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Comment by withinboredom | Hacker News Reader

As an US American living outside the US and just spending last week at a tech conference with nearly no US Americans there; this subject was pretty popular to overhear. Essentially, people are asking whether anyone should take the US seriously anymore, as a tourist destination, a place to continue career/education, a political ally, etc.

The gist was that the US is cooked from a reputation point of view. Whether that has any meaningful impact is yet to be seen.

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Don't forget: as a tech partner. It's all momentum right now, and true, there is a lot of that. But lots of little conservative decisions are beginning to add up.

Who cares what people asking? America's reputation has long been built on the fact that America has the largest economy, the largest army, and does whatever the f.сk it wants.

The thing is that "does whatever the f*ck it wants" might have negative consequence in regards to "America has the largest economy". If the current GDP growth trends continue, it looks that China will surpass the America on this front unless there are significant changes in either country.

I’m hoping we finally see more investment and talent shift to Europe.

Why would they go there? Well, except in situations where they're not needed in America due to a lack of talent?

People don't go to America because the American president is a charming and polite gentleman. They go there because a talented factory worker can easily make 150k a year, and a talented software engineer 500k a year.

And what does Europe offer to those people? One and a half times a cashier's salary and commuting to work by eco-friendly bike? Seriously?

I make about half of what I did in the US, but take home more money. Insurance is cheap, no expensive healthcare, no car insurance, no car payment, childcare is subsidized and basically free, all other insurance is <4% of what I paid in the US, etc. Home is expensive, compared to what you get in the US, but payment is about the same.

All that in the US was over 7-8k a month of my paycheck, gone. I get all of that for less than 2k a month.

Let’s not even discuss how advanced the EU banking system is compared to the US… although it has been a few years since I’ve been back, so maybe it has gotten better?

In any case, the EU offers good jobs and a work/life balance you usually can’t find in the US, with smart people that you also usually can’t find in the US. It does have its warts, but it also isn’t candy mountain.

Well, in my case about 4 times a cashier’s salary (but really a cashier should be able to afford a good life too), and my kids can bike around so I don’t have to be their taxi and they aren’t stuck at home. Also a functioning democracy.

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