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Deregulation and union busting greatly expanded in the 80s leading to the high point of the country in the 90s as well.

And my theory is that the US only looked good because there were no competitors: Break up of the Soviet Union left the constituents without economies of scale. Similarly European markets were still desperately fragmented. China was growing, but from a low base.

So capital flooded to the US.

So we all have our own theories.

The real question remains "What's best for America right now ?"

Soviet Union was never the place where large scale immigration happened.

Actually the opposite. There were severe restrictions to emigration. They didn’t want people leaving the Soviet Union (or the satellite states) and going to the West. The Berlin Wall for example. Things weren’t so rosy behind the Iron Curtain.

For quite a while, the "Cost to renounce citizenship" was at $2350. Turnip lowered it back to $450.

But no, US citizenship, like everything else in this country, a cost.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/16/travel/renouncing-us-citizens...

And if you have unforgivable student loans because you believed the k-12 propaganda, then you can never "leave". You might be done paying them by the time you, uh, die.

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