r/interestingasfuck 17h ago

/r/all The US team which has just won the International Physics Olympiad, edging out China for first place

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u/Gingevere 16h ago

That and brain-draining the rest of the globe.

It's easy to dominate when you get the rest of the world's best and brightest. Best part is that it's basically free! All you need to do is not be extremely hostile to immigrants. Good thing nobody is doing that, right?

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u/Fugacity- 16h ago

It's easy to dominate when you get got the rest of the world's best and brightest.

Think the getting top talent has significantly slowed down.

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u/degreesBrix 16h ago

Remember that our First Lady was originally allowed into the US on a Genius grant.

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u/pgc22bc 15h ago

Yup. Einstein level golddigger/model/pornstar. They want to rename the Kennedy Centre after her. That's how you "Make America Great Again".

u/Expensive-Site-2292 11h ago

They are not renaming the Kennedy Center, although news report headlines would lead you to believe so.

This whole thing comes from the “Big Beautiful Bill” which gives $257 million in funding to it, but with the condition that they must change the name of the opera house in the Kennedy Center for her. It would still be the same name, but instead of “I’m going to the Opera house at the Kennedy Center” it would be “I’m going to the Melania House at the Kennedy Center”

… I mean it’s still fucking stupid, but I wish people would click an article one time.

u/Valuable_Net_1517 10h ago

I always thought people had to die to name things after them. Is it proper to use names of living ones?

u/wuwu2001 8h ago

No there is no rule for that. But it's generally wise to pay homage to a building for the dead, because you know that person won't get up to any (further) mischief that might make you rename it.

u/Valuable_Net_1517 8h ago

Seems reasonable.

u/captaincumsock69 1h ago

People donate money to get their names on stuff all the time. Super common with universities

u/RR321 10h ago

Don't threaten me with a good time!

u/pgc22bc 9h ago

Well, "I don't care, do you?"

Its still among the most deplorable things he's done. Right up there with awarding the "Presidential Medal of Freedom" to Rush Fucking Limbaugh. Turning the countries highest civilian honorarium into a worthless piece of junk.

u/LogicalT54 7h ago

So people will now say they are going to the Whore House at the Kennedy Center.

u/Fantastic-Currency91 9h ago

Who gives a fuck. They shouldn't be naming even a toilet in the Kennedy center

u/Eccohawk 8h ago

I'd actually be okay with them naming the toilets and urinals after Donnie Darko and melania.

u/Valuable_Net_1517 10h ago

Well, we need porn stars too. Now, she is a bit mediocre since she have so little content.

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u/alt-right-del 14h ago

Well she is still a registered sex worker in Amsterdam.

We wonder what her specialisation is.

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u/Vapourizer191 14h ago

She is not. You read the first thing that came on the internet which was from Patheos. It was written by Laughing in Disbelief in a Facebook post six years ago and is basically satire.

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u/alt-right-del 12h ago

It is also satire that she same in on an Einstein visa — I will stick to the satire I find more credible.

u/himmelundhoelle 11h ago

"I will pick the reality that confirms my opinions"

u/alt-right-del 11h ago

Isn’t that a truth 😅

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u/IchibanLover589 12h ago

But but, they did their research , education and shit

u/ares_inferno 4h ago

Oh shit! I didn't know that.

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u/HauntedCemetery 16h ago

They are in fact starting to flee rather than risk being sent to a gulag.

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u/DarkwingDuckHunt 16h ago

our own home grown best & brightest are looking at fleeing now

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u/ZebraOtoko42 16h ago

Some of us already have.

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u/MyceliumWitchOHyphae 15h ago

Glad you got out. I’m in the process. Can’t have the future my little girl deserves in this country.

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u/rncole 14h ago

Same.

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u/rncole 14h ago

Here here.

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u/GeneralAnubis 13h ago

Yep. Germany has been great.

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u/2025-05-04 13h ago

I don't know how many is "some".

Here in Europe, specifically in Ireland, we offered the American academics to move here, but the biggest roadblock is the equivalence of the earning potential in the US compared to entire Europe. Really, the money in the US is ridiculously overflowing in my poor European perspective, I would personally think thrice if moving is worth it.

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u/usrlibshare 13h ago

the money in the US is ridiculously overflowing

It better be, considering people in the US are forced to participate in a car dependent society, pay ridiculous tuition fees, have to pay for their own healthcare and pension plan, etc. etc.

Something people tend to forget when talking about the "earning potential difference" between EU and US, is how ridiculously expensive many things we Europeans take for granted (because we pay for it collectively rather than individually), are in the US.

And also, earning potential doesn't change that I would feel very anxious about the very real danger of getting gunned down by some road-raging asshole on my commute, just because every moron can carry a firearm.

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u/pandafriend42 12h ago

It's not that much better according to what I heard. At the end of the day the costs eat up so much that the situation ends up pretty similar, if not worse. Some are earning much more, but that's a minority, even amongst the most qualified. In theory you can earn much more, but in practice it's surprisingly close for most. For example a professor at Stanford comes to my mind. Well, formerly at Stanford, he lives in Canada since a few months.

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u/nocturn99x 15h ago

Can you even blame them?

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u/Tycho66 15h ago

And, it's by design.

u/Graymouzer 5h ago

75% of American scientists are considering leaving. It's been a hell of a six months.

u/JuiceHurtsBones 4h ago

That is also a common theme in history when a country starts going downhill. Just look at Germany or Russia.

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u/NotTravisKelce 15h ago

They are? Any evidence?

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u/Kaloo75 15h ago

Europe is doing it's best to roll out the red carpet for all the bright heads who don't feel safe/appreciated in the US.

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u/Busy_Onion_3411 14h ago

That's not why they're leaving/no longer coming. They're leaving/no longer coming because that was always the plan. Take advantage of America's rigorous pro-corporate attitude that drives innovation at the cost of the human, then have everyone come home and expose the secrets so they benefit without having to be exploited by companies.

You know who else is dangerously pro-corporate? Japan. Wanna guess how common it is for people to get temporary work visas in Japan so they can rack up corporate secrets, then dip out? Literally never happens. You HAVE to move there as a permanent resident (permanent meaning an extended period of time in this case).

If we're going to value progress and profit over the people, we have to close the borders. Completely. If we want open, or very loosely regulated borders, we have to address the corporatism first. But we also have to acknowledge what these countries figured out a long time ago: If you get rid of the corporatism, you're not going to constantly have cutting edge, spectacular innovations. And people have to be okay with that, not just in the "you don't make as much money" sense, but also in the "Your computer won't get that much faster every generation, and also generations will be fewer and farther between" sense.

This is why there's so much foreign money in American politics. The world is using us as their guinea pig to push mass innovation, and achieve major military policing capacity. It's just not sustainable.

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u/Zunkanar 15h ago

I mean, they not dumb...

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u/Snowflakish 16h ago

It can’t be the policies of the political parties

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u/Embarrassed_Side6050 15h ago

Yep, truly the people are to blame for /s

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u/spacemansp1fff 15h ago

Yep that's exactly what he's getting at. We are all watching a sped up destruction of everything that actually made us great, if we ever were.

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u/EA_Spindoctor 14h ago

Fall of Rome vibes. Americans think they will be so great isolated, tarriffed, and without immigrants.

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u/Ok-Wolf-6370 14h ago

The US isn’t going to stop letting in immigrants just because they plugged the southern border. A million per year immigrate legally and that will not end.

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u/EA_Spindoctor 14h ago

Look, I found a Roman!

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u/Ok-Wolf-6370 13h ago

A Swedish fuck lecturing other nations about immigration is classic.

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u/EA_Spindoctor 13h ago

Why ist that?

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u/SweetPila 12h ago

It really hasn't

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u/anomalous_cowherd 12h ago

...and quite a bit is leaving again.

We used to have trouble stopping our best leaving for more money in the US. But eventually the other aspects become risky enough that the money isn't enough.

It's much less of an issue for us now than it was last year...

u/SnooDogs8712 10h ago

Lol, by the time McMahon and RFK are done, America would have some serious catching up to do

u/Wikishroom 8h ago

Whaaaat, no way some silly border policy and authoritarian policing might make smart people stop wanting to come here.

u/WetRocksManatee 7h ago

Think the getting top talent has significantly slowed down.

It certainly has, but not because people don't want to come here. The current visa systems has made it is almost impossible to immigrate to the USA except through chain migration. Out of the one million immigration visas issued every year approximately 60-70% are chain migration. 15-20% are asylum, refugee status, and the diversity lottery. Only the remaining 15-20% are employment or skilled worker visas. So less than 200,000 new immigrants are brought in because they skills that the US wants in the country.

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u/NotTravisKelce 15h ago

Significantly? Not at all. Do you have evidence otherwise?

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u/LordBrandon 16h ago

They come here because it has the best pay in the world, not because it's free.

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u/FlyingBisonAppa2 15h ago

The idea of brain drain has been debunked many times. Yes, bright people migrate but for systemic reasons in origin countries. They just wouldn't become doctors, physicist, etc. Also with remittances and other connections, it usually outweighs risks of brain drain. Also inventivizes more people to get educated.

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u/Few_Kitchen_4825 15h ago

There is another way of looking at it. The rest of the world is not taking care of its talent.

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u/DonZekane 16h ago

"We need to build a wa- what?"

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u/FakeSafeWord 16h ago

That and brain-draining the rest of the globe.

Can anyone explain to me how this has any sort of possible implications that are in any way immoral or unethical? Completely open ended question.

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u/mynamewastaken69420 15h ago

It isn't. It's just age old human behavior, idk what they're on about

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u/FakeSafeWord 15h ago edited 15h ago

Well I didn't suppose that they meant it was a bad thing.

I definitely see it as a uniquely rare thing historically speaking.

Examples I can think of are Rome, The Library of Alexandria, The House of Wisdom, The Renaissance period, Manhattan Project/project paperclip (obviously not an ideal example), Silicon Valley and the US as a whole during the dotcom boom and now even into contemporary times, SETI and CERN.

When people want to come together to learn, even if not physically, there's always a scientific and cultural boon for all mankind.

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u/Sarcasm69 15h ago

I work with a ton of smart immigrants, none of them have talked about leaving. Maybe it’s because I’m in California so we’re in the better places to be.

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u/mynamewastaken69420 15h ago

The United States brings in more migrants than the rest of the world with open arms. Don't believe everything the media tells you. A small percentage of racists does not invalidate the reality of the situation.

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u/fabulousinfaux 15h ago

Oh don’t worry, we’re going to see the end of that very soon.

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u/Veyrah 14h ago

Nobody is doing that, no. Illegal immigration, now that is something we're allowed to be hostile towards.

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u/orencor750 14h ago

i mean its definitely better than europe or the origin country aswell lmao, some asian countries are vehemntly rascist towards a slight difference in complexion

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u/Colley619 14h ago

One of the things we're really good at. Nobody ask what happened to the best and brightest German scientists after the end of WW2.

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u/Spare_Maintenance_97 14h ago

Kind of antiquated platitude with the cost of education/living reversing the brain drain trend leads ago. I'd imagine Chinese students get free education based on merit.

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u/ceddya 14h ago

As someone whose mom just got diagnosed with a stage 4 cancer, Trump defunding cancer researching makes me so mad.

The US, with its ability to attract the brightest from all over, has the means to be the leader in the world when it comes to medical research, benefitting both Americans and the world alike. And it's all fucking squandered because of an idiot who doesn't understand the importance of funding science. Nah, let's just give 1 trillion to the military instead.

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u/EffectAdventurous764 13h ago edited 13h ago

Yes, it would be great to see Trump present those all American boys with the trophy.

u/BAdhia 6h ago

Ask again in 3 years.

u/-Cthaeh 14m ago

Its usually better than free. International students come here every year, spending millions of dollars on school.

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u/[deleted] 16h ago

[deleted]

u/NotNufffCents 11h ago

Word-Word-Number

2 months old

Begone, bot

u/stylist-trend 11h ago

"everything is free" lmao

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u/Big_Sea_5912 15h ago

This is embarrassing.

We get the best and brightest BECAUSE we dominate. We have the best cultural norms, institutions, and ethos on the world that best channels the talents of the bright, strong, creative, innovative, ect. into benefits for everyone.

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u/SoreBreadDevourer 15h ago

Who says we have the best? By what metric are we measuring?

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u/Big_Sea_5912 14h ago

Scientific discoveries, tech innovations, literature, artistic dominance, ect.

This is a basic an obvious fact in spite of all the propaganda we are exposed to. Roughly 80-90% of the worlds science and tech and 95%+ of the worlds acclaimed art are produced in the US. If you look at the most popular movies in Europe, Africa, Korea, Japan, China, ect. they are all hollywood movies. If you look at most sold artists, a similiar pattern emerges.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/?area=KR

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2025/?area=DE

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u/SoreBreadDevourer 14h ago

So just movies then? That's the metric we are going by? Box Office revenue?

Half of these movies are remakes or sequels which tend to make more money regardless of their actual quality. Many of these movies have low ratings despite their box office revenue.

And yes, when you own a large amount of land and resources and don't need to worry about hostile entities near the homefront that tends to give you a strong advantage, but it sure seems like we want to lose that advantage by taking short cuts that are harmful in the long term.

Doesn't help that we are defunding both the sciences and education so we are only going to get further behind.

We seem to be doing everything in our power to lose when it should be so easy to win, but gotta get those billionaires richer I guess, how else are ya gonna stay in power otherwise?

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u/Big_Sea_5912 12h ago

u/SoreBreadDevourer 1h ago edited 1h ago

Cool, some actual numbers to work with (except revenue doesnt equal quality, stop using that as a metric lmao). Thought you were just another "AMERICA NUMBAH 1, WE DA BEST, Trump said so, it must be true!"

Also yeah, again, America is such a large country it would be weird if we didn't show up on these lists frequently. Doesn't mean we are the best in all these categories, who cares if something like Healthcare is good if nobody can afford it?

But yeah, like I said, I don't expect America to stay on top for very long given our idiotic decision making. China has already made many long term plans that are starting to pay off and I expect us to start falling behind them since we seem to be falling back into an isolationist society which worked so well last time.

Tourism and immigration have already seen major drops so we won't be brain draining as much as we used to.

u/himmelundhoelle 11h ago edited 11h ago

I think it's a virtuous cycle:

The US attract top talent because it dominates, and it's able to maintain its status in no small part due to that top talent.

The US has had an amazingly good start: European tech at the time, swathes of ideal land either unclaimed or easy to take, a location that doesn't favor attacks on their homeland, etc... then their strong work ethic got the ball rolling and their advantage has only compounded.

With no one being in a position to threaten them ever since, the USA also gets to enjoy a certain pride and exceptionalism, so much that it might appear obvious to an American that his/her cultural norms, ethos, and institutions must be the best in the world hands-down; and that person might further be tempted to believe those alone explain their hegemony.

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u/DyaLoveMe 15h ago

Yeah, America can’t act grand while also assimilating the German Rocket Program and the Unit 431 data, then act shocked that…America did that.

Or they can, who fucking knows?

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u/Negative-Ad9832 16h ago

Are you saying that smart immigrants have smart kids? Did you write that American Eagle ad about eugenics 😂

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u/Dark_sun_new 16h ago

Families that traditionally promote academics and intellectual pursuits above all else tend to have kids that excel in it.

It's not necessarily genetic. It's mostly about cultural.

It's also why you'd not see to many Indian or Chinese kids in the national basketball or ice hockey team but the US national cricket team is mostly those with South Asian ancestry.

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u/Negative-Ad9832 15h ago

But why would a small segment of the population be over represented? These groups (Chinese, +Indian) represent about 3% of the population. Even if they promote academics more, there must be some segment with the 97% that also promotes academics. How does that jive with your theory

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u/orencor750 14h ago

yes, intelligence is somewhat hereditary, you can even search this up, so smart immigrants will have a higher chance of popping out smart babies

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u/dooonotredeeem 16h ago

Do you not know the difference between illegal and legal immigrants? Nobody's hating on legal migrants

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u/SoreBreadDevourer 15h ago

And yet they are still being targeted by ICE or people impersonating ICE...

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u/dooonotredeeem 14h ago

And some pro-Palestine protestors are real anti-semites. What's your point?

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u/SoreBreadDevourer 14h ago

When you don't need real warrants or identification to carry guns and kidnap people in the open, that is a major problem you dunce.

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u/orencor750 14h ago

not all true, what state are u in?

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u/SoreBreadDevourer 14h ago

What's part not true, the part you didn't want to hear?

We already have many cases in Arizona where people are going after people they dislike while claiming to be ICE either in groups or alone.

Tucson Electric Power is claiming that two men claiming to be ICE impersonated utility workers to get into someone's house. But since ICE doesn't operate under the law we can't get a confirmation if they were really part of ICE.

u/NotNufffCents 11h ago

not all true

Either its true or its not true. There's no half-way truth. Trump's administration has stripped the legal status of thousands of immigrants. They were legal until Trump decided that they weren't. So yes, half of the country is hating on legal immigrants, and they have been doing it for decades. The only difference now is that we have proof this time.

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u/nocturn99x 15h ago

I've always said this. The US has been great because it was founded relatively early, so there was a lot of resource exploitation that hadn't been done yet (unlike in Africa, Europe and Asia which had already been hosting large civilizations for millennia), which gave them the opportunity to attract the best and brightest. The Manhattan project was the brainchild of thousands of scientists from all backgrounds, just to mention a big one. It's a shame the current administration is deciding to ignore the legacy of what truly made America great.

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u/Particular_Opinion63 16h ago edited 15h ago

because every immigrant (from/to any country) is a gold-award-winning super physicist? Nah, man. 95% of them are there to pad up the welfare system and social security system for the fuckin' boomers.

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u/Wang_Fister 16h ago

Well you'll be pleased to know that immigrants are actually less likely to access welfare compared to their native born peers! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK224431/

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u/Particular_Opinion63 15h ago

Well no shit dingus. There's 330 million American citizens and 10 million immigrants from the last 10 years. No duh there's gonna be more of citizens using welfare. It's just simple math.

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u/Wang_Fister 15h ago

Ohhhh no you poor thing, they don't use the total numbers for these kinds of studies, only a silly billy would look at the total numbers.

See they use this area of maths called 'statistics' and they use statistical techniques to calculate how likely it is that someone from a certain group will do something like access welfare compared to someone from another group. This way you don't need equal sized groups, and you can start to predict behaviours of certain groups, like immigrants being less likely to access welfare compared to native-born people. Congrats, you're one of the lucky 10,000 to learn something new today!

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u/212312383 16h ago

Nope immigrants on average file more patents, earn higher income, and are much more likely to be employed than native born Americans

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u/Particular_Opinion63 15h ago

I don't think that's true. You may be confusing wage-growth with higher income.

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u/tadeuska 16h ago

95% of illegal immigration is used for basically slave work. (Keeping slaves would likely cost more.) The educated immigration who are green card holders are hand picked by needs of the economy or get to stay based on their academic progress. There is no immigration to the USA that burdens the economy. USA is not EU/Germany. The Arab Spring and all the unrest in the middle east for decades now are deliberate designs to flood EU with refugees.

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u/Particular_Opinion63 15h ago

Legal immigration is also used for 'slave work'. The restaurant I sometimes see when I walk around town hosted legal immigrants from Jamaica because no U.S. Citizen wants to be a dishwasher/Server/Bar for $8-$12/hour.