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Peruse this for an idea of what you might be getting yourself into.

I'm not in America. but if I was, that wouldn't work either: http://www.escapeartist.com/efam5/expat_tax_2.html

Enjoy your unlimited servitude.

Sucursal de Citibank, N.A. establecida en la República Argentina. Citibank realiza su actividad bancaria en Argentina a través de su sucursal. La responsabilidad de Citibank emergente de esas operaciones, en particular por depósitos y demás obligaciones aceptados por su sucursal en Argentina, se encuentra limitada por las disposiciones contractuales aplicables en cada caso, la legislación vigente en Argentina y en los Estados Unidos de América y por el acaecimiento de eventos de riesgo político en Argentina. Los depósitos y demás obligaciones aceptados en Argentina son pagaderos únicamente en Argentina en una sucursal de Citibank y son pagaderos únicamente con los activos de la sucursal de Citibank en Argentina.

Rough translation: A branch of Citibank, N.A., incorporated in Argentina. Citibank does their bank business in argentina through their branch. Citibank's responsibility on those operations, especially on deposits and other obligations accepted by their Argentina branch, are limited by contractual dispositions that apply in each case, by the laws of Argentina, and the USA, and for EVENTS OF POLITICAL RISK IN ARGENTINA. Deposits and other obligations accepted in Argentina are to be paid only in Argentina, on a Citibank Argentina branch, and are only BACKED BY THE ARGENTINA BRANCH ASSETS"

We are supposedly bad about paying our debts, like the Italian investors (average people poorly advised, like here http://www.escapeartist.com/international/0800_arg entina.html): they bought HIGH RISK bonds in 2001, those bonds paid about a 100% YEARLY INTEREST RATE. That is, you bought bonds for 10.000 USD, a year later you cash them for 20.000 USD. I mean, dude, if something looks too good to be true, then it probably is (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_2 0040314/ai_n10950382). A country so desperate for money, you can't trust it.

That looks bad, but look closely at what Citi (the largest finance company in the world) says: "we are glad to do business with you, but if something goes wrong, we just pack our things and GET THE FUCK OUT, and take your money". Citi MAKES money in Argentina, and then takes it to the US. Seems fair to me. BUT, if something goes wrong, like, everyone trying to get their money at the same thing, Citi WILL NOT cover that with US money. Zero-risk investment, don't you think?

About the Italian investments, don't worry. We did pay those people. It was like this: We paid 25% of your original investment (yes, if you put $1000 we give you back just 250. Sorry), OR, we refinance that to 20 YEARS. That works out to a 5% yearly interest rate, which is still a pretty good deal. US Treasury bonds have t

http://www.escapeartist.com/Altos_Del_Maria/Mounta in_Garden.html

Cheap luxury houses for $40000, live tax free. Do what you like.

There's a very good web site and magazine, EscapeArtist, with lots of information about becoming an American expat:

http://www.escapeartist.com/

I was considering getting out, but decided I belong where I am. I'm gonna stay and do whatever I can to oppose the creeping fascism.

Theres plenty of opportunities out there .. can't understand why someone would want to be stuck in the US (or be stuck with a US passport).
Dubai is quite good .. a lot of my friends are moving there, Panama is also quite good...
Myself - I prefer Switzerland - been there for the past 5 years.

Find your own destination here:
http://www.escapeartist.com/

http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/69/Living_In_Bali .html

While Bali is fairly idyllic, apparently there are problems with foreigners being cheated in land sales and with becoming a resident.

General note: If you wish to work and/or live elsewhere, The EscapeArtist is a good resource to plan with.

http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/69/Living_In_Bali .html

While Bali is fairly idyllic, apparently there are problems with foreigners being cheated in land sales and with becoming a resident.

General note: If you wish to work and/or live elsewhere, The EscapeArtist is a good resource to plan with.

Escape Artist

It's about escaping from the US. If you really want to do something like this, I suggest that you do it before getting a girlfriend in this country though. (All my escape plans fell apart for this reason, she's very conventional and sees no reason to leave.)

For those who are not familiar with these... they allow anybody in the world to pay anybody else in the world a certain amount of gold. The actual gold sits in a vault (or actually several vaults across several locations on earth) and basically what gets exchanged is the rights to a fraction of that gold held in trust.

There are several well established digital gold currencies now, with E-Gold being the oldest, running since 1996 I believe.

One of the important distinctions between using E-gold as a payment system, and (say) credit cards, is that there are no chargebacks. That means that when a merchant receives payment, he is SURE that he has received REAL VALUE and not something that can be revoked.

Because of this, digital gold has really been catching on for online commerce in a lot of locations worldwide where credit cards have not been traditionally used. Places such as India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa are prime markets for digital currency. And personally, I think that western nations will really benefit from the birth of digital gold currencies as well.

Lets face it: the whole western world banking system is terribly outdated, and as evidenced by the high incidence of online fraud, credit cards are not really a great solution for e-commerce.

(Heck, even the Mozilla Foundation accepts E-Gold donations!)

And I haven't even begun to mention the privacy benefits, and the fact that gold retains its value much better than government issued fiat currency. This page has a bunch of great links about the digital currency revolution...

Oh, come off it!

You can buy an entire Caribbean island and build a nice house on it for under a quarter-million.

Why on earth would you wish to steal a million bucks and then hang out in an expensive, polluted, crowded city?

Move to Colorado and live on 35 acres in a beautiful log home for $330k.

Move to Costa Rica for under $200K.

Move to Perth! Nice place, under $350k.

I suppose, though, that thieves aren't all that good at being smart and fiscally sensible. A modest amount at moderate risk for a moderate lifestyle? Hell, no!

I'd probably make a lousy thief.

Emigrate to Canada

www.EscapeArtist.com has all the info you need to learn how to expatriate from America to any place in the world.

I can understand this for a startup company, as long as the company quickly moves to start covering the costs of its labor. But in the case of a wealthy organization, this means that the wealthy organization just *chooses* not to give economic justice. More for me, nothing for you.

I have been seeing this more and more, and it is part of what ails America. It comes from the move to give more to the investors, and comes from the blinds that are provided by corporate coverage, in which the investors can't see the plight of their workers.

But let me point out the results of economic injustice: if there is economic injustice, then the victim's investments remain unpaid, and in that case, it does not pay for the victim to invest!

In the case of inventors who can't afford to patent and defend their inventions, because the patent system only benefits wealthy corporations, the proper response is to not devote effort to inventing.

In the case where your compensation is not based upon justice, it does not pay to invest in an education that will make you a more valuable employee.

In the case where businesses are taxed to death, so that other businesses can recieve lucrative government contracts, it does not pay to start a business and help the economy: it pays to work your own garden instead.

In the case where individuals are taxed to death, to pay for more tax collectors, the farmer's strategy doesn't pay -- only the highway robber's strategy pays. If you want to see what this is like, look at Congo/Zaire.

If you think it is getting bad, and the problem is the government, then tell the government. If you don't think they'll listen, then it's better to leave, and find a better place.

Here's How.

If you think it is getting bad, and the problem is the people (yeah, they're all good people, they just, well, you can depend on them to do really evil things), then it's doubly important to find a better group of people.

Here's a hint.

If worst comes to worst, duck, cover the ones you love as well as possible, stay out of the way of wars as much as possible, and try to live with as much justice and charity as possible.

But the bible is absolutely right: when we choose to withhold a man's wages, we commit violence. When we choose economic theft as a regular diet, we commit murder. And we recreate our world to become a horror. Our spiritual failings definitely bring physical problems and death.

Just my two cents. That's all.

Really the House is only as good at those that vote them in...
oh wait... RTFA?
I have to vote for Shipping Containers for expats.

Case in point: Kevin Mintnick. Case in point: American Taliban. Case in point: Jose Padilla. Case in point: typical prisoner's dilemma.

Now, sometimes, it *is* justified, and the public will view it as justified. In that case, no gag agreement is necessary in the plea bargain.

That isn't the case here. Here, a gag agreement is necessary. And that implies that the government is being used criminally. Which is no surprise: the biggest criminal gang around typically *will* be the government.

But there are therefore only four responses possible:

(1) fight the government ineffectively, and get killed/imprisoned.
(2) Become a *bigger* criminal and win -- in which case things get WORSE for everyone else.
(3) cross your fingers for luck, and wait until the government gets into too many fights with other governments -- but understand that things will still only get worse for you [at the end of WWII, the German army slaughtered their own people].
(4) leave, and go somewhere else, and let the criminal government fall on its own, without taking you with it.

In other words, take some good, conservative advice, and pick a better country .

But don't confuse running afoul of the biggest bully on the schoolgrounds, with being criminal. Sometimes, his victims *are* criminal. Sometimes they aren't. But there is no direct link necessarily there.

Has this country just gone flat out insane?

No, the "going insane" part was long ago finished. We're into the full-blown acting-psychotic part of our disease.

What the hell ever happened to you mind your own business and i'll mind mine?

That's all been exported to some other country.

http://www.escapeartist.com/japan/japan.htm

Escape Artist magazine is a resource for people seeking expatriate employment, or for a new place to live.

I'm not the same Anonymous Coward, but I've been thinking about doing something similar. This Web site might help http://www.escapeartist.com. My personal plans are to go to SE asia and not South America, but the principals are the same. Unfortunately, I have to be patient, in a little while my schemes will pay off and I'll be free of the "rat race." (To keep certain parties from becoming aware of my schemes is why I choose to remain anonymous.)

Lots of info at Escape Artist.

There is even an article on the front page about how new immigrants to Canada can get tax breaks.

If you're serious about leaving the U.S. It might be wise to consider the implications.

Frankly, I find it incredibly disingenous to point to a body of 535 people, most of whom you've never even heard of, and say "every elected official breaks the oath...". That is not supported by the facts, and such rhetoric is alarmingly naive. It's almost as though you really believe that Congressmen, CEOs, and the rest of what passes for American Aristocracy do not face the same issues we do. It might make it easier to rationalize your rhetoric by dehumanizing those who are in government or positions of power, but it is still an injustice to people about whom oyu know nothing.

If you had actually met and talked with anyone at almost any level of government you would understand that each of them tries to do the best job they can. Some are better than others, some are even better people than others, but a couple of bad apples is no good reason throw out the whole basket. It's all in how you perceive it, and no issue is ever so simple as you'd like to think.

Things are much better now than they have been in the past. Ask my grandfather what it was like to grow up in Morgan Park, in a home built by Morgan, owned by Morgan, leased by morgan under the shadow of The Morgan(U.S. Steel) plant, attending Morgan school, buying shoes at the Morgan general market with (you guessed it) Morgan scrip. J.P Morgan was a generous man, but lets not forget he and others owned this country in ways that give the MPAA wet dreams. They usurped rights to peaceably assemble, and speak freely in breaking the unions, and they used their power and money to exert tremendous pressure on our nearly bankrupt government. The era of RobberBarons came to an end, and it ended despite the power that Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, et al. exerted over the government. The good guys won, but it's never so clear cut as it is in the movies. For instance, the income tax was passed and the Fed created as a result of the lack of money the government had with which to do anything. Is that a good thing ? Like everyting else, it depends on where you look at it from.

The point I'm tryin to make, such as it is; is that there are many changes coming down the pipe. I doubt we will get our positions on every issue right the first time, but that is not significant of the corruption inherent in the system, but rather the humanity that our system is rife with. Somewhere in there, people like us, will manage to live, and in most cases be happy anyway. Some of the rest of us need to cut back on the caffeine.

Nephs

--
My hell would be eternity in your heaven.