“The best investments are often those that look dead wrong when they are made.” — “Maxims of Wall Street,” p. 34.
During the Inflationary Seventies, I read “You Can Profit from the Coming Monetary Crisis,” written by hard-money devotee Harry Browne.
His book became #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. He warned of the dollar collapse and urged investors to avoid stocks and bonds and invest instead in alternative inflation hedges.
“Buy gold, buy silver, buy Swiss francs” was the rally cry. Other hard-money gold bugs added “buy real estate” and other hard assets.
Browne was in a small minority at the time, but his recommendations proved highly profitable in the 1970s.
Commodities are once again entering a new bull market. Gold and copper prices are hitting new highs, and silver, uranium and Bitcoin are moving higher. We are recommending a variety of ways to profit from the new bull market in commodities.
The First ‘Roaring Twenties’ Was in Technology
A hundred years ago, Wall Street enjoyed a decade of optimism that was called “The Roaring Twenties.” Americans benefited from a whole series of new inventions — the automobile, appliances, electricity, the telephone and the radio, among others.
Now, a hundred years later, we are witnessing a new Roaring Twenties in technology in advanced computer systems, especially what is known as “AI.”
AI Is the New Roaring Twenties
AI stands for “artificial intelligence,” but others are calling it “advanced intelligence” or even “alien intelligence,” out-of-this-world computer systems that will benefit humanity, but may also be the enemy of mankind. Through machine learning, these systems can write better reports, find more profitable stocks, drive cars and trucks more safely and develop more efficient solutions to problems than humans can. Workers fear they will lose their jobs due to AI. ChatGPT alone is changing the way students write and learn in school.
Whether for good or evil, AI is here to stay and will dramatically change the world we live in — banking, finance, education, transportation, production processes, etc.
And smart investors are profiting by investing in AI-related companies such as Microsoft and Google. Yesterday, chip maker Nvidia, the poster child of AI, once again beat Wall Street forecasts in both revenues and earnings. It also announced a 10-to-1 stock split, which is bullish for the company.
The stock is now selling around $1,000 a share. But 10 years ago, nobody knew that Nvidia would dominate the AI world. The stock was priced at $5. As George Soros says, “To make big money, you have to bet on the unexpected” (Maxims, p. 193).
One of those who recommended Nvidia back then was Alex Green, chief investment strategist of the Oxford Club — he will be speaking at this year’s FreedomFest.
For most investors, the best strategy is to buy a well-diversified fund in technology stocks. That’s our approach at Forecasts & Strategies. That’s how we own Nvidia, as well as other AI stocks.
Good news: We are having a major session at FreedomFest with experts on AI, including Alex Green, George Gilder and Frank Holmes, on how to profit and avoid the pitfalls. Not to be missed!
This Will Be a HISTORIC FreedomFest
We are delighted to announce the Global Financial Summit at FreedomFest, a full three-and-a-half days of top financial advice. In addition to Alex Green, our speakers include Eagle editors Jim Woods, George Gilder, Dave Phillips and yours truly. Plus, Robert Kiyosaki (of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” fame), Steve Forbes, Adrian Day, Mike Cobb, Rodolfo Milani, Michael Turner, Van Simmons, Gary Alexander, Steve Moore, Barbara Kolm, John Fund, Grover Norquist and Rainer Zitelmann.
Keynote Speaker: President Javier Milei
–Argentina’s newly elected President Javier Milei, the world’s most sought-after speaker, on how libertarian policies could bring back the glory days of prosperity in Latin America and the world… I expect a standing-room-only crowd for his speech.
–Plus actor/rapper Ice-T, actor/comedian/director Rob Schneider…
—Justin Amash, the former congressman who is running for Senate in Michigan and could become the swing vote in the next Congress…
We are also excited to have the following speakers appearing in-person on our stage:
–Two top public intellectuals: Harvard Professor Steven Pinker, America’s top psychologist, on the dangers of international conflict and the need for “Enlightenment Now”; and Lord Matt Ridley, the UK’s #1 top science writer, on why we can be optimistic about the new world of Artificial Intelligence (AI)…
And of course, Kennedy, the ever popular libertarian host on Fox News, as our emcee extraordinaire.
To see the full list of our growing number of speakers, panels and breakout sessions — including the Global Financial Summit and Anthem Film Festival — and to find out how to attend, visit our website.
My subscribers can take $50 off the “Attendee” registration fee by entering the discount code EAGLE50 at checkout. Sign up at www.freedomfest.com, or email hayley@freedomfest.com, or call Hayley at 1.855.850.3733, ext. 202.
Anthem Film Festival Schedule Now Posted
My wife Jo Ann heads up the ever-popular Anthem Film Festival at FreedomFest. She has put together a first-rate list of films and panel discussions for this year’s show. She writes: “This year, our theme is ‘Brave New World,’ and it couldn’t be more timely as we consider Aldous Huxley’s view of a disconnected, technological future. We’re bringing you films about free speech and student protests, new solutions to the housing crisis, vaccine trials, transgenderism and parental rights, immigration and border control and the ‘great reset’ where ‘you will own nothing, and you will be happy.’ We’ll follow these films with lively Q&A with the directors, and provocative panel discussions where you can join your voice with the experts.”
To see the full list of films, go to 2024: FFAnthem
‘Best Brief in Economics I Have Ever Read’
On Saturday, I attended the commencement graduation ceremonies at Chapman University, where I met up with a fellow professor there, David Berkovitz, who teaches business law and accounting.
David Berkovitz and Mark Skousen at Chapman’s commencement exercises, 2024.
He pulled me aside and said, “Mark, I always wanted to understand economics, so I read ‘Economics for Dummies,’ and still couldn’t understand it… until I read your essay, ‘Economics of Life Made Simple.’”
The next day, he wrote me the following burb: “Concise and clear, this essay is THE source for anyone seeking to understand this important topic. It should be required reading for everyone in the College.”
Last year, Michael Shermer commissioned me to write a cover story, “Economics of Life Made Simple,” in honor of Adam Smith’s 300th birthday. It’s been a hit ever since, with hundreds of people buying multiple copies.
In this essay, I tried to answer fundamental questions about money and the economy, such as: What is the secret to our tremendous economic growth over the past 250 years?… Why are young people so attracted to socialism?… Why is inflation coming back?… Is capitalism inherently unstable?… What is the economists’ solution to global warming? It also includes a section on gross output (GO).
I’ve had so many requests for this article that I printed up 3,000 copies and sent them to friends and handed them out at various conferences. A professor at the University of the Bahamas bought 50 copies to hand out to his students. A coin dealer asked for 25 copies to hand out to his clients.
A highly successful lawyer from North Dakota attended FreedomFest and picked up a copy. He told a colleague, “This is the best brief in economics that I’ve ever read,” and made copies to send out to all his clients.
One Christian minister wrote, “I have just finished reading your ‘Economics of Life Made Simple.’ Marvelous! I have never read a better expression by a sophisticated professional who has written to the clear understanding of laymen. Congratulations! I hope this will be widely circulated. It is very important.”
A top official of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), which puts out the quarterly data on GDP and GO, was so impressed that he sent it to his youngest son, who is pursuing a degree in business analytics at the University of Tennessee.
A mother wrote me from Colorado, “I’m making copies for my boys to send to them in college.”
And I just got word today that Union Editorial, the prestigious book publisher in Spain, is translating it into Spanish. I plan to present a copy to President Milei.
How to Order Your Own Copy
You can read my essay online here.
If you like it, why not buy a printed copy and pass it along to your friends and colleagues? They are more likely to read it as a printed copy. I sell it for $3 each at www.skousenbooks.com. Minimum order is three copies.
Personal Note: I’ll be speaking this weekend at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington DC on the topic “My Favorite Ways to Convert Students to Free-Market Capitalism.”
You Blew it!
J. Edgar Hoover, Mr. G Man: American Gangster or Man of the Hour?
This year, 2024, marks the 100th anniversary of J. Edgar Hoover becoming the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
After Hoover died in 1972, no government official was more admired in life… and vilified in death!
This negative view became clear when I read a recent article on Hoover in Reason magazine. The writer, Matthew Harwood, could not say a single good word about Hoover in an article entitled, “An American Gangster at 100: J. Edgar Hoover’s Authoritarian Legacy,” followed by the subtitle, “Hoover’s reign at the FBI compromised American civil liberties and turned the FBI into America’s secret police.” You can read it here.
Was Hoover really that bad, maybe even worse than Putin’s KGB? Harwood’s description of Hoover’s FBI was foreign to me, and to most FBI agents who worked for Hoover. My father, Leroy Skousen, and my uncle, W. Cleon Skousen, spent 16 years in the FBI as special agents and knew Hoover personally.
My father once referred to the FBI director as “ruthless,” but in no way did he consider himself a member of state-organized crime constantly violating the rights of Americans. Admittedly, he was overzealous in spying and keeping secret files on Communists, civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Hollywood actors and government officials.
What Harwood wrote about is all true, but shouldn’t a Reason reporter take a balanced approach, and look at both the good and bad side of a government official?
Did Harwood mention that Hoover strongly opposed the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II? Did he write about his opposition to Nixon’s demands that his political opponents’ conversations be bugged?
A More Balanced Approach
Let’s review some of the more positive contributions Hoover made.
Prior to his appointment in 1924, the Bureau was a corrupt haven of incompetents and political hacks. In short order, the youthful Hoover reformed the FBI into a first-rate police agency, the best trained, most efficient and incorruptible investigative organization in the world.
In his book, “The Director,” former FBI special agent Paul Letersky, who worked for Hoover as a special assistant for two years, wrote about the Hoover years: “No agent was ever arrested for bank robbery, embezzlement or sending secrets to the Russians.”
He firmly believed that FBI agents were “an elite organization of honest, brave, well-educated men who were dedicated to protecting America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Interestingly, Harwood cites Letersky’s book, but ignores his positive comments about Hoover and the FBI. Letersky does not cover up Hoover’s mistakes, which were many and serious. But on net balance, he was proud of his boss.
Hoover served under eight presidents, and died in office at the age of 77 in 1972. He was respected and feared both inside and outside the FBI.
My Uncle’s Tribute to Hoover
When Hoover died, my uncle wrote: “J. Edgar Hoover had been a good friend as well as a mentor and a boss. I had worked closely with him when the Bureau was in its infancy and knew him well.
“Director Hoover was a courageous person. He had a great ambition for law enforcement — to make it honorable, honest and capable of suppressing crime at least on the federal level. He was also dedicated to training the local police to the point where they could also be honest, efficient and effective. He set up the National Police Academy for that purpose. He was a great leader.
“One example of his integrity is demonstrated in this simple policy: Every year, we would turn back millions of dollars from our budget, whereas other departments would buy new rugs and desks and travel, anything to spend that money so they could enlarge their budget for the coming year instead of minimizing it. Not Director Hoover! He’d ask for what he thought he needed, saved all he could and then turn back what was left, every year.”
He concluded that Hoover was “the most outstanding public official” that he knew during his lifetime.
‘There Were Giants in the Land’
Last year, my wife Jo Ann and I compiled and edited the private journals of my uncle, entitled, “There Were Giants in the Land: Episodes in the Life of W. Cleon Skousen.” In it, he tells some great stories about Hoover, organized crime figures and Hollywood actors. See for example this Hollywood story.
See why it was banned in China. Copies are available at a discount at www.skousenbooks.com.
Today’s FBI is Much More Dangerous
There is no doubt that today’s FBI is not the FBI Hoover knew. Paul Letersky chronicles the decline of the FBI since 1972, and how it has become much more political, corrupt and excessive in its investigative powers. If you thought Hoover’s FBI was scary, look at it now!
Before you make up your mind on J. Edgar Hoover, I urge you to read Letersky’s story, available on audio, Kindle or paperback at Amazon: The Director: My Years Assisting J. Edgar Hoover. Letersky even discusses the rumors about Hoover’s sex life. Highly recommended.
Good investing, AEIOU,
Mark Skousen
