The Weekend Vigilante September 1st, 2012

Hello from Santiago, Chile,

By the time you read this I should be back in Acapulco, but I write this from the airport in Santiago.

I spent most of the week in Santiago, Chile.  I’m going to have a lot of updates for subscribers on what I found there… but in the meantime, at the Santiago airport I did as I always do and was waiting to be the last on the airplane.  Just like Wayne Gretzky used to do… be the last on the ice.  I’m always the last on the plane.  While everyone else runs to line-up when they call for boarding I sit, calmly, usually drinking a scotch.  Once everyone is on board I then stroll up and show my papers.  Why do I do this?  Because, then, as the last to board, any seat I want is mine.  I can either choose to sit beside a cute girl or sit in an empty row.  But the funny part of my boarding tonight at 2:40am in Santiago was that I was out most of the night enjoying the best that Santiago has to offer (which is a lot – more to subscribers soon) and arrived at the airport with a buzz.  I compounded it by ordering what would technically be called in Canada a “quadruple scotch” in a plastic cup to go at an airport bar… but here it’s just called “a scotch”.

So as I waited for the people to run to line up (do they think the plane could possibly leave without them if they didn’t hustle down the walkway??) I then boarded last after a Chinese monk who had some sort of caretaker… not sure what the deal was, but as we walked down the jetway the monk started freaking out… he was going through his fanny pack like a madman… I’m not sure what he was looking for but it may have been his passport or boarding pass.  Instead of bypassing him and because of my airplane boarding strategy, and out of politeness, I just leant up against a wall for a few minutes and drank my scotch.  The monk was losing his mind… he didn’t talk (maybe he is on one of those non-talking monks) but he was seriously freaking out.  Finally he appeared to find whatever he was looking for and he took a deep breath and held his hand to his heart.  His handler then motioned to the monk and then pointed back to me, as though to say, thank you for waiting.  The monk nodded and his handler said, “Thank you for your patience”.  I thought that was pretty ironic, coming from a monk.  I just nodded and thought…. That monk needs a drink, or a smoke of something… nothing should be that stressful.  But, I suppose, he just found out that it isn’t so easy out here in the world we all live in.  It’s probably easy being nice and calm inside a temple as the locals drop off food for you to eat.

Finally though, we made it on board and as the monk ended up in a middle seat between two other large people I walked past and sat in the exit row which was completely empty on the nearly full flight.  Which one of us is more enlightened?

TSA HORROR STORIES

As I went through the laid back security in Santiago I said a little prayer of thanks that this trip did not include a visit to the US.  It was a straight shot from Santiago to Mexico City and from there just a 30 minute flight to Acapulco after a 2 hour stopover at one of my favorite airport restaurant/bars in Terminal 2, Taba Bar.  Terminal 1, in Mexico City, by the way, is atrocious… it’s almost as bad as LAX or Miami, though much more relaxed.  Terminal 2, on the other hand, is quite new and very nice.

But I digress.  Back to the TSA… while in Asuncion, Paraguay we crossed paths with two TDV subscribers going through the citizenship process and had a wonderful meal at the boutique hotel where many of our clients stay.  Their story, which they swear is true, was so unbelievable that I almost literally didn’t believe them.  They told me on their trip out of the US that they opted-out of Michael Chertoff’s nude x-ray bath the TSA woman asked them why.  When they replied that they simply don’t believe it is safe to be doing a full body x-ray just to see if they have any boxcutters in their pocket the TSA woman yelled at them, “It’s safe!  It’s completely safe, the TSA has tested it!”

But, that’s not the weird part.  Then, another TSA employee walked up… a gaunt, pale man.  Apparently his job is to stand beside the machine all day. Trying to calm them down he said, “Don’t worry, it’s no big deal!  I just had 38 tumors taken out of my body a few weeks ago, it was a very basic procedure.”

…..

I really don’t know what to say after that!

HOPE… LESS?

Meanwhile, in another conversation I had last week, I may have talked myself out of being so optimistic about the coming statist collapse and the world returning to a much freer state.  As some of you may know, I have been one of the more optimistic anarcho-capitalists (I’ve begun to call myself that more than an anarchist now that “anarchists” are the #1 enemy of the US Government nowadays and so-called “anarchists” are regularly rounded up) in terms of thinking we could have a much freer, more peaceful and prosperous world in as short of a time as a decade… or less.

That was, until I had this conversation.

Showing my optimism, and my very poor mathematical skills, I excitedly said to a friend, “Thanks to the internet there is so much hope!  I’ll bet 10,000 people every day are waking up to the truth and figuring out that statism/socialism/fascism is an unnecessary evil… as opposed to a necessary one.”

My friend furrowed his brow, so I took out the calculator on my Samsung Note and said, “Look, if 10,000 people per day are waking up… then it will only be so many days before the whole world is awake.”  I then typed in 7 billion divided by 10,000.  For those of you with any math skills you wouldn’t need a calculator… but I typed it in completely oblivious to what the result would be.  I then proudly stated, “Look, at that rate, it will only be………. 700,000 days…. before everyone is awake.”

I slunk back in my chair, deflated.  Perhaps I didn’t realize the full scope of the problem!

My friend tried to console me… and as he did I bounced back up.  Perhaps naively. Probably naively. “But wait,” I said, “I read somewhere that really only 5% of the population has to have an understanding of things in order for those ideas to permeate the entire society!”

Again, I pulled out my calculator… not knowing what number would come up… if I typed in 700,000 x 0.05.  ”You see, it will only be….. 35,000 days… or 95 years…. before we are again free.”

I slunk back in my chair.  My friend ordered me a Glenfiddich 18 anos to ease the pain.  I did what most people do when confronted with the fact that what they originally thought was not true.  My eyes darted as I searched for anything I could have possibly missed.

“Wait!” I exclaimed.  It’s not that bad!  I’ve travelled much of the world… over 100 countries and counting… and outside of Europe and the USSA, most people are quite naturally anarchist.  I’d say the majority of people in Mexico are naturally anarchist… and Thailand… and countless other countries.  In fact, the total amount of true statists on Earth is probably less than a billion… mostly, but not all, those from the US, Europe, Canada, Australia… even some Chinese are definitely statist… but, let’s be conservative… if 1.5 billion people were true statists… and we are waking up 10,000 people per day… and if we only need to convert 5% of them… I punched it into my calculator and like a laboratory rat that has touched the electricified water bottle one too many times, my finger hovered over the “=” sign… in my mind I repeated over and over, “Please… Please give me a number I can live with.”

The number? 7,500 days.  Twenty years.

I paused, not sure to be happy or sad… but then I thought… if my kids… and your kids can live in a free world, potentially in my lifetime (liver willing), I can live with that.

And so, it was with some pain, but some hope, that I continue forward, spreading the word of liberty… Hey, if we can wake up 50,000 people per day, it’ll only be four years before humanity moves beyond this blood stained nation-state/socialism/fascism/collectivist disaster and on to a grand new world.

A FEW SPOTS OPEN UP AT THE GLOBAL ESCAPE HATCH

Bobby Casey, event organizer of the Global Escape Hatch conference in Boca del Toros, Panama from September 19-22, just emailed to let us know there were a few last minute cancellations.  He has about 6 spots still available.  If you go now and register here with the discount code, “VIGILANTE”, you can still receive $200 off the price.  Also, I have now cancelled my appearance at the Chicago Hard Assets show which was scheduled for September 21, so I will be there for the entire event.  I have begun cancelling almost all (but not all) appearances in the US or Canada, just for my own safety… and peace of mind.  

If you are looking for something mind expanding and to meet countless other TDV subscribers and work with a number of experts on developing your escape plan, I urge you to rush.

LIBERTOPIA

Also, Libertopia is creeping up as time seems to fly.  It starts on October 11th… and I hear it also is filling up… including the hotel where the event is hosted.  It’s held in the US but I am still going to attend because it is in San Diego so I can fly into Tijuana and walk across the border, avoiding the TSA and the stress of US airports nowadays.  A number of really great anarcho-capitalists are attending this year, including Rick Rule and Doug Casey… Doug will be receiving a well-deserved lifetime achievement award.  

For those who have never been to a freedom festival before, I have now been to numerous of them so I can help you discern which, if not all, are right for you.  Porcfest, held in New Hampshire each summer, is a big anarcho campout.  It’s a lot of fun… a big bonfire campout of free thinkers.  FreedomFest, on the other hand, is completely different.  It’s a lot of very well heeled, mostly wealthy freedom-lovers… including minarchists, objectivists and numerous other sects.  It’s held in glitzy Las Vegas and most of the week is spent with a wine glass in hand.  Libertopia, on the other hand, is a bit of a mix of the two.  It’s got almost the whole spectrum… it’s really neat.  I recommend all of them… but your next chance is next month in Libertopia, otherwise you’ll have to wait until next summer.

I hope to see you there!

UNTIL NEXT WEEK

That’s all for this week!  Thank you again for reading or subscribing!  And spread the word. We need 50,000 people per day to open their eyes or this world is just going to get worse and worse!

The Dollar Vigilante

The Dollar Vigilante is a free-market financial newsletter focused on covering all aspects of the ongoing financial collapse. The newsletter has news, information and analysis on investments for safety and for profit during the collapse including investments in gold, silver, energy and agriculture commodities and publicly traded stocks. As well, the newsletter covers other aspects including expatriation, both financially and physically and news and info on health, safety and other ways to survive the coming collapse of the US Dollar safely and comfortably. You can sign up to receive our FREE monthly newsletter, our Basic Newsletter ($15/month) or our Full Newsletter ($25/month) with specific stock recommendations and updates at our Subscriptions page on our website at DollarVigilante.com.