Deirdre Fulton – Oxfam Names World’s Worst Tax Havens Fueling ‘Global Race to Bottom’

Corporate tax havens around the world are starving countries of billions of dollars needed to tackle poverty and inequality, according to a new report from Oxfam that identifies the 15 nations and territories leading this “global race to the bottom.” In order of significance, those 15 worst tax havens are: Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, Ireland, Luxembourg, Curaçao, …

Expat Files – 04.08.16

MY TAKE ON THE MASSIVE “PANAMA PAPERS” LEAK:

A good percentage of smart Gringos and Expats living in Latin America have been lucky enough to get their assets out of the US and the US banking system. The see the writing on the wall and soon a desperate Big Brother will slam that exit door too. Smart people know that with the passage of FATCA, the bail-ins and the push for the cashless society, it’ll be the depositor’s money in US bank accounts that becomes the source of the next bank bailout- probably not another QE. That said, using offshore corporations and bank accounts have always been, perfectly legal ways to do business, keep money and assets somewhat anonymous as well as protected from confiscation and lawsuits etc. But now with the massive “Panama Leaks” story the world sees how corrupt, sociopathic, scumbag politicos and untouchable megabuck-jerks use these same legal tools to hide and redirect their payoffs and ill-gotten public loot. Unfortunately, with that breaking story everyone who uses these legal and valuable tools are now being stained by the media with the same brush…

BTW: hate to say I told you so but as I’ve said all along, Panama’s been labeled such a high-profile money-laundering center- a hot spot like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands- its naturally on every first-world tax authority’s radar. That said, only clueless gringos and Expats are nuts enough to bank or create Panama based corporations. If you need to incorporate or do banking, there are so many nicer, better, low key places in Latin America.

-INTERVIEW WITH AN EXPAT TAX PREPARER- PART ONE:

It’s APRIL! Gringos and Expats are much concerned with filing their US taxes and wonder who should prepare them. Today we have Part One of an interview with a profession Expat tax preparer with over 600 Expat clients. He lives in Medellin, Colombia so he knows the peculiarities concerning Expats and US taxes and we’ll ask him tax questions that most concern Expats.

jim robbins – How Forest Loss Is Leading To a Rise in Human Disease

In Borneo, an island shared by Indonesia and Malaysia, some of the world’s oldest tropical forests are being cut down and replaced with oil palm plantations at a breakneck pace. Wiping forests high in biodiversity off the land for monoculture plantations causes numerous environmental problems, from the destruction of wildlife habitat to the rapid release of stored carbon, which contributes …

Jeff Thomas – From Crisis To Confiscation – Where Do I Store My Wealth?

International diversification of wealth (no matter how large or small) can save your economic freedom. Although most of our readers thoroughly understand this concept, one of the most oft-heard concerns is that, by offshoring assets, one may not be able to get to them as easily as they now can. Here’s the response to that, and some practical advice on …

Industrial Agriculture Is a Threat to World Food Supply – MARK KARLIN

Bigger is not always better. As Wall Street banks and big box stores such as Walmart have shown, bigger is often worse. The list of industries that have consolidated into national and global cartels is long and growing, and so is their collateral damage. In general, this trend – accelerated by trade agreements such as the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership – …