The American Empire's Astonishing Achilles' Heel
There's a 150 million-year-old natural resource that's been banned, quarantined and glorified at various points in history, and that most of us take for granted every day. But now, supplies of it are inexplicably in free fall, and it could take our quality of life with it. To learn more about this impending crisis, click here for our urgent video.
Our Rights and Liberties Under Attack
Dear Sovereign Investor Subscriber,
We receive a lot of reader questions and comments, and today we'd like to share some of our favorites. Here are a few thoughts from readers from around the world. And as always, send your comments along to SovereignInvestor.daily@gmail.com.
Genevieve B., a Sovereign Investor subscriber, writes:
My grandparents would turn over in their graves if they knew that the United States has mutated into a hypocritical, arrogant surveillance state that defines "freedom" in a way that can be compared with former communist states. U.S. citizens are "free" to pay taxes to a country where they have never lived. U.S. citizens are "free" to disclose all their bank account around the world to the Department of the Treasury. U.S. citizens are "free" to pursue the American dream and live the American way of life – unless they want to leave, then they will have to buy their way out.
My grandparents came through Ellis Island in 1907 when they emigrated to the U.S. from Minsk and were so proud to be American that they refused to speak a word of Russian to my father and his sisters. And now, after living in Germany as a U.S. citizen for 24 years, I may have to finally acquire German citizenship and give up my U.S. citizenship because I will be cut off from banking services.
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Our dual-citizen children, who have never lived in the U.S., will have to file tax returns in the U.S. and pay taxes there if they are due. If FATCA is not repealed, they will also be shut out of the financial community in Europe, with the exception of a basic checking account, making life abroad untenable. They will also be forced to renounce their U.S. citizenship.
Our 16-year-old daughter has already received a letter from her bank terminating the brokerage account we set up for her four years ago to save for college. The letter stated that FATCA compliance will be so burdensome that the bank has made it a policy to close all brokerage accounts held by U.S. citizens. I have inquired everywhere – no other bank in Germany will open a brokerage account for her. Try explaining this to a 16-year-old who has voluntarily been making regular contributions to her mutual funds from her Christmas and birthday money to make sure we can afford her college education. She no longer thinks it is a privilege or honor to be a U.S. citizen.
FATCA must be repealed, and the U.S. must adopt taxation based on residence to stop discrimination again U.S. citizens residing abroad.
Erika replies: Genevieve, thank you for sharing your story with us. What you describe is exactly what we have been watching happen for years – mindless government policies attacking the rights and liberties of its citizens.
The U.S. is almost asking you to renounce your citizenship because you live overseas, even though it's well within your rights to live wherever you choose. As you say, the freedoms your grandparents cherished so much are slowly being taken away from us, day by day.
Sadly, we see few signs of things getting any better. No matter who wins the upcoming elections, FATCA is unlikely to be repealed, and we are likely to be hit with even more assaults on our freedoms and our finances.
That's why we have dedicated ourselves to finding solutions so that individuals can protect themselves. There are still plenty of safe – and legal – ways to ensure a secure financial future for you and your family no matter what the government may try to throw at us next.
Laszlo E., a Sovereign Investor reader, writes: The Federal Reserve is out of control. First, Mr. Greenspan drove down overnight rates to near-zero to, ahem, stimulate the economy, whilst ignoring that Japan went right through the same action after 1987 and the Nikkei is still in a funk. The Fed wants to drive the dollar to zero, so that the national debt will be paid with money worth 97% less than (the value at which it was) borrowed.
The only problem is that this action will drive the American economy and way of life on the same path as the Japanese. The Fed will drive the American middle class out of existence.
Evaldo replies: As I've been saying for some time now, Laszlo, the U.S. dollar is on the road to continue its decades-long decline. On one hand, their commitment to a near-zero interest rate is killing traditional income sources like Treasuries, while continued rounds of quantitative easing create inflation that will drive up the costs of the things we buy every day. It's a nasty trap they've set.
That's why finding new income opportunities are so important right now. I recommend finding dividend-paying stocks in currencies with stronger futures than the U.S. dollar. By collecting foreign dividends and then translating them into dollars, you get a higher payout even as the greenback loses purchasing power.
I'm also looking into some other ways to help escape the trap the Fed has set for us and generate meaningful income. I'll be putting out a report on my findings a little later this month. To make sure you receive it right away, click here to add your name to my priority list.
Bob T., a Sovereign Investor reader, asks:
I also would like to know where silver bars can be purchased? I live in the Midwest.
Jeff replies: Silver – and gold – prices are already moving because of the Fed's latest round of quantitative easing. Plus, the metal has its own secular growth trend tied to increasing uses in the medical and industrial world. For those two reasons, silver prices are likely to head higher for some time to come. As with gold, you should hold exposure to silver through silver-mining stocks like TSI portfolio favorite Silver-Wheaton (NYSE: SLW, hold), as well as physical bars and coins. Over the summer, we joined forces with the Hard Asset Alliance, which has built a unique platform that allows you to buy silver and other precious metals online through a process in which major metals dealers bid for you business, ensuring you get the lowest price in the market at that moment. Through the Alliance you can also store you metals in audited, secure vaults in the U.S., or, if you prefer, in the U.K., Switzerland or Australia. You can learn more about buying silver through the Alliance by clicking here.
N.S., a Sovereign Investor reader, asks:
Can you tell me what good it does me to trade foreign currencies, when the IRS will take any gains I make through taxation? Best regards.
Sean replies: The IRS is taking some gains from any dollar-denominated instruments that you have gains on, too. The difference is that your dollars are ultimately losing value at the same time you're being taxed. With foreign currencies, you're actually making progress by gaining in your purchasing power even though you're being taxed.
So, taxation is unavoidable. The question is do we want to retain or lose our purchasing power in the process, and thus lose the battle with inflation?
Therefore the point of going into foreign currencies isn't to escape "the tax man" – it's to not only retain our purchasing power, but to potentially gain in our purchasing power while others lose it, thus increasing our wealth.
Additionally, it causes us to position ourselves just like the central banks do. While central banks print money, they also buy up other foreign currencies that aren't being watered-down (like the Canadian and Aussie dollars). That's how they make sure their coffers stay full. And that's what we need to do too.
We look forward to hearing your questions and comments. As always, send your thoughts along to SovereignInvestor.daily@gmail.com.
In Wealth & Prosperity,
Erika Nolan
Publisher, The Sovereign Society
P.S. Just as our rights and finances are under threatened by an overreaching government, so too is our quality of life at risk from a very unexpected source. An irreplaceable natural resource that most of us probably don't give a second thought to has inexplicably gone into free fall, and the consequences on our daily lives could be massive. To learn more about this astonishing problem – and what you can do to thrive in spite of it – click here for our urgent video.
Chart of the Day
How to Save America For much of the 20th century, particularly the 1930s through the 1980s, Sweden was envied the world over for its "Swedish Model" of economic growth. This model was tied largely to ridiculously high taxes – in some cases nearly 80% of marginal income – that funded a monolithic welfare state that, in turn, allowed the country to achieve some of the highest economic growth rates and allowed Swedes to achieve some of the highest living standards in the world. The Big Government model was widely touted as one that all Western nations should try to emulate because it provided for healthy growth and income equality … it's a model that's clearly built into the thinking of the current batch of left-leaning economists and politicians running America today.
They'd all do well to study the chart above. It's a cautionary tale for anyone in America who believes a bigger welfare state and the supposed income equality it generates is the way of the future. It shows Sweden's annual government spending has fallen sharply – to less than 50% of GDP from nearly 70% two decades ago.
Sweden's welfare state crashed dramatically in the early 1990s, because a hiccup in the economy could not support the vastly expanded welfare demands the state had promised and that Swedes had – wrongly – come to expect as a birthright. The Swedish Model – like all Big Government models throughout history – was proven a fraud.
Since then, the country has implemented a series of pro-market, anti-welfare reforms that have drastically altered the Swedish economy, taking government increasingly out of the game and allowing capitalism freer reign. Today, Sweden is a more-capitalist, less-socialist economy, and is one of Europe's very few success stories.
Until next time, stay Sovereign…
Jeff D. Opdyke
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