Unless you have been living in a cave in Siberia for the past week, you are aware of the US congressional deadline to raise the debt ceiling by August 2nd.
If you listen to the politicians and the media you would think Armageddon, the Apocalypse or even the Rapture is on the horizon. I’m surprised there is any milk and bread in the grocery stores.
Folks, don’t be fooled by the games being played right now in Washington. The biggest fear from both the Republicans and Democrats right now is that once August 2nd rolls around and government offices get shutdown, the people will realize how utterly useless most of these agencies really are.
This is truly their biggest nightmare – exposure of the truth. And the truth is, for the most part government is useless. It destroys productivity and value with agencies and policies that do nothing but cater to the special interest groups that feed the monster.
I don’t want to go into all of the numbers with regards to the debt ceiling (you can find any number of sources online so no need for me to rehash), but the fact is the US has more than enough cash to pay its debt payments.
When the cash runs out, the US has an enormous amount of assets that can be sold to raise cash.
Nearly 80% of all land west of the Mississippi river is government owned. Land auctions alone could likely pay off the US debt as well as put productive assets into the hands of entrepreneurs and investors who will make a much better use of them.
The worst case scenario is that there will be government layoffs, furloughs without pay, and permanently shuttering of agencies and offices that are completely useless.
While this will no doubt be painful in the short run, it will unleash a new age of productivity in the US. There are many highly educated people working in government jobs who could easily put their intelligence to productive use instead of dragging down the economy with a taxpayer funded paycheck.
A recent article in CNN Money discusses the closure of thousands of post offices around the country. Over 3000 of them produce less than $27,500 in annual revenue. This point is worth re-emphasizing; $27,500 in annual revenue.
How many of you have owned or currently own your own business? How realistic is it for a private business owner to maintain his business while paying a commercial lease when the business generates less than $27,500 in annual revenues? Keep in mind; I am talking about revenues, not profit. This means you still have to pay your commercial lease and all expenses out of that revenue.
Only the government could possibly keep a completely failed business model alive for so long. The USPS lost $8.5B in 2010. Don’t worry; Uncle Sam is here to shore up the balance sheet. Can you print your own money to pay your bills?
How much longer can this nonsense continue? How much longer are you willing to sit on the sidelines and just wait for things to ‘turn around’? Can you read the writing on the wall yet?
What are you doing to protect your assets? Do you even have an asset protection plan yet? Have you considered moving money offshore?
Frequently I get asked about helping clients open offshore bank accounts. Certainly opening an offshore bank account is a key component in asset protection planning. Everyone with any reasonable amount of wealth needs to have this escape hatch for their cash.
I want to make you aware of one opportunity to quickly and easily open an offshore bank account with complete privacy without having to leave the comfort of home.
HSBC Bank International offers offshore banking options with minimum account opening balances of $100,000. With this option, you can open a Premiere account at HSBC here in the US at any local branch and they can facilitate your account opening at their offshore branches in Jersey (not New Jersey, although this can seem to be a foreign country at times).
If you open the account under your Wealth Fortress Trust, you can have complete anonymity with your assets. Your name cannot be found in any public record in association with your Wealth Fortress Trust. It is the perfect tool to own assets with complete anonymity.
On a lighter note, I have been asked many, many times by readers to list some of my favorite books. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned a book I had just read, Beyond Wealth: The Roadmap to a Rich Life by Alexander Green. This is a great read. It is a compilation of essays by Alexander Green about living a life worth living. Highly recommended.
Here are a 10 of my other favorites;
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand – my all-time favorite novel
• The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham – the investor’s bible
• Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre – the trader’s bible
• When Genius Failed by Roger Lowenstein – great history lesson about hedge funds
• Market Wizards by Jack Schwager – excellent interviews with famous traders
• One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch – Peter Lynch, need I say more?
• The Mystery of Banking by Murray Rothbard – great history lesson about banking
• Investment Biker: Around the World with (by) Jim Rogers – great story, lots of wisdom
• The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz – expand your thinking
• The History of Money by Jack Weatherford – great history lesson about money
I am an avid reader consuming at least 2-3 books per month. Just last week I bought 12 new books for my e-reader. Not all books are good, but reading can never be bad. Years ago a mentor once told me, “Leaders are Readers.” I took his word for it; he was a pretty smart dude.
By the time you read this, our EscapeWealth July Ezine will be published. We have lots of great articles on there so I encourage you to read through the ones that interest you. This Ezine publishes to 400,000 subscribers around the world. If you are interested in learning more about our media partnership program, drop me a line here.
