Said Ellen Verkoelen, "a City Council member and Rotterdam leader of the 50Plus Party, which works on behalf of pensioners," quoted in "The Country That Wants to ‘Be Average’ vs. Jeff Bezos and His $500 Million Yacht/Why did Rotterdam stand between one of the world’s richest men and his boat? The furious response is rooted in Dutch values" (NYT).
“When I was about 11 years old, we had an American boy stay with us for a week, an exchange student,” she recalled. “And my mother told him, just make your own sandwich like you do in America. Instead of putting one sausage on his bread, he put on five. My mother was too polite to say anything to him, but to me she said in Dutch, ‘We will never eat like that in this house.’”
At school, Ms. Verkoelen learned from friends that the American children in their homes all ate the same way. They were stunned and a little jealous. At the time, it was said in the Netherlands that putting both butter and cheese on your bread was “the devil’s sandwich.”...
The streak of austerity in Dutch culture can be traced to Calvinism, say residents, the most popular religious branch of Protestantism here for hundreds of years. It emphasizes virtues like self-discipline, frugality and conscientiousness....
An ethos endures that nobody is any better than anyone else, or deserves more, and it stems from an unignorable geographic fact. Roughly one-third of the Netherlands is below sea level and citizens for centuries have had little choice but to band together to create an infrastructure of dikes and drainage systems to remain alive.
“The Netherlands is built on cooperation,” said Paul van de Laar, a professor of history at Erasmus University. “There were constant threats of disaster from the 15th and 16th century. Protestants and Catholics knew that to survive, they could not quarrel too much.”
To outsiders, the Hef...
Hef is the bridge that must be temporarily dismantled to allow Bezo's boat to get out of the channel where it was built and out to the sea where it can be used.
... looks like an ungainly industrial workhorse that no longer works. That’s not what locals see....
Nearly all of Rotterdam was destroyed by the Nazis in World War II, but the Hef, built in 1927, survived. It means something to people, and that meaning is set against the meaning of Jeff Bezo's $500 million yacht.
Posts
93 comments:
1. Bezos and his boat builders are idiots if they assumed they could dismantle that bridge.
2. How many jobs were created to build that boat?
3. If it wasn’t for the USA, the Dutch would be ruled by the Nazis and not allowed to smoke pot. Ingrates.
Seems like a mostly anti-American rant. De Hef was dismantled before, most recently in 2014 by the same company, Bonn & Mees. I care nothing for Bezos and his yacht, but this whole article is a bs pretense. Bonn & Mees has been building the most expensive yachts for the rich for decades. This time it is American buying a yacht.
---virtues like self-discipline, frugality and conscientiousness....
Talk about your UN-American!!
Nice bridge you have there. Shame if something were to happen to it.
It is interesting that they highlight the cultural difference between the US and the Netherlands. Maybe I’m cynical, but these articles often have the underlying ‘the US is bad’ message. I’m sure there are a lot of people - I know there is - who say why can’t we be like them? Ironically, in the US, you can but they choose not to do so.
I’m a big believer in ‘when in Rome…’ though.
The sense of being among the norm predates Calvinism. The original migrants brought that with them when the populated the area as the glacier receded north at the end of the ice age (about 12,000 years ago). Hunter gatherers, they had to form small groups where everyone had a role based on capabilities and the most valuable mammals they hunted were much bigger than humans and needed a team to bring them down. There was no higher role to achieve and no one could survive long on their own.
The subtext of collectivism: lower your expectations.
The democrat party needs Bezos' money.
That is why Billionaires like Bezos will never pay the taxes they should be paying.
Honestly, I think people in any city in the US would have been pissed off at Bezos coming in and wanting to redesign an iconic bridge in their city. And they would have protested. But in the US, politicians (local, state, and federal) are easily paid off and don't really give a damn what those irritating citizens think. Bezos could have any bridge in the US changed to meet his specs if he wanted. We're more easily bought and paid for.
But...the Dutch acting like money means nothing to them is laughable. The Netherlands has historically been among the world's greatest commerce nations. And they sport a number of billionaires, millionaires, and a hefty standard of living with The Netherlands regularly listed in the top few most wealthy countries in the world- as a per capita standard of living. What they don't divvy into is tech. That's where the obscene scales of billions come in. Numbers never before heard of. So while the wealthiest Dutch person, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken (of Heineken fame) may be worth over 18 Billion, that's a sliver of what Bezos is worth. Or Musk. Or Gates. You get my point.
On the food thing: Americans do rate good restaurants by the quantity of food plated up. I've seen it too many years to ignore. It could be shit, but if it's a lot of shit, Americans will make the place a regular stop. And hence, when you look about you, you will see Americans are, by and large, fat.
Why I think a big part of today's problems in NY is that it was first settled by the Dutch, and even to today their culture has a profound effect on NY's laws and culture.
Seems to be in much of the world- the nail that stands up will be hammered down. Don't try to better yourself.
"3. If it wasn’t for the USA, the Dutch would be ruled by the Nazis and not allowed to smoke pot. Ingrates."
The US didn't win WWII by itself. It took Russia to break the Nazi military machine.
"The subtext of collectivism: lower your expectations."
The sub-text of America jingoists: Gluttony is good!
The Dutch also like to be frugal with soap use too. Lowest consumption per capita.
Those sound more like traditional rural values. How seriously are they taken in the big city? Holland didn't become (for a time) a world power by being modest and embracing poverty. Yes, the burgers of those days were abstemious and thrifty, but I wonder how much that tradition is maintained among today's wealthy Dutch.
On the other hand, in a small country people know who you are. If you make a big display of how much you have it can hurt you later, so people keep their ostentation behind closed doors. People are nervous about public display of wealth, so when an outsider comes along who obviously overdoes it, he becomes an easy target.
"Honestly, I think people in any city in the US would have been pissed off at Bezos coming in and wanting to redesign an iconic bridge in their city."
The bridge would only be changed for a day or 2 and the company was going to pay for it all. The bridge isn't used, so no one would be deprived of the use of the bridge. But the people were ready to stand on the shore and throw eggs at it. They really hated the ship and what it symbolized. In 2 days, they'd have the same old bridge back. They just didn't want it interfered with at all.
City government initially approved the request to dismantle the bridge. It did not anticipate the public fervor. We're asked, by this article, to understand the mindset of the Rotterdammers, but their own government apparently did not understand them.
"throw eggs at it" = throw eggs at the yacht.
“The streak of austerity in Dutch culture can be traced to Calvinism, say residents, the most popular religious branch of Protestantism here for hundreds of years. It emphasizes virtues like self-discipline, frugality and conscientiousness.... ”
Hilarious. Actually, “The theology of Calvinism has been immortalized in the acronym TULIP, which states the five essential doctrines of Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of the saints.”
And, of course, the 17th century Dutch Tulipmania is the classic example of people going insane with greed.
Ms. Verkoelen may be a perfectly delightful person, but the NYT journalist, David Segal, is certainly going for a Hate-America-First article.
"And my mother told him, just make your own sandwich like you do in America. Instead of putting one sausage on his bread, he put on five. My mother was too polite to say anything to him, but to me she said in Dutch, ‘We will never eat like that in this house.’”
A polite mother would make a sandwich for a foreign child staying as a guest for a week. How big are Dutch sausages relative to Dutch bread?
"At the time, it was said in the Netherlands that putting both butter and cheese on your bread was “the devil’s sandwich.” Choose one, went the thinking. You don’t need both.
How does Ms. Verkoelen make a grilled cheese sandwich? A good journalist would have asked.
Rather than using anecdotes to show that the Dutch don't like people like me, perhaps they don't like people like Jeff Bezos. The current anti-Green demonstrations in the Netherlands are a response to a weariness with global elites. Denying a request by Bezos could be aligned with that sentiment.
>> these articles often have the underlying ‘the US is bad’ message.
Remember, if you are an American overseas and you don't speak any foreign language, you are an "ugly American".
But expecting immigrants to our country to learn English is racist.
Anyone else remember the old joke of building a boat in the basement?
Cook said: "It took Russia to break the Nazi military machine." They might have had an easier time of it if they hadn't been on the same side as the Nazis when that war started.
Ross Perot had a similar problem in Bermuda... a reef kept him from docking his yacht next to his home there.
So he hired a crew to blow up the reef. And paid the fines for not having any permits or permission.
Bezos should have invested some of his money into buying a big Dutch newspaper.
And, really- who gives a fuck about the Dutch- just a bunch of mediocre white guys who only get one sausage/day.
The last few years people have gotten an eyeful of how much of the world runs in favor of those t the top, including that different rules apply (or don't apply) to them. Public displays of the differences are going to get increased pushback.
When you have a country small enough that you can ride your bike around it's circumference (about 600mi) in under a week, well you need strict rules on behavior so things don't get out of hand. Unlike the USA where we are far enough apart about anything goes in comparison.
Nothing against the Dutch but wasn't their civilization based on the pursuit of money? They weren't attracted to tulip bulbs because of the inherent beauty of tulips. Anyway, I'm sure you can find some Indonesian historians who can look to the historical record and make a case that the Dutch weren't all that great.....For me, mediocrity is aspirational, but we're all pretty much alike. This include the delusion that the cultural and historical forces that have shaped us have made us better people than Them, those ignorant savages and/or rich bastards
Not everyone can have a 500 million dollar yacht, but anyone can have moral preening and self rightousness.
Anyone else remember the old joke of building a boat in the basement?
No, but I do remember the German guy who had a torpedo, an anti-aircraft gun, and a perfectly preserved Panther tank in his basement.
5 Sausages yikes. Like a a nudge to get us to eat bugs.
"The US didn't win WWII by itself. It took Russia (sic) to break the Nazi military machine."
The first sentence is obviously true. But I'm having trouble imagining a scenario in which the Soviet Union liberates The Netherlands; much less liberates The Netherlands without it being a decades long nightmare for the Dutch.
I don't think this is a Dutch thing. Surely any place would object.
Boy, which side to choose? Gonna have to make a big old batch of Orville Redenbacher and pull up a lawn chair.
I lived in the Netherlands for 25 years. You misunderstand Calvinism's motivation. It's not to instill "self-discipline, frugality and conscientiousness". Calvin argued that as sons of Eve (the original sinner who fell to temptation), we share that original sin, so don't deserve to enjoy our time on earth. When I bought my house from an elderly woman in 1998, I was surprised to learn it had never had hot water. That was considered ostentatious and undeserved.
The ship would have made it out just fine if Bezos hasn't added that big statue of himself to the design.
As for gluttony, remember that food is much cheaper in the US than in Europe. They have to stretch their sausages in ways that we don't.
My experience with the Dutch in my business life, and going over there several times a year over 15 years, is that they are strong admirers of Americans, American businesses and American culture. Certainly more than the French or Germans.
Can of cheese
How much tax do you think bezos should pay?
It's probably less now that he is unemployed but when he was working at Amazon, he never made more than $100,000 per year.
John LGBTQBNY Henry
Nearly all of Rotterdam was destroyed by the Nazis in World War II, but the Hef, built in 1927, survived.
Yet another Bezos/Hitler comparison.
The Fourth Estate brays about privilege through projection.
Probably the city made a one sausage deal with Bezos and now they want more sausages.
Imagine how different world history would be if this article was true and the Dutch really didn't like ostentatious displays of sea-going wealth.
Never look at me while I’m making a sandwich.
Much is being made of this societal rage, but I really don't understand the problem. As far as I can tell from the stories, if the boat builder simply defers installing the masts, the hull would pass easily under the bridge. So the shipbuilder has to make an arrangement with a downstream shipyard to re-step the masts. So what, why is this too hard? Or: Was the shipbuilder's design over-complicated such that they cannot do this? If so, what happens when a mast breaks at sea?
Too much of the story isn't being covered - not only the point above, but the source of this outrage - who is stoking it, and why? I understand the bridge has been dismantled before for a similar requirement. And as this story is months old now, if the interest lingers why isn't it being explored in greater depth and detail? Anyway; It's good that Bezos and the shipyard are being respectful of public sentiment and hitting the brakes until it's resolved though.
There's a whole chapter of Robinson Crusoe about his spending a year (or years, can't remember) hollowing out the trunk of a fallen tree to make a boat...only to realize, too late, that he couldn't get it to the water.
A few years ago a judge ordered the developers of a building in NYC to cut off the top 20 floors, having determined that they'd circumvented building codes.
Sorry
Question on bezos' taxes was for hunter's hooker, not his can of cheese
John LGBTQBNY Henry
Very fun post. Ann Althouse comments that the people want to stand on the banks and throw eggs at the boat. How frugal is that?
My grandmother was a wizened little lady from Scotland. I think the Scottish and the Dutch share alot. One summer when I was in college I was home working in a factory, and my grandmother was living with us and made my lunch. Her skimpy sandwiches provided a great deal of comic relief to my coworkers.
"The streak of austerity in Dutch culture"
This is a ridiculous cliche. The Dutch have a party culture. Coffee shops everywhere, drug-infested festivals, orange invasions at soccer games and Formula 1 events, etc. etc.
"They really hated the ship and what it symbolized."
They really postured as if they hated the ship, while awaiting their next Prime delivery.
"In 2 days, they'd have the same old bridge back. They just didn't want it interfered with at all."
IOW, the bridge is irrelevant. But good to know populism is OK if presented as anti-American. The American right can learn something here.
Anyone who’s thinks cheese and butter is the Devil’s sandwich never went out to dinner with Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd.
this is how they bought Manhattan for trinkets!
Q: are any of the rich Dutch obese?
Just ask Obama to lower the ocean already...
When in England 25 years ago we stayed at a B&B...a very 'average' English home.
We had to plug the heater with coins to stay warm. The toilet had the tank up near the ceiling and you would pull the chain, etc.
It was like American in the '40s.
Some ladies from New Zealand were also staying there, and over communal breakfast kept going on about how modern everything was : )
Cook,
It also took Russia 100,000 Studebaker trucks, millions of tons of American wheat and much, much, more.
Unlike aid to other countries like England, we didn't even pretend to charge Russia for this. We didn't even get a thank you.
Not to mention the hundreds of allied merchant ships and thousands of merchant seamen lost on the Murmansk run getting it there.
John LGBTQBNY Henry
The Dutch always seemed nice to me.
And tall...
"The streak of austerity in Dutch culture can be traced to Calvinism, say residents, the most popular religious branch of Protestantism here for hundreds of years. It emphasizes virtues like self-discipline, frugality and conscientiousness...."
I'm of Dutch ancestry and that's a good description of how I was raised.
Blogger Robert Cook said...
"3. If it wasn’t for the USA, the Dutch would be ruled by the Nazis and not allowed to smoke pot. Ingrates."
The US didn't win WWII by itself. It took Russia to break the Nazi
Cook. Always cheering for the communists.
Meanwhile, the Dutch also legally kill the sick and elderly.
So, they have that going for them.
The US didn't win WWII by itself. It took Russia to break the Nazi military machine.
Russia didn't break the Nazi military machine itself. It took the US to equip the Soviets.
(How many Soviet apologists are there here??)
John Henry. I'd heard it was 200,000 trucks. A great favorite with the Red Army to the extet the Reds sent a letter of appreciation, very formal, and it's in a museum someplace.
The amount of material SUNK would blow your mind, not just the stuff shipped and arrived.
Should be noted that the Netherlands American Cemetery is the only one in the system which is fully subscribed. That is, each of the 8301 guys there has a Dutch family looking after his grave site and frequently trying to contact his family. There's a waiting list.
And the same is true of the Missing, of whom there were initially about 2200.
Three towns have renamed streets after my father's division (104th ID Timberwolves) Timberwolfstraat.
One guy in a museum in, iirc, Achtmaal wanted to know if I could spare any of my father's memorabilia. I could not, of course, but the request was the point.
My Dad said when they first got into Holland, it was at the end, more or less, of the Great Hunger. People looked so bad the guys gave away everything they had down to the Chiclets, even knowing the kitchen trucks were three days back.
He had a runner who spoke Yiddish, which was thought might be useful. Went to Mass and the runner said the priest told the congregation that the Americans were here do keep your daughters indoors.
Nothing "emphasizes [Dutch/Calvin] virtues like self-discipline, frugality and conscientiousness" like hash/cannabis shops and sex work.
America sent its Russian ally the following military equipment:
400,000 jeeps and trucks
14,000 airplanes
8,000 tractors
13,000 tanks
More than 1.5 million blankets
15 million pairs of army boots
107,000 tons of cotton
2.7 million tons of petroleum products (to fuel airplanes, trucks, and tanks)
4.5 million tons of food
Americans also sent guns, ammunition, explosives, copper, steel, aluminum, medicine, field radios, radar tools, books and other items.
The U.S. even transported an entire Ford Company tire factory, which made tires for military vehicles, to the Soviet Union.
From 1941 through 1945, the U.S. sent $11.3 billion, or $180 billion in 2016 dollars, in goods and services to the Soviets.
https://share.america.gov/america-sent-equipment-to-soviet-union-in-world-war-ii/
This seems to be a non-problem. Surely, Bezos was smart enough ensure the contract for the boat required delivery to a location with open sea access. If so, then the shipyard is at fault for not securing access to the sea before starting to build the boat. Sue the shipyard for failure to perform. Reclaim all intermediate payments and also punitive damages. If the shipyard goes out of business and the workers lose their jobs, it is because their neighbors want it that way.
And if the Dutch courts won't enforce the contract, then that should inform those seeking to have boats built in The Netherlands in the future. Like, don't.
Oh, yawn. Europeans hate Americans for being … Americans. They sure felt differently once upon a time when cemeteries were being filled with dead American soldiers and their bellies were being filled thanks to the Marshall Plan. The notion that our culture has something to do with our prosperity is bit further than their little minds can take them.
The sub-text of America jingoists: Gluttony is good!
@Cookie, the line from the movie was “Greed is good!” And it is. We have laws to force people into channeling their greed into ways that are productive to society. Mostly, anyway. Athletes able to run fast holding a football under their arm or send a defenseless little dimpled ball far down the center of the fairway might be an exception.
I thought getting wedged between Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd was the devil's sandwich.
“ They really hated the ship and what it symbolized. In 2 days, they'd have the same old bridge back. They just didn't want it interfered with at all.”
This had nothing to do with the ship or the bridge or the “streak of austerity in Dutch culture”. It had everything to do with the streak of envy, spite, and malice in human nature.
Bezos is NOT an idiot. Think harder.
The Dutch farmer's are having massive protests over their Government dictating they have to reduce livestock and fertilizer use due to "Climate change". If implemented the changes will drive 1/3 of them out of business. They are blocking roads, causing havoc, and the Govermnent in return is arresting and even shooting at them.
But the MSM wants to talk about Bezos's yatch, while blacking out any mention of the farmers.
Yeah, and I really care that Jeff Bezos is an "American". This shithead wants open borders, and refuses to let his workers unionize because the greedy shit wants to have $201 billion instead of $200 billion.
Its always laughable, how rightwingers worship him, because he's a rich man. Go knock on his door, and ask him out of beer, if you feel "Jeff" is your buddy. See what happens. What a bunch of pathetic clowns.
The fact that the company agreed so quickly not to dismantle a part of the bridge when the locals objected tells me that they have another way around this problem. I suspect that plan B is probably more difficult and expensive than dismantling and rebuilding a part of the bridge. (Remember the movie Fitzcarraldo with Klaus Kinski?)
And the idea that the Dutch are "Calvanistic" is silly. THis is a country that has a redlight district and decriminalized drugs. Not to mention one of the highest standards of living in the world. And their church attendance is near zero.
All this Dutch pychoanalyzing because a Rich man couldn't get a bridge restructured for his fucking boat! And I feel so sorry for Jeff Bezos. All that "envy" and "malice". I'm shedding tears right now. But those Dutch farmers. haha. Losers.
The Dutch were among the worst slavers during the Atlantic Trade.
Guess they've already come to grips with that and are moving on to other stuff.
Putting five times the meat on sandwich is not particularly American; the American way is putting five times the meat, taking one bite and throwing the rest in the trash.
When Dutch throw eggs at objects, is it 1 egg per person, or 5 or what number?
"In February, the City Council’s municipality liaison, Marcel Walravens, was quoted in the media saying that it was impractical to float the mast-less yacht to another location and finish it there."
It hardly seems like an insurmountable problem. They simply have to move it without the masts in place.
I guess those Dutchmen have never heard the phrase "git 'er done."
Nigel Powers had good reasons.
The butter + cheese = 'devil's sandwich' will probably be the funniest thing I encounter today. I love it.
@Robert Cook -- Yes, among Americans the Russians often don't get fair credit for their heroic Eastern Front stand and onslaught. Moreover, Hitler might well have prevailed had he not launched Operation Barbarossa. That said, the Russian victories were far more dependent on American aid than is commonly understood.
Stalin: "Without the machines we received through Lend-Lease we would have lost the war."
Khrushchev: "If the United States had not helped us, we would not have won the war."
They have to stretch their sausages in ways that we don't.
So that's why they're all uncircumcised.
Riddle me this: when is a boat a squirrel?
The Dutch politicians looked around at all the attention other countries were getting whinging about 400ppm of atmospheric co2. "Hold my beer" they thought. "OMIGOD !!! WE 780,000PPM OF NITROGEN POLUTION. WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!
So they are essentially shutting down all agriculture.
Farmers are not happy and for the past month or so have been blocking roads, spraying liquified pig and cow shit on govt buildings and generally being a nuisance.
So when is a boat a squirrel? When you need a distraction from these revolting farmers.
And now Castreau, up in our hat, has decided that Canada will no longer contribute to nitrogen pollution. This should be interesting.
If it comes to the US, Chinese companies control much of the US supply of pigshit. Will they make it available for non-traditional uses like spraying govt buildings?
John LGBTQBNY Henry
My wife used to be a waitress on Stephansplatz in Vienna. According to her, the worst customers, the worst scammers, were the Dutch. Especially the soccer fans. We can find something in every culture to criticize.
That recent NYer piece on yachts of the bazillionaires and the gazillionaires who build them is pretty funny. The likely source of this anecdote.
The 1200 heavy locomotives supplied by the US to the Soviets are often overlooked.
The truth is, all the great wars require coalitions of powers for victory. The Soviets earned their victory with oceans of blood and should not be begrudged.
I'm not sure my north-German raised Oma knew how to make a sandwich WITHOUT butter and cheese, and some gooseliver pate'.
“The US didn't win WWII by itself. It took Russia to break the Nazi military machine.”
To Stalin, the cause of and the solution to, the Second World War.
This news was not a treat for Bezos...
With each passing insult, I become more and more convinced we should've stayed out of the wars over there. Both of them.
Yeah, we could have stayed out of those world wars if we'd just tried hard enough . . . once the Krauts and Japs understood that we meant them no harm, everything would have been hunky-dory for sure.
Does he get free shipping on that thing?
They forgot to offer the people in the town their cut.
I've met several Europeans, online and IRL, who seem to have a chip on their shoulders about the US bailing them out in 2 world wars. World wars in which we arguably had no interest. I know a Frenchman who is especially upset because, he claims, we didn't start saving them soon enough.
I went to school in the 70s with an English expat who was upset because we didn't send enough food to prevent rationing, it was not food that English people like to eat (He was especially mad about corn, for some reason) and we sort of expect some gratitude for preventing starvation and loss of the war. And we didn't declare war until Dec 41.
I wonder if some of this goes into the attitude about Bezos?
John LGBTQBNY Henry
In August 1914, an American entrepreneur based in London wanted to help. He gave up his positions and first used his Bezos level personal wealth to help thousands of Americans stranded in Britain, eat, find places to stay and eventually get home. He then, again using personal funds, and at considerable personal risk, undertook to feed Belgium against the wishes of both the Germans and British. Also Holland and other countries to a lesser extent. He did this privately for 3 years until the US declared war after Wilson's re-election.
The US then set up a relief organization which he headed and ran from Paris for a dollar-a-year.
Privately and with the govt he is credited with saving 20 million Europeans from death by starvation (not just hunger but death) during and immediately after the war.
Vernon Kellog wrote a bio in 1920 that describes these efforts in some detail.
I don't think the Europeans have forgiven us for saving them yet. The fact that one man could accomplish what neither Europeans nor their governments would/could not gives them a massive case of the sads.
Herbert Hoover later became Secty of Commerce and later President.
(And don't get me started on NATO)
John LGBTQBNY Henry
I don't think anyone has mentioned just WHY Bezos chose to build his yacht in Holland.
They have some very high quality builders, of course, and that is certainly one reason.
But another is that had he wanted to build it in the US, he no longer could. We used to have some really high quality yards in the US that would rival the Dutch. In the 90s, Billy Jeff decided that it was unseemly that the wealthy were building yachts while he was feeling our pain. (Too late he realized the pain was Monica's teeth)
So he taxed the US yards out of existence. It didn't hurt the wealthy, they just went overseas. It did kill thousands of shipyard jobs.
I suspect that Bezo's yacht is owned by a European Corporation based in Lichtenstein or the like. Perhaps even with bearer shares so there is no evidence that Bezos owns the corp.
So completely untaxable.
In the 80s our PR govt decided to soak the rich. They put a huge tax on all boats over 30 feet or so. Within a month or two the Marinas in PR were all emptied as the boats were sold to BVI anonymous corporations and moved to St Thomas or BVI. "You want to tax my boat? I don't have any boat. GFY"
St Thomas is 35 miles away and only slightly more inconvenient than keeping a boat in Fajardo PR. I can see it from my house on a clear day.
It lasted a couple years until the govt realized how much money they were losing and scaled it back.
John LGBTQBNY Henry
Obsolete as a railroad bridge, the Koningshaven Bridge underwent a major restoration in the years 2014-2017, during which time the renovation included the foresight and innovative engineering for the temporary removal of the horizontal span to provide local commerce with the ability to serve national and international clients that would otherwise not be possible. Today, De Hef has been locked in a continually upward position with an air draft of 154-feet/ 47 meters, which allows most ships to pass under it.
https://www.yachtsinternational.com/yachts/the-real-story-of-the-bezos-yacht-and-the-bridge
Removal and replacement of the span apparently requires only the removal of a few bolts, a big ass crane and 24 hours. Hardly a "destruction" of important dutch heritage.
John LGBTQBNY Henry
John LGBTQBNY Henry
If it ain't got 24-inch guns it ain't worth the money.
A rhyme taught to me by a Dutchman:
The Dutch, the Dutch,
The Goddam Dutch!
They give too little and they ask too much.
The Dutch are one of the great trading nations of the world. They have no natural resources but they are among the most successful and wealthiest countries in the world. It shows what free trade can do if the traders are smart.
Dutch men are the tallest in Europe, averaging 6’ 1”.
In such a competitive society, there are malcontents and malingerers. Those are the folks that don’t want the bridge taken down for two days at no cost or expense to them. If Bezos were a Dutchman, he would run right over them. I think the yacht-builders will, too.
1. Ha, ha. Pity they can't all lose
2. Robert Cook said...
"3. If it wasn’t for the USA, the Dutch would be ruled by the Nazis and not allowed to smoke pot. Ingrates."
The US didn't win WWII by itself. It took Russia to break the Nazi military machine.
7/30/22, 7:35 AM
Since the Russians started WWII, they get no credit for ending it.
So the cultural slur that the Dutch are penny-pinchers is true? And the Dutch are proud of it?
In my 3 years of experience in the Netherlands, yes the dutch are penn6 pinchers.
Thet have a Queen and a pseudo socialist economy.
They have to be cheap to save anything.
Post a Comment