Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Is the Government Going to Crash the Stock Market?

Trying to figure out where this president, a communist posing as a socialist is taking this country is becoming more clear after every campaign speech! He is following the direction of a scumbag called Saul Alinsky, page by page! 
  • First- command the mainstream media, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, PBS and Bloomberg are already his left wing campaign broadcasters!
  • Second- cause civil unrest across the country, obama, reid and princess pelosi have made it very clear they are behind the "occupy Wall St." anarchists!
  • Third- make people dependent on government, we now have almost 50% of the population on some form of government subsidy in which they feel entitled. Try taking that away! 
  • Fourth- crash the economy, well actions speak louder than words in this very ANTI-business, high taxing, regulation strangling administration!
We are now in the fourth and final part of this 100 year progressive campaign. It all started with the creation of the Fed, something our founders fought long and hard, tooth and nail to NOT allow to happen! Read this so you will know what is happening before most others:
Is the Government Going to Crash the Stock Market?
OK all you conspiracy theorists… dust off your aluminum foil hats and get out your J.D. Salinger novels. The government is going to push stock prices lower.

The U.S. Treasury is going to be auctioning off another series of 30-year bonds on February 9. If this auction goes off like the last three have, stock prices are in for a rough time. Stocks sold off ahead of each of the three previous 30-year U.S. Treasury bond auctions.

Now normally, I'm not a big believer in the government manipulation of stock prices. It probably does happen – just not to the extent that most of the folks in the "ham-radio" community think it does.

But let's face it… The government needs investors to buy its bonds to help keep interest rates low. And what better way to encourage demand in bonds than to orchestrate a stock market selloff just ahead of a bond auction?

Think about this…

The government auctioned off $13 billion in 30-year bonds on November 10. The S&P 500 peaked above 1,280 just 10 days prior… and then bottomed at 1,230 the day before the auction.

In December, the S&P 500 hit 1,260 early in the month. Then it declined 4% in five trading days… bottoming at 1,210 on December 14 – the day the U.S. Treasury auctioned $16 billion in 30-year bonds.

January's action was less obvious. As all conspiracy advocates know, it's just like the government to try to be less obvious. Stocks didn't decline much ahead of the January 12 auction of $13 billion in 30-year bonds. But the market did fall hard the morning of the auction.

So there you have it… Three auctions… three stock market drops.

Interest rates have been rising recently as folks have taken money out of Treasurys in favor of better returns in the stock market. But the Treasury needs to somehow motivate investors to bid for at least $13 billion in 30-year bonds on February 9. I can't think of a better way to coax investors back into the Treasury market than to have stocks fall hard in the early days of February.

Normally, it would seem absurd to think the government is actively manipulating stock prices. But given all the shenanigans the Fed has pulled over the past three years – and given the stock market action just before the past three bond auctions – it's almost absurd not to consider the possibility.

The market is already poised for at least a short-term pullback. Investor sentiment (a contrary indicator) is overwhelmingly bullish. Stocks are extended to the upside after rallying 5% already this month. And the Volatility Index (or "VIX") is on the verge of reversing higher.

The upcoming Treasury bond auction is just one more reason – albeit a bit of a conspiracy theory – to be a little cautious with stocks here.

Of course, once we get the February 9 auction out of the way, the stock market rally can continue. And we can get back to more important things… like looking for President Kennedy's real assassin.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Beware the IRS Amnesty

Beware the IRS Amnesty

By Bob Bauman JD, Chairman, Freedom Alliance
Imagine this very real and somewhat disturbing scenario…

You open your front door to an official looking gentleman, briefcase in hand, who says: “I’m from the IRS and I’m here to help you.”

Well, your natural reaction may be fear, then perhaps concern, then disbelief – the last because you know your visitor’s statement ranks with other classic assurances such as, “The check is in the mail,” and the dentist’s “This won’t hurt.”

Well, it’s back…
To the surprise of some tax experts with whom I talked, U.S. Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman a few days ago “reopened the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) to help people hiding offshore accounts get current with their taxes,” as he so artfully phrased it.

The real reason behind reopening the OVDP may be Shulman’s questionable claim that the IRS has collected more than $4.4 billion so far from the two previous tax amnesty programs in 2009 and 2011.

Now they want more.

Of course, the dutiful American “news” media swallows all this IRS numbers baloney without question. For them, it’s a lot easier than thinking and checking accuracy.

Nothing but a Numbers Game

But that’s a little beside the point. Even if the IRS really did collect $4.4 billion owed in its two most recent amnesty programs, let’s compare that amount to the total tax collected by the IRS in 2009, the latest year for which the always-behind-the-times IRS has numbers.

The total tax collected in 2009 was around $2.7 trillion. So the $4.4 billion collected in late offshore taxes figures out to be 0.16% of the total.

Gasp! Wow! And how many millions did the IRS spend collecting this magnificent sum that might finance the running of the U.S. government for a few hours at best?

Anyway, few tax experts believe that Shulman’s numbers are reliable. (If you want a refresher course on that last 2011 IRS tax “amnesty,” which was more tax than amnesty, check out the expert opinion of my colleague, Mark Nestmann.

The total number of 2011 amnesty filers was “more than I expected,” said Mark Matthews, a Washington, DC-based tax attorney and a former IRS deputy commissioner. But those who came forward, Matthews said, are “still only a fraction of the people who have these (offshore) accounts.”

A Regime of Perpetual Punishment

And so now a new continuous and possibly unending IRS collection program of offshore back taxes takes its place alongside other IRS collection programs, only the penalties are far worse.

The new program, according to the IRS press release, has “…no set deadline for people to apply. However, the terms of the program could change at any time going forward” and “the IRS may increase penalties in the program for all or some taxpayers or defined classes of taxpayers – or decide to end the program entirely at any point.” (A calculated scary threat!)

I believe this latest IRS tax “open door for sinners” is based on a manufactured myth.

The IRS and a flock of big spending leftist U.S. politicians, Obama included, has perpetrated the myth that almost all American's engaged in offshore banking or other financial activity are probably tax evaders.
That big lie fits nicely with Obama’s 2012 re-election class warfare campaign to convince the 50% of Americans who pay no taxes that he won’t let them bear the burden of the other half who he claims aren’t paying their fair share.

When the HIRE Act legislation created the inane Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in 2010, the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the new law would raise only $8.7 billion over 10 years, not the $100 billion that Obama claimed could be collected every single year!

Be Very Careful

As with past IRS amnesties, this latest program will require delinquent taxpayers to give full details of past arrangements, identify banks and promoters and pay all back taxes plus interest. Any binding IRS guarantee that criminal charges won’t be filed is unlikely.

Evaluations will be on a case-by-case basis, depending on whether the taxpayer fully cooperates in the investigation.

The publicity generated by the successful efforts of the IRS to pry information out of Swiss banking giant UBS and pending investigations of a number of other offshore banks has led to many “quiet disclosures” by U.S. taxpayers.

This occurs when a taxpayer simply files amended returns and forms, and pays all back taxes and interest, plus penalties. That route may be available to some under the new program.
The question is: Should you participate? 

The answer is “maybe,” but only after you consult with a qualified tax attorney (not an accountant). This arrangement provides attorney-client privilege for your discussions. The attorney can retain an accountant to prepare the necessary returns if you decide you should participate in the program. Never contact the IRS on your own!


Saturday, December 31, 2011

obama and the price YOU pay for gas

If you can remember when Senator obama was running for President, one of his major campaign promises was on the price at the pumps! He said that gasoline at $3+ a gallon was seriously hurting American business and how he would change that. The fact that this, along with almost every other promise he made is and was a LIE, should come as NO surprise after seeing how low he has brought this country in 3 very long, financially draining years. 

Under Bush the average price of a barrel of oil was $35 a barrel and gas averaged $2.10  a gallon, under obama it is $96 a barrel and $3.52 a gallon! Now I know that the POTUS has minimal power over the price of oil [this didn't stop the dems calling for the head of Bush on a platter when it briefly went to $144 a barrel, nor did they give him credit when he brought back down to $33 a barrel BEFORE he left office] but he has gone out of his way to keep gas ABOVE $3 a gallon. 

His EPA and tree-hugger supporters have gone out of their way to shut down every refinery expansion, nuclear expansion, pipeline expansion and are now moving against natural gas, fracking, and shale gas/oil development. He and his cronies have lost hundreds of billions of YOUR tax dollars on subsidies for windmills and solar panels and bio fuels. If you took away the bio-fuel subsidies alone the price of corn [which is in 1/2 the food products in this country] would fall by half and the money he is taking from big oil to help pay for this would take a $1.50 of the price of a gallon of regular gas alone.

Not only did he say we have to stop relying on hostile foreign countries for our energy needs [another lie] by turning down CANADA, our biggest trading partner proves this, he is keeping the price of fossil fuels deliberately high by making our new #1 export, .....you guessed it [or maybe not] FUEL! Here is the latest from Yahoo News:

In a first, gas and other fuels are top US export

For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world's biggest gas guzzler, is — wait for it — fuel.
Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export, according to U.S. Census data going back to 1990. It will also be the first year in more than 60 that America has been a net exporter of these fuels.
Just how big of a shift is this? A decade ago, fuel wasn't even among the top 25 exports. And for the last five years, America's top export was aircraft.
The trend is significant because for decades the U.S. has relied on huge imports of fuel from Europe in order to meet demand. It only reinforced the image of America as an energy hog. And up until a few years ago, whenever gasoline prices climbed, there were complaints in Congress that U.S. refiners were not growing quickly enough to satisfy domestic demand; that controversy would appear to be over.
Still, the U.S. is nowhere close to energy independence. America is still the world's largest importer of crude oil. From January to October, the country imported 2.7 billion barrels of oil worth roughly $280 billion.
Fuel exports, worth an estimated $88 billion in 2011, have surged for two reasons:
— Crude oil, the raw material from which gasoline and other refined products are made, is a lot more expensive. Oil prices averaged $95 a barrel in 2011, while gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon — a record. A decade ago oil averaged $26 a barrel, while gasoline averaged $1.44 a gallon.
— The volume of fuel exports is rising. The U.S. is using less fuel because of a weak economy and more efficient cars and trucks. That allows refiners to sell more fuel to rapidly growing economies in Latin America, for example. In 2011, U.S. refiners exported 117 million gallons per day of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products, up from 40 million gallons per day a decade earlier.
There's at least one domestic downside to America's growing role as a fuel exporter. Experts say the trend helps explain why U.S. motorists are paying more for gasoline. The more fuel that's sent overseas, the less of a supply cushion there is at home.
Gasoline supplies are being exported to the highest bidder, says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. "It's a world market," he says.
Refining companies won't say how much they make by selling fuel overseas. But analysts say those sales are likely generating higher profits per gallon than they would have generated in the U.S. Otherwise, they wouldn't occur.
The value of U.S. fuel exports has grown steadily over the past decade, coinciding with rising oil prices and increased demand around the globe.
Developing countries in Latin America and Asia have been burning more gasoline and diesel as their people buy more cars and build more roads and factories. Europe also has been buying more U.S. fuel to make up for its lack of refineries.
And there's a simple reason why America's refiners have been eager to export to these markets: gasoline demand in the U.S. has been falling every year since 2007. It dropped by another 2.5 percent in 2011. With the economy struggling, motorists cut back. Also, cars and trucks have become more fuel-efficient and the government mandates the use of more corn-based ethanol fuel.
The last time the U.S. was a net exporter of fuels was 1949, when Harry Truman was president. That year, the U.S. exported 86 million barrels and imported 82 million barrels. In the first ten months of 2011, the nation exported 848 million barrels (worth $73.4 billion) and imported 750 million barrels.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Why the Greatest Wealth Migration in U.S. History Has Begun

Democrats, unions and wall st. occupiers all have one thing in common: NONE OF THEM CAN SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL! They treat the hard working, American dream following, so called rich like criminals! All I hear is how the rich need to pay their fair share. The so called rich are ALREADY pay ALL the tax. Dems want them to pay more! 

What is "fair" about that? With 50% of Americans paying NO Fed tax and collecting some form of government assistance, maybe THEY should pay something or shut up. You shouldn't be allowed to say anything or even vote Federally without some skin in the game! 

Closing tax loopholes will effect YOU much more than the wealthy and without corporate welfare, companies will leave...and they are. After all, these tax loopholes are just giving you back SOME of the money you have already paid. If you write off your mortgage, that is a loophole, if you get an Income tax return, that is a loophole! This is why a FLAT TAX will never pass, like Cain's 9-9-9 tax. When the 50% of people screaming at the rich to pay more, they want to be EXCLUDED from those very same loopholes. 

I think ALL tax shelters and loopholes should be closed. I think that welfare checks should be taxed just like unemployment and social security checks are. As for the latter two, you have ALREADY paid tax on that money! How fair is that? With that said, rich people, companies and employees that pay the bulk of all taxes have had enough and are leaving. The government is now facing bigger bills on a shrinking tax base, meaning they are bringing in much less money. The result is higher taxes on EVERYONE left combined with massive cuts in social programs. Also known as "austerity" it is the end of socialism. If we don't do something drastic quickly, we will become the biggest 3rd world country on the planet! WE will be the topics of future National Geographics and on the History Channel under "How was this allowed to happen"? 

Leaving has become so commonplace that there are now many books available on just how to do it LEGALLY! Read this report folks:

Five Strategies to Maximize
the Best Offshore Has to Offer


More than two decades ago, an interesting character with the nom de plume, “Bill Hill” wrote a popular escape manual for freedom advocates titled “PT—The Perpetual Traveler.”

Hill outlined his PT ideas with a five point plan “...for those,” he said, “with courage enough to pursue freedom.” He memorably illustrated his plan with something he called The Five Flags of Freedom.

Hill wrote: “People of intelligence and wealth owe it to themselves and their descendants to have more than one flag. No one with common sense should give all their assets or allegiance to just one.”

Confiscatory income taxes and suffocating government regulations have caused many independent-minded Americans and their European counterparts to seek new flags.

They are discovering that, as business owners, expatriates or tax exiles abroad, they need not belong to any particular country nor participate in its senseless policies and politics.

An individual’s relationship with government should be a matter of choice, an option. The passport you hold and the country where you live or were born need not determine your fate forever...

Why the Greatest Wealth Migration
in U.S. History Has Begun

Today, millions of the wealthiest and most productive Americans are leaving home to relocate various aspects of their lives in the best possible places.

They view governments as providers of facilities and services, like hotel keepers. If they offer good accommodation and make you feel comfortable and prosperous, you stay. If your government becomes too demanding or too nosey, or if a competitor offers a better deal, you can move on.

A few years ago, U.S. News & World Report confirmed, “A wave of native born citizens are going abroad in search of new challenges, opportunities, and more congenial ways of life.”

Some are seeking full-time residences... others find part-time tropical vacation homes where they can live like kings for $20,000 a year... while some move their businesses to slash their taxes.

No one government can or even should be trusted to control all your money. Experience shows us that government does not have your best interests at heart. Americans have learned with a vengeance how much politicians love to redistribute other’s wealth. In the end, they also will succeed in redistributing taxpayers. The major portion of all liquid private wealth, the smart money, already should have been moved offshore. As Bill Hill would say, it has been “re flagged.”

And these days, it’s not just the wealthy jumping ship. Every day, middle-class folks are re-flagging themselves to get the government they want and to gain access to economic opportunities that no longer exist in America.

Individuals can remove themselves from the control and jurisdiction of any government by acquiring dual citizenship, investing internationally and becoming human multinationals.

In order to accomplish this you have to arrange your assets according to the following simple outline:

Your Five Flags: A Strategy to Live as
Close to Government-Free as Possible

Flag 1: Second Passport and Citizenship: You should obtain citizenship and a second passport from a country that does not tax non-residents on their worldwide income. The U.S. taxes its citizens without regard to where they live in the world. Your second passport should be issued by a country that is unconcerned about its offshore citizens and their outside activities. It can act as the ultimate insurance policy during times of war, persecution and political upheaval.

Flag 2: Business Base: You need a place in which you can form a corporation or limited liability company and invest and earn money with minimal restrictions. This should not be where you legally reside, thus it excludes your personal fiscal domicile. Some countries grant free land, interest free loans or tax holidays to promote new local business and jobs with minimal regulation. Such places include the Cook Islands, St. Kitts & Nevis, Uruguay and Panama. 

Flag 3: Residence and Domicile: Obviously, the best place to live is where you’re happy. But as a practical matter it also should be a place with a territorial tax system that does not tax outside income. You should live in a tax haven with good infrastructure and communication systems where wealthy, productive people can be creative, live, relax, prosper and enjoy themselves, preferably with maximum bank privacy and a stable government. Panama, Monaco, Andorra, Singapore, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Austria and Switzerland should be considered.

Flag 4: Asset Management: In spite of all the negative publicity, Switzerland remains the world’s best place from which assets, securities and business affairs can be managed by proxy. It is one of the best for an offshore bank account, life insurance and annuities. The Swiss have highly competent independent financial managers, and there is little or no taxation of non residents or non citizens. Other possibilities include Austria, Luxembourg, Denmark, Liechtenstein and Hong Kong.

Flag 5: Playgrounds: These are places where you physically spend time, where quality of life is a top priority. Normally, because of legal restrictions on how long one can stay without being considered a resident for tax purposes, it is necessary to have several such places, although, depending on the place, legal and political deals usually can be made if you want to stay in one place. But for tax purposes, one should avoid spending more than 90 days per year in any one country. Factors here are matters of personal choice: climate, seasons, geography, leisure activities, culture, history, security and prices.

Stay Away from “Home”
To Maximize the Benefits

One point to remember: governments only have power and jurisdiction over their citizens when they are within their home territory or colonies. For this reason, one generally should stay out of the country on whose passport one travels. Your major financial assets should be invisible and far away from the country in which you actually make your home. And keep your lifestyle as unremarkable and humble as possible, never flamboyant and attention-getting.

By using the Five Flag strategy, you too can get the most out of life. Once you have your new second passport and money enough to survive comfortably at your chosen destination, security is yours.


Sunday, December 25, 2011

David Axelrod's Pattern of Sexual Misbehaviour!

This is a piece from Ann Coulter, although disliked by many, she definitely has her FACTS in order! Politics don't get any more corrupt anywhere outside of Chicago! Everything political that comes out of Chicago must be held to the highest level of scrutiny, including our "Communist in Chief", that will NEVER be done by the left wing media also known as obama's personal campaign machine! 

Herman Cain was the latest victim of the Chicago Brotherhood. Their smear campaign worked well because the person on the wrong end of this dirt digging machine spends all their time trying to defend themselves at great personal cost instead of focusing on the tasks at hand. 

Herman Cain has spent his life living and working all over the country -- Indiana, Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Washington, D.C. -- but never in Chicago.

So it's curious that all the sexual harassment allegations against Cain emanate from Chicago: home of the Daley machine and Obama consigliere David Axelrod.

Suspicions had already fallen on Sheila O'Grady, who is close with David Axelrod and went straight from being former Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley's chief of staff to president of the Illinois Restaurant Association (IRA), as being the person who dug up Herman Cain's personnel records from the National Restaurant Association (NRA).

The Daley-controlled IRA works hand-in-glove with the NRA. And strangely enough, Cain's short, three-year tenure at the NRA is evidently the only period in his decades-long career during which he's alleged to have been a sexual predator.

After O'Grady's name surfaced in connection with the miraculous appearance of Cain's personnel files from the NRA, she issued a Clintonesque denial of any involvement in producing them -- by vigorously denying that she knew Cain when he was at the NRA. (Duh.)

And now, after a week of conservative eye-rolling over unspecified, anonymous accusations against Cain, we've suddenly got very specific sexual assault allegations from an all-new accuser out of ... Chicago.

Herman Cain has never lived in Chicago. But you know who has? David Axelrod! And guess who lived in Axelrod's very building? Right again: Cain's latest accuser, Sharon Bialek.

Bialek's accusations were certainly specific. But they also demonstrated why anonymous accusations are worthless.

Within 24 hours of Bialek's press conference, friends and acquaintances of hers stepped forward to say that she's a "gold-digger," that she was constantly in financial trouble -- having filed for personal bankruptcy twice -- and, of course, that she had lived in Axelrod's apartment building at 505 North Lake Shore Drive, where, she admits, she knew the man The New York Times calls Obama's "hired muscle."

Throw in some federal tax evasion, and she's Obama's next Cabinet pick.

The reason all this is relevant is that both Axelrod and Daley have a history of smearing political opponents by digging up claims of sexual misconduct against them.

John Brooks, Chicago's former fire commissioner, filed a lawsuit against Daley six months ago claiming Daley threatened to smear him with sexual harassment accusations if Brooks didn't resign. He resigned -- and the sexual harassment allegations were later found to be completely false.

Meanwhile, as extensively detailed in my book "Guilty: Liberal 'Victims' and Their Assault on America," the only reason Obama became a U.S. senator -- allowing him to run for president -- is that David Axelrod pulled sealed divorce records out of a hat, first, against Obama's Democratic primary opponent, and then against Obama's Republican opponent.

One month before the 2004 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, Obama was way down in the polls, about to lose to Blair Hull, a multimillionaire securities trader.

But then The Chicago Tribune -- where Axelrod used to work -- began publishing claims that Hull's second ex-wife, Brenda Sexton, had sought an order of protection against him during their 1998 divorce proceedings.

From then until Election Day, Hull was embroiled in fighting the allegation that he was a "wife beater." He and his ex-wife eventually agreed to release their sealed divorce records. His first ex-wife, daughters and nanny defended him at a press conference, swearing he was never violent. During a Democratic debate, Hull was forced to explain that his wife kicked him and he had merely kicked her back.

Hull's substantial lead just a month before the primary collapsed with the nonstop media attention to his divorce records. Obama sailed to the front of the pack and won the primary. Hull finished third with 10 percent of the vote.

Luckily for Axelrod, Obama's opponent in the general election had also been divorced.

The Republican nominee was Jack Ryan, a graduate of Dartmouth and Harvard law and business schools, who had left his lucrative partnership at Goldman Sachs to teach at an inner-city school on the South Side of Chicago.

But in a child custody dispute some years earlier, Ryan's ex-wife, Hollywood sex kitten Jeri Lynn Ryan, had alleged that, while the couple was married, Jack had taken her to swingers clubs in Paris and New York.

Jack Ryan adamantly denied the allegations. In the interest of protecting their son, he also requested that the records be put permanently under seal.

Axelrod's courthouse moles obtained the "sealed" records and, in no time, they were in the hands of every political operative in Chicago. Knowing perfectly well what was in the records, Chicago Tribune attorneys flew to California and requested that the court officially "unseal" them -- over the objections of both Jack and Jeri Ryan.

Your honor, who knows what could be in these records!

A California judge ordered them unsealed, which allowed newspapers to publish the salacious allegations, and four days later, Ryan dropped out of the race under pressure from idiot Republicans (who should be tracked down and shot).

With a last-minute replacement of Alan Keyes as Obama's Republican opponent, Obama was able to set an all-time record in an Illinois Senate election, winning with a 43 percent margin.

And that's how Obama became a senator four years after losing a congressional race to Bobby Rush. (In a disastrous turn of events, Rush was not divorced.)

Axelrod destroyed the only two men who stood between Obama and the Senate with illicitly obtained, lurid allegations from their pasts.

In 2007, long after Obama was safely ensconced in the U.S. Senate, The New York Times reported: "The Tribune reporter who wrote the original piece (on Hull's sealed divorce records) later acknowledged in print that the Obama camp had 'worked aggressively behind the scenes' to push the story."

Some had suggested, the Times article continued, that Axelrod had "an even more significant role -- that he leaked the initial story."

This time, Obama's little helpers have not only thrown a bomb into the Republican primary, but are hoping to destroy the man who deprives the Democrats of their only argument in 2012: If you oppose Obama, you must be a racist.  
 

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Nero in the White House

In case you think I am a racist, I thought I would re-post this very well done Blog from  Mychal Massie who couldn't have put my thoughts on paper any clearer! 
Nero in the White House
By: Mychal Massie



Three significant historical events have been eclipsed by Obama: 1) Jimmy Carter will no longer be looked upon as the worst president in American history; 2) Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton will no longer be recognized as the greatest liars in presidential history; 3) Clinton's stain on Monica's dress, and what that did to White House in general and the office of the president specifically, will forever pale in comparison to the stain and stench of Obama.

I need not spend much time on the failure of Obama as president. His tenure has been a failure on every measurable level. So much so, in fact, that some of the staunchest, most respected liberal Democrats and Democratic supporters have not only openly criticized him – some even more harshly than this essayist – but they have called for him to step down.

Richard Nixon's words "I am not a crook," punctuated with his involvement in Watergate, and Bill Clinton's finger-wagging as he told one of the most pathetic lies in presidential history, in the aftermath of Obama, will be viewed as mere prevarications.

Mr. Nixon and Clinton lied to save their backsides. Although, I would argue there are no plausible explanations for doing what they did, I could entertain arguments pursuant to understanding their rationales for lying. But in the case of Obama, he lies because he is a liar. He doesn't only lie to cover his misdeeds – he lies to get his way. He lies to belittle others and to make himself look presentable at their expense. He lies about his faith, his associations, his mother, his father and his wife. He lies and bullies to keep his background secret. His lying is congenital and compounded by socio-psychological factors of his life.

Never in my life, inside or outside of politics, have I witnessed such dishonesty in a political leader. He is the most mendacious political figure I have ever witnessed. Even by the low standards of his presidential predecessors, his narcissistic, contumacious arrogance is unequalled. Using Obama as the bar, Nero would have to be elevated to sainthood. 

As the stock markets were crashing, taking with them the remaining life saving of untold tens of thousands, Obama was hosting his own birthday celebration, which was an event of Epicurean splendidness. The shamelessness of the event was that it was not a state dinner to welcome foreign dignitaries, nor was it to honor an American accomplishment – it was to honor the Pharaoh, Barack Hussein Obama. The event's sole purpose was for the Pharaoh to have his loyal subjects swill wine, indulge in gluttony and behavior unfit to take place on the property of taxpayers, as they suffer. It was of a magnitude comparable to that of Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski's $2 million birthday extravaganza for its pure lack of respect for the people.

Permit me to digress momentarily. The U.S. Capitol and the White House were built with the intent of bringing awe and respect to America and her people. They were also built with the intent of being the greatest of equalizers. I can tell you, having personally been to both, there is a moment of awe and humility associated with being in the presence of the history of those buildings. They are to be honored and inscribed into our national psyche, not treated as a Saturday night house party at Chicago's Cabrini-Green.

The people of America own that home Obama and his wife continue to debase with their pan-ghetto behavior. It is clear that Obama and family view themselves as royalty, but they're not. They are employees of "we the people," who are suffering because of his failed policies. What message does this behavior send to those who today are suffering as never before?

What message does it send to all Americans who are struggling? Has anyone stopped to think what the stock market downturn forebodes for those 80 million baby boomers who will be retiring in the next period of years? Is there a snowball's chance in the Sahara that every news program on the air would applaud this behavior if it were George W. Bush? To that point, do you remember the media thrashing Bush took for having a barbecue at the White House? 

Like Nero – who was only slightly less debaucherous than Caligula – with wine on his lips Obama treated "we the people" the way Caligula treated those over whom he lorded.

Many in America wanted to be proud when the first person of color was elected president, but instead, they have been witness to a congenital liar, a woman who has been ashamed of America her entire life, failed policies, intimidation and a commonality hitherto not witnessed in political leaders. He and his wife view their life at our expense as an entitlement – while America's people go homeless, hungry and unemployed.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

IRS-Obama Idiocy Harms Innocent Americans

IRS-Obama Idiocy Harms Innocent Americans

George Washington, the first president of the United States, is said to have exclaimed: “Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

No better example of unreasonable use of official government force exists today than the policies of the Internal Revenue Service, aided and abetted by President Obama and the Democrat controlled Congress that enacted the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
Amy Feldman, a columnist for Reuters, exposed on December 8 a current example of this unreasonable force.

She wrote: “The Internal Revenue Service's crackdown on overseas tax cheats is having an unintended consequence on American expats... [forcing] them to pay penalties for failure to file paperwork that may be drastically out of proportion to the actual amount of taxes owed.”

Intended Consequences?

It might be some small comfort if these were stupid, unthinking IRS-Obama policies. But in my opinion, these are policies calculated to keep Americans investors - along with their cash and assets - at home, where they can be controlled (and their assets confiscated) at will by government.

That threat includes the possible confiscation of private pension and retirement plans.

These policies have imposed unjust penalties on thousands of innocent American expatriates suddenly caught in a new jungle of paperwork they had no idea existed. That’s one consequence.

I wrote about another consequence a few days ago when I noted that: “Growing numbers of Americans living abroad are renouncing their U.S. citizenship because of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) - not to mention the ever more burdensome and complex IRS reporting obligations that now come with the treat of financial and even criminal penalties.”

Our friend and associate Richard W. Rahn writes in the Washington Postthat FATCA has already sent foreign capital fleeing.

He claims that the people running Washington are "mental midgets" unaware of how their policies impact on the economy.

He estimates that FATCA will cause the departure of an estimated $14 trillion of private foreign investment, destroying as many as 10 million American jobs.

Yet another consequence, equally serious, is the decision of untold numbers of foreign banks and investors to avoid doing business with Americans because of the trouble of compliance with FATCA.

This also has made it difficult, if not impossible, for U.S. citizens living abroad to maintain existing bank accounts or open new accounts both in U.S. and in their countries of residence. This impedes American companies and their employees in badly needed foreign business and trade.

The Americans who are being subjected to this unjust IRS-Obama persecution are real people like you and me - U.S. citizens married to foreigners who left the U.S. decades ago, retirees whose lives spanned multiple countries, dual-taxpayers trying to do their U.S. taxes themselves in foreign places, where accountants that know U.S. tax laws are few.

  • Marvin Van Horn, a 62-year-old U.S. citizen and permanent resident of New Zealand, semi-retired, bought a home there with his Australian wife a decade ago. When he learned about the new IRS reporting rules, he followed them and paid a small tax he owed but the penalty for failing to file the foreign bank account reporting form (FBAR) was $90,000. 

  • When the IRS agent learned he had rented his house and not reported that income the penalty spiraled to $172,000. After negotiations with IRS's Taxpayer Advocate Service, the result was a single "non-willful" failure to file FBAR penalty of $5,000 per year, or $25,000 total.
There are an estimated five to six million Americans living offshore and another 39 million immigrants in the U.S. who face similar IRS issues with overseas disclosure if they have foreign bank accounts back home.

Yet in 2009 there were only 534,043 FBARs filed, according to a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Indeed, many Americans abroad inherited foreign assets from foreign-born parents and relatives or they have simply lived abroad for years ignorant of FBAR requirements.

All of this IRS-Obama induced tyranny involves mainly U.S. citizens, but the new rules have ensnared thousands of Canadians, many of whom were not only ignorant of IRS rules, but of the fact that they were U.S. dual citizens.

One 54-year-old Canadian, who was born in Canada and has only worked in Canada, recently discovered that she’s a dual citizen for tax purposes because her mother, then a U.S. citizen, registered her with the U.S. embassy at birth. She faces a $75,000 penalty.

Jack Townsend, a Houston tax attorney, who writes on these issues in his Federal Tax Crimes blog, said: “The people who made out well are the real crooks who have been doing this for years, while the people who don't have that culpability are getting hammered because of the one-size-fits-all rule.”

I have no sympathy for Americans who cheat on their taxes. Illegal tax evaders should be caught and penalized. But stupid, harmful rules should be repealed immediately to take into account innocent mistakes.

Honest, taxpaying Americans and others who desire real financial privacy, true asset protection and expert investment advice should continue to employ offshore banks, investment advisers, insurance and annuity specialists - and not be scared away by the IRS from the very real benefits offered by the world's leading offshore financial centers with which the Sovereign Society works.

We will help you go offshore with full legality and tax compliance - the IRS be damned.
By Bob Bauman JD, Chairman, Freedom Alliance