"Even if it is technically a democracy, most nations are run by and for the benefit of the elites that control the institutions of power"
Democracy by itself is almost meaningless. Individual rights, including strong property rights, even when there is no democracy at all (such as in Hong Kong for most of British rule) produces more freedom and economic well being than decades of democracy without them.
I really liked this piece. Although not sure about the whole thing about Americans traveling less than other people do. Most people in geographically large countries do less foreign travel than people in tiny countries, but they aren't necessarily traveling less.
I think the problem is that the US essentially spans from the arctic circle down close to the tropic of cancer - if you include Puerto Rico it extends past.
This provides a large number of environments within the US. It's hard to blame someone for not going through the colossal bullshit of an international crossing when you can simply drive or take a national flight to get to another environment.
In countries like the UK (where I'm from) people travel out of country on almost every holiday as you want to go somewhere different, but it's hard to do in the UK.
I think there's a stronger correlation between vertical size of the country and lack of international travel.
Probably a more sensible comparison is to compare Europeans who travel out of Europe and Americans who travel out of the United States - both are roughly the same area.
[NB I mean Europe the Continent, not the EU, or Western Europe]
I believe that is a fairer comparison. My family traveled less distance to holiday in France than it takes my in-laws to visit much of their family whilst remaining within Canada and that's only Ontario to the Atlantic's, that's nothing compared to some of their family that lives on the Pacific and can travel to the Atlantic just to see family.
However I have currently traveled to the US and Turkey (in the legitimately Asian geographical area), and currently live in Canada and am currently planning a trip from Canada to Australia because of my brother. Which will have netted me 4 continents. I'll need to hit up somewhere in South America and Africa, perhaps I'll have to land myself in Japan or China sometime to fully claim Asia.
Simple economics is most of the reason Americans dont travel internationally very often. You can take a RyanAir flight from the UK almost anywhere in Europe for a fraction of the cost of any international flight out of the US. Americans who don't live on the coast can pay more to get to a hub airport than Europeans will spend getting to their destination.
I think the author means traveling over large distances over extended periods of time - the whole "gap year" culture that is pretty standard behavior before/after University in the UK. This seems to have developed from things like Inter-Railing which I did 20 years ago.
Most people in their 20s that I know have had at least one extended period of traveling. I know a few people whose careers are effectively arranged around extended periods of traveling.
though they followed the submission guidelines there and removed the "20" from the title. (maybe they need to be more visible? Could be a case of bad UI/UX)
It's actually pretty interesting the things learned. The preconceived notions that the author had are so US centric.
Having travelled around the world, I'd mostly agree, but coming from a European country I maybe saw things a little differently. For example the US/Canada culture thing.
Also I found it rather amusing the shot about not needing much stuff, carrying a $1000 camera :)
Just wondering if the 4 hour work week is actually a good book, I read like the first chapter, I was very disappointed, no in content and very wordy. Does it get better?
Like the blog, the book is more about bragging than giving useful advice. All you have to do, he says, is start a zillion-dollar-a-year business which can run without any actual effort on your part. And then you can spend all your time doing other stuff. The rest of the book is a list of other stuff he's done and musings on whether it's better to bum around Berlin or Buenos Aires.
Democracy by itself is almost meaningless. Individual rights, including strong property rights, even when there is no democracy at all (such as in Hong Kong for most of British rule) produces more freedom and economic well being than decades of democracy without them.
I really liked this piece. Although not sure about the whole thing about Americans traveling less than other people do. Most people in geographically large countries do less foreign travel than people in tiny countries, but they aren't necessarily traveling less.