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Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

economist.com

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Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#171

Post by WalterBright »

ttul wrote: post #34
non- wrote: post #6

> The flexibility of the labour market helps employment adapt to shifting patterns of demand. Already many of the workers in America who were laid off from Alphabet and other tech firms at the start of the year are applying their sought-after skills elsewhere, or setting up their own businesses. In continental Europe, by contrast, tech firms are still negotiating lay-offs, and may think twice about hiring there in fu…

America operates on the principal that it is better to fail quickly and rebuild than it is to defend what’s not working to preserve the status quo for as long as possible. In a century marked by rapid technological change, it is probably better to hybridize the American and European approaches, allowing faster bankruptcies and more flexible job termination in Europe while also providing a more generous safety net in…

Canada has always had a lower performing economy than the US. Though with the current US government policies, the US economy will perform a lot less, and perhaps Canada will overtake it.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#172

Post by zzzzzzzza »

WalterBright wrote: post #168
PostOnce wrote: post #166

My 2 cents, some of the reasons America succeeds: (fact) America is a single market with a single language with basically a single set of regulations. Expansion is cheap in America. It makes a hell of a lot more sense to expand to another US city than it does to expand to Norway or New Zealand; but for a company in those countries, expansion is very expensive, expanding requires new laws, regulations, business entiti…

Consider Japan: (fact) a single market with a single language (fact) geographically isolated (fact) not much space (fact) burned to the ground in WW2 and yet for a while it was an economic powerhouse on the world stage. Taiwan, Hong Kong and S Korea, similar stories. So what is the common thread? Free markets.

mortgage slavery is the common thread

for some reason this motivates people. primordial need for land ownership. the call of the feudalism.

engine runs out of steam once the growing cabal of landlords eat the last marginal production in excess of rate of interest

america has more land relative to its population so takes longer to nimbify it all

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#173

Post by swalling »

RestlessMind wrote: post #150
swalling wrote: post #17

”Average incomes have grown much faster than in western Europe or Japan. Also adjusted for purchasing power, they exceed $50,000 in Mississippi, America’s poorest state—higher than in France.” The article casually dismisses the counterpoint that the US trades high income for a lower social safety net. The average French person has a life expectancy of 82. In Mississippi it’s 74.9, on par with Lithuania. Even Vietnam…

> The average French person has a life expectancy of 82. In Mississippi it’s 74.9, on par with Lithuania. That's a great bunch of cherries you picked there. If you are comparing Europe to the US, comparing France and Mississippi is disingenuous. Compare best-to-best or worst-to-worst [1][2]. The worst European countries are Azerbaijan (66.9), Moldova (70.2), Ukraine (71.2). The worst US states are W Virginia (74.8),…

The article itself cherry-picked France and Mississippi to compare income levels, which is why I continued the example. The additional data points are interesting and valuable, though speaking of cherry picking, Azerbaijan somewhat dubiously qualifies as a European country (neither it nor Moldova are part of the EU or Schengen, for instance).

Anyway, the fact that the best of US is somewhat worse than the best of EU continues to help make my point, which is that high US income does not compensate for the poorer quality of life.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#174

Post by WalterBright »

WalterBright wrote: post #168
PostOnce wrote: post #166

My 2 cents, some of the reasons America succeeds: (fact) America is a single market with a single language with basically a single set of regulations. Expansion is cheap in America. It makes a hell of a lot more sense to expand to another US city than it does to expand to Norway or New Zealand; but for a company in those countries, expansion is very expensive, expanding requires new laws, regulations, business entiti…

Consider Japan: (fact) a single market with a single language (fact) geographically isolated (fact) not much space (fact) burned to the ground in WW2 and yet for a while it was an economic powerhouse on the world stage. Taiwan, Hong Kong and S Korea, similar stories. So what is the common thread? Free markets.

The great thing about free markets is that any country can do it. Free people thrive wherever they are.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#175

Post by EduardoBautista »

WalterBright wrote: post #168
PostOnce wrote: post #166

My 2 cents, some of the reasons America succeeds: (fact) America is a single market with a single language with basically a single set of regulations. Expansion is cheap in America. It makes a hell of a lot more sense to expand to another US city than it does to expand to Norway or New Zealand; but for a company in those countries, expansion is very expensive, expanding requires new laws, regulations, business entiti…

Consider Japan: (fact) a single market with a single language (fact) geographically isolated (fact) not much space (fact) burned to the ground in WW2 and yet for a while it was an economic powerhouse on the world stage. Taiwan, Hong Kong and S Korea, similar stories. So what is the common thread? Free markets.

Plenty of underdeveloped countries are free markets as well.

China is attempting to show that not even democracy is needed to be prosperous.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#176

Post by mrleinad »

WalterBright wrote: post #168
PostOnce wrote: post #166

My 2 cents, some of the reasons America succeeds: (fact) America is a single market with a single language with basically a single set of regulations. Expansion is cheap in America. It makes a hell of a lot more sense to expand to another US city than it does to expand to Norway or New Zealand; but for a company in those countries, expansion is very expensive, expanding requires new laws, regulations, business entiti…

Consider Japan: (fact) a single market with a single language (fact) geographically isolated (fact) not much space (fact) burned to the ground in WW2 and yet for a while it was an economic powerhouse on the world stage. Taiwan, Hong Kong and S Korea, similar stories. So what is the common thread? Free markets.

(fact) Karoshi

I won't claim to know anything else about Japan. Would love to visit, but I'm not sure I'd love to be part of its economy as a salary man.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#177

Post by __pache__ »

zzzzzzzza wrote: post #172
WalterBright wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider Japan: (fact) a single market with a single language (fact) geographically isolated (fact) not much space (fact) burned to the ground in WW2 and yet for a while it was an economic powerhouse on the world stage. Taiwan, Hong Kong and S Korea, similar stories. So what is the common thread? Free markets.

mortgage slavery is the common thread for some reason this motivates people. primordial need for land ownership. the call of the feudalism. engine runs out of steam once the growing cabal of landlords eat the last marginal production in excess of rate of interest america has more land relative to its population so takes longer to nimbify it all

Why?

Seems to me owning what you create is the key, instead of having it ripped from your hands.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#178

Post by __pache__ »

EduardoBautista wrote: post #175
WalterBright wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider Japan: (fact) a single market with a single language (fact) geographically isolated (fact) not much space (fact) burned to the ground in WW2 and yet for a while it was an economic powerhouse on the world stage. Taiwan, Hong Kong and S Korea, similar stories. So what is the common thread? Free markets.

Plenty of underdeveloped countries are free markets as well. China is attempting to show that not even democracy is needed to be prosperous.

[flagged]

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#179

Post by Tiktaalik »

PostOnce wrote: post #166

My 2 cents, some of the reasons America succeeds: (fact) America is a single market with a single language with basically a single set of regulations. Expansion is cheap in America. It makes a hell of a lot more sense to expand to another US city than it does to expand to Norway or New Zealand; but for a company in those countries, expansion is very expensive, expanding requires new laws, regulations, business entiti…

I think your point about USA benefiting from a single big market is a strong one.

Consider for contrast Canada, also a single language market, also geographically isolated, and sharing many of the inherent benefits of NA that America has. Canada though, not often considered a real economic dynamo in the same way as the USA.

Well one big difference is that Canada is a relatively small population spread thin over an enormously large area.

In Canada there's a natural and easy North/South transportation and trade links, but East/West nature of the country breaks that. I read somewhere that prior to Canadian Confederation the Maritime provinces did thriving business with the North East United States trading easily using sea links, but after confederation tariffs ruined this trade, and trade with Quebec and Ontario was more expensive and not as viable. The Maritimes never really recovered their pace.

It would be remarkably simpler for a Vancouver company to expand into Seattle and Portland for example, but keeping within the Canadian borders the next natural expansion point is all the way over in Calgary, dramatically far away and a (surprisingly) remarkably different politicial and cultural environment.

Some of these problems for Canada mitigated after NAFTA in the 1980s, but still one can see here how the USA is in a better position with its huge and spread out population.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#180

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

__pache__ wrote: post #177
zzzzzzzza wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

mortgage slavery is the common thread for some reason this motivates people. primordial need for land ownership. the call of the feudalism. engine runs out of steam once the growing cabal of landlords eat the last marginal production in excess of rate of interest america has more land relative to its population so takes longer to nimbify it all

Why? Seems to me owning what you create is the key, instead of having it ripped from your hands.

As if you can cleanly define "what you create". Or "you". Or "create".

Back to the philosophy playpen, John G.

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