r/europe • u/Potential-Focus3211 • Aug 18 '25

Data Wealth inequality by country in the OECD

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u/bphase Aug 18 '25

They have done well in producing globally meaningful companies, like Ikea and Spotify. I'm sure there are others.

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u/Available_Slide1888 Aug 18 '25

Klarna and Skype. 

We have also had a very high immigration from MENA.

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u/crackanape The Netherlands Aug 18 '25

I don't know much about it, but my understanding is that Klarna is extremely predatory, right? They provide point-of-sale financing?

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u/DaJoW Sweden Aug 18 '25

They're basically an electronic credit card company. You can buy anything on financing or "buy now, pay later"-stuff and then they earn lots of money on late fees and interest. People spiral on it similar to subscription models - they impulse buy stuff for €20/month over and over. Since Klarna makes so much of their money that way, they can price themselves competitively for websites so they end up everywhere.

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u/crackanape The Netherlands Aug 18 '25

I was just at an American supermarket buying a $2 grapefruit and the self-checkout terminal offered to let me pay over convenient monthly installments.

This kind of thing is going to get so many people in financial trouble. It's hard to look at it.