Here is an excerpt taken with permission from the highly regarded High-Tech Strategist Newsletter written by Fred Hickey who recently purchased a home in Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
Fred Hickey has produced the High-Tech Strategist Newsletter for over 25 years and is a highly respected investment analyst and forward thinker.
“Escape Hatch
As you can gather, I am very concerned about this country’s direction [United States] – and have been for years. The near-total collapse in the financial system in 2008 was a scary moment indeed, and I’m not sure the risks have lessened much. The “weapons of mass destruction”(derivatives) remain in place. This country cannot continue down the path of spending massively more than it receives in revenues. Yet the huge increases in entitlement spending (which are placating the unemployed masses), cannot be continued forever. Necessary cutbacks in entitlements could be messy. For now, we have no breadlines or shanty-towns (as in the 1930s) because the government takes care of everyone – through its deficit spending. The end result of the money printing experiment may lead to inflation and a worsening in the inequality gap between the rich (who benefit from asset inflation) and everyone else. I worry that our bootstrapping culture is no longer the same as it once was and our people may react badly in difficult times. Almost 41% of all children in the U.S. are born to unwed mothers (all races). For blacks, the rate is a staggering72.5%. Over the past several months, some of the best performing stocks have been gun makers such as Smith & Wesson. Not a happy thought. While I remain hopeful that we can right ourselves, as we’ve done before, there are growing risks.
