Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller dives into the challenges of expat life in Latin America, discussing scams in real estate and agricultural investments, the pitfalls of international living seminars, and the unreliability of social media for expat advice. He also shares insights from expats like Kenny and Karn, highlighting the importance of language learning, the affordability of living in Latin America, and the economic and political instability in Brazil. Johnny concludes with a warning about the decline of the U.S. and the importance of building real networks.
Johnny begins by introducing the show as a platform that covers the good, bad, ugly, and great aspects of living, working, playing, and retiring in Latin America. He criticizes international living seminars for being thinly disguised investment seminars that target naive expats and focus on selling real estate and agricultural projects. He warns that these seminars are not objective sources of information and are driven by marketing interests. He also critiques social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook for being unreliable sources of expat advice, as many users are inexperienced and self-promotional. An email from George in Michigan is used to support these claims, highlighting the lack of trustworthiness in online expat communities.
Next, Johnny responds to an email from an expat named Kenny who has lived in Latin America for five years. Kenny describes the initial 'expat honeymoon' period, where everything seems exciting and new, but warns that this phase eventually fades. He shares his personal experience of feeling overwhelmed and questioning his decision to move, especially after a few months. Kenny emphasizes the importance of learning Spanish to avoid being dependent on bilingual individuals and to avoid the 'gringo bubble.' Johnny acknowledges Kenny's insights, reflecting on his own past experiences and how the current environment in Latin America is different from when he first moved there. He highlights the advantages of living in Latin America today, such as modern amenities and reliable internet, and suggests that expats should not compare their current situation with their past lives in the U.S.
In the next segment, Johnny discusses the ease of moving to Latin America, highlighting the affordability of living, access to healthcare, and the availability of goods like Amazon and Google Translate. He emphasizes that moving to Latin America can be a 'soft landing' for expats, allowing them to start fresh and escape toxic relationships and people. However, he warns that many expats fail to take full advantage of this opportunity, often returning to social media and toxic online communities, which can lead to new problems. Johnny also addresses the issue of online hate and misinformation, noting that many critics have never been to Latin America and are influenced by others who have not experienced the region firsthand. He concludes by advising expats to build real networks, avoid over-reliance on Google Translate, and be mindful of lifestyle creep, which can lead to financial strain.
Johnny then contrasts the high cost of living in the United States with the more affordable cost of living in Latin America. He highlights the affordability of apartments in Latin America, using the example of his friend Mr. Be, who lives in Guatemala and pays a fraction of the rent compared to the U.S. He also touches on the impact of the Chinese government shutting down online English teaching businesses, but notes that Mr. Be has found workarounds through tools like VPNs. Johnny further discusses inflation in the U.S. and Latin America, emphasizing that the U.S. government's inflation figures are misleading, and mentions Brazil's political situation, including President Bolsonaro's controversial statement about buying rifles.
Finally, Johnny discusses the economic and political instability in Brazil, highlighting the collapse of the Brazilian real and the government's reliance on excessive spending and money printing. He criticizes President Bolsonaro for preparing the country for further socioeconomic and political crises. Johnny also makes harsh remarks about U.S. politicians, calling them 'sociopathic maggots' and comparing them to 'god's own mistakes and biggest turds.' He then shares an email from a Russian expat named Karn living in Panama, who warns U.S. listeners about the country's decline and urges them to consider leaving. Karn explains that he left Russia and is now thriving in Panama, and he notes that many Americans who have left the U.S. are disappointed with their former home. He draws parallels between the U.S. and Russia, suggesting that both countries are experiencing slow but inevitable decline toward authoritarianism. The segment concludes with Johnny thanking Karn for his email and promoting his expat consulting services.
Episode Notes
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller explores the realities of expat life in Latin America, from scams in real estate and agricultural investments to the pitfalls of international living seminars. He also shares insights from expats like Kenny and Karn, highlighting the importance of language learning, the affordability of living in Latin America, and the economic and political instability in Brazil. Johnny concludes with a warning about the decline of the U.S. and the importance of building real networks.
For more episodes, seminar information, resources, and the full archive, visit ExpatPlanB.com.
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Related guides: Moving to Guatemala · Healthcare in Latin America · Cost of Living in Latin America · Residency in Latin America · Renting and Buying Property · Safety and Scams
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Topics
Expat life in Latin America, Real estate and agricultural investment scams, International living seminars, Social media and expat advice, Trust and reliability in online expat communities, Expat Honeymoon, Cultural Adaptation, Language Learning, Life in Latin America, Comparison with the U.S., Moving to Latin America, Expatriate life
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:14 Introduction to the Expat Files Show 00:00:20 Overview of the Show's Content 00:00:26 The Mix of Expat Experiences 00:00:29 Introduction of the Sponsor 00:00:37 Johnny's Direct and Bold Commentary 00:00:39 Announcement of the Upcoming Event 00:00:48 Announcement of the Expat Insider Seminar 00:00:50 Discussion of Repeat Attendees 00:05:59 The Expat Honeymoon and Its End 00:06:54 The Moment of Doubt 00:07:49 Learning Spanish and Avoiding the Gringo Bubble 00:11:33 The Ease of Moving to Latin America 00:12:25 Starting Fresh and Rewriting Your Life 00:12:42 The Pitfalls of Returning to Toxic Online Communities 00:14:13 The Reality of Online Hate and Misinformation 00:16:29 The Concept of Lifestyle Creep 00:17:48 Why Moving to Latin America Makes Sense 00:17:53 Affordable Housing in Latin America 00:18:58 The Impact of the Chinese Government on Online English Teaching 00:20:06 Living a First-World Life on a Budget in Latin America 00:20:40 Inflation in the U.S. and Latin America 00:21:47 Brazil's Political Situation and the Gun Debate 00:22:37 Brazil's Currency Collapse and Inflation Crisis 00:22:48 Bolsonaro and the Impending Socioeconomic Chaos 00:23:13 Criticism of U.S. Congress as 'Sociopathic Maggots' 00:23:27 Email from a Russian Expat: A Warning to U.S. Listeners 00:25:26 The Slow Decline of the U.S. Toward Authoritarianism 00:26:42 Orwellian Surveillance and Fear as Control Mechanisms 00:27:27 Conclusion and Promotion of Expat Consulting Services
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now that I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great And it's all right here. So let's get started. Today's expat file show is brought to you by our good friends at Pfizer Get the f**k out of here Okay, this show first goes out on Sunday January 23rd, which means we're about four weeks away from my February
[00:48] 2022 expat insider seminar By the way as usual we have repeat offenders signed up We always have repeat offenders and when people say Johnny is your week-long seminar worth the dough? Is drinking from the fire hose worth it? Well, you shouldn't ask me that you should ask all these repeat offenders Why they keep coming back because you know unlike these gigantic international living seminars Where you're just a face in the crowd where you're lucky to get a few selfies with the speakers at the meet-and-greet By the way, I get a lot of feedback from people who go to those seminars They always say that at the very end. There's that come to Jesus moment a real estate spiel They're trying to get you to buy real estate. It could be real nice real estate could be in a great area But remember it's vastly overpriced. The principals are bringing you and showing you real estate
[01:35] They bought for 10 cents on the dollar and now they've placed their seal of approval on it Now you're gonna pay a buck. Oh, and they'll try to sell agricultural schemes to you, too You know pineapple tea avocado and coffee plantations. Well, it all looks glossy good and profitable in the marketing and PR pamphlets But I've never known a single person who got into one of those deals Who's made the projected and promised rate of return the man? I'm telling you those agricultural scams are everywhere. My advice don't bite 80% of them will never make a dime Isn't it funny how they're almost always marketed to gringos and the Latinos never put any skin in the game themselves Besides that you think big rags like International Living who've got dozens if not hundreds of employees to support
[02:21] Do you really think they could pay that overhead by selling seminars and glossy reports and pamphlets? It's the condos their real estate in the agricultural development projects dummy You know, I could read email after email from people who've reported back to me after being at one of those seminars and man It's all a canned formula and everyone walks away just a little bit disappointed Wait a minute. Let me dig into my email pile and pull out one of these for you. This is from George in Michigan He says I've been to International Living live and invest overseas and other seminars which turned out to be thinly disguised Investment seminars directed specifically at naive expat go to bees and wannabes. He says never forget. They're not your friends They're not your good buddies They are for-profit enterprises and if you look like you're not interested in investing with them, they won't have time for you
[03:11] They'll give you the brush off Sure, they can provide a lot of good information in their blurbs and pamphlets But you can get all that on the internet. On the other hand people seem to forget that they're selling conferences books insider services and Real estate that's the golden goose for companies like International Living He says that's why anyone who signs up for their e-letters and subscribe to their magazines and special reports should understand and realize They aren't intended to be objective clearing houses of information They've got a very effective marketing department that leads you towards buying real estate and investing in agricultural projects projects they have a huge interest in themselves and Regarding getting expat information on social media like Twitter or Facebook The thing is George says if you're a prospective expat expat gonna be your wannabe
[03:58] How can you trust someone on social media? You've never met George says in fact that would suggest the last person whose opinion you should trust about being an expat is someone who sits on his Deadass all day in front of a computer monitor vast majority of people given tips and pointers and writing on the expat subject are not out there experiencing expat life themselves or Probably not any life at all. Frankly many have only been in and out of Latin America for a very short time Yet anybody who's been in Tulum for a month thinks he's an expert and suddenly boom They've got an expat blog and some people once they come down to Latin America They've got no hobbies and they get bored rather quickly and the easiest way to get on board is to start blogging about being an expert Expat and soon enough you'll get a little following and all the serotonin rushes that come with the likes the texts and the banter
[04:49] That's how uninteresting slugs and couch potatoes become almost famous. Have you seen tick-tock lately? Then Georgia says understand that Twitter and local Facebook pages for expats and gringos You shouldn't trust a lot of the people on there Sure They're good for getting references for restaurants buying used cars and refrigerators and sometimes for making like-minded friends But for anything legal or technical as for advice and information They shouldn't be trusted since you never know how many of these guys are out there to get their 15 minutes of fame and are Basically BS'ers in love with their own voices and texts Most of these guys have been down only a short period of time and are flying by the seat of their pants Then he says as for Twitter and Facebook. They certainly aren't places for serious discussions about anything
[05:35] Alright, that was George from deep in the email pile, which reminds me of Ernie Hemingway's cardinal rule You know, he lived in Cuba a long long time He said always keep your bullshit detector on high thing is when you're down here as a newbie How do you know which brings us to this email by mr. G who's been living in Latin America for five years now? He said Johnny I came down to Central America a couple years back and I love it But you have to understand a few things there will be an expat honeymoon and it will end at first He says like me you'll be enthralled with the scenery the culture the food the pageantry you name it everything I mean everything including taking a walk out in your backyard will be a new adventure You'll get excited about things on a daily even hourly basis and that's a good thing
[06:20] Especially if you're coming from a boring rudderless life up in the States But for many if not most of us who come down the gringo honeymoons like lust at first sight You know how that usually turns out you must be realistic and understand that the bloom eventually fades from the rose soon enough You'll get back down to the real business of life and all its little inconveniences He says at some point after a couple of months you realize the basics of life don't change much no matter where you are There's still bills to pay the traffic pisses you off you get hangovers when you drink too much and there will come a time It happened to me about five months in He says when I said to myself have I lost my mind. Why did I come down here? That's when you start to think about how your friends and family back home told you it was a bad idea
[07:06] And that's the point when a lot of us expat newbies We have a long come to Jesus moment with ourselves. We get stubborn we get tough and say to ourselves I'm not going back to Cincinnati with my tail between my legs then pride stubbornness and sometimes Embarrassment kicks in though. I came alone in my Spanish sucked couples I've noticed seem to fare better when they come to Jesus moment arrives You've got someone to lean on in those moments doubt so yes, you will question your sanity, but Imagine the people you left back home and what their world has turned into in the last couple years They have a thousand more reasons to question their sanity than you ever will because you escaped pal And they didn't then he says I've learned a good lesson not to compare everything down here with the things and the way things were
[07:56] Back in Cincinnati though. It's true. He says even after a couple of years down here You never completely get over making comparisons. We're hardwired to do it It's an American thing and like you say Johnny an indispensable part of our gringo advantage without it We wouldn't have that big advantage in doing business here The thing you have to work on and I did is not to continually wine But about the fact that I can't find my favorite wine or famous famous cookies You have to get used to the fact that it's always gonna take five minutes to get hot water out of that suicide shower hit You know Latin America attracts a lot of malcontents and losers to people who are pissed off at just about everything I run into them all the time guys and gals who've suffered multiple divorces Bankruptcy tax problems with permanent ties back home like loser adult kids forever sucking money out of them problem is
[08:47] Once you get together with some expats, especially the ones have made it over the six-month hump as I call it It's a completely different conversation than one you might have with some brand newbies Conversations can quickly degenerate into a complaint fest with expats trying to outdo each other's most Ridiculous story then he said one thing I found on becoming a successful Expat is that giving up on Spanish is not an option if you say to everyone you've tried and failed and are done with it That could be a recipe for going back to Cincinnati with your tail between your legs Sure, you'll get frustrated. You might quit going to Spanish schools You might throw your Pimsler CDs into the bonfire or shit can your Spanish tutor But let me tell you it's a miserable way to go through life in Latin America
[09:32] Always having to have a bilingual person on hand to translate for you my biggest fear Johnny And I'm over it now was that I would never be able to comfortably get out of the gringo bubble So many gringos, I know are trapped in it, but it's a trap of their own making anyway Johnny Keep up the good work signed Kenny Wow Kenny you hit the nail on the head there in fact I remember a couple of times being in a hotel on the second or third floor Looking out my window over the Central Park in a little Latin American town not knowing anyone no cell phone no internet They didn't exist back then meaning of course no Google Translate There I was all alone clutching my dog-eared pocket Webster's Spanish English dictionary with my Spanish back then about a one And I soon realized your Spanish has to be about a three or four to get by off the gringo tourist trail
[10:22] That is if you're all alone So it is true your expat honeymoon will end and you will have buyers remorse I did but remember no matter how much you might want to throw in the towel You've got it so much better and have so many more advantages than I had when I first came down now I know what a lot of you are thinking. Well, you're Johnny. You're that adventurous Explorer Trudgeon damn the torpedoes type But remember that was 30 years ago way before the US entered into chaotic uncharted territory Before the fall sees the lockdowns the massive stimulus programs the inflation the mega trillion dollar deficits the Twitter mobs and the rise of the Toxic woke stirs you see if I would have thrown in the towel and gone back to Chicago with my tail between my legs
[11:08] I'd have been going back to a first world that was still somewhat normal and predictable But that was then consider this if you come down to Latin America as a newbie and Decide to throw in the towel for whatever reason you'd have to seriously ask yourself Why in the hell would I ever want to go back to Cleveland or Milwaukee besides that these days here in Latin America? You got all the big box stores all the franchises, you know, love and hate are down here. We've got fast reliable Internet extremely cheap great health care fantastic markets with unlimited produce and for better for worse Amazon and all the e stores too not to mention what newbies often call their lifeline Google Translate In other words talk about a soft landing to me looking back. It almost seems too easy to get the hell out of dodge
[11:53] Oh and one thing that's not often mentioned but when I first moved down to Latin America one of the unexpected pleasures of being down here was that I was able to Eliminate all those time vampires and negative people all of us seem to accumulate in our lives somewhere along the line I know you're thinking of a few right now. Well, it's not as if we seek those people out They seem to find us or they might be relatives or childhood friends or next door neighbors Don't get me wrong. There are lots of them down here in Latin America, too But I found in you will too There's no better way to start with a fresh slate then to get to hell out of dodge It's a way to rewrite and recreate your own life If you want to and it's a way to get really anonymous and get back under that radar again Problem is i've seen so many gringles and expats who've had the chance to start all over
[12:42] You know dump all the toxic social media hangers on coming on down was their chance to start fresh And they screwed it up. They dove right back into social media Found a new bunch of toxic friends online hooked up with a bunch of toxic gringo facebook expat groups So all you newbies and wannabes think about it. Don't let that happen to you It's easy to see how it happens. Of course, because gringles who come down Especially if their spanish completely sucks. They crave other gringo company And where do they find these creatures on gringo expat fake book and twitter meetup groups online? And for your information i'm not on any twitter or fake book group. I'm not on instagram None of it. I know some of you are thinking what a luddite. How can he survive? Hmm pretty damn. Well, thank you very much
[13:31] Funny thing is people tell me all the time how the fake book and twitter mob are beating me up all the time Saying all kinds of crap about me. Yeah me johnny. There are toxic wokester blog sites attacking me all the time They say i'm a bigot a racist. I attack latin people. I'm a zionist an anti-zionist sexist anti-lgb Twtf i'm a white supremacist. I dodged the draft even though there isn't one The alphabetic agencies are after me been married and divorced seven or eight times I teach gringles and expats how to take advantage of latinos and I eat their children and drink their blood Hmm. No way man. It's too salty. So how much do I pay attention to that stuff? Well, everyone who's on the internet who has any kind of presence at all and i've got millions of downloads They have the toxic wokesters and twitter mobs after them comes with the territory thing is and i've said this many times before
[14:21] 99 of the haters out there have never been to latin america They've never stepped foot down here except maybe the cancun and that's not latin america And they've got their version of what it's like down here from other twitter fools who've never had any boots on the ground either Funny thing too i've been doing seminars for around 11 years now and i've always had a number of repeat offenders How can you explain that that sort of says it all doesn't it and should close the case on the haters? But it won't because you know, the twitter mob will say all kinds of things on twitter They'd never say to your face because they'd get a broken nose or worse out of it Now if there was such a thing as a repeat offender twitter account or repeat offender fake book site Believe me that would shut up the fakers and the haters in a hurry But they do need something to be offended about and the truth is not kind
[15:09] It's often offensive But I suspect the hate will keep coming as the wokesters and boomerang millennials woke gen xers too Burn the midnight oil in their mommy's basements Even sadder is the fact that most entitled wokesters are addicted to freebies and money for nothing All of them counting on inheriting the house when their baby boomer parents crow What a twisted world those wokesters live in, huh? But back to that expat honeymoon thing The thing is first thing you want to do when you come down to latin america is develop a network Gringos and expats who've been around ones that are Bilingual or close to it people you can depend on people who live in and around the area you're going to relocate in Real new friends with a lot of knowledge. You can't put a price on that Oh and the latest thing I see which is kind of infuriating is so many gringos and expats almost always newbies
[16:00] Become addicted to google translate not good Oh, and by the way about repeat offenders you come back a second third fourth time Yep, some people come four different times to the seminar Well, we always like to see our new friends again So when you come back again, you get a thousand dollars off the regular seminar price, but you knew that already, right? By the way, just looking at this article at a market watch it says 60 percent of americans making 40 000 bucks a year or more Live paycheck to paycheck seems hard to believe, huh? But you know, there's this thing called lifestyle creep and it's very real you've probably experienced it I have when your income increases so does your real and frivolous spending too It can happen so gradually and almost harmlessly That it's hard to notice until it gets out of control. For example, just think about starbucks
[16:47] Now i've got two sisters that are absolutely addicted to it They spend at least six bucks a day on some kind of mocha frappa latte java now take six bucks by 360 days give or take that my friends is over 2000 bucks a year and guess what that's very close to the yearly minimum wage in most all latin american countries Of course in the states when you hit a certain income 60 70 80 100 grand year, whatever you buy a new car Not a used one, right? And it's never cash always financed and last year the average cost of a new car in the states 42 grand And according to the popular housing platform relitter.com the medium rent in the 50 largest metro areas in the united states for a one-bedroom apartment Was 1600 dollars Of course, if you're stuck in new york city san francisco or the high-end areas of places like chicago miami
[17:36] Whatever be prepared to pay double that for a modest one bedroom That means up in the states. Anyway, you could easily spend half of your after tax income Just on rent even if you're pulling in 100 grand That's just one of the hundreds of reasons why moving to latin america makes so much sense Where you've got beautiful one and two bedroom apartments in really nice areas even gated garter communities going for Four five or 600 bucks a month In fact, I was just talking to one of my good old buddies mr Be you know the guy that teaches english to chinese students online He and his family of four have been living in guadamala for five or six years now And he's decided not to live in a gated garter community, but right with the real people Of course, that means it's a little noisy guys hawking fruit on carts in front of your place at six in the morning
[18:24] Roosters crowing at the crack of dawn and all that and he's paying slightly under 200 bucks a month for his three-bedroom apartment again It's in no gated garter community But hey the neighborhood may look a little chaotic and scruffy But your home is your castle and if you want you could really trick it out inside Thing is, you know, mr Be is doing quite well with his teaching chinese kids english business So he could afford to move way on up, but he's smart and he's not going to be a victim of lifestyle creep Anyway, just a little update here from mr. Be on teaching chinese kids english online Now you might remember maybe six months ago. I mentioned that the chinese government shut the whole operation down It was something like a 50 billion dollar a year industry, too But the chinese government, you know, they do what they want
[19:10] They're totalitarian just like they banned crypto bitcoin and bitcoin miners They shut down the english teaching business online, too However, mr. Be says it hasn't hurt his business one bit hasn't made a dent Why because there are hacks there are workarounds. He says you just work through a vpn, you know an internet ip changer Along with a few other simple tricks and mr. Be says he's been busier than ever In fact, he says he turns down work now Remember he makes between 20 and 30 dollars an hour teaching english to mostly chinese kids online and it might add tax free So from what he says they're back in business Meaning don't despair if you had that idea on your bucket list and when you heard chinese government shut it down You felt like you've been gut punched. Well, it just ain't so
[19:56] So anyway, if you want to know more about it, send me an email the expat files at gmail.com and i'll shoot you off Mr. Be's contact info and he'll train you up and think about it I've said this many times you could live a real nice first world life down here on a measly social security check 1500 bucks a month for a single person that is that means for a family of four to live a very nice First world lifestyle down here around 25 or 30 grand a year Provided lifestyle creep as mentioned is not an issue Now that's not to say inflation has not kicked in down here in latin america There are some countries that completely stay away from because they have that rampant inflation For example brazil and argentina with 50 percent year-over-year inflation and of course venezuela whose inflation numbers are in the stratosphere Now, you know in the states the lying government inflation figures are around seven percent this year, right?
[20:45] The highest is spent in 30 or 40 years, but actually it's double that for sure Just check out that site called shadow stats dot com where they calculate the real rate of inflation Like it was calculated for the last hundred years or so You know a few years back government inflation analysts eliminated fuel and housing from the stats You don't use any fuel. You don't live in a house, right? But those are not included in the government's inflation numbers Oh they were prior to the 80s but they took them out because The government would have been bankrupted by the cost of living increases guaranteed to social security recipients and government employees So now the artificially calculated inflation numbers are around half of what they really are But more and more people in the know are realizing it's just pure bs If you're listening to this show you knew that already by the way speaking of brazil
[21:34] I get a lot of inquiries about brazil. The question is why on earth would brazilian president jar bolson aro Tell his people in a press conference that everyone should buy a rifle Saying and here's his translation quote Everybody has to buy a rifle. Damn it. The armed people will never be enslaved He said I know it costs a lot, but an idiot will tell you ah what you have to buy is beans Not a rifle Well, if you don't want to don't buy a rifle, but don't stand in the way of anyone who wants to buy one So then why would he come out and say such a thing? No, i'm not against it at all I have guns, but it's an odd thing for a president of a huge country like that to say Oh, but there's more he says quote in a country with more than half the population under food insecurity And in the midst of a new increase in the price of food gasoline electricity, etc
[22:23] He says now is the time to buy a gun So what's it all about? It's about that 50 Year over year inflation. I was talking about in fact The brazilian real has lost more than half of its value in the last couple of years It's that malignant government addiction to spending again and rolling the printing presses So you've got a country whose currency is collapsing food prices are hyperinflating And it looks like president bolsonaro is preparing the populace for further impending socioeconomic chaos and political and social crisis You think he's a politician so he is a liar But at least he's not lying 100 of the time like the likes of nancy pelosi occasional cortex Mad maxine waters and brain dead sock puppet biden
[23:09] In fact everyone in that toxic wasteland known as the u.s Congress are sociopathic maggots, which is sort of an insult to maggots. Don't you think? Hmm the u.s congress where god's own mistakes and biggest turds live and flourish I know i'm repeating myself, but it really is an insult to the lowly turd And finally we have an email that kind of spells out reason 2447 through 89 why you really have to get the hell out of dodge while you still can This from a russian guy named karn with a k living in panama He says johnny Would your listeners like a strong warning to get the hell out of dodge from a russian living in panama? He says johnny, of course It's easy for me a non-american to criticize the united states and the rest of the first world
[23:58] I as a russian expat lose nothing by suggesting that you who live in the united states a country That's in state of dramatic decline should plan your exit as soon as possible Again, I gain nothing by saying this Though I understand what it takes because i've gone through it myself That you will be leaving your home your job and possibly your loved family members behind as for me I'm comfortably settled in my own new latin country panama And have been thriving here for the past four years. I speak spanish with a russian accent Now you might ask what gives me the right to even talk about americans leaving their country Well, it's rather easy for me because I know lots of americans who have already left and are living in panama Those who have picked up their courage and made an exit to friendlier more promising shores ie panama
[24:50] Though not surprisingly They tend to be very disappointed and negative towards the united states that they left Even though they tend to be very positive people in general That seems to be true with almost all of the americans i've met here Though most panama latinos i've met think the ultimate place on earth is the united states latinos are woefully uninformed On the other hand, I see the same things happening in the united states in slow motion as I saw in russia I live there before and during the collapse and because it's happening in slow motion in the us and europe It's that old frog in the water pot analogy when freedoms are slowly not quickly being chipped away The majority of the population doesn't like it, but they adapt
[25:36] So it's difficult to entertain the idea to americans who've lived up in the united states all their lives That they have an option to escape the oppression of an overreaching government and don't let's forget There's a collapsing economic system and perpetual warfare always looming in the background So leaving america and indeed leaving russia as I did was a lonely pursuit For anyone to actually raise himself up to see the forest for the trees is in itself a major feat Then to actually conceive of and then plan an actual exit to greener pastures is an even harder one In total it took four years of planning for me to get out of russia That's not to say that the us is alone in its deterioration towards a totalitarian state The countries of the eeu and many others of the former free world are also in great decline
[26:25] However, the us and the uk do lead the way in their orwellian surveillance techniques At this point the us government does not even deny its heavy surveillance in orwellian tradition They merely state quote if you got nothing to hide you need not fear your government And just as in the book 1984 fear of your government is exactly the point I know from all those years living in russia people who live in fear are easily controlled They stay put and take whatever is dished out And the public educational system ties it all together in a nice orwellian knot In the end johnny, I rather like and admire the americans i've met in panama And almost none of them are merely visitors or popping back and forth in the states
[27:13] Most all of them have made panama their permanent home Then he finishes up ps johnny. I'm no admirer of mr. Putin though I've many russian friends who are neutral or at least are thinking what's the alternative? Signed mr. K Well, thanks for that. Mr. K. Who'd have thought even russians listen to this show You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america If you need some help with your own plan b we can schedule a one-on-one phone or skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week long expat insider seminar in central america Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan b. Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com No spamos