El Salvador reminds me a lot of Georgia (the country) in how small and thus transformable it was from caterpillar to butterfly and how they both made 180 degree twirls of a whole nation seem effortless.
Similar to El Salvador, Georgia also had a dark history of crime, danger and corruption which was transmuted into the light in a quick second via a magic wand in the capable hands of one libertarian visionary, president Mikheil Saakashvili, just like another magic wand did to El Salvador in the courageous hands of Nayib Bukele.
I loved this interview between Andrew Henderson of Nomad Capitalist and Saakashvili where he touches upon how they did it. One of my favorite parts is Saakashvili describing how they deep-dived into the antiquated, clunky, chunky government and customs departments and flushed away unnecessary bureaucracy, bureaucrats and charges. They got rid of %70 of government regulations in two months and today if any politician wants to introduce a new regulation, they have to eliminate three existing ones! And just like that, interactions with the government became fast, flowy, efficient, as well as a pleasure.
Thus, the government got out of the way of the people and built an environment which was nurturing and safe for both individuals as well as businesses and soon people flocked in with their families, savings, capital, cryptos and business plans in hand. We were two of those people and lived there for over six years.
And taxes?
That bad boy Georgia went against IMF demands and decreased taxes by %60. In a “How dare you! Do you know who I am?” tantrum, the jilted IMF froze their loan and took back their financial kisses. Eventually, they managed a somewhat amicable break-up (and no one ‘tragically’ died.)
The IMF was likely expecting tearful ‘come back to me’ drama by the capricious Georgia… but this did not happen because Georgia had moved on to working out, working on itself, healing its economical traumas and reaching nirvana without the evil IMF guru, the way it really should be done: intuitively, from the inside out.
Abundance followed and it continues to boost Georgia’s economy to this day!
Now the IMF cites what these rebellious Georgians did to their economy as a story of success. And doesn’t that just give you the sweetest of giggles?
Saakashvili is no longer in power and his circumstances are not sunny at the moment. His journey downwards was as mad as his journey upwards! What a crazy life he has had and I am very curious what else fate has in store for him. I’ll be watching as I bet you anything he won’t be retired, sitting in a dacha, sipping his chacha. Men like that have a lot more wrong-think to disrupt the world with.
Inspired by all this transformation, I am now working on transforming myself into a fly so that I can perch on the wall and listen to Bukele and Saakashvili talk if they were ever to meet in person one day, and I hope that they do, as I think they would hit it off immediately and become brothers in disruption. Wish me luck with the fly thingy!
Watch the interview here to begin and do take a deep-dive later into the Rose Revolution and all the craziness that followed if political thrillers intrigue you! And please share in comments if you find any particularly yummy documentaries on this subject.
#ElSalvador #Georgia #Saakashvili #Bukele https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2vKTbE7B88&t=1612s
