4 ms·

The irony is palpable. For many years, FAANGs and the likes have made billions across the world without hiring any significant amount of people in nearly all o

by maeil 2y ago

The irony is palpable. For many years, FAANGs and the likes have made billions across the world without hiring any significant amount of people in nearly all of those economies. Zero profit for the non-US countries. Take a random one, Denmark. Google and Apple sure have been making great money off of the Danes. What has Denmark gotten in return for it? Nothing. It's all gone towards (generally US) investor returns, and US salaries. Sure, make it illegal for US companies to hire boatloads of people abroad. At the same time, other countries should ban those US companies from operating there.

hiAndrewQuinn 2y ago
Voluntary trade benefits both parties by definition. If Google is making money off of people in e.g. Denmark, it's probably also giving them something that is really valuable to them, like access to the Google search engine. So I don't actually think Denmark would be better off by banning doing business with Google, Facebook, Netflix, etc.
- maeil 2y ago
  > Voluntary trade benefits both parties by definition. It absolutely does not [1]. This kind of blanket statement is on the level of "market intervention is *always bad, the free market solves everything". Wishful Raegan-era thinking. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42567145 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42567145
  - hiAndrewQuinn 2y ago
    Why would Party A trade with Party B if Party A is not benefiting from it?
w4ffl35 2y ago
[flagged]
- maeil 2y ago
  Great! US tech is by far the biggest benefactor of it (and it isn't close), so you'll be much, much worse off, but good luck. Those in Denmark that you don't care about will rejoice.
  - w4ffl35 2y ago
    It sounds like those in Denmark who are rejoicing over this are also anti-globalization, so its a win for everyone then.
    - MrMan 2y ago
      Being anti globalization means everyone loses which you will find out more about soon
      - worik 2y ago
        > Being anti globalization means everyone loses Are you saying everybody gained from globalisation? American steel workers?
      - maeil 2y ago
        As I've explained here [1], when it comes to this topic (software), this take is on the level of "trickle-down economics". A good dose of protectionism means most people benefit, a very clear net positive for society as a whole. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42535968 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42535968
- nuancebydefault 2y ago
  As a European it feels weird to know that 55 percent of US population/voters have a very similar opinion, while on this big US based blog these opinions get downvoted. I will never ever understand what is currently and 8 years ago is/was going on in the US.
  - layer8 2y ago
ipaddr 2y ago
Google has an office in Copenhagen. They also have a data center. Apple has an office in Copenhagen.
didgetmaster 2y ago
Is there some law that prevents the people of Denmark from buying Apple or Google stock? If not, then anyone there can make as much from stock appreciation in those companies as any American.
wojciii 2y ago
This is a bad example. Google hired some VM specialists who worked out of their Aarhus office. I think they used their research for Android. I don't know if Google still does this, but we have (or had) a large number of people working on CS problems which they could use working at our universities they could attract.
- maeil 2y ago
  It's negligible. Pick a random different country if you're co nvinced Denmark is an outlier. Compare vs. their jobs in the US. Now compare that to per-country revenue. Quite simply, the % profit margin per country, looking at their expenditures made in each country (incl. salaries paid in that country) vs their revenues there. And then compare it to "what if Google wouldn't operate at all in Denmark", how much jobs that would create. The great news is this isn't a hypothetical that can be waved away with "we don't know", because we have a golden example in South Korea, where the 10+ year delay that Google had in gaining market share has resulted in tens of thousands of local jobs that otherwise wouldn't exist. Could every country have its own Google a la South Korea? Maybe not. But plenty could.

by maeil 2y ago

hiAndrewQuinn 2y ago

Voluntary trade benefits both parties by definition. If Google is making money off of people in e.g. Denmark, it's probably also giving them something that is really valuable to them, like access to the Google search engine. So I don't actually think Denmark would be better off by banning doing business with Google, Facebook, Netflix, etc.

maeil 2y ago
> Voluntary trade benefits both parties by definition. It absolutely does not [1]. This kind of blanket statement is on the level of "market intervention is *always bad, the free market solves everything". Wishful Raegan-era thinking. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42567145 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42567145
- hiAndrewQuinn 2y ago
  Why would Party A trade with Party B if Party A is not benefiting from it?

w4ffl35 2y ago

[flagged]

maeil 2y ago
Great! US tech is by far the biggest benefactor of it (and it isn't close), so you'll be much, much worse off, but good luck. Those in Denmark that you don't care about will rejoice.
- w4ffl35 2y ago
  It sounds like those in Denmark who are rejoicing over this are also anti-globalization, so its a win for everyone then.
  - MrMan 2y ago
    Being anti globalization means everyone loses which you will find out more about soon
    - worik 2y ago
      > Being anti globalization means everyone loses Are you saying everybody gained from globalisation? American steel workers?
    - maeil 2y ago
      As I've explained here [1], when it comes to this topic (software), this take is on the level of "trickle-down economics". A good dose of protectionism means most people benefit, a very clear net positive for society as a whole. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42535968 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42535968
nuancebydefault 2y ago
As a European it feels weird to know that 55 percent of US population/voters have a very similar opinion, while on this big US based blog these opinions get downvoted. I will never ever understand what is currently and 8 years ago is/was going on in the US.
- layer8 2y ago

ipaddr 2y ago

Google has an office in Copenhagen. They also have a data center. Apple has an office in Copenhagen.

didgetmaster 2y ago

Is there some law that prevents the people of Denmark from buying Apple or Google stock? If not, then anyone there can make as much from stock appreciation in those companies as any American.

wojciii 2y ago

This is a bad example. Google hired some VM specialists who worked out of their Aarhus office. I think they used their research for Android. I don't know if Google still does this, but we have (or had) a large number of people working on CS problems which they could use working at our universities they could attract.

maeil 2y ago
It's negligible. Pick a random different country if you're co nvinced Denmark is an outlier. Compare vs. their jobs in the US. Now compare that to per-country revenue. Quite simply, the % profit margin per country, looking at their expenditures made in each country (incl. salaries paid in that country) vs their revenues there. And then compare it to "what if Google wouldn't operate at all in Denmark", how much jobs that would create. The great news is this isn't a hypothetical that can be waved away with "we don't know", because we have a golden example in South Korea, where the 10+ year delay that Google had in gaining market share has resulted in tens of thousands of local jobs that otherwise wouldn't exist. Could every country have its own Google a la South Korea? Maybe not. But plenty could.