New Port Richie, Florida

Our time in the United States draws near to a close and we will soon be back on the job in South America.

Everything here in Florida seems normal–until we look into the news. Shooting in Oregon as the federal Bureau of Land Management seeks to expand its project of removing ranchers from the land whose families have ranched there for three or more generations, along with riots, black lives matter (of course they do. All lives matter, including police officer lives!), Flint, Michigan, drinking water laced with lead, a sign in the Department of Motor Vehicles in Florida stating that is not the worst of it, that most of the drinking water in the United States is now laced with lead.

We ask you how that happens in city water systems. But in any case, we hope our subscribers who are still in the States have installed a reverse osmosis system or a water distiller for their drinking water and a shower filter on their showers, In fact, unless we’re on spring water we think this is always a good idea.

We love our U.S. family but we now cast our gaze longingly in the direction of the Southern Cone of South America where freedom still reigns. Who would have thought, thirty years ago, that we would write that. But South America or not, it’s a big, wide, wonderful world. Nothing is perfect but some places are more perfect than others.

We hear the preachers saying that the signs of the times forecast the soon-coming end of the world. We read them more as the end of empire. It has happened again and again in history. No empire ever lasted more than 250 years and so . . . we ponder . . . we wonder . . . we speculate . . .

The world may indeed one day end. We just don’t think that it is now.

As a rule empires go through great periods of excesses and then end in crisis as reality returns in force. Many empires break apart as some factions just become so sick of the excesses and stupidity that they see in government and indeed in multiple states of the U.S. there are secession movements under way by those who wish to return to being a sovereign State. See CBN Article.

Hard to imagine that the U.S. would ever break up, but we see that some people are thinking that way, which, whether it happens or not, signifies to us that this may be a normal “end of empire”  phenomenon.

Many financial pundits believe that, as the U.S. empire sinks into the sunset, China is in the ascendancy. One subscriber wrote us not to believe anything we hear about China. Her husband is working there. Consequently she spends some time there and she tells us that things have changed. At Christmas she heard Christian hymns in a Chinese restaurant as well as on the subway. We have also heard reports that China has the fastest growing Christian culture in the world. Of course we realize it is still a Communist country. We are only reporting the information. And things don’t change overnight.

Getting back to empires ending, the crisis comes but it does not last forever. Don’t misunderstand. It can be frightening and chaotic to say the least–and dangerous. But it doesn’t last forever. We suspect that, if we can survive the crisis, we then have a chance to return the country to reality, to an honest banking and monetary system, to the constitutional republic that America was designed to be. Perhaps all the regulations that are killing industry will be brought down. We don’t think anyone knows for sure. But we can hope. And we can plan for that eventuality. In the meantime, we plan for ourselves and those we love. For us, that’s the name of the game.

We are hearing good reports from some very business-savvy people in Argentina who are pleased with the moves the newly seated President Mauricio Macri has made in just a few months in office. Seriously reducing the export tax is a major one. At one time farmers were having 40% of their profit skimmed off their exports so what happens? The exports all but died. Farmers are not going to risk their capital and their labor unless there is hope for a justified profit.

President Macri has changed that.

He is also trying to reestablish closer relationships with those to the far north, a concept that we here at FFJ are not so enthusiastic about but President Obama just visited President Macri in the Pink House. This is the first time that a U.S. president has visited Argentina since we have lived there.

So things are happening in our area in the far south. We will be watching and reporting but so far the news is good.

We are still on line for another investigative trip to Chile. If you have an interest in any area there or anything special, let us know. We have a list of questions already from subscribers so far about the investment opportunities in Chile’s stock market and a few other things. So If you have any special interest in Chile, do let us know. We happen to like Chile a lot. It’s a beautiful country with the ocean to the west and the Andes to the east. Many people fear the volcanoes but Chile has rated the land for volcano risk, We have learned that, much to Argentina’s chagrin, most of the ash from eruptions in Chile blows into Argentina, but enough stays around to create very rich soil in Chile.

As our readers know, we are focusing on ideas for subscribers to make an income as expats. We will continue to report on expats who are in successful business enterprises in our area.

We ourselves have a long time interest in business and finance. Our rule in the U.S. was to always be taking one college class. We have now graduated–especially since we are no longer in the U.S.–to online courses. We have taken Mary Ellen Tribbey’s course Inbox Empire and loved it. When she offered it as an affiliate program we responded immediately. We think it is perfect for some of our people.  If you have any interest in developing an online business, selling online, publishing newsletters, or promoting other people’s business as a marketer online, we cannot recommend this course too highly. Mary Ellen has thirty years experience, mostly with the largest financial publishing company in the world, Agora, Inc, owned by Bill Bonner, for those of you familiar with Bill. It would not be possible to find anyone more qualified to teach this business. Not only does she show you how to investigate and decide if your subject idea can make money, she then walks you through development, marketing, and just about anything else you can think of, including online conference calls. We consider this a unique opportunity. If you are interested in looking into it, go here to learn about the Inbox Empire course. And if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask. And if you do sign up for it, we would really appreciate your feedback. Let us know if it was helpful. We found it extremely helpful, but we are looking for good stuff for YOU!

Chances are the next time you hear from us we will be once again corresponding from Argentina.