On Becoming a Permanent Tourist, a Perpetual Traveler, and a Prior Taxpayer

I have written about alternatives to living in Mexico with the question If not here, Where?

Doug Casey’s Note: I’ve been emphasizing the importance of making the world your oyster for many years. Most people—and this is especially true of North Americans—tend to stay pretty much where they were born. Acting like medieval serfs or even vegetables rooted to where they were planted. Neither is a good strategy for a person. Certainly not today.

You want to broaden your horizons and keep your options open. Like Gert Mulder.

Gert is a former bank director who’s opened offices all over South America, even though he’s Dutch. He’s become a friend I enjoy spending time with when I’m in Punta Del Este. I don’t even hold it against him that he’s an MBA and a Ph.D. in Finance. It adds weight to his recommendation about being a perpetual traveler (PT)...

Even though he’s been in a wheelchair for the last decade from mild muscular dystrophy, he’s very active and has six children.

He’s an example of putting into practice the theory about being an international man. And is surprisingly typical of the type of person you can meet in Punta or in Argentina just across the Plate River.

By Dr. Gert Jan Mulder

It hung up with a European politician with whom I have been friends for many years. He has been extremely successful in a very short period of time and may even run the risk of becoming prime minister at some point, yet he surprises me at regular intervals when he speculates that he may have to emigrate from Europe one day soon.

This reminds me of a meeting I just had yesterday with an Argentine acquaintance. He mentioned a businessman and close friend in Argentina who has been very successful in the brokerage business but feels he’s in a trap because the Argentine Peronists have won the elections and this will undoubtedly bring that country back to a darker period. Argentina is very likely to close down its economy further, heading for yet another default and increasing government regulations. Even before the new president is to assume office, restrictions have been set that individuals cannot buy more than $200 a month in US currency.

A point to make with both the politician and the Argentine businessman—and so many others, actually millions of others—is that they do not make contingency plans. Most people wait until their problems become imminent before making alternative plans of where to live, which second or third passport to have, or what to do with their business, their family, and ultimately their savings. Being a former banker, hundreds of people have asked me in the past what to do with their savings. The more money they had, the bigger their problems became, resulting in sleepless nights and never-ending analysis of their circumstances. My favorite answer has always been to spend it.

The world has not become an easier place in recent decades, and everything points towards this process of accelerating complexity and uncertainties. The urgency to have proper alternatives for each individual becomes more and more apparent. The bad news is that nothing is certain, and disastrous events do occur.

One day I was talking to a very wealthy and very nice, warm person, when he told me, all of a sudden and out of the blue, that I was a "PT". This abbreviation, PT, can mean a lot of things but usually refers to someone who is a perpetual traveler. These people are always on the move and are truly global citizens, no longer belonging to a certain place that most of us call home. Some also use the abbreviation PT to refer to a prior taxpayer.

The advice that people should take to heart in this ever-changing global village is to prepare alternatives: alternative places to reside, alternative places to stock savings, alternative travel documents, alternative places to register one’s business, and alternative places to find a roof over one’s head. Also to be aware of the fact that property, real estate as well as land, cannot be moved from one place to the other. These things can get you stuck.

So, let’s say you find yourself living in the United States or somewhere in Europe, mostly in one of those member states of the EUSSR, where your prospects to a free and happy life are becoming dimmer and dimmer. This brings the question, "If I have to leave, where do I go?"

This is a tough one, which Doug Casey and I answered a long time ago. These decisions are never easy and are always very personal. Doug and I just happened to end up in Uruguay, South America, a little country tucked away between Brazil and Argentina. Doug calls it "a small, relatively insignificant backward socialist country".

And yet it does bring with it an attractive laundry list of positive features: generally speaking and with the exception of a few months of winter, a mild climate; a country that is nearly empty with less than 20 people per square kilometer; a tax system that is based on the territorial principle, meaning that you pay taxes only on income that is generated in Uruguay; relatively stable political, economic, and social conditions; a population that is predominantly of European origin, namely Spanish and Italian; and people that seem to have struck a good balance between work and pleasure, although the latter qualification depends entirely on taste and personal judgment. Some may find them on average to lack ambition and discipline.

For us, libertarians, freedom and especially personal freedom is the highest value we try to achieve, and by doing so I personally fail to see how people can manage their lives, with all the controls and all the limitations in so-called first-world countries. Every sign seems to suggest that people in these countries are about to lose whatever is left of their personal freedom at an alarming rate.

So, if freedom is dear to you, stop hesitating and start thinking about moving out of your first-world country if you can and focusing on the alternatives and advantages of so-called third-world countries. Chances are that you will be able to manage your life, preserving what is most dear to you—personal freedom—by relocating to a place on this planet that is not about to turn into George Orwell’s nightmare, 1984.

And while considering this, please do remember the suggestions on how to become a PT.

Editor's Note: The world is facing a severe crisis on multiple fronts.

Gold is just about the only place to be. Gold tends to do well during periods of turmoil—for both wealth preservation and speculative gains.

That's precisely why legendary speculator Doug Casey’s colleague just released an urgent video.

It reveals how it will all play out, and how you can set yourself up for big profits with a lesser-known way to invest in gold. It's one of Doug's favorite ways to invest in gold. Click here to watch it now.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

How Mezcal Is Made

The Lazaro Cardenas Revolution, Part I

MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL ISSUE

By Daniel Nardini

When Mexico became an independent country in 1821, one of two things that had eluded the country for a long time was stability and providing a stake, an outlet for the people in the future of their country. Mexico had stable government during brief periods of its history after independence, and one of the reasons why the Mexican Revolution occurred was due to the fact that the ordinary people did not have any stake, any representation in the government that ruled them. The revolution had produced one important thing, the Constitution of 1917 that at least had provided a blueprint for the rights and a legal framework for how the country should govern itself. This document provided a chance for all future administrations to run the country in a more stable manner.

Like any constitutional process, it takes the will and ability of those people put into office to try and make that constitutional process work. After the Mexican Revolution, former Mexican General Alvaro Obregon had given Mexico social and political stability, but little else. Although president from 1920 to 1924, he pushed a change in the Constitution to give him a second term. Before he could take up a second term he was assassinated by Jose de Leon Toral. Obregon was succeeded by another former Mexican general named Plutarco Elias Calles, who ruled as president from 1924 until for all due purposes 1934. Callas was more a dictator than a president. The most notable thing under his presidency was the founding of the Institutional Revolutionary Party—the institution that would govern Mexico from 1929 until the election of 2000. His handpicked successor was yet another general from the revolution named Lazaro Cardenas.

Cardenas at first seemed more like a puppet for Callas. While Cardenas was the actual president, Callas ruled the country from his “retirement.” However, Cardenas proved to be truly independent of Callas, and made sure that Callas stayed in retirement and no longer interfered in the government after 1935. From there, Cardenas worked hard to improve the condition of the country. He had an extensive road network built, and he constructed more public schools than had ever been done since the end of the Mexican Revolution. He nationalized the oil industry and put it under the government corporation Pemex so that the government had a more reliable source of revenue. Just as important, Cardenas broke up the large land estates that belonged either to the Catholic Church or to the powerful landowners and gave the land to small farmers. He helped encourage the building of labor unions in return for the unions providing workers’ support for his government, and Cardenas also contributed government funds for large-scale industrialization throughout the country. This, in turn, drove unemployment down and helped to build Mexico’s middle class.

The article is from the Lawndale News 

The Orchid Market

According to Pocket field guide of the most common orchids in Mexico.
Mexico - Orchids | Rainforest Publications (1-888538-15-1) "Orchids are one of the largest families of plants in the world, with about 30.000 species. Mexico has around 1250 species of orchids, with an estimated 40% being endemic. This makes Mexican orchid flora one of the richest in Central and Latin America.

The Orchid Market is here in San Miguel NOW and is being sponsored by the Orchid Growers of San Miguel, a group of people whose love of orchids has brought them together not as a formal club but as a fun, social group with one common denominator: everyone’s personal love of orchids. The Orchid Market will have 20+ vendors from all over México who will be selling orchids, orchid supplies, succulents, and cacti. Admission to the Orchid Market is free.

f you’re looking for answers as to why orchids are so intriguing and why there are more groups dedicated to growing and studying orchids than any other plant variety in the world, you definitely need to come to San Miguel’s fifth Orchid Market on Saturday and Sunday, September 7 and 8, from 10am–5pm on both days, inside the Instituto Allende.

“San Miguel Orchid Market”

Sat–Sun, Sep 7–8, 10am–5pm

Ancha de San Antonio 32

Inside the Instituto, almost to Cardo

Admission free

Gold in Mexican Pesos

In 2011 Gold in U.S, Dollars hit a high of $1,900. The high gold price in Mexican Pesos was MXN24,000. Here in 2019 gold finally, broke through a ceiling of $1,360 that had been in place for six years. It currently trades at $1,529. 

The gold price in Mexican Pesos has moved to MXN30,499. The MXN peso was 13.50 to the dollar in 2011, and now is 20.06 to the dollar.

Tom Dyson at Bonner & Partners said in a recent email. "but there are 56 countries left on the planet where the gold price is NOT yet at an all-time high. Many of them have pegged currencies to the dollar.

The U.S. is one of those countries. We would need another 23% rise in the price of gold to reach a new high.

What does that mean to me, Mike?

If you are moving to Mexico, it seems logical to convert some of your pesos to gold. We moved here in the first quarter of 2015. Gold was MXN18,000; today at MXN30,499. Converting dollars to Pesos would have given us a big loss.

More about the implications to come.

Marilyn Murray Willison: How to Live Large in International Retirement - Part 2

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In my previous column, I introduced “Positive Aging” readers to International Living Magazine and its Annual Global Retirement Index, which evaluates the best places for American retirees to relocate overseas. Last week, we highlighted Columbia, Portugal, Peru, Thailand and Spain.

Do you remember the July 3 column I wrote about Dan Buettner’s book The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest? He had researched and identified specific places on the globe where people tend to enjoy enhanced longevity thanks to diet and lifestyle.

Well, this week, we’re going to take a look at the places International Living considers to be the top five retirement destinations, which actually seem to be clustered near a geographical Blue Zone that is not all that distant from the good old USA.

5: MALAYSIA. There are four UNESCO World Heritage Sites here, along with many stunning islands, beautiful beaches and unspoiled rainforests. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to really discover the country 600 years ago. Then came the Dutch, and then the English. The multicultural flavor makes it a unique place to retire, and the excellent low-cost health care can’t be beat.

4: ECUADOR. This country has been in the magazine’s index for several years. The great weather, the excellent, affordable health care and the availability of affordable real estate all contribute to its high score. Additionally, people over the age of 65 often get discounts on flights that originate in Ecuador, as well as 50 percent off movies, sporting events, public transport and utilities. Plus, if you purchase a property, you have the option of a free landline.

3: MEXICO. Thousands of older Americans have chosen to retire in Mexico during the past few decades, and it is easy to see why. Thanks to the weak peso, expats can live comfortably on about $1,200 a month. There are first-rate hospitals throughout the country, and it’s not hard to find someone who speaks English. Residents over the age of 60 receive an INAPAM card, which offers discounts on everything from groceries to restaurants to both local and airline travel. There is a wide variety of climates and cultural environments from which to choose. And life in Mexico has never been more affordable for Americans.

2: COSTA RICA. This has been a desired retirement spot for Americans for the past three to four decades. As long as you receive at least $1,000 per month from Social Security, disability, pension or some other source, you meet the income requirement for residence. According to the magazine’s Latin American editor, rents start at $400 a month for fully furnished condos or houses in nice areas. The health-care situation is both affordable and highly rated, and the country offers a variety of climates — from mountainous to sunny beaches — to meet your preference.

1: PANAMA. There is a wide variety of nationalities already settled in Panama, so if you move there, you’ll never have to feel like an outsider. As with Ecuador, “pensionados,” or retirees, get discounts on everything from health care to hotels to restaurants to travel. The country has beautiful geography, affordable health care and excellent infrastructure. According to International Living, it offers the most benefits of a Central or South American retirement destination.

— Marilyn Murray Willison is a columnist, motivational speaker and journalist, and author of The Self-Empowered Woman blog and the award-winning memoir One Woman, Four Decades, Eight Wishes. Click here to contact her, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.

In Defense of the Hard-Shell Taco

Bach Pham writes in freetimes, In Defense of the Hard-Shell Taco:

 “Never, ever. It’s an abomination for Mexican taste,” says Pablo Valdes, a cultural anthropologist from Veracruz and currently living in Mexico City. This past week I asked Valdes about whether hard-shell tacos were a thing in his country. The idea has not been embraced kindly there in any capacity. Valdes indicates that there are dishes like tostadas, where the tortilla is fried, but nothing even remotely like the U-shaped boats found in the United States

Here, however, hard-shelled tacos filled with lettuce, tomato, and shredded cheese has become a standard weeknight meal and — for better and worse — the face of Mexican food in the country.

The history of the dish may surprise some though. While Glen Bell and his Taco Bell franchise often gets credit for its nationwide popularity, the true origins are completely Mexican. Los Angeles Times food writer Gustavo Arellano wrote about the history in his book Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. The hard-shell dish that inspired Taco Bell’s legacy was originally found at Mitla Cafe, a restaurant in San Bernardino, California. The restaurant was opened in 1937 by Lucia Rodriguez, who crafted the popular taco recipe using available ingredients to make something familiar to the food she grew up within Tepatitlan, Mexico, yet completely new at the same time. Unlike today’s global market, actual Mexican ingredients were difficult to get during this time period, even at border towns. Unable to find things like cilantro and spices, the community adapted using ingredients like lettuce and shredded cheese. The beef taco seems basic, but it was born out of trying to make the best out of the situation at hand. Not inauthentic, but actually completely honest in that it was the best that could be done with what was available to the community at the time.

Glen Bell, who happened to own a hamburger and hot dog stand across the street at the time, walked across the road to eat at Mitla Cafe daily. He became enamored not only by the tacos but also their popularity in the community.

Arellano describes Bell’s fascination in Taco USA:

“[Bell would] return to his stand to sell food, but spend late nights after closing time trying to decipher the rival restaurant’s tacos, so popular that they opened a walk-up window next to the kitchen, so the lines ran faster.”

The technique for creating the iconic U-shaped tortillas at Mitla daily is daunting: fresh corn tortillas are folded into a pan of oil and pressed down gently with a ladle until fried and fully shaped. Bell, eager to find a way to replicate this, not only developed his own recipe but also fastened a wire basket that could fry six U-shaped tortillas at a time. Despite some early successes here and there with Mexican restaurants during the 1950s, it would take over a decade of ups and downs before Bell finally found his stride and launched the first Taco Bell in a Los Angeles suburb. Today the chain has more than 7,000 restaurants worldwide rakes in annual earnings of nearly $11 billion (according to the Orange County Business Journal). Though hard-shell beef tacos are the most well-known, the idea of crispy tacos goes back somewhat further in American history. Tacos dorados, a general term for any kind of fried taco (but typically filled first and fried together) was a popular item among Mexicans in Southern California as far back as the 1910s. (According to Arellano, “When a customer [at Mitla Cafe] asks for a hard-shelled taco with ground beef, the order is repeated in Spanish — taco dorado con carne molida”). 

Taquitos, the rolled up tacos often filled simply with beans or ground meat, is a popular version of the deep fried taco that’s become so common it’s a staple in the frozen goods section of most grocery stores. Other variations of dorados covered in different sauces and toppings span the Southwestern U.S.

Here in Columbia, nothing exemplifies the love of the hard-shell more than the famous Taco Tuesdays at The Whig. The simple pleasure of lettuce, tomato, and cheese over the well-seasoned ground beef or black beans is hard to beat. For years, locals have constantly flocked to the ubiquitous dive bar for cheap, nostalgic tacos. Similar tacos can be found at many places, including taquerias like Moctezuma’s Mexican Restaurant, which quietly serves generously stuffed beef tacos on their lunch and dinner special plates. 

There’s no better display of hard-shell taco evolution though than down Percival Road at Tacos Nayarit. Using a Chipotle-style setup where you pick from traditional Mexican taqueria fillings, Tacos Nayarit lets you choose from the classic corn tortilla, flour tortilla or hard-shell dorados These aren’t premade hard shells from the store either, but rather yellow corn tortillas that they fry in an actual slotted basket built for shaping tortillas into the iconic U-shape. The fry takes less than a couple of minutes, yielding beautiful golden receptacles ready to be filled.

The tacos are then dressed any way you want. Carnitas with grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, and cheese? Marinated chicken with corn relish and guacamole salsa? The options are plentiful and fit perfectly snug in the warm, fresh fried hard shells. There’s something odd at first when you eat one of these at Tacos Nayarit. Unlike The Whig, which just bursts with American nostalgia, this plays with everything you know about a taco. Layers of crispiness, from the hard-shell to the lettuce to the bits of carnita or al pastor, give the food a fresh perspective. Is it traditional? No. But the spirit is still there in the flavors and feeling. And it’s delicious.

Photo:

Vinícius Caricatte