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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

#441

Post by akie »

veeti wrote: post #371
akie wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

They weren't asking for a "single set of laws". "Single market" however is a pre-existing concept recognized as "one of the EU's greatest achievements" [1], and lacking regulations in providing said market is what their critique was about. [1] https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/single-market_en

> "one of the EU's greatest achievements"

And it is! People here are always complaining about the EU as if it's a single state, even though it's very clearly in the process of becoming one. It's a long road, we're not sure if we're going to make it all the way to the finish line (but I suspect we will), and we're going to have some happy little (and big) mistakes along the way. But for now it's imperfect, and it might be imperfect for a very long time to come. It's still a lot better than not having it, and we're actively working on improving it.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#442

Post by ikari_pl »

gpjanik wrote: post #281
mns wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They also do not introduce these regulations "from tomorrow" This wasn't introduced "from tomorrow", people had 1 year and a half to prepare for this (at least) or to protest this. See some comments below how individual countries actually messed this up. > But of course EU is fundamentally different in a way that the politicians need to please the electorate, so nothing is really planned ahead. > I don't know if th…

"people had 1 year to protest this" this is terminal stage subjugation to bureaucrats

We did

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#443

Post by nonethewiser »

ionwake wrote: post #69

as the whole world crushes small entities one has to wonder whether the EU would be the saviour or not. Apparently not. With its rules, they merely help crush small business as per usual. I heard in the 50s an american could just startup a business installing septic tanks. But now the same person would need a myriad of regulations to be met, heavy equipment use mandated, all of which raise overhead to a level where i…

>as the whole world crushes small entities one has to wonder whether the EU would be the saviour or not.

Who was wondering this? The EU has been hostile to small businesses and entrepreneurs from the beginning.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#444

Post by cm2012 »

jollyllama wrote: post #436
cm2012 wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's comforting to believe that large corporations with the greed of the rich and powerful is what makes these inefficiencies but really it's about a million little political negotiations, primarily driven by voters dislike of change.

How is that comforting? The phenomenon is entirely negative.

Because if it's just a few evil people making the world bad then that's fixable. The truth that it is it's an extraordinarily complex stew of incentives means its harder to fix.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#445

Post by Scharkenberg »

aristofun wrote: post #409
Ylpertnodi wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After so long living in each EU country, your 'obvious truth' is neither obvious or truthful..

That is exactly why. You are blind to your own problems :)

This is very condescending.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#446

Post by nonethewiser »

latexr wrote: post #136
ionwake wrote: post #69

as the whole world crushes small entities one has to wonder whether the EU would be the saviour or not. Apparently not. With its rules, they merely help crush small business as per usual. I heard in the 50s an american could just startup a business installing septic tanks. But now the same person would need a myriad of regulations to be met, heavy equipment use mandated, all of which raise overhead to a level where i…

> Please look it up You’re the one making the claim, so please provide sources for your fantastical scenario. By your logic there should be no small coffee shops across the EU, yet this is verifiably and patently untrue.

Small coffee shops prove the point. It's not worth it to invest for growth.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#447

Post by Kudos »

zuzululu wrote: post #352
Kudos wrote: post #239

Anti-EU regulation sentiment really seems to have an uptick in line with widespread availability of LLMs. The EU isn't perfect, but the catastrophising I read feels mostly like astro-turfing attempts at destabilisation. It's probably more easily noticed from inside the EU.

No, there was already a steady complaints against Anti-EU regulation from within Europe around the time Eurozone debt crisis introduced sweeping changes that ultimately centralized regulatory enforcement over sovereign interests of EU member states. I think anybody from Europe would know this is the focal point when anti-EU sentiments really ticked up. There really isn't much of astro-turfing in non-EU parts of the w…

> your narrative might make more sense if there were any actual evidence or credibility behind the claims that non-EU states are engaged in anti-EU discourse

The uptick I'm talking about is in the last 2 years.

At least one Israeli Minister has bragged about them doing it.

I don't think you need specific evidence of Russia doing it, it's widely believed to be happening by security professionals. They famously had troll farms of people employed to spread disinformation and that can only have been accelerated by LLMs.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#448

Post by cm2012 »

schubidubiduba wrote: post #424
cm2012 wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's comforting to believe that large corporations with the greed of the rich and powerful is what makes these inefficiencies but really it's about a million little political negotiations, primarily driven by voters dislike of change.

It's comforting to believe that actual voters have that kind of political influence over these things, but really it's about a million little talls, primarily driven by lobbyists commanded by big companies

You are about 20 years out of date. Modern politicians get almost all of their funding from small donations, in other words, from passionate partisans who care about culture war issues.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#449

Post by Kudos »

unfamiliar wrote: post #276
Kudos wrote: post #239

Anti-EU regulation sentiment really seems to have an uptick in line with widespread availability of LLMs. The EU isn't perfect, but the catastrophising I read feels mostly like astro-turfing attempts at destabilisation. It's probably more easily noticed from inside the EU.

What do LLMs have to do with it?

What do automated content generators have to do with astro-turfing?

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#450

Post by danielovichdk »

fallingbananna wrote: post #286
mstaoru wrote: post #190

I don't know if this EU regulation will work or not (most likely not), but I can share how it is done in China (where package volume is orders of magnitude higher). China identifies "choke points" most packages pass: large platforms and logistics companies. Yes, Chinese e-commerce is more centralized on Alibaba/JD/PDD etc, but there are actually much more logistics companies in China than in EU. They also do not intr…

>Could EU just ask DHL/Hermes/whatever to charge an additional €1 "for recycling"? Yes, but... Within EU we already pay ~€3 for packages from China. And in Austria we will soon pay additional ~€2 for every delivered package. And 20% VAT. Edit: I am pretty sure at least some part of these already contribute towards recycling. The goal here is likely not just to get more funding for recycling, but rather to use materia…

It should be much higher.

The amount of shit that gets shipped from China to Europe (world) is fucking ludicrous, and people should be taxed heavily for the stupid shit they often don't need.

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