[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Just a thought...

[bjc]

This is utter nonsense. People should be free to live wherever they wish - assuming that they meet immigration, residency and tax requirements. Federal pension may be excessive, but that hardly justifies constraining where retirees live.

[muawiyah]

So? There are a few gub'mnt retirees in the Washington DC area ~ where it's expensive.

Did you know that you can get a visa to visit and live in Malaysia that's good for 10 years! That's part of a very basic 'you bring the money ~ we provide the amenities' situation. That country has improved things tremendously over the last 30 years. Cheap wine is about $22 a bottle, but you can live without alcohol in the tropics.

[muawiyah]

An annual income of $4,500 will get you into Mexico on a permanent basis. Most federal retirees get at least that.

[One Name]

Belize was being promoted around here... sounded good for about 10 minutes.

I’m not a fed by the way, but their are a fair number of them in my area.

Expatriots are just that, Ex. Parlaying your life savings and future to sit on a beach with a house servant in a presently somewhat orderly society with the expectation that nothing will go wrong in your lifetime is a huge gamble.

I prefer to stand with my family and friends and neighbors in the USA. My money may not go as far, but I’m an American and will strive for the values inculcated in my youth when this was the model for the world.

I wont have a servant or a life of luxury but I will have my dignity as a free-born American.

[rbg81]

I think all kinds of people retire overseas for various reasons. On paper, these countries have all kinds of advantages. When you actually live there, however, it isn’t all its cracked up to be.

The Philippines are bearable, I suppose, if you are okay with rampant public urination.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Are Federal employees American Citizens? You still have to be citizen to work for the Fed. If they committed crimes, then try them for it, convict them, and they'll retire to prison.

Otherwise Federal employees, including retired military personnel, have the same rights as any American citizen to retire to an affordable place. Its socialist countries that prohibit citizens from moving abroad with their money. (Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, modern Norway.) Can't treat them differently. No, this would not work.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

US military personnel have been doing this for decades. And many are going to more ordinary places like Germany, because they own a house there, and their spouse is German. Many US personnel loved living in the Philippines and Panama, where they could live the good life even on a typical pension.

Importantly, they often have a lot of pull in their new country, and are good diplomats, disposing the people who live there more favorably to Americans.

There are several countries that try to recruit retired American expats. For example, Panama is working very hard to attract retirees by offering well-publicized retirement incentives to sway the opinions and change the goals of newly retired people.

Panama offers 30% discounts on almost everything, even airfare. Panama allows a new car to be imported tax-free every two years. In addition, they allow the importation of household goods without economic consequence. Furthermore, Panamanian immigration law affords an easier, quicker, and less costly path to legal residency.

[cherry]

come on now....you didn’t realize a long time ago?..that people voting in the communists are fleecing the pension pig than absconding with OUR tax dollars?

[Psiman]

1 Timothy 5:18

For the scripture said, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn. And, The laborer is worthy of his reward.

[fulltlt]

I have heard that guns are not allowed in these foreign countries. That would pretty much be a stopper for me to move there.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

After trying for 3 years and spending thousands of dollars on trying to legally get my Thai Fiance a visa, I said the hell with it, gave notice at work, auctioned off my house and property, and retired to Thailand.

Almost worth thanking the US GVT for helping me make that decision. So instead of a working taxpayer, I am becoming a parasite on the US.

[LyinLibs]

[Democrat_media]

$80,000 per year pension = gov retirees live like millionaires in Mexico or Philippines, etc.

80,000 per year pension these federal employees recieve for 20 years of doing nothing.

[CaptainK]

I don’t want a servant, especially a cheap one.

[pallis]

I don’t care where people go to live. I like the idea of liberal, federal employees moving to another country.

[wjcsux]

Unfortunately for us, many foreign countries are starting to learn that seniors from the U.S. offer stability and financial gain to their nations. Urguay, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Chile, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines are making it very attractive for American retirees to relocate. I believe this trend will accelerate as more Baby Boomers retire and the U.S. continues to descend into chaos. Many of these countries also offer world class medical care at a reasonable price.

[Jack Hammer]

Thailand’s getting pretty pricey and the language is a barrier to most.

Otherwise....

[AmericanInTokyo]

Problem here is, with the FedGov being so jackbooted and out of control as it is, this in essence calls for themselves to investigate themselves--a non-starter. What they probably would end up doing instead would be harassing NON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RETIREES (i.e. average retired civilian folks) who have left the confines of the USA in their Golden Years to retire to low-cost paradises like Costa Rica, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Maldives, South Pacific islands, etc. and harrass them on taxes and what not, or maybe even build a virtual economic Berlin Wall and say that you cannot retire overseas and keep your Social Security Benefits. Only in America. They and Eritrea are about the only nations on the planet to do this to their citizens living abroad, such undue harassment and trouble.

Don't give these D.C. beltway bastards any new ideas! They are already in the big shakedown mode against John Q. Public!!!

[Revolting cat!]

Well, if the Federal employees are Evil, shouldn’t we celebrate their departure from this Paradise?