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This report has come out at least annually since the mid-1980s (yes, I can remember it that far back). Same story, same issue, same reason. If Congress stopped stealing the cash from the Social Security deposits, it would have lasted longer. Now they have to clean up the missing money mess, which they won't. Instead. it will be a classic argument of cutting costs to eliminate "unnecessary" entitlements and benefits people spent their working life earning.
"Another person pointed out that 200,000 posts and 11,000 users is tiny (ouch, @k00b), and thus we can't say much about social media more generally. "
I would've noted that simply having a lot of posts doesn't automatically equate to quality. Facebook is a living example of being a pile of cow shit online.
Yeah, we're very good at locking people up. Those numbers are up another 80K + for all the detention folks too...
That's where I see the fudge. There's still a considerable fallout of people who go into the broad-based category that really are just floaters versus permanent stays. The Nomad Visa provided by a number of European countries and similar made that easy to do on a practical travel level. How many are sticking to it and staying only gets counted over time well past the six month or 1 year visa window before renewal or having to commit to residency rules. A lot of them have kids or went with job flexibility as couples, so it's very mixed data and easy to make broad assumptions that don't hold up on tighter review.
The trend in the news is based on a Federal Register release of 1000+ people losing their citizenship. When you follow the article links to their source, that's the primary basis. That's nothing compared to the 4 million plus people living overseas and hardly a metric anyone from an audit perspective would consider material. But it's newsworthy because the number is far bigger than the previous Register release of citizenship loss. Again, it's a bit like saying, we saw a 200% increase! Well in what? We went up by 2 units from 1 for a total of 3. But you still missed 97. Um, why does that matter again?
Yes, that's what they write. I would still test the data to support that statement. Many folks are returning due to finding out the grass is not greener after a year or so.
Crime is pretty bad in big cities in a lot of other countries. The difference here is that we highlight it as entertainment on the evening news and now the 24/7 spin every day. That creates the impression the US has gone bananas compared to other places. I would venture to say London, Paris, Kinshasa, Mexico City and Rome all have their share of shit daily; we just don't hear about it as much.
This pattern of political terminations is going to backfire. It's one thing to go after appointees. It's another to go after rank and file politically when they are doing their job overseen by political appointees at the time.
I suspect most are either retirees or individuals with the ability be nomadic. I would test the data for how many stay abroad or on one place out of country longer than two years, which would be the real test of a full relocation. Many who have gone to Spain, for example, have found the taxes and bureaucracy to be even crazier and moved back, especially since the Nomad Visa is getting phased out post-Covid. Retirees, on the other hand, are looking to make their dollar go farther and have the ability to live elsewhere being on a pension or retirement account withdrawal schedule. They don't have to worry about reporting to the office anymore. Interestly, many still consult and make money elsewhere.
Total guessing here as I know nothing about Chinese culture internally - I'm wondering if it's a cultural thing based on history. During the 1940s and the introduction of Mao Zedong's initial communist government China was going through horrendous famines across the country. Some of those folks who were little kids then would have shaped generations afterwards on the value of always having food, which then would have been passed down to a practice today inherent in everyday behavior. Curious if that's the driver. It's the same as in the US where older generations still hid money in mattresses and house wall secret spots because they didn't trust banks after 1929 and the Depression 30s.