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Venezuela seems to have serious problems.
Is Chile considered fairly stable and safe?
For the Libertarians they have a Galt's Gulch
http://galtsgulchchile.com/
with organic farming.

If copper doesn't collapse in a global economic implosion.

I wouldn't invest now. Wait.

Chile is a well-run economy and has generally had a stable political structure

Low on corruption, a little higher on free-market capitalism than most other south american countries

Chile's political stability has been historically dependent on the price of copper.

...and a climate similar to sunny So Cal.
It sounds fairly stable and safe....watch for falling copper.

And worse earthquakes with tsunamis. It also has the climate range similar to Baja, Mexico all the way to Canada. And the water swirls the opposite direction down the toilet bowl.

One positive about Argentina and Chile is the snakes are not poisonous, but other things are such as this crazy tiny spider (or perhaps I am thinking of Brazil) that can kill you. Then again there is a tree frog here in the Philippines that spits in your eye and blinds, but I've been lucky to avoid them thus far (although I almost went looking at one when someone grabbed me and informed me of the danger).

The most important thing is the cultural adaptation to a new country is not easy for most people. Most highly underestimate this. I speak from decades of experience of adjusting to another country from my birth place USA.

Edit: be wary about land rights outside of the metropolitan areas especially south of Santiago, as there are many areas where the natives still dispute land rights and you can end up in a mess. For the same reason, never buy land in Patagonia, Argentina.

In short, if something is cheap, there is probably a good reason. The again, I punted on a $25,000 acre size property on the beach near La Paz, Baja, Mexico in 2001 and you can't get anything there now for 10X that price. But I believe the bubble is coming near to its collapse.

The copper doesn't fall from the sky, but their economy is something like 50% dependent on the price of copper. Mono-economies are very unstable. Don't let the current $150 trillion global debt balloon lull you into a false sense of stability.

This might help you to make an idea if chile is safe
http://kindles7reasonsofchileanliving.blogspot.ro/2012_10_01_archive.html

As long as there is no military coup, Chile can be considered as safe and stable. But I have to warn that military coups do occur frequently there.

Sorry to see my prophetic upthread warning came true again. But looks like this 8.2 quake wasn't too deadly.

My main worry about Chile is the economy is so dependent on copper. And copper is going to crash in price, because:

• Massive oversupply of manufacturing due to $223 trillion global debt bubble, and exacerbated by China running a Yuan peg to drive their fixed capital investment share of their GDP from 30% to 60%. Can you spell C-O-L-L-A-P-S-E?
• $223 trillion global debt bubble collapse again
• Everything tangible will become incredibly devalued (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=495527.msg6065144#msg6065144) in the Knowledge Age Economy coming

I don't know how Chile will transform.

Also there are two Chiles, the affluent and the mestizos who don't integrate with the economy. And they cause trouble with land rights, etc..

Sounds less than ideal.
However, the same can be said for the USA.

Chile isn't a nuclear power , nor has the military power needed to keep the country afloat when it will be near bankruptcy.

One little difference :)

Think yes
Progressive and pretty good governance
Run by a billionaire though aren't they?

It is a fairly stable country some remnants of Tension exist between the strong right and left wings of the country which are in part due to the legacy of the Pinochet era and the transition from a Presidential dictatorship to a democratic system but overall other than that it is doing well.

Until the copper price implodes. Then you will see the lurking social inequities in Chile burst in out into the open as civil unrest and political chaos, just as we are seeing elsewhere in the world.

True that is the flaw of a country strongly dependent on a single resource
The resource curse/Dutch Disease in action

Recently, Chile has tried hard to lessen its dependence on copper exports. The government has succeeded in attracting foreign investment to the forestry and agricultural (including dairy farming) sectors. Currently, Chile is the world's fifth largest exporter of wine and the eighth largest producer. The fishery sector is also growing at a steady price.

I would say generaly speaking yes they are but I'm sure there is a lower standard of living  generally speaking compared to say America or Canada for example.  I know of someone who has moved there a few months ago doesn't seem like he is unhappy just adjusting to the differences in environment.

Well as long as your fairly careful and speak the language you should be fine
The problem with poorer countries is that some people are scared for good reasons and live in gated communities
As a result this rich poor divide becomes more evident and they condition themselves to live with a sense of fear for the poor

Still a resource based economy, not a knowledge based. Resource based economics will plummet in relative value in the Knowledge Age (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=557732.msg6078778#msg6078778).

Then you will have to admit that most of the Latin American nations (Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru.etc) are resource based economies. Other sectors such as IT / Banking / Services will never get big there.

Knowledge based economies need huge investment in education and encouragement from the government. These nations don't bother much about it. 

Chile is fairly stable except for the ground you stand on.

Though I will seriously be considering buying a lot in the Gults Gulch. Depending on the bitcoin price over the next few years.

Where would you say has invested in Knowledge? I would assume that it is less to do with government and more to do with *access* (at least in my experience), I have experience in education and the poorer parts of the UK lack access (at home) and get some education but usually lack the personal initiative to make use of the facilities as the level they are taught at is extremely low level.

To be clear I am referencing very basic levels of technological literacy as it concerns the (young) public.

Seems most teenagers get how to use social media, but lack fundamental understanding of computers.

But it is the duty of the government to make knowledge and education more accessible to the citizens, isn't it? Perhaps the UK government can improve the level of computer knowledge by sending in teachers from the posh localities to the schools and colleges in the poorer regions?

I am from one of the "poorer regions" and only have the level of knowledge because I was lucky enough to have access when young (family in telecoms) coupled with reasonable intelligence, which at my age had absolutely nothing to do with state education despite my schools being reasonably equipped. This combined with encouragement from my family members is the part of the reason I was able to 'better myself' socially.

My point is that you can lead a horse to water. About 5% (generous estimation) of my students have the motivation, innate intelligence and family support making them more likely to be significantly above average. I would not class myself as much above average.

But I agree the duty (at least ostensibly) taken upon itself by the state is to increase levels of knowledge even if it does so haphazardly. There are some initiatives, like Raspberry Pi, but I believe this was from the private sector worrying about state education's lack of real computer education and Britain becoming even less competitive. I mention this as the state education is far behind even in the UK.

I've only visited Mexico, Guatemala (1993), Colombia (2001), and Philippines (1990 to present) thus far. I've been having ongoing discussions via email and phone with my Colombian friend whom I met there (we worked in the gym together, partied, etc), who is 15 year younger than me, who is an ESL tutor, and who had recently did a stink over in Argentina. From interacting with him, I think the main problem and what differentiates Latin America from Asia, is that Latin Americans believe in socialism in a very big way. They think the State should take care of them, that smoking pot & having free love and salsa dancing will make a wonderful world of harmony. Whereas, Asians think only hard work will result in success.

I think the issue is cultural, but I don't completely know the Spanish colonies Mañana culture other than the Philippines which I know very well:

http://liveinthephilippines.com/content/manana-what-does-it-mean/

Mañana culture means don't rush, don't stress, come what may, no deadlines, no desire to meet commitments. It means my personal problems take priority of my contract with you. Etc.

Note the Philippines is currently undergoing a transformation and losing some of its Mañana culture. But I bet you will see it come back to some extent when the economy turns down.


I don't know Chile well, but I've read that land issues in some of the provinces are the same like here in Philippines, in that a foreigner can always end up the loser. Chile has apparently made some progress towards moving away from that and towards developed world standards, but I wouldn't be surprised that the historic culture and issues aren't lurking to come back to some extent if the economy turns down in severe way.

Chile may have the least Mañana culture in Latin America?

Well... no problem with that. Socialism up to a certain limit can be successful. Most of the Latin American nations are endowed with natural resources (as in the case of Chile, which having copper deposits). Asians don't have that much natural resources, so they have to work hard. Look at the middle east. Will you be able to find any of the local Arabs working? Definitely no. They just import South Asians and Egyptians to do all the work.

I have noticed similar traits (as a generality) in oil rich countries. How many years do you think this will take to change in the middle-east?

It will never change in countries such as Qatar, UAE and Bahrain, where the Arab population is small. But I am not sure about Saudi Arabia, where the population is exploding and a large part of it living in poverty.

Yes, very stable. Especially compared to Venezuela.

There is a huge problem for them. I wrote up thread that I assert we are moving to the Knowledge Age, and thus natural tangible resources will become highly devalued, i.e. massive poverty.

And thus they deprioritized the development of their knowledge economy, because they were fattened on the back of a $223 trillion debt bubble that sustain the massive overcapacity in manufacturing and demand for natural resources while retarding or devaluing knowledge work worldwide.

But a massive epochal shift is underway. This is fundamentally what this Mad Max global contagion debt conflagrapocalyse is about.

Oh, they have issues with earthquakes?
Searching now...
Oops:

Historic Earthquakes
Chile
1960 May 22 19:11:14 UTC
Magnitude 9.5

The Largest Earthquake in the World

Approximately 1,655 killed, 3,000 injured, 2,000,000 homeless, and $550 million damage in southern Chile; tsunami caused 61 deaths, $75 million damage in Hawaii; 138 deaths and $50 million damage in Japan; 32 dead and missing in the Philippines; and $500,000 damage to the west coast of the United States.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/events/1960_05_22.php

They also had a pretty bad one last year (https://www.google.com/search?q=rand+paul+bitcoin&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb#channel=sb&q=chile+earthquake+2013&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official).

Not only with earthquakes, but with Tsunamis also.

The most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the history of human kind was reported from Chile. The 1960 Valdivia earthquake had a magnitude of 9.5 in the Richter scale. Tsunamis with 25m high waves followed the earthquake.