Notes from the Field
Date: August 7, 2012
Reporting From: Oxford, England
Last Friday, US Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced HR 6357, a bill which aims to 'prohibit the extrajudicial killing of United States citizens' by the federal government. In other words, in the Land of the Free, they need to pass a law to prevent the government from indiscriminately murdering its own citizens.
Now if this doesn't give one reason to pause and consider the distortions of liberty that have taken place in western civilization, I don't know what will. Think about it:
Does a free society send government hit men to eliminate anyone they perceive to be an enemy of the state?
Does a free society have hundreds of police agencies, each with the authority to deprive a man of his life, liberty and property in their sole discretion?
Does a free society have hundreds of thousands of laws, codes, rules, regulations, and policies which effectively criminalize nearly every aspect of one's existence?
Does a free society lead the world in prison population?
Does a free society hunt down criminals and terrorists by treating its citizens like criminals and terrorists?
Does a free society tell its citizens what foods they are / are not allowed to consume?
Does a free society steal your money at gunpoint to buy bombs that they drop by remote control on brown people in faraway lands?
Does a free society debase its currency and plunder the purchasing power of its citizens?
Does a free society saddle unborn generations with obligations they never signed up to bear?
Does a free society award near total control of the economy, the money supply, and everything tied to it, to a tiny elite few?
Does a free society brainwash its citizens into believing that they live in a free society? (at least the Chinese know they're not free...)
Ask yourself, are you really living in a free society? Are you free? If not, why not? What else could possibly be more important?
It takes courage to answer honestly. But once you realize the truth and begin to see the system for what it is, it can be a liberating and life-changing experience.
You'll find that there are places where you can live free in this world. There are ways to preserve your dignity, your privacy, your livelihood. You'll find that you can build great camaraderie and mutual trust with like-minded souls because you share the same values, not the same color passport.
My guess is that you're reading this because you've already started down the road to freedom. But you might feel alone... intellectually isolated in a sea of automatons.
You're not alone. More and more people are waking up every day and beginning to realize the incredible fraud that has been perpetrated against them. When enough of them figure it out, this system will be finished.
That's why I fundamentally believe that today is one of the most exciting times to be alive since the French Revolution. And we're just getting warmed up.
If you have any friends or loved ones who still exemplify that self-deluded, bombastic serf mentality, I encourage you to pass this along to them... and challenge them to answer honestly.
More to follow.
Until tomorrow,
Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com
Reporting From: Oxford, England
Last Friday, US Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced HR 6357, a bill which aims to 'prohibit the extrajudicial killing of United States citizens' by the federal government. In other words, in the Land of the Free, they need to pass a law to prevent the government from indiscriminately murdering its own citizens.
Now if this doesn't give one reason to pause and consider the distortions of liberty that have taken place in western civilization, I don't know what will. Think about it:
Does a free society send government hit men to eliminate anyone they perceive to be an enemy of the state?
Does a free society have hundreds of police agencies, each with the authority to deprive a man of his life, liberty and property in their sole discretion?
Does a free society have hundreds of thousands of laws, codes, rules, regulations, and policies which effectively criminalize nearly every aspect of one's existence?
Does a free society lead the world in prison population?
Does a free society hunt down criminals and terrorists by treating its citizens like criminals and terrorists?
Does a free society tell its citizens what foods they are / are not allowed to consume?
Does a free society steal your money at gunpoint to buy bombs that they drop by remote control on brown people in faraway lands?
Does a free society debase its currency and plunder the purchasing power of its citizens?
Does a free society saddle unborn generations with obligations they never signed up to bear?
Does a free society award near total control of the economy, the money supply, and everything tied to it, to a tiny elite few?
Does a free society brainwash its citizens into believing that they live in a free society? (at least the Chinese know they're not free...)
Ask yourself, are you really living in a free society? Are you free? If not, why not? What else could possibly be more important?
It takes courage to answer honestly. But once you realize the truth and begin to see the system for what it is, it can be a liberating and life-changing experience.
You'll find that there are places where you can live free in this world. There are ways to preserve your dignity, your privacy, your livelihood. You'll find that you can build great camaraderie and mutual trust with like-minded souls because you share the same values, not the same color passport.
My guess is that you're reading this because you've already started down the road to freedom. But you might feel alone... intellectually isolated in a sea of automatons.
You're not alone. More and more people are waking up every day and beginning to realize the incredible fraud that has been perpetrated against them. When enough of them figure it out, this system will be finished.
That's why I fundamentally believe that today is one of the most exciting times to be alive since the French Revolution. And we're just getting warmed up.
If you have any friends or loved ones who still exemplify that self-deluded, bombastic serf mentality, I encourage you to pass this along to them... and challenge them to answer honestly.
More to follow.
Until tomorrow,
Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com
Notes from the Field
Date: August 28, 2012
Reporting From: Spoleto, Italy
Jacques Wajsfelner of Weston, Massachusetts is a criminal mastermind. Big time. Like Lex Luthor. But rest easy, ladies and gentlemen, for this nefarious villain is about to face some serious jail time thanks to the courageous work of US government agents.
You see, Mr. Wajsfelner was finally caught and convicted of a most heinous crime: failing to disclose his foreign bank account to the US government. Note-- he was not convicted of tax evasion. He was not convicted of failing to file or pay taxes. His crime was not filing the annual Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
Because of his failure to disclose his foreign bank account, Wajsfelner is now looking at FIVE YEARS behind bars in a Day-Glo orange jumpsuit.
Oh, one more thing-- Wajsfelner is 83 years old. He was born in Germany during the global depression and rise of Adolf Hitler. The Wajsfelner family soon fled the Nazi regime and made its way to the United States. It was a different world back then.
Sentencing guidelines suggest that Wajsfelner will get some combination of jail time and supervised release to the tune of several years.
Then there's Eric Higgins of Port Huron, Michigan, who was recently busted for major possession of child pornography and engaging in sexually explicit conversations with juveniles online. He was given 20 months. Oh... and Mr. Higgins was a US Customs & Border Patrol agent.
Or Melford Christmas, a US immigration officer from New York, who was given 18 months for demanding and accepting bribes to speed along US citizenship applications of foreign nationals.
Or Ricardo Cordero, another US Customs & Border Patrol officer who was given 27-months for personally smuggling 30 Mexican nationals into the United States, and assisting another smuggler to bring 15 Mexican nationals across the border. This genius even had the smuggler testify as a character witness at his divorce proceeding!
Or Jon Corzine, former CEO of Goldman Sachs and member of the political elite, who presided over one of the largest plunders in the financial system ever seen during the recent MF Global collapse. He walks the streets freely to this day.
It seems pretty clear where the US government stands: the victimless crime of failing to report a foreign bank account is far more egregious than, say, possession of child pornography, engaging with minors in online sex chat, bribery, extortion, fraud, and abuse of official power.
This is what justice means in the Land of the Free today. Have you hit your breaking point yet?
As a parting note, I just want to remind readers once again that US taxpayers with foreign financial accounts are obliged to file form TDF 90-22.1 to the Department of Treasury each year by June 30th, as well as file IRS form 8938 and 1040 schedule B with your normal tax return each year.
It should be clear by now that failing to file is not an option. If you are delinquent in filing from past years, it's much better to catch up and file late than to not file at all.
Until tomorrow,
Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com
Reporting From: Spoleto, Italy
Jacques Wajsfelner of Weston, Massachusetts is a criminal mastermind. Big time. Like Lex Luthor. But rest easy, ladies and gentlemen, for this nefarious villain is about to face some serious jail time thanks to the courageous work of US government agents.
You see, Mr. Wajsfelner was finally caught and convicted of a most heinous crime: failing to disclose his foreign bank account to the US government. Note-- he was not convicted of tax evasion. He was not convicted of failing to file or pay taxes. His crime was not filing the annual Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
Because of his failure to disclose his foreign bank account, Wajsfelner is now looking at FIVE YEARS behind bars in a Day-Glo orange jumpsuit.
Oh, one more thing-- Wajsfelner is 83 years old. He was born in Germany during the global depression and rise of Adolf Hitler. The Wajsfelner family soon fled the Nazi regime and made its way to the United States. It was a different world back then.
Sentencing guidelines suggest that Wajsfelner will get some combination of jail time and supervised release to the tune of several years.
Then there's Eric Higgins of Port Huron, Michigan, who was recently busted for major possession of child pornography and engaging in sexually explicit conversations with juveniles online. He was given 20 months. Oh... and Mr. Higgins was a US Customs & Border Patrol agent.
Or Melford Christmas, a US immigration officer from New York, who was given 18 months for demanding and accepting bribes to speed along US citizenship applications of foreign nationals.
Or Ricardo Cordero, another US Customs & Border Patrol officer who was given 27-months for personally smuggling 30 Mexican nationals into the United States, and assisting another smuggler to bring 15 Mexican nationals across the border. This genius even had the smuggler testify as a character witness at his divorce proceeding!
Or Jon Corzine, former CEO of Goldman Sachs and member of the political elite, who presided over one of the largest plunders in the financial system ever seen during the recent MF Global collapse. He walks the streets freely to this day.
It seems pretty clear where the US government stands: the victimless crime of failing to report a foreign bank account is far more egregious than, say, possession of child pornography, engaging with minors in online sex chat, bribery, extortion, fraud, and abuse of official power.
This is what justice means in the Land of the Free today. Have you hit your breaking point yet?
As a parting note, I just want to remind readers once again that US taxpayers with foreign financial accounts are obliged to file form TDF 90-22.1 to the Department of Treasury each year by June 30th, as well as file IRS form 8938 and 1040 schedule B with your normal tax return each year.
It should be clear by now that failing to file is not an option. If you are delinquent in filing from past years, it's much better to catch up and file late than to not file at all.
Until tomorrow,
Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com
Notes From the Field
Date: September 4, 2012
Reporting From: Windhoek, Namibia
Every time I hear one of these western central bankers or politicians talk about how there's no inflation, it just makes me want to vomit. This is one of the most arrogant, disingenuous, intellectually dishonest statements one can make. And if these guys ever got off their butts and traveled somewhere, they'd see for themselves.
Case in point-- here in Namibia, the country is between a rock and a hard place. Big time. Namibia's economy is stalling. GDP growth is a mere 0.7% year over year, and unemployment has been estimated at anywhere between 28.4% to 51.2%. They just haven't figured out which math to use yet.
Meanwhile, inflation in Namibia is becoming uncomfortably high. The official rate that the government acknowledges is at least 7%, but the street rate is well into double digits.
In the wealthy part of the world, they pretend that inflation doesn't exist because Wal Mart cut the price of the iPhone 4S from $188 to $148. Of course, that doesn't mean much in Namibia. These aren't exactly the folks lining up at the Apple store.
Fact is, inflation does exist. I see it everywhere I travel. As Bernanke and Draghi print money without limit or regard for sanity, central bankers in the developing world are feverishly inflating their own currencies to keep up... and importing dollars and euros from abroad to help keep their exchange rates low.
The net result is cheap iPhones in America, but catastrophically higher prices for staple items like food and medicine in Namibia... and most of the developing world.
What a truly bizarre system. One guy in Washington has screwed entire nations of people, including, eventually, his own. One guy can do this. Just one. It seems so strange to have awarded such Herculean powers to a single individual... let alone one who is demonstrably out of touch with reality.
The world may indeed become a better place if Mr. Bernanke would get on a plane and go see, first hand, the deep strain caused by his policies around the world.
Fortunately for Namibia, the country is going to be just fine in the long-term. Despite the monetary misgivings of central bankers from faraway lands, this is still a country that's twice the size of California with a sparse population of just 1.8 million. And it's loaded with resources.
Long-time subscribers may recall the many letters I wrote from Mongolia, extolling that country's economic growth potential. Whenever you have a huge country with massive resource deposits and a tiny population to divide it all up, this is a good sign.
Namibia is in a similar category... and this bodes well for the long-term. Deep down beyond its impoverished veneer, Namibia has great wealth potential.
The country already has one of the richest commercial fishing grounds in the world thanks to its cold, clean Atlantic waters. Moreover, Namibia has vast deposits of diamonds, gold, uranium, and several other valuable resources. Many of these have been exploited for years, others are just getting started.
Uranium is particularly interesting; Namibia itself is the world's 4th largest producer of the funky metal, and output is growing every year. The Husab project alone is presently the third largest deposit in the world. As nuclear power becomes favorable once again, Namibia will benefit substantially.
Until tomorrow,
Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com
Reporting From: Windhoek, Namibia
Every time I hear one of these western central bankers or politicians talk about how there's no inflation, it just makes me want to vomit. This is one of the most arrogant, disingenuous, intellectually dishonest statements one can make. And if these guys ever got off their butts and traveled somewhere, they'd see for themselves.
Case in point-- here in Namibia, the country is between a rock and a hard place. Big time. Namibia's economy is stalling. GDP growth is a mere 0.7% year over year, and unemployment has been estimated at anywhere between 28.4% to 51.2%. They just haven't figured out which math to use yet.
Meanwhile, inflation in Namibia is becoming uncomfortably high. The official rate that the government acknowledges is at least 7%, but the street rate is well into double digits.
In the wealthy part of the world, they pretend that inflation doesn't exist because Wal Mart cut the price of the iPhone 4S from $188 to $148. Of course, that doesn't mean much in Namibia. These aren't exactly the folks lining up at the Apple store.
Fact is, inflation does exist. I see it everywhere I travel. As Bernanke and Draghi print money without limit or regard for sanity, central bankers in the developing world are feverishly inflating their own currencies to keep up... and importing dollars and euros from abroad to help keep their exchange rates low.
The net result is cheap iPhones in America, but catastrophically higher prices for staple items like food and medicine in Namibia... and most of the developing world.
What a truly bizarre system. One guy in Washington has screwed entire nations of people, including, eventually, his own. One guy can do this. Just one. It seems so strange to have awarded such Herculean powers to a single individual... let alone one who is demonstrably out of touch with reality.
The world may indeed become a better place if Mr. Bernanke would get on a plane and go see, first hand, the deep strain caused by his policies around the world.
Fortunately for Namibia, the country is going to be just fine in the long-term. Despite the monetary misgivings of central bankers from faraway lands, this is still a country that's twice the size of California with a sparse population of just 1.8 million. And it's loaded with resources.
Long-time subscribers may recall the many letters I wrote from Mongolia, extolling that country's economic growth potential. Whenever you have a huge country with massive resource deposits and a tiny population to divide it all up, this is a good sign.
Namibia is in a similar category... and this bodes well for the long-term. Deep down beyond its impoverished veneer, Namibia has great wealth potential.
The country already has one of the richest commercial fishing grounds in the world thanks to its cold, clean Atlantic waters. Moreover, Namibia has vast deposits of diamonds, gold, uranium, and several other valuable resources. Many of these have been exploited for years, others are just getting started.
Uranium is particularly interesting; Namibia itself is the world's 4th largest producer of the funky metal, and output is growing every year. The Husab project alone is presently the third largest deposit in the world. As nuclear power becomes favorable once again, Namibia will benefit substantially.
Until tomorrow,
Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com
Notes From the Field
Date: September 10, 2012 Reporting From: Franschhoek, Western Cape, South Africa
There's a very dangerous expression we've been hearing a lot lately from all corners of the globe, mostly from socialist-leaning politicians and economists who fancy themselves champions of the people.
They look at certain tax inequalities like the difference between capital gains rates (tax on investment income) vs. income tax rates (tax on labor) and complain, "what does it say about our values as a free society when investors pay a lower tax rate than workers?"
This is a total BS red herring; it's not an 'either/or' argument. They're both wrong.
If you're an investor or business owner, the government is your silent partner, whether you like it or not. The government doesn't put up a single cent of capital, and they risk absolutely nothing if a venture fails. Yet if it succeeds, they'll take a handsome share of the profit.
In any other context, this sounds absurd. If I said to you, "Cut me in for a piece of your deal, and in exchange, I will do absolutely nothing..." you would rightfully tell me to F off.
Yet somehow governments get away with this... and it's simply the accepted norm.
Of course, statists contend that governments provide valuable services which people are obliged to pay for; it's the old "you didn't build that" argument. This is total bunk.
Even if one concedes that governments build the infrastructure which makes business possible, it's plain to see that for every road, port, and title office, there are dozens of debilitating regulations which make things more difficult for everyone.
On the flip side of this coin, government also takes its 'fair share' of people's labor. From farmers to physicians, government treats ALL workers like stupid milk cows.
They take a big piece of your labor, then they take an extra piece in payroll and social tax. Then they tax you on what you spend, and then again on what you save. Finally they steal whatever you have left over through inflation.
It's important to point out that governments have an uninterrupted history of serial, catastrophic failure when it comes to handling other people's money. It seems crazy that anyone in his right mind would advocate giving these people more even money.
Yet the luminaries to whom we award our most esteemed prizes for intellectual achievement are among those beating this drum the loudest.
As an example, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz's latest book The Price of Inequality blasts US tax policy for not being onerous enough. His only point of praise is that the US government taxes all of its citizens on their worldwide income. To him, this is actually a good thing!
This tax policy class/warfare debate is dangerous and keeps people distracted from the truth. In fact, to even use the words 'free society' anymore in western civilization is intellectually dishonest.
At this very moment, the US government is building the largest digital spy center in the world, right there in the land of the free. When the facility is completed, the NSA will be able to intercept, collect, monitor, and archive every email, text message, tweet, and phone call
that's ever transmitted, worldwide.
In a free society, people would have a say in whether they want their government to have this kind of control.
Yet all of this happens without anyone's consent. The Internet monitoring, the drone fleets, the airport radiation baths, the massive expansion of the money supply... all of this is overseen and implemented by unelected bureaucrats.
Such is the nature of the modern democratic republic-- a system that has completely lost sight of freedom and elects criminals to lead the rest of us. Yes, indeed, what does all of this say about our values?
Until tomorrow,
Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com
There's a very dangerous expression we've been hearing a lot lately from all corners of the globe, mostly from socialist-leaning politicians and economists who fancy themselves champions of the people.
They look at certain tax inequalities like the difference between capital gains rates (tax on investment income) vs. income tax rates (tax on labor) and complain, "what does it say about our values as a free society when investors pay a lower tax rate than workers?"
This is a total BS red herring; it's not an 'either/or' argument. They're both wrong.
If you're an investor or business owner, the government is your silent partner, whether you like it or not. The government doesn't put up a single cent of capital, and they risk absolutely nothing if a venture fails. Yet if it succeeds, they'll take a handsome share of the profit.
In any other context, this sounds absurd. If I said to you, "Cut me in for a piece of your deal, and in exchange, I will do absolutely nothing..." you would rightfully tell me to F off.
Yet somehow governments get away with this... and it's simply the accepted norm.
Of course, statists contend that governments provide valuable services which people are obliged to pay for; it's the old "you didn't build that" argument. This is total bunk.
Even if one concedes that governments build the infrastructure which makes business possible, it's plain to see that for every road, port, and title office, there are dozens of debilitating regulations which make things more difficult for everyone.
On the flip side of this coin, government also takes its 'fair share' of people's labor. From farmers to physicians, government treats ALL workers like stupid milk cows.
They take a big piece of your labor, then they take an extra piece in payroll and social tax. Then they tax you on what you spend, and then again on what you save. Finally they steal whatever you have left over through inflation.
It's important to point out that governments have an uninterrupted history of serial, catastrophic failure when it comes to handling other people's money. It seems crazy that anyone in his right mind would advocate giving these people more even money.
Yet the luminaries to whom we award our most esteemed prizes for intellectual achievement are among those beating this drum the loudest.
As an example, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz's latest book The Price of Inequality blasts US tax policy for not being onerous enough. His only point of praise is that the US government taxes all of its citizens on their worldwide income. To him, this is actually a good thing!
This tax policy class/warfare debate is dangerous and keeps people distracted from the truth. In fact, to even use the words 'free society' anymore in western civilization is intellectually dishonest.
At this very moment, the US government is building the largest digital spy center in the world, right there in the land of the free. When the facility is completed, the NSA will be able to intercept, collect, monitor, and archive every email, text message, tweet, and phone call
that's ever transmitted, worldwide.
In a free society, people would have a say in whether they want their government to have this kind of control.
Yet all of this happens without anyone's consent. The Internet monitoring, the drone fleets, the airport radiation baths, the massive expansion of the money supply... all of this is overseen and implemented by unelected bureaucrats.
Such is the nature of the modern democratic republic-- a system that has completely lost sight of freedom and elects criminals to lead the rest of us. Yes, indeed, what does all of this say about our values?
Until tomorrow,
Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com