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[Sam Taliaferro]

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A short but interesting list this week. Enjoy!

Panama Real Estate update-LBC

If you walk in the streets of Panama, you could never tell the world is in recession. The boom is still strong in Panama. We find that there is no inventory of unsold finished residential units so far, but there is definitely some pressure on the pricing, especially on larger luxury units, as some foreign clients have difficulty in closing now that their home economies have grown sour.


The new frontier: A new country

There have been a number of attempts at building a new country and to date they have all been unsuccessful. The reason for this is mainly due to faulty technical or economic planing or false assumptions of how a nearby nation will react to a newcomer.


Panama pedestrian unfriendly

If you have ever tried to walk in Panama city, crossing the streets or just walking on a sidewalk can be hazardous to your health. Panama is a city where pedestrians receive no special protection and it even appears that every effort has been made to make walking prohibitive. This, in a country where most do not have cars is hard to believe, but it comes down to planning and that is in short supply in Panama.

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[Sam Taliaferro]

Our current newsletter is available for you to view online. Click the
link below or copy and paste it into your web browser:

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Martinelli for President

I have been blogging now for over three years and in the many thousands of posts I have written, I try to stay out of politics. Although much of what I write about is politically incorrect, I am careful to point to flawed policies rather than pointing the finger at any particular party or individual.

Panama free zone in free fall

One of a number of predictions I made for Panama's economy for 2009 was that the colon free zone would see falling sales as the worlds economy deteriorates. As this headline and story from La Prensa confirms, the drop in sales is more pronounced than anyone anticipated.

How Panama can protect itself against inflation?

Panama does not create inflation because inflation is a function of the devaluation of the dollar due to the U.S. government's printing presses. With the U.S. printing money to cover its trillions of dollars stimulus package and bank bailouts, Panama will eventually begin to experience unprecedented inflation. So how can Panama protect itself from this ever growing problem?

Panama has budget surplus?

Panama's economy which has been on fire the past two years was slated to drop from 7% to 5% in a government release just two months ago. In this story they have dropped that projection to 2.5%.

My oh my, a dark side to Dubai

Looks like there is a dark side to Dubai's labor laws that could land foreigners in debtors prison if they lose their jobs and can't pay the mortgage on their homes. You see, Islamic laws are pretty strict when it comes to not paying your bills. The unwinding of the boom in Dubai is getting uglier by the month and details like these are sure to make westerners think twice about buying property there no matter how low the prices drop.

Drought Kills Off Cattle by Thousands

Argentina is suffering its worst drought in decades and the cattle are dying by the barnload. Since October, the drought has taken down 1.5 million of the animals, according to an estimate by the Argentine Rural Society, in a country that last year sent 13.5 million to slaughter.

Running out of bullets?

No, I'm not talking about the economy but real bullets. Its seems gun dealers are seeing a rush to buy ammunition by gun owners. Geez, do they know something the rest of us don't know?

Bullion sales hit record in rush to safety

Investors are buying record amounts of gold bars and coins, shunning risky assets for the relative safety of bullion amid renewed fears about the health of the global financial system.

Unemployment bring changes to laws in Costa Rica

Labor laws in Latin Countries are notoriously in favor of the worker, but in tough economic times, these laws can hurt the employee. For example it is illegal to cut a workers hours, even if your business is having a tough time, both in Panama and in Costa Rica.

Is another dust bowl in the making?

What is it about economic depressions and droughts? The 1930s saw a depression and a world wide drought that brought starvation and disease to millions. Now here we are in 2009 and it looks like a replay of the same situation. But this time we have a world population more than 3 times that of the 1930's.

Business visitor numbers up for 2008; tourism numbers still low

The comptroller general has come out with its 2008 visitor numbers and they are up 12.7% over the previous year. We saw a slight increase in tourism in Boquete based on our occupancy rates and those of other hotel operators in the area. But you would think with the limited number of hotels in the interior and over 1.6 million visitors, we would have been turning away guests, which is certainly not the case.

Canal transit forecasts drop

A report from the Panama Canal Authority forecasted a slight downward adjustment in the quantity of shipping tonnage originally projected to pass through the waterway this year, but estimated that it would amount to less than a 5 percent difference.

Dubai goes back to the desert

This video is striking in what you don't see. No people, just empty buildings. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Maybe Panama won't fall so hard or ........ maybe the jungle will take it back too.

--
Did you know there is a new country in Central America and it has
quickly become the top retirement destination in the western
hemisphere? Be sure to visit the Republic of Chiriqui and find

out why. http://m1e.net/c?88452906-QRaqXqFfcuWXY%403986153-Lviej6DYmcN8M