International Living

Huge jump in number of “published expatriates” in Federal Register

"The Department of the Treasury has finally placed the latest Quarterly Publication of Individuals Who have Chosen to Expatriate on public inspection for printing in tomorrow’s Federal Register, ten days late. Congratulations to Innocente for being the first to post the news at 9 AM right on the dot. There’s about 1,130 names of people who have permanently cut off their legal ties to the U.S. government, making this a record-breaking quarter; more names have appeared in the first half of this year than in all of the previous record high year of 2011." Continue reading →

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Shield Your Nest Egg from Its Two Biggest Threats

"For a government to siphon off wealth efficiently, it must know where the wealth is, set up ways to take it, and have a strong enough police force to make sure citizens comply. The intention is to make it easier to pay up than go to jail. Even people with modest nest eggs are constantly looking for ways to legally protect their wealth. Lawyers love it, since it means citizens need a variety of trusts and complicated legal avenues for minimizing taxes. That's part of the game. As governments press on, the stakes escalate, taxes increase, and we have to escalate our efforts to protect ourselves." Continue reading →

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The IRS has become one of America’s leading exports

"If a 747 jetliner filled with one investor from each jurisdiction on earth touched down in a newly independent country, and each investor risked $1000 in a start-up venture, in the new economy, the American would face a far higher tax than anybody else on any gains. Special, penal taxation of foreign investment, exemplified by the so-called PFIC taxation, plus the U.S. nationality tax, can result in tax liabilities of 200 per cent or more on long term assets held outside the United States. A successful American could reduce his total lifetime tax burden as a citizen of any of more than 280 other jurisdictions on the globe." Continue reading →

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Lebanon’s Banks Have the Highest Cash Reserve Ratios in the World

"There are three features that distinguish the Lebanese financial system: 1. The banks have the highest cash reserve ratios in the world. 2. The central bank holds the second highest gold reserves on a per person basis. 3. Real financial privacy. Lebanon is also one of the few countries left in the world that still has real financial privacy, both in theory and in practice… just not for Americans, though, thanks to FATCA, which Lebanon has indicated it will comply with. Additionally, Lebanon ranks only behind Switzerland in terms of gold reserves per person according to this chart below from The Economist." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLebanon’s Banks Have the Highest Cash Reserve Ratios in the World

The Secret’s Out: Now Is the Time for International Diversification

"For the United States and other debt-addicted countries, years of profligate spending have more or less sealed their economic fates. With the stage set, further encroachments of privacy are practically guaranteed. Faced with economic uncertainty, governments will search for new ways to plunder the productive members of society. These may include capital controls, more onerous regulations, or wealth confiscation, either explicitly or by way of the printing press. The developing NSA story along with the crisis in Cyprus prove that desperate governments will stop at nothing to prevent their house of cards from collapsing, no matter how futile." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Secret’s Out: Now Is the Time for International Diversification

Just, You Know, Mexico: A Sort Of Photo Essay

"People seeming to have an interest in Mexico and the desperate, blood-soaked lives we live here, Average beach, Micnoacàn, at sundown. Fred, dissolute as a matter of principle, supervises waves with a cold Tecate. To get here, you drive north from Ajijic to Guadalajara, turn left until you hit the Pacific coast at Manzanillo, turn left again, and find hundreds, perhaps thousands or millions, of miles of deserted beaches. We stay in a little town with one hotel of four rooms, one of them a suite, of about two stars, with chickens cackling in the yard and no gringos, cackling or otherwise." Continue reading →

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What is an American? Forget the state and just be a child of the nation

"The act of renouncing U.S. citizenship should not 'diminish your personal identity'. If you want to think of yourself as an American that’s fine. Nobody can take that away from you. This is important. Why? Because the Obama 'Witch Hunt' against U.S. citizens abroad has forced people to reevaluate many of their fundamental assumptions. Few Americans abroad still view the United States as 'that great citadel of freedom and justice'. Few Americans abroad see themselves as 'tax cheats' because they have offshore accounts." Continue reading →

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Visitors flock to Pakistani-controlled Kashmir valley in rare tourist boom

"Success stories can be rare in Pakistan, but business is booming in one Kashmir tourist spot as the region rebuilds after a devastating earthquake and shrugs off associations with violence. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistani tourists drawn to the lakes and glaciers of the Neelum valley are injecting desperately needed money into one of the poorest parts of the country. With a new road built by the Chinese after the 2005 earthquake killed 73,000 people and a ceasefire holding with India, Pakistanis are discovering the snow-capped peaks, glaciers, lakes and lush-green meadows of the Neelum valley." Continue reading →

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Countries with the world’s most libertarian laws

"In 2001, Portugal became the first European country to decriminalise possession of all drugs for personal use. The country introduced state-funded therapy programmes for abusers which have seen record number of people seeking help. Rates of HIV infection and drug-related deaths have also halved in the ten years since the new legislation. But it is in fact the Czechs that have the most liberal laws when it comes to personal use. Citizens can legally be in possession of up to half an ounce of marijuana, 40 ‘magic mushrooms’, four tabs of LSD or Ecstasy and one gram of cocaine." Continue reading →

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America Is a Tax Haven…and That’s a Very Good Thing

"While there are many bad things about the American tax system (including pervasive double taxation and a very uncompetitive corporate tax system), one of few redeeming features of our tax system is that we are a tax haven. Not for Americans, of course, but it turns out we have some good rules for foreigners. I’ve already noted that Delaware is one of the world’s best tax havens because of its attractive incorporation policies, but we also have very attractive federal tax rules. Foreigners take advantage of these policies in ways that attract huge amounts of money to the American economy – more than $25 trillion according to the Commerce Department!" Continue reading →

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