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Danny’s Gone
Everyone makes mistakes. I’ve made a bunch. It’s the ones that start small and seem insignificant that sneak up on you over time that are the ones that have the biggest consequence. The mistakes that lead to other people getting hurt are hard to confront. But the most pain comes when a mistake ends up hurting a child. I’ve done that.
I’m not writing about this to cleanse my soul (I wish it were that easy). I’m hoping that readers see this story and learn from my errors. I think my mistake has been made a few million times the past decade or so. It’s just time to discuss the consequences of our actions.
About ten years ago I was in need of a big hole. I have enough property to always need something. This time it was a drainage ditch and a dry well. I knew that there were workers looking for jobs in a nearby town. I’d heard about it from neighbors who had gone to a corner in Ossining, NY where day workers from south of the border came in the mornings. I didn’t think much of it at the time.
Sure enough, there were workers. Construction trucks were picking up guys. When I drove up a half dozen came up to me. They all talked a fast Spanish, they all wanted a job. For no particular reason I chose one. His name was Caesar. Two days later what I wanted done had been accomplished. A nice job at that. I paid cash for the work. It was $80 a day, plus I provided food.
I drove him back to where he lived at night; a not so nice apartment that he shared with eight others. I didn’t think much of it at the time.
He had my telephone number and called a few weeks later and said, “I need work”.
I understood that this was a cry for help from a guy who was having trouble getting food money. I had a ton of things that had been left undone. So I said, “Yes”.
So it became a few days a week. That lasted awhile. I introduced him to others. Everyone needed work done. It turned out that Caesar had many skills. He was a good mason and could lay up stonewalls. He was a painter, gardener, a decent mechanic and a pretty good rough and finish carpenter. He was from Quenca, Ecuador (small city outside of Quito). He had a wife, Ruth, and a daughter who was then three years old. He left his family to come to America.
We talked while we worked, I spoke “Spanglish” he spoke broken English, we understood each other perfectly. He, of course, was here illegally. He had made the long trip from Ecuador to NY via the Texas border. He came to the US because (his words) there were no jobs an no future in his home country. We became friends of a sort.
After a year or so, Caesar had saved up some money. He sent $10,000 (via Citi) back to Ecuador. This was the payoff money to the Coyotes who would transport his wife to the Texas border. She made the trip in the back of a box truck. She was raped on the way.
She was dumped, (with 20 others) in the brush country outside of Brownsville, Texas. She walked to the lights of the city and took a bus to NY. Thousands of “Ruth’s” made this trip.
Not too long after she made the long journey she was pregnant. This may have been the result of two devout Catholics and a long separation. But it was also a defensive move on their part. They knew that a child born in America would automatically become a citizen. They believed that if they were the parents of a American child they would never be deported. A common belief that has led to many children being born to illegal workers.
They named their son Danny. A healthy and happy child. Life was good for the family during the early part of the decade. There was steady work for both of them. Housekeeping for Ruth, Caesar worked construction. In 2003 they had a combined income of $60,000. A number that made them “rich” compared to the world they had come from. They were living the same dream that millions of immigrants had when they came to the US over the years. The difference, of course, was that they were illegal and had no right to be here. They bought fake Social Security cards (easy to get back then).
They lived in an area that was exploding in population of men and women who had come from Ecuador. Word travelled back to Cuenca that work and money was available. Over the course of just five years the illegal population exploded in the towns of Ossining, Peekskill and Mt. Kisco. Bodega’s and restaurants popped up.
Danny grew up fast. I saw to it that he had the medical attention he needed and later pulled a string or two to get him into the local schools. There were birthdays and holidays that I contributed to. He came to my home and I taught him to swim. Unlike his parents, he took to the water and swam like a rat. He called me, “Grandfather”. I was okay with that.
Danny was as much an American boy as any you could find. He spoke English perfectly (much to his parents chagrin). He liked American football, he didn’t play soccer. He loved basketball. He did fine in school. He made many friends. He was invited to the birthday parties of his classmates. He was a very happy kid.
Around 2005 my feelings on what was happening began to change. What had started innocently enough was now morphing into something that was no longer innocent. It was clearly a population explosion that would end up with a bad result. I slowly changed my views. I saw the risks that were developing for all that were involved. This change of heart was influenced by people who knew I was helping a family out. Some made it clear that I should not be helping the “Browns”.
I tried to make things right. I hired a lawyer and sponsored Ruth to become a US citizen. Her application was accepted in 2005. The formal notice that she was “in line” to become legal was a source of a great celebration. Six years later her application had still not gone anywhere. Not one single applicant from Ecuador was given immigration status (Green card) in all those years.
I saw to it that Ruth kept a record of all of her income. She paid taxes on what she made, the same as anyone would do. I thought this was important. It would prove that she was playing by the rules. I thought that the tax records would support her request for citizenship. It never mattered at all.
I no longer hired Caesar. I wanted him “on the books”. So he found work where no one asked questions about his legal status. If he had a SS card (illegal or not) there was plenty of work to be had. Somehow that quasi-legal status made it “right”.
Things fell apart for this family starting in 2008. The recession killed the construction industry. With that went the jobs the illegal’s had come for. The unemployment rate for the illegals went from functionally zero to at least 50%. Caesar was only able to find “pickup” work a few days a week.
I saw what was happening. I urged them to go back to Ecuador. I offered them the money to buy plane tickets. They wanted none of that. They stuck it out in the hope (like so many others) that the US economy would turn around. It never did.
Around 2010 there was a new challenge emerging. The local police began targeting the illegals. They stopped the cars they drove in to work. The cops were clearly profiling (they swore they were not). ICE (Immigration, Customs Enforcement) raided a few businesses that hired these workers. Jobs disappeared as a result. To make things worse the illegals were subject to random attacks. One was beat to death while in the custody of the police. A once happy immigrant community was scared to walk the streets.
Ruth, Caesar and Danny stuck it out as long as they could. But Caesar was stopped by the police and was given a summons to appear in court.
I was gone last week. When I got back there was a message on the phone from Danny. He was leaving the next day. He was crying. He wanted to see me before he left. When I got back I went to his home. He was already gone.
Think what it must be like for a ten-year old boy who is American as any of us to be forced out of the country. Think what a strange life he faces in a country that bears no resemblance to what he grew up with. He will not fit in. He doesn't speak Spanish fluently. His parents are back in a place that they know. They are also back in a place that has no opportunity for them and their son.
I know in my heart that I’m partially responsible for Danny’s plight. There is not much I can do about it. I will find him someday. I’ll try to make this right. But the damage has already been done. There is a ten-year old American boy whose life has been ripped apart. That’s a fact that is very hard for me to come to grip with.
**********************************
There is little to celebrate this Labor Day. There are so many Americans who have no work or are doing jobs for little pay and no upside. The illegal workers who came here in the good times are leaving in droves. In 2007 there were 12mm in the country. The endless recession has reduced that number to 8mm in just a few years. The depression we are living through has hurt many families. The ones that are on the bottom of the rung are paying the biggest price. Families like Danny’s have been hurt the most.
I know that many readers will think that my participation in this story was all wrong. That Danny and I deserve the pain we have. I expect a fair bit of criticism for this. Trust me, no words you can write would make feel worse than I do. I think of Danny all the time. I pray that this American child is safe.
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Do play stupid a little more, please.
Bruce is not obliged to help Americans, or anybody else for that matter, but he is obliged to play by the rules in the country he lives in. Unless you're a fan of pure anarchy.
Malek, you are a good slave.
Please continue to always play by the rules. Those rules are meant to fuxor you real bad.
The power elite must be happy to know there are many like you. You are licking the boot stamping in your face...forever.
So cute, trying to frame everything into pure black or white thinking, and stirring up the rage.
If I don't like the rules, I stop playing the game altogether, or look for a different casino/company/state/country.
Trying to outsmart the fraudsters is usually a losing proposition, and you are then actively participating in the bending of rules, and thereby prolong it.
Do you even understand what it means to be a citizen of a country? If you are so fond of giving work opportunities to foreign, and in this case "illegal", workers, then please let me know where you work and what industry and I will ask India to send 50,000 workers to do it for half what you're earning and watch you starve.... your logic is non-sense.
I've got news for you... India has MILLIONS of workers doing what I do, and, yes, it's affected my income.
It's up to me to adapt or die; I don't expect my government to erect artificial barriers to prevent my fellow-citizens from buying from India. In fact, India is a great example of what happens when governments DO attempt to protect their citizens from foreign competition - the protected industries stagnate, and their citizens remain poorer generally... though the owners of the protected industries do quite nicely... which is why they are often the most vociferous lobbyists for protectionist laws.
My area of expertise is somewhat specialized and guess what - jobs are in Mumbai. Like the poster above I will adapt but becoming increasingly disgusted with the system.
Dear sir
You are a very good and kind person.
Best wishes for you and your friends.
Thanks for this Bruce.I hope you can find your friend and help in some way.
I am sorry for your loss.
Great re-telling of your original article "An American Story". We all have our crosses to bear, you do what you can. Just like the markets, some times you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes either direction can be big. We're always haunted with the moral hazard that we might have paved someone's road to hell with our good intentions.
There are things bigger than all of us; 2008 taught us that much. You rolled the dice and cut someone a break at a dream that would otherwise remain a mirage. A loss is still a loss, so my pseudonymous consolation (entirely without any kind of authoritative weight) doesn't soften the blow. But you did what you could and at least rolled the dice, which is more than most folks.
As an investor/trader, you should know the important thing is to keep the dice rolling. In the long run, the trend always reverts to the mean.
You clearly have a lot of guilt. That is your conscience telling you that you did something wrong. Just don't blame any of this on America. This country has every right to enforce it's laws that you helped break - regardless of your "goodwill." In fact, as a co-conspirator, you should receive some sort of justice, I think. Basically, you profited at the expense of others. You could have hired an unemployed American, and you helped "bend the rules!" It was also your money that funded the woman's trip.
Sometimes there are no "good" solutions. Sometimes things just don't end in failure, but they end in a black hole that sucks in everything and everybody involved. That unfortunately is the nature of things.
A sad and bad day for Danny but at least he has an advocate.
It's easy for some (maybe most) to block out the plight of tens of millions of children in horrendous and unimaginable circumstances but when it's one kid that you have known from day one you can't block that out. As for your feelings of guilt (real or implied), life's a bitch. What I do suspect is that you will be relentless in doing what it takes to see that Danny gets an education and the necessities of life.
The shit that is and has always gone down on this planet is mind numbing. What do you suppose those nice "cattle rustlers" are doing with the children they kidnapped two weeks ago. I wonder what the going price is for healthy five year old boy in Jeddah? They have no advocate.
______
The child slaves of Saudi Arabia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/6431957.stm
From the way you tell it, I see no blame in your actions, Bruce. All actions have consequences, that's a fact. In this case intent is what matters. If your intent was honorable you should honor yourself rather than berate.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. There was no honor in Bruce breaking the law and justifying it by saving a few bucks. And, yes, he should "berate" himself.
I love the moral absolutism bullshit displayed by many of the comments to this story. The author did something initially that was motivated by both selfishness and a desire to help. He ultimately befriended a family and tried to help them. How terrible of him. The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but the road to heaven sure as hell ain't paved with the "fuck 'em if they don't have a green card because there's a law against it" attitude that passes for morality in comments like yours.
I agree with your comment. And as someone who was in the country legally and had my green card processing aborted because of the economic downturn (and given one month to leave the country after having lived there eight years), I have mixed feelings about illegals. However, when looking at the larger context, why has globalization resulted in maximum profits for corporations and very little upside for individual workers? Large corporations can and have offshored entire operations and by doing so avoid paying taxes. If we do live in a 'globalized' world, why do governments make it so difficult for the individual to move for economic reasons but so easy for corporations?
And befriending a family and helping them out is commendable regardless of their status imho.
Borders exist to control people, not corporations. Those borders are used to segregate and divide human beings, yet the same borders are used by corporations (with govt compliance) to channel wealth and avoid tax and accountability.
This guy has a very harsh but (I fear) accurate view of state borders:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbp6umQT58A
Did you even read what he wrote:
Bruce was a cheap guy looking to save himself some money....pure and simple. Also, I didn't say "f" em...... I said we are either a nation of law or we live by chaos. The more that we, as a Nation, condone the thwarting of our common basis of governing, which laws are a part thereof, we are tearing the basic fabric of society. Where you want to draw the line and where I would draw a line are different that's why we vote for Representatives and voice our governing opinions to them. Once those laws are there.... we either live by them or change them, but we shouldn't just ignore them. Look at our Banksters and you can see where it's gone terribly astray.
Law is one thing, but our immigration policy is Labor Union protectionism in disguise:
http://reason.com/assets/db/07cf533ddb1d06350cf1ddb5942ef5ad.jpg
The 'rule of law' becomes porous at best, when you realise it was enacted by criminals.
I realize that simple-minded, black and white thinking has become all the rage among the "brown people are ruining this country" crowd, but the article revealed motivations far more complex than digging a hole with cheap labor. That was part of it, yes. Another part of it was helping a family in need. I find it incredible how easily the "haves" are able to gloss over and indeed utterly ignore the "help others" part. It was illegal to help slaves escape in the 1800's, and it was illegal to hide Jews in Nazi Germany. Did that it make morally wrong to do either? But go ahead, pull out your immigration laws and speak your Palin-speak and blame it all on the immigrant.
And you can come up with all the relativism you want, but as long as you are not outspoken in demanding unlimited immigration for everyone -consequences be damned-, you are just beating a straw man while claiming the moral high ground with your blabber.
It's a complicated problem, which causes most to draw arbitrary lines or simply spew hatred. The author of this article had the moral courage to admit that he is imperfect and does not have all of the answers. I guess most of the posters here don't have that problem.
You're right, and that makes it unfortunate you yourself picked historical examples (slaves/Jews) which one would not consider ambivalent, especially with the benefit of hindsight.
LetThemEatRand,@16:02,
DUDE.............
You missed(like most left wingers do) the entire frigging point.
<blame it all on the immigrant. >
Quit TWISTING this shit around.
SOME here can read and comprehend.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT, and IMMIGRANT are not the same, or are you just frigging DENSE.
Good point.
What is the point of having a border and a military if you are going to let anyone willing to work for a few dollars less simply walk in?
Do you think the Romans ever thought that cheap labour would ultimately bring them down? History may not repeat, but it often rhymes.
Open borders or a social welfare State, pick one, no country CAN HAVE BOTH for very long!
+$14T
Exactly. And then, once you have socialist policies like 'free' healthcare, the State is obliged to start poking its nose into what people eat... can't have people getting fat, can we, it costs The Collective too much. Etc, etc...
Whoops, Mr.James train of logic just jumped the tracks... I think he needs to hire a better brakeman.
In the UK, where there is 'free' healthcare, the government is constantly leaning on food manufacturers to reduce salt and fat in their products... there's been official talk of raising taxes on 'fatty' or 'unhealthy' food, because of the costs it imposes on the NHS (Britain's National Health Service).
Hunh, so does that mean it is easier and slightly cheaper to get decent quality locallly grown produce in, say, Fishguard?
Sometimes the following just isn't enough:
http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4015
(?)
The French stopped smoking inside public places, sort of... but I totally agree I can smell the tax grab too.
You really wanna show the public you mean egalitarian business, scale traffic violations to income.
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/public/wsj_finland.html
I don't know when it supposedly became a conservative value to want to build fences in Texas. Give me a fucking break with your left/right paradigm bullshit, you Palin wannabe. The idea that this country is being ruined by illegal immigrants is laughable. It is being ruined by a bunch of (mostly) white (mostly) guys stealing our nation's wealth to the tunes of trillions while we all sit by and watch. They don't give a rat's ass about this country or any other. Want to get angry? Get angry at them first, fix that fucking problem, and then you can go spend your days pissing and moaning about the illegals.
LOL. Our banksters are the direct result of the Rule of Law you so venerate. How do you think fiat currencies arise? Because our government cartelizes money creation when they give the banks the power to create credit, but force us all to use their currency.
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." - Tacitus
As for Bruce being 'a cheap guy' - I take it you have no objection to, say, a Frenchman buying an American lathe because it's the most cost-effective - what's the difference between that and an American buying a French wine because it meets his needs better than an American wine? Or him hiring a Frenchman for the same reason? Labor protectionism is an attempt to mask price-discovery by state-enforced violence and is no different to any other price-manipulation scheme. All you ZHers bitching about Gold price suppression should think twice before wanting it in labor markets.
Just because our governments have successively erected protectionist laws doesn't make them right.
Well SirIsacNewt.? We're waiting...
There is no dishonor breaking an unjust law. The government has no right to tell Bruce who he can or cannot have economic dealings with.
The US' success and prosperity was founded on the work of those who would now be considered 'illegal' immigrants.
I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and it isn't of much value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them.
Boris Pasternak
My father was an immigrant from Ireland, turned 21 on the boat in 1949. But he had legal status, a willingness to "assimilate," though that word has a double meaning, part of what makes America a good place is the rich cultural flavor brought by immigrants. Still there are two side to the coin and I see the other side as clearly, legal immigration is a blessing, uncontrolled floods of immigration over the borders is a disaster of immense proportions. The Coyotes are an example, they would not exist without illegal immigration and how much of our economy is getting sucked into their pockets? Any would be too much.
Our immigration laws are antiquated and just unfair, they are strongly tilted to allow Asians and Africans, with immigration slots for people like my relatives in Ireland at near non existent. But, without any controls at all we would be inundated with a half billion people who come not for love of America or assimilation into our family, but for money only. I have no problem with those that would exclude those people.
I also cannot help wondering why there is no opportunity in their home country? Can it be a lack of private property rights? Is it the lack of a constitution that enshrines those freedoms that allow the USA to function as it does? (or used to) Is it an oppressive criminal class, a ruling elite that is so entrenched the nation cannot advance and grow? When I look at the nations feeding the migration of tens of millions it strikes me they have issues in common, paternalistic governments that shield wealthy patrons who make up a very small percentage of the population, wealth that is so over concentrated there is effectively no middle class. Oppressive religions that also suppress freedoms and free thinking that would lead to the kind of renaissance that flowered in the USA when secular government and freedom from religion was made a right. A complete lack of a functional middle class. It is the savings of the middle class that create the pools of stable capital, in Mexico for example wealth is concentrated in not just the top 10% as here, but in just about 60 families, the caprice of the heads of those families is what dictates the economic fortunes in their countries, and with it political stability.
I have to ask why do people know this and yet choose to leave for America rather than band together in their own nation and kick out, or at least ignore the priests, change their constitutions, distribute wealth appropriately, establish a legal system that is in concert with the 21st century and not the 16th. It can be done, look at the fortune of Singapore made with zero land or resources, only trade and intelligence. And forgive me if this borders on racist, but why do Spanish speaking nations seem to have disproportionate problems in these areas? Why does Mexico still insist upon using the Napoleonic legal codes as the basis for their laws? Not all of them are in such sad shape, Argentina is actually pretty modern and while not as wealthy as America it is also not disgorging it's people by the millions because of poverty either. Art and architecture thrive. Could it be their support for education? Is it their work ethic that while they speak Spanish their population is heavily influenced by Germanic and Scandinavian roots? If I had to choose a country outside the USA to live in I would probably go to Argentina.
One thing is pretty sure, in a borderless world the population of North America would exceed a billion for sure. And it would not be controlled growth.
So it's alright then....under your premise that the Government has no right to tell anyone to whom they can have economic dealings......that I buy all the goods that were just stolen from your home. It shouldn't matter that my economic dealings are supporting the illegal actions of another person. My grandparents had to wait two years to come to America legally thru Ellis Island. Most of the immigrants that came during the early 20th century wave came here thru legal means....so your statement is false....because those immigrants weren't illegal although they all were most likely indentured in some fashion. If we, as Americans, want to have a pool of foreign laborers, then we should change the law. Otherwise, selectively enforcing or selectively following laws begins the process of eroding the Rule of Law.... which ones get enforced or don't on whom and when become the arbitary application of who government wants to screw at that moment.
Nice try. But the immorality of buying stolen goods arises from the fact the goods are stolen, not because it's illegal. There's nothing immoral about emigrating to another country looking for work, regardless of whether it's legal or not.
The rule of law is most effectively eroded by a government enacting shedloads of laws that significant numbers of its citizens disagree with, or, indeed, cannot possibly comply with.
Rule of Law is only as good as the laws themselves are. The Nazis had no lack of 'Rule of Law' but I'd hope you wouldn't think twice about hiding a family of Jews from the Gestapo... despite its illegality at the time.
And no, making it illegal to employ whomever wishes to work for me at whatever rate we can agree is not the government's job. Just because our overlords make something illegal doesn't mean they've magically made it immoral.
You are obviously a Globalist and don't care about the U.S. and its citizens. I get that! The fact that countries including Mexico and Ecuador won't allow Americans to willy nilly walk into their countries to take a job against their laws is fine with you......and you think America should just bend over to allow anyone from another country to swamp the services, infrastructure and rights that we've worked hard for regardless of how it might impoverish the rest of the citizens rightfully here. Comparing a desire of America to have a basis for legal entry into its borders to the "Nazis" is sensationalistic. If you feel the American Government has become exactly like the Nazis, as your comparison implies, then please leave to the nearest country that will embrace your Socialistic and Communistic crap. Oh, by the way, America has had immigations laws since the United States Naturalization Law of March 26, 1790..... it didn't just magically appear and they didn't magically make it immoral. Whether you like it or not, it's been a part of our national fabric since just after we became a nation.
Yeah, yeah, and you're obviously a Nationalist and don't care about people in other countries. I get that!
Mexico and Equador don't allow Americans willy nilly walk into their countries to 'take' a job - and how is that working out for them? They're STILL dirt poor, like most countries that practice protectionism, and a pretty good idea of how we'll end up if we continue to suppress price-discovery in our own labor markets.
and you think America should just bend over to allow anyone from another country to swamp the services, infrastructure and rights...
Ignoring the strange idea that immigrants will somehow swamp our 'rights' - the reason we have immigrants swamping our services is because we have enacted ruinous socialist policies that enable (and, indeed, incentivise) them to. Institute 'user-pays' and that problem - and a lot of others, too - will vanish.
that we've worked hard for regardless of how it might impoverish the rest of the citizens rightfully here.
You are falling prey to the 'lump of labour fallacy'. The fact is - the more people there are working to produce wealth in this country, the richer this country will be.
My comparison with Nazi laws was to drive home the point that just because something is enshrined in law doesn't mean it should be obeyed. I could equally have used the US' own past slavery laws as an example.
But I'm glad you brought up the Naturalization Act of 1790 as an example of one of your 'moral' laws (from wiki):
The original United States Naturalization Law of March 26, 1790 ... provided the first rules to be followed by the United States in the granting of national citizenship. This law limited naturalization to immigrants who were "free white persons" of "good moral character". It thus left out indentured servants, slaves, free blacks, and later Asians.
of course, like most of your commentary, it's yet another red-herring, because the law was about which immigrants could become citizens - not whether they could work or not.
bigjim- read Ping above. The essential role of a government is to provide for the safety/security of it's citizens. This includes controlling it's borders, whether you agree with it or not. I live in the Cincinnati area. It is amazing to see how many illegals have found their way here over the years. The net result is wages driven down and housing costs driven up for our native poor. The illegals should turn around and take control of their own countries. Then, no more broken families and sob stories in the MSM here every damn day. This country threw off tyranny. So should they.
The essential role of a government is to provide for the safety/security of it's citizens. This includes controlling it's borders...
It's one thing to keep out terrorists or people with criminal records. But that's not what we're talking about, here, is it? Stamping immigrants as 'illegals' is the government telling YOU whom you may or may not hire to cut your lawn, tidy your garden, or whatever.... for entirely protectionist reasons - to artificially maintain high labor rates.
The reason we have so much immigration is because, in 'providing for the safety and security of it's (sic) citizens', as you put it, our government has instituted vast transfers of wealth from the productive to the unproductive. Do you think immigrants would flock here if there wasn't free healthcare for them and their children, and endless social programs - if they faced the real prospect of starvation unless they went cap-in-hand to citizens for charity, rather than getting it automatically from the government?
This country threw off tyranny. So should they.
The vast majority of Americans who made this country the success it is today arrived in this country after the Revolutionary War, and would have been deemed 'illegals' under our current laws.
So on ZH if you have more red arrows this is an indicator that you have the best argument? In light of how Mr.James here has been one of the ones making any sense, I mean.
Either that or there are simply a greater number of frustrated idiots making their way down this thread.
"...and ain't we got half the fools on our side? And ain't that a big enough majority in any town?"-Samuel Langhorne Clemens
"I know in my heart that I’m partially responsible for Danny’s plight."
I wouldn't really wish to argue with something clearly felt strongly, but I just don't see this myself. Sounds to me like you've been and will be a force for good in his life.
You make it sound like being 'forced' to go to Ecuador is like being sent to hell. I would argue the complete opposite. I came here voluntarily and would never leave. Being forced back to the 'developed' world would be hell.
Thank you for pointing out something important. I admire your candor and am glad to see there's another side to the story.
There is a big difference between voluntarily moving somewhere and being forced to move somewhere. But I get your point. I am thinking about making a similar move and Ecuador is one of the countries on my radar. I am a member of the Wall Street crowd and have made a decent living out of it, but I have come to learn over the last few years (with the help of ZH) just how dentrimental my industry is to the American ideal and whatever golden handcuffs I am wearing are starting to shatter.
Moreover, it seems to me like the next decade might be better lived in a country with a low expectations and low debt than in a country with extremely high expectations and extremely high debt.
Bruce, when you look back on this episode in a decade, you might see it was a blessing in disguise.
@ Speaker,
If you speak Spanish and can bring $200,000 or more, then you can live well in LatAm.
Consdier Peru, Costa Rica, Chile and Uruguay as well. All of them look acceptable to me, IF you speak Spanish and have the dough.
I would suggest spending 8 weeks (can be more than one trip) in ANY candidate country before making a permanent move. You need about that much time to completely check it out. Make sure your wife is OK with that too.