Why America is the place to be!

Big get Bigger in the Bible
For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

Matthew 25:29



I am a big believer in the exponential growth and that is why it pays to be big, it pays to focus and only do one thing very well (after low improvements in the beginning things get better & better and of course people love to do what they do well. The solution? put the hours in few endeavors,  concentrate, Focus.


This graph from the great BCA research, shows that the big companies are much more profitable than the median company.


From the Economist

Another new paper**, which looks at manufacturing in America, China and India from 1982 to 2007, suggests that the trend towards bigger firms is only likely to accelerate. Big firms’ higher productivity, it argues, raises the barriers to entry for new—and presumably smaller—competitors. Larger factories are more productive than smaller ones, so bigger firms can entrench their position over time. That will skew the income distribution even more. There is plenty of evidence across America and Europe that startup rates for companies are falling, allowing the biggest firms to get bigger unhindered by competition. Since the financial crisis, higher barriers to entry in the form of limited access to capital has caused the number of new businesses to collapse.
Not all economists see this as a dreadful thing. After all, bigger firms have much higher investment rates than smaller ones, which helps to fuel growth throughout the economy. The preponderance of small firms in such places as Greece, Italy and Portugal, seems to be one of the factors holding those economies back.

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21646266-growing-size-firms-may-help-explain-rising-inequality-bigger


I am not planning to move to America (the place of the big companies) but i already own stocks in many american companies as a hedge against living in a small country, Portugal. In my country consolidation has not been promoted and the result is that companies are struggling to survive. It's a difficult place to be a small company. you don't have a decent research budget, marketing budget etc...how are you going to compete? you have an idea no one else has and can not be copied! I don't bet on this
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I had to fire my house maid !


The secret to wealth is simple: Find a way to do more for others than anyone else does. Become more valuable. Do more. Give more. Be more. Serve more. And you will have the opportunity to earn more--whether you own the best food truck in Austin, Texas, or you're the top salesperson at your company or even the founder of Instagram.

Tony Robbins, 

this is of course a good advice. I had a house maid for 9 years i liked her a lot. She cooked my food perfectly and iron my dress shirts in my way. She was not perfect but no one is.

However she was a bit inflexible, we bought a dog and she refused to walk the dog, last month i asked her to patch some suit trousers and she said she might ruin the trousers and that i should send the trousers to a professional etc... long story short after many episodes like this my wife sent her away (with a high financial cost)  I would probably let things stay as they were ( i am a bit conformist ) but after the fact our new house maid did patch the trousers and walks the dog and she is happy to serve. Perhaps in 9 years she will become like the previous one but the start is very good. 

Going back to Tony Robbins quote i know he is right, just do more and you will get more. be nice, be of service, care more and you will get more money. Do more even without pay and you will get rewarded big. I know this is true. 

Note: We did get our previous maid a new house and i am sure she will do a good job there. She is a very good maid with a bit of attitude.
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Work more not less!

Working hard is very important. You're not going to get anywhere without working extremely hard. 
-- George Lucas


People who advise that you should work less are not giving a good advice. Work is one of the biggest weapons a person might have. Many people don't like to work hard and that is your biggest advantage. just put the hours.


Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." 
— Stephen King


More about the same

http://thoughtmeme.blogspot.pt/2014/11/there-are-no-shortcuts-to-any-place.html
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Today is my birthday! Next year is 50

I just want one thing for next year health for me my family & friends . All the rest who knows what might happen. It's going to be good. 

I want 4 things for next year

a)to be in ridiculous good shape
b)to travel more
c)to have less & less things. Use what i have more and more including clothes, gadgets & everything i don't need the new version of anything
d)to eat slowly
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Finally a useful gadget !

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what is the point of Brexit?

From Chris Giles, FT

When you can download software from the US or your favourite song from Australia, it is not surprising that both the tech-savvy and those wanting Britain to leave the EU assert that geographical proximity has never mattered less. This is a favourite phrase of Daniel Hannan, a Brexit-supporting Conservative member of the European Parliament. It also happens to be a myth.

Take two countries, one with historic ties to Britain and which shares the same language, the other merely in the middle of the European continent. New Zealand and the Czech Republic were both $200bn economies in 2014, measured at prevailing exchange rates, and Britain trades significantly more with one than the other. Imports and exports of goods and services in 2014 were 3.9 times higher with our European not-so-near neighbour than with our distant former colony.

This is not cherry-picking countries. Britain might not play a lot of cricket with Spain but it trades 3.3 times more with its former enemy than it does with Australia. Both Spain and Australia are $1.4tn economies, but British people are more willing to travel short haul for sunshine and sangria than for the lifestyle of Neighbors, the long-running Australian television soap opera.


http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/aef23062-dae6-11e5-a72f-1e7744c66818.html#axzz45sjyzlsg



yes what is the point of Brexit? If you really trade with your close neighbors as always has been the case why exit a free trade agreement with your closest countries.
What is the point of be treated as a non EU member? Do they want to pay tariffs? Do they want to stay in the big queues in airports? Do they want to fill papers to come to Europe, do the UK students still want to study in any European University with no cost? Does a Brit want to pay a full price if they have to go to a Portuguese Hospital?

I really would love them to exit, it would be nice to see the Brits negotiating case by case all the way back into the EU. 
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We only want poor people in this country!

From the FT Big read,

The slowdown is just one sign of the anxiety among UK residents with non-domicile tax status. The changes were set in motion in July when chancellor George Osborne unveiled an overhaul of a system in place since 1799 — when William Pitt the Younger was prime minister and Britain was fighting France.
The regime was created in part to shelter those with foreign property from wartime taxes. It has meant that, for more than 200 years, individuals claiming non-dom status have been able to live and work in Britain without being subject to tax on gains and income earned and kept outside the country.
The Conservative government has declared that the rules can give rise to “unfair outcomes”, and Mr Osborne has set out to overhaul them.
..........................

In the 2013-14 tax year, 114,300 non-doms were registered in the UK. The group ranged from relatively low-paid workers such as teachers to prominent businessmen like Lakshmi Mittal, the steel magnate, media baron Viscount Rothermere and Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club.
Under Mr Osborne’s proposals, foreign residents who have lived in the UK for more than 15 of the past 20 years will be deemed domiciled in the UK for the purposes of income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax fromApril 2017. They will have to open their international business affairs to the scrutiny of HM Revenue & Customs, which could land many of them with a vast tax bill.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b482fc4e-c4f4-11e5-b3b1-7b2481276e45.html#axzz45X9TE9jY


Why the rich countries are stalling ? Because the Governments are always doing policies they know would harm them in the long run but look good on paper

In my country Government is always on the look for stupid ideas

Abolish students national exams (same tests for everybody at the same time)
raise minimum wages
legalize temporary jobs

I would prefer in a country with many rich people than in one where there are only people like me!

I thought Brits where smarter
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