>>> we are in a place with an order of magnitude less trouble building a business.
>> What is this claim based on?
> Blog posts I've read from I've read, largely in HN. Personal interviews in those countries.
Ok, well, as someone who has real experience of setting up a business in another country (which was "stolen from murdered inhabitants" and then reclaimed - Ireland) let me tell you: Business supports in Europe are quite strong, and accessible. The simple fact that ~60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck would suggest that setting up a business in America is not, in fact, "an order of magnitude easier" for the average person.
> We are the luckiest country on Earth by a country mile.
Sure, some of it was luck, but the secret ingredient was genocide.
And nowadays America is not the envy of the rest of the world the way it once was. The shine is very much gone.
Nearly all countries outside the US hold a net unfavorable opinion of Americans, minus a handful of exceptions, like Israel (!). There's not much jealousy or envy of the US any more. It's mostly an understanding pity, or an understandable condescension.
> many countries in Africa have vast resources they could exploit responsibly but don't.
Try doing a deep dive into what happens to African leaders who buck the trend of letting the West take all their resources. Patrice Lumumba, Sylvanus Olympio, Kwame Nkrumah, Eduardo Mondlane, Amílcar Cabral, Thomas Sankara, etc, etc, etc.
Have you ever seen the photo of a father holding his child's severed hands, cut off for not picking rubber fast enough for the Belgians? Blaming the victim here is pretty unacceptable to people who have learned anything beyond the sick narrative of 'well they choose weak leaders'.
And can you seriously call America's "resource exploitation" responsible?? Not if you know how they get all those resources (see above native genocide, and murdered African leaders; and don't forget South America!).
> Zero. No one forces you to work here
Perhaps in the narrowest sense, where no one points a gun to your head (unless you're in America's massive and grotesque prison system, in which case you are in every sense a slave, with a gun to your head forced to work for a pittance).
However America forces people into work in a myriad of 'soft' ways; from awful social supports, to wage collusion, to healthcare tied to employment, predatory student loan debt, at-will employment, immigration status, and so on, and on.
> The term "none of that is sustainable" suggests to me you've already decided on answers to all these non-gotcha questions.
Well, they're not.
Sure, I thought about my own questions. I wanted you to think about them, because they directly connect to your proud claim that Americans have it 10x easier to start a business. I hope you can see how, if you think about it.