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Doug Casey goes on and on about how great Argentina is:Granted, it's not downtown BA, but I think he's a bit of a nutter. What do you think of that place?Cheers,Craig
Doug Casey's top place to live if things go to hell in the U.S.Tuesday, March 24, 2009
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By Porter Stansberry in the S&A Digest:
[Legendary speculator] Doug Casey is greatly underappreciated. He's been expecting the debacle we see unfolding today - a collapsing financial sector, government spending growing out of control, and a public backlash against capitalism - for as long as I've known him, almost 15 years. He calls the scenario "The Greater Depression." And now, he thinks it's going to be even worse than he expected...
At his conference last weekend in Las Vegas, he told the audience what he's doing to protect himself from what he sees coming next: soaring inflation, capital controls around the world, and vast increases to America's already confiscatory tax regime. What is Doug doing? First, he built a very private community in a very safe place about as far away from the centers of government power as you can get. His development is called Estancia Cafayate. It's located in the southern part of Salta province in northwest Argentina. Why in the world would you want to live in a valley of the Andes Mountains in rural Argentina? Well, Uruguay is nearby, a place where you can still bank privately and where you can still arrange for citizenship.
Second, Salta is incredibly rich in natural resources - water, farmland, oil and gas, vineyards, cattle, cultural attractions, etc. All of the things you need to lead a very wealthy, civilized life are in great abundance. And everything is cheap. A first-class steak dinner at a good restaurant on the central square in Cafayate costs about $4 per head, including wine. Finally, you have plenty of opportunities to make money with commodities. Doug has become a large-scale dairy farmer.
Learn more about Estancia Cafayate...
http://www.thedailycrux.com/content/1309/Argentina/icp
"A first-class steak dinner at a good restaurant on the central square in Cafayate costs about $4 per head, including wine. "
He figured his dollars go a long way here. Many others have done so as well.
Older people with money moving to Argentina? My advice is to stay in a nice part of Buneos Aires, vacation to Salta or wherver you want but make places like Palermo, Las Cañitas or Recoleta your home. You'll live longer and do so happier.
Argentina or other 3rd world country, they are what I reffer to in my book as "Plan C" countries, find one you like.
Argentina is ok, but not in the way he thinks. Uruguay is better and far less dangeorus. He's in love with the cheap restaurants. That's not very "Survivalish"
"Finally, you have plenty of opportunities to make money with commodities. Doug has become a large-scale dairy farmer."
BS BS BS
It's not easy to make money in Salta, or any other province for that matter. For crying out loud, google "Argentine Farmer Crisis". And then think about Dug's dairy farm. ;)
These third world countries, you come to live cheap, not make money. (unless you have serious contacts or are willing to get involve in grayish businesses)
What good old Doug is trying to do, is SELL people this BULLSHIT.
He's trying to SELL his real estate investment and portraiting it through a very rosy shade.
Salta is nice, I've been there and know the place, its is NOT this dream the guy is trying to sell. Hell guys, I know people with money that left Salta because there's nothing there, and hundreds of thousands left and keep leaving because there's no future here for young people ( maybe it looks better for someone with enough money that just wants to retire)
PEOPLE: Dont buy this BULLSHIT. Visit Argentina first. It's beautiful but its also a mess and the "interior".... well, you have to go there, but its not rural USA, its VERY different. I know becuase I lived there for two years. There's a reason why people move from there to Buneos Aires city inspite of the dirt, crime, etc.
If people leave a place, dont assume they are stupid, assume there's a reason.
FerFAL
8 comments:
Hi Ferfal
Am a fairly new visitor to your blog, but I came across this article "Argentina: The superpower that never was"
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/778193e4-44d8-11de-82d6-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss
I realise it's a bit off-topic but wondered what your thoughts were.
Here's what drives me crazy.
These people assume that money makes them safe. OK, imagine you build a retirement community for wealthy Americans in the boondocks of Argentina. What now? You have money, so people will take you seriously?
NO. They will take you out. Because of jealousy, or your arrogance, or because you're an easy mark.
Hiring protection? Please.
I know people that have had this attitude, moved to foreign countries where they had no language skills or knowledge of the community, and trusted that their money would insulate them. Guess what? It might. Often, it doesn't!
So I guess you agree he (Casey) is a nutter too? ;)
India has gated communities but times 10. The have 24/7 guards with weapons, they have patrols and private police, they are like little fortressed communities.
People with money go there to escape the poverty, dirt and crime of indias cities.
It works but it isn't cheap.
It also is a pretty delusional, world denying way to live.
"
It also is a pretty delusional, world denying way to live."
Hey, if it works...
Better than the dirt and crime.
FerFAL
Hello, I'm glad this question was asked and that FerFAL answered it.... I had been wondering about Doug Casey's R.E. development in Salta. Bill Bonner is involved also I think.
Many of us believed that since Argentina was 10 years ahead of the US in it's collapse that it would be safer by now. That doesn't appear to have happened!!!
Salta can be a very nice place, and one could live here as a foreigner with money. Casey is just a shill and is trying to sell something...in this case, plots on his resort. He makes the rest of his money by having people pay him to give them investment advice...like I said, always selling something.
The north of Argentina has real poverty the depths of which you don't see in Bs.As. Lots of angry indigenous people, illegal immigrants from Bolivia, etc. It's a whole different ball game. This resort seems like a nice place, but it's probably not the greatest idea to build yourself a castle in the middle of an impoverished third world country and expect all of that natives to kowtow to you. Casey also overstates the "investment opportunity" in Argentina. He seems more concerned with selling potential buyers on the favorable exchange rate and cheap steak dinners. That's not really an "investment." Also, the lines about the USA and UK being mismanaged and having confiscatory governments are a joke. If you want to see bad governance, look at Argentina: freezing citizens' bank accounts en masse to prevent withdrawals, nationalizing industries, and privatizing (read: stealing) retirement funds. If you think your investment money is "safe" in Argentina compared to in the US or UK, you're a moron who can't read the news, but would rather pay Doug Casey to placate you and wheedle a half-million Euros from you.
For the prices charged at this resort, a foreigner could buy a nice home in Salta the city or one of the smaller outlying towns and live a very nice, low key life, without brashly advertising their wealth and desire to be exclusive. It's true that USD or Euros will go a long way here, but there's no need to pay 500k Euro at Doug Casey's resort to take advantage of this. 500k Euro in something boring like treasury bonds will last you a lifetime and give you a much higher income than people in Salta.
I was born in Argentina, went back last Nov 2010 after a 38 year absence. Traveled all over the place. Outside Buenos Aires is calmer, however, unless you can blend in, speak fluently, and change your name, you will be a target for your money and possesions. And you have no rights to self defense. Fernando
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