Alternatively, I think of Java and Spring Boots as being incredibly valuable by letting companies that don't really have software as a core competency to make reasonably performant and structured applications.
Mediocrity will never not exist, and you unlock a lot of value by optimising for it.
Exactly. It allows to build boring stuff at a fraction of what a SV startup would burn using some fancier tech. And most problems in the world are boring stuff.
Worth pointing out the modern American conception of freedom of speech is super recent. It only really became a thing in the 1970s. Before then, restrictions on porn, film, even written materials on controversial subjects like abortion could and were regulated.
The 1st Amendment is old, but the way it's applied today is quite radical compared to how it was applied for most of American history. The US being so free speech isn't much older than the median American is.
They didn't put it very well but they're right that being the 6th largest economy, and likely to become the 5th or 4th quite soon puts a hole in the "economically irrelevant" accusation.
Surely there's a massive overlap, in that a country that has been trustworthy in the past derives a certain level of power from that? Like, Trump randomly declaring tariffs means a deal is not worth making, which erodes American economic power as countries find other suppliers and customers.
reply