do americans really want to move out the country en masse?

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actually i'm pretty set on the netherlands or scandinavia.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:13 (8 years ago) Permalink

Nethernavia sounds like a good combo country. It also sounds like something illegal.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:14 (8 years ago) Permalink

amsterdam and copenhagen are amazing. i've been to sweden several times and totally fail to understand why people like it so much.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

In Paris I went to see a one-man play by Farid Chopel called "Le Pont du Milieu," it was his big comeback after 10 years on the skids. He's an amazing rubbery performer and like most aging comics he's got a dark side that runs about a mile deep. Anyway I met him in the theatre café afterwards - I told him that his American accent was good, except for the part where he sang along with "Foxy Lady" - and it turned out that he was with a group of people that included another American, a brassy and sarcastic woman with a leather jacket and dyed ginger hair. She asked me what I thought about Kerry vs Bush (the election was that night). I said I thought Kerry had a good shot. She said "Bush is going to win. It's over." I told to pull herself together, stop being so defeatist. She asked me how long I'd been in Europe and I said a year. I asked her how long she'd been away. "Four years. Ever since that bastard got in the first time." She said she planned to never go back. I think it's too bad that we're losing some of our bitterest and most caustic critics to Europe. We need them in America! i.e. lauren!!?

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:23 (8 years ago) Permalink

Although it's a small amount relative to the population, expatriation has risen gradually but steadily over the last couple decades. America makes it pretty difficult to leave, however, as you will be taxed regardless, and would have to do something pretty extreme to lose your citizenship. Not to mention movimg away from friends and family, finding a new job (the latter is probably not that hard in Europe these days).

Also, Bill Maher put it nicely when he said "You can't escape in France--we're attacking there next!" But many people like me and my family who have dual citizenship have already gone back to their other countries. What with foreign investors pulling back their funds like crazy, this country seems like a sinking ship, at the moment. Seems like it would be a shame not to take advantage of better options.

However, I don't think the Left in America is going anywhere, except a further shift to the right, probably.

― Richard K (Richard K), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

My resident alien permit for the Netherlands is still valid.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

i want one of those!

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 16:59 (8 years ago) Permalink

I had to marry and divorce a klootzak to get it.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 17:01 (8 years ago) Permalink

I've tried to flee to Guadalajara several times but have always been nabbed at the border.

― andy, Tuesday, 23 November 2004 17:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

I went to that URL to read that story was but was distracted by this horrifying slice of Americana:

Mother Charged After Baby's Arms Severed

Things like this more than anything election-related make me want to leave the country.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 17:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

Is that story unique to America?

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 17:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

Probably not but I'd like to think so as it means it's something that's escapable.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 17:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

...just bring a heavy coat and an oxygen tank. maybe lots of oxygen tanks. No more people!

― donut christ (donut), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 19:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

Isn't this the third mother in Texas who has killed her child recently due to "post partum?" Frightening.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 19:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

Well, I do think it would be beneficial for the US to saw off the continent at Texas. And if the saw accidentally lops off Florida too, well, it's a small price to pay.

Texas sez: "Fool me once, shame on.. shame on.. Fool me once, and I'll fucking kill you."

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 19:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

Texas is mostly like a cyborg. You can set the entire thing ablaze (minus buildings and people of course), and once the fires are extinguished, it mostly looks just... like what it was before.

― donut christ (donut), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 20:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

OK ok fine, we can set fire to Clear Channel headquarters in da 'Antonio... as long as Dee is safe.

― donut christ (donut), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 20:20 (8 years ago) Permalink

I am a dual citizen (kind of), monkeyfaces!

― adam... (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 20:28 (8 years ago) Permalink

WE DON'T NEED YOUR SMUGOSITY, ADAMRL. We have plenty of mine already.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 20:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

7 years pass...

Senators to Unveil the ‘Ex-Patriot Act’ to Respond to Facebook’s Saverin’s Tax Scheme

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has a status update for Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin: Stop attempting to dodge your taxes by renouncing your U.S. citizenship or never come to back to the U.S. again.
In September 2011, Saverin relinquished his U.S. citizenship before the company announced its planned initial public offering of stock, which will debut this week. The move was likely a financial one, as he owns an estimated 4 percent of Facebook and stands to make $4 billion when the company goes public. Saverin would reap the benefit of tax savings by becoming a permanent resident of Singapore, which levies no capital gains taxes.
At a news conference this morning, Sens. Schumer and Bob Casey, D-Pa., will unveil the “Ex-PATRIOT” – “Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy” – Act to respond directly to Saverin’s move, which they dub a “scheme” that would “help him duck up to $67 million in taxes.”
The senators will call Saverin’s move an “outrage” and will outline their plan to re-impose taxes on expatriates like Saverin even after they flee the United States and take up residence in a foreign country. Their proposal would also impose a mandatory 30 percent tax on the capital gains of anybody who renounces their U.S. citizenship.
The plan would bar individuals like Saverin from ever reentering the United States again.
“Eduardo recently found it more practical to become a resident of Singapore since he plans to live there for an indefinite period of time,” Tom Goodman, Saverin’s spokesman, told Bloomberg News in an email.
Last year 1,700 people renounced their U.S. citizenship.

― Vini Reilly Invasion (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, 17 May 2012 21:22 (1 year ago) Permalink

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