Is Europe becoming uninvestable?

[Dalal.Holdings]

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-strikes-deal-green-rules-cut-major-ursula-von-der-leyen-deregulation-drive/

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However, that victory came at a political cost: The file pushed the coalition that got her reelected to the brink of collapseand led her own political family, the center-right European People's Party (EPP), to team up with the far right to get the deal over the line.

 

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The new law, the first of many so-called omnibus simplification bills, will massively reduce the scope of corporate sustainability disclosure rules introduced in the last political term. The aim of the red tape cuts is to boost the competitiveness of European businesses and drive economic growth.

 

Ursula undoing her own mistakes...and the only way she could do it was to cross the "red line" and work with the "far right".

 

It should be apparent to anyone above room temp IQ that if you isolate an entire bloc as "far right extremists" then your government will be left with a heavy leftward bias...which is what Europe has had for many years and why efforts to censor and suppress these parties is counterproductive and undemocratic in that it ignores the will of the people who elected these people. Vance's "infamous" Munich speech was on point there.

[Dalal.Holdings]

https://www.sustainable-bus.com/news/deutsche-bahn-byd-evg-trade-unions/
 

“A large Deutsche Bahn e-bus tender has ignited a political and labour backlash after BYD emerged as a key supplier, according to reporting by the German newspaper Der Spiegel out on December 9th. For policymakers and unions, the prospect of a Chinese manufacturer delivering a major share of DB’s next-generation bus fleet…”

 

I can assure you that those buses will not be made from low carbon “green” steel and they will not be made in solar powered factories with diverse and inclusive labor force that is unionized. Even if assembled in Hungary. There goes that CO2 and there go the jobs and industry…

This is what suicidal ESG/etc policies look like in real time. Xi thanks you for your efforts.

 

Edited December 11, 2025 by Dalal.Holdings

[Dalal.Holdings]

Let’s force more of European industry to shut down & move here to “save the planet”

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2025 by Dalal.Holdings

[Gregmal]

Am I reading this correctly that the EU wants to fine Google for “favoring its own products”? Just when you think they can’t get any stupider; did the academics miss the business 101 course? 

[Sweet]

11 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Am I reading this correctly that the EU wants to fine Google for “favoring its own products”? Just when you think they can’t get any stupider; did the academics miss the business 101 course? 

They are truly complete morons and yet there is a whole swath of Europeans who just love the EU institutions.

[RichardGibbons]

I mean, USA does this too, and anti-trust is a good thing, if you actually want your country to enjoy the full benefits of capitalism.

 

(That said, I know nothing about the European case, so maybe it's different in some way. They do make lots of stupid decisions.)

[cubsfan]

2 hours ago, Sweet said:

They are truly complete morons and yet there is a whole swath of Europeans who just love the EU institutions.

 

One can only hope that the European citizen can seize back the power from the very people that are trying to destroy them - the institutions you mention.

 

In America - we are fighting the very same battle with the "Deep State" - and it's a brutal fight.

[Gregmal]

Imagine running a 7-11 and having to promote/encourage customers to buy the snickers bars at the C store down the street lol? That’s what the EU is saying Google should be doing…..

[Dalal.Holdings]

European regulators cannot help themselves. They went to fancy schools where they were taught that capitalism is bad. They came of age when the U.S. subsidized their incredible lifestyle with basically free defense. They learned a lot about climate change, but they never learned Adam Smith.

 

Anyone who disagrees with them is "far right" or a Russian shill who must be censored and/or imprisoned. 

 

The main way they get revenues from tech is from fines on big American tech as European tech basically does not exist thanks to these people. They’ve also inflicted critical damage on European industry.
 

And despite this all, they have zero accountability because they are not elected by the people. So, they get to keep doing what they’ve been doing…

 

Edited December 12, 2025 by Dalal.Holdings

[Dalal.Holdings]

Given all the happenings in Europe, no one should be surprised by the political upheaval under way...

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-12/farage-s-reform-overtakes-labour-as-largest-uk-party-by-members

 

Quote

Reform UK has surpassed Labour to become Britain’s largest party by membership, in the latest illustration of how its leader, Nigel Farage, is upending the country’s political landscape. 

The upstart populist party has almost 270,000 members, a real-time tracker on its website showed on Friday. While that’s short of the 333,000 that Labour disclosed having this time last year, leaked figures reported by the Times newspaper show the governing party’s membership has plunged below 250,000 amid a slump in the polls by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The establishment bears responsibility and the people seem intent on holding it accountable. Of course, this is how democracy is supposed to work--no matter how hard some try to resist it.

[RichardGibbons]

16 hours ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

European regulators cannot help themselves. 

 

The challenge is that their whole purpose of existence is to regulate. So, they're not exactly going to say, "everything's good. We have all the regulations we need. You can keep our paychecks, because we're no longer needed."

 

I think this is generally why governments work for quite a while, and then grind to a halt under the weight of regulation. Everyone new person taking power adds their bit until it becomes impossibly onerous.

[cubsfan]

Pretty tough clip (5 min) here - why Europe is angry with America:

 

 

Edited December 12, 2025 by cubsfan

[Sweet]

26 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

Pretty tough clip (5 min) here - why Europe is angry with America:

 

 

Sadly many Europeans simply don’t see it that way.  I agree with him.

[Loss Horizon]

https://www.ft.com/content/db1c00d8-1118-474e-8230-c7139b981556 (sorry paywall)

 

"Why Maga hates Europe: Trump takes the culture wars across the Atlantic"

 

This article finally explained to me existence of this forum thread. Europe is a new major ideological enemy of "MAGA" movement.

 

Also I finally understood the meaning of "Deep State" - it's all government employees, who are not aligned with "MAGA". The goal of "defeating the Deep State" means to replace everyone with loyal to "MAGA", so nobody is sabotaging any actions of the Trump's administration.

 

I feel that once most of the employees are replaced, and US Army and Navy are also replaced with "MAGA", the attack on Europe could not only be economical and political, but also directly military. A full scale military invasion will not be out of question, as ideological base is already prepared: "MAGA" would invade Europe to "defend traditional European values" and in general to fight "liberals". A good target, relatively weak defenses with US weapons, which can be disabled remotely. Russia could take a part on the East.

Edited December 13, 2025 by Loss Horizon

[John Hjorth]

9 minutes ago, Loss Horizon said:

https://www.ft.com/content/db1c00d8-1118-474e-8230-c7139b981556 (sorry paywall) ...

 

Archive.today : Financial Times US Foreign Policy[ [December 13^th 2025] : Why Maga hates Europe: Trump takes the culture wars across the Atlantic

 

Subtitle : US president’s attacks on America’s allies extend his campaign to dismantle the pillars of liberal power.

[cubsfan]

Perhaps, more correctly, "Deep State" are the unelected bureaucrats in the Executive Branch that work to undermine the President's agenda. That would be the correct definition.  Per the Constitution, the President of the United States is the Chief Executive of the Country - and has sole power over the Executive Branch - so, yes, POTUS removes those bureaucrats that believe THEY wield the power instead of the President. 

 

It's exactly the way it should be, per the Constitution.

 

Rooting out the "resistance" to the President's wishes is a whole different story. 

 

Only the Courts and Congress can act as a check on the Executives power - NOT his own branch of government.

 

And, yes, you are correct - the US Military is primarily under control of the President, but the power is shared with Congress in terms of declarations of war.  So no need to worry about being attacked by MAGA.

[Loss Horizon]

3 hours ago, cubsfan said:

Perhaps, more correctly, "Deep State" are the unelected bureaucrats in the Executive Branch that work to undermine the President's agenda. That would be the correct definition.  Per the Constitution, the President of the United States is the Chief Executive of the Country - and has sole power over the Executive Branch - so, yes, POTUS removes those bureaucrats that believe THEY wield the power instead of the President. 

 

It's exactly the way it should be, per the Constitution.

 

Rooting out the "resistance" to the President's wishes is a whole different story. 

 

Only the Courts and Congress can act as a check on the Executives power - NOT his own branch of government.

 

And, yes, you are correct - the US Military is primarily under control of the President, but the power is shared with Congress in terms of declarations of war.  So no need to worry about being attacked by MAGA.

 

I see that almost 3 million people work for the US government: https://usafacts.org/articles/how-many-people-work-for-the-federal-government/

 

According to your logic, every time the US President is changed from one party to another, he shall commence an ideological cleansing among 3 million workers.

 

I would expect the workers to do their job with no regard to their personal political beliefs. But I'm not an expert in the US politics.

Edited December 13, 2025 by Loss Horizon

[Loss Horizon]

3 hours ago, cubsfan said:

And, yes, you are correct - the US Military is primarily under control of the President, but the power is shared with Congress in terms of declarations of war.  So no need to worry about being attacked by MAGA.

 

No need to declare a war. It could be let's say Special Military Operation. An executive order should be enough.

Edited December 13, 2025 by Loss Horizon

[John Hjorth]

4 hours ago, Loss Horizon said:

... I would expect the workers to do their job with no regard to their personal political beliefs. But I'm not an expert in the US politics.

 

4 hours ago, Loss Horizon said:

... No need to declare a war. It could be let's say Special Military Operation. An executive order should be enough.

 

*chukle*s Saturday morning! - Awesome, just awesone!  

[cubsfan]

@Loss Horizon  Now you are just being silly, but if you would like to be paranoid - I don't really care.

Maybe you should arm up since the USA will invade you.

 

Yes, there are 3 million gov workers, most of them in the Executive Branch. All employees need to do, as you say, is "do their job". They can have whatever political affiliation they like, so long as the carry out their work, at the direction of the President. It's really simple - even you would understand that.

 

IF you worked for a large corporation - where the CEO sets goals, policy, priorities and pricing - but YOU decided to violate and subvert those items - you may be fired for working against the CEO.

 

Even your simple mind can handle that one.

[Gregmal]

Havent had a good one of those in a while. “Trumps going to invade Europe”…lmfao ok then….1,765,378th deranged, extreme “Trump” prediction that doesn’t pan out. Whew

[Marco Van Basten]

4 hours ago, cubsfan said:

@Loss Horizon  Now you are just being silly, but if you would like to be paranoid - I don't really care.

Maybe you should arm up since the USA will invade you.

 

Yes, there are 3 million gov workers, most of them in the Executive Branch. All employees need to do, as you say, is "do their job". They can have whatever political affiliation they like, so long as the carry out their work, at the direction of the President. It's really simple - even you would understand that.

 

IF you worked for a large corporation - where the CEO sets goals, policy, priorities and pricing - but YOU decided to violate and subvert those items - you may be fired for working against the CEO.

 

Even your simple mind can handle that one.

Why do you debate him?  He is a troll.  Supposedly a Russian living in Germany, 90% of whose posts are political on an investment site.  All he wants is to provoke someone and get him banned.  Don't fall into his trap.  

[cubsfan]

Wasn't sure where @Loss Horizon is from.

 

I'll just assume he's highly intelligent, but has no understanding of the American political system.

 

There is enough confusion about it anyway after the last 4 years under Biden - where we DO actually weaponize our security agencies against our own citizens.

 

And if he watches enough BBC, MSNBC and CNN - he might actually believe MAGA is the next coming of the NAZI party.

[NnnnotSoSmart]

2 hours ago, cubsfan said:

Wasn't sure where @Loss Horizon is from.

 

I'll just assume he's highly intelligent, but has no understanding of the American political system.

 

There is enough confusion about it anyway after the last 4 years under Biden - where we DO actually weaponize our security agencies against our own citizens.

 

And if he watches enough BBC, MSNBC and CNN - he might actually believe MAGA is the next coming of the NAZI party.

+1!

[NnnnotSoSmart]

Listening to a Schwab 2026 Market Outlook (yes, I know time better spent staring at my navel)

 

During the Q&A, at 46:25 min,  a question was asked about investing in Europe:

 

Moderator: 
“Excessive regulation in Europe Does it slow down growth or not?”

 

Michelle Gibley (Director International Equity Research – Charles Schwab)
“Regulation has certainly pulled down Europe’s growth. Despite the Euro being a currency union, the capital markets are not a union.  So there’s a separate stock market for each country with different filing requirements and different regulations. Can you imagine if we had a separate stock market for every US state? This lack of a capital market union reduces the ability of startups to raise money. It also hinders R&D. Former ECB President Mario Draghi, also former prime minister of Italy, laid out a year ago 383 recommendations for Europe to improve its competitiveness. You might say that’s bad news, but the good news it shows there is a lot of opportunity to improve. Investor expectations are low…

 

 

As Buffett has said: “You pay a high price for a cheery consensus”

 

No disrespect for Mr. Buffett, or my European ancestors but I wouldn't touch European equities with someone else's ten foot pole.  My roots (DNA) are 99.9% European. Mother was born in France. I feel fortunate I was born in US.  Mom met dad (American) and moved to the US.