Just One More Example...

Chaos came across this pair of astounding articles recently, from the nation's premier papers of record (NYTimes, WaPo), concerning the treatment of foreign travelers/illegal immigrants, which, to Chaos' eyes, pretty much settles things as far as remaining a resident of the Empire is concerned (ok, if you absolutely insist on playing this out...how they treat the vulnerable is a preview of how they will treat everybody, or at least, those who have no power...). Hats off the intrepid reporters for the Washington Post, who compiled an outstanding chronicle of how the Department of Homeland Security (or, if you will, Border Guards), when deporting those here without documentation, arbitrarily decides to use anti-psychotic drugs in massive doses to induce docility. The bookend to that article occurs in the New York Times, wherein we find that a completely innocent long distance romance is cut short when the lovely woman's intended is detained at the Empire's border for no other reason than he visits a little too often for the comfort of the agents. After massive intervention by political figures and embarrassing publicity, said gentleman is released back to his own country (a false allegation that the person requested asylum--from Italy!!--is the real topper), while his intended now makes plans to exit the Empire for good, and really, who could blame her? Readers, ask yourselves if you can read of these things and remain the good unconcious consumer (and resident) that the Empire demands.

Relocation: The Corruption Perceptions Index

For those whose thought processes have mirrored Chaos', here's an interesting dimension to consider when deciding on a location to settle in. The Index purports to measure perceptions of corruption by "business people and country analysts" and rank the world's countries according to a scale of corruption. Presumably, less corrupt countries are better places to alight. (Note, for example that New Zealand is #1, while the US is #20; would've thought?)

Oh, and for more comparison info, check out this Wikipedia ranking of economic inequality among nations.

Scott Burns Says, "Time to Leave"

Oh, and forget about Medicare; may as well just opt-out rather than pay the increasingly inflated premiums that will occur in the future. Seriously, though, Scott has on occasion floated the idea of retiring in some cheaper country, for those spendthrifts who have participated in the greatest wealth explosion known to humankind (with, of course, its attendant waste...) and somehow failed to lay in any retirement savings. Gosh, wonder how that could happen? But happen it apparently has, to a number of residents of the Empire, and a few more who will be facing retirement age, and of course only a fool would assume the government would take an interest in this phenomenon, beyond mere lip service. What's new in today's column, however, is the frank admission that one might go ahead and not only retire to another country, but not participate in the Medicare program at all. (Scott suggests making "other arrangements," without specifying what those might be...). Those students of collapse who have read Tainter will note that opting out of a country's programs or facilities is one of the features of a disintegrating civilization. If you'd like to read the conventional response to the healthcare problem in the Empire, today's paper of record provides this fruitless survey. Ponder well, readers who still believe in American exceptionalism. That ship has sailed, in Chaos' opinion.

Another Reason to Move to Europe

High speed trains. Ever heard the phrase? No? Well wonder why no more...it's because there aren't any in the Empire (well, maybe a couple of Amtracks from DC to Boston or some such, but outside of that). Not so across the Pond, where this graphic come to us, displaying a good portion of the "continent" overlaid with rail lines, and usable by people at that. What a concept! If the people in the Empire are so smart, why haven't they thought of this? Hmmm...well, here's the accompanying article. If you want more, a couple of days ago on The Oil Drum an expert article was posted on the same subject. Let it never be said that Chaos is immune to synchronicity....

Where To Live; One Guy's Opinion

Chaos hopes you haven't been thinking that this topic has been abandoned here at the Edge. Here's one very thoughtful fellow's opinion (Nate Hagens from oft-quoted The Oil Drum):

"The best places in the world will be the ones with a combination of the following things: the most social cohesion (strong reciprocity), the highest renewable infastructure, the smallest amount of energy required for basic human needs (food, water, shelter) (This means high degree cooling or heating locations lose points), a high biomass to human ratio, the best aggregate of human, social, built and natural capital. If you fall in the camp thats worried about nuclear war, a city in the southern hemisphere would be optimal, as they dont share air circulation with the north. A city near water and rail will have big advantages over one just served by air and road."

Chaos can't add to that, right now.

Where To Live, The Continuing Series

Chaos has mentioned previously that thinking beings, particularly those young ones who reside in the Empire, may want to consider relocating to a safer, happier, less-prone-to-collapse country. Here's an interesting dimension to get one started: the 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks countries according to their perceived level of corruption. If nothing else, this makes for interesting reading. More thoughts on emigration tomorrow.

A Thought From Matt Savinar: Synchronicity

"I think an individual's geographic location will be responsible for 80% plus of how this [Peak Oil]plays out for them." --recent comment by Savinar on The Oil Drum

This gentleman, a published author and licensed attorney, is the owner/operator of the website After The Oil Crash. Readers are invited to peruse the site of a true doomer, but isn't it interesting that a similar conclusion has been reached, apparently independently, by both he and Chaos regarding what individuals can do in response to the looming "human induced extinction event?"

From the Oracle of Omaha: Words of Warning

Chaos has previously featured the folksy, yet ever so sagacious remarks of the greatest stockpicker in the land, Warren Buffett, through his annual shareholders letter, and this year, the Great One has more concerns about the spiraling foreign account deficits the Empire is currently producing:(pdf document in link)

"our citizens [in the future] will also be forced every year to ship a significant portion of their current production abroad merely to service the cost of our huge debtor position. It won't be pleasant to work part of each day to pay for the over-consumption of your ancestors. I believe that at some point in the future U.S. workers and voters will find this annual 'tribute' so onerous that there will be a severe political backlash. How this will play out in markets is impossible to predict--but to expect a 'soft landing' seems like wishful thinking."

Yet another unwitting reason to consider a more fiscally responsible nation to reside in...

Still Another View of Escape From Empire

As Chaos has noted previously, we greatly admire our friend Joe Bageant for his searing and very funny writing about life in the ever-so-slowly collapsing Empire. Chaos has even greater respect for the man since he decided to "walk the walk" and exit the Empire for a hut in Belize (leaving behind his unaware spouse, who apparently could not break free of the Matrix...). Here's Joe's first take and musings on life in a different place, far away from the corrosive "values" of the Empire. If for nothing else, be entertained today, readers. (For an additional interesting contrast between Germany and the US, look up posts by "Expat" on The Oil Drum).

An Expat Speaks

This post was unabashedly lifted by Chaos, who thanks the poster on The Oil Drum for relating his experience in another country (you can bet this one will appear in Part II):

"We left the US 2 1/2 years ago. Being an expat was always in the back of my mind but the Iraq war, the rise of W, and peak oil awareness forced it to the forefront, and we finally acted. We were typical lower middle class cube drones; spouse was a mechanical engineer for a NASA subcontractor, and I was a tech writer for a software company. We just quit, sold off everything for pennies on the dollar, liquidated all our assets, and moved, never looking back.

One of the benefits to this is our two daughters (7th and 11th grades) are already fully bilingual because we put them in the public schools. Another benefit is that we were at home for them, and we got to spend these critical years with them. We also have a wonderful bus system here so we have not needed or used a car for all that time.

We will be opening a small vegetarian restaurant next week. It is based in our house, a typical 1000 square foot home on a small lot. We are buying everything we can locally, from people we know. We get 8L of fresh milk delivered three times a week for about $3.50, we pasteurize it ourselves and make simple cheeses (mozzarella, ricotta, cottage, and queso blanco), yogurt, butter, and drink the rest. The guy across the street has organic eggs (and chickens). We buy fruits and vegetables from several sources. Some delivered to the house, some are organic, and all are fresh. Coffee is organically grown from a local source. None of our produce comes from further than 50 miles away. We even have a source for organically grown cocoa and dark chocolates.

The biggest things we can't get locally are flour and soy beans (though they are grown here somewhere). I make my own tofu and tempeh so we need to find a local source for beans, and we will be baking a lot for the restaurant. We make bagels, English muffins, breads, cookies, desserts, etc., already for some customers.

We grow most of our herbs as well as some of the vegies that are hard to find here like hot peppers and tomatillos. So we make our own salsas and things like Italian sauces.

When we make lasagna, we buy the noodles. Everything else, except for the sprinkle of parmesean, is fresh and homemade, so y'all come down, that's our Friday special.

FYI: When I make tofu, I take five cups of beans that I buy for about $1.60. My yield is about four pounds of very firm tofu. I use the okara, the pulp left after straining the soy milk, to make vegie burgers, soysage (fake sausage), and fake meat balls. So for $1.60, I get:

4-5 lbs firm tofu
24-36 vegie burgers
3-4 lbs of soysage
60 meatballs

Any unused okara, I give to our milkman for his cows.

The same amount of beans makes about 5-6 pounds of tempeh.

The place we live is in a valley but at 1051 meters. The temps stay between the 60s and 80s, so we have to do no heating or cooling. Electricity here is 90% green, mostly wind and hydro. Water is plentiful and clean where we are. We have a year round growing season, and we are surrounded by coffee, small scale vegetable farmers, and fruit orchards. We are 4-5 hrs by bus from either coast.

We are a family of four currently living on about $1000/month, and that includes complete health care. That's care, not insurance, and I am an insulin dependent diabetic. I feel good about our choices, and I don't know how we could have a much smaller carbon footprint."