[rortian]

How does crazy paranoid stuff get up-voted here? Very Sad.

Cheaper countries can be fun, but there's lots of downsides as well. If you are asocial, it could be your dream to live there. I'll always want a vacation there, but not to live there.

[GFischer]

It is a bit paranoid, but then again, you've never been in a country that locks down money transfers, right? You still believe you can emigrate anywhere.

It's currently unlikely, but I suspect the U.S. could implement that much faster than you think if it keeps going downhill. It already implemented a ban on holding gold in the past, for example ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 in place until 1974 ). It's not the scenario I envision, but thinking "The U.S. would never do that!" is naive.

By the way, I believe the original post had a reasonable suggestion... you could live like a king for your lifetime in, say, Uruguay or Costa Rica with 5 million (and those are reasonably safe countries). Yes, emigrating is a quite hard decision, but it is a possibility.

[rortian]

Keep in mind that 1974 was 36 years ago. I am working with a very different model of the world than you are I think. Capital controls exist in the world and some are quite harsh. However, no serious person is even close to advocating them (for wealth nations like the US). What problem do you imagine they would solve?

[harscoat]

Berlin is pretty social ;)

[rortian]

I concur. Not known for being super cheap I'd imagine though.

[mixmax]

Actually it is. During the cold war it was split between East and West, and when it got reunited there was a lot of cheap condos, stores, etc. in the East, and lots of entrepreneurial Germans in the West.

The combination is a cheap city full of life. If you have the chance you should definitely go check it out.

[megablast]

Not sure where you are getting your information from. Travel isn't cheap, food isn't cheap, and rent isn't cheap, if you want to live anywhere near town.

Yes, great place to live or visit, full of life, great people, but not cheap.

Maybe you want to look further east.

[mixmax]

I'm from Copenhagen, a rather expensive city, so maybe I'm biased.

[megablast]

I have found Germany to be one of the most expensive places in Europe, certainly much more expensive than the US. It seems the further south you head, and the further east you head, Europe gets cheaper, with a few exceptions.

Curious to know what is cheaper in Berlin compared with Copenhagen, I am surprised there is much difference. Did not find much difference in Denmark when I passed through, and spent quite a bit of time in Stockholm, avoided light beers. Did not find much that was more expensive.

[rortian]

Cool, thanks for the tip. I definitely want to do a German beer tour at some point.

Just out of curiosity, how cheap would you say it is? Any crime issues?

[startuprules]

I have a feeling you've never traveled to other countries. How sad.

[rortian]

Lol. I'd upload my passport but that's silly. Europe is not exactly cheap.

[startuprules]

Europe includes such countries as Iceland, Ukraine and Romania

[loewenskind]

ffs man, I'm with you on the US not being the place to be at the moment but Romania??? If you're going to call someone out for not being traveled you should at least avoid listing places you clearly haven't been to yourself (if you have been there and still recommend it then you have some pretty low standards. Don't expect anyone else to adopt them on purpose).

[rortian]

Meta: I say something else. You retort something unrelated to your absurd initial declaration about the soon to disappear money order (I assume that wire transfers will have to go to).

This level: I'm done.