Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by protortyp 23 days ago
> I personally can't understand anyone wanting to move to the US anymore except for extreme reasons.

I am German and honestly can't wait to move to the US once I get a suitable H-1B offer. I already spent 8 months in Boston for a research stay, and back then the doomer mentality among natives was wild to me. From an outsider's perspective it’s crazy to watch. Life, and especially the ceiling for what you can achieve, is still 10x higher in the US than anywhere else.

I think people in the US severely underestimate how stagnant it feels in Europe and other continents right now. We are basically just stumbling from one crisis to the next, without any strong leadership (the US two-party system definitely has its advantages here, as you're able to charge fullspeed into one direction instead of not moving at all).

If you actually want to build ambitious things, the friction here is exhausting. And instead of being rewarded for high output you get taxed to death to prop up a system favored towards an aging/declining population. It's essentially a massive boomer tax. Younger workers have zero political leverage to change it because our demographic is just too small to matter at the ballot box.

Sure, the US definitely has its ugly sides, but if you want to work hard and actually capture the upside of what you build, it's still the only game in town. Even if that means jumping through all the hoops the current gov throws in your way.

I hope I can call myself an American one day.

4 comments

So many words just to say you want more money.

> Younger workers have zero political leverage to change it because our demographic is just too small to matter at the ballot box.

Because:

> can't wait to move to the US once I get a suitable H-1B offer.

That isn't why though. Germany has a demographic cliff right now. Same post WWII baby boom as anywhere but for whatever reason, no echo boom in the 80-90s like the US. Also US has absolutely been sponging up central and south american immigrants hand over fist especially the last 40 years, meanwhile europe has been quite a bit less permissive in this aspect.
> if you want to work hard and actually capture the upside of what you build

But not if you want to build solar or wind energy. Then you get rekt, no matter what the law says.

> if you want to work hard and actually capture the upside of what you build, it's still the only game in town

I think that this is only true to some extent. There are many successful engineers and scientists who work in Europe that earn good money and live well. Especially if you're a researcher, Horizon grants provide really good opportunities to collaborate with people from different countries

Some people see fascism as a ply. It’s a thing
It does sound appealing to a small group, if you're part of that group then you'd be all in. For the rest of us, not so much.