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How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

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461–470 of 1001 posts

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#461
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is a big factor. While I would prefer a more federated US, the US as is is a great market to start in. It's 350M fairly wealthy people under mostly the same tech restrictions. That's a great place to grow. It's important to remember that even without the fact that big companies basically write the regulations, regulations naturally tend to being effectively regressive wrt company stage/size. Every new on…

> It's 350M fairly wealthy people under mostly the same tech restrictions and, on a case-by-case basis, those people are generally happy to adopt other states' standards in the name of convenience and efficiency (California notwithstanding). Look at E-ZPass/I-Pass as a great example of harmonization across states. It's funny. Ask any Illinoisan how they feel about adopting Ohio's policies and they'd bristle. But say…

Your example of adoption is interesting. I think California has actually influenced other states on efficiency. I wanted to say disproportionately, but perhaps in exact accordance with their economic and political power.

I don't know the details well enough, but I do know that there is an effective anti-fedaralist force in the US wherever federal funding is concerned, as it comes with rules conditions (rules) attached. I would be interested to what extent this acts as a bias toward cooperation in the case of ez pass, given the interstate system.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

This is very condescending.

Sometimes truth is not sweet, sorry. And there is no point in sugarcoating even if I'm mistaken, we are all grown ups here.

If european innovative companies and small businesses flourish in 10 years - I'll be the first to apologize and admit the mistake.

But there are just no signs of it today. While plenty of signs and data supporting my point.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#463
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

There is a big difference between being unable to grow and being uninterested in it. I sincerely doubt most people open a small coffee shop dreaming of expansion. Small coffee shop owners don’t want to be Starbucks. Being small and wanting to stay small is not a failure.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#464
post #441
post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 migh…

If you dont have a real single market, what is EU? just easier to cross the borders?

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lobbyists don't do this. Regulators/lawmakers need to be corrupt and/or incompetent for lobbying to do this.

You need lobbyists to pull on one side and the general population to be too uninformed or too non-caring to not pull enough in the other direction.

That removes the culpability again from the people being lobbied, who are for paid by mandatory taxes, so they don't have to win work - their only job is expertise and honesty.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#466
post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people did the same when VATMOSS was introduced.

And those people were idiots. MOSS was trivial to implement and an improvement of what was there before. I implemented it myself for our company.

Not far small businesses with very small numbers of cross border sales.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#467
post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

General view of EU politicians is that working class should be working for big corporations. Running own business is a sin. The big corporations also don't want people to run small business, because they remove themselves from the job market and cannot be hired / exploited. So they lobby EU FOR regulations that ensure people cannot run business.

> Running own business is a sin Shouldn't any wealth creation viewed positively due to tax, not to mention value to consumers/society? Or is the view that people on average produce more value when employed by a large corporation?

A self employed person can deduct many things used personally from the taxes in Germany as a business expense. An employed person pays shit ton of taxes and the value added tax. So from pre-tax salary you get only 30% for spending. Lol. It’s slavery.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#468
post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I used to sell objects on Amazon in Europe. You can sell from just one country, but then each sale outside of that country is an "export" that triggers high fees. For sales to be "local", products need to be stored in warehouses in each country. But that in turn means the owner of said products (the seller) has to be registered for VAT in that country, and submitting annual reports in each country's language. I…

Is that with the One-Stop-Shop regulation or was that before that? If it was before than, then the EU recognized the problem and implemented a fix for it.

This was 2017-2021. Not sure if One-Stop-Shop covers this as it mentions "cross-border sales" and the problem with Amazon fulfillment and storage was to make all sales local (not cross-border). But maybe it does cover it. I don't know.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All small businesses and solo enterpreneurs that I know who are hit by this are not "in this field". Their field is making jewelry or knitted toys or something similar. Are they shipping within EU? Then they literally are in the field of shipping within the EU.

Thats a stretch of the term "field". Are they also in the field of making money and the field of working within European law?

Yes, of course. They need to be aware of regulations in all aspects of their business (manufacturing electronics, shipping, consumer warranty, and taxation seem applicable).

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#470
post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Because if it's just a few evil people making the world bad then that's fixable

The conclusion does not necessarily follow the premises

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