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Ask HN: If you were 20 again, what country would you choose?

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Re: Ask HN: If you were 20 again, what country would you choose?

#11

Post by xtester »

hpenedones wrote: post #7

Switzerland definitely ranks very high in all your factors. It's one of the safest countries for investors, has a growing startup scene, has two of the top engineering schools in Europe/World (ETHZ, Zurich and EPFL, Lausanne), has the highest rate of Nobel prizes per capita, very solid educational and healthcare systems, amazing quality of life (Zurich, Geneva, etc, often rank as the top cities in the world), and las…

Agree, Switzerland seems definitely one of the top countries in the world which keeps itself intentionally under the radar. As Taleb put it, in addition to all the obvious benefits, Switzerland seems to be an antifragile country.

In any case, as far as I know Switzerland makes it pretty hard for people to immigrate there. Do you happen to live there? What would you say would be the most effective way to immigrate there?

Re: Ask HN: If you were 20 again, what country would you choose?

#12

Post by GoldenMonkey »

Someone1234 wrote: post #3

Likely within the "Europe" (particularly the UK) but maybe Canada. As a small time employer they take a lot of the employees issues out of your hands and place it in the hands of the state (which is GOOD because now I won't need a HR person, insurance specialist, and so on). For example, health insurance: not the employer's problem, long term/short term disability: not the employer's problem, holiday ("vacation") tim…

And how many programmer sweatshops are there in the US? Just because you can legally pay above minimum wage, and not pay benefits, doesn't mean you'll get programmers. Businesses offer higher wages and benefits because they need to compete with other businesses to attract workers.

You don't see the contradiction here? The US is a huge investment, but you can open a 'programmer sweatshop'?

The US creates 500,000 startups a month, across every industry; there are basement startups everywhere.

Re: Ask HN: If you were 20 again, what country would you choose?

#14

Post by joeclark77 »

userulluipeste wrote: post #6
lacker wrote: post #2

The USA. It worked great the first time I went through my 20's. Why switch?

One of the USA's problems is the education system (and I'm not talking about its quality here). If you thing in the long term, counting in your future kids' education, you may wish to reconsider USA altogether. Another problem is the healthcare system and the chances of one to actually afford it when the time comes - HN had a few good articles about the subject. And there may be other somewhat lesser problems too.

In the USA you're still allowed to homeschool, at least. In many other countries, such as Germany, that makes you a criminal.

Re: Ask HN: If you were 20 again, what country would you choose?

#15

Post by anonbanker »

jensv wrote: post #13
anonbanker wrote: post #8

Beijing or Calgary.

Care to elaborate?

Beijing is now the global center of finance and industry. I bet on Tokyo, and learned Japanese. By the time I was old enough to make an impact, the market had shifted to Beijing/Shenzhen.

Calgary is an interesting place to live, with gorgeous women of many different ethnicities. There's currently a gold rush going on there, and relocating as to get in on that sweet environmental destruction would have been a good idea.

Re: Ask HN: If you were 20 again, what country would you choose?

#16

Post by kasey_junk »

userulluipeste wrote: post #6
lacker wrote: post #2

The USA. It worked great the first time I went through my 20's. Why switch?

One of the USA's problems is the education system (and I'm not talking about its quality here). If you thing in the long term, counting in your future kids' education, you may wish to reconsider USA altogether. Another problem is the healthcare system and the chances of one to actually afford it when the time comes - HN had a few good articles about the subject. And there may be other somewhat lesser problems too.

I think the education & health care system in the US are huge points of concern both from a larger policy perspective and from a social justice stand point. That said, I personally have never had an issue with either and doubt if I were starting over as a 20 year old all over again would worry about it much.

I'm much more worried about things like social & political stability, cost of living, and if I'm being perfectly honest, weather & food.

Re: Ask HN: If you were 20 again, what country would you choose?

#17

Post by vithlani »

joeclark77 wrote: post #9
Someone1234 wrote: post #3

Likely within the "Europe" (particularly the UK) but maybe Canada. As a small time employer they take a lot of the employees issues out of your hands and place it in the hands of the state (which is GOOD because now I won't need a HR person, insurance specialist, and so on). For example, health insurance: not the employer's problem, long term/short term disability: not the employer's problem, holiday ("vacation") tim…

That's like boarding the Titanic when it's already sinking. Europe won't even exist in 50 years. The demographics are brutal and inevitable: young Europeans are not marrying, or marrying late, not having children, or having only one or two children, and having them late. They're rapidly being replaced by immigrants who have no interest in assimilating to the culture or adopting the language, but are having lots of ch…

Very succinctly put.

Re: Ask HN: If you were 20 again, what country would you choose?

#18

Post by joeclark77 »

vithlani wrote: post #17
joeclark77 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like boarding the Titanic when it's already sinking. Europe won't even exist in 50 years. The demographics are brutal and inevitable: young Europeans are not marrying, or marrying late, not having children, or having only one or two children, and having them late. They're rapidly being replaced by immigrants who have no interest in assimilating to the culture or adopting the language, but are having lots of ch…

Very succinctly put.

What I think is even more interesting is what's going to happen to Japan. They're reproducing even less than Europeans, but instead of being overrun by hostile immigrants, they're trying to create robots to replace the future generations that will never be born. That's going to be a weird place to visit in 50 years...

Re: Ask HN: If you were 20 again, what country would you choose?

#19

Post by forgotpasswd3x »

joeclark77 wrote: post #14
userulluipeste wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the USA's problems is the education system (and I'm not talking about its quality here). If you thing in the long term, counting in your future kids' education, you may wish to reconsider USA altogether. Another problem is the healthcare system and the chances of one to actually afford it when the time comes - HN had a few good articles about the subject. And there may be other somewhat lesser problems too.

In the USA you're still allowed to homeschool, at least. In many other countries, such as Germany, that makes you a criminal.

Ok, I'll take the bait. Why shouldn't it?

Germany has very good schools. By denying your child the ability to attend, you are committing an offense to the child. Why should this be allowed?

Re: Ask HN: If you were 20 again, what country would you choose?

#20

Post by zura »

hpenedones wrote: post #7

Switzerland definitely ranks very high in all your factors. It's one of the safest countries for investors, has a growing startup scene, has two of the top engineering schools in Europe/World (ETHZ, Zurich and EPFL, Lausanne), has the highest rate of Nobel prizes per capita, very solid educational and healthcare systems, amazing quality of life (Zurich, Geneva, etc, often rank as the top cities in the world), and las…

If only it was cheap and it had a sun... :)
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