Martin Varsavsky Profile picture
Jul 16, 2019 16 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Just landed in Madrid flying from San Francisco and traveling around the USA where I lived for 20 years and I frequently work. The San Francisco vs Madrid change makes me wonder.
Why are homeless people so rare in Madrid and so common in San Francisco when here GDP per capita is half?
Why is the murder rate 500% higher in California than in Spain?
Why is health care free even for tourists in Spain paid for by Spanish taxpayers as a human right and so incredibly expensive and cumbersome in California? Our son fell in the bathtub and we had a $12k bill for a few stitches at Stanford University emergency room.
Why are universities in Spain free and there is no student debt while in the USA there is more student debt than the GDP of Spain?
Why are there in the USA more people in jail/parole than there are inhabitants in Madrid the third largest city in Europe?
Why is litigation so common in the USA and so rare in Spain?
Why is inequality in the USA twice as high as that of Spain?
Why does Spain who borders Africa and has a much bigger illegal immigration problem than the USA provides amnesties for those who work for three years and USA separates parents from kids and conducts violent raids? Has 11 million hard working people who it refuses to legalize.
Why do people live 4 more years in Spain than US while Spain spends 70% less per person in health care?
Spain is not perfect, housing costs are high, good jobs are tougher to find, half of Catalonians want out, political corruption is unacceptable, universities produce no Nobel prizes.
But here cancer does not mean bankruptcy, pregnancies come with maternity leave, long vacations available to all, gun deaths, opium deaths are almost unheard of and in 09 when unemployment shot up crime surprisingly went down.
Spain has the fastest growing large economy of Europe. It is a welcoming democracy loved by the millions of foreigners who live here. Looking for an alternative country to live in? Consider Spain.
USA is amazing at solving intricate science and technology problems that no other country has solved but struggles at solving every day life challenges that all other developed nations have solved.
Correction: universities are not actually free in Spain they are $2k per year vs $30k in the USA.
American police vs Spanish police

Spanish police will do almost anything to avoid shooting a suspect.

USA around 1000 a year killed by police washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/…

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More from @martinvars

Jun 19, 2023
En España se estima que viven entre unos 20 mil y 40 mil judíos.

Si eres judío y vives en España. ¿A qué denominación perteneces?
Pregunto esto porque la Comunidad Judia de Madrid, que es ortodoxa, está por recibir un terreno de 17 millones de euros del ayuntamiento de Madrid para construir y controlar un centro judío ortodoxo, cuando es muy probable que son minoría entre los judíos actuales de Madrid.
Porque si la mayoría no somos ortodoxos, el terreno no tendría que ir a la CJM sino a la federación de comunidades judías, para que todos los judíos podamos usar las futuras instalaciones del centro judío. Para la Comunidad Judía de Madrid, la familia Varsavsky no es judía.
Read 14 tweets
Dec 13, 2022
I used to be proud of my Tesla. But now that @elonmusk far right conspiracy theory spreader and bully of public health authorities I am embarrassed to be seen as endorsing him. I also sold my Tesla shares.
QAnon is involved in crazy conspiracies and Elon's endorsement comes after attacking Fauci (Why attack Fauci, aren't the Chinese the only ones with lockdowns?) and then the personal and vicious attack on Yoel Roth both explained here
Read 10 tweets
Oct 28, 2022
Starlink instalado en Alcobendas. Cualquiera lo puede hacer. Protegido de cortes de sabotajes a la fibra óptica.
A 70 euros por mes y con mas de 100 de subida y de bajada el servicio de Starlink es increíblemente competitivo en cualquier lugar al que no llegue la fibra óptica y si llega la fibra es un muy buen back up pero no es mejor que la fibra para el uso cotidiano.
Read 4 tweets
Oct 24, 2022
I just took an Uber from Manhattan to Philadelphia. In one hour and 45 minutes different governments charged me $140 in various tolls and taxes. Image
Didn't take the train as usual cause I had to be on zooms along the way.
Tomorrow I go on to Miami. Wonder how much those tolls will be 🤣.
Read 5 tweets
Oct 12, 2022
“it's not about timing the market, but about time in the market,” is generally true…but not this year, I have gone mostly liquid and don’t plan to go back until I see some clarity. Dangers are inflation, recession and now de globalization!
De globalization is an absolutely new phenomenon, it’s democracies decoupling from tyrannies. It’s EU and USA buying less and less from Russia and China after the Russian unprovoked and brutal invasion of Ukraine. Not buying from the “dragon bear” is the right thing to do…
but it is highly inflationary. To find other sources of energy and manufactured goods takes time. De coupling takes investment. This is what is new about this crisis vs 09. We don’t only have inflation because we printed and issued too much $ €. We are also de globalizing.
Read 12 tweets
Jun 5, 2022
As a dad of 7 I recommend that if you are thinking of having another child, have one. Children can be difficult, and raising them can be a choice between your enjoyment or theirs. But in the end nothing compares to being a parent. The strength of parental bonds. The joy.
Some say they can't afford to have another child. But "los niños nacen con un pan bajo el brazo". Especially now that so few have them. Birth rates are so low in Europe/USA/Asia that your kids will be born into a much less competitive environment than the one you face today.
Historically low birth rates will make your kids have an easier time entering schools, universities and getting jobs. Moreover if you fear your own economic safety it is very likely that your own children, decades from now will be net contributors to your well being and finances.
Read 9 tweets

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