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Good point Lotus, As I was just writing my post above when your’s popped on. I don’t have such a big ego in that I have to be right all the time. Just sometimes would be nice.lol. Because Costa Rica is such a unique situation in real estate it will be very interesting to see how it all turns out. I don’t think any of us owns a crystal ball that would give us a true reading on this. I was pointing toward history, and possibly this time, history will not repeat itself.
If anybody out there does have a crystal ball…Can I borrow it for a couple of weeks!
One small observation. At the height of the US real estate market in 1988, I was a first time home buyer and bought at the top of the market. On my street there were even bidding wars going on and houses were bid up 10% or more over the asking price. Almost immediately after, the prices dropped as much as 15% in my area. As I was in it for the long haul it did not matter all that much to me. Eventually the boom started all over again, with the recent bust beginning in ’05. I recall Costa Rica had a similar downturn in the 1990’s, right around the time of the US bust. It shows there is an interrelationship between the two markets. Real estate is cyclical as many other markets are and a fall in the price of CR real estate would almost be expected. I understand that many more US retirees would seek out places like CR to spend the rest of their years, and this may contribute to maintaining upward momentum. But historically speaking, in the short term, a pullback in prices would be expected.
An update on my own post. Drugs the police say, were most likely involved in the stabbing murders in upstate NY.
America is my birthplace. It’s where I now live. It has given me opportunities far beyond what I deserved. When my grandfather arrived on these shores all alone at 16, he came here with little else other than hope. A hope and a perseverance that allowed him raised five children and allow me to continue to receive the blessings this land had to offer.
I plead guilty to sometimes being hard on the US. It’s not out of hatred for this country I say these things, but out of a sincere feeling that we have begun to squander our good fortune. I have, and I’m sure others have too, seen the changes in America over the past 40 years or so. It’s a hard thing to watch the future of this country somehow be in question. Our children will may not have as good a life as we had and their children may even have less. I’ve beefed about taxes, big business, the inability to retire here and the disappearance of the American dream. These are some of the things that concern me greatly.
Some people on this forum have said people like me are running away from America. I say I’m not running away from America, I’m running towards Costa Rica.I can’t say why others bash the US. But it is their privilege to do so. I will not make excuses or apologies for what I say. They are my thoughts alone, and I call it as I see it. The freedom to express our ideas, opinions and beliefs is not a uniquely American one, but it is one of our rights, and possibly our greatest strength in the challenges we face ahead.
My original post here was also lost. It was much shorter than this and after some thought I decided to elaborate.
It would be inevitable for the downturn in the US to affect other markets. If you have cash, the market should turn into a buyers situation and you will benefit. If you’re looking to sell out in the US and move, it may not be as wonderful.
linlsd1, Good luck as you plan to retire. Don’t worry the 5 years will go by quickly. I remember when Florida was a haven for all us northerners. Now we have to look further south to live the life we dreamed about.
scottbenson, I think you may have missed the point of my comments. The taxes I referred to in my post would be income taxes. As with every lottery winning you have to declare the winnings as income. This was not about taxing the goods and services portion, as those would be exempt from sales tax. A heck of a lot more money in income tax than use or sales tax.
Scott, There are states in the US where obstetricians will not deliver babies because of the malpractice suits. A doctor can be liable for the child he delivers up until the child is 21 years of age. Many doctors will give prenatal care and then not show up at the hospital at time of delivery and let a resident deliver the baby. Many other doctors have closed their practices altogether, while some will not even get into this specialty. The cost of malpractice insurance alone is making it difficult for a doctor to practice medicine. This will only continue to drive up the cost of healthcare here.
I think we have gone a bit too far.
Scott, The obvious reason, to me at least, to close offshore gambling is the fact that income tax would be very hard to collect on a foreign account. The lottery system and casinos are legal because they can be regulated and taxes therefore collected. Offshore gambling accounts would be hard to track except through any credit cards used and Internet monitoring. I think this is how they most likely realized people were doing this in the first place. Then again it may also be illegal to track credit card usage. I’m sure they’ll figure out a way to get it to work in the future. A cash cow for tax revenue will not get slaughtered.
Vegas is also correct about what happens when vices are not legalized. There is a moral component to this and we all have our own opinions.
If $48 billion gets generated from lottery alone, what about all the Indian casinos and Las Vegas revenue? We think governments do not want to create compulsive gamblers, or have people blow the rent and food money, but it seems odd they are in the gambling business to begin with.
The real sticking point to me is interfering with another country’s affairs. if something is legal in Costa Rica, or any where else, it should be left to the host country alone to decide what to do. If the revenue from all of the gambling sites in the host country cannot support themselves on gamblers other than USA bettors, then they will ultimately go out of business anyway. Either way, same thing accomplished.
Edited on Jan 25, 2007 16:38
grb1063, That was a highly intelligent and very interesting post. It practically scared the pants off me! While I agree with you on many points and I hope most of what you are saying never comes to pass, I must take exception with you assessment of American intelligence. I think it is not the lack of intelligence in 50% of the population that makes them unable to vote rationally. The electorate has been misled by popularity contest winning politicians, a skewed media, and a lack of “common sense.” The intelligence is there. It has been clouded by too many diversions and I’ll worry about myself first and only attitudes. As far as the other 50% you may be correct. Corporate workers are under the assumption their corporation is their family. Just ask any IBM worker from the old country club days. Small business was the US’s largest employer up until a year or so ago. Now big business has that distinction. Yes, most of them have it good and in the near future it still looks rosy for them. For small and medium business, it will be tough times ahead. On this I speak from experience. I have seen small business be leased, taxed and regulated out of business.
You’re right about many of the young people lacking the initiative to move in their own positive direction. A breakdown of the family and our education system can be partly to blame for that.
Baby Boomer retirement will be a huge burden on those still working, pushing their social security contributions into the stratosphere. If the Interest rates stay high and the dollar is still well supported, the Chinese holding of US dollars should remain stable. But any collapse in the dollar and it may be head for the hills time.
Some people are ignorant because they cannot help themselves, some choose ignorance as a way not to deal with the realities around us.
There are very few things in this life which are guaranteed. Death and taxes being the only two things I’ve ever heard. I honestly think and hope the worst will not come to pass, as you have suggested. I rather see a slower, “death by a thousand cuts” scenario unfolding in the coming decades.
The advice you have given is what most prudent people should be doing at this time. But how many of us are that prudent or disciplined?Edited on Jan 24, 2007 15:34
Marcia, I agree with the fact that violence has become more and more part of our lives like diseases. It is a shame in this “modern” age we cannot come up with an answer. People generally want to live out their lives in peace. In fact I don’t know anyone personally who does not. I don’t know if over population is the cause. My thinking leads me to believe a lack of personal responsibilty, lack of caring and intact families, and an overall selfishness that seems to be invading cultures worldwide is at least part to blame. We can’t expect governments to provide us with the basic moral compass we are so desperately in need of. I think we all need to be part of the restoration of civilization. But we all are so busy with our own lives it is difficult to find the time to help others. I’m just as guilty as the next guy. We all have a purpose here, and it’s not for our own entertainment. One day we hopefully we will come to that realization. As far as the book of Revelation is concerned, it does look like we are headed toward that end. May God bless and help us all.
I’ve used the Pimsleur method basic lesson and found it fairly good. I also have one that uses immersion method CDs. I took Spanish for three years in JHS and outside of remembering numbers, a lot of it has been forgotten. When you find youself in a situation, as in living in Costa Rica, where you must use Spanish, I find it easier to recall the language. I plan on taking immersion lessons when we make the move. If we do it now we will not have enough usage of the language to keep it fresh in our minds. The things I have found most useful are watching Spanish programs on TV, trying to read a newspaper or book in Spanish, and listening to Spanish radio. I have a one hour commute to work and have been listening to Spanish speaking radio during the drive for about a year now. It helps you to at least get a feel for the cadence of Spanish, and every now and then you can even get the jokes. Nothing like having a laugh!
I know this thread has been quiet for a while and I don’t want to start it up again or make it sound like the USA is worse than CR. But I was talking to my brother today about a family that was stabbed to death not far from his home. A family of five was stabbed to death in upstate New York the other day. The house was nextdoor to a restaurant on a busy road. This area is basically a bedroom community and considered very safe. I don’t know if drugs were involved but it is still sad. Long Island New York has reported twelve homes broken into in Suffolk county in recent weeks. If you are up here and read the CR papers and internet publications daily, you can come away with a bad impression sometimes. Not that crime isn’t on the rise in Costa Rica, but stories like that sell newspapers, so they get printed. But what I don’t understand is, it looks like no one is reading the papers or looking at the TV news here to see how bad it is getting. I guess in the comfort of your own home and country you might tend to overlook these things. Crime is everywhere, its just a matter of perception.
Good morning to you to Vegas and to all the others as well. I also did not want to post yesterday. I thought the members would start to post as well and I didn’t want to give the impression we were hogging the thread. Although I must admit I was beginning to think you didn’t love me any more. LOL. Any and everyone is welcome here. I’m surprised Scott hasn’t made an appearance. Maybe he will now. As far as the coincidences, I find them amazing. In my family, my father my father in-law, and myself share Alfred as our first name. When our first son was born we gave him Alfred as his middle name. We just didn’t want him having to grow up with it as his first name. Not to easy to go to school with that first name. That’s why I even use Al most of the time. The “51” thing is beginning to scare me a little. I played it yesterday, it didn’t come out but I’m playing it again today.
About the DNA testing it has been around for a few years and it continues to grow. I used one of the most popular. it is on the internet the website is http://www.familytreedna.com and they will answer all of your questions about participating in the program. The test is a simple mouth swab and the results are done by the University of Arizona. It takes about 7 weeks for your results. You have an option of 12, 25 ,37 or more DNA markers to test. You can start with the lowest, although 25 is a good start. At the time I took it it was about $170. You get access for ever and its fun to check back and see if you get matches. Right now about 87,000 people have done it. Like I said before, don’t do it unless you are confident that you can deal with the results. Some people find out they are related to a whole different group of people and get upset. For me finding out our name may have started in Spain and then the family emmigrate to Sicily and then a little further north in Italy was fine. At least thats where we think they came from based on this and other research I have done. If you decide to do it good luck, I think you’ll enjoy it.
Some other similarities in families. My grandfather was one of 12 I believe, and the reason he came here was his family could no longer afford to keep him. My grandmother was sent to live with her aunt after her father died because her mother could not afford to keep her. And she was born in the USA. Apparently this was quite common in the old days. I guess the really good old days were not all that good. My grandmother had a hard life groing up. She was almost treated like an indentured servant to her aunt. In fact whenever she would refer to her she only would address her as “the Aunt,” We never would ask her what her aunt’s first name was and to this day I still don’t know. We seem to have benefitted from their hard life and were able to live the American Dream. You and I both know that dream is becomming more elusive for our kids. maybe its just the normal evolution of society and maybe its just cyclical. We all want our kids to have it better than we had and possibly we spoiled them a little and gave them more than we ever had. I’m sure we were only trying to do the right thing. But at least we know we tried.
About divorce, yeah that never entered my family until recently also. I had a cousin who was the first to divorce in the 70s. Now my eldest is going through one. Life just seems more difficult now then ever. Too many stresses about money, too much working, no time to really spend working on relationships. It’s sad in a way things just couldn’t stay the way they were. At least as much as we would like to remember them.
Let your son know we think he is doing a fantastic service to his country. I know a lot of kids today don’t have that sense of duty and commitment. Even though this is an unpopular war, it it the character you imparted to him that helped him come to his decision to join the Marines.
I can only imagine the concerns you have for him. I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers.I’ve got to get going now and play “5151” for the midday numbers, but I’m off today so maybe I’ll be back on.
I really wish some of you other guys would get in on this. The catharcic benfits alone are wonderful. Just think of all the money you will save on therapists….
Hi Michael, I believe in order to get in you need a return ticket dated no more than 90 days from your enrty. I could be wrong but I remember reading that. They never have checked my tickets upon entry but they may have already known I had the return ticket. Maybe someone else has a more accurate answer for you. Good luck!
