5 Reasons to Be Bullish About America in Long Run
1) The United States is the home of the entrepreneur.
2) The United States is the most open/flexible society the world has ever seen.
3) The brightest minds from around the world dream of coming to the United States.
4) English is the universal language.
5) Americanization remains a powerful and growing – though resented – economic and social trend throughout the world. (To quote the advertising/marketing giant WPP Group’s CEO, Sir Martin Sorrell, “Globalization is a misnomer. The better word is Americanization.”)
~Jeffrey Saut via Real Clear Markets
21 Comments:
1) --Except when the government stifles entrepreneurship, which is often and increasing.
2) --Except when the government finds a reason to throw you in jail or seize your assets, which is often and increasing.
3) --Except when the government prevents them from coming here.
4) --ROFLMAO kthxbye
5) How is ROW out-Americanizing America a reason to be bullish on America?
All very true. But it may be slowly slowing down in all those parameters. It depends on how far the long run is.
3.) Not anymore.
the number of applications for H1-B visas has tanked to about half the quota amount. In the past, the number of applications exceeded the limit of available visas.
What is remarkable is the extent to which local and state governments quash business, but that's fine with the local establishment.
Try running a jitney in any city in America.
Try starting up a pash-cart vending or food cart.
Try building a skyrise condo in Newport Beach, CA.
Try drilling for oil off the state of Florida.
Try offering low-cost legal service for routine type legal work, not employing lawyers but people who know what they are doing.
In particular, jitneys and push-carts offer a way for literally millions of people to start their own businesses, without huge amounts of capital. Outlawed nearly everywhere in the USA.
You will never hear the R-Party, or the D-Party, talk about that.
Why? Retailers and restauranteurs don't want low-cost competition.
Bus companies (often privatized) give money to city counilman. Bus driver unions do too.
I am very bullish on America anyway. The next 20 years will be a global boom, and venture capital firms, which have more money than ever, found incredible advancements in everything.
Globally, R&D is linked by Internet, and great R&D is taking place not just in the USA anymore, but also in Europe, Japan, Korea and China.
The only thing holding man back is corrupt and parasitic government (often with a military component), wars and financial collapses.
Here is another reason to get bullish about America: The dunder-headed right-wing, always completely stupid about anything to do with either military spending or monetary policy, may at long, long last be getting a clue.
This article ran in the National Review Online--you can't get more right-wing than that. (Also, it is nice to see the right-wing Cato Institute call for cutting military outlays in half).
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/263668/not-enough-money-ramesh-ponnuru?page=1
Dr. Perry ought to do a write up on this superb article.
Regarding English, have you checked the latest Census numbers. The Mexican invasion has nearly succeeded in reconquering the Southwest. Aided and abetted by our foolish, power hungry politicians, we are in the process of losing all of the territory gained in the Mexican War (and perhaps more). This is truly a nation destroying debacle.
BTW, I hope you speak Spanish, Benji!
Insert the word "government" after "United States" in statements 1,2 & 3 and the exact opposite is true.
Bill-
As a native Angeleno, I speak Spanglish!
But every business in the Southwest depends on Latin labor.
Latins have revived many, many neighborhoods in Los Angeles. What used to be dangerous low-income black neighborhoods have become safe low-middle income Hispanic neighborhoods. (If that is too blunt, I am sorry. I like everybody, just calling it as I see it).
Markets, auto repairs, furniture shops etc. have opened up. Crime rates have fallen to 1960s-levels in Los Angeles.
BTW, I live in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood, and shop in nearly all Hispanic stores, and have been since 1992. In all that time, I have not heard the slightest remark or slur made about me as an Anglo. Not one!
In contrast, I have had negative episodes in black and Asian neighborhoods. And Lord knows I have encountered rude white people in Los Angeles. (In constrast, Hispanics seem incapable of being rude or unfriendly).
I think the Asian and Hispanic migration to Los Angeles is wonderful. I am sorry that Asian migration is lessening, as more opportunities open up in Asia.
1) The United States is the home of the entrepreneur.
I'm sure that's true comparatively, but the US sure makes the entrepreneur jump through a lot of complicated, expensive and slow-moving hoops to get a patent.
Much of the U.S. Latin population will be underpaid and overworked, in part, because of a higher cost of living. Basically, they'll be "servicing" affluent Americans.
Consequently, I suspect, the country will become more like California, and eventually like Los Angeles, because more social services will be needed.
Benji: I hope for your sake that these Latin masses will remain as friendly, hardworking and docile in the future as they form absolute majorities of the population in states such as California. Given the track record of Latin America however, I am not quite so optimistic. I suspect at best they will demand higher taxes, more government benefits and more racial quotas and at worst there will be irredentist movements involving possible secession.
#1. Not at present. A number of other nations now beat the USA at making life easier for entrepreneurs. India, for example.
#2. When have we had the most open and flexible society? While slavery was legal? When we treated Asian immigrants like mongrel dogs? When we put citizens of Japanese ancestry into camps? When we applied religious tests to persons seeking public office or government jobs? When we have immigration quotas that discriminate against certain peoples?
3. The brightest minds in the world now realize that coming to the USA may not be their best choice. Even if it's their first choice, they're unlikely to get in legally.
4. English is spoken as the first language of numerous countries and as a second language in dozens.
5. Americanization is still a trend in many nations, but anti-Americanism has been growing faster.
pseudo benny is the poster boy for why extorted tax dollars spent on public education is money well wasted...
Complaining about local & state governments, well citizens get the government they deserve...
That's painfully obvious...
Obviously pseudo benny's ability to understand an article written in simple English is again suspect...
Bill-
I do wonder about Latin governments--each one is deeply corrupt. I for one, will not invest in the Brazilian miracle. I am sure they will screw it up, ala Mexico.
I think the media and US Attorney General's Office must take every measure to keep government honest.
Think about marrying a Thai girl.
This smacks of the 'American exceptionalism' theme that is way overdone. The US was the greatest nation in the world because it was the freest. And to some extent it is still very free for some people who are able to keep their capital off shore and away from the IRS.
But there is no way to pretend that the US under Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama could be compared to previous times when people really were free. How can one argue that the US is a free and flexible society when you can be sent to jail or fined for letting too much water flow through your shower head?
The most laissez-free economy over the past decade has actually been Hong Kong, which was under the direct control of communist China, which is itself in many ways freer economically than the US is.
When people were free to keep most of what they earned and were asked to be responsible for their actions the country thrived. But when the laws and regulations kept piling up and some people decided to vote themselves into the pockets of more productive others growth and real output slowed. The most intelligent figured out that making real things that people needed and selling them on the open markets was nowhere as profitable as asking for big handouts and gambling in the financial markets.
The US reminds me of Britain a few years after the Boer War. It was in clear decline but the idea of empire was still believed until circumstances forced the English to see reality as it was rather than as they imagined it to be.
While it is true that the US is still the place to be and I often point that out myself, I have to also note that complacency has set in to some degree. As a nation gets rich, that is inevitable, but the problem is that this sense of ignorant satisfaction can get so bad that it leads to dumb moves that kill growth, like we're seeing today with Obamacare, etc. The great thing the US has going for it today is that the Europeans have already chopped off their own legs, while Asia and South America were infected by the same socialist virus and are only beginning to shake it off. So the US can only be ahead for so long, but it's great that other countries are also becoming better places to live :) and the US is currently so far ahead that it will take them decades to catch up.
"And to some extent it is still very free for some people who are able to keep their capital off shore and away from the IRS."
what people are those? us taxes global individual income. there are no offshore tax havens anymore. one of our funds is an offshore, than the changes since 9/11 have been stunning.
they used "homeland security" as an excuse to grab global financial data and there is really nowhere to hide anymore, at least not legally.
some corporations with overseas operations can find some loopholes, but for individuals, it's locked up awfully tight.
what people are those? us taxes global individual income. there are no offshore tax havens anymore. one of our funds is an offshore, than the changes since 9/11 have been stunning.
Look at the entertainment and sports community as perfect examples. You create an off-shore company that produces your films or handles your appearances. That company does not have to pay US taxes for the income it gets unless the funds are repatriated. The capital is safe from lawsuits or government confiscation and can be passed on to heirs without paying taxes.
they used "homeland security" as an excuse to grab global financial data and there is really nowhere to hide anymore, at least not legally.
You can still take full advantage of the schemes, which are perfectly legal to begin with. Hollywood actors still have their Bermuda or Bahamas based production companies and foreign earnings that accrue to those companies are still not taxed by the US government. The same is true if you set up a company to hold patents, distribute software, handle your consulting activities, etc.
some corporations with overseas operations can find some loopholes, but for individuals, it's locked up awfully tight.
The tax laws are primarily written to rob the small players. They are primarily an inconvenience for the big players or the smart individuals.
This comment has been removed by the author.
The QuickFRAC technology is incredible. Shhhh, no one tell "VangeIV", he's busy searching all of his "peak oil" sites for explanations as to how none of this will work and why all of these wells will be unprofitable and have to be abandoned.
Lots of technology is incredible. It does not help you if you can't make a profit from it. In this case the drillers are doing fine but the shale gas producers are getting killed, which is why they are moving away from natural gas.
From the Hoover Institute and written by Clint Bolick:
Caveat Vendor
Imagine a country in which the right to a welfare check is vigorously protected—but where the government can destroy legitimate businesses and professions with impunity.
Is it China? Russia? Cuba? A socialist utopia dreamed up by the likes of George Orwell?
No: it’s the United States, supposedly the beacon of free enterprise for the entire world.
But is it really? Governments at every level—not to mention unelected regulatory agencies—regularly deny individuals the basic freedom of enterprise that is every American’s birthright. Often they do so not to defend public health or safety but for naked protectionism... (there's more)
Post a Comment
<< Home