Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> Publicly traded companies can't afford to play favorites, they "have to" go where the profits are and make the best of it, whether it's decades of being the mole in a wack-a-mole game with the Chinese system, or having to invest extra billions in India.

True to some extent only. Apart from profits, publicly traded companies also clamour for a stable business environment. And authoritarian countries have an inherent risk, due to the nature of their government and uncertainty on the world stage.

No one can make 50 year plans for China, like they can do with US, Europe or UK. It's the same case with India too.

Democracies provide an extra level of stability.



> clamour for a stable business environment

> Democracies provide an extra level of stability.

That's very true which is why I said "make the best of it" (i.e. "of a bad situation"). Companies will have to operate under different assumptions and making different plans than they would under normal conditions. Think "peace time vs. war time CEOs". But this is what makes these companies successful, the ability to juggle with unknowns, hostile conditions, uncertain future. It's a gamble but not that different from what Tesla or SpaceX did when jumping into the unknown. They're different types of unknowns but still just as risky, able to easily sink a ship.


> No one can make 50 year plans for China, like they can do with US

Five years ago, I would have agreed with you about the US. But the direction that politics have gone since then makes me a lot less sure.

The rate that corruption has grown under the Trump without repercussions is absolutely astonishing. Like any relationship, I don't know how that break in trust between the government and its citizens can be repaired.


Give me a break. Very little has effectively changed in the past five years, aside from the insane polarization of the media.

The Trump administration's "astonishing rate of corruption" you are perceiving is being massively overstated by partisan media outlets.

Previous administrations were free to engage in all manners of corruption, while the mainstream media touted their "coolness".


There was definitley a lot of corruption in the USA before Trump. I do think it's also the case that under Trump things got more shameless, and so the administration "dares" to go further.

This is worrisome, especially if you don't think corruption is endemic of the Trump administration. New "boundaries" have been tested and set. Future administrations have a playbook that can allow them to get away with more.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: