Six Months on... Global Collapse Destinations?

[Christian Van H]

Couldnt find a way to buy it on his site, so I sent him a request email. I want to spread this around...

[MoonlightShadow]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

...but we f#cked the Anglos over in 1066. No reason why we can't do it again. and that jock b#stard as well

Such anger from the peaceful CI.

If I married a Jersey girl, could I be a resident?

[Ram]

More will be Jumping this year!

[maxingout]

Originally Posted by sneuman

Having lived and worked overseas for a decade, I can tell you that you can claim foreign-earned income credit up to appx. $75,000 (or at least that's what it was a few years ago). That means you will only pay U.S. taxes on the amount of your adjusted income that exceeds that amount (at the rate for that amount you would pay as if it were all taxable). BUT, you have to be able to claim a tax home in another country -- there's the rub for cruisers, I suspect.

I worked in a foreign country for sixteen years, and if you want to get the tax exemption you need to be a legal resident in a foreign country or physically present in a foreign country for 330 days each year. You must have proof of physical presence in a foreign country. Time spent flying or sailing offshore does not meet the test for physical presence in order to qualify for the earned income exemption.

US citizens are taxed on worldwide income, and there is no exemption for investment income. Nothing is gained by going offshore unless you have earned income in a low tax or no tax country like Arabia or the Emirates.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by MoonlightShadow

Such anger from the peaceful CI.

If I married a Jersey girl, could I be a resident?

Any European can simply turn up and be a resident.....but we have apartheid on who can buy houses and live in them and restrictions on what non-locals can rent. (that equals more expensive and not so good accomadation).

Used to be a 20 year wait for new folk to become classified as a local for house buying and living in purposes, now down to 12 years (and shortly to be 10)......Perhaps sounds a bit unfair - but nonetheless works well in keeping both property prices up and demand in check (well, sort of - peaked at nearly £1/2m for a 3 bed semi - now dropped back around 10 / 15% and market really inactive)......but push comes to shove demand will be restoked by dropping the years down even further - as always folk happy to live in a low tax area that is (relatively) peaceful and civilised.

Of course in an island 9x5 miles with nigh on 100,000 people the trick is to balance the numbers against the loss of pleasantness - we could easily become a Hong Kong - but why would we really want to?

But marrying a local (I'm free ) means you can miss out the 10 year wait.

[easterly]

[quote=Ram;261472]-high earning folks who earn $250 K or more have not had to pay any or little taxes in America -due to the loop holes-its time they started paying their fair share-


Ram I made about the figue you quoted and I paid $32,000 in taxes last year to the feds, another $8400 to the state, plus some to the local goverment and 7% on everything I bought. How is that paying little or no taxes. I know for a fact someone making $60,000 a year pays less in taxes, both in dollars and percentage than I do. How is that fair? I go out get a job and bust my a** for 60 to 70 hours a week and I should have to pay for the people who won't?
I think people in the US listen to the reports on TV and actually believe them.

[amytom]

[quote=easterly;261691I think people in the US listen to the reports on TV and actually believe them.[/quote]


Amen.

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by maxingout

I worked in a foreign country for sixteen years, and if you want to get the tax exemption you need to be a legal resident in a foreign country or physically present in a foreign country for 330 days each year. You must have proof of physical presence in a foreign country. Time spent flying or sailing offshore does not meet the test for physical presence in order to qualify for the earned income exemption.

US citizens are taxed on worldwide income, and there is no exemption for investment income. Nothing is gained by going offshore unless you have earned income in a low tax or no tax country like Arabia or the Emirates.

Yep. I lived in Hong Kong and Thailand, both of which were better tax-wise, though HK much more so than Thailand.

[Christian Van H]

Easterly, I understand your anger. You must be hard working, and you do pay a ton of taxes. I personally know someone who makes four times what you made last year, and paid little more than you last year. You are right on the cusp at 250K. Fact: Taxes suck. Fact: Property taxes suck. ($10,500 last year for me). But please understand that the top 5% of our wealthy are not pulling their weight as we are...

[DavidGC]

Originally Posted by Ram

-high earning folks who earn $250 K or more have not had to pay any or little taxes in America -due to the loop holes-its time they started paying their fair share-

Where on earth did you ever get this idea?
The top 10% of income earners pay over 80% of the taxes collected in the U.S. How much more is required until it reaches their "fair share?"

A society cannot tax itself into properity. It has been tried numerous times and has never succeeded.

A society also cannot prosper by punishing success and initiative, taking money for social engineering and wealth redistribution from the small sector of the economy who actually provide the jobs.

When over 40% of what you make goes to the government -- a government that continues to buy votes with the public treasury by more and more entitlements -- it is absurd to suggest that is somehow not giving uyour "fair share."

DGC

[svHyLyte]

Taxes suck. Fact: Property taxes suck. ($10,500 last year for me). But please understand that the top 5% of our wealthy are not pulling their weight as we are... "

Christian Van H--New Jersey, 2009

“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”

Joseph Goebbels-Nazi Germany, 1936

Abstract from US Dept of the Treasury Tables:



The [often denied] facts are available from the US Treasury, for example see: http://treas.gov/press/releases/repo...xes.update.pdf

What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.

Bertrand Russell

[bobfnbw]

Originally Posted by MoonlightShadow

Back last year, there was a thread "Good destinations in event of global economic depression?" It started with something like "with predictions of an economic collapse in the fourth quarter of 2008..." and so on...

Is there a danger in developing an almost survivealist attitude? Pension Plans have suffered, sometimes severely, and this must have an effect on many of us planning to retire and cruise. In my personal case, the drop in house prices initially meant that I could no longer afford the dream boat I wanted, and I must settle for something smaller, more economical to run, and so on. However, boat prices have recently softened, and it's becoming more of a buyer's market. But now, I also find I have concentrated much more on making the boat as self-sufficient as possible (A don't fully rely on Marinas concept) in terms of fuel, energy, waste and water requirements etc. And, I have even changed my earlier global aspirations to a more realistic (for me) itinerary.

I have experienced the 1980s and 1990s recessions, here in the UK. But this one is so different, as interest rates have gone down rather than up!!! My feelings are that with all the extra Government borrowings, something has to crack, and that it will be more than a year or two before we are out of this one. I am very . Am I alone with these thoughts? How do you feel the present and future climate will directly effect the Cruising World?

Love how these threads get so off topic.

Its funny. Always wanted a liveabord cruising boat, and now that I got one, every time I look at her, I see Noah's arc.... lol. Its true. I told my wife I need to get this puppy ready just in case.
But where to go is the real question. Sure other countries want us now, we got the gringo dollar mon. But if the US economy collapses, those green bucks will be worth zip. And some pale faced american will be meat on a string in a lot of places in the world. Better have a AK with you.
Gold won't mean much. Unless you have quite a bit. And you can't eat it. Or put it in your tank. Gold has had little value now for quite some time. Really, its just a metal refined from the ground. Same with diamonds. Sure they will be worth something at first, although not as much as you think I expect. But if the world economy really does collapse, then seriously watch out. Wars will break out all over the place, as people starve. There are almost 7 BILLION people on this planet. Most of which will not be able to feed itself. How quick do you think it would be before the dogs of hell will be unleashed? Last place I would want to be is down south in Latin America. Unless you know someone powerful. And who can predict who that will be? I say hope for the best but plan for the worst.

I pulled all my money out of the stock market last year. I lost a bit, but not much, now its in money market, making 1%. For the first time in a year I made money... of course inflation took that, but it better than most that is down 40-60% or more.
I thought of paying down debt with it, but now think that might be foolish. Maybe I will buy a wind gen, and new set of batteries, a year supply of food, or some spare parts for the perkins. Might be a better investment.
We have got thru some tough times in the past, the US, and the world. Hopefully this will one day be a bad memory as well. But this has the potential to be some seriously bad mojo.

An for those that want to point fingers that this was the republicans fault or the demorcats fault, just look in the mirror. We all got greedy, some more than others. We all knew that it was to good to be true, and so it was.

[Strygaldwir]

Hmmm....

Some observations.

I used to do a lot of analysis on residential and commercial real estate construction cost. Indeed, there are many outstanding construction cost estimators that one can use to refine cost and create specifics estimates. One of the notions that struck me in doing this analysis was the difference between what it cost to construct a house, and what it was selling for. We owned a home in Orange County California. It was expensive when I bought it, but it was not that out of line with construction cost per square foot and the price of land. It maintained that value for many years, then over the course of a two year span, the "price" people were willing to pay more than doubled. Well, I said, this is absolutely ridicules. This house can't be really worth that much. But if someone is willing to pay it. I'll sell it. It often perplexes me how we can be so "irrational" about our spending and purchasing? It only makes sense from the notion of a 'pyramid' effect. I'll pay that much because someone else will pay me more. Well, I think we are seeing the effects of what happens when a pyramid collapses. After a collapse, things have to reach a new point of equilibrium. Should we bail out folks who made bad economic decisions. Well, if we do, there is no incentive not to make bad decisions in the future. Should we just let it correct itself? Well, there certainly has to be some constructive movement toward equilibrium, but it may not be best to allow the correction in too short a timespan. Who should bear the cost. I think the purchaser, the lender and the government should all shoulder some cost, since they all worked together to create the set of circumstances.

In any case, I took the money, bought a boat went sailing for a couple of years. My wife says, that was the best financial decision we have made in a long time. It can't disappear, we already did it. Still have the boat, Still paid for, can still go cruising!

[anotherT34C]

It is true that most taxes are paid by the highest income brackets. It's also true that they pay a disproportionate amout for similar services.

Where I disagree is that the value of their work is being accounted for properly. I disbelieve that the value of an executive's labor is worth their pay.

I would agree to a flax tax, or even a regressive tax, if the distribution of income were more even. It's not, and that's bad for democracy. 'Fairness' has nothing to do with anything.

Since we have no mechanism for regulating pay, look to see an increasing amount of demonstrations like those across NY yesterday, calling for increased progressive tax reform. When the highly unemployed masses are given the choice of either cut services and sin taxes, or a 4% increase in the tax rate of millionaires, what do you think is going to happen. Who do you think is going to be elected?

[jimking100]

I posted the same observation earlier (getting off topic). Perhaps we should start a new thread (Pontificating on Economics/CDS and Politics). I am still interested in what others have to say about world traveling during failed economies, places of interest, and why.
Checked my 401K about ten minutes ago and confirmed...I'm screwed . Wish I had got out a year ago.
jim