[enki]

That help won't be coming from politicians, because they don't even remotely get that wealth and wealth creation are linked. And despite what OP wrote, the fundamentals haven't changed in any other way that was perceptible to me.

I can't tell you exactly what's wrong with startups in Europe. It's no one thing. It's thousands of things.

Unless you've experienced the Bay Area, it's probably impossible to anticipate what you're missing. I didn't. The stuff you get in the Bay Area is stuff that doesn't transfer over the internet - so just by reading hackernews and techcrunch you have no means to figure out what is or could be different.

I think Paul Graham's argument (paraphrased) that all startups die by default, but in some environments they sometimes get saved, might come closest in describing what's happening.

I think the statistics argument really is the most solid one (though admittedly self-fulfilling, because it means the most driven entrepreneurs leave). Unless something fundamentally changes, any improvements to the ecosystem will have to be gradual over a long time.