News from Europe is dismal…for European investors at least. The bailout for Greece will mean the investors in Greek bonds will have to settle for less than face value of their bonds. Needless to say, investors are outraged. The discounts could be very steep, which means big losses, regardless of the interest rates on those [...]
Recently a Zogby International poll discovered that more than 3 million US citizens relocate abroad every year…” and “…record numbers of rich American citizens renounce their citizenship to escape punishing levels of taxation.” Really? People are leaving the “land of the free”? Why would they do that? Well, to paraphrase Rudyard Kipling, “…if you can [...]
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Regulators in the USA are taking the unusual step of taxing municipal bonds held by the rich. Currently, interest paid by municipalities is tax-free to the recipient. Now in the Obama “jobs” bill, that is about to change. On top of that, it appears that rating agencies are changing their methodologies and will be doing [...]
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Editor’s note: This article seeks to open dialogue on the mining industry in Chile. We welcome comments, critiques and follow-up opinions on the topic. Agriculture is huge in Chile, as it should be everywhere. Lots of countries seem to be changing their agricultural base for manufacturing, services or even information. In light of the recent economic [...]
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According to El Mercurio, housing prices in Santiago have risen approximately 50% since 2002. Wow! What does that mean? Is the property really getting that much more valuable? Doesn’t wear and tear (even earthquake damage) take away from that value? That statistic is reported without regard to another very important statistic. On January 1, 2002, [...]
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The news today is that manufacturing is falling off in Europe. Economic leaders there are calling for a tough year in 2012, as if no one had been predicting that all along. Now we are also hearing news that China is expanding their manufacturing and that this particular slump is easing. Right… Have you ever [...]
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Another year has flown by. How was it for you? Was it good? Wasted? It was good for me. I lived my first full year in Chile. YAY! Notice I said, “First.” I will be here a while, you lucky people. I have learned a lot about Chile and how things are done. There is [...]
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Editor’s note: This article seeks to open dialogue on the mining industry in Chile. We welcome comments, critiques and follow-up opinions on the topic. At the end of August this year, Codelco announced that it would invest US$37 billion to raise copper production from 1.76 million tons of refined copper to approximately 2.28 million tons. This [...]
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Europe is falling apart. The latest evidence is that investors will not purchase German bonds. Not only that, the famous George Soros is calling for massive inflation of the euro by the European Central Bank (ECB). The idea here is that everyone will have more money and things will calm down. Oh yes, they talk [...]
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Currency manipulation is illegal unless you are a government or multinational corporation. Right now it appears that major groups of speculators are trying to kill the Euro and strengthen the US dollar. That’s what the rumor mill is generating and it would be a good idea to wonder why and what the effect would be [...]
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