I’ve lived in Ecuador for a year now and if you’re the type of person that needs or thinks that the government is required to keep you safe, don’t move here. Here you will be required to think for and be responsible for yourself. I do see a few things that could benefit from “enforced” regulations. I’m visiting my mom in the USA and the magnitude of the MACHINE is like a slap in the face. The amount of taxation required to feed the machine, taken in many and often in obscure ways, is immense. Yes, drinkable tap water and safe roads are nice but I am capable of adjusting to the environment and do not need the government to hold my hand.
I’ve been living in Mexico for almost two years. There certainly are some significant trade-offs for the lower cost of living here: lack of potable water, sometimes lack of any water at all, nothing like the ADA for public accommodation or building codes, no or very little public space maintenance, and if there’s such a thing as animal control, I’ve seen no evidence of it. In the US, taxes on the citizens pay for those things.
@@DonShader On the other hand, the US government is collecting enough money from taxpayers to fund foreign wars and give multiple $ millions to illegal immigrants, not to mention all kinds of other useless crap by way of tax credits for multinational corporations at the federal and state levels. The more you know, the more disgusting it is.
Thanks for my after dinner, evening entertainment Don. I agree with you and Jeff when it comes to regulations. I laughed out loud when you mentioned that you flush toilet paper because you don’t want to stink up your apartment! 😂. I do the same thing when visiting Costa Rica. Naturally I try to use the least amount of paper necessary and flush the toilet one more time to ensure it doesn’t back up and flood my room. On a side note, I want to ask you a personal question…….no, nothing gross or inappropriate but something that I have wondered about since you first did a video on AI and you named it Darby. I think you named it Darby after the 1958 film Darby’s Rangers which is one of my all-time favorite movies. Am I correct? I know you will give me a truthful answer. BTW, if you can ever get together with GM Ace and do another TAT video I know I would enjoy it and other followers would as well. Take care, and be safe.
Thanks Mark, Ace and I are going to do a collaboration video on education in Ecuador very soon, possibly next week. No, Darby came from something else. I had a mentor with I was 20 years old. His name was Delby and he had a huge impact on my life in many ways. He has passed away and I miss him a lot. I thought about using his name but I took the position that people would just say "what?" whenever I mention his name, besides, how many Delby's have you met. For some strange reason, Darby popped into my head during the night one time and that's what I've stuck with. I've actually thought about changing his name to TJ. Even though I never met him in person, I worked for his company for six years after I finished school. I'm talking about TJ Rogers, the founder and former CEO of Cypress Semiconductor. I admire this guy simply because of his intelligence, his humor, and his demeanor toward the people that worked for him. He's amazing at explaining anything technical, so I thought.....what a good name for a GPT LLM.
I'm 81, higher educated, was successful U.S. businessman, created seven very small businesses, not wealthy, living now for 16 years off my $2,200/mo SS plus very successful Ecuadorian wife's $4,000/mo +/- income, together about $80,000/yr. We live in tiny apartment behind apartment behind her $600/mo income, retired parents house, pay them $300/mo rent. LISTEN TO THIS MAN! EVERYTHING he tells you is the truth and accurate.
Moving from France to Ecuador isn’t easy. At age 78, I am to pack everything myself and load all boxes, clothes, kitchen items & furniture into a container by myself in 4 hours. I don’t see who I can do this.
I hear so many similarities with my thoughts when I listen to your podcast or watch one of your videos. My big question is what is the right balance of government intervention vs the smothering presence it can be in the states? I think if the knot could be untangled enough we might see how the lack of government interventions connects to one of the biggest draws of Ecuador and that is how damn cheap it can be to live there. Especially for folks with foreign made assets and/or income streams. What would be a trickle of cash flow in the States feels like a ragging river in Ecuador. There are so many trade offs... a boon here and a loss there.
@@RJMincey You are here on Don's channel so we must have something in common and I will assume you are not as agitated as you are coming off. How you land on remarks about every man for themselves or launch into a discussion about taxes and living in shacks from my question on balance is beyond me. Speaking for myself and the Americans I know... I/WE have no issues paying taxes but do have concerns about waste and irresponsible spending. I support laws and regulations but only as so far is necessary for a healthy functioning society and no further. That is the balance I question. Sounds like our ideas of what is the correct amount might be is very different. If you personally haven't experience any government overreach than god bless you! I have not been so lucky and I promise there are no shacks in my future. Upon further reflection I think that perhaps all the political shenanigans going on in the US right now might have you and me on our heels.
I agree to a certain degree. It's becomming less "cheap" here, especially in regards to housing but all-in-all, it's still pretty hard to beat. I still plan to stay here a couple more years primarily because of the ability to save and build my nest egg. But I do miss so many things about my homeland, especially after having been here for a little more than three years.
I can assure you that we are all on the same page and Jeff has very good intentions. I can vouch for him and I'm pretty sure he's not agitated. At least not from what I know about him. Both of you are establishing good points to consider. I should do a seperate episode about this topic.
@@RJMincey I appreciate your energy and enthusiasm. Next time consider asking a question for clarity sake before you digest a short comment offered on a video and assume flawed logic or mixed messages. Brevity can kill understanding but such is UA-cam responses. Yes the lack of government intervention keeps things cheap in Ecuador. Government intervention is costly even in well run and smoothly administered countries ... This hasn't been my experience of Ecuador. My thought is that the level of waste, bureaucracy, misappropriation and potential corruption that could result in the efforts to expand regulation would be staggering and the money needed to achieve the desired results would raise the cost of living. Assuming the money would need to come taxes to secure those funds.
And the biggest draw is how cheap the cost of living is not the lack of government intervention... But ironically the lack of intervention keeps the cost of living lower.
I use the broken sidewalk test to judge attitudes toward pubic safety. If the sidewalks and streets are broken, how important can public welfare be to the government and voters? By extension, how important are regulations? In the end, everything costs including public services. Ecuador is not a wealthy country. The USA is very rich and we have much better services.
The United States is a rich country indeed, but I know what a struggle it was for Congress to pass an infrastructure bill. It took a number of years to get it done, and even then there was much opposition. And all for what - to build and repair bridges? To upgrade airports? To repair seaports? And to improve internet connectivity? These things should not be the subject of political controversy, and yet it seems we can scarcely come together in this country to agree on anything. Also, it's very unseemly to see some American politicians taking credit for building projects in their district when in fact they voted AGAINST the very legislation that made it possible. Gotta love it, eh?
@@RJMincey Yes. Í only meant that I have to pay for what I get and maybe I will get what I want. Ecuador can’t spend for the services and quality of life that we have because they don’t have the money even if they had the political will. Diminished services and lower expectations are what I pay to live in Ecuador and other places in Latin America I have lived. Now just finished nine years in Latin America and a much better life. Easy peasy in my book.
I’ve lived in Ecuador for a year now and if you’re the type of person that needs or thinks that the government is required to keep you safe, don’t move here. Here you will be required to think for and be responsible for yourself. I do see a few things that could benefit from “enforced” regulations. I’m visiting my mom in the USA and the magnitude of the MACHINE is like a slap in the face. The amount of taxation required to feed the machine, taken in many and often in obscure ways, is immense. Yes, drinkable tap water and safe roads are nice but I am capable of adjusting to the environment and do not need the government to hold my hand.
Thanks Don
I’ve been living in Mexico for almost two years. There certainly are some significant trade-offs for the lower cost of living here: lack of potable water, sometimes lack of any water at all, nothing like the ADA for public accommodation or building codes, no or very little public space maintenance, and if there’s such a thing as animal control, I’ve seen no evidence of it. In the US, taxes on the citizens pay for those things.
And why other countries can't adapt that practice is beyond me.
@@DonShader On the other hand, the US government is collecting enough money from taxpayers to fund foreign wars and give multiple $ millions to illegal immigrants, not to mention all kinds of other useless crap by way of tax credits for multinational corporations at the federal and state levels. The more you know, the more disgusting it is.
Thanks for my after dinner, evening entertainment Don. I agree with you and Jeff when it comes to regulations. I laughed out loud when you mentioned that you flush toilet paper because you don’t want to stink up your apartment! 😂. I do the same thing when visiting Costa Rica. Naturally I try to use the least amount of paper necessary and flush the toilet one more time to ensure it doesn’t back up and flood my room. On a side note, I want to ask you a personal question…….no, nothing gross or inappropriate but something that I have wondered about since you first did a video on AI and you named it Darby. I think you named it Darby after the 1958 film Darby’s Rangers which is one of my all-time favorite movies. Am I correct? I know you will give me a truthful answer. BTW, if you can ever get together with GM Ace and do another TAT video I know I would enjoy it and other followers would as well. Take care, and be safe.
Thanks Mark, Ace and I are going to do a collaboration video on education in Ecuador very soon, possibly next week.
No, Darby came from something else. I had a mentor with I was 20 years old. His name was Delby and he had a huge impact on my life in many ways. He has passed away and I miss him a lot. I thought about using his name but I took the position that people would just say "what?" whenever I mention his name, besides, how many Delby's have you met. For some strange reason, Darby popped into my head during the night one time and that's what I've stuck with.
I've actually thought about changing his name to TJ. Even though I never met him in person, I worked for his company for six years after I finished school. I'm talking about TJ Rogers, the founder and former CEO of Cypress Semiconductor. I admire this guy simply because of his intelligence, his humor, and his demeanor toward the people that worked for him. He's amazing at explaining anything technical, so I thought.....what a good name for a GPT LLM.
@@DonShader thanks and I am sorry you lost your friend.
Would you do it again Don? Seems like an adventure.
Probably not.
I'm 81, higher educated, was successful U.S. businessman, created seven very small businesses, not wealthy, living now for 16 years off my $2,200/mo SS plus very successful Ecuadorian wife's $4,000/mo +/- income, together about $80,000/yr. We live in tiny apartment behind apartment behind her $600/mo income, retired parents house, pay them $300/mo rent. LISTEN TO THIS MAN! EVERYTHING he tells you is the truth and accurate.
Moving from France to Ecuador isn’t easy. At age 78, I am to pack everything myself and load all boxes, clothes, kitchen items & furniture into a container by myself in 4 hours.
I don’t see who I can do this.
I hear so many similarities with my thoughts when I listen to your podcast or watch one of your videos. My big question is what is the right balance of government intervention vs the smothering presence it can be in the states? I think if the knot could be untangled enough we might see how the lack of government interventions connects to one of the biggest draws of Ecuador and that is how damn cheap it can be to live there. Especially for folks with foreign made assets and/or income streams. What would be a trickle of cash flow in the States feels like a ragging river in Ecuador. There are so many trade offs... a boon here and a loss there.
@@RJMincey You are here on Don's channel so we must have something in common and I will assume you are not as agitated as you are coming off. How you land on remarks about every man for themselves or launch into a discussion about taxes and living in shacks from my question on balance is beyond me. Speaking for myself and the Americans I know... I/WE have no issues paying taxes but do have concerns about waste and irresponsible spending. I support laws and regulations but only as so far is necessary for a healthy functioning society and no further. That is the balance I question. Sounds like our ideas of what is the correct amount might be is very different. If you personally haven't experience any government overreach than god bless you! I have not been so lucky and I promise there are no shacks in my future. Upon further reflection I think that perhaps all the political shenanigans going on in the US right now might have you and me on our heels.
I agree to a certain degree. It's becomming less "cheap" here, especially in regards to housing but all-in-all, it's still pretty hard to beat. I still plan to stay here a couple more years primarily because of the ability to save and build my nest egg. But I do miss so many things about my homeland, especially after having been here for a little more than three years.
I can assure you that we are all on the same page and Jeff has very good intentions. I can vouch for him and I'm pretty sure he's not agitated. At least not from what I know about him. Both of you are establishing good points to consider. I should do a seperate episode about this topic.
@@RJMincey I appreciate your energy and enthusiasm. Next time consider asking a question for clarity sake before you digest a short comment offered on a video and assume flawed logic or mixed messages. Brevity can kill understanding but such is UA-cam responses. Yes the lack of government intervention keeps things cheap in Ecuador. Government intervention is costly even in well run and smoothly administered countries ... This hasn't been my experience of Ecuador. My thought is that the level of waste, bureaucracy, misappropriation and potential corruption that could result in the efforts to expand regulation would be staggering and the money needed to achieve the desired results would raise the cost of living. Assuming the money would need to come taxes to secure those funds.
And the biggest draw is how cheap the cost of living is not the lack of government intervention... But ironically the lack of intervention keeps the cost of living lower.
I use the broken sidewalk test to judge attitudes toward pubic safety. If the sidewalks and streets are broken, how important can public welfare be to the government and voters? By extension, how important are regulations? In the end, everything costs including public services. Ecuador is not a wealthy country. The USA is very rich and we have much better services.
The United States is a rich country indeed, but I know what a struggle it was for Congress to pass an infrastructure bill. It took a number of years to get it done, and even then there was much opposition.
And all for what - to build and repair bridges? To upgrade airports? To repair seaports? And to improve internet connectivity? These things should not be the subject of political controversy, and yet it seems we can scarcely come together in this country to agree on anything.
Also, it's very unseemly to see some American politicians taking credit for building projects in their district when in fact they voted AGAINST the very legislation that made it possible. Gotta love it, eh?
@@RJMincey Yes. Í only meant that I have to pay for what I get and maybe I will get what I want. Ecuador can’t spend for the services and quality of life that we have because they don’t have the money even if they had the political will. Diminished services and lower expectations are what I pay to live in Ecuador and other places in Latin America I have lived. Now just finished nine years in Latin America and a much better life. Easy peasy in my book.
Welcome to the machine…
Regulations and laws protect man from his worst self. Because we are imperfect.