[belugacat]

> Lots of places in Europe seem to have mostly figured the balance out [...]

> [...] I don't think I'd prefer to live in a world without Intel and Microsoft

Now guess why Intel and Microsoft aren't European companies :)

[doingmaths]

Mondragon is. You might not be familiar with them, but they are a federation of co-ops in Europe that are a billion dollar business and are the 10th largest industrial group in Spain.

They do R&D, Finance, Manufacturing, and a bunch of other stuff.

https://www.mondragon-corporation.com/en/

There's no axiomatic reason why an Intel or Microsoft couldn't be a co-op or federation of co-ops. It just didn't shake out that way this time.