By: Harmon Cardon, www.SGTReport.com

As the latest and greatest scandal, act of tyranny, unfolds before the United States citizenry, we have to look back and ask why. Why would the government need to collect every stroke of the keyboard, every phone call made and every website visited? If the government isn’t out of control and attempting something that’s very sinister in nature, then why would this information be necessary? What is the point of collecting all this information on each and every citizen? I understand the NFL pre-season is about to begin and most folks really can’t be bothered with such trivial questions of politics and liberty, but what if the NFL was deemed too violent to be broadcast into your living room and you could only enjoy a game at centralized locations with the other people that wanted to watch a game?

This question merely opens the door to a whole host of other questions. If the government is not attempting to control every aspect of our lives then why would cameras need to be mounted at most of the major intersections on our roadways? What is the purpose of collecting photos of vehicles that are passing through this intersection or that intersection? Who is monitoring these cameras? What are they doing with the information? Why is it important? You probably passed several this morning on your way to work and didn’t really notice as they have become part of the landscape.

Over the past two decades we have seen more and more cameras popping up in locations that seem very benign on the surface. These cameras can pop-up at will and in any location the police deem necessary. This is, of course, done under the false guise of “protecting the citizenry from terrorism”. You are more likely to be killed by lightening or an auto accident than you are by an act of terrorism. I personally knew several people that are no longer living that were killed in auto accidents. I do not know one person whose life has been affected by terrorism, much less ended. Yes, the disgusting acts of 9/11, the Atlanta Olympics, the Boston Marathon and Oklahoma City were very tragic and I am sorry for the families that lost loved ones in these crimes. The question is did it affect your life directly? Did any of these criminal acts, especially in light of the current scandals, ever leave you wanting or questioning exactly how these criminal acts could have manifested? Would another camera have helped in any of these situations? Do you have a camera built into your phone? What about a microphone for use hands-free? I have often wondered why a phone would all the sudden become, not only a phone, but a camera. It always seemed a little odd, but now we know. According the reports that are coming out, the camera in your phone has played a very integral part in information gathering. Now, not only has the government been listening to and recording your conversations, they have been watching where these calls have originated. Why is that important? No, I do not have anything to hide, however, I do have my privacy to protect that is guaranteed under the 4th Amendment of the Constitution. I do have conversations that are private. I would like to believe that where I go, what I discuss with another person and the scenery I am enjoying is between me, the person involved in the conversation and our Creator. Alas, that is not the case and apparently has not been the case for almost three decades! Main Core was developed and implemented in the 1980’s and is the backbone of the new PRISM information gathering nightmare.

This brings up another question. Why is the federal government buying so many hollow-point bullets and fully-automatic assault rifles? Over the course of the past eighteen months the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered roughly 2 billion rounds of hollow-point bullets. For what purpose? The DHS is an agency that was put into place to combat “terrorism”. The DHS is supposed to be protecting the citizenry of the United States. The volume of ammunition that has been ordered is the equivalent of arming the United States Armed Services for a 35 year war! This is to say nothing of the 2,700 MRAP’s that have been ordered or the 7,000 fully-automatic assault rifles. These are important questions and it seems that you, the reader, are simply too busy to notice this is happening. Did you say Dancing with the Stars new season begins tonight? Can you delay or record the upcoming episode in order to learn how your country has become the most horrific tyrannical government in the history of the world?

When the Boston Bombing occurred the city of Boston enacted Martial Law; it was not called Martial Law. The Governor, Deval Patrick, declared (another word for “ordered”) the citizens of Watertown, Waltham, Newton, Belmont, Cambridge and Allston Brighton to “shelter-in-place” (another word for martial law) and proceeded to call in the militarized police. The “police” began going door-to-door conducting warrantless searches of private citizens property. The “police” began removing people from their homes. This was unprecedented in the United States. Was “shelter-in-place” declared after 911? Was a militarized police force sent in to conduct warrantless searches? Were any of the same tyrannical tactics used in Boston enacted in the city of New York following our country coming under direct attack from a foreign enemy? Yes, we know more today regarding “terrorism” than we did in 2001. Yes, we have a better understanding that the United States is no longer immune from “terrorist” attacks. However, what was our response to the 911 attacks, regarding the CITIZENS of the United States? Were we immediately all considered to be a suspect? Were we, the citizens, subjected to “suspicion” of being the terrorist? Was the military going door-to-door and ordering people out of their homes and conducting searches? Remember we were told this was an attack by a foreign enemy. What happened on 911 was coming at us, you and me, at break-neck speed. We did not have time to really think about what was happening, who was doing what and how everything unfolded. Although, we were not so blind as to not see if something was out of balance with our military, local police and local government officials. According to page 4 as published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) terrorism does not even make the list of causes of death in the United States of America in 2011, the latest year information is available.

Why was every home, ordered by Congress, to be required to have cable or satellite television? Why would this be important and who benefits from this legislation? After the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed television went from a free service to a paid service. No longer would television be delivered, for free, to our homes or businesses. We would have to pay for the privilege of having a monitor in our homes. What comes through the cable that enters into our homes? What information is gathered as our television is turned on or even in an idle, off stage? Before last week this question would have come straight from the “Tin-Foil Hat Club”. Not so any more. With the information presented above you should be asking this question. You should be asking why the criminal federal government is spending $85 billion annually to spy on all of us. You should be upset. Please get upset and please begin asking questions. The evidence is no longer coming from the “internet”, it is coming from concerned citizens who have been asking questions for several decades while you have been dreaming of winning the lottery or watching the latest episode of CSI. Please join us in the “Conspiracy Nut Land” known as the internet and begin gathering real information before the government takes it all away.

The post A Question of Why appeared first on Offshore and Domestic Asset Protection Planning.

 June 17, 2013

By: Paul Seymour, Dir. of Client Services

[I was recently asked to start doing a periodic radio broadcast on Radio Free Latin America (RFLA), called Offshore Re-education Camp.  It’s being piped in to the USSA from a secret location south of the border via short wave radio signals.  The aim of RFLA is to offer a ray of hope to our poor countryman still trapped behind the curtain with apparently, no way out.

The show, hosted by Paul Seymour, Director of Client Services at Global Wealth Protection, will provide the truth about offshore entities and bank accounts to those peoples who are continuously bombarded with the party line, and have no access to the truth outside of RFLA.

For those of you who are unable to catch the live broadcasts, we’ll be periodically printing a transcript of the show here at GWP.]

Originally broadcast at 14:30 Tuesday, June 6, 2013 as Part II to this morning’s transmission, transcript follows: Lead-in tune in case you missed it: “Johnny’s playroom is a bunker filled with sand, he’s become a 3^rd world man.  Soon, you’ll throw down your disguise, we’ll see behind those bright eyes, bye and bye when the sidewalks are safe for the little guy.” 

Okay, now that we’re up to speed with what FATCA really is, let’s review some current events on its implementation.  First we’ve been told by the corporate-controlled press: Rand Paul Blamed for Blocking FATCA This was even published in a purported “professional journal” by one Michael Cohn.  The more I read this rag, the more I have to wonder if Mr. Cohn is somehow getting paid by the IRS or some related governmental agency.  The title of the article doesn’t exactly sound like we’re about to receive an impartial reporting of an event occurring in our Congress.  Why not—Rand Paul Praised for Blocking FATCA?

Here’s the 1^st paragraph:

“The research and advocacy organization Global Financial Integrity is urging Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to allow the Senate to vote on agreements negotiated by the Treasury Department with Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hungary and other countries to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, in an effort to ferret out tax evaders.” 

Ferret out tax evaders?  Give me a break, please.  Current laws very adequately allow the IRS to gather evidence of tax evasion, and go to a Swiss bank, for example, and present that evidence, and then obtain information on accounts where they have sufficient evidence to indicate tax evasion.  That’s called due process boys and girls. 

Evidently, “ferreting out” tax evaders isn’t the real objective here.  Instead, we’re all tax evaders until proven innocent.  Anyone with even a minor amount of their hard-earned, after-tax savings, held outside Washington’s jurisdiction – and therefore not within easy confiscation range – are now being informed: “Tell us where all of your money is, or have your travel license confiscated/revoked, and go to jail.”

So Rand Paul is the only representative of the people in Congress opposing that?  My first question isn’t why is Rand Paul doing such an evil thing, but rather, how the hell can the other 534 representatives reconcile the fact that they’ve taken an oath to defend the Constitution, from both external and internal enemies, with the fact that they aren’t standing alongside Senator Paul to do just that?

Let’s move on to paragraph three of this biased piece of unpatriotic garbage:

“FATCA was included as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment, or HIRE, Act of 2010. Its provisions require foreign financial institutions to report information on the accounts of U.S. customers to the Internal Revenue Service, or a tax on all of the foreign bank’s U.S.-source income will automatically be withheld before being transferred to the bank.”

First of all, I’m not sure how chasing the best and brightest patriots out of the country, by putting them in fear of their freedom, is supposed to increase hiring nor restore anyone’s employment.  Therefore, the name of this so-called “HIRE” act is just another sick joke being played on the sheeple.  Secondly, take a look at the consequences of not dropping to your knees and complying.  Foreign banks, in sovereign, freedom-loving nations, will have their money confiscated?  I guess if I were a Board member at one of these banks, I’d have to recommend an immediate cessation of taking on the huge risks of accepting cash from US citizens.  Why would our elected representatives want to knowingly take away our ability to choose our own banks?  As noted, they already have the power to chase and prosecute true tax evaders through utilization of due process.

This article, and its apparent bias, as noted in the 1^st paragraph of the article, are being driven by the “research and advocacy organization Global Financial Integrity”.  So who are these GFI characters?  A quick search reveals that it’s a group formed in 2006, and funded by the Ford Foundation………..So let me get this straight.  A PAC, indirectly funded by the taxpayer bailout of the rightfully failed US automobile industry, is now working to covertly support the neo-fascists by using laundered taxpayer dollars to try and coerce the Senate into passing unconstitutional legislation which would allow further theft of US tax dollars in order to then bail out further failed industries, to fund further PACs to…….That’s one nasty circle jerk boys and girls.  One might even smell the taint of some conflict of interest.

Shortly after the GFI’s nefarious attempt to coerce the Senate into letting FATCA fly, Rand Paul and a few other patriots introduced a bill to repeal at least portions of it.  I can’t find where the entire address had been faithfully reproduced in its entirety, except at a site called repealfatca.com which is worth repeating in its entirety here:

“I intend to offer a bill to repeal certain provisions of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA (P.L. 111-147). The intent of this law was to prevent tax evasion by increasing access to overseas bank accounts held by U.S. citizens. However, any law enforcement benefits have been vastly outweighed by the deleterious effects of FATCA on economic growth and the financial privacy of Americans.

“FATCA requires the financial institutions of foreign countries to register directly with the IRS, and to provide financial information on the accounts of U.S. citizens – regardless of whether or not these U.S. citizens are suspected of tax evasion. A failure to comply with these requirements subjects that foreign financial institution (FFI) to a 30% withholding of U.S.-derived revenues. This has had the practical effect of forcing FFIs to relinquish any association with American customers, and to avoid direct investment in the United States. It goes without saying that overseas investment in the U.S. is an important engine of our economic growth and prosperity. FATCA endangers an estimated $25 trillion in foreign capital currently invested in the U.S.

“Perhaps even more troubling, the implementation of FATCA has allowed the Treasury Department to make independent decisions with respect to the sovereignty of foreign nations and the privacy of United States citizens. In order to implement this law, Treasury has initiated intergovernmental agreements (IGAs), citing the intent to engage in reciprocal information sharing with other nations. The Treasury Department, without the consent and authority of Congress, will force U.S. financial institutions to provide the bank account information of private customers to foreign nations. Such a requirement not only diminishes U.S. privacy protections, but also imposes billions of dollars in compliance costs here at home, which will be passed onto customers and the American public.

“My bill is drafted with the intention of removing only FATCA provisions that undermine Americans’ constitutional privacy protections and add burdensome regulations with a negative economic impact on the United States. Other provisions enacted at the same time, such as those pertaining to clarification of foreign trusts and treatment of dividends that do not have those negative impacts, have been left alone. The intent of this bill is not to disrupt legitimate tax enforcement, only to repeal counterproductive and constitutionally suspect mandates.”

I have nothing further to add, except to say thanks to Senator Paul for having both the principles, and the courage to fight so fiercely to protect my Constitutional rights.  Again, we’re out of time, but you’re assignment for next week is to follow the link above, and read a lot more pertinent information on the subject, and its misguided objectives.

Hasta la próxima muchachos, y mucha suerte.

Paul is an escaped Big 4 CPA (F/S auditor), and Corporate Controller/CFO who found a natural home in the offshore industry with Bobby Casey and the gang at GWP.   Contact him at paul@globalwealthprotection.com to learn more about the realities of economical offshore asset protection.

The post Offshore Re-Education Camp: Lesson 3B appeared first on Offshore and Domestic Asset Protection Planning.

June 15, 2013

By: Kelly Diamond, Publisher

We at Global Wealth Protection think it is our job to stay – and help you remain – informed with the latest news about asset protection, privacy and liberty.  We develop asset protection and offshore strategies to help you minimize financial risk and maximize gain.

However, some of our content pieces manage to set a few folks off, and their feedback ranges from absolutely unhinged to thoughtful to everything in between.  While most companies would only showcase the most flattering testimonials… we share the feedback of some of the more entertaining folks who can’t stay on topic, but offer some damn good entertainment.

Ever have a neighbor who played their music loud, and when you went to complain about the volume, rather than turn it down, they turned it up even more?  We are that neighbor.  There will be NO toning down the rhetoric here… 

So, WELCOME, to the first edition of Strawman Saturday!

“A straw man argument occurs in the context of a debate―formal or informal―when one side attacks a position―the “straw man”―not held by the other side, then acts as though the other side’s position has been refuted.”  This is the working definition offered in the Fallacy Files.

Consider this the highlight reel!  And Strawman Saturdays are for entertainment purposes only, so sit back and check out some behind-the-scenes communications…

GWP v PM

Paul Seymour and I both made editorial contributions for Memorial Day.  Paul authored “Memorial Day: Rah, Rah” and I wrote “What is Noble?”  That went over gang-busters!

We were told by one guy, who shall be known as “PM”, in a separate email to Bobby: “You are a sick greedy person, leave this great country and do not come back.”

To which our own Bobby Casey says, “If ignorance is bliss, you must be the happiest man on earth!”

Not to be outdone, GWP’s Paul Seymour chimes in with, “Well, I HAVE left forever, and wouldn’t even consider returning to such a fascist, fucked up place.  Thanks for recognizing Amerika for what it really is.”

PM offered his well wishes: “BYE, BYE, and FUCK YOU!”

Good talk, guys!  It’s one thing to disagree.  It’s another to pound your chest and roar and expect us to work with so little.

GWP v KS

An individual, who shall be known as “KS”, had a few choice words for us with regard to my Memorial Day piece as well.  Here is the exchange:

KS writes:

“…A person engaged in the asset protection business might want to avoid tying themselves to opinion pieces such as one in particular written by Kelly Diamond. 

“I appreciate the fact you are an entrepreneur, as am I.  Kelly’s Memorial Day piece appears to have touched a nerve with many, likely old veterans such as myself.

“I am under no illusions that this government, most of the western world’s governments (and all the rest for that matter) are by and large, evil and corrupt, but Ms. Diamond has failed to understand that most people hold honest and noble values taught by their parents and experience (especially as we get older), and institutions (such as corporations and governments) are made up of their values, which are mostly evil, greedy and corrupt). 

“Fault a veteran, who stands for what they stand for (in this case, positively the best of all that is American; our values, history, et cetera), and you’ve crossed a line. 

“I know personally veterans who’ve been spit upon, cursed and reviled on the street and on college campuses; heck, I’m one of those veterans.  People in the armed forces die at the behest and machinations of political operatives still today, because many of those malcontents now occupy high positions in government and academia.  Do you have any malcontents in your organization, or do they simply have no respect for veterans? 

“Most Americans, if paying attention to such things, would likely make it a point not to do business with your company.  Managers tend to back their people, and that’s okay; I get it.  However, last time I checked, Bobby, your values and information appeared to be more in line with mine than Kelly Diamond, and your business appeared to be asset protection services, and not an organ for anti-American, pro-radical views.  Is the publication the product?  If so, I cannot in good conscience buy it.

“I thought that you should know.  I admire your entrepreneurship and your willingness to speak truth to power, and your Publishing editor has First Amendment rights, of course, but the Constitution never guaranteed I had to do business with folks operating with loose cannons.”

Bobby responds:

“I agree wholeheartedly with Kelly in her post.  While I do grant her complete freedom to write what she pleases as it relates to freedom, privacy and protection of wealth we do not always agree.  In this case, we do.

“Personally, I am revolted by the flag waving holidays.  This is a celebration of the unnecessary wars fought to build wealth for the wall-street bankers and politicians while sacrificing human lives.  Disgusting.  The only way this celebration is tolerated is due to most Americans’ complete ignorance of reality.

“Don’t you find it a bit ironic that shortly after the former CEO of Halliburton took the position of US VP, we went to war with a country that had repeatedly refused to do business with big American companies.  And following the war Halliburton was granted (not awarded since there were no other bids) 10′s of billions of reconstruction projects?

“It sure makes me feel good to know that thousands of soldiers were killed in order for Cheney and Co. to reap over $30B in profits from Iraq alone.  Is this what I should be celebrating?

“Ironically many of our readers are vets and many of them wrote letters thanking us for speaking the truth.  At some point I hope you wake up as well.”

I offered to engage in a discussion based on facts, but his sprint to Bobby’s email box and deafening silence tells me he’s a no-show.  Offer still stands, though!

*crickets*

GWP v ML

I had the lovely privilege of a former public school teacher psycho analyzing me and my presumed “anger issues” in response to my article “Nanny State Mission Creep: Parental Rights”.  How the exchanges derailed from the topic of parental rights to name calling and some ridiculous attempts at my supposed emotional instability, is beyond me.  But diverting the discussion away from the actual topic, toward me personally, is about as respectable a tactic as having a date tell me I have nice tits when the conversation takes an uncomfortable turn toward the topic of commitment.

Here’s what was submitted to Bobby via email:

ML writes:

“I have problems with the Global Wealth Protection philosophy. You advise to your readers/subscribers ways to protect their money by sending it outside the USA. I have no feelings about that, being a Canadian citizen. What I have a problem with is the extreme some of your columnists are willing to go to justify their point. Kelly Diamond, one of your writers, has a very strong point of view on some issues. After discussing with him, I realized that no dialogue could be established with him. In fact, his comments were pretty aggressive.” 

So let me get this straight: He has a problem with our philosophy.  This is all we know of his beef with our philosophy.  He is okay with us instructing Americans on how to move their money offshore… so long as we don’t do it to Canadians?  And he has a problem with the “extremes” some of the columnists are willing to go to justify their point.  My comments were aggressive.

I’ll forgive the gender confusion, as I am admittedly a pretty ballsy chick.  Ha ha ha…

I guess a mother passionately and uncompromisingly defending her parental rights against state intrusion offended his statist sensibilities, but you will find the condescension and name-calling to be quite one-sided on the comments thread.

Bobby v ML

ML then goes on with Bobby suggesting we use the state to fix the state!  Yes, because I often make it a practice to use broken things to fix themselves….

ML writes:

“Is it me or have you given up on the United States of America? Running away is one thing; how about finding ways to clear the mess the US economy and politics are in now. … As an impassive outsider, I can suggest one or two things your Libertarian friends might not like. First of all, impose controls on all banks so that the 2008 debacle does not happen again. I know that federal overseeing is, for some of you, an abomination. Try to explain that to a Lehman Brothers employee who lost his job and his pension fund at the same time. The lax regulations of the Bush administration and the relentless pressure from stockholders for profit created the economic mess which we are still trying to clean up.

“Another problem is the greed which feeds the American economy. When a CEO of any company in the US get X number of millions of dollars as a salary, is there a problem? Is it justified? Is the company making profits paralleling the administrators’ salaries?  I question this rat-race retribution: profit for the company=profit for the shareholders=profit for the CEO. In a perfect world, this scheme is acceptable. Where things go wrong is when the CEO will do anything to increase profits on the short term simply to satisfy the shareholders and get a bigger salary. What about the consequences of his decisions on a longer term? Will the company thrive or shrivel? The CEO doesn’t care; he won’t be around to see the results. So here is another place where some form of control has to be imposed, for the common good.

“As you can see, there’s a lot of work to do. If you suggest to your readers to invest their money elsewhere, why not ask them, since their money is safe, to try to change things in your country?”

Bobby responds:

“I would suggest doing some research on banking in general before jumping to conclusions that more regulation solves the problems.  Start by reading, “The Creature from Jekyll Island”.  This gives a pretty good insight into the realities behind the banking cartel.  More regulation is the exact opposite of what is needed if you truly understand the puppet-masters behind the curtain.  Your understanding of the economic crisis and banking in general is significantly off base.

“The US is a minimum of 2 generations away from solving its issues.  I don’t imagine I will live for 2-3 more generations so for me the best solution is to live my life as I chose.  My quality of life has significantly improved since leaving the USSA.  I am an individual and thus make decisions that are best for me and my family.  I would hope everyone follows the same path as it is the only rational way to live.” 

Bobby v SB

In response to my blog about Edward Snowden, “R.I.P. to the PRIVATE Citizen: Part 2”, SB writes:

“Being a veteran, he has jeopardized our nation’s security he should be tried and hung or shot.  I truly feel that he has hurt our nation and the security of people who trusted him. Don’t mule him out to be a hero, not unless you are an American.”

Bobby, unapologetically fires back:

“I am an American and Snowden IS a hero.  He exposed the scam of the CIA and military in general and how the citizenry is subject to 100% unconstitutional surveillance.  Shame on you for supporting the disgusting puppeteers.”

Perhaps a distinction should be made between the government of America (to which no one at GWP is loyal) and the individual rights of the people there (to which all at GWP are loyal).

Hat-tip to the Grammar & Spelling Nazis

I’ll tell you now: I suck at spelling and I throw darts at homonyms because essentially the only distinguishing characteristic between them is their SPELLING…  But in a sea of nearly 1,500 words depicting a current event that could have a direct impact on your personal liberties, if all you walk away with is a misspelled word or a missing Oxford Comma, then humanity just took a serious blow for the worse.  That, or you do better with spelling than reading comprehension, and you’re just playing to your strengths.  Either way, whenever my orthographic incompetence worries you or has you questioning whether GWP is capable of delivering great offshore banking and business services, think of a doctor: chances are, he can’t print worth a damn; but he still manages to provide effective medical care.

The post Strawman Saturday: 1st Issue! appeared first on Offshore and Domestic Asset Protection Planning.

June 12, 2013

By: Kelly Diamond, Publisher

There is no glory in being right about frightening predictions or even cynical assumptions involving our government.  There is just this continued eulogy for the Private Citizen.

Edward Snowden — among other whistleblowers — is confirming what was once just healthy distrust and speculation toward the U.S. Government.

If treason is giving aid or comfort to the enemy, and Snowden released information to the American people… what does that make us?

This is the natural follow-up to the last article.  How can it not be?  No sooner do I finish the blog on our surveillance state, does Edward Snowden emerge as yet another NSA whistle-blower (with a CIA background to boot!). 

 He gave an exclusive interview with The Guardian UK on what he witnessed and why he decided to out the NSA’s inner workings on data mining.  While people with far greater understanding of all this are still trying to piece together all that PRISM is, it would appear that it is a certain method of analysis, as Rick Falkvinge explained on June 8^th here.  (This is its own elaboration just on PRISM… short and OH SO worth it!)

It is painful to hear Snowden discuss how he anticipates the consequences of his noble actions (and yes, this IS noble!).  He fled to Hong Kong three weeks before he came out to Guardian.  When asked what he thought was going to happen to him, he replied simply, “Nothing good.”  He fears for his associations and loved ones.  He expects an investigation using the full measure of government’s resources and power, and anticipates they will say, “I have broken the Espionage Act and helped our enemies, but that can be used against anyone who points out how massive and invasive the system has become”.

In reality, if he wanted to do this for the money and sabotage the United States, you’d think he would’ve just sold that information rather than leak it to a major news outlet and make a run for it.  And much like protecting your OWN wealth is falsely characterized as theft, outing the unscrupulous acts of a powerful entity like the US government is falsely characterized as treason.

Q: What do the leaked documents reveal?

A: “That the NSA routinely lies in response to congressional inquiries about the scope of surveillance in America. I believe that when [Senator Ron] Wyden and [Senator Mark] Udall asked about the scale of this, they [the NSA] said it did not have the tools to provide an answer. We do have the tools and I have maps showing where people have been scrutinized most. We collect more digital communications from America than we do from the Russians.”

Behold the map below.  It reflects which countries are most monitored.  Not by their own governments, but by OURS!  You’ll be happy to know that Russia and Brazil aren’t nearly as important as Alaska or Kenya!

“We hack everyone everywhere. We like to make a distinction between us and the others. But we are in almost every country in the world. We are not at war with these countries.”

Q: Is it possible to put security in place to protect against state surveillance?

A: “You are not even aware of what is possible. The extent of their capabilities is horrifying. We can plant bugs in machines. Once you go on the network, I can identify your machine. You will never be safe whatever protections you put in place.”

That’s disheartening, to say the very least.  I would say that Silk Road has done a pretty bang-up job on keeping secure… but how sad is it that we have to go on the virtual lamb to protect ourselves?  Always looking over our shoulders.  Always optimizing the security on our technology because, hey, you never know.  And, as I alluded to in the previous blog, we cannot simply boycott our use of technology and expect that to be a practical approach to such encroachments.

It would seem that we are waiting for heroes.  We are waiting for more Jullian Asanges and Bradley Mannings and Edward Snowdens.  We are waiting for those in the know to out our government to such an extent that some level of accountability by the public can be had.  It will take the effort of any and every single person who has access to information to expose the naked emperor for what he is!

Voting isn’t enough.  Branches of government aren’t enough.  The government is using unelected officials to socially engineer us, then we will likewise need to rely on unelected officials for any amount of transparency.

Snowden’s fear is understandable, and almost impossible for the average person to empathize with!  Consider what he KNOWS about how the government agencies work!  Consider what he KNOWS about how they like to “deal with” people who present a problem or call them out!  When asked about this, his response was, “they do not defend due process – they defend decisive action.”  That’s some sick sh!t!  How can anyone confront the treatment of Bradley Manning and feel anything other than of trepidation and nausea?  That was the barrel of the gun Snowden looked down when he made his choice.

I guess there is some glimmer of hope for Snowden in that he seems to have a few folks in his corner.  Senator Rand Paul wants to mount a full class-action Supreme Court hearing against the federal government’s spying and prying.  Someone from Anonymous has his back:

@YourAnonLive

#IStandWithEdwardSnowden because denial that this country has turned into what it believes it’s fighting against is no longer an option #YAL

4:38 PM – 9 Jun 2013

And there are folks in Iceland who have heard of his possible intention to seek asylum in Iceland.  On the evening of June 9^th, a member of the Icelandic parliament, Birgitta Jonsdottir, and Smari McCarthy, executive director of the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, issued a statement of support for Snowden.  While Jonsdottir and McCarthy are members of the left-leaning Pirate Party, there are some warnings out there that the “conservative party” out there is not to be trusted.  Will he get the treatment Bobby Fischer received?  Or will Iceland honor its extradition treaty with the US?

From the standpoint of EVERY country, they should be defending this man as a global effort to protect themselves from US surveillance!  If countries came forward offering asylum in even their embassies for this man, it would perhaps encourage others to come forward with what they know.  If future whistleblowers have to accept a fate not much different than Bradley Manning, then our hope for accountability and transparency are all but doomed!  If the world is watching, and the world will circle the wagons to protect the whistleblower, then future whistleblowers are empowered while the US must tread very lightly in their approach to “deal with” these individuals… perhaps even revisit the transparency or necessity of their operations?  (Dare to dream, right?)

I’m going to leave two things for the reader to consider.  First is this quote:

“Even if you’re not doing anything wrong, you’re being watched and recorded.  And the storage capability of these systems increases every year consistently by orders of magnitude… They can use this system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you’ve ever made, every friend you’ve ever discussed something with, and attack you on that basis… to derive suspicion from an innocent life and paint anyone in the context of a wrongdoer.”  ~ Edward Snowden

And second, is this video called “Plurality”.  It’s a 15 minute short film offering a glimpse into our future if we continue this trajectory of intrusion and surveillance.  Sometimes seeing how things may play out, helps to understand how dire the situation really is.

The post R.I.P. to the PRIVATE Citizen Part 2 appeared first on Offshore and Domestic Asset Protection Planning.

June 11, 2013

By: Kelly Diamond, Publisher

It’s pretty safe to say that we are no longer Private Citizens, but rather wards of the state. 

The main ingredient in the whole “private citizen” thing is actual PRIVACY!!!  Of which, my fellow ‘Merikans, we have none… and haven’t for a good while now. 

I’ve been writing about this intrusion pretty much since I’ve started with GWP, and I get it: no one is going to stop using social networks or email or cell phones regardless of whether they know this stuff or not.  Here’s the natural progression of where we are with the whole surveillance state:

It USED to be a question of IF the government was spying on us.  Those who said, “yes!” were foil-hat conspiracy theorists.  Turns out the foil mad hatters were right.

THEN it became a question of how often and who.  Those who said, “ALWAYS and EVERYONE!” were again marginalized as foil-hat conspiracy theorists.  Well… two for two, kids…

NOW it’s a question of why so secretive.  I wear my foil-hat like a crown (and nothing says awesome like a good hat-trick) so here goes: to avoid checks and balances or any sort of accountability.  Consider the government the unfaithful spouse who is desperately trying to keep the smell of perfume and lipstick off his shirt.  You know he’s cheating.  He knows you know.  But now he’s just avoiding the headache of having to explain himself.

“If the programs needed secrecy to succeed, will NSA shut them down now? If not, did they ever need be secret? Or did I just blow your mind?”  — Matt Apuzzo (@mattapuzzo) of the AP, June 7, 2013

Private courts like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) are granting the National Security Agency (NSA) access to people’s phone information: not just phone numbers or who you call, but who calls you, the duration of your conversations, and where you were during the conversation!

Upset that the NSA is demanding this information feed from Verizon (and presumably other communication entities)?  Would it disturb you to know that you… not as a suspected terrorist, but just as a regular ole citizen… have been monitored for years under a program called PRISM?  These guys have been offering a feed to the NSA:

·        Microsoft (incl. Hotmail et al), since Sep 11, 2007

·        Google, since Jan 14, 2009

·        Yahoo, since Mar 12, 2008

·        Facebook, since June 3, 2009

·        PalTalk, since Dec 7, 2009

·        YouTube, since Sep 24, 2010

·        Skype, since Feb 6, 2011

·        AOL, since Mar 31, 2011

·        Apple, since Oct 2012

In 2006, USA Today reported the NSA had “been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth.”

If you recall, William Binney left the NSA after nearly 40 years because of the expansion of surveillance on the private citizens, and corroborates that while the monitoring of telecom companies has been going on for years, the expansion into the lives of private citizens is a more recent phenomenon. 

Google said to the Guardian UK: “Google cares deeply about the security of our users’ data. We disclose user data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such requests carefully. From time to time, people allege that we have created a government ‘back door’ into our systems, but Google does not have a back door for the government to access private user data.”  There is a distinction to be made between giving government access to files, and offering a feed of information.  I don’t know if either are happening at this point, but given the recent ruling, I’d say: if there is any point of contact between you, your information, and Google, you’re either being watched, or will soon be watched.

But wait!  There’s MORE!

Remember when I wrote about the Biometric Scans brought to you by your nation’s Department of Homeland Security?  You know, the one that will ONLY be used for employment verification processes?  (Yeah, right… an offer made in conjunction with some ocean-front property in Kansas.) How about the Supreme Court ruling on June 3^rd, 2013 allowing the police to take a DNA sample from anyone who’s been arrested?! 

Justice Saclia wrote the dissenting opinion on this case, seeing the state’s creep into the private lives of individuals… and rendering the 4^th and 5^th amendments virtually irrelevant.  Look at the pattern of fingerprinting: first the convicted criminals, then arrestees, then civil servants, then immigrants, and in some states everyone with a driver’s license. Finger printing was used as the precedent for why DNA sampling was acceptable and legally reasonable.  But imagine if DNA sample requirements followed that same path?  We start with the convicts but now expanding, under laws passed by more than half the states, to arrestees.  “How long before you’ll be asked to give a DNA swab before you can board a plane, work as a lawn contractor, join the football team at your high school, or drive?” writes Walter Olson of the Cato Institute.

The 5^th Amendment protects against self-incrimination.  But now, not only are individuals forced to give their fingerprints, but they are also forced to give their DNA.  Essentially, that which physically defines and identifies you belongs to the state.  It is no longer your property.  This reminds me of the case discussed earlier about how defendants did not want to relinquish their financial reports because that would be self-incriminating, but a judge ruled that an individual’s financial reports were public property!

I stand corrected: The 5^th Amendment protectED against self-incrimination.

The 4^th Amendment reads: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

You’d think the whole “secure in their persons against unreasonable searches and seizures” would’ve meant something in terms of DNA and fingerprint collection.  Apparently, not!  It would seem there is some semantic wiggle room in the terms “unreasonable” and what exactly constitutes “probable cause”.  I can be stopped and a sample of my breath can be taken for no other reason than me driving on a piece of road at a particular time.  So, I guess it stands to reason (and I use the term “reason” loosely) that our finger prints and DNA can be taken from us simply for being a suspect! 

FOR NOW, the DNA samples being taken from those who are NOT convicted of a crime are disposed of… or at least that’s what we’re being told.  So no need to even THINK about some nationwide… or even worldwide… DNA database being made. 

Never gonna happen…

Only some foil-hat loon would think such a thing…

The post R.I.P. to the PRIVATE Citizen appeared first on Offshore and Domestic Asset Protection Planning.

June 10, 2013
By: Bobby Casey, Managing Director

My daughter, Ashton is a lovely 17 year old whom I affectionately refer to as mini-me.  For years she rejected the idea that she was like her dad.  Over time, she realized it was unavoidable.

She is a younger, female version of me.  Sure, she is her own person, but we share very similar personalities – we are both aggressive, abrasive, loud, obnoxious, and very, very opinionated.

Since we’ve lived outside the USSA for a few years now, we decided last year to enroll her in a private online school for expats.  It is much like online university that is so popular nowadays, but this is for the grade-school crowd.

Last week I was paid one of the best compliments I’ve ever received.

You see, Ashton received an email from her US History teacher that read, “This sounds like you have been raised by an anarchist.”

This note was in response to one of Ashton’s journal entries she made answering a question from the teacher. 

The question from the teacher read, “Explain reasons why the business and labor practices of the Robber Barons were unfair.”

My little mini-me’s response was;

“I believe that the business and labor practices of the Robber Barons, or leaders of the corporate world, were undoubtedly vicious, but I do not believe they were unfair. Many of these men came from humble beginnings, slaving away at their dream of controlling a particular industry. Is that so unjust? They came from the same background as many of their workers, but somehow managed to make it to the top. They should be commended for their perseverance and hard work. Our country has this obsession with “what is fair” and making everyone feel good about themselves by placing a metaphorical gold star on everyone’s work. I believe that many people in the media back then, just as they do today, would twist the truth in order create villains out of these successful entrepreneurs and find someone to place the blame upon. Wake up, America. Life isn’t always fair.”

This is the moment every parent waits for.  The moment you realize your offspring actually starts to “get it”.  All those years of discussing economics and entrepreneurship at the dinner table seems to have finally paid off. 

I do find the nature of the teacher’s question a bit humorous though.  It was clearly written to lead the students toward a desired answer.  The teacher is asking the students to explain WHY – not IF, but WHY – the labor practices were unfair. 

Let me say that overall, I do think this online school for expats does a pretty good job. It is a private school, not state funded and run by expats who have a much more worldly view than the state indoctrination camps, also known as public schools.

But this type of questioning is just plain irritating.  This teacher is subtly (or not so subtly) trying to project their own personal views on the students and help “guide” their minds as opposed to allowing them the ability to disagree with their viewpoint and dispute their claim.

Luckily my stubborn, opinionated daughter didn’t fall for the teacher’s ploy and took the opportunity dispute the claim regardless.  And this is where one of my best compliments ever emerged – although I doubt it was intended to be complementary. 

My view, as a parent, is it’s my job to raise my children to be curious.  They should question everything.  (Except me, of course, because I’m always right.)

I just don’t understand the mentality of those who can be satisfied with the “status quo”.  How can one listen to a politician, preacher, teacher or anyone else sitting in a perceived position of authority and just accept the garbage that spews from their mouths?

I cannot fathom the idea of raising my kids to just “accept” and follow like a good little sheep. 

This broken way of thinking is a huge burden on human progress.  Looking back in history, all great breakthroughs came from people who refused to just “accept”.  They were thinkers and doers. 

Not sheep.

And yet we still send our kids to these indoctrination camps to “educate” them?  Really? 

Do you also teach your kids to talk to the invisible man in the sky who grants magical wishes as long as you follow his rulebook and give him money?

These indoctrination camps do nothing but create the next generation of worker slaves.  The entire concept of public education today was created at the dawn of the industrial revolution and its stated purpose was to train workers for the factories. 

Hello, people!  We don’t live in the industrial age anymore. 

Do you really want to educate your kids for the world ahead? 

Teach them foreign languages.  Take them to different parts of the world to experience different cultures.  Have them read great literature and thought provoking non-fiction. 

Teach them to ask questions.  Teach them to be curious.

The post Beaming with Paternal Pride! appeared first on Offshore and Domestic Asset Protection Planning.

June 5, 2013

By: Paul Seymour, Director of Client Services

I was recently asked to start doing a periodic radio broadcast on Radio Free Latin America (RFLA), called Offshore Re-education Camp.  It’s being piped in to the USSA from a secret location south of the border via short wave radio signals.  The aim of RFLA is to offer a ray of hope to our poor countryman still trapped behind the curtain with apparently, no way out.

The show, hosted by Paul Seymour, Director of Client Services at Global Wealth Protection, will provide the truth about offshore entities and bank accounts to those peoples who are continuously bombarded with the party line, and have no access to the truth outside of RFLA.

For those of you who are unable to catch the live broadcasts, we’ll be periodically printing a transcript of the show here at GWP.

Originally broadcast at 02:30 Tuesday, June 6, 2013, transcript follows: This week’s lead-in tune, in case you missed it: “We want more lies, please give us more lies, because we’re so comfortable living sheep lives.  We’ve got to support our troops because that’s what Jesus would do, he would want us to kill, we got to stand behind Isreal, we want more lies…” Don’t worry that the pot-smoking Rastafarian seems to be more aware of what’s going on in the US than the vast majority of current United Statians.  After all, he has the advantage of living outside the curtain, and isn’t being continuously bombarded with tax-supported misinformation.

As promised, today we’re going to take a look at the travesty which is FATCA.  Senator Rand Paul took a heroic stand against it, in an uncharacteristically noble gesture to actually uphold his oath to protect the Constitution.  Let’s first take a look at that oath which all 535 members of Congress, in addition to President Obama, have presumably taken, and which they’ve hopefully read and understood before doing so. 

This was extracted from the US Senate’s official website, by the way: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

Well, we know that many of them are expert liars, so maybe the majority made this promise to those they serve with a “purpose of evasion”.   I’m sure that most of our listeners up there, despite the Central party  propaganda, have a pretty good idea of where the current true enemies of the Constitution are.  (Quick aside: the purple sheep represents the Central Party, as it’s what results from mixing blue and red.)  It’s hard to make the case that the most dangerous enemies of the Constitution are hiding in caves in Pakistan, when we have so many current examples of blatant attacks directly against the actual parchment right up there in Washington.

First, I’m not going to go into too detailed a discussion of FATCA, as that would take too long, and I’m assuming that our readers have a good understanding of it already.  Here’s a draft of it, in case not.

Very briefly, it’s a series of regulations, passed by our “Constitution-serving” Congress, meant to invade the basic privacy of the citizens who have elected them to office.  Companies like Oracle (a good example of who actually runs Congress) are already gearing up to create an entire new industry around compliance with it.  On the other side – possibly the real goal of the act—increasing the IRS and Treasury Department work-forces to enforce it.  Thereby, giving the psychos in power more authority to increase both the jackboot population, and the largest prison population in the world.

The law is attempting to force every financial institution in the world – in every jurisdiction – to annually file newly-created US tax forms with the IRS to inform them of all US citizens who hold an account, or accounts, amounting to $50,000 or more.  If they refuse to comply, they may have trouble obtaining US dollars.  (We could write another series of articles on how this kind of policy might well lead to making the US dollar much less relevant.)  You can see that the US just created an entire series of enemies to call the boogey man, against whom they plan to initiate and wage another perpetual war: namely, the offshore industry, and its basic human privacy-respecting principles.

This, of course, will open doors for the US government to pass further bills creating new 3-letter agencies, etc.  Never mind the obvious fact that these laws are asking many foreign banks to break the sensible, basic human rights laws of their own countries, laws which forbid them to disclose the names of account holders, let alone publish records about their personal finances.  Let’s be honest about this.  Once a form is issued by White Hat Bank down to Freedom-Loving Island to the bureaucrats in Washington, it might as well be posted on the internet.  While IRS officials are getting drunk and making their next dance video, they’ll be sharing stories and laughing about all the fellow citizens they’ve been able to shine a spotlight on. 

It won’t matter if these funds are all legally held in after-tax dollars, or more wisely in Pesos or even Yuan as the US tries to get that to float.  Congress has said to all of us that we don’t deserve any privacy whatsoever.  They’re not saying that they’ll legally procure a warrant based on evidence of tax evasion.  They’re saying that any US citizen needs to fully disclose to their trustworthy servants in Washington, exactly what money they have, and exactly where it is.  Another case of “you’re guilty until proven innocent” without Constitutional due process.  Who is the thief, and/or evasionist (word?) here again? 

Again, I don’t have enough space to speculate all the possible reasons why our public servants feel a need to have that information, but I’ll give you a hint: it’s not for benevolent reasons.  We do, though, need to at least broach the subject of why.  In this case, why would a person who’s unfortunate enough to be a US citizen, and who has also wised up, voted with his feet, and gone to one of these freedom-loving privacy-respecting jurisdictions, pay taxes to Washington?

I can tell you, unfortunately, even the majority of expats around the world are completely unaware the US is the only country in the world that expects the citizens, who they serve, to pay taxes on money earned while living in another country.  The 3 NGOers I mentioned a few weeks back were surprised to learn that.  I was on a hiking expedition with an expat group a few months ago, and the subject came up with another long time US expat.  When I informed him of this fact, he was also surprised, but still seemed to think if the US government says it should be that way, there must be a good reason for it.  I tried, people, really I did.  I asked him, what in the world would we be paying for while we’re living and paying taxes in another country?  He crinkled his forehead in thought for a few seconds and replied “for freedom”.  Of course, I immediately cracked up laughing out loud.  It was, after all, the perfect humorous response to such a ridiculous question. 

After a few seconds, I realized he wasn’t joining me in my laughter.  Holy crap… he’s serious!  A lot of thoughts flashed through my head within the next few milliseconds.  At first, I had this feeling of being face-to-face with an unpredictable psycho.  He’s possibly armed, so I started looking for a quick escape route.  We were unfortunately standing on top of a look-out peak, and the single narrow trail in and out was blocked by a multitude.  Those few milliseconds quickly passed, and I realized he probably wasn’t armed, and I’d be able to handle myself fine; but trust me, these people are out there and probably even vote.  It just underscores the need for the ORC, so I promise to forge ahead with my deprogramming mission. 

Note that I didn’t say “report” on earnings.  There are some countries that want to know what their citizens are earning, for some strange privacy-robbing reason.  I said “pay” taxes.  After first complying with the tax code in the country where they actually live, and presumably enjoying the benefits of the proper investment of those funds for the public good, the US government then wants to know what they’re earning, and, in many cases, send money back to the Fatherland as well. 

The reason that’s another case of “only in America” is because it’s idiotic.  There are tens of thousands of US “citizens” out there who have never even been behind the curtain.  Well, okay, they were unfortunate enough to have their mothers visiting the US at the time of their birth, and they’ve now been branded with the “US citizen” label for life.  Due to FATCA, many of them are now being told by their local banks that they can’t open an account.  You can’t blame the bank for not wanting to become servants to a foreign tax-stealing agency, and in doing so break their own countries’ laws.

Well, sorry boys and girls, but we’ve run out of time.  As you can see, there’s a lot to talk about here, and so we’ll have to pick up next week and hopefully get to the current events surrounding this unconstitutional, illogical, unfair, inflammatory, imperialistic, and ultimately counter-productive legislation called FATCA.  Your assignment before next class is to review the FATCA legislation at the link provided, and write an essay outlining the 10 most blatant reasons why FATCA should be dropped, and not implemented.  Focus on its unconstitutionality, and discuss how we should enforce the oaths taken by these Congressmen who continue to blatantly “purposefully evade” it.

Hasta la próxima muchachos, y mucha suerte.

Paul is an escaped Big 4 CPA (F/S auditor), and Corporate Controller/CFO who found a natural home in the offshore industry with Bobby Casey and the gang at GWP.   Contact him at paul@globalwealthprotection.com to learn more about the realities of economical offshore asset protection.

The post Offshore Re-Education Camp: Lesson 3A appeared first on Offshore and Domestic Asset Protection Planning.

June 4, 2013

By: Kelly Diamond, Publisher

It’s sad when we have to give one another a pep-talk and remind ourselves that keeping what we earn is NOT a criminal act: it’s NOT theft, it’s NOT cheating!

It’s equally tragic when we find the system we once relied upon for fair and consistent adjudications, is selling the private sector down the river, leaving us little or no recourse to defend our wealth and assets.

Imagine if you were out with a group of folks for drinks and dinner.  You hear the orders of each person: one orders a caviar starter, others are ordering vintage bottles of wine, some order rare game for their entrée, others are ordering several side dishes along with their meals… Meanwhile, you’ve ordered a glass of wine, a side salad, and a chicken entrée.  As if there was even a break in the ordering, the server comes by and asks if anyone wants dessert.  Another wave of orders rolls in with folks ordering aperitifs, dessert wines and ports, dessert plates, and cappuccinos.  You pass on the dessert.

Then the bill rolls around.  You consider what you ordered and tabulate in your head – rounding up even!  You factor in tax and gratuity, and you get your $40 ready.  Someone calls out, “Okay!  The tab came to $1,500.  So divide that by the ten of us… that makes $150 each.  Plus tax and tip… and we don’t want to be cheap toward the server, so let’s make it an even $200.  Pay up everyone!”

Choose your own adventure time!  Do you:

A.     Shell out the $200 for your $40 meal… or…

B.     You leave your $40 on the table, excuse yourself to the restroom and never come back.

If you chose A, then you just overpaid by FIVE TIMES for what you ordered.  Perhaps you were under the impression that this is just a rare or special occasion.  What if this were a regular occurrence? You could say, “Then I just wouldn’t go!”  What if that was not an option?  Whether you show up or not, you’re on the roster, and you get a bill in the mail for your tenth of the tab.

If you chose B, you’re a cheat and a scoundrel.  You’re not a team player.  You’re all the epithets the other nine in the room can conjure up to the power of infinity!  What if they came after you for that $160 difference?  Demanded it and threatened you for it.  What if they ran a full smear campaign against you indicating that you “dined and dashed”?  You’ll say, “But I paid for the food I ate!  I left $40 there on the table!”

Cheap skate. 

THIS is what the US and Eurozone are doing to its earners.  It’s getting to a point where people might be better off burying their wealth in some isolated plot of land, make a treasure map, and hide that image on a chip embedded in a postage stamp!  But for now, there are countries who are desperately trying to defend the sanctity of their clients’ privacy.

In order to justify this relentless pursuit of other people’s wealth, the politicians have to vilify them first.  Otherwise, it’s a tough sell.  “We need to chase these people down because they won’t give us their money!”  That doesn’t exactly invoke a burning desire to grab a torch and pitchfork. 

This sort of messaging is far more impactful and pervasive than some folks think.  There are countless people on Facebook claiming that austerity measures are “stealing from the poor”.  Stealing?  That would mean they had something belonging to them taken away.  Welfare doesn’t belong to them.  It belongs to someone else. 

People who try to avoid taxation are regarded as greedy cheats.  Really?  Keeping your own money is considered greedy… and earning an honest wage is cheating.  THIS is the linguistic manipulation of a machine funded by tax dollars.

But remember, these are the gluttonous parasites at the table criminalizing the guy who paid for only what he consumed.  Let’s not focus on all the frivolous spending they’re doing… let’s set our sights on the guy who paid only for what he used. 

UK & EU: The Crackdown Begins

UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, wants to crack down on international wealth safe-havens.  On May 20^th, the Prime Minister released a letter to the leaders of the British islands, including the Channel and Cayman islands, urging them to share details of accounts used for company ownership.

Cameron said, the islands should “provide for fully resourced and properly managed centralized registries that are freely available to law enforcement and tax collectors, and contain full and accurate details on the true ownership and control of every company.”

Luxembourg and Austria are refusing to join in on this information exchange until the UK addresses the tax fraud allegedly taking place in its own overseas protectorates.   Undeterred, the UK will be sitting down with Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and San Marino to discuss an exchange of private account information.

This should concern folks.  The UK, and the EU in general, want the cooperation of Luxembourg and Austria.  They won’t budge until the UK gets their islands to disclose in the same manner.  How much pressure will the British Islands receive over the course of the next months?  In what form will that pressure come?  And will those islands remain steadfast to their sovereignty, or will they be forced to buckle under the tactics of the UK?

Is Google the Future?

I try to take a holistic view of what is happening in the world, and while I don’t want to prematurely conclude that one thing is indicative or linked to another, there are certain patterns that I find worrisome.  To that end, I suspend judgment, but keep a watchful eye. 

In this case, it’s the recent events with Google.  Albeit, this is a domestic case in the United States – thus far – it shows a sick deviation from what the general public has come to rely upon for consistent adjudications of justice.  Google took a commendable stand against the FBI’s requests for private and personal information (including, but not limited to, financial information and phone numbers) of its users.  (Perhaps you remember the “2511 Letter” I wrote of earlier?  They are now being called “National Security Letter Requests”.  The FBI issued 16,511 of these letters requesting information regarding 7,201 people in 2011 alone.)

Because these requests from the FBI were so nebulous in nature, Google refused to cooperate.  Furthermore, they insisted that a warrant be issued for such sensitive information.  Seems a rather reasonable position, but given the times we are in, it’s heroic!

On May 28, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston ordered Google to comply with the warrantless search requests of the FBI.  Interestingly enough, this same judge ruled that the letters issued by FBI were UNCONSTITUTIONAL in a separate case involving the Electronic Frontier Foundation earlier this year.

Yes.  You read correctly.  The judge ordered that Google comply with letters that she ruled to be unconstitutional two months prior.  She seemed more concerned with whether the FBI followed proper protocols in administering these letters, than whether or not they held any legal standing or could supplant an actual search warrant.

What does this have to do with the UK or offshore accounts?  Well, this is what happened when the US government wanted private information from Google: It wrote itself a permission slip to get the information, and when the private entity resisted, they went to court only to have a judge rule in the government’s favor to supplant a search warrant with a note, ordering the private entity to comply.  Who’s to say this can’t happen with the UK and the British Islands?  Judges are selling folks out, and I doubt that’s unique to the United States. 

I want to believe that there are a few places out there where the judges are not for sale, and privacy is still regarded as sacrosanct.  I was rather encouraged to read about the Cook Islands telling the US government to get bent!

Back to the UK & EU

This witch hunt for honest earners is a severe table flip of who is really responsible for the financial woes of the Eurozone.  Wantonly spending on social programs and wars, taxing individuals and businesses to the point of fleeing the country (or at least having their wealth flee the country)… Look at the two courses of action repetitively taken by the elites: chase down the earners or take from the mouths of the poor and dependent.

I am in no way, shape or form trying to make a case for the existence of public assistance programs.  However, when countries go through the line items of various expenditures, it’s not the housing projects that dominates the pie chart.  The pet projects of the politicians that serve no common good and their various crony collusions — when properly tallied — is where the weight of the spending happens. 

Austerity measures can be instituted as well, as part of an overall fiscal correction plan; but in no way is instituting a bedroom tax on people who don’t have the means to pay it, or hunting down the wallets of producers the silver bullet to right the economic ship of the EU or the UK.  In fact, I would go so far as to contend the oppressive tax structure of the EU and UK in themselves are stifling economic growth.   Look at all the broken-window expenditures being made just to avoid those taxes!  Hiring CPAs, hiring services like ours, and hiring lawyers… this isn’t job creation or economic stimulation.  This is money being spent specifically to HIDE money.

I don’t put much stock in the government holding itself accountable.  Between the recent Google ruling, the revolving door between public and private sectors, and the unscrupulous propensities of the power elite, my bet is, the little safe havens of Europe and their protectorates are not going to hold out much longer.

Now more than ever, earners the world over should be looking for ways to protect their wealth.  Given the landscape, I would say it is no longer sufficient to simply take the first company that offers that service.  You need a company who doesn’t just keep pace with the dynamics of the political tides, but stays a few steps ahead.  That takes research.  That takes constant evaluation.  That takes a company who holds a certain reverence for private property, and a deeply held respect for the honest earner.

One of the qualities I happen to like about Global Wealth Protection is not just the driving philosophy (although, that is awesome!), it’s that we don’t regard wealth as some dirty little secret.  We want to be successful, but we want YOU to be successful.  We don’t just want you to protect your wealth, we want you to continue to grow it!  We celebrate and embrace success.

When you get sick of being spit upon by the class warfare propagators, just know, there’s people like us out there ready to welcome you into our fold of hard-working, success-loving, and wealth-respecting individuals!

The post The Greed of Powerful Thieves appeared first on Offshore and Domestic Asset Protection Planning.

June 3, 2013

By: Steve Hilgart, Director of Marketing & Conference Operations

One month in the far east, and GWP’s Steven Hilgart is bidding China farewell, leaving us with a few nuggets and observations he made along the way.

I have to warn you, the third part in this trilogy is a long one… but I promise it won’t be as bad as The Matrix: Revolutions.  There’s a lot of good stuff in here, if I do say so myself.  So grab a glass of wine, maybe a bowl of popcorn, and enjoy the magic that is…

China

The time is drawing near to move on to my next adventure.  On Monday I leave for the beautiful city of Riga, Latvia.

I’m a little sad to go, but this is a place I will definitely be visiting again.  I’ve learned so much about this country and its culture – and as an added bonus I’ve managed to steer clear of any of the 55 crimes that are rectified with capital punishment (score!).

I could write novels about my experiences so far this month – and I feel even if I spent a lifetime here, I wouldn’t learn everything there is about the people and the culture.

But before I get too far, I need to mention a (somewhat) small mistake… it’s only a mistake to the tune of…

27 MILLION

Remember when I said that there will be around 3 million more men than women in this country?  What I meant to poorly translate from Chinese to English is 30 million more men than women (still a little unclear on how I misinterpreted that).

If you thought 3 million angry young men without girlfriends or internet pornography was a recipe for disaster, try 30 million – even angrier – young men without girlfriends or internet pornography.

The government tries so hard to maintain control here… and with a population of 1.4 billion – how much longer can they hold on?

The other day I heard an English teacher talking about a conversation with one of his students…

“Teacher, why can’t we have Facebook?”

With their job on the line (and a possible hard labor sentence), the only response they could muster was, “Well, uh, because it’s not allowed.”

“Why not?”

“We need to move on to the next subject…”

(Now that there, Ming-Ming, is dangerous thinking.)

Apparently this teacher wasn’t alone as half a dozen other foreign teachers at the table mentioned they had a similar experience.

Everyone here just obeys.  They don’t question, they don’t rebel – they do what they’re told.  But it’s amazing questions like this that change the future of a country, a people, and a world.

To make sure young Ming-Ming doesn’t create a dangerous Facebook account, there’s an army of 500,000 people who directly and indirectly work to censor the internet. 

Chinese versions of social networking sites are heavily monitored and anything that is deemed inappropriate, controversial, or against the ruling party can be taken down as quickly as it was put up.

To access the internet at one of the several “internet cafes” around, you must register with your identification.  What if a foreigner wants to check their email?  They’ll gladly photocopy your passport for you and figure out where you’re staying to track you down if need be (or want – you choose).

Meanwhile, back in the States, President Obama said last week he wants to “review the authorities of law enforcement, so we can intercept new types of communication, and build in privacy protections to prevent abuse.”

Will it become commonplace for people to register to use a censored internet?  To the governments of the world I say to you: good luck.

The youth are catching on.  More and more Chinese people are accessing the internet through VPN services like Cryptohippie.  They can surf the web anonymously and create as many blogs, Twitter, and Facebook accounts as they want.

And once they do, maybe they can tell the world about some of the goofy things I find around here like…

Ghost Towns

Remember a few years back when the banks couldn’t lend enough money out to people (who couldn’t pay it back)?

Commercial construction companies built strip malls like they were going out of style.  And when they couldn’t fill them, the builders blamed the developers, and the developers blamed the banks, and the banks blamed the economy – and not only did no one get paid, these commercial properties sat empty.

Let’s pretend for a second the government said “here’s more money than you’ll ever see in your lifetime – get to building.”

Well, that’s what happened (and still is happening) here.  With a billion people around, housing is always in demand.  So what would you do with all that government money?  That’s right – build housing.

Apartments are the flavor here – massive ones (you know, for such little people they sure do build lots of huge things).

So scattered around this tiny town of 7 million people – and many, many, other places around the country – are dozens and dozens of skyscraper-like apartment buildings that are completely empty.

Back in the states there has been a lot of controversy about these “Ghost Towns.”  Some say it’s an exploded real estate bubble, some say it’s the urbanization of China, but I know why they’re empty right now – they are too…

Freakin’ Expensive!

With all of the government money given to these developers over and over they continue to build housing far out of the price range of the average family.

While I have yet to find a country that is overabundant in common sense – this one may take the cake. 

Here’s the formula: they build high-end apartment buildings (a lot of them) that people can’t afford, then, they build more!

And the media wonders why they sit empty… you’re a smart person – you could have figured that out.  But maybe they’ll prove both of us wrong and reveal this government’s…

Absolute Genius

Given what we see of most governments, it’s far-fetched – I know.  But hear me out…

Recently, Los Angeles had a bit of a pollution problem.  Smog is not an uncommon thing in that city but during this particular instance the Air Quality Index (AQI) was over 100 – which meant it was “unhealthy for sensitive groups of people.”  Immediately they shut down schools, stayed indoors, and bought gas masks by the truckloads.

Jinan had a similar problem this past winter.  Except for the AQI wasn’t just over 100… it was over 800. 

When the smog is so bad you can’t see the stop light across the intersection – it becomes something of a problem (especially how they drive around here!).

This was one of the first times there was reason for a “legitimate” complaint from the people.  But since no one had really ever had a “legitimate” complaint before (at least one that didn’t deserve capital punishment) – how do you handle it? 

As a good concerned citizen, who do you call?  Who do you talk to?  What do you do?  There really wasn’t a procedure for such a thing… no governors to write letters to or call and no mayors to harass in email…

But something had to be done, so the concerned citizens meekly told the officials they knew that they would like something done about the pollution (you know, if they had some extra time).

For the first time in recent Chinese history, they didn’t need to crush some new revolution, or behead a disobedient rebel – they just needed to regulate how many cars were on the road and which factories could spew out poisonous fumes for that day – which they did.

And the people rejoiced… or forgot about it – one of the two.

Maybe it was the taste of a small victory.  Maybe people were sick of secretly drowning their daughters in the river until they had a son they wanted in the first place.  Regardless, people then started asking the government to get rid of the…

One-Child Policy

This policy has very interesting affects on the psychology of this culture.  But it seems people are ready to retire this ideal.

Maybe they’re sick of resorting to In Vitro Fertilization to artificially create twins (which count as one child… as long as you pay off the doctor to keep their mouth shut).

But it sounds like the government is ramping up to move to a two-child policy.  Can you even imagine what would happen when 1.4 billion people are suddenly told “go have another kid”?

It would make the American Baby Boom look like a panda mating ritual…

Although it still doesn’t solve the affordability aspect of these ghost town apartments, there sure will be an exponential growth in population – enough to fill up those apartments.

If anyone is looking for opportunity to get extremely rich – follow the needs of the new Chinese baby boom that’s coming.

But all of the stuff I’ve written so far was just an appetizer compared to what I’ve learned about Chinese…

Business & Taxes

Tax evasion was crossed off the list of crimes punishable by execution in 2011 – not that that stopped anyone before.

This month, I’ve been to dozens of restaurants, clothing stores, electronics stores, souvenir shops, and night markets.  The one thing I noticed is that every single transaction is cash.  From the lowest of street vendors to the fanciest of 5-star restaurants (which maybe only really deserve 3 stars).

It is extremely rare to use a credit card for anything (if they even allow it, which 99% of the businesses don’t).

And as any somewhat-sane rational human being would do when taking cash, they casually “forget” to include taxes (go free market – woo!).

Just as I was getting used to this not-paying-tax thing, something interesting started happening. 

Everywhere we went, if one of the English teachers were with us they would ask for the “fapiaō” – which I thought just meant “receipt”.

They asked for the “fapiaō” for everything.  Restaurant meals, clothing shops, even taxis – and I just thought they were keeping good records – until one night I picked up the tab at a restaurant for the group – and they still spoke up;

“Laō Shì, fapiaō” (Waiter, receipt please)

Instantly I said “Oh, I don’t need a receipt.”

“We have to turn these in,” was the response.

Utterly confused at what that could possibly mean, I started asking questions:

“Who would possibly want my receipt?”

Turns out “fapiaō” doesn’t just mean “receipt” it means…

“Lottery Receipt”

Let me ask you a question.  In a country with a huge population who’d rather take the death penalty than pay taxes – how do you coerce people into paying their “fair share”?

If the stick really doesn’t work, maybe the carrot will – how about we… reward them?

The government decided to institute a system where its citizens would rat each other out for the chance to win cash.

Every established business now has a ‘lottery receipt printer’ which works something like a scratch-off ticket back in the states.  Not only does it record the transaction, it sends the information directly to the government and ensures that business will pay taxes on that purchase.

If a loyal and patriotic citizen asks for his or her “fapiao” they have a shot at winning anywhere from 5 to 50,000 RMB (which translates to approximately 1-8,300 U.S. dollars).

With all of this going on you may ask me…

“Does It Work?”

In fact, it does… to an extent.  It even allowed the Chinese to surpass the U.S. in sales tax collections (in comparison to GDP).

While the real numbers elude me, I was able to find that in 2002 the prize money for these tickets was 30 million, while the tax revenue brought in by the lottery receipts was 900 million (I bet the IRS doesn’t get that kind of return).  And tax revenues seemed to have steadily increased every year since.

But all is not lost.  Even with this reward system put into place, there isn’t a lot of loyalty to the government.  The majority of people just tend to ignore them.  Even with the promise of prize money, the majority of transactions are still unrecorded cash.

Prices are extremely negotiable for everything as long as you aren’t one of the tattle-tales.  Like true capitalists, they pass the savings on to the customer.

Maybe I’m a little skewed in my perspective but I’m not a big fan of taxes – and it seems the Chinese people agree with me.

I certainly can’t speak for everyone but it brings me a lot of joy to see the people prospering even under a totalitarian government.  It makes me hopeful for what will happen to the people of the United States.

So – a different country, a different culture, and some very interesting ways of managing it all – that’s what I’ve found here in China.  If amazing food, people, and an overabundance of opportunity is your thing – make your way on over.

Next time you hear from me it’ll be from Latvia’s capital city where I intend to find great history, fine wine, and beautiful women.

Until next time,

Have a fantastic day and live well!

The post Steve’s China Adventure: The Finale appeared first on Offshore and Domestic Asset Protection Planning.

May 30, 2013

By: Bobby Casey, Managing Director

The satisfaction many find in tales of fiction is, no matter how terrifying or calamitous, in the end, it’s understood that none of it was true.

In the case of what we are experiencing now, not only are we proving countless political and economic prophets right, no fiction writer could make this stuff up!

Recycling debt from one country to another, and some how generating “money” from it sounds fictitious because it makes no economic sense, BUT…

Let me tell you a little story about a place called, Blackholeistan.  Blackholeistan is a small country with little-to-no natural resources.  It cannot grow enough food to feed its own people, has nearly 50% of the workforce employed by the government, with overall unemployment at 12% and youth unemployment at over 30%. 

Low and behold, Blackholeistan is running massive budget deficits and has run up an outstanding public debt of nearly 100% of GDP.  Blackholeistan is not even an energy producer so it imports approximately 90% of all oil, gas and electricity. 

One day the President of Blackholeistan calls up his buddy, the President of Empireland and asks for a loan.  The President of Empireland tells him, “I’ve got a better idea.  Let’s do this: You sell $2B worth of bonds and Empireland will guarantee your bonds, giving the unsuspecting investors the idea they are getting a good yield with no risk.  When you default on this loan in 2-3 years, as you inevitably will, I will have my Central Bank Magician print the cash to pay off your debts.  The $2B will be paid off using freshly printed dollars – we will just dupe the citizens of Empireland into thinking it is a humanitarian project.  They always fall for that.

“In return, I just ask that we be allowed to build military bases in Blackholeistan and use your country as a central location for our other economic operations in the region.”

The problem with this story is it is not a fable at all. 

This week, Jordan announced plans to sell $2B in government bonds to shore up its massive budget deficits.  Luckily big brother Amerika stepped in and offered to guarantee 100% of that debt. 

When – not if – Jordan defaults, the US Treasury will sell $2B of US bonds and use that cash to pay off the investors from the Jordanian debt issue.  Of course the Federal Reserve will be the buyer of those $2B of US Treasury bonds meaning we just printed an extra $2B in Monopoly money. 

… And no one is the wiser…

The first question you should be asking yourself is, “Why would the US government do this?  What’s in it for them?”

That is really quite simple: money, power and political favors – the imperialistic trifecta of Amerika. 

Take a look at the rebuilding of Iraq.  Who received 10′s of billions of government contracts rebuilding Iraq’s infrastructure?  You guessed it, Dick Cheney’s company, Haliburton.  And no, those contracts weren’t up for bid. 

Do you find it ironic that those contracts were awarded without bidding to the new VP’s old company?  Me neither.

The same will happen in Jordan.  Jordan will likely default.  The US will receive its favors in the form of Jordanian assets which will then be assigned to select US companies for various projects.  And the US taxpayer pays the bill through the hidden tax called inflation. 

Is this exactly how it will play out?  Historically, I have no reason to believe otherwise.  It has happened countless times in the past.  Iraq, as I mentioned, is a perfect modern example.  What about Russia post-WWI?  Or Germany post-WWII?  I don’t want to go into the minutia of too many examples, as it is beyond the scope of this article, but I would highly encourage you to pick up a copy of, “The Creature From Jekyll Island” by G. Edward Griffin.  I think you will find it hugely enlightening. 

The second question you should be asking yourself is, “How does this affect me and what should I do about it?”

This is a much deeper question requiring some analysis of your personal situation to determine your own game plan and proper response to this type of political action and monetary policy. 

The situation with Jordan is but a fraction the problem.  This type of financial sleight-of-hand has been going on for 100 years – since the birth of the Federal Reserve.

In truth, the Federal Reserve was created for exactly these types of shenanigans.  Understand the Federal Reserve is owned by the world’s largest banks from New York, London, Paris and more.  These bankers created the Federal Reserve in order to maintain a monopoly on the money supply and the banking sector as a whole.  Our ignorance of this fact only facilitates their ability to earn unlimited profits.

In simple terms they print the money out of thin air, loan it to us, and charge us interest for the benefit of using funny money.  Funny huh?

Even worse, they print the money to pay their own bills and in a case like Jordan, they print the money to bail out smaller, weaker countries so they can take control of them.  It is subtle empire building at its finest. 

In order to protect yourself, you must understand what you are fighting.  That’s step one.  Once you know the beast, you can understand how to fight it.  Dragon-slaying has become the fantastic metaphor for the surreal events unfolding in our time: the beast is real, but it all seems so unbelievable!  Mythical dragon-slayers never went to battle until they knew the weak spots of the dragon… and neither should you!

Armed with the knowledge that the monetary slave-masters are printing away your wealth, means two things: 1. you want to be as close to the printing press as possible (i.e. if you can’t beat them, join them); and 2. own real assets.

Personally, I am invested in businesses that are able to take advantage of the money printing.  I am buying hard assets and keeping savings in precious metals.  I am running businesses internationally not beholden to any one government.  I am globally diversified.  If you really are asking what you should do, I would suggest seriously considering a similar globalized strategy.

In the next 30 days we are launching our premium membership site: GWP Insiders.  With GWP Insiders you will learn about asset protection, offshore planning, international investment and business opportunities, and have direct access to our own panel of experts. 

To learn more, get on our early notification list by clicking here.

Until next time,

Live well.

The post Fiction Makes a Sharp Turn Into Reality appeared first on Offshore and Domestic Asset Protection Planning.