We, my family recently went to Panama for 18 days, and I got my
limited
understanding of this nation. We stayed in Panama city, place with
lots
of traffic, and unless your goals are limited ,you need a taxi or a
car.
Describing driving here is the Panamanians do it very
robustly. Everyone works here and they seem to work vigorously,
though slowly. They appear on the surface to be very happy, although many
seem to have hard eyes. This is a capitalistic
country and it is apparent from the dedicated work ethic that they
love free enterprise.
Panama, has many wonderful, beautiful buildings, some are
completed but empty, some are only half finished. In these cases it
is my speculation that real work and real wealth support this
economy, so
the enterprises have to
wait until they can acquire more capital or wealth before they
can proceed.
The UNITED STATES, when we have a money shortage the Fed
prints more money to keep our economy going. The Panamanians have no
printing presses, so there is no artificial wealth ,the project
depends
on the demand for it.
Another observation, they keep armed guards at
their banks or any money processing center, they apparently take
money
and crime very seriously. You can bargain prices in the mall or
stores and twice I negotiated, and at least made to think I got a lower
price.
The slums are awful, miserable unsafe and they are the most
wretched
I have witnessed. They are almost beyond imagination or
description, and
our guide wisely observed, we do not want to have a flat tire here.
I
can tell you my most profound observation, being in another country
makes or reinforces my belief in what a truly great and unusual
nation
we have, and how much we need to protect our patriotic, Christian,
freedom, cherished values. May God bless all of us, and may God continue to bless the greatest nation ever
create, AMERICA.
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