Summary
- Mindset like in the middle ages and during absolutism
- Controlling elites and overwhelming bureaucracy.
- Europe’s Brain Drain.
- No European operating systems in ICT.
- Delusional Board Members and politicians.
- Solutions through Transatlantic alliances on municipality, county and state level.
Heinrich Heine’s satire more valid than ever
Heine in his poem Germany a Winter Fairy Tale he describes an ironical account on the poor state of Germany in the 1840s criticizing the social, economical and political shortcomings of his country and countrymen.
A country partially still with a mindset like in the middle ages or Absolutism. It’s the time of Reactionism, the Vienna Congress and the Biedermeier. All controlling elites and an overwhelming civil service apparatus at their disposal to practically suppress the citizens and with the objective to control and direct all aspects of people’s life …
Following I like to look into the current state of the European Union in a critical, provocative way with an ironic wink inspired by the great German romancier Heinrich Heine.
Without economic growth there is only a miserable future left
After an 18 months long stint in the Americas from Chicago to Florida, from Costa Rica to Bolivia I have temporarily returned to my birthplace in Germany and the grounds where I spent my teens in the Italian Alps.
It was always a major culture shock for me whenever I returned to Europe but this time it was more shocking than ever to realize how far behind the European Union had fallen from an economical, political and social perspective.
Over taxation, extreme healthcare contributions for across the board malfunctioning public health systems and enormous burdens on its citizens to sustain a cripeled pension scheme for the retired have paralized the EU.
Suffocating bureaucracy that basically makes any entrepreneur’s life miserable from day one. Extreme dependency on US technology; ever thought about the fact that there is no proprietary operating system in the ICT domain that is owned by any EU company?
And as the icing on the cake the EU nations without the almighty US military have no chance to defend themselves. The deprived young generation not only should pay for an overaging society that leaves behind a distorted and disrupted reality including climate challenges, as well as no – to low economic growth. A bunch of incapable, self-centered, degenerate and egoistic politicians and business leaders now e.g. in Germany will force the next genration to defend this mess trying to reinstatement the draft through back doors.
Also the last train has long left the station
When I was invited as a speaker at the Business Circle Banking Summit in Vienna in 2019 I had an enlightening conversation with a partner of PWC. Quote: “ … the EU has no chance to catch up with the US or China when it comes to basic research in regards to core technologies like AI, Cyber Security or any other ICT domain. What we can still achieve is competitiveness in applicative domains such as automation in industrial engineering, robotics and autonomous devices … “.
As I see it today 6 years later also this ship has left the harbor. Industrial innovation has fallen far behind its US and Chinese peers and the vibrant innovation ecosystem of Mumbai matches any presumable EU start- and scaleup hub across the EU.
Innovation Wasteland
I recently got involved in a Berlin (GER) startup in the building material industry. The founder told me that many universities showed interest in the innovative approach to capture CO2 in the production process while the material would be lighter, therefore less expensive to transport and on top have a lower pricing. But unfortunately the coffins of these colleges are bottomless empty and there was no hope on the horizon for the promising technology to be funded.
What should have been a Germany First company after 12 months of useless effort to being sponsored by a college, research entity or through government funds has now become a startup that looks towards the US and will be incorporated there.
Leaving the EU and founding in the US
Recently I read in a leading German newspaper that 20% of Germans between the ages of 25 to 40 are looking into opportunities abroad. In my closer network there are dozens of top professionals that are on the go to leave after frustrating years in Europe for shores in Asia, the US and the Middle East.
Vibrant innovation ecosystems, high salaries, entrepreneurship opportunities and low taxes guarantee careers from NY to LA, Dubai to Qatar, from Mumbai to Kuala Lumpur.
It makes me laugh when I hear European politicians brag that now is the time to bring Professors from leading US universities to Europe. These individuals are making 5-10 fold the money across the Atlantic, have in the case of elite colleges almost unlimited budgets for their research and further more so ecosystems that are second to none.
| District of Columbia – ~263,220 | Liechtenstein – 208,530 |
| New York – 117,332 | Luxembourg – ~$131,380 |
| Massachusetts – 110,561 | Ireland – ~$106,060 |
| Washington – 108,468 | Switzerland – ~$105,670 |
| California – 104,916 | Norway – ~$94,660 |
| Connecticut – 100,235 | Iceland – ~$84,590 |
| Delaware – 98,055 | Denmark – ~$68,900 |
| North Dakota – 95,982 | Netherlands – ~$63,750 |
| Alaska – 95,147 | San Marino – ~$59,410 |
| Nebraska – 93,145 | Austria – ~$59,230 |
| Colorado – 93,026 | Sweden – ~$58,530 |
| Illinois – 90,449 | Belgium – ~$55,540 |
| Wyoming – 90,335 | Finland – ~$55,130 |
| New Jersey – 90,272 | Germany – ~$54,290 |
| Maryland – 87,021 | United Kingdom – ~$51,070 |
| Texas – 86,987 | France – ~$47,360 |
| Virginia – 86,747 | Andorra – ~$44,900 |
| Utah – 86,506 | Malta – ~$41,740 |
| Minnesota – 86,371 | Italy – ~$39,580 |
| New Hampshire – 85,518 | Cyprus – ~$37,150 |
| Nevada – ~80,880 | Spain – ~$34,050 |
| South Dakota – ~80,685 | Slovenia – ~$34,030 |
| Hawaii – ~80,325 | Estonia – ~$31,850 |
| Iowa – ~79,631 | Czech Republic – ~$29,800 |
| Kansas – ~79,513 | Portugal – ~$28,970 |
| Georgia – ~78,754 | Lithuania – ~$28,410 |
| Pennsylvania – ~78,544 | Slovakia – ~$25,930 |
| Ohio – ~78,120 | Latvia – ~$24,190 |
| Oregon – ~77,916 | Greece – ~$23,970 |
| Indiana – ~76,004 | Hungary – ~$23,320 |
| North Carolina – ~75,876 | Poland – ~$23,010 |
| Tennessee – ~75,748 | Croatia – ~$22,970 |
| Wisconsin – ~75,605 | Romania – ~$19,530 |
| Rhode Island – ~74,594 | Bulgaria – ~$16,940 |
| Florida – ~73,784 | Russia – ~$14,390 |
| Arizona – ~73,203 | Türkiye (Turkey) – ~$12,760 |
| Missouri – ~72,108 | Montenegro – ~$12,650 |
| Louisiana – ~71,642 | Serbia – ~$12,380 |
| Michigan – ~71,083 | Albania – ~$8,920 |
| Vermont – ~70,131 | Bosnia & Herzegovina – ~$8,420 |
| Maine – ~69,803 | North Macedonia – ~$7,690 |
| Montana – ~66,379 | Belarus – ~$7,560 |
| New Mexico – ~66,229 | Moldova – ~$7,490 |
| Oklahoma – ~64,719 | Kosovo – ~$6,390 |
| Kentucky – ~64,110 | Ukraine – ~$5,660 |
| Idaho – ~63,991 | |
| South Carolina – ~63,711 | |
| Alabama – ~61,846 | |
| West Virginia – ~60,783 | |
| Arkansas – ~60,276 | |
| Mississippi – ~53,061 (lowest) |
Delusional Board Members and politicians
Recently a board member of a leading Austrian bank posted on LinkedIn that at the end the economic situation in Europe is not that bad. As proof of his claim he presented a list of countries by pro capita GDP. He further colored countries dividing them between the EU and North America.
Well indeed there were quite some “rich” countries marked down from the EU and only 2 for North America; namely Canada and the US.
Well; the correct way to do this would have been to compare the 50 US states separately with the 27 EU countries. Then the picture looks very different. The EU looks like an almshouse in this comparison …
It seems to be a hobby of European wannabe leaders to nice talk the reality and so to cover up their own shortcomings, weaknesses, incapabilities and ignorance.
But I do not like to let my critic stand without offering solutions.
So in the coming weeks I will go on a mission to provide ideas and approaches on how Transatlantic business relations at municipality, county and state level can improve the competitive environment of European companies while accelerating the friendship between the citizens of the US and Europe.
Meanwhile: Lieb Vaterland magst ruhig sein (Dear Fatherland, you may rest easy).
… Maybe not so much! Or as the famous Austrian chansonist Udo Jürgens put it in his satiric song in 1971.
About the author
Dr. Torsten Reiss is co-founder of Dach2US. He graduated from the Universa’ degli study di Bologna, the oldest University in the world and after he started his career as Investment Banker for Deutsche Bank. Later he worked for many years in Strategy- & Management consulting in countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland, the UK and several countries in LatAm before returning to deliver concepts for the PE and M&A industry.
In recent years TR gained in-depth insights into the world of Technology- & Business Model Innovation working with start- & scaleups. He has a strong academic record teaching as guest and working on case studies with some of the top 10 MBA schools worldwide and to end up developing a MiniMBA together with some renowned professores from Universties like UC Berkeley, MIT and IEEE.
As entrepreneur and executive TR was involved in more then 40 company launches and Internationalization projects on 3 continents.