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TCM: The 6 Million Dollar Man

May 15, 2012 by 2 Comments

Perhaps if I had not called this meeting “Hybrid Operating Rooms” but how you can be kept alive by new technologies in medicine more than twenty people would have come to the meeting. Our speaker Bruce Landau from the University of Pennsylvania was excellent.  We are often lucky that very talented visitors to Boquete offer us their time when they are here.

Bruce discussed some of the changes in modern surgery and how computer and imaging technology is remaking the operating room. The cost  of these new high tech operating rooms can exceed the six million but the outcome to patients is worth the investment.

The bottom line message was that the practice of medicine is changing, rapidly. The use of new technology is allowing for less invasive surgery and lower risk of infection. Although these new techniques are now being used in Canada, Europe and the USA, as of now they are not available in Panama. That might be changing soon and based upon what I saw today if I needed surgery that can be done in a hybrid operating room I would without a doubt travel to a location that has the technology.

This link to an article in USA Today might be of interest to those who missed the presentation. LINK

Sorry if you missed the meeting because many of us will face these life altering decisions in the future  for either ourselves or loved ones.

 


Filed Under: Featured, Health Care, Survival Kit Items, Tuesday Mornings Tagged With:

Tuesday Meetings a Followup on community input

May 6, 2012 by 13 Comments

I want to put a positive face on the Boquete Community input on the Tuesday Morning Meetings. I posted on Boquete Guide, BoqueteNing and used Noticas to reach in excess of four thousand people who either live in Boquete or are interested enough to read those resources. As of now sixty six people have responded to the poll, another twenty seven have left comments on this site.

Less that 2.5% of those contacted cared enough about the future of the Tuesday meetings  to respond.  Of those who did respond eleven said they never go to the meetings.  That would indicate that the meetings, a long tradition in this community, are only important to about one hundred people in Boquete; I know that is wrong. When we have a topic of interest the community packs the house.

Boquete Community Meeting

Boquete Community Meeting

Of those who did respond with comments there were many useful suggestions. One of the ideas is to allow commercial meetings and let the vendor pay the BCP, eliminating the $1 per person fee at the door, a great idea and the BCP has told me  they will consider that option.

Dianne and I have been donating time and effort to this meeting. Dianne has been doing this for years, me only for a few months. I will not call the work thankless because many people do thank us.

I was not a regular attendee of the meetings in the past.  I  went when the topic was of interest to me; the way it should be. Now I go to most meetings because I introduce the speaker unless Dianne does the deed.  Most meetings have fifty or fewer people present, rarely a full house in an expat community of thousands. It is clear most topics are not of great interest to people here. The question is why try to maintain a schedule of weekly meetings unless there are topics of interest to at least one hundred in the community.

What is needed is more speakers who are willing to donate an hour of their time to educate those in the community on something of interest. Most of our requests to groups in the community fall on deaf ears. In the past I have tried to get people to talk about alternative health care, only Gilberto stepped forward. I have tried to get people to speak on tourism, no one local was willing. I have tried to get some of the local groups who do hiking, birdwatching etc to speak, nada. When people make suggestions for speakers they are usually unwilling to contact the speaker and ask for them to speak.  It is not my job to beg people to speak. I do ask, but I am unwilling to be a gadfly.

I have decided to allow the meetings to be less frequent and reduce the pressure on both Dianne and I. When we have good speakers we will have meetings. We will try a bi or trimonthly tourist and newbies meeting as suggested in comments. If the BCP decides to allow paid commercial presentations they will fill the time slot.

In the beginning the meetings helped create the critical mass needed for the market. Now I believe the market stands on it’s own and will grow and expand regardless of whether we have speakers or not.

The new reality is fewer speakers, perhaps commercial speakers and more efforts at newbie related meetings with no speakers. I am still looking for input and speakers and if someone else has a better idea I am open to all suggestions.

 


Filed Under: Featured, Survival Kit Items, Tuesday Mornings

TCM: The future

May 2, 2012 by 28 Comments

I have been running the Tuesday Community Meetings at the BCP for about six months. When I took on the mission I decided to change the format a bit. I have tried to introduce more quality speakers. At that time I decided a void in the schedule, no speaker would be better than some of the speakers who had been allowed to use the podium to promote products and agendas. I also decided to cut the long introductions and have only announcements and the presentation.

I am finding it increasingly difficult to find quality speakers.  I am asking for your input on the what you, the community, would like to see. Please look at the poll on the right column  below the ads and provide me input on the future of the Tuesday Community Meetings.

For those who think otherwise I have no commercial motivations for doing the meetings. The  dollar at the door goes to the BCP, not me or the speakers.

Use the comments area below and the parallel post on BoqueteNing.com for more feedback and ideas.

Thanks

 


Filed Under: Survival Kit Items, Tuesday Mornings

TCM: Fear is a great motivator, Alto al Crimen

March 27, 2012 by 6 Comments

The Tuesday Community Meeting was a standing room event today. Alto al Crimen gave their annual report to the community. Their meeting was moved up due two four home invasions in Chiriqui within a short period. We have very little violent crime so it is headline material.

Alto al Crimen was founded as a response to prior crime wave in Boquete. In it’s few years here it has helped a few people find new homes in the David jail and stopped at least one wave of robberies being committed by a gringo. Past laurels aside, the community is scared, there have been four home invasions in a very short time. The first in Volcan, where there are suspects. In the Boquete area in El Francis and near Montanas de Caldera. The last incident occurred near Playa Barraqueta. It is probable all have been committed by the same perpetrators.

Each of these attacks had common elements and suspects are three or possibly four Panamanian men in the their mid twenties with a car.  Each victim was in an upscale house, semi rural and expat. Police response was called everything from excellent to non existant depending upon the case. The police here are limited in their ability to cover large distances with poor communications and few cars.

It was pointed out that Home Invasions are not unique to Panama. My friend, Mr. Google discovered this factoid.

“According to a United States Department of Justice report:

  • 38 percent of assaults and 60 percent of rapes occur during home invasions
  • One in five homes undergoes a home invasion or break-in
  • There are more than 8,000 home invasions every day in North America
  • 50 percent of home invasions involve the use of a weapon; the most common weapons used are knives or other cutting instruments
  • In 48 percent of home invasions, victims sustain physical injuries
  • Victims age 60 or older make up 17 percent of home invasion victims
  • In 68 percent of home invasions, victims and the accused are strangers; in 11 percent of these cases, victims and the accused are friends, business associates, or family

The best defense is always offense, so prepare yourself, your home, and your family to defend against home invasion:

  • Use doors with solid cores rather than hollow wooden doors, complete with heavy duty locks
  • Install security devices in windows such as alarm systems or bars
  • Utilize all locks on any entrance into your home
  • Use four three-inch screws to secure heavy duty lock strike plates in door frames
  • Install and use a peephole in your doors to assess visitors prior to opening the door
  • Install and set home security systems to prevent a home invasion while you are asleep
  • If you are suspicious of visitors, alert neighbors or Neighborhood Watch groups
  • Talk to your family about the possibility of a home invasion and proper preventative measures. Discuss escape plans in the event they become necessary”

The summarized message from Alto al Crimen is not be a victim.  In all cases the perps have taken the cell phones which delays notification of authorities.In addition to the list above it is recommended you have a spare cell phone hidden and charged. The police can and will block the roads if they have notice. Above all if you are a victim of any crime please report it to the Alto al Crimen hotline 6477-6662 .

The second half of the meeting was an appearance by the National Police, the Sub commissioner for the Provence came from David. He was ordered to show the colors and concern and responded to questions, sometimes with answers relevant to the questions.

Color me cynical about the police, they have little motivation, low pay, low moral, virtually no budget. Couple to that a justice system that treads in cold molasses. The reason Alto al Crimen  works is that it helps to provide the police with some motivation, information and tools, it works.

My suggestion to anyone reading this is,  secure your house, consider a legal gun if you are trained and feel you can use it if necessary and send a donation to Alto al Crimen so they can pay out the money to get private investigators to find this set of perps and get them off the streets.

For more on Alto al Crimen email info@altoalcrimen.org . If you wish to make a donation to them put it into a seal envelope marked Alto al Crimen and take to Mail Boxes Etc, Box 13112.


Filed Under: crime, Featured, Survival Kit Items, Tuesday Mornings

TCM: Organic Gardening & Pink Slime

March 13, 2012 by 8 Comments

It appears my old concept for gardening is just that, an old concept. I believed the reason to do organic gardening was to eliminate chemicals on my food, not a bad reason, but I could just wash those off. Today at the TCM Justin Seeley educated me and perhaps some others equally ignorant to our ignorance.

Organic gardening as it is understood today uses nature and evolution to allow stronger more productive plants than can be achieved with chemicals. Stronger plants need less insect and fungus protection. I realized today that every time I spray fungicide on my coffee plants I am killing not only the bad fungus that destroys my crop but the very important other funguses that are essential to the growth of the plants.

This for me was education at it’s best. Not only did I learn but I was seduced into wanting to learn more. Bravo Justin and thank you to Ron and Kim Miller from Finca Santa Marta who hired Justin and brought him in to give us all an opportunity to learn more.

The entire discussion made me think not only about organic gardening but also the axiom we are what we eat. I am neither a vegan nor vegetarian, I am an omnivore.

This presentation made me think about “pink slime” something I had never heard of until last week. I am linking a video that might might also change some of your dietary habits.

If you are still in the US this segment from ABC news might change some shopping habits and make you question the FDA and US Department of Agriculture.

Oh, and the Meat Industry response is here.


Filed Under: Food, Natural Foods, Survival Kit Items, Tuesday Mornings Tagged With: , , ,

TCM: Briant Dominici on Panama as Paradise

March 8, 2012 by 3 Comments

We were very lucky to have Briant Dominici visiting with a group from Panama City. Briant is a Panamanian Biologist and someone who has travelled in Panama extensively. He took his time to share some stories and photos of places few people visit. The message I received from his talk is that Panama is indeed paradise, a small country with a small population and many fantastic natural wonders.

The powerpoint is below and if you are want to contact Briant he does nature tours. He has a web site at panamatraveltours 

Panama starts with a P, for Paradise
View more presentations from lzeltzer.

Filed Under: Featured, Survival Kit Items, Travel in Panama, Tuesday Mornings Tagged With: ,

TCM: Dr. Bormann on Volcanic Central America

February 28, 2012 by 4 Comments

I was not sure what to expect from Dr. Bormann when he offered to do a pair of presentations for our meetings. Today he established that he is both knowledgeable and does an excellent job of presenting his experience. Those in the almost full room had a clean explanation of the reasons for both earthquake and volcanic activity in Central America.

In simple terms there is a geologic plate under the Pacific that is expanding at about ten centimeters a year and pushing down under the continent. As it pushes and meets resistance the earth moves under our feet with small earthquakes off the coast. The more we feel the earth quakes the more stress is relieved and the lower the probability of a big quake. Dr Bormann spent minutes on the shifting plates He spent almost an hour on the volcanoes that are produced as the plate is pushed deep below the land mass and liquify under pressure. That liquid magma of melted Pacific ocean floor is what is vented through Central America’s string of active volcanes.

Arenal Volcano Costa Rica

Arenal Volcano Costa Rica


Dr Bormann spent most of his discussion on Nicaragua, which has numerous active and dormant volcanoes. Panama has only two volcanoes, the “dead” volcano under El Valle de Anton, that community is in the caldera of an extinct volcano and the slumbering Baru just above Boquete and Volcan.

After the presentation many people asked about Baru and Dr. Bormann said with great candor, no one knows when it will wake from it’s slumber and how violent the awakening might be. In 2007 the University of Panama and US Geological Survey did a study of our sleeping giant. Iff you are interested in reading it this is a link to the downloadable PDF file.

Should you be fleeing from the possibility of an eruption, in the opinion of Dr Bormann, no; he suggests sticking around and taking good photographs. I agree, if we fled from any possibility of natural destruction we would find few places safe for shelter. However if Baru does start steaming it might a time to consider the nice new four lane road to David.


Filed Under: Featured, Survival Kit Items, Tuesday Mornings Tagged With: , , ,

TCM: No speaker but some followup on last weeks Tax meeting

January 31, 2012 by 2 Comments

Our speaker for this week never arrived and the meeting was canceled. If we had the meeting I would started by asking who was at the last meeting. Those who did attend would recall when Mr. Mopsick mentioned the IRS criminal investigations target the few and the outrageous. I happened to check the net today and discovered an interesting article about another lawyer from the US who I know who is one of the unfortunate.

“Christopher Rusch was arrested in Miami on Sunday after being extradited from Panama at the request of the U.S. government, prosecutors said. Rusch and two of his clients, Stephen Kerr and Michael Quiel, were indicted in Phoenix.”

LA Times

If you had any question as to whether Panama will extradite to the US on a tax related criminal charge, that question has been answered.

I know Chris, he spoke at several seminars I attended in Panama City. I always wondered what magic formula he had, apparently he had none. As my law school taxation professor once said never mess with the fisc, the government wants what it feels it is entitled to have and there is no legal way to avoid taxation, just ways to delay paying and reducing obligations through good planning.

 


Filed Under: Survival Kit Items, Tuesday Mornings

TCM: Steven Mopsick, US Tax attorney

January 24, 2012 by 10 Comments

Today the meeting at the BCP started early, at 10:15, not because I changed the time, but because the room was full, and the doors were closed. The topic of great interest to US taxpayers,  taxes and the new federal requirements imposed by FATCA. I wrote about FATCA May 19 2011, the post brought us the speaker who did todays presentation.  Mr. Mopsick read my post and asked if he could speak to at our meeting, I of course said yes.

Mr. Mopsick has years of experience as a Tax attorney both within and outside the IRS and he provided a detailed and clear presentation of the changes FATCA imposes on the ordinary expatriate taxpayer. He did point out our concerns about this seemingly draconian law are not shared in the US, there people are both unaffected and unconcerned, as US citizens abroad are being presented new hurdles and reporting requirements.

The text below is full of links to the IRS and tax sources for forms and circulars, some are PDF links and will download forms to your computer.

The summary is this, the new law adds to the reporting requirements of US taxpayers with assets out of the US. The original requirement of filing a FBAR Form TDF 90-22.1. This form requires you to report all foreign bank accounts if the  total deposited in the sum of all those accounts $10,000 or more at any time in the year.

He pointed out that despite Panamanian laws if you control the check book or assets of a corporation or foundation, even if you are not the owner of the stock, to the IRS it is your asset. Those accounts count for the FBAR. If you are like many people here you have never heard of a FBAR and never filed one. If not, the penalty for failing to file is $10,000, BUT if you have had taxable earnings in the off shore entities you can retroactively complete a pile of FBAR’s and mail them in with a letter saying, oops, sorry I was ignorant and the IRS will  not assess a penalty.

If however you had taxable earnings and did not report them under the current amnesty program you can pay the tax bill with interest and a sizable penalty of 27.5% of assets at their highest point of value to avoid criminal charges. I would certainly talk to a Tax Attorney before recommending this action.

If this was not enough to aggravate, there is a new form effective with your 2011 tax return. The form number 8938 requires much more information about your offshore assets. The circular explaining it is at this link .

If you live in Panama this portion might take you off the hook for this form.

“Taxpayers living abroad.
If your tax home is in a foreign country and you meet one of the presence abroad tests described next, you satisfy the reporting threshold if you are not filing a joint return and the total value of in determining the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $200,000 on the last day during the tax year or more than $300,000 at any time during the tax year.

If you are married and file a joint income tax return, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total maximum
value of all specified foreign financial assets you or your spouse owns is more than $400,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $600,000 any time during the tax year. plan.

Presence abroad.
You satisfy the presence abroad test if you are one of the following.
• A U.S. citizen who has been a bona fide resident of a foreign country or countries for an uninterrupted during the tax year.

• A U.S. citizen or resident who is present in a foreign country or countries at least 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months during the tax year being
reported.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8938.pdf

If you do not qualify as a foreign resident the threshold for reporting is much lower, read the linked document above.

This is a link to the current draft form : Form 8938

Other forms to make life fun for US citizens include

Reporting a foreign Corporation Form 5471

Reporting a Foreign Partnership Form 8865

Reporting a Foreign Trust (Foundation) Form 3520 

Mr Mopsick explained that it is to your advantage to use a qualified CPA or other tax consultant approved by the IRS to assist in tax preparation, he does not suggest you do it yourself.

The meeting lasted from 10:15 to 1pm and many many questions, I am only going to clarify two points here.

1. The fear that in 2013 you will need to pay 30% to the IRS to remove your money from the US. The FATCA regulations have not yet been published for comment and therefore are not available. But the intent of the law is to force non US banks into contracting with the IRS and reporting on US Taxpayers. If you move your money from a US bank to a complying foreign bank there will be no 30% witholding. If you go to an ATM and withdraw your money there will be nothing withheld. Beyond that we need to wait for regulations.

2. As far as the IRS is concerned our local corporations and fundaciones are transparent. They will attribute assets and income to whomever controls the money. This in no way effects the laws of Panama but does mean if you have checkbook on a Panama Foundation or Corporation as far as the IRS is concerned it is your money.

There was much more and I will let others post more under comments. I am not sure if Mr. Mopsick is looking for clients in Panama, he is heading out to seminar lawyers and bankers in Panama City next. Still I am posting his contact information if you wish to followup with him.

Steven J. Mopsick

Federal Tax Attorney

Not admitted in California

Practice Limited to Matters before the

Internal Revenue Service

United States Treasury Department

United States Tax Court

steve@mopsicktaxlaw.com

Fax:  916.550.5059

 

 


Filed Under: Survival Kit Items, Tuesday Mornings Tagged With: , ,

TCM: Chocolate and the Ngobe Bugle

December 14, 2011 by 6 Comments

[GTranslate]
Tuesday at the Boquete Community meeting we had another excellent presentation. After last week when the US Embassy learned more about Boquete than we learned, this week was a contrast. We had another US government agency, the Peace Corps, represented by Elsie Mclver and another volunteer. Peace Corps people are called volunteers because no one would accept the job of spending two years in a remote outpost for the wages paid.

Else Mclver talking Chocolate

Elsie took us on an educational tour of the Cocoa farming and processing going on in the Bocas del Toro Nogbe Bugle comarca. Her mission, which she did accept, is to help maintain biodiversity while training the resident farmers how to increase their yield and earn more income from Cocao production.

In addition to the tradition practices of growing and selling the seeds for chocolate production the village she lives in is further processing the cocao into almost pure chocolate for resale.

It was interesting to learn that the Nogbe use chocolate only as a drink and that it is part of their funeral process. It is a significant part of their culture.

The powerpoint of her presentation which is a shadow of the actual discussion is below.

Boquete chocolate presentation

View more presentations from lzeltzer.

Filed Under: Featured, Survival Kit Items, Tuesday Mornings Tagged With: , ,
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