TWO DISTINCT FUTURES: Steven Den

TWO DISTINCT FUTURES: Steven Den Beste of USS Clueless has a post indicating two possible futures for the EU: modern day France or Weimar Germany.

As to the former, check out this comment from one of Den Beste’s readers:

I know of a dotcom which decided to expand to Europe, and sent an MBA to set things up. Merely the process of company formation was pretty clear: In France, the process cost $5,000, and took 5 weeks.

In the UK, it cost roughly $100, was done in 45 minutes over the phone, and the package even included a company stamp. So they based their operations in London. (Ever wonder why there were so few french dotcoms?)

Later, the bank refused access to funds in the French bank account until the tax authorities confirmed that no bills were outstanding.

The bureaucrats of the French and the EU really need to be locked in a room and forced to read, and re-read Jude Wanniski’s The Way The World Works, or Robert Bartley’s The Seven Fat Years over and over, until the understand how bureaucracies and taxation can kill an economy.

Or better yet, let them try to start businesses of their own, and experience the red tape of the EU themselves.