America, worst place on Earth to live in ? Really?... ... Really?

Anonymous said...Please refer to Orlov's recent:
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2010/11/americathe-grim-truth.html
A letter from an expat.
As Dmitri says in the preface, he hasn't had a dissenting response to this comment.
To those of you from other countries that wish to come here, come! It is entirely possible it will be far better than where you are right now.
But for those of us who have lived our lives here through countless sellouts that brought this country to its knees, this country in no way resembles what it was.
Maybe the foreign dreamers can make a purse out this sow's shit.
Best uh luck.

November 26, 2010 10:15 PM

 No Anon, its not easy to move to USA, not by a long shot.

I understand lots of things. I understand making mistakes. Do many myself, I’m not perfect. But what I don’t understand is bashing a country you live in and profit from. No, I’m not blind and I’m not in the US government payroll but I just call it as I see it.

Maybe I can understand those that lived in US most of their lives, were born there, and want to move elsewhere. The grass sometimes seems greener on the other side of the hill, so I won’t judge people that move out looking for other lifestyles, other experiences. Its after all natural to do so. What I don’t understand is MOVING from Russia or any other country, TO the United States, taking advantage of everything it has to offer, and THEN bash the US, its lifestyle, its culture and what it represents. I read the link above and would like to address some of the topics mentioned there.

Health care- No its not perfect. Probably the issue that needs to be improved the most. Can you get better hotel service in private hospitals of third world countries for less money? Yes that, you can. Better and more advanced health service? No. And that goes for Singapore or any other rat hole. Anyone that believes you get better health treatment in Singapore than in USA probably has a parasite nesting in his brain and isn’t thinking right. European health care? Free, glorious, wonderful, the coolest thing socialism has to offer. My family is in Spain where health care is supposedly free, yet for some reason they come over to Argentina to get their teeth fixed and do other treatments. Is Argentina’s private health care system better than the free one in Spain? Not so much, its just that the paid dentist in Argentina is less expensive that the “free” health service in Spain. Not everything that shines is gold guys. Having a tooth fixed in Spain will cost you, a LOT, and its the same story in all these wonderful places in Europe.

Food- This is probably the thing that surprised me the most about the post. USA food is bad? Hmm... no its not. No one is forcing you to eat McDonalds for breakfast, KFC for lunch, coffee at Starbucks with a dozen donuts and pork chops with fries at Friday’s for dinner. You eat whatever you want, no one forces you to do anything. The difference is that in USA, you have OPTIONS. That little thing called freedom. In USA you can eat yourself to death in a matter of weeks or you can buy (for cheap) some of the healthiest food in the planet. Better yet you can go to an American supermarket that has a broad variety of absolutely everything, like no other country on Earth, and cook yourself whatever you want. No other country in this planet offer such a variety, and at such low prices. Food is NOT healthier in crappy third world countries with lax regulations and corrupt enforcers. As a matter of fact and this may be something these guys ignore, food grown in third world countries is in fact much WORSE. The reason for this is that crappy countries don’t have the tight regulations first world countries like the US has. Example, Argentina is making its money now thanks to soy plantation. Yet here we use pesticides and drugs for animals that are banned in US and most of Europe. France buys soy from Argentina, but its only accepted for animal feeding because of the amount of pesticides it has. That same soy bean is sold here for human consumption because we don’t have such tight regulations.

Vacationing- Are you kidding? You seriously think Americans work more and have less vacation time than Japanese? In every city in the world where there are tourists, you’ll always find that a fair share of them are Americans. One other reason to consider though, that isn’t mentioned in the article linked: There’s SO much to do in USA, its so big, there’s so many different climates, different locations, from mountains, deserts, lakes, forests, beaches, etc. You can do absolutely everything you want there. From surfing to skiing, rafting, mountain climbing, camping, hunting, every single darn thing you can think of USA offers it, in both quality and quantity. Sports? Come on. I spent over a month in Barcelona looking for a Rugby ball for my son, I couldn’t find a single one (Rugby or American Football ball) after  visiting over a dozen sport centers. The reply? “No we don’t play that here”.

Whatever it is you want to do with your spare time, whatever it is you want to do with your life professionally speaking as well, you can do it in USA. No other country offers you that many options. Texas is larger than France and UK put together… no wonder you have so much stuff to do in USA. Its going to take most of your life to visit the different US states anyway, so its understandable that a person that lives in a country smaller than some Texas ranches travel abroad more.

Media- It’s the same everywhere you go my friend. Russia, France or Italy , maybe media corporations there are owned by Jesus Christ and the board of directors is composed of the virgin Mary, St. Peter and St. Paul. In the rest of the world media companies, TV radio and printed, are owned one way or another by conglomerates that have other capital and strong connections with the government. Its terribly naïve to think that such a thing only happens in USA.

A young American is better of leaving USA and go teach English to the Philippines??? Whatever drugs you are doing my friend, they must be very potent… talk with an American pharmaceutical company and sell them the patent for whatever it is you’re smoking. Sounds like good stuff, you’ll make a fortune and live like a millionaire (in Philippines of course)

Freedom and Nanny state- Every country in the world has this problem. They ALL scan your emails, they ALL tap your phones illegally and they ALL meddle in your private business. The difference? While in USA you may get your door busted by SWAT completely uncalled for, in Argentina (and those other wonderful countries recommended) you get your door busted by GEOF or Halcon group, you get thrown in a jail cell, you may get beaten to death and thrown in a river. In USA you have more rights than in crappy 3^rd world countries. When it comes to freedom don’t fool yourself, no other countries guarantees both the right of free speech AND the TOOLS for the population to defend itself from tyranny. No other country has anything like the Second Amendment. Its easy to forget that through out history people have always had to fight tyrants from time to time. Right now in almost every state of US people have the right to carry a firearm concealed. Not a privilege but the right. Meanwhile in UK you don’t even have the right to try to protect your life, even with pepper spray.

Wrapping this up now. You don’t like USA? OK, perfect. Don’t MOVE there, make your money there, enjoy it, and at the same time have the nerve to criticize every single thing about it. For those that are Americans and want to leave, be 100% sure of what you’re doing. Ever asked yourself why Mexicans, Asians, south Americans even Europeans, millions want to move to USA? Millions even live there illegally, spend most of their lives with the fear of being deported. Why, for common sense’s sake, WHY on earth would they all do that if they could easily live in their 3^rd world crapholes or socialist or communist paradises? Guys, move to Cuba, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Singapore or China. I honestly hope you find happiness in such places. But please, don’t trash USA as if it were the worst country in the world. There millions of us that would love to live there and call it home.

Take care guys, have a nice weekend and hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving.

FerFAL

Black Friday Price: “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” for $14.99

Hi Guys, I just saw that the price change is already in effect and you can buy my book, “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” for $14.99. 

I’ll only keep this price for a few days so that people can buy it for the holydays, specially those that mentioned an interest in getting copies as gifts. After that its back to the old price so take advantage while you can! The current edition has been proof read and edited,  most of the old typos have been fixed.

 

The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse 

Gordon From Canada tells me that he received my book there after buying it on Amazon, and there was no extra fee charged.

Take care guys and have a nice weekend.

FerFAL

Cash and precious metals? Their role after a collapse.

A person recently asked in Glcoktalk about the role of cash and precious metals after a collapse. There’s still people that think there’s no place for any of this. Paper money is just poor tinder and you can’t eat gold. This was my reply trying to explain things better.

This isn’t research but my own experience. Note that its not one isolated case alone since everyone else in this country went through the same regarding this subject. My research on other collapsed nations shows a similar pattern though: The country’s economy collapses along with it currency and a parallel black market economy starts operating with stronger currencies. In all of these cases, gold retained its value in relation to the previously mentioned stronger currencies. The book “Blue Helmets, Black Market” has a good example. During the Bosnian war not that long ago, the local currency became junk and you dealt with Deutsche Marks if you had a good economic position. You wanted out of the sieged city of Sarajevo? 10.000  Deutsche Marks (about a years salary at the time before the war started)  bought you the papers needed and you got your family escorted out of the city in a UN APC vehicle. What happens when these stronger economies are the ones that fail? What you are seeing now. The price of gold and silver goes up. Truth is the dollar is going down against gold.

So, country/location: Argentina Time: December 2001-January 2002. Extent: Sociopolitical collapse with anarchy on the street which lasted a few days across the entire country but situations of lawlessness and looting went on for months. President flees in a chopper, five other presidents take its place and then resign in a week. Economic situation: Halts completely. People didn’t even invest in a can of paint to paint a fence (actually so that). Banks closed and ATMs ran dry. We’d default on our debt, the greatest default ever in history. The currency devaluates to 1 dollar = 1.4 pesos,  a couple days later its 1 dollar 2 pesos, the 3 then 4. The official price tried to keep up with the black market price to avoid “cyclic” schemes where they bought dollars at the cheap “official” price and sold it around the corner at “street” prices. Some people made small fortunes this way.

So, what does all this mean? That from a survival point of view you need one, maybe two months worth of expenses in cash in case ATMs run dry and bank holydays are declared. People will operate in cash mostly, and while some will still use plastic, specially DEBIT cards, don’t count on it. Specially small stores, they will prefer cash and till this day 90% of small stores here operate with cash. (Oh, bribes are made in cash of course, but gold and silver are nice too)

But soon enough that paper money starts loosing value as I explained above, and prices go up accordingly. The purchase value of your cash stash melting like snow in the Sahara desert and it depending on how bad it gets, it may go from buying you a car and a trunk full of supplies to buying you a candybar in a matter of weeks. It’s important to stay aware, not have a ton of cash in the first place, but also use it up if you see this happening.

In my case we had dollars stashed not gold but the principle of how you’ll be using it is the same. You sell whatever amount you need for that weeks expenses at the current exchange rate and you pay for whatever you must with the local, devaluated currency. Sometimes dealers are interested in getting the US dollars directly so you may do that if the exchange rate is fair. Its all about knowing the price of your currency or precious metals that day.

During the worst days, the price would change within the hour, so its important to keep up to date. Even today, almost 10 years later, when you turn on the TV you’re mostly waiting for the important day’s news, maybe weather, traffic, and dollar-peso price.

That’s exactly what you’ll be doing with your gold or silver after an economic collapse. Sell what you need to get by, maybe if you have a specific purchase going on the dealer would give you a discount if you deal directly with the precious metal.

It doesn’t matter if laws are made to try to control this, there’s always going to be a black market, and the more ridiculous the laws get, the worst it gets, the black market becomes stronger.

FerFAL

A peek behind the Economic Collapse‏

Ferfal,

I'm proud to say I have been a faithful reader from long before your book
came out, and happily watch your growing success. More power to you, man!

Perhaps you would like to review these two articles and make a comment or
two. The first is from this week:

http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2010/nov/21/ireland-warned-it-will-have-to-stump-up-state-asse/

And the other is from 2002:
http://www.dunwalke.com/gideon/privatization030402.html

These debts don't really need to be repaid at all, whether calculated at
70% interest or even deeply discounted. Since the money loaned is simply
the effluence of a printing press run by the lenders (or even less
valuable, a digital account entry with absolutely nothing behind it), at
best the repayment should be in kind -- that is, something equally
intrinsically worthless and not national infrastructure.

Sadly, I'm afraid the good people of the world will undoubtably suffer a
great deal more before these long ongoing wrongs are righted. The best
(peaceful) solution I've seen offered is the building of local "financial
permacultures" and disengaging our connections to the money powers. I
recommend reading virtually everything Catherine Austin Fitts has to say
(solari.com) to your readers who want to know exactly what (most often)
causes their need to be "survivalists" and ways to address that.

The best to you, my friend.

Regards,
Robert

Hi Robert, thanks for your support.

The IMF is evil, who can say that’s a surprise?

We do know they ruined this country, and others, but politicians here were corrupt and went along with it as well. They deal with drug lords too, why not with the IMF? They lend beyond the country’s possibility, suggest the rules of how you should run things, then they tell you how to run things once they own you. Keep tightening the belt on a country that already has a population suffering the austerity imposed by the IMF.

Can you live without the IMF? Without getting into debt, making deals with the devil? We did for several years, keep doing in spite of the economical and political disaster this country is, but you can do that when you’re practically growing and exporting green gold (soy) in a world that is paying top prices for such a commodity, and even that isn’t enough, they had to steal people’s retirement funds. That’s what happens when socialists run things, and you support yourself politically through handout: Sooner or later you run out of money.

So here we are making deals with the devil again, the IMF with its hands all over Argentina not a decade later, the president an all its minions swallowing their own words they said just months ago about never dealing with the IMF ever again.

The first link, there’s not more to add to it. Its the way it is with the IMF. They are the ones that cause these things, then they own you for the misery they themselves caused. Same old story.

I feel the second link had enough truth about it, with Enron and Argentina, yet look what happened with Chavez… still alive, still running things over there, but he’s a petty dictator that steals for himself, not some people’s hero fighting the IMF like that interview somehow made it look.

Good stuff and I hope people read it.

Not much that can be done about it, just helps understand. No, the IMF isn’t out there to help “developing nations” or any other nation, that joke isn’t even funny.

FerFAL

Leaving the USA‏

Ferfal,

I have read your wonderful survival book and read many months of your truly great survival blog site. They cover so many meaningful subjects—thank you, you are doing a great service educating people on pending events and surviving through them. One topic that I could not find is any coverage regarding expatriating from the States.

There are many concerns of pending major events that are staring us in the face, which I think could/will happen within the next 24 months:

·                         major devaluation of the dollar/hyperinflation

·                         peak oil

·                         more government control of our lives

·                         more taxes including mega-taxation starting in 2011 and especially in 2013

·                         potential bank holiday and/or martial law/police state

·                         world wide depression

·                         currency controls both into and flowing out of the US

·                         world wide food shortages

　

Any of the above can and will cause severe major civilian unrest, riots and increased crime around the world. I could easily see indefinite martial law in the US and a prolonged bank holiday like you had in Argentina.

I feel I’m somewhat prepared for a SHTF scenario. I have enough physical gold to make it worthwhile to ship and store some of it (using ViaMat) in Switzerland. I have guns, ammo, silver--mostly US coinage, electric generator and a year’s supply of freeze dried food for 2 people, some smaller denomination US currency etc. I’m retired military so I have some experience in using firearms and jungle survival, and we have been stationed overseas and still travel to foreign countries.

I receive ample government pensions but that, of course, could stop at any time or become essentially worthless in the future with hyperinflation. Our house is paid for. However, I envision that even with all the preparation as stated above may not be enough to survive.

I would like to leave the US for greener pastures where there is more privacy, less government intrusion, less taxes and no Bama. Mentioning our thoughts of relocating to a foreign country has been met with stiff opposition from contacts and friends that when TSHTF we would be treated as outsiders in a foreign country and be subject to more problems there than remaining in the States. I’ve read in forums people stating it would be safer to stay put in our home country. Moving and living in a foreign country supposedly you’d be treated as a second class group of immigrants (where the natives would turn against gringos who are using up precious food, fuel etc) and have limited means of owning weapons to defend yourself

　

My wife and I are in our early to mid 60’s and in good health. I’m eager to leave the US but my wife has several concerns. The 2 big ones are us not knowing Spanish and our older age. She said if we were in our 40’s she would be more receptive to doing a move.

My primary choice is Panama. My question to you is would moving to Panama be of any advantage to me and my wife prior to the SHTF? What do you suggest we do, sit tight, head for the hills or move overseas? Also constructive criticism of what we have done, have not done, acquired or not acquired will be most welcome.

Thanks,

Roy

Hi Roy,

First allow me to apologize for not replying sooner, it keeps getting harder to reply to everyone but I do my best.

Its understandable that given the current economic situation world wide, people want to leave their country looking for greener pastures as you said.

I’ve talked a bit before about relocating, try using the search function here and look up “Uruguay”. Its probably the only Latin American country that doesn’t feel 3^rd worldly. Chile is solid but you have a serious problem with earthquakes. Brazil has some nice parts but the social difference between rich and poor is terrible there and that’s a can of worms you don’t want to open. Then you have Uruguay. Uruguay is cheap to live in because of the currency exchange rate but there’s a feeling about the people there of dignity and education, you don’t get that in the rest of Latin America. The current president of Uruguay wasn’t much of my liking but I recently heard him talk about not artificially protecting the country’s industry like Argentina did, letting the free market find its own way and wanting to turn Uruguay into a country that exports technology and knowledge to the neighboring countries. Uruguay is the only country in south America where every single kid in school was issued a laptop. I’d prefer it to Panama. Look up the article if you‘re interested, check the "reolcating" topic on the Topic Archive, lower left column.

Back to leaving USA, I see why a lot of people are considering it right now. Things aren’t looking good and they won’t BE good for a long time. The crisis will go on, maybe get worse, but is it going to be better in other places? What are you giving up for that cheap exchange rate? In most countries (Uruguay being one of the few exceptions in the world) you’re giving up security, and you’re getting yourself involved in a society Americans know very little about: Societies were there’s extreme poverty and a small, powerful elite.

Places like Panama, they are corrupt beyond what Americans are used to. Everyone is used to corrupt politicians, but not everyone is used to bribing cops and official authorities as an everyday fact of live.

And its not just about security. I simply do not like walking around the streets of a city and having people begging on the floor every 3 yards. Some people dig that, I don’t. I’ve read Doug Casey mentioning how people would work almost for food here in Argentina as if that were a bonus to a location. I suppose people have different opinions of what quality of life means.

I did a bit of research on Panama and it sounds good in many ways: cheap exchange rate, good gun laws, you can carry and own a broad variety of firearms. Small with excellent tropical climate… yet its still a 3^rd world country and those of us that have lived in one for some time know what it means. Rest assured that for every American wanting to leave USA, there’s 100 that want to move in, often people that come from those same countries Americans consider relocating too.

Finally, its simply not home for you, and it will never be. Do you really want to live in a place you just don’t fit? Some lefty tree-hugging liberal may love living in Colombia, the province of Chaco here in Argentina or some other rat hole, but a conservative American wont. Your friends are right, you’ll always be a second class citizen. They’ll smile at you, most people will be nice, mostly those you do business with (no surprise there) but you’ll always be the rich gringo (even if you’re not rich ) that thinks he owns the world. If there’s ever a problem and they have to back someone up, you’ll always be in second place. Finally, you already have friends in USA, you wont be making good ones in Latin America any time soon. Not knowing Spanish will just make all of this worse, huge dissadvantage. Think about that before making a decision.

In America you can wake up every morning not worrying about a noise you’re not used to being someone trying to break into your house. You can walk or drive to the closest dinner without watching over your back every 10 seconds. You have the right to carry a firearm for self defense and if you ever use your gun in such a way, some filthy judge wont be asking you for some exorbitant bribe or even worse, throwing you in jail.

You have stores of every type, whatever hobby you have, you’ll find everything you need. That simply doesn’t happen in other countries. You like books? Even a small US city has huge book stores like nothing you’ll ever find in Latin America. You want to drive a car you like? You wont have to pay 5 times the price you pay for it in USA like you do in most 3^rd world countries. Big brother is all over the world and in most other countries you don’t even have the right to privacy you have in USA. It just doesn’t compute in people’s head that a government sticking its nose into your business isn’t right.  Big brother is accepted  in the 3^rd world with opened arms, it always has. Don’t think you’re getting free of that by moving elsewhere.

I understand downsizing, maybe moving to a cheaper state, but leaving USA? Not really, not unless some mayor event forces you out of it and what’s happening now occurs all over the world to a  greater or lesser degree. All in all, USA is a good place to be in during this storm.

You have taxes in other countries as well, and even worse, in 3^rd world countries you have corruption that will bite you when you least expect it. Give me taxes over corruption any day, specially when those taxes aren’t being entirely stolen and going to the president’s pocket like it occur in 3^rd world countries.

In spite of everything wrong with it, America is still a bastion of freedom. Anyone doubting that just hasn’t spent enough time in other places and sure hasn’t suffered 3^rd world countries.

I agree with your wife, I think you should stay in USA. Maybe make a few changes but stay in America unless you’re 100% sure of what you want to do.

If you want my advice, this is it: Stay in America, you’re already in the best country in the world, don’t give that up. You already have contacts, gear and friends in your location. You know the country and how it works. If you’re not happy with your current location, try moving somewhere else, preferably close to friends. Those are priceless. Weather you stay or move, get involved in your community, see how you can help out, try looking at it from a different angle. This helps a lot. It sure has helped me. Just as an example, I’m trying to find a place so that an acquaintance of mine can give self defense lessons. I’ve been asking around my neighborhood, local gyms and such.  I’m helping him out by finding him a place for the classes and maybe a few more students, and I’m benefiting from it too by having a good place to train near by. He’s also a police officer and I know he would gladly help if I ever need it. I also offered to review the security of my kids school. Don’t underestimate the power of getting involved and talking to people. Your community is one of your most important assets, even if when the chips are down 9 out of 10 people wont be there, there’s still that one guy you can count on.

Hope that helped some.

Take care,

FerFAL