November
8, 2005
By
John Dietz, Senior
Advisor of Trustmakers
Transparency
International (TI),
a German civil society
organization, just
completed the yearly
figures on the state
of corruption around
the world. TI has ninety
chapters around the
globe and actually
uses a corruption index
to decipher the state
of world affairs. This
Corruption Perceptions
Index (CPI)—not to
be mistaken for the
U.S. consumer price
index—is a one-to-ten
measurement of government
corruption with one
being the worst. While
this may come as no
surprise, the index
reveled that seventy
countries have rampant
corruption, and a full
one hundred fifty-nine
countries have a CPI
score of less than
five.
David
Nussbaum, TI’s Chief
Executive, gave an
almost poetic response
to these latest facts:
“Corruption isn’t a
natural disaster; it
is the cold, calculated
theft of opportunity
from the men, women
and children who are
the least able to protect
themselves.”
Mr.
Nussbaum is fundamentally
speaking of developing
nations where aide
never gets to where
it needs to be, and
therefore, aide doesn’t
come very often. While
it is true that corruption
is rampant in many
poor nations, poverty
does not dictate corruption.
Wealthy nations such
as Ireland and Canada
have moved down the
index ladder in the
last ten years. You
know what a corrupt
Irishman is don’t you?
He’s the one having
good relations with
the English. (Please,
no nasty e-mails, just
kidding…)
The
winner with this year’s
best CPI is none other
than Iceland. (More
on Iceland in the future—you
would be amazed.) Finland
and New Zealand tied
for second place. The
UK ended up 11th, while
Germany and U.S. were
respectively 16th and
17th. The last ten
years show lower income
countries such as Bulgaria
and Estonia with a
much better ranking.
It’s a good thing that
the corruption perception
index for the U.S.
wasn’t tied to a vote;
with a current 32 percent
approval rate for President
George W., I would
have thought the U.S.
would have fared a
bit worse.
Corruption
As It Relates To Asset
Protection
One way corruption
can seep into your
daily life could be
a corrupt court system
where politics and
law are somehow blended
together to match any
daytime soap opera
drama. How about lawyers
who hate other lawyers,
and judges who know
the defendant so well
that they get irritated
by just having the
defendant in their
presence. Corruption
can start at the attorney’s
office where, in many
firms, a good case
is one that has racked
up the most billable
hours. The point is
that no one knows a
better system, and
the term “fair trial”
can be somewhat subjective.
You
should not fret over
any of this because
you can’t worry over
things that you don't
have control over;
but what you can do
is put yourself in
the driver’s seat.
When
you properly design
an Asset Protection
Plan, you have just
completed everything
you can do to protect
your hard earned money.
If you get sued, oh
well, such is life.
A Trustmakers Kinetic
Plan never puts you
in harms way. Your
plan never puts corruption
between you and your
money. A properly designed
plan never makes you
perjure yourself in
a courtroom. Your plan
does not rely on crazy
things like bearer
shares, where you walk
into court telling
a judge that you don’t
know who owns the shares
of your own company.
Your plan never exposes
you to a Foreign Trust
Company, a family member,
a former spouse, a
new spouse or any other
host of creditors.
A
Trustmakers Kinetic
Asset Protection Plan
can stop the professional
takers in their tracks,
and at the same time,
it never puts you or
your wealth in harms
way.
At
the end of the day,
corruption is and will
always be with us.
The answer is stamping
it out whenever you
can and have some power
to do so. Developing
nations need our help.
My mother used to say,
“Charity begins at
home.” So get your
household in order
(formulate a wealth
protection plan), and
then go help the rest
of the world. One person
can make a difference.
Until
next time,
John
If
you would like more
information regarding
asset protection, trusts,
family limited partnerships
or the subject of this
article please call
or email our office.
