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Rich and American? Australia Wants You
An anonymous reader writes: Following the success of a millionaire visa program to attract wealthy Chinese, Australia has launched an invite-only visa program that promises citizenship to rich American entrepreneurs. To meet the requirements of the Premium Investment Visa plan Americans must first invest around 15 million Australian dollars. Reuters reports: "Investment advisors who have been briefed on the plan by government officials expressed doubts about the wisdom of targeting Americans, with several telling Reuters the more obvious place to start was Australia's Asian neighbors. After all, why would a successful U.S. entrepreneur want to invest a large chunk of cash in Australia — a country very similar to the United States, just further away from everything — in exchange for a passport that carries few additional benefits to their own? 'The U.S. has some problems that Australia doesn't have. It's got a lot more racial crimes, it's got a lot more gun-related crimes, but I don't think that is going to drive a whole bunch of ultra-rich Americans out of their country,' said Bill Fuggle, a partner at law firm Baker & McKenzie who advises wealthy Chinese migrating to Australia."
Don't bother. We're full. We have a housing crisis and the cost of living in a major city is criminal.
I pay $450/wk rent for a two bedroom unit 40 mins from Sydney. Young people growing up here have no chance of owning a house because we have an influx of Asians who have moved over and bought all our property, paid for by their rich parents.
He's right. It's a trap!
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I don't understand why guns always come up when non-Americans talk about America. I have lived here my entire 30 years, IN THE SOUTH, and have not seen a single gun in public except in the hands of a police officer. I own guns and most of my family do as well. But I've never seen them in public.
A nice place to visit but I need something like the Bill of Rights to call a country home.
Many locals would agree and it is a long sort over goal for the country. When the country was presented an opportunity for its own Bill of Right in the 1980s many of the shock jock radio announcers lobbied heavily against it and it was defeated.
I hope that some day one of those radio announcers are on the business end of not having those rights. As for the many morons who voted against the Bill it just shows how sadly apathetic many Australians have become, largely due to Murdoch and the News empire that grew up in Australia before becoming an American company.
Faux News is the enemy of freedom in the land of the free.
Australia does things all the time that just casually violate what I consider to be sacred rights.
Yes, and many times it happens to promote American interests because our politicians are too spineless to stand up for themselves. No one likes it and the Trans Pacific Partnership is a fine example. We are not even allowed to see the text of a bill that is to be passed into law.
They are things that everyday Australians object to and I'm certain everyday Americans would find it offensive too.
I know my views are incomprehensible to many.
No they are not and many reasonable educated Australians would agree with you. We need a Bill of Rights more than ever. If you are prepared to make your views known to Australian politicians it would be most welcome.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.