4 ms·

> It also ignores the fact that since the 1970s the United States has transitioned more and more to information and services jobs. Even that would have been be

> It also ignores the fact that since the 1970s the United States has transitioned more and more to information and services jobs. Even that would have been better. The reality is that since the 70s the brainpower of the US has been pushed to finance, law and tech. US finance has become detached from ties to the real economy and became a sector that created imaginary wealth out of thin air, law remained a sector that complicates everything for a chance at political careers, and much of the brainpower sucked into tech was used to generate bloated valuations/stock returns for the investors by producing mostly marginally useful things. Tech did succeed in producing the most tangible results, but it failed to impact the physical world much. After all, it wasn't possible to get a big stock value bump at having farming automatized instead of making the next social/publishing/streaming/gaming/subscription/whatever app for X and shaking the investors off of their money. But now that the zero interest economy ended, that business model is dead and tech is dumping the brainpower it sucked. Like how finance did circa 2008. Multiple generations of top-tier brainpower and all the years of education they received and the experience they have are going to sh*t...

ethbr1 2y ago
Think you might be undervaluing the fact that securitized capital markets offer much broader access to loans at attractive terms. Which isn't to say there aren't some parts of the financial industry that produce little real value. But is to say that the competitiveness, ease, and attractive terms of standard 30-yr-fixed-rate US mortgages don't spring out of thin air.
- dumbledoren 1y ago
  > securitized capital markets offer much broader access to loans at attractive terms At the initial phase, when there is the 'Wild West' development stage, yes. After that phase it becomes a scam where value is generated out of thin air. If you put the entire economic value of a country into financialized vehicles, people WILL start doing everything they can to maximize their gain. Like making up assets.
seanmcdirmid 2y ago
Much of the brain power used in American tech was imported. I don’t think it could have happen if we were isolationists and anti-immigration.
- dumbledoren 1y ago
  > Much of the brain power used in American tech was imported. The point still stands. And that makes it even worse - it means that the US not only wasted its own brain power, but a noticeable part of the world's brain power as well.

ethbr1 2y ago

Think you might be undervaluing the fact that securitized capital markets offer much broader access to loans at attractive terms. Which isn't to say there aren't some parts of the financial industry that produce little real value. But is to say that the competitiveness, ease, and attractive terms of standard 30-yr-fixed-rate US mortgages don't spring out of thin air.

dumbledoren 1y ago
> securitized capital markets offer much broader access to loans at attractive terms At the initial phase, when there is the 'Wild West' development stage, yes. After that phase it becomes a scam where value is generated out of thin air. If you put the entire economic value of a country into financialized vehicles, people WILL start doing everything they can to maximize their gain. Like making up assets.

seanmcdirmid 2y ago

Much of the brain power used in American tech was imported. I don’t think it could have happen if we were isolationists and anti-immigration.

dumbledoren 1y ago
> Much of the brain power used in American tech was imported. The point still stands. And that makes it even worse - it means that the US not only wasted its own brain power, but a noticeable part of the world's brain power as well.