This post is inspired by a conversation we were having in the chat today. I mentioned an article published today about when and where to move when trouble comes down the road by Gary North. I said he must be reading LBC since I had just published my article on the three strategies to deal with financial collapse. The20yr then rejoined in saying that lots of people are saying that.

It makes me wonder, are lots of people really aware of the larger issues at play in the world? Are people awake to the fragility of economic and political systems?

After all, at least 3 governments have been brought down in the past 2 weeks. Were you awake to these events or were you sleeping through them?

#1 Ireland. After the imposed austerity measures from the EU, the coalition government of Ireland has had mass resignations and has found itself unable to do anything. Elections are around the corner, so they are basically waiting until those to do anything.

#2 Tunisia. Rising prices and years of abuse and corruption have finally led to mass civil protests. The president, who had ruled the country for something like 20 years, fled with 3000 pounds of gold in his pocket. But remember, gold isn't money, so no biggie.

#3 Egypt. Enormous protests, similar to those in Tunisia, have led to police shooting civilians and the president's son fleeing to London. This situation is still in flux, so it may be premature to say the government has fallen, but it certainly is hanging by its fingernails.

There are also riots and protests going on all around the world. These are mostly in poor countries like Laos where the costs of food and other basics make up a huge portion of people's expenses. When the price of rice goes up 10%, it doesn't matter to the family in the US that spends 0.5% of its income on rice. It matters quite a bit to the Laotian factory worker who spends 50% of her income on rice.

So again the question is are you awake? We are living in the beginning stages of turbulent times. Your awareness of your surroundings (physically, economically, politically) can have large reprecussions on your life. At the same time, as the Chinese proverb tells us, in crisis there is great opportunity. I'd love to see all the readers of LBC come out of this period in history safe, healthy, and wealthy.

So, to follow your survival strategy #1, my plan to move to any of those 3 countries just got busted. Which other ones are safer for me to move to, say next 5, 10, 20 and 40 years? Top 3 choices for each time period would be great.

Thank you, tamo42. This is great for reference. Now I can plan my escape based on my projected future life span. F, E, or D for 20 or more years, if I plan to live that long. And if I move before 2030 to ACB or EAC, I may need to plan to move again later. This definitely gives me something to look forward to. BTW, if these choices change, do you mind updating them here? Thanks in advance.

Sure, if my outlooks change, I'll be sure to update this list. But the principles will remain the same. In the near future, the best places will be friendly developed places. Longer term, the emerging economies that do in fact emerge to a higher standard of living will be the places to go.

Remember, 150 years ago, America was an emerging economy. We emerged, industrialized, grew, and now exhausting our wealth. History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes. These cycles are seen over and over again.

Oh, one more thing. If these revolutions in the Middle East end up being successful long term, expect the new government to be very unfriendly to the US. It's classic "blowback" against US support of repressive and unpopular (former) regimes.