At any given time in history and in any country there is only a small percentage of the people who are shocked by bureaucratic tyranny.
The people who become alert to the parasite nature of government are without exception producers and savers as they have the most to lose.
Those who have accumulated wealth are actually enemies of the state whether they are aware of it or not.
If hyperinflation occurs in the United States on top of the massive inflation occurring now, having your money based outside the U.S. allows you to escape some of hyperinflation’s effects, including the possible seizure of your assets by the government. As investment strategist Doug Casey succinctly opined, you should “get your money out of the country before the country gets your money out of you.”
You should be aware that the USA Patriot Act now permits the government to seize an account on the flimsy basis of “probable cause” that the account is linked to crime. This includes any criminal activity, not just suspected terrorist activity.
In case you don’t think this is happening right now, without warrants (or at least, in violation of them) Techdirt reminds us that back in March – yes, 2021 – “The US Attorney in Los Angeles, California secured an indictment against a secure vault company, alleging the company was engaged in money laundering, drug trafficking, and hiding taxable assets. None of the company’s employees or owners were indicted.
“FBI agents spent five days turning US Private Vaults upside down. Agents apparently emptied every safety deposit box housed by the business. They did this in complete contradiction of the limits imposed on them by the FBI’s own warrant affidavit. … The FBI could have taken custody of the boxes without opening them and sought warrants for those implicated by the investigation. Instead, the FBI agents emptied the boxes while still on the premises, engaging in dozens of searches not authorized by any warrant.”
Government strategy is to invade our privacy and freedom under the pretext of protecting us from terrorism, drug traffickers, criminals, viruses, and all kinds of booger bears. Politicians-as-usual all protect and enlarge the government’s asset seizure regime while pretending to do precisely the opposite. Such “opposite behavior” is the proof of a conspiracy against Americans.
Escaping burdensome laws, asset forfeiture, and currency regulations are reasons you should consider moving at least some of your assets offshore. The very best way to preserve assets is to first take them out of U.S. dollars. Then get them out of reach of U.S. jurisdiction which means out of the United States. The exception here would of course be gold and silver in your physical possession and take delivery of your stock certificates.
Swiss annuities used to be safe from the hands of the U.S. government and its reporting requirements, but this is no longer true as Swiss banks have been forced to comply with the blunt instrument of enforcement that beats into compliance everything it comes in contact with, also known as the IRS.
Despite the IRS’s zealotry, there are still a few legal loopholes you can use to quietly hold certain types of assets offshore without reporting.
Mark Nestmann of The Nestmann Group tells the story of one man who so despised FATCA and all the overseas reporting requirements that he did two things. First, he bought some land in the south of Austria and built what looked like a farmhouse on it. Inside, there were myriad rooms, hidden hidey-holes and some fireproof, water-resistant safes embedded into the concrete foundation, all hidden under loose floorboards.
The man was a builder and was able to do most of the work himself, which is unusual, but it also allowed him to store almost a million dollars’ worth of precious metals there. He also did not rent the house because that income would trigger reporting requirements.
Instead, he lives there with his wife. Nestmann writes: “Nearly $2 million of their net worth. And the U.S. government knows nothing about it. 100 percent private. Are there risks? Sure. Theft and fire come immediately to mind (although insurance can help with that).”
The reason this is all beyond the reach of the IRS is that all physical precious metals held directly outside the U.S. are exempt from reporting although anything else is not. For real estate, the feds don’t require you to report on personally held offshore real estate in any form that is for personal use.
Written by Bob Livingston
