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People underestimate how much our regressive tax structure and lax antitrust enforcement are holding back innovation. If we didn’t allow such massive wealth con
by diob 2y ago
People underestimate how much our regressive tax structure and lax antitrust enforcement are holding back innovation. If we didn’t allow such massive wealth concentration, we'd see more competition and breakthroughs.
- tbrownaw 2y agoRight, of course, excessive concentration of wealth is the only thing preventing another Bell Labs or Xerox PARC from bringing us tomorrow's future today.
- citadel_melon 2y agoI don’t understand the sarcasm. More competition in the marketplace would create more innovation: I don’t think this should be controversial.
- nottorp 2y agoEven Bell Labs and Xerox PARC are two different entities. These days Bell and Xerox would maybe merge to "consolidate their market position" and fire half of the researchers to show cost savings at the next board meeting.
- snailmailstare 2y agoI hear a lot about how ahead of their time they were and how everything since is based on them.. But it seems like newer things since then are all being built on the shoulders of a generation of thousands of giants instead of a generation where we can only identify 2.
- hello_moto 2y agoIt's a different time. I don't think we can compare the old Bell Labs/Xerox PARC vs Larry Ellison. The Larry Ellison. People have been saying that these concentration of wealth will end up hoarding our basic needs and we've seen that already with Housing. First they come for your House, next they come for your Food.
- TheMagicHorsey 2y agoRight, because so much innovation comes from places with super high taxation in Europe. Give me a break.
- immibis 2y agoIt does. If you identify "innovation" differently. The American meaning of "innovation" is finding a way to force ten million people to pay you a dollar each. European innovation is, like, Mastodon, where you specifically cannot be forced to pay a dollar. This tends to not pay as well. This is because America selects for people who can get paid lots of money much more strongly than Europe does.
- TheMagicHorsey 2y agoYou seriously think America's innovation is Saas for a dollar? As opposed to almost everything that makes the modern world move forward, like cheap spaceflight, modern EVs, quantum computing, semiconductors ... the list of American-driven innovations is endless. What kind of rock are you typing under?
- diob 2y agoYou’re missing the point. It’s not a simple ‘high taxes bad, low taxes good’ binary—it’s a spectrum. The U.S. has a tax structure that allows wealth to concentrate at the top while failing to enforce competition, which actually stifles innovation. Meanwhile, countries like Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Japan—despite having higher taxes—consistently drive innovation. Germany leads in engineering and automotive tech (Siemens, BMW, Bosch). Sweden produces global tech giants like Spotify and Klarna. Denmark is a leader in renewable energy (Vestas, Ørsted). Japan? It revolutionized robotics, semiconductors, and high-speed rail while fostering companies like Toyota, Sony, and Nintendo. The issue isn’t just tax rates—it’s whether a system allows new players to compete or just protects entrenched monopolies. The U.S. is increasingly choosing the latter.
- starspangled 2y ago> Germany leads in engineering and automotive tech (Siemens, BMW, Bosch). Sweden produces global tech giants like Spotify and Klarna. Denmark is a leader in renewable energy (Vestas, Ørsted). Japan? It revolutionized robotics, semiconductors, and high-speed rail while fostering companies like Toyota, Sony, and Nintendo. And you can't think of anything the US innovates in? Your evidence / anecdotes aren't really sufficient to prove the claim .