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The EU and its officials are a joke. I cringe when these EU bureaucrats act like they are going to "get tough" on US businesses and the Trump administration. T

The EU and its officials are a joke. I cringe when these EU bureaucrats act like they are going to "get tough" on US businesses and the Trump administration. They lack digital sovereignty and nation state sovereignty. Local and federal EU agencies continue to depend on Microsoft and other US tech giants. They didn't even manage to unveil the NSA wiretapping, to this day still not a single person or company has been charged with wiretapping Germanys biggest internet exchange hub (DeCIX). They rage about US tax cuts and tech companies using tax loopholes while doing nothing about the greatest tax haven on earth located within their own borders: Luxembourg. The EU is a joke and i sincerely hope it falls apart soon.

AstralStorm 8y ago
Other than being politics as usual (which are a joke because politicians are not equipped for dealing with complex issues other than public relations)... If EU died, who do you think would take over and why do you think they'd be any better? US has problems of its own with "digital sovereignty" as it allowed China to take over most of manufacturing. Russia is saddled with social debts and social warfare. EU nation states on their own can't do nothing - the business mostly goes to "where value is". (Just look at what is happening in Romania - the question is, how long can they keep it up.) As for the tax haven, the new regulations in quite a few baton states of the EU now require paying tax in the country where business is done, not registered. Obviously companies try to dodge this as much as they can.
- adventured 8y ago
  > US has problems of its own with "digital sovereignty" as it allowed China to take over most of manufacturing. US manufacturing output is at an all-time high. Presently manufacturing in the US is booming, and the US is the #2 nation in manufacturing. I'm guessing that you're referring to the myth that China stole away all US manufacturing. That didn't happen. What did happen is vast productivity gains in US manufacturing have eliminated millions of manufacturing jobs. Real manufacturing output per US manufacturing worker increased by 4x from just 1980 to 2010 for example.
- repolfx 8y ago
  If EU died, who do you think would take over and why do you think they'd be any better? Easy. Nation states would. And they'd do better, at least some of the time, because they're more accountable. Just compare the Congress vs EUP performance. The USA is arguably too large and too centralised. But Congress, despite having many ancient politicians who clearly have never used the internet let alone Facebook, still managed to run rings around the EU "Parliament" (it's not really a parliament). The EU apparently allocated nearly all the hearing time to politicians speaking, leaving only minutes for Zuckerberg to reply, allowing him to pick and choose which questions he answered. And yet there won't be any real impact on the EUP for this because it's not a real parliament, it can't actually change laws by itself. So the people who run can't have any real policies, and as a result it's stuffed with political nobodies with no ideas beyond rah-rah EU and sometimes boo-boo EU, so voters tune out and ignore it. There's little competition.
  - pmlnr 8y ago
    > And they'd do better Not a chance. Not in Europe. Go and read about our history when there was no EU.

AstralStorm 8y ago

Other than being politics as usual (which are a joke because politicians are not equipped for dealing with complex issues other than public relations)... If EU died, who do you think would take over and why do you think they'd be any better? US has problems of its own with "digital sovereignty" as it allowed China to take over most of manufacturing. Russia is saddled with social debts and social warfare. EU nation states on their own can't do nothing - the business mostly goes to "where value is". (Just look at what is happening in Romania - the question is, how long can they keep it up.) As for the tax haven, the new regulations in quite a few baton states of the EU now require paying tax in the country where business is done, not registered. Obviously companies try to dodge this as much as they can.

adventured 8y ago
> US has problems of its own with "digital sovereignty" as it allowed China to take over most of manufacturing. US manufacturing output is at an all-time high. Presently manufacturing in the US is booming, and the US is the #2 nation in manufacturing. I'm guessing that you're referring to the myth that China stole away all US manufacturing. That didn't happen. What did happen is vast productivity gains in US manufacturing have eliminated millions of manufacturing jobs. Real manufacturing output per US manufacturing worker increased by 4x from just 1980 to 2010 for example.
repolfx 8y ago
If EU died, who do you think would take over and why do you think they'd be any better? Easy. Nation states would. And they'd do better, at least some of the time, because they're more accountable. Just compare the Congress vs EUP performance. The USA is arguably too large and too centralised. But Congress, despite having many ancient politicians who clearly have never used the internet let alone Facebook, still managed to run rings around the EU "Parliament" (it's not really a parliament). The EU apparently allocated nearly all the hearing time to politicians speaking, leaving only minutes for Zuckerberg to reply, allowing him to pick and choose which questions he answered. And yet there won't be any real impact on the EUP for this because it's not a real parliament, it can't actually change laws by itself. So the people who run can't have any real policies, and as a result it's stuffed with political nobodies with no ideas beyond rah-rah EU and sometimes boo-boo EU, so voters tune out and ignore it. There's little competition.
- pmlnr 8y ago
  > And they'd do better Not a chance. Not in Europe. Go and read about our history when there was no EU.