America’s Innovation Engine Is Slowing
theatlantic.com
theatlantic.com
IMO the easiest way to do that is: -offer a path to citizenship for the world -they have to pay something like $50k per person for a visa (or maybe $5k per year for 10 years) -must pay into social security, unemployment, etc. But can't draw any benefits until they are citizens. -if current on all obligations after 20 years, they are citizens. -can offer sponsorships for exceptions -something like 1 week approval (time for background check) $1k non refundable application fee.
Details can be changed, but this solves most concerns on the American right. We can see how far this gets us, but I suspect we would have a lot of global takers. Anyone willing to go for something like this I'm happy to have.
Why? That's a serious question. We're all human here on Earth, so why do nations have to compete to be "number one"? How about we cooperate to try to save the planet and our civilization instead of playing self-destructive zero-sum games?
The US also has one of the most solid judicial systems in the world. In fact, the Supreme Court and other courts regularly challenge and restrict the actions of the current administration. If you go to court, chances are you're going to get a fair trial.
If you are a Westerner and go to court in China, you will lose. It's that simple.
If the United States falls and China attaches itself to the power vacuum that ensues, the entire world will be worse off.
You mean, if the United States falls from "number one in innovation" to "number two in innovation", whatever those numbers are even supposed to mean? The US, with a population of 330 million, is not going to just fall off the face of the Earth. We've got plenty of talent and resources.
Actually, the US is currently engaged in genocide... of its own population, sadly. Or maybe we should call it suicide.
Letting COVID get out of control, due to our complete disregard for the value of human life.
> Why do you think they annexed Hong Kong?
China didn't "annex" Hong Kong. The UK simply handed Hong Kong over to them because of some dumb century-old "lease".
The US has only a mere 350 million people. China has over a billion EXTRA.
As Rommel is reputed to have said: "God is on the side of the big battalions." There is really no contest between China and the US. China has more men of military age, more STEM graduates, and more manufacturing capacity than the US. In fact China has more of those than all of the West combined. ('West' = 5 eyes plus Europe and Japan)
- 2 year visa
- Renewable in 2 year blocks if you can prove you've been working or running a business for 18 months earning at least the median income (waived for startups)
- After 8 years eligible to apply for a green card, if an independent panel determines you have positively contributed to the US you are awarded one
This would act as a supercharged vacuum for talent like New York City was for European migrants during the boom.
Especially in tech, you either work in the United States or you are dramatically underpaid. Why not soak up all of the world's talent?
First off you might be surprised but money isn't the #1 priority for a lot of people.
In SV maybe, and even then when you factor cost of living, insurances, unemployment benefits, parental leaves &c. I'd rather be in Europe making half the raw salary and getting all the good stuff than being paid twice as much and spending 5k$ on a small flat in SF.
As an outsider it's impressive to see the shift in the recent years, back when I was in uni the majority of my peers wanted to move to the US, me included, and I did for a bit. Nowadays I literally don't know anyone who wants to migrate there in my circles, especially not with the current process. I think American people don't understand how broken their immigration, political and social systems are, and how bad of a deal breaker it is for a lot of Europeans.
America has 350 million people. In this population, you have people from all walks of life. And from all ethnicities that you can choose from. But America squanders this human resource potential. Instead of being inclusive, American culture is all about being exclusive. You can see it everywhere. From elite universities, to selective companies, to instagram whores, to the professional sporting teams of the NBA, NFL, MLB, etc. Even to neighborhoods and cities. Instead of promoting teamwork and unity, the underlying tone of American culture is to produce hate and envy. It’s the “I got mine” attitude, so I’m going to do what I can to prevent you from succeeding.
Ignore all the fake messages of love and unity. That’s just marketing nonsense to disarm you. Instead, look beyond their words, and criticize their actions.
Crony Capitalism has run amok in America, and they are the source of all your problems. And no, I’m not advocating for socialism or communism, or something stupid like that. You need capitalism as an underlying mechanism, but the egregiousness of it, needs to be reigned in.
The problem is your politicians. The business leaders and those with access to capital, have corrupted the system. And the politicians are all compromised and bought out. So they are the roadblocks that prevents anything from happening. They prevent society from moving forward.
And why should they bother to do anything? They are benefiting perfectly from the system. They get a cushy job, with pay in excess of $250,000. And after their public career is over, then they can land an even cushier job with a lobbying firm. It’s the perfect revolving door.
And meanwhile, the society continues to deteriorate. People vote in charlatans that promise them the moon, and delivers a pile of dirt instead.
There are 3 hits that America did to shoot itself in the foot.
1) Education. Corporations required degrees to do mundane things. But yet, when you got that expensive education, the pay didn’t reflect what it costed to attain such education. So young people are now saddled with very expensive student loans. This delays adulthood, and leads to other problems downstream.
2) Housing. After the 2008 housing crisis, corporations with access to cheap credit, bought up houses in huge quantities, and prevented people from buying affordable houses. This drove up costs everywhere else, especially in rent. And prevent people from having a savings in the form of their homes.
How do you buy a house, when some corporation with easy access to liquidity, thanks to the Fed, comes out and outbids you, and pays in cash? You can’t.
3) Healthcare. America refuses to establish a single payer health insurance system, so everyone ends up paying through the nose for expensive health insurance.
In summary, America has the human resources to succeed, and to continually reinvent itself. It needs smarter policy from the Federal and State level, to engage with the population. People can be retrained for advanced careers, without going bankrupt. Houses can be built, to enable everyone to be a homeowner, and share in the prosperity for all. Healthcare can be made cheaper and accessible to everyone to ensure that all Americans are healthy.
The choice is yours America. Do we continue to go down this path of failure, where the economy works only for the wealthy and well connected? Or do we renew the social contract that binds us, and build a new, prosperous, and inclusive future for all Americans.
The ball is now in your court.
I helped my GF do her taxes. 18K in student loan interest (most of her loans are 4-7%), of which only 2.5k was deductible. Meanwhile, I do well, have assets, and paid $28k in margin interest. ALL DEDUCTIBLE.
What type of debt is non dischargeable? education What loans are essentially non refinanceable and much higher interest rates? education
It's as though the rich want to keep the poor, poor.
The republicans were able to push through tax reform that benefited real estate investors, and wealthy individuals that live in low / zero tax states. It's as though Donald Trump's sole goal of being elected was to make his family more money in the long run.
When most have nothing, the pitchforks will come out in the form of policies championed by the likes of AOC and Bernie Sanders (not that they're all bad).
Student loans need to be dischargeable in bankruptcy and need to be privatized. This way, there will be accountability with the university education.
People need to be able to purchase medicare policies if private insurance costs more than x% of their income.
Corporate tax needs to be super low for those corporations that provide health insurance with out of pocket expense less than x% of salary, $7k / year in retirement contributions so that they'll have incentive to reparticipate in the social contract.
rant over