The Trump Administration"s big government, anti-trade and
border wall-policies, have generated surprising support from
Republicans, the Alt-Right, and even libertarians. But Jeff
Berwick, publisher of the Dollar Vigilante newsletter, isn"t
having any of it.
Berwick this week reiterated his call for US clients to hold at
least part of their assets outside the country, and to consider
getting a second passport in case the worst occurs.
"The American government has been increasingly curtailing
personal, political and economic freedoms," said Berwick.
"This has happened under all administrations; Bush, Obama
and now Trump. Don"t forget: a wall built to keep people out,
can also be used to keep people in."
Berwick isn"t alone. This week, the New Yorker Magazine
published a piece titled "Survival of the Richest," which
discussed how some of America"s richest people, such as
Reddit founder Steve Huffman, are prepping for disaster.
"Faced with evidence of frailty in the American project, some
are permitting themselves to imagine failure," notes staff
writer Evan Osnos. "It is gilded despair."
One particularly popular locale for second homes is English-
speaking New Zealand, which has the rule of law, an upper-
middle class culture and is off the beaten path. According to
the New Yorker, 13,401 Americans registered with New
Zealand"s immigration authorities, during the first seven days
after Trump"s election.
Is Acapulco safer than most US Cites?
Investors like to pride themselves as "out of the box thinkers."
However Berwick, an anarcho-capitalist, goes a lot farther
than most.
"The US government is already going to extraordinary lengths
to track American"s assets, and herd them into safe places
where they can be seized," says Berwick. "These include
moves towards digital cash, exit taxes, FATCA (the Foreign
Assets Tax Compliance Act) and global taxation policies. Now
is not the time to take chances."
An Internet pioneer, and founder of Stockhouse.com, one the
world"s first financial news-sites, Berwick now holds fort in
Acapulco, which, surprisingly, he claims is safer than most US
cities.
There from offices overlooking the Pacific Ocean, he runs the
Dollar Vigilante newsletter and its fast-growing UTube
channels.
The offices are also headquarters of the TDV
Internationalization and Investment Summit, and
Anarchapulco, both which take place later this month.
Berwick, a shameless promoter, bills the latter event, which
attracts an eclectic crowd ranging from mining investors, to
Bitcoin and yoga fanatics as "the world"s largest anarcho-
capitalist conference."
What scares Berwick and free market advocates the most, is
not the US government"s attacks on financial freedoms, it is
the attacks on personal freedoms. Trump"s threats to
institutionalize torture, legitimize religious discrimination and
criminalize free speech are particularly jarring.
When Trump floated the idea of taking away US citizenship
from those who burn the flag, Berwick reacted by posting a
video, which later went viral, of himself burning the flags of
several countries, including Canada, where he was born, to the
sound of "Freedom," a song popularized by the late George
Michael.
Heir to Doug Casey and The International Man
Berwick"s nervousness about the direction of US policies,
while radical, flows in a long tradition of free thinkers of all
kinds, who were forced outside their home countries. Voltaire,
Rousseau and more recently Alexander Solzhenitsyn, all got
out of Dodge at some point in their lives.
However Berwick"s ideas most resemble those of global
investor Doug Casey, author of Crisis Investing and whose
book The International Man, published about 40 years ago,
first introduced the general public to the idea of keeping one
foot outside the United States.
Indeed Casey was one of the first people that Berwick sought
out, when he founded his UTube channel six years ago.
Berwick flew down to Casey"s Argentina estate for a series of
interviews and over the years, Casey has defended his
controversial protégé.
Lessons from the old Soviet Union: broadening the ideas
horizon
The idea that the United States is anything else other than a
"shining city on a hill," is likely anathema to most Americans,
despite the tough times that many are experiencing right now.
That opinion is likely correct. America has gone through
rough patches in the past and has always bounced back.
However gold investors think over a far longer time horizon.
Many remember policies in the old Soviet Union, which
curtailed comments against the state, imposed restrictions on
citizens moving assets aboard and foreign travel.
For example when Simon Mikhailovich, who is now managing
director at TBR Bullion Reserve, left the Soviet Union, his
family"s assets were essentially all confiscated in the form of
an "exit tax," which is in some ways similar to what the US
IRS, is currently levying on Americans who want to renounce
their citizenship.
Critics like Berwick aren"t for everyone. But investors need
second opinions now, more than ever.
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