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January 2005 Unprecedented numbers of Americans are contemplating moving abroad since the November 2004 Presidential election. People whose ancestors risked everything to migrate to America a couple generations ago are seriously considering abandoning US soil. Reverse migration by those considered fortunate to live in ‘the land of the free’ is almost inconceivable. Yet, inquiries from the USA to foreign residency websites and the very website you are now reading have increased substantially. Sadly, the bleak reality many Americans who are thinking of leaving will face is they lack the freedom to choose where to live their lives. The reason is the Bush dollar.

The deplorable state of the dollar isn’t big news in America. When your income is in dollars and you spend dollars, you think about other things. For those Americans living in foreign countries with currencies shaky enough to accept dollars, the dollar’s paltry performance isn’t necessarily a factor. Nor is it a live-or-die issue for people residing abroad who earn foreign currency.

Those affected are people who have a fondness for electricity, drinkable water and paved roads and who were able to live modestly in comfortable countries abroad based on savings or pensions. But all that was before the Bush dollar came into play. 

Around the time Bush moved into the oval office, one dollar bought 1.18 Euros. If your annual expenses totaled 48,000 Euros, you converted $40,680. Just four years later, you shell out $64,865 for the same lifestyle. If you can’t come up with the bucks, you must reduce your lifestyle to 30,000 Euros a year. Who can cut back a lifestyle 40%? 

However, there is another option while waiting out the Bush dollar years and that is to move to a country whose currency is pegged to the US Dollar. No matter how the dollar performs, you are financially neutral when you convert dollars to the pegged currency. On the flip-side of the coin, you won’t benefit when the dollar re-bounds, but who knows how old we’ll be when that happens? If it happens. 

With Bush re-elected to another four years of fiscal irresponsibility and dollar instability, my brutal choice was to either leave Europe or face continued financial drainage. After considerable anguish, it was time to leave Switzerland, the fairytale land I had grown to love.

A new adventure in my life begins and in coming articles, after I get unpacked, I will tell you where I landed.  At the moment, I am in culture shock and can scarcely believe it, myself. 

The following are Bonnie's previous articles for the magazine:

Swiss Rental Cows ~ Get Your Own Cow .
Prehistoric Underpants - The Iceman Of Bolzano, Italy
Retire In A Wealthy Nation ~ Switzerland ~ By Bonnie Burns
My Swiss Bank Affair ~ Opening An Account
First Read Manufacturer's Instructions - Moving Day In Switzerland
Thanksgiving In Switzerland ~ Turkey Day
Christmas In Zurich - New Toys And Old

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