"Four privacy-minded lawmakers have introduced legislation requiring law enforcement officials to obtain a warrant before searching phones belonging to US citizens, and prohibiting them from barring entry to Americans who decline to share their passwords at the border. 'Americans’ Constitutional rights shouldn’t disappear at the border,' Senator Ron Wyden said in statement to BuzzFeed News." Continue reading →
"Middle East airports and passengers are grappling with new U.S. and British rules barring laptops and other electronic gadgets in carry-on luggage. Both governments prohibited large electronic devices in the cabins of flights headed to their countries. In announcing the rules, officials cited security reasons but didn’t supply many specifics." Continue reading →
"There are a few things you should know before taking the plunge. I am happy to assist you with your pre-immigration US tax planning. Just let me know when you would like an appointment. If instead, you feel more comfortable speaking to a fellow Brit, I am sure Boris Johnson will be able to tell you a few things about the US tax system (and most likely, why you should avoid it at all costs)." Continue reading →
"The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) warned that suspending visa-free travel would have a 'large negative impact,' including an additional 10 million annual visa applications to process. Additionally, the GBTA warned that if the United States retaliates with its own suspension of visa-free travel, it could mean approximately €2.5 billion in costs to EU citizens as roughly 8 million travelers would need to pay the $160 visa fee and other application costs. The GBTA also cited an Oxford Economics study that projected a 23 percent decline in travel revenue for the U.S. and Canada as a result of a suspension, as well as a projected 140,000 jobs lost in Europe and 73,000 jobs lost in the United States." Continue reading →
"Economic citizenship programs are proliferating. That’s something to celebrate. These programs are a bracing antidote to the increasing tendency of governments to impose travel restrictions against their citizens, using passports as weapons. This has long been the policy of authoritarian governments like North Korea and China. But in recent years, the US and UK have made much greater use of passport revocations and even involuntary loss of citizenship against persons they perceive as 'enemies of the state.' Is it really surprising that a market has arisen to deal with these draconian restrictions on one of humanity’s most basic rights, the right to leave one’s own country?" Continue reading →
"Credit Suisse is the largest financial company to plead guilty to the non-crime of 'money laundering' in 20 years. The plea marks the end of an era. One of the shell entities implicated, according to the government, dated back a century – or just after the creation of the federal tax code and the income tax. Of the $2.6 billion fine, The Department of Justice will receive $1.8 billion and New York State's top financial regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, will receive $715 million of the stolen loot. With the FATCA coming into full effect on January 1, 2016, and the US government actively prosecuting banks, only savvy Americans will be able to find financial institutions abroad to service them." Continue reading →
"In this episode we interview Jeff Berwick of The Dollar Vigilante and Anarchast. We cover lots of interesting topics from; moving to South America, making your own start-up, protecting your wealth with Bitcoin and others." Continue reading →
"My grandparents emigrated from Portugal to Mozambique during the 1940s and 50s in search of a better life. The massive and undeveloped colony seemed like the land of milk and honey for those willing to get their hands dirty. A few decades later my parents-to-be immigrated to South Africa as Mozambique headed towards what would become a 10-year war for independence. Then when I was just 4 years old they decided that a fascist state fully enveloped with the evils of apartheid was no place to raise a child. My mother was fortunate enough to get a work visa into the United States and that’s where we’ve been ever since. Now the time has come for me to follow in my family’s footsteps." Continue reading →
"Jim and Doug discuss today's world economic and financial situation within the context of financial history and past financial panics. Jim and Doug talk about central planning, central banking, big government and how governments have only 3 real options to raise money. Next, Jason asks Doug and Jim about competing currencies like Bitcoin, gold and silver and whether they will be allowed under any circumstance. Jason asks Jim and Doug about the turmoil in the currency and bonds markets. Doug and Jim also talk about commodities like farmland, cattle, gold and other natural resource investing opportunities. Jim Rogers was in Singapore and Doug Casey was in Argentina." Continue reading →
"'FATCA is strangling us economically,' says Genevieve Besser, an American who has lived in Germany for 25 years. Last year her youngest daughter, a dual citizen, had her local brokerage account closed by Deutsche Bank because her mother had signing authority over it. Americans are even being forced out of products that are not subject to FATCA reporting: some have been forced to pay off mortgage balances with Swiss banks, for instance. American banks and brokerages are growing frostier too. Some are closing the accounts of citizens who no longer have an American address because of FATCA." Continue reading →