Chile Forum

BTW, there is malt liquor in Chile. Chileans even put egg yolk in it.

It isn't "the" president I'm trying to keep down, it's all of them for the last 20 years I want to tie a boat anchor to and kick overboard, along with their congresses! I'm an equal opportunity kind of a redneck The part that makes me the maddest is that I voted for Obama and was one of the true believers. Guess I'm a gullible kind of a redneck as well.

Predictable. The guy promises Leftism to his base (how's it going with Gitmo & Afghanistan, etc?) and moederation to the country (nut-job appointees, healthcare "reform", deficit to make Bush look like a miser, etc.) and betrays both. What he says is thoroughly empty, no one trusts him and he is going to get shellacked come November. Yay, gridlock!

Now, I will be the first to admit that Barry spoke in complete sentences, unlike Bush. Bush however, at least provided some amusement and kept us awake. Listening to Barry takes me back to the least appealing professors in college, the ones who made you show because otherwise you wouldn't. Boring, condescending, clueless as to the real world.

If the country absolutely must go to hell, couldn't we at least do it with some panache, and with slightly smaller but still highly irresponsible budgets, which would drag the spectacle out some?

John Hyre, Where are the Hopey-Changers? Zzzzzzzzzz <drool dripping onto the table and flowing over onto the floor>

yea, what got my ears up was always the stuff related to statements like "make companies that have overseas operations pay their taxes and stop jobs leaving the country" that translates in to "pass the pending law in congress as to make it illegal for American citizens to take their money and leave the country". It is banana republic currency controls straight out of Argentina's play book.

The freeze on the budget, along with the increased spending (trying to figure that one out) was going to be paid how? I bet by turning the screws to any offshore assets they can get their hands on.

admin wrote:… It is banana republic currency controls straight out of Argentina's play book.

The freeze on the budget, along with the increased spending (trying to figure that one out) was going to be paid how? I bet by turning the screws to any offshore assets they can get their hands on.

Not yet, we are close though. Argentina 2001 crisis-style would be to go after the largest pool of funds left to attack - private pensions, 401Ks, IRAs - convert to special long-term US T-bonds and get another couple of years of gov (still deficit and indebted spending) financing paid for. This would be in concert with "capital controls" a la Argentina's restrictions on all outgoing transfers needing to be approved.

Then the final move is a currency event known as "hyperinflation" and all the chaos and potential violence that comes with it.

I stress again, anyone sitting fat and happy that their USA public or private pension will finance their long-term life overseas in a supposed "cheaper" country will be returning to their original home country older and broke or trapped as one of the working poor or pensionero poor within the new country.

What stumps me is how many developed world expats in Chile say it is impossible to live comfortably in Chile below USD $1000. If you do not have the energy and savvy to do it (and YES some of us do it, without much pain, in a abode with a view) or prove to yourself you can do it, you need to sit down and evaluate your big picture long-term plans.

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:Not yet, we are close though. Argentina 2001 crisis-style would be to go after the largest pool of funds left to attack - private pensions, 401Ks, IRAs - convert to special long-term US T-bonds and get another couple of years of gov (still deficit and indebted spending) financing paid for. This would be in concert with "capital controls" a la Argentina's restrictions on all outgoing transfers needing to be approved.

There is about $14T of private money sitting in those IRA/401K/pension accounts. The trial balloon they are floating is a plan that would offer to convert private holdings into a guaranteed (LOL) retirement annuity. Of course the government would keep everything when you die, and you have to assume the dollars they would pay out might actually have some future worth. My guess is they could get up to 30% of the available money in this kind of offer (yes, people are that dumb) -- enough to keep the Obamatanic floating another 2-3 years.

This whole idea is straight out of Mr. Ponzi's playbook, but as they say, desperate people will do desperate things.