The Ultimate Way to Profit from Trump’s “America First” Platform

By Nick Giambruno

“It was the single most important financial event of my career.” That’s what my friend Rick Rule of Sprott Global recently told me of his experience in the uranium market. Rick was referring to Paladin Energy, a uranium company that leaped from one penny to $10 per share during uranium’s last bull market. That’s a 1,000-fold increase. In other words, a $10,000 investment could have exploded into $10 million

Even the worst-performing companies in the uranium sector delivered 20 to 1 returns. Uranium can deliver these almost unbelievable returns because of unique supply and demand quirks that create colossal bull and bear markets. Here’s a quick rundown….

The 1950s Uranium Bull Market

Uranium cycled through its first bull market in the 1950s. This bull was mainly driven by the nuclear arms race between the US and the Soviet Union. Back then, the only practical way an investor could get exposure was through uranium exploration companies trading on small regional stock exchanges, like the one in Salt Lake City (which closed in 1986). Those who did made a bundle.

The Late 1970s Uranium Bull Market

The uranium price increased more than tenfold during this bull market… from $3 to $43. Some uranium stocks shot up by a factor of 100. Greater nuclear power use was the main driver. It was a cheap alternative to high-priced oil. Disastrous power plant failures ended this bull market—first Three Mile Island and then Chernobyl, the final nail in the coffin. New production also came online and flooded the market just as demand was decreasing. The resulting bear market lasted for 20 years.

The 2001–2010 Uranium Bull Market

This bull market originated with the preceding 20 year bear market, where the uranium price decreased over 70%. It bottomed at $8 per pound in 2001. For many companies, the cost of producing uranium was higher than the spot price. Miners were producing uranium for around $18 per pound, but they could only sell it for about $9 per pound. So there was little incentive to increase or maintain production. Miners simply stopped producing. Production capacity plummeted. This sowed the seeds for another uranium bull market.

The market didn’t just settle into equilibrium. The supply destruction and increasing demand were so great that, eventually, uranium overshot the price needed to balance the market. After bottoming at $8 per pound in 2001, it skyrocketed to $130 in 2007. That alone is impressive. But uranium stocks had an even greater meteoric rise. This is when Paladin Energy, the company Rick Rule was talking about, soared from one penny to $10. A nuclear catastrophe ushered in a new bear market, just as it had with previous uranium runs. In 2011, a tsunami caused a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plant in Japan. It was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Afterward, Japan took all 52 of its nuclear power plants offline and switched to importing liquefied natural gas (LNG).

A major source of demand in the global uranium market was gone. And a global supply glut followed.
The uranium price crashed from around $85 to under $30. Then it continued sliding to around $18 per pound, where it sits today. Now, once again, the spot price of uranium is less than the cost of production. This is great news for us. The current uranium supply/demand imbalance has a lot in common with the last market cycle. It’s setting the stage for the next uranium boom. Now is the time to get positioned for the same kind of explosive returns we’ve seen in previous uranium bull markets.

The Next Uranium Bull Run

I can’t think of a commodity with more upside and less downside than uranium right now. While many commodities have bounced off their lows, uranium hasn’t. It’s still at or near the moment of maximum pessimism. The situation is screaming, “Bargain!” Psychology plays a big part here. People don’t like uranium. It’s yucky. It’s politically incorrect. Some hear “uranium” and think “cancer.” Many get emotional because of its association with Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and of course Fukushima.

Besides that, investors are terrified that uranium prices have fallen over 85% from previous highs. It’s hard to think of a market where the sentiment is worse. This is why I’m excited. Crises and extreme sentiment don't scare me. They attract my interest.

The whole point of investing in crisis markets is to take advantage of the aberrations of mass psychology and pick up elite companies and assets for pennies on the dollar. This describes the current opportunity in the uranium market perfectly. Simply put, nuclear power delivers immense value to its users, there’s no substitute for uranium, and production is falling while demand rises.

This situation has only two possible outcomes….

1. Uranium prices don’t go up. Miners have no incentive to produce. Nuclear power plants run out of uranium, and the lights go out for billions of people.

2. Uranium prices go up and incentivize enough production to meet the demand.

There are no other options. Which one do you think is more likely? Then there’s the Trump factor. Trump is strongly pro-energy, and pro-nuclear in particular. He has said, “I’m in favor of nuclear energy, very strongly in favor of nuclear energy.” Nuclear energy fits right in with Trump’s “America First” platform. It’s critical for securing the country’s energy independence.

For all these reasons, uranium is my #1 investment for 2017.

Last month I recommended a “best of breed” uranium company in Crisis Investing. Subscribers are already sitting on a gain of around 17% as of this writing. Now, I can’t tell you the name of this company. That would be unfair to subscribers. But I can tell you why I’m so bullish on it.

It has the upside of a junior exploration company, think 10 bagger or better. But it’s very low risk. This is the kind of trade we look for in crisis markets, with the risk/reward skewed in our favor. In the last uranium bull market, this company’s share price rocketed 3,600%. That’s a 10 bagger almost four times over. I expect it to do at least as well in the coming one as it did in the previous one.

You’ll find all the details in Crisis Investing. Click here to learn more.

The article The Ultimate Way to Profit from Trump’s “America First” Platform was originally published at caseyresearch.com.

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Citizenship as a Weapon: Travel Controls and What You Can Do About It

By Nick Giambruno

It’s an extremely potent weapon, yet most are not even aware of its existence. That is, unless they have been unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of it.

The weapon I’m referring to is travel controls, also known as people controls. It’s the power any government has to limit the ability of its citizens to travel. They do this by restricting the issuance of travel documents like passports. Any government can use this weapon can at a moment’s notice. It just needs to find a convenient pretext. Many countries in the past have notoriously turned to people controls. For example, the Soviet Union would routinely revoke the citizenship of its perceived internal enemies.

Recently, look at how the Dominican Republic stripped tens of thousands of people of their citizenship with no due process. Or how the Syrian government previously refused to renew the passports of Syrians abroad whom it suspected of being associated with the opposition. Or how the US government revoked Edward Snowden’s passport with the stroke of a pen. These are but a few of countless examples. The point here is not to pick good guys and bad guys. The point is that there are many instances throughout history and modern times that prove that you don’t own your own passport or citizenship… the government does. And they use them as a weapon.

If you hold political views that your government doesn’t like, don’t be surprised if they restrict your travel options. Unfortunately, the situation is getting worse. Over the last couple of years, there have been several attempts to pass a bill that would make it easier for the US government to cancel the passport of anyone accused of owing $50,000 or more in taxes. I suspect that sooner or later Congress will pass this bill. Fortunately, there is a way to protect yourself from these repressive measures. More on that in a bit, but first let’s look at the most common forms of travel controls.

Different Shapes and Colors

Desperate governments always seek to control money with capital controls and people with travel controls.
Here are the three most common forms of the latter:

1. Soft Travel Controls
These include arbitrary fees and burdensome bureaucratic procedures. These measures amount to unofficial travel controls. It’s similar to how FATCA works with money. FATCA doesn’t make it illegal to move capital outside of the US. But it achieves the same effect by imposing onerous regulations that can make it impractical. In the same sense, the government could achieve de facto people controls through deliberately excessive rules and regulations.

2. Migration Controls
Migration controls are official restrictions on the movement of a country’s citizens. Sometimes governments will put restrictions on certain citizens from leaving the country. This is especially true during times of crisis and for those who have accumulated some savings. Many people feel that they can simply wait till things get bad and then exit. But it’s likely the politicians will have slammed the door shut by then. For example, after Castro came to power in Cuba, the government used to make its citizens apply for an exit visa to leave the island. They did not grant it easily.

3. Revoking Citizenship and Passport
This is the most severe form of people and travel controls. Preventing people from leaving has always been the hallmark of an authoritarian regime. Unfortunately the practice is growing in so-called liberal democracies for ever more trivial offenses. In the US, for example, the government can cancel your passport if they accuse you of a felony. Many people think felonies only consist of major crimes like robbery and murder. But that isn’t true.

The ever expanding mountain of laws and regulations has criminalized even the most mundane activities. A felony is not as hard to commit as you might think. Many victimless “crimes” are felonies. A study has found that the average American inadvertently commits three felonies a day. So, if the US government really wants to cancel your US passport, it can find some technicality to do so…. for anyone.

Second Passports - An Antidote to Travel Controls

Here’s what my colleague and the always insightful Jeff Thomas has to say about travel controls:

As a country approaches an economic collapse, a crystal ball is not necessary to predict that, amongst the actions of the government, will be increased currency controls, travel controls, tariffs, and a host of other last-ditch efforts to keep the sheep penned in - to assure their presence for a final shearing.

What remains for the reader to determine, if he is a resident of one of the nations that is presently in decline, is whether he: a) believes that, in the future, his ability to travel internationally may be either restricted or prohibited; and b) whether he should take steps to assure his liberty for the future. If so, it might be wise to do so before he actually has lost his ability to travel.

If you have only one passport, you’re vulnerable to travel controls. I think it’s absolutely essential to obtain the political diversification benefits of having a second passport. You’ll protect yourself against travel controls. You’ll give yourself peace of mind knowing that you will always have options.

Among other things, having a second passport allows you to invest, bank, travel, reside, and do business in places that you could not before. More options mean more freedom and opportunity. I believe obtaining a second passport makes sense no matter what happens.

Unfortunately, getting one isn’t easy. There are no solutions that are at the same time cheap, easy, fast, and legitimate. Worse, there’s a lot of misinformation and bad advice out there that could cause you big problems. It’s essential to have a trusted resource to guide you through the process. That’s where International Man comes in.

You need to know the best countries to obtain a second passport in and exactly how to do it. We cover that in great actionable detail in our Going Global publication. Normally, this book retails for $99. But we believe this book is so important, especially right now, that we’ve arranged a way for US residents to get a free copy. Click here to secure your copy.

The article was originally published at internationalman.com.

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