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Author Topic: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014  (Read 22855 times)

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Offline cufflinks

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How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« on: August 06, 2014, 11:33:51 AM »
Now that much of the Eurosphere and Anglosphere are in a race to the economic bottom with their G7 Peers (Japan Abenomics deep minus 7% GDP crash)...  where are the best places to weather out the economic storm and coming tsunami/typhoons?

USA bubbles pending bursting:

Student loan bubble
Mortgage back securities CDS CDO reflating bubble
Southern Border Babies bubble instigated by Latin American Drugs Cartels/Gangs
Islamic Radicals Global Clash of Civilizations bubble
China Throwing its weight and money around the Third World Bubble

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/04/13/top-5-us-dollar-collapse-predictions/

So in search of safe havens temporary or better yet permanent from RU-UA war, Mideast Wars, Obamaunists war on US Small Business Owners with 50%+ Fed State Local Property Gas Sales taxes etc etc ...

I am posting the following newsletter/blog articles to help the RUA FSUW seekers find a politically and economically safe place in the sun to live out your days in blissful splendor with your loving thin young sensual FSUW...  Clearly the UA RU and UK-USA are not those places so following is where to start looking at least...

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/04/27/top-5-safest-countries-to-bank-offshore/

http://www.gfmag.com/awards-rankings/best-banks-and-financial-rankings/worlds-50-safest-banks-2013 

If your bank is not on this list then you need to rejigger your financial life asap...

WORLD'S 50 SAFEST BANKS 2013

Rank   Group Name   Country
1   KfW   Germany
2   Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten   Netherlands
3   Zürcher Kantonalbank   Switzerland
4   Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank   Germany
5   L-Bank   Germany
6   Nederlandse Waterschapsbank   Netherlands
7   Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations   France
8   NRW.Bank   Germany
9   Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat   Luxembourg
10   Rabobank   Netherlands
11   TD Bank Group   Canada
12   DBS Bank   Singapore
13   Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp   Singapore
14   United Overseas Bank   Singapore
15   Royal Bank of Canada   Canada
16   National Australia Bank   Australia
17   Commonwealth Bank of Australia   Australia
18   Westpac   Australia
19   ANZ Group   Australia
20   Nordea   Sweden
21   Bank of Nova Scotia   Canada
22   Svenska Handelsbanken   Sweden
23   Hang Seng Bank   Hong Kong
24   Caisse centrale Desjardins   Canada
25   HSBC   United Kingdom
26   Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (Sparkasse)   Germany
27   China Development Bank   China
28   Bank of Montreal   Canada
29   CIBC   Canada
30   Agricultural Development Bank of China   China
31   BNY Mellon   United States
32   Pohjola   Finland
33   CoBank   United States
34   AgriBank   United States
35   National Bank of Abu Dhabi   UAE
36   Korea Finance Corporation   South Korea
37   National Bank of Kuwait   Kuwait
38   BancoEstado   Chile
39   AgFirst   United States
40   DZ Bank   Germany
41   U.S. Bancorp   United States
42   Industrial Bank of Korea   South Korea
43   Korea Development Bank   South Korea
44   Qatar National Bank   Qatar
45   Northern Trust   United States
46   Samba Financial Group   Saudi Arabia
47   Bank of Taiwan   Taiwan
48   Banco de Chile   Chile
49   LGT Bank   Liechten
50   Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ   Japan

The following institutions qualified for inclusion in the list but did not make the ranking owing to their total assets: Wells Fargo, Standard Chartered, Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel, SEB, DnB, Swedbank, State Street, National Bank of Canada, Shizuoka Bank, National Commercial Bank, Al Rajhi Bank, Suncorp Metway, Banco Santander Chile, Riyad Bank.


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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2014, 11:51:37 AM »
As well as:

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/04/20/top-5-highest-offshore-bank-interest-rates/

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2013/11/17/top-5-offshore-tax-havens-bank-secrecy/

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/04/16/four-offshore-banking-countries-bother/

Avoid:

Cyprus
I don’t know which is worse: the fact that some offshore websites are still promoting their ability to open a Cyprus bank account for clients, or the fact that some people are still going for it.
While some would suggest that lightning rarely strikes twice, I wouldn’t be so fast to jump into bed with Cyprus with any amount of my money. I have concerns about their deposit insurance, their membership in the EU, the stability of their banking sector, and with their government.
Nor do I recommend you spend the reduced sum of 2.5 million euros for Cypriot citizenship, which will be offered to investor groups at a discount this June.


Ukraine
You might think that Ukraine is totally out of place on a list of offshore banking countries. And you’d be right… in the sense that it is worlds apart from the safe haven status of countries like Switzerland.
However, Ukraine currently offers some of the highest deposit yields on earth, with some banks paying up to 18% on one-year CDs. In a world starved for yield, adventurous depositors might seek refuge in a place like Ukraine.
Now, I’m a big fan of claiming higher interest rates in offshore jurisdictions. There’s no reason not to earn as much interest as you can, provided the jurisdiction you’re banking in is stable. Sadly, Ukraine is far from stable.
Many banks in Ukraine are controlled by the local mob as a means of money laundering. Even some Ukranian bank websites look remarkably similar to those 100%-a-day HYIP scams you see floating around online. That’s not surprising, because getting your money out of a Ukrainian bank can be near impossible.
To begin with, few banks in Ukraine will send proceeds from your account out of Ukraine. You have to go there to get your money. I can’t imagine many of you want to go to Ukraine a first time, let alone a second time.
Of course, a Ukranian banker is claimed to have toppled a large bank in Lithuania after using it to launder money. So your money might not be there at all. There was a time I might have been cautiously agnostic about opening an account with one of the international banks in Ukraine. Today, I wouldn’t advise doing even that.

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2014, 12:04:11 PM »
Not to forget the Sovereign Society latest newsletter:

http://thesovereigninvestor.com/gold/gold-prices-reveal-truth-about-u-s-economy/

VS...

Invest in the Real Economy

The lesson is straightforward. Investing in Chinese refrigeration, cold transport or dumpling companies is investing in a real, growing economy.  There will be solid returns because there will be growth in the production and consumption of real things.

In the U.S., by contrast, the remaining investment opportunities are either ephemeral Silicon Valley “apps,” or neo-feudal income streams from derivatives and other oddities, based on loan repayments by American households whose real income is declining every year.

The choice should be clear: Go East.

Full story:

Chill Out, China
By Ted Baumann, Offshore and Asset Protection Editor

Dear Sovereign Investor,

During my years as an urban housing “expert,” travelling the world’s poorest places, I developed a personal typology of countries. Whereas most Westerners tend to see all the less-developed places on the planet as an undifferentiated mass, I divided them into two broad groups: “Getting There” and “Basket Case.” Vietnam and Kenya are examples of the former. Haiti and Ethiopia are the latter.

Of course, as I stress to members of my Plan B Club, you can usually find symptoms of both categories in one country. The big difference is that “Getting There” countries are moving inexorably towards spreading improved conditions to the majority. In “Basket Cases,” such conditions exist only in tiny pockets, using imported stuff at prices that only foreigners and the local “1%” can afford.

So how do you know you’re in a “Basket Case” place? Take it from me: the surest sign is fly-covered meat.

In almost all cities of the developing world, there are open-air markets. There are usually specialized sections: medicinal herbs, clothing, household goods, food and so on. Some of these markets can cover many acres, divided by byzantine pathways.

The food sections are subdivided: dry goods, canned and packaged goods, spices, vegetables, and meat and fish. In “Getting There” countries, the latter are usually in tubs of ice or even electric coolers.

In “Basket Case” cities, however, like Port-au-Prince, Monrovia or Chittagong, meat and fish are always on the lee edge of the market, where the stench of rotting flesh and the clouds of flies can waft away on a breeze — when and if there is one.

The Big Chill

Most of us take refrigeration for granted. It seems like it’s always been around, in the grocery store and our homes. We are vaguely aware that it exists between those places as well, in the form of refrigerated trains and trucks, even airplanes. But we rarely think about how it got there.

The “cold chain,” as it’s known, is a seamless web of refrigerated storage and transport that extends from where perishable food originates — farms and fishing boats — to where it is stored for our final consumption. It dramatically reduces food waste and food-borne illness.

But a cold chain emerges only when conditions are right. There has to be enough trade, and therefore enough income, to support the investment and operating costs associated with so much refrigeration. An economy has to reach a “tipping point” of wealth and trade to sustain a cold chain. But when it does, the transformation is profound.

Take China, for example. In 1992 — a mere 22 years ago — only one in 10 Chinese households had a refrigerator. In the megacities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, the cold chain had to wait until electricity became more reliable and households had more disposable income, both a consequence of the country’s rapid industrialization. For smaller cities, like Zhengzhou, the conversion has taken even longer.

The demand for refrigeration services has increased by more than 30% year-on-year in China’s major coastal cities. In just the 12 years between 1995 and 2007, China’s domestic refrigerator-ownership jumped from 7% to 95% of urban households. By 2017, China will surpass the United States in total cold storage space.

But even then, Chinese cold storage per capita will be only 3.7 cubic feet — roughly a third of ours. In the U.S., 70% of all food passes through a cold chain. By contrast, in China, less than a quarter of the country’s meat supply is slaughtered, transported, stored or sold under refrigeration. The figure for fruits and vegetables is 5%. Consequently, nearly half of all the food produced in China still rots before it even reaches the retail market.

That means the Chinese refrigeration boom is only just beginning.

Think of what that means from an investment perspective. Building out the cold chain itself is just the starting point of massive economic transformation. The Chinese cold chain will require more energy, which means more fuel, more power plants and upgraded and expanded electrical grids. Refrigerator trucks and trains will have to be built and operated. Stores will have to be retrofitted and remodeled. Repair and maintenance industries for all of this will be needed.

But the really interesting part is what happens once the cold chain takes hold, as it is already beginning to do in China. Food consumption and production will be revolutionized. People will go from buying daily at open air markets and pickling, smoking or otherwise preserving food to buying frozen packaged foods and shopping less frequently. Patterns of consumption of fruits and vegetables will shift as seasonality becomes less important.

Indeed, one of the fastest-growing industries in China today is the manufacture of frozen dumplings. Dumplings — Shui jiao, Tang tuan, Xiaolongbao, Zheng jiao (pot-stickers) or the ubiquitous wonton — are a staple of Chinese cuisine (and very popular in the Baumann household). A single Chinese dumpling plant produces half a million pounds of the little morsels every single day. China’s largest frozen dumpling operation, Sanquan, has seven such plants.

For now, frozen dumplings account for just a tiny portion of the Chinese dumpling market, but as refrigeration spreads across the country, there will be room for this beloved industry to skyrocket …



Offline Manny

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2014, 12:33:58 PM »
16   National Australia Bank - Australia

For Brits, thats who owns the Yorkshire Bank.
Read a trip report from North Korea >>here<< - Read a trip report from South Korea, China and Hong Kong >>here<<

Look what the American media makes some people believe:
Putin often threatens to strike US with nuclear weapons.

Offline NS1

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2014, 01:37:31 PM »
Guess I am fine all of the top 5 banks in Canada are in the top 30.
what about my money sock?
There is nothing permanent except change.

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #6 on: August 10, 2014, 11:36:45 AM »
Guess I am fine all of the top 5 banks in Canada are in the top 30.
what about my money sock?

Only problem is Americans appear to only be able to open an account with TDNorth Bank that has agreed to FATCA reporting as they do business here in the USA Boston and SoNH included.

Feel free to correct me if this is wrong.




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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #7 on: August 10, 2014, 11:50:06 AM »
Interesting links this week...

http://thesovereigninvestor.com/diversified-investments/cyber-threats-reap-profits-for-cybersecurity/

While on contract this spring at FHLBBoston I was invited to a new customers lunch at the Ritz Carlton where FEYE also invited a few potential investors - served broiled samon or filet mignon - good presentation.

also;

http://nomadcapitalist.com/flag-theory/

http://nomadcapitalist.com/offshore-company/

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/03/09/top-5-best-second-residency-programs-central-south-america/

For those interested the next Nomad Capitalist offshore conference will be in Nicaragua - local cigar shop owner has been there several times - not as much Urban Action as Rio or Motevideo or Panama City but the Red Chinese have just announced a new $57 Billion super canal to add more capacity to Panama Canals and the Columbia roll on roll of rail land canal...

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/02/10/expat-life-cost-living-nicaragua/

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/02/12/second-residency-nicaragua-easy-second-home-americas/

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/02/06/start-business-nicaragua-hint-cheap/

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/02/05/buy-invest-nicaragua-real-estate/

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #8 on: August 10, 2014, 11:55:13 AM »
As Black Knight used panama for his new wife as a temporary domicile till he transited her to the USA not without drama interesting read:

Seems Switzerland and Panama no longer safe banking havens for USA citizens...

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/02/10/panama-banks-offshore-accounts/

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2013/10/27/top-5-emerging-markets-for-offshore-banking/

Offline sashathecat

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2014, 11:55:37 AM »
For those interested the next Nomad Capitalist offshore conference will be in Nicaragua - local cigar shop owner has been there several times - not as much Urban Action as Rio or Motevideo or Panama City but the Red Chinese have just announced a new $57 Billion super canal to add more capacity to Panama Canals and the Columbia roll on roll of rail land canal...

Beautiful country but still a bit wild and dangerous. Great place to invest if you have brass cojones and can afford risk.

Seems Switzerland and Panama no longer safe banking havens for USA citizens...

Most of Central America has signed a deal with Uncle Sam. Costa Rica tightened up laws to the horror of all the expats down there and Panama has followed suit. Several of my brothers have dual citizenship though and are Panamanian citizens...


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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #10 on: August 10, 2014, 12:09:57 PM »
For those interested the next Nomad Capitalist offshore conference will be in Nicaragua - local cigar shop owner has been there several times - not as much Urban Action as Rio or Motevideo or Panama City but the Red Chinese have just announced a new $57 Billion super canal to add more capacity to Panama Canals and the Columbia roll on roll of rail land canal...

Beautiful country but still a bit wild and dangerous. Great place to invest if you have brass cojones and can afford risk.

I am thinking of attending the Nomad Capitalist offshore Conference there this fall as I made some serious bank doing CyberSecurity consulting at the largest wholesale bank in New England from Nov 19th last year through June 30th of this year - interesting  place actually but signed multiple NDAs... so not much I can say - which is why I am looking at either both the Sovereign Society and Nomad Capitalists Offshore Wealth conferences...  Cyber Security opps booming worldwide maybe the Sandinistas could use some help keeping the Red Chinese from too much snooping - ooops they just did a $57 B USD new mega canals deal with the Red Chinese Army Commies.

Like I said our local Cigar Shop owner visited a couple cigar plantations (Perdomo a great smoke and a few others) ... the workers average about $1,300 a year so he ran a baseball glove and baseballs donation drive for the worker's kids which was a big hit.  In all honesty seems the Sandinistas are embracing free market economics just like Russia and the Chinese but have managed to keep a lid on the Mexican, Honduran and MS13 El Salvadoran drugs gangs.

Mexico is a great country visited many times but the 70,000 drugs murders just keep piling up with no end in sight.   The Obamunistas ignore Mexico and are flying Drone and Jet raids back in Iraq again.  Narco Terrorists drugs cartels are a much bigger threat to the USA and control illegal drugs distribution now in over 350 USA and Canada cities - they are not all here to take $10 an hour under the table landscaping or kitchen labor jobs.

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #11 on: August 10, 2014, 12:34:31 PM »
As Black Knight used panama for his new wife as a temporary domicile till he transited her to the USA not without drama interesting read:

Seems Switzerland and Panama no longer safe banking havens for USA citizens...

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/02/10/panama-banks-offshore-accounts/

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2013/10/27/top-5-emerging-markets-for-offshore-banking/

Switzerland isn't safe for anyone any more. They rolled over to the OECD ages ago.
Read a trip report from North Korea >>here<< - Read a trip report from South Korea, China and Hong Kong >>here<<

Look what the American media makes some people believe:
Putin often threatens to strike US with nuclear weapons.

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #12 on: August 10, 2014, 12:46:32 PM »
As Black Knight used panama for his new wife as a temporary domicile till he transited her to the USA not without drama interesting read:

Seems Switzerland and Panama no longer safe banking havens for USA citizens...

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/02/10/panama-banks-offshore-accounts/

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2013/10/27/top-5-emerging-markets-for-offshore-banking/

Switzerland isn't safe for anyone any more. They rolled over to the OECD ages ago.

Where do you like to bank Manny?  Is Russia an option now that common sense prevails with Rosneft/ExxonMobil or is it still too "bi polar" sane one day and insane the next with the RU-UA civil war among cousins and brothers?

I was thinking very seriously of finding a Canadian wing woman to open an account in Canada now that I have my new Passport and Passport ID card for Canada, Mexico and Cruises to Caribe and at Everbank with their diversified basket of commodity country currencies OZ, CAN, NZ, Norway, South Africa as more stable currencies than the USA.

Jacsonville Jaguars Pro Football franchise named Everbank Stadium so doing pretty well as an FDIC insured place to hold baskets of safe currencies other than the USD fiat-flopper flapper bucks.  Yes some pay more than prevailing USSA 0.85% on the CDs as well - did I say FDIC insured?

https://www.everbank.com/currencies/cd-baskets

Browse the Baskets

The nations included in each CD basket share one overarching characteristic: they're either commodity rich, economy driven or geographically inspired. Access the details about our CD baskets below.
Diversify smarter

    Low currency conversion rate2
    Access to emerging markets
    Interest rates available3

Commodity Rich

The nations in these baskets may benefit from increased world demand for their tremendous natural resources.
CD Basket    Breakdown
Commodity    
Global Power Shift®    
New World EnergySM    
PetrolSM    
Ultra Resource®    
World Energy®    
Economy Driven

The nations in these baskets may benefit because of sound economic strategies that help drive their monetary strength.
CD Basket    Breakdown
Balanced Debt®    
Euro Trax®    
Investor's Opportunity®    
Geographically Inspired

The nations in these baskets may benefit from certain regional strengths and geopolitical strategies.
CD Basket    Breakdown
European OpportunitySM    
Geographic    
Pacific Advantage®    
Pan-AsianSM    
Viking®


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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #13 on: August 10, 2014, 12:56:38 PM »
OBTW Pick the currency (or basket) and see the interest rates:

https://www.everbank.com/currencies/rates

i.e. Commodity basket more that DOUBLE US CD rates for similar time holds...

Commodity BasketSM >
Term    Rate4    APY4
3 month    1.68%    1.69%
6 month    1.80%    1.81%

Basket weighting: Australian dollar-25%, Canadian dollar-25%, New Zealand dollar-25%, South African rand-25%

Interesting 5 Anglo zone countries featured in various baskets OZ NZ CAN SA and Singapore even Hong Kong but NO USA, EURO or UK???

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #14 on: August 10, 2014, 01:02:17 PM »
Will have to research the exchange rate trends and inflation rates with the Brazilian Real...

Brazilian real3 >
Term    Rate2    APY2
3 month    8.00%    8.24%
6 month    8.00%    8.16%

8% like the USA back in 1986

VS  (WTF Over?)

British pound >
Term    Rate2    APY2
3 month    0.00%    0.00%
6 month    0.00%    0.00%
9 month    0.00%    0.00%
1 year    0.00%    0.00%

Also for less risk than Brazil and more income than UK:

Indian rupee3 >
Term    Rate2    APY2
3 month    2.50%    2.52%

New Zealand dollar >
Term    Rate2    APY2
3 month    1.50%    1.51%
6 month    1.75%    1.76%
9 month    1.75%    1.75%
1 year    2.25%    2.25%

Not to forget the SA Rand:

South African rand >
Term    Rate2    APY2
3 month    4.50%    4.58%
6 month    4.70%    4.76%

Offline Manny

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #15 on: August 10, 2014, 01:04:29 PM »
Where do you like to bank Manny? 

Probably not a discussion for the open forum.  :coffeeread:
Read a trip report from North Korea >>here<< - Read a trip report from South Korea, China and Hong Kong >>here<<

Look what the American media makes some people believe:
Putin often threatens to strike US with nuclear weapons.

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #16 on: August 10, 2014, 01:10:00 PM »
Alternate view, if you want to hold a basket of currencies - just have your bank get you the physical Euros/CDN/Yuan, and put them in a TRTL-30 certified safe; which is the actual measure of a good safe - you won't find these sold at your local Costco. 

A TRTL30 safe is one that weighs a lot (usually 750lbs or more), and, it is one that takes more than 30 minutes to crack, even when the thief has the right tools and access to all sides of the safe.  They incorporate things like glass relockers (if you strike the door with a lot of force, the glass inside breaks, and the lock is relocked via an internal mechanism) and true tool-resistant metal.

Some poking around here:  http://thesafewarehouse.com/  maybe in the used safe department, might make some sense. 

Everbank is a "digital" bank, and everything you have with them is digital, and tracked.  Having some cash in different currencies, on hand, might make sense should the need arise to drive north a few hours from where you are, cufflinks ...
Anchors Rewoven

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #17 on: August 10, 2014, 04:21:08 PM »
Where do you like to bank Manny? 

Probably not a discussion for the open forum.  :coffeeread:

Understood --- a PM of your opinions of the previous info and best places to bank in your opinion would be gratefully appreciated sir (pardon the blatant sucking up)  :)

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #18 on: August 10, 2014, 04:25:38 PM »
Now that much of the Eurosphere and Anglosphere are in a race to the economic bottom with their G7 Peers (Japan Abenomics deep minus 7% GDP crash)...  where are the best places to weather out the economic storm and coming tsunami/typhoons?

USA bubbles pending bursting:

Student loan bubble
Mortgage back securities CDS CDO reflating bubble
Southern Border Babies bubble instigated by Latin American Drugs Cartels/Gangs
Islamic Radicals Global Clash of Civilizations bubble
China Throwing its weight and money around the Third World Bubble

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/04/13/top-5-us-dollar-collapse-predictions/

So in search of safe havens temporary or better yet permanent from RU-UA war, Mideast Wars, Obamaunists war on US Small Business Owners with 50%+ Fed State Local Property Gas Sales taxes etc etc ...

I am posting the following newsletter/blog articles to help the RUA FSUW seekers find a politically and economically safe place in the sun to live out your days in blissful splendor with your loving thin young sensual FSUW...  Clearly the UA RU and UK-USA are not those places so following is where to start looking at least...

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/04/27/top-5-safest-countries-to-bank-offshore/

http://www.gfmag.com/awards-rankings/best-banks-and-financial-rankings/worlds-50-safest-banks-2013 

If your bank is not on this list then you need to rejigger your financial life asap...

WORLD'S 50 SAFEST BANKS 2013

Rank   Group Name   Country
1   KfW   Germany
2   Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten   Netherlands
3   Zürcher Kantonalbank   Switzerland
4   Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank   Germany
5   L-Bank   Germany
6   Nederlandse Waterschapsbank   Netherlands
7   Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations   France
8   NRW.Bank   Germany
9   Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat   Luxembourg
10   Rabobank   Netherlands
11   TD Bank Group   Canada
12   DBS Bank   Singapore
13   Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp   Singapore
14   United Overseas Bank   Singapore
15   Royal Bank of Canada   Canada
16   National Australia Bank   Australia
17   Commonwealth Bank of Australia   Australia
18   Westpac   Australia
19   ANZ Group   Australia
20   Nordea   Sweden
21   Bank of Nova Scotia   Canada
22   Svenska Handelsbanken   Sweden
23   Hang Seng Bank   Hong Kong
24   Caisse centrale Desjardins   Canada
25   HSBC   United Kingdom
26   Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (Sparkasse)   Germany
27   China Development Bank   China
28   Bank of Montreal   Canada
29   CIBC   Canada
30   Agricultural Development Bank of China   China
31   BNY Mellon   United States
32   Pohjola   Finland
33   CoBank   United States
34   AgriBank   United States
35   National Bank of Abu Dhabi   UAE
36   Korea Finance Corporation   South Korea
37   National Bank of Kuwait   Kuwait
38   BancoEstado   Chile
39   AgFirst   United States
40   DZ Bank   Germany
41   U.S. Bancorp   United States
42   Industrial Bank of Korea   South Korea
43   Korea Development Bank   South Korea
44   Qatar National Bank   Qatar
45   Northern Trust   United States
46   Samba Financial Group   Saudi Arabia
47   Bank of Taiwan   Taiwan
48   Banco de Chile   Chile
49   LGT Bank   Liechten
50   Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ   Japan

The following institutions qualified for inclusion in the list but did not make the ranking owing to their total assets: Wells Fargo, Standard Chartered, Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel, SEB, DnB, Swedbank, State Street, National Bank of Canada, Shizuoka Bank, National Commercial Bank, Al Rajhi Bank, Suncorp Metway, Banco Santander Chile, Riyad Bank.


On the West Coast of the USA I would add Farmers and Merchants as a very conservative and safe bank (California).
Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #19 on: August 10, 2014, 04:30:52 PM »
Alternate view, if you want to hold a basket of currencies - just have your bank get you the physical Euros/CDN/Yuan, and put them in a TRTL-30 certified safe; which is the actual measure of a good safe - you won't find these sold at your local Costco. 

A TRTL30 safe is one that weighs a lot (usually 750lbs or more), and, it is one that takes more than 30 minutes to crack, even when the thief has the right tools and access to all sides of the safe.  They incorporate things like glass relockers (if you strike the door with a lot of force, the glass inside breaks, and the lock is relocked via an internal mechanism) and true tool-resistant metal.

Some poking around here:  http://thesafewarehouse.com/  maybe in the used safe department, might make some sense. 

Everbank is a "digital" bank, and everything you have with them is digital, and tracked.  Having some cash in different currencies, on hand, might make sense should the need arise to drive north a few hours from where you are, cufflinks ...

LOL Slumba - good post and info - problem is I have too much cash in a hidden firesafe not earning interest now and am looking at best ways to earn best returns with transportability...

I can transfer funds in a matter of seconds online... can't carry more than $10K across the USA borders without risk of confiscation and violation of currency controls laws - Swift transfer from USA Everbank to offshore banking centers listed above takes no more than seconds to complete (SWIFT xfer is the definition of good clean funds according to my USA banker) and no more than a day or so to verify (Banks that use SWIFT like to grab a free day or two to verify good clean funds at 0% interest while they of course enjoy multiple overnight incomes on the float.

About the only non traceable biz left in the USA is cash transactions for restored autos or antiques or vintage goods which are typically one offs (American Pickers etc) and do not lend themselves to high volume repeat biz like an auto repair shop or security service etc.

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #20 on: August 12, 2014, 06:16:38 PM »
Ant - not to put too fine a point on it but by Nomad Capitalist definition California and its wealth confiscation tax regime including a blatant millionaires/billionaire's tax targeted at Silicon Valley types is (in Nomad Capitalist's POV) the absolute worst place to set up business in the USA if not the world (Excluding the tyrannies of North Korean, Iran and Cuba).

Nomad Capitalist's next offshore conference in the fall is in Nicaragua and Sovereign Society will be in the Trump Tower -tallest tower in Latin America in Panama City Panama:

Synopsis:

The Sovereign Society’s
13th Annual Total Wealth Symposium
September 17-20th, 2014 | Trump Hotel | Panama City, Panama

https://orders.sovereignsociety.com/TWS2014HIKE4/E190Q839/index.htm?pageNumber=2

The International Monetary Fund Is Recommending Wealth Confiscation To“Right The Ship” And Washington Is Already Making Plans To Seize Your
Retirement Accounts.

Keep Reading To Discover How You Can Grow And
Protect Your Wealth So You’re Not Stuck Scrambling For “Quick Fix” Solutions When The Looting Begins.

Dear Sovereign Investor,

You watch the news and read the newspaper. It’s no secret that America is on the brink of collapsing—and it could take everything you’ve worked hard to achieve right down with it…

…that is, if you FAIL to prepare for the massive “money-grab” that’s being orchestrated by Washington as we speak.

If you think this is just a bunch of “pie in the sky hype,” then we encourage you to keep reading every single word of this message to get the specific gritty details that could save you from hopelessly scrambling for “quick-fix” solutions when the looting begins.

This message could protect you, your wealth, and your family for the upcoming “lockdown” on your money so our inept government can pay down our $17.3 trillion tab.

Listen: you’ve probably learned that America is “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

But the truth is, our liberty is being eroded by a Liberal government that favors a European-style socialist government that favors high taxes, central planning and large deficits and debt.

This failed miserably in Greece, Portugal, Italy, and Spain. And it got so bad in Cyprus that their citizens and business owners woke up one night with all funds above €100,000 (US $137,400) swindled from their bank accounts as part of what politicians called a “one-time stability tax.”

Nobody expects the worst. But with a little sensible preparation, you can take yourself out of harm’s way by learning how to weather the storm in the event our government tries a similar “money grab.”

But make no mistake:

America Is On The Brink Of Collapse…
And Something Has To Give

The spending orgy in Washington shows no signs of slowing down as our liberal government keeps funding “giveway” programs such as social security, Medicare and numerous welfare programs so Obama can further realize his European vision of America becoming an entitlement state.

The bad news is Washington has to keep printing money in order to fund these programs. This is causing the value of the dollar to plummet, and the price of everyday goods and services we use everyday to gradually rise thanks to inflation.

Think about it. Think about what you used to pay for gas 10-20 years ago, versus what you pay now. And think about what you’re paying for food, milk, bread, and basic groceries compared to what you paid a mere 15 years ago.

And don’t get us started on taxes. Federal, state and local taxes have skyrocketed 35% over the past 4 years. Our liberal government keeps wanting to tax the top 1% and get them to pay their “fair share” so they can redistribute the wealth to entitlement programs.

Many pundits will tell you to “believe in the US economy” and “things will turn around in short amount of time.” And to keep investing in the stock market as the surefire way to create wealth.

This is literally akin to shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. The worst part is Obama has no interest in balancing the budget in 10 years.

And don’t count on lawmakers (even Republicans) to stand up to this fiscal malfeasance. Entitlement programs are political “hot potatoes.” Lawmakers don’t dare to reform based on simple logic for fear that angry voters will boot them out of their cushy spots in Congress.

The Only Possible Way Washington Can Pay
The $17.3 Trillion (And Growing) Tab Without Printing More Money Is Confiscating Your Assets!

If you find yourself clutching your wallet or scampering to your phone to call your broker, then I don’t blame you. But if you’re not convinced that this could happen in good ol’ America, then consider this:

You already know about what happened in Cyprus—another failed Socialist government that had to resort to grand larceny to pay down its debts. They showed some mercy by only confiscating the assets of those with bank accounts larger than €100,000 (US $137,400).

But if America attempts another Cyprus-style “money grab”…it won’t be the rich that will be targeted. In short, if you can rub two nickels together, you could owe the government money!

Why is this? It’s simple. There aren’t enough rich people to fund today’s governments even if all 100% of the top 1%’s assets are seized. Everyone with assets—including retirement savings and home equity—could be subject to confiscation.

The precedence is there. America had to resort to wealth confiscation during the Great Depression when Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an Executive Order in 1933 to confiscate gold at dirt-cheap prices.

They saw the assets that U.S. citizens had and they took it. So don’t think our liberal Democrat government could stoop that low by subjecting you to some “wealth tax” based on some trumped up financial crisis.

Listen: this is your money we’re talking about here. Your hard earned money!

The liberal politicians salivate over the prospect of a “nanny state” with everyone is dependent on handouts from the government. They’re drooling over your assets and retirement accounts---wondering how they can add that to their coffers and fund their entitlements.

That’s why, as a sovereign patriot, you owe it to yourself and your family to legally protect your wealth via any means possible. Because if the Confiscation happens, it will occur with great alacrity and speed before you can react.

The unprepared will panic. Banks will shut down because the unprepared will make a mad dash to the banks. And credit cards will cease to function because banks will be shut down.

This happened during the great Stock Market Crash in 1929. It was absolute bedlam. But it doesn’t have to be bedlam for you.

You NEED to you take immediate steps to prepare in case America decides to commit grand larceny and confiscate your hard-earned assets and retirement accounts.

In fact…

The Wealth Confiscation Has ALREADY Begun
Despite What You Hear From The “Talking Heads” On Mainstream Media

Enter the preposterous MyRA. This is a government-controlled retirement system proposed by Obama that’s sold to unsuspecting Americans as the panacea for retirement savings.

But it’s really a plan to force retirement assets into treasury bonds to pay back some of this gargantuan debt.

Here’s why: the MyRA all workers not covered by an employer 401K would be automatically enrolled in an “IRA” where paycheck deductions are invested in US Treasury Bonds—or loans to the government.

You see, Uncle Sam sees the 5 trillion dollars Americans have parked in retirement saving as a big “money pot” that’s irresistible to ignore—because they need that money!

Sure, it’s sold to the American people as a convenient way to save for retirement.
But, in reality, it’s a catalyst to the eventual transfer of an individual’s private funds for government control under the guise of helping people “save” for retirement.

So as unwitting Americans are duped into plowing their retirement savings into this program, they’re really siphoning their funds into the government’s shrinking coffers.

Here’s what this means to you: the government is already laying the
groundwork to grab your bank and retirement accounts. But there’s another sinister plot that could scuttle everything you’ve worked hard for…almost overnight:

The International Monetary Fund Has
Called For “Drastic Measures”...Including Direct Confiscation Of Your Assets!

The IMF—the world’s most meddlesome organization--dropped a bomb in October. They recommend a series of escalating income and consumptions taxes that basically cumulate in the direct confiscation of assets!

Yes, you read that right. But don’t believe us. The IMF report “Taxing Times” states on Page 49:


If there was ever a roadmap for prompting the protection of assets overseas-- even emigration--this is it!

The IMF is not a group of whack jobs peddling daft ides…it’s the central banker to the world. And the IMF is taken seriously in Congress and other governing bodies in the developed world. Its reports are often the backbone of policies that lawmakers undertake around the globe.

So if you care how to preserve your personal wealth in case Obama uses his executive powers to “pull a Cyprus” and confiscate your hard-earned assets, then you need to register today for:


The 13th Annual Total Wealth Symposium is the only place you’ll discover “the best of the best” when it comes to asset protection, offshore investing and “off the grid” strategies for protecting and growing what you have rightfully earned.


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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #21 on: August 12, 2014, 06:21:12 PM »
Of interest to everyone at RUA courtesy of the sovereign investor newsletter ...  in my Mind the Obamunists are the real red communists and Chairman Putin of Russia inc is the real capitalist - imagine PayPal shutting down crowdfunding with huge demand for a private CERN created encrypted email system that is nearly if not completely spam, phishing and spear phishing proof unlike Google, Microsoft, Yahoo etc etc general email solutions or most corporate imap and or spop or smtp or even outlook exchange server based email systems.

The Only Email System the NSA Can't Access
By Ted Baumann, Offshore and Asset Protection Editor
Dear Sovereign Investor,
It's been a busy month on the privacy front.
On August 5, word got out that Russian hackers stole 1.2 billion user names and passwords for a wide variety of websites. Facebook got into hot water — again — over its decision to force its risky Messenger app on unwilling users. A U.S. senator warned that users of wearable fitness-tracking devices are at serious privacy risk and unprotected by any law. The European Union is poised to take steps to counter a U.S. court's order that Microsoft hand over the contents of its Irish servers.

Meanwhile, hackers and snoops gathered last week at their annual Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, plotting how to beat our best security efforts.

I was also a busy bee. I decided to start using a secure password-generation and management software, called Dashlane, which works across multiple devices. It was getting to the point where I had so many passwords to remember that it was seriously cutting into my productivity.

And I was at risk, because the natural tendency when you have a lot of passwords to remember is to re-use them on multiple sites. That's a BAD idea.

But I also did something I've been doing every week for months now … checking to see whether I had been accepted by the world's most secure email service, ProtonMail.

When Edward Snowden's revelations broke last year, it sent shockwaves through CERN, a particle physics laboratory in Switzerland. A young MIT PhD student working there expressed concern, and soon 40 of the smartest physicists and computer programmers on the planet were pooling their knowledge to found ProtonMail, a Gmail-like email system which uses end-to-end encryption, making it impossible for outside parties to monitor messages sent back and forth.

These are the guys and gals who discovered the Higgs Boson. They are Einstein-level smart. Unlike all other encrypted email services, ProtonMail separates the encrypted message from its encryption key. All the encryption takes place on your computer and the receiver's computer. Neither message nor key are stored on ProtonMail's servers, so there's no way for government to get their hands on them, even with a court order.

But that still wasn't secure enough for this group. ProtonMail decided to go the extra mile to ensure absolute security. They placed all their servers in Switzerland, which has some of the world's toughest privacy laws. That's why I'm on a waiting list — demand for ProtonMail is so high that there aren't enough available servers in Switzerland to accommodate it. But the group is currently raising money to build more.

ProtonMail's founders clearly understand that security and privacy is about more than encryption — the decision to base their service in Switzerland demonstrates that they get the politics part, too.

But politics has a way of resisting evasion.
The Government's Fight Against Your Right to Privacy
In June, PayPal — the same U.S. money-transfer company that blocked contributions to Julian Assange's WikiLeaks at the U.S. government's behest — froze ProtonMail's funds and blocked all further contributions, without notice or explanation. ProtonMail's two-week "crowdfunding" campaign had set a target of $100,000, but collected more than $300,000 in a few hours.

Why would PayPal do such a thing? Andy Chen, the MIT PhD student who dreamed up ProtonMail, explained that, "When we pressed the PayPal representative on the phone for further details, he questioned whether ProtonMail is legal and if we have government approval to encrypt emails."

That was a seriously stupid answer on PayPal's part. It just reinforces the fact that American tech companies are increasingly an extension of the U.S. government, and so cannot be trusted with anyone's business. Because it's a voluntary step by PayPal, it's much worse than a federal court's order that Microsoft unwillingly turn over the contents of its Irish servers.

This isn't the first time PayPal has closed an account out of deference to government. Regulations by the U.S. Department of Treasury's FinCENunit require financial organizations to monitor accounts for illegal activity, in essence deputizing private companies to act as monitors. These regulations tend to cause companies such as PayPal to freeze perfectly legal accounts in overzealous lock-downs like the ProtonMail fiasco.
Come Together
ProtonMail's experience ties together a number of strands we've written about a lot recently. In my Offshore Confidential report this month, I discussed the great opportunity presented by the iAccount, an Internet-based eWallet service, precisely because it's based in China, where the U.S. government can't snoop or confiscate funds.

Last week, my colleague Chad Shoop wrote about the great investment opportunities presented by the rush to create and market secure communications technology like ProtonMail. And as I write, I'm working on another major report on steps you can take to secure your privacy.

The common element in all of these topics is this: you cannot trust the U.S. government or the U.S. private sector to protect your privacy against the growing threat. You need to look elsewhere — and we're committed to showing you exactly where.
Kind regards,

Ted Baumann
Offshore and Asset Protection Editor


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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #22 on: August 12, 2014, 06:36:41 PM »
The take aways:

DASHLANE

ProtonMAIL

MyRA


you heard it hear first...

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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #23 on: August 20, 2014, 11:18:01 PM »
A glimpse into the (near) future...

A Disappointing Rate-Hike Cycle
By Jeff D. Opdyke, Editor of Profit Seeker

Dear Sovereign Investor,

The answer: Gold.

The question: What is the best investment to own today as the Federal Reserve begins raising interest rates?

How we get to the answer — an answer that would seem to fly in the face of conventional wisdom — is why I come to you today.

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So if you missed out on registration, you still have a chance to protect your assets from government robbery.

For the next 48 hours, you have the chance to get behind closed doors at a steeply discounted early bird price. Click here to gain access.

It’s not the destination; it’s the journey. I’m sure you’ve heard that old saw many times. Well, in this case, that’s all wrong. As Yellen & Co. nears the start of the first rate-hike cycle we’ve seen since the summer of 2004 to the summer of 2006, the Fed’s ultimate destination with interest rates is the only subject that really matters.

Though the stock, bond and currency markets at the moment are preoccupied with the question of when the first interest-rate increase will happen, the real story lies in where interest rates are ultimately headed … because that answer defines where stock, bond and currency prices are ultimately headed.

And the reality, dear Reader, is that the Fed simply cannot — and will not — allow interest rates to crawl very high. They know that with every tick up, higher and higher interest rates will increasingly crimp Washington’s style — that “style,” of course, being D.C.’s penchant for wanting to splurge big on buying votes by spending stupid amounts of money on stupid programs.

See, D.C. has itself in a bit of a bind, as you likely already know. For more than half a century, the goobers we’ve elected to Congress have been spending our tax dollars as though they won’t live to see tomorrow and, so, what the hell: Let’s live for today! Now we have that $17 trillion in public debt that you always read about — and the $120 trillion in unfunded debt on and off America’s balance sheet that you don’t always read about but that is, nevertheless, all too real.

Because of that, rising interest rates pose a significant challenge for the Fed and for Congress.

Consider some numbers and you will quickly understand the problem we face as a first-world nation rapidly moving toward Banana Republic status:

In 2013, America’s interest payments cost U.S. taxpayers $415.7 billion. Some commentators I’ve read have used that as proof that we’re finally getting our debt under control because in 2007, interest payments were higher, at $430 billion.
But in 2007, total debt was just $9 billion vs. $16.7 billion at the end of 2013.
Also in 2007, the average annual interest rate across all maturities of Treasury debt was 4.94% vs. just 2.02% in 2013. So in 2013 we had a much larger sum of debt, but benefitted from exceedingly low interest rates.
The Congressional Budget Office calculates that if interest rates move back toward norms by 2020 — meaning 10-year notes at 5% (they’re 2.4% today) and 3-month T-bills at 3.7% (they are 0.03% today) — our annual debt payments will explode to more than $840 billion, double what we’re paying now.
The Long, Long Road to 2%

Think about America today — a country already gasping under the weight of too much debt. And then think about an America where debt-service payments have doubled.

That world implies a vicious debt-cycle, in which the country must issue more debt to make debt payments, which then leads to more debt as the debt payments rise because of all the new debt needed to repay the existing debt. It also means a dramatic change to America’s tax-rate structure. The wealthy class now responsible for 39% of all federal taxes, will be forced to dig even deeper into their wallets. The middle-class now responsible for just 3% of all Federal taxes paid will see their lifestyle shrink as more taxes come out of their paychecks. And the lower-middle-class that now earns money from the federal tax system, will suddenly feel the sting of Uncle Sam’s pick-pocketing ways as their tax benefits become tax obligations.

In short, America’s consumer-dependent economy would face unmanageable headwinds as consumers lose a meaningful portion of their spending power to government taxation.

Worse, the taxes we pay would not turn around and flow back into the economy but would, instead, flow to holders of U.S. debt, many of whom live overseas. We would, in essence, be working our butts off so that a debt-drunk Uncle Sam could send ever-larger sums of our tax dollars to the Chinese, the Japanese, the Russians, the Brits, the Taiwanese and others.

Ultimately, that would be a political, social and financial disaster for Washington, D.C. And the Fed is smart enough to realize these ramifications exist … which brings us back to the main point: the Fed’s ultimate destination with interest rates.

Though rates will soon begin moving up for the first time in nearly a decade, the Fed will — and must — continue strong-arming the market to keep rates unnaturally low. My guess: the Fed-funds rate, the Federal Reserve’s key interest-rate lever, will not go higher than 2% and, more important, getting there will take years, not months. The Fed will not raise rates in rote 0.25% step-ups over a few meetings. It might move in 0.1% increments, and it could go several months or maybe even a year between rate hikes.

In short, we’ve been stuck at near-0% interest rates for more than five years … and it very well could take the Fed another five years or more to get us back toward 2%, simply because it knows that Congress has worked itself into an impossible financial situation.

Thus, the Answer: Gold

The knock on gold is that it pays no rate of return and is, therefore, not a smart asset to own when money in the bank or in Treasury paper offers a decent yield.

But while rates will begin to rise, money in the bank or in Treasury paper will still offer no real yield in the future, given that inflation has begun to move up as wages now rise (a little jab to the gut from all those efforts to push minimum wages higher). That means inflation will equal or outpace the interest rates you’ll be able to earn in savings accounts, CDs and government bonds.

And that is the environment that is brightest for gold.

When you’re losing purchasing power just by letting your money sit in savings, CDs and bonds, gold is a godsend. Its price tends to rise in such an environment.

So, do yourself a favor. Do not look at the coming Fed rate-hike cycle as an opportunity, finally, to move some cash back into CDs and savings account. Look at it for what it really is: An opportunity to grab gold now, at a fair price, knowing that the Fed has no other option but to keep interest rates exceedingly low for a long, long — long — time.

Until next time, stay Sovereign …

Jeff D. Opdyke
Editor, Profit Seeker
P.S. Can’t make it to Panama for the Total Wealth Symposium? I’ve got an easy solution for you. For the first time ever, we are going to live stream every session so you don’t miss out on the critical information the two dozen investment and asset protection experts are presenting. You see it every day on the news – the United States is crumbling before our eyes. It’s more important now than ever that you protect yourself. For more details and to register, click here.

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Jeff D. Opdyke

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For his Profit Seeker subscribers, Jeff is always looking for companies in position to benefit from the rise of a growing global middle class. Click here to learn more.

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08/18/14

Why You Should Buy Silver Before It’s Too Late »

The revolution in silver trading is one of many reasons why you should buy some of the precious metal today. We recommend this one miner in particular.


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Re: How to survive the Global Chaos of 2014
« Reply #24 on: August 20, 2014, 11:19:58 PM »
And...

http://thesovereigninvestor.com/commodities/buy-silver-before-its-too-late/

The Take Away:

The Silver Comeback

I don’t expect silver prices to remain subdued in the coming years. I believe it will exceed $50 due to rising demand for its industrial uses. As the great industrial machines around the globe continue to come back on-line and economies crawl from the recent financial crisis, silver demand will increase as more of the malleable metal is needed in all of our gadgets as well as the healthcare industry.

Furthermore, silver could see an additional pop in demand as investors hedge against the fiscal disorder our country is in. Like gold, silver is a valuable precious metal that will gain in value as fiat currencies crumble and fall. Your smartest move is to get in while the price of the metal is low.

Looking back to 2011, when silver came near $50, Coeur traded at a whopping 350% above its current price.

Buy Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE), hold and watch while this stock triple in the coming years.