argentinian pesos

Hey friend, 

I’m in Buenos Aires for at least the first half of this year, but its feeling like it could be more long term. 

For me, its probably the most interesting place in the world to be, for me. 

With its history, its geography, its politics, and rib-eyes of course :))

There’s beautiful french art deco buildings here from the late 1800’s. With huge ceilings, big white walls and windows. Im thinking of renting one longer term and setting up a home studio for myself.

Living here truly feels in a way that I am living through an important moment in time and its beautiful to witness. But life isn’t perfect here, that’s not why I am here. 

For example today I went to the local analog film shop to buy a self timer and remote shutter release for my Leica, which they had both of- which was impressive haha. 

However due to the rate of inflation many stores refuse to accept debit card payments because the payments can take up to 30 days to settle. And in that time, inflation can wipe out half of that transactions value. Wild. 

So its cash only. Which is cool, except that all atms have a daily withdrawal limit of $15usd and a fee of $8usd per transaction. So it would take me 10 days of daily withdrawals and 60% more than the actual money Im receiving in fees, just to get these couple of things I needed. 

I then tried to pay him in crypto. However the exchange the man had is heavily regulated in argentina, and take 10 days for the crypto to get deposited in his account once I send it. So that wasn’t an option either.

So i went down the road to western union to try there. I needed to open an account which required my known addresses, physical passport, drivers license, tax residency among other details. Then I was finally able to withdrawal a few hundred usd at a 10% mark up rate.

All of this to access my own money. 

And as an Australian citizen, i’m lucky. Most of the world is completely cut off from traditional banking. Argentinians aren’t allowed even PayPal accounts. For a lot of countries in Asia and Africa its virtually impossible to send and receive money overseas. Its a huge factor in poverty in these places. It’s literally impossible to start a business & get banking in Africa, that’s why its still so poor.

In fact there have been numerous times in Argentina where local banks have replaced everyones USD they were holding into pesos and took the money and ran. And the government allowed it. 

This isn’t just an Argentinian problem. 

It’s happening at different degrees all over the world. In Australia, Canada, the states, China, Europe.

One of my most interesting learnings of the last year for me has been about the ideas of what true personal sovereignty is. 

And the truth is, if you rely on one government, one passport, one residency - you are kind of at the will of these governments that are much more concerned with their own interests than yours. 

Governments will print the shit of out of their own currency to keep the party going.  (Like the US and most of the world)

They will shut bank accounts down under false justifications (like the Canada truckers incident)

They will limit payments to certain places or people they don’t like. (like crypto exchanges for Australian’s with Commbank)

They will prevent innovation and growth, like the European Union literally spending billions every year on new anti-innovation regulations. What do they think bred the abundance that created what Western Europe is? Or what is once was, at least.

If the purpose of education is to create free individuals - than this is important. 

Because its not just enough to become a better slave. 

To start a business and make money just to be become a more product member of this system, to have your countries resources stripped and monetised by multinationals while you are taxed to the nines & the big corporations avoid paying barely anything. Then have the dollar eroded year on year by increasing inflation. Then to give a good portion of your monthly income to pay a mortgage with rising interest rates and sky-rocketting house prices created by your government by allowing overwhelming foreign investment.

The truth is, you can create a great business, with all the “freedoms“ and still remain a slave for life- to this old system. 

People are waking up to it. People are opting out of the game. Looking for alternative ways of living. 

And this awakening is a big reason why the west is opening its borders so wildly to immigrants from failed states with completely different values, not for kindness or justice, but they need more slaves who are willing to do what I am not. A lot of westerns are no longer will to be slaves to these institutions which ultimately represent “profit at all costs“ corporations. So the west if being sold out to those we are willing to be good slaves.

There’s a whole other game being played here. 

So much bigger than making internet money on the beach.

Now this isn’t a call to burn the old system down. Or to disobey it. 

But its an inspiration. 

That the world is ripe with opportunity for those who want to build something greater. 

Better solutions. Better ideas. Better tech. Better education. 

Not in opposition to the existing system, but a completely separate system. Not one that disobeys the old system, but finds a way to work with it.

There’s a whole world outside of this system. And in fact no one is holding you there, only your own thinking. You probably were never aware of other options, other ways of living. 

For me, there’s no point educating young people, if they are just going to be better cogs in the old financial, political, social systems.

Most modern alternative education products, are just making better slaves.

-Jay

Jay Topp is a 24 year old writer, marketer, film maker & self-led educator originally from Australia, now based between Latin America & Europe. You can see his films here. Instagram here. And his business website here.

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re: sno convethe lmoney VS ease.