“Your choice”.

That’s correct, Your choice… should be your choice… not a choice imposed by someone else upon you.

We all know the downside of choices being removed by the penal system.  We all hate the thoughts of jail.

Yet the majority allow themselves (even pay for the privilege) to be mentally jailed through a system I call generic hate created by the mainstream press.

Let this man explain why we should not worry too much about generic hate using an example of the Ecuador Iran connection.

Recently a reader sent this note:  I was shocked to see news that Amadinajad will soon visit Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaraugua and Ecuador. I have to cross Ecuador off my list of countries of interest after learning that.

Hopefully my reply puts some perspective on this.

There are many many reasons why someone might choose not to go to Ecuador.

The visit of two politicians trying to get the attention of the US government should not be one of them.

Because only you can determine if any one place is right for you, we always recommend you visit first, rent second and finally after you really feel settled in… if you still love being there, buy and become a resident.

I first warned readers about the Iran Ecuador connection almost two years ago.

Please note that the the focus of our articles… is to help readers have alternatives… because no one knows how the world is going to unfold.

One seminar delegate recently told me how he searched the world for a perfect pristine isolated place in North America away from dangers and pollution.  After years of effort he found what he felt was perfect and settled there… only to be directly in the path of radiation and one first to see Japanese flotsam from the Tsunami wash up on its shores.   

No one knows how the world is going to unfold.

Ecuador is only a part of our business.  We were there most of the time for 15 years and have not been regular lately  but not because it is a bad place.  Nor did we go to Ecuador originally because we thought America and Europe, where we lived then, were bad places.

If you choose to avoid Ecuador by all means do so.  But do it for the right reasons.

The establishment always uses local press to create enemies to shift the national focus away from their own problems. This I think we can all agree is a time honored political tradition.

We do not care where anyone goes… our mission is to help our readers think for themselves beyond the daily press and to embrace change and make decisions that are best for them based around their own personal circumstances.

If one followed the press in the 1950s they feared Russia (and Cuba).  Then China was the bad guy (now the good guys despite continued human abuse) and then Vietnam… then Iraq…  then Afghanistan.  Now it looks like Iran is bad while China, Russia and Vietnam are great places to invest. Cuba will be the next good guy!

So over the past decades if you lived by the press and cut yourself off of every country that was visited by leaders of China, Russia, Vietnam and Cuba, you missed some great opportunities.  I know because I was among the first Americans in China. This is another reason why we have helped organize the first Super Thinking + Spanish course to be conducted in Cuba for Canadians and Europeans.

Am I correct?  The New York Times has just announced that National Geographic is hosting tours for Americans to Cuba.

So don’t people who did not come to Ecuador because Fidel Castro was there a few years ago feel silly?

Imagine how we would have been the bad guys if we did this a few years ago!  Now some Americans are making fortunes taking Americans on tours to Cuba because the State Department gives them permission.  The government in Iran may be hostile to the US… but for all we know those Latin visits could be engineered by the CIA to get the Latins to tell Iran to back off.  I do not know that this is the case but this is the point… we do not know, do we?

What I do know is that when I was in China in the 60s the people there were great and they hated their politicians. When I was in VietNam (not as a solder but in business) in the 60s the Vietnamese people were great.  They hated their politicians.  The Ecuadorian people are great and they hate their politicians.  I love Americans and most of them hate most of their politicians as well.

So most of the people in the world seem to have three important things in common.  #1: We are all great and wonderful.  #2: Mankind being what it is power corrupts so we are all caught in a terrible system.  #3: We are all pretty disgusted with politicians.

Generic Hate

The problem is the daily press stimulate generic hate to such a degree that we miss so many wonderful things and people.  We hate Chinese. We hate Russians. We hate Cubans. We hate Iranians.  But really we are all the same… great people caught in the grindstones of a nasty system that we can do little about.

If one lets the daily press choose your friends and enemies and guide your life…  one will always be caught in the messes of the masses and miss so much opportunity, great people and wonderful stuff.

 Let your inner wisdom and the personal details of your life and your innate intelligence lead you instead.  Follow the feelings of what you love. Go to your desires rather than away from your hates and fears.  You’ll find more satisfaction, fulfillment and success!

Regards and good luck wherever you go.

Gary

Are you leaving North America because you feel civil rights are going to be thrown out the window.  Forget about it. They have been gone for decades.

Here are two examples.

This photo of from a January 5, 2012 LA Times obituary by Elaine Woo entitled “Gordon Hirabayashi dies at 93; opposed internment of Japanese Americans”.

The obit said:

Gordon Hirabayashi, who was convicted for defying the evacuation and internment of Japanese Americans on the West Coast during World War II and, four decades later, not only cleared his name but helped prove that the government had falsified the reasons for the mass incarceration, has died. He was 93.

Civil rights often get thrown out the window.  This does not necessarily make a place or the people bad.

For example no one has recently written to me about my residence in North Carolina and explained that they’ll never go to that state and that North Carolinians are bad. 

Yet a January 10, 2012 CNN article by Debra Goldschmidt entitled “North Carolina task force recommends $50,000 for sterilization victims” shows what North Carolina did.

Here is an excerpt (bolds and underlines are mine).  Living people who were forcibly sterilized as part of a decades-long eugenics program in North Carolina should receive a one-time payment of $50,000, a state task force recommended on Tuesday.

North Carolina sterilized an estimated 7,600 people between 1929 and 1974, many of them against their will.

The state apologized for the sterilizations in 2002, and Gov. Bev Perdue created the compensation task force last year. Many states once had eugenics programs, and seven have apologized, but North Carolina is the first to consider paying victims.

The five-member task force – including a doctor, lawyer, historian, retired judge and retired journalist – met for 10 months and has a February 1 deadline to send a report, including recommendations for compensation, to the governor.

Even deciding how to make up for the eugenics program is no easy task. Historians and experts on compensation say there are no comparable examples to model monetary reparations after. This is a far different situation than better-known reparations debates, such as slavery, for which no compensation has been awarded, or the Nazi Holocaust, which is tied to individual awards allotted after an extensive documentation process. The closest example, experts say, is the 1988 decision by the U.S. Senate to pay $20,000 to Japanese-Americans who were held in internment camps during World War II. Surviving victims were paid the flat fee for the suffering caused by displacement.

Steven Selden, a University of Maryland professor and author of the book “Inheriting Shame: The Story of Eugenics and Racism in America,” said the national eugenics movement was about altering the gene pool and eliminating people who spoke, looked, or behaved differently. What set North Carolina apart was how recently it occurred: Most states stopped after World War II, but North Carolina continued sterilizing people into the 1970s.

Photo from ABC website.

Caption: In this June 22, 2011 photo, Elaine Riddick and her son Tony Riddick embrace as they pose for a photo before testifying before the Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation task force compensation hearing in Raleigh, N.C. Riddick is fighting for compensation from her native state of North Carolina over her sterilization as a young girl.

This seems unimaginable.  Yet an August 15, 2011 ABC article by Allen Breed entitled “Eugenics Victim, Son Fighting Together for Justice” says:  Elaine Riddick’s small frame heaves, her rapid, shallow breaths whistling in her throat as she forces the words out between her sobs.

“So what am I worth?” she asks the five people seated at the long table before her.  “The kids that I did not have, COULD not have. What are THEY worth?”
“Priceless,” Tony Riddick whispers as he gently rubs his mother’s back.

Elaine Riddick has been asking these same questions, in one forum or another, for the past 40 years. This most recent appearance in late June was before the Governor’s Task Force to Determine the Method of Compensation for Victims of North Carolina’s Eugenics Board.

As far as Riddick is concerned, she tells the panel, she was raped twice. Once by the man who fathered her son, and again by the Eugenics Board of the State of North Carolina, which deemed her, at age 14, unfit to procreate.

“I am NOT feebleminded,” she shouts, turning to face the packed hearing room. “I’ve never BEEN feebleminded.”
“No,” says her son, standing beside her behind the podium.

Tears streaming down her face, she says, “They cut me open like I was a HOG.”

I do not worry too much about what politicians say.  Their words and actions are victims of the fears and worries of the total population… at times.

At times politicians take advantage and stir up fears and worries.   Such stirring can lead to a suspension of American rights that seems quite unbelievable… such as in North Carolina.

Yet I can assure you the people of North Carolina nor the state itself are bad.  The state is wonderful… the people fantastic!  Nor are the Ecuadorian people or the country of Ecuador a bad place because a leader from Iran visits there.

A visit by a politician from a country that US politicians say is bad is not a good reasons to dislike or avoid another country.

Our site is about how to have alternatives.  Ecuador is one of many. So is North Carolina and Florida and I predict so too will Cuba be… soon.

Choose or reject any of them by all means.   Just make the decision for the right reasons.

Politicians will use external events to collect the votes and/or support of their public. Expect USA – Iran tensions to grow as the November elections approach.  Don’t let this distort your view of what is really important for you.

Gary

A concept I outlined in my first 1970s book, Passport to International Profit  remains my mantra called the  “Six Point Command Posture” which is to:

Live in one country
Bank in a second country
Invest in many countries
Earn in two or more countries
Use a company incorporated in a fifth country
Take a second residence

Learn how to develop this tactic so you can choose to live, earn and invest where it is best for you at our February 8-11, 2012 Super Thinking + Business and Investing seminar in Mt. Dora, Florida.

Quantum Thinking for Everlasting Wealth Seminar

Quantum Thinking for Everlasting Wealth Seminar.   How to retire from the rat race… at any age.  Where the writing, business and reading world meet.

Gary Scott teaching delegates about quantum wealth.

Learn Quantum Thinking & How to Have Everlasting Wealth with Gary and Merri Scott.

These special seminars look far beyond creating or improving your own business for income.  They begin with a global economic update that helps integrate thinking of the past with the here and now of global economics.

Learn how to integrate your brain waves so you become smarter and how to gain never ending income by continually spotting contrasts distortions and trends.

The seminar is divided into three sessions.

Each session builds on the next to help you learn how to gain freedom, remove stress and earn more by combining powerful tools of thoughts and business action

Sessions One:  Our global World present past and future… seen from outside the box.

Sessions Two: How to have quantum wealth and health with more intelligence with whole brain thinking through “Frequency Modulation.Saturday –  How to Write.

Session Three:  International Micro Business – “How to Have a Global Income “.

This seminar provides a learning funnel that integrates your personal desires, skills and circumstances to current and historical global economic realities.

Here is what you learn:

* Global economic history  - how this combines with each business’s past… future… interest, skills and knowledge. 

The historical review sees  current markets for writers based around economic cycles as outlined first by Russian economist, Nikolai Kondratiev, who proposed a theory that Western capitalist economies have long term (50 to 60 years) cycles of boom followed by depression. These business cycles are to this day called “Kondratiev Waves”.

Kondratiev’s thoughts were refined  by Austrian economist, Joseph Shumpeter, which we have extensively researched and follow the global economy (and US stock market) and how it has moved through a series of bull…. and then a bear (a period of no growth) cycles that each run around 15 year bull as shown in this graph below.

These stock market bull and bear cycles are based on cycles of human interaction, war, technology and productivity.

These cycles are a driving force in the creation of  opportunity.

These cycles are intricately connected with the new waves of productivity that grow from the great human platform of combat. The cycle goes like this.

An economic downturn enhances a war or threat of war. Struggles for survival in the war (like the Civil War, WWI, WWII and the Cold War (WWIII), super charge inventiveness that creates new forms of productivity…the steam engine, the internal combustion engine,  production line processes, jet engines, TV, farming techniques, plastics, telephone, computer and lastly during the Cold War, the internet.

Each new invention helped win a war.  Shifting the technology to domestic use… after the war… created a boom.

Each boom leads to excess.

Each excess led to a correction.  The correction creates an economic downturn.

The economic downturn enhances a war or threat of war.

The global economy is currently in a major correction cycle… at the correct time and we should expect that a war (or some major struggle of the epoch or threat of war such as the Cold War) should begin to build!   This latest downturn started almost exactly (1998), 16 years after the last boom began (1982)…which began after the last great human struggle called the Cold War that lasted about a decade when the Soviet Union collapsed.

If the cycle repeats, the struggle should build now due to the poor economy.  If the cycles repeat then the bottom is around 2012-2013.  Everything will seem bleakest… darkest… blackest.

This will be the best time of all in decades to invest!

The epoch of the Cold War fought Maggie Thatcher and Ronnie Reagan fought the evil empire (1981 to 1989).  The war was won when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the Soviet Empire dissolved in 1991. That war created an arms race that created new technology including internet.

The economic war that follows the boom comes from the domestication of technology developed during the struggle.

The technological burst off WWIII accelerated when access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) which developed the Computer Science Network (CSNET) providing access to supercomputer sites in the United States from research and education organizations.

In 1982 the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) was standardized and the concept of a world-wide network of fully interconnected TCP/IP networks called the Internet was introduced. Commercial internet service providers (ISPs) began to emerge in the late 1980s and 1990s.

The dot-com bubble (also referred to as the Internet bubble and the Information Technology Bubble) was the post war boom, a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000.

The next step is to decide where this cycle is and how this creates business opportunity through distortions, contrasts and trends.

Contrasts and distortions in currencies, markets and social and demographic shifts to spots trends.

For example we look at how each new wave of technology creates new problems.  Shifts from WWII included increased fertilization in farming and more women at work.  This caused dietary differences in the American family that led to an explosion of health food stores.

* Problems & Trends Create Income Possibilities

Surprisingly the inventors of Graham Crackers and Kellogg Corn Flakes were among some of the first to spur an interest in health food so in the 1920s and 1930s health food stores did start to open in the USA selling products such as blackstrap molasses and brewer’s yeast.  However health food stores as we know them did not start to boom until the 1960s in connection to the newly emerging ecology movement and counterculture to modern living, intense fertilization, pesticides, women at work, etc.

Image the wealth you would have gained  writing about that trend coming!

We  explore potential counter cultures created by the internet… a WWIII technology… that could erupt and ways to write and do business based on this.

We pay special attention to economic distortions.  Distortions create writing opportunities because your micro business is the best investment you can make backed by your own time, effort and energy.

Quantum Thinking For Everlasting Wealth Seminar – October 5-6-7, 2012 West Jefferson, North Carolina.

Join Merri and me. Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

Another session in the seminar shows “How to have an international micro business.”  These sessions are highly practical and usable. They focus on how to use modern technology to start global micro businesses with minimal investments of time and capital.

By starting small and building with stepping stones and a harmonious focus, Merri and I have learned how to almost own several profit generating phrases at Google.  We, along with our webmaster David Cross share the secrets of how you can use words to create your own global income as well.

The seminar shares how we use the first four of “Seven Ps”  (Person, Problem and Promise, Product) to zero in on key word phrases.  Then you learn how to use the Fifth P Promise to develop new customers. The Sixth P is the Prospecting Path and Seventh P is the Presentation to create income.

We use this system successfully on the internet and share what we do with you as we look at ways you too can have a high income generating business… even if you never leave your home.

This knowledge has really helped previous course delegates. Here is what one previous delegate just shared:

“Gary , I have been working on my website, healthy-holistic-living.com site and I figure it is time for another update. It is really hard to believe it, but my site just keeps growing and growing and I am now averaging 2000 visitors per day!

“What I find to be most amazing is that in just a few short months my site is #1 out of over a million sites and sometimes even millions of sites! As you always say the internet is the ‘Great Equalizer’ anybody given the right tools can compete on the internet.“Below are some of my search results. I only listed GOOGLE and YAHOO but you can find similar results on both MSN and ASK.com.

GOOGLE:

#1 out of 1,190,000 …………………………“definition healthy spirit “

#1 and #2 out of 1,210,000.………………….“benefits to living a holistic life “

#1 out of 1,260,000 …………………………“gaining a healthy mind “

#1 and #2 out of 1,260,000 …………………“benefits to living a holistic life “

#2 out of 935,000 …………………………..“holistic lifestyle tips “

You will learn how to use the same system to expand (or start) your business globally!

This is a perfect era to increase your wealth and improve your lifestyle as you reduce stress with your own a micro writing self publishing business.

Merri and I enjoy having an international internet business and it is doing well.  Almost every month our internet business sales are higher than they were in the same month a year before.

We are very thankful to be one of the most read sites in Ecuador and do very well in the US and Canada too.

May we share our experiences to help you learn how to enjoy this satisfaction and success through your micro business?

Here is a recent ranking of just one of our five websites.

This ranking from Alexa.com shows how our site is in the top 16,000 web sites in America, top 8,000 in Canada and top 500 in Ecuador.  There is more.  While many suffered in 2007, 2008 and 2009, the recession caused our internet business to grow.

Our seminar helps you learn how to use the same tactics we use… in your micro business.

Our sales doubled during the recession.  Our list of readers increased over 100%.  Since the economy picked up our business growth has slowed but business is still growing. This is how good, value oriented business grow by the way.

Value oriented micro businesses should increase steadily in good times.  They do not get caught overextending in euphoria. Then during bad times they are in a position to do really well! 

Knowing the micro business philosophies we follow can help you use the internet in business if you desire.

The Western economy has changed… probably forever.  The old ways are gone and those who held jobs… or still have work in the private sector have lost the most.

The economy will recover… but the way people earn and work… and how the money is distributed and to whom especially… has been profoundly altered.  This is especially true in value added countries like Canada… the USA and most of Europe.

We are in an era of global structural change… in economics… in society and in the way we work because technology brings us low cost administration, low cost access to data, low cost communication, and low cost travel, plus the opening of markets beyond logic that rely more on passion and experience than on efficiency and cost.

We look at these economic and structural changes, and what to do about them in the business portion of our seminar.

We’ll see how markets are shifting from materialistic needs to emotional needs.

We’ll see great opportunity for writers in the following markets:

Love-friendship-control-freedom-tradition-change-big answers-recognition and care. These are emotional needs that create expanding demand and business opportunity. The next generation is having more involvement in every step of the buying process.  Uniting the body and mind is an emerging market.  Natural physical health, fitness will expand but botox and insulin sales will also grow.

Mental health, retreats and spas prosper.  The health of the planet is becoming a more important business.There is a shift of emphasis from GDP to GWB  (General Wellness Barometer Happiness Factor).  Business will operate with more passion.

Learn about other business possibilities…

In the global micro business sessions we’ll see ideas on how to:

* Create export businesses

* Self Publishing/Writing

* Internet Sales

* Ecuador Business Ideas

* Organic Business Ideas

* Health Business Ideas

* Ideas for Cuban Business

Quantum Thinking For Everlasting Wealth Seminar – October 5-6-7, 2012 West Jefferson, North Carolina.

Join Merri and me. Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

The educational program Merri and I have developed uses a different form of frequency modulation that opens enormous opportunity for expansion, understanding, peacefulness as well as greater wealth.

FM teaching uses frequency (in music and with each sense… sight…. smell, tactile and even smell) to integrate brain waves so the process of absorbing, processing and recalling information is vastly accelerated.  This brings forth the three C’s:  Calm, Clarity and Coherence.

FM creates relaxed concentration… a key to happiness, health and success.

You learn whole brain thinking that can help improve your freedom, satisfaction and income through business.

This part of the seminar helps us integrate their brain waves so they are more intelligent, intuitive and relaxed.

This workshop shows how to get into and stay in a state of relaxed concentration… a mental state shown to enhance almost every human capability… especially writing.

Merri and I are explorers so we have used this techniques for decades. We  are always looking for what’s next… trying to stay on or ahead of the leading edge and need ways to think outside he box..

This journey has helped us alter the main mission in our lives again and again… every seven to 14 years.

The Quantum Wealth Frequency Modulation sessions share ideas on how to live better…. using frequency modulation to be smarter… stronger…. more energetic… and healthier.

Most of us have never so many problems that create opportunity as those that face us now.  A growing global population… depletion of natural resources and technology are bring social and financial shifts at a pace never seen before.

These shifts will rob many of their financial well being, but fortunately the same technology that is creating the change can also help you gain prosperity like you have never imagined.  We look forward to sharing these riches with you.

We are in our 44th year of business and we share what we have learned and where this is leading our activities in our upcoming seminar. Join us.

Each seminar updates how we doing business globally, and even how we are investing… and why… right now. Join Merri, me

Spotting new trends and applying them to our micro business has brought us a strong and continual flow of income. More importantly the process has been fulfilling…. beneficial to society and healthy.    Now you can benefit from the latest… and perhaps strongest… of all the trends we have stumbled upon.

Applying the concepts of quantum thinking to spotting trends over the past 44 years has helped thousands of our readers make and save millions.   The success of our readers has been a driving force in our lives yet we have always wanted to do more so continued looking deeper at ways we can share how to have income, stability, good health and contentment.

Join us to learn our most recent experiences and most advanced concepts and ideas.

Quantum Thinking For Everlasting Wealth Seminar – October 5-6-7, 2012 West Jefferson, North Carolina.

Join Merri and me. Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

A new international investing era could be created by a destructive scientific fundamental that is now so powerful it could overwhelm all other factors determining our wealth. This danger has such power that it could destroy most investors and much worse… end civilization as we know it.

Photo from Wikepedia report on Electromagnetic pulse weapons.

The most frightening part is that this force could unleash its destruction on us… now… at any time!

I want to share what, why and when this disaster could happen.

Then, I want to share how you can be protected rather than ruined.  We’ll even see how this, with luck, could be the creator of untold wealth which you, I, and a handful of cautious, insightful investors could share.

Before I explain how to safeguard your family from this possible upcoming disaster, let me explain that I first began to understand the magnitude of the risk after reading the New York Times best selling novel “One Second After” written by bestselling author, William R. Forstchen.

The story had extra meaning for me because it shows life in a small North Carolina town (similar to where Merri and I live during the summer) after an electro magnetic pulse is detonated by terrorists over the United States.

In the story the electrical grid and anything using a computer stopped working due to an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) created by just three small nuclear devices, launched from container ships and detonated high above the USA.

Without central communication and distribution, mass devastation and chaos ensued immediately.   The agony was terrible and life almost unfathomably complicated.

What made this fiction meaningful is that the book really documents and details the West’s dangerous reliance on technological systems which are so extensive that no one even recognizes them any more.

Adding to the terror of this book is a forward by Newt Gingrich and and afterword by Captain Bil Sanders (USN) one of the foremost experts on EMP. His comment  on how an EMP exploded over the US would create the Compton effect and how it would have “devastating consequences on our country” should be examined and understood.

It was Captain Sanders’ deep understanding of EMPs that made the warning in this book so powerful.

In a moment we’ll share ways to protect against this disaster… that could happen to all of us… suddenly… at any time.

First here are three facts that you should know.

EMP Fact #1: Many countries, including the US have EMP weapons that have nothing to do with a nuclear bomb and are quite small. They essentially put out a high energy very sharp spike of energy – high frequency and very short wavelength, short duration pulse.

However it is the nuclear EMP device that creates the greatest risk.  These are nuclear bombs that DO NOT CREATE DAMAGE FROM THEIR BLAST, HEAT OR NUCLEAR FALLOUT.   Instead the weapons create an electrical wave that fries just about anything with a computer.  A survey of open sources over the past decade finds that knowledge about EMP and EMP attack is evidenced in at least Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Egypt, Taiwan, Sweden, Cuba, India, Pakistan, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Iran, North Korea, China and Russia.

Russian and Chinese military scientists in open source writings have shown how to design nuclear weapons that generate an extra powerful EMP effect called Super-EMP that can destroy even the best protected military and civilian electronic facilities.

EMP Fact #2:  This risk has grown to such an extent that America’s electrical grid is so vulnerable to terrorist attack that the Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson is pushing a bill to give the energy commission broad authority for “true emergency situations.”

This is explained in a recent USA Today article entitled “Electrical grid vulnerable to terrorist attack”  by Thomas Frank.  Here are excerpts from that article: It sounds like a science-fiction disaster: A nuclear weapon is detonated miles above the Earth’s atmosphere and knocks out power from New York City to Chicago for weeks, maybe months.

This graphic is from the USA Today article linked below.

Experts and lawmakers are increasingly warning that terrorists or enemy states could wage that exact type of attack, idling electricity grids and disrupting everything from communications networks to military defenses.

An expert panel that Congress created to study such an attack says it would halt banking, transportation, food, water and emergency services and “might result in defeat of our military forces.”

“The consequences would be catastrophic,” said Joseph McClelland, director of the energy commission’s Office of Electric Reliability. Full recovery could take up to 10 years, he said.

The scenario involves a phenomenon called an “electromagnetic pulse,” or EMP, which is essentially a huge energy wave strong enough to knock out systems that control electricity flow across the country.

The immediate effect would resemble a blackout. Although blackouts can be restored quickly, an EMP could damage or destroy power systems, leaving them inoperable for months or longer.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., is pushing a bill to give the energy commission broad authority.

At a committee hearing in July, Steve Naumann of energy giant Exelon said the authority should be limited to “true emergency situations.”

The commission studying the threat says the U.S. is ill-prepared to prevent or recover from an EMP, a vulnerability could invite an attack.

“We are not well-protected at all,” said Michael Frankel, who was executive director of the commission.

EMP Fact #3:  If an EMP event takes place, the Western World could quickly run out of food. Here is an excerpt of a transcript of a speech given by Professor Sir John Beddington, chief scientific adviser to the British government, at the GovNet SDUK09 event.  This has become know as “The Perfect Storm” speech.

I spoke here last year at about the same time about the issue of the food crisis and the burgeoning increases in food prices that were being driven by population growth, use of biofuels and so on.

The first problem here is that we really have a major issue. This graph takes a little bit of explanation; it is the ratio of our reserves to our consumption. What it is showing is that last year is the lowest level of reserves that we have had as a proportion of our consumption in years, since 1970 and actually since records were taken of this sort.

That means that we’ve got somewhere like reserves of around 14% of our consumption, that implies, give or take, 38 or 39 days of food reserves if we don’t grow any more.

As you can see, it’s the lowest level that we’ve actually had.  Is that a problem?  Well the answer is yes it is going to be a problem.  We saw the food spike last year; prices going up by something in the order of 300%, rice went up by 400%, we saw food riots, we saw major issues for the poorest in the world, in the sense that the organisations like the World Food Programme did not have sufficient money to buy food on the open market and actually use it to feed the poorest of the poor.

But this is England, not North America.  Right?

Beddingdon’s note shows that North America might not be able to rely on Europe for much food assistance and…

America’s food reserves are even worse as explained in this excerpt from last year’s article “The US has no grain reserves” published in the Tri State Observer, Milford, PA. The excerpt says:  Larry Matlack, President of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM), has raised concerns over the issue of U.S. grain reserves after it was announced that the sale of 18.37 million bushels of wheat from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.

“According to the May 1, 2008 CCC inventory report there are only 24.1 million bushels of wheat in inventory, so after this sale there will be only 2.7 million bushels of wheat left the entire CCC inventory,” warned Matlack. “Our concern is not that we are using the remainder of our strategic grain reserves for humanitarian relief. AAM fully supports the action and all humanitarian food relief.

Our concern is that the U.S. has nothing else in our emergency food pantry. There is no cheese, no butter, no dry milk powder, no grains or anything else left in reserve. The only thing left in the entire CCC inventory will be 2.7 million bushels of wheat which is about enough wheat to make 1⁄2 of a loaf of bread for each of the 300 million people in America.” (MY BOLD)

The CCC is a federal government-owned and operated entity that was created to stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices. CCC is also supposed to maintain balanced and adequate supplies of agricultural commodities and aids in their orderly distribution.

“This lack of emergency preparedness is the fault of the 1996 farm bill which eliminated the government’s grain reserves as well as the Farmer Owned Reserve (FOR),” explained Matlack.

This is backed up by a Scienceblog article that says: “The US Government Has Zero Grain Reserves.”

In 1996, the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (“Freedom to Farm Act”) called for elimination of government stockpiles of grain.  I’m sure someone thought it made sense, at the time.

Now, the United States government has no reserves of butter, cheese, dry milk, barley, corn, oats, sorghum, soybeans, wheat, rice, sugar, honey, peanuts, canola seed, crambe, flaxseed, mustard seed, rapeseed, safflower seed, sunflower seed, peas, lentils, chickpeas, and cotton.  [Source: US Farm Service Agency, Current CCC Inventory (PDF file)]

The book, “One Second After”, clearly and very dramatically (but I am not sure how accurately) drives home the point that unless a person takes a unique financial stance that his finances, and maybe even his or her life, could be wiped out.   Many military and scientific studies support this monumental economic, social and life threatening risk.

Yet you do not have to ruined by EMP.  You may even find that this potential weapon will create extra ordinary wealth that a few investors will share.  Here is how and why.

First, there is no proof that an EMP event as described above would create quite the havoc mentioned above.

Here is how one scientist whom I have known for years and trust completely, explains this.

“I’m not sure how large an effect the nuclear device would have above the atmosphere — the pulse might dissipate somewhat along the earth’s electromagnetic field.  It would probably take out a lot of communications and military satellites.

“Electronic devices that are not attached to any power source and that do not have an antenna when the EMP pulse hits could survive – even better with some shielding material.”

EMPs could be the driving force for the next investing era.

Just like the nuclear threat in the Cold War…  an EMP attack may never happen.   Yet because it could… the perception of risk… has created a huge rush by many governments to develop new weapons and forms of protection… just as during the Cold War.

This site and our multi currency site have repeated many times how stock market bulls and bears are based on cycles of human interaction, war, technology and productivity.

These cycles are intricately connected with the new waves of productivity that grow from the great human platform of combat. The cycle goes like this.

An economic downturn enhances a war or threat of war. Struggles for survival in the war (like the Civil War, WWI, WWII and the Cold War (WWIII), super charge inventiveness that creates new forms of productivity…the steam engine, the internal combustion engine,  production line processes, jet engines, TV, farming techniques, plastics, telephone, computer and lastly during the Cold War, the internet.

Each new invention helped win a war.  Shifting the technology to domestic use… after the war… created a boom.

Each boom leads to excess.

Each excess led to a correction.  The correction creates an economic downturn.

The economic downturn enhances a war or threat of war.

Here we are… in the correction again… at the correct time when we should expect that another war (or threat of war such as the Cold War) should begin to build!   This latest downturn started almost exactly (1998), 16 years after the last boom began (1982)…which began after the last great human struggle called the Cold War.

If the cycle repeats, the struggle should build now due to the poor economy.

The key for spotting the greatest investment opportunities is to spot the next big invention… the technology that will spin out of WWIV.

The key is that a problem must have such severe consequences (such as losing the war and being destroyed) that all stops… all logics of return on investment are ignored.  Technology and research are pushed full steam ahead regardless of cost. The threat must be real and serious… like EMP.

There are seven steps you can take to assure that you are not destroyed by an EMP.

#1:  Move well away from the USA…. to an agriculturally based country.  This is one reason Merri and I have been active in Ecuador for nearly 15 years.

#2: Move to Small Town USA.  Our sites have been looking at the benefits of this for years and why we live on agricultural property.

#3:  Create your own source of food.

#4: Create a local source of hardened energy and communications.  This is one reason our newest real estate purchase is also agricultural property and already has a HAM radio tower installed.

#5: Keep some gold and or silver on hand.

#6: Know how to take care of your own health.

#7:  Hold some assets outside of North America.

Merri and I have already taken six of these seven steps… and are well on our way to completing the seventh step.  From this we learned one really important point.

You should not suffer in the process of  gaining this protection either.

Merri and I did not move to the country… buy our Blue Ridge farm… set up our own food supply… start our garden… buy agricultural land in Florida… get a ham radio tower… buy gold and silver… organize assets out of the US and become involved in taking care of our own health naturally because we were worried about EMPs.  We did so because we wanted to.

Chances are that an EMP attack will NOT take place.  During the Cold War nuclear bomb shelters were not required!

Yet can we take a chance?  Ignoring this risk and with no action is not the answer either.

Instead let’s share ways and lifestyle alterations that protect as they provide joy, satisfaction, better health and enhanced wealth.

You may not be able to (or want) to move your home abroad or to a rural area.   Yet gardening, even in urban areas,  can be healthy and fun.  Holding some precious metals is probably a good investment anyway.  We should be taking care of our health even when their is no threat of war.

When it comes to holding assets abroad… our multi currency course can help.

Since mankind began, every generation has endured some great threat or risk.  Yet here we are… still growing!  Only time will tell whether EMP will create havoc or the greatest new wave of wealth we have seen.  Whichever, Merri and I will be here to share the experience with you.

Gary

The greatest asset of all is the ability to earn wherever you live, which brings everlasting wealth.

This is why we offer our course Tangled Web… How to Have an Internet Business.

A clear mind and healthy body are also a vital assets… plus a second language is a powerful diversification tool.

This is why I am giving everyone who enrolls in our North Carolina or Ecuador International Business & Investing seminar in October or November our “Tangled Web… How to Have an Internet Business Course” (offered at $299) free.

Here are comments from a reader about the way we help:  Thank you for your inspiration and information outlining foreign banking and retirement.  Your comments and suggestions are welcome for planning the steps to evaluate the early stages of living abroad.

Nov. 9-10 Imbabura Real Estate Tour

Nov. 11-14 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

December 6-8 Blaine Watson’s  Beyond Logic & Shamanic Tour

December 9-10 Imbabura Real Estate Tour

December 11-13 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

Join us in 2010.   Attend more than one seminar and tour and save even more plus get the three emailed courses free.

Our multi seminar-tour discounts have grown!

See the 2010 winter schedule below.

To Enroll click below.

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Jan. 22-23    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Feb. 11-14   Quantum Wealth Florida -International Investing & Internet Business, Mt. Dora, Florida ($749) Couple $999
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Feb. 20-21  Coastal Real Estate Tour
Feb. 23-24  Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour
Feb. 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Mar. 11-14     Super Thinking + Spanish Course, Mt. Dora, Florida ($749) Couple $999
Mar. 15-16    Travel to Quito and Andes
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Mar. 19-20    Cotacachi Shamanic Tour
Mar. 22-23    Coastal Real Estate Tour
Mar. 25-26    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

See our entire 2010 seminar and tour schedule here

Read the entire articles:

Electrical grid vulnerable to terrorist attack

The US has no grain reserves” published in the Tri State Observer, Milford, PA.

Here is an important Ecuador & international banking update created by the wonderful world of mobility in which we live.

Our global mobility provides huge benefits… broadens our horizons and enriches mankind through global trade.   Yet being global also creates some problems… one of them is banking.

This site recently posted a message about Ecuador banks that began with, “I do not trust Ecuador Banks.”

This is not a slight on Ecuador.  This statement is a comment on the realities of trying to maintain control of one’s own wealth in an era where almost all governments are increasing control over money.

The banking article was followed by  another article stressing  the importance of diversification in Ecuador Diversified.

Here is a reminder of the importance of this information.  A couple of years ago I purchased a block of buildings in Ecuador planning to resell them.  I am according to plan selling them now and recently received a payment.

My attorney wrote this to me:

They deposited funds in my account last Wednesday to pay for the condo and asked me to send to you.  There is a 2% tax on money going out of Ecuador which was recently established, plus bank commissions.  I will wait for your instructions  to wire these funds to you.

There previously was a 1% tax but it has now been increased to two percent. This increase is not a big deal but a step in the wrong direction and a reminder that we should never trust any one country, currency or banking system.

I just sent our Ecuador Living subscribers an alert about one more Ecuador banking problem.  Ecuador Living subscribers click here.

Learn how to subscribe to Ecuador Living here.

Hence my mantra to have what I call a “Six Point Command Posture” which is to:

Live in one country
Bank in a second country
Invest in many countries
Earn in two or more countries
Use a company incorporated in a fifth country
Take a second residence

Where to Bank

Knowing where to bank is a growing problem… especially for Americans.  Non Americans should read this article any as you’ll see that you are not exempt from this problem either.

Americans are being crushed between a rock and a hard spot.

The Rock. Many US banks will no longer accept Americans residing overseas because they have a foreign address. This has been caused by the US Patriot Act.  Banks have to know their clients so they refuse to accept (or keep) clients with overseas addresses, even Americans who have banked with them for decades, but change their address.  The following banks have been sited as closing accounts with just 30 days notice of long term customers just because they took on a US address: Ameriprise, Bank of America; Bank of New Hampshire; Citibank; Citizens Bank; Edward Jones, St. Louis; E- Trade; Fidelity Investments; INGDirect; JPMorganChase; Morgan Stanley; National City Bank in Riverview, Michigan; Provident Bank, Maryland; Smith Barney; T. Rowe Price; USAA Federal Saving Bank; Vanguard mutual fund; Wachovia; Washington Mutual; Washington Mutual Investment, Spokane; WellsFargo; Zions Direct.

The Hard Spot. At the same time the IRS has created a set of regulations that discourage non US banks from accepting Americans.

Many Swiss and British based banks will no longer accept Americans.

Here’s an excerpt from a 13, June 2009 Telegraph article entitled “Lloyds Bank hit by Obama tax purge” by By Louise Armitstead:   Banking group drops American customers in UK ahead of costly proposals to stamp out tax evasion  Lloyds Banking Group is ditching American customers based in Britain pending a crackdown on international tax evasion planned by President Barack Obama.

This week American private client account-holders at Lloyds’s received letters informing them of an “important change in policy regarding clients who are resident, domiciled or linked to the United States by property or asset holdings”. They were told the bank had “no choice” but to “cease acting as your investment manager.”

One letter sent to Bank of Scotland’s portfolio management division, which is now part of Lloyds, said: “The USA has a mature regulatory environment governed by its Securities and Exchange Commission. These regulations mean that we are not licensed to manage portfolios for US clients.”

The letter added: “Unfortunately we cannot offer an equivalent service from within Lloyds Banking Group.” Clients have been advised to transfer their assets.

One recipient, who has lived in the UK for over 25 years, said: “After all this time, I’ve suddenly been told I must take my money elsewhere and I don’t understand why. Now I’m scared that other banks won’t take me on either.”

The Brits are no the only group shedding US account holders.

A July 12, 2009 USA Today article entitled “Some foreign banks drop U.S. clients because of UBS flap”  by Kevin McCoy explains how other banks have booted Americans as well.  An excerpt says: The closely watched Justice Department court fight to get the names of 52,000 suspected American tax evaders from Swiss banking giant UBS has prompted some other foreign banks to drop U.S. clients they once welcomed, tax experts said Monday.

Eager to avoid a similar struggle with federal prosecutors, banks including Credit Suisse and HSBC in recent weeks have notified American clients they must close their offshore accounts or transfer them to the institutions’ U.S.-based operations, where tax reporting requirements are far stricter.

“Overall, the international banking community, and particularly the offshore banking community, has been very friendly to American account holders,” said William Sharp, a tax law specialist at the Sharp Kemm law firm in Tampa. “That changed in the past couple of months as a result of the UBS case.”

The Dutch were early in dropping American clients.

ABN AMRO, a huge, Dutch based, international bank gave all clients  with U.S. passports within 30 days notice in 2008 and then closed their accounts because of the  high costs to comply with U.S. regulations.

Expect this problem to get worse! Beginning in 2010 stronger US reporting rules will force even more overseas banks to stop accepting Americans.  They simply cannot afford to fill all the obligations.

Americans should not feel totally alone…nor should non US investors feel totally safe from being shut out of a banking center.

According to the British Times Newspaper, Barclays Bank used the US anti-terror laws to shut down the personal bank accounts of British citizens who were working for Iranian owned businesses.

The bank enforced anti-Iran sanctions under the US Patriot Act.  Accounts of Iranian owned companies that operated completely legally in Britain were shut.  But Barclays went much further. They amazingly shut down accounts of directors of these companies and even more amazing they shut the personal accounts of ordinary staff members, including clerical officers, computer engineers and bank tellers, just because they worked for an Iranian owned company.

Here is an excerpt from a June June 6, 2008 Times of London article entitled, “Barclays bank rejects customers to comply with US terror law:”  Barclays began the account closures in February, shortly after reports from industry sources that US Treasury agents had been touring the City of London putting pressure on financial institutions to withdraw from any form of business that might have Iranian links.

One source told The Times that City banks had been warned that they would lose access to the US market if they continued to deal with Iranian businesses. Barclays has extensive business interests in the United States.

Case study: Cast out in the supermarket

Chris was doing the shopping in Tesco when Barclays rang to tell him that his bank account was being closed. Later that evening his wife was told that her Barclays account, which she had held for 25 years, was also being closed.

Chris, 46, works in IT for Bank Saderat, and his wife is in the accounts department of Melli Bank. Both institutions are Iranian-owned. “They said it was because of sanctions but I knew there were no British sanctions on the banks. I asked them if they were responding to US laws and they said they didn’t have to give me a reason,” he said.

The couple opened new accounts with one of Barclays’ rivals but they had difficulty transferring standing orders, especially Chris’s child-support payments. He said: “I know that UK banks are being pressured by America to stop all dealings with Iran but what impact will it have to shut an English bloke’s account with an English bank? The Iranians won’t give a monkey’s. What upsets me is the lack of respect Barclays have for their customers.”

This last comment hit me strongly… the lack of respect many of the big banks have for their clients.

This is one reason I have enjoyed banking with Jyske Bank in Denmark for more than 20 years.  Jyske is big and well managed enough to be very safe, but small enough to provide genuine care and attention to the individual.

This is why I was not surprised that a number of years ago, Jyske made the decision to spend a lot of time, energy and money to comply with US law so they could continue to serve US as well as non US investors around the world.

This shift though has created some confusion. For example a Reader from the Netherlands sent me this note:  Hello Gary, Since beginning of this year we are subscribed to your newsletter. In your articles we read that it is possible to go to Jyske Bank and start doing multi-currency for about 30,000 dollars. We were very enthusiastic about this philosophy and asked the Jyske Bank for information. However we were very surprised when we got information back including the message that we have to start with $150,000 euro. Can you help us and maybe clarify the misunderstanding about this starting amount?  Thank you very much in advance!

The services and minimums required by Jyske Bank Private Bank (JBPB) for non US investors differs from those offered by Jyske Global Asset Management (JGAM) who serves US investors.

Jyske Global Asset Management (JGAM) offers Americans managed accounts, advisory accounts and IRA services to US clients.

JGAM’s managed accounts provide Americans with access to international investments in all currencies, traded on all stock exchanges.

There are two levels of managed accounts for US investors:

Mutual Fund Managed Accounts, $50,000 to $200,000.  Accounts from $50-200,000 are mainly  invested in mutual funds and ETF`s in order to get the appropriate diversification.

Individual Investment Managed Accounts from $200,000 up are mainly invested in individual securities as trading costs are not prohibitive for this size of account.

There are two forms of advisory accounts for US investors.

Advisory Accounts for US Residents.  Accounts for US residents are available and provide access to investments in currencies, commodities and US listed securities.

Advisory Accounts for Americans who are resident outside the US.   US citizens who are resident outside the US (proof of residence is required) have access to investments in currencies, commodities and all international investments in all currencies, traded on all stock exchanges.

The minimum required to start an advisory account is $25,000.

Because the minimum annual fee is  $1,000 JGAM recommends an initial deposit of minimum $50,000.

IRA accounts are managed accounts with more conservative investments than those in a normal  managed account.  IRA accounts require a minimum investment of $50,000.

Jyske Bank Private Bank offers the following services to non US investors.

Non US Clients can open accounts with minimum deposit of Euro 150,000 (approximately 220,000 USD), or equivalent in another currency.

JBPB works with six profiles:

Income profile. A low-risk profile, invested in currency accounts (cash) and/or traditional bonds.

Stable profile. A low-risk profile, invested in bonds (incl. high- yielding bonds), a small equity part.

Balanced profile. A medium-risk profile, invested in equities and bonds (main emphasis on bonds).

Dynamic profile. A medium-risk profile, invested in equities and bonds (main emphasis on equities).

Growth profile. A high-risk profile, invested mainly in equities and a lesser share in bonds.

Aggressive profile. A high-risk profile, invested almost exclusively in equities.

There are six managed strategy funds (available only in Euro) for investors who want managed services with minimum deposits of US$ 220,000. These six funds are based on the principles of asset allocation and match the investment profiles above so all investors can attain risk diversification, risk management with even a limited investment.

There is a full Discretionary Portfolio Management service for investors who want managed services with US$ 350,000 and above. This service is also based on the six strategies above. Jyske Bank will invest and manage the clients portfolio in close cooperation with the Bank´s experts and their network of international partners. These strategies are offered in EUR, USD, GBP, DKK and SEK.

Investors, who do not want managed services, and have accounts of US$ 220,000 or more, can wish to engage in an active dialogue with their advisers and be very involved in the decision-making process. based on the client’s investment profile. They can invest in currency accounts in a large number of currencies, all tradeable equities and bonds, mutual funds and commodities.

Here is one huge feature I like very much about both JBPB and JGAM…  No Jyske employees in  management, advisory services or any employee receives any kind of bonus pay. This eliminates any temptation for hidden agendas to exist.  Employees have no incentive give any advice or take any action that is not in the client’s best interest.

Technology has given great mobility to our wealth. This mobility is good for the individual and the global economy… but governments do not like this as they wish to control our finances.  The tension created by this struggle between the individual and the collective has created a never ending thrust and counter thrust of regulations and adaptions to these rules.  It is harder to maintain a diversified global portfolio than it used to be… but the effort is still worthwhile.

Gary

The greatest asset of all is the ability to earn wherever you live, which brings everlasting wealth.

This is why we offer our course Tangled Web… How to Have an Internet Business.

A clear mind and healthy body are also a vital assets… plus a second language is a powerful diversification tool.

This is why I am giving everyone who enrolls in our North Carolina or Ecuador International Business & Investing seminar in October or November our “Tangled Web… How to Have an Internet Business Course” (offered at $299) free.

Here are comments from a reader about the way we help:  Thank you for your inspiration and information outlining foreign banking and retirement.  Your comments and suggestions are welcome for planning the steps to evaluate the early stages of living abroad.

Sept. 17-21 Ecuador Super Thinking + Spanish Course

Sept. 23-24 Imbabura Real Estate Tour

Sept. 25-28 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

Join us with Jyske. Learn more about global investing, how to have an international business and diversification in Ecuador at the seminar.

Oct. 9-11 IBEZ North Carolina with our webmaster  David Cross & Thomas Fischer of JGAM

October 16-18 Ecuador Southern coastal tour (early sign up before Sept. 1, $499 per person).

Oct. 21-24 Ecuador Import Export Tour

Oct. 25-26 Imbabura Real Estate Tour

Nov. 6-8 IBEZ Ecuador Seminar

Nov. 9-10 Imbabura Real Estate Tour

Nov. 11-14 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

Attend any two Ecuador seminar or tours in a calendar month…$949 for one.  $1,349 for two.

Attend any three Ecuador courses or tours in a calendar month…$1,199 for one.  $1,799

Read the full articles:

Lloyds Bank hit by Obama tax purge

Some foreign banks drop U.S. clients because of UBS flap

Barclays bank rejects customers to comply with US terror law

Living in Ecuador or anywhere abroad requires overcoming fear and change.

Today’s rare solar eclipse comes only every two or three generations and is thought to represent times of change.  There is a need for us to feel positive.

Below we’ll look at change in bond markets and how to retire the the 4.75% ISS Capital 2010 bond sandwich that created an 18% profit since the beginning of 2009.  We’ll see how to change this Multi currency sandwich to a better bond now.

Multi currency investments… retirement in Ecuador or living abroad anywhere… represents change and this can create fear… but when we embrace the change it’s good.

A note sent by a reader asking about really early retirement in Ecuador and change said:

I would like to know how to find out about the government of Ecuador and if it is stable for Americans.  When I read the American Military was moving out and the leaders of Ecuador were friendly to Iran.  Personally, I don’t want to put my money in property that I might have it taken from me later.  At my age, I can not afford that and I don’t want to change to some where the local government does not want Americans.  Can you guide me as to how to find out before we go down?  Thanks

Ecuador is Land of the Sun so…

The shamans will be watching the sunrise today and the eclipse.

My experience is that anyone who says they are sure how the politics in a country will turn out is truth challenged… or perhaps is not thinking things through.  Too many factors are involved to really know.

We take risk anywhere we are.  There are risks everywhere… all types… and we can never predict them all.

Germany for example seems like a safe place to be.

Yet a recent article in The Telegraph newspaper said:

A 14-year old German boy was hit in the hand by a pea-sized meteorite that scared the bejeezus out of him and left a scar.

“When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road,” Gerrit Blank said in a newspaper account. Astronomers have analyzed the object and conclude it was indeed a natural object from space.

Who would have guessed?  There are all types of risk wherever we are!

Ecuador is also a land of mountains.

This is Mt Imbaura view from Cotacachi, Ecuador.  The masculine mountain.

This is Mt. Cotacachi on the other side of the valley… the feminine mountain.

Here is my reply to the political – legal question about retirement in Ecuador above.

I have written a lot about this over the past two years.

Please see http://www.ecuadorliving.com/2009/06/23/ecuador-iran.html
http://www.ecuadorliving.com/2008/09/30/ecuadors-new-constitution.html
http://www.ecuadorliving.com/2007/09/26/interesting-presidential-facts.html

Having worked and lived on every continent over 41 years…I have learned to have feelings beyond what is read in the daily press.  I hope my actions speak louder than my words.

Since Correa has come to power I have invested almost a million dollars in Ecuador buying condos, buildings and houses.

I do have reservations about the Ecuador government… just as I have reservations about the US government and most governments.

Every country has its problems as does Ecuador… but in my opinion (backed by my actions) one of Ecuador’s problems is not the likelihood of confiscation of small individual properties.

Please see why at

http://www.ecuadorliving.com/2008/10/30/property-confiscation-ecuador.html

One of Ecuador’s problems is not the likelihood of unfair treatment of non Ecuadorian residents.  See why at http://www.garyascott.com/2008/08/04/2271.html and http://www.garyascott.com/2007/03/06/1591.html

One never knows how politics turn out.  I have a good friend who hated US taxes (he made a lot of money) so he gave up his citizenship, moved everything overseas and took citizenship in what everyone would agree is a very civilized and safe country… only to have serious tax problems there. One never knows everything.

In a recent message I wrote that there are seven qualities that can unlock enormous business and investing opportunity now during our times of rapid economic change:

#1: Bravery to accept risk
#2: Flexibility
#3: Resilience
#4: Tenacity
#5: Acceptance
#6: Bird’s eye view
#7: Patience

Mt. Imbabura close up. We should not make mountains out of molehills. There are…

mountains enough without creating more.  It is rare by the way to see this much ice on Mt. Cotacachi.  By noon the ice on the mountain is always gone.

A lot of bravery is required to do something like retire in Ecuador or move abroad because most of our backgrounds did not prepare us for such a move.

Our backgrounds did not prepare us for the political evolution in our own country either!

We can research as much as we like (some research is good) but in the end there is always some risk in the new.

Education is learning the rules (what the establishment says is so). Experience is learning the exceptions to the rules (reality). To get experience requires some risk.

See more about Ecuador Retirement risk here.

Mt. Cotacachi seen from Meson de las Flores.

I feel that most negative publicity about Ecuador is overblown (as is negative news in the US).   Because Ecuador is more unknown than the US, this bad news helps keep prices low for those of us who take the time to investigate the realities in Ecuador.

How we feel about and react to the news is a very personal matter for every person.

People have personalities that typically break down into seven lifestyles; Innovators, Early Adaptors,  Early Majority, Late Majority, the Deliberate, Skeptical Mass and the Laggards.

Each of these lifestyles has its own benefit. Most important is to know which lifestyle fits you comfortably and to stay in that comfort zone.

If you feel totally comfortable with the US and are not ready to accept the differences in politics between those in elsewhere and the US, you should never do something that leaves you uncomfortable.

Pioneers

My son reminded me yesterday that as the world celebrates this week as the 40th anniversary of the moon landings, it is interesting to remember that of the 12 human beings to have walked on the moon, half of them are of Scottish descent.

This includes the first two to walk on the moon: Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and the first person to drive on the moon, Dave Scott.

Alan Bean was the fourth person to walk on the moon and took and left a piece of the McBean tartan to the moon.  Even the first game to be played on the moon is a Scottish one – Golf!

Many Scots are Pioneers.  I have noted in my 41 years of travel and work globally that almost wherever one goes, they’ll find a Scot there.

So my comfort level in Ecuador as a pioneer who is always heading for a new place may differ from yours.

Change in Bond Sandwiches

I have even found that many North American investors have been uncomfortable investing outside the US…  much less living abroad or taking retirement elsewhere.

This fear has proven unfounded and now even as US CDS are paying 1% or less are even more, Jyske Bank made 18% profit since the beginning of 2009 with a 4.75% ISS Capital 2010 bond multi currency sandwich. That’s profit at a rate of 36% per annum.

Now Jyske has switched the sandwich to a 7.25% Bombardier 2016 bond. The Bombardier bond has a longer duration and also offers an attractive extra yield spread of 350 basis points above the ISS bond plus has a better rating.

Learn about this entire investment as a Multi Currency subscriber.

We are in times of change and this brings increased risk. To turn this risk into opportunity… decide who you are; Innovator, Early Adaptor, Early Majority, Late Majority, the Deliberate, Skeptical Mass or a Laggard.  Then look at the advantages of that lifestyle and enjoy them and your comfort zone.

Whether you want to retire in Ecuador… change residency… live or invest abroad… this understanding and action can help you eclipse your fears.

Gary

Join Merri me and Thomas Fischer of JGAM in North Carolina this July and enroll in our multi currency course free. Save $175.

Learn more about global investing, how to have an international business and early retirement in Ecuador.

July 24-26 IBEZ North Carolina

Oct. 9-11 IBEZ North Carolina

Or join us in Ecuador and learn more about living and retiring in Ecuador.

Sept. 17-21 Ecuador Spanish Course
Sept. 23-24 Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Sept. 25-28 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

Oct. 21-24 Ecuador Import Export Tour

Nov. 6-8 IBEZ Ecuador
Nov. 9-10 Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Nov. 11-14 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour