5 ms·

I know this is a political and touchy subject but IMHO the new policies will be a defining moment for the USA and it is relevant for tech as US tech is so succe

by mrtksn 2y ago

I know this is a political and touchy subject but IMHO the new policies will be a defining moment for the USA and it is relevant for tech as US tech is so successful primarily because can access the whole world as a market and can attract all the talent it needs. The things happening in US is going to break this. If stuff continues as is, USA will have $1T car company for 350M people, $2T company for search and online ads for 350M people and $3T company that tells tablets and phones to 350M people. How is this going to work really? USA is going to be fine overall I guess, the country has huge land and plenty of resources and some of the greatest talent out there but do you really want to change your economy in such a way? It will be painful, you will lose all your unfair advantage. I guess a fairer world is a good thing but why are you doing it?

johntfella 2y ago
One of many policies that is detrimental. One thing that does not seem to be on tech's radar at the moment is what it could mean if Trump withholds US funding from WTO (https://borderlex.net/2025/03/27/alarm-bells-in-geneva-as-us-withholds-wto-funding/ https://borderlex.net/2025/03/27/alarm-bells-in-geneva-as-us...) and it's implications per TRIPs: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43490291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43490291
- light_hue_1 2y ago
  Yes! I can't understand why the media isn't talking about TRIPS and all of the other IP protections that the US baked into other the trade agreements. This is the only thing that matters. If the US is going to break these agreements, other countries will decide that our IP is not worth protecting. All they need to do is revert to the laws they had before TRIPS and free trade with the US. It's not just the tech industry. It's movies. It's pharma. It's biotech. This will economically ruin us.
  - facile3232 2y ago
    I personally think IP hobbles our economy by reducing competition. What's the argument in favor? American companies certainly rely on it to avoid meeting market demand. As a result, our lives are shittier and we pay more for the insult. Why would chinese (or russian, or nigerian, or venezuelan) companies not treat us better? Why are we supposed to overlook the obvious incompetence of domestic corporations when they don't want to even fund my healthcare? I say these companies would be better off burnt down.
    - light_hue_1 2y ago
      I want an economy. Without IP there is no biotech. There is no drug development. There is no games industry, movies, etc. I would agree that IP protections have gotten out of hand, and that shorter copyright would be beneficial. But it's not beneficial when some country will decide that our drug patents are worthless because we attacked them with tariffs.
      - facile3232 2y ago
        [flagged]
      - sunflowerfly 2y ago
        I disagree on drug development. It is important enough we could simply pay for the research. We pay for a lot of it with taxpayer money already while the gains are privatized. The other areas are not critical to our lives and, while there is room for improvement, current IP practices are ok.
        ethbr1 2y ago
        > could simply pay for the research And the Phase X safety and efficacy trials, which comprise the bulk of pharma development costs?
        thfuran 2y ago
        What about it? There's no reason it couldn't be publicly funded.
  - someNameIG 2y ago
    I've heard a few say that's what we should do here in Australia in response to tariffs. The US has now broken the free trade agreement between out two nations, se we should roll pack IP laws that were only brought in on US request to sign the trade agreement.
sieabahlpark 2y ago
[dead]
thfuran 2y ago
>and some of the greatest talent out there That's because so many of the talented people from here want to stay and so many talented people from elsewhere want (and are permitted) to come. Both are subject to change.
facile3232 2y ago
> do you really want to change your economy in such a way? The dozen or so people it would make sense to ask this question to likely will not read this comment. There hasn't been democratic input to the economic policy of presidential candidates since reagan (bernie sanders aside, barely). We might be highly rated on the international index of democracies or whatever but I can't say I've ever been able to vote about economic topics that mean anything to me.
- piva00 2y ago
  > We might be highly rated on the international index of democracies or whatever The USA is not highly rated in the democracy index relative to what should be its peers, always hovering between 20th-30th position depending on the index. Uruguay and Costa Rica ranks higher as a full democracy than the USA.

by mrtksn 2y ago

johntfella 2y ago

One of many policies that is detrimental. One thing that does not seem to be on tech's radar at the moment is what it could mean if Trump withholds US funding from WTO (https://borderlex.net/2025/03/27/alarm-bells-in-geneva-as-us-withholds-wto-funding/ https://borderlex.net/2025/03/27/alarm-bells-in-geneva-as-us...) and it's implications per TRIPs: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43490291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43490291

light_hue_1 2y ago
Yes! I can't understand why the media isn't talking about TRIPS and all of the other IP protections that the US baked into other the trade agreements. This is the only thing that matters. If the US is going to break these agreements, other countries will decide that our IP is not worth protecting. All they need to do is revert to the laws they had before TRIPS and free trade with the US. It's not just the tech industry. It's movies. It's pharma. It's biotech. This will economically ruin us.
- facile3232 2y ago
  I personally think IP hobbles our economy by reducing competition. What's the argument in favor? American companies certainly rely on it to avoid meeting market demand. As a result, our lives are shittier and we pay more for the insult. Why would chinese (or russian, or nigerian, or venezuelan) companies not treat us better? Why are we supposed to overlook the obvious incompetence of domestic corporations when they don't want to even fund my healthcare? I say these companies would be better off burnt down.
  - light_hue_1 2y ago
    I want an economy. Without IP there is no biotech. There is no drug development. There is no games industry, movies, etc. I would agree that IP protections have gotten out of hand, and that shorter copyright would be beneficial. But it's not beneficial when some country will decide that our drug patents are worthless because we attacked them with tariffs.
    - facile3232 2y ago
      [flagged]
    - sunflowerfly 2y ago
      I disagree on drug development. It is important enough we could simply pay for the research. We pay for a lot of it with taxpayer money already while the gains are privatized. The other areas are not critical to our lives and, while there is room for improvement, current IP practices are ok.
      - ethbr1 2y ago
        > could simply pay for the research And the Phase X safety and efficacy trials, which comprise the bulk of pharma development costs?
        thfuran 2y ago
        What about it? There's no reason it couldn't be publicly funded.
- someNameIG 2y ago
  I've heard a few say that's what we should do here in Australia in response to tariffs. The US has now broken the free trade agreement between out two nations, se we should roll pack IP laws that were only brought in on US request to sign the trade agreement.

sieabahlpark 2y ago

[dead]

thfuran 2y ago

>and some of the greatest talent out there That's because so many of the talented people from here want to stay and so many talented people from elsewhere want (and are permitted) to come. Both are subject to change.

facile3232 2y ago

> do you really want to change your economy in such a way? The dozen or so people it would make sense to ask this question to likely will not read this comment. There hasn't been democratic input to the economic policy of presidential candidates since reagan (bernie sanders aside, barely). We might be highly rated on the international index of democracies or whatever but I can't say I've ever been able to vote about economic topics that mean anything to me.

piva00 2y ago
> We might be highly rated on the international index of democracies or whatever The USA is not highly rated in the democracy index relative to what should be its peers, always hovering between 20th-30th position depending on the index. Uruguay and Costa Rica ranks higher as a full democracy than the USA.