Posted on 06/12/2012 9:01:19 PM PDT by blam
It Starts: The Government’s Plan To Steal Your Money.
Simon Black
June 12, 2012
New York City
There are consequences to being flat broke.
There are consequences to investing any level of confidence in a financial system underpinned by debt and the creation of paper currency.
There are consequences for ignoring reality and pretending that everything is normal.
This is one of them: European officials yesterday flat out admitted that they were discussing rolling out a series of harsh capital controls across the continent, including bank withdrawal limits and closing down Europe’s borderless Schengen area.
Some of these measures have already been implemented sporadically; customers of Italian bank BNI, for example, were all frozen out of their accounts starting May 31st upon the recommendation and approval of Italy’s bank regulator. No ATM withdrawls, no bill payments, nothing. Just locked out overnight.
In Greece, the government has taken to simply pulling funds directly out of its citizens’ bank accounts; anyone suspected of being a tax cheat (with a very loose interpretation in the sole discretion of the government) is being releived of their funds without so much as administrative notification.
It’s no wonder why, according to the Greek daily paper Kathimerini, over $125 million per day is fleeing the Greek banking system.
European political leaders aim to put a tourniquet on this wound in the worst possible way.
So what are capital controls?
Simply, capital controls are policies which restrict the free flow of capital into, out of, through, and within a nation’s borders. They can take a variety of forms, including:
- Setting a fixed amount for bank withdrawals, or suspending them altogether
- Forcing citizens or banks to hold government debt
- Curtailing or suspending international bank transfers
- Curtailing or suspending foreign exchange transactions
- Criminalizing the purchase and ownership of precious metals
- Fixing an official exchange rate and criminalizing market-based transactions(Barter?)
Establishing capital controls is one of the worst forms of theft that a government can impose. It traps people’s hard earned savings and their future income within a nation’s borders.
This trapped pool of capital allows the government to transfer wealth from the people to their own coffers through excessive taxation or rampant inflation… both of which soon follow.
The thing about capital controls is that they’re like airine baggage fees; ultimately, all governments want to do it, they’re just waiting on the first guy to impose them so that they can shrug their shoulders, stick it to the people, and blame ‘industry standards’.
Moreover, capital controls were a normal part of the global economic landscape for most of the 20th century, right up to the 1970s. It’s been a long time coming for governments to return to that model.
Since the inception of this letter, it has been a constant theme for us to talk about the increasing threat of capital controls. Your money, your savings, your livelihood are all under attack by insolvent governments, and it’s critical to take steps to reduce your exposure.
When European financial leaders all openly admit that they’re making plans to establish continent-wide capital controls, it really begs the question– what additional warning sign does one need?
The dominos have already started falling. Iceland. Ireland. Greece. Spain. Portugal. Italy. Cyprus. Soon even France and the rest of Europe. And it will come to the United States as well. There are over 15 trillion reasons why.
So what are the most critical steps to take now?
1) Buy precious metals and store in a secure jurisdiction.
Holding gold and silver overseas is a great way to (a) ensure your savings is protected against inflation, and (b) ensure that your precious metals cannot be confiscated in the event that gold ownership is criminalized in your home country.
I strongly recommend Singapore, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi as three potential safe jurisdictions for your gold and silver.
2) Open a foreign bank account.
For funds that need to be maintained within the financial system (as opposed to precious metals), make sure you have a safe home for your money abroad in a safe, well-capitalized bank.
3) Have a place to go overseas
Economic turmoil brought on by governments stealing people’s savings generally goes not bode well for social stability. If things get hairy, you’ll want to have a place to wait it out. And you don’t want to be deciding on the location while you’re packing your bags.
As an example, I’ve picked up an 1100-acre farm in central Chile that won’t skip a beat when the financial system implodes. The sovereign debt bubble does not affect whether or not my trees will bear fruit or my vegetables will grow.
“Only time for the essentials,
Better gather them and run,
False name upon my passport,
The gold bars, and the gun...”
when it comes down to it, land is the least liquid of all assets. Instead of precious metals, diamonds are much more portable, and if uncut, untraceable.
If there is a chance, don’t run, change your government so running isn’t necessary.
"It Starts" ... it started back on day one of our country and has been going on every since. We fought a war to get independence from England because we objected to taxation without representation and several hundred years later we are here again. We get taxed to death without representation.
What money? Oh well, in my case they have already got it.
Every dollar they print from nothing steals from every 401 account.
With the IRS banning people from travel because they speciously owe some money or have some “child support” issues is the start of the new Berlin Wall, except this time we are the ones getting chocked from being able to have a choice other than this fascism.
Rule 308 to follow this action.
Is a person cannot get to their money, how are they to pay their house payment/rent, their bills, get money for food? How will a businessman to stay in business? I’m sure the government will figure a way to get their taxes and pay the governmental employees, bypassing the banks?
I don’t have to pretend to be less affluent. I’m the real deal. :)
That being said, if I had mega bucks, I’m not sure where I would park them in an overseas institution. I don’t mean mutual funds...I mean my paltry savings.
As far as moving to Chile...South America is sliding to socialism at a fairly rapid rate. In a New York minute, everything could change. I had a friend that moved to Ecuador and barely got his money out (they require a “deposit” to live there if not a citizen) before the regime changed.
I read an article about retiring in Bali..as appealing as it sounded, I’d have second and third thoughts.
Unless things get truly out of whack here in the good ole US of A, I’m here with my money buried in the backyard.
Your money is no longer safe if it is in a bank or retirement fund. The feds are already hard at work figuring out how to relieve you of your 401k’s, IRA’s, and your pensions. Convert your cash into tangible, useful goods. Stop feeding the fedgov monster.
The government’s been stealing the money of citizens for donkey’s years.
Every time they print up a huge new batch of currency that’s bigger than the last one, so they can pay their idiot’s bills with fiat money, and thereby devalue the dollar, they steal money from everyone on Planet Earth - since the dollar is an international currency.
It’s as if termites were eating your house and you couldn’t do a thing about it.
Me too.
The Argentines Have Learned How To Protect Their Money From Extreme Inflation
Not that they'll ever pay it down. Whatever they take will be spent and taxes will be raised yet again. There are no controls on this govt and it's becoming more tyrannical and dictatorial with every week that passes. TSA body searches? Unheard of 10 years ago.
Every dollar that the govt borrows is a dollar that businesses and individuals can't borrow. And they can't figure out why the economy is heading south at lightspeed. Not very bright, are they?
It will never be paid.
There is no peaceful way back from here.
Prepare now.
Bloomberg TV last week interviewed a guy calling for a global forgiveness of debt. He said there not only are thousands of years precedent but the Bible itself calls for a once in a generation ‘Jubilee’, which is total forgiveness of debt so as not to burden one generation with the irresponsible debts of another.
I don’t know the wisdom of this or if it’s even a possibility, but the fact that BTV appeared to portray it as a real solution; ethical and proper says to me they are beginning to acknowledge there’s no way out.
ping
“Is a person cannot get to their money, how are they to pay their house payment/rent, their bills, get money for food? How will a businessman to stay in business? I’m sure the government will figure a way to get their taxes and pay the governmental employees, bypassing the banks?”
My house and late model high mileage car are paid for but I know younger people owe money for these. If people can’t get to their money, the country collapses. No mortgage payment would be made all over the country. You can have cash at home now while you can get it, but you can’t send cash through the mail to make your house payment. That cash would end up in a postal worker’s house.
However, the IRS can take money out of your account any time they want.
The above is why we need food stored and a water source not on city water.
Prepare as though there is no power and won’t be. If you can’t pay the power company, it will be like Greece is now with no money going to power company so power company can’t buy fuel to keep power on. When money flow stops, so does the country stop.
>>>As an example, I’ve picked up an 1100-acre farm in central Chile that won’t skip a beat when the financial system implodes. The sovereign debt bubble does not affect whether or not my trees will bear fruit or my vegetables will grow.<<<
I’m willing to bet that there will be no place to run. A debt bubble won’t affect whether or not the trees grow fruit, but it might be affected by several hundred desperate Chileans willing to squat on the land guarded by a mortgage, a respect for the law, and one guy and his family. I’d also bet that anyplace considered “safe” will be flooded with refugees seeking the same safety.
I’m not trying to disparage the guy for trying - hell, I’ve got a root cellar that can store several hundered pounds of potatoes and other veggies, as well as fish and game in the freezer. If history is any indication, though, any sort of economic dislocation or war will create mass migrations and chaos. In the end, it will probably boil down to my wits and God’s good fortune, assuming I get any.
The only thing in my favor is that I can’t imagine millions flooding the Alaska Bush looking for food and refuge; but I can imagine starving villagers willing to do whatever it takes to get what they need. Like I said, I just don’t think there will be a safe place if it hits the fan.
We’ll see. God help us.
Only 1100 acres, Simon?
A mere trifle.
Pick up a few for us less well healed Freepers next time you are there.
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