Offshore Asset Protection BLOG - Bob Bauman

America's Narcissistic "Pacific" President

Even for those of us who voted for him, the 2008 McCain presidential campaign is best forgotten -- even if Sarah Palin wont let go of it just yet.

Perhaps you recall that at one point in the endless summer of 2008, for a few weeks, the Arizona senator made some political hay when he decried his very junior Senate colleague from Illinois as little more than a "celebrity."

McCain even aired a series of TV ads that showed more images of Obama than himself, all of them tying to turn Obama's crowd pleasing talents against him.

Mr. Celebritney

A July commercial blaming Obama for high gasoline prices portrayed crowds chanting Obama's name. A subsequent ad mixed images of Obama on his triumphant 2008 European love tour with video clips of pop figures Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

One McCain campaign ad taunted: "Is the biggest celebrity in the world ready to help your family?"

That video ad featuring Paris Hilton, (not that Paris Hilton video) seemed to have struck a nerve in candidate Obama, who promptly ran TV ads accusing McCain of being an even bigger celebrity -- You're another, nah nah!

Excessive Self-Love

The word "narcissism" is defined as: 1) inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity; 2). in psychoanalysis, erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development.

I would guess that at least some celebrities do suffer from, or enjoy, being narcissistic, admiring themselves inordinately.

The First Pacific President?

Monday's New York Times dispatch from Shanghai by reporters Helene Cooper and David Barboza includes this interesting statement: "During Mr. Obama’s trip, his first to Asia as president, he has taken to referring to himself as 'America’s first Pacific president,' a term he first used during a speech in Tokyo on Saturday morning."

Well, I know that the president can claim many "firsts" in his life, the most common being the belief that he is the first African-American or black president, a point he repeatedly makes in his orations, as he did in Asia. That's really not correct, since Mr. Obama is of mixed race, his mother having been a certified member of the Caucasian race.

Obama may not even be able to claim that he is the first mixed race president, since that honor probably goes to Americans 29th president, the amiable Warren Gamaliel Harding of Ohio, a conclusion supported in the pages of the august New York Times. (See also the 1968, Shadow of Blooming Grove, by the Harding biographer Francis Russell.

Just a Minute, Mr. President

It appears that Mr. Obama believes that he is entitled to his self-bestowed title of "America's first Pacific president," by virtue of his birth in the decidedly Pacific State of Hawaii, (although the "birthers" dispute that), and the fact that he spent a few youthful years living in Indonesia with his mother and her second husband.

But the president, who fancies himself to be so personally historic, should read more American history.

As Obama himself admitted in China, in 1784, George Washington (01) endorsed the voyage of the U.S. ship, The Empress of China, the first American commercial ship owned and outfitted by the Revolutionary War veterans, that sailed to China in an attempt to bring the fledgling United States into international commerce with the Far East.

A Long Star Spangled Line

It was Teddy Roosevelt (26) that opened up the entire Pacific basin to American trade by pushing through the colossal construction feat that is the Panama Canal.

Teddy also sent the impressive Great White Fleet of the U.S. Navy on a 14 month long voyage in 1907 covering 43,000 miles with 20 port calls on six continents to confirm America's growing power in the Pacific and the world.

Roosevelt and his assassinated predecessor, the sainted William McKinley of Ohio (25), were instrumental in acquiring the Philippines as an American colony in the Spanish American War that we kept under our flag until 1947. Indeed, prior to becoming U.S. president, William Howard Taft of Ohio (27), served an uncomfortable term as governor general of the Philippines.

Wm Howard Taft comes ashore in the Philippines.

Two of our military veteran presidents (below), John F. Kennedy (35) and George H.W. Bush (41) actually survived being thrown into the Pacific Ocean during World War II, one from his torpedoed boat, PT 109, the latter from his Navy fighter plane CVN 77 shot down by the Japs.

 

Nixon's Opening to China

If any president deserves the unusual title of "America's first Pacific president" it would be my late acquaintance, Richard Milhouse Nixon (37), born on the California shores of the Pacific Ocean.

 
President Nixon with Premier Chou En-Lai (25 Feb 1972)

It was Dick Nixon who, with Henry Kissinger, was the principal author of the "opening to China, " and the Shanghai Communiqué, the agreement that sent scores of American congressmen to China, (including yours truly) to cultivate better relations.

I still have a photo of myself bending down (not bowing) to shake the hand of the very short Deng Xiaoping (dung chow ping) in the Great Hall of the People in what would become bloody Tiananmen Square.

In the week I spent in China in 1979 our congressional delegation was hemmed in by Communist escorts officials. But one bright young Chinese Communist girl guide, who had seen more than her share of U.S. official visitors, had a serious question for us.

In all innocence she asked:: "Is it law that all American congressman and officials come to China?"

Welcome to the Far East, Mr. 44th President of the United States. Kilroy was here before you.

 

The Passport Book - 7th Edition

If you want you want to discover a new, freedom loving place in which to pitch your tent, deposit your cash or protect your assets, the seventh edition of my best-selling publication, The Passport Book, is now available. You can get your copy now. Here's a sample of the contents.

The Sovereign Society is a recognized voice in the complex offshore world.  Join the Sovereign Society and keep informed.

　

 

Property Rights Are Civil Rights

Several years ago the chairman of the Sovereign Society, Jack Pugsley, in a commentary entitled "It All Starts With Property Rights" wrote the following: The feelings that drive us to defend ourselves against government oppression are an expression of our innate compulsion to control our own property. Each of us shares the feeling that it is unjust and an outrage for our hard-earned wealth to be taken from us without our consent.

Jack went on to observe: The Declaration of Independence suggests that the Founding Fathers sensed this aspect of human nature. It argued that all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, of course, are all aspects of property.

The long train of abuses and usurpations that drove the Founding Fathers to rebel was triggered by the same genes that give rise to your rage when someone burglarizes your home, steals your car or defrauds you. Those genes are equally activated when that attack comes from government.

Kelo v. New London

Jack's sentiments were written two years before the U.S. Supreme Court, in a shocking 5-to-4 decision, greatly expand local governments’ power of eminent domain to take private property for public use. The 2005 case, Kelo v. New London, was one of the most controversial property rights cases in years.

 
To the surprise of the great majority of Americans, the high court ruled that it was permissible for government to take private property, not only for public use, but to turn it over to private developers as part of a plan to bolster the local economy.

The decision was widely criticized, spurring lawmakers in 43 states across the country to adopt statutes to prevent similar uses of eminent domain in their states.

Joint Power Grab

The situation that gave rise to the Kelo case was a classic example of the little guys falling victim to the combined power of a major corporate business and politicians eager to please that company.

It seems government that bails out banks with trillions of tax dollars, can't keep the same banks and credit card companies from raping card holders, allows financial groups to pay billions in bonuses after getting tax bailouts, also has the right to take our homes and property and give it to political buddies. (See Betrayal for an interesting read)

The city council had created the New London Development Corporation to buy up the nine acre neighborhood and find a developer to replace it with an "urban village" that would draw shoppers and tourists to the area. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, (below) one of the four dissenters in the case, called New London’s plan "a costly urban renewal project whose stated purpose is a vague promise of new jobs and increased tax revenue, but which is also suspiciously agreeable to the Pfizer Corporation." 

Economic development officials in Connecticut used that plan and a package of tax breaks and financial incentives to lure the giant drug company, Pfizer, to build a headquarters for its research division on 26 acres nearby.

With an agreement that it would pay just one-fifth of its property taxes for the first 10 years, Pfizer spent $294 million on a 750,000-square-foot complex that opened in 2001. Scores of citizens who lived in the adjoining nine acre area were forced to sell to the city; their homes leveled, leaving what is now a waste land. Susette Kelo, a nurse, (below) fought for her home all the way to the Supreme Court -- and lost.

Pfizer Scews New London

Last week Pfizer announced it would pull 1,400 jobs out of New London within two years and move most of them a few miles away to a campus it owns in Groton, Conn., as a cost cutting measure.

It would leave behind empty the city’s biggest office complex -- and the adjacent swath of barren land that was cleared of dozens of homes (including Ms. Kelo's) to make room for a hotel, stores and condominiums that were never built.

"Look what they did," Michael Cristofaro, a resident, said. "They stole our home for economic development. It was all for Pfizer, and now they get up and walk "

Scott G. Bullock, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice,a libertarian group in Arlington, Va., that represented the landowners in New London, said Pfizer’s announcement "really shows the folly of these plans that use massive corporate welfare and abuse eminent domain for private development. They oftentimes fail to live up to expectations."

Obama's National Property Grabs

In The Audacity of Hope, his autobiographical exploration of American values and politics, President Obama praised private property as being at the core of our constitutional rights in America.

Yet in a 2006 Senate speech opposing President Bush's nomination of California State Justice Janice Rogers Brown, a an African American and a conservative, to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Senator Obama attacked her, saying: "When it comes to laws protecting corporations and private property, she has decided that those laws should be interpreted broadly."

He harshly criticized Judge Brown, saying she believed "...you can't regulate the free market because it is going to constrain people's use of their private property. Keep in mind that same judicial philosophy was the underpinning of Dred Scott, the ruling that overturned the Missouri Compromise and said that it was unconstitutional to forbid slavery from being imported into the free States."

In 2001, then State Senator Obama complained about the civil rights movement’s failure to bring about the redistribution of wealth. 

 
During his 2008 presidential campaign all America saw and heard candidate Obama slip and tell Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher (above) that government needed to "spread the wealth around."

Obama Proposals Confiscate Property

In many ways the Obama agenda seeks to confiscate wealth from earners and give it to non-earners.

The Obama health care bills impose several new taxes. The entire idea behind this "health care reform" is to have those who already have health insurance and are satisfied with it pay for health care for those who don’t want it or can’t afford it.

That single agenda item alone illustrates the Obama administration’s antagonism to our most sacred of private property: our money.

And it is not just more taxes that confiscate our property. Now there is serious discussion about confiscating all private retirements plans, Keoghs, 401ks, Roths -- and dumping them into a government managed scheme.

More Power to Seize

The pending financial regulatory bills Obama has proposed would give the U.S. government broad authority to seize private financial institutions supposedly on the verge of collapse to keep them from harming the economy.

The seizure power would extend to a broad array of financial companies, apparently including private hedge funds as well as bank holding companies. Is it not enough that under Obama the government (taxpayers) have become major owners of General Motors, Bank of America, Citibank et al?

A Different Kind of President

Throughout American history, our leaders have understood that private property rights are key to the survival of the individual.

If you take a person's property, you take away their livelihood. If you take property, you attack their spirit. From the day our nation was born, the preservation of private property has been considered a priority of law.

Through taxes and government controls Barack Obama appears to want to use the law to destroy private property.

This is what he means, when he openly attacks businesses large and small, when he insists that there must be limits on what you can earn and keep and pass on to your family when you pass away, when he makes political deals with insurance and drug companies to get their support for his health proposals.

This president wants his government to control your private property, your income and your assets.

Sovereign Society Credo

One of the basic tenets in the Sovereign Society Credo states: "Every individual has the natural right to keep, control, and dispose of his or her property."

That fundamental natural right is now under serious attack, not just in the parochial New London city council, but in the highest offices of the White House and the United States Congress.

The Passport Book - 7th Edition

If you want you want to discover a new, freedom loving place in which to pitch your tent, deposit your cash or protect your assets, the seventh edition of my best-selling publication, The Passport Book, is now available. You can get your copy now. Here's a sample of the contents.

The Sovereign Society is a recognized voice in the complex offshore world.  Join the Sovereign Society and keep informed.

Has Anyone Read the Copenhagen Agreement?

That was the headline on an alarming commentary in The Wall Street Journal on October 28th. The subhead reads: U.N. plans for a new 'government' are scary.

Americans (and those from every nation) who love their country should indeed read this amazing, alarming document. And when you do read the 181 pages of this draft "United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change" you’re in for some nasty surprises.

Americans in the Dark

If you haven't heard about it, that's because none of our otherwise talkative political leaders have told us what the drafters have already put together for national leaders to consider and possibly sign at a global conference on "climate change" in Copenhagen Dec. 14 - 21.

Enter Lord Christopher Monckton (below). The UK Conservative Party member and former adviser to U.K. prime minister Margaret Thatcher gave an address at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, last month that had made quite a video hit.

So far there have been more than one million hits on the YouTube post of his address. It deserves millions more because Lord Monckton warns that the aim of the Copenhagen draft treaty is to set up a super world transnational "government" on a scale no one has ever before seen. He asks the valid question: "Is Obama poised to cede U.S. sovereignty to the UN?" You can guess the answer.

Hidden from View

Lord Monckton himself only became aware of the extraordinary powers to be vested in this new world government when a friend found an obscure UN web site, searched through several layers of links and discovered a document that isn't even called the draft "treaty." Instead, it's labeled a "Note by the Secretariat."

Environmentalist of all stripes from green on down (or up) are demanding that President Barack Obama go to Copenhagen and personally lead the battle for a supposedly cleaner planet and the world government they think is a must.

You will recall that the last time President Obama made a trip to Copenhagen was in October -- his sudden, last minute effort to promote Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid -- only to see his home city fail to even make the first cut.

The Usual Suspects

At last count, about 40 national leaders have said they'll be there, including the hapless British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the frenetic French President Nicolas Sarkozy, along with scores of politicians from the developing nations that see the possibility of billions in reparations (read more foreign aid).

Although the work of the summit will be carried out by bureaucrats, the mere presence of heads of state in the room in Copenhagen could add momentum to what many see as faltering negotiations.

Obama to the Rescue

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, fresh from an election victory, says she wont be there unless there is a real chance of getting something done. President Barack Obama likewise set conditions for his attendance, telling Reuters on Monday that he would attend if his presence could help clinch an international deal.

My bet is Obama the Orator will be there alright, if only to satisfy his super ego and deliver yet another of those stentorian addresses that many Europeans love.

Read and Act Now

I urge you to view the Monckton video, read the WSJ article and the treaty text, then email your U.S. senators (who have the constitutional power to ratify pr reject treaties, but only by a 2/3 vote).

Let them know that you are mad as Hell and you don't want President Obama to destroy the United States Constitution he and all congressmen swore to uphold. 

 

The Sovereign Society is a recognized voice in the complex offshore world.  Join the Sovereign Society and keep informed.

The No Bull Surprize: Sainthood Next?

I refer to the stunning, unexpected, momentarily bewildering, news that the current president of the United States, Barack H. Obama, has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize -- after only nine months in office, (plus two years of running for president).

Out of the 6,789,456,472 people in the world, Obama was picked by an obviously isolated, if not oblivious, five members of the Nobel Committee, themselves chosen by the Norwegian Parliament, (a group, incidentally, that has been in the forefront of the anti-tax haven campaign).

Obama's selection came as a shock even to Nobel observers because he had been in office less than two weeks by the time of the February 1st nomination deadline. Wasn’t that prescient?

Some Sort of Strange Joke

Oddly enough, my reaction was expressed almost exactly by a liberal, but very independent minded columnist and Obama supporter, Glenn Greenwald, who writes for salon.com

Said he: "When I saw this morning's top New York Times headline -- "Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize" -- I had the same immediate reaction which I'm certain many others had: this was some kind of bizarre Onion gag that got accidentally transposed onto the wrong web site, that it was just some sort of strange joke someone was playing." You can read Greenwald's full column here.

Their Bad

This all may seem like a bad joke, folks. But Obama as the leading global peace maker is what passes for reality among some of the world's and Norway's leftist elites.

Mr. Obama, only nine months in office, (I know it seems a lot longer), joins only two other incumbent U.S. presidents who also were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Teddy Roosevelt (1906 - Japanese-Russo War settlement) and Woodrow Wilson (1919 - League of Nations founder).

Jimmy Carter got the peace prize himself in 2002, two decades after leaving office, for being a mouthy world busybody.

Deeply Humble?

President Obama, ever conscious of just the right theatrics, said he was "surprised and deeply humbled."' He said he does not "view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments," (really?) but rather as a recognition of goals he has set for the United States and the world. Today the United States – Tomorrow the World!

Well, the people of the United States already have made some brutal discoveries about Obama's plans and their cost in liberty and treasure -- but is the whole world ready for his Master Plan?

The Salon's Greenwald, a liberal who voted for Obama, summed up the view of many, based on Obama's zero accomplishments in foreign policy and his inept handling of the Iraq withdrawal and the Afghan war: "...the Nobel Committee has made a mockery out of their own award." Another liberal columnist, Peter Beinart, wrote, "the president has done nothing to deserve the peace prize."

Are They Serious?

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson wrote that the committee members "have forfeited any claim to seriousness. Peace — the kind of peace that keeps people from being killed and oppressed — is an achievement, not a sentiment. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee can no longer distinguish between the two. Intending to honor Obama, the committee has actually embarrassed him." And, we might add, all thinking persons.

New, Non-Bush Climate

As specific examples of the work that led to the award, the Nobel Committee cited supposed efforts to promote nuclear non-proliferation (particularly in Iran), and a "new climate" in international relations fostered by Obama, especially in reaching out to the Muslim world. (Others might call it pandering). And of course, he's not Bush!

My recall is that Obama has traveled the world apologizing for what he thinks are America's faults, rather than standing up for America.

The Committee lauded what they see as a supposed change in global mood wrought by Obama's calls for peace and cooperation, but did admit his initiatives have yet to bear fruit. "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," claimed one Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee.

Fraternity of Liberals

Alfred Nobel (right) wrote in his will that the peace prize was to be given "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." Does that really describe Barack Obama?

Among liberal commentators, Beinart called it a "farce." Ruth Marcus, a syndicated columnist based at The Washington Post, wrote, "This is ridiculous — embarrassing, even." David Ignatius, a foreign affairs columnist at the Post, called Obama's getting the award "goofy" and "weird"

Not So Noble Satire

Conservative commentators agreed.

Jonathan Tobin wrote on the Commentary magazine web site that the award "would seem to require satire at the level of Jonathan Swift or at least H. L. Mencken." Republican National Committee Chairman, Michael Steele said:"It's a stunning, if not truly surprising, indication of just how meaningless a once honorable and respected award has become."

Obama will get a gold medal, a certificate and $1.4 million, which the White House announced he will donate to charity (and for which he will probably get a nice fat tax deduction).

Pax Vobiscum

But the ex-Chicago pol has a long way to go to equal Tennessee's large Al Gore, who lost the presidency, but got the Nobel Peace Prize and the Motion Picture Academy's Oscar for his inconvenient untruths.

It's rumored that the same White House operatives that handled that glorious Copenhagen Olympics bid have made inquiries at The Vatican as to the procedure to be followed for the canonization of saints.

The Importance of Trust

My fellow Marylander, the irascible H. L. Mencken, below, (1880-1956, of Baltimore Evening Sun fame), in one of his more quasi-optimistic moods, wrote: "For it is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest that holds human associations together. Our friends seldom profit us but they make us feel safe...Marriage is a scheme to accomplish exactly that same end."

Well, I doubt that very many "average Americans" (whoever they might be these days) or average folks anywhere, feel the the kind of safety of which Mencken speaks -- what with daily reminders of the impending (below) Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Conquest, War, Famine, and Death, (not to mention global recession and crooked politicians, which the New Testament's Book of Revelation did not nail specifically).

 

This issue of trust was brought to my attention by our executive director, (whom you should all know by now), Erika Nolan, below. (You see her bold signature on many of our e-mailings).

Erika distributed a copy of a column entitled, "The One Thing That Changes Everything," by our Agora Publications associate, Alexander Green, editor of Spiritual Wealth, a free, twice-weekly e-letter. The title of Alex's column is taken from a book with the same name authored by the motivational specialist, Stephen M. R. Covey. Covey also wrote the best seller "7 Habits of Highly Effective People."

Without Which We Cannot Do

Covey explains quite accurately: "There is one thing that is common to every individual, relationship, team, family, organization, nation, economy, and civilization throughout the world -- one thing which, if removed, will destroy the most powerful government, the most thriving economy, the most influential leadership, the greatest friendship, the strongest character, the deepest love.

"On the other hand, if developed and leveraged, that one thing has the potential to create unparalleled success and prosperity in every dimension of life.

"Yet, it is the least understood, most neglected, and most underestimated possibility of our time. That one thing is trust."

Era of Distrust

Trust is so integral to our relationships that we often take it for granted, yet in an ugly era marked by political, government, and business scandals, as well as a national demand for accountability, as Covey notes, there's plenty of room for improvement on this virtue.

Covey (left) outlines thirteen behaviors of trust-inspiring leaders, such as demonstrating respect, creating transparency, righting wrongs, delivering results and practicing accountability. In other words, living by the Golden Rule, and the some.

Wouldn't it be beyond great if everyone followed such principles?

Sadly, trust is at a low point in American society and elsewhere in the world. A Harris Poll reveals that only 27% of Americans trust the government, only 22% trust the media, only 12% trust big companies, and only 8% trust political parties.

John Whitney, a professor emeritus of Management at Columbia Business School, estimates that mistrust doubles the cost of doing business. Post Bernie Madoff, the GM takeover, the stimulus boondoggel and the bank bailouts, the cost of trust must be veering towards the astronomical.

Full or Part-time Fools

I'm not certain where that leaves the glib President Barack Obama, but the decided shift in opinion away from the president since his 2008 election seems to indicate a loss of trust in him as well -- promises not kept do diminish trust.

Although the quotation may be apocryphal, one of Mr. Obama's illustrious predecessors, also from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, once said: "If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." Of course, that was before 24/7 cable news.

Even more to the point, America's second president, (and the first to grace the White House), John Adams of Massachusetts, gave trust a different spin: "There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty."

Or as the third White House occupant, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, said hopefully: "I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master." Mr. Obama -- please read and channel Mr. Jefferson.

All Together Now

Before this turns into a camp meeting and I ask the choir to sing "The Little Brown Church in the Vale," let me conclude with the observation that we at the Sovereign Society do stand for certain basic principles of liberty and freedom, as stated by our long-time national chairman, John Pugsley (below):

THAT individual liberty is the highest good in any society;

THAT every individual has the natural right to keep, control, and dispose of his or her justly acquired property;

THAT individuals are not the property of the government of the political jurisdiction in which they are born or reside;

THAT individuals are sovereign unto themselves;

THAT to whatever extent government interferes with the free exchange of goods or confiscates the property of citizens, it reduces the wealth of the nation;

THAT when government takes from one to bestow on another, it diminishes the incentive of the first, the integrity of the second, and the moral authority of government;

THAT it is the right and responsibility every individual to defend his or her justly acquired property from unjust and arbitrary seizure, expropriation, and taxation;

THAT the goal of The Sovereign Society is to encourage and help individuals achieve and maintain individual sovereignty over their own lives and assets.

In God We Trust

By sticking to those principles, by giving you our honest opnions on the issues, plus the facts -- we hope we have gained and retain your trust.

But then again the Bard, Will Shakespeare, did advise us: "Love all, trust a few."

The Sovereign Society is the recognized voice in the complex offshore world.  Join the Sovereign Society and keep informed.

More U.S. Wealthy Opt to Surrender Their Citizenship

That headline in The Wall Street Journal (17 Aug) over an article by David Bain, may have surprised some, but here at the Sovereign Society we've been observing this phenomenon ever since out founding in 1997.

Indeed, the growing trend of Americans voluntarily ending their status as U.S. citizens -- the only legal way by which they can escape U.S. taxes and government controls -- has reached a new peak and shows no signs of abating.

The Journal reporter saw this trend in part as being due to offshore tax havens having been forced to surrender to tax information transparency demands by the major high tax welfare states.

I think that misses the more fundamental causes as to why many more Americans, both wealthy and middle class, are handing in their U.S. passports and moving abroad. I'll explain in a moment.

Exit Price

As proof of the increased numbers of American expatriates, private client lawyers and relocation specialists report a surge in wealthy Americans already living abroad who are prepared to give up their citizenship to avoid the scrutiny of U.S. tax authorities.

(They may not realize that prior U.S. tax obligations do not end when citizenship ends, although future U.S. taxes can be avoided).

Interestingly, although such a move offshore means departing Americans may have to pay an exit tax that the Democrat Congress and George Bush imposed in 2008, lawyers say this is a price people have become more willing to pay this year, now that recession and decreased asset values has reduced the size of this onerous and unfair tax.

(For my explanation of the exit tax and to whom it applies, click here. You may also want to read The Expatriation Report which I also authored).

Cruising Mega-Yachts

Needing a colorful angle for his story, the WSJ's Bain conjured up a fanciful picture: "Many ultra-wealthy individuals who have chosen to become stateless now cruise outside coastal waters in their mega-yachts in the belief that if they stay on the move, tax authorities will not be able to catch up with them."

Bain continued: "One analyst who did not want to be named, has estimated the number of stateless tax evaders amounted to a few thousand. This implies the quantity of money outside the grasp of global tax authorities could be trillions of dollars."

Liberty a Major Concern

I advise and have discussed the issues with scores of Americans who are considering acquiring a second passport and citizenship, (an absolute necessity before giving up U.S. citizenship).

I can tell you that while some are motivated by taxes, most are fed up with stultifying controls and interference by government and by what they see as President Obama's radical socialization of a once great nation many no longer recognize as the country of their youth.

Numbers Game

Official figures on Americans who end citizenship are reported by the IRS every quarter. In the first half of 2009 only about 90 people gave up citizenship. But one prominent lawyer, who did not want to be named, said: "There has been for some time a view that the IRS has been under-reporting these numbers."

My friend, whom I have often quoted, John Gaver, who edits the conservative web site Action America looks at this from a different angle: "What these lists fail to show is the vast and increasing numbers of wealthy U.S. citizens who are just ‘dropping out’ – taking all of their wealth and leaving the U.S. without renouncing. They just disappear off the U.S. tax rolls and appear on some other country’s tax rolls."

Fear Factor

Anecdotal evidence also suggests there has been a surge of inquires from Americans who are considering acquiring citizenship of another country.

Our long time associate, Christian Kälin, managing partner and citizenship planning consultant at Henley & Partners in Zurich, said his firm has had a big rise in such inquiries.

In Chris’ opinion: "Tax reasons might be the biggest reason why U.S. citizens will want to drop their passports, but security issues will also influence their decisions. For example, we saw a huge surge in inquires from U.S. citizens contemplating acquiring an alternative passport after the Mumbai killings."

New Passport Book Edition

In my latest (7th) edition of The Passport Book, you can learn all about how Americans legally can escape U.S. taxes by expatriation, whether the U.S. exit tax applies to you, as well as the specific residence and citizenship requirements of nearly 100 countries worldwide that could be your new home place, whether you are American or any nationality. The book will be "hot off the presses" next week. Click here for more information and advance orders.

The Sovereign Society is the recognized voice in the complex offshore world.  Join the Sovereign Society and keep informed.

Big Wind Blows OECD Windbags Off Course

But for Category 4 Hurricane Jimena and its well-timed 150 mph winds, hundreds of delegates to yet another meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) would be clinking glasses, lolling in the sun and spending your hard earned tax dollars at the posh Mexican Pacific coast resort of Los Cabos.

And whenever and wherever there is an OECD gab fest, (this one billed as the "5th OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information"), you can be certain our friends and colleagues from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity (CF&P) will be there to set straight the OECD distortions and to promote the benefits of global tax competition, fiscal sovereignty, and financial privacy.

Mexico City Overnight

As it is, both the 70 or so OECD delegates and the CF&P board chairman Dan Mitchell, of ther Cato Institute, who e-mailed me late Monday, made their way overnight to Mexico City, where hurricanes are not usually a threat, although major earthquakes are not unknown. CF&P President Andrew Quinlan also will attend the OECD meeting.

The head of OECD head Angel Gurria, a former Mexican leftist politician of mediocre repute, the secretary-general of the OECD, will lead the two day talks, yet another session aimed at forcing tax havens to share individual's tax information with all the world's tax collectors.

In an op-ed article in the UK Guardian Tuesday (The end of the tax haven era) Gurria (left) crowed: "The era of banking secrecy for tax purposes will soon be over. In tomorrow's world, there will be no more havens in which to hide funds from the taxman."

Decade of Blacklists

In case you missed the several hundred articles about the OECD I've authored in the last decade, here's short refresher course.

Beginning in 1998, the OECD has worked feverishly on behalf of the high tax welfare state governments that pay their salaries, the aim being to destroy tax havens by trying to hinder the flow of jobs and capital to low tax jurisdictions.

The Center for Freedom and Prosperity, with which the Sovereign Society is associated, was founded in 2000 to defend against these radical left-wing attacks on financial freedom.

The OECD, advocate of more taxes, is itself a tax-exempt Paris think tank, mainly financed by the U.S. government (25%). Although it has produced some useful research, it has served as the chief political propagandist for leftist attacks on tax havens, financial privacy and low taxes and tax competition in general.

Clumsy Bully

The OECD plays the bully with repeated clumsy attempts to crush tax havens and force a uniform system of high taxes worldwide.

In pursuing its dictatorial goals the OECD is doing the bidding of its 30 member nations, many of which, like France and Germany, (and the U.S. under Obama) are high tax, socialist welfare states bent on ringing every last dollar, pound or euro out of taxpayers to finance continuing deficits and statist economies.

The OECD instrument of choice in their pro tax campaign has been the use phony blacklists of nations with low taxes. At the G-20 London meeting in April 2009 the OECD added gray lists and white lists, fictitious gradations to measure obedience by tax havens to OECD and G-20 orders.

Now the OECD is sailing with new speed as the PR arm of the G-20 nations who decided to blame tax havens for the world recession, thus justifying forcing havens to weaken their bank secrecy and financial privacy laws.

They Know Best

With an almost religious fervor, OECD bureaucrats presume to tell people and governments how they should conduct themselves by, as they claim, "setting standards and creating values for the entire world."

A tall and very presumptuous order for the OECD's 2000 bureaucrats, the salary of everyone of whom is tax exempt because of their coveted diplomatic status. Housed in a fine Parisian mansion that once belonged to the Rothschild family, the Château de la Muette, (left) the OECD's annual budget of over is $300 million, U.S. taxpayers footing 25% of the cost.

If nothing else, the OECD loves to hold meetings at your expense. No doubt the Mexico City gathering will carry out their pre-arranged agenda and issue the usual statements attacking tax havens, personal and financial privacy and advocating more taxes.

Freedom Fighters

At least we will have a voice in the persons of Dan Mitchell (left) and Andy Quinlan of the CfP.

Cato Institute's Dan Mitchell further explaines that: "High-tax nations will now move the goal posts and make further demands for things such as unlimited information sharing, special rules for monitoring high net worth individuals, and harmonization of corporate taxation."

The battle for financial privacy and freedom continues.

You Can Help

You can be certain the Sovereign Society will do its part, as will the Center for Freedom and Prosperity.
You can help too, by sending a generous contribution to the CFP that will help them continue their vital work.

 The Sovereign Society is a recognized voice in the complex offshore world.  Join the Sovereign Society and keep informed.

Return to Los Cabos

You, too, can hear and meet Dan Mitchell at the Sovereign Society's 3rd Annual Offshore Advantage Seminar: A Beginner’s Guide to the Offshore World, November 4, 2009 – November 7, 2009, at the Westin, Los Cabos, Mexico. (We guarantee good weather! No hurricanes! I’ll be there personally to make certain.)

Twenty-one of the world’s most respected offshore masterminds -- with over 325 years of collective knowledge in private offshore banking, global investments, and asset protection - will assemble in Los Cabos for four days of closed-door mastermind meetings.

A select group will be given a rare "insider’s look" as these experts reveal their time-tested strategies for protecting privacy and capital in today’s volatile markets, economy and new era of populist politics.

For full details on our Los Cabos meeting agenda and tactics to be revealed, click here.

 

Teeing Off on Obama's Cynicism, Hypocrisy

Guess who President Barack Obama is paling around with this week during his Martha's Vineyard vacation?

Would you believe Robert Wolf, president of UBS Investment Bank and chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas?

President Obama tees off his round of golf Monday as, from left, his friend Eric Whitaker, presidential aide Marvin Nicholson and UBS Americas president Robert Wolf await their turn.

Yes, dear readers, that is indeed the same Swiss bank that has been in the news constantly during the last year, in a not good light, what with its staff admittedly assisting thousands of American UBS account holders to evade what the IRS claims is billions in taxes owed.

But if you're surprised that these two presidents -- one of the U.S. -- the other of UBS -- are golfing buddies, you haven't been reading my blog.

UBS Skeleton in Obama Closet

A year ago, on July 25, 2008, I exposed Obama's close ties with UBS' Wolf, who turned out to be one of the President's leading fund raisers in the 2008 presidential race.

Again on October 23, 2008, in a blog entry entitled "Obama Says: Shut Down All Tax Havens" I commented on the crass hypocrisy of Barack Obama when I wrote the following:

"The Chicago style political cynicism of Obama in denouncing offshore financial activity and tax havens is breathtaking -- as is the eagerness of bankers and Wall Street to appease him -- and prostitute themselves.

"Example: In September Obama released an Internet and TV ad mocking John McCain for visiting Bermuda in 2006, vowing to preserve the tax haven there, then taking money from the insurance industry. McCain did indeed tell the local Royal Gazette last year: "The industry, the re-insurance that’s had such phenomenal success has been good for both nations. I would oppose any measures that would upset that." Obama claimed that insurance CEO’s and lobbyists then donated $50,000 to McCain."

But Obama's TV ad never mentioned that he also received plenty from the insurance industry, ranking as one of its top recipients, with $1,290,434 in the 3rd quarter 2008 election cycle alone.

Obama Pretends

Similarly, at a U.S. Senate hearing in July 2008, then Sen. Obama praised Sen. Carl Levin's anti-offshore attacks, claiming: "Ordinary Americans pick up the slack for tax cheats who hide assets in offshore tax havens, often with the help of foreign banks like UBS and LGT." But in issuing his ringing anti-tax haven statement critical of UBS, Obama said nothing about one of UBS' most prominent executives, Robert Wolf, CEO of UBS Americas.

Levin Gives Wolf a Senate Pass

In deed, missing from the roster of witnesses before Sen. Levin's July 2008 subcommittee hearing was that very same Robert Wolf, in spite of the fact that he is CEO of UBS America.

But then by the hearing date Wolf had already collected and bundled more than $370,850 in campaign contributions for Obama, making UBS Obama's fifth largest corporate donor in his 2008 presidential campaign.I guess UBS Wolf didn't qualify as a lobbyist, since candidate Obama pledged never to take cash from lobbyists.Keeping the Wolf Away

Judi McLeod of Canada Free Press revealed how Obama shamelessly and personally courted his future golfing buddy, Wolf. She wrote:

"Wolf was 'wowed' by the Senator from Illinois when he first met in December 2006. "He handed Obama his card and said, "I’d like to get to know you more." (John Heilemann, New York Magazine, April 16, 2007). Obama phoned the next day. "When we hung up, he said, `I’ll call you after the holidays,’ and I’m thinking, Yeah, right, he’s gonna call me," Wolf says.

But call Obama did -- both then and now.

"The next week they had dinner in Washington, just the two of them, on the night that George W. Bush gave his speech announcing the surge of additional troops into Iraq. "I felt so honored to be sitting down with him for two hours on an occasion like that," Wolf recalls, "knowing that he was going off to be interviewed on television later."

Buddies Linked Before the Links

Ah, what a difference a year makes!

This week President Obama played five hours of friendly golf with the same Robert Wolf, not just an early financial backer of Obama’s presidential campaign, but one who in total raised almost $400,000 starting back in 2006.

In February this year Obama appointed Wolf to the White House’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. (See above) One might ask: "Economic recovery for whom"?

Wolf’s presidential appointment came within days of UBS agreement to pay a $780 million fine to settle U.S. civil and criminal charges related to its tax evasion help given its American clients.

But did UBS really pay that fine or did Americans taxpayers foot the bill? UBS received $2.5 billion of your tax dollars in a once removed backdoor bailout from bailed out insurance giant AIG.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, (left) at the time said, "It looks like we’re simply laundering this money through AIG." UBS, the bank that sheltered wealthy tax dodgers, was actually bailed out by hardworking U.S. taxpayers.

Let's Make a Deal

I know I'm tired of talking about UBS, but it is a matter of judicial record in the Miami court case filed by the IRS against UBS, still pending, that UBS admitted under oath that its employees made a concerted effort to open numerous accounts in Switzerland for wealthy U.S. clients, employing practices that "facilitated and resulted in tax evasion by U.S. clients."

Do you think the president knows he is relaxing with a known instigator of U.S. tax evasion? Is the sky up?

And was the U.S. really ready to go to war with Switzerland over the UBS scandal -- or was that just a show to make Americans think Obama is a brave fighter against tax evasion?

As part of the settlement of the case, UBS agreed to share client account information with the IRS. The Obama Justice Department made a big deal of demanding the names of an alleged 52,000 American accounts. But when the deal was struck, only 4,450 client names will be surrendered.

Politics Chicago/Washington Style

Do you suppose may be someone in the White House might have had a friendly discussion about the UBS settlement with someone at UBS? Perhaps at a very high level? Axelrod? Emanuel? Bo?

As Wolf was preparing for his golf game with Obama, former UBS employee and IRS informant, Bradley Birkenfeld, (left) was sentenced to 40 months in prison for facilitating offshore tax evasion through UBS banking schemes, even though he assisted federal investigators in exposing the bank. (Sentence does not begin until next year and could still be reduced).

God of Thieves & Merchants

I quote approvingly from the web site www.democracynow.org that wryly notes:

"Above the entrance to UBS headquarters in Zurich is a bust of the Greek god Hermes -- not only the fleet-footed messenger of the gods, but also the god of thieves and merchants. The symbolism is striking. Whether or not Wolf won his golf game against Obama, UBS has clearly scored a hole-in-one."

In With the Same Old?

So much for his mantra of "change" and that glittering "new era" in open politics candidate Obama repeated as nauseam.

We don’t begrudge the president his offshore banker friend at UBS – but he certainly has no right to try and block all Americans from having their own legal dealings with offshore banks of their choice.

*** Think i'm too rough on our President? Or not rough enough? Send me an email and share your views about our golfing president: info@sovereignsociety.com

Switzerland to Finance Obama's Cash for Clunkers Program

The headline on a Reuters news dispatch this morning read: "Obama administration hopeful on 'clunker' extension"

My first reaction: Isn't Obama planning for re-election to a second term a bit premature?

 

But no, this article dealt with the question of whether the U.S. Senate would extend the federal "cash for clunkers" auto sales program, so wildly popular it has run out of taxpayer dollars. No problem in the left-leaning House of Representatives where recess bound congresspersons voted a cool $2 billion more of your hard earned tax dollars for this giveaway on Friday.
 
The Senate can't amend the House-passed funding bill because the House has left for its August break. That is a potential legislative problem for "clunker" supporters, since some lawmakers want to change details of the program or oppose throwing new money at an industry that has sucked up more than $80 billion of your tax dollars since January.

A Billion Here, a Billion There

Did you get that number? That $80 BILLION! And that's only a part of Obama's trillion plus 2009 dollar deficit.

 
Barack "I don't want to run an auto company" Obama and his leftist Congress has given $80 BILLION of your and my tax dollars to the auto industry, bailing out GM and Chrysler, meanwhile turning over control to UAW, the auto workers union.

This "clunkers" program was designed in part to help General Motors Corp and Chrysler recover from bankruptcy -- but there's no mention of who will rescue America from the inevitable bankruptcy we're already in.

H.R.'s Question

Years ago, when I served on the staff and later as Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, I often witnessed my good friend, the late Rep. H.R. Gross (R-Iowa) (left), challenging the flood of deficit spending bills rammed through Congress by big spending Democrats and a few fellow-traveling Republicans.

HR's simple and repeated question: "Where are you going to get the money?" 

Well, HR rarely got an honest answer, but applying that very question to the cash for clunkers program, our friend and associate Vern Jacobs CPA, has given us the answer in a recent edition of his newsletter, The International Wealth Protection Monitor. Here is Vern's logical explanation:

Where's the "Cash for Clunkers "
The House has passed a bill (HR 2751) that would provide a cash voucher of up to $4,500 for anyone who trades in older gas-hogging vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient ones.

So let's see how this might work.

I take a really old car that's barely running and trade it in for a hybrid that's on sale for about $14,500. If I get the full $4,500 (there are conditions of course), and if I use this new car exclusively for business, I'll be able to write off the other $10,000 in a few years [for depreciation]. The deduction is going to reduce my taxes by about $5,000 and so the government is paying $9,500 for my car while I'm only paying $5,500 out of pocket -- after taxes.

Seems like a sweet deal to me, but where is the government getting the money?

 
They might get some of the money from folks who don't use the car for business, but that's hardly enough.  I doubt if they will get much from folks who make over $250,000 a year because in a short time we won't have near as many people above that income bracket. More fuel efficient cars will result in less federal gas taxes, so that's not a source of new money.

What else is there? Oh, Yes. I forgot. They're going to get that money from all the folks who have huge amounts of unreported income hidden in secret foreign bank accounts.

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus

And if you don't believe Vern, check the op-ed piece (Leave Swiss Banks Alone) in this morning's N.Y. Times by a leading Swiss academic, who observes with the usual Swiss restraint: "The global economic crisis has led some governments to intensify efforts to seek tax revenue abroad — and Switzerland, which accounts for nearly 30 percent of all offshore private wealth, is a natural target."

There you have it America -- Switzerland is going to finance cash for clunkers -- the true "clunkers" being the unprincipled U.S. politicians who are destroying America with their insane deficit spending.

The Sovereign Society is a recognized voice in the complex offshore world.  Join the Sovereign Society and keep informed.

Everybody's Trying to Get Into the Act

We all have heard of "crisis management." How about "crisis exploitation"? 

Referring to the global economic recession as an excuse to ram socialist proposals through Congress, Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's, hard ball political chief of staff at the White House, cynically observed: "Never let a serious crisis go to waste."

Emanuel's observation was a modern echo of an ancient Chinese proverb: "A crisis is an opportunity riding the dangerous wind."

Well, as the late comedian, Jimmy Durante, (left) used to say in his famous New York accent: "Everybuddy's tryin' ta get inta da act."

And when one considers "dangerous winds," it's worth observing that there is no greater cave of winds than the United Nations, (other then the U.S. Congress). Located in Durante's beloved New York City, the UN has been called rightfully, "Babel on the East River".

It was inevitable that the United Nations, as did the EU and the G-20, also has decided to get into the global recession act.

Conference of Confidence

The UN is convening a three-day summit of "world leaders" from June 1-3, 2009 at its New York headquarters "to assess the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression."

  This august assemblage is entitled the "UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development" (UNCWFECID?). Its worthy aim is to "mitigate the impact of the crisis" and "initiate a needed dialogue on the transformation of the international financial architecture..."

A senior aide to the president of UN General Assembly told the press that one aim of this meeting is "to drum up people's confidence by displaying the unity of the international community," noting that "part of the crisis is psychological."

Based on its its dismal history since its founding in 1945, I don't think the UN really will be much of a confidence restorer in this time of economic difficulty.

Global I.R.S.

The last time the UN formally addressed the world economic structure was in 2002 when we reported on another UN conference, that one held in Monterey, Mexico in the pre-swine flu days. I called that "the tax collectors meeting from Hell" where plans were laid for a UN "international tax organization," a sort of one-world IRS.

At Monterey the UN foresaw the day when it would become the world's tax collector. With such grandiose ambitions, naturally the UN has been part of the chorus attacking tax havens, singing along with the European Union, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and more recently as a result of the 2009 U.S. elections, joined by President Obama and his radical, left-wing allies in the Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress.

Repeat Performance

So get ready for another UN propaganda barrage in a few weeks, replete with the usual false and distorted attacks on tax havens -- and for attacks on your right to invest and bank when and where you please in this world.

The Democrats in the U.S. Congress already have said that later this year they will take up some form of anti-tax haven legislation, possibly as proposed by Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich). President Obama, an original sponsor of this legislation when he served in the Senate, has been strident in his attack on tax havens, indicating some form of his punitive plan may become law as soon as later this year and making it a part of his trillion dollar deficit budget.

Better Act Now

Given this very real possibility, it would be prudent for you to consider your own situation-- to figure out how best your assets, investments and finances can be reordered offshore for maximum profit and protection -- all fundamental goals at which the Sovereign Society has become expert in helping its member to achieve.

You can start your self-protection plan by today becoming a member of the Sovereign Society.

While you can, there still are many legal ways to enjoy privacy, banking and save taxes offshore; Bob Bauman tells you Where To Stash Your Cash. If you're interested in living offshore, The Passport Book is just what you need.

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