The only other country I'd ever consider to live in would be Quebec. :D. So much potential here. The author implies that the country is broken, this isn't true by any stretch of imagination. Things aren't perfect as you've pointed out but we've got the energy, the universities, the social net and all that we need to live a decent life. The author implies the best ones are leaving for the states. I find it quite amusing that people would see living in the States to be some kind of achievement. I for one have seen a few of my classmates go work in the valley after graduation. For what? Facebook, Twitter (at the time), a bunch of other shops that are blights on the face of this earth. Doesn't sound like an achievement to me to be spending your time optimizing for engagement, ads and other things that are for the most part net negatives for society.
Luckily, we still can choose to live in either one, unless the sovereignty movement flares up again. I wish I could, because I really appreciate what Quebec has going for it, especially as someone who was born in Europe. I'd pick QC over the US any day of the week for work, but sadly I wasn't taught French in my childhood and it would likely take me the rest of my life of dedicated studying to attain proficiency that's enough to be used in a professional setting.
My less cynical side hopes for that too, because English and my first language are worlds apart compared to how similar in some ways English is to French. I also live in a more bilingual area than others and get plenty of exposure to French. But it's a chicken-and-egg problem - to permanently live there for the immersion, you need to have a job there, and to have a job there you need to have perfect French.
I admire Quebec's taxpayer funded (or subsidized?) daycare. The GDP impact really speaks for itself. I hope that comes to the rest of Canada (and does not get abused)
There is a federal program for subsidized $10 per day daycare but some provinces have been a bit stubborn in signing up and making agreements with the federal government.
Because the US is, or for a long time has been, just the best place in the world for so many things. Want to be a SWE grunt? You'll earn twice the salary in the US. Do you have startup ambitions? There's nowhere better than the US, specifically the Bay Area, in nurturing and scaling a business. Filmmaking? Hollywood is the place to be. If you want to be at the center of fashion or finance or contemporary art, NYC. US dominance might be changing but a place being the top of a field means it attracts the best of the best from around the world, and for an ambitious person, the best place to be is among them.
