Hello from Taxco, Mexico,
It sounds strange, I know, to live on the beach in Acapulco and take a “vacation” to a mountain town like Taxco, but everyone needs a change of scenery from time to time. And in this particular case, my wife wanted a little getaway without all the kids and dogs. So we boarded a first class bus on Estrella de Oro and I worked away on my laptop via iPhone internet tethering over TelCel 3G service which worked for the majority of the four hour trip.
I'd never been to Taxco and was nicely surprised at how the city of 100,000 is laid out. It is literally built into the side of a mountain. I thought the volkswagen bug taxi taking us from the bus station to the MonteTaxco Hotel was going to die numerous times as we attempted to scale streets that looked near vertical. The streets are cobbled together and in some parts don't even look like one car can traverse it but it is two way traffic and they manage to make it all work.
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY
It's yet another long weekend celebrating the state in the US this weekend so let's take a moment to commemorate all those who have died because of the actions of the US Government and a moment of silence for the death of liberty in the US.
GOVERNMENT: CAN WE PLEASE JUST STOP WITH THIS?
We almost missed the bus to Taxco, however, as I received a panicked phone call just before we left. It was from one of my brokerage accounts I have scattered throughout the world to spread political risk. It is called Internaxx, based in Luxembourg, and it is excellent for those looking for a brokerage account outside of the territorial control of the mafia (government) in your area. Of course, they don't accept Americans… or even Canadians for that matter… but more on that in a bit.
The man spoke perfect English but with a strong mixed accent between French, German and Swiss… he probably speaks all three of those as most people in that part of the world do.
“Sir? We've been trying to contact you, have you not received our emails?” he said, almost sounding like a more refined Inspector Clouseau.
“No, I haven't,” I responded. Perhaps I had missed it or my spam folder had eaten it.
“It is urgent sir, we need you to fill out a W-8BEN form.”
“Why, what is it?” I asked.
“It is now required by the US Government. If you don't sign this form we will have to immediately sell all of your US stocks,” he urged.
For a moment I almost felt like saying, good, sell 'em! But they're all so undervalued at the moment that it wouldn't be prudent to sell at what both TDV Senior Analyst, Ed Bugos, and TDV Golden Trader's, Vin Maru, say is at or near the bottom.
He emailed me the form again and asked that I send it first thing Monday morning via FedEx to Luxembourg to avoid them selling all my US stocks.
So, here I am, a natural born Canadian and a citizen of the Dominican Republic who has a stock brokerage account in Luxembourg, having to urgently rush forms half way around the world to formally state to the US Government that I am not a US citizen!
This is only amplified in its lucrosity and stupidity when you consider that Internaxx, like every other brokerage on Earth outside of the US, does not even accept US citizens as clients. Heck, they don't even accept Canadian clients after the company was bought out by a Canadian bank. I had to rush them a copy of my Dominican Republic citizenship just to keep the account open a year or two ago. And now I am having to rush around to make it so the US Government doesn't coerce Internaxx to sell my stocks.
I was muttering foul language under my breath thinking about this and just before I turned off my computer to head to the bus station another email came in marked urgent. This time it was from our website provider. It was titled, “EU Cookie Legislation — IMPORTANT”. I thought for a second, what are those Eurofags doing now, further regulating pastries and snacks?
It turns out it is about computer “cookies”… the things that websites send your browser in order to remember who you are and your preferences for the next time you visit. Here is what the email said:
“Recent changes in European Legislation (EU Privacy Law) requires websites operated within the EU to ask visitors for permission to use certain types of cookies during their visit. If you have a website in the EU, this means you must ask your visitors for consent before you can drop any cookies on their browser which could be used for tracking purposes.”
It goes on to state that this isn't just for businesses, its for personal websites, operating in the EU as well. The amount of work it will take for all websites to comply in the EU is unimaginable. Not to mention, EVERY time you go to an EU website now you will have to consent to them giving your browser a cookie. It will be infuriating.
And, yet again, this is completely unneccessary. Anyone who does not want cookies left in their browser from websites have the option to turn cookies off. They don't need guys with guns to force every website to “ask for permission”. Not to mention, cookies can save you tons of effort and aggravation. One of the things I hate most is when, for one reason or another (usually a technical problem), I need to delete the cookies on my computer… for the next week I have to reintroduce myself and reset all the preferences on any site I use.
The internet is proof that anarchy works because it has largely been unregulated and unpoliced by government for nearly two decades. What has happened during that time? It has turned into, by far, the biggest creator of economic growth and jobs in our lifetimes. Just look at Facebook… it is just one website of billions and it has, or had, a market cap near $100 billion. That is nearly half of Microsoft's market cap ($240 billion) and Microsoft is the creator of windows, the OS that largely powered the PC revolution. Or Intel ($130 billion), the maker of the processors that literally powered most computers.
But, government, which is a criminal organization by its very definition, seeps into everything and it is now getting more involved in destroying the internet through countless regulations and laws including the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) which continues to work its way through the slimy passages of Congress… they say to protect “Hollywood”…. the Hollywood who continues to rack up record box office sales records.
No one has ever been killed by the internet. No one has been raped by the internet. All disputes over the internet are handled by the websites that offer transactions (such as Ebay or Paypal), all peacably without any government involvement.
And, beyond the internet, and back to the W-8BEN form that got me started on this rant, all facets of life continue to have more and more government involvement.
It makes one wonder, when will this government lunacy end? The answer is, probably not anytime soon. And that's why it is important to arrange your affairs to live outside of the system or internationalize yourself to choose smaller more inept governments in which to claim ownership over you or your assets.
SMURFIN' SMURFS
Recently my kids asked me to download the “Pitufos” movie for them. Pitufos is the Spanish term for Smurfs. My first response was, “What? They're back?”
The Smurfs first appeared in 1981, when I was 11 years old. But I never liked them… at all. Something about them always rubbed me the wrong way. But, I had never really stopped to think about why. So, when I came upon this YouTube video that makes a pretty good case that the Smurfs are communists, it made me reanalyze the Smurfs.
And yes, now that I actually think about it, I think that's what I didn't like about the Smurfs. They are far too collectivist for my taste. Same clothes… all chipping in for the “good” of society… all similar look and traits.
It made me look back on other shows I liked and reanalyze them. I didn't have a lot of shows I liked but my favorite was probably The Flintstones. Some hard working guys always looking to get an angle to get ahead… that's my kind of cartoon! The Smurf's? They can smurf off.
TATTOO OF THE WEEK
Something tells me he is going to regret “somehing”.
THE DOLLAR VIGILANTE ON ADAM VERSUS THE MAN
Being that I am on a romantic weekend getaway with my esposa, I am starting to get the dirty looks as I tap away on my computer… so I'll leave you with this conversation I had with Adam Kokesh of Adam Versus The Man earlier this week. Have a great weekend and stay free!
