Feedback Friday - July 27, 2012

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Welcome to another edition of Feedback Friday! If you are like me you just finished watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games in London.  Of course, our American friends, who live in the land of the free, couldn't watch it live due to the fascist media monopoly and federal government rules making it so they have no options for what they want to see and when and instead have to watch it when NBC says they can make the most money... later tonight.  In this case, though, you may have been lucky if you missed it... that was the strangest, darkest most satanic opening ceremonies I've ever seen.  The entire stadium is encircled with the illuminati pyramid with the all seeing eye symbol and most of the ceremonies included fire, zombies, ghouls and the grim reaper.  It looked and felt like an occult funeral and the Queen sat onlooking with the coldest, darkest eyes I've ever seen that old criminal ever have.  I'm not sure what all this imagery is supposed to tell us but it looks like the powers that be are in a nasty mood this year.  I just kept wondering when the false flag dirty bomb would be set off.  I'm very happy to be far away from London this summer.

Anyway, we have a ton of feedback questions, comments, and concerns this week for Vin, Ed, and all of us here at TDV so let's get to them!

WHERE TO PUT YOUR MONEY

IN RESPONSE TO: Feedback Friday - July 20, 2012

I like what you guys are doing and where your values are but I have zero faith in the investment arena since MF Global hit the fan. I took all my money out of my brokerage account and will not open another one until there is some accountability for the brokers.

Since your newsletters are heavily weighted towards trading stocks and ETF's they are mostly not of interest to me.

Any ideas? I want to send you money but not for stock picks.

Thanks,

James D.

Jeff’s response:

Hi James,

Thanks for sending us your concerns.  At TDV we offer two subscriptions... a basic and a premium.  The premium subscription ($250/year) includes detailed stock analysis and recommendations from Ed Bugos.  The basic, on the other hand, just offers a very basic portfolio which mostly just includes precious metals, some agriculture and some energy investments.

Other than that, the great majority of our newsletter is focused on helping people to survive and prosper during The End Of The Monetary System As We Know It (TEOTMSAWKI) and this includes plenty of things including news and analysis on TEOTMSAWKI, such as government debt and central bank money printing as well as keeping our eye on the expansion of the police and surveillance state.  As well, we talk regularly about expatriation and feature locations nearly every week, usually written up by fellow TDV subscribers who are also happy to help fellow TDV'ers should they choose to visit or to move to their area.  In this sense, TDV is also a community and we are launching our new website next week where we'll have private forums for TDV subscribers from around the world and we can all work together to find the best places for our ass and assets.  Other topics include how to get foreign residency and passports and news in that arena.  Just last week, as example, we notified subscribers that Dominica will be raising their rates by over 30% to get a passport in that country in September.  We also help people get those passports through our services at TDV Passports.

So, as you can see, TDV isn't just a "stock picking" newsletter.

You also bring up an excellent point about being concerned about the solvency and outright theft from your broker, ala MF Global.  We agree completely.  That is why we wrote a Special Report called BulletProof Shares which outlines in detail how to register any shares you own so your broker cannot seize them in a bankruptcy or steal them.  That report is free to subscribers or $44.95 standalone here.

That, and other reports like Getting Your Gold Out Of Dodge are even more of the exclusive and important work we bring to subscribers.  If you are not a subscriber, you can sign up here.  It may be the best use of your fiat money you've ever used if our information and services ends up saving some of your assets or even your own ass over the coming years as the western governments collapse.

TDV DATING SERVICE

Jeff,

I just broke up with a girl because she wanted to have a family and put the kids in public school and have them undergo the dozens of vaccinations… plus more.  To put it short, she is a statist.  Almost everyone I know is… I don’t even know any girls that I could even call libertarian, much less anarchist.  Where and how can I meet like-minded, liberty loving women?

Michael S., California

Jeff’s response:

We hear this a lot Michael.  It can be increasingly difficult to find non-violent people in places like the US nowadays where almost everyone believes in violence and theft (a.k.a. government).  The good news is that the liberty movement is growing tremendously.  There was no shortage of eye candy at PorcFest or FreedomFest... so try to make a point to attend a liberty minded conference... maybe you'll meet the anarchist girl of your dreams.  The next one we'll be attending is Libertopia this October in San Diego where our good friend and mentor, Doug Casey, will be given a lifetime achievement award.

Aside from that, I also encourage Americans to get out of the US and travel.  The great majority of girls I've met almost anywhere in the world are essentially anarchists.  They have no interest in the government, police or democracy.  It is only in the US where the people have been brainwashed so efficiently that nearly everyone there believes that not only are all those things good... but that government and democracy IS freedom when it is the exact opposite.  Come down to Acapulco and chat with almost any girl you meet... ask them what they think of the government or the President here and they will almost all say they hate them.  Sure, there are some people who believe in democracy - mostly because of the American influence, but it is nothing like in the US.  Or, go to a place like Cambodia and chat with some girls.  Ask them what they think of government.  They'll tell you the same thing... they don't want anything to do with it.  The Cambodians, in particular, have a very real reason for feeling that way.  Their government nearly murdered them all just a few decades ago!

You really couldn't have picked a worse place to live - Kalifornia - as a freedom lover.  Almost anywhere you go in the world will be better.  We suggest you take a trip and see for yourself.  Come down to Acapulco and we'll show you for yourself.  There are now dozens of us anarchists here and no one ever seems to have any trouble having a girlfriend here... and we would never get romantically involved with a statist.  Contact James Guzman, he organizes trips down here with other TDV'ers so you can have a fun week on the beach with other like minded people.

MORE ON THE HARD ASSET ALLIANCE

IN RESPONSE TO: A New, Exciting Option for Offshore Gold Ownership & Storage

Hi there,

Goldmoney came under the new government requirement in Jan 2012 that one must report your holdings.  Does Hard Asset Alliance also have this requirement?

Thanks for these blog postings.  They are most entertaining and enlightening.

Liz

Vin Maru, Chief Editor of Getting Your Gold Out Of Dodge (GYGOOD) and TDV Golden Trader Replies::

Hi Liz,

Below is part of our general response to US reporting requirement for gold storage outside of the US. It was posted on the TDV blog back in June.

In summary, if you are storing precious metals in any sort of account held with a financial institution outside of the US, YES you have report it.  If you personally hold and store the precious metals outside of the financial system, then reporting the holdings in not mandatory.

Here is why using HAA has an advantage -  Since the account is opened in the US for a US citizen, technically it is a US based account so you will not have to report it as a foreign asset.  Even thou you can choose to store the physical gold in  multiple locations around the world, the account is still US based and thus you are not required to file and report these holding under FBAR and 8398.  The reporting requirement would be similar to any financial asset you own and hold in the US, so we suggest speaking to your accountant about tax reporting for any purchase and sales of bullion you would normally make in the US. 

With HAA, you can also take delivery of your physical precious metals, they are shipped to the address listed when opening the HAA account.   If you open an account and then later decide to get a foreign address, you can have the precious metals held with HAA shipped to that address.  At this point it becomes a grey area, since technically you never sold the precious metals, you just took delivery in a foreign country at a new address, but the metals is still in your possession, so you may not have to report.  Once it is in another country and you take physical possession, the question now comes to whether you have to report it or not, since you have it and it’s not held in an account/ financial institution anymore.  Again you should check with your accountant, but there are always creative ways to manage and report your precious metals holdings, as long as you remain within the confines of US laws.

I hope this helps and if you have any other questions please let us know.

Regards,

Vin

TDV DEALING WITH THE TSA

IN RESPONSE TO: My Harassment by the TSA/Customs Gestapo

Mr. Bugos,

Are you going to do anything about it or are you just going to complain?

Susan

Ed Bugos, Senior Analyst for TDV, Replies:

You are kidding, right Susan?  All we do, from morning to night, seven days a week here at TDV is rail against the government and all its evil minions like the TSA.  That is all we can do.  What else do you suggest we do?  Punch a TSA goon?  That will just get us thrown in a cage and will not change anything.  Violence never solves anything and as anarchists we will do anything to avoid violence.  That is what is so funny... the state and the state controlled media like to make anarchists out to be violent when that is the exact opposite of what we are.  The state is violent.  It aggresses against us and steals from us daily.  Yet, we still do not use violence against the state.

You may see our writings as just "complaining" but what we are doing is spreading the philosophy of freedom and calling out the state whenever possible to make people aware that they are a unneccesary evil.

Best,

Ed

TAUNTING THE STATE

IN RESPONSE TO: My Harassment by the TSA/Customs Gestapo

So the modus operandi of your little group of writers is to go around to different places and agitate the tsa, border security, police and other officials by being rude and aggressive in order to get the desired response so you can write about it in your newsletter. Do you have any idea how lame and childish this appears to your readers? 

Taylor H., Panama

Ed's Response:

Dear Taylor,

I can tell that you really wish your accusation were true.  You seem like a biased observer.  Certainly you are being hasty in your judgment.  I know this is true regardless of your disagreement.  If you knew anything about me you couldn't come to that conclusion.  I don't have the temperament or the time to engage in that kind of activity.  It is true that I don't bend to authority without thought, but this is a far cry from what you suggest.

To see just how ironic your view is why don't you tune into Jeff's interview of one of the intellectuals of the anarcho-capitalist movement, Jeffrey Tucker, here:

At about the 5 minute mark, Mr. Tucker starts talking about how the state has changed over the years.
Importantly, he notes how the libertarian movement has evolved from minarchism to outright anarchism (anarcho-capitalism), noting specifically:

"One of the coolest changes in the world of libertarianism that I've experienced in my life in the last, say, 10 or 15 years…nowadays, as in the old days, people who believe in liberty have always made an exception for the police…well, (they'd say) the police are more or less essential, the thin blue line between us and, you know, disorder and chaos…nowadays almost all libertarians understand the police are not our friends.  This a dramatic change between now and say the 1980's…it's a big difference…and even the 1990's…in fact the police have become the symbol of oppression…that was not true in the past.  That is a gigantic difference."

The underlined is mine for emphasis.  It is not that hard to imagine what happens when the police (or TSA or border guards or whatever you want to call them) have too much “discretion” and too little accountability.  Ludwig von Mises -who was definitely not an agitator – put it like this:

“It is the social function of laws to curb the arbitrariness of the police. The rule of law restricts the arbitrariness of the officers as much as possible. It strictly limits their discretion and thus assigns to citizens a sphere in which they are free to act without being frustrated by government interference.”

I ask for no trouble. I am too busy.  It cost me real money, time and aggravation dealing with those petty tyrants.  They have given me lots of reason to write in the last decade.  I can document it all.  But I don’t write about it, because I truly don’t have the time for it.  This was a last straw.  It isn’t me that has changed.  It is the state.  The state is not the apparatus to provide security and justice.  And situations like what I wrote about only prove it.  I'm NOT surprised by your reaction.  But admittedly I find it objectionable that you can't see the obvious changes all around you.

Perhaps it is because you do not live in the US anymore that you are unaware of the massive changes in the last decade.  Try going back and see for yourself.

And if you still can't see it, then with due respect, sir, get your head out of your ass.

Ed Bugos

That's all for this week!  If you have any questions, comments, feedback, or hatemail for us troublemakers, please direct it to TDV@dollarvigilante.com.