[Riddil]

ZenGum, point taken. The whole train of thought in that post was a stream of conscious. I do think there is some validity though. It may not be due to any laziness of Europeans, but I do think it was a convergence of many factors that led to such a big disparity for what the US became.... innovation, hard-work mentality, safety from the wars, and abundant source of raw materials.

And Cicero, actually I'm not against the influx of Mexicans into the US at all. I am against the ILLEGAL influx of Mexicans. However, I think we should set up a simple registration system to make it just as easy for just as many Mexicans to come into the country. Get them tax payer numbers, and get them paying taxes. The beef I have with the current system is they come in, get paid under the table, and send all that money home. If you're working in the US, you should be paying taxes in the US.

Anyhow, I digress, my real point with immigration is that it's silly how easy we make it for uneducated illegals, and so difficult for educated professionals. I don't only mean Easterners, either. I say open up the gates and let Europeans, Africans, South Americans, whatever, let 'em come on in. We should lock out the poor Mexicans to match the difficult process for everyone else. We should clean them both up, and make it easy for people to move into the US.

And yes, "whatever it takes to stay at the top", INCLUDING bringing in foreigners to take top jobs. How many stories are there from the end of the 1800's, and beginning of the 1900's about some immigrant coming from Europe and building a massively successful company? The quality work they do makes American companies more competitive, and the companies they create give jobs to more Americans, and the income they earn is injected into the US.

Who cares if they talk with an accent? Their kids won't.