@aaforobama How @barackobama lost the left fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/06/22/fps… Former pres Carter, Clinton, and others see Romney as having the right stuff
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) June 23, 2012
Look forward to hearing about how Obama lost the independents (which elected Obama to begin with).
I agree. Obama is toast. Many former Obamarites I know in the USA will sit this one out.
*http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/06/obama-taps-overseas-donors/1
USA today says that he is collecting money overseas, while the republicans are not.
There are a few classes of people not affected by FATCA:
–those that don’t know anything about it and continue doing whatever they have been doing (either continue doing nothing or continue that their company tax accountant files their fbars)
–those that have done “quiet disclosures” and think nothing unusual about the process (other than what a hassle it was)
In my view, Obama would be a great president in a different political party. Some Americans abroad probably donate money to Obama because they like him as a person but are not yet aware of the problems related to his party.
This is posted on http://www.republicansabroad.org/
“Democrats often accuse American businesses of acting selfishly with regard to their overseas profits, but how are they supposed to act? Should they willingly hand over millions of dollars in taxes on income that — in their view — has already been taxed?”
http://news.investors.com/article/614854/201206141820/government-gives-us-business-incentive-to-invest-overseas.htm
Found another article related to this, claims the Romney campaign has generated $144,000 abroad. Still no mention whatsoever of disgruntled US citizens abroad…I guess rather that donate, many prefer to expatriate?
http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/it-may-be-legal-but-wonder-what-these-people-are-thinking-and-why/question-2748661/
I try to read a few books every month. Unfortunately, a lot of what I read, I could not recommend, but every so often, I hit upon a treasure. If I had more time, I would go more into detail, but I am a bit pressed, so I’ll give a tweet rather than a post.
Lawrence Lessig’s Republic Lost is an extraordinarily worthwhile read. He is in Obama’s and the Democrats’ camp and cannot be accused of being just another pundit from the usual Fox & Friends GOP apparatchik. His criticism of Obama is the most incisive I’ve read and should be a strong foundation for not re-electing him (as the people need to show how important his promises were and how trifling with the people should be punished and besides he is almost indistinguishable from Romney in any case).
As a Democrat-leaning Independent (and do note that I did not say left-leaning because Left has no actual meaning in the US and the meaning it has to the rest of the world does not fit with my sensibilities), Obama’s greatest broken promise was to change the way Washington works. His health care law is a flaming example of that failure.
He may have been America’s last best hope and he turned out to be a charlatan. It is amazing how tarnished the Nobel peace prize is with his name on it for getting elected on his soon-to-be abandoned promises.
I once saw Lessig lecture. My impression of him is that he is a “forward thinking” man. Will read the book.
thanks,
I have lived in Japan for almost 20 years. Over the years I have gradually lost interest in US domestic politics, but I voted enthusiastically for Obama last time around, and have considered myself a lifelong Democrat.
This time I will vote for nobody, unless they promise to address the concerns of Americans abroad. I am not holding my breath for that to happen.
*
@foo, ditto on that. Carl Rove could not have do a better job of bamboozling the electorate! Talking to Democrats Abroad, you’d swear they haven’t heard of FATCA, OVDI, FBAR or citizenship based taxation, or at least don’t see them as an issue. We know that Obama has done damage to US persons living abroad, but until Romney takes some kind of stand (for what that would be worth) he does not have my vote either. Bear in mind that it would be political suicide to support the ‘offshore tax evader’ at this point, as the majority of voters in the US don’t care to know the difference between minnows and whales.
*I remain with Obama despite what he is doing to us. I am looking at the larger picture, and to me the alternative to Obama will be a complete disaster. This said, I do agree that Obama made too many concessions and lost some of what he stood for prior to his election. I am not a politician to say if this was a good political move or not, to have things accomplished. But I am sure he has lost some of the left who supported him. I keep hoping that before the election he will address the Americans Abroad and will correct the way we are being treated as his administration, rightly so. wants to go after Americans who are hiding investments in foreign banks in order to avoid paying taxes. We are not these Americans, We should be all for this but at the same time protesting vehemently that Americans Living and Working Abroad are not doing this in order to avoid taxation. We have a multitude of reasons for working outside the USA but this is not one. As a matter of fact we do contribute to the USA in many ways, one of them by creating more jobs in the USA as we work on the outside. And to finish, I do hope that sooner or later we will have representation in the USA Congress so that we will be able to participate in the political process.
*How bad is it? Ask Jimmy Carter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/opinion/americas-shameful-human-rights-record.html?hp