Why America Should Default and You Should Live Abroad: Q&A with Doug Casey

"I recommend defaulting on the debt for several reasons," explains New York Times' best-selling author, investment strategist, and libertarian commentator Doug Casey. "Perhaps the best one is that I don't think it's correct to make the next several generations of Americans indentured servants"
His new book, Totally Incorrect, is a collection of conversations with Louis James that explore the ways in which government policy and centralized power threaten cultural and economic progress. In a series of engaging and wide-ranging dialogues, Casey and James talk about everything from the Great Depression to drug use to the Roman Empire.
Reason TV's Nick Gillespie sat down with Casey to discuss why America should default on its debt, why he spends most of his time in Argentina these days, and the importance of self-reliance and free-market principles.
About 6 minutes.
Produced by Joshua Swain with help from Amanda Winkler.
Go to www.reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to ReasonTV's KZbin Channel to receive notification when new material goes live.

[@veritaze]

Every time I travel outside of the country, I find myself agreeing with Casey's line of thinking.

[@freesk8]

I'm a libertarian and a subscriber to Doug Casey's investment service. Great interview! Thanks.

[@sanpedrosilver]

Acquire wealth over time ? "Consume less than you produce, and save the difference" -Doug Casey The question is: What to save in ? I choose PHYSICAL

[@Cbrown892002]

I live abroad! I'm an American living in South Korea

[@yank196101]

I am from Oregon and live in London. Life is much better here.

[@nathanli3024]

@@yank196101 I've been to London before, everything is so expensive!

[@yank196101]

@@nathanli3024 not if you have a professional job.

[@demri123]

Same here

[@BlackBlok]

he is right about living abroad

[@biglance]

totally agree!

[@sawzall919]

BackinBlack live abroad? Where? Name a country that is in better shape than the U.S.? Argentina? Really, you have got to be kidding me. Unfortunately (and luckily for the U.S.) the world knows that if the U.S. Economy collapses it would be bad for people in the U.S., it would be tragic for the rest of the world. Even China knows we drive the world economy by our mindless consumption and hence why they finance it by lending us cheap money. They know that if our economy collapses so does theirs and they would have even worse unrest as they would have difficulty feeding their population as would most of the rest of the world.

[@havanascp9602]

thatwasinteresting2 better shape than us. Countless countries.

[@havanascp9602]

thatwasinteresting2 ask yourself. Why u think countless Americans retire oversea? We ain’t living this days in a country where u can retire in peace anymore. N I wouldn’t wait until u are really old. Good thing baout retiring overseas. 90% of the countries u can retire in peace are way way cheaper than here

[@JonatasAdoM]

@@havanascp9602 You say it because you either already live in the US or you don't live in it. Economical shape isn't everything even though the US is pretty well in regards to it compared to the rest of the world. If you think you're not free enough in the US you'd find yourself as a slave anywhere else.

[@lstone234]

Great interview

[@ivanandreevich8568]

That's right. Leader and ruler are not the same thing in exactly the voluntarism of accepting or rejecting someone's leadership. If you think that anyone holding a job (and a boss) can't be an anarchist, you have no idea what you are talking about. It's all about being free to choose.

[@scottishgold6595]

Here is a man who has traveled out of his home town bubble and sees the real world. Thank you! Good post!

[@Healthytruth]

Thank you for this video amazing

[@johnconstantine1604]

We the People didn't make those debt commitments nor did we want them. We didn't even agree with what the politicians were/are doing with the money from these loans. And you know what? We had/have no say in it. Let the politicians and their families take responsibility for these loans.

[@steveno4324]

Boy did this age well

[@cannibissativa9540]

I'm with you on this. Screw them they took a risk when they lent the money out. We have all lost money this way they should be no different.

[@stevemcgee99]

I love his description of the Argentinian government, and his comparison to ours. Lol. By the way - gold and bitcoin are 'private' as in 'not public' - in other words not controlled by government. Both of those (and many other) options are actually 'public domain' in the sense that no corporation, robber-baron, or government controls them. It's like old books with no copyright. And, just like the balance sheet of the US Treasury can be infinitely divided up to create the value of a single dollar - with nobody every physically holding what's in the Treasury, we can divide up ounces of gold for individual currency units, without having to lug it around. It worked for thousands of years. It financed insurance companies and international trade (even after the Federal Reserve Note was invented).

[@rickolag2344]

stevemcgee99 but gold value is heavily depreciated by the comex market issuing many more digital/paper ounces than physical

[@americopedroni6837]

Just asking, when was the last time you heard of a substantial private gold heist? As compared to numerous current crypto currency hacks & thefts/frauds . If you don't hold it, you don't own it, is that not sound advice?

[@zvi303]

I live abroad. I have to spend days with my 1040 and FBAR (Foreign bank account reports). Luckily the US does pay Social Security to foreign residents; since the government took all of my money for it when I worked in the US, I will need it to keep from starving when I get older.

[@CuteCatFaith]

Hear hear. Greetings from Paris.

[@souvickch]

is this the whole interview ?

[@CuteCatFaith]

Be well. Remember, for most of the world, recreation is sitting staring into space. I learned that here in France & thought it was super zany at first. I find it really relaxing and didn't get online at home until '07. Everyone here has to use polite, formal address -- for example, if a cop bothers you at home at night, that is illegal, & if s/he addresses you informally, they are sanctioned. I like that your home is your castle here and even if they have a warrant there are hours to knock.

[@zhukhov]

Yes, but where? Argentina doesn't sound so great to me from what I hear. Anyone else have any ideas?

[@depatricio]

Argentina is a great place to live :)

[@zygi22]

depatricio yeah look at it now

[@TheJudge79]

Way too brief, I wish this interview would've been longer.

[@Patriot93933]

Heck yes! Stick it to the private owners of the Federal Reserve...

[@Rensune]

I didn't just say that: I then showed you how it is used In Every Other word (providing Context). It does not gain a Special use in a Specific word just because you like that word.

[@keithesaf08]

Hi GNU Linux Guy Back in Thailand again and guess what? Thailand just banned the use of Bitcoins.....now that is something we never thought about..................to be honest I never even considered that when looking into Bitcoin....what are your thoughts on this latest development.....?

[@TechnoSgt]

Then what is the problem and how would you solve it?

[@tuxbear]

Trivial to properly secure? Are you serious? Forgetting about key loggers, network sniffers, backdoors, harddisk failure, armed robbery, fire in your house +++. Securly storing bitcoins is not in any way easier than storing and securing gold. Nothing is perfect. The only way to deal with risk is to diversify. Some bitcoins, some gold, and never everything at the same place. Never ever expose yourself to a Single Point of Failure.

[@VikenZKokozian]

Why America Should Default and You Should Live Abroad: Q&A with Doug Casey "I recommend defaulting on the debt for several reasons," "Perhaps the best one is that I don't think it's correct to make the next several generations of Americans indentured servants" government policy/centralized power threaten cultural and economic progress. In a series of engaging and wide-ranging dialogues, Great Depression/drug use /Roman Empire. AMERICA REBORN WORLD DEMOCRACY INFO-AWARENESS, VIKEN Z KOKOZIAN

[@GNULinuxGuy]

In those sorts of scenarios you can still use Bitcoin, but some trust is desired. Not much different than using PMs as a currency at that point, because the vendor doesn't know purity and can't easily make change. Even if they have a proper means to test it on the spot you still have to trust them.

[@arion45]

These onterviews need to be longer.

[@jamesfrazier366]

I am looking to become an expat in the next 2-5 years. I refer to this as the "Van Trapp Move". In the movie The Sound of Music" the Vantrapp family escape the Nazis in Austria by going over the mountain to Switzerland an independant country that was neutral in World War II. I would recommend International Living magazine. I agree that you can't escape the world kaos, but you can avoid the belly of the beast.

[@phildirt3]

i hear ecuador is pretty awesome

[@pretorious700]

When the world is insane, logic is misconstrued as insanity. The government debt is not my responsibility, and the idea of giving up resources to repay the debt of a corrupt government is beyond idiotic.

[@GNULinuxGuy]

I'm aware of all of those things and it is still trivial to properly secure compared to gold. You can have as many encrypted backups as you feel are necessary, or even use multi-key, etc. Of course diversifying is always a good idea, but I have no interest in gold.

[@brexistentialism7628]

What an interesting short interview😬

[@lamontana300]

It's been suggested that should there be a default that gold should be used as the new currency.Well,I say lets screw things up for the wealthy who are really the one who have screwed the country up.Thereby,the new currence as we the majority(middle class)will choose is lead however toxic should we need to settle ressistance of payment then we can use the lead in the form of a projectile,that's right you figured it out !! ---------------Paid in full !!

[@Frenchyification]

Love that guy

[@millat1m3]

The whole Argentina reference went right over you head I guess

[@majdavlk649]

please explain

[@keithesaf08]

cracks me up old Doug, its true about living abroad....

[@fbp452]

I have enjoyed the interviews ReasonTV has done with a few brilliant anarchists over the past few months. Stefan Molyneux, David Friedman, Jeffrey Tucker, and now Doug Casey. Good move in the right direction.

[@hallavast]

That money was being spent long before I even reached voting age. Why am I responsible for it?

[@Chubearishere]

lol, that was fun to listen to.

[@vonGleichenT]

yeah boy!

[@prieten49]

Wait a second, I thought Claudius came after Caligula! Mr.Casey gets an F in History.

[@Whoo711]

The only entities "burdened" by our national debt are a) the federal gov't b) investors who BUY TREASURIERS (maybe, that is...) and c) MAYBE some businessmen who SUPPOSEDLY find it "much harder to take out loans w/ good terms than they otherwise would", which is very debatable. But to pretend like ALL of our descendants will "have to deal with the debt", as if they'll ALL be FORCED TO PONY UP 10S OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS EACH or become literal slaves... is just bullshit. Pure hyperbole

[@Dmactyjc133]

Nick can be a hit and miss interviewer depending on what length of video they are producing.

[@CuteCatFaith]

It's not going to matter much to China if the US "doesn't pay them back." Most of the world has decoupled from the US -- it's fairly irrelevent at this point. That's not out of hate or anything like that, really -- the US is no longer First World, and if the USD fails, that does not mean other currencies would necessarily all fail. Americans are continuing to think in outmoded ways which were essentially delusional to begin with. Greetings from an American long time abroad.

[@Rensune]

Even were I to go with his insane logic (admitting that the executive should be parental) When your parents are wrong it is Immoral to do what they tell you.

[@kreteman777]

Either we default or we inflate to the point of disaster. Which one !?

[@stevemcgee99]

I noticed that I wasn't considered the property of Japan while I lived there.

[@Kit_Bear]

Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius (caligula), Claudius then Nero, Pointing this out, would that make you Totally Wrong Mr Casey? lol

[@CuteCatFaith]

Well, ya got me there. An old man here went to prison a few years ago for blasting a couple of unemployed tool shed and vegetable garden raiders in the rural dead of night. Grandpa's aim was true, one dead, the other perp needing new trousers I think ... The elderly man had a string and a bell set up to awaken him in his humble bedroom. Out he went into the night, BOOM! and got the book thrown at him at age 70. Now, that did suck. It did.

[@sirellyn]

You pay nearly 50% of your income to the government. As stated, a shaky 6% is from previous debt. So what level would you be a wage slave? Losing 60% of your income? 70? 80? 90? 95%? If interest rates go up, taxes would have to those levels to maintain current spending rates. That likely wouldn't happen. Instead the worse route of inflation will likely be followed. Then currency reissue or repeg.

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

Why is a channel called "Reason TV" interviewing an economic crank?

[@hallavast]

I understand that these are the rules that the rulers would like me to follow. But what makes them just? By what right must I pay the debts of the state? If the people are sovereign, doesn't that mean we own our property before the state does? If the same state breaks its own contract (the constitution), am I still morally bound to abide by its rules? If a state unjustly kills children and innocents in other countries and says it can do the same here, why do I still owe it my allegiance?

[@dyingtodeath]

Doug Casey is my all time favorite curmudgeon philosopher on the Great American Ponzi Scheme.

[@mengoingabroad8576]

"Curmudgeon Philosopher" LOL exactly

[@keithesaf08]

Im presently living in Sihanoukville - Cambodia, where the electricity goes off almost daily and sometimes for days- what use is Bitcoin to me in that case, but with Gold, even a piece of a link of a neck chain, I can take it down the local market and change it for cash or food in a literal minute.Maybe where you are the internet and the electric won't go down when there is a collapse or war....maybe who knows...something to think about.....

[@m.c.miller]

1.) To conflate these different schools of economic thought as something of a monolith may speak to the credibility of your assertion. 2.) Do we not live in the era of regulation and market controls by central-planning authorities? Is there not at least a correlation between this reality and the increasing economic disparity, the concentration of wealth, and in other words "...super wealthy even wealthier while destroying middle class...". I suggest re-investigating the historical trends.

[@CuteCatFaith]

Yes, I watched some local firefighters purposely burn a few cars so they'd get overtime. They'd gone to the trouble to dress in black, complete with ski masks. Their coworkers were standing right near by with firetrucks, waiting & joking a few minutes while valuable property, such as small trucks for tiny businesses, was destroyed. Some of my neighbors' kids (all white) went downstairs and broke the windows in the Chinese restaurant & burned the interior. Insurance rates shot up here.

[@requiemforamerica8432]

i think it's better to get it over and done with, than be drained slowly the way we are - and spending more and more money keeping bad banks afloat, and dishonest politicians making impossible promises and making the government even more costly at some point the shit's gonna hit the fan anyway, and the longer we kick the can down the road, the worse it's going to be...

[@samirelzein1978]

wow the dude dared so much!

[@JimboPowers]

HA I like his honesty lol

[@MsWillita8]

And it's 2020, and we the people are paying 😔

[@anarki777]

I realise that gold/silver are of value, however, there are all sorts of impracticalities which arise from using rare precious metals as your form of currency. Paper currency is money, because it's the only thing the Government will accept as a form of payment for taxes and other such things. Thereby, it is recognised as something of value, and that is all that is needed for something to be valuable irrespective.

[@todddavis240]

Trollin, trollin, trollin RAWHIDE! I just copyrighted that so......thanks glad you laughted. Peace

[@srobinson124]

what about Anarcho-syndicalism?

[@SuperheroArmorychannel]

This might have been a great interview if the interviewer didn’t interrupt him constantly.

[@CuteCatFaith]

I'll agree wholeheartedly: I hear of people on benefits in the States and they have air conditioning, portable phones, TV, they go out to get their hair cut, there's EBT (there are no food stamps here in France), many have clothes dryers, heck, I'm jealous! I don't have those things! (Just joking, I am not jealous but you get the point.) The spy cameras, the Brits figured out how to get shut down & it's easy. There are a lot of clips on that. My best to you!

[@m.c.miller]

Which came first, the massive business entity or the state? The state. My argument is implicit. If you want more qualified analysis read Hoppe's "Marxist and Austrian Class Analysis". With regard to your concentration of power argument, you obviously underestimate competition and the extent to which the state prevents small firms from competing with larger firms. Why is it profitable for firms to lobby the state? Because they can shape policy in a manner which stifles competition.

[@m.c.miller]

From what sources do you derive your understanding of the factors leading to the 2008 economic crisis? Reagonomics is not the same as free-market economics. Again, you are conflating different schools of thought as sharing the same principles. Please read Rothbard's work on the federal reserve system.

[@urbancarpet]

Yes but if those 'other' countries are negatively effected by our country stiffing them...there could be some repercussions felt all over the world as no country lives in a vacuum....

[@millat1m3]

Transitioning to competing currencies would be seamless if they were called Visa, Mastercard, and American Express .

[@hitssquad]

US currency only loses about 2% of its value per year. Promising to only keep in circulation one dollar per bar of gold doesn't prevent further devaluation, because that promise can always be defaulted upon.

[@ivanandreevich8568]

What?

[@mweibleii]

Great to see people waking up. I can't tell you how many people in my generation (42) are absolutly clueless. They grew up in the 80s thinking ME ME ME ME ME ... and our parents were just as bad and all of this debt is coming crashing down on the present generation.

[@mrzack888]

there's nothing wrong with that. if you own a bank a small local community bank u can borrow from the nearest fed as well. that's what central banks do. That's how money is created. and those loans have to be paid back with interest TO THE GOVT. So the fed reserve is actually a money making institution for uncle sam.

[@nutandboltguy3720]

If the US did default on those loans, the government would just run up the debt again. It’s become such a normal condition to be in debt, why not keep it that way? After all, the economy should have collapsed years ago and it’s still going strong. I’m be sarcastic about staying in debt. No president will accept the responsibility of defaulting.

[@GNULinuxGuy]

He was making quite a bit of sense until he said gold is superior to Bitcoin. To properly secure gold it must be in a vault, which is not much different than trusting a bank. How do I know my gold is even still there? What use is it at that point as a currency without a centralized computer system that you have no control over? Bitcoin's fully transparent and decentralized nature means it's trivial to properly secure and transfer with no counter-party risks! :)

[@Gold_Silver.]

Currently looking for property in the motherland Peru. Thanks for all your info Doug 🙏🏼 #Gold & #Silver to the 🌕 baby

[@oneoctavelow]

Default on the national debt and your world rating will go from hero to banana at the speed of science.

[@CuteCatFaith]

Are you serious? Have you lived, worked, studied, even traveled or done a sabbatical abroad? I expatriated nearly 20 years ago & never bother going back "home." It isn't necessary. Not to me, not to most of the world. Do you mean to tell me it's worse in Iceland? Western Turkey? Vanuatu? France? France is worse than the USA? I must be tripping. Living here is a dream come true for me! I wouldn't "run to the USA" for a million USD -- especially since they're not much wanted anymore.

[@NIsForNoobCakes]

I think he's constrained by the requirements of the video more than anything else. Both parties are probably aware of time constraints and the interviewer is simply trying to summarize his important ideas. Mr. Casey says just enough so that you may be interested in knowing more, in which case you should buy his book.

[@thomasmadison3896]

Australia is becoming a socialist surveillance state like America. Doug doesn't live in the city, in Argentina he lives on the frontier, with a lot of other Libertarians. They have a place called Galt's Gulch(like in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged) It's like 200-300k for a lot of land. Skip it and find your own bit of shade.

[@UTubekookdetector]

If the US does not get control of defense spending, entitlements & means-tested welfare, it will default one way or another. Federal transfer payments to individuals are out-of-control, we have to end this insane welfare state. Our unfunded obligations for Medicare & Social Security are over 70 trillion. Where's that $ going to come from?

[@TB1123YT]

Heavy? you would need hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gold for it to get heavy. A pound of gold today is worth around 26,000

[@apburner1]

Really? Please explain to me how our debt is not the problem?

[@mrzack888]

the federal reserve system is the most responsible central banking ever devised by men. it is an ingenious system to stabilize a nations currency. you need to be more worried about govt not willing to break up monopoly billionaire corporations and the military industrial complex and unregulated banking of ridding of glass stegall and lack of govt leadership unwilling to embark on a new deal 2.0 than some outdated powerless central bank.

[@hallavast]

I don't get it.

[@videodepo]

Nick, please let Doug talk.

[@eventhisidistaken]

Outright default is anathema to libertarian ideaology of honoring your contracts. Inflation is expected, and people already factor it into the returns they expect, so it's not an unfair approach. The biggest creditor to the US is not China, it's the Fed, who holds over $3 trillion of the debt, followed by money market accounts in the US. Defaulting on the debt is the same as simply confiscating everyone's money market accounts.

[@enermaxstephens1051]

Kind of a poor interviewer, he kept cutting him off and not really letting him finish. As the audience we want to hear what he has to say, not just 20% of it.

[@SelfStirringPot-com]

Nobody expect you to walk around with kilos of gold to buy a house. The gold remains in the bank and backs up electronic or paper currency,

[@Whoo711]

Treasuries*

[@jaiwhitehead]

Careful not to let that chain be too obvious. Many of those Cambodians of the lawless nature would like to make that wee treasure their own. And by the foulest of means if need be.

[@CuteCatFaith]

It wasn't "Islamic immigrants" who largely got destructive, but the events took place during Ramadan and a lot of people, such as Muslims, were out in that Indian Summer for the evening stroll after breaking the fast. Mostly the guilty were responding to copycat instigation using portable phones with screens. Muslims have been here for something like 700 years. You do know that Algeria is not a former colony, right? France is beautiful, I love it here. I hope you visit if you want to! xo

[@JohnCoktosten]

I'm a big fan of Nick but it's a fair criticism you make. Problem is, he's not just you're everyday interviewer. He's a writer and a prominent libertarian himself, so this would have felt more like a conversation to him. But as you say, it ends up with him just interrupting Mr Casey when he's in the middle of making an interesting argument.

[@Rensune]

Capitalists are Not: Anarcho (of any variety) is.

[@sirellyn]

He suggests no national currency, but competing currencies. He suspects gold would rise to the top. Thats extremely different than advocating it as a national currency.

[@CuteCatFaith]

Chinese saying: "If you save a life, you are responsible for it."

[@jameswooten3212]

I’m sorry but Argentina doesn’t sound like a place I’d like to raise my kids given his description.

[@mrzack888]

the govt does NOT pay interest to the Fed Reserve, it's the opposite. The govt makes money from the fed resersve. And taxation of the people is to ensure currency stability and prevent inflation coz taxation creates a DEMAND for that currency. Nothing wrong with printing money, coz that's how money is created anyway. Duh. Govt doesn't need your taxes when it can issue money from Fed.

[@Healthytruth]

You can’t eat gold . Seeds and things we need is the real wealth and value