Live data from Hacker News

Stop Generalizing About Europe

jonasbentzen.com

101–110 of 369 posts

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#104
post #75

Created an account just to state this: tech people please don't go into discussing politics / economics. Brits want to exit EU because of wars in the past? This is ridiculous! What about the real reasons: 1. Britain has 70% of its laws created by the EU by burocrats who were never voted into the office and can't be voted out of the office: Barroso (President of the European Commission) and Von Rumpoy (whatever his na…

> Germany has always been goods producer. UK has always been a trading nation Yeah, why has the UK then stopped trading? Btw., I live in a German Hansestadt, which for centuries has been trading with all the known world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League The UK can't trade with the US? Haha, what a joke. Let's face it: the UK has focused on its financial 'industry' and has sold products of questionable qu…

Indeed the UK had a couple of Hanseatic ports, in London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steelyard and King's Lynn.

I don't understand people who think a trading nation can survive outside a free trade area either.

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#105

My 2c, is stop trying to be one nation then. The EU zone is something of a fiasco and its really killing the entire zone with countries like Turkey and Greece. Don't blame us .. blame your governing body for making it difficult to operate in Europe.

Uh, what's the problem with Turkey?

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#107
It's amazing how many from the USA insist that the inner diversity in the USA is comparable to the one in Europe. I've heard this many times, namely here in HN. It is not comparable. PERIOD.

Even if the poster goes a bit to the extreme of bringing Russia in to the conversation, even inside the EU, there is still no comparison on how how diverse Europe is (e.g. Portugal to Norway, Greece to France, Spain to Germany) compared to the USA. Some countries, like Austria and Germany do have some similarities, but - to the untrained eye - Canada and the USA will seem relatively similar also, when compared to Mexico!

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#108

Well, I'm a European myself, but the corrections sounds a little on the pedantic side: > "Most of Europe has the euro as a common currency" -- Only 17 of Europe's 50 countries use the Euro. Yes. Only some of the LARGEST countries, for a total of 332 million people. Not to mention that he did say "most". > "Europe is great for an American tech entrepreneur because wealth is better distributed" The difference between t…

> Only some of the LARGEST countries, for a total of 332 million people. Not to mention that he did say "most".

332 million is less than half of Europe's population. That's not "most of Europe" by any stretch.

> It's not like someone will go to invest blindly to the _geographic region_ that is Europe. He will most likely go to what is called Western Europe, or the EU.

Even Western Europe has huge differences in buying power (contrast Germany with Spain, e.g.). You mention the EU... The EU includes Eastern European countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, etc.

Point is, facts matter - especially if you're building a business.

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#109
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, we are going deep down the rabbit hole now :). Please excuse me if I say lots of stupid things. How far apart are Louisiana and California? How far apart are Romania and Bulgaria? Yet, the two USA states share the same language (at least on official level), the same currency and the same "american" culture. Neither of these is true for BG and RO. And we are neighbours, mind that. As an added "benefit", we have…

Your ignorance of the respective areas is showing. It's hard to talk about a common culture between California and Louisiana when neither California nor Louisiana has a common internal culture. In Louisiana, spend some time in Houma, and then some time in Shreveport. Louisiana has a Cajun-dominated region and a region that's very much part of the Old South, and they're not much alike. In California, spend some time i…

And you can make the exact same comments about any country in Europe.
Post reply on HN