Hello from opulent Vina del Mar, Chile,
I first visited Vina in 2005, eight years ago now, and my impression then was that it was a nice but quiet beach town. I’ve since visited a few times in the last year and the changes are truly unbelievable.
On my first visit in 2005, at this same time of the year near winter, there wasn’t much activity. There was one small bar that wasn’t very busy and just a few decent restaurants. Now it has turned into a world-class city. The population of this area is about one million, but since the place is less than a two-hour drive from Santiago that number swells. The amount of five-star restaurants is uncountable. There are many on almost every block and the city has expanded so much both to the south to Valpariaso and to the north with what seems to be hundreds of new, modern highrise apartment buildings that it would take you weeks to visit all the trendy, modern hotspots.
When I first visited there was a definite separation between Valparaiso and Vina, but it has now turned into one large metropolis.
You may remember on my last trip to Santiago I ended up sleeping on the floor for two days because the Galt’s Gulch staff headquarters was full of new GGC teammembers. Since then, the team at Galt’s Gulch Chile (GGC) has rented a beachside apartment in Vina with four bedrooms, where even our clients are welcome to stay as did Joshua and Ni (upcoming guests on Anarchast) from Ecuador last night along with myself.
Here’s an important insight. Chile has been absolutely booming… in stark contrast to Europe and the US. Imagine these kind of statistics in the US (and you can keep imagining because it will never happen again in the US as it exists today). Chile’s GDP (Imacec index) is up 4.4% over the last year. Inflation is the lowest in South America, less than 1% year to date. The unemployment rate is currently 6.4%, down dramatically from 11.6% in August of 2009. And, retail sales are up 11.2% in the last year. I’m actually surprised it is not higher. The malls, full of incredibly high end fashion and electronics are packed from morning to night. Some of the guys at GGC went to Home Depot at 9pm on Sunday to pick up some supplies and they described what they saw as an overwhelming amount of shoppers as though it was a Christmas or Thanksgiving day rush.
But, here’s the insight. Prices of real estate have not risen commensurate to the growth… yet! As I sit here in Vina with my view of surfers and the beach that looks almost exactly like Malibu (without the risk of running into Mel Gibson), but more upscale and with less police and homeless people, you can still buy an apartment here for prices that will not bankrupt you. The four bedroom GGC apartment, with a loft, on the beach, costs $1,500/month to rent and total costs above that including water, electricity and internet is less than $200/month. And all along the 1.5 hour corridor between Vina and upscale Santiago are world class wineries in the Casablanca region and, of course, Galt's Gulch. Galt's Gulch is currently offering a time-limited pre-sale pricing of lots for less than $50,000 for 1.25 acres! Mark my words, you won't be able to buy a one-acre lot anywhere in this area for less than $500,000 in ten years. This is the buying opportunity of this century.
Even the government and central bank are mostly run by free-market type people. And that, of course, is why things are going so well here. The central bank is run by the "Chicago boys"… people who adhere to Friedmanite philosophies (quite free market) as opposed to overtly statist polices (Keynesians). Even the President and those who surround him are very free market.
I was quite surprised when talking with an American colleague who is very involved in the liberty movement that she knows many of the higher level politicos in Chile and most are libertarian and fans of Ayn Rand – and therefore would be very interested in our libertarian styled community named in tribute to Ayn Rand, Galt's Gulch. She sent me one of her contacts today to connect us. Upon receiving the email I was at a dinner with GGC staff and asked, naively, if anyone had heard of a politician named "Pinera"?
A few of the guys who have lived in Chile for a while laughed as though I were joking. I asked, "What?"
They replied, "He's the President of Chile."
Wow. As an anarchist I obviously dislike all politicians and see government as an unnecessary evil, but I was quite happy to hear that the area in which we are trying to build Ayn Rand's vision is an area that is mostly politically controlled by big fans of free markets and Rand's philosophies!
Not to mention, Pinera is a real businessman.
I asked Wikipedia and according to it, Sebastien Pinera once owned 100% of Chilevision, 27% of LAN Airlines and 13% of Colo-Colo, a football club in the country. Sorry, but what has Barack O'Bomber ever done? Oh yes, he was a community organizer. Whatever that is.
Chile is the new "America" of the 21st century. You can open a corporation here over the internet in one day. Any major building permits submitted to the government must be responded to in 15 days! That explains the hundreds of new highrise apartment buildings in Vina del Mar. The government is mostly staying out of the way and not actively putting up roadblocks to free enterprise like in Europe and the United State.
How long will it last? That's anyones guess… but considering Chile recently had a horrible bout with communism and now is reaping the rewards of freedom greatly in this region any major change back to socialism is likely a long way away. It took the US decades to erode most of the underpinnings of freedom and destroy most of the wealth built during that period.
BUILDING WEALTH
Speaking of building wealth our most recent TDV Dispatch this week for subscribers had an excellent overview by Ed Bugos on the entire gold stock market sector. It was incredibly insightful. He plans to follow that up with a more company oriented analysis and comparative for about 20 of the largest producers, followed soon after by a separate such analysis of about 15-20 junior producers and then a third report about emerging producers, followed by one on silver producers, and finally on advanced exploration companies.
If you are interested in the gold mining sector at all, you won't want to miss all of Ed's insights at TDV Premium over the coming weeks.
I had the opportunity to sit down with one of the savviest mining stock investors in history. He also happens to be an anarchist and so we discussed how he became an anarchist and his insights into getting rich. He began his road to billions as a bouncer and a bartender and he recounts how you too can make a fortune starting by just pouring whiskey.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
I'm headed back to Acapulco this evening but only for a few days before I jet off to Boston and then New Hampshire for Porcfest all this week. Then, again back for just 2-3 days in Acapulco and then a quick jaunt up through Houston to Dallas for the Liberty Mastermind Symposium on June 28th and 29th. After that it will either be Acapulco, Las Vegas or back to Santiago de Chile for a few days and then back up to Las Vegas for FreedomFest from July 10-13.
Then, other than a short trip to Vancouver for the Capitalism and Morality Symposium on July 27th, I'll mostly be in Santiago, Galt's Gulch and Vina del Mar for the remainder of July and early August before I head to Switzerland for the Global Access and Continuity conference on August 11-15.
I wish the US dollar would just collapse already so I could take a break and just stay down at Galt's Gulch for a while and try hard not to say "I told you so" too much. But it still hasn't. And it could still be a few years so I'll get out there and spread the word. Until next weekend from amongst a throng of gun-toting anarchists in New Hampshire, try to stay free, my friends.
