Comments

Episode-432- Listener Questions for 5-11-10 — 7 Comments

  1. Jack,

    I work for one of the companies mentioned in the article on health care. Probably due to the circulation of the article amongst employees, the company issued an official statement to the employees. They said the media reports were taken out of context, and that they could not yet determine the impact of the health care laws since applicable rules are not yet available. They then indicated that they care about the well being of the employees and retirees, and they would be examining the new laws with the goal of attracting and retaining a highly skilled workforce to ensure the company is globally competitive.

    This, of course, is standard exec-u-speak for “we are only responsible to the shareholders, and will do anything necessary to provide a return to the shareholders.” They did not deny anything in the article, only that it was taken “out of context.” I personally do not think it was very far out of context.

  2. Jack,

    Does Ecuador allow gun ownership? I don’t recall if you specifically mentioned that in you podcast.

  3. Great show as always!

    I think you hit it spot on – Costa Rica and then Panama would likewise be my recommended bug out countries (if someone were inclined to have a bug out country). One thing to consider about Panama (and Ecuador) though is that they no longer have their own currency and both fully rely on the US dollar. If things completely melted down here in the US economically, they could likely be in as bad or worse shape than we would be in.

    I do research in southern Costa Rica, on the Osa Peninsula, and use to own land there (as a foreigner you can own titled land in Costa Rica, however, you need to check in on your land every so often to ward off potential squatters). I agree 100% with what you said on your show; this region is the permaculturalist’s nirvana. Additionally, in this region and particularly on the Osa peninsula, there is a relatively independent and local system of commerce (food and such), which I feel could largely buffer the effects of most disasters that would call for having a bug out country.

  4. If I got my gun rights revoked in the USA (Land of the free, my ass!) for PTSD bullshit diagnoses. Will the record follow me to Costa Rica? Will I be able to start over again?

  5. Chad,

    To answer your questions:

    Your record doesn’t follow you to Costa Rica – they don’t even extradite to the U.S.

    And,, you wouldn’t be the first person to start over again in Costa Rica.

    Plus, as an aside – They have relatively decent gun laws in Costa Rica and I haven’t seen any push to revoke them there any time soon.

  6. Costa Rica has what I would call “decent gun laws” if I compare them to most other nations. You can find information on that here,

    http://www.therealcostarica.com/moving_to_costa_rica/bring_firearms_costa_rica.html

    Note the one quote in that link though,

    “NO weapon of war is permitted in Costa Rica; therefore any war weapon in hands of a non-authorized individual is ILLEGAL in Costa Rica by definition. If you wanna bring your AK47 or MAC9, guess you just have to go somewhere else”

    What? “war weapon” I guess that would include a AR14 too right? Now where does it end? Is my KelTec Sub2000 qualify as a “war weapon”, exactly what is a “war weapon”. Is a Ruger Mini 14 or 30 a war weapon? What about a Remington 7400?

    I don’t know the answers to these questions, if anyone can show me a list of what Costa Rica classifies as a “war weapon”.