Talking Points:
Most wealth preservation and investment programs treat at best only the symptoms of wealth confiscation instead of attacking the accepted socialist philosophy of forced wealth transfer and institutionalized plunder by government and legal systems. Any delay in plunder provided is usually a temporary reprieve at best. Only by discrediting this philosophy and allowing freedom to flourish will we, in the long term, safeguard both our liberty and our wealth.
There are literally thousands of books published each year showing how to invest successfully, protect your assets and follow economic trends in order to make investment profits and keep what you have earned. The problem missed by these simple financial solutions is America's out of control federal government. Today the special interest domination of our nation's political parties provides the mechanism to ruin any investment strategy through government meddling in investment markets, central bank policies, foreign policy aggression and entanglements. The result is a continued reduction in individual freedom, financial freedom and civil liberties. Government and its insatiable need for revenue is the real problem faced by every freedom loving person in the world. Without a return to a free society, all of your investment knowledge, savings and asset protection planning are simply postponing the inevitable confiscation of the wealth you have earned today or what you hope to leave future generations.
We must resurrect the original limited government constitutional republic as established by our Founding Fathers if we want to live and show the fruits of the real American Dream to all the world. This involves the following process:
1. Protect and defend what you've earned
2. Build on your protected nest egg with additional profits and earnings
3. Contribute to freedom oriented organizations working to educate the American voting public that everyone benefits and profits with a free society.
4. Work in the political area for political candidates, parties and organizations that will really resurrect the original limited government republic as established by our Founding Fathers.Remember voter education comes before successful political action to reduce government tyranny and restore limited government back to the United States. Your gifts should generally go to 501(C)3 organizations because their job is education and you get an all important tax deduction for your contribution. Everything you do to generate a deduction means more money and funding for conservative, free-market and limited government and less to the corrupt political establishment which views its tax paying citizens not as their masters but as only a source of tax revenue.
How I Became A Freedom Advocate
"There is really nothing that can be done except by an individual. Only individuals can learn. Only individuals can think creatively. Only individuals can cooperate. Only individuals can combat statism." --Leonard E. Read, founder of FEE
I first became familiar with free-market economics and the freedom philosophy back in college during the 1970's and it really changed my life. Today there are many excellent organizations like the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Future of Freedom Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, FEE, Young Americans Foundation and countless other institutes and foundations which perform a very important educational service for college students suffering under a liberal, statist education in most of our universities.
The Freedom philosophy hit me like a bolt of lightening when I was working in a bank trust department and majoring in finance at the University of South Carolina. Somehow I came across a small free monthly publication in the university library called The Freeman (now called Ideas on Liberty) published by the Foundation For Economic Education. The library had old copies going back for years so in my spare time I read and learned about individual liberty, economic freedom and the evils of big government. None of these topics were very popular during the 70’s but this publication changed my life for the better.
I hope many of you are familiar with this monthly print publication, although it is a little dated in today's world of internet information. Three excellent modern day online examples of what The Freeman did 30 years ago is:
LewRockwell.com,
The Future of Freedom Foundation
The Ludwig von Mises InstituteMy First Brush With Tyranny
I still remember the feelings of disgust and revulsion the first time as a bank trust officer, just out of college, that I came face to face with pure, unadulterated government tyranny. One of my major trust accounts was a cemetery trust in South Carolina. This was a large cemetery and apparently the owner of the cemetery had run afoul of the Internal Revenue Service. One day, there was no knock at my office door, and a well dressed man suddenly appeared, glared down at me and without introducing himself, shoved his IRS badge in my face.
"I'm here to review the records of such and such cemetery trust as we are planning to attach the assets immediately." I replied, "let me call the account holder and make him aware of the situation." The agent answered, with a deadly cold stare, "you will not contact the gentleman in question today and neither will you ever let him know we had this conversation at any time in the future if you know what's good for you." I froze, as nothing in college had prepared me for this so I took the easy way out. "Yes sir, of course." He seemed pleased and we made the file copies and he left my office never to be heard from again.
So what was the outcome of my first brush with tyranny and the power of an out of control bureaucracy? After a few minutes, the fear and shock subsided, I called the client telling him of my visitor and I made a decision that day to spend my life when possible opposing tyranny, big government and bureaucracy as I believed all were harmful to a free society.
I have spent most of my life in this educational battle both personally and in financial services. Educational foundations that promote the freedom philosophy educate and change one person at a time, so remember; knowledge has the power to change the lives of individuals just like it changed my life.
Never Trust Your Liberty or Wealth to a Politician or a Campaign Slogan
"The times call for courage. The times call for hard work. But if the demands are high, it is because the stakes are even higher. They are nothing less than the future of human liberty, which means the future of civilization." -- Henry Hazlitt
Our politicians are very savvy when it comes to public relations and slogans. You will notice this kind of misinformation in legislation such as "The Patriot Act" or slogans such as "Operation Iraqi Freedom", the "War To End All Wars", the "War of the Rebellion." There are many cliché’s like this that we read and hear everyday that sound good but hold very little truth or substance. It is this type of repetitive propaganda that eventually conditions us to accept the actions of so called experts, government controls and politicians. Here are a few more examples:
Financial products
We often read about “safety and security” or “prudent investing and diversification”.Prudence and Diversification. This is just another slogan that always has a good ring to it when you are investing. We all want to think of ourselves as prudent and, of course, we diversify because we don’t want to put all of our eggs in one basket in order to reduce risks. My experience has been we always hear a lot about this going into an investment but not much when we are ready to get out.
Safety and Security. Ask any stock market investor who lived through the Crash of 1929, the Great Depression, or the long bear market of the 60’s and early 70’s about the safety and security of financial products and many will laugh at you. But if you ask your friends and neighbors today who didn’t have the benefit of good advice warning them to sell before the bubble collapsed or about how their investment portfolio and net worth did in the NASDAQ tech bubble and crash of the last couple of years, they will likely cry on your shoulder. Remember, the financial services industry will never tell you when to sell. I warned of the NASDAQ stock market crash on January 20, 1999 in a World Net Daily article entitled: "Is the Big Crash Coming?" - a year before it happened! Now I'm now warning of what may happen to your investment wealth in the event of another terrorist attack on Wall Street.
Politics and Government
We hear about “peace and prosperity” or “democratic and representative”. When the subject of taxes comes around, its always “fair and equitable” or “paying your fair share.” I always wanted to ask, “shouldn’t I decide what is my fair share?” Terms like "accountable, efficient, cost effective" are used when they are promoting a government programPeace and Prosperity. Something we haven’t seen much of since the horrible terrorist attack of 9/11. Of course we all favor peace and prosperity and this is what politicians from Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson to George Bush have promised throughout the 20th century. But I’ve learned that political promises of peace and prosperity often turn into war, recession and depression.
Woodrow Wilson promised peace but led us into World War I. Afterwards he promised world peace through the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations. This actually created the climate of resentment and reparations against Germany and Austria that sowed the seeds for the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Second World War. Of much more importance, as we approach the third anniversary of the horrific terrorist attack on New York City, it is the Treaty of Versailles which created most of the Middle Eastern nations of today. This along with the problems of unnatural boundaries, angry minorities and corrupt regimes blaming everyone else from Israel to the United States instead of their own corruption and mismanagement for their problems has helped lead to the current terrorist war.There is no reason to go into what Roosevelt, Johnson or any other politician says because, frankly, never believe what a politician tells you and you’ll be less likely to be disappointed. I guess President Charles Degaulle of France put it best when he said, “since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him.”
Democratic and Representative. This can be summarized in one simple question. Do you feel the politicians in Washington, your state capitol or anywhere else consistently represent your views and issues? Of course the answer is no. Finally we come to “good and efficient government.” Is there a productive American on the planet today who actually believes we have good and efficient government?
My point of this chapter is the world is full of slogans, clichés and false promises but in the final analysis, they really mean very little. As Americans we often do not have safety and security when dealing with financial products, neither do we always exercise appropriate prudence and diversification when investing. The world has had very little peace during the 20th century, taxes are hardly ever fair and equitable and politics at any level is seldom democratic or representative and, to my knowledge, there is no good and efficient government on the face of the earth today.
America is a great country but we have lost much of our way since our Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence and seceded from the British Empire. Why? It’s simple. Too much government.
Remember Government Will Never Defend Your Liberty - Only Take It!"The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone expects to live at the expense of everyone else." -- Frederic Bastiat
Building freedom and liberty in the 21st century doesn’t involve government. Government is always force and coercion; something very far removed from freedom and liberty. This is another reason why I think that 501(c)3 foundations and institutes are so important toward advancing our liberty and restoring limited government back to America today. The education of one person and one voter at a time on the benefits of personal liberty and free-markets is the only way I know to reverse the growth of government in our 21st century world.
Americans have tried everything else since the administration of Franklin Roosevelt including. politics, politicians, lobbying Washington, U.S. and offshore financial products and strategies to reduce the scope and threat of government in their lives, all to no avail. Although these actions may work up to a point, none can really deliver fully until we change the collectivist mood of oppressive government and return personal responsibility and limited responsible government to our nation.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Ø Did you ever vote or contribute to a third party effort that just never received the attention or votes it deserved?
Ø Have you ever sent in contributions to political action committees or Washington lobbying organizations that were really able to change the “big government” policies and direction?
Ø Did you buy the old style tax advantaged real estate limited partnerships that sounded good until Washington changed the laws in their favor?
Ø Have you invested in offshore annuities for currency diversification and tax deferral and then the annuities lost tax deferral?
Ø Did you establish an offshore trust in an attempt to protect your assets? But each year the reporting requirements get more expansive and courts ignore jurisdictional laws and regulations in order to steal your wealth?
Ø Did you establish offshore accounts in a Caribbean tax haven that has now ended their privacy and confidentiality rules?
Ø Did you have an offshore credit or debit card that you thought was private until Washington put pressure on the card companies and now you are in trouble with the IRS?None of the past strategies and efforts to either get an intrusive federal government out of our lives, wallets and personal liberties has really turned the statist direction of our nation around. We have learned the hard way by experience. When the government really wants to move in a certain direction regarding taxes, regulatory policies, or offshore reporting there is really nothing to restrain their actions.
We have a government out of control and all the political action and financial strategies in the world will not totally protect our freedoms or our assets until many more Americans and voters are educated on the benefits of limited government and free-markets.
This is why I advocate using American financial products, offshore products and strategies but make sure you follow the rules. Engage in political action in both political parties as well as third party efforts, contribute to lobbying groups that seek to roll back the tidal wave of too much government continuing to sweep our freedoms and liberties away. Do all of these things, as they are prudent and wise actions to take but also work to restore the American Dream here in the United States through your tax-deductible contributions.
"You had better all die - die immediately, than live as slaves and entail your wretchedness upon your posterity." --Henry Highland Garnet, Black Revolutionary, 1843
When you invest offshore, engage in political action, lobby your politicians and attempt to utilize American legal barriers to defend your liberty and protect your wealth remember the ultimate importance of education advocating the benefits of a return to limited government in order to turn this nation around toward the vision shared by most of you.
Begin today to combine offshore investment and asset protection strategies with onshore education of the American public in order to achieve the maximum amount of asset protection and wealth preservation in the 21st century.
I have spent my entire professional life working with high net worth investors who did not trust the government or others to tell them how to run their lives. Almost all earned their wealth themselves through hard work and smart investing instead of having it given to them by family members. My experience has been if you don't work to earn your money, you'll never appreciate the value of a dollar earned through productive labor.
Our posterity will be far better off with an understanding of history, economics and the benefits of a free society which will spark the desire to fight for a return of the American Dream. Give your children and future generations the legacy that matters, a love of liberty. Inherited wealth, without a secure foundation in liberty, will be only a brief stop before tyranny and poverty. It is our duty as Americans to carry on and restore the birthright and legacy of our Patriot Founding Fathers to future generations. For if we do any less, we have failed our country, our heritage and our posterity.firm licensed in 47 states.Ronald Holland - For more information go to http://www.ronaldholland.com
Note, Ronald now lives at Asheville NC's Wolf Laurel Resort, where he markets ski property, homes and real estate in one of the highest elevation 4-season mountain resorts in the eastern United States. He is an internationally known financial & marketing consultant & author of 3 books and over a hundred articles & reports, a leading speaker at financial conferences in the US and abroad and editor of several internet based news sites. He invented several financial products & services including the first gold IRA account and the first Swiss franc denominated variable annuity portfolio in the US and was president of a Swiss owned investment
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Ronald
Holland is editor of this website and a broker/realtor with
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