I have been reading and thinking about the discussion on the recent CBC story and share the frustrations that many have with media in Canada or America who just don’t seem to get the narrative right (from our POV) when it comes to US Expat citizenship taxation, Voluntary Disclosure programs, or offshore accounts issues (FATCA). It is very hard for us as individuals to get Journalist or Editors attention, have them adopt our narratives, and only occasionally do we have minor success on the fringes like here and here.
I wished I had the magic answer, or some profound insight as how to solve this problem. We must recognize that even organizations like ACA who have been at this for years and years have a hard time getting MSM attention on their many efforts. However, I would like to venture a suggestion of another painful drudgery (I am into drudgery) that can bear fruit….
Persistence
Roger Conklin is an example of this with his success in getting a WSJ letter to the editor posted both on the web and added in the print addition. I was amazed that he was able to get the attention of the Editors of a well respected national paper that is read by many policy makers and people of influence in the US. Was this a fluke, special eloquence, or something simpler…… persistence?
What many of you don’t know, is that in spite his years, and his personal difficulties at home, he is persistence with his writing and commenting at major US new media, like the Wall Street Journal. I have been following those comments for quite some time now. In fact that is how I discovered him and encouraged him to come over to Isaac Brock Society and make some comments here. Renouceuscitizenship, picked up on his back ground and highlighted his perspective in the post titled US Citzenship based taxation harms US Economy .
I have noticed how through the persistence of his civil commentary on any article even remotely addressing trade and tax policy, that there are more and more commentators responding to him and picking up or confirming his themes.
Here is the lastest example of the comment thread that is running on the current WSJ article called Fade in China, Made in America. Start reading the comments from a day ago from Arron Brown.
Consistent Talking Point
I would venture the thought, that it is Roger’s persistence in repeating the export job loss and trade deficit angle over and over and over again in the comment sections is why the WSJ responded to his letter to the editor and decided to publish it over the hundreds of other letters they must receive. In addion, just like a politician with a “Talking Point“, Roger hammers home consistently on the theme that the US citizenship model is damaging on US Trade policy, creates US Trade deficits and hurts export jobs created in the homeland.
That is a theme, talking point if you like, that resonates more in the US media, than our perceived whinging about the unfairness of the IRS tax jihad that is directed against homeland tax cheats and evaders, but impacts us instead. It is hard to get any attention or sympathy out of self-centered Americans, (or Canadians) who I would venture a guess, don’t care about our problems unless it is perceived to be harming them. Then it gets their attention.
Non partisan civility and echo chambers
In this day and age of partisan politics with hyperbolic blogs, and name calling commentary on the web, I think we have to recognize that to reach outside our blog, you have to be perceived as non partisan and have a civil presentation. I fail at that all the time! Grrrr me.
We have to be honest with ourselves, and recognize that our blog here, is a bit of an echo chamber. Even with it’s ever increasing readership, and sometimes spirited but civil disagreements, we have to find ways to reach outside it better to get the infamous “Lame Stream Media’s” attention. (Can’t believe I am going to use a Palin quip, but it works! )
I don’t have the answers on how to do this best. I am not a media consultant, didn’t play one in a movie, nor am I especially astute or insightful when it comes to these things. What I do try to do is observe what seems to “work”, and then try that over and over and over. Right now, I have been observing Roger’s comment model of a defined talking point, a targeted media outlet like the WSJ, and his persistent facts and figures presentation which has an even, civil tone.
In some ways, maybe we need a media consultant to help us fine tune our message for the press. We need a consistent Talking Point that works. We need a Frank Luntz amongst us to help us with the key language of our message. Anger and passions works sometimes to generate attention, but I think we have to also look at the role of persistence, use of key language, well structured talking points plus civility if you want get a message into the MSM media.
We may or may not like it, but “pro-life” and “death tax” are examples of deliberate language choices made by activist to better shape a message that a certain group wants in the public debate. It works. I am not sure what works for us, but even the term US Expat may be the wrong language for self identification if it triggers the wrong response in the hearer. If it conjures up an image of someone slightly exotic, rich, devious tax evader and/or non patriotic, then it fails. Victoria has eloquently discussed the perceptions vs the actual in Day in the life of the US Emigrant
Media Experimentation
Since Isaac Brock doesn’t really have a media arm or an over arching media strategy, it is upon us individually to experiment with many things even if the first efforts are imperfect and not finally tuned. Try something, and if it doesn’t work, incrementally adjust it and try again. There are many resources these days in our interconnected world that we can use. This blog is one of the excellent ones, but old style letters and emails, new style social media (even though personally, I hate facebook), and seemingly trivial 140 character Twitter tweets can have effect. (I am still experimenting with it.) There are other internet sites like Reddit, which many media use now to find hot topics, so I have started to experiment there too. I decided last night to post the CBC story there and observe what does or not happen. Not a huge success, but there are 11 likes, and 1 dislike so that is 12 more people outside our echo chamber that now know something about the subject and would never have found the story without that post.
I am sure there are many many other information sharing avenues out there. I haven’t been putting a lot of time into finding them, but I probably should. It may take 1000 of them, before one gets real attention or yields positive results, but that brings us back to the persistence angle. The drudgery of persistence.
Like I have said, I am into drudgery as it overcomes my many other inadequacies, and heaven knows I have my share of them. I may not have personal connections. I may not be politically correct. I may not be a good lobbyist. I may not have an expert knowledge base. I may not be eloquent, or I maybe too wordy with what I write. We all have our individual weakness, and in spite of mine, Drudgery is something I can do. And boy do I do it! 🙂 It can over come a lot of short falls. You just have to tediously try over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Keep throwing things up against the wall until you find something that sticks, and then repeat it.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say.
Now, none of this has yet resulted in the type of media narrative that Wondering has suggested, but it is something to ponder. I welcome more comments, observations, suggestions and criticisms from many of the fine minds that contribute here. Let’s learn from each other how to be more effective in our fragmented media outreach and maybe use this thread as a medium to share what is working or not working from each of our efforts.
Thank you.
Thank you for this. One day I will do a blog post called:
“The Collected Wisdom of JustMe”
I think you are absolutely right. Also, the “talking point” should be something that is NOT expat based. Something that suggest expats are an asset to the U.S. and not traitors. U.S. citizens abroad will never (without more) get fair treatment.
Anyway, this is something I would like to explore with you more.
In his first review of the blog Petros referred to “Just Me” as the MVP of the Isaac Brock Society. I agree.
@JustMe
I am going to suggest everyone go over to blog run by someone named John Hempton RIGHT NOW. He is an investment fund manager based in Sydney, Australia and has a new blogpost up right now on the injustices of the American criminal justice system and how it concerns him as to whether the US is a good place to invest in anymore. He does get a lot US readers and I suspect his business is personally effected by FATCA. I already made two comments on his post just a few minutes ago. Lets see if we can get five or six of us over there. I have already suggested he come here in my reply post.
http://brontecapital.blogspot.com/2012/03/when-did-us-constitution-cease-to.html
JustMe I suspect because of your ties to Australia you might have a very interesting story to tell to Mr. Hempton
@ renounce…
Gosh, you make me laugh. That would be a pretty short post!
The thing that I appreciate about this blog is there is a lot of bright, articulate and intelligent folks that are collectively contributing here. We can have a wider impact than any of us on our own. We just need to work at it. All I do, really, is just plug away as time allows, and keep trying many things. Hopefully over time, I am getting smarter about who I target and how I approach them.
But maybe not, as I have some notable failures related to NPR, PRI and PBS and some of their excellent programs which have totally ignored me. I have almost given up on them, but will probably try some more, as they have a listener-ship greater than Rush Limbaugh, and if you could get a story or narrative even close to right there, it would have a much higher impact within the wider media universe. I have thought about asking for some help here with a combined strategy on how to crack that nut.
More later, but I really have to do some work outside on the house, or my wife won’t be considering me a MVP of household chores…
Cheers, and thanks for your comment. Joking aside, I do appreciate it. And just to pass the compliment back, you have some of the best researched and well written guidance on these subjects I have seen. I always learn a lot from your posts. I almost think you are a closet attorney with your attention to legal research and how you dig into things!
@Tim…
Excellent. Thanks for that, I will definitely do that!
I think you have absolutely hit the nail on the head, Just Me. Persistance and drudgery always pay off in the end. I can accept without any resistance, that no one is going to listen to us if we are not civil minded, respectful and fair. It is always difficult to do that when one knows without question, that the whole situation IS brutal, draconian and all the rest of it. We will have to put that aside for a bit and let people come around on their own. It is kind of like what Gandhi and the Indians did with the salt mines – they knew they were right and they knew they would have to “take it” without reacting. Really difficult to do. No better way than that to expose what needs to be seen.
I have no ideas yet about a “talking point” but agree with renounce that it should be based on positive ideas. I also agree with renounce about you being the MVP of the IBS. You’re a natural!
@Tim…
I posted a quick comment without really reading much or seaching his blog, as my time is limited. It is under moderation, and will see if it shows up later. I really appreciate you pointing it out, as I will direct my brother-in-laws, who are involved in Australian financial services to the blog also, and try to get them a little more stirred up on FATCA… They are so ‘she’ll be right’ laid back over there! LOL
Great suggestions 🙂
@ Just Me. A great idea and should be pursued.
I ran a small PR firm in NYC before moving to Europe in 1990. Much has changed since, most notably the introduction of new media, but the principles remain the same.
PR and media relations are not rocket sciences but they do require structure, professionalism, consistency and the great quality you mention: persistence. And let me add time. PR efforts take a lot of time.
Here are some very basic thoughts on could be done (most of this is quite obvious but you’d be surprised at the results you’d get):
First, set some clear objectives and stick to them. Do we want to, for example, 1) lobby US politicians, or 2) create awareness among Americans in the homeland, 3) lobby politicians in our host countries, 4) activate the 6-million plus expat Americans, etc. or all of the above. Let’s prioritize.
Second, what are the key messages: 1) that the American economy will pay a price for citizen-based taxation 2) that expat Americans are living a nightmare 3) that the IRS is breaking laws and alienating people around the world. In other words, should the message be an economical, political or a human interest one, or all of the above? This, too, needs to be prioritized.
Third, how do we go about it? To move forward, you should ideally have a few basic elements ready to go, such as:
1. a press kit. This should contain press releases, Q&As, sample copies of current articles, and print-ready articles on the key questions, i.e., a few human interest stories about individuals who have gone through the nightmare, why citizens-based taxation hurts the US economy, why the IRS overreach is a violation of the constitution etc.
2. some white papers. Someone wrote an excellent paper about the history of FBAR. Pieces like this can help back up and give credibility to our positions.
3. a spokesperson. Someone articulate, measured and civil willing to speak to the press on go on record. Very important.
4. comments writers. We should also be prepared to respond quickly and authoritatively to online articles in the press and refer readers with links to the right information sources. Remember, there’s a war out there.
5. Story pitching. We need people to go out and pitch articles to the media about our concerns. In this business, you can actually hire people to do this.
6. Media hit list. Create a structured list of target media and the category each fits into to.
7. Surveys. The media loves surveys. If we can commission a survey about our situation with an interesting news angle, the media will eat it up. And there are plenty of angles.
That’s just a few thoughts off the top of my head.
I have a few interesting stories to tell but I never was and never will be an American citizen.
I used however to be a tax-policy official of both the Australian and New Zealand Governments. I can tell you just how out of kilt with the rest of the world the US is in citizen based taxation.
John
@John — Welcome! Look forward to hearing your stories.
The Reuters article linked in the first paragraph of this post is really excellent. Most articles on this subject provide overarching summaries or the ‘big picture’. This article personifies the problems caused by FATCA, and by the time that you have finished reading it you really understand the horrible injustice that is being caused on people with the outrageous penalties and fines.
My proposal is to try and get the UK Guardian to feature a Comment piece. They regularly host pieces that are not afraid to be critical of what is going on the US from people like Noam Chomsky and Joseph Stieglitz, and their regular feature writers Gary Younge, Jonathan Freedland and Mark Weisbrot, amongst others, also do the same. They have so many readers from the US that they have a dedicated US section (with many of the top US stories featuring on the main Comment page regularly):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/america
Some examples of pieces that they have run before:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/14/losing-the-world-american-decline-noam-chomsky
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/15/imperial-way-american-decline-noam-chomsky
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2012/jan/13/many-americans-2012-worse
You can do a survey pretty easily with something like SurveyMonkey. Some of my friends used that for their dissertations:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/
@JustMe & @Brash : flipp’n BRILLIANT!
These have been my thoughts exactly, ever since deciding only a few weeks ago that jumping from a tall building would not solve my personal tax/FBAR/FATCA problems. Whining accomplishes nothing (wish it did because I’m VERY good at it). How can we gain international attention? Who do we contact? How do we ORGANIZE? How do we become our own lobbyist?
@Brash has put forth superb organizational objectives along with an excellent priority list. Now, how can we, as a widely diversified group of individuals living all over the world, focus global attention to our common cause? In any business or organization, people are hired on the basis of their expertise in various aspects of the business. Surely there are individuals in the Issac Brock Society who have experience in some of the 7 areas (“basic elements”) listed by Brash?
I realize TIME is a major factor here. How many of us have the necessary time to devote to a mission of this magnitude? How many of us can sustain the passion to see this through? Obviously JustMe does. His own personal war has been fought and won, but he fights on by helping so many others in similar situations. Like renounceuscitizenship does. Like Petros does. Like Roger Conklin has continued to do for YEARS (whoa, what a guy… a modern day David & Goliath!), and all the rest of you for whom this abuse is over but you continue to fight on, helping those of us whose nightmare is only beginning.
Then there’s funding. Ouch. Sore subject for most of us. Many have already been gouged and have had to cough up hard earned dough to cover your OVDP penalties, and may just be squeaking by right now. But things like press kits, surveys and story pitching require cash-ola. Which would then require an ISB treasurer. Someone who could look after accepting donations and writing cheques to cover expenses as needed. I would certainly be willing to donate to a cause like this. I’m much happier giving it to the ISB than the IRS! Or maybe I’m incredibly out of touch these days and all of this can now be done digitally and paper-less?
I’m certainly willing to donate time to this effort as well. I don’t have a paying job anymore, so time is something I currently have in abundance. My background is in advertising; but only as a lowly print-production artist in the very small arm of a global ad agency. I’m 12 years out of the biz now, so I’m not bringing much to the table anymore, but if I can be of use in this endeavour I’d be happy to do so.
Maybe I’ve gone off the deep end here (not unusual for me). Maybe we just trudge on as separate individuals and just continue writing letters and being persistent. But it sure wouldn’t hurt to have at least a defined “talking point” for us to help guide the focus of our letters.
What say all of you? Worth taking a SERIOUS look at this??
@all. Some very good comments here, that I want to respond to individually, but swamped this morning. Time (LCUs) is/are very much the issue as has been rightfully pointed out, but it has become my Hobby of a sort, and so all my spare time is devoted to it.
Here are 3 reports from today from Journalist / bloggers that I email regularly and always comment when they publish something. Have a look…
Despite FATCA, FBAR Penalties Still Under Fire
http://onforb.es/we10lK
Expats Protest IRS Treatment of Citizens Overseas
http://bit.ly/yIeTTa
New Rules Target Offshore Funds
http://on.wsj.com/AtrHQr
More later…
and thanks for your precious time in responding. I know the post from Late Loyalist renounces kinda sucked the oxygen out of available time yesterday. It was an interesting thread to read. Since I am not renouncing, I didn’t have anything of value to add to that discussion, so continued with my posting at the WSJ instead.
Here is Roger at work, trying to use another article at the Washington post to get his message out… I am just giving you a peek into his persistence!
Japan’s lost decades — and ours?
http://wapo.st/xcpdgB
In this article the Washington Post reporter cites certain Japanese policies that have been a drag on its economy
I could not resist the temptation to add my own citing the fact that in spite of some poor decisions Japan , unlike the US , has not instituted tax policies designed to destroy the Japanese exports that create millions of Japanese jobs manufacturing for export and given it an unemployment rate 55% below that of the US . . (Double taxation, FATCA and Congressman Tierney’s bill to abolish the FEIE and thus make it impossible for probably half of the American citizens living abroad today to survive.)
None of the other comments mention this.
btw, for those that complained about a CBC response, I would have loved to get something personal. I am constantly posting comments at Market Place which is a PRI production. Their coverage of FATCA is totally missing. Usually, after a couple weeks, you get this type of response back….
It is nothing like the personal email you in Canada receive from the CBC. I am envious!
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PS…. I will persist! Think I will contact this Angela Kim directly, in a civil way of course. 🙂
Brash has done a beautiful job of nutshelling the basic task.
For the Canadian situation, I’d nominate this for core message:
(1) Direct financial costs to Canada and all Canadians through unidirectional extraction of capital and onesided mismatches
(2) Potential cascading of impacts [increased health costs, lost capital requiring Canadians to draw more heavily on benefit programs, etc.]
(3) Demographic damage to seniors and their families, who have built their assets in Canada over time
(4) Affront to sovereignty
(5) Compliance costs to Canadian business, expecially the potential $1 billion loss to banks over five years.
I see little use in attempting to address the United States, except with footsteps of permanent departure. Much less the rest of the world, except to offer IBS haven to US refugees worldwide.
A “poor us” message will not play anywhere. Least of all in Peoria.
One thought, usxcanada. the compliance cost to Canadian business, especially the potential $1 billion loss to banks over five years, will likely be borne by ALL Canadians through increased bank fees.
@JustMe
I am going to make a suggestion of trying to contact a blogger named Yves Smith of the site Naked Capitalism. She is VERY critical of Obama from a left of centre perspective for being too easy on Wall Street and big business. She also lived in Australia from 2002 to 2004(Right now she is a US citizen living in NYC) and is in the process of applying to become an Australian permanent resident shortly.
Her site is http://www.nakedcapitalism.com
We’ll say our goodbyes with our feet.
But look on the bright side. We’re the lucky ones:
– our homes are not underwater
– our employment situation is fairly stable
– our banks are in great shape
– our government is not going bankrupt
– we don’t have the kind of social unrest the US does
– in the past we would’ve sunk with the Americans but we’ve managed to hold our own throughout this Great Recession
We will push the Americans back to where they belong and everything will be fine. Although the next time the Americans want to get cozy with us, we may want to keep a little distance.
@Tim…
I have been on that site before, but only for a short look. Thanks for the back ground on her. I think center left criticism is important, to help keep this from just becoming a libertarian/Conservative criticism, which may be right, but still runs up against progressives defenses/excuses.
I will definitely took at her site later today. Do you know if she has commented on FATCA or FBARS in the past. I did a search on the brontecapital blog, and noted that FATCA came up zero. I do hope that @John Hempton, who has commented here, will look into it, as an Australian perspective would be great! Really appreciate him coming along here for a comment.
@OMG, Thanks for reminding us that we are the lucky ones. I agree.
@ usxcanada. Great work in putting together a priority list. I completely agree with other comments that this effort is one of the most important ones we can make as an organization: increasing awareness and changing opinion about what’s happening is absolutely crucial.
However, your list raises an interesting question. And it’s one that I raised in the whatchamacallit thread–is the Isaac Brock Society an exclusively Canadian-focused group or is it meant to be all-inclusive? If the latter, we’d have to expand on those priorities. If the former, your list is exactly right.
I understand that it’s for all “US persons” potentially affected including immigrants, greencard holders and expats abroad.
As well as accidental Americans
I think that it just looks like its only Canadians here since the vast majority of the readership and contributors are based in Canada. I’m one of the few from the EU it seems (Belgium).
That being said, many of us have the Canadian press to thank for awaking us to the dangers of FATCA and the FBAR. I know that I have never seen anything in the Belgian press, so I am very thankful that the Canadian press and Canadians themselves have been so proactive in spreading the message.