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What the EU should really do is fine / tax monopolists like Google and Facebook into submission then invest that money into the EU-based startup ecosystem.
by KDJohnBrown 6y ago
What the EU should really do is fine / tax monopolists like Google and Facebook into submission then invest that money into the EU-based startup ecosystem.
- kreeben 6y agoTargeting taxes directly towards specific companies seems overly aggressive. I hope they will find and implement more generic rules to achieve what it is they want to achieve which, if I'm not completely mistaken, is to protect me from invasive tracking.
- Nasrudith 6y agoAre you sure that is really their goal in the first place? If they wanted that they would downsize their intelligence agencies.
- KDJohnBrown 6y agoIs this really any different than the USA banning Huawei to prevent 5G carrier equipment competition under the guise of “national security”? (Edited to clarify 5G carrier equipment competition)
- dominotw 6y agocan't google just threaten to pull out like they did in australia?
- jonathanstrange 6y agoThat could indeed potentially create a little bit of friction for a few weeks before everyone had replaced their services with different solutions.
- emteycz 6y agoLike what solutions? Have you tried these "solutions"? I live in one of the countries which is special by having its own competitive search engine - and it's truly bad compared to Google. If we're going back to that, I am going out of EU.
- dominotw 6y ago> replaced their services with different solutions. can't the govt simply ban google and fund these 'different solutions'.
- Nasrudith 6y agoDidn't we hear the same thing from the UK with Brexit about their disregard for billions of dollars of commerce and it ended in completely predictable and avoidable disaster?
- hadrien01 6y agoThey can. They won't. EMEA accounts for 30% of Google's revenue.
- beaconstudios 6y agoah yes, protectionism.
- KDJohnBrown 6y agoIf you want to see the outcome of a lack of protectionism, look no further than the devastation of the steel, automobile and other manufacturing industries in the ‘70s and ‘80s which effectively wiped out the middle class.
- beaconstudios 6y agohey I'm no fan of naked neoliberalism either, but I promise you an EU facebook would suck just as much and in the same ways as US facebook. Profit motives still exist for huge corporations in Europe. every tool has its use, but protectionism is not the way to solve big tech's bad incentives.
- KDJohnBrown 6y agoWhy is protectionism bad? Why is it better to allow trade imbalances which sucks your nation’s financial and intellectual wealth to others with nothing in return?
- beaconstudios 6y agoI don't think any given tool is universally bad. Protectionism just doesn't help in this case.
- Nasrudith 6y agoBy definition in a trade imbalance you are getting the imports in return. Putting aside believed Great Depression influences and tit for tat tarrifing it puts your own nation's companies at a disadvantage intentionally by discouraging both efficiency and quality. Coddling them with a protected domestic market. Protecting one company means harming others who depend upon their type of outputs. This in turn harms their competiveness and can lead to domestic demand declining. Effectively imposing a tarrif is like sanctioning yourself - If protectionism was helpful shouldn't they be at least a player in the Caribbean and South and Central American markets? Cuba had its own domestic auto market for decades from sanctions and the only people to benefit were mechanics as they had to play automobile reanimator to actively used vehicles that have grown older than the oldest member of their workforce.
- thetrb 6y agoCool, maybe the US should also add some protections against German exports.
- La1n 6y agoFor example German vehicles? Those are taxed already. The US has quite a few types of import tax.
- KDJohnBrown 6y agoI am all for import tariffs, especially when those taxes prevent wasteful international shipping. However, to respond to your snarky tone, does Germany have a monopoly on the world auto industry and use that to abuse the rights of citizens while squashing all competition? If so, absolutely, tax the hell out of them! My ‘99 VW Jetta was a piece of junk and I sold it at a major loss after a year.
- 908B64B197 6y agoThe EU would need to rewrite it's tax code. Right now, everything is going through Luxembourg and Ireland... perfectly legally! > then invest that money into the EU-based startup ecosystem. So bureaucrats deciding where money is going... How did that work out for the EU again?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- qertoip 6y agoWhat Google and Facebook should really do is to tax/fine the monopolistic EU into submission and then invest the profits into whatever they feel like it. Because Big State is worse than Big Tech.
- Nasrudith 6y agoThey have tried that several times. They don't hold a candle to even the "second tier" of the US (Barnes and Noble, eBay, etc.) Really the harsh truth is that the source of their problems is not found in the "Big Tech" Boogeyman but in the mirror.