Sovereign Man, Notes from the Field Date: May 25, 2012 Reporting From: Yangon, Burma

 

Notes from the Field

Date: May 25, 2012
Reporting From: Yangon, Burma

[Editor's note: Sovereign Man Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose is filling in for Simon today from Yangon, Burma.]

If you’re sick and tired of all the doom and gloom that pervades the US and Europe, and should your personal circumstances allow, I unreservedly recommend that you hop on a plane and go and check out Burma.

This is a rare good news story, and it may very well be one of the most exciting economies in the world.

Shut off from economic sanctions since the early 1990s, Burma (aka Myanmar) is starting to emerge once again. From the looks of things on the ground, it’s not just hype.

The retiring generals seem to have decided that the best way to protect their accumulated wealth and not ending up like Hosni Mubarak is to open the country up and introduce democratic reforms.

This way, they hope, they won’t be remembered as tyrants, but as visionaries who initiated a ‘peaceful transition to democracy’. I imagine all sorts of back-room deals have been struck with western diplomats to ensure Burma’s current leaders won’t be prosecuted.

As a result of this change in the political landscape, economic sanctions imposed by Europe and the United States have been suspended, and Yangon today is awash with opportunity.

The reason is simple. This is a market with huge potential. Burma has a young (median age 24), growing population of 56 million that is exceedingly rich in natural resources.

At the time of the military coup in 1968, in fact, Burma was actually the richest country in South East Asia. Neighboring Thailand, which is roughly the same size, and has a similar population, today boasts an economy eight times larger than Burma’s.

Clearly there’s huge potential for catch-up… and my observations on the ground in Yangon confirm this assertion:

- Many goods and services that we take for granted in the West, for instance, are in limited supply. Others simply do not exist.

- With a few exceptions, the country’s entire fleet of motor vehicles looks like the cast offs from a bad used car dealership.

- Mobile phone penetration ranks 215 out of 217 countries in the world, behind only Bhutan and North Korea.  Burma is the only country I’ve ever visited where my Hong Kong mobile phone can’t roam on the local network.

- The leading business hotel downtown does not accept credit cards. Payment must be made upfront, in cash, in US dollars.

- The few ATMs that do exist are not connected to the outside world.

- Internet access is patchy at best and non-existent for long periods… assuming you can even find a connection.

- Power outages are commonplace. And that’s being polite.

Banking, infrastructure, and telecommunications are some of the most obvious industries crying out for substantial investment.

Yet while the military regime that has ruled the country for the past 45-odd years has finally decided to reform, many issues remain unclear.

There is, in theory, a rule of law based on a British Common Law tradition as a result of the country’s colonial past. But its application and interpretation can be arbitrary.

There is a Foreign Investment Law– a legacy from when the country enjoyed a brief period of economic sunshine in the early 1990s.  But it is currently being revised, and it remains unclear what the exact changes will be.

The series of meetings I’ve had in Yangon have all been useful, and the people here are universally positive on the country’s outlook. But at this early stage, there is more watching and waiting than actually investing and doing.

The local stock exchange, for example, has only two listed companies. And they trade only a handful of times each month.

The head of the exchange told me there are only 11 public companies in the entire country. Two are listed; another two are “qualified” to list, but don’t want to. The rest are too opaque and don’t meet the acceptable standards of disclosure expected of listed companies.

It is possible for a non citizen to own 100% of a local company, however it is currently illegal for foreigners to buy shares from locals. That means, for now, if you want to invest in Burma, you have to start something from scratch.  There are few pure passive opportunities.

For the right person, with the right idea, as well as the energy and talent to execute on it, I would rank the business opportunities in Burma among the most attractive anywhere.

There are still many moving parts, and the business landscape remains in a state of flux. But already many ambitious young people, including highly educated Burmese who grew up abroad, are here on the ground. A certain percentage of them will undoubtedly become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.

The field is wide open. If you want to be among them, there should be nothing holding you back.

Until next time,

Tim Staermose
Chief Investment Strategist
Sovereign Man

This article appears courtesy of SovereignMan.com: Notes From The
Field, a free newsletter dedicated to individual freedom,
internationalization, asset protection and global finance. For a
complimentary subscription, visit http://www.SovereignMan.com

Notes from the Field Date: May 24, 2012 Location: Lake Tahoe, USA

Notes from the Field

Date: May 24, 2012

Location: Lake Tahoe, USA

Yesterday was my lucky day.

While hiking in the middle of nowhere around Lake Tahoe, I literally stumbled onto a 1-ounce US silver eagle coin, 1996 issue. It was just lying there on the ground without a soul in sight.

The coin was pretty muddy, but I managed to clean it off later with an old toothbrush and some elbow grease… at which point I decided to take my good fortune on the road for a little unscientific poll.

I’ve traveled to plenty of countries where the local population is very in tune with the prices of gold and silver, particularly in Asia, India, and the Middle East. It’s simply part of the culture.

In the developed world, however, people have much greater confidence in their paper currencies because they’ve been brainwashed since birth to believe their currencies are sound.

As such, I was not surprised by the results of my little informal survey.

Walking around the lakefront resort community where I’m staying, I stopped passers-by and explained to them how I had found this coin. Then I’d ask, “What do you think it’s worth?”

The first person I showed it to held it in his hand and felt the coin’s heavy weight with a slight tick of his eyebrow. Then he flipped it over to the reverse side, saw the “1 OZ. FINE SILVER- ONE DOLLAR” marking at the bottom, and replied, “Uh, a dollar…”

One after another, locals, tourists, and staff alike were completely mystified at the prospect of my weighty silver coin having much ‘value’.

Several people commented on the coins year, claiming, “Well it’s probably not worth much, maybe just a dollar, because it’s only from 1996… I mean, if it were from the 1950s, then you might have something…”

Another common response was “I have no earthly idea.” After half a dozen of those, I changed my approach and walked into one of the local casinos where I saw three bored dealers at an empty blackjack table.

I plunked my coin on the table and asked, “How many chips will you give me for this?”

Each one of them examined the coin and looked at each other in silent conference before one of them said, “$1.”

I asked a few other folks milling around the lobby if they’d give me $5 or $10 for the coin, which seemed to offend people much more than spark their curiosity for the opportunity.

Finally I met a man and his wife who were walking their dog on the beach nearby; I walked up to them and said, “You look like intelligent people, maybe you can help me out… see I found this coin during a hike today and have no idea if it’s worth anything. What do you think?”

The man took the coin and noticed it was silver; he said, “Oh, this is silver… it’s probably worth something. You should SELL IT!”

Great. I finally find someone who actually seemed aware of precious metals’ value, and his initial reaction is to trade it for paper
currency.

Like I said, I can’t really say I’m surprised. Even here in this wealthy resort area filled with educated, successful people, nobody really had a clue. Western governments inculcate such mindless devotion to their paper currencies, I suppose it’s a hard mindset to break.

But as unscientific as my informal poll may have been, it does suggest one obvious conclusion: we are nowhere near the mania phase for precious metals… and any talk of a gold ‘bubble’ is complete nonsense.

The current pullback is just that– a pullback. Like we saw in 2008, institutional money managers are locking in their profits as they cash up and prepare to take heavy losses over the euro crisis.

Gold and silver’s real breakout will be when the average, everyday guy has signed up to receive gold price SMS alerts to his smart phone and has the local coin dealer on speed dial.

Just like the real estate bubble in the early 2000s when every Tom, Dick, and Harry was flipping off-plan condos in Miami, precious metals will enter bubble territory when the masses get into the market.

It may be a bumpy ride for precious metals as the euro crisis continues to unfold… but it’s clear that we’re a long way off from the Joe Six-Pack mania phase.

Until tomorrow,

Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com 

This article appears courtesy of SovereignMan.com: Notes From The
Field, a free newsletter dedicated to individual freedom,
internationalization, asset protection and global finance. For a
complimentary subscription, visit http://www.SovereignMan.com

Sovereign Man, Notes from the Field Date: May 22, 2012 Reporting From: Los Angeles, United States

Notes from the Field

Date: May 22, 2012
Reporting From: Los Angeles, United States

This week, the universally stupid brainchild of US Senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey known as the Ex-PATRIOT Act inched a bit closer towards becoming law.

‘Ex-PATRIOT’ is an absurd acronym that stands for “Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy”. I call it the Tax Slave Act… and it proposes three key provisions:

1) Individuals who are deemed, in the sole discretion of the US government, to have renounced US citizenship in order to avoid US taxes, will be permanently barred from re-entering the United States.

2) Such individuals will also be required to pay a 30% capital gains tax to the United States government on ALL future investment gains derived from the US. Currently, non-citizens who do not reside in the US pay no US capital gains tax.

3) These proposals are RETROACTIVE, and, if passed, would apply to anyone who renounced his/her citizenship within the last 10-years.

During a Sunday interview with ABC News, House Speaker John Boehner threw his support behind the bill… certainly a big step towards its eventual passage.

Let’s pause briefly for a little history lesson–

Dart Container Corporation was founded in 1960 by William F. Dart, the man who first perfected the design of styrofoam.  Dart Container is today a multi-billion dollar family-owned company with thousands of employees and operations around the world.

In the early 1990s, brothers Kenneth and Robert Dart, heirs to the family fortune, renounced their US citizenship and became citizens of Belize and Ireland, and set up residency in the Cayman Islands.

Around the same time, several other wealthy Americans renounced citizenship, including Carnival Cruise Lines founder Ted Arison (who obtained Israeli citizenship), Campbell Soup heir John Dorrance (Irish citizenship), and fund manager Mark Mobius (German citizenship).

President Clinton was furious, and in 1996, he pushed Congress to pass a series of financial penalties for people who renounce citizenship. At the time, a ‘renunciant’ had to continue filing US tax returns for 10-years after renouncing.

Effectively, though, this penalty was a tax on worldwide income, not an exit tax on assets.

Fast forward to the mid-2000s, a time when the asset bubble was at its peak; the stock market was at its all-time high and real estate prices kept going up.

The Bush regime passed a series of changes to expatriation rules, dropping the income tax filing requirements in lieu of charging a one-time exit tax on assets.

In this way, the government was able to derive a much larger payment up front based on total assets rather than chasing around a former citizen for a piece of annual income.

In the years since the exit tax on assets was established, two things have happened:

1) The number of Americans renouncing US citizenship has risen steadily, from 235 people in 2008 to 1,780 last year (according to Schumer’s office).

2) The asset bubble has burst, and assets are worth much less than just a few years ago. As such, the government isn’t collecting as much revenue from the exit tax.

My sense is that the government has been watching the number of expatriates rise over the years, and simultaneously watching the value of the exit tax fall… and they’ve been looking for an excuse to make sweeping (i.e. retroactive) changes.

Eduardo Saverin is the perfect excuse. The Facebook co-founder’s recent renunciation of US citizenship has become a rallying cry for politicians to go back in time and steal money from former citizens retroactively…plus establish a larger base for future tax revenues.

This is a truly despicable thing to do considering that these former citizens followed the appropriate rules at the time, paid the tax, and moved on with their lives. Now Uncle Sam wants to go back in time to unilaterally change the deal, and expect everyone to abide even though they’re not even citizens anymore. The arrogance is overwhelming.

More importantly, this bill is also a major deterrent for people who are thinking about renouncing US citizenship today.

The passage of this law will undoubtedly cause many people who were considering expatriation to abandon the idea altogether as the thought of being permanently barred from entry is too much to bear.

It’s truly extraordinary that the Land of the Free has deteriorated to the point that the government must now resort to threats, coercion, and intimidation in order to keep its most productive citizens inside.

Until tomorrow,

Simon Black

Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com

This article appears courtesy of SovereignMan.com: Notes From The
Field, a free newsletter dedicated to individual freedom,
internationalization, asset protection and global finance. For a
complimentary subscription, visit http://www.SovereignMan.com

Sovereign Man, Notes from the Field Date: May 21, 2012 Reporting From: Los Angeles, United States

Notes from the Field

Date: May 21, 2012
Reporting From: Los Angeles, United States

I had the privilege of seeing Roger Waters perform ‘The Wall’ to a live crowd of over 40,000 fans at the LA Coliseum on Saturday night– the second time I’ve seen the show on this tour.

It was an amazing production– I wholeheartedly recommend the experience as it’s something that no DVD or album recording could possibly reproduce.

At one point, Waters paused his set and began telling the audience about Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year old Brazilian national who was shot *8-times* by British police several years ago at a south London tube station after being mistakenly identified as a terrorist.

The police, adhering to the ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ model of peace enforcement, have never been held accountable for taking the life of an innocent man at point blank range.

“If we stand at the top of the slope and give our governments, and particularly our police, too much power, it’s a very long and dangerous slippery slope to the bottom,” Waters said.

The crowd went berserk, roaring with approval.

It certainly gives one hope that the message is sinking in; most folks, it seems, have a conceptual  understanding that governments are corrupt and abusive… but at the end of the day, they’ll still fall in line behind the political system.

An entire lifetime of programming, starting practically at birth, reinforces that government and police are the ‘good guys’. It’s a difficult inclination to break.

The stories that we all hear on an almost daily basis about corruption and abuse of power are appalling indeed. But most people think that they’re just aberrations in an otherwise good system… and that it’s just not going to happen to them.

Until it does.

George Reby is a great example. The New Jersey resident was driving on I-40 in Tennessee when he was stopped for speeding. The officer then asked him if he was carrying large amounts of cash.

Reby said that he had about $20,000, upon which the officer asked if he could search the vehicle.

Reby consented, saying later, “I certainly didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong…”

You can probably tell where this is going… the officer promptly confiscated the cash, claiming that it might be used for drug trafficking. Reby explained that he was on his way to buy a car he’d found on eBay (and even showed him the eBay ad), and showed that the source of funds were legitimate.

It didn’t matter. He had his money stolen in the most insidious way…by a thuggish, criminal agent of the government (who was sporting a rather menacing neck tattoo).

At least a real criminal knows what he’s doing is wrong; he knows that he’s committing an immoral act by shooting or robbing someone. The police, on the other hand, think their actions are legitimate, that they’re just ‘doing their job.’

This is intellectually dishonest and morally reprehensible. Everyone involved, including the officer himself, agreed that Reby committed no crime… that it’s perfectly legal to carry cash.

Yet citizens like Reby are routinely relieved of their hard-earned savings, and then have to spend thousands of dollars fighting to get it back.

As it turns out, police have a huge incentive to steal; they get a healthy cut of the proceeds from any asset seizure, and the funds go to pay for new toys like those whiz bang Camaro hot rod police cruisers.

You can check out Reby’s disgraceful story here:

It goes to show that this idea of “I’ve done nothing wrong, I’ve got nothing to hide, so I have nothing to fear…” is completely bogus.

People who are completely innocent of any wrongdoing can still have their lives turned upside down by a corrupt government that has an incentive to plunder its citizens.

Yet every time we turn around, they’ve managed to award themselves more power, more authority.

From the NDAA which authorizes the military detention of US citizens on US soil, to President Obama’s executive order authorizing government confiscation of practically everything, to the UK’s new plan to monitor all mobile, phone, email, and text messages going in, out, or through the country.

From Rome to the Ottoman Empire, history is full of examples of failing, insolvent governments that resort to similar tactics of desperately pillaging the wealth and freedoms of their citizens. The conclusions we can draw from this are simple:

1) The trend for failing states is to grant themselves more power.
1) Power, once granted, is almost impossible to take back.
2) More power means more abuse of power.
3) It can (and does) happen to anyone.

Putting any faith in an insolvent government to do the right thing is absurd… and it behooves everyone to safeguard important assets and interests by diversifying internationally.

Until tomorrow,

Simon Black

Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com

This article appears courtesy of SovereignMan.com: Notes From The
Field, a free newsletter dedicated to individual freedom,
internationalization, asset protection and global finance. For a
complimentary subscription, visit http://www.SovereignMan.com

A story for what ever you make of it….Via E-mail from a good Friend to Admin…

A story for what ever you make of it.

You can’t make this stuff up. Read the NY Times Oct 13, 2011 to verify ownership.

 

Do you know the park in NYC that the Wall Street protesters occupied?

It’s Zuccotti Park .

Did you know this park is NOT owned by the city of New York ?

It’s owned by Brookfield Properties.

Brookfield Asset Management received an Obama Department of Energy Loan guarantee of over $160 million within 10 days of approving the take over of the Park.

Brookfield is a Canadian company with assets of 70 billion. Google it  It’s all on their website – and WHY is the US Taxpayer guaranteeing a loan to a VERY wealthy Canadian company?!?!

Who was just hired by

Brookfield Properties as an attorney?

Vice President Joe Biden’s son.

Who sits on the board of Brookfield Properties?

NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s live in girlfriend.

Now, guess what company just received some of the last of the Obama Stimulus $$$$$$$.

Thaaaaaaaaaaaat’s right, Brookfield Properties.  (a Canadian Corp)
Isn’t life great in America !

Now, guess what, on a completely unrelated note?  Wisconsin is shaping up to be the swing state in the 2012 presidential elections. Not Florida . Not Ohio . But Wisconsin .

Now, guess who owns the company that will be tabulating all the electronic votes in Wisconsin

.

Thaaaaaaaaaaaat’s right, the biggest contributor to Obama, the puppeteer George Soros. Whaaaaaaaaaaaat a coincidence!

And now for your quick refresher in World History:

Remember what Stalin said. “He who votes does not have the power.
He who counts the votes has the power”.

Sovereign Man, Notes from the Field Date: May 17, 2012 Reporting From: Undisclosed location, United States

Notes from the Field

Date: May 17, 2012
Reporting From: Undisclosed location, United States

I’ve been in the US for a little more than 24-hours. And having flipped through the TV channels trying to figure out what useless drivel big media is passing off as ‘news’, I realized that I’m going to vomit if I hear the word “fair” one more time.

This concept of ‘fair’ seems to be dominating discussion of the US government’s dismal fiscal condition. The talking heads say that it’s ‘fair’ for wealthy Americans to pay higher taxes and bail the country out… or that everyone needs to pay his/her ‘fair’ share.

The whole logic is absurd: you do not ‘fix’ the country’s fiscal imbalances by giving the idiots in charge even more resources to squander… it’s like dumping gasoline on a forest fire. Somehow the debate seems to have missed this point.

This ‘fair’ nonsense is also very dangerous.  Just ask any three-year old– ‘fair’ is completely arbitrary. It’s like a Wiki version morality… if enough people agree on it, it’s fair.

In this case, ‘fair’ is defined in the sole discretion of those who are the direct beneficiaries of confiscating other people’s money. But let’s look at the numbers:

According to the IRS statistical database, the top 1% of income earners in the United States pays roughly 40% of all US individual income tax. They also get audited at least 5-times more than anyone else. Fair?

The other major complaint seems to be that the wealthy are ‘abusing’ capital gains rules in order to pay a 15% rate instead of a 35% rate. Duh. That’s why they’re wealthy, and stay wealthy… they don’t WORK for a living, they OWN assets which are subject to capital gains.

It seems so bizarre that a country once regarded as the freest, most economically enviable in the world would treat its productive citizens with such hostility.

This is where Eduardo Saverin comes in. The Facebook co-founder, who finds himself a few billion dollars richer this week, recently renounced his US citizenship. And, to the intelligentsia, it’s not ‘fair’.

‘Saverin needs to pay his fair share! He owes America more,’ they whine, completely ignorant that the 30-year old is already forking over a $500+ million exit tax (which may end up in the billions).

Apparently it’s not good enough that the company Saverin co-founded has created tens of thousands of jobs, spawned entire industries, and produced oodles of new millionaires. Oh yeah, it’s also made things damn easy for the CIA, NSA, and FBI. You’d think Uncle Sam would pin a medal on his chest.

But no. Saverin left behind a lot of value and decided to move on to greener pastures in Singapore. Now the do-gooders in Congress are cooking up new legislation (the EX-PATRIOT Act) designed to permanently bar ‘renunciants’ like Saverin from re-entering the United States.

It’s interesting that, rather than change their ways of doing business and introducing legislation that provides incentives for productive people to come here and stay here, they maintain policies that chase people away, and introduce new ones to lock the door after they’re gone.

The lesson here (especially for natural-born citizens) is this: simply by accident of birth, you are born with a lifelong obligation that you never signed up for to finance the corrupt misdealings of the political class. And if you choose to abandon this obligation, they will bar you from ever entering your homeland again.

Regardless of what the propaganda says, this is not how a free society treats people. It might look and feel like a representative democracy on the surface, but under the hood it’s the modern day equivalent of feudal serfdom.

The land of the free has certainly fallen a long way.

Until tomorrow,

Simon Black

Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com

This article appears courtesy of SovereignMan.com: Notes From The
Field, a free newsletter dedicated to individual freedom,
internationalization, asset protection and global finance. For a
complimentary subscription, visit http://www.SovereignMan.com

Sovereign Man, Notes from the Field Date: May 11, 2012 Reporting From: Undisclosed Location

Notes from the Field

Date: May 11, 2012
Reporting From: Undisclosed Location

Former US Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann receives the Sovereign Man dumbest person of the week award for obtaining… then almost immediately renouncing… Swiss citizenship. I’ll explain:

Bachmann’s husband is a Swiss national; they’ve been married since 1978, and as a result, Bachmann eventually became qualified for Swiss citizenship as well.

She recently received confirmation of her citizenship from the Swiss authorities, a fact that was reported in some mainstream media outlets. Bachmann was subsequently criticized by her political opponents for engaging in such ‘un-American’ activities.

[This is a bizarre assertion, by the way, as the country was built on dual nationals...]

And so, just two days after the story broke, Bachmann renounced her Swiss citizenship yesterday, announcing that she is a “proud American citizen.”

This is, by far, one of the dumbest things that somebody could do. It’s possible to both be a proud citizen AND have a backup plan. Patriotism doesn’t mean blindly going all in.

Having a second passport provides a great deal of opportunities, from new banking and financial relationships to a having a fallback option for another place to live.

It’s like an insurance policy… something that you many never ‘need’, but you’ll be incredibly thankful you have in case you ever do.

And as citizenship is often conferred generationally, your progeny will also be able to enjoy the benefits. In this way, it’s like having an insurance policy for all of your future descendants. Not a bad deal.

A Swiss passport is definitely one of the best. You can travel almost anywhere visa-free. It’s a great place to have the option to live some day. The economy is actually functional. Oh, and there are no men in caves plotting to kill the Swiss.

Obtaining Swiss nationality, though, requires a great deal of time and patience; it takes well over a decade to qualify, apply, and receive citizenship, and slightly less time if you’re married to a Swiss national.

Only a handful of people are lucky enough to become naturalized Swiss citizens, and giving it up is like throwing away a winning lottery ticket…

Ironically, after her political tenure is over and Congress has managed to finally finish off the US economy, Bachmann may, having renounced Swiss citizenship, find herself one day trapped in the environment of financial repression, capital controls, and steep inflation that was created by the government she once served.

The rest of us don’t have to end up this way.

For millennia, governments on the slide have resorted to plundering their citizens in order to maintain the status quo and keep the party going a little while longer.

History is full of examples, from the Roman Empire (which resorted to direct confiscation of people’s agricultural stock) to the Greek government of today (which is now simply nationalizing people’s bank accounts in its sole discretion).

The folks who stick around waving the flag and bombastically proclaiming their patriotism just end up getting abused. Thinking, creative people have a plan B.

Today this means taking steps to diversify internationally, including obtaining a second passport.

Now, I put boots on the ground all over the world. Just in the last two months, for example, I’ve been to 14+ countries from Venezuela to Thailand to Canada to Peru.

In each of these places, I’m constantly looking for the best opportunities– lifestyle, investment, business, employment, banking, medical, personal, etc.

Residency and citizenship is high on my list… and what I can say is that it’s definitely getting harder by the day. Governments are starting to realize that a passport is one of the scarcest resources in the world, and as things continue to get a bit crazy, demand is growing.

Scarce supply, rising demand; we all know what this means. Bottom line, it’s getting harder:

- St. Kitts, generally considered a foolproof economic citizenship program, recently raised their already high price for obtaining nationality.

- In Uruguay, the standards are now very strict, and the government wants you to really prove your value to Uruguayan society. They’ve even hired a special team to go around the country to check on your physical residency.

- In Singapore, the flood of EmployeePass applications has made the government reconsider this residency program after having already discontinued the high net worth Financial Investor Scheme.

- For residency and citizenship in Paraguay, the government keeps modifying the procedures for application, and it’s taking much, much longer than it used to.

There are a lot more examples, but its true: obtaining foreign residency and getting naturalized is really getting harder.

Nobody else is going to tell you this. In fact, the plethora of idiots running around ‘selling’ passport services who have no earthly idea what they’re talking about is only spreading misinformation and making matters worse.

In reality, there are still some high quality options available, several of which I will review at the end of this month on our SMC members-only teleconference.

To give you an example, Brazil and Chile are both excellent, off the radar choices. But you really need to have the right support, someone who actually knows what s/he is doing.

The biggest lesson is– do not procrastinate. The sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll be grandfathered in under the old rules. The longer you wait, the higher the likelihood that an option won’t be available any longer.

Something to think about.

Until tomorrow,

Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com

PS. Don’t forget that the application deadline for our 2012 Liberty and Entrepreneurship summer workshop is on Tuesday, May 15th. We have students applying from all over the world– 39 countries and counting, as diverse as Indonesia, Macedonia, India, Brazil, New Zealand, and the United States.

Young people– don’t miss out on this opportunity. Go to BlacksmithCamp.com for more details.

This article appears courtesy of SovereignMan.com: Notes From The
Field, a free newsletter dedicated to individual freedom,
internationalization, asset protection and global finance. For a
complimentary subscription, visit http://www.SovereignMan.com

Sovereign Man, Notes from the Field Date: May 10, 2012 Reporting From: Florianopolis, Brazil

Notes from the Field

Date: May 10, 2012
Reporting From: Florianopolis, Brazil

Brazil is undoubtedly a land of superlatives. One may easily defend that it is the most beautiful country in the world, or claim that Brazilians are the friendliest people in the world. And yes, even the most attractive.

Economically, the story is the same; at $2.4 trillion, Brazil’s economy is twice the size of its nearest regional rival (Mexico), and as a consumer market, it has twice the population with a far greater propensity to consume.

Moreover, foreign investment in Brazil is greater than every other country in Latin America. Combined. It’s staggering. The opportunities here are truly immense.

One of the things that’s so compelling about Brazil is that there are so many places to be; in a lot of countries, the vast majority of business and financial opportunities are concentrated in a single city.

Yet in Brazil, from Rio to Sao Paulo to Belo Horizonte to Brasilia to Salvador to Curitiba to Manaus to Porto Alegre to Recife, there are really a lot of options for major cities full of ripe opportunities.

One of these is Florianopolis, metro population 1.1 million. And in a country characterized by so many superlatives, Florianopolis may be the city of superlatives within Brazil.

It’s a laid-back beach town. It’s a vibrant university town. It’s a rapidly-growing technology hub. It has the highest reported quality of life in Brazil, among the highest in the world. It was even named ‘the best place to live in Brazil.’

And with good reason. Florianopolis is gorgeous. The weather is excellent. Cost of living is much lower than in nearby Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo. It’s safe. It’s connected, with nonstop flights to major cities in Brazil, as well as the region– Buenos Aires, Santiago, Montevideo.

The biggest reason to come here, though, is that Florianopolis represents Brazil’s future, probably more than any other city. This is saying a lot given that Brazil itself represents the future of the west.

It’s a young, intensely energetic place. Smart, creative, productive people from around the world, and especially from Brazil, are flocking here to create the next big thing, from energy to nanotech. Plus, some of the region’s best incubators are here to help advance new ideas.

The local culture is open to rapid change, growth, and diversity in a way that’s unusually refreshing given Brazil’s highly bureaucratic, populist leanings. I’ve also found English proficiency in Florianopolis to be much better than in many other parts of the country.

Bottom line: Florianopolis should be on your radar if…

1) You’re an entrepreneur interested in a Brazilian-based business with exposure to world markets. (note: entrepreneurs can obtain residency, and eventual citizenship, by investing roughly $80,000 USD in a Brazilian startup…)

2) Young people with a lot of drive and energy who want to be part of the next boom, but don’t necessarily have a precise idea of exactly what they want to be doing.

3) Technology professionals, including those with families, looking to relocate. There are a lot of tech jobs available here, and not a lot of locals able to fill them. (note: being hired by a Brazilian company is another way to obtain residency…)

4) Retirees. Between the weather, the safety, the medical facilities, and the gorgeous surroundings, Florianopolis is a great place to live out the Golden Years. Even better, you won’t ever have to get on a plane to visit the grandkids… they’ll be beating down your door to come visit you!

Until tomorrow,

Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com 

This article appears courtesy of SovereignMan.com: Notes From The
Field, a free newsletter dedicated to individual freedom,
internationalization, asset protection and global finance. For a
complimentary subscription, visit http://www.SovereignMan.com

Sovereign Man, Notes from the Field Date: May 9, 2012 Reporting From: Sao Paulo, Brazil

Notes from the Field

Date: May 9, 2012
Reporting From: Sao Paulo, Brazil

When most people think of Brazil, it’s the incredible beaches that come to mind. Or the crazy parties of Carnival. Or the spectacular vistas and great weather. Or how indescribably gorgeous (and welcoming) the locals are.But here’s a little known fact, and it’s something that sets Brazil apart from most other places: Brazil’s constitution prohibits the extradition of Brazilian citizens to other countries. This is a rare gem in the world… I’ll explain.

Believe it or not, most countries are happy to sell their citizens down the river to another government. If you have been charged with a crime in another country, or are even simply ‘wanted for questioning’, your home government in all likelihood will comply with the request to round you up and ship you off.

For example, only 7% of all extradition requests that the US government made to the British government between 1 January 2004 and 31 July 2009 were denied. The US government denied ZERO extradition requests from the British government over the same period.

You may also be familiar the ongoing case of Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange, who is wanted in Sweden for “questioning” related to bizarre sex case.

The British government approved Sweden’s extradition request, though Assange has appealed the decision numerous times. He’s lost every appeal so far, and in all likelihood he’ll be on a plane bound for Sweden in the near future.

Assange is an Australian citizen, and his government has completely abandoned him.

You may also remember the more recent case of Kim Dotcom, the German founder of MegaUpload.com who was arrested in New Zealand as part of a US operation to shut down his file-sharing site. Like Assange, the German government has been silent.

This is ironic because most people are brought up to believe that their governments will protect them… that if you get into a jam overseas, they’ll send the military to rescue you.

The reality is that, far more often, governments trade their own citizens away in order to score diplomatic brownie points, even when there’s not even a crime involved.

The US-Mexico extradition treaty, for example, lists a number of extraditable offenses, such as:

- Violations of the customs laws
- Offenses against copyright or intellectual property
- Offenses related to international trade and transfers of funds or valuable metals
- Offenses relating to prohibition “unfair transactions”

We’re not exactly talking about violent criminals here; these rules so opaque that just about everyone on the planet is in violation of some offense.

That’s why Brazil’s Constitutional guarantee is so refreshing. Brazil has a long history of rejecting extradition requests for citizens… and if Assange and Dotcom had thought that far ahead, they’d be sitting on the beach in Rio right now instead of wearing electronic ankle bracelets under house arrest.

Needless to say, this requires obtaining Brazilian citizenship… which, if you’re in a hurry, you can qualify for in just 12-months. More on that in a future letter, I’ve got a plane to catch!

Until tomorrow,

Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com 

This article appears courtesy of SovereignMan.com: Notes From The
Field, a free newsletter dedicated to individual freedom,
internationalization, asset protection and global finance. For a
complimentary subscription, visit http://www.SovereignMan.com

Sovereign Man, Notes from the Field Date: May 8, 2012 Reporting From: Jakarta, Indonesia

Notes from the Field

Date: May 8, 2012
Reporting From: Jakarta, Indonesia

[Editor's note: Sovereign Man Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose is filling in for Simon today from Jakarta.]

If you swallow the line parroted by the mass media in the West (my adopted country of Australia being the prime offender), you’d think Indonesia was a strict Islamic state where terrorists run around bombing nightclubs frequented by tourists.

And you probably have a mental image of an economic backwater reliant on exports of natural resources such as coal and palm oil to pay its bills.

Rubbish.

Toss all your clichéd, preconceived assumptions about Indonesia out of the window immediately.

Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital city, is a modern, sophisticated metropolis populated by friendly, tolerant people of many cultures and religions.

The world’s biggest Buddhist temple is in Indonesia. There are more Christians here (28 million) than the entire populations of Australia and New Zealand combined.

Oh, and there are more registered users of Facebook than in almost every other country in the world! Not exactly the hotbed of ultra-conservative Islam.

More broadly, Indonesia is already the third-biggest market in Asia after China and India, with 240 million people. In seven of the past eight years, its economy has grown by more than 5%. On current growth rates, it’s doubling every 11 or 12 years.

“Growth slows in 1st Quarter,” read the headline in the paper this morning. Yeah. From 6.5% the previous quarter, to 6.3% in the quarter ended March 31st. Boo hoo.

There’s not a single economic policymaker in the West who wouldn’t kill for economic growth like that. But in Indonesia, the figure was mildly disappointing.

As Simon and I frequently point out, though, the official statistics are usually worthless… you have to trust what your eyes and ears tell you on the ground. And the reality certainly backs up the figures–Indonesia is buzzing.

This is clearly a place that’s on the rise.  It’s already almost a trillion-dollar economy. Fifty percent of the population is under the age of 30 and yet to enter their peak working and consuming years.

Millions of new workers enter the labor force each year.  Yet, unemployment is falling… to 6.3% on the most recent statistics, down from 6.8% 12 months before.

Indonesian wages are lower than they are in China now (US$160 a month is typical), and there are many multinational companies starting to relocate production here.

The engine room of the Indonesian economy is NOT low-value-added exports of natural resources.  It’s domestic consumption demand, which accounts for 53% of the economy; and, investment, which accounts for 32% of GDP.

What’s more, policymakers are cognizant that adding value to the country’s natural resources at home, before exporting them, could be another important driver of growth.

Indeed, Indonesia has just imposed duties on the export of most raw metal ores.  The duties do not apply to refined products, and are designed to encourage investment in domestic treatment and refining facilities.

It may or may not work.  But, let’s face it–there are worse problems to have than figuring out what to do with an abundance of raw materials.

This, combined with a young and growing labor force, as well as room for great improvement in its infrastructure, are all good reasons to be bullish on the long-term economic future of Indonesia.

Moreover, from what I’ve seen so far, the rampant credit creation and likely overbuilding that characterize the sky-lines in places such as Manila and Bangkok right now, are not evident in Jakarta.  At least not yet…

More to follow.

Tim Staermose
Sovereign Man Chief Investment Strategist

This article appears courtesy of SovereignMan.com: Notes From The
Field, a free newsletter dedicated to individual freedom,
internationalization, asset protection and global finance. For a
complimentary subscription, visit http://www.SovereignMan.com