Rants and Raves

The facts are for every Americans citizen we pay $560 bucks for off shore corp non taxed income. As for back room politics, so what, you personally do it everyday in one form or another. Buying aTV based on price negotiations. Treating car purchases the same way and sometimes even using a friends discount somewhere to get the
better" deal. Nothing different between you and them just the dollars being transacted. The only place I give ground is on defense spending for national security reasons (Egypt $1.5 B annually) many others who as you say paint us black. We tolerate that because it gives us what we want. If you could do that in your [personal life and gain what we do from the Egyptioan and other contributions you would do it.
My friend all things are relative and the only thing differentiating the issues between them, us and everyone else is the transactions overall value.
The world is built on owning real estate on any level and anywhere. Particularly if it has rich resources. Nothing wrong with it, we do it better then most. To quote Gordon Gecko, "greed is good"
Thus our political way of doing business.

Yes, through the course of history humans, Governments, Dictators, Military's and so on have all looked to expand their assets, and power by any means necessary. The U.S. is no different, and would be naive to think otherwise.

While I'm not looking to be the richest or most successful person, naturally I'm continuing to try and increase my assets, and continue to put myself in a good, or better economic position for the future. The difference is I can't just tax someone, or create a subjective bogus law to get what I want. Hey, just tell me where I can sign up to print my own money (though the Federal Reserve is actually not a government entity), tax, and throw in jail anyone who pisses me off, and run up billions of dollars of debt? Of course I'll sign up for it. Always good when odds are 100% in one's favor. I am a practical guy. Unfortunately my businesses dealings are all with my own money, and if make a bad decision then I lose money. Maybe that makes me a sucker.

I would also say that through the course of history Empires have been built and lasted for hundreds of years, and much longer. The U.S. did not really even become a world powerhouse until the 20th century, and the balance of power has already shifted to China. So taking into account Empires that have lasted as long as some, and then only 100 years give or take for the U.S., then I would say no we didn't do it better than others. In fact that's a pretty pathetically short run. Not that the U.S. isn't, and won't be a major player for years to come, but they aren't the only game in town anymore, and other countries are starting to realize that. The illusion is starting to fade.

Metaphorically speaking, the US is becoming the equivalent of the Blackberry ...

... a wildly successful endeavor that has outlived its glory days and is unlikely to re-emerge as a market leader due to mismanagement (e.g., our federal governmental institutions) and complacency (e.g., our nation of "40 year old eight-graders") ...

   Carlos   aka "ElGringoBueno"

PS  Ecuador may be a "flip phone" by comparison in terms of technology and sophistication, but if all you want to do is "make a phone call" (i.e., live a relatively simple, humane life), why live "a smartphone life" where everyone from the FBI/NSA/etc. to Bank of America/Google/etc. can and does track your everyday whereabouts/activities for their own economic and political objectives?  Simply to be sporting "the latest  technology" ...?

PPS  j600rr, thanks for starting this separate thread.  On occasion, I have been guilty of straying ...

Your metaphor is a good one GringoBueno.

History is history. When Governments/Empires become bloated, largely incompetent, and unproductive, as well as citizens becoming complacent on a large scale, then there will always be trouble. What is being overlooked is the basic failure in the education system. It's a global world (like it or not). Take a look one day where the U.S. ranks in education amongst civilized societies, and see where the U.S. students place in international competitions on mathematics, and science. The youth in the U.S. are just unable to compete on a global basis with the youth of other societies. The long term effects of that can very well be more catastrophic than what people think.

Forgot to add before this spins out of control that the fact I was born and raised in the U.S. has given me more opportunities, and advantages than probably anywhere else in the world would have.

Do not want to underestimate the importance the U.S. has had, and impact it has had on societies, and people, around the world (both the good and bad). The standards, technology, freedoms, economic freedoms, quality of life, ability to become such a powerhouse in such a short time has never before been seen like it was in the U.S. So in history books 1,000 years from now there will always be a section on the U.S.

Old saying that "the only constant in life is change." From my perspective, and only opinion, the U.S. has already reached it's zenith, and better days. Now is time for other countries to lead the way for the 21st century. Can either adapt, make the changes, and accept that, or be bitter, and refuse to accept that.

Hi everyone,

let me remind you two simple things :

> we are on the Ecuador forum, so please concentrate on Ecuador (I don't see anything related to Ecuador in this thread)

> politics and religion are not really welcome on expat-blog.com. We are not qualified on these topics and we clearly don't want to tackle political matters here. Many other specialized websites can help. We can't.

Sorry guys, but I think we should better close this thread.