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Google Is Spending Half a Billion Dollars To Curry Europe's Favor (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Google has ratchet up its investment in European goodwill, aiming to spend about $450 million from 2015 to 2017 as EU regulators narrow their gaze on the search giant, according to a report by the New York Times. The company is pouring money into wide-ranging sponsorships, like an exhibition at a Belgian museum incorporating virtual reality, a fund to help European news publishers amp up their web savvy, a digital training course for Irish teachers, and YouTube-backed concerts, according to the report.
They spend 500 million bribing people to like them?
At least curry is a good flavor!
From the summary "like an exhibition at a Belgian museum incorporating virtual reality". LOL
I mean EU is suppose to be this grand project to help the smaller states to compete in the European free market, support the farmers, etc., and then what you actually get is fancy pants regulators sucking money from corporations for a museum next to the EU headquarters. It is nice that they make the deception so obvious but it is still wrong as wrong can be.
They spend 500 million bribing people to like them?
One assumes they must be worried about be hit much harder, were they to be made to pay taxes in proportion to their earnings.
Title says it all.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
It's chump change to Google and Europe badly needs the cash. It's very probable that after the Volkswagen scandal the US will either break the back of Germany's industrial base or, more probably, cripple it so badly that the EU will be left in thrall of American policy forever. Most of its member nations are on the way to become severely impoverished and will need the cash. Better to take the bribe now that the conditions are not that harsh, it will be better for the Europeans' morale than to have the law laid upon them later on.
Of course Google should never give their own money to filthy liberal Europeans; those savages probably aren't even circumcised!
Saints Reagan and Rand are rolling in their blessed graves.
MONEY IS ONLY FOR HURTING PEOPLE! SAVE THE MONIES!
President Trump will fix all this, you betcha.
EU economy is bigger than the US. It has a population over 40% larger than the US. The US can't break the back of Germany's industrial base especially when it comes to cars because throughout the EU American cars are basically thought of as a bit shit.
I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
I'm an unfortunate fan of dodgy vindaloo, so let me offer a bit of advice to Googles half-billion dollar order of curry.
1. If it comes with naan, eat it. that will usually buy you 5-10 minutes on the train ride home...
2. Ignore your doubts, if the kitchen sounds like world war 3, and the chef looks like a war refugee, that currys going to be epic.
3. pay attention to your doubts. if the bollywood music playing in the shop sounds clear, and theres less than an inch of dust on the sexually suggestive ethnic portraits, that curry is going to need a diaper with it.
4. pick routes with lots of pubs. sure, that curry shop might only be 3 blocks from your house, but stumbling dazed from toilet to toilet on the way home is common. The barman always knows dehli belly when he sees it.
5. If you've eaten kebab for lunch, and follow it up with curry for dinner, make sure your 4:00 tea includes a last will and testament.
Good people go to bed earlier.
The people who are pissed off by Google in Europe are these astroturfers. They are trying to protect their stranglehold on European media and public opinion, plus the politicians they have in their pockets.
Google is soon going to realize how giving them money will result in them wanting more money. They should just pay their taxes and leave it at that. Europe isn't going to ease off on Google. They are a cash cow and Europe is hungry for cash.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
It's very probable that after the Volkswagen scandal the US will either break the back of Germany's industrial base or, more probably, cripple it so badly that the EU will be left in thrall of American policy forever.
Lots of big-boy words, fuck all big-boy thinking. The world doesn't work remotely like that. What age are you?
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
European roads have bends in them.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Google is an American company anything they do will piss them off. Just as an European or Asian company will piss off the US if they are more successful than a US company.
The political instinct when you are getting beaten is to say the other guy is cheating thus try to put rules in place to make the game more fair. Even if the reason why their success is just because they are better than the competition.
This 500 million dollars is just showing while Google may win, it is being a good sport about it.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Just wondering if that's more than or less than the money used to bribe, I mean make campaign donations to, politicians in the USA.
If it's less then Google may well see that as a bargain.
Of course plummeting Sterling means that UK politicians are going to be cheaper than most at the moment but it's a pretty small market that now comes with zero European influence, so that's unlikely to be money well spent.
Full disclosure: I am a pro-American American.
Good points on EU economy/population volume.
On the industrial size of Germany's output you have wandered quite a bit there. Up until recently GM was the largest car manufacturer in the world (since WW II). This changed because line workers in Detroit were making a lot more than software engineers. They couldn't sustain that for long just because we won WW II.
But US based manufacturing wasn't surpased by Germany. It was Japan.
I'm not sure which country makes the worse cars, but I do know Volkswagen and Chrysler have historically been very unreliable, poorly made cars. I think they've both improved somewhat in the last 10 years.
Germany's challenge is they're not really competing with the world market.
European roads have bends in them.
It's spelled 'Benz'.
Have gnu, will travel.
Sure, they don't go after EU companies, right? Think again.
If they do not want to play by the EU rules, they can piss off.
Or do European companies not need to follow the US rules when they operate their? I am sure AB InBev would be delighted to follow the European standard and start selling beer to 16 year olds. Or perhaps you think that you are OK with some SAB Miller beers, think again, they are being bought by AB InBev.
Fun part of the AB part of the name. The Americans were so vein that they absolutely wanted to have the AB in their wording. InBev agreed, because they do not give a shit and rather paid less than care about the name. Most likely they thought: If these people care so much about the name, customers will as well, so we pay less AND get more customers. Double wammy!
Better at the competition? Not really. In places where there is competition, they come in second all the time.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
"Google is an American company anything they do will piss them off. "
Especially so long as the "favor" Google is spending is tiny compared to the taxes it owes the EU.
FTFY
FTFY
(For what it's worth, I think the best cars in the world are made in Japan at this point.)
GM 2015 vehicles produced: 9,958k
Volkswagen Group 2015 vehicles produced: 10,017k
European truck manufacturers together having the bulk of the European market just received fines of in total almost €3B in total for forming a cartel. That was not because they are American companies, because they aren't, they're European. It's because that didn't play by the rules. Don't assume American companies are being treated differently from European companies, those get huge fines when they break the rules too.
And personally I don't see the $5M from Google as being a good sport, I see it as a bribe. I hope the EU completely ignores this.
What a waste of money.
Nobody cares for goodwill gestures that don't end up anywhere useful.
How about just paying your fair share?
They spend 500 million bribing people to like them?
Well, since what pisses the EU off is that Google has no significant European-based competition, it's not clear what Google could do to avoid pissing them off, except to pull out of Europe, I suppose.
The age in which when Obama says "sanction Russia, I don't care if it kills your economy", the EU complies. The age in which when Obama orders the EU to force diplomatic flights to the ground because Snowden might be on one of them, the EU obeys, no questions asked. And soon we will live in the age on which Hillary Clinton will say "go to war with Russia" and the EU will throw its youth into the meatgrinder. Suck it up. :)
Of course they want to expand. America's bones are picked.
And yet the EU must obey the will of Obama, and soon Clinton. :)
Sickening. Just sickening.
Google applies 500 million in curry to the EU just as the UK votes for Brexit.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Seriously, the west, if not the world, needs to get its act together and figure out taxes amongst the nations. It is silly that nations like Ireland are playing games with taxes so as to bring corporate HQs there, and ignore what is really going on.
At the same time, the west need to start taxing goods that go across borders. It is amazing to me that our GOP fight this, even though it would level the playing field.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
It's still way better than the US, where instead of public works companies donate directly to the Clinton Slush Fund.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
...completely unnecessary.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
OK, the OP is wrong, American cars are not a bit shit... they're completely shit. The US is a place who thinks getting 270KW out of a 6.2L V8 is good. Europe (and Japan) can get that out of a 2L turbo these days.
We can also leave a car meet without ploughing into the crowd.
Also as a JDM fanboy, I have to say that Japan no longer makes the worlds best cars, hasn't done since the early 00's. Long gone are the days of budget super and sports cars rivalling their European counterparts for half the price. The Asian Fianancial Crisis and emissions regulations killed that and made all Japanese car companies ultra-conservative. The MKIV Supra by Toyota was compared with the Ferrari's of it's day, gone now. Same with the Honda NSX. The Honda S2000 is still considered the best in class roadster despite being killed off in 2009.
Same story with the Integras, Skylines, Sivlias, even the Z cars are watered down now.
If you want performance these days, Europe is killing everyone else at the moment. Japan doesn't seem to mind as they're making good money on whitegoods.
Also remember that European cars are very popular in the US. How often do you see a BMW X5, Audi Q7 or the latest Rangie?
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
According to wiki, the GPD of the U.S. and Euro zone are about the same. It is true that the EU does have many more people. However, that means that about each person in the EU produces about 1/2 the wealth. Since a high percentage of personal spending is living expenses, this means disposable income, the kind that Google/Alphabet covets is much less.
As for the comment about the U.S. breaking the back of Germany....all I can say is that your mind exists is a sad, warped place. I honestly feel sorry for you. Do you really think people in the US spend their time trying to figure out ways to impoverish other nations? Is that how you view the world? Twisted.
The story of the post WWII world has been the US helping other countries to prosper and rebuild. I know it sounds cool in college when people speak of the "powers that be" and conspiracies to keep others down by the "man." However, an honest look at history shows otherwise. Through the Marshal Plan and other programs, Europe and Japan was rebuilt. They have been allies and yes, economic competitors. Some very smart leaders in the US understood that rich nations can buy goods, poor ones do not. Any nation that has bought into this system has received fantastic wealth. All you have to do is turn your Eurocentric eye to Asia and see what is going in there.
So, can we please stop this petty anti-US shit that pervades these forums? Europe is awesome. You have much to feel proud about. You also face real threats both external and from within. It takes an incredible level of stupid to think that the US is one of the real dangers in your life. Can you please start focusing on the real threats?
"Liberalism is a very noble idea, currently controlled by some very bad people. Be sure you do not get the two confused.
Did they give Hillary a few million for a half-hour speech? Did they give generously to the Clinton slush fund...er...Foundation? What does it take to bribe an official in the U.S. vs the E.U.? Is their an exchange rate...e.g. $1 million will get you 2 U.S. senators or an E.U. prime minister?
It's spelled B-R-I-B-E-R-Y, and it is supposed to be I-L-L-E-G-A-L.
They spend 500 million bribing people to like them?
You assume the whole business of the EU Commission being in a dither wasn't a shakedown to start.
Wouldn't it just be cheaper for Google to just pay their taxes?
Europe (and Japan) can get that out of a 2L turbo these days.
Only when you go to high RMP's why you wait for your piece of shit turbo to spool up. American horse power works at lower RMPs where people actually drive.
So do american roads Euro Fag.
They're basically playing a card from the Microsoft and Intel book and seeing if it sticks. I also hope it doesn't but you know what. The politicians have probably been or will be bribed soon as well so it won't matter.
Apple and Amazon are more egregious examples of this tax-evasion and so far they have done squat.
Well, that's all the Europeans wanted all along: loot.
Technically is Google is more Irish than American these days, but Google is bigger than quaint ideas like nationality. It's more accurate to say America is a Google country. The EU is not yet a wholly owned subsidiary.
That is indeed true. And you can figure out these choices when you recognize that BMW, Audi, and similar cars are status symbols: they are supposed to look expensive, feel expensive, and have high end specs, while minimizing displacement (=taxable), maximizing fuel economy, and minimizing size and weight to fit into dainty European garages. That BMW X-5 can tow 5952 pounds and starts at $54000, a pretty poor showing.
Something like an F350 with the low end 6.2l V8 starts at about $33000 and can tow 19000 pounds; the engine that delivers that power is fairly simple and sturdy. Displacement isn't taxed in the US and fuel economy simply doesn't matter to many Americans. But the ability to haul boats, trailers, ATVs, horses, and other stuff does. Note that Ford sells a 6.8l V10 with even lower hp than the 6.2l V8; I leave it as an exercise for you to figure out why.
Instead of trying to bribe European idiots with "cultural" crap,how about Google just stops all the bullshit tax evasion and pay the same $450m in tax instead,then it gets used for more useful things that Europeans decide on.
How much extra tax does the US tax allow Google to claim back.because it's a "cultural" contribution ?
That's a heck of a lot of Vindaloo !