So I suppose the road to hell is paved in the best of intentions.

And that's how most laws often start: with the BEST of intentions. That was certainly the case when Barack Obama signed the HIRE Act into law in 2011.

It was intended to spur job growth in the Land of the Free while the wounds of the financial crisis were still fresh.

But always remember the rule of thumb with legislation: the more noble-sounding the name of a law, the more destructive its consequences. The HIRE Act did not disappoint.

Deep within its bowels fell the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA for short. It was a sort of 'law within a law', and one of the dumbest in US history.

FATCA effectively commanded every single bank on the planet to enter into an information-sharing agreement with the IRS.

(Well, not so much 'information sharing'. More like 'information giving'. Because the US government doesn't share anything with anyone.)