Which goes back to my original point - even when you compromise and forgo expensive western stuff like cheese etc, if you want a lifestyle similar to your home country then it will cost roughly the same except for, possibly, real estate, tax and medical costs.
Thanks, KenM. Your comment, based on lots of experience, confirms my impression from a little experience travelling in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. I remember my travelling companion looking up from her club sandwich in a fancy Istanbul hotel and saying, in a surprised and disappointed tone, "This isn't particularly good." I think the cheapest place to live like an American is the USA.
Afterthought: American citizens do not (officially) escape US income taxes wherever in the known universe they reside. (Even death doesn't provide an escape.) As I understand it, an American citizen remains subject to US income taxes as long as he holds that citizenship, and for a period of ten years after giving it up. The US government assumes without proof or the possibility of rebuttal that the purpose of renouncing US citizenship is tax avoidance and forbids that person ever entering the US again, even briefly. I recall reading about an American who gave up his citizenship and became a citizen of Belize. In order to visit his family, he got the Belize government to offer to open a consulate in Florida, with himself as the consul. The US government declined the offer. Please tell me I'm wrong about this, or that there are exceptions, especially if you can cite an authoritative source.
I have no interest in living for long in another country. It would feel like exile.