For modern digital service usage, I wouldn't necessarily look at the US as a leader. It's bureaucracy rivals that of big countries in the EU. And a lot of that is still based on form filling. Germany is definitely a basket case on that front (I live there). But I wouldn't rank the US much higher. I've lived in Finland and Sweden as well, which are much better and more efficient. And I'm from the Netherlands, which has modernized quite a bit unlike Germany. Places like California aren't necessarily a lot better and possibly worse in some areas. I've never lived there but I've talked to plenty of people that spent some time there.
Also, if you look at manufacturing, Europe still provides some essential things. SAP, a German company, is a global market leader in ERP and related software. Companies like Tesla buy high their high tech machines from Germany. And the machines that make the chips that are power the AI revolution are made by ASML, headquartered in the EU. US manufacturing is a lot weaker than EU manufacturing at this point.
So, I don't think it is that black and white and there are a lot of things in the US that aren't necessarily very modern or nice.
And for taxation, there's the argument to be made that there are an awful lot of US companies with extreme valuation rivaling the GDP of most EU countries that seem to be very good at dodging taxes in the EU despite getting a lot of their revenue there. There's a lot of talk about trade imbalances lately, and this has been an obvious candidate for balancing. So, I don't think this is such a strange thing to do for the EU to be publicly musing doing something about that in light of all the tariffs that Trump is threatening with currently.
Also, if you look at manufacturing, Europe still provides some essential things. SAP, a German company, is a global market leader in ERP and related software. Companies like Tesla buy high their high tech machines from Germany. And the machines that make the chips that are power the AI revolution are made by ASML, headquartered in the EU. US manufacturing is a lot weaker than EU manufacturing at this point.
So, I don't think it is that black and white and there are a lot of things in the US that aren't necessarily very modern or nice.
And for taxation, there's the argument to be made that there are an awful lot of US companies with extreme valuation rivaling the GDP of most EU countries that seem to be very good at dodging taxes in the EU despite getting a lot of their revenue there. There's a lot of talk about trade imbalances lately, and this has been an obvious candidate for balancing. So, I don't think this is such a strange thing to do for the EU to be publicly musing doing something about that in light of all the tariffs that Trump is threatening with currently.
Which is of course what this is all about.