Walter: 57 years old, Trader, Tycoon and Investor
Q: How did you become a PT?
Before I moved abroad to become a PT, I was an entrepreneur with a dozen different businesses. I loved the stress and spent a hundred grand a year on Chartered Accountants just to keep my books. They made sure I didn't have to pay any taxes. We did this with offshore trusts mostly. I didn't feel unfree, because we regarded every single new tax or regulating law, no matter how stupid, as an opportunity to make another million. All I had to do was figure a way to get around it, one way or another. That's what I had lawyers for.
Marc Rich and I had a lot in common through he had a higher profile. For instance, the US government, during the Nixon era, set two prices on oil. One was very low - lets say $30 on domestically produced oil used domestically. Then there was another price, let's say $50 on imported oil. Naturally, I just bought USA oil for 'domestic use.' Then I exported the 'domestic oil' to where the free market said it was needed. I sold at full world price or I traded for imported oil to be delivered stateside.
This arbitrage had to be done before everyone else figured out how to do the same thing. When that happened in a few months, the dual-price law was repealed as illogical and unworkable. So during a short while, I made $20 each on ten million barrels. There were similar deals every year of my career. Usually I made out like a bandit. Whenever there was a major devaluation of any currency, I bought local commodities at the old prices and sold them at world prices.
Q: Why doesn’t 't everyone do that? Did Something Go Wrong?
Walter: Not at all. Even though it was all legal, various governments were always on my case for 'evading the spirit of the law,' or one thing or another. If you are in any business, you have to expect problems with the regulators and tax collectors. The trick is to quit while you are ahead.
Eventually, I decided to pick up my chips, move to a tax haven, retire and play for smaller stakes. I chose to rent a waterfront apartment in Monte Carlo. Although I didn't ever become an official resident, my office is in the spare bedroom. I was and still am quite happy there, living on my investment income. Because I had wangled an EU passport, I am able to come and go as I please in Europe. Everyone else thinks I am resident in Monaco, a no tax country, so 1 no longer have to worry about an accountant.
Q: So how Does a PT Make Money?
Walter: I still buy and sell things like rare stamps, coins, paintings and such, but always privately never through dealers who would add a big mark up. If I can't buy something for half of what I know I can sell it for immediately, I don't buy.
How can you do this? The answer is expertise and keeping your eyes and ears open. Don't be taken in and buy an Elvis guitar or an A. Lincoln autograph from some huckster at a seminar. Know
values and pick up such things at auctions and estate sales. Classified ads are also good. Making money by buying and selling things is easy, if you put your mind to it. These days ebay and the internet offer many buy-sell opportunities.
Q: Any PT Hints?
Walter: Stay invisible! Don't get on any computer database, at least not in your real name nor at your real address. These days it is useful to be on some databases, but you don't have to tell them the truth. Nobody except your one night stands should know where you sleep. And maybe it's even best to keep a separate studio just for that - governments have been known to send in hookers to steal or copy businessmen's files. Also strangers in your house, if you keep business records there, can cause all sorts of potential problems.
Have at least one alternate identity. Use cash, not credit cards. Don't ever get any financial statements mailed. If your bank or broker won't hold your statements, change banks. Don't tell anyone any information that could be used against you. Stay clean. No traffic tickets. Don't associate with people likely to get themselves into trouble. This includes, nuts, kinks, Nutsy Party Members, dope users like Barry, drunks or smugglers.
Q: PT Advantages and Disadvantages?
Walter: At certain times in your life, maybe you want to be a major player. Then you have to be visible. Publicity and a high profile may help your career. But it always invites trouble, in the form of lawyers, con men, tax collectors, accountants and insurance salesmen. You sue and get sued. But that goes with the territory.
When you decide to quit, becoming a PT is a little like building a wall around yourself to protect your privacy, your ass and your assets!
Q: Final Thoughts?
Walter: The PT lifestyle is not for insecure people who can only thrive in a staid and familiar environment. It's for entrepreneurial types who love adventure, challenges and change. It's the most freedom you can get in an unfree world!
Chapter 16: DON'T BE A REFORMER OR A (DEAD) HERO
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions. " Proverb.
Some people see injustice all around. They want to do something about it. "Let's start a campaign, demonstrate, or join a pressure group," they say. Next thing you know, Big Brother has them on a watch list. In other words, good intentions and latching on to a 'good cause' usually gets in the way of good sense. Survival is the ultimate good cause!
Such public protest actions are noble, but dangerous. Sure, we need these people. The thing is, going head on against powerful government forces (fighting city hall) is not something for PTs to do. We stay low-profile to survive.
If you are one of those whose conscience makes you jump forward to stick up for the rights of the downtrodden, consider this story.
Once upon a time there was a Hungarian Jewish family living in Budapest, Hungary. Our tale takes place just as the Nazi occupation started. There was still a window of opportunity. The husband wanted to sell the family assets and convert them to more easily transportable wealth like coins, stamps and precious stones.
These, he said, would be sewn into clothes or hidden in shoes. Then they would escape the country and find their way to Israel (then British Palestine) at the earliest safe opportunity.
Of course, this escape plan involved illegal travel and false passports. The wife could not accept 'running away.' The rabbi told her to have faith. Everything was going to turn out fine. She could not abandon her long-established family home, friends, relatives and her place of birth.
As a result of staying put, the entire family perished.
Based on 'common sense,' the family could and should have escaped and stayed alive, building a new future for themselves in a new land.
The same applies to independent-minded Americans thinking of leaving the US today. Many Americans fear and/or despise the direction in which American society is heading.
A few families used common sense and escaped from Hungary after the German occupation began. Meanwhile, others actively supported the pro-Nazi puppet government in Hungary. Those of military age were drafted and served the Nazis as cannon fodder on the Russian front. Very few 'heroes' actively resisted. Consider Count Paul Teleki, the former prime minister who was forced by the Nazis to commit suicide.
Virtually all of those who stood up for freedom and tolerance are now dead. Those who acted
'selfishly' and left, lived to see and participate in the freedom of future generations.
Putting yourself in physical or financial danger is definitely not the PT way of doing things. But that's not to say you can't do good. PTs can be of any political persuasion. They can quietly support
the cause of their choice. They can join a controversial group anonymously. If they want to help, PTs can contribute anonymously to good causes. They can be, and surely are, of great help to their chosen causes. PTs can also write books and articles anonymously. There is so much we can do to help make the world a better place!
Proverb: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Every despot who ever lived: Napoleon, Hitler, Lenin, and Pol Pot caused widespread death and suffering. They always claimed to be 'doing the right thing' for 'their' people. The problem is that virtually all the wars, conflicts and sufferings have been caused mainly by differing points of view.
Every PT should also be tolerant of everybody else's viewpoint. He should never kill or use force against those who do not use force or violence against him.
Here s an example: Capital Punishment. We don't think the lady who got all the publicity in
Nigeria, who had an illegitimate child as a result of being raped, should be stoned to death. I would be willing quietly to contribute $1000 or maybe more to a team that was going in to rescue her and bring her to safety in London.
On the other hand, if there is somebody - for instance a mass murderer on death row in the USA who has tortured, robbed, raped and killed several people (and assuming there is absolutely no doubt he did it), I don't see why he should be supported in jail at taxpayer expense till he gets out on parole and does it again. Why not give him a lethal injection?
Any team to rescue and resettle a Hannibal the Cannibal serial killer type in my town wouldn't get my money. But that's my view. Others, maybe the majority in the world, think it's wrong to execute any criminal, no matter how bad/incurable he is. In any event, PTs would not go personally into a dangerous place with guns and explosives, nor order anyone else to "kill and liberate."
I once asked a famous PT guru if he would personally pick up a gun and shoot people under any circumstances. He replied that as a young man, he was drafted into World War Two. Though not a volunteer, he did his job willingly. "Fortunately, as a clerk-typist, I never saw any combat."
As he grew older and wiser, this guru became a PT and decided that wars don't usually settle much. He personally went into 'survival mode.' He cited another old Chinese proverb: "Wars don't determine who is right - they determine who is left."
What other people do is their business. This writer, for example, prefers to champion causes he believes in through his journalism. He lives in the safest and most comfortable environment he can find.
Let's get back to the original question - could it be immoral not to stay and fight for what's right? Sure, if everyone in the world had been a PT since the start of history, the world would be a different place - probably a much better one! But PT is a belief system that will work for maybe one-tenth of 1% of the population.
If everyone was a PT in Palestine or Israel, there would be nobody left to be in any army. Nobody would play at being a suicide bomber. Remember the old sixties hippy t-shirt? "What if they gave a war and nobody came?"
Why most people can't be PTs is that most people crave and will follow a strong leader - religious or military. PTs on the other hand want to be autonomous. They neither follow nor lead! Do you have the inner direction it takes to be a PT ?
Chapter 17: 1984 REVISITED: HOW GOVERNMENT MANIPULATES THE
MASSES
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. " Goethe
We live in a world of lies and deception. In nearly every country around the world, the mass media is heavily controlled and forced to report the official line of Big Brother.
In Russia, the government simply closes down TV stations opposed to the current political leadership. In Italy, virtually all TV channels at the time of writing are owned personally by the Prime Minister himself. People in these countries know that the government controls the media so they listen to news reports with skepticism.
The major English-speaking countries, however, have taken media control to new levels. The
population believes that the media is free and therefore trusts its reports. But, in fact, it is just as controlled as anywhere else.
In the USA, we see less and less competition. Fox News, CNN, AOL, Time Life and Warner Bros all reflect either the Democrat Party's or Republican Party's mainstream positions. If the American public want to hear independent news, they must turn to the maverick internet sites like the Drudge Report. (Editor's Note: Our resource list refers you to other alternative sources of reliable information.)
The ability to see through Big Brother's deceptions is a major difference that separates PTs from the masses. Mark Twain observed that most of human grief, sorrow and man-made calamities
came not from sheer ignorance, but were the consequences of untrue beliefs. "It's not from things we don't know," he said, "but things we know that aren't so."
Even church services are controlled by the government in the USA! Guidelines as to what can and cannot be said from the pulpit are found in the IRS qualifications [501 (c) 3] for tax exempt status. Clergy who follow these rules are recognized as legitimate religious organizations and given tax exemption. Those who don't are declared political propaganda organizations or 'cults' and denied the exemption. In the case of some such groups, like the Branch Davidians for instance, they are burned alive with their wives and children.