But that same thing can be said of the GDP in the EU, it's not different. Plenty of actors skimming money off the top, or just government regulations sucking a

But that same thing can be said of the GDP in the EU, it's not different. Plenty of actors skimming money off the top, or just government regulations sucking a few percent of GDP here or there (which is likely much worse in the EU). So you're still comparing like to like. And your example of 3% "skimming" ignores that most of that fee gets kicked back to consumers.