you can extend that to all Silicon Valley and the US in general.

It has one of the weakest social security systems. Not even proper healthcare is guaranteed. Yet it out innovates all of Europe, Canada, Australia, other places that have incredible social "safety nets".

I agree with the other commenter: safety nets and multiple tries are always good to have, but persistence and grit are even more important, and these come more from necessity.

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exceptione an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> Yet it out innovates all of Europe, Canada, Australia, other places that have incredible social "safety nets".

Probability: highly unlikely.

Speaking for Europe, I see a lot of silent innovation. No press, no LinkedIn posts, not an article on their website. There are a lot of US firms that shop in Europe for high tech. (I know of instances were the US company buys the IP from the EU supplier + take public credit for it + forbids the supplier for showcasing their success in public.)

What is different is:

1) the amount of money available in the US. The US enjoyed a very beneficial position post-WOII, enabling them to run high deficits.

2) the US has a positive attitude to entrepreneurship. You are not a failure when your company goes bankrupt, you learn from it and you go-go-go.

	▲	enaaem an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Also the EU lacks a unified capital market where infinite VC money can be pooled together into any new hype. I would argue this the biggest reason.
	▲	lanfeust6 21 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Productivity is lacking in those other countries. That said, I don't think it has to do with safety net, which is not much different in the U.S.

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raw_anon_1111 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You can have all of the “grit” you want to and still fail. You just never hear about the failures.

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lordnacho an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Most of the US graduates have their degree and a network to fall back on. It's nice to have actual money in the bank, but it can also be acceptable to have a high chance of getting a rewarding job if the moonshot doesn't work.

In other words, human capital.

Most of the entrepreneurs I meet are not going to be homeless if things don't work out. They'll be employed.

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raw_anon_1111 an hour ago | parent [-]

Exactly this many also have parents who can help subsidize them, stay on their parents health insurance until they are 26 and worse case move back home. This isn’t just the privilege rich, this can also be your mid to mid upper income couple who can help their kids out.

	▲	lordnacho an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Yep, and most of these fallbacks are insurance-like: you can always say you never asked your parents for anything. Like me. Thing worked out, so I didn't need their money. But if they hadn't, I would have a place to sleep and eat.

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bequanna 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Not even proper healthcare is guaranteed.

…except it is. Health insurance is available on a sliding scale based on income and essentially free for most low income people.

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agf an hour ago | parent | next [-]

In some areas and for some people, Medicaid probably does count as proper healthcare. But it certainly doesn't for other people / other places. Imagine there being one doctor within a multi-million person metro area who takes Medicaid for some sub-specialty. 90 minutes away from you by car. And you don't have a car. This is the reality for millions of Medicaid recipients, including ones I know personally in Chicago.

	▲	raw_anon_1111 20 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Not Medicaid, subsidized ACA. I know a lot of young healthy people that just take the chance of not having health care. Worse case you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip if you have to go the emergency room. I don’t think my older (step)son has had insurance since he got off our plan at 26 over two years ago.

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nradov an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Sure, although in some areas healthcare is effectively unavailable to Medicaid plan members because providers have stopped accepting those patients. Being insured doesn't mean much if you can't schedule an appointment.

https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/medicaid-insurers-doct...