Could Millionaires Fleeing the U.S. Cause a Wildcard Economic Event?
November 21st, 2010For years, I’ve received emails from people who want to move to New Zealand. Some young, some old. Some well off, some not so well off.
Over the last month or so, three millionaires have emailed me about moving to New Zealand.
The three people who emailed me were all going to invest their way into New Zealand. In case you don’t know, millionaires can make “investments” in New Zealand to, in effect, buy different types of residence visas. New Zealand Immigration calls these “Business Visas.” Depending on the type of arrangement and the age of the applicant, between NZ$750,000 and NZ$10 million is required.
It’s one thing for me to leave the U.S., with my meager savings, boxes of books and already old clothes (not much, in other words), but what happens if large numbers these wealthy people leave the U.S., pulling millions of dollars out of U.S. banks and moving it… elsewhere?
It worries me that I heard from three of these people in such a short period of time. What does that mean, in terms of the bigger picture? Might this be a leading indicator of something to come? I started to wonder if this flow of wealthy people out of the U.S. represents a sort of wildcard threat to the U.S. economy. Is there a way to know how much money is leaving the U.S., and at what point it places the system in jeopardy?
I know, many of you are thinking, “Who cares if a few fat cats flee the U.S.?”
Well, in case you haven’t noticed, a tiny number people have most of the money in the U.S. The absurd U.S. ponzi scheme depends on these wealthy people leaving their funds in U.S. institutions. One of these people leaving the U.S. (and taking their money with them) would be like thousands or tens of thousands of “normal” people pulling their money out of the banks.
Anyway, if little-old-Kevin on his backwater conspiracy blog heard from three millionaires who want to flee the U.S., what might we be able to extrapolate from that in terms of the bigger picture, if anything? Has some kind of tipping point occurred? Or, is this not that big of a deal?
My friend suggests Marseille 🙂
http://www.escapeartist.com/Tanja_Bulatovic/Living_In_Marseille/
It means the end is near. When the elites evacuate, the fall is surely coming.
You can take your chips off the table without leaving the room.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article24334.html
http://crashjpmorgan.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/banner_crashjpmorgan_eclipse_600x146.png
Thank you Kevin.
Much obliged that you share that with us.
I think even for the most blind, it’s becoming apparent that the US has got serious problems, and that the time remaining in which they can be ignored is coming to a close. I know many white collar, upper-middle class sorts who’ve gonve from ‘It’ll be over soon, the US will be fine’ to a kind of silent, nervous worry that maybe it’s not going to turn out all right. Part of this is motivated that, disregarding for the moment any notion that there are people involved who want the US to go down, the political ability to enforce desperately needed economic policy changes is missing, presumed dead.
From the point of view of the wealthy, I’d guess that:
* the dollar is tanking, and all attempts to bolster it are just going to devalue their holdings more.
* US real estate is a treacherous mess and a very dangerous place to put their wealth
* The stock market volatility is going to be high as long as the current economic status continues
* The US faces at best a continued drop until the economy bottoms out, then a painful climb back up, neither of which make for the most pleasant environment to live, or to do business in.
* The US is putting out plenty of signs of instability and increased government control, neither of which are particularly pleasant to live under.
I’m not surprised people are leaving; I’ve got my own plans in motion. No one’s going to let me in on an “investment” visa, though, so it’s time to flog the resume and see where we end up.
Zeke
The wealthy have been fleeing the US since 1996. This explains it:
http://actionamerica.org/taxecon/ticktick.shtml
we can draw a few things from this imho.
1) they consider themselves/families to be ‘at risk’. this could be construed in a number of ways that may or may not indicate a fulcrum. attempts to protect against capital erosion, etc given continuing fallout from swiss accounts, while still enjoying a middle class first world lifestyle. investments in the range of .75m – 10m would fall far short of ‘elite’ (barring any missing information).
2) they were coming here already before contact, so a variety of information has already been made available, if not investigated further.
given these 2 things, it could simply be the equivalent of flipping heads a half dozen times in a row, unlikely, but far from impossible or world changing. the pace does not seem to be picking up much, it’s simply one insult after the other in a slow boil. long before things come to a point of difficulty the apparatus will be in place to blunt it.
it’s like trying to break a glass bottle by rolling it down hill over a never ending stream of styrofoam…
I’m staying here. Those millionaires who want to flee should consider that they will have to convert all of their dollars to another currency.
Will it be a win, lose or draw.
Do not know.
But if I were a millionaire and wanted to leave the U.S. I’d be converting all my capital out of dollars.
A tipping point, I don’t know. Myself, I’m pretty **disturbed** with this casino game the U.S. is playing with bailouts, quantitative easing, etc.
Pitiful. But it was enough to scare the crap out of me. But I’m staying here in the U.S. Its my home, its my country, and I want to be a part of getting it back from the corporatistas. Dunno what my part will be. But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Ultimately, there’s no place to run. NZ, Costa Rica, etc will be a temporary respites if anything.
One responder above has it right – $750 k to 10 million is NOT the elite; if you can’t measure your wealth in at least the billions, you aren’t elite.
Better to stay put and fight for your home and family. At the very least, we Americans allowed this to happen to our “country” (really a British-held private corporation out of Puerto Rico, but that’s another post), so we deserve what’s coming on a certain level…
Like Kevin, all I have is books in boxes and some clothes. Being that I am a dual citizen and identify with my primary ethnicity, coupled with my extreme distaste for American culture and society along with political/economic collapse, I’ve long left the USSA and found work elsewhere happily. However, also being a US patriot, I do what I can to fight for truth from abroad.
I think the information mentioned by K could very well be a tipping point. Last week, Gerald Celente completely cashed out of US dollars into CAN loonies.
i doubt that you could call the phenomenon Kevin has described as a tipping point BUT it may be some sort of leading indicator. maybe line up the data Kevin has got since he moved to NZ of people with a substantial amount of money contacting him re immigrating. could be worth analysing.
i think it indicates that more people are recognising that the end is in sight for the US as a functioning unit, and some of them are beginning to act. as Kevin says, if people with financial means are leaving in growing numbers, those who remain will be left with what? is the man behind the curtain getting nervous yet?