Quote Originally Posted by Sol View Post
In much if not most degree because of immigrants. When you destroy other countries, rob them and hence have more money, you become more attractive, may pay more and get gifted people on this money. That's the main secret of USA advanced technology.
Immigrants are certainly one component of the success the US has had. Maybe attracting immigrants is the main component, IDK. Two of my grandparents were immigrants from the area near Prague, and the others were from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The US didn't pay them to come, nor promise them jobs, nor did it steal them away (as it did to many slaves), but rather it just built an environment where everyone has a roughly equal chance at success. It turns out that that is a lot better than what they had, and many people will "vote" for a better life using their feet.

I worked with a guy from France who had a lifetime job in France, but still moved to the US. He was a native Lebanese and an electronics engineer. He told me he had lived in France for 15 or so years and still felt like a visitor, but after being in the US for three weeks, he felt like an American. Everyone he met just assumed he was born here.

You should consider it too, Sol. I have found that the Russians I know are very well educated but have no opportunities to apply their knowledge or to benefit from it in Russia. The ones I know who have immigrated, Mikhail and Vladimir and Svetlana, are doing very, very well.