Well, Jimmy, I'm not a scientist. What can I do but give testimonial information. :-) I've seriously considered moving to Cuba, simply because I like the specific people I met down there, and I like the climate, but the possible threat of destabilization of that society by the USA worries me enough to give me great pause about doing so. I think that the moment Castro dies, Cuba is in great danger of being thoroughly destabilized by very powerful forces, and ruined.

I'm also seriously considering moving to Trinidad. It's not as stable or safe a society as Cuba, but it's in a far safer location. There's a whole lot of street crime in Trinidad (and very little in Cuba), but that wouldn't be a problem in the area I would move to there...it's a problem in their cities mostly. Again, in the case of Trinidad, I would move there because of the particular people I know there.

In both cases, I am speaking of people who live in a cooperative spiritual community, and they are absolutely exceptional people.

I think the rather poor health of the present day American population is fairly well documented in a number of books at this point. You might check out "Diet For a New Planet", "Fit For Life", and quite a few other books on that. North Americans eat a godawful bad diet (generally) and don't get enough fresh air and exercise, and are under way too much stress (and loneliness). The obesity of Americans is remarked on all over the World.

Canada has far less poverty than the USA, but it's slowly getting worse here, and poverty is increasing. Canada's streets feel far safer, and always have. It's a less aggressive society. I like being in Canada quite a bit. I would probably like being in the USA if I could find the right group of people to live and work with. I would rather be in a warmer country with a simpler lifestyle, like Cuba or Trinidad, but one has to balance all the factors, such as...

Legal status, Visa, moving one's business activities to a new location, moving - period, earning a living, family connections, leaving one's culture behind and adapting to a new one, and so on.

It's complex. Living in any country can have its good points and its drawbacks.

I appreciate the reasonable tone of your last post. We're all conservative about one thing or another...the only question is - what?

- LH