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For the First Time Since the Nazis, Swiss Bankers Afraid to Travel
Porter Stansberry in the S&A Digest
The real war is beginning. And it's not against drugs or terrorists or cancer. It's against the wealthy.
If you don't have more than $10 million in liquid assets or a total net worth more than about $20 million, you probably don't think this concerns you. But you're wrong. The truly wealthy among us control a huge amount of America's most productive capital. If they flee America, private enterprise will suffer an enormous blow. And it's not only in America. Around the world, the wealthiest people are being segregated, profiled, indexed, and tracked.
Consider this: For the first time since Nazi Germany was in power, Swiss bankers are afraid to travel. Says The Wall Street Journal:
UBS, the world's largest manager of private wealth by assets, has barred "client-facing" staff in its wealth-management divisions from traveling abroad... other private bankers in Switzerland are being advised to exercise personal discretion in their travel decisions.
The G-20 - the largest industrial nations on Earth (with the biggest governments) - are determined to eliminate the low-tax competition of states like Switzerland, which for more than 500 years has served as a safe haven for the world's wealth. In the United States, the IRS and the Justice Department forced Swiss bank UBS to hand over its client lists and is threatening criminal sanctions against any secret foreign account holders who don't come forward voluntarily within six months.
Again... you probably don't think this matters to you. In fact, you might even be rooting for the government to make the rich "pay their fair share." (Never mind the top 1% of American taxpayers already contributes more than 22% of the federal tax revenues.) But you ought to reconsider, or at least read some history...
When governments begin to forbid or restrict moving assets offshore, it is always a warning sign that something terrible is about to happen - usually rapid inflation, capital controls, and a period of massive wealth destruction.
In the last year, the government has attacked the largest Swiss bank, threatened thousands of its American customers with incarceration, and made it illegal to voluntarily emigrate from the United States, without first contributing half of your global assets to the government. It's no coincidence over the same period, the Federal Reserve has expanded its balance sheet by roughly 200%, money supply has grown roughly 20% (more about this below), and the government has taken control of the banking system.
This is only the beginning. Once a government heads down this path, it must constantly increase the difficulties and the risks of moving capital abroad. There's more to come - I guarantee it.
Why should you care? Because capital inevitably moves to where it is treated best. For decades, that was America - which grew tremendously rich and powerful. Our leaders have grown arrogant. They've forgotten what made America great. They seem to believe God bestowed wealth upon our country. They've borrowed an unfathomable amount of money - confident they'll be able to tax future generations of Americans.
But in fact, the wealth of our country is almost completely owned by individuals. And right now, these individuals see nothing but endless decades of additional government deficits, rising taxes, and a paper currency that's being destroyed. They see the free market system being corrupted. And most importantly, they see a nation that used to espouse the ideals of limited government and personal liberty heading down the road of a socialist experiment, led by an inexperienced, charismatic, and wildly popular leader. They know what's coming. And so should you.
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