Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller explores the unique way Latin Americans categorize gringos and gringas, highlighting how some Latin Americans who have migrated to the U.S. and obtained citizenship or legal status often feel more American than Latin American. He shares anecdotes from his experiences at all-inclusive resorts like Decameron, where he noticed that many people raising their hands when asked if they're from the U.S. are actually Latinos who have moved to the U.S. and feel a strong connection to their new country. Johnny also touches on the economic and social dynamics of these individuals, who often return to their home countries to show off their success and legal status.
Johnny Mueller discusses the distinction between 'gringos' and 'Americanos' in Latin America, highlighting how Latinos in the U.S. are considered 'Americanos' while gringos are those with European ancestry. He explains that this distinction is a source of pride for Latin families, as marrying into an Americano signifies a better life. Johnny also touches on the trend of unskilled Latinos moving to Canada and gringos moving south, creating a reverse migration. He ends by mentioning an email from a Canadian expat discussing the nuances of gringo and Canadian distinctions.
The podcast segment discusses the complexities of Canadian tax laws for expats, particularly focusing on the challenges of claiming non-resident status. A listener shares her frustration with the Canadian tax system, highlighting how even if one lives abroad, they may still be considered a resident if they maintain certain ties to Canada, such as owning property, having a Canadian bank account, or holding a Canadian driver's license. She also mentions that Canada does not have tax treaties with many Latin American countries, making it difficult for expats to avoid taxation. Johnny Mueller, the host, confirms the accuracy of her information and adds insights from a Canadian expat who has faced similar issues. He explains the residency test and the need to sever all ties to Canada to qualify for non-resident status, while also noting that some exceptions exist, such as retaining a Canadian bank account for pensioners. The segment ends with a humorous and critical tone, suggesting that expats may need to take extreme measures to avoid Canadian taxes.
Johnny Mueller discusses a new development where the IRS is revoking passports of U.S. citizens with serious delinquent tax debt. He highlights the implications of this policy, including the lack of due process, potential for errors, and the broader issue of government overreach. He also critiques the U.S. government's inefficiency and data integrity problems, using examples like the IRS's handling of tax debts and the potential for misidentification of individuals.
In this segment, Johnny Mueller critiques the U.S. tax system, arguing that it functions as a form of rent paid to the government, with citizens essentially 'renting' their citizenship. He references Congressman Dave Kemp's comment about the U.S. tax code being ten times longer than the Bible with 'none of the good,' and highlights a 2013 report from the National Taxpayers Advocate Group, which states that American businesses and individuals spend over six billion hours annually complying with the complex tax law, equivalent to three million citizens working full-time. Mueller also discusses the IRS's power to target political enemies and its role in restricting passports for individuals with delinquent child support or alimony, as well as the growing restrictions on people with delinquent school loans. He concludes by suggesting that expats should consider obtaining a second passport for freedom and freedom from oppressive government, while also making light of the cultural differences in Starbucks' presence in Latin America compared to the U.S.
Topics
Cultural identity of Latin Americans, Migration and citizenship, Economic disparities between Latin America and the U.S., Social dynamics of expats and migrants, Gringo vs. Americano distinction, Latin American pride in Americanos, Reverse migration trends, Canadian immigration policies, Canadian tax laws for expats, Residency test for tax purposes, Non-resident status and tax implications, Tax treaties and their absence in certain countries
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:52 The Gringo and Gringa Divide in Latin America 00:01:15 Background on Decameron Resorts and the Gringo Experience 00:02:05 The Show at Decameron Resorts and the Gringo Identity 00:05:40 The Distinction Between Gringos and Americanos 00:06:56 The Nuance of Being a Maricano or American American 00:09:46 The Reverse Migration Trend 00:11:14 Introduction to the Expat Tax Plan B Discussion 00:11:37 Understanding the Canadian Tax System for Expats 00:12:10 Canadian Taxation for Expats: A Real-Life Example 00:15:30 Strategies to Avoid Canadian Taxes for Expats 00:17:00 Humorous Take on the Canadian Tax System and Its Impact on Expats 00:17:33 Introduction to the Passport Revocation Policy 00:17:45 The Scale of the Passport Revocation 00:18:01 The FAST Act and Its Hidden Provisions 00:18:51 Critique of Congressional Lawmaking 00:19:25 IRS Enforcement and Data Integrity Concerns 00:20:42 Potential for Misidentification and Government Errors 00:22:47 Passports as Privileges, Not Rights 00:23:06 Citizenship as Rent and Taxation as a Form of Control 00:23:22 The Complexity of the U.S. Tax Code 00:23:31 The Cost of Tax Compliance in the U.S. 00:24:19 The IRS and the Power to Restrict Freedom 00:25:23 Dual Citizenship and the Freedom of a Second Passport 00:25:35 Starbucks in Latin America: A Cultural Contrast
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 out to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you expat 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 You know there are lots of Canadians listening to the show in fact that every one of my expat insider seminars I've had at least one or more of them And they're also nice and congenial and they rarely use the f-bomb as a filler like so many Americans do they actually use it as
[00:46] An adjective to punctuate something serious or something they feel really strongly about when speaking of Americans Here's something very interesting that I just picked up on you know until recently I never realized that Latin Americans categorize us gringos and gringas in different ways Some of us to them are more gringa or gringo than others And I'm not talking about the way we look here whether we've got blue or green or brown eyes Nor does it have to do with the color of our skin or our hair or how tall we are though That's a little complicated too, but first some background now A longtime listeners, maybe call my stories about decameron all-inclusive beach hotels you remember I mentioned that I'm usually the only gringo there except maybe one or two retired couples one of the pair being of Latino
[01:32] Ancestry and one being a pure gringo or gringa Which is why they knew all about decamerons all-inclusive packages and such in the first place now remember if you go to the decameron All-inclusives are about half the prices some of the other ones But they speak nothing, but Spanish meaning if you don't speak Spanish you're pretty lost Which is why 99.9% of the 2,000 or so people at the resort at any given time are Latinos now like any other all-inclusive resort at night They have shows in an indoor outdoor amphitheater depending if it's raining or not And I mentioned in a past show that at the beginning of the performance the MC will say all right Who's from Colombia and quite a few hands would go up who's from Salvador Brazil Honduras? Whatever each time 50 or 100 hands would go up and people would cheer and when they get to who's from the United States
[02:22] Maybe 50 people will raise their hands Which at first would blow my mind because many times I was the only gringo in the whole place and I knew it no One looked or spoke like me. How could they be from the United States? Well the thing is they're really not They're just bragging because as it turns out every last one of those people who raised their hands are born and bred Latinos that somehow got to the states and they are legal and some of them may be even citizens because after 10 years with a Green card you can apply for a US nationality, but you know, I've spoken to a lot of them. It never fails They mosey up to me and start talking. Oh, he's in pretty good English because they've been up there a long time And they're making enough money to come back and forth and go to these decameron things Anyway, and they do tell me their stories and they tell me about those amnesty plans They got in on and they tell me that they no longer feel like Latin Americans
[03:09] They feel like Americans and that's why they're talking to me I've heard them tell me they love their country of origin Salvador, Guatemala, whatever, but they're Americans now they really have nothing in common with the folks back home and they Definitely say that with an air of superiority and man Do they like to show off that they can afford the real Adidas and Reebok crap and real bling to yep? It's all about superficially impressing the folks back home who they say they have not much in common with anymore The fact is most of them snuck into the USS kids illegally along with their parents and eventually after a long enough time without getting pinched They qualified for one of those Bush or Clinton Jimmy Carter Reagan or O vomit amnesty programs But in reality, they're not at all like second or third or tenth generation
[03:55] Americans with European heritage, they haven't really so-called melted into the melting pot. They're still little chunks floating around in it You know as on PC as this sounds and I don't care They've sort of got a foot in both worlds and don't quite fit in either one believe me I met a lot of them at these the cameras they come up to me because They really don't have much in common with the folks back home for one thing They have a lot more dough and they look it and they'll come right out and tell you and sometimes they'll also come right out And tell you how they're paying for this little Decameron vacation for some of the extended family in the home country, too It's really more than a gift from the kid who left home and made good It's also an opportunity for them to put on the dog and show all the people back home that they've made it and they're legal In the States. Yeah, they strut their stuff and their designer clothes. All right
[04:43] Sure, they treat the folks back home to a decameron vacation Most could never afford by themselves, but mom grandpa and uncle Tulio have to put up with their arrogance now, of course According to Latin standards. These are people who've made it up in the States They could be working in a factory owners of their own small businesses Garbage man truck drivers effect you wouldn't believe how many of these guys I've met who said they were truck drivers Hmm I bet you didn't think a truck driver could afford to take his whole family every year to an all-inclusive Vacation package in a foreign country. Well, you can if you go to the camera now I recall one Latin guy bragging to me that he was making fifty five grand a year as a truck driver More than ten times the salary of his relatives in Salvador. So what's this got to do with anything? Well, let me connect a few dots for you. Not so long ago
[05:28] I was talking to a couple of beautiful latinas and we were discussing love romance mating and dating between gringos gringas and latinos and latinas now as it turns out both of them had relatives up in the states one of them had A sister married to an American. I said, oh, so does he speak Spanish? She said, of course He's an Americano and I paused for a second and said American American. Oh, right. She said Yeah, and I said wait a minute where I come from up in Chicago I don't know of any gringo that speaks Spanish. She said he's not a gringo. He's an American. Oh now I was really confused. I said, what's the difference? She said you Johnny? You're a gringo You're an American American American. I Said what then she says well when Latinos up in the states get their green cards in our legal or even their citizenship
[06:15] they're Americanos, but you Johnny you're an American American and American American now if you had a conversation like this with a fresh new green gringo or even a gringo that's been down five or ten Years, it would likely go right over his head, but I was starting to get it now. It came to me I was seeing the difference turns out and that was news to me The left ends here in Latin America make their own distinction between Caucasian gringos like me European ancestry and all that and Latinos who are in the United States whether they've got citizenship or green cards or not They are by Latin definition of Americanos, but as gringos and gringos with European ancestry We're not just Americans were a Maricano Americanos American Americans
[07:01] You got it confused yet So now you know if you meet a Latino or Latino here in Latin America and he or she is giving you to run down On the family tree that is who's living up in the states. They always will tell you that to them It's sort of bragging rights to us. It's just kind of makes us feel a little Anyway, they'll say things like my sister's in a maricana or my brother's married to an Americana And what that really means is they're married to a Latino or Latina Who's got their residency or green card whatever in the states and when you hear a Latino or Latino say they're relatives married to An Americano Americano. Well, that means a real-life gringo or gringa married into the family but believe me that's kind of rare and that's a real feather in the head of a Latin family when they've got a Relative up in the states who's married to an Americano Americano
[07:48] That means they're living the first world life all the way nice verbs and all that and generally not in the Latin bar Yo, where they'd be living if they were married to just an Americano And I know all this sounds terribly on PC, but I'm just giving in the facts That's why this show is called the expat files living in Latin America So if you wanted PC sugar-coated or you want someone to lie to ya Check out the mainstream media pinheads or podcasts coming out of the mainstream So now you know the difference between a Maricano and a Maricano a Maricano. That is an American and an American American Oh, man, I've been down here more than 27 years now And I just discovered that little nuance in the last month or so, you see that just proves no one's a guru You're always learning. That's why you have to stay flexible and keep your mind open as much as you can
[08:37] So next time when I'm at a decameron or any all-inclusive Latin resort after the MC says are there any Americanos in the audience? I'm gonna stand up and say a Maricano a Maricano and I'll bet you a Bitcoin. I'll be the last man standing So then what about Canadians? Well these days the word is that the Canadian government is open to immigration from Latin America So lots of Latinos have spoken to that is lower in middle-class Latinos that formerly wanted to sneak into the states are finding out There are some legal ways to get into Canada, even if you've got absolutely no skills because they have a shortage of agricultural and factory workers And it's not just rumor either. I've been reading about it in the papers So going to Canada has suddenly become a hot topic on chicken buses street corners with shoeshine boys
[09:25] And at quinceaños parties and speaking of Canada Well, they're even more socialistic more heavily taxed than people in the states and many have reached the breaking point They're so pissed off. They're moving along with their plan B So as unskilled uneducated Latinos move northward astute gringos and Canadians are moving south Whoa, which is why and it's awful funny Every time I take my expat insider group to meet my gringo friend who owns a couple of factories That would be sweatshop style Mikhelas of course his are not sweatshops We go through and prove that but anyway It never fails the very first words coming out of his mouth as he addresses our group he says you know what you're doing here completely baffles my workers their dream being somehow to get to the US and Canada and
[10:11] They watch you come down here and their brains just can't process that and the funny thing is they're working for him He's a gringo. He's the boss. He the gringo came down and created their jobs So you'd think they'd put two and two together. That's what gringos and expats do they come down and innovate and create Hmm. All right So I started this rant talking about Canadians who are getting that plan B going they want to get the hell out Which is why I want to read part of this email from a beautiful young Canadian 100% Canadian gringo That would be Canadian say Canadian say Following the Latin rules of gringo and gringo distinction. I just pointed out, you know, Americano Americano would be pure European ancestry American then Canadian say Canadian say would be pure Canadian born in Canada with European heritage got that confused yet
[11:03] Now if you think the US government Treasury Department that is the IRS people are tough on their citizens Listen to the way the Canadian revenue service treats theirs. All right, the email starts. Hi Johnny I'm going through your expat plan B Academy program right now and in one of the first videos you said that US citizens abroad can earn up to $4,100 and some change every year and pay zero income tax on that money And it's perfectly legal as long as you're living outside the states for a year, etc etc Living as a resident in a foreign country you get that big tax break as long as that income is not coming from the US But from a foreign source also then she says Johnny from everything I can find online
[11:49] It appears that Canada is completely different. You must pay 25% tax on all income earned There is not even one dollar that you can earn that would be tax exempt Even if you're living outside of Canada for a year or more on the Canadian revenue agencies website It even gives an example It goes like this if you're a Canadian living in France and you're a bartender in France, for example and earn $20,000 per year You must report that to the Canadian revenue service and pay tax on it and the only way you can avoid paying taxes is if you Can prove you're a non-resident of Canada and my understanding of this is you must have permanent residency outside of Canada and have a bank account in that other country and live less than 183 days per calendar year in Canada. However, I'm sure you've heard this before so it's not new to you
[12:40] But it is to me as long as I am still on the title to the home that I own in Canada or jointly Own in Canada and or I still have a Canadian bank account or a Canadian ballot driver's license or Still have a spouse or dependents in Canada I can never claim that I am a non-resident of Canada regardless how many days I spend away from Canada annually and regardless whether I have permanent residency in a foreign country or Have a bank account in a foreign country or a driver's license in that foreign country or not. What a effing ripoff Hey, Johnny. All right me Johnny here. See how nice those Canadians are She's all pissed off But still she strategically placed only one f-bomb at the right place to in that email so far
[13:31] Anyway, then she says so according to the Canadian government if I live 365 days a year in China But my spouse still lives in Canada or I have a bank account in Canada or I have a house or a piece of a house In Canada, or I still have a driver's license. That's valid in Canada then I must file personal income taxes and pay them on 25% of all the money that I earned outside at least the money I admit to earning outside Hey my kind of gal Then she says Johnny that's some kind of effing bull feces if you ask me Thankfully now anyway, Canada does not have tax treaties with places like Guatemala Honduras and most Latin American countries
[14:17] So I'm not sure how Justin Trudeau and his little perverted socked feet would ever know how much little me Actually earns while soaking up the Sun in one of those non-tax treaty countries So finally she says if any of the information I'm sharing here with you is not correct if I have interpreted wrong Please correct me because you see I'm moving along with developing my plan B with this in mind And I don't want to be basing any of it on misinformation. So have a great day Canadian say Canadian say D Well ain't that a kick in the head and you know what? I just verified all of that with a very smart new Canadian expat who came to my expat insider seminar just a couple weeks ago He verified all of your concerns. You're completely right about that
[15:02] In fact, he's one of those people who's disillusioned and disgusted with the Canadian tax and revenue service, too Along with some other major complaints and how he's been screwed by the Canadian bureaucracy But he did jump through a million hoops to get his paperwork finished in time to come down to the seminar and start his own Residency process in fact when I passed on your concerns to him D He just shook his head spat on the ground and drop just one f-bomb and here's what he said. Yes, Johnny She is absolutely correct You must sever your residential ties to all things Canadian to be a non-resident for tax purposes to pay no Canadian taxes You must pass what they call the residency test if you leave but retain title or partial title to any residents You are a factual resident. That's what they call it deeming you
[15:49] Temporarily outside the country no matter how many years or decades you decide to do so Therefore you are deemed to be a resident for tax purposes Meaning you pay tax on inside and all outside income to one other thing though He says you can retain a Canadian bank account if you're a pensioner You need to do so since Canadian pension funds and or annuity payouts Usually will not send their funds to an offshore payee or bank So you're forced to have a Canadian bank account or you just won't get that pension dough and he has another tip He says did you know a Canadian driver's license address? Can be changed to a friend or a lawyer slash notary's address or even to the address of a remailing service
[16:36] So there are a few stealthy options, but you'll have to figure out how to use them yourself Then nice guy that he is most Canadians are he gives links that explain all the criteria direct from the Canadian government's very own malignant websites So any or all of you Canadians up there thinking about that plan B move or you're somewhere along in the process Just shoot me an email the expat files at gmail.com and I'll send you the links But first you just might want to buy a case of Molson because after you read that stuff you're gonna weep So there you have it the mystery Surrounding expat Canadians and their tax system and I thought us some Americano Americanos had it bad Well, I feel sorry for you Canadian say Canadian says and for that I want to thank Wayne and misty who got the conversation rolling and dropped only two f-bombs
[17:23] In the process just the kind of thing you'd expect from two very pissed off, but nice guy Canadians Hey, all right in the like we need more bad news department Here's some news that's kind of sickening and I've got three sources here I'm gonna pick and choose from one of them a sovereign man the headline on all three of these articles is the IRS will revoke 362 thousand US citizens passports and after you hear that you have to stop for a second Take a deep breath swallow and say what the Alright says about two and a half years ago. President Obama quietly signed into law a Particularly nasty piece of legislation called the fast act. That's F. A. S. T. A. C. T. And the letters stand for
[18:09] fixing America's surface Transportation sounds innocuous and helpful, doesn't it? However buried into that act and you know Congress just loves to bury provisions and pork into Legislation most people will never read now buried in that act in section Thirty two thousand one hundred and one. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Just think about that section number there 32,000 101 I mean come on who could even read? 32,000 plus sections of an act that's not humanly possible and we're just talking about Thirty two thousand one hundred and one who knows how many more sections are in that act I don't even want to guess but it certainly does show the magnitude idiocy and Ridiculousness, is that a word of the congressional lawmaking process doesn't it anyway?
[18:56] section thirty two thousand one hundred one of the fast act requires the US State Department to revoke or deny the Passport of any taxpayer that the IRS deems to have seriously delinquent tax debt Defining seriously delinquent tax debt as owing more than fifty thousand bucks. All right me Johnny here again now You longtime listeners will remember that I mentioned this a couple of years ago that it was on the horizon Well, it took a few years It's after all government, right? But the IRS has finally started enforcing the law as a result earlier this month the IRS acknowledged they had sent out at least 362 thousand names to the State Department telling them to get on with it start revoking or denying those passports and that seems to only be the beginning the IRS is sending
[19:46] These names out in batches so there'll be many more to come. They say they want to finish it up by the end of the year now There are many many things wrong with this, but they're doing it for one thing. There's no due process here It's purely administrative, which means there's limited oversight your name could easily Accidentally even end up on some IRS list because we know the government can't keep its own records straight And they lose things all the time and they get hacked regularly even by teenagers and for example, it's been proven time and time again You could call up the IRS hotline Where trained IRS agents are supposed to give you the correct answers to your questions make five separate calls Ask the very same questions to five separate agents and get five different answers. It's been proven
[20:36] There've been articles written about it. Look it up So we all know every government agency has a problem with data integrity And what about people with similar names or people who are juniors or seniors or Harry Smith the second or third for that matter? In fact, you probably heard me tell the story of good old John Galt when he came down to Latin America to go for his residency Turns out as I remember he was John Galt the third which threw a big monkey wrench into the Latin American paperwork process Well, the same thing happens all the time with every government agency Whether it's the first or the third world which brings us back to the age old man on the street question Can you think of anything? Anything that the government does right and that they haven't royally screwed up Hey, just look at policing in the big cities like Chicago and Cleveland
[21:23] What about the terrible state of the roads in the infrastructure? Look at Social Security. That's dead broke. There's no fund How about the military the FDA public school systems the welfare system the VA? It's as if they've self-selected imbeciles pinheads a holes and dickheads People with room-temperature IQs who can't balance their own checkbooks to run every one of those multi-billion dollar rat hole agencies So what you've got is an IRS that's been hacked over and over again with billions of records Managed by people who can't agree on much with old and unworkable technology. That's just absolutely prone to data breaches Now come on if you think that the IRS could come up with a list of hundreds of thousands of people without making mistakes That in itself is the punchline of a bad joke. And how about this? Suppose you're on that list
[22:13] Well, who you supposed to argue with then? Is it the IRS or the State Department because it's the IRS sending up the notices in the State Department and forces them So who do you go to who do you appeal to man? What a frickin mess, but the larger point is what this really means about your citizenship Think about it. A passport is the most common document of your individual citizenship And wow, they can just press a button and take it away from you So now big brother can easily take away your right to movement your right to travel which means guess what it ain't a right no more They're telling us it's a privilege Something they can take away that really wasn't yours to begin with just like your property Even if you've had a mortgage burning party Just try not paying your property taxes for two years and see how fast your County puts up your house for auction
[23:03] So you really never own your property You're just renting it from the government your yearly property taxes being your rent and likewise enforcing Obama's fast act Shows you're not really a citizen You're just renting your citizenship from the government and your rent would be what you always cheer in taxes Oh, and how about this? Congressman Dave Kemp once commented that the tax code of the US is ten times as long as the Bible with none of the good News and tons of people being thrown to the lions He was responding to a 2013 report from the national taxpayers advocate group Which shows American businesses and individuals spend more than six billion hours a year complying with ridiculously complex tax law Which is the equivalent of three million US citizens working full-time year round
[23:51] Not only that the report said if tax compliance were an industry it would be one of the top ten Corporations in the United States and talk about the definition of user Unfriendly any American would rather have a colon flush then spend ten minutes with an IRS agent Hey My grandma's hand would shake when she filled out her form and we know the IRS uses his power to target political enemies Look at the dirty tricks of Obama Bush and Clinton and now in the US You're really only free to leave the country even for a short trip to Cancun if the IRS says so And as long as you keep paying your taxes indefinitely, they'll give you a hall pass Maybe and we already know that the US is now restricting passports for people who are delinquent in child support and alimony
[24:38] And we're just now seeing the hammer fall on people who've been delinquent in their school loans And you know, it's only gonna get worse when you have an oppressive government. Does it ever get better? So you really have two choices You stay on that treadmill up in the US and live out the rest of your stressful life as a sick and unhappy Camper or you can do like many astute people get your residency in a foreign country that leads to passport and nationality Once you got that second passport doesn't really matter at all What kind of restrictions they put on your US passport because you've got dual citizenship And if you find one day you can't renew your US passport or it's blocked You just put it in a drawer or the washing machine whatever and grab that second or third nationality passport and stay as free as you Want to be meanwhile, there are millions of Latinos in the US who don't have passports or valid ID documents at all
[25:30] Isn't that funny? By the way, how's your plan be coming? And finally a word about Starbucks now You've heard me say they're popping up all over the place here in Latin America now That was one thing I certainly never could have predicted I thought look with all these great coffee shops around here with dollar and dollar and a half coffee grown here in Latin America, too Right at the source I thought of Starbucks tries it down here with four five and six dollar a cup latte mocha cafe de Java's Well, they'd die on the vine and find out soon enough. It was a big mistake Well, I was wrong who'd have thought that Starbucks only shows up in high-end Latin business districts We're taller whiter Latin women rattle their jewelry the real stuff and Latin guys drive Range Rovers minis and BMW Wsuv's with their bodyguard brigades in tow down here in Latin America. It's all about being seen meanwhile up in the States
[26:19] Starbucks is not really selling coffee anymore It's become a kind of a social movement one things for sure the quality of the coffees gone down Everyone tells me that and now Starbucks is offering safe places for homeless people to sleep and use the restrooms and for IV Drug users to safely dispose of their needles and it's also a place where transgender people will never be misidentified With the wrong pronoun. That's what Starbucks is doing up in the States now In fact, my friends in Chicago tell me if you're going to certain Starbucks up there You could very well end up sitting next to a homeless person that kind of reeks Yep, they're allowed to use the restrooms and take advantage of the AC Hey, nothing wrong with that And if you don't like it use the drive-up window But I tell you if Starbucks ever tried to export those social norms to the Starbucks here in Latin America
[27:05] Man, that would surely kill the goose that laid the golden egg All you have to do is walk into any Starbucks here in Latin America, and you'll see it's the exclusive domain of the taller whiter More affluent Latin American gringo wannabes and they're entitled kids who go there only to be seen Because only upscale high-end Latins can afford it and I'll tell you the day they allow homeless people to come in and use The bathroom and linger that's the day the polish comes off the turd You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B, you can schedule a one-on-one phone call with me But first download my free plan B questionnaire at www.thenewexpat.com Better yet if you want to get your plan B going from right up there in the states Just sign up for my 9-hour expat essentials course get the perfect plan B blueprint by going to the expat files.com
[27:57] Academy