> The only question is if the rest of the world is going to wake up and counter this.
Probably not.
Simply put, there's no first-world country in the world where top talent can earn even close to a US salary, which largely due to the fact that US is relatively permissive towards large income disparities.
Other countries "fixing" that would be politically infeasible.
Why do you think it's A -> B and not B -> A? What factors of the US being permissive towards large income disparities do other nations lack that prevent them from paying equivalent salaries.
One specific thing I've heard which makes sense to me toward explaining the salary gap is the US tends to have at-will employment while other nations make it more difficult to fire people. I wouldn't personally classify as promoting income disparity though.
Of course it is.
Low-performers are fired from high-paid positions that high-performers keep. This translates performance disparities to income disparities.
> What factors of the US being permissive towards large income disparities do other nations lack that prevent them from paying equivalent salaries.
1. At-will employment
2. Employer-provided benefits
3. Smaller safety net
4. Lower taxes
5. Fewer business regulations
Actually, its due to a shortage of highly skilled labor/specialists relative to demand. Europe benefits from more advanced math and programming talent as a result of Eastern European and Russian/Ukraine labor availability. US immigration policy puts America at a disadvantage in this regard - something they are weakly trying to address here.
Sorry if that goes against your income inequality agenda.
Not sure why the barrier to using Eastern European talent would be appreciable different. (Time zones?)
> income inequality agenda
No agenda, just analysis.
If you increase income inequality, the top earners can earn more.
I mean, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are all EU members, which means they have freedom of movement - they don't even require any visa or work permit. Just show up in Western Europe and work. The same is currently temporarily true for Ukrainians.
Compare that to the extreme effort for them to get a green card in the US.
... im struggling with the realization that Liberalism the big idea is probably an afforded luxury ideal of the rich, as well as a runaway self-re-enforcing flywheel of wealth/advancement. I benefit from it, but fewer and fewer are going forward, while the US is simultaneously winning harder and harder. This is a nightmarish equation!
And it’s not like the climate in Europe isn’t verging on ethno fascism in several major state…
I'm from Finland myself, I've been living in the US for some years, and I have no concrete plans to return. I've known many Finns who have tried the same, but most of them have returned to Finland, or at least to Europe. Most of them are highly educated professionals. It turns out the difference in standard of living is not that large. For most people, living closer to family and friends is more important. If they find a decent opportunity closer to home, they usually take it.
You can see the same effect with Finnish nurses. They could improve their standard of living significantly by moving to Norway. Probably more than software engineers moving to the US. It would be easy, because Norway is close, the culture is pretty similar, and Finnish citizens have a subjective right to live and work there. But few people actually do that.
But for anyone that is able/willing to move....
They don't necessarily have the skills to draw high US tech salaries either.
But for the vast majority, like you said, the US is extremely attractive.