Comments on: Has America Lost Its Way?

By: paul harding

paul harding — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:29:32 +0000

the point is the currency disparity between nations wont last for ever a few years at most it will not be possible to rely on a over priced currency in the west to allow you to live like a king in a tropical paradise to the end of your days it will not matter in the future where you have your teeth done or where you want want to live if you are working class you will not be any better off your labour per hour will not give you any advantage over the indigenous population there will always be 99\% working to keep the 1% in luxury in any country that’s the way broadly it works any where you go in the world or what ever the politics of the land communist democratic all the flavours in between the maths will will not change the more pleasant it is to live there the more expensive it becomes unless you are very successful or highly skilled in your country or society the 1% a job for most will always mean just over broke i

By: Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:23:19 +0000

Sign me up as another American that would never live in the US again.

Been in Thailand for 10 years. Couldn’t pay me to live anywhere else. Amazing people, incredible food, fascinating culture, cheap and world-class healthcare, fabulous public transportation and a lifestyle I could only dream about in the US.

Americans have no clue about the rest of the world as most of them never leave. America will also continue to sink as its citizens continue to believe its the ‘best country in the world’ when clearly, it’s not.

By: larry

larry — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 06:11:27 +0000

answer to brendan. . . . yes! and one could exploit the people of other pooer countries for even less. it is not surprising that many with the attitude of superiority might expect all but them to live in fiberboard boxes under bridges. if one would like a real picture of what that america would look like, just visit the shanty towns south of our border. i believe if actually interested, one could find that the reason for the high prices in america is not due to the wages of its labor, but the fruits of run away capatilism and greed. (although somewhat overly simplistic) without temperance, exploitation whether of the land, national resources, or labor, will run rampant until all has vanished. just maybe one would be wise to be aware of a possible pending head-on wreck between economies, energy, and climate. (world wide, that is)

By: Brendan Keeley

Brendan Keeley — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:08:51 +0000

I must say I think it’s hypocritical that a person would earn a good sum of money in America and then take that money elsewhere because they can pay peanuts to foreigners. That doesn’t show much respect for those other cultures. The same applies to outsourcing. We should encourage these people to want more for themselves, instead of licking the knees of fat cat ex-pats.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:13:02 +0000

I think a little balance is in order. Yes I believe in International travel and the expatriot lifestyle. However you can enjoy incredible romantic travel and live in the United States on $20 a day, safely and forever. It is call Vanabode. Google it if you are unfamiliar with this.

By: alex sagen

alex sagen — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:34:47 +0000

all you are worried about is money?? poor YOU! I am a teacher here and I save 3000 dollars per month adn live with a maid and my family….

By: alex sagen

alex sagen — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:30:37 +0000

America has been the biggest abuser of human rights my friend, have you forgotten slavery, Guantanamo bay? Abu graib? torture in recent secret prisons? America always thinks they are squeaky clean, but they have NO right what soever about giving lessons about human rights!
I live in China and will never go back to the USA and it isnt for moey, it is for a nice peaceful lifestyle…..
I am not afraid to tell the truth about america, you are. too bad

By: Q

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:33:59 +0000

The myth of the 50s:

http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/sep_oct08/features1

“The idea of the Fifties that America still holds — the happy, “greasy” Fifties — was an “invented History.” Up until 1969, quite an opposite cultural memory held sway. When Americans remembered “the Fifties,” they thought of Joe McCarthy witch hunts, of an “age of anxiety,” of the “shook-up generation” diving under their desks during A-Bomb drills, of the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit selling out and Holden Caulfield cracking up, or Allen Ginsberg ’48 and Jack Kerouac ’44 too “beat” to fight back. Nothing to get nostalgic about there.”

By: Michael Passe

Michael Passe — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:43:12 +0000

I have thought a lot about the advice here, some of which was “go where the money went – China.” I realize this was meant as solid, practical advice, and many people will no doubt heed that call and find a better life in China. But there’s a dark side to chasing the money in China, or Indonesia, or any other pseudo-democracy where corporations can operate on the cheap without having to worry about annoying things like human rights or environmental regulations. Yes, there may be incredible opportunity in China (as long as one does not run afoul of the ruthless and corrupt authorities). But is the answer really to migrate to one of the world’s most notorious abusers of human rights? For many people, the answer will be yes. There are many many places if you’re willing to sell your soul. Maybe everyone is just drooling over the “opportunities” in China because they see it as the new United States, the new land of opportunity. But I suspect the Butchers of Beijing did not embrace American-style cut-throat capitalism because the massacre at Tienanmen Square made them re-examine their priorities. Rather, they embraced if out of greed, and out of realizing the U.S. and other industrial giants would look the other way at their appalling record of abuse in order to have a trading partner with 8 gazillion gullible consumers to sell to.

Maybe I’d feel differently if I was some US firm wanting to re-locate. When money is all that matters, why not consider cities in China, or Sao Paulo, or Jakarta, where there are no environmental regulations, people work for a few dollars a day (but can’t afford what they are manufacturing), etc. True, that’s just not an issue with many people, perhaps most people, as long as they can afford a better gig than they can by waiting for the dying U.S. economy to turn things around. But the single-minded pursuit of the Almighty Dollar is exactly why we are sinking, since a social system based on greed and competition is as sure to fail as one based on greed and government repression.

Here in corporate America, working human beings are nothing more than debits or liabilities on a ledger. True, I want to stop struggling for every dollar like I do here, but not at all costs. I’m not stupid, I know that life is better when you have money than when you don’t. Still, if money were ALL that mattered I’d be packing for China or Jakarta right now. To paraphrase a line from “Citizen Kane,” it’s not difficult to make a million dollars, if the only thing you want is to make a million dollars. But I’d like a little more. I want to remember what it feels like to be proud of the country I call home. It’s been a long, long time since I felt that way.

By: Michael Passe

Michael Passe — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:06:14 +0000

Thanks all, I’ll look into that. I’ve thought about ESL work in Seoul too.

By: KK weigman

KK weigman — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:46:05 +0000

I am a 49 year old gringo with 25 years experience inthe constuction industry . I have done most everything and have mostly been a supervisor or project manager in the last years . I Came to Nicaragua 5 years ago and just shut down my company to take a lucritive offer from a US construction company doing contract work in Honduras . Bad timing , and with the political climate the company canceled my contract and now I am looking to relocate . Nicaragua has it´s problems but I have always (almost) felt safe and more free than in the land of the . free . Anyone with any contacts in Latin America please contact me .

By: Marie

Marie — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:04:23 +0000

I have to agree with the author regarding what is happening in the U.S. After 50+ years in the U.S. and always working in the corporate world, I went freelance (tech writing/photography) and am barely making ends meet.
I have a yearning for the sun and have long thought of selling and moving to Argentina, Uruguay, or Brazil
and continuing to work over the Net. It wouldn’t be that hard and the dollar would go a lot farther, and the fresh food and better health one could look forward to seems a given. Spanish and Portuguese seem to get picked up easily and S. American people have a generally warm and friendly reputation. But there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to buying real estate and there is the well-known “Gringo tax”.

I would love to hear comments from ex-pats who have made this move, especially to these areas. I understand legislation regarding preventing the taking of USD out of the country (SS, pensions, etc.) is being worked on – we may have a deadline to get this done. Anyone know more?

Best to all,
Marie

By: Ana

Ana — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:49:33 +0000

I’m current teaching English in Japan but my contract ends in December. I have a 5-figure credit card debt so I need several hundred dollars per month, at minimum, to continue servicing that. I know there are still lots of jobs in China, and I have only 8 weeks to get one. I have very little money saved and must find something soon.

Most of the teaching jobs in China still pay very little. Any ideas on how to get more money so saving is possible? Is my age (55) a problem there? It is in Japan and S. Korea. Where are the best websites to start applying? Where do the best jobs tend to be? I’m also an editor.

Thanks,
Ana

By: Michael Manville

Michael Manville — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:43:52 +0000

Hi Michael, we share your interests about finding work abroad. There are a couple of recent posts on RetireWorldwide.com about this very topic. In particular there is one post entitled “Earning Income Abroad” that may interest you. The world is truly opening up for professionals with skills and the guts to leave home. Stay tuned via our free e-letter for more info about working abroad.

By: Rusty C

Rusty C — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:22:36 +0000

Oddly, I agree with many of the author’s conclusions, but not how he got there. Taxes today are a lot LOWER than they were in America’s economic glory days of the 50s and 60s. When Ike was president the top rate was 91%, while it was 71% at the time of the moon landing. The recent housing bubble and meltdown on Wall Street was a result of too little regulation and rampant greed in the private sector. Maybe the government failed to regulate (thanks in part to bank lobbyists), but the trigger men, if you will, were all private-sector, just like in the 1920s. It was a colossal failure of the market system. I’m not saying we ditch the market system, but we need to regulate it again just like we did after the first depression. Reforms in FDR’s era prevented another bubble-collapse for 50 years or so before the 1980s S&L crisis (enabled by deregulation). We didn’t learn and got an even worse hit later.

Above all, though, we need to pay more attention to QUALITY OF LIFE in the U.S. The real thing many expats are fleeing is this overemphasis on income and the notion that quality of life just takes care of itself. In other countries we learn that you can live much more efficiently and less wastefully (especially if you can do without a car!), spend a lot less, make limited funds stretch further, and REGAIN CONTROL OF YOUR TIME. Maybe things like helicopter tours on rushed vacations are no longer in the budget, but an afternoon reading a good book on a 20-baht beach chair substitutes well. In the U.S. we have (and always have had) a culture that plows all productivity gains into more income rather than more free time. I suspect many here have discovered that they’d rather have the free time, and that “enough” on funds is less than what they had been led to believe.