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Take a look at the technology changes of the last 50 years. How much of it was invented/designed/initially brought to market by the US? ( I don't mean this as a boast, just looking at the scorecard.) That's because of our inequal system, which allows nobodies to excel, (if they have the will and the ability) in a system that is driven to take the new/creative and make money off of it. But (as I've said before), we pay for all of this "creative destruction" with inequality and poverty at the lowest levels. And yes, that's a very real cost. But on the profit side of the ledger, look at all the technical innovation the world enjoys due to the results of the American system. where's the EU equivalent of "Silicon Valley" that has had the same world impact as the US one? Once again I'm not boasting, I'm just trying to describe the "upside" of the US system, instead of continually focusing on the "downside". Our open/outlier/referee/individual responsibilty culture had led to all sorts of new ideas/technologies/methods that, while many are economic, not all are. And any discusion about the American culture needs to include the good, as well as the bad...
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