A Growing Trend of Leaving America

[babsbunny]

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/07/28/a-growing-trend-of-leaving-america.html?s_cid=et-0729

By some estimates 3 million citizens become expatriates a year, but most not for political reasons
By Jay Tolson
Posted July 28, 2008

PANAMA CITY, PANAMA—Dressed in workout casual and sipping a soda in one of the apartment-style rooms of Los Cuatro Tulipanes hotel, Matt Landau appears very much at home in Panama. One might even be tempted to call him an old hand were he not, at age 25, so confoundingly young. Part owner of this lovely boutique hotel in Panama City's historic Casco Viejo, he is also a travel writer (99 Things to Do in Costa Rica), a real estate marketing consultant, and editor of The Panama Report, an online news and opinion monthly. Between fielding occasional calls and text messages, the New Jersey native is explaining what drew him here, by way of Costa Rica, after he graduated from college in 2005. In addition to having great weather, pristine beaches, a rich melting-pot culture, a reliable infrastructure, and a clean-enough legal system, "what Panama is all about," he says, "is the chance to get into some kind of market first." Landau cites other attractions: "There is more room for error here," he says. "You can make mistakes without being put under. That, to me, as an entrepreneur, is the biggest draw."

Long a business and trade hub, Panama has been booming ever since the United States gave it full control of the Canal Zone in 1999. But as Landau says, it is precisely because so much of Panama's economy has been focused on canal-related activities that opportunities in other sectors, from real estate to finance to a host of basic services, have gone largely untapped. And among the many foreigners coming to tap them—as well as to enjoy the good life that Panama offers—are a sizable number of Americans.

[billyoc]

1. McKinsey: 4.1 Million jobs to be affected by outsourcing come 2008

McKinsey Global Institute released its report during a Washington forum at the Institute for International Economics predicting the number of service jobs outsourced would continue to rise, reaching a staggering 4.1 million by 2008.

The report authors also assure that workers from developed countries would hardly feel the impact of the outsourcing of jobs as only a small percentage of the workforce would be affected.

The McKinsey report points out, "Labor markets in developed economies are experiencing and will continue to experience the trend toward offshoring as a slow, evolutionary change." It goes on to add, "It will have less impact on patterns of employment than the decline in manufacturing employment developed economies have experienced recently."

Estimates on the number of service jobs outsourced to developing countries stood at 1.5 million by the end of 2003. This represents only a fraction of the “potential” 160 million jobs which "could be done by people located anywhere in the world". This represents about 11% of the global service workforce.

http://www.enterblog.com/200507140202.php


Probably just a coincidence... :eyes:

[KillCapitalism]

2. Interesting.

100 years ago a lot of people came to America to have a better life economically.

Now it appears many are leaving to have a better life economically.

We can thank Nixon/Reagan/Bush I/Bush II for this.

[MrModerate]

3. I'm an expat because what my company offers . . .

High level project management expertise . . . is in demand by international clients. They spend billions of dollars on infrastructure projects, and if the projects fail, it can bring down companies or whole governments. Having been in the infrastructure game for hundreds of years, American and European project management firms (and others, of course, but there's a concentration in the US and Europe) have built up systems and expertise to assure "certainty of outcome" to such clients, for which they're willing to pay.

Of course, any gap between the leading project management firms and others shrinks every day and we're hard pressed to keep up. The upside for America as a whole is that most of the money US firms in this market make comes back to the States, contributing to a "reverse balance of payments."

For me, it means I've been able to dodge most of the soul-shattering effects of the American political climate over the last 8 years (last 20, actually, off and on) by being somewhere else.

[pitohui]

4. the future is elsewhere

i have ex-pat family members and they have more opportunities and more $$$ than the rest of us -- they got out thanks to reagan, all of us should have taken that clue train but we hoped "you can't fool all of the people all of the time," another republican lie

the reality is because of our stupid health care situation, if my hubby should die, i could not afford to live in the usa and i too would be one of those relocating to panama (beautiful, friendly, forward looking country) or another, but panama is high on my list and one of the reasons this story caught my eye

"too old for health insurance and too young for medicare" is and will continue to cause a brain drain in the usa but the usa don't care because they don't want middle aged folk w. brains, we THINK too much

it's sad this should have to be my backup plan when i live in one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest states of the union (louisiana) but there is no such thing as "cheap" any more

[SoCalDem]

5. I grew up in Panama, and would move there in a heartbeat, except for my husband

He's a stick in the mud kinda guy :grr:..

Panama is gorgeous ( at least it USED to be ).. There are still probablky many areas that are sort of pristine :)

If you haven't visited, you should go for a vacation :) (and scout out places to live too) :)

[90-percent]

6. Panama

Don't they have creepy and parge insects and other types of revolting animals, like that sort of climate is supposed to have?

PS - I thinks the bugs in Virginia are too big!

-90% Jimmy

[SoCalDem]

7. Sure, but it's worth it :) nt

[Doctor Cynic]

8. You know who ELSE grew up in Panama?

//that pic makes me want to puke every time

//just kiddin'

[XemaSab]

9. They need biologists/soil scientists there?

:shrug:

:D