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Healthcare and housing costs are some of the biggest stifles to innovation in this country. Imagine all that could be made if everyone was covered under healthc

by asdff 4y ago

Healthcare and housing costs are some of the biggest stifles to innovation in this country. Imagine all that could be made if everyone was covered under healthcare, and also had a place to live where they could be free to think and tinker. Instead, many people are burning up their able-bodied, sound-minded years doing some job that doesn't help advance any of their own skills, or contribute significantly to anything in society, existing solely to generate steady profit for someone else, just so these workers can afford a place to sleep. All of those stories of SV founders somehow not having a job, yet also having a garage workshop in Palo Alto to build circuitry and focus on their passions seems like ancient mythology now, versus a goal worth aspiring to yourself. However its done, once the burden of healthcare and housing costs are eliminated from this country, we would seriously bring forth a new age in innovation. What a shame that the limited scope of opinions allowed in mass media are rarely clamoring for this new technological golden age, and are instead only really interested in maintaining their own dole from the profitable status quo that these voices serve to perpetuate.

RestlessMind 4y ago
> Healthcare and housing costs are some of the biggest stifles to innovation in this country. (Assuming you are referring to the US) France has free healthcare, free education and a high degree of rent control. Do you have any quantitative data about a higher level of innovation coming out of France? I haven't seen any evidence as such. UK has free healthcare (though not sure about housing costs). Does it have any higher innovate rate than the US? What about Norway, which has an even better safety net than both France and the UK? I haven't heard much about Norwegian innovation, though happy to be proven wrong. In general, innovation seems to be correlated to cultural factors and hunger of the population (eg. Singapore or Israel). This link[0] shows venture funding per capita which seems to be a good proxy - US is #4 and has 4x the score of France, Norway is not even in that list. Maybe that is a poor metric, but if you have a better one to support your claim, happy to be proven wrong. [0] https://news.crunchbase.com/startups/countries-most-startup-investment/ https://news.crunchbase.com/startups/countries-most-startup-...
- asdff 4y ago
  What about norway indeed? "Rates of start-up creation here are among the highest in the developed world, and Norway has more entrepreneurs per capita than the United States, according to the latest report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a Boston-based research consortium. A 2010 study released by the U.S. Small Business Administration reported a similar result: Although America remains near the top of the world in terms of entrepreneurial aspirations -- that is, the percentage of people who want to start new things—in terms of actual start-up activity, our country has fallen behind not just Norway but also Canada, Denmark, and Switzerland." https://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/in-norway-start-ups-say-ja-to-socialism.html https://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/in-norway-start-ups-sa...
  - RestlessMind 4y ago
    Hmm interesting. I checked up two other sources[0,1] and those ones have US / UK / Israel / Canada / Australia etc above Norway when it comes to Startup environment. So I still don't see enough evidence for the original point (healthcare and cheap housing being essential). A lot of those countries (esp. UK / AU / Canada) apparently have a housing situation far worse than the US. And yet, they are thriving compared to other countries. Btw, I will also admit that France is ranking much better per those sources. So now it seems evidence for "cheap housing being essential" is all over the place? [0] https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/trends-global-startup-ecosystem-2022/ https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/trends-global-startup-ecos... [1] https://ceoworld.biz/2021/01/03/worlds-most-entrepreneurial-countries-2021/ https://ceoworld.biz/2021/01/03/worlds-most-entrepreneurial-...

by asdff 4y ago

RestlessMind 4y ago

> Healthcare and housing costs are some of the biggest stifles to innovation in this country. (Assuming you are referring to the US) France has free healthcare, free education and a high degree of rent control. Do you have any quantitative data about a higher level of innovation coming out of France? I haven't seen any evidence as such. UK has free healthcare (though not sure about housing costs). Does it have any higher innovate rate than the US? What about Norway, which has an even better safety net than both France and the UK? I haven't heard much about Norwegian innovation, though happy to be proven wrong. In general, innovation seems to be correlated to cultural factors and hunger of the population (eg. Singapore or Israel). This link[0] shows venture funding per capita which seems to be a good proxy - US is #4 and has 4x the score of France, Norway is not even in that list. Maybe that is a poor metric, but if you have a better one to support your claim, happy to be proven wrong. [0] https://news.crunchbase.com/startups/countries-most-startup-investment/ https://news.crunchbase.com/startups/countries-most-startup-...

asdff 4y ago
What about norway indeed? "Rates of start-up creation here are among the highest in the developed world, and Norway has more entrepreneurs per capita than the United States, according to the latest report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a Boston-based research consortium. A 2010 study released by the U.S. Small Business Administration reported a similar result: Although America remains near the top of the world in terms of entrepreneurial aspirations -- that is, the percentage of people who want to start new things—in terms of actual start-up activity, our country has fallen behind not just Norway but also Canada, Denmark, and Switzerland." https://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/in-norway-start-ups-say-ja-to-socialism.html https://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/in-norway-start-ups-sa...
- RestlessMind 4y ago
  Hmm interesting. I checked up two other sources[0,1] and those ones have US / UK / Israel / Canada / Australia etc above Norway when it comes to Startup environment. So I still don't see enough evidence for the original point (healthcare and cheap housing being essential). A lot of those countries (esp. UK / AU / Canada) apparently have a housing situation far worse than the US. And yet, they are thriving compared to other countries. Btw, I will also admit that France is ranking much better per those sources. So now it seems evidence for "cheap housing being essential" is all over the place? [0] https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/trends-global-startup-ecosystem-2022/ https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/trends-global-startup-ecos... [1] https://ceoworld.biz/2021/01/03/worlds-most-entrepreneurial-countries-2021/ https://ceoworld.biz/2021/01/03/worlds-most-entrepreneurial-...