Help me explain why I care so much

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Alxndr 18 hours ago

This is going to sound like the silliest thing ever to get emotional about but I'm from the UK and it actually makes me angry, like genuinely emotionally angry that virtually every product in existence that I use is not British.

Steam -> American
Reddit -> American
Amazon -> American
Nvidia -> American
Apple -> American
AMD -> American
Youtube -> American
Microsoft -> American
Intel -> American
Qualcomm -> American
Twitter -> American
Google -> American
ChatGPT -> American
Visa -> American
Mastercard -> American
Netflix -> American

Even the fast food chains I eat are American.

McDonalds
KFC
Burger King
Taco Bell
Five Guys
Subway
Dominoes

Don't misunderstand, I love using American technology and am incredibly grateful it exists because it has enabled so much positivity, but it's hard for me as a British man to not look at my country and think "wtf have we got"?

The thing that makes me angry is that I know this country has the capability of creating amazing global companies, but for some reason that I cannot figure out, we just don't bother... It's like it's ingrained in our DNA that creating a start up and just selling it the first chance we get is "better" than sticking with it and growing it.

I just want a British company to be up there with the top dogs. I want a British company to be valued at $1trillion or $2trillion... But sadly I know that just won't happen realistically.

I mean eventually it will happen simply due to inflation, but we'll never actually create a company that floats for $50b and then grows to become $1trillion in 20 years. I am absolutely certain of that.

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Showing 1-15 of 51 comments

Good Night Owl 17 hours ago

That's what patriotism is all about. It's a good thing, you should want your home country doing and making things that make you proud!

jimbalayajones 17 hours ago

You can never have a corporation valued at 1 or 2 trillion...The UK taxes alone reduce all of your corporation's value to one quid... :)

Triple G 17 hours ago

Originally posted by Alxndr:
Don't misunderstand, I love using American technology and am incredibly grateful it exists because it has enabled so much positivity, but it's hard for me as a British man to not look at my country and think "wtf have we got"?

You could also ask Yourself where Your government stores it´s data. But any EU country could ask this. Like they might be stored in Europe, but the servers may belong to US companies, which means the US authorities might have access to them, because they give a ♥♥♥♥ about data security.

But yes - money is also very important i guess.

Alxndr 17 hours ago

Originally posted by Good Night Owl:
That's what patriotism is all about. It's a good thing, you should want your home country doing and making things that make you proud!

Yeah I guess.

But it extends beyond even the big companies I listed.

My monitor is Dell
My mouse and keyboard is Logitech.
My TV is LG
My car is Volkswagen
My console (that I never play) playstation.
My clothing is Adidas, Nike, under armour etc.

Even my kitchen appliances are Bosch haha.

My bed frame and mattress is British though 👍

oldirty` 17 hours ago

Its the american era. Before it was britian and someone will come after the american era. Shell and BP used to be the major players, now its tech.
I also think market cap is abit misleading. Some other companies are just as big and equally important or even more and are nowhere near worth that much.

Triple G 17 hours ago

Originally posted by Alxndr:
My car is Volkswagen
My clothing is Adidas...
Even my kitchen appliances are Bosch haha.

Zer is nozing vrong viz Volkswagen, Adidas, and Bosch. Let´s focus on ze Americans here....

Despiser 17 hours ago

US presence is much less in the rest of Europe. Italy I saw 2 Mcdonald's, 1 Starbucks and 2 Esso stations between Venice and Rome. Britain has closer ties to US. Europe is trending towards local industry as a result of US tariffs, but not to the extent Canada is. My cholesterol rose just reading those fast food chains. Yeesh!

Lime 17 hours ago

Not to be annoying but a lot of these are subsidiaries of one another you could do a much better job of consolidating this list

Alxndr 17 hours ago

Originally posted by Despiser:
US presence is much less in the rest of Europe. Italy I saw 2 Mcdonald's, 1 Starbucks and 2 Esso stations between Venice and Rome. Britain has closer ties to US. Europe is trending towards local industry as a result of US tariffs, but not to the extent Canada is. My cholesterol rose just reading those fast food chains. Yeesh!

Maybe not fast food because different countries have different tastes etc. But technology? That ♥♥♥♥ transcends culture, race, religion, politics, gender etc.

Piotrek 17 hours ago

Are you maniac ??
Thats why you have to pay 50% taxes

#10

Good Night Owl 17 hours ago

Originally posted by Piotrek:
Are you maniac ??
Thats why you have to pay 50% taxes

Well, I *know* I'm sane, so my taxes should be ZERO and they're NOT. Explain that.

#11

76561199868792618 17 hours ago

I wonder if the british would have made such grand things if you didnt lose the war with them

#12

76561199868792618 17 hours ago

Originally posted by oldirty`:
Its the american era. Before it was britian and someone will come after the american era. Shell and BP used to be the major players, now its tech.
I also think market cap is abit misleading. Some other companies are just as big and equally important or even more and are nowhere near worth that much.

Market cap is a legalised joke, high P/E ratios and anything over book value (expecting future returns instead of focusing on just now) is just an excuse for rich people to get more money for nothing

#13