Passports: One of the Big Differences Between the US and the Rest of the World

High-end marketing can be fascinating at times.

Just look at Louis Vuitton, offering one of the most interesting branding tools today. 

The brand places giant old trunks in its stores to remind shoppers of its origins in the high-quality luggage business so many years ago.

With the advent of cheap air travel and frequent flying, these massive trunks are no longer practical nor necessary –  they’re simply an enchanting remnant of the past. 

Back in the day, those setting sail on month-long or even multi-month comfort cruises would pack much of what they owned in a sturdy trunk. 

They would live out of these trunks while sailing from Southampton to New York,  around the Horn of Africa or through the straits of Asia.

Those days are fascinating for reasons far beyond the fact that wealthy people could set their business aside for months. 

It’s also about the vintage luggage they carried with them and much more.

Even more interesting is that barely 100 years ago, in the era of Titanic and other luxury vessels, the idea of carrying a passport was practically unheard of. 

In fact, it was World War I that made passports a reality in Europe and the end of the war that made them common in the Land of the Free.

Europeans and US citizens alike took to the high seas to visit countries near and far without having to carry around documents. 

It wasn’t too many decades later that the idea of bureaucrats calling for ‘papers, please’ became a rallying cry against authoritarianism.

Yet, back in the days before the wide issuance of passports, many people saw the idea of a national identity card used for visiting other countries as ‘inhumane’.

This is amusing when you consider the frequently-seen banner ad for Puerto Rico that boldly proclaims, ‘No passport required!’

It’s fascinating that an island destination so far from most points on the US mainland has to use such logic to get people to visit. 

However, it just goes to show how isolated the United States has become and how much propaganda has taken over the country.

Imagine the idea of sitting in Seattle and wanting to enjoy a winter getaway. You have to buy plane tickets, book a hotel room and research the best lazy river ride – whatever tourists do.

Travelling Internationally as an American

The average US family puts a lot of effort into their annual beach vacation, so how do they put so little effort into obtaining the documents required to leave their own country?

Only around half of US persons have a passport that even allows them to leave. 

In contrast, some European countries have passport adoption rates nearing 90%, and international travel is much more common. This highlights one of the biggest and most unsettling differences that hold the United States back.

Do a Google search, and you’ll see incredulous travellers asking, ‘since when did I need a US passport to travel to Mexico?!’

This is how vacations are marketed in the United States. 

Why go through the hassle of filling out a one-page form and paying all of US$100 when you can simply limit your vacation choices to destinations within your country that make up 1/14th of the earth’s surface?

Importance of the US Passport

Worse yet, for as many ‘preppers’ that live in the United States, it’s disturbingly ironic that only around half of Americans have a US passport. 

If you understand history, you know that there are countless examples of times when fleeing the empire was, at least in hindsight, the safest thing to do.

To some, carrying a passport is seen as an intrusion by big governments. That’s understandable. Yet, at Nomad Capitalist, we’re strong advocates of having a second passport. 

Having one passport, of course, limits your options. More passports mean more options. Having a second passport is a pragmatic strategy for the world we live in.

The fact that only around half of all Americans have a United States passport – not some ID card only good for coming back from a day trip to Tijuana – shows a strong nationalism that is not good for investment or freedom.

It’s hard evidence that US persons really mean it when they say, ‘Our country is still the best place on earth’.

How many times have you heard a political conservative suggest that despite all of the high taxes and regulations and madness emanating from Washington – all of which they claim to disagree with – that the United States is still number one?

To them, it’s a heck of a lot better than all of those other countries they’ve never been to. Heaven forbid they would get out and rub elbows with the arrogant French or the smelly Turks or some other nationalistic stereotype. 

This may not bother those who avoid the tourist scene or those who aren’t personally invested in America’s success. 

This attitude could easily hasten the decline of a country that thinks it can’t learn anything from anyone else.

Such a nationalistic mindset hurts foreign investment. It hurts retirement portfolios. It hurts personal freedom.

Quite simply, a country that believes it’s so superior to everyone else that the mere idea of sending away for a cheap booklet to visit other countries is absurd is not one that will grow.

Is the United States #1?

Go to Europe and you’ll see smart foreign investment from countries all over the world. 

The ‘socialist French’ have a fantastic train company that has expanded into Germany.

While there has certainly been plenty of foreign investment in the United States over the years, figures show those numbers as waning. If and when the US dollar is no longer the world reserve currency, look for that number to drop even more.

Each year, fewer foreigners want to immigrate to the US. In many parts of Asia, London far outpaces Los Angeles as a desired place to live. Here in Europe, it seems that few people want to live in the US or even visit.

Look at the world’s most successful countries, from wealthy Singapore or Liechtenstein to tax havens in the Americas, and you’ll see that they are accepting. They don’t discriminate. They don’t say ‘our way or the highway’ or act superior.

If they did, they wouldn’t be Liechtenstein or Singapore.

Look at the countries with the world’s highest penetration of passports – Germany, Norway, Finland and others. 

Then ask yourself whose population is more prepared to participate in a truly global economy in which resting on your laurels, past military victories and tenuous currency dominance no longer works.

The US Passport: FAQs

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