Time to Get Out?

The news keeps getting worse. The President is now seizing companies, firing employees. The Bailouts keep growing in size as first one, then another, then a 20th, firm needs our money. We bailout the financial sector with $10Trillion, but hold manufacturers to another standard 1/100th as high.

Many of my friends and acquaintances think it is time to leave -

NOW.

TODAY.

Best to get going while you can.

One solution is to have 24 months income expenses saved for the coming Super Depression/Greater Depression/Greatest Depression. There is a way around this:

Expat. Move to another nation. With a meager $12,000, I can tell you where to go, nations that are America friendly, and where you can live frugally for $300/month. That's 40 months of living expenses with $12,000. If you want to live well, budget $1,000/month. If you want to REALLY rough it, I know places where you can live for $120/month. At that rate, only $4,320 will fund 3 years of living.

With the way things are deteriorating in the U.S.A., leveraging the dollar, geography, and your American passport, looks like a good solution.

Obama on 60 Minutes...

...and the comment thread below his videos.

Many people think he is already becoming Bush III.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8601-100_162-4883166.html?assetTypeId=58

"I suggest we continue to stand by him. If you disagree, fine... move out the way for those who will work and progress this country.

Posted by MsIMWright at 7:18 PM : Mar 23, 2009"

So you want people to be able to have their own opinions and disagree with you, but they are not allowed to act upon those opinions and must agree with your course of action anyhow?

What you call "work and progress the country", I call a naked attempt to move the country firmly and sharply to The Left. I told friends that PBHO would run at the center and govern from the far left, and he has.

And another:

I know most of you think so, but the President does NOT control the economy, he never has. No President controls the economy - it grows and contracts on its own, and the POTUS can only guide it up or down a small bit with positive talk, and only in good times when we are within sound financial parameters. The POTUS controls about 5% of the budget for the overall USA GDP - the rest is beyond his control.

Who is to blame:

Nixon: Makes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into partial government entities. The become GSE's. While their prospectus is EXPLICIT and states the securities are NOT backed by the US .Gov, they are 100% bailed out in 2008. Thus the higher rate of interest investors in FNM and FRE bond received, was paid for by the US Taxpayer. If the risk WAS .Gov backed, then the interest rate should have been what Treasury Bond Rates were. It wasn't and we are paying the difference.

Carter: Creates the CRA - Community Redevelopment Act. Begins the process of making it policy to encourage (force) banks to lend to 'minorities' and other pet groups of Liberals.

Reagan: Begins deficit spending and appoints Alan Greenspan.

Alan Greenspan: After the 1987 crash he loosens monetary policy, drops interest rates. This begins the bad precedent of lowering rates to prevent Recessions. With each preventive event, the final price to pay at the day of reckoning increases. Recessions are GOOD, people. We need them to purge the bad debt. Prevent that bad debt from defaulting, and the next time will be worse.

G.H.W. Bush: Gulf War I. Savings & Loan Meltdown. More debt to finance.

Greenspan: Lowers rates to shorten recession. Prevention #2.

Clinton: Doubled the exemption for home tax deduction from $250k to $500k. Spurred the housing bubble. Looked the other way during the Internet Bubble and the loose accounting standards and options trickery.

FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board): Began to make policy in cahoots with bankers during Clinton/Internet Bubble Years. Only gets worse from 2000-2009.

Greenspan: Lowers interest rates to prevent the 1999-2000 Dot-Bomb Recession. This is prevention #3.

Osama Bin Laden: Forces the US to engage in an expensive unwinnable war that drags on. Very Post-Modern and 21st C.

Greenspan: Lowers interest rates to prevent the 2001-2003 post 9-11 Recession. He keeps rates too low for too long. This is prevention #4.

Paulson Appeals to Congress: While head of Goldman Sachs, to lower leverage ratio requirements. Every firm that did, has blown up.

Bush: Spends trillions on the wars in the M.E., deficit spending, lowers taxes, prevents inquiry into housing fraud, deficit goes BOOM!

Bush: Appoints Bernanke.

Bernanke: Lowers interest rates to prevent a Real Estate recession. This is prevention #5. Could have regulated Enron, FNM, FRE, Derivatives market, all the mark-to-market and accounting tricks like Level 2 & 3, 23a letters, leverage exceptions, efc. He does not.

Paulson: Loots the taxpayer for $750B.

Congress: Lets Him.

Pauslon: Immediately changes his mind once he gets the money, gives it to his banker buddies who save it or use it to buy distressed assets at fire-sale prices.

Bernanke: More Fed Reserve programs totalling 2.3T balance sheet and growing.

Congress: Doesn't stop him.

American Taxpayer: Votes in almost all the Congressmen who voted for the Bailouts. No accountability.

American Taxpayer: Votes for Obama in a convulsion of national penance to vote in a Black Man.

Obama: Trillions more in debt. He won't force honesty and transparency.

How To Buy a Cheap, Quality Suit in Hong Kong

One of the benefits of being an Expat is to gt bargains and economies of scale as you leverage geography, nationality, language and culture across the globe. Hong Kong has thousands of quality tailors, and for $400 or less you will be able to buy a custom made, hand tailored suit and one shirt to match.

http://www.mensflair.com/style-advice/hello-from-hong-kong-tailor-report.php

When you leave the underground at Tsim Sha Tsui, it’s not immediately obvious where the Regal Kowloon Hotel might be. Street signs are infrequent and not always translated into English, and the sheer profusion of Chinese symbols, hoardings and tower blocks is apt to confuse.

Fortunately, the locals are friendly and a quick inquiry directs you down Mody Road. In the marble-floored mezzanine, hiding around a corner, is the office of Edward Tam, director of E.Italian tailors.

There are too many tailors in Hong Kong to tell which are of any quality. And even if you get a recommendation from a friend, his positive experience doesn’t guarantee one for you. Many of the staff in our office out here have had suits made on the recommendation of a colleague, only to be disappointed. Indeed, our resident journalist in Hong Kong had a suit made at Sam the Tailor, who comes recommended by Tony Blair and Jude Law. The suit had very square shoulders and too-wide trousers. The trousers, of course, could be altered, but the shoulders are harder to do.

But then Edward Tam has been making suits for my father for three years, and he has yet to be disappointed. The key is to know what you want, including getting the best materials.

As Mr Tam measured me for a suit this morning, a list of requirements and specifications ran through my head. These are important to remember, as a tailor won’t necessarily ask you for all of them.

For example, how wide do you like your trouser legs? Unless you specify this, the tailor is likely to give you what he considers to be the standard. In Asia, this is rather wider than in Europe. How about the width of your lapels? You may not think these are that important, but there’s always a chance a tailor will make them a little broader than you like. As with the trouser legs, I recommend measuring a suit you like at home, just so you know in advance.

So that’s fit. It’s also worth going for the best materials. The one thing you can guarantee with a luxury brand suit is that the material will be very good. It might not fit you, it might not be made by hand, and it may not even be canvassed, but the wool will be of decent quality.

At the tailor, the best way to identify the materials is if any of them are textures or names you know. If it looks like the worsted or flannel on something you already own, you’re halfway there. If it looks like an odd, slightly shiny weave, there’s a chance there will be some manmade material mixed in, which won’t last so well. And look out for the big names in wool – Ermenegildo Zegna and Loro Piana, as the biggest and best of Italian woolmakers, are a good sign.

Mr Tam had a selection of both, as well as some infuriatingly tempting cashmeres. All at once, I was considering a navy blue, cashmere overcoat. What an extravagance that would be.

First fitting for a double-breasted, grey flannel suit and mid-blue shirt is tomorrow. I will report back on whether either the fit or the material disappoint.

All The Good Collateral Has Been Pledged

Keeping track of the Wealthy Expat's Empire is a daunting task. In my day to day perusals of blogs and sites, I came across this bit of brilliance from Ticker Forum:

The nightmare scenario that is staring us in the face, right here, right now isn't hyperinflation. It is in fact a collapse of monetary systems driving demand for dollars through the roof in a crescendo of attempted redemptions into collapsed ("no bid") asset prices - a demand that Ben will not be able to meet, as the collateral backing those dollars will have all been exchanged for toilet paper. Whether Bernanke holds all this trash on his balance sheet or manages to scam Treasury into exchanging it for T-bills, the result is the same - there is no collateral behind Bucky and as employment collapses no production to replace it with either.

We pledged all good capital and then all the BAD capital in the credit bubble and internet bubble run-ups of 1994-2008. Now the last pledge is the asset base that backs the US Dollar. This is usually Treasury's, but Bernanke has taken on hundred's of billions in MBS, CDS, CLO and CDO's to keep liquidity high in the financial system.

Except that now the US Dollar is backed by foreclosed houses in Rialto, CA.

IOW, there is no more collateral to pledge. ANYWHERE.

The U.S. Dollar is no longer backed by anything of value.

Thw Wealthy Expat - Doable? Possible?

Your expenses are 10% higher than your salary, you may lose your job or home, and you are tired of the endless treadmill. You have heard of people who moved out, Expats or Expatriots. Although the word seems to mean that someone has become a none-Patriot, what it actually means to live somewhere outside of your native country, while not giving up your citizenship. You can do it, I have.

We will show you how to become an expat, save 80% of your income, and travel the world.