The governments of the world, up until very recently, were broadly aligned across a few key principles: all companies should have transparent ownership and management; all bank accounts must be traceable to Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs), and there needs to be a global minimum tax.

The official reasons for all of these are to ensure that no illegal, drug, or terror money can be hidden, to eliminate money laundering and corruption, and to ensure that Everyone Pays Their Fair Share.

The end result, though, is quite different. Complete information for politicians and bureaucrats just means they are more effective at shaking down individuals and companies for their own bribes and kickbacks, including being paid to “look the other way.” Nothing stops Qatar or Russia or cartels from laundering funds and corrupting politicians. Russian oligarchs have no problem hiding and spending their wealth (with a few exceptions, such as conspicuous ownership of yachts or sports teams).

On top of all of this, a global minimum tax adds enormous compliance costs because no two jurisdictions share the same units and metrics of accounting (defining “profit” is not objectively knowable even within a single tax regime!). And it became impossible for legitimate people and organizations to even open bank accounts in many places because the Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance is absolutely insane. (I know of many cases where applicants gave up after years of jumping through idiotic hoops.) At times, it seems that the only people who can easily carry out their business in Europe are the crooks, cartels, oligarchs and terrorists.

And, of course, when wealth creation is punished through taxes, regulations and endless compliance, then people follow the incentives and stop producing wealth. This is a key reason why European startups have the decks stacked against them and have incredibly poor success rates. It is within our nature to want to create, preserve and grow intergenerational wealth; liberals want to destroy it. And we all follow incentives. If I cannot create wealth for others to manage, invest and benefit from after I am dead, then my desire to create wealth is diminished.

Outside the US, there is the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which sets international standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, including requirements for identifying UBOs (name, address, ownership percentage, etc.). FATF guidelines, adopted by over 200 jurisdictions, mandate that banks and other financial institutions identify and verify the UBOs of accounts to ensure transparency and prevent illicit financial flows. That information, along with banking account details, is shared with any government that asks. 

As a result, the world’s best funds haven for the past 20+ years has not been in Switzerland or Cayman or anywhere else outside our borders (because all banking and UBO information is shared).

Instead, the best haven for wealth has been the United States! It is the only country that does not force companies to disclose their Ultimate Beneficial Owners (in no small part because corporate affairs are up to the states, not the feds, and the states compete for offering business services).  Naturally, even foreign nationals and wealthy families elsewhere choose to park their assets in the United States, either in companies or in trusts. No joke: if you are a Saudi Sheikh, and you know you might fall out of favor at some point, where do you stash your wealth? The US is the only reasonable option because it is the only place where your vengeful enemies cannot leverage politicians and banks within the global sector to steal your wealth. The net benefit for the US is enormous, of course — those assets get reinvested, and the US benefits more than anyone else.

The United States, under Trump, has gone entirely rogue against all the pressures of the outside globalist world. This may prove to be among the single most important things Trump does. Here goes:

1: The global minimum tax, much loved by the World Economic Forum is dead, dead, dead, despite 140 countries signing up!  But as the US simply refuses… it cannot stand.  Trump refused to play.

On January 20, 2025, the White House issued a memorandum (the “Memorandum”)[1], announcing that the “Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Tax Deal” (the “Global Tax Deal”) has “no force or effect in the United States” and disavowing “any commitments” previously made by the United States with respect to the Global Tax Deal, absent an act of Congress. The Memorandum also directs the Secretary of the Treasury to develop and present to the President a list of “protective measures or other options” towards foreign countries that are either “not in compliance with any tax treaty” with the United States or have (or are likely to have) tax rules that are “extraterritorial or disproportionately affect American companies”.

2: US Banks have the least restrictive KYC requirements of any in the world. In no small part, this is because the US refuses to share banking and tax data with all the other governments in the world. We refuse to sign up for the FATF. This means that it makes sense for even non-US companies to do their banking stateside!

3: Despite the above…  a few years ago, the US passed a Corporate Transparency Act that would have gone most of the distance to align the US with the rest of the world by forcing every single private company to identify their UBOs and any influential persons (the initial deadline was the end of 2024). This represented an enormous hassle for mom & pops, as well as an incredible invasion of privacy for private individuals minding their own business. The penalties for error or non-compliance were draconian. Like DEI and all government regulations, distracting companies from their respective core missions makes them less capable. And exposing our private business to any inquisitive bureaucrat effectively means there would be no more “private” business — subjecting US companies and persons to the same shake-downs that happen in every two-bit banana republic. Cue the punitive tax rates, the “Fair Share” taxes and associated “Windfall” taxes that empower politicians who suck the blood of honest citizens.

The CTA (forcing all private companies to file UBO and other information) was delayed by lawsuits and FinCen regs, and countless challenges. But up until last night, it looked like it was still going to happen. Until Scott Bessent at Treasury, bless him, tweeted as follows: