11–20 of 66 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
... now they want to run some fascist incubator ... Are you seriously calling this fascism?
Let's call if corporatism. It means the same thing but people will whine less about the semantics.
Traditionally, and for various reasons, some to do with bargaining-power in the market, some with (good, but patronizing) care for citizens, others with bureaucracy, gave benefits to large, international corporations (tax breaks, complicated regulations that keep small competitors out, and the occasional bailout...).
And now startups get some support too. I see where most criticism here is coming from, but honestly, in the pragmatic scheme of things, this could actually help startups, and thus the economy, by leveling the playing-field (a bit) again...
So policymakers have wrecked traditional capital markets through regulations on raising capital, interest rate distortions, twisted tax policy, patent law abuse, and anti-hiring labor policy, and now they are going to "fix" VC markets for us. Thanks. The feds can't even protect the border or catch Osama bin Laden and now they want to run some fascist incubator to give the political class even greater control over our…
When this was first announced a couple weeks ago, I read the "fact sheet" posted. In it they talked about an emphasis on putting the money into "disadvantaged areas" and "focusing on innovative technologies like clean energy". So, your concern about investments being made more based on political pull than on merit is well founded. Over 50 years ago an environment of heavy government regulation and anti-competitive le…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
When this was first announced a couple weeks ago, I read the "fact sheet" posted. In it they talked about an emphasis on putting the money into "disadvantaged areas" and "focusing on innovative technologies like clean energy". So, your concern about investments being made more based on political pull than on merit is well founded. Over 50 years ago an environment of heavy government regulation and anti-competitive le…
"The money must come from taxes or inflation," that's not how gov economics work. You borrow that money, hence you only pay the interest (until you can't). Now this model can be sustained as long as the economy grows faster than the interest you have to pay. This is why deficits spending isn't in itself that bad, it's the size of the deficit that's the issue. (probably oversimplified the whole issue but that's what I…
For decades, big corporations and venture capitalists (and their lobbyists) have used every trick in the book to get themselves special advantages.
Huge loopholes mean that the effective US corporate is the fourth lowest rate in the OECD (though the official tax rate is the second highest in the OECD). This is a great example of dysfunctional government intervention, but one that won't go away (because cutting loopholes is demonized as "raising taxes")
VC earnings (and for that matter long-term capital gains) are taxed at a much lower rate than W2 earnings of an employee. All of these things are due to government interventions (ostensibly to promote economic growth and create the "right" incentives)
I'm not a fan of big government intervention and I don't know much about the "Obama endorsed VC program". So I'm open to legitimate criticism of the program.
However, if folks are going to describe it as "fascist", I'd be interested to know why they haven't described the current system (with all of its tax loopholes and incentives) as fascist
There's a big billboard here in KC for the Kauffman Foundation's Education Startup Funding program. I thought "heck, that would be awesome, to be backed by the Kauffman Foundation!". Then I looked into it, you pretty much have to live in the ghetto to be involved in the program. Well, my wife wasn't too keen on moving to the ghetto, so I guess I'll try somewhere else.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
... now they want to run some fascist incubator ... Are you seriously calling this fascism?
From Wikipedia: "An inherent aspect of fascist economies was economic dirigisme, meaning an economy where the government exerts strong directive influence, and effectively controls production and allocation of resources. In general, apart from the nationalizations of some industries, fascist economies were based on private property and private initiative, but these were contingent upon service to the state."