.
|
.
|
 |
 . The Weekly Update news bulletin offer news and commentary regarding a number of issue which are of interest or concern to clients. Such topics may include offshore company formation, trusts, banking, investing, real estate, expatriate matters, residency & second passport matters, and other topics concerning the Dominican Republic & Panama. |
| Click Here To Use Our Reply Form |
.
..
|
Other News Stories and Information from Our Weekly Updates . Note: This issue is unusually long due to coverage regarding the recent CIA Report: Global Trends 2015. We apologize for the inconvenience, but thought it to contain information of interest to our clients and readers. In this regard, it is true that none of us have a crystal ball, but there are some trends in place to be aware of, which could affect both your personal and financial well being going forward. In other words, one cannot always predict the weather. However, we can say for some certainty that a snowball, starting off the size of a pebble and rolling downhill on a snow covered mountain, will end up becoming a snow ball twenty feet in diameter once it reaches the bottom. In other words, they laughed at Noah too when he started building the ark – that is until it started raining. Should you become a modern day Noah? Only you can decide, but at least become informed so you can make whatever decision is right for you. Amazing but True: Currently being advertised on US television . Our Readers Report: . Someone in Canada writes: . . Due to client attorney privileges both in Canada and the USA, it is illegal for anyone to open an envelope that is clearly marked as LEGAL DOCUMENTS – STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. Both on the envelope enclosed in the FedEx package as well as on the airbill (I write this very clearly). Before I discovered this, my client’s documents were also being continuously opened by customs. Since I effected this change it has ceased completely. I also insist that anyone sending me documents from outside of Canada do the same - otherwise the same problem will occur. . Editors Note: Thanks for the information! . As a follow up to our previous comments regarding the US Post Office, the following article actually discusses the formal program put into place by the government in 1997 to spy on its own citizens. Don’t believe it? Its called, are you ready? – The Eagles Eye. . It seems it is a criminal offense for anyone else to read your mail, but for the post office - let’s just say they are above the law. Sounds incredible, but its true. I urge you to read the following story if you currently live in the United States: . http://www.insightmag.com/archive/200107033.shtml . Another reader reports in about PARITATE BANK, a bank located in Latvia, which heavily solicits offshore accounts by mail. The gentleman writes the following: . Latvia banks have become very popular recently for many reasons. Have you heard about what happened to Paritate Bank? After just setting up a brand new very easy to navigate web site, which made it extremely easy to set up accounts by mail – They closed the doors. Zap, bum, end, money gone it seems. I just set up an account with that bank and was about to transfer larger amount of funds over, but luckily I was a week late. The bank sent the letter below. I am very curious what your opinion about this is, and maybe it is something for your newsletter. . Paritate Bank has apparently sent the following letter to account holders: . Dear Sirs, . As of June 25, 2001 the Bank of Latvia Board has passed resolution on suspension of financial services rendered by Paritate Bank although the Bank of Latvia license for credit institution operations has not been revoked. Complying with the Bank of Latvia resolution, Paritate Bank has suspended rendering of financial services to its customers starting June 25. . In the future, all matters concerning Paritate Bank’s relations with customers should be in the competence of appointed administrator. You will receive further information when the procedures according to the legislation of the Republic of Latvia will be accomplished. . As a result of temporary suspending of financial services rendering by Paritate Bank, all funds deposited into checking accounts, deposit and card accounts are blocked. This means that no operations with above accounts can be performed. . EDITOR’S NOTE: We have spoke some time ago with Parirate Bank, but indicated we would not develop a relationship until we had time to physically visit their offices in Riga, Latvia (which we have not done). I was not aware of the above letter, but appreciate the information for our clients and newsletter readers. . What can we say about this? Well, for starters, this is the type of thing that scares the heck out of people who might be interested in banking outside of their home country (for whatever reasons). However, it is also true that one cannot take a particular situation and apply it to the entire banking industry elsewhere. . There are a number of very good banking institutions to consider outside of Australia, the US, Canada or whatever home country you come from. However, there are some key points I would like to make. We prefer to work with real banks that happen to open accounts by mail as a favor or out of courtesy to us (and indirectly our clients). That is to say, real brick and mortar banks doing business in their home community that are fully accountable to local citizens (and not just soliciting offshore accounts by mail). Not to go off on a tangent, but one of our clients remarked for three days how his Dominican Republic bank had a number of local branch offices and that his particular bank branch in Santo Domingo had a drive up car teller window (and was a real local bank). I suppose his imagination lead him to expect some hole in the wall whereby you pass envelopes through a secret slot in a barn door (believe me – some of these kind places have existed, especially in countries such as Antigua –an English speaking commonwealth jurisdiction I might add). It is perfectly understandable that clients should be concerned about banking in another country, considering all of the bad press and negative stories floating around. However, there are some things to consider or look out for: . As we hinted at earlier, look for a bank that is a very real bank doing business in the local community. If a bank is only soliciting accounts by mail from non-residents, the question is why? Is it because the bank intends to fold up in the future and does not want to face an angry local mob with shotguns later on? Perhaps there are some legitimate reasons for a bank to operate this way, but the fact is, it is much easier to escape persecution or problems when ALL of your clients are 2,000 miles away and only conduct business by mail. A bank doing business with local citizens primarily do face the possibility of angry account holders showing up with anything from rocks to rocket launchers, should there be a problem (don’t mess with people’s money). Plus, it is difficult to escape the embarrassment in your local community if you happen to be the bank president that foolishly brought the bank down through stupid decisions. If you don’t have to face your ex-customers in the street everyday, then of course that is a benefit should you fold up shop. . Many of the banks that have folded up in offshore, tax haven or other jurisdictions have been these kind of fly by night mail order operations. Be very curious about a bank that ONLY conducts business by mail and or only accepts accounts from non-residents. Current Trends in the News: . . Why do we mention this particular topic? Well, many of our clients are parents with school aged children and have asked us about education if living abroad. While private schools in many countries are certainly very affordable in comparison to the US, another option is of course home schooling. What the heck, If you can do it in South Dakota then why not in Thailand, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic or any other place that suits you? Why are some people living in the US opting for home education in the first place? Oh, things like lack of funds in many public education systems (despite all the high taxes citizens already pay), crime in many public schools, drugs, overcrowded classrooms, shortage of textbooks (read our previous information about Canada), and such. Another spin on this topic is, since most local US governments will not let you back out of school taxes should you decide on home schooling, why not live somewhere that does not force you to pay school taxes. In the US this usually means high property or annual real estate taxes which are used to fund local education in part. The US mandate is that everyone must pay, even if the system stinks and even if you do want to use whatever service is being offered. So, if you decide on home schooling in the US, you end up paying twice whether you like it or not. . http://www.time.com/time/columnist/morse/article/0,9565,165871,00.html . Speaking of School Taxes: . School board settles desegregation tax case - June 28, 2001 . ROCKFORD, Illinois (AP) -- The school board has agreed to refund $30 million in taxes it illegally imposed to pay for court-ordered desegregation. Under the agreement, the school system will issue rebates of up to several thousand dollars to about 20,000 people who paid the taxes under protest between 1991 and 1999. . http://fyi.cnn.com/2001/fyi/teachers.ednews/06/28/rockford.desegregation.ap/index.html . Very recently in the US news, we have heard uproar regarding the purchase of a Florida based television station currently broadcasting in English, whereby the new owners will change the programming content entirely over to Spanish. In addition, many news sources predict this is a new trend to effect Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York (forget about Miami, the first language is already Spanish). That is to say, control and focus of media towards the US Spanish speaking population. To be sure, there are many heated opinions about this, but frankly, I find the entire debate hysterically funny. Why? Well, my grandparents were forced to learn English as new immigrants to the US when they arrived from Europe at the turn of the century. I was told countless stories of how it was an embarrassment not to speak English and how a local school principal told my grandparents to stop speaking their native language at home (to help foster English language skills in their children). I myself am now what can be called an immigrant in a Spanish speaking country, and have had to learn the local language accordingly. I am no Rhodes scholar when it comes to Spanish, but I can get around. In fact, I would tend to say that this is the case in every other country whereby English is not the official language. That is, when in a new country, you need to learn the language. I am neither upset about this nor feel any way resentful. It comes with the territory and I am proud I have mastered at least some proficiency in the language of my new country. . The US ironically has printed signs and countless packets of information in Spanish for those citizens that do not speak English. In fact, in major cities such as New York, public notices or signs, such as those found on the New York City subway asking you to “watch your step”, are in Spanish. Instruction booklets and forms about everything from how to file for public school enrollment to tax returns are in Spanish. While all of this is very nice and very helpful, it is far cry from the turn of the century when immigrants from Germany, Italy, Russia, China and countless other places arrived. Don’t get me wrong, I am not knocking it. In fact, it goes beyond the concept of helping new immigrants and it is both commendable and certainly a benefit for such new arrivals that have not yet mastered the English language. However, it is strange that a great many things are done to make it easier for Spanish speaking persons to get information or file paperwork, yet there is an outcry when the populous finds out a local television broadcast channel is going Spanish. You can’t have it both ways. The truth of the matter is, the Spanish speaking segment of the US population is the fastest growing ethnic group at the moment – and your local government in effect invited them (by certainly making it easier). The Coming of the Minority Majority . . BY FRANK PELLEGRINI - Aug. 31, 2000 . When predicting a presidential election, it's "as Missouri goes, so goes the nation." But for national trends, it's usually California playing the bellwether. And in California, the most populous state in the union with 33 million people, minorities are a minority no more. . According to the U.S. Census Bureau's latest tally, non-Hispanic whites' share of California's population dropped to 49.9 percent some time last year. Over the past decade, their number has also declined, while immigration and good old-fashioned reproduction has boosted the number of Latinos by 35 percent in the past decade to 10.5 million and the Asian and Pacific Islander population by 36 percent to some 5 million. Blacks — who in California are a minority even among minorities — were nearly level at 2.2 million. . The rest of America doesn't yet look like California. But it will. According to Census projections, Latinos will surpass non-Hispanic blacks as the majority minority as soon as 2002, at which point they'll make up 12.4 percent of the population. Fifty years from now, Latinos will make up nearly a quarter of the population, while blacks will have increased only to a 13.2 share. And by 2060, according to the projections, the U.S. will have gone the way of California. Non-Hispanic whites will make up 49.6 of Americans, with Hispanics at 26.6 percent, non-Hispanic blacks at 13.3 percent, and Asians and Pacific Islanders at nearly 10 percent. . So, will this change the way the shots are called in America? . http://www.time.com/time/search/article/0,8599,53774,00.html . . In the past, we have often reported on trends and a seemingly variety of topics to our clients, be they financial related, offshore related, or otherwise. We have done this because, while it may not be directly apparent, many things are in fact connected or interrelated. That is to say, to take a view of the larger picture in addition to specific items or issues. Sort of like looking over the entire chessboard, rather than only one particular move of an opponent. With this said, we bring you the very interesting CIA’s latest and greatest report called GLOBAL TRENDS: 2015. This report highlights or touches upon many of the things we have brought to your attention before. If for nothing else, it is always worthwhile to know what the other guy thinks (or at least what your government officials might be reading). The link to the entire report on-line is below, but we have taken out excerpts just in case you did not want to read the entire report (it is quite long): . http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/globaltrends2015/index.html . . In addition to our own highlighted excerpts below, Time magazine offers an analysis of the CIA report here: . In a just-released report, Washington's intelligence community predicts what the world will be like in 2015. Globalization, say the spies, is likely to produce a scary, scary situation. Part 1 of a two-part special by TIME.com's Tony Karon. December, 2000 . Optimism, as dissident Czech writer Milan Kundera once opined, is an opiate. And its most practiced traffickers, of course, are politicians. But optimism is an indulgence military and intelligence professionals can scarcely allow themselves. And that makes the U.S. intelligence community's new report on our world 15 years from now, "Global Trends 2015," a cold-water corrective to some of the sunny nonsense about globalization that passes for conventional wisdom in Washington. . Bill Clinton has spent the past eight years enthusing about the almost unlimited business opportunities for America, Inc., that continue to expand as market economics and democracy spreads throughout the former communist empire, accelerated by the liberating power of information technology. He's even parroted the Reagan-era notion of "trickle-down" economics to insist that the rising tide of globalization will lift all boats. And there's no reason to expect any different from the Bush administration. These politicians have been egged on over the past decade by globalization's most enthusiastic champions in the media, the most relentless and prolific of who is undoubtedly New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman. Friedman's globalization is a fast-filling cup that will lift humanity out of the clutches of authoritarianism, tribalism and war, if only some of the more backward tribal warriors would simply fess up that what they really want is to be like Michael Jordan. . The bad news . But Friedman has a journalistic alter ego, Atlantic Monthly correspondent and author Robert Kaplan, who saw only gathering gloom and doom as the harvest of the West's Cold War triumph. His influential 1994 essay "The Coming Anarchy" described a world in which the prosperity and stability of the industrialized world is subsumed by mounting anarchy as the collapse of nation states (and their replacement by a combination of transnational corporations and tribal militia), the scarcity of resources, and the globalization of disease and crime accelerate in the vacuum created by the Cold War's end. And where the political class were patting themselves on the back for spreading democracy into hitherto authoritarian climes, Kaplan was prepared to question democracy's significance in understanding the global dynamic. Indeed, Kaplan sees the anarchy of sub-Saharan Africa as but a preview of the fate that awaits the industrialized world. . While it avoids Kaplan's epic pessimism, "Global Trends 2015" still shares more common ground with his gloomy worldview than with the sunny optimism of Tom Friedman or the wishful spin of President Clinton. What's good for the goose is good for the gangster. . The next 15 years of globalization, according to the intelligence community, even in its best-case scenario, produces a world considerably more dangerous than the unhappy one we already know. The last decade's unrestricted and accelerated traffic of information, capital, goods, services and people across national borders has been good for business and for innovation and for political freedom, but it has also been good for gangsters and terrorists and pathogens. . The same information technology that allows George Soros to move billions of dollars in and out of emerging markets at a keystroke also allows Osama Bin Laden, from the dusty mountains of Afghanistan, to maintain a global terror network whose members are as likely to be in New Jersey as in Yemen or the Philippines. Not your father's 'New World Order' . . Editor’s Note: Case in point, European countries voting the US off two United Nations councils as reprimand for the cold shoulder displayed by Washington towards the global warming concerns of the EU member nations. . The world economy, stupid . "Global Trends" is also a little less bullish on economic prospects than the politicians to whom the intelligence community reports. The report predicts continued acceleration of globalization, with the unrestricted flow of information, capital, goods, services, culture and ideas fueling economic growth. But the benefits of such growth or are far from universal, and the process expands the volatility of the international financial system. The authors take care to warn of new financial crises ahead, and express the hope that those can be resolved as rapidly as the 1998 Asian meltdown was. They also warn that a sustained downturn in the U.S. economy (made possible by its massive deficit and limited savings) could also deal a body blow to global growth. Even in the best-case scenario, the report warns, there are going to be billions of people left out of the party, and they're going to be terribly, quite possibly violently, unhappy about that. . But there's little in the report to suggest that the intelligence community is likely to recommend anything other than clucking sympathetically from a safe distance. . http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,92539,00.html . . Demographics . World population in 2015 will be 7.2 billion, up from 6.1 billion in the year 2000, and in most countries, people will live longer. Ninety-five percent of the increase will be in developing countries, nearly all in rapidly expanding urban areas. Where political systems are brittle, the combination of population growth and urbanization will foster instability. Increasing life spans will have significantly divergent impacts. . In the advanced economies (US, Canada, Europe) —and a growing number of emerging market countries—declining birthrates and aging will combine to increase health care and pension costs while reducing the relative size of the working population, straining the social contract, and leaving significant shortfalls in the size and capacity of the work force. . Editor’s Note: Look for government sponsored retirement programs to start telling its citizens they must retire later, and or expect reduced pension benefits (if any at all). Also expect to see more consulates from so-called wealthy nations handing out visas to citizens of third world countries as if it were candy. Why? They industrialized nations are going to need someone to do the work and care for all those elderly people. Since the only place with an abundance of young people will be the so-called third world nations, these will be the new faces working in your country. Interesting enough, it may be the case that incentives will be needed to lure such people, such as allowing for tax-free salary or what ever else. The US especially is incredibly arrogant enough to believe that everyone wants to come to America. However, with the economies in such countries improving (possibly replacing the so-called wealthy industrialized nations in respect to GNP) and much lower income tax rates as well, it may be harder to lure such workers away. With water shortages in Florida and electricity shortages in California, the US standard of living may start to look more and more like the new third world, and the new third world more and more like the US (due to improved infrastructure and economic growth). Also look for taxes and government control in such wealthy industrialized nations to increase, not decrease (less people working, more bills to pay as well). . Role of the United States . Diplomacy will be more complicated. Washington will have greater difficulty harnessing its power to achieve specific foreign policy goals: the US Government will exercise a smaller and less powerful part of the overall economic and cultural influence of the United States abroad. . In the absence of a clear and overriding national security threat, the United States will have difficulty drawing on its economic prowess to advance its foreign policy agenda. The top priority of the American private sector, which will be central to maintaining the US economic and technological lead, will be financial profitability, not foreign policy objectives. The United States also will have greater difficulty building coalitions to support its policy goals, although the international community will often turn to Washington, even if reluctantly, to lead multilateral efforts in real and potential conflicts. . There will be increasing numbers of important actors on the world stage to challenge and check—as well as to reinforce—US leadership: countries such as China, Russia, India, Mexico, and Brazil; regional organizations such as the European Union; and a vast array of increasingly powerful multinational corporations and nonprofit organizations with their own interests to defend in the world. . National Priorities Will Matter . To prosper in the global economy of 2015, governments will have to invest more in technology, in public education, and in broader participation in government to include increasingly influential non-state actors. The extent to which governments around the world are doing these things today gives some indication of where they will be in 2015. . Editor’s Note: Clients in Canada tell us the local school boards do not have enough money to supply text books to each and every student. For the first time most people can remember, some Canadian school children have to share textbooks. In contrast, the Dominican Republic has recently put a new program into place requiring that public school children learn English, beginning at the lower grade levels. This of course is in addition to their native Spanish, and one other European language, such as French or German. . Divergent Aging Patterns . In developed countries and many of the more advanced developing countries (US, Canada, Europe), the declining ratio of working people to retirees will strain social services, pensions, and health systems. Governments will seek to mitigate the problem through such measures as DELAYING RETIREMENT, encouraging greater participation in the work force by women, and relying on MIGRANT WORKERS. Dealing effectively with declining dependency ratios is likely to require more extensive measures than most governments will be prepared to undertake. The shift towards a greater proportion of older voters will change the political dynamics in these countries in ways difficult to foresee. . Among developing countries, India will remain in the forefront in developing information technology, led by the growing class of high-tech workers and entrepreneurs. . China will lead the developing world in utilizing information technology, with urban areas leading the countryside. Beijing's capacity to control or shape the content of information, however, is likely to be sharply reduced. . Latin America's Internet market will grow exponentially. Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil will acquire the greatest benefits because of larger telecommunications companies, bigger markets, and more international investment. Latin America will manage fairly rapid aggregate growth, but it will be spread unevenly across the region. The market-oriented democracies in Mexico and the southern cone will lead the way. A new generation of entrepreneurs will be inclined to favor additional market openings, but the benefits may further distort income distribution, already the most inequitable in the world. Elsewhere, the Andean region will struggle with a poorly educated labor force, unstable governance, and dependence upon commodities such as oil, copper, and narcotics. . The Role of Education . Education will be determinative of success in 2015 at both the individual and country levels. The globalizing economy and technological change inevitably place an increasing premium on a more highly skilled labor force. Adult literacy and school enrollments will increase in almost all countries. The educational gender gap will narrow and probably will disappear in East and Southeast Asia and Latin America. . Strongly nationalistic and/or autocratic states will play selective roles in inter-governmental organizations: working within them to protect and project their interests, while working against initiatives that they view as threatening to their domestic power structures and national sovereignty. They will also work against those international institutions viewed as creatures of the established great powers and thus rigged against them—such as the IMF and the WTO—as well as those that cede a major role to non state actors. . Low-income developing countries will participate actively in international organizations and arrangements to assert their sovereignty, garner resources for social and economic development, and gain support for the incumbent government. The most unstable of these states will participate in international organizations and arrangements primarily to maintain international recognition for the regime. . John Schroder of Ascot Advisory Services, as a service, has provided this information to clients and readers. Ascot Advisory Services provides assistance with offshore company and related structures, tax-free offshore banking, plus residency and second passport matters. For additional information, please telephone (Direct Dial from the US): 809 - 334 - 5387 or 809 - 756 - 1917. http://www.ascotadvisory.com Email: info@ascotadvisory.com
|
