Is Europe becoming uninvestable?

[Spekulatius]

It seems to me that people in Europe should move more:

https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/eu/top-personal-income-tax-rates-europe-2024/#:~:text=Among European OECD countries%2C the,have the lowest top rates.
 

The range in income taxes is very wide. I think Czech republic, Slovakia, Hungary are nice, except there is political risk in Hungary.

 

Some countries like Belgium and Croatia have low LT gains taxes which works well if you are just retired investor. Not everything in Europe is the same.

[Gamecock-YT]

I mean there's a reason Monaco and Andorra are popular with those that can afford to live there....lots of wealthy Norwegians moving to Switzerland to escape the increase in capital gains tax that came into effect a year or two ago. But your average Dane, French, or Austrian moving to Czechia or Slovakia? If they're moving for tax purposes probably nicer places to live more suited for expats. Geo arbitrage seems to be a hard thing for people to get their head around anyway, one only needs to look in the Money required for retirement thread in the personal finance forum to see that for themself. 

[Spekulatius]

Narrative violation- industrial power costs in Germany are lower  than in 2020:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1050448/industrial-electricity-prices-including-tax-germany/

 

[wachtwoord]

On 10/17/2024 at 5:29 PM, Dalal.Holdings said:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-17/musk-s-empire-risks-being-targeted-by-eu-for-potential-x-fines

 

Doing business in the EU is becoming like doing business in some kleptocratic soviet style banana republic…

 

 

So they are going to fine SpaceX for so-called violations made by a separate company? Make it make sense??? Is there any rule of law or common sense legal system in the EU?

 

 

Ah yes, the “innovative” anti-free speech DSA where now you charge fines as percentage of GLOBAL revenue (not just revenue earned in the EU) companies that are independent of X with different investors/stakeholders.

 

Europeans on the board, please tell me why this does not resemble in some form nationalization or state sponsored theft? Are you happy with such actions by the European Commission?

 

 

“The commission has final say” What about the court system? Does a legal system that protects property rights still exist in the EU?

 

Is the EU really happy being on the path of becoming a banana republic???

 

All valid criticism I say as an EU national (but as I like to point out: non-resident).

[james22]

 

[formthirteen]

The Architect of Germany's Third Industrial Revolution: an Interview with Jeremy Rifkin (Oct 15, 2014)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-architect-of-germanys_b_5979468

 

Quote

Mr. Rifkin is the principle architect of the European Union's Third Industrial Revolution long-term economic sustainability plan to address the triple challenge of the global economic crisis, energy security, and climate change. The Third Industrial Revolution was formally endorsed by the European Parliament in 2007 and is now being implemented by various agencies within the European Commission as well as in the 27 member-states.

 

Quote

Well, let me go back and give a little bit of history to this. When Chancellor Merkel became chancellor, she asked me to come to Berlin to address the question, "How do we grow the German economy and create new business opportunities and jobs?" And when I got to Berlin, the first question I asked the new chancellor was, "How do you grow the Germany economy, or the EU economy, or the global economy in the last stages of a great energy era?"

 

Quote

 

So, it's a zero-sum game - GDP is our debt to the Earth?

 

That's correct.

 

 

Quote

 

But for everyone that grew up on the communication Internet, it is actual lateral power - that their individual entrepreneurial abilities depend on how much they can benefit everyone else in the laterally scaled network.

 

So, they don't buy Adam Smith. They read Adam Smith, and they think, "This makes no sense."

Adam Smith says, "Each person pursues their own self-interest, and by doing so, it optimizes the common good" - which has always been a little dubious. Young people believe by each person benefiting the network, creating social capital by creating things that benefit the network, it increases their social reputation and their social capital allows their social entrepreneurial skills to succeed.

 

So, what I like about this third industrial revolution is that it borrows the best. This collaborative commons that's emerging out of capitalism borrows the best from capitalism, the best from socialism. It takes out the bad parts, which means it eliminates the centralization of the market with vertically integrated monopolies, and it eliminates the centralization of command and control from centralized governments in the socialist systems.

 

 

Hmmm, where have I heard all this before

Edited Monday at 09:08 AM by formthirteen

[Dalal.Holdings]

https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/10/24/angela-who-merkels-legacy-looks-increasingly-terrible

 

Angela who? Merkel’s legacy looks increasingly terrible

 

Quote

Those wondering how Europe ended up in its current pickle will rightly look to Mrs Merkel’s stint in charge. But Germans might use the launch of her memoirs to do their own soul-searching. They are the ones who voted time and again to put off reforms of the sort undertaken in the early 2000s by Mrs Merkel’s predecessor, Gerhard Schröder (though the less said about his legacy after leaving office, as a well-paid pal of Mr Putin’s, the better). For Mrs Merkel’s part, she led Germany as if in a make-believe world, letting it enjoy an extended geopolitical and economic nap from which it still needs to wake up.

 

[Dalal.Holdings]

6 hours ago, formthirteen said:

The Architect of Germany's Third Industrial Revolution: an Interview with Jeremy Rifkin (Oct 15, 2014)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-architect-of-germanys_b_5979468

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmm, where have I heard all this before

 

Quote from Mr. Rifkin:

 

Quote

Despite its apparent green energy handicap, Germany's economy is still standing. With a quarter of the US population, Germany's economy is the world's fourth largest in terms of GDP.

 

And yet the front page of business newspapers today:

 

VW Seeks Unprecedented Plant Closings as Auto Crisis Deepens

 

Quote

Volkswagen AG plans to close at least three factories, eliminate thousands of jobs and slash wages for tens of thousands of German workers as Europe’s biggest automaker tries to halt its tailspin.

The proposals to fix the struggling VW brand represent unprecedented cuts and underscore the extent of the crisis at Volkswagen. The German manufacturer has never closed a factory in its home country and a plan to reduce salaries by 10% could affect some 140,000 workers there.

 

Yeah, Germany is doing really great pal. Good luck w that.

Edited Monday at 02:56 PM by Dalal.Holdings

[Dalal.Holdings]

Yawn...

 

 

 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Dalal.Holdings

[Dinar]

34 minutes ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

Yawn...

 

 

 

 

Gee, and I thought that millions of Muslim immigrants + insane amount of regulation is a winning recipe!

[Sweet]

8 hours ago, Dinar said:

Gee, and I thought that millions of Muslim immigrants + insane amount of regulation is a winning recipe!

Many politicians genuinely don’t understand why America has done so well.  
 

I saw someone on Twitter from the UK arguing that a person making the equivalent of $87k a year, which is $64k after tax, was ‘rich’ and they shouldn’t complain about tax rises.

 

Rachel Reeves, our new chancellor in the UK, announced today on Twitter that she chooses investment in the UK over decline…. Paradoxically it’s almost certain that her budget will raise tax on investors.
 

The immigration non-policy in Europe is not helping because in many cases it’s just large scale state dependents.  Some European country, the Danes I think, published their data on the contribution of migrants to their economy by ethnicity.  Many migrants, particularly from Africa and the Middle East where a large net drain to the economy over their lives.

 

So yeh, I’m fairly pessimistic about Europe.  We desperately need a return to common sense and what worked before.

[james22]

4 hours ago, Sweet said:

The immigration non-policy in Europe is not helping because in many cases it’s just large scale state dependents.  Some European country, the Danes I think, published their data on the contribution of migrants to their economy by ethnicity.  Many migrants, particularly from Africa and the Middle East where a large net drain to the economy over their lives.

 

So yeh, I’m fairly pessimistic about Europe.  We desperately need a return to common sense and what worked before.

 

That the immigrant population poses a very real security threat means Europe will (eventually) do something about it.

 

If they were not, no matter the net drain, it'd be much, much harder to do anything.

 

It'll be messy.

 

And still leaves Europe with a demographic problem, of course.

[Sweet]

2 hours ago, james22 said:

And still leaves Europe with a demographic problem, of course.

The governments don’t seem to understand that the migration is at least partly responsible for the demography issues.  Low skill labour undercuts wages of citizens, immigration that results in state dependency is less government support for citizens, this lack of resources means the populace can’t afford to have as many kids.  It’s a cycle.