How Rare Is Gold And Platinum? The Velvet Rocket has noted before just how precious the precious metals actually are… Gold might seem ubiquitous, as it is found on the hands of millions of brides, but approximately 161,000 tons of the yellow metal have been mined over the entire history of mankind. That’s sounds like … Continue reading »
Filed under Money …
Detroit Real Estate: Massive Wealth Destruction or Bargain?
Your New Motown Pad – Now 90% Cheaper Bricks-and-mortar real estate definitely isn’t my game. But I was shocked by a statistic published in last weekend’s Wall Street Journal. According to real-estate research firm First American CoreLogic, the median selling price for a home in Detroit is now a stageringly meager $7,100, down from $73,000 … Continue reading »
Toprak, Hourieh, Yassmin And A Lot Of Hype
My comments and analysis appear at the bottom of this post: There’s this: The £50m mansion: Britain’s most expensive new-build property It’s too small, and the decor’s passe, Toprak’s new owners say, but at that price what do you expect? To spend £50m on a new house seems excessive; to splurge another £30m on doing … Continue reading »
Ibn Battuta and The Silk Road
The “Dark Ages” in Europe were not the only game on the globe… For those of you distressed about the apparent decline of the West these days, consider moving… There is no reason to go down with the sinking ship. As the example below illustrates, even if things are bad in one area, they will … Continue reading »
The Mexico Series: Weapons Of The Mexican Drug Cartels & The Mexican Police
How To Launder Money (And Everything Else You Wanted To Know About Money Laundering)
Interesting piece from Forbes Magazine… Tough Rules You can thank the USA Patriot Act (passed after the 2001 terrorist attacks) for this rapid global change. The Patriot Act required financial institutions to set up rigorous anti-money-laundering programs, ostensibly to thwart terrorist financing. However, with a powerful new tool on their hands, various law enforcement agencies did not … Continue reading »
Sex Slaves – Where They Come From
According to a very reliable source (my cousin Molly), the highest percentage of sex slave victims (per capita) originate in the following countries: Belarus Moldova Russia Ukraine Albania Bulgaria Lithuania Romania China Thailand Nigeria
