Life in USA vs. Argentina

[soulskier]

From reading your posts, SS, I've a good opinion of your kindness and cheerfulness. But I wonder about your comment that "many niches for 'creative and outside the box thinkers' exist throughout" Argentina. Mightn't it be more accurate to write that, for those immigrants to Argentina who bring comparatively substantial wealth (say, perhaps, a hundred thousand dollars or more) to invest, more opportunity exists than for the poor Argentine who struggles to put a hundred thousand pesos together?

RWS, I think the key is to earn dollars and live on pesos. You don't have to be an expat to do so.

The niche I created isn't due to my buying property, it is providing a higher level of service. I have several Argie friends here that are doing well. One in particular is a mountain guide. He is booked 6 months out and leads tours in the mountains, at US$200/person and up. Not a bad way to enjoy Patagonia.

There is another guy I just meant that is a tour guide for groups. He has the fascinating history of the whole country down in 3 languages. He travels the ountry with big groups and works as their translater and guide.

If someone started distrubuting beer from Patagonia to the rest of the country, that would be a no brainer. There are more than 20 microbrews within 100 km of Bariloche and the rest of the country is drinking Quilmes and Andes.

As I stated, I believe there are many opportunities, many of which involve little to no start up costs.

Be the ball, Danny!

 

[perry]

Great Post Soulskier and fully agree with you about Argentina and its excellent oportunities. There are 100s of great ideas that can make you a lot of money with little capital.

 

[steveinbsas]

I have lived there and elsewhere in South America. Every place has it pluses and minuses. It's all a matter of perspective and what you are there for. If you are young and just out for a good time then it's probably great. If your older trying to raise a family and make a living then Argentina isn't the place you want to be, unless you are happy with surviving on a much lower standard of living and having no prospect of anything better in the future. Things there are as good as they get now, with recurring periods that are much worse. Argentina has been in decline for 100 years and there are no signs that they are arresting or reversing their downward spiral. Argentina is the poster-child on how not to run a country.

Stan, Did you not know any of this when you came here, bought a property and had your possessions shipped here? You use the singular pronoun "I" but you also decry the opportunities for raising a family here. Argentine families survive on far less than those in the USA and stay intact at much higher rates.

The dirty war/military junta from the mid 70's to the early 80's in Argentina should make EVERYONE think twice before moving here as should the economic crisis of 2002 when the middle class of Argentina was devastated by the devaluation of the peso and the loss of thier wealth.

That being said, is the USA not currently on a "downward spiral" itself? How many millions of Americans have recently seen a significant decrease in the value of their wealth? The USA is currently the poster child on how not to run an economy thanks to greedy control freaks in the government in cahoots with greedy pigs in business (which is NOT free market Capitalism!).

If Argentine is on such a downward spiral what is Walmart (among others) doing here?

I am an entrepreneur and I can make "something out of nothing" (or very little) no matter where I live. As a result, my standard of living here continues to improve.

Living there gave me more prospective and for me greater appreciation of other places I have lived including the USA. No place is perfect, and Argentina has it's good points but overall leaves a lot to be desired.

You've certainly made this point...over and over and over. Are you now just on a crusade to prevent others from making the same mistake as you? Why not just let it go and spend your time doing something you really enjoy (if you are capable) as opposed to being the poster-child of disgruntled expats?

Have you thought of changing your user name to Stanexexpat?

 

[Fishface]

Great Post Soulskier and fully agree with you about Argentina and its excellent oportunities. There are 100s of great ideas that can make you a lot of money with little capital.

can either of you list 20 here?

and 20 reasons why any Argentine hasn't done it already.

...

It might be a help to all the people coming here to teach english that dont find work.

 

[criswkh]

I think you can find similar things here as in the US. It depends on where you live and what you take out of it. If I compare living here to Chicago and compare cost as if I was earning dollars than certain things are cheaper here. The hectic life of living in downtown Chicago is more stressful than living where I live now. But if I compare living here to a college town in the States or some other place than things are about the same. Electronics are expensive, but if the States were to have the same import tax than these things would cost more in the States.
One thing I have noticed is chivalry is common more here than a lot of places in the States. It seems Argentina puts more emphasis on family than trying to work, work, work. I noticed from my friends here and that even when they are stressed out they try not to let it frustrated them as much. Es Asi.

 

[Stanexpat]

I'm surprised such a short paragraph from me has elicited so many responses saying how great the opportunities are there.

My guess is that 99% of the expats there are living on imported money. I doubt very few expats are making a real living by working or by starting businesses or other enterprises there. It's got to be one of the worse places in the world to try and do so. The country has been a basket case economically for decades. I'm not knocking it but just stating facts. If there were a lot opportunities there I think people would be writing stories about how all the expats that moved there were doing so well.

My guess is there are at least 100 Argentines living in the U.S. for every 1 American living there. The reasons are obvious, to suggest otherwise is nonsense.

 

[steveinbsas]

I'm surprised such a short paragraph from me has elicited so many responses saying how great the opportunities are there.

Flatter yourself all you want. Why did you come here in the first place?

My guess is that 99% of the expats there are living on imported money. I doubt very few expats are making a real living by working or by starting businesses or other enterprises there. It's got to be one of the worse places in the world to try and do so. The country has been a basket case economically for decades. I'm not knocking it but just stating facts. If there were a lot opportunities there I think people would be writing stories about how all the expats that moved there were doing so well.

But you are knocking it.

My guess is there are at least 100 Argentines living in the U.S. for every 1 American living there. The reasons are obvious, to suggest otherwise is nonsense.

SO what? Why do you continue to post here?

 

[sergio]

It's extremely hard to do business here. Just about everything works against you from strict labor laws that always favor the employee and require paying extremely high indemnizations whenever you fire employees (even when they are completely incompetent), to high taxes, to having to deal with corrupt suppliers and clients, to the almost total lack of credit, the lack of coherent government policy etc. I have known Argentines over the years who are hard workers and very capable. Here they struggle to make a moderately good living. I am convined that if they had the opportunity they could be extremely successful within a few years in the US. I sincerely question that there are more than a handful, if that, of viable investment opportunities in Argentina that do not require substantial investment and high risk.

 

[danc]

Argentina is a wonderful place to spend money, but to make it financially one absolutely must be connected. In Argentina, you simply cannot work your way up from the bottom to the top as you can in the USA. Infact, I'd go so far as the say the USA is the only place where you can work youself up from the bottom to the top - just look at Obama. My wife and I are ponding when to move back to Argentina full time, but the move back only makes sense when the kids are grown and we have our nest egg (outside argentina of course) big enough to tap into w/o the need to ever work in Argentina.

 

[sergio]

Danc is right about the importance of connections. That's how just about everything is done here. I'd like to hear from expats who have been successfully running businesses and and making a profit (i.e. they have moved beyond the investment stage) that allows them to live here comfortably without dipping into money from their home country. Maybe they could tell us how much they brought from their home country to set up the business. It would be interesting to know what they have experienced.