Debbie wrote:
> But I could never understand why people would want to move from prosperous
> developed countries to the US: why would , say, a western European or
> Singaporean, for example, want to pull up stakes and commit to the US?

I often hear people like Andy Bechtolsheim (a German immigrant, founder of 
Sun Microsystems) say they couldn't have accomplished what they did, 
anywhere else.

US offers a lot of opportunities to people with ambition. It's about greater 
freedom to do the things you want to do, and keeping more of what you 
create.

> If
> you're an engineer or scientist, there are plenty of hi-tech challenges in
> nations other than the US: Europe even has a space programme these days.

I wonder what fraction of one percent of the total engineering population 
represents the number of people employed by the European Space Program, 
considering that the ESA has a staff of less than 2,000.

Vitaliy 

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