> Is US software dominance because of our startups? Or because of the giant trillion dollar monopolies we have?
Most likely neither: It is its massive trade deficit, the one it strangely wants to get rid of now, that has allowed US consumers to consume more than they produce (i.e. you can take something with no real expectation of having to give anything back in return). Which, as it relates to tech, has enabled offering services for what is effectively free to dominate the market. Nobody else in the world can compete with that.
> Didn't AAPL, GOOG and FB all create products _before_ they had any taxable income?
Wouldn't you say they had no taxable income because of it? If Facebook brought in $100,000, and paid $100,000 to developers, then there would be no taxable income under normal regimes. But if the developers were not tax deductible, then that $100,000 in revenue would be taxable, even though the bank account is empty. This isn't nearly so simple, but it has changed the calculus in a similar way. The business models of old no longer work because of it.
Most likely neither: It is its massive trade deficit, the one it strangely wants to get rid of now, that has allowed US consumers to consume more than they produce (i.e. you can take something with no real expectation of having to give anything back in return). Which, as it relates to tech, has enabled offering services for what is effectively free to dominate the market. Nobody else in the world can compete with that.
> Didn't AAPL, GOOG and FB all create products _before_ they had any taxable income?
Wouldn't you say they had no taxable income because of it? If Facebook brought in $100,000, and paid $100,000 to developers, then there would be no taxable income under normal regimes. But if the developers were not tax deductible, then that $100,000 in revenue would be taxable, even though the bank account is empty. This isn't nearly so simple, but it has changed the calculus in a similar way. The business models of old no longer work because of it.