It was Halloween last night in many parts of the world. A few trick or treaters came by my door, including a few O'Bombers. The kids, and their parents/guardians/enablers, did not find it funny when I told them I'd give them double the candy if they'd stop drone bombing Third World countries. Then, of course, they demanded double the candy anyway. True sheeple fo the USSA.
Want to join in the discourse? Send your questions, comments, queries, and concerns to tdv@dollarvigilante.com, comment on a post, or get on the forums.
On to the feedback…
A YUCATAN PLAN
Hey Jeff,
Big (fellow Canadian) fan. I am looking at starting a paddle board business in the Yucatan. I would just set up rentals right on the beach and store equipment in my garage. Cash deals. What would you recommend as far as legality/taxes/license and all the other BS?
Thanks,
R.B., Kanada
Jeff’s Response:
Hi R.B.,
First, let me point out that I am not Canadian. I’m just a human being, like us all. But, yes, I was born and raised in the socialist white north. As you know I live a Permanent Tourist/Prior Taxpayer (PT) lifestyle, as we discuss in detail in our subscription TDV Newsletter (learn more about subscribing here), but spend a fair amount of time in Mexico nowadays and have started numerous businesses in Mexico. Let me tell you, if you legally opened a “paddleboard” business and got a license and paid taxes here, you’d be the first person in the history of Mexico to do so! In fact, I think if you even tried to go down to any Mexican government offices and apply for these things, they’d just give you a confused look. Mexico is almost the opposite of the US in these terms. Whereas in the US now you can’t even open a lemonade stand without countless permits and health inspections, in Mexico if you want to open a lemonade stand, you just need some lemons and some cups!
You don’t even need a passport to enter Mexico. Just fly to San Diego and walk across the border. If you do so on a Friday or Saturday night, there won’t even be any guards to so much as wave at you at the Mexican border crossing. The last time I crossed there were three guys there in the back eating tacos and playing cards as hundreds of people walked past. Then, once you are in the Yucatan, rent a store or stall (for likely $50-200/month, depending on the area), buy a few paddleboards and you are in business. Make sure to make friends with some of the locals which will ensure no one even tries to mess with you (which is very, very unlikely, but it is always good to have a social network in an anarchic society). There are already TDV people in that region, by the way, that can help you get settled. Access to such existing networks in TDV Groups is one of the many priceless benefits of a TDV Basic subscription.
and that’s it.
Then enjoy life in paradise and make some money.
The reason the US government and media try as hard as possible to make Mexico look scary is because they don’t want their own tax slaves to find out that freedom is actually just next door.
COME SAIL AWAY
Hello there,
I am having a sort of legal issue, and since some basic Google research hasn't yielded any helpful results, I thought I'd ask someone. I've been receiving your newsletter for a couple years now and I thought you guys might give me the best answer I'm looking for.
My boyfriend and I are currently working towards escaping the ever-advancing clutches of our lovely United States aboard our 33' sailboat. We've had the vessel for a couple years and we just moved aboard her this past May. She still needs about another year of work before she's sea-worthy and luckily we were able to find a marina that doesn't care that she's not registered yet. However, I know we'll have to register her at some point before we can head out to find our next port of call.
Our problem is that we collectively owe the Dept. of Education over $100k. My fear is that they'll seize the vessel someday (before we're able to leave).
So far our game plan has been to ignore all the phone calls. I mean, not that I would want to give them anything even if we had a substantial income, but as it is all of our little money goes to finishing the boat, no question.
I guess I'm wondering if you know of any registration tricks; maybe we could register the boat to a different country from here? Or, I was thinking that maybe if we started an LLC and register the boat to the business. Anyway, any suggestions would be very welcome. Thanks so much for your time!
Monica R., USSA
Jeff’s Response:
Hi Monica,
I’m sorry to hear you got caught up in the dragnet that is the education industrial complex. The good news is that it is easier than you think to get out.
You’ll have to excuse me as it has been 10 years since I sunk my last sailboat so I am a little foggy on some of the details of vessel registration. But, I would leave your vessel unregistered for as long as you are in the US, that is for sure! Or, alternatively, you could try to register now as I don’t believe there is any law (although who knows with all the laws in the US today, plus they don’t really seem to even care about the law now) and hope for the best. Or, thirdly, you could try to register right before you leave (but keep the boat somewhere where they can’t find it) and if they try to seize it, then just leave before they find it. Fourthly, perhaps you could have someone else register it in their name for you, I don’t believe I had any problems having a boat that was registered in someone else’s name, I think I just had to show some sort of proof of purchase if my memory serves.
The last sailboat I bought was in the US, but it had just been sailed from South Africa and was registered there so I think I just left it like that. So, I was lucky in that I didn’t have to go through the process of registering it myself. You aren’t so lucky so you may just have to be sneaky (it’s sad the government makes us have to be this way, but it is just the way it is at the moment). One idea would be to sell your current sailboat and fly to where you want to go and buy a sailboat there that is registered. Another would be just to sail unregistered and see what happens.
Your other idea of starting a company and registering the boat to the business is a decent idea too. Possibly you could also start an offshore LLC (which we can help with at TDV Offshore) and registering the boat in the name of the company in the country of the LLC.
Perhaps some of our readers have some knowledge of easy offshore sailboat registration or have knowledge of sailing internationally in an unregistered vessel. If you do, please leave comments in the notes below or email us at tdv@dollarvigilante.com.
GOVERNMENT-FREE ART?
Hey TDV,
I'm an artist living in Canada, and I think the government arts funding is corrupt and a disservice to artistic merit. Do you all have alternative suggestions for funding arts projects that have capitalist intentions? I want to make money, but I don't want the government to be my investor.
Peter in Toronto
Gary's Response:
Sell your art. It's really that simple. The only honest way to get money for something is to have someone willingly give you that money in a voluntary commercial exchange…i.e. sell. Getting government money for anything is the equivalent of knowingly receiving stolen loot to fund a hobby that can't earn you an honest living.
Just about every one of the brainwashed sheep in the world thinks that government must "fund" arts and sciences. The fact is that both art and science produce beautiful, useful and –most importantly– wanted things out there in the mean old free market. When the government gets involved, all art or science can generate is shoddy propaganda like NPR or climate change "research". Remember: all the money the government has is stolen from the productive, voluntary world…and if you have to force people to give money for what you're doing, then you're doing something that is not beautiful or useful enough for people to buy willingly.
So put your art out there. Technology has even erased the need for gatekeepers. Promote yourself online. You can even try one of those crowd funding websites. But if you are producing art that people want, then present it to them and ask for money. If you can't find buyers, then that means that your art is a fine hobby but not something you should count on to make a living.
I love playing piano, but I don't for a second allow myself to think that I could ever get someone to pay me to do it. I'm just not good enough a musician. Not even close. I entertain myself and that's good enough for me. I'm sure you're a better artist than I am a musician, however. If you want your art to be funded capitalistically, then sell it.
