Why The Emigration Decision Is So Difficult

Monty Pelerin / EconomicNoise.com

Readers often provide great insights and questions. Here is one from Reader Syrin on Why This Election Should Be A Rout And What To Do If It Isn’t:

Monty, I agree with you, but here’s the question. Emigrate to where? I have three kids.

• Central or South America. Homes of the drug cartels and Banana Republics?
• Europe which not only will face its own collapse, but faces a take over by Muslim immigrants.
• Africa? Asia? Where in Asia? War is looming there, and the cultural differences are immense.
• Perhaps Singapore, but have you checked housing costs there? Astronomical.

I don’t disagree, but I have looked into emigration for three years now, and every nation has adopted the Keynesian welfare state with an impending collapse looming on the horizon. Australia or New Zealand. Still going socialist, but with more freedom.

Please, offer suggestions.

 

As I have explained elsewhere, I intend to “go down with the ship.” At my age, I am not going to re-locate to another culture, learn all new ways and customs, etc. etc. My twilight years will be spent on my home soil, doing my best to resist government’s advancements.

I have no easy answer(s) to this reader’s inquiry. In part, this results from a decided lack of interest in pursuing this option. I have encouraged my children to investigate this option, although have no break-through answers from them. Typically, they perceive more pressing concerns in their day-to-day life which is difficult enough already. To the extent they have taken action, it is more along the lines of domestic “prepping.” While that is better than nothing, it has not provided them an escape route should the worst occur.

There are a host of personal questions to deal with in evaluating such a decision. Do you need all the comforts of modern-day civilization? How often would you intend to come back to visit remaining family in this country? Are you willing to learn a second language? Do you want city or rural living? How important is climate? Are you able/willing to adapt? This list could go on for pages. The point is that this choice is highly personal, involving many more variables than the political. There is no one place that works best for all.

Choices made today might not necessarily be made tomorrow. That is, countries themselves are in a state of flux as Syrin points out. All Western Democracies, presumably most amenable to our lifestyles and traditions, have pursued the welfare state to at least the same degree of fiscal unsustainability as the US. In many cases, they are in worse shape than the US. A country that looks attractive now, might not look so in five or ten years. Likewise, countries that appear unattractive today might prove just the opposite in the future.

The decision to emigrate is not one to be taken lightly. It is the equivalent of taking all your money and investing it into one risky stock. Do you choose the leader today? Do you try to pick the up and comer? None of this is easy as countries change their commitments to freedom and the rule of law. Here is the latest annual ranking of countries from the Fraser Institute. The US used to be at the top of this ranking. Now, however, they rank a dismal 18th. More shocking is the rate at which the US has fallen:

… the United States, once a “standard bearer” of economic liberty among industrial nations, spiralled 10 spots from the 2011 rankings to 18th place — its lowest position ever, and a huge drop from its second place spot in 2000.

Will the US continue to plummet? Do you think Estonia will continue to rise? What you perceive to be these rankings ten or twenty years from now can have an important bearing on the decision you make today.

I know that I have not provided an answer, but I hope that I have convinced readers that there is no one answer. The decision is a difficult one, made even more difficult by the state of flux that most countries are currently in.

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