Re: Social Security compromise?

On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:42:31 -0500, "John Galt"
<whoisjohngalt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


"Rumpelstiltskin" <PleaseDoNotReplyByEmail@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:bme9h3591rr4p7nqi5isvctchuobpgcrta@xxxxxxxxxx
On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 07:41:13 -0500, "John Galt"
<whoisjohngalt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


"Rumpelstiltskin" <PleaseDoNotReplyByEmail@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

<snip>

I suppose there's nothing in place to stop capital gains from
American investments being intercepted by law enforcement
before being sent to them from America?

Not if the investment banker is abroad. Caymans, Belize, St. Kitts and
Nevis, none of them will, as a matter of law, provide US agencies with
accountholder information. In Belieze, they actually can't -- IIRC, when
you
open an account over there, they don't even ask you your name. They give
you
an account number and that's how you do business.


The banks there must make out like bandits when
somebody dies in a fire that destroys his records!
Maybe they even employ arsonists.

I'd have trouble with that system. I rely on banks
to know who I am and send me notices, because I
can't remember what the heck I've got. The main
reasons I've never considered getting a cell phone
are (1) they're too expensive considering how little I
use the telephone and (2) the "plans" exceed my
intellectual capabilities and, more importantly, my
patience.

Different strokes for different folks. I always sign up for "email
statements only". If the email address was anonymous and also located
offshore, I'd still have statements and I'd still be anonymous.


Different strokes indeed. I never give banks my
email address, and never give businesses my email
unless I'm doing business online with them. I have
occasionally logged in to pay off a credit card to
avoid being late, but I have a policy these days of
paying bills as soon as I get them, so I haven't had
to do that lately.

I hate mail, but I get something almost every day,
sometimes as much as a dozen pieces of mail. One
day, I'm going to fall down paralyzed, and suffocate
under the mail that continues to pile up. I do
carefully keep all bank and other financial
statements, in binders. I have about three feet of
binders. I even keep telephone and gas/electric
statements for years.



Actually, I did consider a cell phone when I was
recuperating from having my knees replaced, and
got my sister to order me a phone. When I looked
at the agreement I'd have to sign in order to use
the phone though, I said to myself "forget it". I
recently opened a tiny checking account at a
bank in order to qualify for a CD at 5.35%, which
was better than my usual bank. A couple of days
later, I got four pages of small print describing the
conditions of the checking account. I did what
I usually do with financial stuff - I filed it as a
substitute for reading it. I'd asked the main
questions when I opened it: are there any
service charges and is the ATM free. I'll never
use that checking account anyway. After I'm
done with the CD, I'll just close the account.

In general, there's so much "paper" associated with all this that nobody
ever reads it -- and the companies take advantage of that.......


Yep - that's my thought too when I get really
long and complicated disclosures!

I loathe the letters that say "we're going to
tell everybody under the sun all about your
financial dealings unless you tell us not to",
especially since they send the form every
year and say "If you already told us, you
don't have to do this again." Well, I get so
many of those damned things that I never
can remember if I sent in the particular one
in hand at the moment or not. My preference
is the same as everybody else's who isn't
insane: don't tell anybody anything about me
except what's absolutely necessary only for
whatever dealings I'm having with you.



.

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