if things didn’t work out for you in the US that’s fine, just don’t assume you can see the future
It's even more common with island countries where you can buy passports or government services otherwise not available to non-residents in elsewhere without even visiting.
It's 21st century and governments are startups attracting capital and skilled workers (employees).
I never claimed to see the future, only similarities to things I’d seen before, from friends in government to the news.
A startup looks to turn an idea into reality and make it self-sustainable and profitable. They will ofter make compromises in order to accelerate their growth (and some things that VC make them do make zero sense if you’re not considering the hyper growth scenario).
A country, imho, offers a framework for its citizens and does not optimize for government growth or government profitability. They don’t need yo justify their existence and don’t need to be profitable to accomplish their mission. This framework offers a multitude of “services” and enables businesses and private citizens to exist + offers them stability needed. By any means it’s not a startup and should not be looked at through the lens of a startup
imho, that’s not what makes a startup.
in your analogy: who are the investors? the US not only burns the money, it has the ability to print more money. between the petrodollar and the military supremacy the only thing that can topple the US are internal factors.
Highly debatable. However, I think most citizens would consider their nations age date of acquisition of sovereignty, not from the date of the current form of government or any other standard.
Anyway, calling United States one of the oldest countries in the world is about as defensible as calling it one of the newest countries in the world. I just don't see the data for it.
Was Russia fighting a land war in Europe just a little blip on the radar that has not yet caused you to question your "sniffing" ability?
In national terms, there are 200-ish options, not "plenty of fish in the sea".
One option we are considering is starting our family in the US and moving to the EU slightly later in life, but before the kids would start school. Adoption and surrogacy are generally harder or take longer in the EU, although the processes are substantially the same for same sex and opposite sex married couples, at least in western Europe.
- high taxes that you actually see the output of. Also, higher taxes than the US means not paying US taxes due to tax treaties, though you still have to file them.
- Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) means you can move here and start a business with minimal investment.
- Our son was 3 when we moved here. He speaks fluent Dutch now and is on his way to learning Spanish and German.
And that's not even getting into the attempted coup.
I'd say that's all pretty terrifying.
I think I'd agree that in 2018, if you were paying attention, that the 'smell' was that's where we were heading.
Now we are here.
To clarify. There are people who want fascism. Who want authoritarianism. Who are purposefully breaking political discourse. Who think women should be forced to have babies even if there is incest and rape. That if they get an abortion they could potentially get the death penalty. That white people are superior. That overthrowing the democracy is good (if they are doing the overthrowing). And on and on...
So no and 'to be fair', 'the other side of the proverbial fence' absolutely do not 'also see the same problem.'
Nonetheless, the point of smelling points of no return is valid for all situations, where you can see looming crises but at the same time a provisionally livable state and "doom not fully scheduled".
Heck, rednecks can already drive across state lines with the intent of shooting some townies, then get off by claiming self defence.
I don’t think this is true? I’m in favor of women having the right to abortion, but my understanding of the anti-abortion steelman position is that it stems from defending individual rights of the unborn (basically fetal personhood). That doesn’t really apply to restricting any of these other rights - it’s a special case (if anything it should be an argument for increasing availability of contraception).
The real discussion should be about that bit imo, but both camps are often talking past each other without engaging on the core disagreement. For example, the bodily autonomy argument falls flat if you believe the unborn have individual rights that are being violated.
You’re avoiding the point of the parent. There is nothing crazy about saying something that has its own elbows, asshole, DNA, brainwaves, and beating heart is a person and deserves protection.
It’s quite a leap to get from that to banning condoms.
Another thing is fear. A failing business gives you worry that your next paycheck won’t be coming. Not only has this happened numerous times to government employees since 2006, I realized how much general fear you live with in the US. As a resident, there was a constant underlying fear of dealing with police, to ending up on a hospital bed and no way to afford it (again). In a successful business, no one is living in fear — maybe stress, but not fear.
Those are the two biggest smells I remember thinking about at the time. Is the US actually going to fail? I don’t think so. I think it’s too big to fail atm. If talent starts leaving the US in droves, that’d be the first harbinger in my opinion. But I can’t see the future and wars are usually good for the US, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the US provoke Russia or some other country into a pointless war.
Picking failures is easy because the majority of start-ups fail. If you pick failures 50% of the time, and 90% of startups fail, then actually you are really good at picking successes.
But since then, 100% of the businesses I’ve worked at are still in operation today (another 5).