MarketWatch reports Wall Street’s Faber says U.S. wouldn’t have made as much ‘progress’ if colonized by blacks.
Swiss investor Marc Faber has doubled down on racially charged remarks he made in an October newsletter, suggesting that the U.S. would be in a qualitatively different state if it had been colonized by black people instead of whites.“I am not saying it would be better,” Faber told MarketWatch in an interview on Tuesday. “I am just saying that progress would not have been the same.”
Asked why “progress” would be worse, Faber had this to say: “Europeans brought science to America. They brought technical skills.…I am not sure the Africans would have done that.”
Faber’s remarks to MarketWatch came after the prominent investor early Tuesday sparked a backlash from Wall Street and its participants related to similar statements that surfaced in his popular newsletter The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, dated Oct. 3.
In the newsletter, he wrote: “And thank God white people populated America, and not the blacks. Otherwise, the US would look like Zimbabwe, which it might look like one day anyway, but at least America enjoyed 200 years in the economic and political sun under white majority.”
A frequent commentator on CNBC, Bloomberg and on this website, Faber said he expected to face repercussions from his remarks, saying that if “stating some historical facts makes me a racist, then I suppose that I am a racist,” reiterating statements he offered to other news outlets via email.
CNBC and Fox Business Network said Tuesday that they will no longer book him on their shows.Sprott released this statement, attributed to CEO Peter Grosskopf: “The recent comments by Dr. Faber are deeply disappointing and are completely contradictory with the views of Sprott and its employees.”
Faber said he was more concerned with the state of free speech in the world—and, in particular, in America. “If you have to live in a society where you cannot express your views and your views are immediately condemned without further analysis and analysis of the context in which [they’re written]—if you can’t live with that, then it is a sad state of where freedom of the press and freedom of expression have come.”
Faber told MarketWatch that “Africans will always use the excuse of [oppression] to explain where they are economically, saying that it is ‘all the fault of the colonists.’ ”“They would be much better,” he continued, “under a system of Western colonialism.”
Amazingly Insensitive and Inaccurate
I cannot and do not condone statements like “Thank God white people populated America.”
Faber’s statements were amazingly insensitive at best, racist at worst. Judgement is in the eyes of the beholder. He was given a chance to clarify his statements. Instead, he doubled down and it will cost him dearly. Retribution was swift.
I ban people from my website for making racial comments.
Second Chance
When given a second chance MarketWatch interview, I propose Marc Faber should have replied along these lines:
“I apologize for my inaccurate and insensitive statements. The US is great because it was founded by an amazing group of free-market capitalists and right-minded educated intellectuals. Race was not a factor.”
What Made the US Great?
The Constitution’s Bill of Rights is what makes the US great. There is nothing else like it in the world. It’s a unique constitution put together by a unique set of educated lawyers and other scholars.
The First Amendment grants freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
That’s what enables Faber to say what he did. And that’s a good thing, whether you agree with him or not! China imprisons or kills people for saying something the state disagrees with. Numerous countries in Europe would fine Faber for such remarks.
The First Amendment prohibits state-sponsored religion. Many Republicans who allegedly want a strict constitution, ought to take a closer look. School prayer does not fit in.
Democrats might wish to consider the Second Amendment.
Everyone should appreciate the right to be secure in their home. That’s the Fourth Amendment.
The Sixth Amendment grants a speedy trial.
Race has nothing to do with the brilliance of the US constitution other than the fact it happened to be drafted by whites. One can accurately state that at that time, there were not as many educated blacks as whites, but it was education level (arguably coupled with sheer luck), not race, that made the difference.
I doubt that any group of people (white, black, red, yellow, or purple) other than that amazing set of individuals who just happened to be in the right place at the right time could have drafted the Constitution of the United States.
The Bill of Rights is what made America great, not poltical demagogues demanding school prayer while supporting drone policy that allows the US to drop white phosphorous bombs and target individuals with zero regards for “collateral damage”.
Interestingly, this subject came up just the other day, in regards to China. Saxo Bank CIO and Chief economist Steen Jakobsen declared a paradigm shift is underway and “King Dollar is Dead“.
I agree with the paradigm shift theory and usually agree with Jakobsen in general. However, I disagree with Jakobsen on King Dollar. This was my rationale:
Why Dollar is King
- The dollar is king because the US has open capital markets, property rights, and the world’s biggest bond markets.
- The US also has a Bill of Rights granting freedom of speech and protection from unwarranted searches. China imprisons people for speaking their mind.
- China is a long way from competing with the US on those important issues. In addition, China repeatedly resorts to capital controls to stop monetary flight.
China will not supplant the US for at least two decades and may not ever.
For further discussion, please see King Dollar is Dead? Biggest Paradigm Shift in 100 Years: China and Electric Cars at Forefront.
After clicking on the above link, do yourself a second favor and go read the Bill of Rights.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Marc Faber expressed an opinion. Not that it matters one bit, I agree with him 100%. Anyone with a different opinion and willing to argue with him should be free to do so. Better still if the focus stays on the merit or demerit of his arguments not on the man who expressed his opinions. Sounds simple but unfortunately respect for free speech is not what it used to be. Intolerance is on the rise.
Marc is correct in stating that America would not have been so successful if colonised by the African peoples, but where he slipped up is referring to these African peoples as ‘the blacks’. It is not their colour or race that would have prevented the Africans from starting America out on the right foot, but rather it would have been the cultural difference. This is brilliantly and accurately explained in Jarred Diamond’s book, Guns, Germs and Steel. And as Diamond explains, this cultural difference is nothing to do with intelligence or race.
Marc is correct in stating that America would not have been so successful if colonisaed
Can you cite the studies of general IQ differences of blacks? I would be interested to see the pool any study used. I have a hard time believing it. I am a medical scientist (with expertise in Toxicology R&D) so need actual data.
@Anotherguy – I do not totally disagree with your assessment of different races having varying skills but we should be sure we are not just stereotyping an entire race. Not all Jews are intelligent, although they have a large number of Nobel winners and I know not all blacks are athletic. I can say that not all whites are intelligent or would create a free and well run society. Although Britain colonized what later became the United States and we used their system of law, there have been other high civilizations which were not based on Northern Europe or whites. Ancient Egypt had higher technology than any empire to date, Greece had Democracy, Italy had a Republic thousands of years ago and it expanded into the Roman Empire. All civilizations rise and fall and the US has not been around long, comparatively speaking to these. My guess is our decline will be both sooner and quicker than the ones mentioned and it will not be due to blacks or any single race. It will be due to complacency and all races living beyond their means and becoming ignorant of what made our country great (freedom).
No one objects if I say, Ashkenazi Jews as a group are probably the most intelligent people, or Blacks are very athletic. (Do you watch sports much?) One might say that Asians are very diligent and no one objects. But say anything negative about an identifiable group and the ad hominem attack of Racist is launched which shuts down honest discussions on how we can improve the problems of the world. Ad hominem attacks have gradually crept into our educated, and yet in many ways, uneducated society.
Racism is not pointing out differences or differing abilities/skills etc. It is treating people differently because of those differences. I might say I like Mercedes better than a Ford. People might agree or disagree, but on the road I treat all drivers equally (until someone cuts me off LOL)
E pur si muove.
When I read his report this month I thought he had gone to far and could have said what he meant in a much less objectionable way or not at all. This also came close on the heels of Jim Grant having to do a 180 degree about turn on his Dalio piece, what I don’t like however is both these guys write expensive private letters not availiable to the general unwashed public, and both of these guys were quickly shut down with no discussion of the the subject matter being put forward. It is not a good state of affairs when even in a very private newsletter the topic of discussion is policed so heavily.
Here are the first 16 words of the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,…”
@JonSellers, I can agree with that. You will always a level of bias in terms of decision making.
“The market in its natural state is color blind and will pick the winner, not your country of origin.” The market doesn’t really exist. It’s an abstraction. What really exists is a group of human beings in positions to make meaningful financial decisions. There are no guarantees on their level of colorblindness. As Mr. Faber shows. And I was just messing with Latke.
@Capital777 ,
I think this conversation is getting toxic. I believe the point is that capitalism philosophically has harnessed free capital otherwise being held back. The dynamism in economy allows companies to go up and down. We will see business dynasties come and go regardless assuming the government will go out of the way of business’ critical path. The market in its natural state is color blind and will pick the winner, not your country of origin.
“There are no first-world countries that were colonized by any other people of European ancestry.” That’s my evidence. What other people’s ever colonized new continents and created first world countries? Africans? Nope. Asians? Nope. Germans, Italians, Poles? Nope. Not much could be expected from the lesser whites. But I have a friend at work who I had lunch with one day and he’s of Belgian ancestry. Which shows that I’m not a racist.
“Of course, you have no evidence for this nonsense.”
http://economati.blogspot.com/2017/10/marc-faber-crosses-imaginary-line-of.html
I agree with Latkes and Faber. The French colonized much of Canada and the Midwest (Detroit is a French name). Europe and North America are the richest regions in the world today; they are also the most celebrated cultures (just observe where people go for vacations and for tourism). I rest my case.
Mish, you are wrong about school prayer. From 1600AD to 1867AD, schools in the colonies and in the States, were PRIVATE, CHRISTIAN schools. Government schools started up soon after the US Civil War. Washington and Jefferson and Adams and Franklin and Munroe were all products of PRIVATE, CHRISTIAN schools.
Mish, you are wrong about school prayer.
@Latkes, Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia were not colonized by “white Europeans”. They were colonized specifically by people from the British Isles. There are no first-world countries that were colonized by any other people of European ancestry. Europeans of non-Anglo/Saxon/Celtic backgrounds are pretty much the same as Africans and Asians. But I’m not being politically correct here.
I have to disagree with Latkes on this. Race is not necessarily a factor. It is mostly how you were brought up in the society. I know a lot of minorities that worked hard and succeed in the American system. The issue on culture is pretty dynamic since the early settlers tend to be a little more socialist. We have transformed ourselves in a span of 241 years to a more capitalistic society. That being said, race is mostly unimportant as much as a national identity in the United States. This however, requires everyone to compete at an individual level, not as a community.
No one’s flooding Japan with millions of non-Japanese.
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.
It wasn’t race, nor religion, nor any specific factor. The specific people had everything to do with why it worked in the US, and in Canada, but not so well in other places in he world that were colonized. The bill of rights, is indeed important. That is a great concern for me, going forward, as I see increasing numbers of people who no longer believe in freedom of speech, but only in speech that they agree with. What they don’t seem to realize is that if some speech ends up prohibited, in the long run it might be the speech with which they agree that ends up prohibited.
No race is superior or inferior, a belief in which is the textbook definition of racism. But there certainly are superior/inferior cultures. Read Thomas Sowell’s “Black Rednecks and White Liberals.” Urban blacks in the US adopted some of the self-destructive cultural traits white crackers and rednecks brought with them from the UK to the southern US. For example, crackers and rednecks were willing to kill or be killed over the smallest real or imagined insult (you dissed me). While whites have largely abandoned these destructive traits, it has nothing to do with race.
Statements involving race are way more sensitive than statements about profession, age, height or even gender of a person. Peter Faber must have known this. The things I wonder most about are: who’s deciding the relative sensitivities, and why… And especially: how come the sensitivity of a racial statement depends upon the race considering all races are equal.
The problem with “rule of law” is that law is dispensed by people, and the principles codified in law are only as honorable as the people living by it. That includes the Bill of Rights.
“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
“A Republic, if you can keep it.” — Benjamin Franklin
The Declaration is what made the US great, because it named the principle of the proper form of government: one that protects and is delimited by individual rights. (Too bad they dropped “property” from that famous line.) I think Hamilton had a good point, that the Bill of Rights was actually a step backwards, because it implied that there are *other* actions which the government may regulate. Just look at how many actions are regulated/illegal today, no thanks to the Bill of Rights.
School prayer has exactly nothing to do with state sponsored religion, as schooling is exactly zero business of any legitimate state.
As for Faber’s remarks about Africans, Somalia is an almost infinitely freer country, than what remains of any white majority country these days.
Of course, Americans had plenty of freedoms left too, 20 years post revolution. Before throwing it all away a century later. Let’s just hope, for posterity, the Somalis can do a better job holding on to theirs. Relying on “white colonialists,” who couldn’t even hold onto their own, to protect those of others, would seem about the height of folly.
Also, hasn’t Faber spent pretty much his entire adult life and existence in Asia? Despite hailing from what is one of the very least dysfunctional White majority states in existence? So much for faith in white culture….
Race is irrelevant. Human DNA is human DNA. That said, the Founding Fathers were inheritors of an immensely deep intellectual tradition, going back through Christianity, Judaism and the best of the pagan Romans and Greeks. And while being inheritors of such does not necessarily determine *anything* (after all, we have deliberately made ourselves ignorant of it, when we could have built upon it) it does make further accomplishments possible. Illiterate Africans can no more be expected to produce the Constitution than illiterate Celts or Mongols or whatever. The moral and intellectual path of the human tribes has been erratic, uneven. One day for all we know we will have fallen back into complete barbarism and the Africans or the Bolivians will save us all.
I suspect that Marc Faber is right that racial differences have a bearing on average success in particular environments. Notwithstanding that I like to appreciate people as individuals without regard to race.
Well said Jon. And now we are ready to toss it all on the promise of socialist promised free stuff. First Confederate statues, next Columbus, very soon Washington, Hamilton and Jefferson. Bye Bye Mount Rushmore. Everything before Karl Marx is to be disgraced then erased. That is what is happening. History is very clear on the outcome.
So it is not the color of your skin, it is your cultural background that is the determinant. And Marc Faber is fortunate that we have first amendment rights to say what he wants. The government can’t touch him. That doesn’t mean his employers and business partners can’t shun him. Which they appropriately did here.
And Marc Faber is wrong. The USA did not become a powerful, property respecting, capitalist state because it was colonized by white people. It became that because it was colonized, very specifically, by white people from England. They brought with them the culture already in place, and a technological sophistication that at the time was one of the highest in the world. White people from Spain and Portugal colonized South and Central America and brought a different culture with them. And this culture left those area far poorer in economic and political sophistication.
The Bill of Rights is modeled after the English Bill of Rights adopted by Parliament after the Glorious Revolution. It is not uniquely American in any way. And the English Bill of Rights was developed by the Anglo-Saxon nobility of old England as a check on the power of the King. It was certainly not intended as a document that reflected on the rights of the general non-noble Celtic (British, Welsh, Scottish) population.
We are all Africans. Surroundings and education not the color of your skin makes a person. Most of us are along for a ride and don’t contribute that much to society . We are just lucky that every once in a while there is a Genius that pushes Humanity forward. It is in our best interest to create environment in which the Genius can flourish no matter what race.
Diversity means everyone MUST think alike about the agenda of ‘diversity’.
Is there a non-White majority area that you would like to live in?? If so, why aren’t you there? IF not, why don’t you admit Whites have racial interests and rights.
1.White people exist. 2. White people have the RIGHT to exist. 3. White people have the RIGHT to exist AS White people in White Communities and Nations.
Would it be different if the US was settled by Africans? Of course it would – same as being settled by Asians, Indians, or any other culture. This really can not be debated.
Would they have brought the same level of technological skills? Probably not, I don’t think Africa had the same level of technology as Europe. However, there’s a lot that could be masked by the effects of the slave trade and colonization. There is probably room for debate.
I guess I should ask the question, what civilizations did practice a free-market economy in the 1700s?
If the Americas had been settled by Africa and not Europe, how might things be different today? I don’t think there’s an answer to this because it would have to start with the omission of the transatlantic slave trade triangle and make guesses from there. I can’t conclude that the Americas would simply be a reflection of current Africa because I assume the slave trade & colonization has affected Africa for the past 300 years.
hey Mish, what was your favorite investment book that was written by Faber?
Very disappointing, Mish. I thought you were intellectually honest and didn’t suffer politically correct foolish nonsense. I was wrong.
El Tedo spot on. The USA is racial phobic, most Americans are tired of it. Freedom of Speech is a joke here along with most of the world. Yet talking about white people is all the rage these days. American educational institution publish drivel daily and it is not called discrimination. If one actually looks at history many would actually find totally different reason or story on what and why things happened. Take the civil war for instance. The media and the left and protestors and the war was all about abolishing slavery, when the war was actually about states leaving the union. Sure some left because they felt slavery was in peril but only two states left for this reason. Several union states continued to use slaves during the civil war until the emancipation was enforced. Of course this is omitted by the media and our higher education in this country.
I would add to Mish’s statement on reading the Bill of Rights, that people should also read the entire Constitution as well as the writings of the men involved (Jefferson, Madison, etc.) These days Americans tend to not understand the meaning behind the Constitution and how the Bill of Rights is there to enumerate the freedoms of citizens. Ignorant people call for anrogating thise rights because they feel threatened by speech or the possibility that someone may hurt them. Life is not a safe space and people have the right to make remarks like Faber did, whether it is agreeable or not. We also have the right to point out our belief that he is wrong while others may agree with him.
Faber’s comments were crude & impolite, but crediting the success of the United States to the constitution only and dismissing Western culture isn’t just political correctness, it’s intellectually dishonest.
Government health care isn’t working in England either. Its a stupid stupid stupid idea that depends on innumerate (miseducated) voters to even be considered
For all the lies told about Obamacare, perhaps one of the worst is the lie that national health care “works” in other countries — a lie mostly given by politicians and people who haven’t actually looked at other countries health systems. The poster child of stupid government health system ideas — England’s NHS — is usually cited. Guess what socialists? England’s system is also failing. England is now proposing to ration healthcare worse than any HMO — smokers and obese persons will not be allowed surgery, because England’s NHS mess is costing England more than it can afford to pay. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/17/nhs-provokes-fury-indefinite-surgery-ban-smokers-obese/
If you can be bullied, physically attacked, and persecuted for your “free” speech, do you really have it? Even if Faber were wrong (and everyone familiar with the psychology of intelligence knows he is totally right), he is being punished for violating the absurd Narrative of Diversity, which has a death grip on our society.
Just wondering how many of the people in high positions in Fox, CNBC and Sprott that have banned Faber are black.
Faber’s stand for freedom is heroic in the same sense Socrates was heroic, and transcends his debatable ideas. There is a difference between debating and refuting ideas, and eliminating freedom of expression and making the messenger drink hemlock. This is really about freedom versus a totalitarian state promoting uniformity of thought (political correctness). Faber’s interpretation of history and race are just an excuse for the Marxist thought-control machine to be mobilized. The Marxist collective is on a Utopian quest for absolute power and control, and silencing the opposition (muzzling freedom) is part of the grand plan to remake society. The Marxist collective uses the same approach (e.g. bullying, job loss) with climate change and other issues. Faber should be commended for his bravery.
Faber was writing in the context of economics, and even real sciences thrive when open to debate. It may not be all black and white. For example, the Islamic world kept alive ancient Roman and Greek science and added mathematics from Hindu India to the mix when Europe emerged from its so-called dark ages. China probably invented fiat paper currency along with gun powder. Without India and China, no modern economy. Also, as those financial boilerplate disclaimers state: Past results are no guarantee of future results or success. It is hard to see USA dominance persisting with an Orwellian media powered by Google’s biased search engine producing 24×7 “fake news.” I mean, 24×7 Marxist propaganda blasting on all channels about gender, race, injustice, wealth distribution, and political correctness. Plus a delusional DNC expending taxpayer assets with special persecutors fighting the great Russia bogeyman. I would bet on Asia (e.g. Chinese, Korean, Japanese races?) and this being the Pacific Century.
Faber is a great man, and rarer still, an honest man…American blacks have an average IQ of 85 (which is much better than Africans)….No such population has ever built a technological civilization of any kind…To pretend otherwise is just cant.
Fukuymama wrote the bull shit about end of history. give me a break. He is also on record complaining about Trump not showing adequate support for sacred institution such as the Central Bank.