Make your plans now.
Mr Romney announced he will be happy if he gets 50.1% of the vote.
The important race is the Senate – if Mr Romney doesn’t inspire a drastic shift in the US Senate, he will not be able to do anything for at least two years – like “Repealing RomneyObamaCare”.
Maybe that’s the goal.
Do iPhones work in Costa Rica?
Best solution: Aim for 55.1% to overcome the “Chicago Way’ votes. The illegal felony prisoner vote put Al Franken over the top and into a Senate seat.
iPhones in Costa Rica? Maybe. iPhones do not work in the Ecuadorian or Brazilian back country where an estimated 2 dozen or more tribes still remain uncontacted. You could opt for a Sat phone but why would anyone want to give up their physical location?
We really really really don’t want a repeat of 2000, where people are still arguing over who won and demanding recounts and filing lawsuits for months. I blame the delay in funding the Bush transition in part for 9/11 – we lost a couple months in Bush getting his people in place with enough time for the Clintons and their agency heads to meet with their replacements to pass the ball.
I voted for Bush in 2004 not really because I liked him, but I wanted the margin of victory to be so large there was no point for Dems to “lawyer up” and fight the results, and to send a message to the Dan Rathers of the world that your media con game is over.
I agree.
What are the realistic “escape options” for emigration for U.S. citizens? What English-speaking countries offer significantly more economic and personal freedom and are willing to accept educated and hard-working Americans and their immediate families as new residents?
I still think that if the legislature in one of the major states (such as Texas) would vote to secede it would so shock the Federal bureaucracy that it might be forced to change direction. But so far no state has been willing to risk losing all their federal funding supplements.
New Zealand is at or near the top of the list. But, most English speaking countries have barriers to overcome. Of course having a substantial bank account in their banking system helps. Otherwise search for countries with American, British populations who have modest incomes/bank accounts. You will still be required to file a US tax return. It can get complicated.
Belize is apparently popular. We knew it as “British Honduras”. It has no military. Because it was a British colony, everyone understands English even though it is in Central America.
Apparently household help is quite reasonable. The main disadvantage is every few years a hurricane blows through and blows away houses of straw and sticks, so live in a house made of stone (or steel).
You’re correct that expats are going to be chased by Barney Frank as long as they think they can claim your earnings are related to the U.S. the IRS is more aggressive (and rightly so) with people who renounce their citizenship as just a tax dodge – giving up their passport but then still wanting to spend a part of the year living in the United States. If you leave and have no plans to ever come back and your wealth is not sitting in a bank account, the IRS has easier fish to catch. See: Robert Vesco
To answer my own semi-facetious question – the answer is “it depends”. There are two cell phone standards – the American Standard (CDMA) and the Global (GSM) standard.
Because AT&T does business all over the world, the AT&T iPhone uses GSM. CDMA is only used where there has been a large American influence – US, Canada, Japan, Israel, Mexico, Belize, China, India – CDMA is offered by Verizon.
The 4S iPhone supports both CDMA and GSM – the iPhone 5 has different models and you have to choose GSM or CDMA, but not both.
Now you’re getting technical and slightly above my pay grade. Of course I knew about the 2 standards but my brainwaves choose to ignore that sort of detail, unless it is absolutely needed. Thanks for the lesson.
Ecuador is popular with an investor friend of mine. He thinks the key is to find places that give the biggest bang for the US dollar. Asset protection is key. Dual citizenship is also choice. Something about taxpayer largesse leading to a dictatorship are leading the discussion these days. Caveat taxpayor.
Right, a major concern must be to keep SECURITY in the forefront including personal security. We all should agree that locating in another country can be challenging and is not a simple decision.
The security issue is definitely major. I was limiting my response to the best bang for the buck, but Ecuador has issues with kidnappings. We could probably agree that any nation that is currently experiencing an explosion of “Allah Anger” over some idiotic film on YouTube won’t pass muster as a place to watch the world die.
There is also the issue of a “tech gap.” As this thread has mentioned, there may be issues with cell phone coverage, internet availability, etc.
I’m amazed by how small the world is. When I think of a possible place to go, it seems a lot of other people got the same idea long before me. I think Belize may be an example of “the last expat in, turn off the light.” Does anyone want to go in on a Martian timeshare?
How about Singapore? Real estate may be expensive though if you’re paying in dollars.
One of the Alex Jones theories is that the Chinese are building so much housing to give Americans a place to retire – to free up houses in the US for Chinese workers.
Do a search on “homesteading”. The world is still mostly rural or semi-rural. There are choices out there.