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Comment by pocksuppet | Hacker News Reader

The EU seems to have a different take. As I understand it, regulations are much more malleable in Europe. When problems arise, regulations are put in place. When regulations are problems... it takes a lot longer to remove them, but can still happen eventually. Nothing like the USian deadlock system.

And when they do write them, it's always about general principles. The GDPR doesn't speak of cookie consent banners, instead it speaks of personal data and data controllers and data processors and the reasons you may control or process personal data, one of which is consent, so of course the industry made it as obnoxious as possible.

There are probably places that are doing even better than Europe.

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> USian

American. Please avoid the childish term "USian" unless you're going to commit to calling people from South Africa "SAian" too.

To be fair, "american" could refer to anything made in the American continent (North, Central and South America)

In some languages, but not really in English. Convention in the cultures of the Anglosphere is that the world comprises seven continents, and the Americas comprise two of them, not one. And in English, both formal and informal, “American” is generally considered the demonym of the United States of America, not the Americas. Although I call myself estadounidense in Spanish (an odd term—why don’t people from Estados Unidos Mexicanos count?), the equivalent English term is “American,” not “United Statesian.”

Not in English.

And USian could refer to folks from Mexico (and at prior points in history a number of other countries), so it's hardly unambiguous.

Who are you to make rules for others to follow?

I'm citing a rule, not making one. American is in the dictionary, used by the UN, recognized by everyone and their dog as the proper demonym for citizens of the United States. Who are you to question that authority and replace the proper demonym with a neologism?

I didn't. Languages aren't defined by dictionaries. If they were they would not have come into existence in the first place and they wouldn't evolve the way they do.

Because of onerous regulations, the EU has much less startups. You may think that’s good, but I’m sure some missed-potential startups would’ve improved QOL. They at least would’ve increased the EU’s economy and internet control and decreased its dependence on the US.

"Because of onerous regulations, the EU has much less startups". That old trope.

Is that also the reason Miami or St. Louis have less startups?

I have started companies in the UK. The process is about the same as in the USA. The problem in Europe is that there is a lot less VC capital. Just like in Miami. It had nothing to do with regulation.

One reason there's less VC capital because they don't control the world reserve currency like the US does, so they can't just print money and export inflation. Thankfully the current US leadership is intent on resolving this discrepancy.

To be fair to us, the Euro is also a world reserve currency, alongside of course the US Dollar, the British Pound, the Japanese Yen, and the Chinese Renminbi. And the Euro is in fact the second largest in terms of external reserves, being only beat by the USD.

Of course, the USD has been for a while the largest one of these, but as you say, they're really trying to get away from that. And a currency falling in relevance isn't new, one can always ask the Pound about that.

I generally agree with you message but the UK isn’t the EU anymore, and starting a company in Germany, France is definitely more expensive and involved than in the UK or the US. Regulation also has a responsibility, but not in the way people on HN generally think. The EU single market is messy, lots of things haven’t actually been consolidated, you have to take in account all the differences between each member state regulations if you want to get access to the whole EU. And if not you’re limited to mostly one region. If the EU can complete the single market we should be in a way better position to compete.

I really hope we can see The 28th Regime[0] becomes reality soon, that would be such an improvement

[0]: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BR...

And of course the reason that there is a lot VC capital in Europe has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you'd be crazy to do a startup in e.g. Denmark (because doing so will likely be personally ruinous even in the unlikely case that you get some traction, due to unrealized gains tax) or to directly invest in one in e.g. Germany (where you'd be expected to physically sit through, on location, a few hours of a notary reading stuff out to you)? Do you actually have any idea how much additional legal risks, costs and time wasting bureaucracy are associated with even just forming a company in a typical EU country?

Miami, and Florida in general, have basically zero universities anyone has ever heard off, and still boast a higher number of unicorns per capita than Germany, despite the latter having at least one world-class technical university.

Europeans are aware of this but they do not want to engage in a race to the bottom. Socialism was a conscious political decision in response to the oligarchy.

It is incomprehensible to Americans but not everyone wants to be like them. It would actually be a capitulation.

The policies I mentioned (just as nepo-baby Mamdani's programs to abolish programs for gifted children) have, of course, precisely and deliberately the effect of cementing an existing parasitic elite and screwing over talented and hardworking people from a non-privileged background.

Which part of this do you fail to understand? Who do you think will be more inconvenienced by the removal of gifted programs, some intellectual mediocrity who goes to a $70'000/year private school anyway, or a smart child from a family with a yearly total income that's a fraction of that schooling cost? Who do you think is going to be more likely to find themselves financially ruined by being hit with enormous taxes on illiquid assets (such as equity in a pre-IPO startup they founded or where an early employee in) -- someone entirely self-made or your "oligarch"?

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