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Techno-libertarians are flocking to the Caribbean (economist.com)
33 points by andsoitis 1 hour ago
10 comments

https://archive.is/gWfRv

This article is about a project called "Destiny" (https://destiny.com), an economic zone to be created in an undeveloped region of Nevis (of St. Kitts & Nevis)

The project goal is to become like Dubai with a 50m dollar investment, which I don't think is an admirable goal btw.

St Kitts & Nevis has had a history of being friendly to crypto and there was an initiative to make bitcoin cash legal tender, although don't think it ever actually happened.

https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/bitcoin-c...

I been to St. Kitts & Nevis. The only thing I can remember is the very stark contrast between the commercialized beaches versus where the locals lived, and the roaming cows everywhere.

Nevis (the baseball) was only boat accessible, and St. Kitts (the bat) is mostly hills of national park.

Vast majority of things must be flown or shipped in. I am hard pressed to see some "techno libertarians" doing techno without Amazon/Temu/Walmart/<insert fav vendor> in 24h drop ship.

I have my doctor on WhatsApp. America is trash and its SOOOOO easy to live without Amazon when you have a fixer / emissary. We have AGI interfaces to everything.
A glance at their website shows 25% of the profit being paid out between the government, residents, scholarship funds, etc.

So you're effectively paying US taxes from the get go, before you even get to the point of anything at all going towards basic services.

Without a proper supply chain 50m is just a fart in the wind.
Bitcoin Cash, legal.

Or

Bitcoin, cash legal.

These projects obviously have limited success. I found it interesting to learn about a couple that were very successful, though.

1) the Republic of Venice from 7th to 18th centuries, basically a merchant-run state controlled by a tight circle of wealthy traders. Its whole setup revolved around safeguarding trade and property and staying clear of the Catholic church and European kings.

2) the Republic of Ragusa from 14th to 19th centuries, in what’s now Dubrovnik, run by a small group of merchant families. Strong focus on open commerce and neutrality, made early advances in public health and infrastructure and had its own privately funded healthcare and insurance, all paid for by trade profits

They'll figure out soon enough why people vacation instead of live there
As someone with no plans to live or vacation in the caribbean, I'm curious. Is there a specific notable reason, or is it just a combination of littler things (cost, convenience, politics, weather, etc.)?
I've spend a total of about 2 months in the Carribean. One of those being an entire month straight.

It's the convenience really, and the fact that nobody is in a hurry. Island time is real. You cannot be demanding. You can't really be upset at service. Most people are there to chill out, even if they are doing a job. Life is just slower.

This is good, IMO. But if you are a hedonically adapted/burned out western metropolis dweller, this culture shock could be distressing.

At some point people will also figure out why these people are fleeing.
These are billionaires, pretty sure they will only do 183 days and being on your boat probably counts.
There's nothing wrong with living in the Caribbean. Tons of people live there for a reason. Biggest issue with the Caribbean is the price of property, susceptibility to climate disasters and susceptibility to external political forces which means constant securit threat.
The Carribbean is trash, except for its vicinity to the USA. SE Asia beats it in every other way.
It's amazing this kind of vitriol is tolerated as long as it aids the bashing of libertarians.
In 2014 it was Chile, in 2017 it was Honduras, then Colombia and El Salvador in the early 2020s. In Chile and Colombia they were coasting on tax authorities not pursuing them and relying on the cultural cachet of being thought-leading risk takers who were forward-thinking enough to take on a new frontier (remember this is when they started flying south for ayahuasca ceremonies). In the case of Honduras and El Salvador, they were setting up in tax-free zones (which is effectively a transfer of wealth from those outside of the zone to those inside). Notable that the periods of Chilean and Salvadorian history that these “libertarians” tend to celebrate were periods of political repression. I can’t imagine these ventures will be any different.
A fool and his wealth is soon parted
Guess a lot of these guys heard about Little Saint James from the news.
Makes for a target-rich environment, I guess.
Way things are looking, Cuba will soon be on the table for a dime. Right after Trump razes it to get rid of the "undesirables".
Or, for a more fanciful fate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldSCClzWMxk