Yet another (one of the very few remaining) voice of reason calls it quits after 30 years of writing The Privateer [3], one of the best financial newsletters. At this rate there will be virtually nobody left to challenge the daily propaganda spew coming out of the mainstream farcism. As Bill says, "We have been analysing the idiocies and imbecilities of the financial and political "powers that be" for a long time. And for an equivalent time, we have been watching the "markets" succumb to this detritus. That process was completed with the global near death financial experience of late 2008 but it had been building up since long before we began to chronicle it in 1984.... we need a break." Sadly, expect the amount of idiocies and imbecilities to rise exponentially in the near future as the insolvency of the dying status quo regime is exposed for everyone - not just rich Cypriot depositors - to see. As for Bill: enjoy the break, you have earned it.
From Bill Buckler, author of The Privateer
The 726th issue of The Privateer is now ready for you to download.
On its own, "726" is just a number. In the context of what we do, it represents almost thirty years of producing this newsletter. The schedule is inexorable. With the exception of a four-week break at the end of the year, we do it every two weeks and we do "Gold This Week" every week as well. That has been going on in an unbroken string ever since our first issue came out in October 1984. One of our most satisfying achievements is the simple fact that we have NEVER missed an issue, not once, in all those years.
October 1984 was a very long time ago.
Our newsletter has always been a "cottage industry". For most of our existence, there were three people involved. For the past four years, The Privateer has been the product of two people, your captain and his wife.
Our task is not just the writing and editing of the newsletter. On top of that, there is all the necessary research, answering subscriber emails, the regular tasks of running a business must be done, and all the updates and upkeep at our website must be kept going. It's a lot of work and it never slackens.
We have reached the point in our lives where it is time to say farewell.
We always knew that once we decided to stop producing the newsletter, we couldn't get anyone else to do it for us. We can't "sell" the business or pass it on to someone else to carry on. We have thought about it, but it didn't take us long to come to that conclusion. This is a long-winded way of telling you that this issue of The Privateer is our second last. The last issue will be the Late April 2013 issue - Number 727 - published on April 28. The final update to "Gold This Week" will be for April 26.
Richard Russell is famous for pointing out that the writing and production of a newsletter is about as close to "the ideal business" as you can get.
We couldn't agree more. It has sustained us for most of our working life and we are sure we have enjoyed it much more than we would have enjoyed any other type of "career". But there comes a point in any endeavour, however stimulating, when a sense of "sameness" and "routine" starts to creep in. We have been analysing the idiocies and imbecilities of the financial and political "powers that be" for a long time. And for an equivalent time, we have been watching the "markets" succumb to this detritus. That process was completed with the global near death financial experience of late 2008 but it had been building up since long before we began to chronicle it in 1984.
As we said, we need a break. We do not and cannot know whether this break will be permanent. We are certainly not going to stop watching and analysing the state of the political and economic world. We are just going to stop writing about it - in our newsletter and at our website - for an indeterminate time. Maybe we will start again in the future, even the not too distant future. But we will NOT be doing it as we have in the past, in a newsletter whose structure has been fixed for decades.
All we can say for sure is that The Privateer as it presently stands will end as of the next issue (#727)....
It remains for us both to thank you personally for being a subscriber to The Privateer. We apologise for cutting you off from it. But all things must end. If you would like to stay in touch, our "non Privateer" email address will be included in our next letter. And who knows, once a writer
- always a writer. There may be something in the pipeline in future.