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It's well-run in some aspects and disastrous in others. The fact that the US is an economic powerhouse is due to other things, not the quality of its federal an
by andrepd 3y ago
It's well-run in some aspects and disastrous in others. The fact that the US is an economic powerhouse is due to other things, not the quality of its federal and local government.
- bohadi 3y ago[dead]
- oblio 3y agoTons of natural resources and a huge pool of primarily Western European Protestant immigrants in the 1600, 1700s, 1800s, with a strong culture for independence and a continuous search for prosperity, these immigrants serving as the bedrock that instilled the current US culture. Before anyone tries anything funny I'm neither American, nor Western European, nor Protestant.
- JambalayaJim 3y agoI’m sure this is a nice founding narrative that brings comfort to a lot of Americans of Western European ancestry. I think USA is better off inventing a more inclusive one in the coming century though (I suppose they already have in parts)
- throwy101 3y ago[flagged]
- WalterBright 3y agoTaiwan has no natural resources yet is an economic powerhouse. Russia has vast natural resources and a poor economy.
- kaashif 3y agoTrue. But it appears you have ignored half of the comment you're replying to, the part about the immigrants that moved to the US. It's entirely possible that the US would've also succeeded had it opened its doors to millions of East Asian immigrants, but that didn't happen.
- WalterBright 3y agoIt did open doors to Chinese and Japanese immigrants, who have contributed greatly to the US economy (in spite of racism against them).
- oblio 3y agoPractically irrelevant. Brazil and Peru opened their doors to Asian immigrants but just like in the US, they were second wave immigrants and they couldn't save either of those countries. You need the initial immigrants to do the heavy lifting, plus they majorly control politics.
- WalterBright 3y agoBrazil and Peru have unfree markets. Immigrants can't help.
- andrepd 3y agoIn what way does Brazil have unfree markets vs the US? Either now or during the last 150-200 years?
- WalterBright 3y agohttps://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/programs/growthpolicy/can-free-markets-revive-brazil https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/programs/growthpol...
- kaashif 3y agoThe doors were never open to Chinese immigrants except for limited periods. Mass Chinese migration to the US only really began after the Civil War, and was quickly locked down with the Chinese Exclusion Act [0] only a few decades after the doors were "opened". Even then, naturalization of Chinese citizens as US citizens was still restricted. There even had to be a Supreme Court case to establish that the children of Chinese immigrants born in the US were US citizens! [1] The Chinese Exclusion Act was only repealed in 1943, when a small number (literally hundreds, almost nothing) of Chinese migrants were allowed in, with that increasing slowly over time. Even today, Chinese and Indian (and others, but the impact is greatest for high population countries) migration is limited by the H1B cap and multi-decade green card queues. If the queue to get a green card is so long that you'll die first [2], you have effectively been banned from permanent residency and naturalization. My point is simple: doors were open to European migrants, so European migrants built the US and formed its national character. Other methods and types of migration may have also worked to build the US, but we'll never know because the US restricted them heavily and still does. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Wong_Kim_Ark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Wong_Kim_Ark [2]: https://www.wionews.com/india-news/more-than-400000-indians-waiting-for-green-card-wont-get-it-before-death-study-633040 https://www.wionews.com/india-news/more-than-400000-indians-...
- oblio 3y agoConsider the descriptive part about the immigrants to be an example of the following cultural archetype: "ambitious, motivated, solid work ethic, respect for education and legitimate entreprise". Any other settlers of the same kind would have succeeded. As a counterexample Spanish and Portuguese settlers largely failed to establish similar societies.
- WalterBright 3y agoA fundamental issue is overlooked here. The US was established as a free market country. People of all backgrounds thrive in a free market economy. The proof of that is many countries have switched to free markets, and promptly started thriving. Countries with unfree economies, like South American ones, do poorly. Chile seems to go back and forth between free markets and socialism, with the consequential ups and downs of its economy.
- oblio 3y agoWhat does "free market" mean in this context?
- WalterBright 3y agoFree markets don't change meaning with context. Google the definition of a free market, I'll go with that.
- oblio 3y agoThe US has massive government intervention so if you go by the standard definition, it isn't a free market.
- WalterBright 3y agoFree markets aren't a binary thing. There's a range from full free market to total communism, with all points along that range. The more free market an economy, the better it does. The more communist it is, the worse it does.
- avgcorrection 3y ago> and a huge pool of primarily Western European Protestant immigrants in the 1600, 1700s, 1800s, with a strong culture for independence and a continuous search for prosperity, That's a long-winded way to say Settler Colonialism.
- oblio 3y agoBrazil, Argentina, etc also had settler colonialism. Distinctions are useful.
- avgcorrection 3y agoWhat's the distinction? That the settlers were inferior catholics? (Of course other Europeans at later stages like in Argentina.) In any case you can cherry-pick any variable you want when talking about such disparate nations.
- oblio 3y agoI expanded in another comment: > "ambitious, motivated, solid work ethic, respect for education and legitimate entreprise". Spanish and Portuguese settlers, for reasons that are beyond me, didn't manage to create societies where these values are at their core.