Can you ‘disappear’ yet stay in the same house where you were born?
Or can you continue to live in the property where you are currently registered?
Frankly, becoming invisible to all authorities and getting off Big Brother’s computers will be difficult to do without any physical move. Of course, you could try to be like Anne Frank, the girl who hid from the Nazis in a secret room in Amsterdam. Maybe you could pull it off with the assistance of friends in the house who would bring you food and say you had moved away. But doing that is both hard and risky. After all, Big Brother Adolph and his Gestapo did eventually get poor Anne.
Frank.
Generally, to disappear and break free from Big Brother and other inhibiting ties, the very least one must do is to change neighborhoods. If the authorities or anyone else should come by to check what happened to you because say for instance, you did not show up for jury duty, you should not still be around. When they pound on your door the person who answers should truthfully be able to say he thinks you moved far away -- to Zanzibar perhaps. They should repeat whatever cover story you told him.
And that takes us to being a Paper PT. Here’s how to be a PT who becomes invisible without moving permanently to a foreign country. Personally, I Grandpa, do not recommend this modus operandi, but as it is relatively common, we might as well explain how to try and do it properly.
WHAT IS A PAPER PT?
A ‘Paper PT’ is simply someone who lives most or all of the time in one place, even his own country -- but who arranges the paperwork to give Big Brother the impression that he has left the jurisdiction and is no longer resident. Or he is "invisible" and simply not on any computer data base. Being a paper PT is nothing new. Retired Belgian dentists and other professionals rent studio apartments in low-tax Luxembourg. They register their cars there, move their bank accounts, but hang out at their old haunts in Belgium pretending to be tourists.
Some Germans (who want to stay home, or close to home) prefer Campione, a tax-free Italian enclave on Lake Lugano in Switzerland.
A German news magazine once ran a story on how ten German millionaires were (at least on paper) living in a damp, smelly Campione basement. This caused both the German and the Campione authorities to clamp down. These days mail drops and basement storage rooms are no longer good for residence purposes. To be legal and safe, anywhere in the world, it is best to have a proper, livable place as your official legal residence. You may never go there, but to keep up appearances, a friend comes in now and then, makes a few telephone calls, runs the water, uses the electricity, and picks up the mail.
What about the USA? A rather radical PT author says “The USA is so huge and in such flux that is easy to live underground for years.” He claims, “If you want to disappear, it’s not necessary to leave the country at all. Just join the ‘underground economy. ’ Be like the millions of illegal immigrants who live and work for years at a time in the US, and even manage regular home visits to Mexico. It is possible for anyone who makes the effort. to stay off Big Brother’s data bases and their tax rolls in the same way that ‘undocumented aliens’ do it.”
The point of being a paper PT rather than a real PT who tends to move around internationally at least twice a year, is to avoid the need for much travel. Why would you want to avoid travel? Presumably, it’s because you enjoy living in a particular place.
Perhaps there is something there that ties you down, such as friends, elderly relatives, maybe your church. Whatever it is, you don’t want to leave for any longer than is absolutely necessary.
If this sounds like you, you may want to consider the paper PT option.
ENTER ALPHONSE VAN KATTLE
Some years ago, "Alphonse von Kattle"--pen name; wrote a very original book called Paper PT. Last time we looked (2012) it was a free download. To get your free copy, go to < FreedomPrivacyWealth.com > and search for, Paper PT, by von Kattle
Alphonse’ started with the original 5 PT flags idea. He then went on to explain how he personally did it without ever leaving home. In a nutshell, Al is an American who has spent time in Asia. He presents a detailed strategy on how, with mail drops, carefully planned border crossings, and the use of a cheap local ‘fixer’ in Asia, you could stay in small-town America, or even more easily in big cities, and have Big Brother believe you live in Asia.
Thus, as a paper PT you have all the advantages of being a PT without the need to travel.
In any stateside encounter with Big Brother, you will hopefully be considered a non-resident tourist.
Although Al writes from personal experience, there’s nothing to stop your applying the same theories to, let’s say, living in England or Australia but pretending to be resident in Costa Rica or the Faroe Islands. On paper, your legal, official, or ‘fiscal’ residence is where you live and meet you various obligations to the State. The country where you are merely Passing Through as a tourist, wants nothing from you.
NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF PAPER PT
Eccentric Al loves tweaking the tails of American bureaucrats by writing long, rambling letters to them from his exotic ‘offshore’ home. They are legally obliged to reply. He gets a lot of good information that way, but information on his whereabouts is also entered on certain government databases. Being listed, identified and known to Big Brother is no problem for Al.
In fact, it is part of his grand strategy. Al loves misleading information to be entered on government databases, the more the merrier. Why? This practice allows him to feed them only the information, or disinformation, that he wants to give them. He does this to create a record that the Big Brother guys will later rely on to determine his non-resident status.
All in all, Paper PT really does have some great ideas in it. But in our opinion, there are several flaws. First, we believe it is illegal and potentially dangerous too because of a fraudulent intent. In the rest of this book, we hope, to show, the reader how to do things legally. If all the true facts and your intentions were known, we want you to still be technically legal. The paper PT concept relies on Big Brother ‘buying’ the idea that you are living out of the country when in fact you are not. Al says that he will never make any false statements. He says that Big Brother will always draw the incorrect conclusions if his game plan is followed. We say, “That may be true unless you slip up and get caught.” Al would have completely legal paperwork such as passport stamps in place to ‘prove’ what he claimed. That’s fine, until the IRS talks to his next door neighbor and finds out that he hasn’t been in Thailand for the last few years but has been living there on Main Street, USA, the whole time. Then Al or his readers could be in deep doo-doo.
Al disagrees with us and says his methods are foolproof. Anyway, actually departing for his Asian hideaway is his backstop position. Getting the paperwork spot on, dotting all the I’s and crossing all the T’s, Al says is vital. We’ve long been advising people that if they are going to adopt this approach to being a PT, being ever watchful of what you do and how you do it must be paramount. Little things can easily trip you up, such as ensuring that letter paper matches where it’s supposed to have come from. It’s no good sending a letter purporting to have come from the USA if it’s written on A4 paper. A4 is the European standard size. It is not 8 1/2 by 11 inches.
Another thing is ensuring that the time clocks on your PC and fax machine match the time zone where you are supposed to be. In our opinion there are too many details to remember to carry out such deception plans. For me, Grandpa, I believe in keeping things simple and honest. If you have too many lies to remember, I feel it is invevitable that you or a family member will slip up.
We have nothing against Al and we wish this rare bird every success. We encourage our readers to check out his excellent book. Everyone can get at least a few good, useable ideas from it. For example, you could successfully combine aspects of the paper PT theory with the idea of living between two or three homes in different countries. Every reader will have a different perspective on this. The more ideas and options open to you, the happier and more effective you will be. We think the paper PT theory could work but it also depends where you really want to live.
You would have to think very, very carefully through the risks of the worst case scenario. We say, “Make up your plan. Then get advice from an expert PT consultant.” You can even discuss your plans with Al himself. You can track him down on the internet if you follow the clues in his book. But I would not bet my life on Al's Paper PT concept. It is flawed because too many things could go wrong.
Another difficulty with being a paper PT is the mindset problem. This has nothing to do with what papers you have, or what nationality you are, or whether you have the ability to tell lies convincingly. There is an old, simple, and very true proverb: “Travel broadens the mind.”
We believe you need some experience of being not just a tourist, but actually living in a different country for at least a few months before you can truly acquire the PT mindset. As one of our favorite correspondents is so fond of pointing out, “You don’t know until you go.”
Going back to Al, he lived and worked for years in Asia so he can tell a convincing story if asked to prove that he really lives there. He has become street-wise and learned a lot from experience. Al is familiar and at ease dealing with both US diplomats and third world bureaucrats. Merely reading Paper PT could encourage some lazy chap who has never been outside the USA to claim Asian residence. Such a person who never walked the walk, and can’t talk the talk probably wouldn’t have enough experience and savvy to pull it off. He would be sure to end up in trouble. So, if you want to be a paper PT, please at least get to know the place you claim to be living at first!
Being a PAPER PT in a THIRD COUNTRY
As we said above, the paper PT plan would be risky for Americans using it in America. Brits using it in Britain, etc., are also just asking for trouble. Using similar techniques to live in a third country is quite a different matter altogether. It is just a matter of getting an address, and these days, a utility bill matching that address. How to do it? It could be as simple as renting a room or apartment at a reduced rent because you won't use it, and the property owner can rent it to others. But he has to put your name on the doorbell and mailbox. If ever asked he must say, "Al lives here, but he is on a trip right now." These days, with many people needing to establish a three or four year residence for citizenship, this is how it is managed. Some people will actually buy a condo apartment, for their legal 3rd World or tax haven residence, and let others use it.
We would say that being a paper PT in a third country is just following the Six Flags Theory.
Paper PT is an interesting variant.
Take an example. Dave, a good friend of ours. He is typical of thousands of expat Brits.
He lives year round with his wife on the Costa del Sol on Spain’s south coast. Dave jokes that as a PT he travels perpetually between his Spanish home and his local pub. He’s a cockney businessman who started in the property business with no capital at the age of 15. Eventually he sold out his properties in London for a few hundred thousand pounds at the right time when he was in his early fifties. Hiding his money in offshore banks, he bought into a resort in Spain’s Malaga province. He’s not really rich, but he’s comfortable. The income from his investments in discounted mortgage loans easily supports his lifestyle.
Dave loves the Costa del Sol for the climate, and because he can easily get by speaking English. He can socialize with lots of British pub friends. He can be found on the terrace of his local café every morning enjoying a traditional bacon and egg breakfast with his favorite tabloid newspaper, The Sun. This newspaper is now even printed in Spain daily due to the large community of guys like Dave! He probably knows many more crooks than the average person would know. Yet he’s always stayed pretty much on the right side of the law himself. He was only sued once when a drunk fell down the stairs in one of his rental properties. He settled out of court for a relatively modest sum. He’s been with the same wife for over thirty years and doesn’t have any family or divorce problems.
He left behind a few relatively small unpaid tax bills in the UK. The Inland Revenue knows he really has left the country. They are not making a big fuss. It’s just not worth their while because his first stop was a little tax haven country between France and Spain called Andorra. They don’t have a tax authority and like Switzerland, won’t enforce tax claims or most foreign judgments against their residents! The British tax collectors think he is still in Andorra.
Dave lives rather openly. He doesn’t care who knows where he sleeps or drinks his pints. Dave has three flags: the UK, Spain, and Andorra. He was bright enough when he decided to leave the UK to do some advance planning and research. He did not know much about anything ‘foreign’ and even less about Britain’s tax laws. He had always paid his London-based accountant to handle his paperwork, but when the Inland Revenue was demanding well over a hundred thousand pounds on his property capital gains, he decided to retire abroad. He was smart enough to know what he didn’t know. He spent a few thousand pounds on getting good advice on how best to escape from that one big tax liability. An added bonus was escaping taxes for the rest of his life and the high British estate tax after his death. He bought a few tax-avoidance and privacy books from the late lamented Scope Publishing and through them he hired a PT-oriented consultant who has kept him out of trouble for the past 30 years. He is what you might call a Paper PT in Spain, because on paper, he doesn't exist in Spain. In any encounter with "authority" he is just a tourist -- passing through. He appears to rent the property he lives in on a seasonal basis.
The original PT book
and the Andorra/Gibraltar report
was how Dave heard about Andorra.
These little enclaves, Andorra (between Spain and France, near Barcelona) & Gibraltar in the South of Spain are like Monaco or Campione, accidents of history more than anything else.
Andorra is nestled in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. Besides the scenery and the skiing, the best thing about Andorra is that up to now it has no income taxes. Taxes in Gibraltar at the "Gate of the Med" and in sight of Africa, are negotiated on a one time basis, as they are in some Cantons of Switzerland. Gibraltar has charm. It is like being in an upmarket London suburb in the Summer or spring. The best golf courses in the world are a few minutes away across the border in Spain.
Grandpa's Note: Many politicians want to force tax havens to "equalize" their systems with high tax countries. Thus, the good old tax free status may not last forever. When Dave explained to his PT advisor that he planned on moving to Spain, he got the warning that shocked him: The British Inland Revenue actually has a whole office building in Madrid. They operate there under a shroud of secrecy. The main purpose is to keep track of, and go after, British tax evaders in Spain, of whom there are said to be thousands. The situation is much the same for Americans in Costa Rica, Panama and Canada where the I.R.S. deploys extensive staff and resources.
For a long time British tax dodgers were safe in Spain. But with new extradition treaties and the speed of European integration, who knows? For this reason, a well-informed consultant would recommend Andorra as his official residence.
Here is another very simple but important bit of advice: “Don’t talk to your accountant at home about this.” Accountants in the UK, like in most other countries, are legally obliged to squeal on clients doing naughty things. If they don’t, they can go to jail themselves.
And unlike lawyers, accountants never could claim ‘lawyer-client privilege.’ In the USA and Britain, Big Brother has put professionals in the position where they have to decide between turning in a long-time loyal client, and risking criminal penalties themselves.
Had Dave told his local accountants of his plan to leave the jurisdiction, they would have been obliged to tell the authorities, and Dave would probably have been arrested and prevented from leaving. So Dave opened an account abroad, wire-transferred his money, and said ‘Bye-Bye Big Brother.’ Flying out from London on a Friday afternoon to Barcelona, he rented a car and drove up into the mountains, reaching Andorra that evening. Saturday he met a couple of real estate people he had been referred to in advance. Saturday night he went drinking in Andorra’s expat hangout where he discreetly engaged a few local expats in conversation and confirmed the unwritten rules of how things are done there.
Monday morning one of the real estate guys took him to a local bank which opened a multi-currency account for him with an opening deposit of ten euros. The local contact informed him that, although the banks certainly won’t admit it publicly, with a suitable referral it is still possible to open secret, numbered accounts in Andorra. Some weeks later, Dave opened one of those accounts, and wired a substantial sum from his UK bank to Andorra. The same morning, he finalized the contract for his mail drop. The Andorran authorities don’t permit overt mail drops. Mail Boxes Etc opened there once and was forced to close after just a few months. But the unwritten rule there is you can ‘borrow’ an address if you don’t abuse it. There are a few discreet businesses that offer this service for perhaps 2000 euros per year. Even the banks themselves offer private mailboxes for their wealthier clients, who can then use the bank’s street address.
Mail is sorted into mail vaults accessible only to clients.
That same Monday evening he was back home in London. He’s been back to Andorra a few times since, but he rarely bothers to go there as his mail is forwarded for collection at Citibox in the lovely Spanish tourist town of Marbella. That’s the Spanish branch of a British-owned mail drop outfit he had used previously in London. Over the course of the next few months Dave continued his departure preparations. Once his money had been sent on ahead of him, Dave simply told his London accountant he was moving to Andorra. He had to explain where it was. His accountant then prepared a letter to the Inland Revenue to that effect, which Dave signed and mailed. Once a Brit leaves British soil, he is no longer liable for British income taxes on non-British income.
Shortly afterwards, all the back-tax demands he had been receiving at home in London started to be sent to his Andorran address instead. However, they were only computer-printed demands, looking much like bank statements. The debit interest and penalties that mounted up on each statement was a lot more than banks charges, however. Dave continued to receive the tax statements in this manner for a while after his move to Spain. Eventually he made arrangements with the Andorran mail drop that they would simply destroy any Inland Revenue correspondence, forwarding his other mail. They did not charge any extra fee for this service; indeed, we are sure it gave them a lot of pleasure. Andorrans, being fiercely independent mountain people, have a strong dislike of taxes and tax collectors. Then, after a year, letters threatening all kinds of unpleasant consequences for non-payment miraculously dried up because the Inland Revenue does not have any enforcement office in Andorra. For the time being there is nothing they can do there by way of collecting from tax-deadbeats like Dave. The same would be true on most non-tax debts owed to British outfits. They would have to be written of as non-collectible.
What about the Andorran authorities? Well, to them, Dave has never been anything more than a tourist. They don’t keep any records of entries and exits of tourists. It’s unlikely the Brits will ever check, but if they do, they would easily find out that Dave does not have an Andorran residence permit. But that still doesn’t prove much to them. All that really matters to the Inland Revenue is that Dave is not in the UK.
How about the Spanish authorities? To them, Dave is just another tourist. He rents a furnished apartment and still drives a right-hand-drive car with British plates. He blends in just fine down there. If anyone asks, he just says he lives at 2 Old Brompton Road in London, the branch of Citibox from where he has his little remaining UK mail forwarded to Andorra and then on to Marbella. A special Spanish S.L. corporation owns the property he ‘rents’ there. This company is discreetly owned by some straw men from Gibraltar. That is also nothing out of the ordinary. They pay his local property taxes each year, and that is that.
What do we think of this? Well, in principle, it’s great, and it works for Dave. However, this was a ‘good old days’ PT lifestyle and controls are getting tighter now. There are a few things we would do differently. For example, Dave still keeps his assets in Andorra, maybe not so smart. There is no immediate risk, and he can make use of some very discreet, stable, world-class banks there. Because he sent all his money there by wire in one lump sum, it looks to the British authorities very much as if he really went there.
But in our view he would still be well advised to move his money from its original destination in Andorra and open another account far away in another banking haven. He could access his cash with a plastic ATM card and also earn some tax-free interest on his money.
Also, most banks will gladly manage money by placing it into stocks, bonds, hedge funds, or investment trusts. Another possibility is buying real estate rental property. Most European countries would demand to see Dave’s Andorran residence permit before taking him off the local tax rolls and acknowledging his move. It’s a problem that can be solved with a little extra effort.
At the moment, though, for Brits, Americans, Aussies and others, a physical move and foreign mail drop work just fine. They just want people to prove they have left.
Play grounds? Dave doesn’t want another one. Data Havens? Dave doesn’t know how to turn on a computer. He can’t type. Business havens? Doesn’t need one, he’s retired. Passports?
For the moment Dave is quite happy to keep his British one. He never uses it any more anyway.
The UK has not yet started to refuse to renew passports for tax problems, as the USA does. If and when they do, he will then find another solution. Spain for instance, after a bit of red-tape, offers a legal residence card, good for travel to most places in Europe, to anyone who can prove a long term physical presence and can speak a bit of Spanish. They also will give the Dave’s of the world a Spanish passport after a while. But them he might have to start paying Spanish taxes.
Dave is not really one to worry. He has known ups and downs before. His ‘ace in the hole’ is to try to settle his tax liability at a big discount once they give up on him. Dave is using a variant of the paper PT strategy, but in a different way than Al suggests in his book. Dave is not using the Paper PT idea to live tax-free in a country where he is already known or used to be a taxpayer.
That is a key difference. If he came to official Spanish attention somehow, he would be classed as a tourist in Spain. Even if it were known that he stays there permanently, more than the permitted six months per year to be tax free, he doesn’t file any tax returns nor try to vote in EU elections. Thus he is on no official register.
And even if he were, Dave, in our opinion, will never be bothered by any tax collectors from Spain. Why? He has no serious assets there. He doesn’t own property, he doesn’t have a Spanish registered car, nor have any serious bank accounts. The Spanish Hacienda, as the Revenue Service is known there, can’t be bothered to seize and sell his pots, pans, and crockery.
Foreign pensioners who do not seem to be of high net worth will be left alone by the local versions of Big Brother in most countries.
Like all PTs, Dave, in the back of his mind has an exit strategy. If the government of the place where he lives gives him a hard time over anything at all, he will take his already packed suitcase and his wife, load up the car and perhaps a rented trailer, and simply drive for a few hours. He will stop at a nice coastal town with a good English Pub in Portugal, France, Italy, Croatia, or even Turkey. There he will rent a similar modest house or apartment, and live happily ever after, until and unless he is given another hassle. But by appearing to be a small fish, the odds are very good that Dave will be left alone.
Emotional Attachments to Your Possessions May Conflict with Being a Perfect PT
“If you can sleep on it, in it, or with it – rent it, don’t buy it”
PT, 1995
Most of us want to enjoy some material pleasures. We have all heard the saying, “There is no point in having wealth if you are not going to enjoy it.” It is not for me (Grandpa), or anyone else to tell you what to spend your money on. There are, however, some PT guidelines on this subject. Do you place any value on the security that comes with having three years’ worth of liquid assets (living money) stashed away for a rainy day? Whatever unexpected events or emergencies may come up, in my opinion, you should be prepared.
A mistake to avoid is blowing your money on expensive possessions that tie you down. Collecting toys (i.e. non portable status symbols) and consumer goods should not be the dominant factor in your life. Nor should things you own become an impediment to a mobile, international lifestyle. If you feel the need for houses and cars, that’s fine. Owning replaceable things, including homes and a car or two, can fill emotional needs. Yet the PT needs to be ready to move on if necessary, and to let go of physical possessions. It’s also common sense that spending less on expensive, depreciating things leads to greater accumulation of real wealth.
Why should you be rich? Some people want to accumulate wealth to impress other people. But for me, the reason for accumulating wealth is freedom (not to work for others) and security. I know better than to flaunt it. Now that I am older and wiser, the feeling of security I get from having good investments (yielding spendable cash) is worth more to me than memories of costly parties or a lot of now out-of-fashion, worthless designer clothes, shoes, or handbags.
Yachts, airplanes, and condo-apartments are not investments; they are high-maintenance things that cost you money to own. Of course if you buy to lease out such things at a profit, that’s OK.
A PT does not rely upon any Big Brother government to support him in ill health or old age. Thus it is important to accumulate reserves to take care of yourself. I have never felt deprived by having mostly portable personal items (office equipment for example). My stuff is either portable, like a laptop computer, or it is readily saleable and replaceable anywhere in the world. Once you become emotionally attached to ‘things’ like a collection of you animals or antique cannons, for example, they will control your life. Having your freedom of movement curtailed by your possessions may be just as limiting as having your life hemmed in by bureaucrats!
If you want to collect, fine. A PT should collect numismatic coins, rare postage stamps or diamonds, not large heavy things. Expensive, non-portable material possessions are not good for most PTs. Looking back over my life, spending my money on good food, lively women, and beautiful rented homes has brought me far more pleasure than owning status symbols. My serious assets were always deployed in money making deals.
THE TOOLS OF YOUR TRADE
Some people have professional skills that require tools or equipment in order to practice their trade. Most independent medical specialists and dentists, furniture makers and potters all need bulky, heavy tools or equipment which cannot easily be carried along on their travels. Does that mean they cannot be PTs? Unfortunately it usually does. If you want a portable trade, the tools of that trade must either be portable or easily rented at your destination. Yes, it is possible for someone who is an expert in a trade or profession that involves heavy equipment to get a foreign job. However, working for an employer in that sort of job (running a steel mill for instance) usually involves a degree of commitment (and a giving up of freedom) that would not be characteristic of a PT.
Generally speaking it is nearly impossible to be a PT if your trade or profession requires either a local license to practice, or if it involves using non-portable equipment. Exception: we know a man who drifted into a portable trade by becoming an international sales representative for hospital equipment. He travels to hospitals all over the world, demonstrates the equipment, and earns big commissions. He also works online or travels to consult with local physicians who are already using this equipment.
You can be a PT selling tanks, Boeing 747s, or ocean-going yachts. They are big and heavy, but you can travel light. We will discuss in other Reports how you can create your own portable trade or profession. But of course, if you have sufficient financial assets to live on, being an ‘investor’ is just about the best portable trade there is. Nothing is more portable than liquid assets: Cash deposits or securities can be acquired, sold, or converted to local money anywhere, anytime. A good PT regards his money as a tool for security and survival, not as something to blow on booze, gambling, possessions, toys, or consumer goods.
ESSENTIAL PT READING: TWO NOVELS
Ayn Rand was probably one of the most important authors and philosophers of the twentieth century. A great number of the original PT theories and morality were inspired by her work. Her most famous and influential novel was Atlas Shrugged. We dedicate this Report to Ayn Rand and her successor, the anonymous author of A Lodging of Wayfaring Men.
Ayn Rand observed that governments make many innocent people suffer whenever they introduce most new laws and regulations. They know that in our modern world, due to an over-abundance of conflicting laws, anyone who achieves success must become a lawbreaker along the way. Under this arrangement, Big Brother can prosecute and jail anyone at any time. The fact that most of the laws broken today involve victimless crimes does not mitigate the severe consequences of a criminal conviction. Just as George Orwell demonstrated Big Brother’s need to invent an enemy, Ayn Rand clearly showed that transforming an entire population into criminals benefits the government. As a Russian expatriate who fled to the United States from Soviet Russia in the 1920s, Ayn Rand’s success is based largely on the public acclaim she received for her novels. Her outlook on life was unique. In her view, life belongs exclusively to the individual. Individuals, in her view, should be free to do whatever they please, as long as the rights of others are not transgressed.
ATLAS SHRUGGED
In 1957, Rand published her outstanding novel, Atlas Shrugged, highly recommended to all PTs, and available from Laissez-Faire Books in hard copy or as a free download on the net. In this novel, Rand explained exactly how things work in the real world and the dangers that await us if we just go with the flow. More terrifying still is the realization that much of the Big Brother controlled society that Rand predicted has already taken shape in almost every Western country!
Set in the USA (not mentioning any specific year), the backdrop for Atlas Shrugged is the steel industry and the people who make it work. The heroes, according to Rand, are not unionized workers who alternate between whining for shorter hours and demanding more pay for less work, but are rather a few, rare capitalists without whose constant quest for efficiency and profit the world economy would dry up.
In her story, a number of senseless laws are passed by government. All are ostensibly for the common good. Competition is restricted by law, lest old and inefficient companies with bloated payrolls lose ground to new, ambitious upstarts. Socialistic plans are introduced to spread profits around, lest a few attain ‘excessive’ riches.
Against this backdrop an entrepreneur named Hank Rearden invents ‘Rearden Metal’. It is stronger and lighter than steel. Suspicious at first of this new product, the world soon realizes that the new product holds supreme advantages over steel. It will revolutionize every sector of the industry. As a result, the government passes laws to protect the old steel industry. To make sure that Rearden does not discriminate against those customers who initially refused to buy his product, he is forced to put a quota-system into operation that ensures everyone will enjoy a state-guaranteed right to buy a ‘fair share’ of Rearden’s output. Even so, Rearden profits mightily due to his years of research and hard work backed up by strong patents. Soon rival mills, unable to compete against him with ordinary old-fashioned steel, are driven to the brink of bankruptcy. Making no excuses for his success, Rearden is then blackmailed by the government into giving up his patent rights so that ‘all’ his competitors may share equally in the benefits of his invention. The best thing in the novel is a verbal exchange between Rearden and Ferris, the emissary of Big Brother who visits Rearden to announce the government’s ultimatum, “You honest men are such a headache, but we knew you’d slip up sooner or later. This is just what we wanted.” “You seem to be pleased about it,” answered Rearden. “Don’t I have good reason to be?” “But, after all, I did break one of your laws.” “Well, what do you think they’re there for?
Dr Ferris did not notice the sudden look on Rearden’s face, the look of a man hit by the first vision of that which he had sought to see. Dr Ferris was past the stage of seeing; he was intent upon delivering the last blows to an animal caught in a trap. “Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” asked Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of Boy Scouts you’re up against. We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted, and you create a nation of law-breakers. Then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”
“Whew! The story of our life!” say most PTs. Translate this to modern-day politics and you quickly see that the earlier so-called ‘war on drugs’ and now the ‘war on terrorism’ are, in fact, nothing but an elaborate Big Brother plot to make it legal for the state to make anyone a criminal. A multitude of legislation introduced creates a situation where prosecutors can select and convict almost anyone of some crime. The ‘war’ gives government almost unlimited options to seize the property of anyone they target, or to put anyone into cold storage. If nothing else, Atlas Shrugged will open your eyes to what happened in both Europe and the USA under socialism during the latter part of the twentieth century. Politicians, scheming intellectuals, and over-ambitious bureaucrats have been given absolute control over our lives. At least, that’s what Ayn Rand had to say in what is, arguably, the most prophetic book of the twentieth century.
A SIMILAR NOVEL FOR THE MODERN ERA:
A Lodging of Wayfaring Men
A new book, released in 2003 by an anonymous writer, has drawn rave reviews comparing its author’s talents to those of the late Ayn Rand. A Lodging of Wayfaring Men is a free-market, PT-oriented philosophical novel for the twenty-first century. In the story a group of diverse characters sharing the same PT ideals set up a free-market, unregulated trading system based on the internet. It is something like the distributed file-sharing systems commonly used for downloading music today. Around the same time, a brilliant professor escapes in the dead of night to carry on his work in secret. He is under pressure from Big Brother to discontinue his research, but instead he becomes a PT and goes underground. The government soon becomes aware of this international ‘conspiracy’ to undermine tax revenues. Suspense builds as top FBI bureaucrats become involved and begin to hunt down the users of this new free-market system.
All the while, the users are distributing their computing power across the world.
The characters live an exciting ‘Invisible PT’ lifestyle, bringing up their kids under alternative identities in cities such as Amsterdam and Venice, Prague and Budapest. Who will win? Big Brother or the free marketers? The reader is also treated to a fascinating glimpse of how low-level bureaucrats, starting out with good intentions, are corrupted by power. The leading character has problems with his wife because he is a non-conformist. Finally, the book also addresses the issue of Christianity and Judaism and their compatibility with Libertarianism in an easy-to-follow way. Anyone who appreciates Ayn Rand’s writings should love A Lodging of Wayfaring Men. It’s a fast-moving, easy to read novel. You won’t be able to put it down. It is also a great gift for friends to whom you might want to introduce these ideas for the first time.
How can you acquire a copy? It can be purchased on Amazon.
ALL WE LIKE SHEEP HAVE GONE ASTRAY
(The Holy Bible, Book of Isaiah, 53:6)
“Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you.” Benjamin Franklin
Are PTs ‘Positive Thinkers’ or ‘Paranoid Together?’ Most PTs that your authors have met are very positive people. We all saw the writing on the wall. We took the steps needed to preserve our assets and our personal freedom of movement. Big Brother is confiscating private property right and left. They are pushing the envelope of what is criminal conduct, throwing productive people in jail for newly created offenses like the victimless crimes of ‘money laundering’ or ‘obstruction of justice.’ We did not bend over and let Big Brother have his way with us. We became PTs.
Like us, you can also opt out! You can pick up your chips and move them to another country. Or you can simply prepare mentally and do the paperwork to make the move if you have to. Your next home base or combinations of the Six Flags will surely be better than the strong possibility of being victimized by Big Brother in your original home country.
Unfortunately, most people (even very rich and successful people) mistakenly believe that they have no options but to fight Big Brother in a court system rigged against them. After reading these Reports you will hopefully not make the same mistake!
LIFE ACCORDING TO THE PT THEORY
Most taxation and victimless crime regulation is nothing more than the misappropriation of talented and productive people’s time and money. It is theft from the self-sufficient for the benefit of others ‘less fortunate.’ ‘Less fortunate’ usually means those who made less effort and sacrifice to get to the place where you are. A few involuntary contributions may be an acceptable proper price to pay for some community services and some redistribution of wealth. But we think things have gone too far. Unfortunately, the pendulum has swung towards clearly excessive government control and arbitrary confiscations. We tell specific stories throughout these Reports.
Big Brother tells us how we can spend our time and how much we can keep of our private wealth. If we don’t like it, they take our money and throw us in jail. Encouraging our pursuit of life, liberty, property, and happiness is not what Big Brother has in mind. No, we are sheep and Big Brother is there just to shear us and convert us into shish-ka-bobs. Politicians located at the seat of government, hundreds or even thousands of miles away from where we may live, too often lose touch with the needs of their most important citizens, the original thinkers, the producers of wealth, the effective organizers of resources. Immense waste and misdirection of productivity has been the inevitable result. Productivity always declines when governments move towards greater ownership or burdensome controls over private assets or property. The main products of all governments are egotistical politicians and power-grabbing bureaucrats, who waste space, exude inefficiency, dispense red tape, and disrupt natural laws of supply and demand.
NO MORE WARS FOR US
PTs understand that most wars are not in the best interests of those who are sent out to be killed or maimed. Unlike Caesar who said Vini, Vidi Vinci (I came, I saw, I conquered) PTs say:
Vini, Vidi, Vai (I came, I saw, I ran away). We PTs also understand the obvious. Wars destroy capital and redistribute what’s left over to a politically favored few. High taxes and repression are justified by real wars and also by imaginary wars against human nature such as poverty, drugs, and immorality. Military actions are all too often choreographed by politicians, only to give them more power or divert concern away from their many failings. Power for the sake of power seems to be a common motivation.
Wars historically have been the best way to eliminate domestic opposition. After all, when a war is on, be it a war on drugs or a war on terrorism, Big Brother insists that everybody ‘must’ get behind the common cause. Those who protest or don’t join the parade can be in for a very rough time. ‘Leaders’ often start wars for the sake of gaining more power. The people love and re-elect a victorious warrior leader.
But a good PT turns on, tunes in, and then silently drops out. For PTs, being in a country waging constant wars against anything or anyone is dangerous. Big Brother was originally conceptualized in Orwell’s 1950’s novel 1984. The plot was set in a world of nations at constant war. Has it come to your country? Big Brother is Watching You was the national slogan in the novel 1984. Has it worked out that way? What do you think? Did we get ‘peace’ and greater freedom when the cold war ended? What do you think? Would you rather fight or flee? Better red than dead?
BACK TO THE REAL WORLD OF TODAY
What government officials might consider the harmless eccentricity of the ‘Libertarian Lunatic Fringe’ during times of peace, can easily be regarded as dangerous unpatriotic activity or even Probably Treason during war time. Thus, the PT must have his paperwork and avenues of physical escape open long in advance of war measures that affect him. This involves more than just thinking about it! Second passports and a safe haven must be established before a crisis. This will take physical visits, advance transfer of assets, setting up an offshore business enterprise or two, and acquiring all the necessary visas and travel documents. A PT has a packed trunk and is ready to escape quickly. He can leave a danger spot at a moment’s notice. If one is prepared, PT style, for war and the worst imaginable catastrophes, then preparation for lesser problems, such as divorces, ruinous lawsuits, or wrongful criminal charges, is automatically achieved. The additional Reports in this series will help you Prepare Thoroughly using advanced Privacy Tactics.
PTs, like Libertarians, realize that the best government is minimum government. Perhaps 99 per cent of all legislators and government employees could be fired and forced to seek more useful work. The quality of life for the rest of would be greatly improved. A world of local, self-governing autonomous communities, relatively free of taxation, government regulation, and controls, is the best of all possible worlds. Roads, schools, fire departments, bridges, utilities, postal services, communications, libraries, parks, transport, health care, banks, and insurance should all be privatized. Users and only users should pay for services. The only function of government should be the protection of individual freedom and promotion of laissez-faire economics.
The only coercive function of organized society should be the suppression of violence and fraud. There should be no such thing as a class of professional politicians whose main purpose in life is to be re-elected. How about a one term limit on every political office? The present system in most countries encourages grandstanding and pandering to the lowest common denominator. Redistributing the wealth of the productive to the non-contributing members of society has been a worldwide disaster. Perhaps there should be a property qualification for holding office and voting. Politicians should serve only one unpaid term in any office and then be obliged to go back to earning an honest living.
Sadly, we also know that a Libertarian world and the sweeping social changes needed to bring it about are unlikely in any foreseeable future period. The zenith of maximum individual freedom in history has come and gone in Europe and in the USA. Perhaps it ended with the closing of the American frontier. Freedom peaked in both Europe and the USA from 1870 through 1914. These golden years were also a time that experienced maximum improvement in living standards, economic growth, and creativity in art. It was a time of new ideas and inventiveness.
Today, one cannot become a pioneer and go to the Wild West to escape government.
The Pioneer of Today is a PT. Like the pioneers of yesteryear, we must keep on our toes and be ready to move on when government coercion begins to chafe. Libertarians may be able to slow down Big Brother a bit. But as a practical matter, our opinion is that a packed suitcase is more sensible approach than writing clever Libertarian letters to the editor. Possible problems must be thought about and prepared for years in advance if they are to be dealt with successfully. Today, the Pioneer Traveller must be a human multinational with the documentation and protective coloration needed to disappear without trace and resurface and prosper in a different safe haven.
Do you truly want to become a complete PT? If so, then reading this Report has been just the start of your lifelong individual quest for personal freedom. Getting there is not half the fun.
It is all the fun! And, of course, there is no ‘there’. PT is just a direction to follow, a perpetual journey just like life itself. A person who studies languages, history, fine art, or classical music creates for himself new options, new worlds of understanding and pleasure. As a PT, wonderful experiences will open up for you. The PT will not wait long to discover new experiences and opportunities never before even conceived of. Just traveling the PT road in itself is like reading a National Geographic Magazine full of wonderful new people, places, and ideas. Not having the burden of Big Brother watching you allows you to have glorious productive experiences rather than endless meetings with tax accountants and lawyers!
PTs and potential PTs already have a far higher degree of awareness than the general population. Those who actually buy and read these Reports are already galaxies ahead of the masses that are pre-conditioned to accept as fact whatever they are told. The unwashed multitudes are, in fact, sheep. We are, unfortunately, usually born into an environment of sheep.
Before any of us discovered how to think for ourselves, we were brought up in this world of sheep. We were educated by sheep and fed a daily sheep’s diet of sheep television, sheep newspapers, sheep movies, and so on. It is unavoidable therefore, that a lot of ‘sheep think’ has rubbed off on us. When we think in a sheep-like way, we lack a much needed questioning attitude and receptivity to new ideas and concepts. Getting out of a flock of sheep isn’t easy!
Finding non-sheep to communicate with is quite a task. Do you question authority? How many non-conformist literary works constructed by original thinkers have you been exposed to since college? Do you have many friends who might be PTs? If you know people who think like the authors of these Reports (not sheep), you are quite lucky and very unusual. We, all of us, still automatically and unconsciously accept a lot of garbage, government coercion, and peer-group pressure that we should start questioning. Do you really have to put up with all the limitations, restrictions, and opportunity costs imposed on you?
PT is all about freedom and self-liberation. The general population always will accept conditions of involuntary servitude or, more bluntly, slavery. Most people are nine-to-five workers at jobs they hate. They are locked in, up to their eyeballs in debt. Some have spouses they would gladly leave behind. If they get into trouble, what do they do? Most people everywhere accept authority. They will spend a fortune on lawyers, dutifully fight a hopeless case, and in the end check themselves into a jail. They would go willingly to their own execution because ‘that’s the way things are.’ It is not however the way things have to be. You can break free. These Reports and our ideas will give you hope, and a practical, workable approach to changing your life.
There are not a lot of ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagulls’ out there in the world. Independent individual thinkers are rare birds, and we can and should help each other! Do not be selfish.
Don’t try to keep any information that you discover nor new wrinkles on this dynamic philosophy all to yourself. Share it with fellow PTs and those you love. The world needs fewer sheep. You will be safer if we can transform some sheep into Postitive Thinkers. Your life and your Treasure (as in Protect Treasure) are at risk in a Big Brother world. PT is the Perfect Thing, your passport to a new life.
Becoming a PT is not a static thing that you can do once and then, like obtaining a diploma, just hang it on the wall. PT is a state of being, a way of thinking. It is far more than a mere occupation or even a lifestyle. The variations and possibilities are infinite. One thing that all PTs have in common is real freedom in an unfree world. Are you going to let yourself be dominated by “those in authority” or others like peers or relatives who think that only they know best how you should live, love, and think? How you should spend your time and money? This is a do-it-yourself project for PTs. The PT doesn’t just grumble, protest, or make a fuss on the way to army induction centers. He won’t quibble or co-operate with government auditors and tax collectors or submit to hanging judges. He won’t even play the game. At the first whiff of any unwanted government coercion, he is on the other side of the Earth. His first rule is to be able to fly like a rocket and be able to disappear in a shower of sparks.
No government should even know he exists, or at least no one should know where to find him. The PT is alone and successful against a coercive, all powerful state: Successful not by confronting and contesting its power, but by becoming invisible to it. The PT’s main weapon is good, reliable information, such as in these Reports. You may also find answers that involve internet searches or personal tutorials from people who have been there, done that. Big Brother governments are making too many decisions that should be ours alone. It is dangerous for an individual to confront Big Brother directly, but you can quietly drift away from involuntary servitude. PTs do not need to demonstrate, march, parade, unite, revolt, or make speeches to save the world. By merely dropping out of government computers, moving our assets out of their greedy grasp and placing ourselves well outside of their jurisdiction and control, we put limits on Big Brother. How intrusive and abusive can governments be when the whipping boy is not around to be whipped?
By living as PTs, we are participating in and creating a better, happier world order.
We are people who respect and promote individual freedom, the sanctity of private property, equality, opportunity, social justice, unlimited prosperity, and vibrant good health. Bringing freedom and happiness to everyone in the world starts with Number One, YOU! With the PT techniques outlined here, you can personally, without leading any revolutions, quickly raise your own personal and financial freedom to optimum levels. And every penny you avoid paying to the government is a penny less they have to spend on destructive projects. It’s a win-win situation for everybody except Big Brother!
NOTE: As laws and conditions on the ground are constantly changing, your comments, corrections, and updates to any of our reports will be very much appreciated.
“The Millionaire’s Favorite Read”
STOP FOR A MOMENT AND THINK:
YOU’RE NOT GETTING A “BOOK”...
Thank you for being so interested in our PT books!
Get the PT books from
YOU’RE GETTING OVER 50 YEARS OF GRANDPA’S EXPERIENCE… AND HUNDREDS OF YEARS OF OTHER EXPATS’ TRIAL & ERROR… CRAMMED INSIDE EASY READING PAGES CHOCK-FULL OF ACTIONABLE ADVICE.
Here are some questions you can use to note your thoughts while reading and answer below when finished reading PAPER PT: An Important Concept.
- What makes you think the PAPER PT: An Important Concept will be interesting?
- Why do you think "Alphonse von Kattle," wrote PAPER PT: An Important Concept?
- Something you liked about it.
- Something you disliked about it.
- How did reading it change you, or your views?
- What would you say to persuade a friend to read it or not to read it?
- Summarise it in one written sentence.
- What was your favorite part of the PAPER PT: An Important Concept? Why?
- What was the most interesting thing you learned from the PAPER PT: An Important Concept?
- If you could change one thing in the PAPER PT: An Important Concept, what would it be?
- How might you have written it differently?
- Do the PAPER PT: An Important Concept remind you of anything else you’ve already read or seen?
- Was there any mind-blowing piece of information you hadn't thought of before that you think you can use?
- Did the PAPER PT: An Important Concept change your opinion or perspective about anything?
- Do you feel different now than you did before you read it?
- What feedback would you give "Alphonse von Kattle"?will
Post a Comment
0 Comments