By Tom Dyson
There's never been a better time to be seeking fortune in America.
Right now, we're in a period of great turbulence. Everything in America is up for sale at "panic liquidation" prices. Each foreclosed property and bankruptcy headline you hear about represents another opportunity to make money.
One man goes bust and another man makes a fortune. It's the beauty of American capitalism. Assets never die; they just change owners. Take Kirk Kerkorian and Carl Icahn, for example.
Kirk Kerkorian is the majority owner of MGM Mirage, a gigantic casino and hotel company. In Las Vegas, it owns half the casinos on the Strip.
MGM also owns huge casino resorts in Reno, Atlantic City, Detroit, Biloxi, and Macau.
In the boom times, like in 2005 and 2006, MGM's management borrowed too much money. Now Vegas is in a bust, and the company is having problems paying back what it owes. It has been furiously selling assets to raise cash... but it hasn't been enough.
Carl Icahn holds MGM's accumulating debt. As a debtholder, he'll be in control of MGM's assets if it declares bankruptcy. Once MGM's debt comes due, Icahn will simply foreclose MGM's remaining assets and seize its properties. Unless Kerkorian can borrow more money, Icahn may acquire the hotels, casinos, golf courses, and everything else MGM owns.
Right now, hundreds of companies like MGM are "up for sale." The financial crisis has pushed a big swirling cloud of valuable assets into the air like the dust in front of a leaf blower... and these assets can be grabbed up by anyone who wants them.
Last week, AbitibiBowater, the world's largest producer of newsprint, declared bankruptcy. Abitibi owns millions of acres of timberland, paper mills, and saw mills.
General Growth Properties (
GGP) also filed for Chapter 11 last week. GGP owns 158 shopping centers around the country.
Timberland and shopping malls are valuable assets... especially with the authorities blasting cash into the economy like they are.
The Federal Reserve is injecting trillions into the economy. In just the last 25 days, it has added $56 billion from the printing machine. The federal government will inject another trillion dollars or more this year. There's so much cash coming out of the government, I can almost see it accumulating on the sidewalks. All we need to do is stoop down and pick it up.
The point is, America is the greatest country on Earth for building a fortune... and now it's as easy as ever, thanks to the financial crisis and the government's cash.
In my next column, I'll discuss some of the strategies I'm going to use to make a fortune in the next few years. Until then, start thinking about how you'll take your share of the money that's flying around...
Good investing,
Tom
