Same with Uber, which is forbidden in Germany. Once you get used to Uber you wonder, how you were you able to ever live without it. Germany is a backward country. Digitization is 3rd world there. Looks, like under Merkel the country has been asleep for two decades. I am not sure they are going to wake up.
I've never used Uber (don't like how invasive the app is) but I do use taxis regularly and since Uber started operating here I've found that the general quality of the taxi service has improved dramatically. Turns out state-sponsored quasi-monopolies aren't that great after all...
So Uber replaced abusive inefficiency with abusive efficiency and provided many more jobs of a similar quality to what taxi driving was before.
Source; once drove a taxi, had friends driving both Uber and taxi. The general response was "not better or worse, just different". Maybe Uber has gotten worse but so have many things...
But I don’t buy the premise in the first place. Cab companies aren’t going out of business in any city which I frequently visit. They improved their offering (apps, you don’t have to pay with cash etc.) and they’re competing just fine.
Wait until they put all taxi services out if business, and lobby politicians more heavily than now.
They proved money can buy a Proposition.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/08/technology/farewell-mille...
In a way, Germany became a industrial powerhouse because _it had cheap books_.
[0]: Arsene Lupin’s adventures with Sherlock Holmes were published as “Herlock Sholmes” everywhere except Germany for eg.
Anyway, so basically all countries were on an even playing field. Industrialization in the German states also only really kicked off after the revolution of 1848/49, so that was after the copyright version which lasted a long time came into effect. Of course, industrialization then switched into high gear after the formation of Germany in 1871. In the end, something that gentleman11 mentioned is of actual importance here: "My impression was that Germany was an industrial powerhouse because of their fragmented states prior to unification, leading to needing a hard work ethic to get by." Having a hyper-competitive national market and the means to transport the wares into all corners of the market really fuels innovation. It was the case back then just as it is the case now.
There definitely were a lot of factors, and lax copyright was one of them.
There are a few strange comments about Germany in this thread.
Is there some internet movement whose pastime it is to make Germany look backward? What do you get out of it?
I must be missing something fundamental because I don't understand how you could hope to enforce that. If I was running a website selling eBooks I would not pay the slightest bit of attention as to the physical location of my customers.
Cranes can also kill coworkers and cause millions of dollars in damages. The operators should get a premium.... https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303936704576399...
$82/hr with 56 hours of overtime a week. Okay that's just excessive union bullshit.
If the company can afford it and still make a profit (which would mean their labor is generating >$82hr in value!), then it's not "bullshit." It's smart moves by the union, and evidence that the higher-ups who don't do dangerous work are/were the ones being absurdly overpaid.
Quality decides what 'better' is, not price. A tool made by a craftsman with much better materials will, itself, be used to create superior results.
There are two kinds of book readers in the world, my friend.
