My profile got erased when they upgraded the site...I’ll fix it some day when I’m bored. In the meantime, I saw the evils that socialism in all its forms can do to a country when I lived in Poland. I have no desire to see it inflicted upon my own country. Born and raised in WI, now a refugee from government oppression there living in FL.

Ok, I'm slightly bored tonight. Living in Florida has gotten to be way too taxing for my liking. Must be all those yankees moving down from the northeast bringing their big government ways with them. I am currently working out the details of my escape from this place to somewhere with no/low income tax and very low/no real estate taxes. Current candidates for my consideration are TN, KY, VA(Southside or western), or WV. I would welcome any suggestions from folks with firsthand knowledge of these areas. I need space. I grew up in WI farm country and am sick and tired of living among the morons who typically inhabit FL's urban areas.

A large part of that plan will be the harnessing of investment property to provide the cash and/or cashflow required to achieve this objective. The popping of FL's latest real estate bubble has greatly enhanced the opportunities in this arena. I have lately been doing some pondering of the history of real estate here in Florida and believe I can make work for me in the future.

A little of the usual biographical data. I am the oldest of 9 children, have recently turned 30, and hate living in the city. As mentioned above, I was a foreign exchange student to Poland in high school and was profoundly affected by the experience. At that time, Poland was just beginning the process of throwing off the shackles after 60 years National Socialism and of Communism. Both had been imposed upon her by her neighbors. The city that I lived in survived WWII largely intact due to its mixed German and Polish population at that time. A couple of select buildings - like the synagouge - had been destroyed but most of the city's core predated the war. In my daily walks through the city, I saw many of these older buildings. Apart from those in the central business district which had recently been renovated, every single one looked like it had not been maintained since the 1930's! They had windows that had been broken out for years, no paint anywhere, crumbling brickwork, broken railings, doors, etc. I got to thinking about why this was. For the past 60 years, everything had essentially belonged to the state. Private property didn't exist. There was no motivation to take care of anything because it didn't belong to those who lived/worked there. Kinda like government housing here in the USA, eh?) There was no incentive for a business to spruce up its real assets or streamline production because there was no competition. You obtained everything from one supplier - the government.

Could you imagine the same government that gave us the Katrina Recovery Effort, Government Schools, Government Housing, the Socialist Security Ponzi Scheme, and Medicare also providing every person in this country with food, clothing, health care, energy and every other need as a sole source? It would not take too very long for us to become a very poor nation like Poland was during the days of Communism. Our nation's assets would be squandered by our kleptocrats until we were on the brink of starvation. Those who were able would move to places where they could be free to create goods and services for others and enjoy the fruits of their labor and creativity. (I've personally toyed with the idea of opening a Capitalist Medical Center for Profit in the Bahamas should Socialist Medicine ever be forced upon us.) Either that or there would be a massive revolt against the ever-growing government. Which do you think will happen? And how long before one or the other occurs?

Here is the story about myself that I typed up one day here on FR in a particularly interesting thread. Read it, you may learn something.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1807441/posts?page=115#115

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1807441/posts?page=237#237

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1807441/posts?page=250#250