RE: Re: As Dot-Coms Go Bust in the U.S., Bermuda Hosts a Little Boomlet
Just to add an interesting experience to this thread, I've flown to Bermuda and to the Cayman Islands (not an attractive place, but great diving). On the flight to Bermuda the in-flight magazine had several articles discussing Bermuda's aggressive moves against being a tax haven. Saw the same kinds of articles in the magazines while on the beach there. In stark contrast, the in-flight magazine to the Caymans had several large advertisements and one govt.-sponsored article promoting the fact that banking transactions of less than $50,000 (per transaction) are never reported to law enforcement inquiries unless it has been adquately proven that the transaction was the result of a drug deal. Other advertisements stated the cost of starting a bank (as little as $5K if I remember correctly) and of starting a private holding company (a little more than starting your own bank). Interestingly none of these islands/countries have the SA (societe anonamie (sp?)) laws of French islands. An SA company by definition never reveals the board members, officers, founders, etc. pz -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Duncan Frissell Sent: Friday, January 12, 2001 11:04 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Re: As Dot-Coms Go Bust in the U.S., Bermuda Hosts a Little Boomlet At 11:29 AM 1/10/01 +, Ken Brown wrote: One of the interesting, and to my mind odd, things is that they *aren't* "popping up in tax havens around the world". They are popping up in little islands that are formally or effectively under British colonial rule, if not actually occupied by the British army. The British colonial possessions discussed in the article are, indeed, tax havens and have been described as such by every writer on the topic from the flakiest up to the Economist Intelligence Unit http://store.eiu.com/description/M727des.asp. Red Tony's attempt to corral his colonies has been going on for a few years now. The OECD has gotten into the act with its Financial Action Task Force (http://www.oecd.org/fatf/) handling Money Laundering and the OECD, itself, http://www.oecd.org/daf/fa/harm_tax/harmtax.htm handling what it calls "Harmful Tax Practices". By the latter, it means evil countries that set their taxes too low. It does not mean the harm involved in tax collection itself. The Barbados meeting http://www.oecd.org/media/release/nw00-123a.htm was co-sponsored by the Commonwealth (formerly the British Commonwealth). They released a hopeful closing statement of agreement and cooperation but nothing is likely to come of it since the world's largest tax haven (the US) is never the subject of these talks. After watching these activities since shortly after the US government started to crack down on trusts back in 1962, I have learned to ignore what governments say and watch what they (and the market) actually do. More important than bank secrecy itself is the ability to easily create legal entities. One of the reason that the US is a popular tax haven (for non-US persons) is because it is so easy to create various business and personal entities here. The Net have only made things worse. With a dozen P2P payment intermediaries created in the last 18 months or so and hundreds of online securities brokerages, it's rough for the control forces. DCF "May the Lord enlighten ... the Swiss banks -- that they might uphold justice and preserve the integrity of their own laws and the laws of confidentiality, trust and basic decency between the banks and their clients." Imelda Marcos' Prayer for the Swiss Banks - Manila - Sunday 25 February 1996.
Re: As Dot-Coms Go Bust in the U.S., Bermuda Hosts a Little Boomlet
On Wednesday 10 January 2001 05:29, Ken Brown wrote: ... The sun still doesn't set on the British Empire (not while we have Pitcairn!), London is still the heart of darkness, it is is still the place where the money is (most of the money in the world, by orders of magnitude, is in meaninglessly large dollar accounts in databases owned by London banks, representing currency trades), and if you think you can trust these guys to do anything other than act in the interests of their own profits you are making a big mistake. Their interests are in making capital grow and prosper. These are diametrically opposed to the interests of high taxation and socialism. I don't think the Bermuda dot-coms are worried about these guys acting in their own interests. I think they are banking on it jim -- Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. -- Thomas Jefferson, 1st Inaugural
Re: As Dot-Coms Go Bust in the U.S., Bermuda Hosts a Little Boomlet
At 10:54 AM 1/10/01 -0600, Jim Burnes wrote: On Wednesday 10 January 2001 05:29, Ken Brown wrote: ... The sun still doesn't set on the British Empire (not while we have Pitcairn!), London is still the heart of darkness, it is is still the place where the money is (most of the money in the world, by orders of magnitude, is in meaninglessly large dollar accounts in databases owned by London banks, representing currency trades), and if you think you can trust these guys to do anything other than act in the interests of their own profits you are making a big mistake. Their interests are in making capital grow and prosper. These are diametrically opposed to the interests of high taxation and socialism. I don't think the Bermuda dot-coms are worried about these guys acting in their own interests. I think they are banking on it Published Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News WORLD NEWS offshore banking Developed nations pushing to get rid of tax havens Wealthy countries aiming to recover billions of dollars lost to offshore tax havens are trying to convince small countries to give up the banking secrecy that has helped their fragile economies survive. Officials from about 40 countries and territories were to reconvene Tuesday in Barbados for a second and final day of discussion about what the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development terms ``harmful tax practices.'' The organization's 30 member nations, which include the world's wealthiest nations, have set up international standards that they want all nations to abide by. Countries that have no taxes or low taxes are being pushed to change their laws steve
Re: As Dot-Coms Go Bust in the U.S., Bermuda Hosts a Little Boomlet
On Wed, Jan 10, 2001 at 12:22:52PM -0500, John Young wrote: The full story of crypto is yet to be written, in particular its deceptions, perhaps a piece by Vin McLelland, one by Declan, one by Tim May, if not by distributed cyperhpunks not quite so malleable as solo individuals given privileged access on the condition that . . . True. As a journalist, I do my best to avoid those conditions. I think of them (probably not an original thought) as entangling alliances. I could easily cobble together a book proposal that would include chapters by cypherpunk types; I'd edit. I've been thinking of writing a book for a while -- even had meetings with publishers in '96 -- but it would take too much time. Editing would be far easier. What about that timing of CRYPTO release and the NSA show? Ah, it was a lackluster show and not that important. -Declan
Re: As Dot-Coms Go Bust in the U.S., Bermuda Hosts a Little Boomlet
On Wed, Jan 10, 2001 at 01:11:01PM -0800, Tim May wrote: I hope you don't do this. There have been several of these kinds of collections--a guy at MIT has done at least a couple of them (I forget his name, though three of my short pieces are in one of his books: the books cost $40-60 or so, for a damned paperback, which is why I don't have my own copy. Even at this high price, they don't pay for submissions and they don't even give out copies to contributors!). As someone who makes the vast bulk of his income from speaking fees, I wouldn't undertake such a project unless I could pay contributors and get a generous number of copies to hand out. Seems only fair. There's probably a role for a good book on, say, "digital money," with a mix of overview articles and detailed articles. This would be a _lot_ of work, and the editor would need to be well-versed in the field. Yep, and not something that I'd be that interested in. But a limited focus would be necessary. Maybe something titled "Crypto Anarchy." :) -Declan
