Some folks here, especially Steven J. Mopsick, our beloved former litigator for the IRS who has now turned advocate for fairness and justice for Americans abroad, have really wanted to stop the Isaac Brock Society from going off the deep tangent of drawing analogies between the United States and Nazi Germany. Finally, as an editor and administrator here at Isaac Brock Society, I have to agree: Everybody, please stop it!
That felt good. It is always good when you feel that you are in control and can order people around!
Meanwhile, I got to thinking about my recent comment at Outraged’s eloquent post “Me, I’m a moderate”. I said there that the first step in a pogrom of course is not genocide but identifying the target of persecution. The Nazis made Jews to wear yellow stars. I once read if I’m not mistaken in a Paul Johnson novel, The History of the Modern World, that many Jews were essentially assimilated to Europe, having forgotten about their Jewishness until Hitler abruptly reminded them that they were not Arian. He then made them wear yellow stars.
This gave
me an excellent idea for Americans abroad. We could design a badge similar to the six-pointed yellow star, but this would help the banks overseas to identify US persons. Then, when an American walks into an FFI (Foreign Financial Institution) it’s easier for the bank to determine who is an US person who needs to be singled out by the FATCA law, and who are your ordinary natives and residents from every other country in the world, such as China, Bangledesh, UK, Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Uganda, Kenya, India, Indonesia (well, you get the picture). It really is very difficult to identify and treat Americans differently, if they are hiding behind a foreign passport or if they have assimilated into their countries of residence. Just as some Jews didn’t speak German with a Yiddish accent, some Americans living in Canada speak English with a Canadian accent, eh? And so they are virtually undetectable without actually making them take their pants down so that you can see if they have a “Property of the United States Government” tush tattoo.
As a former American in possession of Certificate of Loss of Nationality, I should have to wear one too. After all, my birth in Chicago taints me, just as something like a million Canadians: border babies (those born in a US hospital), accidental Americans, children and grandchildren of Americans, and obvious tax cheats like Peter Dunn who escaped to Canada, not to study and marry a Canadian, but to avoid paying US taxes. Really, American citizenship is irrevocable, and the tax-free status of a citizens of 195 other countries is something which should elude American citizens forever. So here is my design for the star, and it is easily printable and clipable: Y’all can just print a few hundred copies each (don’t forget to pay royalties, see below–this is an honour system), clip them out and give them to your friends for distribution. While US persons should have to wear them at all the times so that they can be subject to special treatment when walking on the street, shopping, or renting an apartment, it should be a capital crime in all countries in the world not to wear one of these when entering an FFI. Now if we all just volunteer to wear this star, it would save the FFIs millions of dollars in identification software, questionnaires and FATCA advertising.
All copyrights and patent rights reserved. Designed by Petros Research Inc. Please send to all Foreign Financial Institutions but insist that if they decided to use my design that they pay all royalties to Petros Research Inc. ($0.50 CDN per use).
@bubblebustin’, hazy2,
Many, many times,
US persons who can’t fly under the radar (having a US birthplace, are known to be US persons and who will not lie if asked if they are a US person) == I’d say that’s me;
have family members who perhaps might be able to pass undetected == that could be my deveopmentally delayed son, born in Canada, yadda, yadda, but for whom I am denied the right to renounce his supposed citizenship because I wish him to legitimatly be out from under the US thumb.
So both “models” occur in the same family after same family. Yes, I am conflicted about that.
I would like for everyone who can by their place of birth (which should be a given to me) go undetected.
But, you know, it just ain’t fair and I know that.
And it won’t be fair for our fellow countrymen, in my case Canadians, to be paying the costs the whole country will bear to have our banks fall in line with the US IRS overreach into Canada. In that case, us being “the cause”, we may be looked down upon as the reason this is happening. I believe our country must stand up to the US and say NO to FATCA.
@calgary
It’s a nightmare we would all like to wake up from, yours is especially frightening. To further face resentment from our fellow Canadians will just make it all more brutal. The federal government must not allow this kind of rift among Canadians to happen, and it must as you say “say NO to FATCA”, otherwise they become complicit. As I wrote to John Weston to accompany my Pre-2013 Budget Submission: ‘I will never find peace in knowing that as a US citizen I am the means
by which to extract from the Canadian economy what should remain in Canada.’
@bubblebustin
Mopsick’s street cred is that he used to work for the IRS for 30 years so that he can get a whale client tax evader a better plea bargain. He doesn’t need Isaac Brock for street cred. I read an article today that said he has no trouble getting his wealthy clients to pay and he’s probably trying to expand his law practice in California.
@Petros, I guess he’s too busy and important for Brock now and all of us who could use his help, and thus the importance of distancing himself from any controversy he may suffer from his association with Brock.
@ bubblebustin’,
Should be a headline in our media!
@ bubblebustin, he was always very important. That he ever condescended to participate here is a sort of wonder to many of us. Let’s hope he is able to move and shake in his work for ACA. Though I am not really counting on things getting better–prepare for the worst, and when things get better it will be a pleasant surprise.
@petros, condescended to participate here? I haven’t been around long enough to hang on every word he uttered, but I would think that he got something for his participation.
@bubblebustin, He received many accolades as well as our gratitude. I don’t think he could have gained too many paying customers because he has a much higher profile clientele than our typical readers.
Petros, of which I’m sure he was deserving, however the only real interaction I had with him was when he responded to my participant’s story with the wrong assessment of my situation and deemed me and what I shared as an ’embarrassingly bad poster child and is way off message’.
I have finally taken the time to read this comment thread. First of all I would like to thank Petros for enduring this long running struggle with Mr. Mopsick.
You see, several posts back I received a veiled threat from Mr. Mopsick concerning my statement that the only way to combat the illegal and unconstitutional US government was by withdrawing consent from that government. Mr. Mopsick replied with a veiled threat about IRS officials reading the site and how they would take an interest in my comments. This was the first time in my life that I have ever received a threat from the IRS or from a high lever player in this despotic government. Well it was very chilling, and I stopped commenting for about a week. My wife was furious at me and I won’t be telling her about this post.
It was also my first taste of the raw power that someone like Mr. Mopsick wields. Imagine that you learn that your neighbor, Mr. Mopsick, is not only a general of the IRS Praetorian guard, but also a lawyer. Now imagine that you are having a conflict over some small matter, and he mentions that that car you drive is pretty fancy. Just by dropping one small innocent comment he has turned the table and you are begging for mercy. Well I caught a strong whiff of that when I received Mr. Mopsick’s threat. And it was highly abhorrent. Just imagine how that kind of extreme power would corrupt you over 30 years (like the magician Sauruman who can make obstacles vanish).
So to all you who are grateful to Mr. Mopsick for his assistance, you remind me of torture victims who are grateful to the torturer because he paused from tormenting them to let them have a drink of water. I submit that it is a form of Stockholm syndrome.
IMO, the big chasm dividing IBS is the legitimacy of the US government. Many think that the US government is legitimate and fundamentally good, and they don’t want to hear of any “extremist” evidence to the contrary. They are still asleep in the government misinformation bubble. They like the music that Mr. Mopsick plays them, that income taxes are good and that with a little tweaking they won’t have to suffer under FATCA. Likely they also believe that the government benefits they are receiving outweigh the costs in taxes and lost freedom. In Canada’s case (and Norway and Sweden) you have large, resource rich countries with small populations whose incomes are subsidized by resource extraction industries. The government is buying these people with the money it has stolen from these cash cows. The poor Norweigans haven’t a chance, their welfare government has trillions in its oil trust fund to use to purchase the consent of 50.01%.
@calgary411 as to @bubblebustin Yes, this is an excellent headline for an article:
‘I will never find peace in knowing that as a US citizen I am the means
by which to extract from the YOUR_HOME_COUNTRY economy what should remain in YOUR_HOME_COUNTRY.’
If indeed Mopsick wants to build his legal practice and help represent whales, that is his business. He’s got a job to do, his profession is that of legal advocate, and everybody deserves competant legal representation. Maybe he can save some whales from the financial “death penalty”. Such is the right of any litigant or accused in a modern, democratic society that believes in due process. If some of the whales are actually running innovative businesses that contribute to the general wealth of human society in a sustainable way, I would hope he prioritize such clients.
I would also hope, however, that he works (especially in his ACA capacity, which I suspect is pro bono) to advocate for the rights and interests of minnows who cannot pay his legal fees and risk getting crushed under the weight of two or more tax regimes that they cannot possibly maneuver through while working 40 hours a week and raising their families, or living on fixed incomes and dealing with health issues during their retirement.
I would like to see more interaction on Mopsick’s websites with everybody: like Hodgen’s site. By the way, Jeff met Petros at Phil’s site.
Mopsick let me down for a couple of reasons:
1- His patently false comment about the US being “the freest country on the planet” or something to that extent. But I don’t know why exactly he would write such a thing;
2- After everyone said “Thanks for your encouragement and help…” he takes his leave.
I don’t know what his motivations are, but I’ll bet that he can’t be allied with a site such as this. After all, he was somewhat “in the spotlight” with people writing opinions about him, which could affect his practice (too much information can be a bad thing). So I wish him the best of luck helping rich US Persons.
As for the the other people who stomped their foot and said “I’m leaving..” – that is so typical American, and why most Americans I know don’t have what it takes to live abroad long-term.
@ bubblebustin
You mentioned sacrifices to appease the FATCA gods. Sorry, but I can help but think of old movies where some hapless adventurers are captured by a tribe who take great joy in human sacrifice. Usually, some fair young maiden is squirming while tied to a stake near a large fire.
In the end, some hero appears to the rescue.
Who will rescue us? Or, isn’t it much better to put up defenses at our borders to keep the errant tribe from our shores.
@hazy2
Interesting comparison, but I think the Trojan Horse tale works better in our case. The natives in the country we reside in aren’t torturing us (yet).
@jefferson and calgary
I’m flattered that you find my comment headline worthy. It was something I wrote specifically about myself to my MP, but to make it more generic, we would want to include all USP’s:
‘I will never find peace in knowing that as a US PERSON I am the means
by which to extract from the YOUR_HOME_COUNTRY economy what should remain in YOUR_HOME_COUNTRY.’
@ bubblebustin
I like the Trojan Horse idea.
@hazy 2, I can’t take credit for it as it’s been referred to already many times on this blog.
ConfederateH –
Excellent comment, so overdue. I get blown away by the fawning goodbyes bestowed on the abusers and the flouncers and the wannabe censors.
Fed up and blast out with a blaze of fury? OK. Then sneak around to keep peeking? You’re despicable. Cf Mišlê 26:11
@USX, Personally I welcome the diversity of opinion and anyone is free to say that I shouldn’t have said something. Like those who disliked this post. That’s fine. I wrote it because I felt two things: (1) I needed to try to show the logic of Joe Smith’s Hitler spoof. No, what’s happening isn’t the Holocaust. But the tax jihad is now attached to the anti-terror machine with the IRS sharing information with Homeland security. They are tightening the noose on expats. It is frightening. (2) I felt that the Swiss contingent here is under siege, and they would really feel supported by my drawing the logical conclusion that they are being smoked out–you can run but you can’t hide–resistance is futile. If you are US person in Switzerland, your days are numbered.
The blowback that I got from this post actually hurts Isaac Brock in my view, because (1) it tries to discredit all that we are doing because one or two people (me and Joe Smith) have made a comparison to N…s and to H….r, and to the H of the J—s; (2) it is crazy talk, as Neil Postman would define it, and it tries to turn us into antisemites and crazies and extremists. It is not us–I am not doing anything extreme. The Swiss banks and the US government are committing the extreme actions, not me. Extreme actions require honest talk. Thus, the hostile reaction to our freedom ends up defending the United States in its position–and that was the wrong reaction and it is not ultimately helpful. Rather than being appalled by Joe Smith’s video and the FATCA star, they should be turning to the US and saying, “You numbskulls! Don’t you see what you’re doing?” People, please stop making excuses for the United States. As long as you do, then Confederate’s accusation of Stockholm syndrome is not inappropriate.
But I personally welcome everyone back who’s left. They can be cantankerous in our sandbox if they want. But this website is what it is–see our new disclaimer on the top right hand corner. To try to change it from that editorial policy shows a strong unwillingness to accept the freedom of others. But some spend their entire “productive” careers trying to thwart other people’s freedoms.
*Petros, the person that I spoke with today at the US embassy in Bern actually expressed that I’m one of the lucky few Americans in Switzerland who still has a Swiss bank account. I called to inquire if one has to wait 2 years to renounce if one’s mortgage isn’t being refinanced because one is a US Person, and was told that they’ve reduced the waiting time for an appointment to weeks. I’m starting to get the impression that the US embassy is just as annoyed with the current situation as all the other US expats in Switzerland.
@ Petros
Perhaps you would consider posting Mr. Mopsick’s recent blog post which reflects his recent efforts to advocate for justice being done for both immigrants and US citizens abroad.
The Unintended Consequences Of FATCA And The Bank Secrecy Act
This post is located on his blogspot: http://mopsicktaxlaw.blogspot.ca/
I realize that this article will most likely spawn many criticisms, etc. However, in the spirit of continuing to track the unfolding story it is fair to take note of the work that others are doing to bring some awakening to those in power. We will all read this article through our own lenses and sift it in a manner that suits each of our purposes.
@Therapist604 Curious post. I wonder who Mopsick is talking about. If somebody else wants to put a thread up for it they can, but I don’t see any point in it.
Although Mopsick has come a long way in empathizing with expats, he is still a “homelander” and will never be able to understand the hell long term expats face unless he were to become one himself.
Mr Mopsick seems to have a lot of faith that sanity will prevail. So far, I’ve haven’t seen much evidence, and the US is yet to stop ‘kicking the can down the road’. He must have a lot of faith that a country that allows several million of its citizens and immigrants to be left out of consideration when passing laws that inflict ‘malicious compliance slow torture’ on those individuals, will suddenly begin to act in a competent, responsible manner here forward. We’ll see.
Petros –
Nowhere have I dissed diversity or forthrightness. I have a big problem with smarm being gobbed all over deliberate intolerant schismatics. Especially while very little voice, other than yours and mine, has shown any concern whatsoever for Joe Smith and his disappearance thus far. The situation reminds me of the ganging up on ConfederateH.
Taking a flamethrower to a bridge is a hard thing to recant. It took me about two-thirds of my life to arrive at torching that US citizenship bridge to nowhere. In their view, such an action is irrevocable. I wouldn’t be that harsh, even with a hypocrite. But the US and its minions, physical through residence and mental through habit, are “different.”