250 THE BiG DROP
they’re going to close the banks and close the accounts, at least
temporarily. I do see something like that happening.13) Do platinum or palladium play a role in an inves-
tor’s portfolio?
They can. I like just gold for portfolio purposes, but I think
for some investors, there is a place. There’s also an investment
called the PMC Ounce offered by a firm called Neptune Global.
That’s physical metal. You actually have physical metal. It’s not
a derivative contract. You get all four of them.
It does better than having any one of the metals because it
reduces your volatility. I do think that’s an attractive play.14) Are Middle Eastern oil countries trying with con-
certed effort to drive down oil prices?
They certainly are in the sense that oil price is very much
a product of output, and they control the output. Saudi Arabia
has reduced its output recently. The question is why? What’s
going on? Are they trying to put pressure on Iran? Are they
trying to put pressure on Russia as part of the penalty for what
they’ve done in Ukraine?
There are some geopolitical reasons going on behind the
scenes. But I also think we have to recognize that this is part
of a global slowdown. Geopolitics are always intriguing, so
there could be some of that going on. It’s also indicative of
deflation and a global slowdown, which we’re seeing around
the world. I think that’s going to catch up to the U.S. by early
next year.15) Do you recommend expatriation?
That’s a personal decision. I’ll just say, factually, expatria-
tion is going up. There are more and more people dropping
their U.S. passports. I’m a U.S. citizen. I’m proud to be a U.S.
citizen. I still have my passport and I have no plans to expatri-
ate, personally. But it is a fact that expatriation is increasing.