians literally refer to this period in Roman history as the Crisis of the Third Century. And it was brutal. Roman citizens couldn’t believe what they were experiencing... it was incomprehensible to them that their fatherland had become so weakened.[...]
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  By the turn of the 18th century, Great Britain was well on its way to becoming the dominant naval power of Europe. Brits had come to understand that a strong navy and merchant fleet were necessary to grow powerful and prosperous as a nation. And a mythology was already building around the Royal Navy. However[...]
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  On December 10, 1896, in the picturesque seaside town of San Remo, Italy, the famed Swedish chemist breathed his last breath after suffering a devastating stroke, and died. Nobel was an incredibly wealthy man at the time of his death, and most of his wealth had been placed in a trust. (In doing this, Nobel[...]
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  On the 21st of February, 1978, workers for the state-owned electrical company in Mexico City, Mexico were digging in a neighborhood near city center to bury some cables. After digging about two meters below the street’s surface, they hit a large rock that their equipment could not penetrate. As they dug further, around the rock,[...]
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  You’ve probably been following the news that FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, is in hot water. And frankly that characterization is an insult to hot water. FTX has already filed for bankruptcy. Potentially $10 billion or more of customer money is at risk. The new CEO states that the company’s[...]
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  More than 3,000 years ago, between the 12th and 13th centuries BC, the legendary king of Ithaca, Odysseus, set sail from the ancient city of Troy to begin the journey home. The stories of the Trojan War, and of Odysseus’s voyage home, have been passed down to us in the form of epic poetry from[...]
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  Today’s podcast starts off in the year 1175 BC, where the legendary Pharaoh Ramses III was readying himself for battle against one of the most mysterious enemies in all of human history. Ramses was literally fighting for the survival of his kingdom, and for all Egyptian civilization. And fortunately for Egypt, he won. But it[...]
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  First, I am really grateful for all the well-wishes and congratulations we received on the birth of my son. He’s doing great, and I’m over the moon. I decided to record a podcast about the experience-- why my wife and I decided to have our first child here last year, as well as our second[...]
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  We start our podcast today more than 2,500 years ago at a time when the dominant superpower in the western world was the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. Their civilization had reached an unfathomable level of wealth and sophistication; historical records show that, at peak, the Persian treasury had more than $300 BILLION in savings (in[...]
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  In the mid 1400s, the head of the Byzantine Empire was a career politician with decades of experience who most people thought would be a capable leader. Instead, through a series of hilariously terrible decisions, he managed to take his already weak empire off the cliff, and into the dustbin of history, in just a[...]
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  Lately we’ve been led astray over and over again by supposed ‘experts’ with decades of experience who can’t seem to stop making colossal mistakes. But I’m not just talking about individuals. I’m talking about institutions too. And one institution in particular that’s been an abject failure lately has been the central bank. That includes the[...]
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  John Adams famous wrote to his wife Abigail in the year 1780: “I must study politics and war, that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. . . in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, and music. . .” So that their children can major in[...]
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  In the year 1566, at the end of the reign of the legendary Suleiman the Magnificent, his Ottoman Empire was the world’s dominant superpower. Ottoman territory extend across three continents over nearly 2.3 million square kilometers. Its military was powerful… and feared. The economy was strong and the treasury plentiful. But in time that changed.[...]
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  The year 1776 is legendary for precisely one thing: the Declaration of Independence. But 1776 was actually a REALLY big year. Because in addition to the formation of the United States (which undoubtedly had an extraordinary impact on the course of the world), 1776 also saw two other historic trends take shape. The first was[...]
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  Years ago when I was in the military, I had the privilege of serving with some of the finest people I will ever know in my entire life. It’s not a cliché. Many of my brothers in arms were incredibly honest, hard working, dedicated, loyal, intelligent, creative, courageous, and more. And yet, if I’m being[...]
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  It’s been another historic and mind-blowing week to say the least. Over the last several months we’ve heard some of the most ridiculous lines of BS from politicians. Things like, “The economy is not in recession.” Last year’s humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan was an “extraordinary success”. Multi-trillion spending bills “cost nothing”. “The border is closed.[...]
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  There’s an old saying that people often misattribute to Albert Einstein-- that ‘the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result.’ The saying has become a bit of a cliché, but there is actually some truth to it. About 80 years ago, a psychologist named George[...]
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  For this week’s podcast I had the pleasure to speak with Viktorija once again, fresh off a long flight from Istanbul and several weeks in Europe. We had a really in-depth discussion that covers a lot of ground. We talked about Mexico City… and why it’s such a pleasant surprise: cheap, chic, clean, civilized, and[...]
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  Prince Harry ventured out of his nine-bedroom, $14.7 million oceanfront compound in California earlier this week to deliver a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. The fact that Prince Harry is even addressing the UN General Assembly is absurd itself. But even more absurd were his weeping, whiny, wimpy remarks: “The right thing to[...]
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  It’s rare to find someone, anyone, who has yet to witness, hear about, or directly experience the devastating consequences of the supposed leadership that ‘experts’ have unleashed on us over the past few years. They have engineered and mishandle crisis after crisis after crisis… The world over, from California to Sri Lanka, people everywhere are[...]
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  As longtime readers know, I’ve been a tremendous fan of Lee’s since I was a small child. He was wise beyond his years and packed a great deal into his short life. I put one of his quotes up on our former office’s walls in Santiago. It reads: “To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.”[...]
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  Happy Canada Day to our Canadian friends. And Monday, of course, is Independence Day in the United States. It’ll be an odd one for sure. Many cities are reportedly cutting back on their fireworks displays due to… yes… supply chain shortages. And many people may scale down their traditional backyard grilling due to insanely high[...]
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  Today’s missive looks a bit different from our normal Friday roundup. As you probably know, a few big rulings came down from the United States Supreme Court over the past 24 hours-- one on gun control, the other on abortion. Predictably, the rulings were accompanied by a great deal of noise and outrage. We’re keeping[...]
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  In late 2019, a team executive for the NBA’s Houston Rockets Tweeted a very brief statement of support for pro-freedom protesters in Hong Kong. Hardly anyone should have noticed; he didn’t have much of a following, and it was an incredibly harmless comment. Yet that single Tweet caused a massive firestorm. The Chinese government lost[...]
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  It’s a simple question of arithmetic. Imagine you could go back in time to 1871 and ask one of your long lost ancestors to invest $2,500 for the benefit of future generations. That amount of money wasn’t insignificant… but certainly not a major fortune; it would be worth roughly $50,000 in today’s money. When placed[...]
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  In the early summer of 1514, Spanish conquistador Ponce de Leon returned home to the court of King Ferdinand as a hero. De Leon was among the first of Spain’s conquistadors to discover gold-- right here in Puerto Rico. And that was enough for him to be knighted and bestowed all sorts of royal honors.[...]
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  When Gideon Gono became the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in late 2003, his country was already suffering from terrible hyperinflation. Throughout the 1990s, inflation in Zimbabwe averaged well over 20%. And just a few years later inflation had reached 200%. That’s when Zimbabwe’s government hired Gideon Gono to fix the inflation problem.[...]
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  It’s not generally in my nature to heap praise upon a place with a 53% tax rate, a 25% VAT, or one of the top ten highest tax burdens in the world. But as I often remark, nearly every place in the world has something great going for it… some unique competitive advantages that set[...]
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  301 AD was a big year for the Roman Empire. That was the year that, amid spiraling inflation, Emperor Diocletian issued his Edict on Maximum Prices, essentially fixing prices of just about everything across the Roman Empire. The price of wheat, a day labor’s wages, a quart of olive oil, transportation rates-- everything was established[...]
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  While traveling across Europe recently, Sovereign Man's CEO (Viktorija) became quite ill and needed some urgent medical treatment. First, she’s doing fine, and we’re grateful for that. Second, it’s not COVID. I know that in the collective mind of most of the world, and for especially public health experts, no other disease exists except for[...]
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  Think back to where you were two years ago today. For me, I was in Trakai, Lithuania. It was Day 4 of our 10th annual Sovereign Academy entrepreneurship camp. My dear friends Bill and Marco were giving a joint lecture to the students on hiring, firing, and building culture within a business. Craig Ballantyne was[...]
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  By the summer of 1849, Karl Marx was still an obscure writer struggling to make an impact. He had published The Communist Manifesto-- a short, 23-page pamphlet-- the previous year in 1848. But as yet it had failed to catch on. Marx was operating a fledgling newspaper in Germany at the time. But he kept[...]
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  Nearly every year in his annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters, Warren Buffett spends a few pages talking about the dynamism of the American economy. His message is clear: the United States has faced adversity before. It will again. But America always prevails and you should never bet against it. That theme has certainly held true[...]
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  The most astute investors in the world understand that there is no such thing as a risk-free investment. Every investment carries at least some risk; stocks, bonds, venture capital, real estate... even something as simple as keeping money in a bank.… they all carry some degree of risk. Sharp investors take steps to identify and[...]
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  In late 2019, the real estate firm Knight Frank published a list of the most expensive streets in the world, i.e. the individual neighborhoods with outrageously pricey real estate. The top 10 list included four streets in New York City (57th Street, Central Park South, Fifth Avenue, and Park Avenue), three in Hong Kong, two[...]
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  One of the wonderful people I’ve been fortunate to get to know in my life is legendary investor and prolific author Jim Rogers. I’ve known Jim for nearly 10 years now. He’s a great guy and I’ve learned so much from him-- about finance, markets, travel, writing. But above all that, one thing in particular[...]
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  In last week’s podcast -- the first podcast episode we’ve published in a few years -- Viktorija and I discussed how central banks engineer inflation… and why inflation is probably here to stay. In this week’s episode, we dove even deeper into the topic to discuss a different type of inflation: ASSET price inflation. Remember[...]
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  It feels like it’s easily been two years since I’ve recorded a public podcast. But after yesterday’s article about inflation, I realized that I had so much more to say. Inflation-- which is essentially the slow destruction of a currency-- is already a major issue that’s capturing headlines. But there are plenty of reasons why[...]
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  This morning I reached out to my old friend and colleague Peter Schiff to talk about some uncomfortable truths that very few people are discussing right now. I wrote to you about this yesterday: banks are in trouble. You can’t expect to shut down practically an entire world economy that is in debt to the[...]
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  I thought in this age of insanity that we are living in, nothing would surprise me anymore. But sure enough, there was a headline in the Financial Times the other day, “Central banks should consider giving people money.” It seems almost impossible that someone could believe in something so ridiculous. And yet this is the[...]
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  Each year, I invite an incredible mix of young people from more than a dozen countries to join me in Lithuania for an intense week of business, investing and entrepreneurship classes taught by the smartest people I know (it’s also entirely free for the students who attend. I pay out of my own pocket for[...]
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  Last week in its annual report, the US government reported that Social Security’s long-term, unfunded liability now exceeds $50 TRILLION. Moreover, they state that the Social Security and Medicare trust funds will run out of money in 2034. This is the government’s own calculation. Bottom line: The younger you are, the less you should count[...]
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  Today’s podcast is with Marin Katusa. Marin is a world-class resource investor and lead analyst for Katusa Research – his publishing company, where he shares the details of many of the private investments he makes. Marin’s been investing in resource stocks for twenty years. And he’s gained a reputation as a guy who can get[...]
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  Today’s episode of the Sovereign Man Podcast features non other than Sovereign Man's Chief Investment Strategist, Tim Staermose, talking about not one but two highly successful, targeted investment strategies with proven track records. If you are a regular Sovereign Confidential or 4th Pillar reader, then you’re familiar with Tim’s wit, his financial probity, and his[...]
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  Today we bring you a fresh episode of the Sovereign Man Podcast, where Simon Black unpacks why the people in charge have no idea what they’re talking about… and how you can protect yourself from their policies. Freshman politicians want to nationalize entire industries. They want to increase the marginal tax rate to 70% or[...]
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  Welcome to another edition of the Sovereign Man podcast. As we enter 2019, you’ll start to see more podcasts from us. And you also might notice a few changes. We’ve upped the production value of our chats with Simon. And we’ll continue to improve both the production and the content of our podcasts. And we’d[...]
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  Between the year 1054 and 1224, there were 83 civil wars in Russia. That’s about one civil war every two years. Through the middle ages, feudal lords were periodically murdered in peasant revolts. When people sense too much unfairness in the system, the pitchforks come out. Wealth and inequality have been with us for all[...]
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  Last week I recorded the most memorable podcast I’ve hosted in some time. Jim Grant, editor of the famed Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, joined us for a discussion. Grant’s, in my opinion, is one of the finest financial publications out there. And it’s a treat to have a guy like Jim on the podcast. He’s[...]
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  It’s been a hell of a week here in the Italian countryside. I’ve been treating my team and some friends to a sort of mini-vacation at a 400-year old wine and olive estate that we’ve taken over. The views, the food, the wine, the company… it’s all incredible. Each night about two dozen of us[...]
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  In today’s podcast, I share the details of a deal a well-known private bank just offered me (and its roster of other high-net worth clients). It’s a bad deal in every way… the asset in question is valued insanely high, there’s likely a ton of debt attached to this deal and I doubt anyone who[...]
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  Last week, Paolo Savona, an Italian man no one outside the country had ever heard of, was denied the position of finance minister. Italy’s President denied his appointment because Savona is anti-euro. The President believes Italy should remain part of the euro. I wrote a Notes about the entire situation last week. But the point[...]
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  In today’s podcast, I share more thoughts on Puerto Rico including my experiences opening a business there. While the island has its problems, I’m still bullish on the long-term future given Puerto Rico’s incredible tax incentives (especially after meeting with their government leader and seeing how open they are to productive people moving in). I[...]
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  I’m writing from San Juan, Puerto Rico today. The Sovereign Man team is here to host 150+ Total Access members over the weekend. And on today’s podcast, we discuss the amazing tax benefits in PR... and why crypto wealth is flocking to the island. These people think crypto is going to the moon. And by[...]
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  Wells Fargo stole the headlines yet again today for defrauding its clients. The bank was fined $1 billion today for selling over 500,000 clients auto insurance they didn’t need (which in some cases caused the owners to default on their car loans and get their cars repossessed) and for charging erroneous fees to mortgage borrowers.[...]
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  On Monday, I shared a recording from aboard the Investor Summit at Sea, hosted by my friends, the Real Estate Guys. This is one of the only conferences I attend each year as a speaker. And that’s because I get so much value from the other speakers and attendees – guys like Chris Martenson, Adam[...]
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  I’m writing you today from a cruise ship, on my way to Puerto Rico. Every year, I get together with some of the smartest guys in finance and investing for my friends, the Real Estate Guys, Investor Summit at Sea. I almost never speak at conferences outside of Sovereign Man events. But I always make[...]
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  I was in the gym earlier today trying to ward off the effects of trans-Pacific travel and 12 hours of time zone changes when the news flashed across the TV that the US government was issuing another round of tariffs against China. This may be the dumbest move they could possibly make. It’s so stupid,[...]
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  On the morning of May 18, 1927 in Bath Township, Michigan, a 55-year old municipal worker named Andrew Kehoe used a timed detonator to set off a bomb he had planted at the local school. Kehoe was Treasurer of the School Board, so he had unfettered access to the school. According to friends and neighbors,[...]
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  As I write this, bitcoin is trading at $8,600. That's down more than 50% from the December highs of $20,000. But is this selloff a natural correction, or something to be worried about? That's one of the questions I ask my guest Tama Churchouse in today's podcast. Tama was an investment banker for a decade,[...]
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  In today’s podcast, I talk with our Chief Investment Strategist, Tim Staermose, about the global economy. We’re in the midst of one of the longest economic expansions in history. Most assets are trading at all-time highs. Meanwhile, debt is also at all-time highs. But we don’t have a crystal ball… this boom could easily continue[...]
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  In today’s podcast, we discuss the recent crypto meltdown (led by Ripple) and how it plays into our recent theme of avoiding huge mistakes. Here’s the thing about big mistakes… they’re usually obvious and avoidable. Like when the Social Security Board of Trustees told the world in its 2017 report that the “Trust Fund reserves[...]
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  My colleague, Sean Goldsmith, just returned from a tour of the Caribbean. He met with several local governments about their ‘citizenship by investment’ programs – a way to receive a passport by donating money or investing in local businesses or real estate. If you have the means, this is probably the quickest and easiest way[...]
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  In today’s podcast, I chatted with Silver Bullion’s founder Gregor Gregersen. Silver Bullion is a precious metals storage company based in Singapore. While here in Singapore, Gregor and I discussed why the gold versus Bitcoin debate is misguided. It’s not an either-or proposition. Instead, with systemic risks in the financial system, the case for holding[...]
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  In today’s podcast, I tackle the subject of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Regular readers know I’m skeptical of cryptocurrencies. And I think many ICOs are outright frauds. We’ve seen celebrities like Paris Hilton, Jamie Fox and Floyd Mayweather all endorse ICOs. A friend of mine who’s raising money in an ICO even told me these[...]
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  In today’s podcast, I discuss the recent Paradise Papers fiasco – the massive leak of sensitive, offshore financial information held by the Bermudan law firm Appleby. This thing has been a complete witch hunt in the media… The whiny journalists paint the wealthy and famous who parked money offshore as criminals… Though they begrudgingly admit[...]
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  Bitcoin hit another all-time high today on the back of two, major announcements. Dedicated Sovereign Man readers know I don’t pay much attention to Bitcoin’s price. Instead, I focus on the market cap and demand fundamentals. In today’s Podcast, I explain my thoughts on the future demand of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and what these[...]
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  In today’s podcast, Sovereign Man's Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose joins me to talk about the risks in today’s market… We cover the rise of passive investing, and why we think it could cause chaos when the market turns – with some of the biggest and most popular stocks (like Apple and Amazon) falling 10%[...]
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  Today’s Notes is a bit different… I recorded a conversation I had with my colleague Sean Goldsmith about my recent travels to Venezuela. I explain how I exchanged my US dollars on the black market for Bolivar (with a taxi driver I’d never met before)… and how the situation in Venezuela will get worse before[...]
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  First it was Pets.com, and all the unbelievably stupid Internet businesses in the 1990s. Investors were so eager to buy dot-com stocks, all you had to do was put an “e” in front of your business or product and you’d immediately be worth millions. It didn’t matter that most of these companies didn’t make any[...]
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  Yesterday I recorded a new podcast with my US-based tax attorney to talk about the Trump administration’s new tax plan... or as I like to call it, the plan to have a plan. Clearly they’re trying to do something positive and significant. But to say that their strategy is light on details at just a[...]
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  Yesterday I told you that the US government had recently released its annual financial report to the public. And the numbers are pretty gruesome. For example, the government’s “net loss” in fiscal year 2016 more than doubled, from MINUS $467 billion to MINUS $1 trillion. It’s astonishing that anyone could manage to lose so much[...]
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  [Editor’s note: We have made this content available as an audio and video podcast, but I encourage you to watch the video with the slides.] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsYe8_FFkoA In the video I mention a preview issue of our 4th Pillar Investment Service. Click here to download it. For most of the past week, we’ve been spending a[...]
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  One of my interesting friends is in town visiting Chile for a few days. His name is Gianni-- he's originally from Croatia but lives in Vancouver, and has spent most of his career in the mining business. Gianni is especially bullish on copper… primarily because he thinks the Age of Big Oil is coming to[...]
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  What I’m about to tell you is a true story. And by the end of it, I hope it will be pretty clear that we’ve been programmed to put far, far too much trust in the banking system. We’re told that banks are supposedly “risk free”. And yet every scrap of publicly available evidence shows[...]
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  One of the most profound moments of my entire adult life came to me when I was learning about my family history, which I’ve managed to trace back over eight centuries. I discovered so many incredible stories from the past, and the indelible conclusion that I’ve reached is that it’s an absolute miracle that any[...]
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  I’ve never been so happy to be so wrong. Britain’s referendum on whether or not to stay part of the European Union was marred by some of the most blatant propaganda we’ve seen in the West in a very, very long time. But… at the end of the day, the British government at least accurately[...]
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  In our daily conversations, we regularly discuss how important it is to own real assets-- especially precious metals. There’s so much risk in the financial system right now. Just consider your own bank account, for example. If you’re in the West, more than likely your bank is -extremely- illiquid, meaning that they only keep a[...]
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  No one likes to pay for insurance. If you don’t smoke, if you go to the gym regularly, and if you generally eat well, it just might not seem worth it. Especially when the average cost of insuring against just catastrophic health incidents can take up about 4% of your income. But most of us[...]
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  I come to New York City every year because it’s where the annual meeting of the Atlas 400 group is held. If you’ve not heard of Atlas, it’s a social club… primarily for like-minded, high achieving, self-made individuals. I always go out of my way to attend the annual meeting because the other members are[...]
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  “What is it about this place that makes it so poor?” It was a simple question posed to me by a friend as we walked the streets of Managua, Nicaragua earlier this week. Nicaragua is a lovely place. But it’s poor. Very poor. It’s the least developed economy in Central America... and that’s saying something.[...]
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  The Internet practically exploded this morning after a detailed report was published proving that dozens of corrupt politicians around the world have been stealing public funds and hiding the loot overseas. In other news, the Pope is Catholic. Not to make light of this, but this hardly comes as a surprise. There’s some Grade A[...]
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  Yesterday I received a rather desperate phone call from a relative of mine named Sam. I used to spend a LOT of time with Sam growing up. And back then he was an amazing guy. Sam was the kind of person who was so charismatic that you felt happy and excited just being around him.[...]
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  In his History of the Peloponnesian War, ancient Greek historian Thucydides told us the tale of a dominant regional power (Sparta) that felt threatened by the rise of a competing power (Athens). Sparta felt so threatened, in fact, that all the moves they made to keep the Athenian rise in check eventually escalated the power[...]
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  It’s no secret that the conventional model of success no longer works. Go to school, get good grades, get a good job, work your way up the ladder, and then enjoy life when you retire. This idea has been drummed into our heads since we were young, but today it’s totally defunct. Following that path[...]
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  I remember several years ago in the Land of the Free when the big wave in the banking industry was to offer “free checking”. There used to be a time (that a lot of people probably don’t remember) when banks charged monthly or annual fees to maintain your bank account. This changed several years ago.[...]
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  Pop quiz: What was the top grossing movie in the world the last time the US tax code was overhauled? The answer is Top Gun. And the year was 1986. (Other major hits that year include Karate Kid II, Crocodile Dundee, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) Think about it-- this a tax code that was[...]
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  This week I’ve been down in Southern Chile with the Board of Directors of our agricultural company. It’s summertime right now, and the weather is absolutely gorgeous. Last night, after a long day visiting one of the farms I had a chance to sit down with Tim Price to share a bottle of our very[...]
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  It started in 1921. World War I was over. The Treaty of Versailles had been signed two years before. And Germany, the biggest loser from the war, had been stuck with both the blame and the bill. Germany’s war debt-- which it owed not only for its own war-related expenses, but also for reparations to[...]
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  I want to tell you about a time when I was really scared. Terrified. It was back in 2003, right as George W. Bush made his final decision to send the 'coalition of the willing' north into Iraq. Saddam Hussein knew he was finished. And, in a fit of desperation, he started launching loads of[...]

James Hickman is a West Point graduate and former intelligence officer who has had an extensive business and investment career spanning more than 25 years. James has traveled to 120+ countries on all 7 continents, and he has started, invested in, and acquired businesses all over the world, in sectors ranging from technology to agriculture to banking. Since he originally began writing under the pen name ‘Simon Black’ back in 2007, James has accurately predicted many of the major trends and events of our time, including the West’s enormous debt bubble, inflation, bank failures, social unrest, and more. Read more at www.schiffsovereign.com