Doug Casey has been very prophetic the last 20 years or so in forecasting what will happen to the U.S. and the world. I ran into Doug by reading one of his first books, "The international man" I found in a garage sale 20 years ago. He wrote it back in the late 70's and it is even more viable today than it was then. It is now a collectors item and sells for $474.93 on Amazon. Casey is now building a Safe Haven in Argentina, kind of along the lines of what I built here in Panama.
The International man was the book that set me on the very course I have taken in leaving the U.S. in 1995 and eventually settling down here in Panama. If I had not read that book I might still be back in the U.S. and Valle Escondido might still be a coffee farm.
This interview with Doug Casey is rather timely with last weeks post about the new law in the U.S. affecting offshore investments and banking. He is certain that currency controls are on the way by all governments and the window is closing for those who want to get their money into other forms of assets that are not so susceptible to government controls.
Here are some highlights, but you can read the whole article here....
L: Doug, we recently talked about getting assets out of your home country, especially the U.S., where to take them and what to do with them. In so doing, you touched on the inevitability of currency controls just ahead, especially for Americans. Can you tell us more about that?
Doug: Yes, I’m quite serious about what I said about “the grim reality of impending currency controls.” As the global economy continues to deteriorate, governments will have to appear to be “doing something.” It’s going to become very fashionable to institute some sort of foreign exchange control.
Why might that be? Because obviously, people who are taking their money out of the country are unpatriotic…
L: Those bastards.
Doug: That’s right. Jingoistic Americans naturally, but stupidly, see taking money out of the country as being unpatriotic. They don’t understand that it’s mainly those prudent people who will be able to supply the capital to rebuild a devastated economy later. Besides, getting money abroad is obviously something that only rich people would do… and of course, it’s time to eat the rich, as well. For those two reasons, there won’t be much resistance to controls. And the state gets to appear to be “doing something.”
And when they do, more people – at least those with any sense – will get scared and really try to get their money out, which will exacerbate the run to the exits. The bottom line is that if you want to get your money out, the time to do it is now. Beat the last-minute rush.
I don’t know what form the exchange controls are going to take, but there are two general possibilities: regulation and taxation.
The regulations might take the form of a rule prohibiting you from taking more than X-thousands of dollars abroad per year without special permission. No expensive vacations, no foreign asset purchases without state approval.
As for the taxation, if you want to, say, buy foreign stocks or real estate, you might have to pay an “Interest Equalization Tax” or some such. So, you could do it, but it’d cost you a lot of money to do it.
Something like either of these, or both, is definitely in the cards.
Recent Comments