Very recently I posted a rant about what happened in the Capitol building. Without explanation the post probably looks rather political. So I wanted to take a moment to explain something that is potentially very important to American ex-pats.
To the outside world the storming of the Capitol building in Washington DC has come as a shock. It was terrifying to watch.
America the strong. America the brave. America the solid. America the country that helped liberate France twice in the 20th century. America the country that quite nearly collapsed into a lie-believing supply-side Jesus white supremacist Confederate flag waving the South Will Rise Again strong-man Trump loving heap of an emerging world-style mess.
This, right here, is why Americans living overseas have every right to be terrified over what happened in Washington DC.
Many of us rely on easy, quick access to our financial resources back in the States to live. Social Security deposits, IRA, savings, and 401K plans can be our only but usually reliable lifelines. If the United States is suddenly registered on the list of backward nation states, of third world counties, of regions controlled by dictators who ignore, subvert, and crush democratic elections, then we ex-pats have severely limited means of contributing to the local economies we've integrated into.
The Almighty Dollar would suddenly be nothing more than a pip-squeak backwater currency of little to no value.
I imagine that the adults in the room (CEOs, politicians with consciences, bankers, and policy makers) in the US are working overtime to reassure the world that America can handle this little problem and that the US is actively working to put itself back on the world stage in a solid, consistent, meaningful way.
It will be a topic of critical interest to many of us off-shored people watching how the adults deal with this.
This is no laughing matter.
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