Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record • Hacker News Board

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#241

Post by dopidopHN » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 2:08 AM UTC

adriand wrote: post #222

CountSessine wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's even worse than that because we didn't have a commerce-clause the way you do. Canada actually has trade tariffs between it's own provinces. It was only in 2017 that the provinces signed a free trade agreement with each other, and even then it was a very limited agreement with enforcement issues.

I’m Canadian and I think this is insane. Free trade between the provinces seems like a no-brainer. I also think we should be taking a harder look at our protectionism against American companies. I understand the value of having healthy domestic industries but the prices of cellphone plans here, for example, are nothing short of outrageous. We already pay so much more than Americans in taxes, must the services we buy…

Just to give you additional data point with cell phone prices.

I’m French but I’m living in the Us since a decade or so.

Cell phone prices are considerably cheaper in France ( €30 gets you unlimited everything on mobile and €80 is a combo for fiber + mobile plan )

But yet, that a heavily regulated market. If I’m correct there is 5 licences. All other companies have to buy and resell bandwidth thought those 5 licence. They tend to be French company.

Here I pay close to $200 total for the same service ( actually lesser service, I can’t have fiber where I live )

Maybe those expensive price are not due to that regulation? ( or maybe it is. I don’t know, but I wanted to give you a counter example )

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#242

Post by dopidopHN » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 2:09 AM UTC

pbourke wrote: post #203

Tiktaalik wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 en…

Canada isn’t a single language market.

It’s more than say, Spain+Germany+France+Italy+Uk

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#243

Post by andrewjl » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 2:11 AM UTC

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.

> So what is the common thread? Free markets.

Not when it comes to Japan.

During the post-war boom era the majority of its largest businesses were conglomerates with interlocking ownership structures that prevented accountability to shareholders. In addition to that a large amount of corporate investment was state-directed by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).

It was an effective system (at least for a time) but not one that can be accurately described as driven by free markets.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#244

Post by dopidopHN » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 2:11 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #234

pigsty wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japan doesn’t have a nearby superpower that makes sabotaging your entire economy a yearly campaign point in order to prove your country sucks. Cuba’s had that for well over half a century.

The US was very helpful in protecting Cuba from the competition from the US economy. Somehow, that didn't work out for Cuba.

You mean sanctions?

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#245

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 2:11 AM UTC

fnordpiglet wrote: post #224

woobar wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> what does one need that requires “millions of dollars” Stop working?

Not dying when you no longer have health insurance

[deleted]

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#246

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 2:12 AM UTC

rqtwteye wrote: post #154

ttul wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

" 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." The US is also willing to neglect and disenfranchise significant portions of the population and let them live in poverty, homelessness and ghettos. When you walk around SF, LA or New York it's astounding that you have super rich people live next…

[deleted]

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#247

Post by friendlyasparag » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 2:18 AM UTC

magila wrote: post #204

friendlyasparag wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair... - The US government also effectively decides the number of US residency places by how much they will fund Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. - Many places in the US won't see you if you are on Medicare. - It is quite common to need to wait 6-12 months to see specialists in the US too.

As someone with a chronic condition who has had to make many appointments with specialists over the years, 6-12 months is a gross exaggeration. IME the typical wait time to be seen by a specialist in the US is between 2 and 3 months. The worst I've seen is 4 months.

:) I'm glad your experience hasn't been so bad. I've had to wait that long. My partner is a chronic pain specialist and wait times for new patients often exceed 6 months.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#248

Post by lbayes » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 2:20 AM UTC

My statistics bullshit detector flashed on this line, "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."

I was imagining a handful of billionaires "averaged" with a state full of people living in desparate poverty.

The census bureau [1] says that the median income in MS for 2022 (single earner family) starts at $47,446 and goes up from there.

Quite surprising IMO.

Just saving someone else the search.

[1] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/SEX255221

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#249

Post by jutrewag » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 2:28 AM UTC

areyousure wrote: post #210

jutrewag wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America wouldn’t be nearly as entrepreneurial without immigrants. Something like 50% of all unicorns currently have atleast one Indian immigrant co-founder. Four out of ten unicorns have first gen immigrant founders. https://m.economictimes.com/nri/invest/indians-top-the-list-...

In case anyone is curious, the source linked above states that 11% = 66 of 582 unicorns have an Indian immigrant founder.

Yeah it’s 50% of the top 50 unicorns

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#250

Post by tambourine_man » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 2:28 AM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #237

tambourine_man wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most countries are not like the US with its crazy health system.

You still get better and prompter health care when you pay more money in pretty much every country.

Like most things, it depends.

There’s no money you can pay to get a donated organ faster in most decent countries. There are treatments too expensive for even the best health plans and are only available through government sponsored systems. You couldn’t buy yourself a vaccine ahead of anyone else for any price during the covid peak, etc.

Health is as much a collective issue as it is an individual one.