It's not necessarily a bad take. This isn't a "woke vs. profitable" argument, and woke doesn't even come into the picture here. Small businesses might actually want to stay small.
Yea, because if they get bigger they'll get crushed by EU regulations, bureaucracy and unions.
And when you don't have enough incoming orders you can't just fire employees. It's more "profitable" to lose out on orders than to hire more people to fulfil those orders. Because you can't just fire excess employees when the economy is in a slump. You're stuck paying them to do nothing.
Small businesses might actually want to stay small.
I know someone who runs a veterinary clinic. She says she's had multiple offers to sell her practice to a big corporation, but refuses because the quality of care would drastically decrease.
Good for her. Some small places unfortunately have to sell out just to stay afloat. Like the printing plant I work at. Though that wasn't all finances either, it was a family owned thing, where all the owners were retiring, but none of their kids had any aspirations to take over. So as it is, my own work has started to shift to a corporate-run environment.
I look at the size and complexity of everything as a parabolic curve. There is a point where everything is in balance and the institution is at its "best" size considering the quality of the goods or services it delivers, the experience of the employees, the customer service experience if it's constituents, etc.
Endless growth is neither sustainable nor desirable.
Big cities crow about how excited they are at increasing their population, but the increased tax base rarely supports the needed expansion of housing and infrastructure. We all have companies or products that we used to love and then everything turned to shit when they got bigger and dumped quality in pursuit of profit.
The sentiment is on point, although I disagree with the example. In general the EU is a regulatory hellscape, and I'm sure there's plenty of companies that would like to expand that are held back by their regulations. A luxury watchmaker is a poor example, because they have an entirely different business model, and a massive growth in output would simply devalue their brand.
One of the many problems with the Soviet Union was that they believed 'bigger' was better. So you had enterprises that went beyond the culminating point of efficiency, as you say, Magnitogorsk being probably one of the most notorious examples.
How's that working out for us? Massive layoffs, faltering economies, record insolvencies, companies switching to part time work, companies moving away, companies getting bought by US or Chinese giants, massive tax burden, etc. The one CEO who says he wants to send his employees home at 4pm? Yea, because they don't have enough orders in the books. Employees are a massive liability when you can't fire them when the orders stop coming in. Or you suddenly have powerful unions once you get too big. That's currently crushing VW.
For now, Eastern European countries are benefiting because that's where larger companies are moving and all the EU money is flowing. However, the two largest EU economies are failing and you tell me this is working out? Without those two the whole EU goes down the drain. Without them there's nobody to finance your precious Lithaunia.
At least we'll have time to stand in the bread line at 4pm, while we get stabbed by Mohammed who cuts in line in front of us.
Bunch of fart-smelling drivel.
Edit: Case in point: shorty after writing this I found out that Bosch announced today they're getting rid of another 5,500 employees, bringing the total of jobs lost at Bosch in the last 12 months to about 12,000.
This is a typical Linkedin post. Not worth reading, not when you don't know the subject. I hate nothing more than people from the outside coming in and talking about how great Europe is. There are entire Youtube channels by Americans who talk about that. One, go back to your own country. And two, no, it sucks, and stop providing people with ammunition to cope from how awful things are.
Regarding the thesis: it is simply not true. European businesses care just as much about their employees as do American ones, meaning not at all. European workers are more demanding. Maybe some family business in Switzerland does things differently, but it is not the norm.
30 of the world's 50 most liveable cities are European.
These sort of ranking are bunk. Who decides what is 'liveable'? Although judging by comments from Europeans who have visited American cities, this is probably true.
Still, there is no European city that can hold a candle to Tokyo. Even in the places where there you can't see trash on the subway, it is not spotless as Tokyo is. You also have strange people making noise, whereas the Tokyo subway is silent as the grave. Immigration has made a lot of European capitals not liveable, with bums living on the street in many capitals. Such a thing was unheard of earlier.
The continent has mastered something more elusive than unicorn creation - the art of balanced living.
This is true enough for the workers. Not for 'the continent'. People simply aren't willing to work themselves to death, take few days off and work overtime for greater consumption, and in my view this is a rather good thing (but that is of course what you would expect).
My completely uninformed view of why we fall behind is that our labor laws are quite strict, which is good for the mental well-being for people who have jobs, but which restricts employment from going where it is most productive. Also, over-regulation is really a thing, and it's worse in failing economies (Spain, France, Italy) than in economies that do quite well (like Sweden).
It's a tourist thing. When I lived in Hawaii we had to be a specific way to keep the tourists happy. Milk and basic needs are horrendous and set at tourist prices. Any attempt to bring in jobs that make Hawaii nicer is negated by regulations and tourists demands.
Meanwhile my hometown back in Germany has lost all of their shops and getting normal stuff is an Amazon order.
As a social problem, immigration is definitely number 1.
But as an explanation for Europe's long-standing economic problems, probably not. And the energy crisis has only accelerated it and spread it to more countries (Germany was not a basket-case, or at least not as much, before), rather than being a cause.
I didn't know what 'financialization' meant, so I learned a new word there. It's difficult to quantify how much of the economic problems are caused by that, but it's definitely a social problem.
i've lived in cities all over the world. tokyo is #1 by far. sure it has its own problems, but nothing like NYC or berlin, london, barcelona, rome, tel aviv... and cities like capetown and atlanta are shitholes.
Who decides what is 'liveable'? Although judging by comments from Europeans who have visited American cities, this is probably true.
It's pretty easy to determine. Get the demographics of a city and find out which ones have the fewest non-White/non-Chinese Oriental minorities. Odds are pretty good they're the most liveable.
My company has offices in both countries and I still can't believe how much lower salaries are for our UK employees compared to our US employees for the same role and job title.
They do get a lot of vacation, but tbh I'd rather earn more money and be able to retire earlier.
I will soon be starting a new job at my father in law's company in the US, coming from the UK. Very similar level of responsibility and experience required, but double the salary. Not to mention far less taxation. A lot of Europeans aren't aware of this disparity.
It's not necessarily a bad take. This isn't a "woke vs. profitable" argument, and woke doesn't even come into the picture here. Small businesses might actually want to stay small.
Yea, because if they get bigger they'll get crushed by EU regulations, bureaucracy and unions.
And when you don't have enough incoming orders you can't just fire employees. It's more "profitable" to lose out on orders than to hire more people to fulfil those orders. Because you can't just fire excess employees when the economy is in a slump. You're stuck paying them to do nothing.
I know someone who runs a veterinary clinic. She says she's had multiple offers to sell her practice to a big corporation, but refuses because the quality of care would drastically decrease.
Some people are in it for more than money.
Good for her. Some small places unfortunately have to sell out just to stay afloat. Like the printing plant I work at. Though that wasn't all finances either, it was a family owned thing, where all the owners were retiring, but none of their kids had any aspirations to take over. So as it is, my own work has started to shift to a corporate-run environment.
That's on the parents for raising retarded children.
I look at the size and complexity of everything as a parabolic curve. There is a point where everything is in balance and the institution is at its "best" size considering the quality of the goods or services it delivers, the experience of the employees, the customer service experience if it's constituents, etc.
Endless growth is neither sustainable nor desirable. Big cities crow about how excited they are at increasing their population, but the increased tax base rarely supports the needed expansion of housing and infrastructure. We all have companies or products that we used to love and then everything turned to shit when they got bigger and dumped quality in pursuit of profit.
The sentiment is on point, although I disagree with the example. In general the EU is a regulatory hellscape, and I'm sure there's plenty of companies that would like to expand that are held back by their regulations. A luxury watchmaker is a poor example, because they have an entirely different business model, and a massive growth in output would simply devalue their brand.
One of the many problems with the Soviet Union was that they believed 'bigger' was better. So you had enterprises that went beyond the culminating point of efficiency, as you say, Magnitogorsk being probably one of the most notorious examples.
As a European I call bullshit.
How's that working out for us? Massive layoffs, faltering economies, record insolvencies, companies switching to part time work, companies moving away, companies getting bought by US or Chinese giants, massive tax burden, etc. The one CEO who says he wants to send his employees home at 4pm? Yea, because they don't have enough orders in the books. Employees are a massive liability when you can't fire them when the orders stop coming in. Or you suddenly have powerful unions once you get too big. That's currently crushing VW.
For now, Eastern European countries are benefiting because that's where larger companies are moving and all the EU money is flowing. However, the two largest EU economies are failing and you tell me this is working out? Without those two the whole EU goes down the drain. Without them there's nobody to finance your precious Lithaunia.
At least we'll have time to stand in the bread line at 4pm, while we get stabbed by Mohammed who cuts in line in front of us.
Bunch of fart-smelling drivel.
Edit: Case in point: shorty after writing this I found out that Bosch announced today they're getting rid of another 5,500 employees, bringing the total of jobs lost at Bosch in the last 12 months to about 12,000.
This is a typical Linkedin post. Not worth reading, not when you don't know the subject. I hate nothing more than people from the outside coming in and talking about how great Europe is. There are entire Youtube channels by Americans who talk about that. One, go back to your own country. And two, no, it sucks, and stop providing people with ammunition to cope from how awful things are.
Regarding the thesis: it is simply not true. European businesses care just as much about their employees as do American ones, meaning not at all. European workers are more demanding. Maybe some family business in Switzerland does things differently, but it is not the norm.
These sort of ranking are bunk. Who decides what is 'liveable'? Although judging by comments from Europeans who have visited American cities, this is probably true.
Still, there is no European city that can hold a candle to Tokyo. Even in the places where there you can't see trash on the subway, it is not spotless as Tokyo is. You also have strange people making noise, whereas the Tokyo subway is silent as the grave. Immigration has made a lot of European capitals not liveable, with bums living on the street in many capitals. Such a thing was unheard of earlier.
This is true enough for the workers. Not for 'the continent'. People simply aren't willing to work themselves to death, take few days off and work overtime for greater consumption, and in my view this is a rather good thing (but that is of course what you would expect).
My completely uninformed view of why we fall behind is that our labor laws are quite strict, which is good for the mental well-being for people who have jobs, but which restricts employment from going where it is most productive. Also, over-regulation is really a thing, and it's worse in failing economies (Spain, France, Italy) than in economies that do quite well (like Sweden).
It's a tourist thing. When I lived in Hawaii we had to be a specific way to keep the tourists happy. Milk and basic needs are horrendous and set at tourist prices. Any attempt to bring in jobs that make Hawaii nicer is negated by regulations and tourists demands.
Meanwhile my hometown back in Germany has lost all of their shops and getting normal stuff is an Amazon order.
There are plenty of delusional Europeans who still think Europe (and the EU, specifically) is pretty great, too.
Yes, like there are plenty of delusional Americans who think America is great. But they LOVE hearing it from others.
From over here, it seems like Europe's main problems are immigration, financialization, and energy especially since the Nordstream attack.
As a social problem, immigration is definitely number 1.
But as an explanation for Europe's long-standing economic problems, probably not. And the energy crisis has only accelerated it and spread it to more countries (Germany was not a basket-case, or at least not as much, before), rather than being a cause.
I didn't know what 'financialization' meant, so I learned a new word there. It's difficult to quantify how much of the economic problems are caused by that, but it's definitely a social problem.
this. so much this.
i've lived in cities all over the world. tokyo is #1 by far. sure it has its own problems, but nothing like NYC or berlin, london, barcelona, rome, tel aviv... and cities like capetown and atlanta are shitholes.
It's pretty easy to determine. Get the demographics of a city and find out which ones have the fewest non-White/non-Chinese Oriental minorities. Odds are pretty good they're the most liveable.
THIS is one of the reasons why you would be insane to invest in the EU stock market.
My entire life it has only moved sideways.
Meanwhile the US stock market is now 3x higher.
My company has offices in both countries and I still can't believe how much lower salaries are for our UK employees compared to our US employees for the same role and job title.
They do get a lot of vacation, but tbh I'd rather earn more money and be able to retire earlier.
I will soon be starting a new job at my father in law's company in the US, coming from the UK. Very similar level of responsibility and experience required, but double the salary. Not to mention far less taxation. A lot of Europeans aren't aware of this disparity.
Nice man! Good luck with the new job.
Thanks man! Looking forward to breathing the air of freedom :D
Europe needs to get rid of the EUs totalitarian tax regime and ponzi scheme social services.