Sad, but America is a dying society. Sure, sure, the Americans can kill and terrorize the Afghans and Iraqis, but they can not reverse the inevitable decline of America any more than the Roman Empire was able to reverse their decline. When a people no longer want to save their country, decline is inevitable. Pray that the Russian people do not fall into a similar malaise.

Now why would any American want to relinquish the rights to be nothing but a digit in the debts-drugs-death culture of those who pretend to be (1) CONSTITUTIONAL IN THE JUDICIAL!? Oh this is truly an abomination of the rule, letter and spirit of the law. GOVERNMENT IN THE U.S. rules alright and it is the hidden hand of the money laundering operation that dictates to every flesh and blood human the roll call in birth (debts and drugs) and then the American gets to work more than one job in order to actualize any semblance of sane living. WOW NOW ... why wouldn't every earth human want to be born and immediately tethered to debts and drugs to then work self to death?! U.S. GOVERNMENT LOVES US. each and every digital flesh trade/exchange ... .... 17th Century dictatorial kings and queens, barons, lords, ladies and the corrupt minds have been 100% compromised in THEIR INSANE BELIEF SYSTEM: the culture of debts-drugs-death. Tragically for some in this time it is Sarte's NO EXIT or we would all be long gone! The fact of sane humans - seek those who are enlightened in the 21st Century AND NOT the debts-drugs-death cabal of evildoers.

I think for some, this is political decision. However, for other renouncing their American citizenship is often economical/pragmatic decision. For example, an American working in Russia, is expected to pay full taxes on the money he/she earns while working in Russia. The person is of course expected to pay taxes of the country he/she is working. Is one of one of the reasons many American living abroad are renouncing their U.S citizenship. This trend will continue as more and more Americans seek well paying jobs abroad. I know this because I do have many close U.S friends who are facing this problem. My friends want to keep their American citizenship but they are sick and tire of being asked to pay full taxes of money they have earned outside the country because- they are also expected to pay taxes of the host countries.

Expats cannot make tax deferred savings for retirement and then they pay capital gains taxes exceeding 100%. Each year the health of the dollar relative to local currency determines their tax burden more than real changes in income. And they get less political representation. Renunciation is inevitable if these people enjoy food on their tables like most people.

I say good riddance to them. Let them experience life in another country the rest of their lives. For every one that renounces his or her citizenship, I'll bet there are a hundred applying for US citizenship. We may not be perfect, but we've got a lot more going for us than any other place in the world.

As of yet, brain drain and immigration flows overwhelmingly favor a growing US populous and a net flow of talented individuals into the country. This may change, but it has a long way to go before the US would actually be loosing more talent than it gains through international exchange. As of yet, the US retains the highest GDP of any nation with a substantial populace (more than about 10-13 million people), by far produces the plurality (if not even the majority) of international innovation, and is the freest country in the world. Things may be going in a negative direction, but nothing akin to a collapse has happened yet. The US at present is marginally weakened and some competitors are ascending such that the US now outstrips other power centers by a smaller, but as of yet still vast, margin. Even if the US were to go into some sort of depression, it would remain a major power, just not a totally dominant one. The Pax (some what of a misnomer, but it was for the Romans too) Americana has yet to end. The tax thing is of course absurd and should be altered. If you want representation in the US government, it is reasonable enough to propose that you pay a share of its upkeep, but expatriates should pay only a relatively small amount.

You guys keep missing the point! This is not about the US government as empire or moral/political decisions or patriotism. It is about subjecting people with little or no political representation to a confiscatory tax scheme that only they have to pay. People are not leaving the US because of its policies. They are not chasing high paying overseas assignments either. The majority are here because they are married to someone abroad or they had a parent who was American or they took an overseas assignment for the experience. These positions may appear to be high paying but that ignores the higher cost of living in many countries abroad. If you make 100k $ in Switzerland, you are lower middle class - you probably could not afford a car. American wrote: "If you want representation in the US government, it is reasonable enough to propose that you pay a share of its upkeep, but expatriates should pay only a relatively small amount." Well first, Americans abroad have little or no representation and that's the primary reason that get tax raped. Also, who on earth would be willing to pay thousands for one vote in the US political system? Second, OK, so what's a small amount? What's fair? How about every American pays a citizenship tax of 1000 dollars per year. I honestly think that would be fair if... you have to pay it too. But that would never pass in Congress because you have more representation that we do and you would stop it. Third, let's get real about what the US is doing to Americans families working abroad. (btw - the US is the only developed country that does this) 1) You are subjected to two tax systems. Whole systems. 2) As the dollar goes down (and it always goes down), you pay more US tax. 3) You have less than half the deductions available. 4) No tax deferred retirement savings for you. 5) Capital gains tax on your retirement of more than 100%. and for this, you get no access to Medicare or cash for clunkers... Now do you get it?

American, take a good look at recent statistics on graduate and postgraduate education in the U.S and foreign students willing to stay in the U.S after completing their studies. Also take a look at shift to immigrants to the U.S., those in the high tech sector. If you do, you would note that numbers are not looking good for the U.S. in the long term For a big country of 300M plus people, it is not easy to notice that a brain drain away from the U.S into Europe and Asia is taking place. Another interesting thing is that this draconian taxation regime is applied primarily to individual citizens and not to U.S corporations. Iinstead paying taxes, U.S corporations receive tax breaks for shipping U.S jobs to China and elsewhere! As the U.S public education goes down and the U.S middle class continue to shrink the effects of this reversal brain drain will be felt. Alas!

Global South, Yeah. We are in twilight, but we've so much momentum we still have a ways to fall before were going into the red in terms of immigration of educated people. They come from Haiti, India, China, Africa, etc. Yeah, conditions are getting better in some of these places, but nevertheless many people still come to the US for superior opportunity. There is a limit to any trend, I wouldn't count off the US yet. However, it does look as though over the course of years to decades, the US is going to get a lot worse before it starts getting better again, at certain things anyway. The US is just arbitrarily dysfunctional in so many ways relative to western European countries. It has some sharp features, but these will get pummeled along with so much else; the fundamentals are just collectively screwed up. I think education is still getting better, although the drop out rate is higher, I think it probable that the total number of graduates per capita is getting higher and higher. The middle class is shrinking for other reasons, mostly globalization displaying its equalizing effect by draining us for the benefit of China and India and so forth. Most dramatically, the secondary sector has been utterly crippled by foreign competition, which makes it much harder now to be in the middle class without having the right degree. Plus there is automation... Also, our youth are spoiled; amongst them there are many drop outs and people who waste a perfectly good education on highly competitive fields which they lack the talent and drive to do well in. Of course the entire country is spoiled; the entire west is spoiled; at best we will just continue our longstanding slow overall descent, and then gradually get back up, matured by hard times, in a diversified global power structure. At worst we will collapse and geopolitical chaos involving nuke will ensue.

People love to overreact. America is fine. Recessions are bound to happen and not everyone wants to live in America. Thousands of Chinese immigrate to America every year, is China dying? There is brain drain from America, the brain comes TO America. Grow up people.