Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller provides a comprehensive overview of expat life in Latin America, highlighting an upcoming expat seminar in January 2020 that covers Guatemala and El Salvador. The seminar includes optional adventure activities like visiting Lake Atitlan and offers payment options such as a three-month payment plan and a discount for repeat attendees. Johnny also shares a personal anecdote about the loudness of Dominican Republic residents during a presidential election, describing how people in the country speak loudly and are animated, contrasting it with other Latin American countries. He recounts an experience of witnessing a political campaign in the Dominican Republic, where candidates handed out leaflets and money to voters.
Johnny then discusses the open and blatant buying of votes during an election in the Dominican Republic, where candidates offered cash payments of around $20 per vote. He compares this to the U.S. salary, noting that it's equivalent to $160 in the U.S. He also touches on the broader context of vote-buying in Latin America, noting that while it's a common practice, it's often ineffective as people may not actually vote for the candidate they were paid to support. Johnny questions the effectiveness of such methods and suggests that other tactics, like subsidies, are also used to influence voters.
The episode also explores the consequences of government subsidies and economic mismanagement, using Venezuela and Ecuador as examples. Johnny highlights how subsidies become a form of 'human rights' for citizens but eventually lead to economic collapse. He criticizes the political class for prioritizing personal wealth over public welfare, citing Ecuador's recent economic struggles and the role of the IMF. Johnny also points out the hypocrisy of politicians who borrow more money while asking citizens to bear the burden of austerity measures.
Johnny discusses the political and economic turmoil in Ecuador, focusing on the case of former president Rafael Correa, who is facing legal charges and currently resides in Belgium. He highlights the broader context of corruption and the impact of IMF and World Bank loans on Ecuador's economy. The segment also covers recent protests against fuel price hikes, leading to nationwide strikes and blockades, with the government declaring holidays and deploying military forces to manage the situation.
Finally, Johnny explores how IMF and World Bank loans to countries like Ecuador can lead to harmful economic policies. He argues that these loans often result in increased taxes and the preservation of government spending, rather than the intended cuts. He draws historical parallels to ancient economies, explaining how excessive government spending and taxation led to economic decline, using the example of clipped coins as a metaphor for economic manipulation. Johnny emphasizes that governments rarely cut spending and instead raise taxes, leading to social unrest and protests, as seen in Ecuador. He also highlights the political and financial incentives for governments to accept these loans, including the potential for infrastructure projects and personal gain.
Topics
Expat life in Latin America, Expat seminar details, Political campaign in the Dominican Republic, Cultural differences in Latin America, Vote-buying in Latin America, Election practices in the Dominican Republic, Comparative economic analysis of vote-buying, Influence of political corruption on voter behavior, Economic mismanagement, Subsidies and their consequences, Political corruption, IMF loans and debt
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:02:46 A Crazy Boots on the Ground Story 00:05:32 Open Vote-Buying in the Dominican Republic 00:07:05 Vote-Buying as a Common Practice in Latin America 00:08:10 Comparative Economic Analysis of Vote-Buying 00:11:21 The Cost of Subsidies and Economic Dislocations 00:11:56 Venezuela as a Case Study in Economic Collapse 00:12:47 The Role of Governments in Economic Destruction 00:12:59 Ecuador's Economic Crisis and the IMF 00:16:30 Political Corruption and the Misuse of Public Funds 00:17:09 Introduction to the Case of Former President Correa and Political Context 00:17:28 Legal Charges and Judicial System Involvement 00:17:41 Pretrial Detention and Charges Against Former Officials 00:18:07 Fleeing Officials and the Issue of Exile 00:18:44 Ecuador's Economic Crisis and Political Reforms 00:19:05 Fuel Price Hikes and Nationwide Strikes 00:20:41 President Moreno's Stance on Economic Reforms 00:22:19 Impact of IMF and World Bank Loans on Ecuador's Economy 00:22:57 Introduction to the Topic 00:23:02 The IMF and World Bank's Impact on Countries 00:23:05 Johnny's Paraphrasing of the Article 00:23:08 The Damage Caused by Wealthy Countries 00:23:14 Warfare as a Form of Economic Damage 00:23:21 Another Form of Warfare 00:23:23 Control of Grants and Loans 00:23:30 IMF and World Bank Loans
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 wander 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 All right, Johnny here again with the news that everything's in place for my January 2020 expat insider seminar to get the full details on what we're gonna do what it's gonna cost and all the little surprises in store Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com and I'll get back to you right away
[00:49] With everything you need to know and if you have any questions about it, send me an email the expat files at gmail.com We'll start Friday night January 10th and go through Thursday January 16 We'll be hitting two countries again Guatemala and El Salvador and once again You could kill two birds with one stone by applying for Guatemala residency while you're down at the seminar And if you're thinking about coming earlier staying after this seminar Well, you don't have to worry about things to do my 100% bilingual Seminar coordinator Rita has put together four separate boots on the ground adventures You could choose from all optional, of course that it'd be before or after the seminar Of course, if it was my choice I'd go to the most beautiful lake in the world Lake Atit land Spend a few days there checking out our little towns and a cool thing is you know
[01:34] Well, it's a lot of cool things You can only get to some of those towns by taking little boats that go around the lake every half hour or so They're little public water taxis that cost about three bucks for a trip around the lake, man It's really something to see just imagine those little towns I think there's 12 of them most of them not having changed much in ages because there's just no road to the main cities You got to bring everything back and forth including passengers by boat now We're gonna find something like that elsewhere in the world Anyway, you have to see it to believe it So send me an email the expat files at gmail.com and put expat seminar in the subject box And I'll get right back to you with all the details Oh and like before you could pay all at once or you could get on the three payment plan three equal payments spread over
[02:20] Three months until the seminar starts no extra interest charge either And of course, I've always got that long-standing offer for repeat offenders to the seminar a thousand bucks off the normal price And yes, we do get repeat offenders every single time We've had repeat offenders because of course the first time because well if it's the first seminar there can't be any repeaters, right? Anyway, we always have repeat offenders. What's that say about the quality of the seminar? All right enough said about that Now here's a little crazy boots on the ground story. He'll never hear anywhere else I'll tell you it just so happens that in the last couple of weeks I've been traveling on the Caribbean side of Central America I stayed a few days in Colombia Panama and the Dominican Republic and as it just so happened I happen to be in the DR on the weekend of their general presidential election, which took place last Sunday, October 6th
[03:09] Here's the really crazy part and I've been down here in Latin America almost 30 years now And I've never seen this before it was Saturday afternoon the day before the election Sitting in a middle class that is Latin middle class was kind of lower middle class up in the states I was in an apartment in a complex with about 20 units And I should tell you that citizens of the Dominican Republic are rather loud I think of all the Latin American countries I've been to man I'll tell you the Dominicans take the cake Followed closely by the Puerto Ricans when you're at a party or in a mall or any kind of get-together whatsoever The volume of human voices is loudest in Dominican Republic. They just talk loud. I'm serious You could be walking down the street and hear people talking two blocks away to them It's just a regular old conversation but to us well
[03:57] It's not really our style and I'm talking about the women and the men now that as opposed to other Latin countries It seems the more indigenous population you have the more subdued quiet and less animated the people are for example, Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Bolivia Peru The people seem to speak more softly and are less animated though still very outwardly happy That is compared to most first-world people and you know That's one of the reasons that DR has so much positive energy Everybody's hyped up talking and loud So anyway, I'm sitting in the Salah the living room of this apartment with some of the Dominican people And I hear just outside the front window in the parking lot of the complex Some extremely loud over-the-top talking like here all the time nothing unusual about that
[04:42] Except if you speak Spanish, that means you hear what's actually going on with people far far away And this time the high-volume was coming from two guys who are touting a particular Candidate that was up for election the next day, which was a Sunday by the way in Latin America They always have elections on Sunday because that's the only day everyone's got off of work So with that election, I think there was something like six guys running for president anyway at this time the volume was particularly loud for one in the afternoon and I cracked open the drapes and the two guys on the Parking lot with matching t-shirts with the candidates face and party on them We're handing out little political leaflets to people strolling through the parking lot and get this handing out 1,000 peso bills So I and the three other Dominicans that were with me two girls and a guy decided to take a walk on the parking lot
[05:32] See what was going on and sure enough these guys were straight up and up buying boats No shame. No embarrassment. No hiding it at all In fact, I couldn't believe my eyes we walked up to those guys one of them shoved a pamphlet in each one of our hands He looked me in the face and said his candidates name took a big orange magic marker that he had in his hand circled his particular pus bag candidate's name and handed everyone he gave a pamphlet to a Thousand peso note which is around 20 bucks actually around 1950 and then he said as he shook your hand tight with that thousand peso note in it Don't forget to vote tomorrow. Of course all this went down in Spanish, but before he handed me a thousand peso note He said can you vote?
[06:19] He asked do you have a national ID card or Sedula and I said no just visiting and he said well Hmm, that doesn't matter. You know, you can still vote. I said what is that right? How? I mean really not that I ever would that's the last thing I ever wanted to his vote anywhere Except I did want to play along with this game. It was getting really interesting Then he said no problem. Do you know where the La Romana bus station is on Avenue Duarte? He said you can vote there. Then I said, oh, is that right? Cool You mean there's a place I can go to vote if I'm not a citizen. He said yeah, not a problem I said, well, I'm used to that. I'm from Chicago. Helen Chaitan We got dead people who vote and they vote often So that's how elections are fixed at least in the deer now
[07:05] I know they also buy boats in places like Honduras, Guatemala Panama practically everywhere in Latin America But this is the first time I've seen it done with actual cash as opposed to other Latin countries where I've seen them Pack people from the boonies into buses and drive them to the nearest McDonald and give them a free happy meal courtesy of whatever Halitotic candidate is paying for it. Hmm. Halitotic. Is that a word? Well, it ought to be means chronic halitosis Anyway, I've seen groups of guys in matching political t-shirts handing out sacks of beans and rice from big trucks and storage units With the candidates name plastered all over the bean and rice sacks Of course along with the name of the NGO do-gooders that actually donated the stuff in the first place You know, you can't very well remove the original painted stencil of the clueless do-gooder group that originally donated the stuff
[07:55] Isn't it funny how that stuff ends up in a warehouse only to be distributed two days before an election with the Candidates logo on it. Wow, how'd that happen? But in the DR turns out the going rate for a vote is just around 20 bucks Which is huge money down there because the average person working at a bank or a kiosk or even in one of the cell phone Joints with a legitimate on the books job only makes around 300 bucks a month So relating that back to the average US salary and those sorts of jobs, you know bank teller working in mall Those kinds of jobs up in the states pay maybe 500 bucks a week two grand a month that is or maybe more Let's say eight times what the average Dominican makes a month So to compare apples with apples you take that 20 bucks that Dominicans get for a vote
[08:43] Yeah multiply it times eight because in the states people make eight times as much working your basic unskilled jobs like that So in effect that would be like paying someone from up in the states $160 to vote for someone which ain't small change, right? Yep, I said ain't and I know better but I like to keep that word active in the vernacular You know probably because my mom the English professor hates that word never ever used it in her entire life In fact, my mother could never turn that professor thing off So our house when I was growing up was what you might call a constant classroom With speech and bad habits being corrected all the time doesn't mean it worked on all of us But she gave it a hell of a try you get used to it My mom's a hundred percent German and well, that's the way they're built
[09:29] But back to blatant out white in your face buying votes in broad daylight. Yep. It's for real It's the old-fashioned way to buy an election because the newfangled way, of course is drumroll here For Google twaddle and fake book to manipulate your data Meaning censor and ban certain ideas thoughts and people and your searches, but you knew that already, right? Though just think of it in a place like the Dominican Republic buying votes for 20 bucks a crack man That's got to cost millions and it's all dished out in little $20 segments going to the masses and the masses all know these guys are rotten dirty corrupt snake puss bags to the core I mean really throughout Latin America just get into a taxi and uber whatever and ask what they think of their politician man They absolutely hate them
[10:14] But then again the masses are all to face to because they just love to have a relative in a high political office to reap the Rewards that families always reap when they've got some blood-relative scumbag at the top But the big question the back of my mind is always does that 20 bucks really buy a vote because the Dominicans I was with That got the payoff when the guys left they said they weren't gonna vote, but they had their Saturday night party money Hey, and so did I I took the dough so really when you think about it It might be pretty ineffective to buy votes straight up and some people's minds that would be the candidate not to vote for Because obviously the guy with the most dough is probably the most corrupt, but still everybody accepts the money anyway Why wouldn't they anyway people caught on to that game ages ago?
[11:01] Why would they vote for that guy or vote at all because the parties buying those votes can't really go into the voting booth? With you now, can they at least I don't think they can All right. Speaking of dirty politics Is there any other kind another very effective way to buy votes from the sweaty masses is to give them subsidies? But that only works for a while only for the guy that promises those subsidies and comes through then after they had them a couple Of years subsidies and the minds of the sweaty masses anyway become human rights For example, you give people free air conditioners and refrigerators They become human rights But because you know subsidies and things like price and wage controls come at a huge price They always cause economic dislocations later down the line and eventually the government can't keep up
[11:50] They can't afford it and go bankrupt even countries that can print endless amounts of money like the US The best Latin American example right now, of course is Venezuela They mortgaged their oil reserves 10 even 20 years out into the future Back when oil was a hundred bucks a barrel and then it tanked that on top of unheard levels of corruption And now they've got absolute hell to pay so politicians and political parties use subsidies to win elections But you can only give away so much and the immediate effect is people get tainted. They become addicted to their subsidies Let's take little Ecuador For example a place I used to recommend for expats with a plan be a long time ago before the gringo started piling in But right now forget about it. Just listen to this. Let me lay these stories out for you
[12:36] Talk about how a government can screw up an economy. They're such thieves and so greedy for money They'll take a handout from anyone the politicians will sign over their country's natural resources and mining rights, etc To anyone for a buck because you know, if you look at things closely You'll see it's governments that are totally responsible for destroying economies Not the people not the market not normal day-to-day commerce Just pay attention to this article. It came out of Cuenca, Ecuador just a few days ago October 1st Even the title of this news article is ominous. The title is prepare for economic hard times Vice president warns in television interview and I'll pair praise where necessary to cut out the boring parts as usual It says vice president Otto Sonnenholt, sir. How do you like that? Ecuador's got a vice president who's German isn't that strange?
[13:24] Well historically not really because you know throughout Latin America the whiter The taller and lighter haired people always seem to rise to the top in politics and not because they have more brains But because their parents were usually big landowners They have last names that ring golden throughout the region. Everybody knows those magic last names That continually keep popping up in big business and of course politics Some of those famous last names going all the way back to the kings and queens of Spain When land was granted to favored usually taller whiter and higher class people the so-called titled people the nobles dukes Barons and such same old story. Huh? Anyway, it says vice president Otto Steinenholt says there are gonna be difficult times ahead for Ecuador's economy and asks citizens for their understanding as government introduces
[14:16] Strangent new measures to meet public obligations and to reduce the national debt. Yeah, right. It's me again, isn't it funny? They take on the debt skim their percentage by their yachts and beach houses and they ask the public to do the suffering Anyway, then he says despite the efforts of the past two years of the new government Ecuador's economic problems remain unresolved and next week We will send new proposals to the Congress and National Assembly So what's he talking about? Well, you heard me saying pants shows that fugitive ex-president Correa who's in Belgium right now He indebted the country so badly that the entire national health care system is bankrupt In fact, the whole country is bankrupt So the new government of the past two years under President Moreno had to go to the IMF and other sources To get new loans and go further into debt under some very crappy terms
[15:04] Yeah, right. Isn't that exactly what you should do when you're bankrupt borrow even more money Anyway, the article goes on to say hanging in the balance is Ecuador's agreement with the IMF the International Monetary Fund and future Disbursements totaling more than six billion under the terms of the agreement Ecuador agreed to cut its annual budget deficit by two billion to reduce the massive national debt All right. Now, here's the good part part that's pissing off the common man It says they will be forced to reduce the government payroll. That means less fat in the government Which believe me ain't gonna happen Also eliminate fuel subsidies. That's the killer because people are addicted to those and Increase the IV a tax. That's the value-added tax on every item bought and sold It's 12% now and we'll go up by the way that VAT tax or EVA is how governments suck in most of their money
[15:54] Since throughout Latin America 30 to 50 percent of people work off the books and pay no income tax and the ones that do Cheat, can you blame them? All right, then the vice president said in that interview We have not achieved many or even any of the objectives we set out to meet We are forced to now redouble our efforts and we appeal to the people of Ecuador to be prepared for difficult economic realities Specifically reducing the huge subsidies in LP gas gasoline and diesel fuel by the way What the vice president didn't mention and he never would was that Moreno the president has already borrowed 13 billion more over the past two years in office. So where the hell did that money go? Hmm what scumbags and somehow he expects things to change with another six billion from the IMF, huh?
[16:43] Yeah, right more beach houses and more yachts Maybe as mentioned in a past show it's been discovered that almost all High level politicians in Latin America those in the Congress and Senate and the president and his cabinet have houses and guess where? My jammy and these are guys who on the books anyway make from 20 to 50 grand a year yet They've got fully paid for condos and apartments in my jammy. How's that happen? Are they using some kind of new math now speaking of the ex-president billionaire socialist Korea little oxymoron there? Don't you think who has mentioned fled the country and went to Belgium and he's in exile there and can stay there because guess what? His wife's Belgian. Anyway, and yet another article that just came out whose title is judge issues
[17:28] Jail order for ex-president Korea. It says National Court Judge Danella Comacho has agreed with Ecuador's Attorney General Diana Salazar. Hey, they've got some women at the top of the judicial system. Good going Anyway, it says they've ordered pretrial detention for former president Rafael Korea and a case involving millions of dollars of illegal Contributions to his campaign fund and more then it says in addition to the order against former president Former vice president Jorge glass and former cabinet ministers Vincento Avarado and Walter Solis were ordered to jail former vice president glass is already in jail serving a six-year term in a bribery scandal At least they caught him about 90 percent of them flee and go to places like you guessed it my jammy
[18:14] In fact, you wouldn't believe how many former Latino government officials Convicted in absentia or who are under indictment are living in places like my jammy Anyway, the article goes on to say it is unlikely that former president Korea will ever return to Ecuador to meet his sentence He currently lives in Belgium and calls the 11 charges against him a far-setter joke But remember it says ex-president Korea is also under an earlier Pretrial jail order for his involvement in the 2012 kidnapping and murder in Colombia But let's get back to this business about Ecuador being completely bankrupt Due to his band of thieves and the new band of thieves that are in there Anyway, that first little bit I read about the vice president going on TV with some very bad news about the economy Well, here's what's happened since on October 3rd
[19:01] Just two days later the sweaty masses got really pissed about pulling those subsidies Listen to what this October 3rd article had to say its title is classes suspended after transportation companies call a strike Against higher fuel prices all main roads blocked Wow now, isn't that nice triggering goes next best Anyway, it says the government declared Thursday a holiday for public and private school students following Wednesday's announcement by public transportation unions of a nationwide strike the unions Protesting an increase in the price of gasoline and diesel fuel that goes into effect today, October 3rd Anyway, then it says the price for a gallon of regular gasoline will rise from a dollar eighty five to two thirty a gallon While diesel increases from a dollar eight to two twenty seven still underworld market prices and relying on some Ecuadorian government subsidy
[19:50] Meanwhile, it says today October 3rd when the article was written transit police report that the country's major highways were closed by protesters Transportation workers taxi owners, etc. It says by 7 a.m. The city was in lockdown Then it says in addition to the transportation strike throughout the country protest rallies against Moreno's economic plan were held in several Cities including Quito Cuenca and Loja with hundreds of people carrying signs and banners proclaiming no economic changes and Lenin out Remember president Moreno's first name is Lenin I'm sure that real devil Lenin is spinning in his grave right now Hearing that the subsidies are gonna be dropped. Alright flash forward to October 8th protests have been going on for almost a week now The city of Cuenca that gringo paradise is in lockdown and protests are increasing. Meanwhile on
[20:41] October 7th, the president got on TV and said he would not take back the economic reforms He announced a week ago. He added that protesters engaged in illegal activity will not be tolerated But still on October 8th with the country virtually under martial law most of the country's major highways remain blocked by indigenous and peasant protesters with public Transportation totally suspended in the larger cities including Cuenca Then it says in the Tuesday, October 8th morning radio interview Cuenca mayor Pedro Palacio says that all major roads in and out of Cuenca are blocked we are in the same situation He says as almost all other cities in the country and this will cause very bad delivery problems for basic goods Not to mention the garbage pickup has been temporarily suspended Hmm sounds lovely
[21:27] Then it says transit unions throughout the country announced the suspension of bus and taxi service Demanding the government reversed the fuel price increases announced last week in a response National police used armored vehicles to fire tear gas into crowds at various locations Then it says nationwide efforts to clear highways have made little progress Defense Minister Harin admitted Monday afternoon We are making progress But new blockages are being erected as fast as we can take them down Then it says 3,000 army troops have been deployed with 2,000 more expected in Cuenca by late afternoon Meanwhile in Quito President Lennon Moreno repeated his offer to engage in discussions with indigenous and peasant organizations But the offer has been repeatedly refused the Confederation of indigenous
[22:12] Nationalities say that 20,000 indigenous marchers will soon arrive in Quito to conduct their own protests So there you have a perfect case in point how subsidies and huge international monetary fund loans and of course corrupt Politicians are there any other kind can't eventually destroy any economy Oh and just a few things you probably didn't know about the strings that come attached to IMF and World Bank loans That is for those of you who haven't read Confessions of an economic hitman on my top 10 reading list. That's confessions of an economic hitman by John Perkins I suggest if you do any reading at all, that's one book you have to pick up In fact, if you want to e-book or even audio book copies, I mean email the expat files at gmail.com And I'll shoot one off to you. So you type wise don't have to drop 15 bucks on Amazon anyway
[23:02] Here's an interesting piece entitled how the IMF and World Bank hurt countries They claim to help and I'll paraphrase as usual It says when people think of the damage that wealthy countries typically led by the US and its allies cause to people in the rest Of the world they think of warfare. For example, the hundreds of thousands of Middle Easterners that have died in US invasions But there's another kind of warfare That's equally damaging and done through the control of grants and loans of really big money to sovereign countries Specifically through IMF and World Bank loans The US and other wealthy countries are in control of those funds and almost never vote against each other To see what the problem looks like consider a recent IMF loan in March to Ecuador They signed an agreement to bow 4.2 billion from the IMF over three years provided that the government would adhere to certain economic programs
[23:52] They spell out in the arrangement Then it says the agreement to get the dough calls for a tightening of the country's budget about six percent of GDP for the next three years Which would be for example like telling the US federal government to tighten its budget by 1.4 trillion bucks Using some combination of cutting spending and raising taxes. Well, you know what governments will do to solve that problem, right? They don't cut government employees. They raise taxes. It's me. Johnny here again Government's a cancer and a cancer's only job is to what grow which eventually kills the host We've seen that with every example of a government that's ever existed back to the Roman Greek in Phoenician times Although you could say that in some cases it was warfare that destroyed ancient economies cultures and city-states in truth
[24:40] It all boils down to excessive government and excessive government spending since wars as you know cost a hell of a lot of dough And where's that don't come from take a guess by printing it the good old-fashioned way destroying the economy with inflation or Taxes usually both and even though back in the ancient days. They didn't print money They didn't have paper money then when things started getting bad economically They started skimping on the gold and the silver and the coinage in fact That's why you see the rippled stippled edges on coins these days. Look at the edge of a coin It's got lines struck into the edge You know why that is so that when you look at the coin you can see no one's clipped the edges because in the past When coins were gold and silver, that's what people in governments would do You ever hear of a clip joint from Three Stooges flicks or old gangster movies
[25:26] That's really an ancient term that came from the days when coins were made of gold and silver and people would clip the edges Just a little bit because you know if you clip the edges just a little from a lot of coins You can get some gold and silver enough to make it worth your while That's why the Greeks and the Romans put that Manufactured rippled edge on every coin so you look at it and you see if it's been clipped or not But of course today the point is mute because no coins in general circulation have any real value at all They're all cheap base metal nickel copper zinc, but they still have that manufactured rippled edge It's tradition, but now at least you know why but back to this example of Ecuador and those IMF loans So the IMF deal was supposed to include the firing of tens of thousands of public sector employees Which would be a great thing really, but if you look at things historically that almost never happens
[26:15] It's politically untenable instead the government raises taxes because those are the only two options fire people and raise taxes They're supposed to do both, but then people start protesting They take to the streets block roads and throw Molotov cocktails like what's happening in Ecuador right now and in the end We'll know how that plays out. They won't fire any government employees or cut back on government services and they will raise taxes and any major subsidies like gas and oil subsidies will be scaled way down to because people get Addicted to their subsidies not to mention governments are addicted to IMF and World Bank loans And why wouldn't they be because generally the terms of paying back those loans falls on the next administration or ones down the line Meanwhile the president administration the one that receives the loan
[27:02] They take their skim usually 20% and with big money flowing in from those loans Some nice big infrastructure projects get started many of which never get finished Hey, all you got to do is take a nice long leisurely ride out in the boonies in any Latin American country And you'll see tremendous superhighway projects that virtually and in dirt roads you get the picture Meanwhile, there's steady growth in the housing and condo market in the financial capital and Mecca of Latin America my Jimmy 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
[27:50] 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