In today’s United States, ensuring personal privacy equates to being a criminal
By Patrick Vermeister
22 February 2016
When Ken Quran found out in 2014 that his entire life savings had been seized by the Internal Revenue Service, he didn’t know what to do.
Quran runs a convenience store in Greenville, N.C., and makes frequent cash deposits into his bank account. But that year, he discovered that the IRS took $153,907.99 out of his bank account. He wasn’t, and still hasn’t, even been charged with any wrongdoing. Nevertheless, he woke up one day to see the nest egg he’d worked so hard for disappear in a flash.
How can the IRS even think it has the authority to simply steal money it has no claim to?
It’s part of a series of ongoing attempts by governments worldwide to take away freedoms from ordinary, law-abiding citizens at the whim of bureaucracy.
In this case, Quran fell victim to a particular piece of insidious legislation aimed, in government parlance, at curbing money laundering. As banks are now viewed as arms or extensions of government overreach, the IRS requires banks to report to it any cash deposit over $10,000.
To make matters worse, your servants in Washington, D.C., have tried to paint anyone who deposits cash just under the $10,000 threshold as seedy characters trying to hide their activities. They created the term “structuring,” which relates in their legalese to the criminalization of any deposit made under the threshold they unilaterally created.
“This is a clear example of how easily the National Government can supersede the limited scope of their authority they are granted,” said Adele Weiss, principal at Weiss+Associates, a European-based consultancy firm specializing in the U.S. Federal Income Tax. “Where are search-and-seizure laws used in the case of Mr. Quran? Where is reasonable suspicion? It’s one thing to inquire about such deposits — it’s an entirely different thing to not investigate before demanding an inquiry, and it’s utterly outrageous to simply confiscate someone’s property without charge. Perhaps it’s time to review the definition of theft!"
Recently, Quran found out that the IRS was going to return all of his money, even though he had to fight to get it back, as well as live for nearly two years without the ability to invest his own hard-earned capital.
There are other examples of governments around the world tightening the freedoms, purportedly acting in the name of some conceptual war on drugs and terror. More accurately, the abhorrent tactics used are part of a bigger war on individual liberty.
Last week, the European Central Bank has acknowledged that it is considering doing away with the 500 EUR note. Closer to home, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post suggesting that the U.S. Federal Reserve should do away with the $100 bill.
It’s clear that the criminal cabal that exists between Wall Street and Washington is conditioning ordinary citizens to accept this obvious breach of the 4th Amendment, which guarantees personal privacy unless a warrant showing probable cause is produced against named individuals. But what is the end goal for the bankers and the government?
“Not only does government want to break the American spirit of individual sovereignty, but there is a financial aspect to what they are wanting to accomplish,” added Weiss, whose firm helps Americans protect their assets in a rapidly changing world landscape.
“As their debt-based monetary system crumbles, they are trying to make sure we everyday citizens are forced to continue operating within a controlled environment — one THEY control for their purpose and not yours. This only further emphasizes the need to diversify and perhaps eventually remove oneself from a status within any particular country that acts in such a fashion. Today, there are many Americans and Europeans seeking to invest in alternative forms, including gold and silver.”
Quran can consider himself lucky to at least get back all his money, though it remains unclear whether the IRS will compensate him for his loss of potential interest income, or for damages incurred from their theft.
Unfortunately, the activities of his cash-based business were wrongfully targeted by a rapacious government bureau. Quran’s experience is not unique.
“The lesson here gets back to what the Founding Fathers stressed,” added Weiss. “Privacy is a vitally important aspect of the life of American Nationals. We don’t lock our doors or close our curtains because we have something to hide. We choose what information we share with others. It’s a fundamental part of the fabric of our society, and the government — our servants — should have utmost respect for that. Freedom and a respect for individual rights must be stressed above security. Submitting to fears and cries for security being offered by the government, at the price of freedom, historically has shown that both individual freedom and security are eventually lost.”
Although the IRS said it was discontinuing the practice of asset seizure of certain individuals, conscientious citizens should be skeptical — and prepared.
“Having bank accounts outside the United States is paramount for a myriad of reasons,” Weiss analyzed. “I’m not sure if that ability will be available to most Americans five years from now.”
For more information on Asset Protection, maximizing your financial freedom, or obtaining a list of banks his firm recommends, please click here. He can be reached at bilateral@gmx.com.