Eric Fry, reporting from Paris, France...
Thoughtful professional investors by day, ugly Americans by
night. Such was the approximate program that your editor
and his colleagues pursued during their three-day summit in
the French countryside.
Not all of the Americans in attendance committed the sorts
of déclassé spectacles that would embarrass a
Frenchman...or a Spaniard...or an Italian...or even most
Americans. But on the other hand, not all of the Americans
in attendance offered thoughtful investment insights. On
average, we are delighted to report, the attendees behaved
inoffensively, while providing inoffensive investment
ideas.
roman,times,serif" size="3">The three-day confab provided a unique opportunity for
Agora's far-flung divisions to meet with one another and to
compare notes about the particulars strengths and
weaknesses of each operation. During the course of the
presentations, we learned, for example, that the South
African office now contains more than two telephones...and
that the brain trust within the German office has developed
47 new product ideas.
But the most valuable inter-cultural communications
occurred outside of the meeting hall...far from the
incessant assault of Powerpoint presentations. Over
dinner...amongst glasses off champagne...through billows of
cigarette smoke, we all talked about – or laughed about –
whatever happened to enter our collective minds. Sometimes
the topics related directly to our professions, but most
often not.
"You know what's kind of ironic?" a colleague remarked one
afternoon while sipping champagne on the grounds the
Chateau de Malesherbes.
"Do tell," your editor replied.
"These chateaux were built by the elite families of
France...the same elite families who lost their heads
during the revolution. And yet, the entire French economy
now relies greatly upon the tourism that these magnificent
structures facilitate."
"So you're saying that the modern-day French economy owes
much of its livelihood to the work of the citizens it
beheaded?"
"Exactly," he replied. "The pre-revolutionary bourgeois
built these magnificent structures. The revolutionists
beheaded the bourgeois...and now these residences support
the French tourism industry."
"A toast to the bourgeois!" your editor suggested, himself
a "vieux bourgeois."
...As it turns out, this casual conversation contained more
than a grain or two of truth, as our Bill Bonner engagingly
explained in two recent issues of the Daily Reckoning :
"We are at the Chateau Malesherbes, an hour's drive south
of Paris, slaving in your interests, dear reader. It is, as
you can see, a tedious task...
"The place has a long and important involvement with French
royalty. Its first owner, François de Balzac d'Entragues,
was well known for the relationship between his daughter,
Henriette, and Henry IV. He was later condemned by
Parliament for conspiring with the Spanish against the
French king. He was imprisoned for life in the chateau,
where he died. Around 1726, the place came into the hands
of the de Lamoignon family, which made the striking
improvements that have made it a showcase of eighteenth
century architecture.
"The grandson of the original buyer was the famous
Chancellor de Lamoignon, who served as avocat of Louis XVI
at his trial. The great Malesherbes' passionate interest in
botany transformed the extensive grounds into a quiet
refuge for Louis and his family during their periodic
exiles. Malesherbes was a liberal administrator, who
enabled the publication of the Encyclopedie (one of the
great intellectual projects of the Enlightenment and one
which spawned the central tenets of the French Revolution).
He also campaigned for the civil rights of French
Protestants and Jews. But his enlightened ideas don't seem
to have done him much good with the sans culottes. He was
arrested shortly after the king's trial and then
guillotined as a royalist - along with his daughter and
grandchildren - although he had actually bravely opposed
royal absolutism during his career.
"The Chateau was then requisitioned by the members of the
Committee of Public Safety, and its furnishings dispersed.
"The kiss of the 'red widow' was promiscuous during the
Revolution - it took peasants and princes, viscounts and
vagabonds, writers and even leading revolutionaries.
"Georges Danton, for instance. Danton was one of those who
voted for the death of the king and also played a large
role in the creation of the Revolutionary Tribunal. He was
also one of the original members of the Committee of Public
Safety and a commanding and wildly popular orator.
"Yet by 1794, the tide had turned; the Jacobins considered
him too moderate, and even former friends like Robespierre
could no longer defend him. Danton was condemned and
executed.
"'Ah, better be a poor fisherman than meddle with the
government of men!' he is said to have remarked.
"A similar fate met a leading Girondist, the remarkable
Madame Roland, at whose salon on the Rue Guenegaud, in
Paris, the leading lights of the revolution had once
gathered, as they shaped the theories they planned to enact
in flesh and blood. For taking a stand against the worst
crimes of the revolution, Madame Roland fell out of favor
with her former guests and was condemned to die. Her end
was legendary. Before placing her head on the block, she
bowed to the clay statue of Liberty in the Place de la
Revolution and then uttered the line for which she is
famous. It bears remembering in these days of orange
alerts, Guantanamo, and perpetual war:
"'O Liberté, que de crimes on commet en ton nom! (Oh
Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!)'"
--- International Living ---
International Living is proud to introduce their all-new
in-country "concierge" service...Club Panama
As a Club Panama member you will never pay full price
again!
Club Panama members:
Save up to $10,000 or more on future real estate
purchases in Panama. Save up to 50% off first-class accommodations at more
than a dozen top hotels and resorts throughout
Panama. - Save up to 20% on restaurants, golf, and luxury spas
and plenty more...
Learn how to live, invest and save on luxury vacations to
one of the world's most exotic locales right here.
www.isecureonline.com/secure/form1.cfm?pubcode=CLP&pcode=W122G91A &alias=RUD
----------------------------
Nine reasons why you should never buy a château in France by Bill Bonner
"I am just a humble American writer with a weakness for old
French pierres," we explained to the farmers.
The little speech seemed to need a little joke. The farmers
looked at each other. Finally, one of the Pierres got it.
The luncheon was organized by one Pierre in order to
introduce another Pierre. The two men are going into
business with me, raising limousine cattle on my farm in
Normandy. But what the farmers wanted to know was what I
was doing there in the first place. That was where the
other "pierre" came in. In addition to the Christian name,
Peter in English, the word pierre means "rock." Christ told
the same little double entendre in the French-language
version of the gospels, when he said: "on this Pierre I
will build my church." St. Peter did as he was told.
I can't seem to pass a pile of them without wanting to own
it; thus have I become the owner of a vast ruin of stone,
slate, and wood-munching fungus in the Norman countryside.
I have lived among the French people for more than a
decade. I have learned their ways and the ways of their
dwellings.
I bought my first château during the early years of the
Clinton administration. "It never rains in the summertime,"
said one of the Pierres. "And, no, the roof doesn't leak."
One day in July, we found that he lied twice. But this was
the just the beginning of the adventure. Nothing is ever
quite as straight in France as we Anglo-Saxons imagine—
neither the people, nor the laws, nor the châteaux walls.
There is always a little "play" in them.
Before buying our first château, I looked at a dozen of
them, many of which were owned by English people. They
mostly suffered from the same problem—the owners ran out of
money before the châteaux ran out of defects. A few rooms
were renovated. Others were left undone. Roofs still
leaked. Heating systems creaked. Plaster cracked. And
finally, the owners packed up and left, often in different
directions.
"When I arrived here," said one older Englishman who had
not cut and run, "the château was broken down. But I was in
good shape, financially as well as physically. Now, the
château is in good shape…and it is I who is broken down.
You can make these things work. But it will cost you."
A buyer must also consider the non-financial costs. Doing
up a château is a consuming occupation. It breaks down not
only pocketbooks, but nerves and marriages, too. There are
all the Pierres and pierres to deal with… and the language…
the government… the community. The travel back and forth…
And the sense of alienation. Taken together, it breaks down
buyers.
"The English don't seem to integrate very well," says a
local notaire. "They keep to themselves. Then, they feel
excluded. And then they leave. So far, of course, they sell
at a profit to more English people."
To readers who might still be tempted, we offer the
following advice:
1. Don't do it.
2. If you do anyway…the first thing to do is to lay in a
good wine cellar. You'll need it.
3. Don't lose sight of Paris. The city is central to life
in France. You don't want to be too close to the city, but
you want to be able to get there without too much trouble.
Look at road and train access.
4. Don't buy more house than you can use. Roofs are
expensive—châteaux roofs in particular. If you don't fix
the roof, it will ruin whatever is beneath it.
5. If money is a concern, buy a cottage instead. Châteaux
were never meant for people with good sense or tight
budgets. You will run into expenses you hadn't counted on.
6. Don't expect the place to pay any of its own expenses.
If it has a farm attached, the farm will lose money. You
can set up a chambre d'hote or gîte… but it probably won't
work either; there are too many of them already.
7. Don't imagine that anything you are told by an owner,
lawyer, notary, or a real estate agent is true. It may be;
it may not be. Even if God himself speaks to you in a
dream, assume he is being too optimistic.
8. Meet the mayor. Be friendly—you might need him.
9. Watch out for a fungus called merule. It makes wood
disappear faster than champagne foam.
[Joel's Note: Yes, it's been a solid dose of globetrotting
in your Rude Awakening this week. We have journeyed you
from New York to Rosia Montana, Romania and now to Paris,
France. While living vicariously through the adventures of
others may appease a mild wanderlust affliction, it will
not cure it indefinitely. So how much does it cost to
actually retire in some exotic locale? How many tax dollars
can you save investing overseas? What does it cost to live
a life of luxury on a deserted beach with a maid tending
your every need? Far cheaper than you think!
Read the full report below and learn how retiring,
investing or vacationing overseas is easier than you think.
International Lifestyles
http://www1.youreletters.com/t/413979/13838998/795105/0/--- Energetic Investing ---
The Single Best Energy Investment For The Next 10 Years
http://www1.youreletters.com/t/413979/13838998/795541/0/
----------------------------
