#931 – The Expat Files: Cultural Insights, Honest Challenges, and Global Financial Trends

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 out to play and now 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 Hey, you know we talk about the happiness factor here in Latin America and certainly people are happy it exists Even with poor folks living in shacks and barefoot kids on the street. They're smiling and happy most of the time All right, so Latin Americans get big points for happiness, but what about honesty?

[00:50] That's a different story altogether. I'll tell you you know after being down here a couple of decades now I discovered that most Latin Americans generally tell you what you want to hear because they're not used to confrontation Oh, that's not to say they don't fight amongst each other. You know people do families do etc Who doesn't but when it comes to dealing with extra and heroes that strangers or gringos or Europeans or people from another country? Latinos have a way of dealing and negotiating with you that often is not what it turned out to be When you first started up the discussion, for example many times I've mentioned that site olex.com That's the Craigslist throughout Latin America and nearly every Latin country has its own but man I'll tell you the honesty factor is just not there Need proof just the other day. I was on olex.com looking to buy myself a table saw

[01:42] Yeah, I got myself involved in another project. I promised myself. I was done with all that but Sometimes you like to do certain things yourself instead of hiring people that is if you got the skills Because you think or you know you can do it better and as for me every time I've owned a house or I stayed one place for more than a year or so I started collecting tools because I hate Borrowing tools and I hate having the wrong tool for the wrong purpose and I'll tell you if you go on olex.com You'll find every single tool imaginable. In fact, you'll find just about anything including exercise equipment Kitchen appliances cars gardening stuff even dogs cats snakes and driveway chickens you name the item or product They've got it in spades. Alright, so the other day I'm on olex.com and I see a really nice DeWalt table saw I'm talking about a contractor's grade saw that you could buy an Amazon

[02:34] New for around 500 bucks or so, but I'm not looking for anything new. I mean, that's why you go on olex.com It's all about selling and buying you stuff and right now I'm looking to get a nice song of course these things weigh a ton I'm thinking maybe 50 pounds that means if you go the usual route of ordering it on Amazon It gets sent to your Miami mailbox They forward it to your Latin country and you got to pay by the pound Let's say you pay five bucks a pound you're looking at 250 bucks totally out of the question besides that you paid duties On anything over 200 bucks. Remember recent past shows where I've mentioned that so in order to get around that either You screw around with the receipts and try to Jimmy with that using Photoshop or you're gonna pay some import taxes

[03:20] So really it's not feasible at all to buy something big like a table saw from Amazon and having it shipped out You're much better off buying something slightly used on olex.com Because even if the price seems a little high you're not paying the shipping and the taxes etc. Now, it's true You go to one of the local hardware stores. Yeah, they've got big hardware stores throughout Latin America Especially in the large cities. You'll probably find the saw you're looking for or practically anything you're looking for for that matter But if it's a real heavy piece It's bound to be half again as much than what you'd pay for a new one on Amazon Because inevitably somewhere along the way the hardware store had to pay taxes shipping and make a profit, too But do know it when it comes to people selling electronics and appliances on olex.com as well as tools

[04:06] There's a good percentage of people selling stuff there who bought it originally in the states when they were on a trip or a visit And they packed it up brought it on back with them when they flew back to their home country Because frequent flyers know even frequent latino flyers that you could package up pretty much anything That's less than 60 pounds and bring it through as a piece of stowed luggage for something like 50 to 100 bucks And if you're allowed one stowed bag Sometimes what you bought up in the states will be that stowed bag So you pay nothing to bring it back and then when you land and get your baggage You usually can go straight through customs without paying any duty on it because the custom guys at the airport Do cut you some slack if you're only bringing one box that's got some new stuff in it

[04:52] However, if you bring in more than one or two boxes at a time, they're liable to nail you Yep, they'll let one box slide even if what's in it is new and in the box like a brand new TV Which I don't recommend I always say why take chances if you buy something in the states brand new and you're gonna bring it down Like a TV stereo amplifier microwave, whatever I suggest you take it apart get rid of all the original plastic bags repackage it in another box Tape it up like an amateur and if they ask any questions Just tell them it's used because used things almost always get through the airport customs without paying duty That is if you're bringing it through as a piece of luggage with you as you arrive I've personally done that with drills saws guitars amplifiers big heavy stuff I packed in boxes as stowed luggage and I've never had any problem

[05:38] All right, but back to the honesty factor we originally started with so I'm on olex.com. I find a really terrific saw it's 550 bucks new on Amazon totally out the question for me because the shipping and Possible duties will bring it up to almost a grand. No way. I'm not a professional contractor anything I just want something around that I can use on occasion I don't need a brand new table so and I don't want to pay a grand for it either Like expat Eddie always says if you're gonna cut your fingers off or put your eye out do it with your own tools Which begs the question? Why do moms always say don't do that. You'll put your eye out I kind of think if your eye got whacked it would go in not out Alright, so I found this cool saw with a stand the seller posted four or five pictures on olex.com

[06:24] It's obviously used but in decent shape. Well, you can't ever tell so you see it in person So I shoot him a chat message, you know olex.com It lets you chat back and forth with the seller and I said how much now remember all this is going down in Spanish We're talking olex.com. It's a Spanish language version of Craigslist Now that's another thing. I don't get about Latinos They'll put something up on olex.com or in the classified news ads and they won't put up price Or they'll put a price that obviously doesn't make sense like two bucks or zero dollars I'd say that occurs about half the time and it drives us Gringo's and expats completely nuts Why don't they just put down a starting price because you have to start somewhere and you know, everything's negotiable And it's especially annoying when they do it with cars and houses

[07:11] Come on, would you do that put an ad for a house or a car and not include the price? Isn't that the basic rule for selling stuff? It should never be necessary that you have to waste your time asking The and you wonder why people call it the third world Well, I'd say at least half the Latinos posting stuff for sale don't get it and what's worse when they post pictures on olex.com I'd say about every fourth or fifth photo is useless often shifted 90 even 180 degrees from the horizontal That means you have to tip your head sideways or upside down to get the picture But then again when you see a photo like that, you know, what kind of guy you're dealing with So anyway, I text this Latino guy about that saw he shoots back a price of six hundred bucks

[07:57] Yeah, right a hundred bucks more than a brand new one on Amazon Of course along with the six hundred bucks. He put the word Negotiable negotiable. Yeah, like you really have to say that So then how did I respond? Well, I went on Amazon and I copied a few of the pages that had those saws for sale for around 500 bucks or so I wanted to give him a few links so he'd have some proof and I said to him look I can get a brand new One on Amazon for a hundred dollars cheaper than your used one. I said, here's the proof. How low will you go? Then he said 500 and I said 300 and he said come on over and look at it and that's where we are right now I haven't really seen it yet, but I can tell you this it's not gonna be in perfect condition

[08:42] Latinos are not into maintenance or doing a makeover on things they plan to sell They usually put them online with the pictures Worts, grime, grunge, kookarotches and all and the real funny thing is they always put the condition of the item as new like new little used that's poco uso or Nitido and of course new means it's never been used right at least it does to me Still in the box or in original wrapping and like new what's that mean to you out of the box and maybe used just a couple of Times right and then there's that all-important catch-all phrase for the condition of anything Nitido that's n-i-t-d-o Nitido which technically means used but very well taken care of But in reality could mean anything from used and well taken care of to a complete piece of junk

[09:31] The fact is getting back to the original point Latinos are not as honest or trustworthy as gringos that comes from my own experience and the dozens and dozens of stories I've heard from gringos and expats Now I'm not saying that some gringos and expats or some North Americans don't pull exactly the same thing look It's a human foible that we all somehow think our Possessions are worth more than they really are and we think they're in better condition than they really are too Look none of us wants to believe when he buys a new car that it instantly Depreciates a couple of thousand bucks in value as soon as you drive it off the lot We've all heard that but we don't want to believe it. Oh, we'll believe it when it's somebody else's car But not our car right? Oh and another interesting thing about the honesty factor here in Latin America If you've got a house or a place where you have a cleaning lady your gardener or maintenance guy

[10:20] I guarantee if you're living in that place long enough a window or break or a lamp or some dishes or knick-knacks Will hit the floor break and suddenly disappear or there might be a brand new telltale Paint mark or oil spill in the garage and when you ask your help about it chances are and I've seen this plenty of times Myself they'll all be in denial No one did it. It was an act of God and acto de Dios But someone did it. They're just not talking and I think I know why that is For example, if you're cleaning lady breaks something and admits to it Their Latino bosses will often take it out of their salary So naturally if no one catches them in the act they go into denial So the honesty scale is kind of a sliding scale depending on circumstances Which brings us to this email that directly addresses that very thing this comes from Benny living down in Panama

[11:13] He says dear Johnny sometime ago on your podcast You talked about Latinos who lie and or take advantage of gringos and expats with a straight face I'm talking specifically about Latinos who hit you with gringo prices and when you catch him in the act They give you that innocent child like look Somehow they weren't really trying to rip you off Even though you were standing right there when the customer before you received Latino prices And then you stepped up and they nailed you with the gringo price Then many says that happens to me all the time here in Panama But luckily I have been down here five years now and I speak enough Spanish So they usually can't pull that one on me too often then he says Johnny It's interesting to see how honesty and gringo prices do not go hand in hand

[11:59] In fact some years ago the Economist magazine did what they call a European honesty test Very interesting. They did it by leaving a wallet with a fair amount of cash in it They also included clear contact details of the owner right inside They did the same test in practically all the capital cities in Europe both east and west The test of course was to see how many wallets were returned And they found that the Scandinavians returned almost all of the wallets And the Italians and Spaniards returned almost none Turns out Johnny there was a very clear what you might call honesty gradient An imaginary line you could cut right through Europe dividing it into the north and south With northern Europeans being much more honest as far as the wallet test

[12:46] Same thing for eastern Europe though in general they were less honest than the western Europeans Then he says Johnny by coincidence not so long ago I found a wallet Besides some rubbish bins with around 500 bucks in it and some credit cards One was from my own Panama bank So on my next visit to the bank guy told him about it gave him my phone number And soon got a call from the owner a pure-blooded Spanish guy And his reaction was number one to check that the money was still in the wallet Two to thank me and say not many people would do what I did And three he gave me two bottles of wine as a thank you gift And after that I checked his reaction with my latina secretary And asked her what she would have done

[13:32] She was dead honest all right Considering we're talking about honesty and lack of it here She said if I would have found it regalo de dios Meaning she'd look at it like a gift from God In other words in that case it would never get back to the owner Well maybe minus the dough Now Johnny I've done some thinking about this thing I believe there are several degrees of dishonesty Depending on the moment when temptation to be dishonest or not arises For example suppose you're in a variety store and you're buying a shirt You're looking through the rack and you see some expensive Izot gas or hill figure shirts going for 50 or 60 bucks apiece Then suddenly you notice one of those shirts is mismarked at 15 bucks That's when the moment of temptation arises

[14:19] You could grab that shirt and take it to the checkout Fully knowing if they catch the error there you can't be held responsible Something like that is certainly on the scale of dishonest subterfuge But nothing like outright stealing or changing the price tags yourself So then is honesty always the best policy? Well suppose you get pulled over by a state trooper and he says Have you been drinking? You realize he probably smells it on you Did you tell him yes I've had three or four Or should you tell him yes I had one or two In that case 100% honesty just might not be the best policy Seems to me Johnny the more intelligent you are The more adept you would be at calculating The possible negative consequences of personal dishonesty And you'll also be considering if you're highly intelligent

[15:06] You've got a lot more to lose if you get caught And that also figures greatly into the mind's calculations However if you put Americans in a situation where they don't like their job As you spelled out in a previous podcast 60 to 80 percent of Americans don't I'd say most of those wouldn't mind gouging or getting revenge on Their employer if they could get away with it But as for ripping off customers themselves I don't think most Americans would go for that However when you're a gringo in Latin America You got to watch out because you will get gouged for gringo prices It's one of the national pastimes here in Panama Even though the people here are friendlier, happier And seem by all accounts to like their jobs That's my story Johnny Signed Panama Beni

[15:52] Well thanks for that Panama Ben You know I have to agree with most of what you're saying there On occasion I get nailed for gringo prices too When I catch them and call them out They never seem to be embarrassed or ashamed It's as if they're playing a game with you They'll just give you a giggle and a little smile that seems to say Oops you caught me gringo Can't blame a guy for trying Now think about if the shoe was on the other foot Suppose you're a businessman up in Cleveland A client walks in, asks for a toaster And you just double or triple the price on him Well I don't think if down the line he figures it out And he comes back in and points a finger at you You're going to be able to smile and say Well you can't blame a guy for trying Needless to say things will get serious There won't be any laughs Oh and by the way I mentioned I've been on olex.com Looking at SARS right

[16:37] Well I also was scrolling through the tools Household items and furniture at olex.com.gt For Guatemala And I came across the site Where a guy's selling shipping containers Yep maritime shipping containers He's got 20, 40 and 45 foot containers for sale And get this A thousand bucks a crack And it says here too he'll deliver Though I don't think they'll deliver to Jersey or Cleveland Anyway he's got plenty of pictures up there And he says he's got plenty of empty containers available immediately Both on the Pacific port side of Guatemala And the Atlantic or Caribbean side So why am I mentioning this Well because you know You can always modify those things And make offices, houses, garages, storage units

[17:24] Even restaurants and Airbnbs out of them Your options are practically unlimited Because you can stack those things up And move them around like Lego blocks And there are plenty of construction outfits and contractors That are used to working with those things They're no longer the oddball do it yourself cheap housing option You once only saw in Mother Jones or Popular Mechanics magazine In fact container buildings are beyond being a cult now They've got hundreds of websites devoted to them And glossy monthly magazines you can buy at the newsstand or in the supermarket Just thought I'd bring it up since I do get emails mentioning the container thing Because Latin America is a perfect place to get creative with them Though there are two things you have to keep in mind Number one You never want to have any part of that container in the direct sun

[18:10] Because they're metal And the sun is penetrating here in Latin America If it catches just the tiniest amount of sun You'll fry and if you have AC it'll never turn off Second big tip Always plan to have a roof over your container Let that take the sun Nothing fancy It doesn't have to be connected to the container at all It's just that if you don't have a roof When it rains the noise will be deafening Just think about what it sounds like when you're in your car And a downpour comes Anyway if you're interested Just send me an email at theexpertfiles at gmail.com And I'll hook you up with the link to this company that sells Containers for a thousand bucks a pop in Guatemala When it seems every country in Latin America that borders The Atlantic, the Caribbean, or the Pacific

[18:56] Has a few companies that'll sell you empty used containers You can check them out for yourself by going to olex.com.whatever country you're interested in For example it fits guadamal that's olex.com.gt GT being the abbreviation for Guatemala All right changing gears again Let's talk about money Real money like gold and crypto Bitcoin and such Versus fake money You know funny money like the US dollar I know you're well aware that every government in the world Would like to kill Bitcoin and the cryptocurrencies Because they don't get their cut And the banks absolutely hate them too Because they don't get their cut You know every wire transfer costs from 40 to 100 bucks Depending on which countries you're sending it back and forth to

[19:41] And the banks in the US always get a piece We're talking about the New York intermediary banks Who are part of the swift system On top of that you have to play the waiting game It takes two, three, even four days to get your money transferred Then there's those know your customer laws Where'd the money come from? What's it being used for? Who's it going to? And on and on And these days if your money's in the bank It's not necessarily yours And even if it's in your hand or pocket or purse The US government can't take it And they're doing more and more of that lately Why? Well one of the big reasons is because the government's broke It's technically bankrupt And also remember that state troopers, the DEA, sheriffs, and local police If they confiscate money Their department gets to keep a piece of it As screwed up as that may sound That's the law

[20:26] Now the headline on this article Just came out a week or so ago Is DEA Seizes Women's Bag of Cash It was her dad's life savings It starts by saying The DEA, who confiscated a Pennsylvania man's life savings Will not return it Even though he's neither accused nor suspected of a crime He was just a guy who kept his money in a box rather than in a bank What the DEA did was legal It's called civil asset forfeiture This is how agents seized $82,373 Belonging to 79-year-old Terry Rawlin of Pittsburgh And why he and his daughter are now suing the feds To get the money back The rest of the story is this For many years, Rawlin, a retired railroad engineer

[21:13] Socked away his money in cash in his basement Just like his parents always did His parents, having been through the Great Depression Were suspect of banks, he said And this was just a habit that carried through from his father to him Says Rebecca Brown, Rawlin's daughter So last year, Mr. Rawlin moved out of his family home into an apartment He didn't feel comfortable with that much cash lying around So he asked his daughter, who was visiting him in August, to deposit the cash in a joint account His daughter said Between my grandparents and my father, they'd set aside a bit over $80,000 We were going to utilize the money to have my dad receive some dental care That he was in dire need of And also to do some of his truck repairs She said it all went downhill When she decided she didn't have time to go to the bank in Pittsburgh

[22:00] Before catching a Monday morning flight to Boston She lives in Lowell, Massachusetts She said she checked online to confirm That she could carry that much cash on a domestic commercial flight Yes, the airline said it was legal But it could raise eyebrows And it did What happened next was both unfair and unconstitutional According to the Institute of Justice An outfit that filed the lawsuit for her and him against the DEA and TSA Now, the TSA officers at Pittsburgh International Airport pulled her aside So that a state trooper could question her about the cash She said, the trooper came and asked me a bunch of questions Like, what are you doing with the money? Where are you taking it? Where did it come from? Eventually, the police let her proceed to the gate with her carry-on bag full of cash

[22:46] But later, that same trooper and a DEA agent stopped her before she could board the flight The agent questioned Brown and asked her to dial up her father Get him on the phone So I dialed my father, she said Who was awakened and quite confused and upset But he answered all the questions Still, the DEA agent was not satisfied Then he turned around and said, your answers don't match I'm seizing the cash Turns out I was the last person on the plane with everyone staring at me That was August 26, 2019 A month and a half later, in mid-October, the DEA informed Brown and Rowland That the agency would be permanently seizing the cash under its asset forfeiture program Now, this is how the DEA describes the asset forfeiture program

[23:31] On its own website The asset forfeiture is a tool in our country's battle against drug abuse Helping to shut down pill mills and stop rogue doctors and pharmacists as well as dealers Forfeiture, particularly civil forfeiture, is a very effective tool Against drug crimes committed for profit Now, the sneaky thing is, on the DEA's part, is that neither Rowland nor Brown Are suspected of being drug dealers or having anything to do with drugs at all However, in civil forfeiture cases, the DEA makes a claim against the money itself Not the people carrying it, not the purported owners So, the whole thing is a technicality A criminal case and conviction aren't required to take the money

[24:18] After all, the money's not human, it can't defend itself So, in the end, it's a catch-22 Because they'll take the money even though no one's been charged with a crime It's the same type of confiscation that happens every day with highway patrol stops Then it says, apparently, when you board a plane The DEA assumes that you're giving up your constitutional rights But that's a false assumption As it turns out, flying with any amount of cash is completely legal But once again, we see government agents treating American citizens like criminals Unfortunately, today, the government considers certain amounts of cash as suspicious By the way, you know when you fill out that boarding or landing card They always ask you if you have more than $10,000 in cash or negotiable instruments

[25:07] If you have more than 10K on you and check the box that says yes You are following their rules and though they can ask you questions You're not hiding anything or committing any crime You check the box as required, build out the form, and thus everything should be legal But according to the DEA, just having over $10,000 is suspicious activity And of course you must know by now that if your bills are not new and squeaky clean They all have cocaine residue on them That is the present state of all large denomination US bills Speaking of contamination Here's another reason cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are looking Oh, so much better for transactions in the future Listen to this According to a Beijing, China news feed that came out just yesterday

[25:53] The Chinese government is disinfecting and isolating used Yuan bank notes as part of their efforts to stop the coronavirus It's the virus in the news these days that appears to have killed more people than they're telling us It says Chinese banks have been ordered to use ultraviolet light and high temperatures to disinfect Yuan bills and then seal and store the cash for 7 to 14 days before circulating it again with the quarantine period depending on the severity of the outbreak in the particular region According to the deputy governor of China's central bank As of Saturday, February 15th, banks have been required to issue all new bank notes Meanwhile, the Chinese people are not trusting their government or the bank notes preferring mobile payments and crypto payments over cash

[26:41] I mean, really, who would have thunk that a virus would push the case for cryptocurrency? But, you know, it's logical Cryptos are virtual, you can't touch or see them All right, we're getting towards the end of the show now So I won't have time to tell you some late breaking news in the continuing saga of our friend Ex-Pad Eddie He hasn't been around for a while But he's recently surfaced with some rather ugly personal news We'll spill it for you here on the next show because we talk about the good, the bad, the ugly and the great, right? Oh, and don't forget to pick up my newly edited and revised Latin American health care report You'll find it at my new website expatplanb.com Oh, and in the next week, I'll be posting the dates for my upcoming Ex-Pad insider seminar It'll kick off this summer, somewhere around July 10th

[27:27] So stay tuned, more details to come at expatplanb.com You've been listening to the Ex-Pad 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, theexpatfiles at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long Ex-Pad 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, theexpatfiles at gmail.com Nos vamos