Originally Posted by
rousseau
I quite liked Patzcuaro when I visited years ago, but I can't understand this expat attitude to "cheap" foreign places. Does it not bother you to be living the high life financed by the poverty around you? Are you really so cold? I know I would find it difficult putting on my expensive kit and going out on my expensive bike worth many times more than the annual incomes of the average Mexican living a meagre economic existence, never mind riding past the impoverished Indian families begging in the streets.
The spectacle of first-world retirees living in grand style in third-world locales is an ugly one. It's a kick in the face to the people living there. And spare me the justifications, because we've heard them all.
So.. I assume that you do not have anything that was made by poor people in a poor country with poor working conditions, because that is the same principle, people with money taking advantage of a good, or service that is significantly cheaper due to international trade. (when you go to a different country, what you consume, purchase, or services you use there can be considered an import to your country)
The point is, that people in those poor places where the "evil" retirees live, are better off because of the retirees living there. The retirees arrival increases the demand for goods and services, which in turn, raises prices and or decreases producer surplus.
IF, and only if you had a general understanding of economics, you wouldnt say that retirees moving to a poor place, hurt the community..
/rant