Death of capitalism and return to slavery

The brainchild of US Senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey announced a new law known as the Ex-PATRIOT Act, which will no doubt be the dumbest law ever created.

‘Ex-PATRIOT’ stands for “Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy”. Kudos to the senate for such a dumb acronym, and even dumber law!! The law proposes three key provisions:

1) Individuals who are deemed, in the sole discretion of the US government, to have renounced US citizenship in order to avoid US taxes, will be permanently barred from re-entering the United States.

2) Such individuals will also be required to pay a 30% capital gains tax to the United States government on ALL future investment gains derived from the US. Currently, non-citizens who do not reside in the US pay no US capital gains tax.

3) These proposals are RETROACTIVE, and, if passed, would apply to anyone who renounced his/her citizenship within the last 10-years.

First, a bit of history lesson. In 1990’s, many wealthy Americans renounced citizenship, renounced American citizenship. President Clinton was furious, and in 1996, he pushed Congress to pass a series of financial penalties for people who renounce citizenship. At the time, a ‘renunciant’ had to continue filing US tax returns for 10-years after renouncing. Effectively, though, this penalty was a tax on worldwide income, not an exit tax on assets.

Fast forward to the 2000s, the Bush regime passed a series of changes to expatriation rules, dropping the income tax filing requirements in lieu of charging a one-time exit tax on assets (why wait every year when you can kill the goose that lays the golden egg). 

In the years since the exit tax on assets was established, the number of Americans renouncing US citizenship has risen steadily and asset bubble has burst, so assets are worth much less than just a few years ago. As such, the government isn’t collecting as much revenue from the exit tax.

Fast forward once again to current decade. Americans renouncing the US citizenship continue to go up.  Eduardo Saverin is the latest example. The Facebook co-founder’s recent renunciation of US citizenship has become a rallying cry for politicians to go back in time and steal money from former citizens retroactively and establish a larger base for future tax revenues.

This is a truly despicable thing to do considering that these former citizens followed the appropriate rules at the time, paid the tax, and moved on with their lives. Now Uncle Sam wants to go back in time to unilaterally change the deal, and expect everyone to abide even though they’re not even citizens anymore. The arrogance is overwhelming.

Obviously the idea behind the law is to discourage Americans to renounce their citizenship.

It is surprising that of all countries America - a country that was once regarded as the freest, most economically enviable in the world, would treat its productive citizens with such hostility.

If America wants to keep people at home, it should try to create an environment similar to Norway and Sweden where people enjoy one of the highest standards of living and are indeed happy to shell out higher taxes for such benefits. 

Warren Buffet once said that to be born in America is nothing short of winning an ovarian lottery but looks like that winning comes with a life long obligation to finance the corrupt misdealing of the political class; and if you chose to abandon the obligation you will be barred from ever entering your homeland again.

In another continent, Europe, we see another insane work in progress. Monsier Hollande is proposing 75% tax on income exceeding 1million euros as part of his plan to fund France’s budget deficit. I guess it is inspired by the Japanese culture where salary man gives away all of his income to his spouse, who would manage the household and give a fixed amount every month back to the husband as pocket money. Naturally such policies are popular among masses but would that really help a nation to overcome its fiscal deficit problems? Would it really get the creative minds build the best companies in that country? Will it really motivate anyone to build something extraordinaire? Or may it will just force people to think ways of evading taxes.

It’s truly extraordinary that the Land of the Free has deteriorated to the point that the government must now resort to threats, coercion, and intimidation in order to keep its most productive citizens inside.

Like the producers in Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas shrugged, many productive members of the society have grown weary of being constantly bashed to pay for political handouts and unending wars of aggression. 

Stop TWEETING, start LIVING!!

My smart phone just snoozed to signal a new notification on Facebook while the Whatsapp icon is asking me to check the latest message. I still have to accept some invitations on LinkedIn and Asmallworld. While I am trying to get a grip on how to keep up with the hundreds of friends I am connected to, my blackberry is yelling desperately to be picked up to check some emails. I am doing this while I have couple of tabs open on my browser on my tablet and of course, many other applications opened in the background, mostly flashing very frequently for some sort of updates. The beep, snooze, flashing just would not stop. God, why am I so popular. Am I really or people have started living in this digital world where everyone feels like a biggest socialite, where everything is connected with 3 degrees of separation and when we are all connected to each other with 1s and 0s. It is not important of how well you know someone but after initial introduction it is very important to connect on Facebook. Even my 10 year old nephew has about 100 friends, meaning he is making a new friend every month since he was born.

The growing usage of social networking map summarizes the problem at hand (http://socialmediagraphics.posterous.com/the-growth-of-social-media)

We are not far from the day when we will start trading friends and connections online because the social status of an individual would be determined by the sheer number of connections on social networking sites.

People are now so busy in their digital world that they have stopped communicating face-to-face. Even when someone wants to speak to his colleague sitting next to him, he would send a message that makes a world trip hopping through various sea cables and satellites before reaching the colleague. People feel a strong urge to know every minute about their friend’s status. I think the status of most FB users should be “I’m not addicted to Facebook. I only use it when I have time: lunch time, break time, bed time, off time, this time, that time, any time, all the time.”

People forget to enjoy a single moment of their life because they are busy declaring to the world about the very moment that they lost in the digital odyssey.  Social networks are trying to mimic every sentiment, every gesture, every act that human beings are capable of, but do you really think you can convey your true emotions digitally? Can you really express the sadness of lonely eyes or the jubilation of achieving something in life or the love you feel for someone or the even a simple hug that can melt the heart away? The charm of oral communication is that you do not have a chance to hit backspace.

Various research studies concluded that social networking has led to a new way of communication, not only with the newly formed friendships but also with their existing friends and relationships. This new form of communication lacks social skills and effective verbal interaction.


Lack of communication is cited a common problem in relationships, team sports and even organizations. The lack of this key skill is only growing with the habit of texting. Of course, the entrepreneurial minds have already started promoting various books and courses on “Art of communicating online”, which also illustrates the growth of cyber communication.

We are wasting hours (a study concluded that people spend on average 6 hours a day on social networking sites) tracking people that we barely know but do not take few minutes to sit down and talk to our family and friends. Most dinner tables are now occupied with smart-phones and tablets. I am sure that there are many positive effects of social networking and it enriches our lives in many ways but the cons far outweigh pros at the moment.

People are said to be social animals, but I guess we have dropped the word social in our life. 

Many mistakes of my life

What do mistakes mean for human beings? Are we supposed to count them, dwell on them, or as a wise man learn from them? In my case, there are many instances when I feel guilty or regret my mistakes. However when I muse over the same “mistakes”, it certainly does not feel like mistakes. In fact it brings a happy grin on my face, a feeling of joy and triumph. I probably made countless mistakes but with every mistake I recollect an equally ecstatic and enriching experience.

Mistakes are part of me because it symbolizes my actions in life. It reflects my temperament, my spirit and my soul. My mistakes bring me some form of joy that is difficult to explain. Mahatma Gandhi once said “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes”. The journey of life calls for continuous pursuit of success and happiness that cannot be achieved without making mistakes. Big wins call for big mistakes. However for some strange reason, as we age, we preach the younger generation on how they should learn from others mistakes.

Do you remember when you started swimming? You made mistakes. You violated every code of swimming. Your parents and friends probably had a good laugh. And when you made all the possible mistakes without drowning, what happened? You learned to swim. The same goes for life.

The world is full of information on mistakes people made in life, and how we should avoid the same pitfalls. We are constantly warned on mistakes, categorized as financial mistakes, relationship mistakes, life mistakes, career mistakes, stupid mistakes etc. For everything that is done right, we exemplify 100 things that are done wrong. We cite history to show mistakes that our great leaders made and how we should avoid it. But one needs to ask on how ordinary people became great leaders? They became great because they dared to make mistakes. Success is a by-product of action and every action calls for mistakes.

Every act of man is done consciously or sub-consciously. When people gamble in a casino, the odds are always against them, so loosing in a casino cannot be a mistake. Similarly killing someone after drinking and driving, or shooting someone it certainly cannot be excused as a mistake. And even if one did, then one has to bear the consequences of such action.

Should we repeat our mistakes? We should not be afraid to do so. Falling in love with a wrong person does not mean the end of love. You most certainly should fall in love as many times as you can. Making a wrong investment does not make you a fool.

Don’t be scared to make mistakes.

Don’t be scared of the outcome of mistakes you make.

Don’t be scared of repeating some mistakes.

Don’t think that your birth was a mistake that you need to correct all your life.

Nothing is more fun than living life - a journey full of beautiful mistakes.