Living In Other Countries After The U.S. Collapses

May 30th 2007, 10:32 am

Re: Where to live in Hong Kong
It seems that Soho in Sheung Wan will be ideal for you.This a great place with lots of chic bars,restaurants and art galleries,very popular with expats.
Get ready to be shocked by the pollution in Hong Kong though.It is a complete disgrace and given Soho is close to Central,you will be wrapped in smog for 10 months of the year.I worked in London before I moved to Hong Kong and nothing can prepare you for the pollution when you live here.
Living accomodation also depends on what rental allowance you are given,but if you want to live in a large 1000 sq foot (net)apartment in an expat style building,be prepared to pay at least 1200 - 1500 pounds a month (which I guess is consistent with London rents these days).
Of course you can double that rent,if you wish to live on the south side of the island where there isn't the pollution issue.
I feel sorry for the locals in Hong Kong,not only are their health being ruined by a toothless Hong Kong administration but the majority live in tiny apartments due to lack of public housing and the city being controlled by a small number of super rich businessmen.
Where else in the world,outside of third world banana republics,could father and son be able to own the city/country's number 1 and number 2 telecom companies without being referred and blocked by independent regulatory commissions?
Still,it is a fantastic city to work in,pay 15% tax and go to Thailand for weekends aways!

Tax revenue in the Philippines is around 14% of GDP

Increasing since the 7% VAT circa 1990s, and now 12% VAT. Concentrated in cities, where the malls and government infrastructure are. TV on every mountain top promulgated "proud to be a filipino", over family and tribe.

So you are able to evade paying taxes

I pay Philippine VAT and USA income taxes. My VAT expenditures are a miniscule % of my future income. Since 2006, I am riding future capital gains with gold & silver and personal R&D mode (recently on Copute). Reflecting on changing my citizenship, if USA cancels all passports. My future capital appreciation might be untaxable by loaning silver at 0% interest to programmers, while it is declining in price, thus generating me a fiat loss with a gain in ounces. Recently contemplating a new concept of fungible knowledge units.

And people ignoring traffic laws does not lead to freedom, but to death

Non-uniform distribution is more dynamic and more optimally anneals overall societal outcomes. 99.9% of people can't understand the asymptotic infinite cost of 100% uniformity. Disappointed recently that motorcyclists required to not wear slippers and wear a helmet, loud music in the jeepneys no longer allowed, and in the cities the boys can no longer hang off the back of the jeepneys.

not only the public ignores the law, but so do the police and the army

Changing now. I found it to be exciting and challenging. Locals said I was crazy to walk in the mountains at night, and I thought it was because of the deadly snakes and NPA rebels, but they were afraid of the "white lady" ghost, hahaha. Yet still some mountain tribes eat barbecued rats, so I have places to go when I want to go feral.

[...filipinos...] would like to earn more and have increased safety, in addition to better education and health care. I assume you would consider it a reason to leave if they achieve these “collectivist” goals?

The upperclass Chinese want to escape.

Nearly all populations are collectivist to some degree (except perhaps Somalia), but it is much more difficult to get uniformity with 7100 islands (longest fractal coastline in the world), because of the lower economy-of-scale for infrastructure projects, e.g. national road networks end at each coastline. Inevitable that industrialization is bankrupted by the software age, materialism will get less expensive and more ubiquitous. Populations will huddle together for their material wants, and their relative value in the overall economy will decline. Knowledge outperformers will not be economically bound to the collectivism. It is possible the collectivists will depopulate themselves, e.g. they accept urgent actions on AGW, peak resources, and overpopulation.

@Winter: I replied about Phils taxes.

@LS:

The old folks have to be paid for, no matter how you do it.

Let's hope we don't solve it in the way post-Weimer Germany was the "solution" to the earlier failed idealized health insurance boondoggle.

We ALL need medical insurance

I don't. I paid for my eye surgeries from my savings and negotiated with my surgeon and the hospital. Circa 2001, I refused the 4th surgery (eye pressure was deflated and would "lose eye soon") and did my own holistic treatment which was successful.

@Nigel: USA is arguably more corrupt because it has more laws and highest % in prison. Here a rapist was allowed to marry the girl (her request) to commute his life sentence. Yes locals are leaving by the millions to seek opportunities abroad, just as young Americans will do after coming crash. That is how a free market works.

@Andy Freeman:

that doesn’t imply that the fed spending on roads dominates state spending.

I wrote that federal spending in general inflates state tax revenue. Road spending is taken from state tax revenue. Only the federal govt can run expanding fiscal deficits, so all deficit spending originates from the Feds.

@Cathy:

If it were that simple, I would expect taxes to be lower (per capita) on average in urban areas

The cost of suburbia is subsidized by the federal deficits.