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The Most Popular Reasons for Going Down with the Ship

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The Most Popular Reasons for Going Down with the Ship

Written by Jeff Thomas (CLICK FOR ORIGINAL)

 

For many years, I’ve provided consultation for those who had come to the conclusion that they were living in a country that was removing both their freedom and their wealth. In many cases, they had already reached the conclusion that they needed to internationalise and only needed guidance as to how they could effectively internationalise themselves.

Today, the number of people who see the writing on the wall is growing exponentially, but the great majority of the new crowd are coming to the realisation rather late in the game and haven’t done the requisite planning. In fact, many of them so greatly fear change that they cannot bring themselves to take the necessary steps.



Time and time again, I’m hearing the same sticking points for failing to prepare – for failing to assure a more promising future for themselves and their families. With many of these sticking points, the replies reveal the sticking points to be merely excuses for failing to act. Here’s a selection of the most common:

 

BANKING

I can’t open a foreign bank account. I need my money here, where I can get to it.

The EU, the US, Canada and some other countries have legalised bank confiscation of depositors’ funds. In addition, these jurisdictions may be initiating capital controls in the near future (as Greece has already done). By keeping your wealth at home, in a bank, you may accomplish the reverse of what you’re seeking – you may lose your wealth.

But I can’t operate without cash. I need a chequing account to pay monthly bills.

That tells you to maintain the minimum amount in a chequing account – say, three months’ worth of expense money. And be sure to regard even that amount as sacrificial. The balance of your wealth can be moved to a jurisdiction that has no confiscation law.

But, what if I suddenly need more cash, if I need to buy a big item, say, a car?

All you need do is have your foreign bank wire-transfer the funds to your home bank. All you’ll pay is a small transfer fee and the remainder of your money will be safe. And, remember, those countries that are presently facing an economic crisis may try to keep you from taking your money out, but they’re only too happy to have it come back in.


EXPATRIATION

The market for houses here is not all that good. If I sold out now, I don’t think I’d get another house as nice as this one when I moved to another country.

This is very possible. However, the housing market promises to sink further. It’s already too late to get top dollar, but not too late to make a move. Remember, it’s always better to escape a downwardly-directed economy in favour of an upwardly-directed economy. Yes, you may well take an initial hit, but your future will be more promising, and it’s your family’s future that’s of the greatest importance.

I might not get as good a job overseas as I presently have. 

The same reasoning applies. Choose a destination where opportunity exists and treat the present as being less important than the future.

I have no idea where to go. I’ve only been abroad on holiday.

Then, you’re like most people. So, it’s time to begin the process. Make a list of all the things that are truly important to you (be it freedom from taxation, good schooling, a non-invasive legal system, etc.), and overlook the items that are convenient, but unnecessary (a handy local Starbucks, a gym that you like, etc.) Choose the country (or countries) that seem to be the best fit for you, then get to work finding out what you have to do make a move.

What guarantee do I have that internationalising will work out?

None! But then, you have no guarantee now. In fact, the opposite is true. If economic decline in your home country is virtually certain, your move will be the same as for those who left the Roman Empire in its final days. Decline was a virtual certainty at home, but opportunity was likely in the lands to the north. Those who had the courage made the move and many prospered. There’s no promise of success, just a greaterlikelihood.

My family feel that I’m being too alarmist. They want things to stay as they are .

Of course they want things to stay as they are. We all would like to retain all the niceties of life that we presently have – friends, familiar places, etc., but the coming economic changes stand to erode the freedoms and overall quality of life dramatically. Rather than focus on the fact that you’re the bearer of bad tidings to your family, you might wish to focus on the thought that, if you don’t prepare for the future now,you may one day have to answer the question, “Daddy, if you knew that things were going to get so bad, why didn’t you do something to save us? Now, it’s too late.”

 

As stated in the introduction of this article, these and other, similar sticking points are actually common as reasons for doing nothing to counter economic threat. (Finding reasons not to take the more difficult path is easy, but there is a price to be paid.)

Throughout history, there have been many empires. Each has its day and eventually declines. In the final stages, it’s those who are resident in a given empire that have the most difficult time grasping that the end is nigh. In every case, the majority fail to act and end up riding the roller coaster to the bottom. Historically, at the bottom are economic decline, loss of freedoms, confiscation of property, tyrannical government and, most importantly, restrictions on escape.

It’s not all doom and gloom; not the end of the world - just the periodic decline of empire. As one country declines, others rise. Each individual is faced with the choice whether to go down with the ship, or board another, that’s headed for a better world.

 

 

Please email with any questions about this article or precious metals HERE

 

Jeff is British and resides in the Caribbean. The son of an economist and historian, he learned early to be distrustful of governments as a general principle. Although he spent his career creating and developing businesses, for eight years, he penned a weekly newspaper column on the theme of limiting government.

He began his study of economics around 1990, learning initially from Sir John Templeton, then Harry Schulz and Doug Casey and later others of an Austrian persuasion. He is now a regular feature writer for Casey Research’s International Man.

 

The Most Popular Reasons for Going Down with the Ship

Written by Jeff Thomas (CLICK FOR ORIGINAL)

 

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Sat, 10/31/2015 - 21:05 | 6735837 Nostradumbass
Nostradumbass's picture

 

 

All good suggestions, however:

Do all those things and you will die an old free man right here in the U.S....

 

Do all those things and you will die an old man who lived his life under the illusion of being free right here in the U.S. 

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 22:43 | 6736062 richsob
richsob's picture

Lighten up.  You're too bitter.  Freedom is being able to do what you want to do.  It's not abstract; it's real. 

Sun, 11/01/2015 - 01:43 | 6736319 Nostradumbass
Nostradumbass's picture

 

 

Freedom is being able to do what you want to do.  It's not abstract; it's real. 

See, that's the thing richsob, I cannot do as I want in many instances. What I said above remains valid. You just imagine that you are free but as soon as you test your so-called freedom sufficiently, it vanishes under the top-down control and thug rule. 

Too lazy to debate you so just dropping a couple of links.

 

 

https://tehresistance.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/101-freedoms-and-rights-t...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-09/if-you-don%E2%80%99t-think-amer...

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 20:21 | 6735736 richsob
richsob's picture

Pay off your debt.  Pay your taxes on time.  Work on your health.  Be good to those closest to you.  Get a cheap hobby.  Stop reading so much doom porn.  And stop worrying about how this whole thing's going down the toilet because it will take longer than you think it will.  Do all those things and you will die an old free man right here in the U.S. without becoming another refuge in a strange country hoping "things work out".

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 18:54 | 6735551 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

Another reason:  I'm too old to worry about it.  Not only that, i'm sure the US will drag everyone down with them--either economically or in flames(literally).

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 17:56 | 6735372 VWAndy
VWAndy's picture

First step in solving a problem is addmitting there is one. check.

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 16:48 | 6735154 o r c k
o r c k's picture

Costa Rica was paradise in the mid eighties but you'll always be an "outsider", even now. I hear crime has increased greatly and there's a general anti-U.S. frame of mind.

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 12:56 | 6734556 Raging Debate
Raging Debate's picture

The world us full of devils in this kind of cycle. Ill stay with the devil I know. 

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 16:47 | 6735153 Trogdor
Trogdor's picture

The world us full of devils in this kind of cycle. Ill stay with the devil I know.

Yeah - and you also don't want to be the stand-out foreigner in another country when things go sour....

I always wonder to myself what income range these guys are writing to - who is their target audience?  I don't have a cool half-million or more languishing in accounts somewhere.  Simon Black/Soverign Man is the same - I wonder what they consider the "bottom end" of their market ....

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 18:38 | 6735484 August
August's picture

>>>Simon Black/Soverign Man is the same - I wonder what they consider the "bottom end" of their market ....

I've been on the receiving end of Doug Casey's and Simon Black's mailing for years;  there really is no "lower bound" for internationalizing yourself.  It all depends on your motivation, flexibility and (yes) boldness. And a great deal depends on how you make your living, and how transferable this is to another country.

FWIW there have been posters at Casey's old "International Man" message board (now defunct or de-funded) who were lighting out for the South American, or Asian, territories with truly minimal financial resources... meaning just a few thousand bucks.  Needless to say, this is a gutsy and/or stupid move but, as the song says, audaces fortuna iuvat. 

Probably the typical Casey marketing target is an older couple or guy with a few million to spare.  Simon seems more aimed at young entrepreneurial types who want to run their web-based businesses from the tropics; if I were a cynical SOB, I would add my sincere conjecture that a high percentage of said businessess are porn sites.

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 19:42 | 6735642 Trogdor
Trogdor's picture

if I were a cynical SOB, I would add my sincere conjecture that a high percentage of said businessess are porn sites

.... DAMN entrepeneurs and their freakin' PORN! lol :)

Thanks for the insight, August.  :)  Sigh... I've never been smart enough to run away from a fight ...

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 11:50 | 6734338 Citium
Citium's picture

I am sorry but these articles always leave a lot of questions opened... Such as what countries may not be facing collapse right now but if the western world does collapse would they then collapse as well? What if you still live in the US and all paper currencies fail? What if you are still in the US and the banks close indefinitely leaving you without a place to wire transfer funds to? What if when it collapses the US starts confiscating wire transfers of Dollars from other countries? I am not saying diversification is a bad idea but that these abroad articles always leave a lot of concerns unanswered for me personally. 

 

I am a larger advocate of diversifying all the way across the board instead of just leaving 3 months worth of cash in the US and sending the rest of your wealth to a foreign country.

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 11:33 | 6734279 numapepi
numapepi's picture

So we must ask the question, "Where is there a country that is not going to implode?"

Australia and New Zealand are rapidly taking the socialist road, Europe is melting down as we speak, Africa is a no man's land of tyranny, poverty and war, South America is already mostly Marxist, China is melting down, south Asia will get radiation poisoning from China's melt down and Russia is a tyranny in waiting.

So again, "Where am I to go?"

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 19:43 | 6735651 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

Russia is actually a free country which is only now approaching the levels of wealth she might have enjoyed had someone not decided to use her as a guinea pig in a social engineering experiment.

But there's no guarantee even the relative freedom and welath enjoyed by Russia will long outlive Vladimir Putin. You need a leader like him to stand up to the bastards. There aren't that many leaders like that.

Your point is well taken. Even now, those parts of earth our masters don't lord it over are either more or less permanently at war, if they have anything worth stealing, or utterly neglected for good reason if they don't. Bluntly put, there's nowhere to escape to.

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 18:19 | 6735450 Kayman
Kayman's picture

"Where am I to go?"

First question is, "What do I really need ?"  Once I contemplated that question, I got off the Merry-go-round.

You can live with a much smaller foot-print, with a lot less "stuff", with a lot less personal overhead- once you sit down with a piece of paper and list what you are paying for that is completely redundant but very costly.

And it is enlightening.

K

ps. listen to your own voice and forget all the claptrap shovelled at you all day long.

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 15:13 | 6734902 SILVERGEDDON
SILVERGEDDON's picture

Iceland.

Only country to kick ass on banksters, only country in control of it's debt, only country isolated enough to maybe survive if SHTF.

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 11:00 | 6734121 aztrader
aztrader's picture

You mean that we an an economy where companies aren't really beating earnings, but only making it up under Non-GAAP reporting?  You can't mean that allowing thousands if immigrants into your country isn't good for both the economy and the social system?

You can't mean that every economic number released by every world government is phony and that they have lied to us?  How could that be?

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 10:29 | 6733977 Conax
Conax's picture

Bury the gold under your Rottweiler's doghouse.

Simple, yes?

Sat, 10/31/2015 - 12:46 | 6734530 MrSteve
MrSteve's picture

Security through obscurity is always the best defense and it protects both the dog and your stash.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!