America is currently the center of the tech world. This is largely due to two things:

1. The internet is cheaper here than anywhere else in part because everyone else pays to connect to the US; and

2. The university endowment system combined with some of the greatest research institutions on the planet created the tech VC system that fuelled the growth of Silicon Valley.

Manufacturing has already left the US (and most of the developed world). While the barriers are higher for skilled labour, it's not impossible. Many countries have a sufficiently stable political system and sufficient infrastructure to create tech businesses.

My point is that the US is outright hostile to those seeking to enter the United States, be they as tourists, residents or temporary workers, and to those who choose to come here and put up with a level of invasiveness that rivals third-world dictatorships and the old Iron Curtain countries.

Now some of the post-9/11 measures I don't have a problem with. I see no issue with fingerprinting those entering the United States.

On the other hand, as a foreign worker I need to report every foreign bank account I own (separately or jointly), have a financial interest in or signatory authority over whether or not that money was ever earned in or otherwise entered the United States. This includes retirement accounts. Or does it? No one can really say because the rules aren't clear.

Failure to comply can result in civil penalties as high as 300% of the balance of that account and criminal penalties including years in jail.

When it comes time to renew my visa I have to leave the country to do it.

Should I want to leave my job and start a business here I don't believe I have any legal recourse to reside lawfully in the United States so I have to go somewhere else.

I'm actually encouraged by stories like this one just because I'm optimistic that the US is finally figuring out that it needs tourists. Maybe someday soon it'll figure out it needs foreign workers and entrepreneurs too. Hopefully before it's too late.

It saddens me actually because the fate of the US is the same as that of many companies. Early-stage companies are innovators. Eventually they get so large that they live in constant fear that their success will go away or something will kill the golden goose. Instead of innovating they simply play a game of defense and interference. This is Microsoft of today with its Windows/Office cash cow.

The US was formed my immigrants coming to escape the rigid structure and persecution of the Old World. In a mere century the US turned from an agrarian backwater of 2 million (in 1800) to an industrial superpower of 50 million, thanks largely to migrants. The US shut its doors at the outbreak of World War One has been building increasingly larger walls ever since.

What disturbs me most is the presumption of (criminal) guilt that seems to pervade state institutions, particularly when it applies to confusing, complex, special-interest bought rules like the IRS code. In no other country I've been have I felt fear that I'd be locked up even when trying to do what I believe is the right thing. This doesn't just apply to foreigners either. The US seems just as hostile to its own citizens too.

EDIT: regarding Internet speed, so as to be clear there's a difference between Internet end-user cost (consumers and businesses) and service provider cost.

End user cost is indeed expensive, which seems largely due to the regional monopolies that exist in the US, meaning cable companies. That is however irrelevant (for the purpose of my argument).

I'm interested in the cost of a Facebook, Google, Ebay or Amazon providing their service in resource terms. Of course there's a latency component to this as well (the US being disproportionately represented in customer terms) but ultimately it has been cheaper and I believe that to still be the case, especially if you get to the scale whereby peering is possible and viable.