(06-25-2015 06:17 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Had a very interesting conversation today with one of my former students--Dutch exchange student from University of Leiden, who is now back in Holland doing an internship at Unilever in Rotterdam. His view is that Europeans, at least the 20-somethings, are far more entrepreneurial than Americans now. I think he's right, and I don't think that's a good thing. We were actually talking about trying to collaborate on some research in this area.

Being entrepreneurial in the U.S. is difficult given the onerous burdens of government taxation and regulation. Remove those obstacles and we'll be up to our necks in entrepreneurs.

(06-25-2015 06:24 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(06-25-2015 06:17 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Had a very interesting conversation today with one of my former students--Dutch exchange student from University of Leiden, who is now back in Holland doing an internship at Unilever in Rotterdam. His view is that Europeans, at least the 20-somethings, are far more entrepreneurial than Americans now. I think he's right, and I don't think that's a good thing. We were actually talking about trying to collaborate on some research in this area.

Being entrepreneurial in the U.S. is difficult given the onerous burdens of government taxation and regulation. Remove those obstacles and we'll be up to our necks in entrepreneurs.

Exactly.

What people here have no clue about is how much better Europe is in precisely those areas. Plus the European welfare system is much better structured to provide a safety net to risk takers.

Attended a fascinating presentation by Sir Richard Branson a few years back, that really opened my eyes to these things.

What no takers on my remaking the map of North America side street in this discussion?

(06-25-2015 10:37 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  What no takers on my remaking the map of North America side street in this discussion?

I think you hit all the major points correctly. In the process of the states merging together to form a new regional nation I could see a few of them disagreeing with their neighbors, having no bordering, ideologically-aligned region to latch onto, and just becoming an independent state like in the Balkans.

(06-25-2015 10:09 AM)Max Power Wrote:  

Almost all I see is..
TAX
TAX
TAX
TAX
and more TAX.

(06-25-2015 10:38 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Guys. It's working. These are small incremental steps that have to be taken.

Incremental steps towards a Soviet-style society?

The American people are sitting in a boiling pot, slowly being cooked to death, and the Democrat Party is stoking the fires.

(06-25-2015 10:37 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  What no takers on my remaking the map of North America side street in this discussion?

Mostly because I and others don't see the regional break up occurring. The regional differences are not so insurmountable that a fractured nation is the only solution.

(06-25-2015 05:46 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  But so far they seem more worried about abortion and gay marriage, which are both loser issues for them.

It seems to me that this is where 'we' are most at fault. What I mean is that this is the argument because this is what 'the people' want to hear and read about.... so it's the one we get. Look at the subscription levels of magazines like Popular Mechanics or Scientific American as opposed to Star and People. Look at all of the 'reality' TV shows and all the unfettered stupidity that walks the streets today. We are getting in politics exactly what we ask for and pay for.

'The people' are far more interested in how screwed up or 'fabulous' (either extreme) other people's lives are than in actual problems... SO they're more interested in arguing about things that REALLY impact an incredibly small number of people (gays who want a pizza joint to cater their wedding or can't find a 'gay friendly' pastry chef near them)

I mean seriously... the solution to Gay marriage is absolutely simple. All a 'marriage license' is in this country (as far as the government is concerned) is a pre-packaged set of 'legal-zoom' rights and responsibilities. The government simply used 'marriage' as a convenient word to describe a family relationship that it wanted to encourage. The 'new' family relationship doesn't fit with this model... so stop using the word 'marriage' to define those rights and responsibilities and let anyone who wants to do so, enter into that pre-packaged set of legal documents with one other consenting adult... Cancelling it and dividing the assets and liabilities the way any other partnership would be dissolved.

It's REALLY that simple... and while yes, there will be some on either extreme upset about it, I suspect 60-80% of Americans would get behind something like that at the drop of a hat.

Story over.

Of course, politicians don't want that because they get money from the argument, and neither does the media because they too get money from the argument... and 'we the people' don't want that because THEN we'd have to deal with our OWN issues rather than being able to meddle in everyone else's.

(06-26-2015 07:27 AM)vandiver49 Wrote:  

(06-25-2015 10:37 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  What no takers on my remaking the map of North America side street in this discussion?

Mostly because I and others don't see the regional break up occurring. The regional differences are not so insurmountable that a fractured nation is the only solution.

Then you and others have WAY more faith in resolving the entitlement meltdown than I do.

(06-25-2015 10:37 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  What no takers on my remaking the map of North America side street in this discussion?

Houston/Galveston/South Texas/El Paso would seceede from Texas immediately upon Texas secession.

South/Central Florida would probably do the same.

"Conservative America" would consist would of some of the South and Rural Midwest and Intermountain West plus parts of Texas. Alaska would probably just go its own way. It would have food and some oil, but not much of an economy. It would be much poorer than "Loyal America". It would attract far fewer immigrants and investment. Oh and all those factories opening up in the South? They're not there to sell BMW's to people in Jasper, Alabama or Lubbock, Texas. They're there to sell to people in Reston, VA or Boca Raton, FL or NYC or Seattle. All that would go bye-bye.

Oh, yea, and then the military? Conservative America would have a really crappy tax base.

(06-26-2015 04:15 AM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(06-25-2015 10:38 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Guys. It's working. These are small incremental steps that have to be taken.

Incremental steps towards a Soviet-style society?

The American people are sitting in a boiling pot, slowly being cooked to death, and the Democrat Party is stoking the fires.

More like a European style social democracy like in Denmark, Ireland, Holland, Sweden, etc..

(06-26-2015 03:07 PM)TerryD Wrote:  

(06-26-2015 04:15 AM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(06-25-2015 10:38 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Guys. It's working. These are small incremental steps that have to be taken.

Incremental steps towards a Soviet-style society?
The American people are sitting in a boiling pot, slowly being cooked to death, and the Democrat Party is stoking the fires.

More like a European style social democracy like in Denmark, Ireland, Holland, Sweden, etc..

Actually, no, not at all. There's one huge difference between where we are headed and European social democracies. They don't have the huge emphasis on income and wealth redistribution that we do. Yes, some of them have slightly higher top individual tax rates (about the only countries in the world who do). But their corporate rates are much lower than ours. Their total tax on corporate earnings dividended to shareholders is much lower. They all rely for about 40% of their total tax bite on consumption taxes. And their benefits are general, not based on specific gatekeeping factors and generally not means tested, certainly not to the extent that ours are. In many ways, Europe is friendlier to business than we are, although some of the writhed excesses coming out of the EU parliament threaten that.

The European approach is social democracy. The US approach is currently headed toward socialism. Europe tried socialist redistribution schemes in the 1960s and 1970s. They didn't work. So Europe backed away. We can hope that we learn our lesson from them instead of having to repeat their mistake. But I doubt it.