6 Infographics + 1 Video (The Genius of TSA) + Upcoming book discussion (Keach Hagey's "The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI & the Race to Win the Future") - 1/12 at 4:30pmET
Top chart — that data looks pretty questionable in terms of what they chose to throw in to get the graph they wanted. (Not surprised to see that given the source.)
The Meta GDPR fine was levied in 2023 but is rolled into 2024.
The Apple fine was from a very surprising court loss related to App Store fees in 2024 — would assume that’s a one-off. So framing this as “crossed a bizarre milestone” as if it’s a trend when it’s really outlier + seemingly some creative accounting is not exactly honest chart-making. There are other things to complain about re: European fines etc. Would be nice to see the situation represented with realistic data.
The NVIDIA stat really jumped out at me. Creating that many millionaires in a single company is the kind of wealth generation people dont usualy see in their lifetime, and it shows what being early at the right place can do. I have a friend who joined a startup late and always kicks himself for not getting in earlier. These data points make you realize timing and optionality matter as much as talent.
Fascinating stuff. When it comes to capitalism, it may be that populists and conservatives part company much earlier than we thought. Tariffs, owning private-sector stocks, and demanding that credit card companies cap rates at 10% are not conservative or capitalist policies.
But the most fascinating chart shows that Europeans take in more revenue from fines against US companies than from all other sources. It makes it difficult to trust the EU regulatory process's honesty.
Yep – that first chart is hokum, Bruce. The only thing that should go 'huh' is just how wrong it is. For instance:
Where's the tax revenues from ASML, the Dutch tech company whose extreme UV lithography machines are used to make just about every smartphone chip outside China – and many in China too? At least €1.681 billion paid in tax, larger than SAP.
Also Infineon (>€300m EUR tax)? Ericsson...? Accenture...? Klarna...?
But Sage? Wise? Those aren't based in the EU any more, following Brexit. They're based in London. But if you want to include UK tech, where's Revolut? They paid £259m just in UK corporate tax in 2024 (nearly €300m EUR).
Top chart — that data looks pretty questionable in terms of what they chose to throw in to get the graph they wanted. (Not surprised to see that given the source.)
The Meta GDPR fine was levied in 2023 but is rolled into 2024.
The Apple fine was from a very surprising court loss related to App Store fees in 2024 — would assume that’s a one-off. So framing this as “crossed a bizarre milestone” as if it’s a trend when it’s really outlier + seemingly some creative accounting is not exactly honest chart-making. There are other things to complain about re: European fines etc. Would be nice to see the situation represented with realistic data.
https://www.politico.eu/article/commission-scores-surprise-win-in-apple-tax-row/
The NVIDIA stat really jumped out at me. Creating that many millionaires in a single company is the kind of wealth generation people dont usualy see in their lifetime, and it shows what being early at the right place can do. I have a friend who joined a startup late and always kicks himself for not getting in earlier. These data points make you realize timing and optionality matter as much as talent.
Fascinating stuff. When it comes to capitalism, it may be that populists and conservatives part company much earlier than we thought. Tariffs, owning private-sector stocks, and demanding that credit card companies cap rates at 10% are not conservative or capitalist policies.
But the most fascinating chart shows that Europeans take in more revenue from fines against US companies than from all other sources. It makes it difficult to trust the EU regulatory process's honesty.
Yep – that first chart is hokum, Bruce. The only thing that should go 'huh' is just how wrong it is. For instance:
Where's the tax revenues from ASML, the Dutch tech company whose extreme UV lithography machines are used to make just about every smartphone chip outside China – and many in China too? At least €1.681 billion paid in tax, larger than SAP.
Also Infineon (>€300m EUR tax)? Ericsson...? Accenture...? Klarna...?
But Sage? Wise? Those aren't based in the EU any more, following Brexit. They're based in London. But if you want to include UK tech, where's Revolut? They paid £259m just in UK corporate tax in 2024 (nearly €300m EUR).
The errors go on...!
At Yale, the homework is unceasing -- and quite hard.
That first one, about the fines from the EU for US tech companies, is really eye-opening. WOW!
Woah!