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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
Your Link to Freedom, Privacy & Prosperity in the Offshore World
Tuesday, November 1, 2005 - Vol. 7 No. 220
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In This Issue:
* COMMENT: Ugly Expats Seek Fun & Profits
* OFFSHORE: Tax Haven Luxembourg. Dubai Oil Billions.
* WEALTH: Meddlesome OECD. Hedge Fund Rules.
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COMMENT: Ugly Expats Seek Fun & Profits
Dear A-Letter Reader:
Thailand is a country of mountains, tropical rain forests and flat plains. Religion, the monarchy and the military have shaped its society and politics. And one man who is cordially hated here is the billionaire American, George Soros.
For many years agriculture was the main employer. But from the 1980s a thriving, rapidly growing economy attracted large numbers of Thais to the expanding industrial and services sectors. The bubble burst in 1997 with the south-east Asian financial crisis. Stock and property prices plummeted, dragging down the currency and leading to bankruptcies, recession and unemployment.
Many Thais still hold George Soros responsible for triggering 1997's Thailand economic crisis by attacking the Thai currency, the baht, an allegation he has long denied. Most believe he had a hand in selling the baht short, thus enriching himself but contributing to a collapse of the Thai currency. And the suffering in 1997 has led Thais to be very wary of international financial activity.
Today, as I have seen, Thailand and its economy are booming. Construction cranes dot the skyline in Bangkok and here in Pattaya, the resort city on the Gulf of Thailand where I am visiting. Hordes of farangs, as foreigners are called by the locals, clog streets and beaches, spending freely. And I must observe many of them dress like bums, e.g., the infamous ugly American, although there are many Germans, Dutch and other Europeans.
I have been surprised at the large number of American expats here, many invested in ocean front real estate, especially condos, at a fraction of the price in the US.You can buy a study condo in a modern building for as little as US$40,000.
There is a tragic irony that citizens of the USA, the so-called 'land of the free,' must go offshore to achieve the lower taxes and greater privacy and financial freedom we once took for granted at home.
As you readers know only too well, especially those who are members of The Sovereign Society, the last two decades in the US (and many other nations), has seen a marked decline in financial and personal freedom. Under the guise of fighting various government-declared 'wars' - on poverty, drugs and now, terrorism, everyone is treated to some degree as a suspected criminal. Those with substantial cash or accumulated wealth are forced to prove they are innocent and not money launderers. And the Big Brother state is laying plans to brand us all like so many cattle with biometric IDs,the better to be herded and corralled.
Small wonder that I'm encountering so many American expats in my Asian travels. Many have found new homes in far away places, remote from Big Brother in Washington.
That the way that it looks from Thailand.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
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COMMENT LINKS:
* Rising European money tide flows to Asian coffers. LINK:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/25/news/Rwemasia.php
* Speculator Soros Cancels Thailand Trip.
LINK: http://www.abc.net.au/am/stories/s239050.htm
* The Thai Language - 'Farang'
LINK: http://www.into-asia.com/thai_language/farang.php
* World Buddhist Summit held in Thailand. LINK:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-11/01/content_3713300.htm
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* FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK:
OFFSHORE:
* TAX HAVEN LUXEMBOURG
Wealthy EU savers are find creative ways to dodge a Europe-wide crackdown on offshore tax havens. Latest escape route, dreamt up by Swiss private banks, uses a type of Luxembourg-based investment firm called a SICAV (société d’investissement à capital variable).
* Savers find an offshore haven in Luxembourg. LINK:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9554-1848726,00.html
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* DUBAI BECKONS AS OFFSHORE HAVEN
Private bankers vie for the business of the newly rich and the newly richer resulting from $60 a barrel oil prices. The oil rich get help from private bankers in financial centers like Geneva, Luxembourg, London.
* $60 oil a bonanza for private bankers, Islamic sector. LINK:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/25/news/rwemislamic.php
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WEALTH:
* OECD MEDDLES IN U.S. TAX POLICIES
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is at it again, this time suggesting that higher US taxes are desirable and that America should adopt a value-added tax.
This is not the first time the OECD has tried to interfere with US public policy. The OECD endorsed a UN scheme to increase US foreign aid spending by 450% from about $15 billion to more than $80 billion per year. Since 1997 the OECD has pursued a "tax harmonization" contrary to US interests and other low-tax countries. With these radical views, the OECD receives 25% of its budget, $60 million, from US taxpayers. Why? LINK: http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/press/p10-31-05/p10-31-05.shtml
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* New SEC rules for offshore hedge fund advisors. LINK:
http://www.hedgeweek.com/resourcenewsrelease.asp?ReleaseID=85F8D122-F27D-4A7F-A33E-974250ADEDB3
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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER.
* Bob Bauman, Editor * Daniel Aponte, Jr., Managing Editor.
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