We're back, after I prove once again that I'm not much good at maintaining a blog. A lot has changed.
After a long period of hesitation and uncertainty I will definitely be visiting Chile for two weeks this month--next week, in fact. To those who have asked: I am not regarding this as a pleasure trip. It is exploratory. I am going with the idea of eventually relocating and working there. I(would be escape the United States, which I have told people is a nation-state with a great past. Plus I would be escaping permanent instructor status in my field for a place where American Ph.D.s appear to be desired.
Here is the travelogue:
(1) May 26, 2009: airfare purchased for American Airlines flight operated by American Eagle.
(2) Tues June 9: departure from Greenville-Spartanburg on AA 3550 at 2:45 pm for Dallas-Ft. Worth.
(3) Arrive in Dallas-Ft. Worth approx. 4:25 pm for layover. (Doubtless there will be things to do, including eat & perhaps watch for redheads, LOL.)
(4) Departure for Santiago on AA 945 at 9:10 pm.
(5) Arrive in Santiago, Chile, at 7:40 am Wed June 10.
(6) In Santiago--very likely with an additional trip to Valdivia to the south--from June 10 to June 23. Hope I can touch base with at least two universities. And learn as much about Chilean culture as I can--perhaps picking up words and phrases in Spanish along with some Spanish grammar.
(7) Departure from Santiago on AA 940 at 9 pm on Tues June 23.
(8) Arrive in Dallas-Ft. Worth at 6 am Wed June 24.
(9) Departure from Dallas-Ft. Worth on AA 3619 at 8:15 am.
(10) Arrive in Greenville-Spartanburg at 11:35 am.
I will have my digital camera (and some warm clothes since South America is coming up on winter, unfortunately). Hopefully Cobin can show me how to post pictures here.
Situation with parents has not changed significantly, however. At least it hasn't gotten worse. But it will keep me from making anyone any promises which probably no one is looking for at this point. There is still too much I have to do that requires a hands-on approach. Example: having to put out a fire regarding my dad's veterans benefits this week which has required (so far) three phone calls, two letters (one from his doctor), and material collected and needing to be mailed. I couldn't do this from anywhere in Chile, and if things don't settle down to where it becomes possible to do everything online, it will delay any relocation there indefinitely.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
The Greenville "Tea Party"
Earlier this evening, Greenville was witness to its own "Tea Party" protesting Barack Obama's "economic stimulus" which - duh! - will grow the size and scope of the U.S. Federal Government like never before! There were several dozen of these in various cities around the country today, or so I have heard.
Posted at greenvilleonline.com:
I was there, and although I am on the same page ideologically with many of those I saw there - at least, those carrying signs - I wasn't all that impressed. It's going to take a lot more than speeches, signs, and symbolic gestures such as dumping tea into the river to turn this country around.
The Republicans took a thrashing in 2006 and then another thrashing in 2008. There were good reasons for this. The plain truth is, the GOP is in a shambles! Republicans are going to have to do some major soul-searching, figure out what they stand for (as opposed to merely being against Obama & "big government"), and then how to get voters back on board.
After all, W. wasn't exactly a "small government" president! Two foreign wars are only the start.
I would begin by kicking the neocons out of positions of authority in the Party, and go from there. Republicans have to identify who/what the enemy is, & it isn't Obama. He has his handlers, just like W. did (& Clinton before him & the first George Bush before him).
The enemy is elite-driven corporatist globalism, with entities like the Federal Reserve Corporation at the helm. Neocons are all for it. So are corporate Democrats like the Clintons. So is Obama. He'd never gotten the nomination otherwise, although McCain is also a corporate globalist who would have carried the torch if Obama screwed up prior to the election. Corporatist globalism causes foreign wars, which are over resources such as oil; it sends jobs overseas for cheap labor, brings immigrants in on visas who will work more cheaply than their American counterparts here, and opens the borders to the flood of illegal aliens we have seen. It is the most destructive economic force in the world right now, and is definitely being directed by our bankster power elite. Some confuse corporatist globalism with "free markets." In real free markets, everyone pulls his own weight, there are no cozy partnerships between corporations and governments, and those who fail are not bailed out.
A sign of whether the Republican Party can be saved, or is even worth saving, will be if Republicans respond to sentiments like this one with terms like "extremist" or "conspiracy theory." While going on carrying signs, Confederate flags (geez! people!), and continue thinking they can "take back power" from the Democrats with what they have now.
By the way, how many Republicans reading this know that the Republican Party is a member of a globalist organization, the International Democrat Union? (http://www.idu.org) (END of greenvilleonline.com postings.)
Barack Obama's / the Democratic Congress's "economic stimulus" efforts will probably fail, because they cannot revive the U.S. economy via the very things that got us into this mess in the first place: too much spending and living beyond our means, not merely as individuals but as a nation. I foresee ordinary Americans getting more and more frustrated when Obama fails to deliver. Eventually even some of those who (probably reluctantly supported him over the insipid McCain) will want his head on a plate as their portfolios disappear along with their jobs, and as the Dow sinks below 7,000, then below 6,000 and then below 5,000 (contrarian Bill Bonner's prediction).
The United States of America needs a New American Revolution! Americans need to kick out the banksters and all their minions. They need to put a stop to this force I've called corporatist globalism. Otherwise, this force will put an end to them!
Posted at greenvilleonline.com:
I was there, and although I am on the same page ideologically with many of those I saw there - at least, those carrying signs - I wasn't all that impressed. It's going to take a lot more than speeches, signs, and symbolic gestures such as dumping tea into the river to turn this country around.
The Republicans took a thrashing in 2006 and then another thrashing in 2008. There were good reasons for this. The plain truth is, the GOP is in a shambles! Republicans are going to have to do some major soul-searching, figure out what they stand for (as opposed to merely being against Obama & "big government"), and then how to get voters back on board.
After all, W. wasn't exactly a "small government" president! Two foreign wars are only the start.
I would begin by kicking the neocons out of positions of authority in the Party, and go from there. Republicans have to identify who/what the enemy is, & it isn't Obama. He has his handlers, just like W. did (& Clinton before him & the first George Bush before him).
The enemy is elite-driven corporatist globalism, with entities like the Federal Reserve Corporation at the helm. Neocons are all for it. So are corporate Democrats like the Clintons. So is Obama. He'd never gotten the nomination otherwise, although McCain is also a corporate globalist who would have carried the torch if Obama screwed up prior to the election. Corporatist globalism causes foreign wars, which are over resources such as oil; it sends jobs overseas for cheap labor, brings immigrants in on visas who will work more cheaply than their American counterparts here, and opens the borders to the flood of illegal aliens we have seen. It is the most destructive economic force in the world right now, and is definitely being directed by our bankster power elite. Some confuse corporatist globalism with "free markets." In real free markets, everyone pulls his own weight, there are no cozy partnerships between corporations and governments, and those who fail are not bailed out.
A sign of whether the Republican Party can be saved, or is even worth saving, will be if Republicans respond to sentiments like this one with terms like "extremist" or "conspiracy theory." While going on carrying signs, Confederate flags (geez! people!), and continue thinking they can "take back power" from the Democrats with what they have now.
By the way, how many Republicans reading this know that the Republican Party is a member of a globalist organization, the International Democrat Union? (http://www.idu.org) (END of greenvilleonline.com postings.)
Barack Obama's / the Democratic Congress's "economic stimulus" efforts will probably fail, because they cannot revive the U.S. economy via the very things that got us into this mess in the first place: too much spending and living beyond our means, not merely as individuals but as a nation. I foresee ordinary Americans getting more and more frustrated when Obama fails to deliver. Eventually even some of those who (probably reluctantly supported him over the insipid McCain) will want his head on a plate as their portfolios disappear along with their jobs, and as the Dow sinks below 7,000, then below 6,000 and then below 5,000 (contrarian Bill Bonner's prediction).
The United States of America needs a New American Revolution! Americans need to kick out the banksters and all their minions. They need to put a stop to this force I've called corporatist globalism. Otherwise, this force will put an end to them!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
EXPATiations - (courtesy of N.W.)
(I've done occasional editing touch-ups where appropriate. SY.)
ex pa' ti ate
–verb (used without object), -at ed, -at ing.
1. to enlarge in discourse or writing; be copious in description or discussion: to expatiate upon a theme.
2. Archaic. to move or wander about intellectually, imaginatively, etc., without restraint.
*******
Somebody, please translate this article into plain English.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86493§ionid=351020606
The Swiss govt and largest Swiss bank are caving in on Switzerland's bank secrecy (I thought they already had!?!) and one political party doesn't like it. Is that about it? No chance Switzerland will ever become a financial haven again, as long as the Permanent Regime reigns in D.C.? Of course, it was only useful to the rich anyway, right?
*******
FINALLY.... an expat report (per se, of sorts) on Arica, Chile, and it's very, very positive!
http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/89/Chile.html
EXCERPTS
The daytime temperatures, year-round, are mid 70’s to 80’s Fahrenheit, and night time lows from mid-60’s to low 70’s Fahrenheit. No heaters and no air conditioners required.
If you love fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood, and chicken then you will be in heaven here. We have estimated our food bill to be about $1.50 per day - no, that was not a typo - one dollar and fifty cents each day for very good meals.
The meat, fish, seafood, and produce is of excellent quality and superior in many ways to what we get in the States because nothing is fooled around with. It is all organic, nothing is genetically modified, or injected with hormones or antibiotics. Of course, you can still get your favorite junk food. Just be prepared to pay more for it than you will for fresh.
Internet access is widely available and most of it is broadband. I have yet to encounter any dial up service. The price of this ranges anywhere from $15.00 per month to $40.00 per month, depending on whether you are using DSL, cable, or have a combination telephone service/DSL.
You will never meet people who are more warm, friendly, and genuinely caring than you will here in Chile. We were here less than a week and had made enough friends to have a small dinner party. What a great time we had, too! Good food, good wine, and great story-telling, all lent to one of the most pleasant evenings passed in a very long time. It was nice to do this, as we really had no friends in New York. We had no time to nurture friendships as we were so busy working. Here, we can live more leisurely, meet people, socialize and finally enjoy life’s true meaning.
http://una-vida-nueva.blogspot.com/
RBC SEZ: You can move to any country without passport etc etc. if you bring a lot of money in. I mention this just in case it should ever apply to any of us -- someday.
URUGUAY
John Cobin reminded me after the last mailer that his page on Uruguay is really quite major:
http://escapeamericanow.blogspot.com/2009/01/some-realism-over-infatuation-with.html
He's got some good cautions, but many only make Uruguay sound the more attractive.... not to say as much so as Chile, of course! 8-)
Bad, very bad: searching for classical music in Uruguay, absolutely nothing turns up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo4l76JxBDM
SOUTH AMERICA
........the heart of the continent remains largely vacant, a rugged expanse of mountains, desert, grassland, and forest that constitutes one of the world's last great wilderness treasures.
.......Although the Amazon is not the planet's longest watercourse, it carries more liquid than the next ten biggest rivers combined. -- National Geographic Family Reference Atlas of the World (I just bought it at wonderful McDowell's Emporium in Anderson.)
BELIZE
Susan H., not a Uruguana, has missionary friends in Belize and sends their site.
http://belize-now.com /index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=6
Highlights: Mennonites old world skills in farming, furniture building, livestock and poultry, have given much to the Belizean people, and today there are over ten thousand supplying nearly all of the milk, eggs, chicken, and a good percentage of the building materials and produce. In return the government allows them to nearly govern themselves, building and maintaining their own roads, and paying taxes to themselves and Belizean government. Their relationship with the Belizean government and people has been mutually beneficial.
........... As we go west on the Western HWY you come to San Ignacio. This area of Belize real estate seems to be the most expensive and it seems like the best area in Belize to live. With a much higher density of gas stations, markets, and places to eat and a whole lot less crime then Belize City.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLdLXz8YZQU
....................Punta Gorda is the capital of this district and is the most southern town in Belize. I would like to say something good about this town, but it's hot there and full of mosquitoes, it gets a lot of rain and it's at the end of the road.
..................Land is not much different than it is here. If it's beside a river, it costs three times more, if it has a bunch of fruit trees and cleared land it cost twice as much. A 2,500 square foot home and five acres might cost you 100,000 US. Raw, virgin property away from the road with decent trees is worth about $1,500 an acre. You may re-coop half of your money if you log it. There aren't that many roads in Belize which is a real problem because there is a lot of beautiful property; it's just hard to get to.
Belizeans themselves can get property from the government, all they have to do is survey a piece off, take it in and get it approved, and either clear or plant something on half of it in 5 years. And after some time they deed it to you.
......................As far as land taxes, they are broken up into several different configurations, whether it's farmland or residential or woods. But it is much less than the United States. Barely worth talking about. Income tax is about 10%. Everything is much more simple, setting up businesses, taxes, and basically just red tape is much easier.
My opinion, which is not based on personal experience of course, but from the several people in business that we talked to, it's easier to do well financially in Belize than it is in the United States. More natural resources and far less entrepreneurs per capita.
If you are an American who wants to go down there and get a job the government makes it very difficult for you, but if you want to start a business that makes things for Belizeans or hires Belizeans then they will make things very easy on you and give you tax breaks and allow you to bring in cars, tools, and equipment duty-free at their own discretion, which by the way what I've heard can be quite fickle. Belizeans work for about $15-$20 a day.
So to round things off, Belize has nearly as many rules as the U.S. but not many are enforced. If you are violent or a menace the police might hit you in the head with their flashlight a few times and then you just get killed accidentally.
They have speed limits like we do here, but everyone hates them there like they hate them here so they are never enforced. If you legally swindle somebody out of something and you're a jerk about it instead of letting you go like the U.S. they are liable to change the law long enough to put you in jail.
Homeschooling might be illegal but then again nobody really cares. So if you want to teach your kids school, you just do it, people do. Most of the schools we saw were Christian schools. There is a deluge of ministries down there, many of which have schools, and the overall openness and morality of the people reminded me of what the US must have been like 50 years ago.
People are corrupt like people are corrupt everywhere, the difference is that Belize is a small country and there's not an overwhelming conspiracy to push the liberal agenda.
http://www.belize-vacation.info/belize-climate.php
= In all regions, albeit less so in the mountainous areas, humidity is high. Conditions are moist and tropical. Belize City is warm all year round, with average temperatures at a pleasant 72 degrees in the dry season and up to 88 degrees in the rainy season. If you go up to Mountain Pine Redge, average low temperature drops to a cool 63 degrees F in December.
ex pa' ti ate
–verb (used without object), -at ed, -at ing.
1. to enlarge in discourse or writing; be copious in description or discussion: to expatiate upon a theme.
2. Archaic. to move or wander about intellectually, imaginatively, etc., without restraint.
*******
Somebody, please translate this article into plain English.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86493§ionid=351020606
The Swiss govt and largest Swiss bank are caving in on Switzerland's bank secrecy (I thought they already had!?!) and one political party doesn't like it. Is that about it? No chance Switzerland will ever become a financial haven again, as long as the Permanent Regime reigns in D.C.? Of course, it was only useful to the rich anyway, right?
*******
FINALLY.... an expat report (per se, of sorts) on Arica, Chile, and it's very, very positive!
http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/89/Chile.html
EXCERPTS
The daytime temperatures, year-round, are mid 70’s to 80’s Fahrenheit, and night time lows from mid-60’s to low 70’s Fahrenheit. No heaters and no air conditioners required.
If you love fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood, and chicken then you will be in heaven here. We have estimated our food bill to be about $1.50 per day - no, that was not a typo - one dollar and fifty cents each day for very good meals.
The meat, fish, seafood, and produce is of excellent quality and superior in many ways to what we get in the States because nothing is fooled around with. It is all organic, nothing is genetically modified, or injected with hormones or antibiotics. Of course, you can still get your favorite junk food. Just be prepared to pay more for it than you will for fresh.
Internet access is widely available and most of it is broadband. I have yet to encounter any dial up service. The price of this ranges anywhere from $15.00 per month to $40.00 per month, depending on whether you are using DSL, cable, or have a combination telephone service/DSL.
You will never meet people who are more warm, friendly, and genuinely caring than you will here in Chile. We were here less than a week and had made enough friends to have a small dinner party. What a great time we had, too! Good food, good wine, and great story-telling, all lent to one of the most pleasant evenings passed in a very long time. It was nice to do this, as we really had no friends in New York. We had no time to nurture friendships as we were so busy working. Here, we can live more leisurely, meet people, socialize and finally enjoy life’s true meaning.
http://una-vida-nueva.blogspot.com/
RBC SEZ: You can move to any country without passport etc etc. if you bring a lot of money in. I mention this just in case it should ever apply to any of us -- someday.
URUGUAY
John Cobin reminded me after the last mailer that his page on Uruguay is really quite major:
http://escapeamericanow.blogspot.com/2009/01/some-realism-over-infatuation-with.html
He's got some good cautions, but many only make Uruguay sound the more attractive.... not to say as much so as Chile, of course! 8-)
Bad, very bad: searching for classical music in Uruguay, absolutely nothing turns up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo4l76JxBDM
SOUTH AMERICA
........the heart of the continent remains largely vacant, a rugged expanse of mountains, desert, grassland, and forest that constitutes one of the world's last great wilderness treasures.
.......Although the Amazon is not the planet's longest watercourse, it carries more liquid than the next ten biggest rivers combined. -- National Geographic Family Reference Atlas of the World (I just bought it at wonderful McDowell's Emporium in Anderson.)
BELIZE
Susan H., not a Uruguana, has missionary friends in Belize and sends their site.
http://belize-now.com /index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=6
Highlights: Mennonites old world skills in farming, furniture building, livestock and poultry, have given much to the Belizean people, and today there are over ten thousand supplying nearly all of the milk, eggs, chicken, and a good percentage of the building materials and produce. In return the government allows them to nearly govern themselves, building and maintaining their own roads, and paying taxes to themselves and Belizean government. Their relationship with the Belizean government and people has been mutually beneficial.
........... As we go west on the Western HWY you come to San Ignacio. This area of Belize real estate seems to be the most expensive and it seems like the best area in Belize to live. With a much higher density of gas stations, markets, and places to eat and a whole lot less crime then Belize City.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLdLXz8YZQU
....................Punta Gorda is the capital of this district and is the most southern town in Belize. I would like to say something good about this town, but it's hot there and full of mosquitoes, it gets a lot of rain and it's at the end of the road.
..................Land is not much different than it is here. If it's beside a river, it costs three times more, if it has a bunch of fruit trees and cleared land it cost twice as much. A 2,500 square foot home and five acres might cost you 100,000 US. Raw, virgin property away from the road with decent trees is worth about $1,500 an acre. You may re-coop half of your money if you log it. There aren't that many roads in Belize which is a real problem because there is a lot of beautiful property; it's just hard to get to.
Belizeans themselves can get property from the government, all they have to do is survey a piece off, take it in and get it approved, and either clear or plant something on half of it in 5 years. And after some time they deed it to you.
......................As far as land taxes, they are broken up into several different configurations, whether it's farmland or residential or woods. But it is much less than the United States. Barely worth talking about. Income tax is about 10%. Everything is much more simple, setting up businesses, taxes, and basically just red tape is much easier.
My opinion, which is not based on personal experience of course, but from the several people in business that we talked to, it's easier to do well financially in Belize than it is in the United States. More natural resources and far less entrepreneurs per capita.
If you are an American who wants to go down there and get a job the government makes it very difficult for you, but if you want to start a business that makes things for Belizeans or hires Belizeans then they will make things very easy on you and give you tax breaks and allow you to bring in cars, tools, and equipment duty-free at their own discretion, which by the way what I've heard can be quite fickle. Belizeans work for about $15-$20 a day.
So to round things off, Belize has nearly as many rules as the U.S. but not many are enforced. If you are violent or a menace the police might hit you in the head with their flashlight a few times and then you just get killed accidentally.
They have speed limits like we do here, but everyone hates them there like they hate them here so they are never enforced. If you legally swindle somebody out of something and you're a jerk about it instead of letting you go like the U.S. they are liable to change the law long enough to put you in jail.
Homeschooling might be illegal but then again nobody really cares. So if you want to teach your kids school, you just do it, people do. Most of the schools we saw were Christian schools. There is a deluge of ministries down there, many of which have schools, and the overall openness and morality of the people reminded me of what the US must have been like 50 years ago.
People are corrupt like people are corrupt everywhere, the difference is that Belize is a small country and there's not an overwhelming conspiracy to push the liberal agenda.
http://www.belize-vacation.info/belize-climate.php
= In all regions, albeit less so in the mountainous areas, humidity is high. Conditions are moist and tropical. Belize City is warm all year round, with average temperatures at a pleasant 72 degrees in the dry season and up to 88 degrees in the rainy season. If you go up to Mountain Pine Redge, average low temperature drops to a cool 63 degrees F in December.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Chile Party / Commentary
Last Saturday one of my fellow South Carolinians with definite plans to relocate to Chile hosted a get-together at his house in one of the neighborhoods between Greenville and Spartanburg. He showed us pictures of various cities and other points of interest in Chile. I was particularly interested in Santiago, of course - definitely a first world city, largest in the region, where it is cheaper to live than any equivalent city in the U.S. I wonder, though, if the pro-Chile crowd is underestimating the crime rate in Chile. The rate of violent crime appears to be low, but there is a lot of theft and one must watch one's valuables with great care.
I learned that other possible ex-patriates are also looking at Uruguay, on the other side of Argentina from Chile. I hadn't looked at Uruguay, but the country could have some plusses.
In the meantime, my father is back in the hospital following a serious bout of internal bleeding. A colonoscopy was done yesterday. As of this writing, I still don't have the results. The doctor who performed the procedure had explicit instructions to call me with the results, but has not done so, and one of the nurses snapped over the phone at me, "He does have other patients up here!" Yes, I'm sure he does, and neither of them will win any customer-service awards this year.
I understand that the infamous "stimulus" bill Obama just signed includes a strong potential for health care rationing. Health care must be "cost effective," and federal standards for such will be imposed on doctors by force and carefully monitored by a new cadre of federal bureaucrats. Which means that the reduction of the value of human life to dollars and sense will grow more pronounced under this new administration. The grip of hard materialism on U.S. society will grow even greater, even as the federal government grows larger and more intrusive. People like my parents may not even be able to get health care when their nest egg is destroyed and they can no longer consume. As for my generation ... ?
I'm thinking that for thinking people, this society is going to be unlivable before too much longer. Whatever jobs are created are going to be federal government jobs. The economic roof might not cave in, but the oppressiveness of the federal regime will grow intolerable. Yes, we might get some "tax breaks" or what-have-you from the "stimulus," but there will be strings attached, and to accept the "breaks" will be to accept enslavement.
I learned that other possible ex-patriates are also looking at Uruguay, on the other side of Argentina from Chile. I hadn't looked at Uruguay, but the country could have some plusses.
In the meantime, my father is back in the hospital following a serious bout of internal bleeding. A colonoscopy was done yesterday. As of this writing, I still don't have the results. The doctor who performed the procedure had explicit instructions to call me with the results, but has not done so, and one of the nurses snapped over the phone at me, "He does have other patients up here!" Yes, I'm sure he does, and neither of them will win any customer-service awards this year.
I understand that the infamous "stimulus" bill Obama just signed includes a strong potential for health care rationing. Health care must be "cost effective," and federal standards for such will be imposed on doctors by force and carefully monitored by a new cadre of federal bureaucrats. Which means that the reduction of the value of human life to dollars and sense will grow more pronounced under this new administration. The grip of hard materialism on U.S. society will grow even greater, even as the federal government grows larger and more intrusive. People like my parents may not even be able to get health care when their nest egg is destroyed and they can no longer consume. As for my generation ... ?
I'm thinking that for thinking people, this society is going to be unlivable before too much longer. Whatever jobs are created are going to be federal government jobs. The economic roof might not cave in, but the oppressiveness of the federal regime will grow intolerable. Yes, we might get some "tax breaks" or what-have-you from the "stimulus," but there will be strings attached, and to accept the "breaks" will be to accept enslavement.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Reasons Why: America Is Imploding
Whether we look at the deteriorating employment situation in America, the rip-offs being staged by both our central government and multinational corporations, or at the culturally suicidal policies of government and corporations, we find reasons for foreseeing an implosion on American soil sometime during the Obama era. An unsustainable system which gives priority to money and spending, and which compels the accrual of debt on all levels, is beginning to disintegrate and will probably not do so peacefully indefinitely. There may be several flashpoints; one will doubtless involve Americans who are fed up with corporations interested only in cheap labor, who are firing American workers and then bringing in foreigners on visas who will work for a fraction of the wages Americans demand. Another likely flashpoint will involve just the under-the-table, pay-them-in-cash hiring of illegal aliens (I witnessed a protest by Americans outside a construction site just the other day down in Anderson).
Useful reading from one of my favorite columnists, Paul Craig Roberts:
OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF SPECIAL INTERESTS
By Paul Craig Roberts
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Feb 18, 2009, 00:16
The Bush/Obama bailout/stimulus plans are not going to work. Both are schemes hatched by a clique of financial insiders.
The schemes will redistribute income and wealth from American taxpayers to the shyster banksters, who have destroyed American jobs, ruined the retirement plans of tens of millions of Americans, and worsened the situation of millions of people worldwide who naively trusted American financial institutions. The ongoing theft has simply been recast. Instead of using fraudulent financial instruments, the banksters are using government policy.
Michael Hudson captures the nature of the heist in CounterPunch (February 12): “When it comes to cleaning up the Greenspan Bubble legacy by writing down homeowner mortgage debt, the Treasury proposal offers homeowners $50 billion -- just [half of one percent] of the $10 trillion Wall Street bailout to date, and less than half the amount given to AIG to pay its hedge fund speculators on their derivative gambles. The Treasury has handed out $25 billion to each and every big bank, so just two of these banks alone got as much as the reported one-quarter of all homeowners in America suffering from Negative Equity on their homes and in need of mortgage renegotiation. Yet today’s economic shrinkage cannot be reversed without a recovery in consumer demand. The economy has lost the ‘virtual wealth’ in higher-priced homes and the stock market, and must rely on after-tax earnings. But I see little concern for wage earners in the Treasury plan. Without debt relief, consumer spending and business investment will not recover.”
[Read the rest here.]
Or check this out, from Frosty Wooldridge:
IS THIS PRESIDENT NUTS OR WHAT: NATIONAL SUICIDE IMMINENT
By Frosty Wooldridge
February 19, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
Last year, George Bush by executive order started the importation of 1,000 Sunni and Shia Muslims into the USA every month. Consequently, we imported 12,000 Iraqi refugees. Those same refugees have fought and killed one another in Iraq for the last 1,000 years. That same executive order jumped those import numbers to 19,000 refugees in 2009.
In the past week, President Barack Obama signed another $20.3 million bill to import Palestinians from war-torn Palestine. It might be appreciated that Muslims loathe Jews as a cultural paradigm.
What can go wrong when we allow hundreds of thousands of people who have been, as Mark Steyn said, "marinated" in a "sick death cult," who voted for Hamas, and 55 percent of whom support suicide bombings live here and at the American taxpayers' expense."
Obama signed the "presidential determination" which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States on January 27, 2009 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4, 2009.
Capitol Hill gave zero attention to an order that provides a free ticket supplements with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.
Already, we import 100,000 legal immigrants every 30 days. We tolerate 100,000 illegal criminal aliens every 30 days into America whereby we pay $346 billion annually (Source; Edwin Rubenstein, National Research Center thesocialcontract.com) for their transport, housing, food, spending money, transportation, medical and educational costs.
But to import violently angry Shia and Sunni refugees along with Hamas suicide bombers from Gaza illustrates how totally bizarre and out of touch Obama proves in his actions—along with a somnolent Congress.
We will not survive the coming ethnic conflict in our country. We will fall and crack into more pieces than Humpty Dumpty. The coming race riots will make Rodney King and Watts look like first grade garden parties.
[Read the rest here.]
Author and computer engineer Dmitry Orlov, finally, has become one of our foremost students of the science of economic collapse. Go here for Orlov's February 13 talk before the San Francisco-based Long Now Foundation, delivered in typically Russian black humor. Orlov believes that not all is lost if Americans are prepared; unfortunately, few Americans are likely to take any of this seriously, and so will not be prepared when the implosion occurs.
File all of this under, Reasons for preparing to leave the United States of America.
Useful reading from one of my favorite columnists, Paul Craig Roberts:
OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF SPECIAL INTERESTS
By Paul Craig Roberts
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Feb 18, 2009, 00:16
The Bush/Obama bailout/stimulus plans are not going to work. Both are schemes hatched by a clique of financial insiders.
The schemes will redistribute income and wealth from American taxpayers to the shyster banksters, who have destroyed American jobs, ruined the retirement plans of tens of millions of Americans, and worsened the situation of millions of people worldwide who naively trusted American financial institutions. The ongoing theft has simply been recast. Instead of using fraudulent financial instruments, the banksters are using government policy.
Michael Hudson captures the nature of the heist in CounterPunch (February 12): “When it comes to cleaning up the Greenspan Bubble legacy by writing down homeowner mortgage debt, the Treasury proposal offers homeowners $50 billion -- just [half of one percent] of the $10 trillion Wall Street bailout to date, and less than half the amount given to AIG to pay its hedge fund speculators on their derivative gambles. The Treasury has handed out $25 billion to each and every big bank, so just two of these banks alone got as much as the reported one-quarter of all homeowners in America suffering from Negative Equity on their homes and in need of mortgage renegotiation. Yet today’s economic shrinkage cannot be reversed without a recovery in consumer demand. The economy has lost the ‘virtual wealth’ in higher-priced homes and the stock market, and must rely on after-tax earnings. But I see little concern for wage earners in the Treasury plan. Without debt relief, consumer spending and business investment will not recover.”
[Read the rest here.]
Or check this out, from Frosty Wooldridge:
IS THIS PRESIDENT NUTS OR WHAT: NATIONAL SUICIDE IMMINENT
By Frosty Wooldridge
February 19, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
Last year, George Bush by executive order started the importation of 1,000 Sunni and Shia Muslims into the USA every month. Consequently, we imported 12,000 Iraqi refugees. Those same refugees have fought and killed one another in Iraq for the last 1,000 years. That same executive order jumped those import numbers to 19,000 refugees in 2009.
In the past week, President Barack Obama signed another $20.3 million bill to import Palestinians from war-torn Palestine. It might be appreciated that Muslims loathe Jews as a cultural paradigm.
What can go wrong when we allow hundreds of thousands of people who have been, as Mark Steyn said, "marinated" in a "sick death cult," who voted for Hamas, and 55 percent of whom support suicide bombings live here and at the American taxpayers' expense."
Obama signed the "presidential determination" which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States on January 27, 2009 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4, 2009.
Capitol Hill gave zero attention to an order that provides a free ticket supplements with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.
Already, we import 100,000 legal immigrants every 30 days. We tolerate 100,000 illegal criminal aliens every 30 days into America whereby we pay $346 billion annually (Source; Edwin Rubenstein, National Research Center thesocialcontract.com) for their transport, housing, food, spending money, transportation, medical and educational costs.
But to import violently angry Shia and Sunni refugees along with Hamas suicide bombers from Gaza illustrates how totally bizarre and out of touch Obama proves in his actions—along with a somnolent Congress.
We will not survive the coming ethnic conflict in our country. We will fall and crack into more pieces than Humpty Dumpty. The coming race riots will make Rodney King and Watts look like first grade garden parties.
[Read the rest here.]
Author and computer engineer Dmitry Orlov, finally, has become one of our foremost students of the science of economic collapse. Go here for Orlov's February 13 talk before the San Francisco-based Long Now Foundation, delivered in typically Russian black humor. Orlov believes that not all is lost if Americans are prepared; unfortunately, few Americans are likely to take any of this seriously, and so will not be prepared when the implosion occurs.
File all of this under, Reasons for preparing to leave the United States of America.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Passport Arrival, Other Updates. "Economic Winter."
U.S. PASSPORT ARRIVED YESTERDAY. All is in order there.
I've been offered three classes for fall semester and tentatively accepted. So the absolutely worst-case scenario hasn't materialized. Nothing exciting with the eBay store (have sold a few books and one CD on the Amazon.com site). No move in March, as I was able to negotiate a $125/mo. reduction in my rent. Not perfect, but will keep me in my apartment at least until June.
Right around then is when I plan to visit Chile for the first time.
From John C. this morning:
Financial Times:
“We should be focusing on what works,” Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, told the FT. “We cannot keep pouring good money after bad.” He added, “If nationalisation [of banks] is what works, then we should do it.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e310cbf6-fd4e-11dd-a103-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
"You are all at the brink of economic winter."
I've been offered three classes for fall semester and tentatively accepted. So the absolutely worst-case scenario hasn't materialized. Nothing exciting with the eBay store (have sold a few books and one CD on the Amazon.com site). No move in March, as I was able to negotiate a $125/mo. reduction in my rent. Not perfect, but will keep me in my apartment at least until June.
Right around then is when I plan to visit Chile for the first time.
From John C. this morning:
Financial Times:
“We should be focusing on what works,” Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, told the FT. “We cannot keep pouring good money after bad.” He added, “If nationalisation [of banks] is what works, then we should do it.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e310cbf6-fd4e-11dd-a103-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
"You are all at the brink of economic winter."
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Introduction - Part Two
Returning two days later due to scheduling. I've sent a curriculum vitae to a university in Chile. They are on summer break down there, so nothing will happen before March. When they return to look at it, they might find its two books, twenty or so publications in refereed journals and perhaps twice as many presentations at meetings to be impressive. Perhaps such achievements will be better received in Chile than they have been in the United States of America, though admittedly that is not saying a whole lot.
The small scale issues, pros and cons. The pros: my academic career is again deteriorating, this time due to the economic crisis. With my course load reduced from five (livable, just barely) down to two (not livable), it is definitely time to look elsewhere assuming academic employment remains desirable at all. And in the United States of America, it probably is not.
In fact, I would warn anyone reading this and thinking about pursuing an academic career: don't. It is a thankless job, low-paying, unstable, and very political, with universities now so beholden to political correctness that real education is extremely difficult at best - obtainable, but only if you are independent-minded. Adjuncts such as myself can probably get away with more than a tenure-track faculty member could, because aside from end-of-the-semester teaching evaluations almost no one pays us any attention. So long as we are meeting with our classes on time and students are not complaining, we are left alone. This may be the sole advantage to being an adjunct at a university. It is not enough to make up for the starvation wages; and more importantly, it is hardly a permanent arrangement.
Moreover, when university money is tight, adjuncts are invariably the first whose heads are placed on the chopping block. Just last week in one of the institutions where I've been "adjuncting," an email went out from the department chair about next fall's budget. He's been asked to write out the fall class schedule, but without a guarantee that the department will be able to offer every section on the schedule. Read between the lines, and I see a less than 50 percent chance that adjuncts will be returning in fall semester. With the prospect of joblessness ahead, there can be no rational reason for not looking elsewhere. And with the situation in the country, there can be no rational reason for not looking outside the country.
Hinting back to this large-scale issue, the United States of America is simply not an intellectual-friendly country. A professional intellectual here is usually a university professor who is at home nowhere else; there are very few other venues where he can use his/her skills except in the classroom. (There are "think tanks," but without the right connections, obtaining funded positions there is more difficult than obtaining an academic appointment.)
It is no wonder so many intellectuals have turned against American capitalism. You don't need to read Karl Marx. All you need to do is examine how money, power, and authority structures operate in this society, and you'll soon realize that those with money and power, and in the authority structures, don't want the masses to think. Discouraging too much intellectualism comes naturally. All this is unfortunate, because the United States of America was originally founded on a set of principles that require at least some intellectual training to grasp properly. These principles (embodied in phrases like "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" or "Constitutionally limited government") are all but lost. They have no influence with the educational "mainstream" which gets more and more vocational all the time ("School-To-Work," etc.). The U.S. Federal Government is not fundamentally different than any other government based on intimidation, force and violence, and the country's political system became an oligarchy a long time ago. The American sheeple, one might as well call them, graduated from U.S. government schools devoted more to producing compliant consumers and obedient employees than to graduating an intellectually independent, self-reliant people. Countless books have been written on the fall of education in America, what amounts to the deliberate destruction of the American intellect (my own favorite is this one). The upshot: the American sheeple can no longer put two and two together. They are unable to see, or even much care, that they are being manipulated. Many possibly do care, but are too inundated by endless streams of tasks and assorted busywork to do anything. Hence our political system can no longer elect statesmen. It is easy for those with real power in, e.g., the Republican Party, to block the ascent of a Ron Paul while nominating a weak-sister candidate like John McCain who had no chance against a skilled orator like Barack Obama who had the sheeple (along with the corporate media) in the palm of his hand.
This post, however, was supposed to be about small-scale issues, so I will return to that. The biggest pro favoring becoming an expat, is the realization that I will never have a decent academic career here, or probably any other career. I've been working (somewhat) at finding niche markets for products on eBay (or perhaps on my own site), and while I could conceivably be successful at that it will never excite me as much as teaching and writing philosophy and writing about contemporary issues has. But even absent the worst economy since the Great Depression, I could not remain an adjunct for the rest of my life; in the absence of some other such career I would end up in abject poverty. In many respects I have never really been at home in the United States of America. Its materialistic and money-driven values are pretty much alien to those of a culture that is decent and humane, much less informed. In a lot of respects, this really is a culture of death. Which is probably why so few of us have problems about abortion and also why we wage wars on sovereign nations that didn't attack us first - regarding both their lives and ours as expendable.
In the absence of decent prospects for intellectuals in the U.S., if such prospects emerge in a place whose culture is less materialistic and where it is cheaper to live, why not pursue it actively?
The biggest set of cons to consider when I consider abandoning the United States of America: my elderly parents, both 85. Without getting into the specifics, both need round-the-clock health care. Both should have gone into assisted living long before circumstances compelled them to do so, but that is water under the bridge now. To make a long story short (I have a detailed account offline and private), my dad had a bad fall near the start of last summer - June 8, to be exact - took my mom down with him, and both of them ended up in the hospital and then in physical therapy.
They've not been able to return to their own home, since it wouldn't be safe. The house is isolated and well away from any population center. It has a long and fairly steep driveway. As far back as early spring 2007 Dad was complaining of exhaustion from trekking up the driveway every morning to get the newspaper and every afternoon to get the mail. This is on top of his taking care of my mom, who had a stroke back in April 1999 that left her mostly paralyzed on the left side of her body. She was making something of a recovery, but then the two of them were in an automobile accident in 2002. Some blonde bimbo pulled out from a side street, and my dad couldn't stop in time. There was a lawsuit, which we won - but the settlement was absurdly small (the lawyer took a third of it, of course).
My dad fell again in August and this time sustained a hip fracture. He has been in skilled nursing ever since. He has also been suffering from dementia, resulting in reactive confusion about where he is, where mom is living, how she is getting back and forth, and so on. Always having had an active mind and lifestyle, he's having to deal with discouragement and sheer boredom. Meanwhile, staying where they are staying is costing them a fortune. I've had to take over the books: keeping track of these payments (one due this week), bills that previously went to the house, insurance on the cars, gathering tax documents and so on. Having a Power of Attorney over each parent is making things somewhat easier, but there are still massive obstacles to any major move out of this area much less out of the country. The house, as I said, is standing empty in northwestern Anderson County. It will need eventually to be sold. Two cars are standing there with no one to drive them; I drive to the house at least once a week to warm them up and check on the house (I often do laundry since I am there anyway). There are enormous quantities of furniture, books, dishes, tools, etc., in the house, all of which must eventually go somewhere. A huge driveway sale is a possibility, even out in the boonies. Living there had the advantages of being peaceful and quiet; but the isolation was already working against my parents' best interests long before last June 8 - Day 1. My living there after March is a definite possibility if I can tolerate the isolation in order to live rent free. That would make some of this easier. The issue remains of much needing to be done:
(a) putting the house on the market, in a depressed economy in which houses aren't selling.
(b) putting the cars on the market, in a depressed economy in which cars aren't much selling.
(c) selling or otherwise getting rid of the stuff that is in the house.
(d) obtaining for my parents Veterans benefits, to which they are entitled by law and by basic decency, both being veterans. (There are multiple exemplars here in the frustration of dealing with government bureaucrats.)
(e) perhaps setting up a bank account to absorb the proceeds of all these sales that would autopay the assisted living center each month. Such an account could keep my parents going for several years at least in principle - assuming the IRS didn't count it as "income" and tax the h*** out of it!
I am, of course, working under the assumption that my parents would not want to be relocated to a place like Santiago, Chile, and that an attempt to do so would be overwhelming.
I also have an uncle in Illinois who is isolated, and whose health will decline one of these days. I've no clue what to do in his case, since he is in Illinois and I am in South Carolina, beyond what has been done so far which is to get my name on some of his assets. (Without his doing anything, the State of Illinois would doubtless make a grab for them!) Eventually someone will have to settle his estate.
All these factors have me trapped here in a very real sense, at least for the time being. I cannot leave immediately, since there are tasks needing to be done on a weekly basis. No one else is available to do them. (I would not ask my sister to do them, as she has ended up with problems of her own.)
Those are the small scale pros and the cons of relocating to Chile. The major pro, based on a worst-case scenario: I could well be unemployed beginning in May, with no job prospects worth speaking of and nothing happening on eBay. Based on that alone, were it not for this mess with my aging parents, and given the latent and sometimes open hostility I've experienced towards independence of thought in this society, I would be already making specific plans. But the major cons are what they are: a house full of furniture and other possessions standing empty, cars with no one to drive them, my parents' personal finances to manage, and so on. The cons have won out so far. I'm stuck here!
Where we go next remains to be seen. Circumstances change. I will post new developments as they happen. I will also post information as it comes my way on the deterioration of the U.S. economy and its various effects that might enhance the desirability of finding a way out of this country.
The small scale issues, pros and cons. The pros: my academic career is again deteriorating, this time due to the economic crisis. With my course load reduced from five (livable, just barely) down to two (not livable), it is definitely time to look elsewhere assuming academic employment remains desirable at all. And in the United States of America, it probably is not.
In fact, I would warn anyone reading this and thinking about pursuing an academic career: don't. It is a thankless job, low-paying, unstable, and very political, with universities now so beholden to political correctness that real education is extremely difficult at best - obtainable, but only if you are independent-minded. Adjuncts such as myself can probably get away with more than a tenure-track faculty member could, because aside from end-of-the-semester teaching evaluations almost no one pays us any attention. So long as we are meeting with our classes on time and students are not complaining, we are left alone. This may be the sole advantage to being an adjunct at a university. It is not enough to make up for the starvation wages; and more importantly, it is hardly a permanent arrangement.
Moreover, when university money is tight, adjuncts are invariably the first whose heads are placed on the chopping block. Just last week in one of the institutions where I've been "adjuncting," an email went out from the department chair about next fall's budget. He's been asked to write out the fall class schedule, but without a guarantee that the department will be able to offer every section on the schedule. Read between the lines, and I see a less than 50 percent chance that adjuncts will be returning in fall semester. With the prospect of joblessness ahead, there can be no rational reason for not looking elsewhere. And with the situation in the country, there can be no rational reason for not looking outside the country.
Hinting back to this large-scale issue, the United States of America is simply not an intellectual-friendly country. A professional intellectual here is usually a university professor who is at home nowhere else; there are very few other venues where he can use his/her skills except in the classroom. (There are "think tanks," but without the right connections, obtaining funded positions there is more difficult than obtaining an academic appointment.)
It is no wonder so many intellectuals have turned against American capitalism. You don't need to read Karl Marx. All you need to do is examine how money, power, and authority structures operate in this society, and you'll soon realize that those with money and power, and in the authority structures, don't want the masses to think. Discouraging too much intellectualism comes naturally. All this is unfortunate, because the United States of America was originally founded on a set of principles that require at least some intellectual training to grasp properly. These principles (embodied in phrases like "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" or "Constitutionally limited government") are all but lost. They have no influence with the educational "mainstream" which gets more and more vocational all the time ("School-To-Work," etc.). The U.S. Federal Government is not fundamentally different than any other government based on intimidation, force and violence, and the country's political system became an oligarchy a long time ago. The American sheeple, one might as well call them, graduated from U.S. government schools devoted more to producing compliant consumers and obedient employees than to graduating an intellectually independent, self-reliant people. Countless books have been written on the fall of education in America, what amounts to the deliberate destruction of the American intellect (my own favorite is this one). The upshot: the American sheeple can no longer put two and two together. They are unable to see, or even much care, that they are being manipulated. Many possibly do care, but are too inundated by endless streams of tasks and assorted busywork to do anything. Hence our political system can no longer elect statesmen. It is easy for those with real power in, e.g., the Republican Party, to block the ascent of a Ron Paul while nominating a weak-sister candidate like John McCain who had no chance against a skilled orator like Barack Obama who had the sheeple (along with the corporate media) in the palm of his hand.
This post, however, was supposed to be about small-scale issues, so I will return to that. The biggest pro favoring becoming an expat, is the realization that I will never have a decent academic career here, or probably any other career. I've been working (somewhat) at finding niche markets for products on eBay (or perhaps on my own site), and while I could conceivably be successful at that it will never excite me as much as teaching and writing philosophy and writing about contemporary issues has. But even absent the worst economy since the Great Depression, I could not remain an adjunct for the rest of my life; in the absence of some other such career I would end up in abject poverty. In many respects I have never really been at home in the United States of America. Its materialistic and money-driven values are pretty much alien to those of a culture that is decent and humane, much less informed. In a lot of respects, this really is a culture of death. Which is probably why so few of us have problems about abortion and also why we wage wars on sovereign nations that didn't attack us first - regarding both their lives and ours as expendable.
In the absence of decent prospects for intellectuals in the U.S., if such prospects emerge in a place whose culture is less materialistic and where it is cheaper to live, why not pursue it actively?
The biggest set of cons to consider when I consider abandoning the United States of America: my elderly parents, both 85. Without getting into the specifics, both need round-the-clock health care. Both should have gone into assisted living long before circumstances compelled them to do so, but that is water under the bridge now. To make a long story short (I have a detailed account offline and private), my dad had a bad fall near the start of last summer - June 8, to be exact - took my mom down with him, and both of them ended up in the hospital and then in physical therapy.
They've not been able to return to their own home, since it wouldn't be safe. The house is isolated and well away from any population center. It has a long and fairly steep driveway. As far back as early spring 2007 Dad was complaining of exhaustion from trekking up the driveway every morning to get the newspaper and every afternoon to get the mail. This is on top of his taking care of my mom, who had a stroke back in April 1999 that left her mostly paralyzed on the left side of her body. She was making something of a recovery, but then the two of them were in an automobile accident in 2002. Some blonde bimbo pulled out from a side street, and my dad couldn't stop in time. There was a lawsuit, which we won - but the settlement was absurdly small (the lawyer took a third of it, of course).
My dad fell again in August and this time sustained a hip fracture. He has been in skilled nursing ever since. He has also been suffering from dementia, resulting in reactive confusion about where he is, where mom is living, how she is getting back and forth, and so on. Always having had an active mind and lifestyle, he's having to deal with discouragement and sheer boredom. Meanwhile, staying where they are staying is costing them a fortune. I've had to take over the books: keeping track of these payments (one due this week), bills that previously went to the house, insurance on the cars, gathering tax documents and so on. Having a Power of Attorney over each parent is making things somewhat easier, but there are still massive obstacles to any major move out of this area much less out of the country. The house, as I said, is standing empty in northwestern Anderson County. It will need eventually to be sold. Two cars are standing there with no one to drive them; I drive to the house at least once a week to warm them up and check on the house (I often do laundry since I am there anyway). There are enormous quantities of furniture, books, dishes, tools, etc., in the house, all of which must eventually go somewhere. A huge driveway sale is a possibility, even out in the boonies. Living there had the advantages of being peaceful and quiet; but the isolation was already working against my parents' best interests long before last June 8 - Day 1. My living there after March is a definite possibility if I can tolerate the isolation in order to live rent free. That would make some of this easier. The issue remains of much needing to be done:
(a) putting the house on the market, in a depressed economy in which houses aren't selling.
(b) putting the cars on the market, in a depressed economy in which cars aren't much selling.
(c) selling or otherwise getting rid of the stuff that is in the house.
(d) obtaining for my parents Veterans benefits, to which they are entitled by law and by basic decency, both being veterans. (There are multiple exemplars here in the frustration of dealing with government bureaucrats.)
(e) perhaps setting up a bank account to absorb the proceeds of all these sales that would autopay the assisted living center each month. Such an account could keep my parents going for several years at least in principle - assuming the IRS didn't count it as "income" and tax the h*** out of it!
I am, of course, working under the assumption that my parents would not want to be relocated to a place like Santiago, Chile, and that an attempt to do so would be overwhelming.
I also have an uncle in Illinois who is isolated, and whose health will decline one of these days. I've no clue what to do in his case, since he is in Illinois and I am in South Carolina, beyond what has been done so far which is to get my name on some of his assets. (Without his doing anything, the State of Illinois would doubtless make a grab for them!) Eventually someone will have to settle his estate.
All these factors have me trapped here in a very real sense, at least for the time being. I cannot leave immediately, since there are tasks needing to be done on a weekly basis. No one else is available to do them. (I would not ask my sister to do them, as she has ended up with problems of her own.)
Those are the small scale pros and the cons of relocating to Chile. The major pro, based on a worst-case scenario: I could well be unemployed beginning in May, with no job prospects worth speaking of and nothing happening on eBay. Based on that alone, were it not for this mess with my aging parents, and given the latent and sometimes open hostility I've experienced towards independence of thought in this society, I would be already making specific plans. But the major cons are what they are: a house full of furniture and other possessions standing empty, cars with no one to drive them, my parents' personal finances to manage, and so on. The cons have won out so far. I'm stuck here!
Where we go next remains to be seen. Circumstances change. I will post new developments as they happen. I will also post information as it comes my way on the deterioration of the U.S. economy and its various effects that might enhance the desirability of finding a way out of this country.
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