He hasn't been mentioned yet: Rocky Anderson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Anderson
To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country
81–90 of 111 posts
Re: To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country
#82Just today I was reading an interview with a Belgian journalist/writer, Bjorn Soenens, who travelled through America and wrote a boook about it's current state, on all levels. His conclusions were pretty much the same as in this article, although I'd also say 'darker'. Some claims he made, which I cannot verify but would love to hear comments about [I have the impression he's rather pessimistic and mainly lifts out t…
Sounds like the rantings of a socialist agitator.
Or simply a visitor with shallow opinions. And preconceptions.
Re: To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country
#83I'm probably going to be modded down like crazy for this; just remember it's not a rant, I'm just sharing my perception of America as a whole. Hopefully you'll see some value in an outside opinion :) DISCLAIMER: I'm writing this based in a view of "average" America. HN readers are most likely far from the average. It's a view shared by many younger ( TL;DR: European views US as being backwards, socially underdevelope…
Yankee living in the UK here... I totally agree with your sentiment and let me play something out on the flip-side that I noticed about British life... British people are brought up in a society that teaches them average is always OK and that life has dealt it's cards, so just deal with it. I know this is a sweeping generalization, and isn't how everyone in Great Britain operates, but this has been my general underst…
Ahh, another outlier :)
That's a good observation about the British. They're also really pessimistic (Americans are broadly positive). And, unfortunately, they're very small minded (polar opposite of Americans). That's the result of being a fallen Empire, I guess.
I like the Dutch: they're stubborn and everyone has an opinion on everything BUT they respect that. Heck, it's expected. That's something they have in common with Americans (very direct and opinionated). They have a similar background (America was colonized by various Christian sects, The Netherlands was the central hub of lots of sects because it was the only place they managed to live together without killing each other). Yet they're pragmatic, and largely class-less. Same as the Scandinavians. They also share the same 19th century ideas over work as the Yanks (>40h weeks, retire at 67), only they have holidays. Protestant work ethic at work.
BTW, I would recommend spending some time living in a foreign country - as a native (INTEGRATING, not moving to Spain to live with a load of rich British ex-pats) to anyone reading. It really opens your mind, and changes the way you think about yourself (and the world as a whole). Even better if you can combine it with learning another language.
Re: To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country
#84The fascinating thing about this article is that it legitimizes the "Atlas Shrugged" response of many entrepreneurs from a progressive perspective. While there is much to be quibbled with in his analysis [1], the simple fact that we now have rationales from both sides for leaving the US and striking out abroad is extraordinarily important. Look for more people to repeat these arguments, to flee taxes, crime, and regu…
> And is bankrupt France really a country to emulate Yes, it really is. Its people are happier, healthier, and better educated; they work less, eat better and have better relationships with their families. And are substantially less indebted than those of the US.
These talking points need to be updated. Please look at this URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_deb...
France's debt to GDP ratio is ~86-89%. The United States is 102%. Now the US is surely going to crash, and crash hard, but emulating France is not going to get us out of a debt crash. Quite the contrary.
1) "France's debt crisis could doom the European Union"
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Daily-Reckoning/2012/0724/France-s-debt-crisis-could-doom-the-European-Union
2) "France to tackle crushing debt, says French PM Ayrault"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18693089
3) "Investors Won't Like The News Out Of Greece And France"
http://seekingalpha.com/article/571001-investors-won-t-like-the-news-out-of-greece-and-france
Re: To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country
#85I'm probably going to be modded down like crazy for this; just remember it's not a rant, I'm just sharing my perception of America as a whole. Hopefully you'll see some value in an outside opinion :) DISCLAIMER: I'm writing this based in a view of "average" America. HN readers are most likely far from the average. It's a view shared by many younger ( TL;DR: European views US as being backwards, socially underdevelope…
Yankee living in the UK here... I totally agree with your sentiment and let me play something out on the flip-side that I noticed about British life... British people are brought up in a society that teaches them average is always OK and that life has dealt it's cards, so just deal with it. I know this is a sweeping generalization, and isn't how everyone in Great Britain operates, but this has been my general underst…
because without the poor the rich won't exist
Could you explain this statement? If you mean to imply that the rich somehow exploit the poor, the reality is exactly the other way around - the poor and middle class exploit the rich.
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2012/07/progressivity-of-taxe...
To quote Paul Krugman on the topic (he was discussing the 1980's, but none of the facts he relies on have changed significantly since then).
"...growth in inequality is not a simple picture. Old-line leftists, if there are any left, would like to make it a single story--the rich becoming richer by exploiting the poor. But that's just not a reasonable picture of America in the 1980s. For one thing, most of our very poor don't work, which makes it hard to exploit them. For another, the poor had so little to start with that the dollar value of the gains of the rich dwarfs that of the losses of the poor..."
The Age of Diminished Expectations, 1990, p. 22.
Also, the US has more progressive taxation than the rest of the OECD.
http://taxfoundation.org/blog/no-country-leans-upper-income-...
Re: To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country
#86It's pretty telling that even an article trying to question the culture of unquestionable-exceptionalism is still chock-full of jingoistic language that says "if we just fix a few things we'll be the best country on earth again", as if such a thing was or is factual or even possible. Not "exceptionalism is a myth" but "exceptionalism needs a new paint job". This is what passes for dissent in mainstream American disco…
awesome point. you hit the nail on the head i think - this is an article soaked with deep cultural ego. unfortunately, these sorts of self-centered attitudes are probably necessary to rouse the interest of the average american reader. after all, america as a country is divorced from reality. kind of makes you wonder if there's any hope for the place in the long-term.
Re: To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yankee living in the UK here... I totally agree with your sentiment and let me play something out on the flip-side that I noticed about British life... British people are brought up in a society that teaches them average is always OK and that life has dealt it's cards, so just deal with it. I know this is a sweeping generalization, and isn't how everyone in Great Britain operates, but this has been my general underst…
Ahh, another outlier :) That's a good observation about the British. They're also really pessimistic (Americans are broadly positive). And, unfortunately, they're very small minded (polar opposite of Americans). That's the result of being a fallen Empire, I guess. I like the Dutch: they're stubborn and everyone has an opinion on everything BUT they respect that. Heck, it's expected. That's something they have in comm…
On work hours, the Scandinavians do still have the Protestant work ethic culturally, but have been trying to cut back on number of hours, out of a theory (probably correct imo) that in a modern information economy it's more about quality of work than quantity of hours in chair. The current Danish workweek is 37 hours, and followed quite religiously. Everyone is on time and works efficiently during the day (no 2-hour lunches), but few people can be found in the office past 3pm on a Friday.
Scandinavia is also an interesting option on the last point if you aren't up to the language-learning, though there are pros/cons. It's actually harder to integrate language-wise than most other places, because the languages are phonologically difficult for Americans (especially Danish), and people all speak good English so their patience for your broken language is low as they can just switch. So you'll probably learn more Spanish in Spain or Italian in Italy than Danish in Denmark. But because of the good English, it's quite possible to at least partly integrate culturally if you find the right social circles. (It also makes it easy to deal with formalities, since much government and bank correspondence can be done in English if you request it.)
Re: To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country
#88Maybe there should be a moratorium on non-technical stories. There are many more socio-political interest stories on HN than there used to and the rhetoric in the comments sections tends to be poor.
surely articles such as this are of value in challenging and expanding the perspective of the average american HN reader? after all, good entrepreneurs are well-rounded. and as this article (and the comments) makes it clear, the software industry in the US is something of a bubble, insulated from the troubling problems of contemporary american society. problems american entrepreneurs ignore at their own long-term risk.
as for the level of rhetoric in this comment section, I think it is high, and contains many interesting points to consider.
Re: To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And is bankrupt France really a country to emulate Yes, it really is. Its people are happier, healthier, and better educated; they work less, eat better and have better relationships with their families. And are substantially less indebted than those of the US.
The French would all be speaking German today if we (USA) had emulated them in the last century.
Your head would be the Duke of Edinburgh if it weren't for the French (sorry, Canada). Well you'd atleast have Nationalized Healthcare.
Re: To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country
#90I'm probably going to be modded down like crazy for this; just remember it's not a rant, I'm just sharing my perception of America as a whole. Hopefully you'll see some value in an outside opinion :) DISCLAIMER: I'm writing this based in a view of "average" America. HN readers are most likely far from the average. It's a view shared by many younger ( TL;DR: European views US as being backwards, socially underdevelope…
"and the UK's main religion is a Atheism"
What? The last census (2001, since 2011 results are pending) put Christianity at 72% and "no religion" at 15%. Surveys in 2011 by other groups put Christianity consistently above 60%. Considering the UK has an official state religion, a monarchy and unelected bishops in political office.. I can't see how anyone can claim the UK is "atheist".