It’s time to end your abusive relationship with Anthony

Ever had a friend or family member stuck in an abusive relationship? If not, you probably scoffed at the very idea. Nobody is “stuck” in a relationship, right?

But if you’ve seen it, you know. I’ve been in one myself. Until my cousin and auntie gave me a wakeup call. And yanked me interstate to escape.

It’s easy to tell other people to just cut ties with someone. But astonishingly difficult to do it yourself.

Not this time, though.

I’ve had enough.

And I’m doing a runner.

Not from my wife!

From the governments that reckon they can take advantage of me.

The South Africans used to call it the ‘chicken run’. Until Zimbabwe’s economic policies started to show up in their own legislation.

Then the South Africans did a runner themselves, largely for Australia. Until we got a reputation during COVID and the US became more popular.

These days South Africans arrive as outright refugees in the US!

How things change…

I reckon Australia will soon see its own exodus. They’ll call it the ‘kangaroo hop’.

Australian taxpayers, investors, entrepreneurs, those with big Super balances, and young people will break up with the lucky country.

The tighter the government squeezes them, the more will slip through its fingers.

I’ve been squeezed out already. But where can you go?

How much can a koala bear?

I’ve got three citizenships. But it’s hard to know which government is dishing out the worst abuse…

The Australian government seems intent on being the last country to give up on the political delusions already dying elsewhere.

Climate policies, culture wars inside schools, tax hikes and dystopian policing, for a start. We were amongst the last to give up on lockdowns and zero COVID too.

Our central bank made a promise not to raise rates until 2024. And then stuck to the line that the inflation it caused was a transitory supply chain issue.

Worst of all, the Reserve Bank had no excuse for lying. Australia’s debt wasn’t so dangerously high that we needed a dose of inflation to bring it back down.

It’s bad enough being an Aussie, stuck dating Anthony Albanese. But I cop it from two European countries too…

Gaslighting, without enough gas or lighting

The UK government keeps getting caught gaslighting its taxpayers. Consider immigration, for a start…

It turns out immigration is a net weight on tax revenue, not a necessary boost.

Immigration statistics were out by more than US GDP estimates.

And just when the population finally got Brexit from a Brexiteer prime minister, immigration went absolutely bonkers.

You know a relationship is abusive once the victim stops flinching and begins to take the most absurd things for granted. The UK’s NHS is out promoting the benefits of cousin marriages…

I suppose they result in a lot of NHS funding…

But at least the UK seems to be turning the corner, politically speaking. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is well ahead in the polls.

I worked with Nigel for a few years during the pandemic. We wrote the UK’s oldest financial newsletter together. He might actually deliver radical change.

The Germans are in such a bad relationship with their government that they’re ready to try out the real right wing. Angela Merkel’s once glowing legacy is in absolute tatters on all counts. Even the German car industry is struggling to survive German energy policy.

No wonder the Germans arrested my mum for a Facebook post. Anyone who doesn’t put up with the abuse must be a Nazi, by definition.

Cross checking your victimhood

One of the funny things I’ve noticed is that each of my home nations claims to have the highest electricity prices in the world, the worst immigration problem and the craziest energy policies.

I tell you, there’s nothing like following other countries’ domestic news to expose the lies of your own media and politicians.

So, what’s the solution to this? How do I break up? Where do I go?

Where is my Galt’s Gulch?

The land of ignorance is bliss

I’ve just moved to Japan. My wife’s hometown has a population of 100 thousand. It’s prosperous, flooded with children and their young mothers, and echoes with the engines of brand new F-35 fighter jets twice a day.

If the Japanese ever discover insulation and double glazing, this place will become a paradise. For now, we burn more wood than a German household in the winter of 2022.

Other than heating, things are so much better here that I’m pondering not coming back.

Not that Japan is perfect. Maybe I’m just too bad at Japanese to understand what’s wrong with the place.

As far as I can tell, the flaws in Japanese society are so medieval that I have no concern my children will see right through them. It’s not like they’ll be racist. So they’ll dodge the delusions of the East by a wide margin.

In Australia and the UK, things are much more pernicious. The totalitarianism seems to creep. One year its energy policy. The next its higher taxes. Then police and teachers get caught out preaching the truly bizarre.

I suppose everyone wakes up eventually to where things are headed. The question is how bad things need to get in your relationship with the government before you wake up too.

Of course, leaving Australia isn’t for everyone. Some people want to stick around to see their Superannuation get redirected by politicians, and taxed ever more. They like paying other people’s welfare bills alongside absurd energy bills. They see the logic in using their own property wealth just to get family onto the housing ladder.

If you’d like to stick around to enjoy your abusive relationship with your government a little longer, I understand. There’s only one thing left I can do for you.

At least get some of your money out of the country. To a place where stock markets actually perform well because the government is unleashing the economy instead of strangling it.