John Pugsley
Encyclopedia
John Allen Pugsley was an American
voluntaryist
libertarian
political and economics commentator, lecturer, and author.
. He attended El Camino Junior College, the University of Florida
, and graduated from UCLA. After serving in the U.S. Army, he spent a year cruising on a 38-foot sailboat, and another year living in Mexico
with his wife and children. He then returned to the U.S. and spent the next two decades as a businessman.
In the late 1960s Pugsley entered the investment business, where he founded a publishing company (The Common Sense Press) and wrote his first book, Common Sense Economics. It sold over 150,000 hardcover copies. His second book, The Alpha Strategy (1980), was on the New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks in 1981. Pugsley distributed a PDF format edition of the book, free of charge. Even after 28 years in circulation (as of 2008), The Alpha Strategy is considered a standard reference on stocking up on food and household goods as a hedge against inflation
. This has made the book popular with survivalists.
In Common Sense Economics he cites as influences, Murray Rothbard
, Henry Hazlitt
, and Ludwig von Mises
, and subsequent works also cite the influence of Andrew J. Galambos. In 1995 he authored an open letter to Harry Browne
advising him against running for president
; Pugsley's argument against Browne running was based on the principles of voluntaryism
and non-voting
.
In 1975 he began a newsletter on economic and political events, Common Sense Viewpoint (1974), which had 30,000 subscribers at its peak. In 1988 he began publication of John Pugsley's Journal, an investment-economic newsletter covering political, economic, and investment topics.
In the mid-1970s, after reading E.O. Wilson's book, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Pugsley began to study evolutionary biology. As his study continued over the subsequent 25 years, Pugsley founded The Bio-Rational Institute. Currently, the Institute's website is not regularly updated.
Pugsley was one of the founding members of The Eris Society. In 1997, Pugsley helped to found The Sovereign Society, an international organization dedicated to maintaining the privacy and protecting the wealth and liberty of its members. The society is primarily geared toward expatriate
relocation and offshore banking and trusts. Pugsley was the Chairman of the society at the time of his death and wrote a monthly column for their e-newsletter The Sovereign Individual. In 2006, Pugsley founded "The Stealth Investor", a weekly e-letter stock advisory letter. He also wrote for The Daily Reckoning e-newsletter.
Pugsley lived in Carlsbad, California
, and just prior to moving to Carlsbad he lived aboard the 50-foot sloop named Eris Island in the Abacos, Bahamas, along with Kiana Delamare. Delamare has written for EscapeArtist.com and the International Living e-newsletter.
Pugsley had a blog
.
Pugsley died at 77 on April 8, 2011.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
voluntaryist
Voluntaryism
Voluntarism, or voluntaryism, is a philosophy according to which all forms of human association should be voluntary. This moral principle is called the non-aggression principle, which prohibits the initiation of aggressive force or coercion...
libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
political and economics commentator, lecturer, and author.
Biography
Pugsley was born in MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. He attended El Camino Junior College, the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, and graduated from UCLA. After serving in the U.S. Army, he spent a year cruising on a 38-foot sailboat, and another year living in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
with his wife and children. He then returned to the U.S. and spent the next two decades as a businessman.
In the late 1960s Pugsley entered the investment business, where he founded a publishing company (The Common Sense Press) and wrote his first book, Common Sense Economics. It sold over 150,000 hardcover copies. His second book, The Alpha Strategy (1980), was on the New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks in 1981. Pugsley distributed a PDF format edition of the book, free of charge. Even after 28 years in circulation (as of 2008), The Alpha Strategy is considered a standard reference on stocking up on food and household goods as a hedge against inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
. This has made the book popular with survivalists.
In Common Sense Economics he cites as influences, Murray Rothbard
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...
, Henry Hazlitt
Henry Hazlitt
Henry Stuart Hazlitt was an American economist, philosopher, literary critic and journalist for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The American Mercury, Newsweek, and The New York Times...
, and Ludwig von Mises
Ludwig von Mises
Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises was an Austrian economist, philosopher, and classical liberal who had a significant influence on the modern Libertarian movement and the "Austrian School" of economic thought.-Biography:-Early life:...
, and subsequent works also cite the influence of Andrew J. Galambos. In 1995 he authored an open letter to Harry Browne
Harry Browne
Harry Browne was an American libertarian writer, politician, and free-market investment analyst. He ran for President of the United States as the nominee of the Libertarian Party in 1996 and 2000....
advising him against running for president
United States presidential election, 1996
The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack...
; Pugsley's argument against Browne running was based on the principles of voluntaryism
Voluntaryism
Voluntarism, or voluntaryism, is a philosophy according to which all forms of human association should be voluntary. This moral principle is called the non-aggression principle, which prohibits the initiation of aggressive force or coercion...
and non-voting
Non-voting
Non-voting is a strategy employed by various radical libertarians and anarchists who wish to promote a free society yet who view voting to be either unethical or impractical...
.
In 1975 he began a newsletter on economic and political events, Common Sense Viewpoint (1974), which had 30,000 subscribers at its peak. In 1988 he began publication of John Pugsley's Journal, an investment-economic newsletter covering political, economic, and investment topics.
In the mid-1970s, after reading E.O. Wilson's book, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Pugsley began to study evolutionary biology. As his study continued over the subsequent 25 years, Pugsley founded The Bio-Rational Institute. Currently, the Institute's website is not regularly updated.
Pugsley was one of the founding members of The Eris Society. In 1997, Pugsley helped to found The Sovereign Society, an international organization dedicated to maintaining the privacy and protecting the wealth and liberty of its members. The society is primarily geared toward expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
relocation and offshore banking and trusts. Pugsley was the Chairman of the society at the time of his death and wrote a monthly column for their e-newsletter The Sovereign Individual. In 2006, Pugsley founded "The Stealth Investor", a weekly e-letter stock advisory letter. He also wrote for The Daily Reckoning e-newsletter.
Pugsley lived in Carlsbad, California
Carlsbad, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Carlsbad had a population of 105,328. The population density was 2,693.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Carlsbad was 87,205 White, 1,379 African American, 514 Native American, 7,460 Asian, 198 Pacific Islander, 4,189 from other...
, and just prior to moving to Carlsbad he lived aboard the 50-foot sloop named Eris Island in the Abacos, Bahamas, along with Kiana Delamare. Delamare has written for EscapeArtist.com and the International Living e-newsletter.
Pugsley had a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
.
Pugsley died at 77 on April 8, 2011.
Books authored
- Common Sense Economics (1974)
- The Metals Investors Handbook (1977)
- The Alpha Strategy: The Ultimate Plan of Financial Self-Defense for the Small Investor (1980)
- The Bank Book (1981)
- The Copper Play (1980)
- The Interest Rate Strategy (1982)