
How to Be Jason Bourne: Multiple Passports, Swiss Banking, and Crossing Borders - mattjaynes
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/03/03/how-to-be-jason-bourne-multiple-passports-swiss-banking-and-crossing-borders/
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imgabe
This book sounds like it's entertaining, but laughably out of date. He's
saying you should hide your money with AIG? The company that's losing money
faster than the US government can bail it out? Then move to Iceland to escape
the depression? Isn't Iceland the country that's been hit hardest, with the
government now completely bankrupt?

~~~
trickjarrett
Yeah, those are definitely not the best ideas right now, but I would think
that he uses AIG the same way we use kleenex to mean tissue. It's the concept
there.

Same with Iceland, that may not be the country of choice anymore, but the
concept remains the same.

Obviously not ideal, but not a reason to ditch the book. Strauss' writing is
entertaining, so I'll probably pick it up for the enjoyment factor :)

~~~
redrobot5050
I want to echo that. I've been a fan of Strauss' writings for a long time now.
I wasn't a fan of Marilyn Manson, but reading about the two years Strauss
spent on tour with him was awesome. I never intended to become a PTA, but
learning about his movement in the PTA circles as "Style" was awesome. His
writing delivers genuine enjoyment.

~~~
Luc
PTA being...?

~~~
bd
I wanted to make a funny remark, but Urban Dictionary is way better:

<http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pta>

BTW I think the original term is PUA = Pick Up Artist:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickup_artist>

~~~
redrobot5050
Yeah, sorry, I did mean PUA for "Pickup Artist".

But since you already corrected it for me, I'll leave it. And give you my
upvote, sir.

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trickjarrett
Neil Strauss is a writer. His last book was about his descent and experiences
once he got into the world of pick up artists, guys who follow a system to
pick up women.

Ferriss sells hope about the better life, living a life that would normally be
above your means. The secret agent life is part of that dream.

~~~
tptacek
My impression was that "The Game" was credulous and a bit sleazy. Am I wrong?
Is Strauss actually a good writer/reporter?

~~~
jskopek
If you're asking about the quality of his writing, it's up to snuff. That
said, having read his last book and excerpts from this one, it's probably not
fair to try and compare him to a journalist.

Neil chases stories and ideas that are both a little crazy and secretly
appealing to most men. Let's face it, all of us guys have wished at some point
or other that they could seduce any women they wanted. In the same way, a lot
of us have probably wondered what it would be like to live a spy lifestyle, or
to have bank accounts in exclusive foreign countries. This is basically just
the equivalent of a harlequin novel, but for guys.

~~~
marvin
Seriously, _harlequin novels_? That implies that books like these are both a
dime-a-dozen and uncreative in addition to being fictional - nothing could be
further from the truth. Strauss' writing is interesting precisely because it's
about really crazy subjects that no one else writes about, or at least where
the existing literature is aimed at very narrow audiences. I don't know about
the "quality of writing"; this seems to be a quality you can define to mean
just about anything. I agree that some of Strauss' plot devices are pretty
lame and predictable - you'd probably not want to discuss his technique in a
literature program. And like all supposedly "real" novels, there's probably a
decent amount of distortions and exaggerations. But his books are engaging,
and very much in the direction of "satisfy intellectual curiosity" that I
love. No one is supposed to be manipulating social situations like the
characters of "The Game", and yet it happens.

I found it eye-opening in a lot of ways, and it brings a host of new
questions: what is "genuine" social interaction? How much of people's
personality is learned and internalized behavior? How much of sexual
attraction is? Should you try to change your personality for something that is
supposedly better, and can it be done? In relation to dominance/submission in
social situation (the implicit structure of command and leadership that
automatically arises when a group of people meets), how much is genuine (or
"natural" - what does "natural" even mean?) and to what degrees do natural
leaders actively manipulate the people around them?

You shouldn't read books just for some supposed literary value, the real value
comes from the questions you have when you're done.

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mattjaynes
Is this what "jumping the shark" means?

While I can totally relate to the adolescent fantasy of having super-fugitive
skills and money stashed all over the world, it seems wasteful if folks take
it too seriously.

If this guy had put all this effort and cleverness into a startup rather than
paranoia, he would probably have made off quite nicely. Who knows, maybe he
will with his book and that was the whole point.

It's funny to see this kinda stuff coming from Tim Ferriss though. Even though
his stuff can be pretty cheesy - I love the usual emphasis on simplicity,
experimenting, and outsourcing. While a post like this drives traffic, it
seems counter to his "message".

~~~
pchristensen
Ferriss basically says "This stuff is too extreme for me to actually do, but
it's freaking awesome to read about."

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fuzzmeister
This article certainly has interesting ideas, but I think the author is wildly
overplaying the risks of the current economic situation, and is indulging in a
bit too much fantasy. I mean, submarines? Really?

~~~
discojesus
"I mean, submarines? Really?"

Yeah that's the point at which I would have declared the billionaire to be a
complete fucking nutbar, and would decide to immediately stop trying to
replicate his behavior.

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k0n2ad
Neither Strauss nor Ferriss impress me, and though Ferriss offers some
humorous ideas in his book, I would say that most of it is entertainment and
self-promotion.

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Hexstream
"When Tarasov was through explaining everything, I couldn’t tell whether I was
protecting myself from being scammed or actually being scammed myself."

Count me out!

~~~
cstejerean
Although from looking at the diagram he was referring to it looks pretty
straight forward. Split up each type of asset into a separate LLC, all of them
owned by a parent LLC that is controlled by a trust. (House is separate since
it's more of a liability, the author still owed money on it and there is
always a risk someone will trip and fall on your property). Nothing about this
setup looks at all unusual or suspicious to me. So I'm either missing
something obvious or I need to get in the business of hiding other people's
assets.

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wallflower
Re: Money laundering

I once heard that some, if not many, of the Chinese all-you-can-eat-buffet
restaurants are/were fronts for the Chinese mafia. Makes you wonder - as a
_lot_ of them go out of business in 6 months - 1 year.

~~~
iron_ball
Urban legend. A lot of _all_ restaurants go out of business in six months to a
year. It's a brutal industry.

~~~
modoc
I don't know much about Chinese Restaurants, but I do know a good bit about
nightclubs, and virtually all of them (in major cities at least) launder
organized crime money as a primary business.

~~~
wallflower
On the subject of losing money, anecdotally, two of the coffee shops I
frequent are owned by successful business owners (e.g. one of them owns
multiple laundromats, other has a portfolio of rental apartments).

My hunch is that they use the _losses_ from the coffee shop to offset their
profits at their other cash-flow businesses. Is this a common practice (if it
is so)? I know Microsoft's Office and Operating System businesses effectively
subsidize the rest of the company (Internet, etc.)

This has been posted here before but "My cofeehouse nightmare" is a good read
<http://www.slate.com/id/2132576/>

~~~
omouse
I don't get it. Aren't you supposed to use profits to offset losses?

Wait...you mean cooking the books and making it seem like both businesses are
doing just okay so they're taxed less...right?

~~~
xiaoma
Why would "cooking the books" be necessary? Structure the assets in holding
companies properly and they should be able to do it legally.

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jrnkntl
I'd read it as a fictional novel, and for 10$, I feel like it is.

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eli
Wait, so this isn't a joke?

~~~
pageman
it's not. outside of the U.S. there are numerous situations that would require
you to have a second passport - the one I hear the most are people who travel
into Middle East countries but require them also to to Israel. You can
basically branch off from that situation to other "real" situations.

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cellis
A little recession, it seems, is all it takes for do good hackers to start
entertaining the dark side. A pity.

~~~
reconbot
I'd much rather learn how it works so I can identify, avoid, or fight. Which
are all preferable to me then ignoring it. Criminals are hackers in their own
right (never mind criminal hackers, but society hackers, they make society do
things it was never intended to.) and I have to say reading about a good scam
is almost as entertaining as reading about a good startup. One just has more
practical value.

~~~
ethos
> One just has more practical value. Hmm, you're probably right, but as I am
> not (yet) thinking of creating a startup, it is debatable which one it is...

My own philosophy is that, if the feces doth impact the rotary blades, I'd
rather minimize the damage as much as possible. Most might consider it
paranoia; I consider it an ingrained distrust of about 90 percent of humanity.
As they say, the best defense is a good offense.

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chris11
There's a sample chapter that you can read.

Link:<http://www.inquisitr.com/19245/neil-strauss-emergency/>

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quizbiz
If only it was that easy.

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JeremyChase
What does this have to do with Hacker News? Why are people voting this up?

Come on guys.

~~~
gamache
Why does your concept of hacking begin and end at writing code? This book
describes a number of real-life hacks: social engineering, exploiting legal
vulnerabilities, circumventing security devices, etc.

~~~
JeremyChase
Considering how popular your remark is; it is safe to say that people around
here think "Hacker News" is about cracking. I had thought it was about
building things, silly me.

~~~
gamache
Sometimes hacking and cracking coexist. Examples include the reverse
engineering of CSS (DVD encryption), figuring out how to jailbreak an iPhone,
and even more questionable acts like writing a virus to innoculate systems
against other viruses. These cracks required technical proficiency, real
thought and good, old-fashioned effort.

Sometimes cracking is just mindless. I'm guessing most people here don't
respect that. Had the book been a series of "...and then I paid this dude $N
and he handed me a new passport", I don't think it would have hit the front
page.

~~~
qaexl
I've always considered "hacking" relating to making a system do something it
wasn't intended to do. You have to know the system well enough and be creative
enough to go beyond its perceived limitations. I get a kick out of being
creative; others get a kick out of having power over something. In either
case, the real thrill is feeling alive and not feeling like a mindless robot.

It is funny we're having this conversation, considering Jason Calacanis's open
letter, "Why I hired a felon" relating to one of his employees at Mahalo:
<http://calacanis.com/2009/03/05/why-i-employed-a-felon/>

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chiffonade
This guy Ferriss is a crackpot.

