Where Marc Faber Is Investing Right Now

Here’s what Marc gives away in our chat… [The Rude Awakening] December 18, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( Where Marc Faber Is Investing Right Now [Sean Ring] SEAN RING I enjoyed speaking with Marc Faber on Paradigm Press’ YouTube Channel last week. If you haven’t had the chance to watch it yet, [please head here](. [Click here to learn more]( Before you head over to watch the video, here are some prize quotes from Marc. On Milei, Argentina, and Its Stock Marketsub Well, my best guess is that the stock market will continue to move up for a while, although it is up already substantially from the lows. It's no longer as cheap as it was say 12 months ago. But I think there is some momentum, and as you say, a lot of people believe that things got so bad in Argentina that they can only improve. I would agree that conditions will hardly get any worse, but the program Milei has set up the removal of various agencies, and dollarization are not practical. On paper, they could be realized, but in reality, they won't be realized. And so I think that the initial bout of strengths in the market will be followed by disappointments. How The World Benefits From the Argentine Election I think it's important for the world to have seen in reality how the public feels about their governments. Everywhere in the world, ordinary people are really annoyed by their government officials who are complete hypocrites, who live a relatively comfortable life, take continuously wrong decisions, but nobody's ever penalized for these wrong decisions. You understand? You are a businessman. I'm a businessman. If we make a wrong decision in the stock market, we lose money. The small businessman who has a retail shop or whatever manufacturing company, if he makes wrong decisions, he's penalized by a breakdown of his profits or maybe even through bankruptcy, but he is responsible for his business. And if it's not successful, he suffers. But government officials, no matter how unsuccessful they are, how dumb they are, or how stupid policies they introduced, are never penalized. They retire with a fat pension that the other government officials do, and over time, it increases. So there's no risk for these bureaucrats, and most of the bureaucrats nowadays have not worked in the private sector. I'd like to say they've been to some sort of a university taught by socialists, communist professors in political science. Then they went into the government, but they never worked in a private sector job. And that I object strongly to, and I think as long as we have these bureaucrats running the show, there'll be no economic growth. You have [(1) item]( on hold at our warehouse: Item #: [51987]( Status: On hold Value: Approx. $300 Claim by date: 12/18 at 11:59 PM To see how to claim yours simply [click here]( our Head of Customer Experience will show you what you need to do. [Click Here To Learn More]( Marc’s Travel History and International Diversification I moved to Hong Kong in 1973, and then in ‘73 and '74, the US bear market began, and by ‘74, emerging markets were extremely depressed compared to the US. And they stayed depressed. Hong Kong took off until 1981, ‘82 had a boom, and then there was a property market decline after 1981, but the country did okay between 1980 and ‘89. The market that it particularly well during that period of time was Japan. And then money flowed out of Japan and into other markets in Asia like the Philippines, which was very depressed in ‘84, ‘85… in Thailand, which was also depressed. And then at the end of the eighties, the markets that opened up were India and Indonesia. These were new markets and also China. By 86, ‘87, the Asian markets were expensive, and I predicted the crash. But in 1986 I started to travel to Latin America because, and this is important, I had read a book titled The Economics of Inflation. And here he was an employee at the Reichs Finance ministery in Germany between 1918 and ‘24. He wrote about inflation and the impact of inflation on everything: on society, on the currency, on the exchange rate, on the stocks, and so forth and so on. One observation he made is that in high-inflation economies, stocks tend to become very cheap in real terms because the currency collapses. I always look and calculate in US dollars, because you could have a market like Turkey in local currency, it's up in the sky, but in dollars, it's down. That was the case end of 2021. So in ‘86 Argentina, the total stock market capitalization, there was a large economy and still is a large economy, was less than 500 million USD. The Philippines was at 350 million USD. And so when you look at these things in US dollars, you realize what is cheap. And I traveled to Latin America. The first country I went to was Chile and then Argentina, and then I started to invest because Argentina was really dirt cheap, dirt cheap. So I've been keeping in touch with Latin America and from time to time investments in bonds and stocks. But recently, as I said, I became attracted to stocks because they were very low. Say you look at Petrobras in Brazil, still an inexpensive company, or in Colombia, you have very inexpensive companies at the present time. So that's what I'm looking at. In Asia because of high inflation, the Sri Lankan stock market had collapsed, but now it's also recovered quite a bit. And also Pakistan is very inexpensive relative to the rest of the world. On Gold I would like to answer this question by stating that gold and precious metals are a large position among my assets. So among my assets, I kind of have 25% in stocks, 25% in cash and bonds, 25% in precious metals, and 25% in real estate. It varies a bit roughly, roughly. And so the 25% in gold is very large for me. So in a way, I'm a true believer in gold, But I'm not a true believer that gold will go through the roof because I grew up in the fifties. So in the fifties, if I buy a pack of cigarettes or if I buy a bread or crust or a can of soup and so forth, I know the price in the fifties and I know the price today and I know the appreciation roughly, roughly they'll say 20 times or 10 times. In the case of Switzerland gold in the 50 60 until 71 was $35 an ounce. It's now close to 2000. Is it a bad performance? No, it's kept, its purchasing power. That's what I want to say. It's not extremely cheap and it's not terribly expensive compared to the collapse in intelligence of central bankers. Yes, gold should be at a hundred thousand if you would have an inverse relationship to the intelligence of central bankers. But otherwise, compared to your daily expenses, gold has kept roughly its purchasing power, But I am a large holder and I will never sell my gold. But then we have to address the question, where do you hold gold and will the government take it away from you one day? And then you understand this is another issue. It's like real estate. Do you own real estate in the city centers or do you own real estate in the countryside? All different stories, but I believe that gold mining shares are today incredibly low compared to the price of gold. You understand? We can establish ratios going back to 1960. So in 1979, gold shares were high compared to the gold price. Now the gold price is high compared to gold shares. Absolutely. It's like real estate. Hong Kong properties are now, the properties are not particularly cheap, but they've come down. But the property stocks sell at 70, 80% discount to the asset value. Wrap Up Marc’s knowledge and wisdom come to the fore in this great chat. [Head over to Paradigm Press’s YouTube Channel to watch this wide-ranging interview right now.]( It’s a great way to supplement your knowledge and get a firsthand look at what one of the investing masters is doing right now. All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening X (formerly Twitter): [@seaniechaos]( In Case You Missed It… EU Bribes Hungary To Allow Ukraine Accession Talks [Sean Ring] SEAN RING It’s a Happy Friday, especially for Hungary! Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister and bane of the European Union’s existence, got a $10 billion payout from the supranational organization in exchange for allowing Ukraine’s and Moldova’s accession talks to begin. [Moldova] If you never heard of Moldova because the USG hasn’t bombed it yet, it borders southwestern Ukraine. To be fair, the EU owed Hungary this money, but refused to disburse the cash after accusing Hungary of not adhering to EU values. Let’s examine the history of this kerfuffle and then see how Orbán used the EU’s system against it. [Biden Admin Furious Over This New “Alternative” Currency]( Take a close look at this photo: [Click here to learn more]( [What you see here is a new “alternative” currency that’s taking America by storm…]( One which could ruin Biden’s CBDC plans. It’s already popping across the nation… including Utah, New Hampshire and Nevada. [If you’re worried about Biden Bucks then you must watch this short 2-minute video that breaks down how this “alternative” currency works…]( [Click Here To Learn More]( The EU Withholds Funds The European Union initially withheld about €22 billion in EU cohesion funds from Hungary due to concerns over the country's adherence to EU regulations and standards, specifically related to the rule of law and democratic norms. Cohesion funds are intended to assist poorer EU member countries in investing in their economies. They are mainly paid as reimbursements for money spent by national governments on domestic programs aimed at increasing living standards. The EU's executive body required Hungary, under the leadership of its Euroskeptic government headed by Viktor Orbán, to implement a series of reforms linked to the protection of human rights and the rule of law to access these funds. By May, the Hungarian authorities had adopted some measures to strengthen the independence of its judiciary, addressing some, but not all, of the Commission's demands. This progress opened the possibility of unfreezing a portion of the cash. However, about €11.7 billion of the total funds remained frozen. Of this, €6.3 billion was blocked due to issues related to the awarding of public contracts under the conditionality mechanism, a legal tool that allows Brussels to withhold EU funding if a country is found to be backsliding on democratic norms. An additional €2.6 billion was being withheld due to ongoing disputes between Orbán and Brussels over restrictions on academic freedoms, a "child protection" law widely viewed as homophobic, and the treatment of asylum seekers. Hungary was also waiting to access €10.4 billion in grants and cheap loans from the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund, which required the completion of 27 conditions, including new judicial reforms and adherence to 21 anti-corruption conditions and two linked to auditing. The decision to withhold these funds came at a critical time, as Orbán was perceived to be leveraging his position ahead of a crucial European Council meeting. This meeting was set to make historic decisions on various issues, including the potential opening of negotiations to bring Ukraine into the EU and a significant budget deal to support Ukraine's economy. Some EU countries viewed Hungary's stance as a tactic to secure more funding from the European Commission. However, capitulating to Orbán's demands could have undermined the EU's long-term integrity and infuriated the European Parliament ahead of future EU elections and top EU job allocations. Well, I certainly hope so. Hungary Holding EU Hostage? According to [Politico]( However, most of the unfrozen money will not immediately be available, another EU official stressed, as the funds will be rolled out gradually, and Hungary first needs to submit detailed plans for the projects it wants to fund with EU money. “So far, we have received cost claims in the order of €500 million and … this is what we could expect to be paid in the weeks to come,” the official said, adding the rest of the money would become reimbursable “over the next years to come.” Politico continues: The decision comes as Orbán is holding the other 26 EU countries hostage ahead of a key European Council meeting in Brussels. EU leaders are set to make a historic decision on opening negotiations to bring Ukraine into the club and seal a key budget deal that would throw a €50 billion lifeline to Kyiv’s flailing war economy. Orbán is threatening to derail the entire summit. Unanimity is a bitch, isn’t it? Quid Pro Quo Ultimately, Orbán got his money, and Ukraine and Moldova got the green light. America was ecstatic. "We welcome the EU's historic decision to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, a crucial step toward fulfilling their Euro-Atlantic aspirations," said Jake “The Snake” Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor. European Council President Charles Michel labeled it "A clear signal of hope for their people and our continent." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky touted the vote as "a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe." The recently returned Polish PM, Donald Tusk, gushed, “Dear Volodymyr Zelenskyy, we did it! I dedicate today’s decision on enlargement to your heroes who gave their lives for an independent and European Ukraine." MEP Philippe Lamberts, co-president of the Greens group in the European Parliament, said, "EU leaders have avoided the worst possible outcome and managed to show support to Ukraine by opening accession talks. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has backed down from his threats of a veto over Ukraine. However, if this is the result of a €10bn bribe, then this is an unacceptable way for the EU to do business." Don’t make me laugh, Philippe! That’s how Europe has always done business. But of course, Viktor Orbán wouldn’t crow about the money; he released this statement through his political Balazs Orbán (no relation): [Tweet] Credit: [@BalazsOrban_HU]( In essence, Hungary didn’t agree but couldn’t stop it. So they took their money and abstained from the vote, knowing it would take decades, if ever, for Ukraine and Moldova to get into the EU. I call that smart politics. Wrap Up Like all empires, the EU must expand or die. Taking Ukraine and Moldova from Russia’s sphere of influence is perceived as an intelligent move. But it’s just poking the bear. As the West reels from its now-known defeat in Ukraine, this vote is small consolation. America uses the EU to poke Russia in the eye, and Europe thinks it’s scored a victory over Moscow. Meanwhile, the Russian War Machine grinds the Ukrainian Armed Forces slowly. Have a wonderful weekend. All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening Twitter: [@seaniechaos]( [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 1001 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. 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