Quote:
Originally Posted by hellboy78
US come first, huge market, millions of customers, low taxes
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Well the US is one of only two countries (out of more than 200) which levies tax based on citizenship rather than residence as most countries do around the world. US taxes aren't exactly low, rather I'd say they are around mid-range but it doesn't matter because all US citizens have to pay them and it's becoming more and more difficult for US citizens to lose their citizenship by choice (think Eduardo Saverin, Facebook cofounder). As well as making it very difficult for US citizens to have bank accounts or use related facilities located outside the United States due to new reporting requirements like FATCA.
Anytime a government is trying to lock its citizens in behind a wall.... that concerns me because it talks about freedom. The US government is simply in the process of herding all their citizens into a large pen, locking the gate whilst increasing militarization, surveillance to manage them and to keep them in. In the words of Doug Casey, the US government views its citizens as milk cows and pretty soon, they're going to be slaughtered like beef cows.
From a business point of view, regulation is high and getting higher all the time - more difficult to do business. Since the US economy is based upon consumption, then I guess the millions of customers is a big advantage. However, long term that is not sustainable.
The US is, however, a major leader in technology, self sufficient in terms of food and energy and is still the largest economy in the world by GDP. However, those stats are pretty much trounced (for me at least) by the terrible Debt/GDP and total debt figures. In fact, the US is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world.
Official figures put US debt at around 17 Trillion but if you factor in, the so called unfunded liabilities which will be coming due, the real figure is something like $100 Trillion plus and today that number is regarded as conservative.
So whilst I always told people the US was a good choice even as recently as 10 years back. Going forward I would regard it as just mediocre for most people and not a good idea for business people.