The speaker at the Uruguay Phyle (uruguayphyle@hotmail.com) meeting on Sunday, November 21, was Doug Casey. For those of you who don’t know of Doug, here is a brief bio from Wikipedia:
“Douglas ‘Doug’ Casey is an American-born free market economist, best-selling financial author, and international investor and entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Casey Research, a provider of subscription financial analysis about specific market verticals that he has focused his investing career around, including natural resources/metals/mining, energy, commodities, and technology. Since 1979, he has written (and later co-written) the monthly metals and mining focused investment newsletter, The International Speculator. He also contributes to other newsletters, including The Casey Report, a geopolitically oriented publication.”
So, why was Casey speaking at the Uruguay Phyle meeting? Well, Casey was actually the impetus for the formation of the Uruguay Phyle (read our previous aritcle about this here); and, he lives part of the year just across the River Plate in Argentina, where he owns a number of homes and properties. His 1979 book, Crisis Investing, which became the largest selling financial book in history, would be reason enough to attract an audience. He is renowned as an interesting speaker, and has lived in 10 countries and visited 175. Now Uruguay is one of the countries on his radar.
In an article he wrote for DailyWealth.com, he says that “although Uruguay is unquestionably one of the nicest, safest, and altogether most desirable places in the world, it’s among the least known… A small but highly educated and demographically homogeneous European population. Crime free. Great climate. Hundreds of miles of empty coast. Perhaps the world’s premier beach resort. Socially liberal. Religiously agnostic. Huge agricultural production. A tax and bank haven. Next door to two big and vibrant neighbors. What’s not to like?”
So last Sunday, about fifty (mostly expat) residents of Uruguay gathered in an elegant, spacious home in Punta del Este to hear Casey speak.
He began by stating, “I’m not sure any information you get orally in the course of a presentation is worth acting on.” (Many in the audience, it seemed, had come to the meeting in hopes of direction or solutions for their own financial security. Several questioners sought very specific answers.) Nevertheless, he continued with a presentation of information presented through a rambling discourse of glimpses from his life experience, interspersed with jokes and provocative comments.
Here are some things Casey said:
On the U.S., when confronted with the entry question, “ ‘Do you advocate the overthrow of the U.S. by force or violence’, I always check violence.”
On work, “I have had no real job in my whole life.”
On a world-wide depression, “A depression is inevitable; the only question is, is it imminent?” Also on a depression, “Depression will last for a long time. Governments are all bankrupt and will go bust.”
Also on the U.S., “I thought America was a wonderful, fantastic, unique idea, but that’s gone. It’s as gone as the Roman Empire is gone.” And further, “I am not in the U.S. because of these damn governments.”
On democracy, “Democracy is really mob rule dressed up in a coat and tie.”
On finding bargains, “There is nothing in the world that I can think of that is cheap. This is really interesting. There’s nothing in the world that’s a bargain.”
When his response to a question of the balance between development and environmental concerns and indigenous people’s rights engendered some indignant audience reaction, “Don’t clutter your mind up about this stuff.”
On his great laws of life, he reduced them to one, “Do as thou wilt, but be prepared to accept the consequences.”
On how to survive financially, “Learn to speculate.”
On real estate, “Real estate will always go up. One of the stupidest things people say. Why should it?”
Casey told interesting stories about speculation. One involved not buying a castle in Zimbabwe when it was at the height of its political and financial meltdown. The castle could have been bought for $85,000 and later sold for 13 million dollars. Another missed opportunity was a substantial tract of land in Uruguay near La Pedrera available four years ago at 4.5 million, now worth 12 million. He did tell of some successful speculative purchases, such as homes in Marbella (Spain) and Hong Kong that he sold again for many, many times the purchase price. As he described it, “I got paid to live there.”
He didn’t speak much about Uruguay in particular other than saying “it’s a country that has some real advantages.” He also told his audience that he did not want to spend any more than six months a year in Argentina and that he planned to spend some time in Uruguay. He said that all the previous day he looked at available real estate and that he was really attracted to the Laguna del Sauce region, just outside the quaint beach town of Piriapolis.
A story he shared about his love for poodles, in particular a large breed of “ranch” poodles he has in Argentina, was well received. He noted the interest that has been shown in these dogs and says breeding and selling these particular poodles might be his next great venture. Some seemed willing to invest.
He also told an interesting story about how he has become a dairy farmer in Argentina. A property he purchased came with dairy equipment and workers, but no herd of dairy cows. Because of government agricultural policies in Argentina, a flood of herds came onto the market. On the advice of his ranch manager, who came with his purchase, they bought a herd for the price of a year’s worth of milk. The cows, obtained for almost nothing, are now worth a lot and the farm is productive.
He ended the presentation with a promotion for his new book, “a good one” that all Phyle members in attendance can obtain for free online by contacting Ron Yoder, the organizer of the Uruguay Phyle.
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