
America’s Innovation Engine Is Slowing - pseudolus
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/americas-innovation-engine-slowing/614320/
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mchusma
Id like to see a concerted effort for America to regain number one status and
ensure we stay ahead of China. To do that ideally we need more people. Ideally
something like 100M of the brightest in the world.

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.

~~~
0xy
Why not offer a visa that requires you to have a minimum of 125 IQ on a
standard test -or- be running a profitable business that you are willing to
relocate?

\- 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?

~~~
lm28469
> you either work in the United States or you are dramatically underpaid.

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.

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blackrock
I disagree. America’s labor and innovation problems are all self-inflicted.

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.

~~~
ReallyAnonymous
Excellent points. Everything in this country is aligned with being wealthy.
Look at how they attack 'public schools', and 'teachers unions' ruining
education and want to use tax dollars to subsidize private schools. Who can go
to private schools? Rich kids, and extremely smart kids.

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

