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Europe's Software Problem

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Re: Europe's Software Problem

#571

Post by throwaway894345 »

YeezyMode wrote: post #558
throwaway894345 wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Data and science doesn't make something objective Well the “US is a third world country” take is based on no evidence whatsoever and defies all common sense, experience, etc, so I guess I’ll take the significant but imperfect evidence.

The idea of the US "turning into a third world country with a Gucci belt" is just a caricature; you are taking it extremely literally and I'm not sure why. But assuming large amounts of the population believed this to be a fact, this evidence from the website is not significant whatsoever. It's imperfect and insignificant. Any meaning you extract from it would be the equivalent of obtaining a desired trend from a plo…

> The idea of the US "turning into a third world country with a Gucci belt" is just a caricature; you are taking it extremely literally and I'm not sure why.

Some people are intending it as a caricature and others are intending it literally (for example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27520754). The literal case is obviously factually incorrect and the caricature case is unhelpful and divisive. Take your pick.

Re: Europe's Software Problem

#572

Post by jpttsn »

whimsicalism wrote: post #123
jpttsn wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What it lacks is freely flowing funding such that risky enterprises can be funded even if 1 out of ten or 1 out of hundred actually are successful Might this be a flip side of regulations that combat economic inequality? If so, the two should not be addressed as separate issues. But frontpage HN posts tend to be "Applauding Europes' long vacations and progressive taxes" and "Bemoaning Europe's lack of VCs with fuck…

Maybe, but I might need actual evidence as to that being the case.

Evidence is hard: a double blind randomized control trial would be unrealistic and at a high level there would be innumerable confounders.

However, the mechanism seems simple:

1. Regulation is designed to combat inequality

2. Lower inequality is achieved thanks to this regulation

3. As inequality is lower, fewer people have spare capital for risky investments

Meanwhile, if this mechanism doesn’t work as above, that might imply we don’t (yet) have an effective way to regulate inequality down.

Re: Europe's Software Problem

#573

Post by mr_gibbins »

mmarq wrote: post #510
mnouquet wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh my god, a $100k salary would be taxes at 42%, plus a 25% VAT on general spending, that's just insane...

In the UK you pay 60% on anything between 100K and 125K, then it goes back to 40%. Above 150K it goes to 45%. This is only the income tax. National insurance would be 2% at those income levels.

Not to be a dick but what's your source on that? I understood it to be 40% up to 150k, not 60% as per https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employe...

Re: Europe's Software Problem

#574

Post by maigret »

thiago_fm wrote: post #4

This problem will never get fixed. The author forgot to mention in depth the main reason why EU isn't even in the game: culture. In order to be innovative and compete, we need very flexible working laws, people with a big growth mindset, a less relaxing lifestyle and AMBITIOUS people. A lot of third world countries are years ahead of the whole EU continent in that aspect. I say this because I live in Europe for the q…

You should move to south Germany - people are very much ambitious there, work is often their main goal. Also, burnout numbers and other mental health statistics are really up, and that for years before COVID. Many people are working a lot just to buy a house. Far from everyone has inherited, actually Germany started a lot from scratch after the war. Most wealthy people I know built their wealth with lots of work, including weekends. Many colleagues work in the evening. It’s true few build a company though. But many decide to travel the world, or get ambitious with sports, art or charities. There’s a lot of things to be accomplished especially when you experienced first hand that the parents career didn’t make them much happy and satisfied in life.

Re: Europe's Software Problem

#575

Post by mmarq »

mr_gibbins wrote: post #573
mmarq wrote: post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK you pay 60% on anything between 100K and 125K, then it goes back to 40%. Above 150K it goes to 45%. This is only the income tax. National insurance would be 2% at those income levels.

Not to be a dick but what's your source on that? I understood it to be 40% up to 150k, not 60% as per https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employe...

In the UK you don’t pay taxes on the first 12500£ you earn in a tax year. This is the income tax allowance.

For each 2£ you earn above 100K, your income tax allowance is reduced by 1£. At 125K, your allowance reaches 0. The result is that between 100K and 125K your marginal tax rate is 60%. At 125K it goes back to 40%.

Re: Europe's Software Problem

#576

Post by b20000 »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #481
b20000 wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are paid more, because the US is a much more expensive place to live (at least in California).

This is circular logic. The US is more expensive because it has higher median wages. Its not like its a remote island with a few hundred people which would make logistics difficult.

That is right. FAANGs make more money, pay people more, real estate investors raise cost of housing, people have to pay more, so fangs need to pay more, etc etc.

Re: Europe's Software Problem

#577

Post by kortilla »

dmitriid wrote: post #492
kortilla wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a law is realistically unenforceable then it’s unreasonable. A law that requires some agency in Europe to police all of the websites around the world is pretty fucking stupid.

> If a law is realistically unenforceable then it’s unreasonable. It is enforceable, and there have already been fines. > A law that requires some agency in Europe to police all of the websites No, they are not going to police every website in the world. Once again, if it 6 years later you still couldn't read and understand a rather reasonably written law with multiple explanations and examples, you are a part of the…

> Once again, if it 6 years later you still couldn't read and understand a rather reasonably written law with multiple explanations and examples, you are a part of the problem.

It’s not reasonable if it’s written in a way that’s so easy to misinterpret.

People still don’t understand - shit law.

OR

People do understand and implement bad pop-ups and EU doesn’t enforce - shit law.

A law that is not enforced or has been written in a way that isn’t reasonable to enforce is absolutely a shitty law. Pie in the sky laws that have no teeth are worse than no law at all. It just gives room for lots of selective enforcement which is a great way to encourage corruption and shakedown schemes.

Re: Europe's Software Problem

#578

Post by dmitriid »

anoncake wrote: post #560
nickpp wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the law was so bad even its creators can’t implement/understand/respect it.

gdpr.eu is not official. This has been mentioned on HN dozens of times.

There's the law, you complain that it's badly written, that it's impossible to understand, that it's impossible to implement. Even though it has multiple recitals to explain things. Because you've never read it and never tried to understand it.

There are multiple guides and explanations for the law. You complain that those are not official.

One thing is definitely clear: 6 years later it's not a problem with the law. It's the problem with you and other people like you who diss GDPR without taking a single step to understand it.

Re: Europe's Software Problem

#579

Post by antb123 »

As a foreigner in France... Several things seem very anti-startup. Despite having a cool StationF co-working place.

In France (Paris) its impossible to rent without earning 3 times your rent in after tax salary.

Lots of decent programmers - but if you hire them its very hard (impossible) to lay them off on a employment contract.

If you don't give them an employment contract they can't rent an apartment.

As a Director you can be held personally responsible (no corporate protection) from non salary payment or other debts.

It is very complex to give shares or options to your employees without large tax implications.

result? StationF is mostly large companies. When you hire people you really need the help of a lawyer to protect yourself.

Re: Europe's Software Problem

#580

Post by anoncake »

dmitriid wrote: post #578
anoncake wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

gdpr.eu is not official. This has been mentioned on HN dozens of times.

There's the law, you complain that it's badly written, that it's impossible to understand, that it's impossible to implement. Even though it has multiple recitals to explain things. Because you've never read it and never tried to understand it. There are multiple guides and explanations for the law. You complain that those are not official. One thing is definitely clear: 6 years later it's not a problem with the law.…

I do what now?
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