I wish I had the time and ability to fully expound on the total lack of “economic freedom” in vast regions of the U.S. because I don’t think those on the outside realize how much of the “economic prosperity” touted over the last 100 years was complete fiction.
For those living in the states it’s a massive landmass of “economic deadzones” with “little islands of economic activity” scattershot across it. Your proximity to those “little islands of economic activity” determines the course of your life far more than any skill, decision, or beliefs that you have. (Every single member of my family tree going back several generations made the primary goal to “move near” one of these “little islands of economic activity”, every single one without exception did this and everything they might tell you about “their good decisions, beliefs, skills etc…” came well after that initial decision to “move near”.)
And… even if you do manage to secure a foothold near one of those “little islands of economic activity” you know a.) it’s a temporary get in, earn quick, and get out arrangement, b.) you will be relocating back to an economic deadzone (but hopefully with enough resources to make it bearable), and c.) there is zero community development in this arrangement so expect coordination for any “projects of betterment” to be extremely slow.
This why Americans are always trading away “political freedom” for “economic freedom”, most can’t obtain the bare minimum level of resources because of where they are on this landmass so they simply don’t care what the political power arrangements are.
We’re witnessing the logical end result of decades of neoliberalism. The synthesis of the neoliberal policies, blended with the xenophobic rhetoric that has accompanied it, has produced a new economic paradigm I’m going to begin calling “Neo(Nazi)Liberalism.
I don’t think the economic phenomenon you are referring to is peculiarly American, though maybe the American brand is on the neoliberal capitalist version.
Matt Stoller has been doing yeoman labor in bringing attention to how monopoly consolidation by globalist rentiers drives the economic opportunity drought that spreads like an encroaching desert across the landscape. His substack is worth following for the economic details.
The politics are problematic for a bunch of foundational reasons. Neoliberalism really consolidated its hegemony when the Democratic Party abandoned the working classes to embrace Clintonian third-way corruption and gradually became the Party of the PMC, whose class consciousness was formed in heat of the neoliberal forge. The PMC are the people, who had operational responsibility for exporting jobs to China and Mexico, driving Private Equity bulldozers through company after company, industry after industry. PMC Democrats are the people MAGA hates above all else and the feeling is mutual. So even though the core of Republican MAGA (which is NOT working class so much as it is the aspiring small entrepreneur class, and so knows something of what is going on and why they are themselves in various degrees severe economic pain) might be somewhat open to an antitrust policy (see Josh Hawley, J.D. Vance), they remain the junior partners in a plutocrat’s Republican Party and largely isolated from any kind of alliance with antitrust Democrats. Antitrust Democrats may be even more of a powerless minority in their own Party than MAGA is in the Republican Party when it comes to policy let alone coalitional bargains.
The disdain of the PMC for the working class and for the vulgarity of “some college” small entrepreneur and manager class is a force to be reckoned with. These people have opinions where their empathy bone should be and very little sense of responsibility for “the system” of bureaucratic non-performance that they have built and managed for the last 30 or 40 years.
Leaving aside the politics of red v blue shouting and insult, rank ignorance of economics plus the stupid that goes with it plays its own part. Neoliberalism is based on a fairy tale of “free markets” assembled by dreamweavers to make any earnest discussion economic policy very difficult to conjure. What is a Pharmacy Benefits Manager and why is it legal? To whom is the massive ballooning Federal deficit going? The political discourse on such subjects cannot off the ground because the common understanding of economics will not support i.
So NBC News, along with others, is reporting that the Russians have retaken city of Kursk (mostly done 3 days ago, now complete) & various sources report that remaining Ukraine troops are surrounded. Putin said 2 days ago they could “Surrender or die”, Trump soon put out a Truth Social post requesting Mercy, Putin feigned cooperation. The desperate initial attempt to take control of the Kursk Nuclear Plant and threaten a melt-down failed abysmally. In truth it was a Comedian Cocaine dream, obviously.
Lavrov had discussed, in a 2 hour meeting with Judge Nap and Larry Johnson in Moscow recently, that they remain serious about DeNazification, that Azov & Right Sektor Neo-N’s will face war crimes tribunals and possible execution under international law per the example of Nuremberg. Also foreign mercenaries will NOT be considered to be covered by the Geneva Conventions. Trump then appealed to P for “mercy” on Truth Social, P feigned he may play along. (We will see. They have been burned enough, especially when Erdogan returned 4 open Nazis, surrendered to be held in Turkey to Ukraine, to tease the Bear.)
Zelensky is playing Baghdad Bob to the hilt, there is no problem in Kursk, nor will the Russians move into Sumy, which is on the road to “Keev”!! “Putin is lying” repeatedly manically over and over until it becomes true . . . Just like Ukraine Will Win!!
Starmer, Imperial Glory Days addict that he is, is announcing plans to hold Ukraine forever, while flushing the environment and social services in his crappy, isolated little country down the loo (with a Budgie). Will the Brits take it? Probably, but everyone does have a limit.
I bet rarely and I don’t even know how to do over/under. At the moment, I’d guess this might take anywhere from 5 months (at best) to 18 to fully play out and wind down. 1 of the Euro-Elite Clown Brigade, most likely Kaja Kallas, recently said that Ukraine will “need to fight on until 2029”!! But perhaps Zelensky had just shared some of his stash with her before that assertion.
Economic freedom is social freedom.
“Wherever you go there you are.”
So I’d like to make a few personal observations about the expatriate life. Although this comment section is a limited forum, I’ll attempt to hit on a few pith points.
Priorities, resources, intentions and motivations, or PRIM are starting points.
One needs to consider what sustains the quality of life. For me that means community, clean water air food, open space and access to nature, and of course some material security, including access to affordable and professional health care.
I found some of those things in rural Spain, Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Germany. Enough to meet my needs, anyway. I have the great good fortune to have all those things now, although there’s some recent material precarity with all benefits on the chopping block under the current administration, not that the previous dating back to Clinton haven’t tried. Also, this late stage neoliberal rentier bullshit is universal btw, although there are pockets here and there. Good luck finding them and fitting in as an outsider.
And that’s what you’ll always be as an expat—an outsider. I got adopted by a farm village in southern Spain when I was broke and stuck, and experienced similar good fortune when I was down on my luck in rural Costa Rica, but I was always conscious of being a foreigner. Language skills helped of course as well as going native so to speak.
I knew many expats who were insulated from the everyday rough and tumble, because money. You can live in a gated community wherever you are, but if you have the money and that mentality why not stay put unless you’re looking for a change of scenery and climate?
Anyway, yes, I met international jet setters (is that even a term anymore?), sexpats, spooks, mercenaries, druggies, alkies, lots and lots of sociopaths as well as embittered retirees along with the overall mentally confused trying to run their agendas and find their ways in foreign terrain. (I should write a book.)
Ok. So everyone has their motivations for wanting to move to a foreign country. (I’m talking about North Americans who are plotting their escape.) Take a good hard look at where you’re going to, and do your research. Take an honest assessment of your situation, what you’re giving up and what you hope to gain. If you’re older, ask yourself where you want to make your last stand. You want to die alone in some crappy cabina in Mexico or even in an upscale townhouse surrounded by other expats of dubious character? I know plenty who’ve made that choice, and there are legions more I don’t know.
Age is a major factor. Some years ago after returning from Costa Rica I looked at teaching English in China. I had some connections and resources, but after much communication, I said no way. If you’re all right with walking out the door and immediately being surrounded by 10,000 people, go for it, if you’re under 60 that is, because nobody will hire you if you’re older.
Anyway, if you possess the skills, the money, the resilience and stamina to go somewhere and start all over, buena suerte man, go for it.
Just make sure you’re going for something rather than trying to escape something. And best to have an exit strategy and something to fall back on if things go down the crapper. I never did. I always lived by my wits and trusted my luck that I’d land on my feet. And I always did, after sweating bullets and cursing my ignorance. I’ve been stuck and down and out in all my foreign adventures.
There’s so much more to say, but basta ya! I doubt anyone has read this far, but to the one or two who might have, thanks! I hope there’s something here of use.
Eric Anderson
-Concur, and the Dave Troy blog is interesting.
bruce wilder
-The proliferation of “economic dead zones” (maybe… I should have called them “economic sacrifice zones” like Chris Hedges does) is probably not a uniquely American phenomenon but since I am not much of a world traveler I can’t speak to how it manifest elsewhere. That said, I am envious of the openness to which other nations speak to it (its taboo in the states) and their more extensive language for it.
mago
-“Economic freedom is social freedom.” yes…. yes it is and that I have to pretend there is any separation and daylight between them when speaking with my fellow Americans is exhausting. So I am glad to have some outlet where the conversation can just go past that bit of make believe. Thank you for the insights from abroad, as I said I am not much of a world traveler.
Glad my comments reached home.
One thing that escaped mention around going expat is how much the world has changed and degenerated.
I maintain contact with former students in Costa Rica, for example and one young street savvy friend tells me you don’t know how much it’s changed. More tourists, more buildings, more traffic, more drugs, violence everywhere. No más pura vida mae.
I looked up my rural Spanish neighborhood and now a highway runs through what was once a rutted dirt road that turned to mud in the rainy season. And the almond and olive orchards that filled the countryside have been supplanted with villas and tourist compounds with swimming pools where I once worked the fields for $28 a day.
Yeah, well, what to say? Welcome to a new day. . .
Thanks for sharing mago. Good info and ‘advice,’ most particularly the simple truisms. Sounds like an interesting life on the whole. Spies, spooks, mercenaries and the like!
I’m reminded of Zevon’s ‘Lawyers, Guns and Money.’ He ran with those guys as well.
Werewolves of London. Sociopaths.
I hope everyone is well.
This is what the Zionist-controlled Trump administration US government just did in Yemen.
This is horrific. Please don’t watch if you can’t stomach such realities.
Musk is largely a creation of the Zionist owned and occupied US government. Continuing,
“…desire nothing less than a total reconfiguration of American power.”
They alone?
“But Schumer and his political detractors have both missed an opportunity to educate the public about the bigger picture, and the true context of the attack we are undergoing — from outside and from within.
This isn’t about greed, government contracts, or even tax cuts for the wealthy. This is about taking down the United States government and reordering the world.
Perhaps Schumer and his peers believe the American public at large isn’t ready for that conversation. Or perhaps more likely, they don’t really understand this themselves.”
So, Dave Troy pens an article entitled ‘To Survive This, We Must Break the Fourth Wall’ which goes on to talk about the infiltration on both sides but then fails to apply the same sound logic to forever establishment figure Schumer.
I’m not a very bright person but this is so insulting it’s hard to know where to begin.
Wait, it gets better: The little intelligence I have is then further insulted with these two little gems:
‘Perhaps Schumer and his peers believe the American public at large isn’t ready for that conversation. Or perhaps more likely, they don’t really understand this themselves.’
Is Dave Troy honestly suggesting that uber-establishment Zionist figure Chuck “I’m Israel’s Biggest Defender in the Senate” Schumer doesn’t know what’s going on?
And to previously suggest that Schumer may know that the US is being destroyed from within and without as I write and you read – but that ‘the public’ – we the people – us – you and me – can’t handle the truth?
So Dave Troy flip flops his speculations between a politician aware of the deeply sinister goings-on that need to be stopped immediately, but speculates that said politician has to sit on it and let it stew because we’re all too fuc*ing stupid for…for what?
For Chuck ‘Israel’ Schumer to tell us what we already know so that then he and his fellow owned-and-occupied Dem peers Comrades can do…what exactly?
Dave Troy flips speculating between this scenario and the equally absurd idea that Schumer and his Comrades may not even know what’s going on themselves! Not an inkling.
They’re all in the dark!
And of course no mention of, uh, ‘Israeli’ money?
This is satire at best.
A ‘Fourth Wall’ demolition is a nice thought. There’s a lot of moving targets these days, as Dave Troy himself reminded us throughout his article.
We need much better ‘ammunition’ for the job at hand.
I live in the UK, and am consistently amazed at: a) the nonsensical stupidity that comes out of Starmer’s mouth; b) the mainstream media striving to portray as some kind of strong leader, rather than the vacuous clown he is; and c) the utter inability of the majority of the population (and perhaps more so the PMC) to see through this and to discuss it.
So there will be a building sense of despair and despondency, which the plutocrats will simply channel into right wing talking points (cut social spending to lazy people, cut taxes on the rich to promote entrepreneurship, cut immigration). It is hard to see how this trajectory is going to change.
Thank you very much to Mago for his piece on expatriation. I have interested a younger friend, mid-40s (who is Latina and grew up in Puerto Rico until age 9, lost hispano-hablante skills but fluent in Latin so could pick it up fairly easily) who has even stronger reasons to want to leave the US to me to possibly join me in a New Mexico to Mexico Viejo move. It could well happen, either solo or duo. So your “PRIM” formula I think is highly relevant and will provide a major assist.
My pal is not retired and is looking into possibly working in the San Miguel de Allende area. That’s not really my scene, it is too US-yuppie-centric (great arts scene, undoubtedly expen$ive compared to elsewhere in Mexico), I probably passed thru there twice back in the 80s and 90s so somewhat familiar. I prefer more authentic places, was looking at somewhere specific in Northern Mexico only an hour’s drive from there, so it could well work out. But it is a big chore to move so far, so “I will rely only on myself,” no disappointment if it’s a solo trip.
Mercury Retrograde? I always watch out for these, have survived some terrible ones (even though they usually only last about 5 weeks.) It was & is definitely on my radar, along with the current Venus Rx (not nearly as bad). Actually, from mid-Nov. of last year to late-Feb. of this year were awful for me due to the Mars Retrograde, a far bigger (& slower) deal as I’m sure you know. The shittiest weather in the 4 years since I moved here to the Minnesota Northland, silly bureaucratic bullshit to deal with– new landlord bought out my old; the morons running things from far away were trying to impose extra “mailing fees” outside the lease and illegal on me and others. I of course fought it. Luckily I have a very good property manager and she knew that shit wouldn’t fly and called the dogs off. My Medicare part D (drugs) recently got cancelled because it took the check I mailed 8 days early 16 days (!!) to reach the Aetna rip-off provider. The smallest on-deck situation involving an insane parking cop who previously hassled me with an improper ticket, for one overtime parking violation on a Monday morning, less than 2 hours after 9 a.m. tried to stick me with 3 tickets, Triple Jeopardy!! I got one canceled on appeal, the 2nd I have a court date on in April, hopefully the loser doesn’t show up.
Back to the main topic– Currently, I do “possess the skills, the money, the resilience and stamina to go somewhere and start all over,” I know I can because I moved 2,100 miles 4 years ago, saved most of my big Library, my cat made it alive in one piece (though very freaked out, 15 years old, so I’ll try to find a home for him here) . It is a matter of making the move in 2 stages, as said, maybe 3-4 months on the Northern side of the Border before I transition across. Planning and determination, but my recent experience will stand me well. This time I can move my stuff via “pods”, might be expensive but I don’t think dragging everything in a U-Haul again is what I want to do. (Had I not had 4 friends who helped me load it, & one who traveled all the way with me over summer, which I paid for, of course, would’ve been impossible.) Then rent a truck in Mexico and move stuff over (no more than 150 miles with any luck, start out in the North) . . . it could work.
And yes, I have been a world traveler, Mexico & Central America, Spain, Thailand, Canada almost doesn’t count. A bit of time in Santa Fe, N.M. in 2005, plus a friend who grew up in N.M. who told me the few good places there now. I am both escaping something (the fascist, looting Corporate Duopoly, the mean Puritanism of U$A) and going for something– a culture and gente that I loved when younger and which is now clearly better than the tottering Belly of the Beast. I know enough of the territory that despite a few missteps (which I expect) I should be able to find somewhere authentic, affordable, etc. Most likely a mountain town to dodge Climate Change to the extent possible. Start with a visa, then naturalize, then stop paying US taxes, getting ripped off via Medi”care” when I have a health issue, etc. And never return to the violent, hateful hellhole Nightmare USA, Land of the Fees & Home of the Slave!!
Not a great fan of Axios, but I will watch out for Friday (not in the worst areas anyway.) Stay safe, everybody, if you can!! Best of luck to Mago thru mid-April, my Ephemerides promise better conditions then.
Very sorry to hear about the loss of your words. I would have loved to have read them. I backpacked 30+ countries in my 20’s and found it to be crucial to who I am today. The things you see and experience are often unexplainable or unbelievable to the untraveled. The whole spectrum of humanity is on display if you travel “deep” and wide.
Anyways, I now find myself considering a move to Japan. I’m a US citizen with no net worth and no family. I’m half Japanese so I can get permanent residency and live as an accepted outsider within Japan.
Safety, healthcare, public transit, higher EQ and IQ, the time and care people do things with, and much more … It feels good to live in a society where people give a sh-t (whether real or fake) about their own actions and how they treat others. I could see Japan being a great place in 5 years if they distance from the US, improve relations with Korea, China, etc., and focus on domestic Japan issues like economy. Dangers of friction with China are present, but having a strong enemy forces one to improve themselves quickly.
Or maybe I ride this out in Texas with a front row seat to “the churn”. When the ruleset changes, great opportunities and great dangers appear.
I read the Troy article, which is mercifully short.
Hegel. Again. Here I thought, after the spectacular failures of Communism, that that poseur was dead and buried. Why is it too much to ask that folks who want to opine about American life and citizens read some American authors? Keeping in mind the excellent points made by Glasshammer above, a good place to start for some remedial reading would be The Great Wave, by David Hackett-Fischer. For the political side of how we got where we are, there the works of Kevin Phillips and for what I suppose could be called social psychology, there is Christopher Lasch.
Marxism and Austrian free market capitalism alike are imported European ideologies which are unworkable in North America.
My thanks to Bruce Wilder for pointing this out:
the core of Republican MAGA (which is NOT working class so much as it is the aspiring small entrepreneur class…)
If you have ever lived in an American town, not suburb, town, you know these folks. They were on city council and planning commissions and had a vestigial sense of public responsibility. At one time they served the useful function of connecting makers with buyers. But then, as Jim Kunstler put it some time ago, when his rants were still readable, they sold their towns out to the likes of Kmart and, later, Walmart. Now they think their hero, T-rump will make them rich and important again.
Chuckie Schemer represents Israel first and Wall Street second. He should have been primaried last go around. That is why Jimmy Dore was paid to gin up a fake scandal about AOC and why Antonio Delgado was shoehorned into the Lieutenant Governor’s chair, with promises you get to run for Gov. yourself someday. Sometimes simple explanations are the best. Bibi doesn’t want the nice US money to stop flowing, so he called his buddy/agent Schemer to keep the spigot tuned on.
Someone, I believe Troy mentioned living sustainably as an alternate “new paradigm”. Many of us are doing just that, right now, which is why MAGA hates us. Because we don’t spend. As for going overseas. ancestors of mine spilled blood for this country. I am staying right here and MAGA needs to learn and accept that the consumerist mass market that made them rich without much work on their part, is not coming back. The future does not belong to wheeler deelers and glad handers.
To add a bit about the American small business owner i.e. those that want that specific title:
-The vast majority of Americans who want to be a “small business owner” just want to be “the boss”, they don’t actually want to run the business because they have no idea how to do it. They simply want the authority without the required mastery.
-A surprising number of Americans who want to be a “small business owner” (not the majority but a noticeable amount) are perfectly happy if that “business” is in actuality a “long firm fraud” i.e. a consumer credit fraud. (See Dan Davies “Lying for Money” for a good breakdown of the long firm and other frauds.) Its…. something you notice if you live in the states for awhile.
-Because of the first two points very few Americans want to be employed by a “small business” for very long. (I have actually gotten better treatment as a chain store employee than as an employee in a local “small business”. And my experience is not unique.)
We’re likely moving to Ecuador in September, if everything checks out. The mountain village of Vilcabomba, in Loha state, has become an expat mecca. The biggest motivator is the low cost of health care. In the US my roomates pay $2000 a month for mediocre health insurance. In Ecuador, the private insurance will run them $ 178 a month. Food and rent and real estate are similarly cheap. Our breadwinner already works remotely and can continue working for the same people. Ecuador uses the $USD as its currency, so no expensive conversion fees. There are at least several hundred videos on YouTube about moving to Ecuador generally and Vilcabomba specifically, so check them out if you’re lookng for an exit strategy. There are a number of different visa options and lawyers who specialize in visas for expats.
Hi DMC. I have some older friends who tried to make the Ecuador transition, but gave it up after a couple of months. They were under the illusion that they could get by with minimal Spanish, but no. There were other obstacles, although money wasn’t one of them.
I looked at Ecuador as well when it was under more benign governance, but it seemed like too much of a haul despite all the advantages that you list. Best of luck to you. Hope it all works out.
And to you as well Mark Level. Sounds like you have a sound strategy. Pre Covid I was seriously considering making the transition to Mexico. I have a well connected friend there (upper class Mexicano) who would be most glad to help me, but circumstances changed in my favor to stay in place. I hope that stays true and firm.
Keep us all posted on your progress and journey. Suerte compa!
And the same to everyone who attempts to abandon the swamp land and quicksand. Hasta la victoria!
“Do the locals want me there” is the question I don’t see being asked by American expats or expat wanna-be’s.
Or how about “in what way will my presence there affect the existing community”.
Y’all surfed the American dream; now that it’s crashed onto the beach, stand yer ground and fight, ‘stead of dragging sand and seaweed into someone else’s house.
capelin raises a legitimate issue, although with certain assumptions. I have my own assumption that those here seeking to relocate will have something to contribute.
Even in the US there are places where transplants are less than welcome. A rancher acquaintance once complained to me that you can live here for thirty years and you’re still treated like a tourist.
In my case by the way, I had sponsorship and the promise of employment everywhere I lived. I also more or less fell into those situations. Long story. . .
Finally, when I left Costa Rica I told everyone I knew that I was heading back to the states, and the universal question from the pharmacist to the taxistas was, when are you coming back?
mago – I would probably also want you to return, you seem like a cheerful and respectful person. No matter the uber-politics of a situation, people gunna bond, and that’s cool.
I’m from/in rural Canada, and I’ve witnessed a few waves of new-space-seekers. The Hippies in the ’70s, the Euro vacation/investors round one and two, T’rump1, the Covid-measures refugees from Upper Canada, and now T’rump2.
Most don’t stick around, the shine wears off or reality sets in. I’d be happy to see most of them again (generally less so the Euro’s, they have more money and are less grounded and more full of themselves).
The Hippies had probably the least negative impact, they weren’t building macmansions and gating roads, they were reviving old farms, hanging with the olds. And turning on. A few of them are still around.
New people bring new skillsets and perspectives for sure, and that is recognized and appreciated. But they often bring a lot of other stuff, including inflation, and less of a connection and understanding and commitment to a place.
You can hear the air crackle between someone who will move from a place if things go sour, and those that can’t, or won’t. “I moved here for nature, and this new mine will ruin that and be bad. If it goes in, I move”, said the retired university professor from away at the public meeting. “If that mine doesn’t go in, my kids won’t have work”, said the locals.
I’ve also seen rockin’ collaboration between these two camps on environmental and development issues.
The Covid-measures refugees seem to have a higher “stickyness” factor, they are sometimes families, and doing stuff, small food production and capacity building stuff, being part of the community. I am less enthused about the vibe of the T’rump2 “this country’s broken, next.. ” crowd.
I’ll be nice though, teach ’em how to trap squirrels (to defend their house, not for food), things like that; probably make a few new friends.
And know that (most) of them will always be from, and loyal to, some other planet.
People seek what they seek. There are parts of BC (gulf islands) which are still basically hippies and their kids and grandkids. Most of them were draft dodgers from the US. Good folk, in my experience, willing to work hard and generally pretty accepting and kind.
Ain’t no one in Canada except the natives, especially in the West, whose parents/grandparents/great grandparents, or maybe them, themselves, who didn’t move from somewhere else to find a life that suited them better than back where they came from.
There’s nothing wrong with that, and the debate between the “stay in one place” folks and the “move to a place that suits better” seems to me to be as sterile as the one between parents who believe they’re the only good people and that true life satisfaction belongs only to them and the people who, for whatever reason, choose not to have kids, many of whom feel superior to parents, for various reasons.
Both choices are fine, and suited to different people and one is not superior to the other, they are simply different choices and, to my mind, foolish to base one’s feelings of superiority on.
“Both choices are fine, and suited to different people and one is not superior to the other, they are simply different choices and, to my mind, foolish to base one’s feelings of superiority on.”
Agreed, I’m personally just a few generations off the boat, so I seek my feelings of superiority elsewhere, such as in my squirrel-trapping ability.
But the entirely legitimate flags I’m raising are because they generally appear off-the-radar to Americans, especially; both in discussion (see upthread) and in actuality (on the ground in my “lived experience”).
They assume that they have the right to move anywhere in the world and the only calculi is “can I afford to” and “do I want to”.
And when one’s money, life, and status is worth way more than where one’s going, (because the West plundered everywhere it could and that’s the wave you’re riding), well, that is a big power and with that comes responsibility.
To at least freakin’ acknowledge it, take it into account, honestly try and put yourself into the other’s shoe.
My genes rode that wave here, too, and I try to be aware of that context and let it influence my footprint and my relationships.
Here is a proFOUNDly optimismogenic article. It is titled: This is how Tesla will die.
It makes a very good case for why Tesla is much weaker than it has tricked us into thinking it is, and why it is close to the brink of house-of-cards collapse already.
And it describes how the crash of Tesla could crash some of Musk’s other businesses and then crash Mr. Musk himself.
And I would suggest that it offers indirect clues as to how to make all that happen. To kill Musk’s other businesses, kill Tesla. And to kill Tesla, keep killing its reputation and sales. If it can never recover then it can never rescue the rest of Musk’s businesses.
GlassHammer
I wish I had the time and ability to fully expound on the total lack of “economic freedom” in vast regions of the U.S. because I don’t think those on the outside realize how much of the “economic prosperity” touted over the last 100 years was complete fiction.
For those living in the states it’s a massive landmass of “economic deadzones” with “little islands of economic activity” scattershot across it. Your proximity to those “little islands of economic activity” determines the course of your life far more than any skill, decision, or beliefs that you have. (Every single member of my family tree going back several generations made the primary goal to “move near” one of these “little islands of economic activity”, every single one without exception did this and everything they might tell you about “their good decisions, beliefs, skills etc…” came well after that initial decision to “move near”.)
And… even if you do manage to secure a foothold near one of those “little islands of economic activity” you know a.) it’s a temporary get in, earn quick, and get out arrangement, b.) you will be relocating back to an economic deadzone (but hopefully with enough resources to make it bearable), and c.) there is zero community development in this arrangement so expect coordination for any “projects of betterment” to be extremely slow.
This why Americans are always trading away “political freedom” for “economic freedom”, most can’t obtain the bare minimum level of resources because of where they are on this landmass so they simply don’t care what the political power arrangements are.
Eric Anderson
I’d like to share an interesting thought that was stimulated by a post over on Mastodon.
Here is the link to what i think is an important Dave Troy blog post:
https://america2.news/to-survive-this-we-must-break-the-fourth-wall/
Here is my response:
https://kolektiva.social/@LeftistLawyer/114164371393243968
We’re witnessing the logical end result of decades of neoliberalism. The synthesis of the neoliberal policies, blended with the xenophobic rhetoric that has accompanied it, has produced a new economic paradigm I’m going to begin calling “Neo(Nazi)Liberalism.
Tell me I’m wrong.
Eric Anderson
Glasshammer:
Indeed. See my post above. I think our posts dovetail nicely.
bruce wilder
@GlassHammer
I don’t think the economic phenomenon you are referring to is peculiarly American, though maybe the American brand is on the neoliberal capitalist version.
Matt Stoller has been doing yeoman labor in bringing attention to how monopoly consolidation by globalist rentiers drives the economic opportunity drought that spreads like an encroaching desert across the landscape. His substack is worth following for the economic details.
The politics are problematic for a bunch of foundational reasons. Neoliberalism really consolidated its hegemony when the Democratic Party abandoned the working classes to embrace Clintonian third-way corruption and gradually became the Party of the PMC, whose class consciousness was formed in heat of the neoliberal forge. The PMC are the people, who had operational responsibility for exporting jobs to China and Mexico, driving Private Equity bulldozers through company after company, industry after industry. PMC Democrats are the people MAGA hates above all else and the feeling is mutual. So even though the core of Republican MAGA (which is NOT working class so much as it is the aspiring small entrepreneur class, and so knows something of what is going on and why they are themselves in various degrees severe economic pain) might be somewhat open to an antitrust policy (see Josh Hawley, J.D. Vance), they remain the junior partners in a plutocrat’s Republican Party and largely isolated from any kind of alliance with antitrust Democrats. Antitrust Democrats may be even more of a powerless minority in their own Party than MAGA is in the Republican Party when it comes to policy let alone coalitional bargains.
The disdain of the PMC for the working class and for the vulgarity of “some college” small entrepreneur and manager class is a force to be reckoned with. These people have opinions where their empathy bone should be and very little sense of responsibility for “the system” of bureaucratic non-performance that they have built and managed for the last 30 or 40 years.
Leaving aside the politics of red v blue shouting and insult, rank ignorance of economics plus the stupid that goes with it plays its own part. Neoliberalism is based on a fairy tale of “free markets” assembled by dreamweavers to make any earnest discussion economic policy very difficult to conjure. What is a Pharmacy Benefits Manager and why is it legal? To whom is the massive ballooning Federal deficit going? The political discourse on such subjects cannot off the ground because the common understanding of economics will not support i.
Mark Level
So NBC News, along with others, is reporting that the Russians have retaken city of Kursk (mostly done 3 days ago, now complete) & various sources report that remaining Ukraine troops are surrounded. Putin said 2 days ago they could “Surrender or die”, Trump soon put out a Truth Social post requesting Mercy, Putin feigned cooperation. The desperate initial attempt to take control of the Kursk Nuclear Plant and threaten a melt-down failed abysmally. In truth it was a Comedian Cocaine dream, obviously.
Lavrov had discussed, in a 2 hour meeting with Judge Nap and Larry Johnson in Moscow recently, that they remain serious about DeNazification, that Azov & Right Sektor Neo-N’s will face war crimes tribunals and possible execution under international law per the example of Nuremberg. Also foreign mercenaries will NOT be considered to be covered by the Geneva Conventions. Trump then appealed to P for “mercy” on Truth Social, P feigned he may play along. (We will see. They have been burned enough, especially when Erdogan returned 4 open Nazis, surrendered to be held in Turkey to Ukraine, to tease the Bear.)
Zelensky is playing Baghdad Bob to the hilt, there is no problem in Kursk, nor will the Russians move into Sumy, which is on the road to “Keev”!! “Putin is lying” repeatedly manically over and over until it becomes true . . . Just like Ukraine Will Win!!
Starmer, Imperial Glory Days addict that he is, is announcing plans to hold Ukraine forever, while flushing the environment and social services in his crappy, isolated little country down the loo (with a Budgie). Will the Brits take it? Probably, but everyone does have a limit.
I bet rarely and I don’t even know how to do over/under. At the moment, I’d guess this might take anywhere from 5 months (at best) to 18 to fully play out and wind down. 1 of the Euro-Elite Clown Brigade, most likely Kaja Kallas, recently said that Ukraine will “need to fight on until 2029”!! But perhaps Zelensky had just shared some of his stash with her before that assertion.
mago
Economic freedom is social freedom.
“Wherever you go there you are.”
So I’d like to make a few personal observations about the expatriate life. Although this comment section is a limited forum, I’ll attempt to hit on a few pith points.
Priorities, resources, intentions and motivations, or PRIM are starting points.
One needs to consider what sustains the quality of life. For me that means community, clean water air food, open space and access to nature, and of course some material security, including access to affordable and professional health care.
I found some of those things in rural Spain, Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Germany. Enough to meet my needs, anyway. I have the great good fortune to have all those things now, although there’s some recent material precarity with all benefits on the chopping block under the current administration, not that the previous dating back to Clinton haven’t tried. Also, this late stage neoliberal rentier bullshit is universal btw, although there are pockets here and there. Good luck finding them and fitting in as an outsider.
And that’s what you’ll always be as an expat—an outsider. I got adopted by a farm village in southern Spain when I was broke and stuck, and experienced similar good fortune when I was down on my luck in rural Costa Rica, but I was always conscious of being a foreigner. Language skills helped of course as well as going native so to speak.
I knew many expats who were insulated from the everyday rough and tumble, because money. You can live in a gated community wherever you are, but if you have the money and that mentality why not stay put unless you’re looking for a change of scenery and climate?
Anyway, yes, I met international jet setters (is that even a term anymore?), sexpats, spooks, mercenaries, druggies, alkies, lots and lots of sociopaths as well as embittered retirees along with the overall mentally confused trying to run their agendas and find their ways in foreign terrain. (I should write a book.)
Ok. So everyone has their motivations for wanting to move to a foreign country. (I’m talking about North Americans who are plotting their escape.) Take a good hard look at where you’re going to, and do your research. Take an honest assessment of your situation, what you’re giving up and what you hope to gain. If you’re older, ask yourself where you want to make your last stand. You want to die alone in some crappy cabina in Mexico or even in an upscale townhouse surrounded by other expats of dubious character? I know plenty who’ve made that choice, and there are legions more I don’t know.
Age is a major factor. Some years ago after returning from Costa Rica I looked at teaching English in China. I had some connections and resources, but after much communication, I said no way. If you’re all right with walking out the door and immediately being surrounded by 10,000 people, go for it, if you’re under 60 that is, because nobody will hire you if you’re older.
Anyway, if you possess the skills, the money, the resilience and stamina to go somewhere and start all over, buena suerte man, go for it.
Just make sure you’re going for something rather than trying to escape something. And best to have an exit strategy and something to fall back on if things go down the crapper. I never did. I always lived by my wits and trusted my luck that I’d land on my feet. And I always did, after sweating bullets and cursing my ignorance. I’ve been stuck and down and out in all my foreign adventures.
There’s so much more to say, but basta ya! I doubt anyone has read this far, but to the one or two who might have, thanks! I hope there’s something here of use.
Eric Anderson
I learned some time ago to always copy before posting mago. Feel your pain.
GlassHammer
Eric Anderson
-Concur, and the Dave Troy blog is interesting.
bruce wilder
-The proliferation of “economic dead zones” (maybe… I should have called them “economic sacrifice zones” like Chris Hedges does) is probably not a uniquely American phenomenon but since I am not much of a world traveler I can’t speak to how it manifest elsewhere. That said, I am envious of the openness to which other nations speak to it (its taboo in the states) and their more extensive language for it.
mago
-“Economic freedom is social freedom.” yes…. yes it is and that I have to pretend there is any separation and daylight between them when speaking with my fellow Americans is exhausting. So I am glad to have some outlet where the conversation can just go past that bit of make believe. Thank you for the insights from abroad, as I said I am not much of a world traveler.
mago
Glad my comments reached home.
One thing that escaped mention around going expat is how much the world has changed and degenerated.
I maintain contact with former students in Costa Rica, for example and one young street savvy friend tells me you don’t know how much it’s changed. More tourists, more buildings, more traffic, more drugs, violence everywhere. No más pura vida mae.
I looked up my rural Spanish neighborhood and now a highway runs through what was once a rutted dirt road that turned to mud in the rainy season. And the almond and olive orchards that filled the countryside have been supplanted with villas and tourist compounds with swimming pools where I once worked the fields for $28 a day.
Yeah, well, what to say? Welcome to a new day. . .
miss jennings
Thanks for sharing mago. Good info and ‘advice,’ most particularly the simple truisms. Sounds like an interesting life on the whole. Spies, spooks, mercenaries and the like!
I’m reminded of Zevon’s ‘Lawyers, Guns and Money.’ He ran with those guys as well.
Werewolves of London. Sociopaths.
I hope everyone is well.
This is what the Zionist-controlled Trump administration US government just did in Yemen.
This is horrific. Please don’t watch if you can’t stomach such realities.
https://t.me/youseffares19/70280
“Unconfirmed reports indicate that Hassan Sharaf al-Din, the Ansar Allah intelligence minister, was assassinated by the United States.
The Wall Street Journal reports: Among the targets attacked in Sanaa were the homes of Houthi leaders.” – Ayman Hanideq
miss jennings
This is from that Dave Troy blog article:
“Musk and his backers, Putin and Xi…”
?!
Musk is largely a creation of the Zionist owned and occupied US government. Continuing,
“…desire nothing less than a total reconfiguration of American power.”
They alone?
“But Schumer and his political detractors have both missed an opportunity to educate the public about the bigger picture, and the true context of the attack we are undergoing — from outside and from within.
This isn’t about greed, government contracts, or even tax cuts for the wealthy. This is about taking down the United States government and reordering the world.
Perhaps Schumer and his peers believe the American public at large isn’t ready for that conversation. Or perhaps more likely, they don’t really understand this themselves.”
So, Dave Troy pens an article entitled ‘To Survive This, We Must Break the Fourth Wall’ which goes on to talk about the infiltration on both sides but then fails to apply the same sound logic to forever establishment figure Schumer.
I’m not a very bright person but this is so insulting it’s hard to know where to begin.
Wait, it gets better: The little intelligence I have is then further insulted with these two little gems:
‘Perhaps Schumer and his peers believe the American public at large isn’t ready for that conversation. Or perhaps more likely, they don’t really understand this themselves.’
Is Dave Troy honestly suggesting that uber-establishment Zionist figure Chuck “I’m Israel’s Biggest Defender in the Senate” Schumer doesn’t know what’s going on?
And to previously suggest that Schumer may know that the US is being destroyed from within and without as I write and you read – but that ‘the public’ – we the people – us – you and me – can’t handle the truth?
So Dave Troy flip flops his speculations between a politician aware of the deeply sinister goings-on that need to be stopped immediately, but speculates that said politician has to sit on it and let it stew because we’re all too fuc*ing stupid for…for what?
For Chuck ‘Israel’ Schumer to tell us what we already know so that then he and his fellow owned-and-occupied Dem
peersComrades can do…what exactly?Dave Troy flips speculating between this scenario and the equally absurd idea that Schumer and his Comrades may not even know what’s going on themselves! Not an inkling.
They’re all in the dark!
And of course no mention of, uh, ‘Israeli’ money?
This is satire at best.
A ‘Fourth Wall’ demolition is a nice thought. There’s a lot of moving targets these days, as Dave Troy himself reminded us throughout his article.
We need much better ‘ammunition’ for the job at hand.
ventzu
In case you haven’t seen it, this is economist Richard Wolff on the decline of the US and cannibalisation of Europe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAjLHyMI_O8
I live in the UK, and am consistently amazed at: a) the nonsensical stupidity that comes out of Starmer’s mouth; b) the mainstream media striving to portray as some kind of strong leader, rather than the vacuous clown he is; and c) the utter inability of the majority of the population (and perhaps more so the PMC) to see through this and to discuss it.
So there will be a building sense of despair and despondency, which the plutocrats will simply channel into right wing talking points (cut social spending to lazy people, cut taxes on the rich to promote entrepreneurship, cut immigration). It is hard to see how this trajectory is going to change.
Mark Level
Thank you very much to Mago for his piece on expatriation. I have interested a younger friend, mid-40s (who is Latina and grew up in Puerto Rico until age 9, lost hispano-hablante skills but fluent in Latin so could pick it up fairly easily) who has even stronger reasons to want to leave the US to me to possibly join me in a New Mexico to Mexico Viejo move. It could well happen, either solo or duo. So your “PRIM” formula I think is highly relevant and will provide a major assist.
My pal is not retired and is looking into possibly working in the San Miguel de Allende area. That’s not really my scene, it is too US-yuppie-centric (great arts scene, undoubtedly expen$ive compared to elsewhere in Mexico), I probably passed thru there twice back in the 80s and 90s so somewhat familiar. I prefer more authentic places, was looking at somewhere specific in Northern Mexico only an hour’s drive from there, so it could well work out. But it is a big chore to move so far, so “I will rely only on myself,” no disappointment if it’s a solo trip.
Mercury Retrograde? I always watch out for these, have survived some terrible ones (even though they usually only last about 5 weeks.) It was & is definitely on my radar, along with the current Venus Rx (not nearly as bad). Actually, from mid-Nov. of last year to late-Feb. of this year were awful for me due to the Mars Retrograde, a far bigger (& slower) deal as I’m sure you know. The shittiest weather in the 4 years since I moved here to the Minnesota Northland, silly bureaucratic bullshit to deal with– new landlord bought out my old; the morons running things from far away were trying to impose extra “mailing fees” outside the lease and illegal on me and others. I of course fought it. Luckily I have a very good property manager and she knew that shit wouldn’t fly and called the dogs off. My Medicare part D (drugs) recently got cancelled because it took the check I mailed 8 days early 16 days (!!) to reach the Aetna rip-off provider. The smallest on-deck situation involving an insane parking cop who previously hassled me with an improper ticket, for one overtime parking violation on a Monday morning, less than 2 hours after 9 a.m. tried to stick me with 3 tickets, Triple Jeopardy!! I got one canceled on appeal, the 2nd I have a court date on in April, hopefully the loser doesn’t show up.
Back to the main topic– Currently, I do “possess the skills, the money, the resilience and stamina to go somewhere and start all over,” I know I can because I moved 2,100 miles 4 years ago, saved most of my big Library, my cat made it alive in one piece (though very freaked out, 15 years old, so I’ll try to find a home for him here) . It is a matter of making the move in 2 stages, as said, maybe 3-4 months on the Northern side of the Border before I transition across. Planning and determination, but my recent experience will stand me well. This time I can move my stuff via “pods”, might be expensive but I don’t think dragging everything in a U-Haul again is what I want to do. (Had I not had 4 friends who helped me load it, & one who traveled all the way with me over summer, which I paid for, of course, would’ve been impossible.) Then rent a truck in Mexico and move stuff over (no more than 150 miles with any luck, start out in the North) . . . it could work.
And yes, I have been a world traveler, Mexico & Central America, Spain, Thailand, Canada almost doesn’t count. A bit of time in Santa Fe, N.M. in 2005, plus a friend who grew up in N.M. who told me the few good places there now. I am both escaping something (the fascist, looting Corporate Duopoly, the mean Puritanism of U$A) and going for something– a culture and gente that I loved when younger and which is now clearly better than the tottering Belly of the Beast. I know enough of the territory that despite a few missteps (which I expect) I should be able to find somewhere authentic, affordable, etc. Most likely a mountain town to dodge Climate Change to the extent possible. Start with a visa, then naturalize, then stop paying US taxes, getting ripped off via Medi”care” when I have a health issue, etc. And never return to the violent, hateful hellhole Nightmare USA, Land of the Fees & Home of the Slave!!
Oh, not too Off Topic– This came up in my “feed” today, worth sharing– https://www.axios.com/2025/03/14/severe-storms-tornado-outbreak-midwest-southeast
Not a great fan of Axios, but I will watch out for Friday (not in the worst areas anyway.) Stay safe, everybody, if you can!! Best of luck to Mago thru mid-April, my Ephemerides promise better conditions then.
Joe
mago,
Very sorry to hear about the loss of your words. I would have loved to have read them. I backpacked 30+ countries in my 20’s and found it to be crucial to who I am today. The things you see and experience are often unexplainable or unbelievable to the untraveled. The whole spectrum of humanity is on display if you travel “deep” and wide.
Anyways, I now find myself considering a move to Japan. I’m a US citizen with no net worth and no family. I’m half Japanese so I can get permanent residency and live as an accepted outsider within Japan.
Safety, healthcare, public transit, higher EQ and IQ, the time and care people do things with, and much more … It feels good to live in a society where people give a sh-t (whether real or fake) about their own actions and how they treat others. I could see Japan being a great place in 5 years if they distance from the US, improve relations with Korea, China, etc., and focus on domestic Japan issues like economy. Dangers of friction with China are present, but having a strong enemy forces one to improve themselves quickly.
Or maybe I ride this out in Texas with a front row seat to “the churn”. When the ruleset changes, great opportunities and great dangers appear.
Joe
Mary Bennet
I read the Troy article, which is mercifully short.
Hegel. Again. Here I thought, after the spectacular failures of Communism, that that poseur was dead and buried. Why is it too much to ask that folks who want to opine about American life and citizens read some American authors? Keeping in mind the excellent points made by Glasshammer above, a good place to start for some remedial reading would be The Great Wave, by David Hackett-Fischer. For the political side of how we got where we are, there the works of Kevin Phillips and for what I suppose could be called social psychology, there is Christopher Lasch.
Marxism and Austrian free market capitalism alike are imported European ideologies which are unworkable in North America.
My thanks to Bruce Wilder for pointing this out:
the core of Republican MAGA (which is NOT working class so much as it is the aspiring small entrepreneur class…)
If you have ever lived in an American town, not suburb, town, you know these folks. They were on city council and planning commissions and had a vestigial sense of public responsibility. At one time they served the useful function of connecting makers with buyers. But then, as Jim Kunstler put it some time ago, when his rants were still readable, they sold their towns out to the likes of Kmart and, later, Walmart. Now they think their hero, T-rump will make them rich and important again.
Chuckie Schemer represents Israel first and Wall Street second. He should have been primaried last go around. That is why Jimmy Dore was paid to gin up a fake scandal about AOC and why Antonio Delgado was shoehorned into the Lieutenant Governor’s chair, with promises you get to run for Gov. yourself someday. Sometimes simple explanations are the best. Bibi doesn’t want the nice US money to stop flowing, so he called his buddy/agent Schemer to keep the spigot tuned on.
Someone, I believe Troy mentioned living sustainably as an alternate “new paradigm”. Many of us are doing just that, right now, which is why MAGA hates us. Because we don’t spend. As for going overseas. ancestors of mine spilled blood for this country. I am staying right here and MAGA needs to learn and accept that the consumerist mass market that made them rich without much work on their part, is not coming back. The future does not belong to wheeler deelers and glad handers.
GlassHammer
Mary Bennet
To add a bit about the American small business owner i.e. those that want that specific title:
-The vast majority of Americans who want to be a “small business owner” just want to be “the boss”, they don’t actually want to run the business because they have no idea how to do it. They simply want the authority without the required mastery.
-A surprising number of Americans who want to be a “small business owner” (not the majority but a noticeable amount) are perfectly happy if that “business” is in actuality a “long firm fraud” i.e. a consumer credit fraud. (See Dan Davies “Lying for Money” for a good breakdown of the long firm and other frauds.) Its…. something you notice if you live in the states for awhile.
-Because of the first two points very few Americans want to be employed by a “small business” for very long. (I have actually gotten better treatment as a chain store employee than as an employee in a local “small business”. And my experience is not unique.)
DMC
We’re likely moving to Ecuador in September, if everything checks out. The mountain village of Vilcabomba, in Loha state, has become an expat mecca. The biggest motivator is the low cost of health care. In the US my roomates pay $2000 a month for mediocre health insurance. In Ecuador, the private insurance will run them $ 178 a month. Food and rent and real estate are similarly cheap. Our breadwinner already works remotely and can continue working for the same people. Ecuador uses the $USD as its currency, so no expensive conversion fees. There are at least several hundred videos on YouTube about moving to Ecuador generally and Vilcabomba specifically, so check them out if you’re lookng for an exit strategy. There are a number of different visa options and lawyers who specialize in visas for expats.
mago
Hi DMC. I have some older friends who tried to make the Ecuador transition, but gave it up after a couple of months. They were under the illusion that they could get by with minimal Spanish, but no. There were other obstacles, although money wasn’t one of them.
I looked at Ecuador as well when it was under more benign governance, but it seemed like too much of a haul despite all the advantages that you list. Best of luck to you. Hope it all works out.
And to you as well Mark Level. Sounds like you have a sound strategy. Pre Covid I was seriously considering making the transition to Mexico. I have a well connected friend there (upper class Mexicano) who would be most glad to help me, but circumstances changed in my favor to stay in place. I hope that stays true and firm.
Keep us all posted on your progress and journey. Suerte compa!
And the same to everyone who attempts to abandon the swamp land and quicksand. Hasta la victoria!
miss jennings
Israel has to regain the power over Congress it recently lost to AOC and Ilhan Omar. Israel used to own Congress but not anymore.
‘Israel had such power, and rightfully…” – Donald Trump
https://x.com/TheOfficial1984/status/1901305957717586370
capelin
“Do the locals want me there” is the question I don’t see being asked by American expats or expat wanna-be’s.
Or how about “in what way will my presence there affect the existing community”.
Y’all surfed the American dream; now that it’s crashed onto the beach, stand yer ground and fight, ‘stead of dragging sand and seaweed into someone else’s house.
I don’t mean this Universally, just Generally.
mago
capelin raises a legitimate issue, although with certain assumptions. I have my own assumption that those here seeking to relocate will have something to contribute.
Even in the US there are places where transplants are less than welcome. A rancher acquaintance once complained to me that you can live here for thirty years and you’re still treated like a tourist.
In my case by the way, I had sponsorship and the promise of employment everywhere I lived. I also more or less fell into those situations. Long story. . .
Finally, when I left Costa Rica I told everyone I knew that I was heading back to the states, and the universal question from the pharmacist to the taxistas was, when are you coming back?
capelin
mago – I would probably also want you to return, you seem like a cheerful and respectful person. No matter the uber-politics of a situation, people gunna bond, and that’s cool.
I’m from/in rural Canada, and I’ve witnessed a few waves of new-space-seekers. The Hippies in the ’70s, the Euro vacation/investors round one and two, T’rump1, the Covid-measures refugees from Upper Canada, and now T’rump2.
Most don’t stick around, the shine wears off or reality sets in. I’d be happy to see most of them again (generally less so the Euro’s, they have more money and are less grounded and more full of themselves).
The Hippies had probably the least negative impact, they weren’t building macmansions and gating roads, they were reviving old farms, hanging with the olds. And turning on. A few of them are still around.
New people bring new skillsets and perspectives for sure, and that is recognized and appreciated. But they often bring a lot of other stuff, including inflation, and less of a connection and understanding and commitment to a place.
You can hear the air crackle between someone who will move from a place if things go sour, and those that can’t, or won’t. “I moved here for nature, and this new mine will ruin that and be bad. If it goes in, I move”, said the retired university professor from away at the public meeting. “If that mine doesn’t go in, my kids won’t have work”, said the locals.
I’ve also seen rockin’ collaboration between these two camps on environmental and development issues.
The Covid-measures refugees seem to have a higher “stickyness” factor, they are sometimes families, and doing stuff, small food production and capacity building stuff, being part of the community. I am less enthused about the vibe of the T’rump2 “this country’s broken, next.. ” crowd.
I’ll be nice though, teach ’em how to trap squirrels (to defend their house, not for food), things like that; probably make a few new friends.
And know that (most) of them will always be from, and loyal to, some other planet.
Ian Welsh
People seek what they seek. There are parts of BC (gulf islands) which are still basically hippies and their kids and grandkids. Most of them were draft dodgers from the US. Good folk, in my experience, willing to work hard and generally pretty accepting and kind.
Ain’t no one in Canada except the natives, especially in the West, whose parents/grandparents/great grandparents, or maybe them, themselves, who didn’t move from somewhere else to find a life that suited them better than back where they came from.
There’s nothing wrong with that, and the debate between the “stay in one place” folks and the “move to a place that suits better” seems to me to be as sterile as the one between parents who believe they’re the only good people and that true life satisfaction belongs only to them and the people who, for whatever reason, choose not to have kids, many of whom feel superior to parents, for various reasons.
Both choices are fine, and suited to different people and one is not superior to the other, they are simply different choices and, to my mind, foolish to base one’s feelings of superiority on.
Curt Kastens
L Iook forward to reading comments about the latest release of JFK assassination files.
capelin
“Both choices are fine, and suited to different people and one is not superior to the other, they are simply different choices and, to my mind, foolish to base one’s feelings of superiority on.”
Agreed, I’m personally just a few generations off the boat, so I seek my feelings of superiority elsewhere, such as in my squirrel-trapping ability.
But the entirely legitimate flags I’m raising are because they generally appear off-the-radar to Americans, especially; both in discussion (see upthread) and in actuality (on the ground in my “lived experience”).
They assume that they have the right to move anywhere in the world and the only calculi is “can I afford to” and “do I want to”.
And when one’s money, life, and status is worth way more than where one’s going, (because the West plundered everywhere it could and that’s the wave you’re riding), well, that is a big power and with that comes responsibility.
To at least freakin’ acknowledge it, take it into account, honestly try and put yourself into the other’s shoe.
My genes rode that wave here, too, and I try to be aware of that context and let it influence my footprint and my relationships.
different clue
Here is a proFOUNDly optimismogenic article. It is titled: This is how Tesla will die.
It makes a very good case for why Tesla is much weaker than it has tricked us into thinking it is, and why it is close to the brink of house-of-cards collapse already.
And it describes how the crash of Tesla could crash some of Musk’s other businesses and then crash Mr. Musk himself.
And I would suggest that it offers indirect clues as to how to make all that happen. To kill Musk’s other businesses, kill Tesla. And to kill Tesla, keep killing its reputation and sales. If it can never recover then it can never rescue the rest of Musk’s businesses.
Here is the link:
https://www.planetearthandbeyond.co/p/this-is-how-tesla-will-die