r/europe • u/paneuropeanism_ Europe • 13h ago

News Von der Leyen: €300 billion in European savings flown overseas every year, primarily to the US, will be invested in Europe from now on. All 27 EU states agreed to establish the S&I Union, a step toward the full Capital Market Union

https://streamable.com/4h43qk
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u/paneuropeanism_ Europe 13h ago

The situation is absurd. Europeans are financing US companies who then grow big and come to Europe to buy up our own companies. It's truly absurd and shows once again how the nation state is obsolete.

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u/Herve-M 4h ago

It is absurd, yes but.. Americans have many more options to invest, like the 401k or IRAs and also accessible.

Investing in Europe is complex, every country have another taxes law, every country have other requirements, every banks have different options with pro/cons, every banks changes cross EU country is a admin paper marathon..

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u/toomucheyeliner 12h ago

The benefit of the trust & soft power the US cultivated for decades and the current administration has effectively dismantled across most of the world. The ripple effects of its loss will take time and develop quite subtly but the impact will be immense..

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u/YikesTheCat Ireland 11h ago

It all seems so pointless too, innit? What's the point of threatening to anschluss Canada? US doesn't win; Republicans don't win. Hell, there isn't even a Trump corruption or grift angle that I can see.

"We have a good thing you stupid son of a bitch!"

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u/toomucheyeliner 10h ago

I try not to assume the answer is idiocy, that there is some more reason to it. There’s also the question whom it serves to weaken the US: China and Russia, the autocratic world. What influence do they have on the administration? I can’t see a good reason for threatening the annexation of Canada, Greenland, as well as undermining international law, belittling and threatening allies, praising autocrats - all over being a very poor example of western society ideals in a difficult time and a challenging future.

Why? Just … Why? And why do the American people tolerate and support it. This last question is the biggest reason that this damage is long term. This administration got voted in a second time. The US citizens wanted this, and as it all develops, those that are against it aren’t motivated enough now to do anything to stop it. Sure there are some meek and irregular protests but that ain’t gonna cut it. All of this, this It is the will of the American people.

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u/YikesTheCat Ireland 9h ago

When it comes to Donald J. Trump personally, I think it's pretty clear that almost everything he does is motivated by an all-consuming narcissism, which is basically just a different way of saying "idiocy". I don't think he has a grand plan or consistent world-view or anything else. It's all very superficial – shockingly superficial really.

The voters I understand less. "Drain the swamp" by electing the swamp creature? Interesting approach. But almost 20 years of unhinged madness (counting from start of tea party movement) with no signs of slowing down, the "why" barely even matters any more.

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u/favorscore 4h ago

What? They dont like this. He has no approval. He is going to get demolished in the midterms and a democrat will be the next president. I dont disagree with the rest of the comment but to say Americans support what he is doing is factually untrue

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u/eliceev_alexander 10h ago

Because… American companies and startups grow, and let you get rich off the back of them, while European ones are so inefficient that regulating American corporations brings in more money than Europe's own industry does. On top of that, it's hard for a lot of European companies to grow quickly when there's an absurd amount of red tape and inspections, when the unions are forever banning something, when you can't hire people and then let them go from one day to the next, and so on. You have to be super-efficient or super-rich right from the off, otherwise you'll never get off the ground. Why would any European invest in European companies? They'd never get rich off any of it.

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u/hotdiggydog 5h ago

Or go to Ireland just to avoid taxes 

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u/landismo 1h ago

And what do you want to do?

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u/VirtualPercentage737 9h ago

American companies buying European companies is a good thing. That capital can then be used for investment.

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u/Total_Wrongdoer_1535 5h ago

It’s not that absurd if you compare the rate of growth of S&P500 vs something like the French CAC 40. The rate of return is much bigger in the US.

P.S. I was initially going to say German DAX 40, which would have been true until a couple of years ago when DAX ripped and is showing performance just below S&P