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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

#971

Post by ahartmetz »

sam_lowry_ wrote: post #960
ahartmetz wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't in the same category of supermarket though. Anyway, your name sounds Dutch. Please bring Albert Heijn to Germany. I'm not even sure why, but it's my favorite supermarket I've been to so far.

Heh... Albert Heijn can not even cross the border between Flanders and Brussels. There are literally two Albert Heijns across the street from Brussels, but if they open shop in Brussels or Wallonia, they will have to provide packaging in French next to Dutch.

They made a really small attempt in Germany some years ago. Germany is tough for supermarkets.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#972

Post by jamiejquinn »

mike_hearn wrote: post #962
jamiejquinn wrote: post #913

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When economists struggle disentangling the effects of brexit from the pandemic, an actual disaster, and so can't really determine if brexit was a disaster, I feel like you can't honestly say it wasn't . But still, while it's hard to gauge how bad the effect was, few experts seems to think it was good.

The most honest reading of the data is that it was neither bad nor good; that it had no impact on anything whatsoever. Whether you read this as a win for the Leave or Remain factions is in the eye of the beholder.

I don't think that's an honest reading. If there were a wealth of data and analyses that suggested the UK's economy is larger because of brexit I could agree but I certainly can't find any. You're right to be skeptical of the doomsayers that predicted (and continue to predict) disaster, but it seems incredibly unlikely (and unsupported by data) that Brexit did nothing.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#973

Post by pembrook »

rdm_blackhole wrote: post #956
brookst wrote: post #886

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it’s the incoherence of the EU support that’s so weird. Apple ships USB-C phones (a year before required): look at the EU standing up to big tech and forcing consumer-friendly products. Crazy policies cripple small business and domestic AI? Oh, it’s not the EU’s fault, it’s that evil big tech. There’s a recurring theme where the EU can do no wrong, despite repeated negative outcomes that only make sense to read a…

> There’s a recurring theme where the EU can do no wrong, despite repeated negative outcomes that only make sense to read as well-meaning but misguided regulatory overzealousness. Forget it. It's like talking to a wall. Go to /r/Europe and criticize anything regarding the EU and you'll be called a nazi or a far-right extremist. Something good happens in Europe and you get the constant refrain that without the EU it w…

HN is no longer a place of people with nuanced opinions. During Covid it got overrun by normies and redditors during the mass reddit exodus.

Since then it's become basically a typical leftist ragebait-driven subreddit on a different domain. Say anything that challenges the left-party line and you're immediately downvoted.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#974

Post by germandiago »

seydor wrote: post #946
germandiago wrote: post #528

My first decision when building my company was to leave Spain. They smash you very quickly. They do not care if they ruin you via prosecurion or you have to shut down. The tax agency is extremely agressive. The laws favor the agents to extents that are illegal and weven criminal (check the bonus of inspectors). Check Robert Amsterdam work on this, something we all spanish know for a long time.

Another data point: Self-employed people in Greece are now taxed based on a "mandatory income" , which is meant to reduce tax evasion but also force small businesses to consolidate or shut down (guess which one happened). About 4000 people have objected this unfair taxation and requested being reaudited. 90% of them ended up being taxed even more , because tax laws are overly burdensome , complex and erratically appl…

I find these practices criminal and directly humilliating: asking for permission to work as they smash you and if you have to shut down, go get f...

I do not know how that can be seen as a good thing from any perspective (whether you believe in tax payments or not I mean). It would be way better to let people grow a minimum (and later pay reasonable amount of taxes) than making them shutdown under totally unfair premises. On top of that many of these people might have to end up subsidized because of these practices, which I find them at the level of a mafia, tbh.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#975

Post by germandiago »

seydor wrote: post #945
TacticalCoder wrote: post #556

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spain also smashes foreigners owning a property in Spain. They see tourists and foreigners (even if they're from the EU) as a gigantic target to squeeze and screw as hard as they can. That's what you get when your economy is based on tourism and rich foreigners owning property there: you have to squeeze those hard for it's basically all you have. Officially tourism is "only" about 15% of the GDP but Spain is a servic…

To be honest i have no sympathy for immigra,,, er sorry expats. It is pure location arbitrage: rich pensioners moving to south europe to get a vastly bigger bang for their buck than they would get back home. It would eventually backfire, and i am glad it does. It was idiotic of the touristic countries to invite this kind of thing in the first place.

I am not sure what is wrong about that: they spend their money and that money falls in the hands of locals. I do not mean it should be the priority of a country (it should be other economic sources) but I do not find it harmful.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#976

Post by ryukoposting »

kccqzy wrote: post #669
chermi wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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) attache…

Yeah and the best example is California vehicle emission standards.

The emissions standards themselves? Kinda. The way they go about enforcing those standards? Not even close. CA emissions testing is byzantine and expensive compared to most other states. The fact that you people have to pay money to get tested, and there's 2 tiers of tests, hurts my brain.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#977

Post by stnikolauswagne »

rickdeckard wrote: post #953
stnikolauswagne wrote: post #901

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to be good faith here: It was decided that the registration is left to the individual countries (which I personally agree with, at least I think I do). Now the deadline has come and passed and some of the individual countries have not provided easy ways of registering. At what point should which entity done what? Should I as a SMB been keeping track of the registries for the individual countries and lobbied my…

(Absolutely in good faith here as well, just angry at local governments not doing their job) It was decided collectively(!) that a registration in the individual countries is the process to use. Against the original draft, in which the European Commission explicitly(!) proposed EU-wide packaging requirements due to concerns of fragmented processes. The result is a nationalization of the packaging compliance for a pro…

Thank you, I see my disconnect now, in my mind "the problem" was that there are no easily useable registries for other countries, when in fact "the problem" is that the regulation itself should have been looked at harder and probably be changed now that the neccesary public outcry is here.

In that case I'm pretty happy with the situation, our industry rep got in touch with the commission and they were receptive and provided guidance relatively quickly. Really not fair to blame on EU, if my local trade board can bug us about the placement of fire extinguishers they could also bug us about giving an input into industry-affecting legislation.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#978

Post by teiferer »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #958
teiferer wrote: post #921

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be a separate topic , yes. But calling it a "problem" is already the framing that pits locals against immigrants, distracting from what's really keeping people down. In fact, immigration is a solution to lots of actual problems. (For example demography and lack of economi growth.)

What is the solution to your demand for infinite growth on a planet of finite resources? Sounds like you use immigrants as a shield for your desire to get yours' before the resources run out and the line can't go up anymore.

> What is the solution to your demand for infinite growth on a planet of finite resources?

Um I wrote "lots of problems", not "all problems". Nor did I require infinite growth, not sure where you read that.

Though on a planet with finite resources, what is the point of encouraging women in the west to have more kids because the population needs to be growing again, if otherplace has still more (population) growth than they can handle, so one thing could alleviate the other, win-win. If we were less racist, that is.

It also depends a little on the definition of "growth" of course. Physical growth of course has limits. But services can always improve, so you can get "growth" without more stuff. Depends on what and how you count.

Or you build rockets and go interplanetary, but that's mostly a solution for the Musk cult which I'm not subscribing to.

> Sounds like you use immigrants as a shield for your desire to get yours' before the resources run out and the line can't go up anymore.

I don't get what you are insinuating.

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#979

Post by cylemons »

kilpikaarna wrote: post #474
Jskewel wrote: post #111

PPWR is an EU catastrophe. Firstly for the reasons outlined in the article: it essentially makes being a micro/small business in the EU impossible, if your market is other EU countries. Secondly because it validates insidious populist views that the EU institution is useless and incompetent at a fundamental level. The legislation is so ABSURDIST that the EU have actually asked companies to ignore the law that they ju…

> The legislation is so ABSURDIST that the EU have actually asked companies to ignore the law that they just implemented. I can assure you it is difficult to ignore a law that comes with a €200000 fine for non-compliance. That's the commission telling small businesses that please don't stop selling in the EU and suggesting member states should use common sense. Unfortunately, as with all EU directives the implementat…

The Commission cannot withdraw directives?

Re: How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

#980

Post by Robin_f »

anigbrowl wrote: post #597
Robin_f wrote: post #13

This is actively preventing me from sending packages to other countries as a maker. No matter how small the risk is, I don't want to risk a 5000 euro fine for sending a small amount of packages to other EU countries.

No matter how small the risk is That's just an excuse then. Register with whatever local authority in your country handles these things and in the unlikely event you get a grumpy letter just send them a copy of your registration documents.

It's clear you didn't read the article. As its not about registration, but rather the absurd costs of doing all this for small businesses.
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