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The built-in culture of risk taking in US can't be underestimated. Yes, we joke about Florida man and lament about the excess funding for startups. But with g
by jamesaurichs 3y ago
The built-in culture of risk taking in US can't be underestimated. Yes, we joke about Florida man and lament about the excess funding for startups. But with great risk comes great reward, and chances for inexperienced founders to prove themselves. Nowhere else on the planet are you able to do that with such magnitude, not in Japan, not in Europe, not in China (now that they're broke and in a Great Depression, and Xi is killing off entrepreneurs).
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y agoAnd in what sense are we better off for this? Is the claim that innovation only happens in the USA? That the only good companies are US companies? What are the specific benefits, other than merely indulging the startup fantasies of a relatively small number of founders, that come from this "high risk, high reward" environment?
- jamesaurichs 3y agoWe get more rockets (literally), faster. We get Tesla, SpaceX, Google, Facebook, AirBnB, Stripe, etc...
- AndrewKemendo 3y agoSaid another way, America is the sandbox for the rich to experiment on the poor, with technology that may or may not be good for the poor but ultimately doesn’t matter because the ultimate winner is always the one funding them. It’s the test and staging servers for global capitalism
- jamesaurichs 3y agoTesla creates American jobs for the poor to work in manufacturing SpaceX creates aspiration for the poor Google allows the poor to advertise their product to anyone in the world cheaply Facebook allows the poor to market their product to anyone in the world cheaply AirBnB allows the poor to live in an expensive city, cheaply Stripe allows the poor to sell their product to anyone in the world cheaply
- croes 3y agoAnd still people can't afford to buy house like their parents did. Maybe the problem isn't jobs but wealth distribution.
- SideQuark 3y agoPeople are buying vastly bigger houses than their parents did. Adjusted for inflation, and most importantly, for square footage, median US housing costs are quite flat. Last I ran the numbers, per sq foot, prices are slightly lower than in the past. Run them yourself, then check back.
- ipaddr 3y agoWhat poor person works for Telsa? What poor person gets aspiration because of Spacex. A basketball player is cheaper and does a better job inspiring. The poor cannot afford to run adwords campaigns and can't even get a credit card. Facebooks ads even more expensive. The poor are not looking for short term rentals and cannot afford to live in the most expensive cities using airbnb. They live in rundown rent controlled places. Paypal allows the poor to buy/sell.
- theGnuMe 3y agoYou missed the AirBnB effect of driving rents up and kicking poor people out of apartments.
- dns_snek 3y ago> SpaceX creates aspiration for the poor > AirBnB allows the poor to live in an expensive city, cheaply Yeah you're definitely trolling, not cool... or your definition of "the poor" includes people with net worth of $10M.
- opportune 3y agoThose companies have generated hundreds of thousands of extremely high paying jobs because hundreds of millions of consumers/many businesses chose to give them money.
- AndrewKemendo 3y ago[flagged]
- refulgentis 3y agoThat's a cute little quip but it's about climate change, not a complaint about the US having a relatively high amount of venture capital funding.
- opportune 3y agoTell me exactly how these companies are destroying the earth. Snark isn’t an argument My point isn’t even about shareholder value. Both consumers and very many employees have benefitted from these companies’ existence.
- SideQuark 3y agoThe poor in America are richer than the poor in just about any other country. The US poverty line is around the top 15% of world incomes, and that's pre tax transfers. Post tax transfers puts them much higher.
- PhilipRoman 3y agoBut is that before or after adjusting for cost of living?
- SideQuark 3y agoAfter. It's PPP adjusted, as all good economists would do.
- hardware2win 3y agoAirBnB is innovative tech?
- satvikpendem 3y agoIt sure makes it easy for me to travel, so yes, it's innovative enough for me and likely for all their other customers too.
- hardware2win 3y agoInnovative tech, not innovative at all
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- k4rli 3y agoMusk's businesses, Google/Meta/Airbnb have arguably only been harmful and we would be better off if they didn't exist.
- lotsofmoney 3y agoAn insane amount of money, world hegemony, and a very high standard of living. I’m not sure the average European appreciates just how comfortable life in the US is. And the average American doesn’t know that things they take fir granted are luxuries even to Western Europeans. Outside of a handful of small countries with specialized economies, European income per capita is at or below per capita income in even the poorest US state. Even the vast majority of poor people here have iPhones and cars and can afford to run their air conditioners at 68F all day.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y agoInsane amount of money: Of the 10 countries with the highest median income, 7 of them are European. By some measures, the USA is-midpack, with Norway/Canada very similar to us, but missing most of the entrepeneurial/VC culture of the USA. World hegemony: mostly a function of the post-WWII situation, combined with our willingness to spend absolutely insane amounts on our military and use it to impose or at minimum encourage US interests globally. Very high standard of living: the US has one of the highest GINI coefficients world wide, so only a median comparison (which is quite hard to develop) really conveys the differences accurately. Large swaths of the USA (notably Appalachia and also the desert southwest) have a substantially lower median standard of living than most of Europe. Anyway, even if your claims about the USA were true, that by itself doesn't connect them to the VC risk/reward culture under discussion.
- mufti_menk 3y ago[flagged]
- hyperman1 3y agoAt least the Netherlands has higher population than Belgium, about 17 or 18 mio.
- adwn 3y ago> * And the average American doesn’t know that things they take fir granted are luxuries even to Western Europeans.* Such as? Name three examples, please. "smartphones and cars" doesn't cut it, those are pretty common even for low income citizens here in Germany at least, and we don't really need air conditioners on account of being located in higher latitudes – everyone has heating, though.
- mustafa_pasi 3y agoHigher economic growth, better higher paying jobs and more wealth to go around.
- squeaky-clean 3y ago> other than merely indulging the startup fantasies of a relatively small number of founders Why can't this be the claim and be the end of it? "I have a startup idea" "Do you live in the USA?" "No" "Well it's going to stay as a idea" " :( "
- Zetice 3y agoIt’s not actually “great” risk, is the secret. The advantage is not in American recklessness, it’s in American shamelessness. The only risk made is in the money, someone’s “honor” doesn’t play into it, for the most part.
- croes 3y agoWith great risk, like Lehman brothers mortgage bundling, comes great reward, government bailout. > Nowhere else on the planet are you able to do that with such magnitude, not in Japan, not in Europe, not in China Europe had that too, rich nobles sponsored scientists and artists. We are back in aristocratic society
- mustafa_pasi 3y agoMost definitely. I would say here in Germany, the number one thing that is missing is the culture. Everyone here is extremely risk averse and pessimistic. Then of course we don't get any startups and also no startup capital.
- n_ary 3y agoLet us not forget the immense paperwork and everything that entails, while I read that one can simply pay few hundred dollars in US and start their own business tomorrow.