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Having started 3 companies in Belgium, and one in Spain. My experience differs. Opening an branch in the US was a pain in comparison. I love our continent, for

by tchvil 5y ago

Having started 3 companies in Belgium, and one in Spain. My experience differs. Opening an branch in the US was a pain in comparison. I love our continent, for its project, its diversity, and trying to find the right balance between work and social welfare. Life can be more than GDP or market cap. I stopped my The Economist subscription long time ago, per their constant anti-European bashing.

sdoering 5y ago
Also the measure of market cap could be debated. One could question if it is the right measurement and if market cap is a good approximate of economical prosperity. Or of a fair share of this prosperity being distributed to society. There are many ways to measure and argue what the author is trying to convey. They choose one that fit their argument. As a counter point one could look at the writings of authors like Varoufakis for example and see a different world view. Because imho the article is based on the authors world view. With cherry picked metrics and stats to support. It isn't empirical but using data to appear as such. There is much to critique in Europe. But the article sadly fails to tackle the interesting things. It just opens up the field for an argumentative pissing match EU vs. US (pardon my French). ps: I also started a company. It was as easy as filling out a form. Even taxes are doable on my own. So nothing too much of a hurdle there.
- thow-01187 5y ago
  There's a case to be made that Europe is playing the smart game here. At this point, US has cumulatively burned a few trillions in funding for their software corporations. Europe, meanwhile, gets the fruits of it, mostly for free (1). Case in point - I personally spent more money last month on a fish tank cleaner than to all Silicon Valley corporations combined, and even that's an aberration in my social circle - most of the others do not wire a single cent there. Yes, the overall money flow in IT is from EU to US, but expressed as ROI, it's unlikely to be very impressive. (1) - apart from Microsoft. Imho they're the true crown jewel of the US software sector. Most of the world's economy runs on Microsoft Office in one way or another
  - joelbluminator 5y ago
    > most of the others do not wire a single cent there That's a bit exaggerated. I'm sure EU businesses rely on Facebook for advertising or on Google/Microsoft/Amazon for software.

by tchvil 5y ago

sdoering 5y ago

Also the measure of market cap could be debated. One could question if it is the right measurement and if market cap is a good approximate of economical prosperity. Or of a fair share of this prosperity being distributed to society. There are many ways to measure and argue what the author is trying to convey. They choose one that fit their argument. As a counter point one could look at the writings of authors like Varoufakis for example and see a different world view. Because imho the article is based on the authors world view. With cherry picked metrics and stats to support. It isn't empirical but using data to appear as such. There is much to critique in Europe. But the article sadly fails to tackle the interesting things. It just opens up the field for an argumentative pissing match EU vs. US (pardon my French). ps: I also started a company. It was as easy as filling out a form. Even taxes are doable on my own. So nothing too much of a hurdle there.

thow-01187 5y ago
There's a case to be made that Europe is playing the smart game here. At this point, US has cumulatively burned a few trillions in funding for their software corporations. Europe, meanwhile, gets the fruits of it, mostly for free (1). Case in point - I personally spent more money last month on a fish tank cleaner than to all Silicon Valley corporations combined, and even that's an aberration in my social circle - most of the others do not wire a single cent there. Yes, the overall money flow in IT is from EU to US, but expressed as ROI, it's unlikely to be very impressive. (1) - apart from Microsoft. Imho they're the true crown jewel of the US software sector. Most of the world's economy runs on Microsoft Office in one way or another
- joelbluminator 5y ago
  > most of the others do not wire a single cent there That's a bit exaggerated. I'm sure EU businesses rely on Facebook for advertising or on Google/Microsoft/Amazon for software.