Right now Western nations are being invaded by a flood of illegal immigrants. Thanks to open-border policies, lax security, and liberal immigration laws, nations are being overwhelmed and destroyed from within. Such is the case of a small American town that, known for its love of socialism and generous welfare policies have allowed such a flux of foreigners to invade that the city does not know what to do as the migrants are demanding more welfare and even the audacity that the government speak their language and adapt to their ways of life:
The small city of Cuenca, Ecuador is struggling to address a growing wave of American “Baby Boomers” who have decided to retire there to take advantage of a socialist welfare state designed for its locals.
U.S. retirees, a recent city study revealed, are also causing conflict in the city, raising real estate prices, demanding English-language service, and threatening to sue locals accustomed to more “casual” business contracts.In a report this week, the Miami Herald highlights the blissful existence of upper-class white American migrants who have flocked to Cuenca, attracted by retiree blogs and news sites that emphasize the appeal of its temperate weather and inexpensive healthcare and real estate.
“In Cuenca, a city of about 350,000 people, they’ve found robust public transportation, an extensive museum network, solid healthcare and markets bursting with fresh fruits and produce,” the Herald notes. “It’s a place where their two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath apartment costs less than $400 a month. They’ve found that for about $1,500 a month, they can live a solidly upper-class lifestyle, dining out frequently and traveling.” The newspaper notes that a bus ride for seniors costs $0.12, and medical procedures are orders of magnitude cheaper than they would be at home.
The city commissioned a study on its foreign population in February 2017 that identified the majority of these new Cuencans as “‘baby boomers’ who began retiring in 2010 and… 4 percent of this population, estimated at 78 million, is planning to retire abroad.” North American countries – mostly the U.S. and Canada – make up 93 percent of Cuenca’s foreign population.
Cuenca’s “boomers” are more likely to have been professors before retirement than any other occupations, with “executives” coming in second place. The study delicately notes that many of these individuals “are not interested in being part of a new culture, and are more interested in that the city and its people respond to their needs and demands.”
Paramount among the city’s concerns is that many Americans are demanding Cuencans speak English and creating English-speaking neighborhoods within the city. “There is a large group for which learning a language is outside of their interests and, faced with the frustration of not being able to communicate, express annoyance with Cuencans who do not tend to their demands in English,” the study reads, adding that the city has invested in Spanish and idiomatic dictionaries for the new residents, but this has not solved the problem.
Boomers are also annoyed by “the ‘slowness’ of service” in Ecuador compared to the United States, and the common use of verbal or informal contracts. “Cases have been reported in which retired foreigners suggest a lawsuit against those who have not completed a previously agreed upon work,” the report notes.
In addition to cultural tensions, the study notes that 65 percent of the native Cuencan population is under 35, and many are frustrated that they must pay taxes and invest in the welfare state that foreign retiree migrants are now abusing.
The Herald story, which cites some findings from this study, is the latest trend piece on Cuenca in a crowded genre. The Cuenca study followed years of anecdotal journalism noting the idiosyncratic Boomer wave moving south. The city of Cuenca, in a study published in February, found its foreign population grew 173 percent between 2001 and 2010. By 2012, outlets like the BBC were calling it an American “promised land.” That article traced the Cuenca viral sensation among retiree migrants back to an article on the website Gringo Tree, which in turn noted that the wave of thousands of American ex-pats hitting the city followed the 2009 publication of an article in International Living that described the city as “the top destination in the world to retire.”
At the time, Cuenca’s International Relations Director Dani Jara appeared pleased by the new influx of high spenders to her city. She told BBC, “Tourism we promote, one creates strategies for the medium and long term. But in the case of a migratory phenomenon, that is due to the city conditions. Cuenca has grown throughout its history into a city where one can live well.”
By 2013, Cuenca Mayor Paul Granda was describing the mass migrant wave as “a little complicated for us.” “The city is less accessible to Ecuadorians” due to the wealthy Americans flocking there, he argued to ABC News, noting that average prices of basic goods had increased 40 to 50 percent.
Two years later, Ecuador’s Secretary of the Vice Ministry of Human Mobility was warning of wealthy American “ghettos” threatening the character of Cuenca. “There should not be ghettos forming in zones where Americans live, versus those who live permanently in these places,” Humberto Cordero said. The migration, he urged, “must be regulated.”
Cuenca’s American invasion was not regulated, in part because local businesses and real estate owners preferred selling and renting to Americans. “They care for their spaces and pay what is fair,” Cuencan homeowner María Torres told Ecuador’s El Comercio newspaper last year. She noted that their comfortable economic status and lack of children made for quiet, reliable tenants.
The government has nonetheless continued to express concern over American migrants overrunning the city. New International Relations Director Ana Paulina Crespo told the Herald in this week’s column that “Cuencanos are feeling like strangers in their own city” and emphasized, “Cuenca never wanted to attract retirees… we’re facing lots of problems over how to deal with a phenomenon that we aren’t responsible for creating.” (source)
Did you catch that?
It is a small American city- South American. Ecuadorean to be exact.
And the refugees- did you catch who they are?
They are Americans. Not Central or South Americans, but Americans– Red-White-And-Blue, baseball-playing, apple-pie-eating, flag-waving, fanny-pack-tourist-wearing, I-love-the-troops Americans- and look what they are doing.
Yes, they are refugees. Tax refugees, to be specific.
Americans. You know, these guys.
They are doing to another people in another culture in another part of the world exactly what we complain about THOSE MEXICAN ILLEGALS or THOSE MUSLIMS of doing.
Now let’s be clear, this is not about justifying behavior. Two wrongs do not make right, and neither does (paralleling the name of the infamous 19th century book) might make right. It just makes you stronger at that moment.
The point of mentioning this story is to discuss a point which is completely and intentionally ignored by both “conservative” and “liberal” sides in this country, which is that both are rooted in a socialist philosophy that wants to use poor people from other countries for their own benefit but then complains they have to live with the consequences of their actions.
“Illegal immigration” is a problem that will never be solved in the current form in America or Europe because ultimately is an issue of money and power. Simply put, the general population of the Western World is abnormally wealthy in comparison to the rest of the world. However, in order to maintain this abnormal wealth, it requires for certain very low-paying jobs to be done. The average America, physically unfit and made complaisant from an abundance of food as well as accustomed to and naturally seeking work that pays a wage necessary to have an enjoyable life, will not do certain kinds of work. For instance, if picking strawberries in the hot sun yields at its best pay rate only $75 for a 12 hour day but working in a climate-controlled office behind a desk at a computer pays $200 for an 8-hour day, which one would you take? The latter is the obvious answer. Nevertheless, there are many people from nations where what most Americans would describe as a slave wage is a very well-paying wage.
Drawing on the above example, the average annual income in the USA is around $52,000- about $200 a day assuming a paycheck issued for all 52 weeks in a year (time off and vacation time included). Now compare that with Guatemala, where the “middle class” earns an annual income of approximately $2,640 USD, which works out using the same rate (52 weeks a year at 40 hours a week, but keep in mind that most people work more than 40 hours in a week and benefits such as vacation time are rare if even present at all), that works out to a daily wage of approximately $10.16 per day. Now using the same example above, a strawberry picker in an American strawberry farm earns about $75 a day- a modest farm-wage rate of $6.25 an hour.
Now think about this from the perspective of your average Jose from Guatemala- if he comes to the USA, he can earn 7.3 times more money for the exact same work than what he would get paid in his native country. If strawberry picking season is only for 3 months (13 weeks), and he works 6 days a week at 12 hours a day (an average schedule), then he will bring back approximately $4,875 USD. Even if he is lazy, working 8 hours a day for a reduced rate (say $5 an hour) and only 5 days a week, he will earn $2,600 USD. Basically, no matter how you do the math, even a lazy man working at below average rates will earn a year’s worth of income, and at the absolute average he will earn almost two years worth of income in the span of a mere three month. If he is very industrious and proficient at his job (since pickers are paid by pounds and not per se at a fixed rate), they average $150 per day, and at that rate and over the same time period, they can earn up to $11,700 USD, or almost four and a half times the average annual salary of a middle-class income.
Again, put yourself in our average Jose’s shoes- if you were in his spot, don’t you think that the chance to earn FOUR YEARS worth of wages in three months for your culture’s context is an opportunity you would be willing to work long and hard hours for? I know that if somebody told me I could earn $200,000 USD for working my tail off for three months non-stop, I don’t care, I’m going to take that opportunity and just keep my mouth shut and be happy that I was the one who received it.
Say what you want about these guys, but they are not financially oblivious.
For the average American farmer, as we pointed out in a previous article, this is the reason why they hire illegals. Americans will not do the work because of the wages while Guatemalans, Mexicans, and other people will line up to do the work precisely for the wages. Given that commodities can only sell for certain prices (most people are not going to consistently pay $20 for a pint of strawberries, for instance, because it is simply not affordable), and given how critical the agricultural industry is to both the domestic and foreign policy of the USA, its a no-brainer why illegal immigration will never be fixed. The farmers get good, hard workers at a cheap rate, the worker gets what is for them an awesome salary, and the average man gets cheap and delicious food. Yes, the illegal immigration causes many problems that are real and cannot be ignored, and the intentional violation of any nation’s laws especially regarding borders is a serious matter, but those in industry (agribusiness) and government do not want an actual answer. They want to give the impression they are doing something without addressing the issue because of these reasons.
The Twisting division within the Shaw Carpet Mill in Dalton, GA, carpet capitol of the world. I once talked to a legal (green card) holder who came from Guatemala and spent the last five years working 60+ hours a week in a mill of a competitor but from the same area making an average rate (prior to overtime) of $10 an hour. He told me that he had been able to save up approximately $40,000 USD, all of which he had shipped back to Guatemala and which he used to purchase a hacienda and build a mansion on it. In his words, he made himself a plantation owner with his own workers and will never have to work again and have an inheritance to pass on to his children. Quite removed from being stupid, he possessed a foresight that most Americans I have met would never dream of.
Certainly there are many bad people who have been allowed to cross the borders because of this, but this is not your average Jose, who is happy taking a job at peasant rates because for him, it is a worthwhile investment. To their credit, these people are the unspoken support system of the US Agricultural industry which could not exist without them.
Then there are these…baby boomers in Ecuador.
No.
I have little respect for most baby boomers, and my reasons are the same which many have echoed. Given a prosperous nation and the opportunity to revolutionize the world from their position, they passed away their inheritance like grass through a flock of geese on a golf course, leaving behind a mess of tremendous debt, squandered wealth, a rotted national infrastructure, gutted industry, collapsing economy, and lost identity. They are the loser at they bar who rings up huge tab on expensive, frilly drinks and then leaves you with the bill. Many found jobs during their lives based off of the fat produced from the economic cow, and after consuming the fat they slaughtered and ate the cow that was supposed to be the inheritance of the few children they had, instead leaving them with the bones and they themselves moving on to another farm to plunder.
People complain about how ILLEGALS ARE USING OUR TAXPAYER FOOD STAMPS while at the same time ignoring how these same illegals are getting that very food from farm to market at pay levels almost any American would laugh at. Average Joe does have a point about the abuse of welfare benefits and his point is serious and must not be ignored, but at the same time average Jose is the reason why a pint of strawberries is not $20 or more.
Tell me, what economic benefits are a bunch of old, feeble, physically-unfit and entitled geriatrics, giving to the people of Ecuador? Really, I ask that as an objective question. Say what you want about Jose and his cousins, but on average they justify their place in society by contributing economic benefits to it. Your average Boomer, however, does nothing for the people of Ecuador except waste more money on extravagant dinners, fancy apartments, and the occasional trip while demanding at the same time the poor nation he moved to give HIM free services equivalent to those in the USA and at a much higher price to the host society.
This is just the economic side of the issue. The sociocultural side is even more serious because Americans do not respect themselves or other people. Where American go so does Americanism naturally follow, and with that all of the businesses, business models, and philosophical ideas that while some of them are beneficial and good, have caused many problems for the world’s peoples as they are not aimed at building up men but rather turning them into machines to earn money for the wealth of a few at the expense of the many. This destroys local cultures and rips into the very fabric of society itself, turning it into a little America.
Lastly, there is the issue of American sexual predators, especially pedophiles. Pedophilia is rampant among Americans living abroad, for by using the lack of either laws or the enforcement of laws against the sexual abuse of children, they see foreign life as a shelter from US authority by which they can indulge in their sick and perverse behavior to their fullest content and without having to fear reprisal.
The extent of American pedophilia in foreign nations is not just something found among a few lonely men. It spans a wide range of people, and social classes and is such a consistent problem, that the US Government has been attempting to partner with nations, especially those in Central and south America, to address the issue:
In the wake of the aggressive U.S. inquiry, Mexico took further action against child sexual exploitation. The state of Guerrero, which contains Acapulco, dramatically increased penalties for child pornographers.
“We’re a state that’s facing up to reality with concrete actions,” said Jesús Ramírez, Guerrero’s attorney general.And Mexico’s Federal Preventive Police worked closely with the Americans on the Castillo case. It is now running its own child exploitation investigations, taking matters away from notoriously corrupt local officers.
In April, the federal police rounded up nearly 20 suspected abusers and said, without elaboration, that some were connected to Mr. Julian and Mr. Decker. Ten children were rescued during the arrests.
The suspects included several U.S. citizens, plus a handful of Canadians and Mexicans and one Briton. One Canadian committed suicide in his cell last spring, according to prosecutors. The rest remain jailed in Acapulco’s sweltering prison, awaiting trial.
The prisoners include Robert D. Teerink, a former high-ranking executive for Southlake-based Sabre, a Fortune 500 travel services company that once was part of American Airlines. He left Sabre in 2000 and moved from Dallas to Acapulco. He had been Sabre’s Mexico marketing boss in the mid-1990s.
In a jailhouse interview, Mr. Teerink denied the charges against him.
“I lived a quiet life with a basset hound and three cats,” he said. “Now I’m accused of the worst atrocities. … I believe pedophiles are the scum of the earth.”
Another prominent detainee is Denis C. Hoffman, a Los Angeles businessman who financed Steven Spielberg’s first film and later co-owned a doughnut shop with him. Robert Rosen, a California lawyer who represented Mr. Hoffman in 1990s litigation with Mr. Spielberg, said he was aware of the arrest but knew no details.
“As far as I know, he’s a wonderful, wonderful person,” Mr. Rosen said.
Enrique Gándara, a Mexico City attorney representing five other American defendants, described them as “innocent people, absolutely innocent, who are going through hell in the Acapulco prison. Their only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Mr. Gándara said that one of the supposed victims doesn’t exist, another recanted and a third was actually an adult. He said he declined to take the cases of some detainees because he suspected that they were guilty.
According to The News’ review of police files, some defendants were arrested primarily on the basis of children’s accusations, while others were found in the presence of naked minors or with stashes of child porn, cameras and video equipment.
“That was the most painful thing I’ve seen in my life,” said Alicia Díaz, a sex crimes prosecutor in Acapulco.
“It’s something I’d like to forget forever. (source)
Unfortunately, the problems go on.
When illegals come to America, they fill produce crates and give us cheap food prices.
When boomers go to central and south America, they only thing they are filling is diapers.
Perhaps before we Americans open our mouths about how other people are the cause of our nation’s problems, we should ask ourselves what we have done to add to them, if not caused the same problems for others.