by Steven Hilgart, Director of Conference Operations and Marketing

I’m sure you’re aware by now, Bobby and I hosted our first ever Global Escape Hatch event this past week. If you didn’t show up, we playfully rubbed it in your face – and for good reason – it was one hell of a time! I’m sure we’ll see you at the spring conference (It’ll be easier to get to).

But it sure was an interesting adventure for me. There are many stories to tell but I’d like to share a fairly unique experience that got me to thinking…


“Am I An Anarchist?”

Even though I’ve always been registered to vote, I never have. As a young entrepreneur I didn’t care who was in office, I just knew I had to circumnavigate whatever laws or regulations were being put in place. The only question I asked was “how can I make money from this?”

On the other hand I still educated myself. I have always followed candidates and what they said, how they acted, and what they did! Probably the person I came closest to voting was for was ‘The Rent Is Too Damn High’ Guy! (I mean, come on, it really is too damn high!)

But I’ve always found myself harassed by family, friends, neighbors, school teachers, and many others who said “You HAVE to vote! Your vote counts!”… Does it really? My response was (and still is) that I will vote when someone shows up who is worthy of my vote! Unfortunately I haven’t found any such person.

It seems that, when I ask people to get right down to it and tell me what they really want; they tell me they want “the lesser of two evils”. Wait – the lesser of two evils? Are you kidding me? How does that make sense? At what point did we as a people collectively say “this is O.K.?”

A heated political debate between the giant douche and a turd sandwich.

Now we can argue and debate about the two-party system or any other theories out there, but what’s the point? What would we accomplish with that? But then the real question becomes, “what is the solution?”


A Happy Tax Payer… Or Am I?

I have done literally thousands of speeches for kids, teens, and adults on personal development and motivation. If you are familiar with this arena you would know that one of my biggest influences in life has been a gentleman named Jim Rohn.

While I have always hung on every word this man says, in some of his seminars, he brought up a book he was working on before he died called “Yes, of course kids should pay taxes!”

He spoke of the debate in California at the time about whether or not kids should pay taxes.

A child goes into a convenience store and buys a candy bar for one dollar. The proprietor now asks the child for 7 more pennies. “Why?” he asks. The response is “those are the taxes!”

If you want to ride your bicycle on the sidewalk instead of in the mud, you have to pay seven more pennies!
His argument was that we need those seven pennies from everyone. If you want to keep tyranny “over there” instead of “over here” pay your seven pennies! “We can’t use used missiles… how much do you think an aircraft carrier costs!?”

Valid arguments. But at this point, I think it’s possible they are a bit outdated. The cold war is over and it seems that whatever outspoken patriotism we once had as a country – is now gone. While people aren’t disappointed to be American, they don’t seem to shout their love from the rooftops, either.

And at what point do we say our government is tyrannical? When they overtax us? When they tell us how to live our lives? When they threaten us with jail if we don’t comply? Where is the line drawn?

Now don’t get me wrong. I was born in the Midwest and I still have a lot of pride about where I come from. I just wish that our country still had the excitement and patriotism it once had. A country that grew and expanded – but you know as well as I do… You are either climbing the mountain, or sliding down it. You are either growing or dying. There is no in between.


Irritation…

…Is the best word I could use when paying an estimated quarterly tax of five figures – Not
Happiness… (What is an “estimated tax” anyway?)
Of course I pay my taxes. I pay way more than average (and I’m sure many of you pay way more than I do!).

But what if I am not a happy tax payer?

And not unhappy about the amount. Unhappy at what it’s used for! There’s only so many times I can hear about the Pentagon buying $28,000 toilet seats before I get fed up. Why doesn’t my money go towards something worthwhile? And for that matter, why doesn’t it just go where I want it to?

There has to be another answer… right?


Enter Crazy Jeff…

He’s been called a loose cannon, a crazed anarchist, a gun-toting nut, but regardless of how crazy we all think he is – it doesn’t seem like you can call him anything other than brilliant.

Jeff is an extremely smart guy – and anarchist to the core.

I have to admit I was a little apprehensive to hang out with such an obvious “enemy of the state”. But it really gave me a chance to see a different side of things…

I quickly learned many of my assumptions of anarchy were just dead wrong. One of my main thoughts, whether imagined or planted by government propaganda, was that anarchists were extremely violent towards government and lawless to the point of dangerous!

Come to find out, a big part of their manifesto is peace.

A typical anarchist believes you should go through great lengths to avoid the use of coercion, violence, force, and authority while still producing a productive and desirable society. Hey – that sounds kind of nice!

When our conversations at the conference turned towards anarcho-capitalism ideals the debate would turn to questions of free market.

“Well, if there is no government, how do you have roads?”

The answer? The free market would create them.

Joe makes cars. Bob sees Joe needs an easier way to move those cars so he builds roads.

While it may not go down exactly like that, the idea is simple and clean. No matter what argument I brought up, there seemed to be a free market solution to it. In the ideal utopia there would be no need for a police force because of the anti-violent manifesto – but obviously we don’t live in a utopian world so the answer became a private security force.


Back To Reality

Regardless of my thirst and excitement for this new knowledge, I laughed and told myself I sure as hell wasn’t ready to give up my citizenship.

A few short hours later some fascinating things happened that made me question that entire train of thought…
On our way back to Panama City we had quite the unique experience. As soon as we walked from the plane into the airport (if you could call it that… more like a large room with chairs and a single metal detector), we were immediately stripped of our passports and locked in a room with armed Panamanian Police… (Panamaniacs, perhaps?)

Thoroughly confused and tired from our trip none of us even argued and we just sat there… waiting… after about 45 minutes they finally returned our passports and let us go on our way.
“Holy crap Bobby,” I said “That was crazy!”
He just responded “Yeah, I have NEVER had that happen to me!”
After a little conspiracy theory we had a bite to eat in a Panama City casino and with a couple hours of sleep I was on my way back to the states.

“I can’t wait” I thought. Real food (well, at least the processed crap I was used to), real music (hip hop of course), and American women – I was excited to get home.

Now, I’m a fairly charismatic guy. No matter who I’m talking to, I always seem to put a smile on their face (maybe it’s just because I’m goofy looking – who knows?) and when I hit the border control agent in Miami it was no different – all smiles, even from a hardcore, serious, military-looking guy.

“Hey man, how’s it going?” He said.

“Fantastic! I’m just excited to get back to some American women!”

He just laughed as I handed him my passport. Instantly his face went from laughing and smiling to serious and dare I say… deadly?

“Sir, do you have another form of identification?”

“Yeah man, sure.” As I pulled out my drivers license I could tell he was comparing my passport I received 7 years ago and my drivers license and things didn’t look right. Before he could say anything I told him, “I get that at the bars once in a while. I had Lasik so I no longer have glasses and I keep my hair shorter – but you can look at my goofy nose and tell it’s me!”

Not even a chuckle.

Then he comes out from behind his booth and stands waaaayyy too far in my bubble looking to intimidate me and ask questions (little did he know I have 20 years of martial arts experience… I breathe this stuff… the closer he is to me the more danger he is in). So here we are – literally nose-to-nose while he asks what school I went to.

“South High.”

He seemed absolutely appalled and confused I didn’t go to a university (does that make me untrustworthy?).

I don’t know if it was my smile or my lack of being intimidated but he finally said for me to stand right there. He left for twenty minutes (I played on my phone, even though it wasn’t permitted! HA! I’m such a trouble-maker!) while I literally stood in a tiny space between two of these check-in booths.

All the while thinking “I am a U.S. Citizen… why am I being treated like this here?”

I mean – I could understand Panama, I was in a foreign country where I didn’t know the rules or laws or customs, but here I was – in my own country being treated like a criminal because I no longer wear glasses!

All of a sudden Crazy Jeff didn’t seem so crazy any more…

After a couple more grilling sessions with my Border Control buddy, I was allowed to walk past the line – and the funny part was he started joking with me again! … Sir, I am definitely no longer in the mood to joke with you. I don’t want to be your friend either.


The Moral Of The Story

So where does this leave us? Well I guess I’m not quite sure what to think. Our beliefs are created by our references – experiences we have in life. And some of my references seem to be building a belief that says “get the hell out.”
Regardless of our ideals or thoughts, one of the phrases that stuck with me throughout the conference was “it’s just math”.

The biggest economies in the world are just not sustainable. Will they crash tomorrow? In five years? In ten years? Who knows? But the math says that they WILL crash. Each and every government (and individual) will be grasping at straws to survive – and more than likely – it will be YOUR STRAWS they are after. There’s only one question…


Will You Be Ready?

If you haven’t sufficiently protected your assets for the coming economic collapse – you’re running out of time.

I am becoming more and more passionate about this business, and I want to help. Let me give you a couple action steps in case you’re wondering where to start:

  1. Sign up for conference updates at Global Escape Hatch. The spring conference will be even better than this last one (and easier to get to). Come to the conference and learn what I learned.
  2. Call Bobby for a free 30-minute consultation. He’s the master at this stuff. He can tell you exactly what you need for your situation. Here’s his number: +1-347-410-5041
  3. Whatever you need, we can handle it. Need a new Land Trust owned by an LLC so your name is off your property? We got you. Need a bank account or an offshore company? Call us. Need a domestic structure? How about a Private Wyoming LLC?