"The central idea of all statists is that the State knows enough about everything to be able to make smart, rational decisions about everything, including proactively dealing with problems, whatevet that means."
It's interesting to notice that, in the more extreme of the type of incident you mention, not one of the states (US, Soviet Union or Japan) was able to "proactively deal with problems." Heck, Japan and the USSR weren't able to deal with the problems, post facto!
Ah, the sweet crackling of a burning straw man...
[...] they provided early Delphi's for free on my teenage years when noone else did.
Boy, do I feel old reading this, and recalling Turbo Pascal 3.0 way after I was a teenager...
The kind of people breaking immigration laws are people who work in hourly jobs/etc. The engineers who're here are not going to stick around with no job - they can go back home and earn more money with their 'US experience'.
Speaking as one who returned home a few years ago, I'd say you're exactly right. Most of my compatriots who stayed are now having to deal with huge mortgages on sinking home prices and an uncertain prospect in the job market.
Now seriously, I'm not fat, my cholesterol levels are OK, and I don't have a history of heart disease in my family. Why should I deprive myself of the exquisite gustatory pleasure of a good steak or the superior cooking properties of animal fat?
Remember son, not all people are cut from the same mold, no matter what the health nazis say.
Almost anything derogatory you could say about today's software design would be accurate. -- K.E. Iverson