You don't need a Singapore passport! You can gain what is called "permanent
resident" status that lets you have just about every privilege of a citizen,
except for voting in local elections and a few other things that a
billionaire wouldn't particularly care about.
srs
> -----Original Message-----
> From: silklist-bounces+suresh=hserus....@lists.hserus.net
[mailto:silklist-
> bounces+suresh=hserus....@lists.hserus.net] On Behalf Of Deepak Shenoy
> Sent: 22 May 2012 19:59
> To: silklist@lists.hserus.net
> Subject: Re: [silk] On Saverin (was: Re: India's dangerous capitalism)
>
> >> if he moved back to Brazil one might have even called him a patriot
> >> that returned.
> >
> > Maybe. Maybe he'll re-apply for Brazillian citizenship, and then we'll
find
> out. I could become quite the soap opera!
>
> He does have a brazilian passport - you can't be a citizen of no-country,
so
> when you renounce one you have to have another citizenship. See, he didn't
> choose to take up a Sing passport, so the tax purpose may not altoghether
be
> false.
>
> >>
> > Well, I think you've put your finger on where some of the anti-Saverin
> outrage is coming from. I expect that the logic goes something like this:
> "Mr. Saverin made his fortune in America, and that was only possible
because
> of the American system -- its laws, its infrastructure, its culture. But
> those laws, infrastructure and culture did not come cheap. They were
> purchased by the proverbial blood of patriots, from Lexington and Concord
to
> Gettysburg and Omaha Beach. To regard the privilege of US citizenship as a
> merely mercantile arrangement is to disdain something precious that he got
> for free; it's an insult to every American who has served his or her
> country." I confess that I see some validity to that point of view,
although
> I'm not outraged myself. But I'm a silly little naif who suffered
dysentery,
> worms, homesickness and a knife assault while serving my country as a
Peace
> Corps Volunteer, with that old John F. Kennedy soundbite ringing in my
ears
> "ask not what your country can do for you, ask etc." Yes, I know how
> sentimental that makes me sound, especially on this list.
> >
> > Mr. Saverin is evidently somebody who asks what his country can do for
him,
> not the other way around; citizenship is fungible. Well, hooray for him. I
> know some people who feel the same way about marriage; hooray for them
too.
> Myself, I'm a sentimentalist about my marriage, but I don't think I'm
> superior to anybody on account of it. I don't pass judgement on people who
> marry, for example, for money. But neither do I particularly care if they
get
> taken to the cleaners when the divorce happens.
> >
>
> In this case, you only care that he isn't getting taken to the cleaners?
:)
> Just yanking your chain, sorry
>
> The patriotism argument works in every nation - the IITian that used my
> father's taxes to go contribute his life's taxes abroad (and I am no less,
I
> studied in a govt funded college, but I have the tiny excuse that I stayed
> willingly). Or those that made their fortunes in India and became NRIs.
And
> so on. There's the ungrateful wretch in each of us - to our parents, to
our
> society, to our country, and in some sad cases, to their spouses and
> children. I don't ever intend to ditch my citizenship - it's a weird
loyalty
> I have to a nation that despite its failings, its ridiculous laws, its
> insensitivity...holds me dear. I adore my wife and kids. But that doesn't
> mean I offer others no choices when their situation is different.
>
> Having said that I would love to have 2.8 billion dollars and no chances
of a
> US visa :)
