Author: Mark Nestmann

In one of his most memorable statements, former President Ronald Reagan said in his 1981 inaugural address, “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” When faced with a truly intractable problem, it’s tempting to throw our hands in the air and wait for the government to solve it. Whether it’s ensuring sustainable development, fighting the war on drugs, or any other difficult issue, the mainstream media tells us time and again that government ought to pass a law to fix it. I beg to differ. Here are two stories about people who lost everything to … Continue reading →

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In the last 150 years, a previously unknown social concept has taken hold in the US and other wealthy countries: retirement. And just as we’re getting used to it, it’s being wrenched away from us. A century and a half ago, only those who had accumulated great wealth could stop working in their fifties or sixties to enjoy a leisurely retirement. People worked as long as they were physically able to. Once they became too feeble to work, family members cared for them. Those with no family were generally sent to the poorhouse, a residence where disabled and elderly people … Continue reading →

The post Are You Ready To Work Until You Die? appeared first on LewRockwell.

“If I know your phone number, I can track your whereabouts globally.” I was shocked when I read that statement from security researcher Nick Petrillo almost eight years ago. But since then, the situation has only gotten worse. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations require cell phones to have tracking technology that can pinpoint their precise location, especially in densely-populated areas. Law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and hackers use this data to track you wherever you go. It’s also now possible to merge cellular calling records with location information. This permits police to identify your network of friends or what data-mining experts … Continue reading →

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In the 30-plus years I’ve been in the publishing business, I’ve seen my share of “new countries.” Some are scams, such as the Dominion of Melchizedek, which I exposed as a fraud nearly two decades ago. But most new countries are never fully realized simply because their promoters suffer from the delusion that their claims of sovereignty will magically be recognized, without anyone putting together a clear plan for getting there. There are two almost insurmountable obstacles: Getting anyone to take you seriously (diplomatic recognition, etc.) Defending your territory from incursions by more powerful neighbors A great example of a claim that … Continue reading →

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A new batch of stolen data from an offshore services provider has now been released. Dubbed the “Paradise Papers,” the leak consists of more than 13.4 million documents from Appleby’s, an international law firm based in Bermuda. In many respects, this hacker attack was similar to the huge theft of 11.5 million client documents from the Panamanian law firm of Mossack Fonseca in 2016 (dubbed the “Panama Papers”). In both cases, thieves passed stolen data on to German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. In turn, the newspaper turned to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to help it analyze the data. Both … Continue reading →

The post Have Your Offshore Interests Been Leaked? appeared first on LewRockwell.

I try to spend at least part of every year on the beach. Now that I live in the southwest, my go-to beach vacation spot tends to be in southern California. But while I was living in Florida in the 1980s, Key West was one of my favorites. One night, when I was sitting in Sloppy Joe’s bar (a favorite watering hole of Hemingway when he lived in Key West), I met “Melanie,” a local resident. At the time, she was about 60 years old. Melanie told me about a nearly-forgotten hurricane that overwhelmed Florida in 1935 when she was … Continue reading →

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I’m a child of the 1960s and 1970s. I grew up in the era of the war in Vietnam, hippies, LSD, and “do your own thing.” My friends and I never understood how the “land of the free” could round up eighteen-year-old boys and force them to fight in a war that was 8,000 miles away. More than 50,000 US soldiers died in that war, including a few of my friends – and untold millions of Vietnamese people. My circle of friends thought there had to be a better way. And there is. It’s a decentralized world without nation-states, without … Continue reading →

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If you’re familiar with the Star Trek spin-off television series, The Next Generation, starring Patrick Stewart, you know about the Borg. A highly advanced and aggressive network of humanoid drones, the Borg is part organic, part artificial life. At birth, a Borg infant is implanted with chips and other biotechnology that gives it superior mental and physical abilities. The chips link the baby’s brain to a collective consciousness, giving it seamless access to all knowledge assimilated by the Borg over thousands of years. The drone is collectively aware but loses its consciousness as a separate individual with free will. The Borg … Continue reading →

The post The Implantable Microchip appeared first on LewRockwell.

On or around October 2, the US federal government will shut down – again. The actual date could be a bit earlier or later, depending on how the government’s cash flows. Technically, the government should have shut down on March 15, 2017. That was the date that a congressionally approved temporary extension of the debt ceiling expired. So on that date, the amount of debt on the books ($19.808 trillion) became the new debt ceiling. Since then, the Treasury hasn’t been able to issue any more federal debt. Instead of shutting down the government, the Treasury has been cooking the … Continue reading →

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About a decade ago, the IRS started communicating with taxpayers by email. While the IRS never contacts taxpayers by email about their personal tax situation, they offer a variety of IRS e-news subscriptions. These include news releases, tax law updates, information for tax professionals, etc. Most of the messages the IRS sends are mind-numbing. Just a few days ago, I received an announcement that the IRS was seeking “Public Comment on Recommendations for 2017-2018 Priority Guidance Plan.” Dull though that may be, it’s better than this one: “Rev. Proc. 2017-33, 26 CFR 1.168(k)-1: Additional first year depreciation. (Also Part 1, … Continue reading →

The post Lies, More Lies appeared first on LewRockwell.

One of the realities of modern life is that government control over its citizens has become pervasive. Nowhere is that more true than in our right to travel internationally. Note that I expressed this as a right. That was not a typo. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” The US ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1992. But long before then, … Continue reading →

The post What Happens If You Become an Enemy of the State? appeared first on LewRockwell.

Privacy advocates were aghast when President Trump signed a bill on April 3 that overturned restrictions on data sharing by internet service providers (ISPs). But to paraphrase Shakespeare, methinks they protest too much. The fact is, unless you take precautions, you already have exactly zero privacy online. Your online data is there for the taking by the likes of Google, Facebook… and the NSA (National Security Agency). And thanks to the new law, by ISPs such as Verizon and AT&T as well. The rules Congress overturned were passed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last fall. They would have required … Continue reading →

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I almost feel sorry from Navinder Singh Sarao. If you don’t recognize the name, you’ll probably remember what he did. He’s the UK-based trader accused of causing the “flash crash” in 2010 that temporarily erased almost $1 trillion from US stock values. Last November, Sarao pleaded guilty in US federal court to wire fraud and illegal market manipulation. (Incidentally, it’s quite likely that he’s innocent of the charges he pled to, although that’s an entirely different story.) Sarao was a master trader who in a good week could clear £500,000, at the time equal to more than $700,000. Yet, he … Continue reading →

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I might be the only writer on the offshore beat who isn’t in love with Puerto Rico’s tax incentives. Recently, a colleague of mine whom I greatly respect published an entire issue of his newsletter about Puerto Rico. To put it mildly, he’s now a believer in these incentives. But I remain skeptical, for reasons I’ve written about before, here and here. Here’s a summary of the “pitch” for Puerto Rico: Since Puerto Rico is a US territory, not a state, under the federal tax code, the island has more latitude than states over how income is taxed. Tax incentives … Continue reading →

The post Moving to Puerto Rico for Tax Reasons? appeared first on LewRockwell.

I will be the first to admit it: I’m a lousy investor. My first forays into the investment markets came in the early 1980s, when I saved up enough money to buy some stocks. Like so many other new and eager investors, I bought when prices were rising. And so on October 19, 1987 – otherwise known as “Black Monday” – I along with millions of other investors was caught up in the largest one-day crash of US markets ever. The S&P 500 lost 20.5% that day, with $500 billion of investor losses. Why are the most advertised Gold and … Continue reading →

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