This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Introducing The Latest Tactic For Governments To Raise Cash
Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,
‘Creativity’ isn’t usually a word associated with ‘government’. Words like stodgy, bureaucratic, and incompetent are typically more appropriate.
But there is at least one area where bankrupt governments in particular tend to be exceptionally creative - finding unique ways to steal people’s money.
And over the last few years, one of the most creative ways that bankrupt governments have come up with is to confiscate what they consider “dormant” bank accounts—this would be an account without any transactions over a specified period of time.
The UK was the first on the scene with this idea with the 2008 Dormant Bank and Building Society Act. It was passed just in the knick of time right as the entire financial system was collapsing.
Within two years, the British Banker’s Association estimated that the law could raise as much as $600 million for the government… no small sum in the UK.
Earlier this year, Japan launched a similar initiative aimed at grabbing dormant bank accounts; they expect the move will raise approximately $500 million annually.
Both at least Japan and the UK have long-term thresholds. In Japan, they’ll seize an account if it has been dormant for more than 10 years. In the UK, it’s 15 years.
But there are a number of things wrong with this approach.
First, it calls into question the fundamental principle of private property. How can something be yours if the state can legislate its authority to seize it?
And even if the account holder has long since passed, shouldn’t the funds, by default, be awarded to the survivors nominated in accordance with the instructions in his/her last will and testament?
It is a rather ignoble act indeed to set aside the wishes of the dead so that the state can have yet another resource to plunder.
More concerning, though, is that if the state can simply legislate its authority to seize dormant bank accounts, then they can just as easily lower the bar.
Australia (which actually has a well-capitalized banking system and is not even a bankrupt government) passed legislation last year to reduce the threshold on seizing dormant accounts from seven years down to just THREE.
And in the last 12-months since the legislation was passed, the Australian government has seized a whopping 80,000 accounts totaling A$360 million… more than has been seized in the previous five decades COMBINED.
In case you’re wondering, yes of course, the Land of the Free has similar rules.
In fact, each of the 50 states has its own regulations pertaining to the seizure of dormant accounts. And the grand prize goes to… the great state of Georgia!
Georgia’s Disposition of Unclaimed Properties Act sets the threshold as low as one year.
In other words, if you have a checking account in Georgia that you haven’t touched in twelve months, the state government is going to grab it.
So much for setting aside money for a rainy day and having the discipline to never touch it.
If you’ve locked away money for your children’s savings or unforeseen emergencies, your government might be sharpening its knives ready to dig in.
And just like central bank policies punish savers with interest rates that don’t come close to keeping up with inflation, these policies provide disincentives for people to be responsible and save money.
It’s just another example of how the entire system is rigged against the individual… and all the more reason to divorce oneself from it. Physical gold, anyone?
»
- 74202 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
i can tell you first hand that the state of georgia, especially under raw deal nathan, that its government is a fully criminal organization.
It used to be a mere 7 years in Australia before the Government, at the behest of private interests, could steal from bank accounts. It's now been reduced to 3 years. The madness of planet ponzi will squeeze the blood out of every living thing!
I had an account with $1500 seized in California. They never contacted me to say they took which was easy because I live just a few blocks from the bank. I have tried to get the money back but it will require an attorney and months of paperwork. The state requests dozens of documents, certifications, and notarized forms. I went through the process once and then they sent me another stack. Essentially the state never intends to return the money.
Just exact more value in retribution. If you can be satisfied with it being anonymous.
You don't have to use an attorney (cost usually outweighs the benefit for these matters). You can get the money back but it requires many forms, much time and much patience with the CA State Controller's office. They will use any error as an excuse to restart the process from the beginning.
Unique is an absolute. Learn to use the word properly. Nothing is more or less or very unique. It either is or isn't.
"Nor did they repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality or their thefts." Rev 9.21
Money in a bank account is just numbers on paper or, worse yet, in the electronic vapor zone. Whatever you have in a bank is 100% at risk. Banks are an invention of criminals in the Medieval ages - they have persisted because their existance suits the purposes of the other, larger criminal enterprise - Government. As many have said here before me - if you can't hold it in your hands or walk on it with your feet you don't own it, and if you can't shoot and kill someone trying to take it, they will take it and you will be left with nothing. The so-called "system of laws" doesn't exist. There is only frontier justice - every man for himself. Everything else is bullshit and illusion.
I agree completely, which is why I keep in banks only enough to cover upcoming purchases using debit cards. The rest is in stock funds, gold, houses (in several countries) and cash (multiple currencies) - all outside the U.S.
BitCoin has NO attraction for me, since it is NOT a tangible asset - if I cannot hold it and touch it, then I consider it a great risk (such as my stock funds) and do NOT rely on it being available in the future.
Why worry now ? The book has been cooked for decades. No one audit the Fed, just list everything classified and can't touch it.
I got out of the system about three years ago. Went to Q99X2. Now I don't know whether I'm here or there.
Finding your statement here rather intriguing, I looked up your moniker.
God's Presence Is Everywhere indeed, but your presence on the web at
http://techdissent.com/ and http://q99x2.com/ keeps getting a
"The connection has timed out
The server at q99x2.com (/techdissent.com) is taking too long to respond."
So, maybe you're neither here nor there. :)
Me thinks this is the best way to fight these bastards Jeff, name the banks and their locations that pull this crap. Hell, go ahead and name the branch manager, teller, security guard, etc.
Throw the spotlight on this shit!
Of course, there are te 47+million members of the FSA that this shit will have no effect on whatsoever.
Is this a rigged game or what?
Me thinks this is the best way to fight these bastards Jeff, name the banks and their locations that pull this crap. Hell, go ahead and name the branch manager, teller, security guard, etc.
Throw the spotlight on this shit!
Of course, there are te 47+million members of the FSA that this shit will have no effect on whatsoever.
Is this a rigged game or what?
happiness is an account full of dusty old bonds
This really sucks. I was planning on a Futurama get rich sloooowly scheme. Get frozen for 1000 years and let my $1.50 savings balance, through the miracle of compound interest, become billions when I wake up in 3014.
"billions when I wake up in 3014"
...with which you may be able to buy a 2oz candy bar.
ha! The state of Georgia appears to be sponsoring THE CARBONADO EFFECT on Tru TV....at least that same Georgia logo and font come at the very end....
makes me sick :H
a small philosophical thought on "...it calls into question the fundamental principle of private property. How can something be yours if the state can legislate its authority to seize it?"
there are two concepts to keep apart, here: possession and property
possession is a natural matter. you hold it, it's in your possession. you give it to someone else, it's in their possession
property... is a legal matter. if there is no legal framework, there is no property. and a legal framework, however shaped, it's commonly called a "state", as in (legal) status
so yes, private property as such is based on a social/legal agreement. be it voluntaryst setup or "proper" state, property is what is ruled to be legally yours, be it by a (sovereign) association of people, a court or a law by the state
so the question is misleading. nothing can be your private property without "the state" legislating how it's yours (or a similar setup)
and so the wise remember the saying Possession_is_nine-tenths_of_the_law, which reminds you that possession and property are two different though related things
Its outrageous. Do what I do ... i have automatic transactions set up so that every month $1 (yes literally $1) is transfered through every account i have.
'
'
'
Death to the oppressors.
•?•
V-V
PS. Did I say that outloud?
Long PVC pipes
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GUogyKl4IYE
The people have simply forgotten who they are. The peole is the creator of government. The creator does not serve the created. The people have forgotten that they have inalienable rights. Georgia's constitution, as all the states constitutions, preserve the inalienable rights of the people. Most people and most lawyers do not realize that inalienable rights are to be protected in the constitutional courts of general jurisdiction. The 'judas priest' lawyer will walk most plaintiffs right into the tax court of limited jurisdiction. These courts are only for 'taxpayers'. Taxpayers, by definition, owe the tax. The tax court can only determine how much and when it is due.
The fact that any gov't knows of your dormant account to begin with is BS.
I worked in the electronic payment card industry. State Escheatment laws apply to gift cards too. Don't use that gift card for 3 - 5 years and the most beneficent state takes your money. It's much more noble for them to have it, then say walmart, mcdonalds, or shell
Dollars are IOU notes. Bank accounts are IOU-maybes for IOU notes.
If you don't hold it you don't own it & if all you hold are dollars you hold only a promise-to-pay not actually a payment!
I've almost had this happen to me twice. The first time I wasn't even sent a letter by the bank. I have a chequing account in one bank with $3500 in it. I never touch it. I've had that bank account for 20 years and stopped using it for the past 12. On a fluke one day 9 years ago, I went to the ATM with my bank card and upon entering my PIN, was instructed by a message on the screen to go to the nearest branch. Speaking with a teller, they said as the account lay dormant, they had frozen the funds. I got upset with them and asked why they didn't tell me. In anycase, they unforze the account and told me to every once in a while do a transaction so that the account looks active. So, every 15 months since then I do a transaction with no problem. Then back in January I get a letter in the mail for the same account telling me that it's been ALMOST 12 months since my last transaction and that I should do an activity in the account else they'd freeze it again.
So definitely, something is going on here. I read up on the Bank of Canada laws and apparently, they can't do anything with the money for at least 10 years upon which the BoC get's the funds and they have to hold onto it for another 30 before they can claim it for themselves. So, I'm not sure why the bank would freeze my account.