On Tuesday February 12, 2013 Brian Mulroney spoke at Toronto’s Rotman school of business. It was interesting, engaging and a reminder of why he was so much fun to listen to, from 1984 – 1993 when he was Prime Minister of Canada.

The topic of the discussion was the Canada U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Fascinating history. This took place during the Reagan years. The audience was treated to stories about: Ronald Reagan, James Baker, George Bush, Peter Murphy, Derek Burney, Simon Reisman and others. (How many of these people do you remember?)

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The following comment was stated in response to the Swiss government’s approval of FATCA

Wir sind tot!!

Frau Widmer Schlumpf, wann werde ich mit meiner Familie verkauft, damit Sie den USA unser Vermögen übermitteln können dass wir in der Schweiz erwirtschaftet haben. Bin Doppelbürger, habe aber noch nie in der USA gelebt. Sie haben uns faktisch umgebracht, ist Ihnen das klar.

Translation:

We are dead!!
Mrs. Widmer Schlumpf, when am I going to be sold with my family, so that you can submit my Swiss-earned assets to the US government.  I am a dual citizen and never lived in America.  You have factually murdered us, is this clear to you?

Source  (comments section)

Well it seems that the big headline today in U.S. international commerce is a new proposed free trade deal between the U.S. and the evil socialist European states. I don’t understand though how America cannot see that its desire for more free trade is inconsistent with FATCA.

Why should U.S. goods be able to move freely around the world while U.S. persons and their capital are forbidden to leave the homeland.  And if they should have the temerity to leave anyway then they are punished for doing so.  More importantly is it possible for U.S. goods to move around the world if U.S. persons aren’t allowed to accompany them?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21439945

Here is your chance for Ottawa/Montreal based Brockers to talk to the big mainstream media.

All on one stage(a virtual stage to be clear) tommorow morning.

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=5982747&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=1

Audio feed only unfortionately. For those of you in Ottawa though it might actually be worthwhile to attend in person(Murphy and Cockfield will be via videoconference. There are some pretty diametrically opposed people testifying. We all know where Art Cockfield stands but Richard Murphy is a pretty strong FATCA proponent. Dennis Howlett of Canadians for Tax Fairness is an enigma on the subject of FATCA and the CBA(Darren Hannah and Marion Wrobel) will finally have to state where their true loyalties lie.

This is a skilled government mouthpiece sounding article, covering about 20% of the issue with lots of chatter about taxes, celebrities, government data and no mention of FATCA, banks, FBAR penalties and all the many other issues that the government doesn’t want for stateside Americans to know anything about.  This is a brilliant means of fooling gullible statesiders into being utterly clueless about the world beyond US jurisdiction with the threat of having “no more protection from the U.S. government” and the apparent evil concept of spending tourist dollars in the US.  So, enjoy!

Would you renounce your U.S. citizenship if it meant you’d be sending less of your hard-earned dollars to Uncle Sam?

As Americans face higher taxes and stricter enforcement, a growing number of them are, indeed, deciding to turn in their US passports. As of 2013, 77% of Americans will pay higher federal tax rates because the cuts in Social Security payroll taxes expired when Congress passed its tax package on New Year’s Day.

But the wealthiest households face the highest tax increases. From 2009 to 2011, the number of expatriates, or those who renounced their U.S. citizenship, doubled to 1,781.

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