#986 – The Expat Files: Vaccine Trials, Food Culture, and Argentina’s Economic Struggles

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play and now I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Hey, here's good news. If you're a lemming guess what US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson You'll be testing their new co-vitiate vaccine guess where? Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Mexico

[00:48] According to an article just released today at a landmark trial will involve 60,000 volunteers with the trials getting underway in September So would you volunteer who in the hell with a half a brain would then again? It's free You know how idiots and morons love free stuff I guess that includes me because I like free stuff once in a while too, but nothing's for nothing, right? Meanwhile a Chinese firm developing a vaccine called cine farm is recruiting six thousand Chinese volunteers for the study Yeah, right in China, they knock at your door and they say hey, we've got this vaccine trial going the good news Mr. Modo is you're volunteering Of course, there are other companies developing a so-called vaccine including Astra Zeneca

[01:34] Hey, you know, I've been hearing the famous. Dr. Falsi has a piece of that company Have you heard that anyway that company whether falsies got a piece of it or not? We'll also be doing South American trials starting in Brazil Peru and the other Latin countries mentioned So the good news for lemmings is that in September the worldwide guinea pig trials begin? So aside from China you volunteer and it's free such a deal, huh? Here's the thing in the last few weeks I've been asking various Latinos what they're gonna do when the vaccine comes online and Every last one of them said they'll take it Of course, that's to be expected because Latinos believe everything and anything that comes out of the US gets the gold label stamp of approval But you knew that already, right? Which brings me to an article that just popped up when I checked this morning's Yahoo News now

[02:23] I know Yahoo News is 100% lame Street media But you know what they say you have to read that kind of stuff to know what the enemy's doing, right? So as for my investigations searches and studies about 90% of that time I'm on alternative and real science websites But even so many of the science websites are getting corrupted, too I mean look you must have heard that there are many Fools and morons who have rejected science as we know it at least the sciences that were researched and invented by dead white guys Even though that turns out to be around 95% of all the modern technology we use today Look it up do a search and you'll find that lots and lots of people are saying these days that modern science is racist

[03:09] Including mathematics because you know these days anything connected to old white guys Even if they were geniuses is racist more on that later, but I have to tell you here in Latin America There's none of that going around No one down here is dissing old white guys science. In fact, they embrace it Nope, Latinas are not saying science or math is racist 2 plus 2 always equals 4 down here Though I understand up by you now even on college campuses I should say especially on college campuses math answers are debatable That's what they're saying some morons with a brain full of spy receipts are saying 2 plus 2 equals 5 So anyway the title of this article in lame stream Yahoo news. I'm sure millions have read this it jumps right out at you

[03:55] Because it's titled says I'm a doctor and here's when you can safely keep your mask off Don't worry. I'm not gonna read any more of that article because it's pure bull That said riddle me this Batman is the US population. So dumb and demented Are they such followers of authoritarian numbskulls that they actually believe wearing a mask with a mesh with tiny holes a Thousand times larger than any virus could possibly fend off an airborne disease Or are we perhaps at the stage that wearing a mask has become a false belief system? Just like how people have believed since the invention of toilet paper hundred or so years ago now before that You know, it was the Sears catalog

[04:42] Anyway, most of the world thinks that wiping your ass with Charmin somehow cleans and sanitizes your butthole How about it? Are you a buttwipe denier? Sorry folks No matter how many times you wipe whether it's two three or four ply factory infused with the scent of morning tropical dew Well, sorry folks you've been had actually the French got it right for once when they invented the bidet And how many people do you know actually have one try zero, huh? Turns out Americans only see him in the movies or if they take a European vacation Most thinking they're drinking fountains for midgets speaking of the French and not to digress too much What did the French actually contribute to the betterment of society? Let's see now the croissant French toast Oh, yes, and the French kiss and the French tickler. Am I showing my age there? Come on

[05:33] How many of you remember the French tickler? Oh, and of course my all-time favorite French invention the guillotine Actually named after the guy who invented it. I bet even today if you're a relative great great nephew Johnny guillotine Let's say I'll bet it's a real showstopper when you check into a hotel Wait a minute Johnny guillotine That'd be a great name for a metal band, huh? And I bet growing up with a name like that people don't mess with you You don't get bullied much Oh and to those of you who might be thinking the greatest thing the French ever did was invent French fries Well, they were actually invented by the Belgian by the way If you've ever been to Belgium, they sell French fries on the street when you order them They come in a cup generally they load them down with mayonnaise. Yuck. So look out for that

[06:18] Oh and Latin Americans are in love with mayonnaise, too Whereas many gringos and expats eat everything with ketchup for Latinos It's mayonnaise including slathering so much of it on corn on the cob that you can't even see the corn What a revolt and development corn on the cob with mayonnaise No, Latina kitchen would be complete without a couple of gallon jars of the stuff But it's the corn on the cob thing that gets me there are thousands of street vendors everywhere throughout Latin America selling corn on the cob In Spanish elote rostizado Roasted corn in English and as far as the flavor It's really hit-and-miss because you know up in the states. There's a big difference between the kinds of corn There's sweet corn and field corn. Of course up in the states. It's all GMO too However down here in Latin America

[07:04] No one makes that distinction by the way buying corn on the street in a little kiosk Maybe the only food you can buy from one of those little street vendors That's not gonna provoke the bane of backpackers Montezuma's revenge Because they keep part of the stalk on it and hand it to you like that right off the grill In other words, you're not putting their dirty grubby fingers on it before they hand it to you Like they will with a hot dog tortilla taco hamburger or anything else you order now remember 99.9% of those little guys selling stuff off of food carts on the street do not have running water They're using the same buckets They filled up in the morning to clean soak wipe down everything and you don't want to know what else and you know people who've had Montezuma's revenge have said Johnny. I love that street food. It's so cheap

[07:51] It smells so great But I know I'm taking a chance and many backpackers kind of accept Montezuma's revenge as the price you pay for visiting Latin America But it's really not so and you know I have to admit when you walk past one of those food kiosks what they're cooking up smells extremely good Don't fall for it with the one exception being grilled corn But don't you let them load it up with mayonnaise or fake butter let them hand it to you by the stock That's how they do it and you put on your own condiments Oh, and I say fake butter because throughout Latin America, that's all they seem to use is margarine and those fake butter substitutes Why not at 75% cheaper than butter now if you're sitting down at a high-end or pretty decent restaurant They'll give you the little butter pats little individually wrapped squares the real thing

[08:37] Oddly enough and I've seen it throughout Latin America those little wrapped butter squares are coming from New Zealand, Australia and France Anywhere, but Latin America and I think dairy farmers down here have really dropped the ball Local dairy farmers are everywhere and they produce lots of milk and cheese Meanwhile every medium to upscale restaurant use nothing but imported butter squares Imagine the cost of shipping that stuff from New Zealand on top of that. There's import taxes So in truth even a tiny dairy farmer could probably divert his entire production to restaurant style butter squares And in no time completely wipe out the imported competition But then again, that's just me a gringo looking at possible business niches So the question is why is it always us gringos and expats who think of those things?

[09:23] It's the gringo advantage, of course, never underestimate it and really to take the idea a bit farther on any given day You could drive out in the boonies 10 or 15 minutes from where you are and you're bound to see a herd of cows grazing So then why not pitch your idea to a local dairy farmer? Hey, that's how businesses start you get the point now Where were we? Oh, yeah, the covid it mask thing. So how can I or any you listeners out there? Reconciled the fact that so many of the smartest people in the world a lot of smart people that you know Too are falling for the covid it scam whether it's masks social distancing Spraying snot like goop on your hands ten times a day, etc. Etc. Well, it's a fact that the most obsessively masked and socially distant

[10:08] Communities are all college towns. How'd that happen colleges are supposed to be incubators for smart people, right? Of course, the mask and social distancing stuff always takes a backseat when BLM guys take to the streets in pillage Because you know gender and racial protests supersede everything else They're the untouchables, right as mentioned They're already saying that two plus two can equal five because old dead white guys came up with it I'm sure you know deep down that geometry algebra and calculus are evil old white male Conconctions designed to keep non whites in the dark. Wait a minute. Can I say dark? Give me a second I have to check page 46 in my PC manual. Yep I just did an internet search and I found there are hundreds of articles

[10:54] Referencing the fake fact that two plus two doesn't necessarily equal for that according to many many brain stunted boobs Tell you what? I'd never want to get in a plane subway or a car if everyone with a brain didn't agree that two plus two equaled anything but Unfortunately for the protesters though everything based on the old racist white guy math is questionable enough Of course, you know Those boobs are not smart enough to mention that there were some important additions to our numerical Base-10 system brought to Europe by invading Muslim Moors and at the time I think it was around three or four hundred AD when all of Europe was using the Roman numeral system You know how that works right with X's C's B's and L's well when they saw the Arab system that had a zero in it

[11:41] The Europeans didn't even use zeros yet And that they could write huge numbers with just three or four digits that would normally take Ten times as much space if they used Roman numerals. They said hey These Muslim guys have something here, which is why we use the base ten Arabic system now That kind of throws a wrench into the old racist white guy math idea Doesn't it and you know, that's part of the reason why I think the virus is genetically engineered It's been manipulated into being the smartest virus ever known for a virus. You could say it's on the level of genius Let me explain it to you. And if you think my logic is flawed, let me know I'm flexible But look this virus is so smart It knows that when you're at a social distance of six feet It can't touch you and when the local rules say social distancing is only three feet

[12:30] It somehow picks up on that it keeps away and knows when to back off when it's three feet Ain't that brilliant? So it knows when the local rules are six feet knows when to back off to a newer and shorter range when the local Establishment do you happen to be frequenting says three feet? But here's the real genius part it knows when you're in a restaurant and you sit down and take your mask off to eat Knows automatically to hang back and keep a respectable distance down by your plate It knows not to jump up and screw with you and how does it do that? What's the trigger? Well, I'm kind of thinking it detects the sound of the clinking of silverware Quite possibly, you know, it's got a Cheeto and cheeseburger detector spliced into its genome and it falls back accordingly every time

[13:15] I'll tell you it's really something how smart and understanding this virus is it knows the rules whether it's six foot three foot Or a couple of inches when you sit down and eat. I'm telling you It's no ordinary virus for my money genetically engineered and made in a lab All right Well other viruses are dumb as a box of rocks So my hats off to all you brilliant guys who designed this thing whether you're Chinese NSA US Defense Department black ops great job. All right switching gears Let's get back to Argentina since I spoke about it. Was it two shows ago now? I got a nice bunch of emails from people saying they were thinking about that as their plan B Since they heard from people down there they know and info on the internet that the US dollar is super strong and that if you get paid in dollars or have any kind of

[14:03] Income stream coming from the states or whatever in dollars. It's something like 50% cheaper than it was a year or two ago Well, you know, I'm in complete agreement if you live in Argentina and you have dollars. It's extremely cheap In fact over the last five years, they've had around 30% year-over-year inflation measured against the US dollar Of course problem being as mentioned a few shows ago. They've got severe dollar restrictions in Argentina Precisely speaking about a year ago individual Argentines with individual bank accounts have been limited to buying only $200 a month by debiting their peso accounts in the bank and Argentines with pesos can only legally convert US dollars a month that currency exchanges and other legal outlets and thus a huge black or gray market

[14:50] Whatever you want to call it has grown up around changing pesos to dollars and vice versa Just like guess where Venezuela? Alright, so here's the facts. Even if you're a tourist in Argentina You're gonna love this anything you pay it with a credit card in Argentina they're gonna slap a 30% surcharge on it because Naturally your credit card as a tourist is gonna be in dollars And again, if you try to use your US or other country credit card or debit card to go to an ATM machine You can only get pesos. That means that visitors tourists Just like Argentines will not be able to get their hands on any foreign currency like euros or dollars while in Argentina Even from your own bank account in Cleveland. Now, that's a lot different than other Latin countries like Mexico, Guatemala

[15:36] Salvador Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, etc Where many ATM machines will dispense not only the local funny money, but US dollar funny money, too And in most cases you'll pay something like $2 per transaction So it's always good to take out the maximum daily amount and in most Latin countries That's two to three hundred bucks a day Now as mentioned you can't get US dollars from ATM machines in Argentina and only about a hundred to two hundred dollars a month However on the street the black market or gray market actually they call it the blue market. Don't ask me why Anyway, if for example, you're buying currency on the street the blue market Whatever if you have dollars or euros and you're changing to the Argentine peso funny money You'll get 20% more for your money than if you went to a bank In other words the guys on the street value dollars in euros so much over the local money

[16:25] They're willing to pay 20% more than the bank. Of course, that means on the street You can buy as many dollars or pesos as you want However, there are tons of fake US hundreds 50s and 20s in South America as there are millions of fake Argentine peso notes Too and I for one can't tell the difference. Can you unless it's a pretty bad job and it's very obvious Although you and I could certainly tell a bad copy of a US hundred dollar bill That's for sure We would never be able to figure out if any of the denominations of Argentine pesos were fake and that's the problem Gringo's expats and European tourists are now kind of stuck Changing their money on the street because the banks won't give you any more than two hundred dollars a month in dollars or euros And that means there's a good chance of being slipped some bad bills yet

[17:11] Another reason Argentina is a bad move for your plan B Though a very nice place to visit if you can get a nice package deal All right, just to lay out some other points and finish up on why Argentina has turned into South America's Second-biggest basket case behind Venezuela. Here's the short history in recent memory just in the past generation or so Argentina's had an inflation rate as high as 5,000% The military is taken over the country twice and the government has defaulted on its sovereign debt 12 times in the last 25 years yet their bond issues keep selling out because they've got really high interest rates But when they want to raise a bond issue They go to skunks like JP Morgan who wrap them up and sell them to insurance companies and such because they're paying out

[17:59] 10 or 15 or 20 percent problem is they don't pay out 10 15 or 20 percent because they end up defaulting But you knew that already right by the way Did you know that a hundred years ago? There was a saying throughout the world when someone was talking about a country or a person who's rich They'd say he's as rich as an Argentine No joke a hundred years ago Argentine farmers were the world's most productive when it came to sheep and cattle In fact, Mark Twain was quoted as saying that Buenos Aires was the most spectacular city in the world much more impressive than London New York or Paris broader avenues more parks trees luxurious open spaces and culture So a hundred years ago It was the sixth richest country in the world with an average income equal to the Brits And now it went from number 6 to 80 on the list

[18:46] In fact even during the 1960s Argentina had the same GDP per capita as Japan So what the hell happened and if you look closely at it There's no social or cultural reason that explains how Argentina keeps collapsing Except to say they've got a huge malignant government structure But what else is new turns out ever since way back in the Peron days Argentina has gone through electoral cycles that have begun with a so-called new savior candidate Promising greater largess from the government less inflation less corruption free stuff You know the usual BS promises that never come true, but the voters have Alzheimer's they keep falling for it sound familiar So really since the 1950s anyway Argentina just keeps going from crisis to crisis and this year's estimate for year-over-year inflation is 50%

[19:37] That means in a year's time every single item for sale in Argentina is gonna cost 50% more than it does right now now, of course when you think about it That's a fantastic opportunity if you've got US dollars coming in But the problem is to be able to convert it to pesos in large enough quantities to buy something like a house a car Or invest in the business. I take that back. You wouldn't want to invest in the business. No way why for one thing They've got twice as many strangling business regulations as the US does And you know how hard and expensive it is to open a business in the States Though having an internet business is another thing brick-and-mortar forget about it Speaking of Argentine banks that reminds me of a famous saying that goes like this a man with a gun can rob a bank a

[20:23] man with a bank can rob the world and the only way out of that corrupt system is gold silver and Cryptocurrency. I hope you've got some oh and about the crypto thing if you're scared have doubts or just don't have the confidence to get In just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com and I'll send you the info on captain mangoes Crypto course for beginners. Yep. He'll hold your hand and walk you through the whole thing He definitely gets my vote and seal of approval. He's a very honest and trustworthy guy even after a couple of tequilas So as the world implodes around us, you'd be nuts if you don't have at least a small portion of your assets in crypto By the way, I was just checking out the lamestream media in regards to the upcoming US Presidential election and I caught this little blurb that I don't think anyone's paying attention to it says here

[21:11] Joe Biden has stated a number of times that if elected he would make illegal immigration a non-criminal act Hmm guess what kind of message that sends to Latin Americans think about that one for a while And you know the weirdest thing about well Maybe it's not that weird all the Latinos I know up in the states around Chicago once who are citizens and born in the states They hate illegal immigration Because they came in the right way or were born there and they totally reject the idea of people just sneaking in They say they don't want to live next door to them either again It's down to the fact that po folks have po habits. They bring the worst parts of their culture with them Hey, that's not my quote. It's a quote from one of my Mexican American high school friends up in Chicago Does that sound racist to you, you know, I get lots of emails from people saying Johnny. Are there racists in Latin America?

[22:00] Well, the fact is when we talk about racism almost every ethnic group considers itself to be special or superior to their neighbors I mean, that's the way humans are that absolutely includes the Chinese to in fact The Chinese as a group probably have more belief in their racial superiority than any other group I've ever met except maybe the Japanese who did ghastly experiments on captured Chinese in World War two Remember that that's one of the reasons why the Japanese and Chinese will forever be enemies Racism's alive and well in Latin America to for example the Colombians think they're better than the Venezuelans who think they're better than the Brazilians and Costa Ricans think they're better classier and smarter than Nicaraguan's who think they're one notch above people from Belize who think they're smarter

[22:46] Mas listo that means more astute than all of the other Central American countries because their native language is English the language of gringos who they all aspire to be and the Mexicans they look down on all their Latin neighbors, especially Guatemalans who they refer to as hayseeds and the Argentines again with the Argentines They think they're smarter better looking and more cultured than every other Latin country They say that's because they've got more European blood than any other Latin country and they actually do though There's an ongoing debate between Argentina Costa Rica and Chile as to who's classier smarter more cultured even lighter and taller Of course, we're not talking about outright confrontations or insults at parties or bare-knuckle fights

[23:32] It's what Latinos whisper and say behind closed doors In fact, I dare you to ask any Latino You know whether you're up in the states or down here in Latin America ask him to rank the 20 Latin countries in the order Of intellectual or cultural superiority and you'll see what I mean In fact from my money Latin Americans are much more racist than North Americans But they're not in any way outspoken or violent about it It just shows up in job opportunities where people live and the mix in the mating dating and romance game So you've got the Argentines the Costa Ricans and the Chilenos thinking they're the smartest brightest and most cultured people in Latin America Meanwhile the Spanish in Spain look on their Latin colonies as a bunch of wayward or even retarded children Talk about racist the Spanish from Spain take the cake and believe it or not all Latin Americans

[24:22] Kiss the asses of Spanish visitors and tourists when they come over to Latin America Sure They admit Spaniards are stuck up and haughty but they still kiss their asses nevertheless Like they're superior beings or something all because they originally come from the homeland believe me I've seen Latinos of all stripes suck up to real a hundred percent Spanish-born Spaniards who if you know a little Spanish yourself are easily distinguished by their lispy accent So be advised the fact is Latinos of all stripes suck up to them yet They diss them behind their backs as prepotentes. That means stuck up chip on the shoulder superior attitude Funny thing though old-timers look back at a time when Venezuela was the premier Latin country by far

[25:07] They still remember some of the old guys when they were richer more educated and better off than anyone else in Latin America All the other Latin countries, especially Columbia They were envious and jealous and it was worse with Columbia because they share a border They've always had a great rivalry with Venezuela and even have gone to war a couple of times. Of course now It's no contest Venezuela's a failed state and Colombians they revel in that but never to strangers only behind closed doors They figure Venezuela was way overdue for a comeuppance and man Did they get it by the way? And you may have heard me say this before the best and most definitive way to judge the institutional racism in a particular Latin country Just go on the net pick a Latin country and look up a photo of the Congress of that country then notice the percentage of tall Light-skinned congressman versus short dark Latinos or indigenous types

[25:56] Then go to that country's wiki page and note the percentage racial breakdown in the general population what you'll notice is that Every single land country is highly skewed to the tall light-skinned classes more pure Spanish blood That would be then short and dark Latino or indigenous types Though there are some Latin countries that are much improved on the general racial mix and opportunities like Bolivia Peru and the DR But still in no way is it truly balanced also check the teaching staff at the schools and universities Check out their yearbook photos. You'll find the more expensive the school the lighter and taller the teachers as For the crappy public schools that are basically almost free They're heavily skewed with short dark-skinned teachers. So what can we surmise from all that?

[26:45] Well, it's pretty much that endemic racism exists in every country to some degree For example, the Koreans think they're smarter and better than the Chinese who don't much like them either and the Japanese think they're smarter And better than everyone and they might be in true intelligence. Anyway, just check out the IQ scores for different cultures So then how do you solve all that? Well, if advancement was based on pure meritocracy, the world would actually be a fair and better place But it ain't so so live with it and get over it because whatever you do You're not gonna make a dent if you stick your neck out You just might get it chopped off especially in Central America where practically everyone has a machete in the broom closet Yep, a nice sharp machete. I've got two or three of them in the garage myself. Yep They're what you might call a poor man's guillotine

[27:32] You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com. No spamos