A number of years ago, there was a popular movie starring Gregory Peck called the Boys from Brazil. In the movie, former high ranking Nazi members escaped from Germany with treasures – gold, jewels and  money. and set up operations in South America where they felt comfortable and had dreams of rebuilding the empire. In a book called Inside the Fourth Reich by Erich Erdstein published by St. Martin’s Press, NY, 1977 fiction becomes fact. When the war is over, what happens? Typically the leaders are punished and former enemies become partners. Typically it would take plus 10 years because during war – in the name of the cause humans treat others very badly. In Mr. Erdstein’s book, he found a new life in South America and eventually moved in the justice department. He began to hear stories about how Argentina with its links to Germany encouraged Germans to come after the war. When Peron left, other governments welcomed the Germans, espically members of the Nazi party. In turns out after great research, undercover work, and the use of police resources there were very strong links to senior members of the Nazi Party. Safe houses or ranches, people who benefited from Nazi Party being in power were alive, functioning and trying to recreate their dream.

In the book, Mr. Erdstein notes his past experiences helped make him track through the web – his experiences included illegal activities, government relations, undercover work and working in justice. Part of the reason is to unravel the web, it is never a straight line the process goes through pieces of information and misinformation to narrow the move down to the next step. There is a reason why it is very hard to find the former leaders – they hide and are protected. The end of the book while the journey was very exciting, eliminating the leaders did not make the Nazi’s disappear.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, leaders lead and they should take responsibility if things do not go well. As an investor, it should not feel like Mr. Erdstein’s journey through the complex web, for if it does, you should move to other companies. There are many companies that are much more straight forward about how they earn their money, make profits and return money in the form of dividends. The complex companies tend to break the law, the simple ones are the ones you can depend on for longer periods of time.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions