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How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

lectronz.com

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Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#891

Post by j16sdiz »

logronoide wrote: post #763
m000 wrote: post #747

I've been following the PPWR in news and social media. Everybody is lamenting about the micro-enterprises that see their business squashed, but mostly because they are involved in one. I do empathize with them and really want to see these small business surviving and thriving. But then, in the context of discussion, nobody asks what matters: Cui bono? To me, this looks like a direct handout to Amazon and similar (big…

Obviously, you have never dealt with Amazon as a merchant. You still need to be compliant with PPWR, no matter you sell on Amazon, eBay, Aliexpress or the street corner.

> You still need to be compliant with PPWR, no matter you sell on Amazon, eBay, Aliexpress or the street corner.

I am 100% sure AliExpress just doesn't care and ship it anyway.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#892

Post by corford »

ShadowOfThePit wrote: post #815
teiferer wrote: post #767

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at what I responded to then you see that it was about every country having their own rules. "More EU" would mean harmonizing them in the sense that they are all the same and you'd have a single regulatory body. I don't see how less EU would make this particular problem any easier. It would certainly give you an even harder time to deal with 20+ states that all impose import bureaucracy. That's exactly wha…

What about the argument of these regulations not existing in the first place were it not for the EU?

I never understand this argument. The same logic would suggest that things like the GPL, CNCF, OCI etc. are somehow harmful when, objectively, it's the opposite. Standardisation and conformity lead to much larger and more efficient ecosystems. Why should it not be the same for the EU?

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#893

Post by anaidenov »

The EU consists of member states pursuing two contradictory goals: improving long-term economic efficiency by building a pan-European single market, and protecting local inefficiencies to preserve short-term political stability. Once the first goal ceases to be about improvement and becomes a matter of survival, the second will lose its importance (and the cycle -- "low taxes and barriers - growth - seems safe to tax, regulate and spend more - stagnation" -- will begin again).

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#894

Post by dvdkon »

mbq77 wrote: post #864
dbdr wrote: post #721

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem now is that it's the producer that decides what the packaging is, but it's the consumer (or the state) who pays for the collection and recycling. By making the producer pay for it, you give them an incentive to make it more efficient.

Except there is no incentive whatsoever; it is just pay bureaucrats with your consumer's money, so they can report improvement in fake eco-points. Most garbage collection money sinks have pricing like 1000 EUR yearly forever + 0.01 EUR per ton of arbitrarily unsustainable trash.

> pay bureaucrats with your consumer's money

Once the consumer has paid, it's your money now. The incentive is clear, less packaging means more money you keep. That only big producers will actually see the per-ton payments as significant instead of just having to pay absurd registration fees is a separate issue.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#895

Post by corford »

Aurornis wrote: post #265
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

It is not the same all over the world. Starting a small company in the US is a breeze compared to what I’ve watched peers in the EU fight against.

Starting a small company in many EU countries is a breeze too e.g. Estonia, Portugal, UK and no doubt many others. The rumoured 'EU Inc' entity should also help close the gap for member countries where incorporating domestically traditionally comes with more friction (e.g. Germany).

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#896

Post by jorvi »

m000 wrote: post #747

I've been following the PPWR in news and social media. Everybody is lamenting about the micro-enterprises that see their business squashed, but mostly because they are involved in one. I do empathize with them and really want to see these small business surviving and thriving. But then, in the context of discussion, nobody asks what matters: Cui bono? To me, this looks like a direct handout to Amazon and similar (big…

> And PPWR comes a short month after another Amazon-friendly legislation: The €3 per item-kind customs duty for items shipped from outside EU.

If you dig a little deeper you will see that this legislation was sponsored, championed and lobbied by the largest pan-EU retail organization. How convenient. Just like Chinese EVs, can't let EU customers have access to the best goods for the lowest prices. Better to have lazy greedy EU businesses gouge them :)

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#897

Post by corford »

formerly_proven wrote: post #278
Aurornis wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not the same all over the world. Starting a small company in the US is a breeze compared to what I’ve watched peers in the EU fight against.

Interstate commerce also seems to be vastly easier inside the US in comparison to the alleged single market of the EU. The most companies seem to deal with is California-specific regulations. Meanwhile, most companies in the EU eventually opt to create a ton of subsidiaries, basically one per state, to handle all the localized duties that the EU requires.

Not sure if you are referencing something else but in the case of VAT (sales tax) this is simply not true, see: VAT one stop shop / moss. There are also no customs duties on inter-state shipments.

Employment regulations are different - if you have a lot of people working for you in another member state you'll need a branch office or subsidiary there (or you can easily outsource it via services like https://www.playroll.com/)

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#898

Post by corford »

bpodgursky wrote: post #131
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

The US is wealthier, has more billionaires and has fewer of these barriers for small entrepreneurs. So no, this is not the monocausal explanation that applies equally everywhere. (YES, the US has regulatory capture, YES the wealthy attempt to use it, YES we should try to eliminate it here too, but it remains true that it is easier to run a small business in the US, while having more billionaires. There are other expl…

I'm not sure I agree. I find the Delaware & IRS forms and systems archaic/byzantine compared to e.g. the UK system.
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