The Gold Report: Doug, we are at your conference in Tucson, Arizona, the day after former Congressman and presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul gave the keynote speech to a sold-out crowd. How did you two first meet?

Doug Casey: It was about 30 years ago. Ron used to attend my Eris Society—named after the Greek goddess of discord—meetings in Aspen, Colorado. Everyone from Sonny Barger of the Hells Angels motorcycle club to Burt Rutan, inventor of SpaceShipOne, would meet to discuss ideas.

TGR: In those 30 years, have Ron Paul’s ideas changed much?

DC: Ron believes he was born a libertarian. He’s right. I believe in Pareto’s law—the 80-20 rule. I prefer to think that 80% of humans are basically decent, which is to say that they were born libertarian oriented. But it takes a while to crystallize what that means. Ron and I, and many others, have moved beyond gut libertarianism to a structured, intellectual libertarianism.