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How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

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Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#161

Post by n4r9 »

yardie wrote: post #29

One of the biggest problems that I have in the EU is that it's almost federated. EU will pass laws, countries will adopt those laws, but you end up with 20-24 different versions of those laws. With some countries being strict or lenient about the law that everyone agreed to. And a lot it is written from the perspective that large corporations are the only ones who do business throughout the EU. It's completely missed…

> It's completely missed that small entrepreneurs may also want to take part

There's truth to this but it's an overstatement as it stands. For example, GDPR rules are less strict for small companies.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#162

Post by argentinian »

greenraven wrote: post #82
yardie wrote: post #29

One of the biggest problems that I have in the EU is that it's almost federated. EU will pass laws, countries will adopt those laws, but you end up with 20-24 different versions of those laws. With some countries being strict or lenient about the law that everyone agreed to. And a lot it is written from the perspective that large corporations are the only ones who do business throughout the EU. It's completely missed…

> It's completely missed that small entrepreneurs may also want to take part This is by design. It’s the same all over the world. The wealthy are not going to just let you compete

Laws are voted by politicians. Do you mean that most EU politicians are puppets of EU corporations?

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#163

Post by kakoni »

fluoridation wrote: post #141
kakoni wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps one explanation is personal bankruptcy? At least in Scandinavia/Finland this is an unknown concept. You mess up your business (Ireland has EPR fines upto 500ke) and end up paying company loans for the rest of your life.

Do they not have LLCs?

Of course, but when getting bank loan(for the llc) to get started you have to give personal collateral.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#164

Post by alephnerd »

IsTom wrote: post #160

I've seen some conflicting claims on this law and to me it sounded like it affects mostly producers of packaging , but everyone else seems to be complaining about it too. Did everyone actually read the law or is this a game of telephone?

> Did everyone actually read the law or is this a game of telephone

It's HN - everyone did the latter.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#165

Post by caseysoftware »

scns wrote: post #96
ranger_danger wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this hard to discuss among others as it often results in heated discussions, but in my experience, Europeans have a completely different understanding of what is considered "rude" so much that I struggle to work with a vast majority of them. That's not to say that there aren't extremely nice people all other Europe... there are. But I'm still caught off guard when hearing them say some things nonchalantly that…

> But I'm still caught off guard when hearing them say some things nonchalantly that would get them fired in the US. I'm intruiged, can you give an example?

Not sure if it's a pattern but when I interviewed with an EU company recently, they explicitly asked if I was married and if I had kids. They explained it as they had a "European mindset towards weekends and holidays" and they expected me to NOT be online.

I was fine with the mindset but never expected to get those questions in an interview, as it'd be illegal in the States.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#166

Post by jongjong »

My experience as a software engineer in EU was horrible. I wish I could say it was something out of a horror movie, but it would be too frustrating to watch.

I joined a major cryptocurrency project, saw its market cap briefly increase to $4 billion. I worked on it like crazy for 2 years whilst, unbeknownst to me, the founders began to sabotage their own project and ensure that it would slip out of the CMC rankings; I believe this was done to lower their public profile (and reduce scrutiny). But it all happened under the watchful, approving eyes of EU regulators. Also, the founders of that project defamed me and my team with outright lies to sabotage my spin-off project when we worked to improve the tech independently. I also witnessed other crypto projects which I knew to be scams receive funding from the EU commission, then the same founders raised money again after running the previous project into the ground with nothing to show.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#168

Post by l-one-lone »

IsTom wrote: post #160

I've seen some conflicting claims on this law and to me it sounded like it affects mostly producers of packaging , but everyone else seems to be complaining about it too. Did everyone actually read the law or is this a game of telephone?

The terminology is confusing. Under the PPWR, a “producer” is not necessarily someone who manufactures packaging. The regulation also covers businesses selling packaging or packaged products directly to end users in another Member State. So a maker shipping a board in an envelope can indeed be the packaging producer for EPR purposes.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#169

Post by caseysoftware »

Always42 wrote: post #156
caseysoftware wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very American mindset. I've worked across both the US and EU at a variety of companies with customers, partners, etc and it's a clear pattern: - Americans are usually willing to skirt the rules and figure it out later. This comes with risk but is ideal when you're early stage, low stakes, and you couldn't follow the rules anyway. - Europeans absolutely want to do it by the book and will be shocked if you sug…

Do regular tv’s transmit?

The old CRTs do, yes. Not so much with LCDs.

But unfortunately, I may be wrong and bought into an urban legend/bit of propoganda:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Un...

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#170

Post by yturijea »

argentinian wrote: post #162
greenraven wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's completely missed that small entrepreneurs may also want to take part This is by design. It’s the same all over the world. The wealthy are not going to just let you compete

Laws are voted by politicians. Do you mean that most EU politicians are puppets of EU corporations?

That might be one reason they refuse to be open about their financial supports in their various organizations yes. it is very well known unfortunately..
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