Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Why The EU Actually Hates Big Tech" video.

I doubt this has much to do with control, corporations are very international now that they don't really care that much about their native land, it's all about the profits, wherever they can get them. Corporations will do what's in their interest, regardless of the market they are in around the world, as long as there is profit to be made. To give you an ideal, there are American pharmaceuticals companies that sell drugs far cheaper in the EU market then they do in the US, you really should ask yourself, why is that the case? In a sense, it's American companies screwing over the American people whiles because of EU regulations, are giving EU citizens a much better deal. To put it another way, it really doesn't matter where companies come from, they only care about profit and will enter any market around the world that can deliver profit, what makes the EU special is that it does a lot more right by its citizens then the US does and Europeans benefit for that, regardless of where the companies are from. Seriously, Americans need to wake up, the US government and many corporations are screwing Americans over because the US system allows them to do just that, corporations will always sell at the highest price they can, but they will also sell cheaper in other markets if regulations are in place that force them, after all, if it's a big market, they would rather make some money then none at all. So think of the EU as free market but with a lot more government regulations on companies to protect citizens.
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Especially considering that the EU goes after more EU companies than it goes after US tech companies. This isn't about the EU going after US tech, this is the EU going after big companies all over, and the problem for the US, it's almost like the wild west with how the government lets big companies get away with too much, probably because the US government looks at these companies as a geopolitical weapon on other countries like China, in the end, Americans are paying a high price in many sectors by having such a weak government that allows corporations to do almost anything they want. Also, let's be blunt about it, it's not just the EU going after them, a lot of governments around the world are starting to go after them, the EU might have got the ball rolling, but clearly, the US is allowing big corporations to get away with too much.
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In the end, it boils down to 1 or 2 things, governments in Europe have a more balanced economy and tend to listen to its citizens more, whereas in the US, it's every man for him self. For the well-being of the citizens, EU countries clearly have it better in so many areas, and the irony is, the situation seems to be getting worse in the US on so many of the quality of life indexes, that you wonder when the American people are going to wake up and change the system that is allowing too much wealth in too few hands and you do have to wonder, that Blade Runner like future where corporations are so big, they run everything could be a real possibility in the US if the US government doesn't get its act together. All I can say is thank fuck for the EU, at least they are trying to do the right thing in many areas for it's citizens, unlike the US which doesn't seem to care about it's citizens.
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There have been some push over the last few years to boost tech in the EU because of what happened in the US with Trump and what's going on in China, we'll have to see if that trend continues. But there's no reason why EU countries can't have a big tech industry, they've got the economy, population and skill set to make it happen, heck even much smaller countries like South Korea can do it, just that it's not been much of a focus in the EU as they tend to focus on small to medium size companies that specialise in specific areas, but they are more than capable of getting in the tech industry, and that would probably be a good thing for the world economy and consumers considering how big the EU is.
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Too much of that American cool aid that distorts reality. In the US, everything is seen as a competition, in Europe, we focus more or balance and quality of life, you only have to look at a lot of metrics when it comes to quality of life to see who got the better end of the sticks, especially considering European countries dominant the top 10 whereas the US is slipping further behind since Trump and is continuing to do so under Biden. In any case, there is far more to life than how big an economy is or how low unemployment is, or how many tech companies there are, all these things means little to nothing to the average citizen, quality of life matters far more, especially from the bottom up and in that case, European countries do it far better than the US and there are countless research papers and studies online that show that, heck, even a lot of Americans that moved to Europe admit that Europe is better.
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It's not so much about the EU hating big tech but more about the EU listening more to the public interest, big corporations rarely do what's in the interest of the public, in fact, history has shown it to be the other way around where they harm public interest with buying up smaller rivals to give consumers less choice and higher prices, they also try to monopolise the market they are in, giving consumers little to no choice, they also make it difficult for smaller companies to compete, which smaller companies and many of them usually gives the public more choice at a lower price point compared to bigger companies, unless they have major competition in that given sector. In the end, a lot smaller to medium size companies would likely benefit us all compared to having a few massive big corporations that control everything. We should also remember, the EU goes after far more companies in the EU then it does US tech companies, it's just that you tend to hear about the big tech companies in the news a lot more, so this has little to do about the EU going after US tech companies, they go after big companies in general, from around the world. The simple truth is this, in the US, lobbying has got to such a level that big companies almost have a free ride in the US and can do almost what they like, the US government has become weak when it comes to regulating its own companies that it's taking outsiders to do it for them, and it's not just the EU, a lot more countries are getting tough on big companies and it's long overdue, considering the power and consolidating that big companies have been doing over the last few decades that if left unchecked, it could become a threat to the public and even democracy its self.
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@sewerrat That doesn't end any debate, people from both Europe and America flock both ways, in fact, the numbers have been going up a lot since Trump got into power, so much so that some EU countries have thought about putting restrictions on how many Americans can move over, especially in the southern countries which seem to have more issues with that. Either way, immigration has been a major problem in EU countries now for almost 15 years because too many people want in but Europeans are turning against letting so many in. In any case, for the average citizen, quality of life is what really matters, not the wealth of rich corporations or how many millionaires there are or what the unemployment numbers are, these have little impact on the average citizen in the EU or the US, and the simple fact is, European countries dominants on quality of life, hence why they dominant the top 10, whiles the US is actually slipping further behind on that since Trump and continuing to do so under Biden, there are countless research papers, studies online that shows these indicators, heck even a lot of Americans that have moved to Europe say the quality of life is better in Europe over America.
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I think that's one of the big differences in Europe over America, in Europe, we like to open things up so the smaller guys can compete, being that more competition is always a good thing, wherever it comes from, the US on the other hand seems to look at these corporations as a geopolitical power play over other countries, especially China. The problem is with that is that in the US, they are allowing corporations to get too powerful that it's undermining the US government, hence all the lobbying, that could quickly lead into a Blade Runner like future, which is a very American like thing that I couldn't see happening in the EU because more common sense is being used in regulating big corporations before they become too big of a threat that it could weaken democracy, which lets be blunt, has already started in the US.
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@WillieFungo That would be fine if it really was love taxation, but there's evidence that Americans pay a similar or higher amount of tax then Europeans do, it's just done differently and far less equal with higher earners getting away with more than middle earners, it's also much more complicated, based on taxes paid and benefits gained from them. Lower taxes on the surface sounds like a good thing, but in reality, it usually means more wealth in fewer hands that can take advantage of the loopholes, lower taxes also means that the low and middle class gets screwed over far more, whereas the upper class gets away with it because they are wealthy enough to be able to find a lot of the loopholes to avoid paying much tax, in a sense, the middle classes are having to pay more because the rich are paying too little, or you're basically getting poor quality of service because the money isn't there to fund them. At the end of the day, when it comes to quality of life, Europe dominants the top 10 spots, from a citizen's point of view, what do you really care about?, your own well-being or the well-being of big corporations or the economy. As for immigration, that's been a major problem in EU countries for some time that too many people want to live there, in fact, there have been complaints about too many Americans moving to Europe since Trump got into power, so much so that one or two countries are looking into putting restrictions on them moving into those countries. As for the UK and health care, that's like one of the worst case examples of universal health care and many will tell you that the UK is the wrong way to do it, especially over the last 15 years how the UK is under funding it, as for young unemployment, that is a problem in some southern countries, but you have to be careful how unemployed numbers are calculated, especially in countries like the US and UK which use a lot of tricks to make the numbers look lower than they are, from job support to unemployment benefits where you are more or less working a full time job, being paid by taxpayers and being classed as employed, the taxpayers are still paying them thought.
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