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To: Alias Shrugged who wrote (40052)	11/22/2000 10:13:12 AM
From: wsringeorgia	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

A very good post! In Mr. Chen's third from the last paragraph he says "Uncertianty, not for the hope of gain but the despair of impending loss" and suggest various alternate wealth storage vehicles; and that really the nub of it, is it not? I know a guy with over $4 million mostly in US $100 bills hid in buried safes around his property. A drug lord? No, he is a semi retired merchant and I guess over the years he salted a little away to hide from a big spending wife and maybe the taxman. His biggest problem now (and it is a really big job) is to "rotate his stock" and get rid of the old style bills and replace them with the new. I know people in Asia with a similar problem. Now, as for Mr. Chens alternate investments, well I guess the metals are ok...but farmland? That can be a tricky investment and a "rapidly wasting asset" if local land taxes are high as they are in lots of places in the US. I think that is one reason that land in lots of third world places is sky high; it is realized that it is the only really "safe" investment available, and usually in those places the is little or no property tax for that reason. As for Mr. Chens idea a "Philippine private island" let me remind him that if he is not a Philippine citizen he cannot own land there anyway. He could form a Philippine corporation to do so but it would have to have 60% local ownership; this may change some day but after years of argument on the subject absolutely no change in policy has occurred. President Estrada is for land liberalization but it looks like he is on his way out due to an impeachment. But I would strongly advise Mr. Chen against this idea on other more practical grounds; Moro pirates would raid his island and carry him and his whole entourage off for ransom before he could say "despair of impending loss". WSR