"How to...if nobody is following you on twitter" reply from the target audience
romansnitko.posterous.com
romansnitko.posterous.com
In the comments on that HN entry, I saw people getting stuck on the schools mentioned or the count of Twitter followers. They're largely irrelevant.
The key message is: if you can't leverage your network of contacts (through background/education and a social media starting point) to create a single major venture, you can still incrementally create yourself passive revenue.
As I read this blog post, I too felt like it wasn't really a response to Max's post.
When you're going to look at Max' suggestions you actually stand a better chance at doing that from a country where the cost of living is lower than in the US.
Things like rent-a-coder and the mechanical Turk thrive on that difference in cost of living, it's a cynical form of outsourcing, but it definitely does seem to fill a need.
Russia - and most of the former eastblock - are in between two worlds, the cost of living is fairly high, and the opportunities are less prevalent. That makes for a challenging situation, but I've seen quite a few people overcome those challenges and do very well for themselves.
Broadband access - Sure, the US is better than most of the world, but pretty mediocre compared to the western world.
Computers - I'll give you that one, gadgets are pretty cheap in the US, you'll have to go to parts of Asia to beat that.
Safe Environment - It doesn't matter if you mean crime or natural disasters or corruption, Canada and most of Europe beats the US on this point.
Cars - Remember that the US is built such that it requires everyone to have a car. There are many places elsewhere where you really don't need one, which cuts your costs for transportation by a lot.
Housing - You forgot this one, perhaps because the US has the most expensive housing in the western world? Compared to the average salary it's pretty ok, but we were talking about the absolute cost of living, not the relative cost of living.
Tax Burden - It's definitely lower than average compared to the rest of the western world, but it's also nothing special.
Anyway; the US was the most expensive move. Im staying here because the UK is close to the cheapest option but there were other places a lot cheaper than the states.
Care to share them?
You're only the target audience if you roughly fit the demographic, and you've given up on the shiny path (either before or after trying).
You don't give the impression that you've given up, so ... he wasn't talking to you. :)
It's hard, but hardships are what's driving him.