The Weekend Vigilante - July 21, 2012

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Hello from the city of eternal spring, Cuernavaca,

TDV subscriber, John L., who was born in Canada but now calls Cuernavaca his home, came to Acapulco last year and we went for a wonderful dinner at one of my favorite restaurants on Earth, Becco Al Mare.  So, when he emailed me letting me know about his 50th birthday celebrations in a place I'd never been, Cuernavaca, I gave it some thought.  When he told me that the reason it is going to be a lavish celebration was because he was diagnosed with cancer 20 years ago and he said if he ever made it to his 50th birthday he would throw a celebration of epic proportions, I was almost sold.

And then when my wife mentioned that us, the kids and the chihuahuas had never been on a road trip vacation I figured I could get two birds stoned at once, as Ricky from my favorite TV program of all time, the Trailer Park Boys, puts it.

So, off we went up the autopista which were start to finish glorious toll roads.  The four hour drive cost about 500 pesos ($35) in total but were well worth it to enjoy beautiful free market roads.  My $10/day driver/bodyguard drove as I worked away on my laptop via Telcel 3G on my new Samsung Galaxy Note mobile phone after my iPhone was stolen last week in Las Vegas, where not only was my phone stolen but my friends were kidnapped and tortured.

SAMSUNG GALAXY

I should mention how happy I am with my new mobile phone.  There is one main reason why: I don't use a phone as a phone... I use it as something to read emails, ebooks and websites... like an iPad.  But I don't want to have to haul an iPad around with me everywhere so the new Samsung phones fit the bill perfectly for me.  I put "for me" in bold because it is definitely not for everyone.  If you just want a phone to work without any fidgeting and be nice, easy and portable, by all means, go iPhone.

But after using my Samsung Note for just two hours I looked at my wife's iPhone like it was a kids toy.  I can't even stand to look at it after gazing at the nearly double-sized screen of the Note.  Sure, some people who are not used to it might laugh at you.  I laughed at my friend the first time I saw it.  "That phone's huge!" I snickered.  But then as he scrolled through email and websites on the glorious screen without so much as a squint I slowly was converted.  Now, if you told me I had to use an iPhone for the rest of my life I'd go into a tantrum like a 9 year old American kid told he can only play Xbox for 10 hours per day.

However, like I said, it's not for everyone.  It's not plug and play like an iPhone.  It's meant for the type of weirdos like me who like to spend an entire day getting everything exactly how they want it and are willingly to hack deep into its innards to make it "your" phone.  But, if you are that type of person, take a look at the new Samsung phones.  I almost went with the newer Samsung Galaxy SIII but I just loved the massive screen on the Note too much.  I guarantee you, if you buy a Samsung SIII or Note you will look at iPhones like they are from the 1980s and made for kids.

iPhone is apparently coming out with a bigger screen for the iPhone 5, but without Steve Jobs all bets are off.  I remember the last time he left Apple, in the 1990s, and what happened afterwards.  It's amazing what a difference one man can make to a company.

YOU DIDN'T BUILD THAT

Speaking of that.  Redmond Weissenberger wrote an excellent piece on Marxist, Barack Obomber's comments this week, "Time to Shrug".

But I just can't help chime in here.

As a point of principle I dislike all politicians but this Obomber guy is really getting under my skin.  I think, in fact, that's why there are elections every four years in the US... just so you have the hope that you won't have to look at that lying piece of filth on your TV every night.  I'm hoping Romney wins purely because I can't take Obomber anymore.

He has said a lot of really horrible things.  In fact, almost everything he repeats off his teleprompter is despicable.  But he really hit a nerve with me this week when he, for all intents and purposes, said that all of us entrepreneurs "didn't build that".  In his warped, communist mind, he believes that the government is the most important part in every venture!

Now, this has been attacked from almost every angle, including by Redmond Weissenberger, but here is the emotion that he conjured out of me.

I have been an entrepreneur almost my entire adult life.  I've started numerous business ventures and, as I tell any young up n' comers asking about business, "If you don't come within a hair's whisper of giving up at least twice during the first few years you aren't doing it right".

Almost every entrepreneurs story is the same.  Look at Steve Jobs.  He fought so hard to do what he thought was right and his own company kicked him out, stupidly, in the 1990s, because they thought he was crazy (that's how most entrepreneurs appear because they don't see the market as it is today, they see it as it will be).  He fought and went through a number of evolutions and was almost wiped out at one point when the stars aligned and he returned to Apple to create one of the most impressive companies ever and to change the world.

I've gone through that I don't know how many times.  It is not easy to start a company and to have it become successful.  In fact, I can't think of many things much harder.  You will be fighting everyone.  Your own friends and family will almost abandon you, thinking you are crazy, your competitors will fight tooth and nail against you and the government will be trying to stamp you out through taxation theft, rules, regulations, subsidies and tariffs along the way.  It's gotten to the point where I would never even consider starting a business in the western world anymore.  It's just not worth the trouble.

So, when Barack Obomber, a man who has NEVER created one penny of value and has lived off the government teet his entire life so flippantly can state that "you didn't build that", it made me sicker than I normally am when I hear words come out of his dirty socialist mouth.

And so, being a Permanent Tourist whose company is formed somewhere in the Caribbean, who is a resident and citizen of another Caribbean island and whose sole purpose of his endeavours is helping people extract their wealth and their self from the USSA and other like countries, I say this to you, Barack Obomber: I did build this.. I am building this... and I damn well hope I succeed, as I fully expect to do, and help the great majority of the productive people left in your tax farm escape.  You and your communist brethren and the brainwashed in the USSA can eat each other once we're all gone.

Then, maybe as the zombie hordes close in around you, you may realize for a brief moment that you were living like leeches off of the small percentage of the population who takes chances, innovates, fights for a better world and who have built much of the world you live in today.  It's shrug time.  I'm already gone... are you?

GLOBAL ESCAPE HATCH

If you've been considering making the jump but need a little push, come down to the Global Escape Hatch conference in Bocas del Toro, Panama this September (Register here, use "VIGILANTE" as the discount code to save $400).

The entire conference is focused on escaping from the tyranny of the government where you live and there will be numerous experts on hand in a very informal, laid back format where you can spend time with each of the speakers to decide what is best for you.  Ken Johnson, director of TDV Passport's will be with me at the conference and we'll be able to give you advice on internationalizing your ass and assets right there and then.  You can walk away from the conference with an entire escape plan. 

I recently spoke with Bobby Casey who is organizing the conference.  See more in the video we did here:

We'll look forward to seeing you down there in paradise!

UNTIL NEXT WEEK

That's it for another week.  I'm still here at the festivities with a large group of expats here in Cuernavaca who tell me that it is a hidden jewel.  I'll spend the rest of the night drinking fine tequila with them and see for myself.

Until next week, stay free!

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