[ExI] The Problem With Counterfeit People

[efc at swisscows.email]

Hello Bill,

It depends on how strict you are with your definitions. The swedish state 
is among the biggest in the world relative to the rest of the economy, and 
thus wields enormous market power being one of the biggest actors on the 
market.

In addition to that, they stipulate laws and policies you have to follow 
in case you want to do business with the government.

Last, but not least, for SMB:s the taxes are quite high, which also 
distorts market forces.

So, no, the swedish government does not directly decide what the market 
should do, but through the methods above, exerts an enormous force on it 
making it work less efficiently.

>From the individuals point of view as well, given that fact that for most, 
more than half of their income goes away in taxes, I'd also argue that it 
is heavily socialist.

Best regards,
Daniel


On Fri, 19 May 2023, William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat wrote:

> I am not sure that's right, that Sweden is a socialist country.  I thought that the government did not run the economy, and that's
> the defining element in socialism.   bill w
> 
> On Fri, May 19, 2023 at 10:03 AM efc--- via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>       On Thu, 18 May 2023, Gadersd via extropy-chat wrote:
>
>       >> In fact, I fear that the EU, as always, will stifle this wave of innovation as well and fall behind in yet another
>       area.
>       >
>       > Do you think the EU will experience a massive brain drain as people move where AI is more accessible? Would this
>       possiblility incentivize the EU to soften its regulations? I don’t see how an advanced economy can remain advanced and
>       competitive without embracing new technologies that other nations adopt.
>       >
>
>       I not only think the EU will experience a massive brain drain, I think
>       the EU _is_ experiencing a massive brain drain at the moment. It is a
>       region with the worlds highest taxes and most burdensome administration,
>       and with increased EU control over its member countries, my opinion is
>       that it is moving more and more towards socialism as the year go by.
>
>       If we zoom in on sweden, many entrepreneurs have left, so for instance
>       companies such as Ikea, Tetrapak, Skype, Minecraft, Yubikey, Candy crush
>       and more are either based outside sweden (today) or the founders did
>       start their companies in sweden, but decided to sell to american
>       companies.
>
>       IT is a bit blessed in that you can create huge value with few
>       employees. Looking at traditional companies, Volvo is partly chinese,
>       Absolut vodka was sold and so on.
>
>       So sweden has been very socialist and paid its price in lowered quality
>       of life and lowered disposable income throughout the years. I think the
>       EU will follow Swedens example and unless people awaken to this reality
>       (which I doubt, since this is a slow, multi generational decline) the EU
>       will be a low cost producer and tourist paradise in the future.
>
>       Best regards,
>       Daniel
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> 
>