U.S. financial freedom is dropping — where can you find safety?

 

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U.S. financial freedom is dropping — where can you find safety?

Economic freedom in the United States has dropped again, to 7th in the world.

It was 2nd in 1990, and still 3rd in 2001.

[According to Sound Money Index Wyoming and S Dakota are the most sound money states while Vermont, Maine and NJ are the worst.]  https://www.soundmoneydefense.org/about-us

The Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan research organization based in Canada, "measures the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom. The cornerstones of economic freedom are a personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to enter markets and compete, and security of the person and privately owned property."

The Institute measures such things as the size of government, government ownership of assets, tax rates, freedom of the legal system and property rights and protections, police reliability, inflation, soundness of money, banking freedom, credit markets, labor and business regulation, controls of the movement of capital and people, licensing and costs of compliance.

Americans much are less free to engage in economic activity with regard to any and all of these than they were just 20 years ago. The American Institute for Economic Research reports: "Although all countries in the report were negatively affected in terms of economic freedom by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdowns ... The U.S. decline is considerable and indicative of pressing problems that will continue to erode our liberty and prosperity if left unresolved."

Do we think they will be resolved with the apparent direction of our government? Or do we think America will become even less free in the next 20 years? Unfortunately, it seems less freedom is in store for us (of course, by a thousand small cuts known as 'gradualism') and therefore, we must always prepare and be ready, financially speaking.

Safeguarding personal wealth

We all want to invest and have those investments rise in value. But as Jeff Thomas writes in International Man, there is another type of investment we must cultivate for protection. As Gareth Spring rightly points out in his On Target newsletter, "They may well increase in value over time — but their principal purpose is not profit, but to assure that if other investments fail, the investor will still have a portion of his wealth to fall back on."

Your personal wealth is certainly threatened should you hold assets in any number of countries, but it is also obviously starting to become threatened in the U.S. as well. Greater taxation, devaluation of the dollar, downturns in markets, or even confiscation of bank accounts, retirement accounts and gold holdings... all are on the table in the U.S.

You must now realize this, and determine the safest havens for your wealth and act to make use of them.

• Precious metals and real estate are usually the safest investments, along with other hard assets.
• They are still only safe outside of the least free countries.

The freedom ranking by the Fraser Institute is:

RANK/ COUNTRY/ SCORE (out of 10)

1/ Hong Kong/ 8.59

2/ Singapore/ 8.48

3/ Switzerland/ 8.37

4/ New Zealand/ 8.27

5/ Denmark/ 8.09

6/ Australia/ 8.04

7/ United States/ 7.97

8/ Estonia/ 7.95

9/ Mauritius/ 7.88

10/ Ireland/ 7.86

11/ Armenia/ 7.84

12/ Japan/ 7.82

12/ Lithuania/ 7.82

14/ Canada/ 7.81

15/ Georgia/ 7.78

16/ Latvia/ 7.77

17/ Czech Republic/ 7.75

17/ Netherlands/ 7.75

19/ Romania/ 7.74

20/ Iceland/ 7.73

We don't know which, if any country, will decline or collapse in the future (aside from Hong Kong; its days of being a "special administrative region" of China seem numbered), but, as Spring also points out, "It would be hard for your government to force the repatriation of your precious metals and downright impossible for it to demand that your overseas real estate be transferred to your home country."

If possible, you want to find someplace that doesn't tax real estate. Also, countries that already tax "wealth," income and so forth may also confiscate your precious metals. Countries that as of now have no income tax include the Bahamas, Bahrein, Bermuda, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Sixteen nations that we know of have no property tax — Bahrein, Cayman Islands, Croatia, Cook Islands, Dominica, Fiji, Israel, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turks & Caicos and the UAR.

These do not coincide with the most free economic countries on the list because our criteria are different with regard to wealth protection versus wealth generation.

As we have seen in the United States with ginned-up hatred for billionaires, socialist calls for "wealth taxes" and taxing the rich into oblivion, it doesn't matter whether or not a country has heretofore had a traditional respect for personal property or has promoted economic freedom... psychopaths in government always resort to hijacking their citizens' wealth.

Therefore, let this serve as a warning if you have not already become alarmed: The time to look into where the best place might be to protect your personal wealth is always now, before the State grabs it.

Yours for the truth,

Bob Livingston
Editor, The Bob Livingston Letter^®

 

 

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The Best CB Radios For Preppers*

In case of a natural disaster or other major event where the power grid goes down, CB radios are a great way for preppers to stay in touch with friends and loved ones who live in the same area.

CB radios are used in a variety of industries and services to enable short-distance communication. In a pinch, they can be used to get information out to the general community or to keep in contact with your family. Nowadays, you’ll often find CB radios being used in the backcountry for hunting or camping expeditions. 

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*In addition to CB Radios, we also own several two-way radios w/ a 30-mile radius!

 

 

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