|
The Greater Depression
By Doug Casey
Chairman, CaseyResearch.com
09/27/07 "Financial
Sense™ " -- -- Let me cover the big picture.
I do think we're approaching the end of the world as we know
it…I think there is such thing as the business cycle. It exists.
And we've had the longest expansion - and the strongest
expansion - in the world history. But we're at the end of a
25-year boom. It's gone on more than a full generation now. And
I'll tell you how it's going to end: It's going to end with a
depression, and not just a depression; not just another Great
Depression; it's going to be the Greater Depression
What's a depression, incidentally? It's a period of time when
distortions and misallocations of capital are liquidated; that's
called a depression. Over the last 25 years, distortions and
misallocations of capital have produced an artificial boom. But
when these distortions and misallocations of capital are
liquidated, we'll get a depression.
Another general definition of a depression is this: a period of
time when most people's standard of living goes down
significantly. Now, for the long run, there's no question in my
mind the standard of living of everybody on earth is going to go
up immensely over the next hundred years. Immensely. But that
doesn't mean that we're not going to have setbacks, and I think
we're looking at one: A severe standard of living drop. So the
economic picture is not going to be good…
So what should you be doing about all this? I suggest you really
internationalize yourself. I think what you ought to have is
your citizenship in one country, your bank account in another
country, your investments in a third, and live in a fourth.
You've got to internationalize yourself. Most people out there
are like medieval serfs, psychologically and physically: they're
born some place, they don't go very far from it and that's where
they die, and they're going to get exactly what they deserve.
Well, you can't be that way. I think you ought to treat the
world as your oyster.
What am I doing about this? I've been all over the world. I
guess I've lived in 12 countries now. And out of 175, I've been
to most of them, numerous times actually. What am I doing, where
do I want to go, where am I living?
Well, in New Zealand. I went there a few years ago for the polo,
actually, and the reason was that playing polo there was about
10% what it cost me in Palm Beach, and I liked it better. So we
bought a lot of real estate. But since then, the currency has
doubled and the real estate within that currency has doubled at
least. So I'm getting out of New Zealand. Where am I going now?
I'm going to Argentina.
And let me give you a tip, okay? Forget about Europe, it's going
to become a petting zoo. It's like Disneyland with real stones
instead of paper Mache stones. I mean, Europe is on the slippery
slope. I wouldn't touch Europe with a ten-foot pole. If this war
with Islam gets out of control, Europe is going to be an
epicenter. It's going to be a disaster. I'll tell you where you
ought to look. Argentina is the place to be. It's the cheapest
country in the world. It has low population, incredibly
beautiful, the climate is great. One hundred years ago, it was
in competition with the US for being the best place in the world
and the richest place. But it went downhill radically,
radically.
But let me tell you something. It's turning around I think. And
what's going to happen is driven by the fact that everything in
Argentina costs between 10% to 30% of what it costs in North
America. That's correct. It's that cheap. It's free. It's free.
It's free for us as North Americans. But the Europeans really
think it's free with that strong Euro. So you're getting a
massive immigration from rich Europeans that can see the
handwriting on the wall and like it down there. And I really
like it down there. It's just a great society, great society,
great place to hang out, prices are right. I mean this can solve
most of your investment problems right there, just by
transplanting yourself, if you've got some capital. Furthermore,
Argentina is going to be insolated from WWIII to a good extent.
Hope to see you down there!
Click
on "comments" below to
read or post comments
Comment
Guidelines
Be succinct, constructive and
relevant to the story.
We
encourage engaging, diverse and
meaningful commentary. Do not
include personal information such
as names, addresses, phone
numbers and emails. Comments
falling outside our guidelines
– those including personal
attacks and profanity – are
not permitted.
See our complete
Comment
Policy and
use
this link to notify us if you
have concerns about a comment.
We’ll promptly review and
remove any inappropriate
postings.
Send Page To a Friend
In accordance
with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational
purposes. Information Clearing House has no
affiliation whatsoever with the originator of
this article nor is Information ClearingHouse
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
|
