8 ms·
Honestly comes across as EU sour grapes. The "competition chief" should focus on the regulations that have resulted in low investment and slow innovation instea
by dcgudeman 9y ago
Honestly comes across as EU sour grapes. The "competition chief" should focus on the regulations that have resulted in low investment and slow innovation instead of trying to "regulate" American tech companies.
- jacquesm 9y agoYou mean like VW being called out in the United States for the diesel scandal was US sour grapes? Really, I'm all for symmetry with stuff like this if that is what it takes to get these giants to at least attempt to comply with the law.
- adventured 9y agoSymmetry was fining Google. The EU fined Google $2.7 billion. What would symmetry look like from the US side if the EU starts demanding Google be broken up? Unfortunately the EU has no massive, powerful technology businesses to demand be broken up.
- jacquesm 9y ago> Unfortunately the EU has no massive, powerful technology businesses to demand be broken up. So? If it had then most likely there would be a similarly strong push to break up such a company if it misbehaved. At least, I would hope so. Microsoft got very lucky with the change of party in charge, they were about to be broken up in the US into 'apps' and 'os'. And that's a good punishment for companies that use the fact that they have their fingers in completely different pies to stifle the competition. Breaking up VW would not accomplish much in that sense.
- kuschku 9y ago> Unfortunately the EU has no massive, powerful technology businesses to demand be broken up. Maybe because the EU has working competition laws, so EU companies rarely tend to hold a monopoly in dozens of independent markets? I mean, that’s the basic issue here, isn’t it? The US hasn’t had effective antitrust regulation for decades, which is why Google ever could grow to this size in the first place.
- emiliobumachar 9y agoWere there other smoking gun cases of carmakers detecting emissions tests to alter car behavior?
- kuschku 9y agoYes – there was an original report implicating VW, but the same report implicated 5 other companies equally, including GM, Ford, and 3 European carmakers (plus, ofc, VW).
- matthewmacleod 9y agoWhich regulations have "resulted in low investment and slow innovation"?
- dmitrygr 9y agoHigh tax rate and difficulty of firing someone would be my two guesses
- matthewmacleod 9y agoThe tax rate is broadly comparable to the US. Tech companies’ success is therefore based on their ability to fire people without cause? Honestly, this sort of thing is often thrown around as a trope and I don’t think it holds much water.
- xxs 9y agowhich particular tax rate?
- spython 9y agoDifficulty firing someone makes people feel secure at work. Security is one of the essential things you need to be innovative. Desperation and anxiety doesn't drive innovation.
- dmitrygr 9y agoPerceived difficulty in firing causes much more cautious hiring. If I told you that the next car you buy, you'd have to use for 10 years with no options for a change, you'd certainly pick differently than you do now, knowing you could always replace it.
- krageon 9y agoI encourage you to maybe go the the EU at some point in your life (and have some meaningful interaction with corporate life there). That will demonstrate to you that the sentiment you're addressing is patently false: Companies in the EU vigorously and constantly hire new people, even though employees have rights.