Dear Reader,

David Galland here, back from my latest sojourns in the Argentine (as the Brits refer to it). Further on, I’ll have a few more words on the trip and the Harvest Celebration at La Estancia de Cafayate.

But only a few, as it was one of those “you had to be there” experiences.

Rather, I want to spend most of today on observations that came to me on returning to the United States from closing in on two weeks in the remote and mostly untamed wine-growing valley where Cafayate is sited. 

And that observation is, here there be monsters.

(For those of you who enjoy musical accompaniment to these musings, check out Hard Sun, a remake by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.) 

In my experience, there are places in the world where the vibe, for the lack of a better word, is of peace and harmony with the natural surroundings. In those special places, be it Cafayate or your favorite remote beach, the modern world’s many noises and distractions seem muted, allowing you rediscover your physical senses.

In those places, you find yourself literally surprised by the sight of a mountain glowing red with a sunset, even though the mountain has been there all along waiting for your vision to return to you. Or you take note of the delicate song of a bird that, sung in another place, would have been obscured by the traffic or crowded out by constant thoughts of things to do and bills to be paid.

While certain aspects of such special places will appeal to each of us in differing degrees – one man’s mountain top may be another’s phobia – they have at least one thing in common: the monsters of modernity typically don’t encroach on simpler, more fundamental life experiences.

It was, of course, the transition from two weeks in Cafayate, my most special of places, back to the United States that revealed the monsters for what they are – endemic, insidious, yet invisible to most.

Among just a few of the genus of monsters I’ve encountered in the 24 hours since setting foot back on this soil…

Electronica. Dropping onto a plastic-covered seat in the middle of a row of same at Dulles International Airport in the early morning of my arrival, I retrieved my notebook and began my customary jottings on this and that. After some time had passed, I looked up from my scribbling and noted that the row had filled with passengers waiting for a flight earlier than my own.

To my amazement, I could instantly see the handiwork of monster Electronica, a beast that caverns out a human’s soul, leaving in its place a zombie-like cadaver that compulsively checks and rechecks electronic screens for information about nothing of any real value to no one.

Specifically, of the 13 people sitting in the same row as I…

11 had laptops open on their laps.

4 of the 11 also held mobile phones/PDAs, alternating their attention between the bigger screen of their laptop and the smaller of their PDA.

Of the two without laptops, one was me, and the other was a woman wolfing down an assortment of breakfast foods, which, for convenience’s sake, were crammed between two slices of bread. The minute she had finished chunking down the breakfast wad, she whipped out her laptop, raising the count of Electronica’s victims to 12 out of 13.

The worst affected of the lot was the poor guy sitting just to my left. I exaggerate not at all when I relate his sad condition as follows.

• A laptop balanced on his crossed legs.
• A Blackberry PDA open on the seat next to him, chirping constantly with the arrival of each new email.
• Another Blackberry held against his left ear to allow him to talk to a colleague using a vocabulary consisting almost entirely of business clichés about deliverables, best practices, quality assurance committees and so forth.
• An iPad that he leaned up against the laptop in order to flip through pages using his free right hand.

To keep up with the obvious pressure caused by Electronica’s compulsions, between calls he downed a small bottle containing a concoction called “5 Hour Energy,” then popped open a can of the highly caffeinated Red Bull power drink and began drinking that.

While I can’t say with any certainty, I suspect this poor fellow hasn’t heard bird song for a very long time.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the freedom the latest technological innovations offer. But just because you can quickly check the news or correspond with just about anyone, from anywhere, shouldn’t lead you to do so constantly. As Earl Nightingale so wisely observed decades ago in the context of mindless television watching, having an automobile doesn’t cause you to drive around in every spare moment. It is a tool to be used selectively.

Have the technologies spawned by Electronica enhanced productivity? Of course. But much, and maybe all, of that productivity has been drained back into the swamp by mindless screen scanning, along with, I fear, much of the native creativity the human mind is capable of – but only when left to ponder without distraction.

WarMaker. The second monster hereabouts was brought to my mind, albeit briefly, during a party out-of-doors in Cafayate. While sitting comfortably on sofas under a canopy, sipping glasses of the rich Malbec wine that Argentina is known for, one of my fellow property owners asked, almost apologetically, if I had heard the news that a coalition of Western nations had unleashed hundreds of missiles into Libya earlier in the day.

I recollect, on hearing this, experiencing the equivalent of a mental shrug, then being surprised that the news didn’t surprise me. Happily, a minute or so later the conversation returned to more pleasant topics.

But on returning to the U.S.A., a process that now requires literally hours spent in the process of security screening, the signs of WarMaker’s presence were everywhere and unavoidable. Starting with the newsstand headlines, but most invasively in the form of a constant barrage by broadcasters on televisions hung throughout the airport. Moreover, as my first port of call was Washington, D.C., the very lair of the world’s largest WarMaker, the airport was overrun with its crew-cut, camo-wearing functionaries, their backs stiff and countenances as serious as their chosen careers.  

Most tellingly, however, was a program on National Public Radio that I tuned into on my drive into town. NPR used to pride itself on its liberal leanings, but perhaps in the hopes of avoiding a defunding, featured a long and fawning interview with a recently retired general in which he was asked softball questions about the wonderful new killing technologies that WarMaker is deploying in Libya. This interview would have fit smoothly into a broadcast of Orwell’s 1984, except that instead of being fiction, it was for real.

Underscoring the point, in yesterday’s edition of this service, Vedran Vuk shared the latest Gallup polls showing a majority of both the Democrats and Republicans in favor of the attacks on Libya, though no doubt for different reasons.

While I certainly don’t consider myself a liberal, any more than I consider myself a conservative, the fact that the “left” has now merged with the “right” on the topic of war-making seems to me a clear and dangerous sign of the times.

In the current edition of The Casey Report, I interview Rick Maybury, a very astute observer of the big-picture drivers of the geopolitical scene. In Rick’s view, there are two overarching themes investors can profit from today, and for years into the future.

The first is the secular debasement of the fiat currencies, a view we have long agreed with.

The second is constant war. Even though I personally don’t intend on fueling the war machine with my direct investment, as a tax-paying citizen, I am still forced to contribute. But as taxes no longer come close to covering the expenses, ever higher levels of monetary debasement are required, the very model of a non-virtuous cycle.

Do I think Gaddafi deserves to go? Sure, but cheek to jowl along with the heads of the majority of the world’s nation-states. But why, I ask with no expectation of a logical answer, is it that the United States is always leading the charge? Why isn’t it China, Indonesia and Brazil militaristically meddling in the Middle East?

Oh, sure, I know the argument for the U.S. being the world’s policeman; because we can and therefore we should. But this is a job without end, at a cost without limit.

And those costs are far more than the trillions of greenbacks we spend but can’t afford:  Each time the WarMaker ventures forth, good intentions or not, it raises the reputation of the United States as a technologically advanced killing machine at the expense of its former glory as the leading light-maker for liberty.

Per above, given that the lifeblood of the WarMaker is provided through a feeding tube connected to the bankrupt U.S. Treasury, each new onslaught directly drains the future wealth of the nation, ensuring our children and grandchildren will grow up as slaves.

Yet, according to the polls, the WarMaker remains oddly popular.

Hail the WarMaker!

Newscents. Similar to the way Medusa was said to turn humans into rock, casting eyes on Newscents causes the average human to become confused and disoriented. So much so that reality becomes changeable and malleable. 

You know you are staring the beast in the eyes when you find yourself attracted to a story about some Hollywood wastrel’s latest binge. Or you find yourself worried that the world’s human population is on the verge of mass extermination due to an outbreak of carbon dioxide, swine flu, Ebola or some such.

And pity the poor fool who becomes the victim of Newscents!

Barry Bonds, for example, fell into its grasp five years ago, and even still Newscents holds him in its steely grasp, slowly, exquisitely, tormenting the baseball player publicly for the purported crime of enhancing his physical performance with steroids.

The real threat from Newscents extends far beyond the latest specific victim, in that it cleverly leverages the torments of the individual into a mind-numbing pabulum for the masses. Understanding the beast for what it is, the politicians and their patrons have become masterful in their handling of Newscents, and now use it at will to cover their own prolific misdeeds.

Simply put, thanks to the ability of Newscents to skew the compass points on what’s important, or even reality, the majority of people have become easily misled and manipulated, their actions mindless and meek. And that, in turn, allows an unprincipled minority to act entirely in its own interest without fear of discovery or retribution.

There are, of course, other monsters stalking these lands, none more frightening than Government Giganticus, but other responsibilities call, starting with lunch with the kids, and so I must move on.  

But before doing so, I would conclude by urging you to recognize the monsters for what they are and take what measures you can to mitigate their influence on your life.

Investment Implications?

• Invest in Electronica. For better and for worse, the marriage of technology with humanity is going to continue and accelerate. That makes it a big investment trend, one that we follow in Casey’s Extraordinary Technology, and you can, too.
   
• Anticipate the WarMakers. While I don’t plan personally on investing in the corporate quislings that profit from the war making, you may want to consider doing so. However, I will look to protect myself from the attendant currency debasement by investing in precious metals, energy and other commodities. And I will continue to allocate resources geographically, into other jurisdictions that should remain out of harm’s way.
   
• Tune Out Newscents. From an investment perspective, this may be most important. If you allow yourself to get pulled into the vortex of Newscents, you will quickly lose all useful perspective, making bad investments as a result.The fundamentals of today’s global economy are there for everyone to see – if they can just shake free of the mental fog. The crushing debt of the nation-states hasn’t been resolved. The political cowardice hasn’t been lessened one iota. Federal budgets aren’t being cut. The degradation of the fiat currencies hasn’t stopped, nor will it. And the militarization of the U.S. government, on all levels, is not abating.  

  Invest accordingly, and you should come out far better than most.

As individuals, we must do what we can to make the lives that we want, and to live those lives to the fullest. And in that regard, there is little question that personal freedom is only enhanced by financial freedom.

Hopefully, here at Casey Research, we will help you achieve the latter, so your prospects of enjoying the former are greatly enhanced. It’s our mission.

Friday Funnies

DIFFERENT WAYS OF LOOKING AT THINGS

Two guys were discussing popular family trends on sex, marriage, and family values.

Bill said, “I didn’t sleep with my wife before we got married, did you?”

Larry replied, “I’m not sure, what was her maiden name?”

***

“Mr. Clark, I have reviewed this case very carefully,” the divorce court judge said, “and I’ve decided to give your wife $775 a week.”

“That’s very fair, Your Honor,” the husband said. “And every now and then, I’ll try to send her a few bucks myself.”

***

An old woman goes to the wizard to ask him if he can remove a curse she has been living with for the last 40 years.

The wizard says, “Maybe, but you will have to tell me the exact words that were used to put the curse on you.”

The old woman says without hesitation, “I now pronounce you man and wife.”

***

Two reasons why it’s so hard to solve a redneck murder:

1. The DNA all matches.

2. There are no dental records.

***

A blonde calls Delta Airlines and asks, “Can you tell me how long it’ll take to fly from San Francisco to New York City?”

The agent replies, “Just a minute.”

“Thank you,” the blonde says and hangs up.

***

A man is recovering from surgery when the surgical nurse appears and asks him how he is feeling.

“I’m O.K. But I didn’t like the four letter-words the doctor used in surgery,” he answered.

“What did he say?” asks the nurse.

“Oops!”

A Final Word

As I sign off, I’d like to reiterate how much I enjoyed spending time with so many readers – and fellow community members – during the just-concluded harvest festivities in Cafayate.

There is much to be said for sharing time in the company of like-minded people. It’s not that everyone is in lock-step in their views on all things, but rather that, philosophically, every one of the people I meet at these events is on the same page. Operating from a solid foundation of healthy skepticism and self-preservation, they are not easily fooled by the politicians, duped by the typical Wall Street paper-pushers, or stampeded by media arm-waving over the latest drama of the day.

While I am always happy to return home, here in the U.S., increasingly home is becoming Cafayate. While no place is perfect, the remote valley that is home to Cafayate is free of most of the largest monsters now stalking the planet. And that makes it a place where you can get back in touch with the best life has to offer.

I hope that you, too, have found your own special place, and are able to enjoy it in the company of agreeable people. If not, don’t stop looking. The reward is incalculable.  

And with that I sign off for the week, apologizing if I have waxed too philosophically for the taste of some dear readers. That is a natural and, at least in my case, unavoidable side effect of two weeks off the grid.

Until next week, thank you for reading and for being a subscriber to a Casey Research service.

David Galland
Managing Director
Casey Research