#821 – The Expat Files: Venezuela’s Financial Crisis, Cryptocurrency, and Canadian Healthcare

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 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 All right, happy new year and many happy returns and all that many happy returns What does that really mean could that mean in today's terms? Many happy returns of those Amazon products that didn't quite fit because of those extra holiday junk food pounds you're carrying

[00:50] So then how long is it gonna be before you actually write the correct date? 2019 I know it takes me about a month. Yep at the beginning of the year people will write a lot of bad checks that way Oops, wrong date again though. Checks are becoming a thing of the past like almost everything that has anything to do with paper, right? Which brings us to this very interesting little set of emails since we talk about cryptocurrencies crypto mining and everything that has to do with that alternative world of finance now If you've been sucking up to the mainstream media and are thinking that cryptocurrency mining and all that blockchain stuff is dead Well, not so fast. Have a listen to this. This is from Kelly says dear Johnny

[01:35] I get how Bitcoin and all the crypto currencies have to Generally be converted to dollars or euros or some kind of funny money along the way so that you could spend it So at least for now, it looks like Bitcoin itself the mother of all the cryptos It's a great way to move funds around but not so great to spend them At least that's the impression I get and I follow Bitcoin and crypto exchanges all the time and look at crypto chat rooms Like reddit Bitcoin and watch a lot of so-called crypto gurus on YouTube And you know, even though it seems like cryptos are getting beaten to a pulp but at least in this last year Nevertheless, I see that crypto coins are being adopted more and more by small businesses

[02:22] Especially and now it seems you can buy all kinds of gift cards with crypto, too Even though most people don't realize it gift cards are everywhere these days Even Amazon and eBay have them and you can buy them with Bitcoin and Litecoin and such you know that nearly every retail store sells gift cards and there are a number of web-based gift card sites like eGifter that's eGifter that'll accept your crypto for payment of gift cards hundreds of different types of gift cards, too Which is one way to spend your crypto without actually having to convert it to paper money of any kind and without Going through the banking system at all and you know, if you've got a gift card say for a hundred bucks It's as good as cash with some gift cards like Amazon having no expiration date

[03:12] But Johnny, you know up till recently it was a mystery to me how Venezuela or other inflation ravaged countries Use Bitcoin or the other coins if banks won't convert it over there and stores won't take it though Some might through the back door or under the table But technically it's illegal and you can and will go to jail for it Then he says I found out it's actually illegal to bring cash in and out of Venezuela The government says everything's got to be done through Venezuelan banks and they take a huge cut rip you off at every turn Take for example remittances, you know money coming from other countries and to Latin countries. Let's talk about Venezuela after Ravaging the domestic economy The Venezuelan regime is now taking a cut of every single dime that comes in from abroad

[04:01] So for example, if you have relatives or friends in Venezuela like I have and you try to send money to them It's not so easy like sending money to Mexico or Bolivia Normally, for example when sending money to Mexico Honduras Bolivia You can use Western Union money grams or even your own bank and sure they'll take a nice hefty six or ten percent cut But the government is not involved. They don't take a piece So except for Venezuela and Cuba the remiss of business. It's still in the hands completely of private enterprise Now I can tell you firsthand Johnny about my attempt to send remisses to my friends and family in Venezuela Wow, Venezuela, what a sad case, you know after ravaging the domestic economy The Venezuelan regime is now taking a huge cut of money from any kind of remittances you send to them from abroad

[04:53] It's a double whammy too And here's how it goes new laws force Venezuelans to go through local banks for any and all foreign Transactions or changes of money and require the local Venezuelan banks to disclose information on how individuals get and use that money Now according to Alejandro Machado a cryptocurrency researcher at the open money initiative He says a normal wire transfer from the US in US dollars to a bank in Venezuela will encounter a fee of approximately 56% Imposed by the government as it passes from dollars to boulevards and it's a process that could last several weeks And by then your money's worth half or less because of the inflation on the boulevard itself

[05:39] So there's your double whammy Then he says for people with online access to their bank accounts or online bank accounts Most recently Venezuelan banks are under pressure from their government to prevent clients from using Foreign IP addresses or IP address changers from accessing their online accounts And of course people use foreign IPs or IP changers to obscure their location and identities But you know those Venezuelans are clever and here's what I've discovered To circumvent the crushing bureaucracy some Venezuelans have started to receive Bitcoin from their relatives abroad Directly, it's now possible In fact to send a text message to your family asking for Bitcoin and receive it a few minutes later for a tiny tiny fee

[06:24] Usually under a buck when using Bitcoin or other cryptos to send money back and forth to Venezuela government censorship is impossible Bitcoin isn't routed through a bank or third party and that's the beauty of it Instead it arrives on your phone wallet in a peer-to-peer way Then you can moments later sell your new Bitcoin into fiat through a local Gigantic Craigslist style exchange or just load it into a flash drive or even memorize your recovery phrase So if you ever get shaken down by the cops or the cops enter your premises thinking you've got Cryptocurrency or you're dealing with it. There's no proof. There's nothing there You got the keys to your bank account in your head That's how people escape Venezuela with complete control of their savings

[07:12] they converted all the bitcoins through that local Craigslist style exchange and then leave the country if you can and Most people can find a way especially those who got a little money Then you don't have to leave any of your dough capital or resources behind Like I said, those Venezuelans are pretty creative, especially when under pressure, you know They've been using another popular alternative though. It's becoming less and less popular and more and more dangerous The way it's been done is to have your family outside of Colombia or friends Why your money to a bank in Colombia? Then you walk across the border to withdraw it then walk back into Venezuela cash in hand Which can take far longer cost more and be far more dangerous than the Bitcoin option

[08:00] In fact, I think every Venezuelan I know has heard a story or know someone who's been robbed that way I know for a fact, there are gangs who post lookouts outside of banks and when I see Venezuelanos walk in they know they're coming out with cash money and sometimes maybe even most times the bank tellers or guards in The banks are in on it and they're signaling the scouts outside Who's got a handful of dough deep in his pocket all the more reason to get on board with Bitcoin and cryptos But you know, Venezuela isn't the only country where Bitcoin and cryptos are all the rage turns out in Africa It's all over the continent in Zimbabwe For example, Robert Bugabe printed billions upon gazillions of paper notes

[08:45] And now it's US dollars euros and Bitcoin that are the currencies over there and then you got China Did you know it's set up that China's government treks all of your transactions on Ali pay and we pay the two largest payment financial services in the country But they cannot orchestrate any kind of surveillance at all on Bitcoin or crypto payments That's why the Chinese government is yo-yoing back and forth between making cryptos legal and illegal They've done it something like four times now Then we've got the case of Russia where Vladimir Putin can target an NGO and freeze its bank account a second But he can't freeze a single Bitcoin wallet and in the Middle East in the Baltics Where you've got refugee camps everywhere. Nobody's using banks or bank accounts

[09:33] Why would a bank open up close to a refugee camp? But there's always a Bitcoin and crypto network within the walls Even Bitcoin exchanges as long as you can find an internet connection Then you just log in without anyone's permission not having to show a single ID at all Meanwhile here in the States the average guy in the streets if he's heard of Bitcoin or crypto at all thinks It's just another fad another tulip timeshare for that combo which just goes to show how Under-educated the average American is in the meantime Johnny in the last few years Anyway, as I've seen people get more and more into crypto and Bitcoin in Venezuela I myself have been investing around a hundred to two hundred bucks a month

[10:21] Directly into Bitcoin Litecoin and a few others. I don't really care about the price not right now I'm just buying in a little at a time because you have to have a ticket to get in the race I know I've been watching it a long time. It's like sitting on a pressure cooker one day. It's gonna blow sky-high and People close to me that no, I've got some they say aren't you afraid at the volatility aren't you afraid? It's gonna go to zero doesn't the whole thing just scare the hell out of you Well these days I think it's wise not to tell anybody what you have so I tell them Don't have much of it anymore, but I'll tell you this Johnny. I've upped my purchases I'm purchasing four to five hundred dollars worth a month now Johnny mark my words. It's the calm before the storm

[11:08] Alright, so me Johnny here again. What do you think about that? Meanwhile? We're always talking about health care here in Latin America and how it beats the pants off a healthcare Where you are including all you people up in the states who think Canada is the way to go listen to this one? Oh, and by the way, there are lots of Canadians listening to this show and many who come down to the seminar, too And they always get drilled with 50 questions about their health care system And it's always a big surprise to Native Americans who listen to their answers because we're all kind of pre-programmed into thinking the Canadian Health care system sets the standards for the world. Wait a minute. Did I say Native Americans? You know what I mean? So you think the Canadian health care system is the tits of the Ritz, huh?

[11:54] Well, not according to this guy's email and a couple more after it. We'll get to him. This one comes from Good Sam Good Sam like that says dear Johnny It's tiring listening to liberal socialist Bernie Sanders types from the USA That is Americans going on and on complaining how much their health care services cost and how great it would be to have a Canadian national health care system Honestly, if you don't live in Canada, you don't have a clue Take me for example last year I had an incident where I started feeling increasing pressure in my left ear I couldn't hear anything out of it after a while and then the pain came so intense I barely managed to drive myself to the Trillium Hospital in Ectobacocki

[12:42] Ectobacocki and when I got there Johnny the line up to the registration was almost out the door Every seat in the waiting area taken and people were lined up against the walls The only room was standing room and there was barely any of that available kids were screaming crying People were on gurneys and in wheelchairs all over the place. I'm not kidding The look on most people's faces was deadpan and pallid Technically, I'd say everyone there would have been diagnosed by a psychiatrist with depression I'm telling you it was time to hand out the appropriate pills It reminded me of a scene out of a zombie apocalypse movie And you know us Canadians are known to be laid back and stoic and we don't complain much, you know Anyway, what good would it do against government bureaucracy and we're not known for hyperbole either

[13:32] We're just not very good liars. I tell you Johnny There was no way I would have survived much longer waiting there because my ear felt like it was gonna explode Anyhow after I could take it no more and at that point it felt like banging my head against the wall No kidding I was able to drive myself back home and had a family member drive me all the way to Milton Where I anticipated a better waiting time when I got there There were only five people in the waiting room, but it still took me five frickin hours to see a doctor in the meantime My head was literally exploding. I am serious I thought I was going to go insane from the pain I don't know how many people have ever had an earache so bad that you almost felt like you wish there were a

[14:19] Button or a bill you could take to get it over with to end it all. I'm telling you that's the point I was at luckily towards the four-hour mark something in my ear had popped and the pain started to diminish Oh and about the convenience and comfort level of that waiting room the chairs in the room where the doctor saw me had Holding whatever material was still on the arms together. Yep a first-world installation All right compared to the newest of hospitals like in Oakville This place was a dive and a step back into the early 70s And after all that the doctor saw me for five minutes and couldn't even tell me what the issue was So I went home. I was fuming for all the talk of our health care system being so great

[15:06] This experience was pure I had similar experiences in the past with brutal waiting times for various not so serious conditions And I could see that the doctors and the staff were overwhelmed Hey, I guess that's what you get when everything's free though to give the devil his due I did have an operation on my arm some time ago, and it was a positive experience But the MRI scan required took a month to schedule meanwhile. I needed a frickin operation That's what happens when you have something wrong. That's not life and death Oh, yeah, and how about this if you need dental work, and you don't have a private insurance plan You'll be paying through the nose There's something you Americans don't know Canadian National Health does not cover dental unless you're under 18 and in a very low-income family

[15:59] Speaking of doctors and staff being overwhelmed if you go into a walk-in clinic They'll have you out the door before you even have a chance to sit down and warm up the seat and good luck finding a family doctor When my neighbor's family doctor died it took him five years to find another one that would take him on When I see Trudeau brag about our health care system I just want to puke the guy has no understanding of what hard-working average Canadians have to deal with I'm sure he never goes to a national health doctor. What a spoiled man child He is another thing you Americans are unaware of is that in certain of our promises? We have lotteries for doctors because doctors that Graduator come into the system all want to work in the big cities

[16:44] You think a graduate doctor with all those long-hired years of schooling behind him is gonna want to work up in the cold White north where the Sun only shines three months a year Think of it if you're a doc and you lose that lottery and you end up been a logging mining or glacier town in the great White north you're not gonna be a happy camper. You're not gonna like your job the people the surroundings You've seen people who don't like their jobs. We've all encountered a few of those along the way They almost never give a hundred percent. Is that the kind of doctor you want? Hey, all right me Johnny here again Thanks for that good Sam by the way, Sam. What are you good at? Bitching about all the free stuff you get just kidding. Oh and good Sam has a PS

[17:31] He says Johnny talk about a huge burden. Our healthcare system is on every taxpayer Did you know that when a vehicle is sold in a Canadian province? There's a 15% tax that's added a hospital tax and for years it was printed right there on the tax forms It's called something else now, but it's still there Then he says let that sink in a 15% hospital tax and on top of that my 40% equivalent of your federal tax Which is a payroll deduction comes right off the top of my check and as for me I own a house and I pay property tax and sales tax of over 15% on just about everything So me and practically everyone else here in Canada is paying more than 50% of our income in taxes

[18:18] That means for us Canadians our single largest household expense is Taxes and then after that come shelter food and all the real necessities Let that sink in to meanwhile all you liberal folks and politicians up in the USA You think us Canadians are living so large and happy that we discovered some perfect capitalist Socialist mix and now we've got a sort of utopia again I repeat you just don't have any idea until you live up here yourself Alright me Johnny here. What do you think about that? Then comes this email from Leonard. He says Johnny everyone talks about those great Canadian and British national health care systems Well, I'm a listener to yours and I live close to Gatwick Airport

[19:05] Let me tell you the British national health care system is brilliant If you're young all you need is antibiotics and some blood drawn It's when you get into your 50s 60s and 70s that the system will fail you terribly You might not believe this Johnny, but the British national health care system has Waiting lists of about six months just to get an x-ray and not to get something complicated Like a CAT scan either unless of course you're coming through an emergency room and you're in dire straits Then you'll get that x-ray sometime that day But if it's an x-ray that's ordered from your doctor on a routine visit because maybe he sees something suspicious There's a six-month wait and it's free But if you have the money you can have that x-ray the very next day or even on the spot

[19:54] Then he says I wonder if you're hearing about our national health care problems on your side of the pond Then he says it's routine for someone getting diagnosed with cancer in Britain to have delays around two years Before your full treatment plan is made and you're actually undergoing treatment Socialized health care is killing people socialized health care is dependent on prioritization Meaning if it hurts and you're in pain you get treated if it's a long-term chronic care issue You just don't get much care at all The squeaky wheel gets the grease and all that and let's not even talk about the massive influx of immigrants They cost money too and most of them have many medical problems right upon arrival

[20:43] Then he says the system barely works when we're treating our own born in the UK citizens But then again, it's true UK citizens are not complainers They really have nothing to compare their system against because the national health care system came in after World War two So everyone alive in the UK today grew up under that system I'd say it's comparable to the way US citizens grew up under the promise of Social Security You were promised a bill of goods and the promise was broken. It started out as an old-age Retirement fund so that the elderly could live nice normal lives when they weren't able to work anymore But now everyone agrees you can't really live a good life on a US Social Security check anymore

[21:30] Well, our national health care system in the UK is built on broken promises, too After the war when it was initiated people looked at it as an unbelievable gift free health care for the masses And now it's a system so massive so bureaucratic so broken and so expensive that it just can't be fixed Alright that comes from mr. Dawson. Thanks for that mr. Dudley Dawson Now there's a classic Brit name if I've ever heard one Dudley Dawson You know up in the states if some parent was to name his kid Dudley It's almost certain that kid will be confronting lots of bullies and lots of ass whoopins certain names do have their secondary effects Don't they speaking of names? you know lots of black folks up in the states have crazy ass names and

[22:20] Lots of Latinos and Latinas, too Even ran across a Spanish language site that highlights certain crazy ass names along with settlers That would be ID documents proving these things are real look I'm not making this stuff up like for example there was recently a kid born in Chile, and you know what his parents named him Hashtag follow Sepulveda, I'm not kidding do you want a copy or a download of his settler? I have it How about this guy you probably heard me mention this before cuz it struck me so funny his name is Adolfo Hitler Flores Adolfo Hitler Flores and the Spanish word for eight office Adolfo He would stand a reason he was born in 1941 when Hitler looked like he was gonna win the war and plus the guys from

[23:08] Ecuador and South America were just loaded with Nazis back then still some there Oh, and I've run into a few Latinos named Mao and Stalin and Lenin, too I mean look the president of Ecuador right now his name is Lenin. Oh, how about this kid? It was born in Chile in 2005 his name Jack Daniels Martinez Hey, I've got photos of their settle as that is their ID documents to prove it So if you want to laugh send me an email the expat files at gmail.com I'll send you the proof some photos of their settlers and then there's the son of a guy chili seems to be big on this List the guy's name is get this Shakespeare Mozart Perez Parents must have been real classical music lovers got that

[23:56] Shakespeare Mozart Perez, but this guy from Colombia born in 2001 his name is Batman Robin Roberto Camacho. Now. What were his parents thinking? What were they into? About this guy another one from Colombia. How do they get away with this? His name is get this Jesus Christ That's Jesus Christo Hitler Zeppelin Gonzalez Once again his handle on his ID documents on his birth certificate is Jesus Christ Hitler Zeppelin Gonzalez yes, his parents were born-again Nazi Zeppelin fans, huh? Then there's this guy from the Dominican Republic. His name is Disney Landia Rodriguez Disney Landia Rodriguez, you see the Spanish word landia is land in English man

[24:47] I'm telling you that Disney World at Disneyland obsession with Latin people knows no bounds, right? How about this guy from Costa Rica? His true and legal name is mister. That's M-I-S-T-E-R Rambo Campos Diaz mister Rambo Campos Diaz and how about this poor young lady from Paraguay her parents named her Transfiguration Lopez Mendoza, that's Transfiguration Lopez Mendoza poor kid parents must have been real new-agers now You long-time listeners may have heard me mentioned I once ran into a guy a long time ago in Costa Rica. His name was Who's Navi? That was his first name who's Navi, but when he spelled it out, it was spelled US Navy Maybe his dad uncle teal primo. Whatever was

[25:33] Swabi that said I'm looking right now at a settle an ID document who's Navi Marina Perez That's US Navy Marina Perez. I like the little marina tie in don't you? So obviously the term US Navy is non gender specific and less but not least you've gotten unfortunate But pretty young lady from Venezuela her parents named her eco friendly evergreen Marcano eco friendly evergreen Marcano. Wow, you can only think when her parents named her They're on shrooms or ayahuasca or something. All right How about a few more crazy ass Latin names now you longtime listeners might remember a couple of months ago I was driving around in a cab driven by a guy named Benjamin Franklin

[26:21] Yeah, I got to meet a dead founding father in the flesh Actually, he was a black Latino, but I've run into Latinos and Latinos with weirder names than that I went to a guy once he was a construction worker. His name was little face Castillo Yep, little face. Yes another guy Jose Darling Hey Jose Darling, of course, it's the English word darling So he probably doesn't even know what his name refers to Oh and one of my gringo friends has a cleaning lady. Your name is happy birthday Blanca. I bet she's fun at parties Oh when I ran into a hippie corrado and last summer a Latino named Jingle bells by is he was a bellhop working at a big first-world hotel and I saw it on his name tag

[27:09] And I used to think River Phoenix have misplaced handle Hey after seeing this poor Venezuelan girl's name echo friendly evergreen come on It sounds like a military code over the radio calling echo friendly evergreen over and out poor kid, huh? I guess I'll never make fun of a La Keisha La Misha or La Tricia again 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 dot the new expat dot 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 dot com slash

[27:57] Academy, Los bemos