Expat Files – 10.09.15

-How many stateside people really get the somber message that the so called “American Dream” has taken an abrupt U-Turn and has relocated south of the boarder (south of Mexico too)? It will never be back.

-Investing in the Latin Bank CD’s? Should you or shouldn’t you:
With Latin Bank CD’s giving US dollar interest rates up to 8%, and with Local funny money CD rates at 10 to 15% per year shouldn’t an expat at least consider it and test the waters? Find out more here…

-Chicken is a Latin diet staple. Unfortunately, bad things are happening in their poultry world and Latins don’t have a clue. In fact they are setting themselves and future generations up for a rude awakening. The signs and signals can already be seen… but only by gringos with a good eye for details. Its the downside of the “Gringo Advantage”.

Adam Johnson – Democrats Have Better Grammar Than Republicans, Study Reveals

Democrats convinced they are smarter and better educated than their Republican friends and family may be right after all—at least in terms of being able to speak the English language properly. A new “study” [3] done by the grammar app Grammarly examined the Facebook comments of the supporters of all major Presidential candidates and noticed some startling patterns. According to USA Today: Supporters commenting …

Expat Files – 09.18.15

-Did you know that there are so-called 100% bilingual Latins and there are 100% bilingual Latins? There are big differences! That said, don’t think just any so-called bilingual Latin person might fit your needs- for example as a top-notch secretary or girl Friday in your new Latin-based business. Note that just because a Latin person has passed that all-important TOFEL international English competency exam and has the diplomas to prove it, doesn’t mean he or she had the instant capacity to handle any or all of your needs. Such persons will undoubtedly have some bad habits. You must from the start be as vigilant as a hawk and set first-world standards.. or disappointments will surely follow.

-You can easily put an ad in the classifieds or on the internet looking for just such a bilingual person to hire as a guide or as a translator or whatever. Some young college-aged Latins are 80% to 100% bilingual and really can help you immensely. But note that the vast majority of said persons will not be able to write an email or business letter any better than a stateside 4th grader. There are two reasons for this: one is that 95% of these bilingual people went to crappy public universities and were taught English by non-native English speakers with bad accents who in turn learned their English from non-native English speakers with bad accents (i.e., non-gringos) etc., etc. The second reason most can’t write a decent letter is that many bilingual types have no one to talk to so they are always out of practice. To be nimble one must stay in the game!.

-CONSULT WITH JOHNNY- SCHEDULE A CELL OR SKYPE CALL:

Follow the consult link on the main page at www.ExpatWisdom.com and Johnny will help you sort out your Latin American plans.

Kate Aronoff – Reports of capitalism’s death have been greatly exaggerated

Late last week, economic journalist Paul Mason, whose Channel 4 blog has been one of the best English-language sources for making sense of the ongoing Greek crisis, published an excerpt from his forthcoming book in The Guardian. It announces that the end of capitalism has begun and that (spoiler) it doesn’t look how we thought it might. The 20th century …

So-called ‘free trade’ agreements should be strongly opposed – Bill Mitchell

My header this week is in solidarity for the Greek people. I hope they vote no and then realise that leaving the dysfunctional Eurozone will promise them growth and a return to some prosperity. They can become the banner nation for other crippled Eurozone nations – a guiding light out of the madness that the neo-liberal elites have created. While …

Chomsky: Hillary and Obama Are ‘Opportunists’ By Jerome R. Corsi, WND

In a wide-ranging interview at his MIT office, liberal icon Noam Chomsky expressed no enthusiasm for Barack Obama or the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency, dismissing Obama as “an opportunist” and characterizing Clinton as much the same, “only more militant.” Born to immigrant Jewish parents in Philadelphia in 1928, Chomsky explained his political views were formed growing up during …

Stop Feeding the Troll: The Case for an ISIS Propaganda Blackout – Adam Johnson

The London Express (5/22/15) unsubtly juxtaposed ISIS militants with an atomic explosion. This past weekend, several media outlets ran a story about how ISIS is seeking a nuclear weapon: ISIS Claims It Could Buy Its First Nuclear Weapon From Pakistan Within a Year —International Business Times ISIS to Smuggle Its First Nuclear Weapon From Pakistan, Mulls Attack on US: Report —Economic Times ISIS …

The Coming Dissolution of Great Britain – PATRICK COCKBURN

I have spent most of my working life writing about countries where communal or nationalist differences determine and, on occasion, convulse the political landscape. My first experience of this was at Queen’s University Belfast, where I was writing a PhD on the Irish Home Rulers in Ulster pre-Irish independence, during the worst years of the troubles in Northern Ireland between …

A Field Guide to Negative Progress – John Michael Greer

I’ve commented before in these posts that writing is always partly a social activity. What Mortimer Adler used to call the Great Conversation, the dance of ideas down the corridors of the centuries, shapes every word in a writer’s toolkit; you can hardly write a page in English without drawing on a shade of meaning that Geoffrey Chaucer, say, or …