On the fading of the light.

Posted on By pukeko

This is a comment on Samizdata relating to the experience of one of the bloggers in opening a bank account. He had to sign statements that he had no business in the USA and this new project (for which he was setting up accounts) would not have any US connection. But the comment that resonated is:

I’m trying to remember when I fell out of love with America. I visited often, extolled its virtues at the most inhospitable London parties and my family had planned an eventual move to California.

I certainly wouldn’t move there now. And I haven’t visited in several years. Too many bad memories of hostile airport security.

I’m torn about its future. Is the creeping statism and insolvency a prelude to more libertarian house cleaning? Will responsible states show the way for broken states? Will private wealth creation like fracking outweigh wealth destruction from DC?

Does any of it matter as technology continues its steady exponential expansion to the singularity?

Who knows? In the meantime I’ll hold out it Singapore where it takes 10 minutes to file my taxes and success is still celebrated.

I avoid the USA. I have some work with them — very little, mainly the webhost for this place is somewhere in Illinois — but I never visit. I pay extra money to fly over Canada or South America. I hate the TSA, and mistrust the Feds. And I used to travel to the US for fun. I enjoy small town America, particularly the unfashionable and redneck parts. I generally like the American people. But their state… has become evil.

And the tide is turning, as the author of the article noted.

… what I think is more significant is I am pretty sure the bank is not ‘standing up’ to the USA’s out-of-control bureaucracy out of any moral conviction but rather because they made a commercial decision. I think this is very important as few people, and even fewer banks or companies of any sort, will act out of principle, but when it comes to acting out of your own commercial interest, well that is what really drives people’s decision making. Lavabit is a rare exception of a company simply acting out of principle.

But when an international bank with a presence in a several other countries makes the commercial decision to avoid the USA and anyone who is American or has any economic links with America, well, that suggests to me that we are probably in one of those hazy historic liminal moment when the world is beginning to change fundamentally.

I rather doubt this sort of thing will get written about much in the MSM for many years until it actually becomes the norm for non-US companies. and I have my reasons for not wanting to ‘name names’ even if I could not resist at least commenting on what happened last week. Indeed I wonder how widespread this sort of commercial decision is? I am sure most ‘sensible’ commentators will snort derisively at the notion this could ever be a trend of major significance.

The light has left America. The decline and fall may be pleasant. But, given the history of the US, it is more likely to be bloody and painful. It may be that out of this a newer and more righteous nation will arise. My fear is that the West will not be able to dissassociate themselves from the US, and will go down with them.

Update: Vanessa has some words.