Freddy in Panama

I look at Drugs and corruption as primary problems for all of Latin America. As long as some decent percentage of reserves are put into gold etc…

Altough as it only takes a phone call and “a small retainer” to get the information you want or possibly smooth things over…. maybe the corruption isn’t so bad… Did I say that????

What about the eventual opening of the Northwest Passage taking traffic away from the canal?

I did holiday and travel around Cuba back in 2002 and my experience with the country was very similar to the comments mentioned in your missive on Monday. The people have no freedom, and in general are terrified of the authorities.

Like the short new updates, I get a lot of financial newsletters, and lately have found it hard to keep reading and digesting all the info provided. This is a little lighter format, and so far has been an interesting and enjoyable read.

Also the obvious result is high or hyper inflation and this is a major problem for the poors that are a lot. If they get badly hurt by inflation, will they keep voting for sound governments or will they choose populist candidates? I suppose the second.

It would be much better for Panama to immediately abandon the US dollar. Perhaps using the dollars to buy gold as Ecuador and Venezuela are doing. I tried to use a lawyer to transmit this message to members of the government in Panama, but realize that it is a tough choice. Will the new president have the hearth to take it? No idea!

Panama’s economic Achilles Heel is that they use the US dollar as their medium of exchange. Deflation, Inflation whatever we have, they get too.

Take HSBC Bank – one branch in Panama City, the other in NYC. Same building, same desks, chairs, electrical bills. Same rates for a CD. Yet there is one major distinction, one pays its employees roughly 1/4 of the other branch. In one, training, education, and courtesy are all part of the corporate culture – in the other – rudeness, sullen behavior and general incompetence are all part of the corporate culture. What’s the difference? Well the one in Panama is saving a hell of a lot of money in employee wage and benefits, but at what cost to its people?

Multiply this over an entire country of industry minimalists, and you get what I call a “termite” culture. It looks solid from outside, but once you look closer you can see it’s riddled with rot. Panama is a river of sewage flowing past Gucci stores. The next time you grab a taxi on your way to a night on Calle Uruguay and you whip by a group of Panamianians waiting patiently at a bus stop for the next diablo-rojo (enjoying the best that their country has to offer admist a swirl of choking fumes and dirt), consider for a moment what it must be like to accept a life riddled with corruption, injustice, and poverty. Look out your window at yet another high-rise planned by foreign bankers and developers in Panama, and try not to notice that those buildings are empty. Did you catch the looks on the faces of the people walking through sewage on their way to work at HSBC, or any one dozens of other banks shielded in glass and steel? In a manic thirst for a fast buck, Panama is eating itself from the inside-out. And it shows, if you care to look.

The family and I are headed to Boquete in July for some R & R & R (rest, relaxation, real estate) and the kids are staying for the entire month for some intensive Spanish to internationalize them.

I appreciate the updates.

Do you find this networking strategy is more difficult in any part of the world, or universally effective?

Looking forward to hearing about your trip to Europe.

Safe travels and train hard,

craig