Panama seems to be a good country. One I have been there and had a good time. Two the use the US dollar as currency. Three the flights are not very expensive and are not very long from Atlanta.
Here are some links that I have found that may be helpful to research what it would take to gain residency status in the country of Panama.
Here is another good web page about Panama Residency http://www.ptshamrock.com/panres.html Not really sure what this company is all about but they are saying that you can get you panama residency for $40,000 plus $1,100 to the Government plus $1500 to them for their fee. A note on another page states that they are not doing the residency programs anymore http://www.ptshamrock.com/2pp.html
Found another good website here at www.panamalaw.org. They have several different Visa programs laid out. The one that the other http://www.panamalaw.org/live_and_retire_in_panama.html?gclid=CNKQrr2Vp4cCFQNuGgoduhSL9g