NEWS/BLOG

New York, Crime and Cricket

I’ve never been big on summer reading. I believe books are to be enjoyed year round and perhaps more than ever in the winter when there’s less to do outdoors. But in any event I’d like to recommend a novel I enjoyed very much,
Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland.

The hero is a Dutch expat, living in New York just after Sept. 11, 2001, working as an oil analyst for a major investment back (we don’t hear much about that), and becoming involved with cricket and a cricket enthusiast named Chuck, who is from Trinidad. (we do hear a lot about cricket). There’s an appreciation of New York that as rivals Woody Allen’s use of the city in his films. There’s enough about cricket to demystify the game or almost. And there’s a glimpse of small-time criminal activities as well. What happens, however, isn’t nearly as important as the way the story is told and it is told beautifully.

By the way, any Amazon purchase made after clicking on one of our Amazon links helps support our website. Whether you buy this book or read a library copy, as I did, get your hands on it.

Tell us what you’ve been reading as well as sending your ideas on great places to live.

Live Aboard a Cruise Ship

Live abroad or live aboard? There is a difference, of course, although both require an adventuresome outlook. Living aboard usually means having your own boat or yacht, but now there’s talk of living aboard cruise ships. It’s billed a type of retirement, although there’s no reason you couldn’t take your high-tech work gear along.

Here’s how it works. You buy a “residential liner property” consisting one bedroom cabin with a kitchenette and living room and bath, which could be as small as 325 sq. ft.. Prices start at US$16,026.65 for fractional use, which means you get to be there for 1/13 of a year. Or you could simply buy a property for as little as $208,346.42.

Want more space? No problem. There are two decks with luxury accommodations which range from just under one million to over five million. Sizes are from 1,000 sq ft, to 6,100 sq ft. Some have a lanai. For more information, see www.cruiseresortclubs.com/

Naturally, some due diligence is necessary before plunking down your money. We should probably say, too, that we are not affiliated with this outfit in any way.

The Greenback Wallops the Euro

The Chinese chose 8-8-08 as an auspicious day tor the opening of the Beijing Olympics and it was a good day for the U.S. dollar as well. An index that tracks the greenback against the currencies of six countries that are U.S. trading partners climbed 1.6% at 75.72 on Friday, August 8, 2008, reaching a five-month high. That’s a total gain of more than 3% since the recent low on July 15.

This resulted in a sharp slide in energy and other commodity prices, and triggered a rally on Wall Street with the S&P 500 up 2.4%, the Nasdaq 2.5% and the Dow 2.6%. Foreign stocks are not the hedge many had hoped for, and Chinese stocks have been especially disappointing lately. One U.S. sector that seems to be outperforming the market right now is biotech.

The U.S. economy is still not exactly thriving, but it is not in negative territory either. Exports are strong and consumer spending is still positive, offsetting the difficulties in the housing sector and in the credit markets. The U.S. grew at a 1.9% annual rate last quarter.

A Second Look at Panama

Mercedes de Marchena responded to our recent posts on Costa Rica: “Panama is next door, with amazing rain forest, beaches and mountains. The people are friendly and service oriented, and they are efficient. The banking system is first class, they use the dollar as currency and health care is excellent and cheap… Maybe it is time to take a second look at this wonderful, peaceful yet very modern, up and coming place.”

Born and raised in Panama, she now travels there often to visit her mother. “We have an apartment in Panama City and love the cosmopolitan feel of the city. It has changed a lot since I lived there. The bay is being cleaned up and a new road is being built to get from the Corredor Sur into the Casco Viejo, the old colonial city. There are restaurants and nightlife, casinos and luxury hotels. Life is cheaper than in the U.S.or Europe, and the city is so lively. We usually stay there a couple of days before we travel into the interior to go where my mother lives.

“The small city where my mother has lived most of her life is called La Tablas in the Azuero Peninsula. Life there is like it was in everywhere in Panama many years ago. Everyone knows everyone, and people still sit in their verandas and visit. The colonial church dominates the central plaza, and around it are the stores and small restaurants and business. People go there at night to enjoy the coolness after the sun goes down. Life is slow and to be savored.

“Yet you’ll find everything there. Supermarkets are stocked with a wide variety of items and you can also get local produce and fruits very cheaply. You can even have seafood and fish delivered fresh to your doorstep.

“Healthcare is excellent. When my mother had a stroke a year and a half ago, and she received very good care at a large hospital. She had a therapist come to the house for months at incredible low rates ($12/hour) and now has nurse caring around the clock for about $20 a day. You can’t get that anywhere else. Everywhere in Panama, high quality health care is inexpensive.

“Financial institutions and banks work efficiently and are up to world standards. I can send money directly there from the U.S. We got a mortgage for a house we bought there without any problems. Service is superb and you can rely on these professionals.

“About 40 minutes away, there is the town of Pedasi. This even smaller town has world-class restaurants and hotels. Celebrities have discovered this wonderful place, among them, Giles St Giles , the French architect and his wife, who own “Villa Camila” and Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein, who has a home and lands here… I could go on and on, but I think I need more space!”

Mercedes de Marchena is a free-lance writer now living in Miami after living 20 years in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. Read more about her life in the Caribbean at her blog, http://www.expatinthetropics.blogspot.com.  She is also
the author of a book, Such is Life in the Tropics: How Difficult Can It Be to Survive in Paradise?

For more on Panama and some reasons for choosing to live there, see http://liveabroad.com/articles/panama.html.

Canada Deports U.S. Deserter

An American soldier who fled to Canada to avoid being sent to Iraq has been deported to the U.S. where he will face charges of desertion. He had been in Canada three years and was placed in custody after being denied refugee status there. An estimated 200 members of the U.S. military are currently in Canada, but this is the first instance of deportation.

Anti-war demonstrations were held at the Vancouver-Seattle international border crossing and in front of Canada’s Federal Court in Toronto yesterday to condemn the Canadian government’s decision. An estimated 200 American army deserters have sought refugee status in Canada. Nine are facing immediate deportation orders this summer.

Canada has strict immigration requirements. Refugees are admitted, but must also meet certain requirements.

Why Outsource Medicare

You can’t take it with you, that is, you can’t take Medicare with you when you retire outside the U.S.  It stops at the border. Meanwhile, economists warn that the retirement of baby boomers threatens to be a train wreck if not a tsunami.

Professor David C. Warner at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin, has written widely about extending Medicare to retirees in Mexico. This would be of considerable benefit to U.S. citizens who retire there, and in addition – and here’s the big selling point – it would result in considerable savings to the U.S. Government. Dr. Warner has cited cost savings to the Medicare trust as a major benefit. Some say the Medicare trust will be bankrupt by 2040.

The average Medicare beneficiary in the U.S. costs the Medicare fund about $7,500 per year. If that same person lived in Mexico, the same health care services would cost about $4,000 per year.  Dr. Warner has written books such as Getting What You Paid For:  Extending Benefits to Eligible Beneficiaries in Mexico (U.S.-Mexican Policy Reports) and others.

Overall, medical costs in the U.S. are higher than in most if not all other countries. Not only do our healthcare professionals earn more, the administrative costs of insurance companies, PPOs, HMOs, etc. add up. One reason healthcare costs in Mexico are far less is that administrative costs there are lower.

Outsourcing healthcare of some retirees to Mexico, some authorities say, is not so different from outsourcing manufacturing, tech support and call centers to foreign countries. It would eliminate a few U.S. jobs, though not many since there would still be paperwork in keeping track of payments to facilities there. Such a plan would be good for Mexico, too, resulting in an increased flow of money across the border, and in time, more and better medical facilities there.

Scots Warn: Big Crash Coming!

The Royal Bank of Scotland is forecasting a major crash in global stock and credit markets within the next three months! The cause, they say, is inflation. A report by the research department of the bank goes so far as to warn that Wall Street’s S&P 500 index may lose 300 points or more by September.

The report also calls for a brief rally early in July.

We all know, of course, that none of the experts can predict a crash or a rally with absolute certainty. But the S&P, the Dow and the Nasdaq have been falling in fits and starts for the last eight months.

You might want to check out our previous posts, “Seeing Bubbles Before They Burst” and “Time to Let the Dog In.” Or
look into this book by David Wiedemer, America’s Bubble Economy: Profit When It Pops or Peter D. Schiff’s Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse (Lynn Sonberg Books)

Do your own due diligence and be very careful when making investment decisions.

Ireland Says “No” to Lisbon Treaty

Ireland has rejected the Lisbon Treaty, which would have consolidated the European Union’s power and streamlined its cumbersome bureaucracy. The treaty needed to be ratified by all 27 EU members.

The Lisbon Treaty was the result of painstaking negotiations. Among other things, it offered a way of adjusting to the 12 new members added since 2004. It allowed for a full-time EU president and provided for a new foreign policy chief. Also, it called for a change in voting procedures on the European Council so that fewer decisions would require unanimous votes.

Ireland is the only country to put the Lisbon Treaty to a referendum, as required by law. However, it’s no secret that people in various EU countries have no real sense of a European identity and feel remote from decisions being made in Brussels.

One instant effect of the Irish decision is that the euro fell to $1.5301 against the dollar.

Let’s Get Connected!

A special welcome to all those who have signed up as associates since our last updates.

We need to hear from you! Although we rarely publish articles, we need news items, ideas for news items, questions and concerns, anything that involves living abroad. We especially want to hear about expat organizations anywhere in the world. We’ll be happy to add them to our Links pages; we already have an many organizations listed but it’s far from complete. Also, please send us notices of events events in the U.S. and elsewhere that might interest expats and prospective expats.

Write to us directly, leave comments at the blog or post at the message board. Please note that we cannot provide free listings for commercial organizations. Our paid advertisements help make this website possible.

Europe Cuts Back on Solar

You may have found solar stocks volatile lately, but they could become more so, as Spain and Germany make policy decisions regarding the use of solar energy.

Germany is slashing the subsidies that built its solar industry up to $8.8 billion in sales. Homes and businesses there have earned a government-guaranteed price of up to 47 euro cents ($0.74) for each kilowatt-hour of solar power they produce.

If the demand for solar energy in Spain should decrease, the high-flying solar stocks with exposure in Spain could be hit hard. These include CSIQ, STP, SOLF and YGE. On the other hand ELSR and ENER have low exposure in Spain.

Brazil - The New China?

Emerging markets aren’t immune to the difficulties spawned by the U.S. credit crunch. It now appears that a bear market began in October of 2007, and no one is sure when it will end. But while emerging economies such as China and India plunged in recent weeks, Brazil, which had lagged behind the other BRIC countries since the term was coined in 2003, has recently experienced only mild dips.

Overall, Brazilian’s stock exchange, the Bovespa, is up 535% since 2003, almost nine times the gains made by the S & P 500 over the same period. This is quite a surprise for a country which received a $40 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund as recently as 2002. The same year as the bailout, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former labor leader with strong socialist leanings, took over as president.

Brazil has now paid back its debt to the IMF, and Brazil’s state owned businesses have benefited from partial privatization. In fact, the combination of state and investor ownership has proven to be good for business.

Petrobras, the state-owned oil company was partly privatized with shares offered on international financial markets. Brazil is now virtually self-sufficient as far as energy is concerned. This is partly because of offshore oil finds. But also Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of ethanol, which is based on sugar rather than corn, making it cheaper to produce than U.S. ethanol. Autos made in Brazil run on any mixture of gasoline and ethanol, and Petrobras stations throughout the country sell both.

Most of Brazil’s government debt is denominated in local currency. This reduces the country’s vulnerability to exchange-rate fluctuations. The International Monetary Fund estimates that Brazil is on track to grow 4.8% this year, following 5.4% growth in 2007, when the country had a $40 billion trade surplus. Brazil’s long-term foreign currency sovereign debt was recently upgraded by Standard & Poors to investment-grade.

For more on Brazil and Brazilian companies, see our blog entry for December 2, 2007, Brazil: Big and Getting Bigger.

Using Your Cell in the Air

The European Commission has approved the use of mobile phones in airplanes over European airspace. Air France is among the first carriers to announce a trial service.

While this might be a convenience for some travelers, others might prefer cabin space where silence reigns. Airlines are expected to levy restrictions of their own to insure that other passengers won’t be disturbed.

Meanwhile in the U.S., the FAA approved an American Airlines trial of in-flight wireless broadband, though no cellular voice or VoIP access.

Inflation Up in Costa Rica

Costa Rica will probably exceed its expected inflation rate of 9% in 2008, according to an announcement made by President Oscar Arias. Inflation there was 10.8% last year.

Inflation across Latin America has increased over the past few months as fast developing economies like India and China boost global demand for food and commodities. The economic downturn in the U.S. will probably result in slower growth in other parts of the world including Latin America.

Costa Rica’s central bank says it anticipates the economy to grow 3.8% this year, down from 6.8% in 2007.

Costa Rica Presents a Dilemma

It’s hard to talk about Costa Rica without talking about nature. Its varied landscape includes 12 different ecosystems, ranging from tropical rain forests and cloud forests to snow capped mountains. It boasts 9000 types of flowering plants, including 1200 species of orchids, some 850 species of birds and 250 species of mammals. More than 5% of all known species of plant and animal life are found in this small country, about the size of West Virginia.

Nature is what draws travelers and expats from Europe as well as North and South America here. Those who want to live amid the flora and fauna, however, face a dilemma. Should you make a home here knowing that such an action contributes to the destruction of some part of the ecosystem?

The director of sales at one development says, “If we wanted to do the right thing, we would all tear down our homes here, reforest and leave.”

The Tamarindo Preserve is one real estate development trying to have it both ways. It’s a low-density development in the seaside town of Tamarindo in the northwest of the country. A laid back community known for its turtle watching tours, Tamarindo draws visitors and foreign residents from all parts of the world. The Tamarindo Preserve calls for 235 villas and 40 condos on just 8% of a 600-acre parcel of land. Some of the proceeds from the housing will go toward protecting the wetlands and estuary that make up the rest of the parcel.

Increasingly, too, resorts and hotels here try to attract clientele by showing that they can be environmentally friendly. Although 25% of Costa Rica’s land mass is devoted to parks and reserves, the country lacks the necessary money to maintain them properly and enforce the laws to protect them. Developers can play a positive role here.

Trailing Husbands

Your spouse gets an offer of a job overseas and you get to go along. That’s what most people think of when they hear the term “trailing spouse.” But sometimes the spouse getting the job offer is the wife, not the husband. What does he call himself? Well, for some, the answer is “stud.”

Stud or rather STUDS is an acronym for “Spouses Trailing Under Duress Successfully,” a social club for stay-at-home husbands and fathers living abroad. The first chapter was founded in Brussels in 1994 and currently has 40 to 50 active members. The original members are scattered throughout the world. Some of them organized a chapter in London which now has about 40 members.

The guys meet as often as once a week to talk politics, sports, and, just maybe, child-rearing. In Brussels, they play golf and go biking. In London, they have lunches and pub walks as well as golf games.

Mostly they speak English but they welcome speakers of other languages. The Brussels club hosts an annual dinner dance for themselves and their wives. The London chapter invites wives frequently so they can meet other couples where the wife is the working spouse.

For more information, check out www.belgiumstuds.com and www.studsoflondon.com.