John Allen Pugsley (January 5, 1934 – April 8, 2011) was an American voluntaryist libertarian political, economics commentator, lecturer,[1] and best-selling author.
Early life
editPugsley was born in Minnesota. 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.[2]
Career
editIn the late 1950s to mid 1960s Pugsley worked at General Dynamics – Astronautics Sycamore Canyon Rocket Test facility as a technical writer. Among other projects, he wrote countdown procedures for Atlas and Centaur Rocket tests.[citation needed]
In the late 1960s Pugsley entered the investment business, 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.[3] Pugsley distributed a PDF edition of the book free of charge[4] (as of 2012, the author's domain has expired. A reposting of the PDF has been provided by fans[5]). Even after 31 years in circulation as of 2012, The Alpha Strategy is considered a standard reference on stocking up on food and household goods as a hedge against inflation. This has made it popular with survivalists.[6][7]
In Common Sense Economics Pugsley cites as influences Murray Rothbard, Henry Hazlitt, and Ludwig von Mises,[8] and subsequent works also cite Andrew J. Galambos. In 1995 he authored an open letter to Harry Browne advising him against running for president; Pugsley's argument was based on the principles of voluntaryism and non-voting.[9]
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 publishing John Pugsley's Journal, an investment-economic newsletter covering political, economic, and investment topics.[10]
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 next 25 years, he founded The Bio-Rational Institute.[10]
Pugsley was one of the founding members of The Eris Society.[11] In 1997, he helped found The Sovereign Society, an international organization dedicated to maintaining and protecting its members' privacy, wealth and liberty. The society is primarily geared toward expatriate relocation, offshore banking and trusts. Pugsley was the society's chairman at the time of his death and wrote a monthly column for its e-newsletter, The Sovereign Individual. In 2006, he founded "The Stealth Investor", a weekly e-letter stock advisory letter.[12]
Later years and death
editNear the end of his life, Pugsley lived in Carlsbad, California,[10] and just before moving there he lived aboard a 50-foot sloop named Eris Island in the Abacos, Bahamas, with Kiana Delamare. Delamare has written for EscapeArtist.com[13] and the International Living e-newsletter.
Pugsley died at age 77 on April 8, 2011.[14]
Books authored
edit- Common Sense Economics (1974) ISBN 978-0-917572-00-5
- The Metals Investors Handbook (1983) ISBN 9780917572043
- The Alpha Strategy: The Ultimate Plan of Financial Self-Defense for the Small Investor (1980) ISBN 978-0-936906-04-1
- The Bank Book (1981) ASIN B00070VD7W
- The Copper Play (1980)
- The Interest Rate Strategy (1982) ASIN B0006QV052
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "FreedomFest Speakers List, 2007". Archived from the original on 2007-10-18.
- ^ "A brief biography of John A. Pugsley". Archived from the original on 2011-10-03.
- ^ "Best Sellers - Time Magazine Best Sellers". Archived from the original on October 24, 2012.
- ^ "book2 preface" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 November 2005.
- ^ "Reposted PDF of The Alpha Strategy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-20.
- ^ "SurvivalBlog.com mention of Pugsley's book". Archived from the original on 2012-10-16.
- ^ "SurvivalBlog.com mention of Pugsley's book". Archived from the original on 2012-10-06.
- ^ Pugsley, John, Common Sense Economics. The Common Sense Press, 1976, p. v-vi
- ^ Pugsley, John, "An Open Letter from John Pugsley to Harry Browne: Harry Browne, Please Don't Run For President", published in The Voluntaryist number 74, June 1995, p. 1-7.
- ^ a b c A brief biography of John A. Pugsley Archived October 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Eris Society". Archived from the original on 2014-05-17.
- ^ "The Stealth Investor". Archived from the original on 2012-02-27.
- ^ Life on Eris Island, part 3, Setting sail at long last: glorious days in the Bahamas Archived January 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Jack Pugsley, RIP, LewRockwell.com (blog), April 8, 2011 Archived May 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine