Richard Daughty

Who is he: Richard Daughty is a free-market market commentator and money manager who has developed an alter ego, The Great Mogambo Guru, who writes articles emphasizing the ludicrousness of the current Western monetary system. In Swahili, Mogambo apparently means "big gorilla" – and Richard is certainly a big gorilla among the hard-money publishing set – providing at least portions of his Mogambo Guru report to many of the 'Net's most prestigious hard-money sites and top magazines and newspapers as well – including Barron's and the Wall Street Journal.

Daughty is focused on gold and silver as the antidote to paper money inflation. He often attempts to put purchases of precious metals into perspective by showing their popularity around the world. In one recent column he presented statistics for gold and silver that showed the majority of gold is owned by individuals.

Daughty pointed out that the world has official holdings of 30,562.5 tonnes of gold, with one tonne being approximately 32,150.75 troy ounces. Daughty then estimated that central banks and investment funds held 19 percent of all above-ground gold as bank reserve assets and constituted the second-biggest holder of gold. The majority of gold, Daughty suggested (52%) is held in the form of jewelry.

Daughty's focus on precious metals has to do with a more broadly encompassing conviction that the ownership of gold and silver is a way for people to ensure their own independence in an uncertain world. Many so-called hard-money commentators have a worldview that is much different than the one held by the mainstream. Daughty's perspective partakes of this approach.

Daughty believes that central banking is a form of price fixing and that much of the Western educational system, along with the financial press, are not telling the truth about how money works. Daughty also believes that most people are intimidated by money and do not really understand it.

As the Great Mogambo Guru, Richard Daughty attempts to put the real financial system into a perspective that is not threatening but comprehensible. To do so, Daughty uses numerous rhetorical tricks and devices that are humorous.

The main rhetorical device that Daughty uses has to do with the projection of a ludicrously puffed-up alter ego. The asides made by the Great Mogambo Guru are so over-the-top that they are obviously ridiculous. By consistently using language that is extreme, Daughty is poking fun at his own persona while nonetheless imparting important information. Daughty's rhetorical excesses mimic those of Hunter S. Thompson, the great gonzo journalist who found his voice in a world of excess ingestion of drugs and alcohol.

Background: Richard Daughty (Mogambo Guru) is general partner and COO for Smith Consultant Group, serving the financial and medical communities. Prior to joining Smith, Richard was a financial adviser to American Express Financial Advisers in Clearwater, Florida. He holds an MBA in operations research from the University of South Florida and has long been a strong advocate for sound fiscal and monetary policy – even when it wasn't fashionable. In addition, Daughty is the writer/publisher of the Mogambo Guru economic newsletter, in what Daughty describes as a vocational exercise to better heap disrespect on those who desperately deserve it.

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