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I lived in Haiti for three months before the earthquake. It should do so well as to aspire to Third World status.
I think it would be useful for Americans to consider how most of the world lives. Now "children are starving in Pakistan to be grateful you have shoes," (although that wouldn't be the worst thing) but just to realize that we live extremely well here, some more well than others, and that it isn't a free pass given by birth. Well, maybe it is somewhat, but that can change, and there's no reason to be bitter about it
And some of that largesse we've all enjoyed comes on the backs of the rest of the world. No, I'm no screaming liberal, but I can recognize disproportionate wealth and resource consumption when I see it.
I do hear this kind of thing a lot from younger co-workers. They are bitter and depressed that life isn't working out the way they expected. Some of them even made a lot of effort and didn't get what they wanted.
Welcome to life.
Canada is not so inexpensive , but does have very high standards of living and is close by. The problem is they are not much into retired folks these days as in the past, unless you have lots of cash to invest.
For young people I would consider it as a place to move too, if you are thinking of leaving the US. There are jobs and the Country is very stable, low crime, lots of opportunity, and a bright future with all their natural resources. The Banking system is the best in the world, more Canadians own homes then in the US and the life span is longer. All in all a place to consider if you are planing for the future, being young, and can prepare for down the road retirement.
Places to retire...good question if the person is thinking in terms of the next couple of yrs at the most.
Back in 1955 I bought a new track house for $10,250. In 1975 sold it for $28,000. Recently on the same block (three houses over) was listed for $375,000...not much of an increase considering the area.
In 1996 I retired to Baja Mexico...bought a lot and built my 1450 sq ft home.
At todays prices the cost would be 2-1/2 times my origunal costs.
At the same time of my original purchase I also bought the next door lot for $5K...later sold it for $15K and it resold later for $25K. So you see prices and costs will go up 5-10-30 yrs from now. There is NO way to predict what things will be in the future.
25 yrs ago Cabo was a small town at the tip. I had thought of buying the vacant lot next to Pemex gas station for a boat storage lot. You should see the spot now. The whole place is all built up. I missed the boat on that place...especially since I had a Mexican wife and the deal would have been a money maker in the long run.
For the OP...think a little but do not get your hopes too high as things will change drastically.
Last edited by Steve Bagu; 09-14-2010 at 05:39 PM..
Reason: add info
Just offhand- is Canada or any other country actively looking for dissatisfied Americans to move in? I thought there were all kinds of the usual things- visas, permits, etc. People sort of dismissively say, "I'll just move to ___," and I thought it was hardly that easy.
Just offhand- is Canada or any other country actively looking for dissatisfied Americans to move in? I thought there were all kinds of the usual things- visas, permits, etc. People sort of dismissively say, "I'll just move to ___," and I thought it was hardly that easy.
That is a very good point. We tend assume that all countries want our old, sick and retired. They may want our money. They certainly do not want our poor.
I am now consider a citizen of Canada, by a new law, that gives me citizenship through my mother. I do not have to apply to be a citizen as I am one, all I have to do is fill out the form to get recognized. I have no desire to do it as I know Canada is not as good in all aspects, as many people believe. Anyways it is too cold/damp and I have no intentions of taking up residency. I like this country too much and I am living happily where I am.
I also have some rights to be an Italian Citizen, through my grandparents.
Many Countries have the "right of return". If you are Jewish, under their law, you can go to Israel. Perhaps, I should have married that Jewish American Princess that I met in College. I could have lived on a Kibutz---naaa, she was such a Long Island Bitc....
Ireland has given citizen rights to decedents, born in other countries. There are many such laws and you can become a citizen of Greece, Finland, Russia etc. Just do a little research about your ancestry, and you now have your retirement destination. Do not just move, become a citizen. Have I given you all some good ideas???
I know people here have said that I'm very pessimistic. I don't see myself as a pessimist or an optimist, but rather a realist. I'm going to post an article I found that explains what's taking place here in the US. We can't live in denial much longer about the downfall of this once great nation...
Everybody has their idea on where the economy is headed. And there are many economic indicators that claim to predict America’s economic future. Some work better than others. The Samson Indicator beats them all.
Consider America’s economic pillars—the columns supporting America’s economy.
Pillar 1: Housing Market
In August, America’s unsold housing inventory increased for the eighth straight month. At the current rate of sales, it would take 12.5 months to sell the houses already on the market. In the past, housing inventory averaged between six and seven months’ supply. During the boom years, there was sometimes less than a four-month supply.
The volume of house sales is simply crashing. In July, sales were down 27 percent from the previous month, the National Association of Realtors reported. Compared to last year, sales are down 25 percent—no small feat considering last year’s dismal numbers.
Why is the housing industry so important to the economy? During the euphoric years, the housing market and related industries, including investment bankers, mortgage brokers, realtors and appraisers, created up to 40 percent of all jobs. Now those jobs are gone, and some say for good.
Manias and Ponzi schemes—like America’s housing bubble—burn many people when they burst. And when they do, they drastically alter national psychology. Smaller is now better. Property taxes do matter. Lower rent is preferred. No upkeep is vogue. Increased mobility is valued. In short: Renting is in and buying is out.
The “get rich from housing” mantra is replaced by the “I will never buy a house again” creed.
Keeping their job is now the priority for most people. But jobs are not so easy to find anymore.
Pillar 2: Industry
After World War ii, America became an industrial superpower. “American made” was shipped around the world. Americans exported products, and in return, imported gold as payment.
The world needed what America produced, and America became rich. Employers couldn’t find enough workers, and thus the prosperity trickled down.
But wealth led to complacency and consumerism.
American culture no longer values production. America has allowed its manufacturers to go out of business or relocate overseas to low-wage, low-union locales. Recently General Electric announced that due to new government regulations requiring energy conservation, it would close its last incandescent light bulb factory in the U.S. Two hundred employees will lose their jobs when this last plant closes. Instead, the government has decided that consumers should purchase fluorescent light bulbs.
Unfortunately, florescent light bulbs are only produced overseas—so Americans will be forced to send money overseas to import them (so much for the promise of all those green jobs).
Yes, America manufactures a lot less of the things people want or need these days.
Take a look at Boeing—perhaps one of America’s most strategic companies. Where does Boeing produce its new Dreamliner aircraft?
The wings are produced by Mitsubishi in Japan. The horizontal stabilizers are made by Aeronautica Italy. The wingtips are contracted out to Korea and the wing flaps to Australia. The fuselage is fabricated in Japan, Italy and the United States, while the under-fuselage is made in Canada. The passenger doors are made in France, while the cargo and crew escape doors are stamped “made in Sweden.” The floor beams are manufactured in India. The wiring and landing gear are also made in France, while the engines are produced both in Britain and America.
Is Boeing really even an American company?
There was a time when the whole aircraft—from drawing board to factory floor—was made in America, providing jobs to tens of thousands of Americans, and hundreds of thousands more within the supply chain.
Those days are gone. In July, America lost 47,000 more manufacturing jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Even many of the minerals used to build the planes are imported. Although carbon fiber is produced in the United States, all the aluminum and about 70 percent of the titanium has to be imported because America’s mining industry has been allowed to atrophy. There is a whole host of other strategic minerals that America no longer mines too.
Ever wonder why China gets 10 percent growth and America gets 10 percent unemployment, as historian Niall Fergusson commonly notes?
Because we are a nation of consumers, while China is a nation of producers!
Actually, the economic divide is far worse than what Fergusson says. In August, China reported that its industrial production grew 13.9 percent, and that retail sales grew 18.4 percent—while back in America, the real unemployment rate is closer to 20 percent, according to John Williams at Shadowstats.
Pillar 3: Middle Class
But not all people are suffering.
The top 5 percent of income earners account for 37 percent of all consumer spending in America. Ten years ago, the top 5 percent accounted for 25 percent of spending. The top 1 percent of households own about 35 percent of the nation’s wealth. The top 20 percent own approximately 85 percent, according to sociology professor G. William Domhoff at the University of California–Santa Cruz. And the percentages have increased since 2007.
The gap between the rich and poor is growing. The middle class is getting crushed.
Forty million Americans, or one in eight people, are now on food stamps. An astounding 10 million workers are receiving unemployment benefits. So it is no surprise that recent studies show that a shocking 15 percent of Americans now live beneath the poverty line.
A large middle class is something that has set America apart from much of the rest of the world.
The middle class is said to be much of the power behind America’s dynamism and innovative spirit. These are people who build and create and are responsible for starting thousands of small businesses each year. They are the brains within the mega corporations. Think of all the products and inventions over the years that were the product of middle-class Americans. Think Bill Gates and Henry Ford. These men are products of middle-class America.
If you are reading this, you are probably a product of middle-class America. But look around you: The middle class is being destroyed. Your friends and colleagues, if they are like most Americans, are saturated with debt. Students are graduating universities with useless degrees and tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Americans act like they are wealthy, living beyond their means, but it is really all a sham—an expensive, unsustainable, debt-powered sham, but a sham nonetheless. And it is coming to a crashing end.
Cracked and Buckling
America’s economic pillars are snapping like small twigs. No matter where you look—our massive debt, state debt, local debt, personal debt, our dependence on foreign lending, our addiction to oil, the Federal Reserve printing money to fund the Treasury, our sick currency, the economic quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan—the stress lines are showing.
It doesn’t take a genius to see which way the economy is headed.
The Samson Indicator is this: When the pillars break, the roof collapses. As it is, what is left of America’s support columns is barely holding up. It is almost as if some invisible force is just barely keeping the building together.
America could quickly be thrust back into the Great Depression or worse. It wouldn’t take much more of a push for it all to come crashing down: a failed bond auction or two, a surprise banking failure, a new war. It could be any number of things, because America’s whole economic house is shaky.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Head to a foreign country, sooner than later. It is certainly good for an attitude adjustment if not a fresh start.
As mentioned by several... there is always a very dynamic series of changes in our society and tomorrow is no different (it is unknown). Count on it there will be change, and it may not be for the good. Hopefully there will be some good surprises for us all, but nothing is guaranteed. Be wise, be flexible, keep reading, don't take anyone as a 'know-it-all'. Because... no one really knows... as mentioned... be wise, be flexible
Pillar 3: Middle Class
But not all people are suffering.
The top 5 percent of income earners account for 37 percent of all consumer spending in America. Ten years ago, the top 5 percent accounted for 25 percent of spending. The top 1 percent of households own about 35 percent of the nation’s wealth. The top 20 percent own approximately 85 percent, according to sociology professor G. William Domhoff at the University of California–Santa Cruz. And the percentages have increased since 2007.
The gap between the rich and poor is growing. The middle class is getting crushed.
Forty million Americans, or one in eight people, are now on food stamps. An astounding 10 million workers are receiving unemployment benefits. So it is no surprise that recent studies show that a shocking 15 percent of Americans now live beneath the poverty line.
A large middle class is something that has set America apart from much of the rest of the world.
The middle class is said to be much of the power behind America’s dynamism and innovative spirit. These are people who build and create and are responsible for starting thousands of small businesses each year. They are the brains within the mega corporations. Think of all the products and inventions over the years that were the product of middle-class Americans. Think Bill Gates and Henry Ford. These men are products of middle-class America.
If you are reading this, you are probably a product of middle-class America. But look around you: The middle class is being destroyed. Your friends and colleagues, if they are like most Americans, are saturated with debt. Students are graduating universities with useless degrees and tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Americans act like they are wealthy, living beyond their means, but it is really all a sham—an expensive, unsustainable, debt-powered sham, but a sham nonetheless. And it is coming to a crashing end.
Cracked and Buckling
America’s economic pillars are snapping like small twigs. No matter where you look—our massive debt, state debt, local debt, personal debt, our dependence on foreign lending, our addiction to oil, the Federal Reserve printing money to fund the Treasury, our sick currency, the economic quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan—the stress lines are showing.
It doesn’t take a genius to see which way the economy is headed.
The Samson Indicator is this: When the pillars break, the roof collapses. As it is, what is left of America’s support columns is barely holding up. It is almost as if some invisible force is just barely keeping the building together.
America could quickly be thrust back into the Great Depression or worse. It wouldn’t take much more of a push for it all to come crashing down: a failed bond auction or two, a surprise banking failure, a new war. It could be any number of things, because America’s whole economic house is shaky.
I've argued on other threads that the middle class is being wiped out in the US, and cited articles, but got shot down by those who are doing well and want to believe everything's cool. Even with this knowledge of what's happening, there's really nothing to be done about it. We are helpless to know what to do.
Now, at your age and viewpoint, what do your deepest instincts tell you to do? Do you have like minded people around you?
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