UK

TechnicalWhore

The sad thing is there are brilliant innovators in the UK. Its the capital markets that are too conservative. Many of your best and brightest end up in the US because the challenge at home is too foreboding. Or they work for outposts of US companies there.

snapshovel

Ireland is a tax haven. Their entire economy runs on being a corporate tax haven. Because of this, they’re one of the few counties in the world with a higher GDP per capita than the U.S. (so WAY higher than the UK). Very rich, very small country.

racefapery

England just isn’t set up for businesses to do well. This started hundreds of years ago and it’s hard to suddenly change your mind and start building a business friendly culture. If you want to start a business, all the venture capital is in the US, our equity markets are the best place to raise capital period. If you want to run a business there is no safer and more profitable place to do it than here. No one wants to run a business in England, there’s not as many customers, the taxation situation is much harsher, if apple moved its operations to the UK they would immediately make less money on the bottom line just from the tax structure. The money they aren’t paying in taxes is going straight back into the business, reinvesting into innovation and compounding exponentially over decades. The UK might be a great place to WORK for a company, with the labor laws and benefits and free healthcare etc… but no one wants to run a business there. You’ve created a situation where you may attract a lot of low level workers who benefit from social programs, but not any companies

Vast_Cricket

You can produce Dyson vacuum cleaner and Dyson wash machines. Neither one is as affordable as US made equivalence. Take it back they are made in Malaysia designed in UK.

ninkorn

>**Gonorrhoea and syphilis** sex infections [reach record levels](https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/142e7mr/gonorrhoea_and_syphilis_sex_infections_reach/) in England - BBC Ehhh....puts on UK. Ehh, British-and-fittish in shambles 🥵😥

wattatime

Not sure what it’s like in other industries this is more strategy, consulting, and fin/tech not pure programming. For us our skilled labor in Dubai is paid the highest of any resources in the world followed by Singapore (there isn’t a huge workforce so hard to compare) then SF/NYC tied for 3rd. The workers who maintain the building are paid more in the US. We pay same level resources twice as much in Dubai as we do the UK.

unwanted_hair

AstraZeneca - Market Cap $228b Rio Tinto - Market Cap $104b Shell - Market Cap $193 Accenture - Market Cap $194.5b Yeah the UK has like no companies.

GreatestEfer

[https://www.listchallenges.com/most-diverse-food-cities-in-the-world](https://www.listchallenges.com/most-diverse-food-cities-in-the-world) Yeah according to your logic, Canada is the 3rd best country in the world to go eating. (Man if my Canadian friend actually heard you, he'd roast you alive.) Top 10: 4 US cities, 1 UK aka London Top 20: 8 US, 1 UK aka London Wow yeah, I'm totally gonna move to UK now, it's so diverse /s

Jarlaxle_rigged_it

Israel is a good case-study for a very small country with a very high number of patents, startups and IPOs. Its the culture, risk-taking, Government funding for tech/science/research. The Army plays a big role as well ofc. But mainly taking risk and cutting corners and thinking out of the box. It takes forever and more to do something in the UK or Germany, heaven forbid to change direction fast etc.. also firing people is very hard.

GreatestEfer

> why can't the **UK** produce technological juggernauts like the **US** can? We have some of the best universities in the world yet we don't produce hardly any good companies. Did you read the assignment dude? >Less culinary and cultural diversity Case closed.

Chahj

Why are we comparing countries?? I very clearly said London, the rest of the UK is nowhere near. Your also pinning diversity entirely on race… I’d argue nationality is way more significant and London destroys everywhere in America on that front… an African American, American Hispanic and American Caucasian is a much less diverse group than a white Italian, white Spaniard, and a White Polish person. (Ofcourse London has a lot of racial diversity too this is just to highlight that nationality is just as significant, if not more, for measuring diversity.

GreatestEfer

Lmao, what. the state of Illinois (Chicago) alone has more diversity. [81.7% of England & Wales is white](https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/population-of-england-and-wales/latest) with the next ethnic group being Asian at 9.3% in 2021... Meanwhile [here's IL](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/IL). Include the rest of the US, and it's like comparing the Amazon Rainforest to the Sahara desert. Have you been around "everywhere in the US"??? It's not just a 378 miles drive like it is from London to Edinburgh. That's around the top-down length of the single state of IL itself, lol. * Most *culturally* diverse ranked: [https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-diverse-countries](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-diverse-countries) USA @ 0.278 diversity index vs UK @ 0.0901 (higher = more diverse) * Most *racially* diverse ranked: [https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-racially-diverse-countries](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-racially-diverse-countries) USA @ 49.01% ethnic fractionalization vs UK @ 12.11% (higher = more diverse) Check yourself before you rekt yourself fam.

SchizoMitzo

Post brexit? The UK economy has been in dogshit since 2000.

Brilliant_Seaweed657

This is because UK has a place for 3rd and 4th place in your sports ⚽️. USA has no place for losers only 1 team can win 🥇 🏈 🏀 ⚾️. There is no 3rd runner up! Hence they produce winners by winning 🏆

Legitimate-Source-61

What broker do you use? How does one get started in options in the UK? Is there a demo account also?

Archeagnus

You could probably trade US stocks if you wanted too, right? Convert your money, get a VPN, I don’t know. Also, our government actually lets people keep their money if they grow stupid large companies. Compared to the UK, at least, our tax system is relatively tame I believe. That type of incentive creation might have something to do with it…

admin_default

Brexit made UK startups less desirable to fund. But also, funding isn’t the only factor. Canva didn’t raise VC until it was already worth $40B and Survey Monkey was built with $0 of venture capital. UK has James Dyson, of course, who is an absolute legend.

Reginaferguson

OP is too tech focused Europe and UK are awesome if you are running some kind of specialist consultancy or manufacturing business that requires a lot of technical expertise. The heartlands here are full of wealthy families running this kinds of businesses. A lot of American firms engage with Europeans and euro firms all the time for specialist expertise. Just of the top of my head Europe and UK are world leaders in, automotive ,pharmaceuticals, engineering design manufacture and consultancy, architecture, insurance, shipbuilding, aviation, and a lot of fundamental R&D. We might not have the biggest companies in the world but you can definitely leave your mark and make it rich if you understand how to make it here.

trutheality

Better motivation. If you're poor in the US you die either from hunger or disease (food costs money, and medical care costs a ~~metric~~ freedom ton of money). If you don't sell your soul for money and claw your way to higher net worth you will fall into the abyss. In the UK you have an ok social safety net, so even your rich aren't very motivated to get richer. They just sit in their castles and collect artifacts from other cultures.

PM_YOUR_WALLPAPER

>The UK is awful at funding tech companies, VCs are few and far between, and there's basically no funding $20M and up. [The London leads the world on Fintech funding though](https://www.standard.co.uk/business/london-overtakes-new-york-and-san-francisco-for-fintech-funding-venture-capital-vc-investment-b1045118.html)

NatBjornCoder

Have you seen the Ray Dalio video on the rise and fall of empires yet? The USA is trending to head the way of where the UK is now. We will be joining you in like 10 years possibly. A country can, through education, reinvestment, invention, create a situation where it has a lead and then expand that lead. The Dutch did it, the UK did it, Now the USA has done it but it's not a permanent thing. It looked like Japan would overtake us in the 1980s but they had a big crash in the 1990s and never recovered. Will China overtake us or crash like Japan did?... The "Sea of Theives" game was developed in the UK. Monty Python, UK. Beatles, Rolling Stones UK. If you'd like to see it change, take on programming and build something the world needs. The world doesn't need Meta and FB is throwing a bunch of money away on that. Go For it.

Panagean

I mean this partly just stems from US stocks being valued at a higher multiple than UK stocks, and I swear that's partly just a cultural factor of the markets. British institutional investors are incredibly risk-averse (partly culturally and partly because of well-intentioned but overly restrictive limitations on the risk-exposure of eg pension funds), and it's relatively cheap for the most individual investors to get dividends over growth stocks, so higher risk investors pile into American stocks, which therefore continuously look overvalued but keep growing where UK stocks look undervalued but do nothing. Plus, we are poorer than they are, smaller in population, recently cut off our largest trading partner, keep fewer liquid assets than they do, have a lemon of a national economy and (luckily!) don't suffer from the same degree of political lobbying and rent-seeking that at least some of these large American companies benefit from.

accordtim

The UK has to produce more goods and services. Y'all got the monarchy for tourism and what, crabs?

who_peed_on_rug

Because the UK govt stifles business and innovation. Too many regulators. Too many fees. Too much litigation. Too much red tape. It's too hard to make quid. Invest outside of the UK.

PuzzleheadedEar1016

Just because Apple is worth more than the entire UK stock market doesn't mean there's a tech bubble

PuzzleheadedEar1016

And the entire UK economy is worth like 2.5 trillion. It's all fuking regarded

dasgh0st21

Well, start by understanding why AmeriCANs spell the word “Canceled” and UK spells it “Cancelled”. Because in 1783 we gave you that L, ole chum. Let Freedom Ring!

Jimaaay1989

Everybody in the United States is privileged and don’t realize it. They naturally hate our success and they look at the news for confirmation of their own flawed biases. Truth is when you turn off CNN, take a step back from the news, you realize that the United States is the most powerful country in the world and it’s all because of our free market economy which is guaranteed under our rights. The ability to understand that problems lead to solutions and solutions lead to money is the underlying basis of our success. The problem with the UK is you guys have one central government that fixes problems rather than allowing the free market to fix it. This in turn cripples any innovation that could otherwise come of.

Tupcek

Well, if your comment wasn't related to UK economy, than I don't see how your comment is related to OPs post.

AIFlesh

In case you’re looking for a serious answer, I work with international teams all the time. Almost all international teams have a cultural problem that prevents innovation/risk taking. Here’s the major issues with each of the international teams I work: UK: Too concerned about rules and procedures. They can’t asses when/what rules to break and which rules are worth breaking and just paying the fine or fixing later. Seriously hampers innovation bc culture is incredibly concerned by doing everything by the book. Also, too concerned with looking proper and professional rather than being effective. Germany: same issues at UK but even to a higher degree. However, once they get their ducks lined up, their great at execution. UK is bad at executing (which is a problem US has as well). Latin America: bureaucracy upon bureaucracy upon bureaucracy. Also, way too hierarchical of workplace society. Everything must be too down directive, which stifles innovation. Japan: too conservative. China: government. If China can fix their govt problem - they’d be a massive powerhouse on par with US. India: all of the above but also “teek-hai, teek-hai” (i.e. it works sorta don’t worry about it, let’s just ignore that it sucks). US: wild Wild West. Let’s throw everything at the wall and see wtf the sticks no matter how stupid on paper. This actually works well for innovation due to survival of the fittest.

Typical-Mouse-4804

Cuz UK made its money on coal and garment production in 1800s and the US dominated WWII and turned it’s military infilstructure into private tech companies. G’day gu’vna.

felamaslen

Simple, in the UK people only care about the next five minutes. Business people care about how much profit they make this quarter, that's it. The average man on the street sincerely believes that his inadequacy is thanks to rich people, as if they took money that belonged to him. There is no freewheeling culture of innovation, if you suggest a new idea to the market the government will look at you with suspicion and regulate your product out of competition. All anyone wants is to win the lottery and spend the rest of their life drinking beer on a beach. People in the UK who care about real shit that matters, move to the US or any other place that celebrates success and hard work.

Billionairess

who said it had to do with the UK economy? i only mentioned regulators

oldrocketscientist

When was the last time ‘5 UK guys’ got together with a great idea and worked together 20 hours a day without pay to bring the idea to market? My sense is the startup culture just isn’t there.

Tupcek

Because we are talking about UK economy, but this sale would have nothing to do with UK economy, since it would be business between Japan (SoftBank) and US (NVIDIA) companies. UK would gain nothing out of it

mortgagepants

the reason the UK has a huge banking sector is mostly due to history. when the empire was at its height, it was the hub of global finance. as the empire waned, they started getting into eurodollar trades (which are not euro for dollars, they refer to dollars deposited in banks outside the US). This is a huge market, and since the loans are in USD but aren't subject to US laws, they're used for all kinds of "grey market" activity. then you have the UK's tax regime- basically a dozen ex-colonies set up almost entirely for money laundering or tax evasion. (personally, this is why i think brexit was so important to rich people; they didn't want to be subject to EU tax rules.) so you have a whole bunch of regular finance and markets, plus the eurodollar business, and you can add all that into the tax evasion / money laundering of place like jersey, gurnsey, virgin islands, cayman islands, etc. and you have a huge finance market. but that financing isn't like silicon valley financing, which looks for cutting edge tech to make money; uk finance is mostly about keeping rich people rich, and they do that very well.

Cocaine_Addiction

The UK has a snobby aristocracy system that stifles ambition. A culture where status is determined at birth rather than personal drive, where no matter how much a person achieves they will still be a lower social class than the royal celebrities and weirdos who dress up in colonial outfits to go fox hunting. The most prestigious military position a British commoner can hope for is a role where they march around in ceremonial outfits while serving as a guard for a family of royal fuckups who sit at the top of the social hierarchy through birthright. The rigid social structure in the UK just doesn't provide many incentives for innovation or risk taking so its tech industry is nearly non-existent.

insideout5790

If you compare the total average hours worked in a year you will find out the US laps the UK a few times over.

TheRealRonMexico7

UK is trash...you mofos still got a king and queen. Ax the royal family and maybe you all will have a shot

TealSeam6

I wasn’t aware of the school tie tradition in the UK. Definitely sounds elitist and frankly quite bizarre, like something out of a Harry Potter movie.

nickyfrags69

All jokes aside, the less hyperbolic version of this is 100% accurate. I was just in Montreal for the weekend and we were talking to some locals; culturally, Canada isn't even *that* far off from America, but the biggest difference there (and just about everywhere else, including the UK) is work/life balance. Shit ton of full time job listings there were 35 hrs, for example. I did a month in Spain in high school and the siesta culture is real, so was an unemployment rate of close to 25% (and higher for young people!). That's not to say no one works hard in any other country, but one of the main reasons that every other country views us as a bunch of pieces of shit is because our lives are consumed by work, and we don't put as much weight (no pun intended) into anything else. Especially in coastal areas where, for whatever reason, the "pace" of things is psychotically fast. That alone drives innovation. That's also how China is catching up to us (and probably going to pass us), because they're willing to devote their entire lives to working, and the desire to be "successful" (which is viewed as success in your career) supersedes anything else in life both here and there.

Bannedin_3_2_1

Because the UK is a badly run nursing home, with an army.

Ralph_Nacho

Vertical supply chains that exist in the US are only possible in a handful of countries. The UK is not one of them. UK has to import a lot more, and they can't use rail to do so.

-nocturnist-

The UK has more rules baked into the system. Also they don't allow for most banks etc. To be leveraged to the tits and short the hell out of anything they want with said leverage. It's all gambling anyway, the UK just holds your wallet while you do it. Won't let you go balls deep

FlimsyPriority751

This. The business environment in the US is just much less regulated letting companies do what they need to grow and innovate. Also, risk. I live and work in the US for a UK-based company. They are a solid brand known worldwide, but they are incredibly afraid of taking risks. They like to try a lot of new things but rarely go all-in on making the investments and structural changes that really need to happen for something to really stick.

turpin23

>We have some of the best universities in the world yet we don't produce hardly any good companies. What is the UK equivalent of MIT and Caltech? Where are your STEM colleges that are so technically rigorous that the social skills of the students devolve because they are hyperfocussed on engineering and technology, before they even get a job, and yet have such good reputations that students with their pick of top colleges choose to go there?

TealSeam6

The US and UK both have excellent human capital, I believe the main difference is America’s energy and food independence. A lot of wealth is lost when you have to import most of your raw materials and energy

tempaccount920123

>USA never has had a well educated poorer half of the nation. Try 80% and then I'll agree with you. Any society pushing suburbs and cars is braindead. >Snipped being USSR overtook USA in mid Cold war leading to substantial increase in funding by USA to lower education. Well funded doesn't mean well educated to me. Look at the various Harvard Law school chuds. Bush 43 graduated from Yale. >So the "fuck native born educated" has always been true for the poorer half. So your solution was to import immigrants en masse? >By IQ i meant just not going totally "dumb" as a society. Not the actual metric......... Might as well have said cranial size instead. Neither metric is even remotely acceptable, but handwave away that you're stuck in your ways. >We are talking about economics mostly here. You were talking about importing immigrants en masse. That's not economics. That's government policy. >The main thing that props up states and societies. Government policy props up countries, not economics. Economics is largely a descriptive field, government policy is almost by definition prescriptive. Aka government policy is largely proactive, while economics is basically a marketing gimmick used by chuds and status quo assholes used largely to defend previous assholes' decisions. >Well enough educated populance can keep its advantage over others. 62% of America is living paycheck to paycheck right now but you do you. >My point being that USA is the destination of most profitable ideas even if the company or the person came from elsewhere. What? Who gives a flying fuck about profit if your society collapses in 30 years? That's what going to happen right now with the US if everything that is currently happening keeps happening. Florida's basically yelling that it wants to secede. >As just the huge advantage in funding (and the "treatment" of the rich) and USA own huge companies buying out the "new". What sort of boomer attitude is this, buying up companies is the definition of corporate capture and the destruction of creative competition. If you supposedly want MORE ideas and competition in the marketplace, you should hate companies buying up their competition. >Clearest example being the EU vs USA comparison. The brain drain is massive from EU of most companies, peoples and ideas that arent "old" industry. Meanwhile in reality Germany is making more money than ever and the UK is a shithole that's getting worse. >Nothing to do with Musk and just thats just such a hard insult to levy on another person so easily. I mean bro you're parroting many of the same points that Elon and his ilk peddle.

Apart-Cockroach6348

UK is too busy educating and loosing its youth due to overpriced housing and general expenses to everyone else. Its a shithole - I know as I live in it. Even IPO's on London stock excahange are now moving to |France. Viva la Brexit

ballsoutofthebathtub

My take on things here is its quite hard to grow a business here unless you're extremely lucky. I'm talking more about the general business environment rather than creating a startup with huge VC investment. The stench of failure is baked-in to our society at this point: \- Wealth is centralised in London, where space is extremely expensive. If you relocate somewhere cheaper you pay the price in worse access to talent and infrastructure. If you choose to stay in London, a fair amount of your revenue gets syphoned-off by Saudi landlords who own the commercial space. \- If you're growing a small business from scratch, it's quite tough to keep ahold of your profits. If you have a good quarter/year, you're inevitably stung with a huge amount of tax, which makes expansion difficult. As a result, a lot of businesses never grow past the point of being glorified cottage industries. \- Class absolutely has a terrible impact on how money gets allocated. Both through inept posh people squandering investment, or state-schooled talent (the type who might thrive in America) being denied it due to the networks they'll never be able to access. Good luck getting a business loan from a bank. \- Another thing is the overall attitude towards succeeding. Many companies pay garbage salaries and also often expect to extract a product or service from a supplier for free/low rate. They genuinely see you making profit as being greedy, whereas in America it's expected. This feeds into the class issue again, where many jobs that would be well-paid in the US, are essentially a hotbed of people who can afford to work for next-to-nothing and can play this game for years until they land the most prestigious opportunities. \- Low salaries keep people trapped in employment. Higher salaries would allow people to invest in their own firms - "starting your own Apple from your garage" but salaries haven't even kept pace with inflation. Take a look at UK job listings - even STEM graduates are often expected to work for £30k /year LOL.

THSprang

You've bever been to the UK

SillySimian9

Taxes and regulations. It is too expensive and too controlling to be able to innovate in the UK. The best that the UK can do is offer tax benefits to foreign companies, but by then, it’s too late to start one in the UK.

ProgressedIdiot

UK (and Europe as a whole) makes it a lot harder for tech companies to exploit the data of citizens which is how they make all their money. Blessing in disguise if you ask me

rovin-traveller

That's funny, India is losing Doctors to the West and a many moved to the UK,

Savings_Bug_3320

Because US labor market is extremely strong compared to UK also remember US Has 320M people I think UK has around 40M. So about 8 times the bigger size labor force!!! Also US has crappy healthcare, UK does not!!!

Sean_VasDeferens

I have a fair bit of experience working in the UK and the EU. The problem, especially in the UK, is corruption, fraud, and an "I got mine" mentality.

Clear-Direction-9392

You need to lay off the libertarian koolaid. I get what you’re saying but the length of the workweek for rank and file workers isn’t nearly as relevant to this conversation as MASSIVE government investment. There is a massive difference in the US and UK tech sectors. Look at Californias economy and tell me it’s not the capital of tech innovation and then look anywhere in the UK and find me something remotely similar.

Hour-Animal432

It's a different culture and I think that has a lot to do with it. I've never been to the UK, but I'd like to point out that you guys probably don't have a lot of the problems we do either. It's like social media, you only see the good and none of the bad. Between mass shootings, gender identity politics, the sheer cost of living, the medical system, etc. It may all seem like sunshine. The grass always seems greener on the other side.

Inevitable_Vast6828

I'm not sure there is a massive difference in innovation... I think the real big difference is in regulation, how massive to they really want to allow companies to become and how many rules will be ignored or changed to let them grow further. The work week is a poor example, a better one perhaps is that Uber workers in the UK are NOT contractors... though apparently Uber wouldn't call them employees either.

Administrative-Help4

I left the UK because my income potential in the US was 3-4 times greater. Not to mention that passive income from rentals is much easier and less concerning than in the UK.

OddMeansToAnEnd

This comment highlights the exact point I'm making. This is dumb European delusional sentiment looking for a some reason, any reason, why maybe just maybe Americans and American culture aren't the top gun. Even with all those negatives, people still pick America over the UK. Why? Because those negatives exist in every country as well. You have fat, you got ignorant (perhaps moreso based on the point of this comment since Europe is so dense minded like they matter.) you have uneducated, you have everything you highlighted too. None of that separates anyone, anywhere. However none of what America has to offer exist even close to anywhere else currently. Especially Europe. Gotdamn right the UK isn't even on the podium. You don't NASA, IOS, Android, Windows, Googles, Nvidia, top tier military science, development in nuclear fusion the list is so long and beyond just the open market it's hilarious to think you're even in the conversation. And rather than accept it or offer something new and relevant we get "America fat! Haha"

Level9Turtle

Moderate censorship is not the same as monarchy censorship. That system is manipulated from birth until death, you don't run on patriotism, you run on fear. At least we know when there is corruption and the people's are quick to make changes withself expression. Modesty comes with consequences despite its glamorous outlook. Personally, I don't think I've ever owned a single item from the UK, yet alone tried any food anywhere else in the world from the UK. It's a recluse system with very little self-expression. It's about class and social status, while other nations focus on work ethic. There's really debate, that is where tourists go, enjoy glamour and social standings of those empowered vs. The US, where people come with dreams of thriving and a single vibration, can freely vibrate across the whole nation based on performance yet still create a competitive market based on opposing ideologies. You can't oppose that's the hidden meaning underneath the curtain. *

bartread

I'm in the UK and it's a source of frustration to me too. The FTSE frankly hasn't grown that much beyond its peak in early 2000 (granted this was somewhat above trend at the time), whereas over the same period the Dow has grown in multiples. The FTSE finally got back on trend in Q4 2009 and did well over the next few years, but it's been completely stagnant since mid-2017. Again, at the risk of getting downvoted to buggery, it's a combination of Brexit and just a seemingly endless charade of utterly crappy governments, all of which we've inflicted on ourselves. Literally so many people in the UK voting to cut off their own nose just to spite their faces, listening to and voting for troublemakers and venal malcontents (Farage, Johnson, Rees-Mogg, et al), and these utterly hopeless politicians\*, and the economic malaise they've brought, is what it gets us. Walk around your average town in the UK and you can see the effects everywhere: loads of empty premises, crappy infrastructure, local services being cut, cost of living going through the roof. You can blame some of this on COVID but, honestly, when you compare how things are going in the UK versus the US (even considering all the political upheaval there) that's a pretty bloody weaksauce argument. It's really aggravating. Just not sure what to actually do about it. *\*To bring some balance, obviously it hasn't exactly been all hearts and flowers elsewhere in the Commons: the Lib Dems remain a mess, and obviously Labour was afflicted with and completely mishandled the antisemitism fiasco (Corbyn utterly ineffectual throughout - something which very much characterised his tenure even before this).*

New-Patient-101

Pretty sure it simply all just boils down to tax's. There's places in the US a huge corporation can avoid tax's. UK is going to take half of what a company makes so why would they keep their headquarters there?

GioSca

Even if UK was to create the next Tesla, your auto-pilot would crush with all the cars driving in the right direction. 😉

KalliJJ

Apologies for taking this slightly off topic - but why is Trading 212 bad for long term investments? UK based user here if that makes any difference - cheers.

TriSamples

Meanwhile US companies like YouTube, Twitter etc continually censor their content. UK has very open free speech laws. Yet they don’t matter of American companies decide what is acceptable on all the platforms used to talk!

__nerman

Why is the UK, and all other Euro nations, Germany's bitch when it comes to economic powerhouses?

TriSamples

What?! You think behemoth companies pay tax in the UK. You’re joking right? They do what all these big companies do, they funnel funds through havens and claim they make no profits. It’s actually economies of scale that prevent UK companies from being competitive in production and non service based Industries.

TriSamples

Come on my man, where the stock is located has nothing to do with company structure and to attribute these behemoths success to America in is pure fantasy. For the size and land mass, UK prosperity is second only to Japan! Seriously it’s a dense highly developed juggernaut for its size. The financial organisation of companies gives a somewhat distorted picture.

Comeonbereal1

A lot of UK startup companies are bought by US companies. UK that have bought this startup company never succeeded, the shares of the company always under 0.4

wattatime

I think another thing that isn’t mentioned is the salary differences. My UK counter parts get paid 60% of the salary of some in the Bay Area. The pay gap is so large you will see people move to the US. So the smart guy who could have started a tech company in the uk went to work in San Fransisco or Dubai for 2X the pay. The UK has amazing universities and those extremely bright students will chase the pay in the US.

pencil_dick69

first google search about UK doctors going to Australia says **NHS doctors are being lured to Australia by adverts promising them a six-figure salary and 20 days off each month to “travel, swim and surf in the sun** that is not the same as them having to leave because of 'their poor backgrounds' depriving them of opportunities.

botbootybot

Ever heard of Margaret Thatcher? The UK has a much more pro business system than Germany and the Scandinavian countries, and is still much less innovative.

ConsciousImmortality

Some powerful families from the UK left their home country to found a new country filled with resources and new ideology. Or they had advanced technology which is unlikely given the state of living in old America but they sacrificed their lives so they can build robotic futuristic sociopathic corporations in the name of exploitation and spread their wealth amongst their allies as they came along, obliterating their enemies with large workforces. Secret societies and shit. It’s a working theory

itsMeeji

OP doesn’t need to be jealous since they can access most of the US stock market from the UK anyway. • UK stock market has rules that funnily enough, we seem to abide by, disallowing companies to takeover anything they want (like Google and Amazon) **and** preventing over-pricing in products (like Apple) • We barely prevent industry takeovers by foreign companies or equity groups, like Sky and BT both taken over/merging into US corporations but somehow our lot decided to stop Microsoft buying Activision (which are both US companies anyway)

BillieBobJohn

There are a ton of ways to make an online purchase here in the UK. I still use PayPal every time. Their consumer protections really are a life safer, and their customer service is really excellent.

negative3sigmareturn

UK is bad? Try Finland bro. We founded Nokia which became a powerhouse for a while, but like the Finnish saying goes - if it’s not broken why fix it AKA fuck innovation. My portfolio has actually a few solid UK based companies (which are ironaically not innovative though lmao) but I have to stay away from my home country companies because they’ve bleeded my portfolio out since forever. Meaning I have to invest abroad which costs me money lol

botbootybot

Why would British banks/investment firms invest in the UK when there are other countries with much better track records? Capital isn't patriotic, it goes where it sees the best returns

Healthy_Razzmatazz38

Short answer, it has a local market large enough that if something succeeds in it it can scale globally, its wages are significantly higher than the rest of the world resulting in talented people traveling to it, further causing this to spiral. Leaving the EU probably ruined UKs ability to do this, none of the major networks in the world (US,EU,China) will allow an english company to get big enough to dominate them if they can avoid it. Theres a lot of reasons why the US got to this point, its one of the best land masses on planet earth in terms of geographic wealth and the people who control it got to acquire it fighting the remnants of a population ravaged by disease who were technologically behind them. Compare that to your country the UK where on your islands unification took nearly 2000 years of constant warfare. And all the prize was scottland instead of the entire Mississippi river system...

elparque

Bro the UK is so shitty at business. Y’all take months of vacation and believe people have a right to privacy online. No shit you have no tech companies.

pencil_dick69

as a UK Amazon seller (operating in both UK & US): taxation in UK for businesses is so heavy (Europe in general) and the consumer market is nowhere near as big. your average american is willing to spend much more than your average brit. this is also why the NFL (US only) makes as much money or more than European football (watched globally).

Friendly_Pound_2744

It's because of VC investors majorly based in our Bay Area( San Jose, Palo Alto). They are risk-taking entities that pour a fortune into innovative minds. Also, we have a larger and growing young population due to more and more immigrants and diversity which creates a vibrant market for new innovative products and services. Don't know about people in the UK but we have a hustling culture and entrepreneurial mindset right from our early life. Our retirement accounts are linked to the stock market. Side gigs make us feel proud of ourselves and not drained. You talk about work-life balance but work is our life. The American Dream is gathering more and more assets through capitalism. We are not afraid of being overly leveraged( that has screwed us sometimes but has largely helped us grow exponentially)

Inevitable_Vast6828

Honestly... I think your university rankings are a bit... shall we say inflated? Not that it isn't also the case for certain US universities (e.g. I'm not sold on Harvard being all they're talked up as either). Juggernaut companies aren't just a matter of a strong education pipeline though... I suspect it has more to do with the regulatory environment. The US is far more tolerant of monopolies than they really should be (compare how the US and the EU treated Microsoft's browser shenanigans, the UK was in the EU at the time). They also let them get away with more legal damage for much longer... to the point where it runs away from them and they couldn't put the cat back in the bag even if they wanted to. Often by exploiting seemingly grey areas like Uber does with whether someone is a contractor or an employee. This is something that I was seeing rulings on in the UK maybe even a decade earlier and those rulings were generally coming down on the side of them being employees. And as far as I can tell from a quick search, that was upheld when it came to Uber as well: "**Uber now treats all 70,000 of its drivers in Britain as “workers”** entitled to a minimum wage, holiday pay and pension plans. It comes weeks after the country's Supreme Court upheld a ruling that its drivers were workers, not independent contractors.Mar 18, 2021" --quoted from my Google search results, Google implies it comes from this article: [https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/18/uber-is-reclassifying-uk-drivers-as-workers-heres-what-happens-next.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/18/uber-is-reclassifying-uk-drivers-as-workers-heres-what-happens-next.html) It's probably for the best that the UK doesn't produce mega companies (at least in the interest of the average UK citizen). In the US, people still suffer heavily even from monopolies that were supposedly broken up at the time. Even after Bell System was smashed in 1984, the separated companies operated regionally, effectively leaving local monopolies. And to this day the US appears to be fairly unique in the cooperation between device manufacturers and retailers with phone companies to lock customers into long term phone contracts at purchase with strange financing options. E.g. you cannot buy an iPhone at Best Buy without signing a cell phone contract. You have to go direct to the Apple store to get one without contract in the US (or slightly shady methods, unlocked imports on Amazon, eBay phones that who knows..., etc.). This level of anti-competitive operation is mostly not legal in the UK and EU. Likewise, when these companies go overseas, they often have US government support even when they operate in ways that aren't normally locally legal. Less egregiously (maybe?) these days, but the term Banana Republic refers to governments beholden to US firms operating in South America (Honduras, Costa Rica,...). Of course British companies were able to operate that way back in the days of the British Empire, but these days the UK has less political and economic weight to throw around in that respect. The British and Dutch East India companies started as local monopolies and again, benefited from the projection of power globally. Mega companies require political buy in to have favorable policies and procedures through regulatory capture. More robust political involvement and stronger regulatory authority and independence would be expected to put a damper on such massive enterprises.

funny_alias

- Anti growth mindset and NIMBYism in the general population - Aging, shrinking population. Fewer young people - less innovation - Backward looking culture (but we used to have an empire!) - Low wages, high cost of living, high taxes relative to US - Lack of second and third tier cities. UK economy is basically London and not much else Go to one of the great universities and get a good education, and you will have no problem emigrating to USA, where you will earn much more while paying lower taxes -> brain drain. Innovative companies choose to be listed in New York rather than London -> less and less prestige for the domestic stock market. Same for Europe in general, really. I love to be European and consider our corner of the world a great place to live, but the old world will never be as dynamic and business-friendly as the new one.

Halve_Liter_Jan

Domestic market isn’t big enough to provide the springboard. The EU was an effort in the right direction but still hampered with language and legal barriers. And also, you (UK) left it.

fLukeozade

A UK tech company i had an angel investment in exited by being acquired by a US behemoth. I think that's a large part of the answer. You won't see much success in tech above circa a £100M valuation as it's going to be too attractive for it to sell itself into a much bigger market.