WASHINGTON — Pat Buchanan has been consistently down-in-the-mouth
about the new, global economy. So consistent, in fact, that when it
comes to investing in it, he’s put his more than $1 million where his
mouth is.
Federal Election Commission records show that Buchanan, who this week
hopes to earn the Reform Party nod for president, has sat out the record
run-up in high-tech and multinational stocks over the past five years.
In fact, Buchanan invests like someone waiting for a world financial
crash.
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Patrick J. Buchanan
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He’s got most of his $1.2 million portfolio tied up in cash,
municipal bonds, mostly in his home state of Virginia, and gold and
silver — as in ounces of bullion, not shares of mining concerns. He
actually has at least $250,000, or 20 percent of his holdings, in
precious metals stashed away somewhere (see chart).
Buchanan, the star attraction of this week’s Reform Party convention
in Long Beach, Calif., does own stock, but it’s limited to issues in
defensive industries like utilities and transportation.
Of course, the manufacturing-trade protectionist can take comfort in
being on the sidelines during the Nasdaq’s March-to-May bear market this
year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is still about 25 percent below its high.
The S&P 500 also is off its peak, by about 5 percent.
At the same time, however, Buchanan could only watch wistfully as the
market tore through barrier after barrier over the past several years.
Each year over the last five — 1995 to 1999 — the S&P 500 has
returned more than 20 percent. That’s never happened before. And a whole
new “investor class” of Americans is richer for it.
Buchanan hasn’t reaped big yields from his precious-metals holdings,
either. Low inflation has kept a lid on gold prices.
If the Long Beach delegates go his way, he’ll prove to be a much
better politician than investor.
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Click to enlarge.
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