4 ms·

Go live in the USA, and you'll see the multiple ways it's more broken than Canada. Many other friends who have moved over from other developed countries collabo

Go live in the USA, and you'll see the multiple ways it's more broken than Canada. Many other friends who have moved over from other developed countries collaborate the experience. I'm in the bay area, maybe it's just a special kind of broken that you don't see in other places in the USA, but things like flint, michigan also exist in the USA.

refurb 8y ago
I do live in the US. And you know what? I think there is plenty the US has to offer that Canada doesn't. That's why I'm here.
- untog 8y ago
  I agree that the US offers a whole lot that other countries do not. I would disagree that the US government offers anything other governments do not. Of course, the US government has a role in the other attractive attributes the US has, but I personally think that role is exaggerated. I think the US would still be an economically dominant world power if it had the government of, say, Germany.
  - icelancer 8y ago
    >> I would disagree that the US government offers anything other governments do not. You are very first-world centric, then. While I am no interventionist, you are discounting the role the US Military has worldwide on trade, peacekeeping, and other vital roles it actually does a good job at when it's not fucking things up (which is often). >> I think the US would still be an economically dominant world power if it had the government of, say, Germany. Including the racial makeup of Germany and the immigration policies?
    - JackCh 8y ago
      Are you trying to suggest that the racial makeup of Germany is inferior to America? I'd say population size, geographic properties (location, climate, resources, etc) and economic history count for much more than any racial inferiority. Germany has a population 25% as large as America, and a GDP 18% of America's. So maybe if you ignored history, geography, a potential nonlinear relationship between population and economic domination¹ you could claim this discrepancy is solely due to racial differences between the populations of America and Germany. But I'm pretty damn skeptical of that. 1: for instance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winner-take-all_market https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winner-take-all_market
      - icelancer 8y ago
        >> inferior Uh, no. Just that it is vastly different and that it is a relevant data point.
        JackCh 8y ago
        Different in a way that's relevant when it comes to explaining discrepancies in economic output?
Turing_Machine 8y ago
Canadians as a whole apparently disagree. There are about ~700,000 Americans living in Canada, and also about ~700,000 Canadians living in the U.S. (see links below) However, the U.S. population is more than 8x that of Canada. That means that on a proportional basis, Canadians are about 8x more likely to move to the U.S. than Americans are to move to Canada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emigration_from_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emigration_from_the_United_Sta... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_Stat...
- Turing_Machine 8y ago
  Those links offer some other interesting comparisons. There are about 700,000 U.K. citizens living in the U.S., and only about 160,000 U.S. citizens living in the U.K. The populations are about 63 million and 320 million, respectively. On a proportional basis, one would expect to see 5x more Americans living in the U.K., but in fact, there are 4x more U.K. citizens living in the U.S. Similar ratios apply for other countries. Germany has 1/4 the population of the U.S., but there are 5 times as many Germans living in the U.S. as there are Americans living in Germany. Voting with your feet never lies.
  - selectodude 8y ago
    The US has always had a much more liberal immigration policy for ROW. Moving to the EU as an American is nigh on impossible. If was even remotely easy I'd have done it years and years ago. Granted, that doesn't say anything positive about the immigration policy of Germany when 30 year old children can get in and I don't stand a chance. Oh well.
- JackCh 8y ago
  Maybe this says more about climate than it does about governments. Of course if that's true, that people care more about the weather than the government, maybe that in itself is saying something.

refurb 8y ago

I do live in the US. And you know what? I think there is plenty the US has to offer that Canada doesn't. That's why I'm here.

untog 8y ago
I agree that the US offers a whole lot that other countries do not. I would disagree that the US government offers anything other governments do not. Of course, the US government has a role in the other attractive attributes the US has, but I personally think that role is exaggerated. I think the US would still be an economically dominant world power if it had the government of, say, Germany.
- icelancer 8y ago
  >> I would disagree that the US government offers anything other governments do not. You are very first-world centric, then. While I am no interventionist, you are discounting the role the US Military has worldwide on trade, peacekeeping, and other vital roles it actually does a good job at when it's not fucking things up (which is often). >> I think the US would still be an economically dominant world power if it had the government of, say, Germany. Including the racial makeup of Germany and the immigration policies?
  - JackCh 8y ago
    Are you trying to suggest that the racial makeup of Germany is inferior to America? I'd say population size, geographic properties (location, climate, resources, etc) and economic history count for much more than any racial inferiority. Germany has a population 25% as large as America, and a GDP 18% of America's. So maybe if you ignored history, geography, a potential nonlinear relationship between population and economic domination¹ you could claim this discrepancy is solely due to racial differences between the populations of America and Germany. But I'm pretty damn skeptical of that. 1: for instance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winner-take-all_market https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winner-take-all_market
    - icelancer 8y ago
      >> inferior Uh, no. Just that it is vastly different and that it is a relevant data point.
      - JackCh 8y ago
        Different in a way that's relevant when it comes to explaining discrepancies in economic output?

Turing_Machine 8y ago

Canadians as a whole apparently disagree. There are about ~700,000 Americans living in Canada, and also about ~700,000 Canadians living in the U.S. (see links below) However, the U.S. population is more than 8x that of Canada. That means that on a proportional basis, Canadians are about 8x more likely to move to the U.S. than Americans are to move to Canada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emigration_from_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emigration_from_the_United_Sta... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_Stat...

Turing_Machine 8y ago
Those links offer some other interesting comparisons. There are about 700,000 U.K. citizens living in the U.S., and only about 160,000 U.S. citizens living in the U.K. The populations are about 63 million and 320 million, respectively. On a proportional basis, one would expect to see 5x more Americans living in the U.K., but in fact, there are 4x more U.K. citizens living in the U.S. Similar ratios apply for other countries. Germany has 1/4 the population of the U.S., but there are 5 times as many Germans living in the U.S. as there are Americans living in Germany. Voting with your feet never lies.
- selectodude 8y ago
  The US has always had a much more liberal immigration policy for ROW. Moving to the EU as an American is nigh on impossible. If was even remotely easy I'd have done it years and years ago. Granted, that doesn't say anything positive about the immigration policy of Germany when 30 year old children can get in and I don't stand a chance. Oh well.
JackCh 8y ago
Maybe this says more about climate than it does about governments. Of course if that's true, that people care more about the weather than the government, maybe that in itself is saying something.