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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
Your Link to Freedom, Privacy & Prosperity in the Offshore World
Thursday, November 11, 2004 - Vol. 6 No. 217
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In This Issue:
* COMMENT: The Devil & The Law.
* OFFSHORE: U.S. Virgin Islands Appeals to White House on Tax Break. Irish P.M Likes Bush Win. New EU No to French Tax. Hong Kong.
* WEALTH: FATF Falters in Dirty Cash War. WTO Bans U.S. Ban.
* PRIIVACY & RIGHTS: Lazy American. RFIDs. Brits Offshore Spats.
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COMMENT: The Devil & The Law.
Dear A-Letter Reader:
I have long since learned, from my own service in elective office, that an official who takes strong stands can expect both staunch support -- and fervid, even irrational opposition.
As a conservative and an attorney who greatly values freedom and the rule of law, the resignation of US Attorney General pleases me mostly because his replacement, White House counsel, Judge Alberto Gonzales, may be better. (Some of Gonzales' statements on the treatment of war prisoners and due process hardly encourage comfort among civil libertarians).
My personal irony is that Ashcroft, as a US Senator from Missouri, had a voting record that would differ very little from my own, had I cast those votes. But in the area of civil liberties, after the terror attacks of 9-11-2001, Ashcroft seemed a man possessed, not of understanding the law, but of a distorted, unprecedented ad hoc application of the "law" as he saw it.
The N.Y. Times notes: "To his supporters, Ashcroft was an aggressive and unapologetic warrior against terrorism...to his many critics Ashcroft was a symbol of excesses of the anti-terror campaign, a man engaged in overzealous prosecutions, insensitive to civil liberties."
Readers know that we have often objected, not to a reasonable, ordered campaign against terrorism, but to the oppressive way in which the PATRIOT Act and related laws have been abused. Mass arrests based on ethnicity, secret detentions without counsel, deportations without appeal, denial of due process, secret blacklists -- all have been used by Ashcroft to the discredit of America. Federal courts, from the US Supreme Court on down, have begun to address, modify and reverse the worst of what is still happening under Ashcroft's "Justice" Department.
The martyred St. Thomas Moore is the patron saint of attorneys. He comes to mind in the wake of the Ashcroft resignation. In that great play and film "A Man for All Seasons," Moore's zealous son in law, William Roper, says he would, if necessary, cut down all the laws in England to deal with the devil.
Moore, who soon will die for his Faith, replies: "Oh? And when the last law was down, and the devil turned round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws being all flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast - man's laws, not God's - and if you cut them down (and you're just the man to do it) d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."
That's the way that it looks from here.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
PS: If you want to know more about how the PATRIOT Act impacts you, find out here: Click for details:
LINK: http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/190SPATY/W190EB03/
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COMMENT LINKS:
* Antigua Gets A Piece Of The Action. LINK:
http://www.forbes.com/services/2004/11/11/cx_da_1111topnews.html
* WTO rules against US gambling ban.
LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4001793.stm
* WTO ruling. LINK: http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news_e.htm
* More about Antigua & Barbuda. LINK:
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ac.html
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NAURU DEFEAT
The tiny western Pacific island of NAURU once tried to be an offshore tax haven. It had to do something because this 8 square mile island had been mined of all the bird guano that had collected for years. Its 10,000 inhabitants decided offshore banking looked better than bird droppings.
Unfortunately, criminal elements from abroad used Nauru for their own nefarious ends and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklisted the island republic. This week the parliament passed more FATF demanded laws; as it was told to do. Another major victory against dirty money by the tax-exempt Paris bureaucrats at the OECD.
Meanwhile billions in dirty cash pour through London and New York by the hour. No FATF attempt to blacklist the US or UK; they pay FATF's salaries and expenses.
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ARAFAT'S BILLIONS
If you or I want to open an offshore bank account (or, for that matter, a domestic US account) current anti-money laundering laws mean we will be subjected to a humiliating series of questions and investigations; where did we get the money; prove you are who you say you are; what will you use the money for -- and on and on.
The late YASSER ARAFAT, PLO leaders now dead, ran a murky financial empire that included far-flung PLO investments in airlines, banana plantations and high-tech companies, with money hidden in bank accounts across the globe. How many millions went to finance terrorism and blowing up Israelis, we will never know. And the US and other major nations donated more than $6.5 billion to the Palestinian Authority from 1994 to 2003, with few questions asked. Current estimates says Arafat left behind $2.5 billion to $4 billion in assets and cash, and only he knew where it all is.
But no one ever asked him any questions about his finances. Does that mean you're exempt from money laundering laws if you list "professional terrorist" as an occupation on your bank account application?
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AMERICAN HOME: MOTHER OF ALL TAX SHELTERS
Every now and then I run across a news article that is truly valuable to those who take the time to read it.
The LINK below is to one such article, which explains in detail how US persons can benefit, tax and otherwise, from home ownership. No more capital gains taxes on home sales, interest is still deductible and there's lots more to recommend home ownership. Read it and think.
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ASIAN CONTAGION
America's net overseas liabilities amounted to 23% of GDP at the end of 2003, close to the record debts the US amassed way back in 1894. Most of these debts are denominated in dollars. The US government may be tempted to dishonour its dollar debts, not by defaulting but by devaluing them. So The Economist magazine notes.
What would this do to Asian economies where central banks hold $1.89 trillion of foreign reserves, most of it in US dollars?
Asian economies would suffer a mighty capital loss in domestic- currency terms. A recent study by the NY Federal Reserve predicts that if the Chinese yuan were to appreciate by 10% against the dollar (and other reserve currencies), China would suffer a capital loss worth almost 3% of GDP. If the won rose by 10%, South Korea would suffer similarly. The toll would be even greater in Singapore (10% of GDP) and Taiwan (8%).
The House of Cards is beginning to tilt at an alarming angle, folks.
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STORY LINKS:
* Nauru passes new Acts to combat money laundering. LINK:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200411/s1239551.htm
* The Republic of Nauru. LINK:
http://www.earth.nwu.edu/people/emile/nauru.html
* What Will Happen to Arafat's Millions? LINK:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4603433,00.html
* Arafat Mystery Lingers: Whereabouts of His Hidden Fortune. LINK:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/international/middleeast/11arafat.html
* Home: Mother of All Tax Shelters. LINK:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/Taxshelters/P41831.asp
* Asian Contagion. LINK:
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3372405
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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER.
* Bob Bauman, Editor * Daniel Aponte, Jr. Editorial Asst.
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