3 THE BIG SQUEEZE
Getting offshore legally, and staying there legally . . . that’s the
goal. So, it is best to start the process right and avoid any hard
lessons. You will have plenty of opportunities as you go along
with your plan to internationalize your finances and reduce those
burdensome taxes, but you want to avoid breaking any laws with a
quick fix or other strategy that could expose you to government attack
or open another can of worms. Whether or not you approve of the
government’s methods and scrutiny, it’s best not to justify away the
facts and take an unnecessarily high risk. Save high-risk measures for
when you really need them.
Avoiding taxes will likely not be your sole reason for wanting to
move all or part of your money and assets to another country, although
as we have seen, high taxation has had the net effect of driving
people to offshore solutions.
Typically, pressures such as the ones in the following list provide
strong incentives for seeking alternative solutions:
_ Government oppression
_ Dwindling privacy
_ Discrimination
_ Lawsuits
_ Threat of crime
_ Excessive government
_ Terrorism
This list names just a few incentives. If we look back over the past
few decades in the United States, we can see a pattern of social deterioration
in our society at all levels. It may have started at the bottom,
but it now seems to have reached the top—just look at the players today in business and in government. Would you buy a used car from
some of these people?
There have been significant and rapid developments in the
United States and elsewhere, especially in the new century. Problems
just seem to get worse as we are forced into accepting a globalized society.
But what does this mean?
Young people are more willing to accept the way things are because
they haven’t been around long enough to witness or feel the
effects of change. In time, they, too, will realize that their futures
will be marked by change, putting them in potential jeopardy;
one day, they will reminisce about the past when they had more liberties,
freedom, and opportunity. Fortunately, there are also plenty
of offshore possibilities for young people, including foreign job
opportunities.
Talk of global free markets and worldwide democracy gives us a
warm fuzzy feeling, certainly. But shouldn’t we look carefully at such
fine-sounding concepts if they are coming at the expense of our sovereignty
as individual citizens of an independent nation? This is the
country that has guaranteed our rights and liberties under the U.S.
Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and we have the good fortune and
privilege to be the beneficiaries of this legacy. But the sad news is that
these rights are in danger of vanishing—and quickly.
How? Let’s look at one area: privacy. It is a bit unsettling to consider
the erosion of our privacy. More and more, we are subject to new
surveillance. We are unwittingly photographed in our automobiles at
traffic lights and tollbooths, in parking garages and overpasses. Our
persons are photographed on the street corners, in malls, in office
buildings, in banks, at airports, sitting in a bus station, walking down
the street minding our own business, you name it. And on occasion,
these cameras are face-recognition devices that, unbeknown to us,
may be running a check on our identities, and possible criminal
records, as we go quite innocently about the business of our daily lives
in what we consider to be our private little worlds. Is it so far-fetched
to imagine that next, it could be the bedroom?
When we are at work, and even at home, it is now possible for our
own government and others to spy on us through our phone conversations
and e-mails. Our banking and other financial institutions
can now be used as extensions of law enforcement efforts and government
snoops to keep tabs, not only on our financial affairs, but
on what the information may say about us. Today, the government is using libraries and bookstores to learn more about who we are and
what we are doing, based on what we are reading—truly Orwellian.
Under broad legislation, much like the racketeering laws that
were meant specifically to catch gangsters, the new powers are regularly
used against ordinary citizens in the hopes of getting convictions.
And the same applies to laws passed under the guise of
eliminating certain bad elements such as drug traffickers, counterfeiters,
smugglers, and money launderers, but then are used to better
control the general population. The natural progression could be
the potential criminalization of nearly everything.
Is this why we have a secret federal court in the United States, in direct
violation of our Sixth Amendment rights? According to Associated
Press, federal courts are keeping thousands of cases sealed so
they never see the light of day. These are not cases against terrorists.
These are cases against defendants in criminal cases. Since 2003,
there have been over 5,000 such cases. And why are they being kept secret?
The Justice Department was asked this question but remained
conveniently silent. Maybe a liberal application of broad laws and
powers would encourage more lenient plea bargains and eliminate the
need for fair and speedy trials. Could that be why?
The fear of terrorism led to the passage of the Patriot Act in the
name of “security.” To paraphrase a famous American, it seems that
what we need to fear is fear itself. We are letting the aura of fear become
an excuse for surrendering our freedoms.
Of course, all rational people want to eliminate criminal activity
as much as possible. But at the cost of violating the civil liberties of
citizens who supposedly have rights, and who are taxpayers, too? The
“War on Terrorism” starts to look suspiciously like a war on our very
freedoms.
Incredibly, a recent poll of Americans turned up the interesting
fact that the majority support these tactics in the name of antiterrorism
because they believe that this is the price to pay for freedom.
Well, if the American public is willing to believe this, then it is
no wonder Congress rubber-stamps whatever the president wants
to sell.
It is not too late, and there are still measures that each of us can
take to preserve the key values of sovereignty, freedom, privacy, and
individuality. These may require a conscientious effort, but the cause
is worth it, and the degree of our success may depend on how seriously
we view the threat. Bolder action may be required.
Privacy is an important commodity that helps to insulate us
against all forms of oppression and intrusion from the government, or
other persons and entities whose motives are unlikely to benefit us. At
the core of the question is an individual’s right to sovereignty, which
in theory, should carry more credence than any rights bestowed on a
government by its own citizenry, as in, “We the people . . . ,” the very
breath that gave our Republic life.
But, if we think we have already seen the worst on the subject of privacy,
we need only to return to the news. A movement is afoot toward a
single form of personal identity, and we aren’t chatting just about the
new idea for a national identification (ID) card. Indeed, the talk is also
about the technology for a microchip—to be embedded in your body—
and the uses of which are being seriously discussed in certain circles
for identification and control. Who? You. There will be many “good” arguments,
some truly well meant, to support such a plan, but once in
place, like the “temporary” income tax of 1913, it will likely never go
away and potentially it will be abused beyond our imagination.
Still other means of physical identification are being employed,
aside from the good old fingerprint, such as the reading of the retina
of your eye for positive identification. Sound like the movies? Well,
technology is moving forward quickly and the subject of our privacy is
of critical interest. My hope is that all of us will remain vigilant on the
topic as we take positive action in our lives to preserve our other values,
such as our freedom, our income, and our assets.
The real point is that awareness of changes and impending
changes that can threaten or compromise your liberties, freedoms,
and financial security should be a priority in these times, along with
an interest in what you might do to minimize or avoid unnecessary
trouble and undesirable potential outcomes. Please refer to the many resources
in Part Four of this book, including excellent sources of information
about the current status of the field and the best options to respond and deal
with it.
Although the creative and legal ways to avoid excessive taxation
provide a worthy theme, attacks on us can come in many forms such as
our dwindling personal privacy. Any outside pressure (government
oppression, economic woes, or whatever it may be), brings with it a
host of issues that come with the territory, and we need to examine
them in relation to our own existence. Is action required? It may help
to think of protecting your freedom as a game that you intend to win.
People have more power than they give themselves credit for, but, to
be effective, you must identify the problem and exercise the solutions.
Now is the time!
You might start by making a comprehensive list of your goals and
build on it. Include the negative pressures that challenge you daily.
Then list possible alternatives that are within your power to consider
and that would ease these unpleasant elements. This book represents
possibilities and, for those who want them, real solutions that are
at hand.