Agreed, it looks like the breakdown for '49-07 is $53B military $30B economic. I have no idea how that was committed etc., but it shouldn't be discounted the unique position Israel has been on the US Aid side, and what affect that could have on spurring economic (and start-up) growth for a nation of 7MM people. That shouldn't take away anything from the qualitative characteristics mentioned in the article, just another data point.
"Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. From 1976-2004, Israel was the largest annual recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, having recently been supplanted by Iraq. Since 1985, the United States has provided nearly $3 billion in grants annually to Israel."
I can imagine that has some trick-down effects on the "financing of ideas"-side of the equation. Smart people are one thing, smart people with a lot of resources, another.
the way I look at it, ambition is your own personal goal/view/desire (directed inward) . . . arrogance is when you push your ambitions on others (directed outward).
The actual staff report linked in that article is well worth the read.
These companies are basically running shady private tax schemes. No value-added.
I'm glad the senate report provides a list of the 'partner' commerce companies that have made over $1MM using these schemes. I'll be thinking twice about giving any of them my business.
[PDF]http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/111609EXHIBITSTOSTA...
"The last 3 years was a process you had to go through to get to where you eventually want to be. A very efficient process that not too many others ever get a chance for."
Why not actually try to be what you 'eventually want to be', now . . . choose you're own adventure, now. You don't need to put up with feeling like you're being taken advantage now, so that later you can feel you're getting what you're worth. I don't believe there are any standard, efficient processes that you 'have to do' to get where you want to be. You figure out, thats part of the learning process.
"Do you have any idea what the current financial situation would have looked like if the government had just let the banks collapse?"
No, and neither do you. That's why its called a free-market. It's free to do anything. It's not a free-market thats only free to take the form of what our expectations are.
Goldman's business was subsidized by the Government, in the form of funding Goldman's transaction partners, so that they could pay Goldman what was owed.
In normal business if my customer goes bankrupt, even if I made the sale and was owed money, I would take a loss on that transaction., and if the loss was large enough it would affect all of my employees, who in turn took the risk of working for me. I took the risk of selling to that customer, I was in the best position to judge their stability, and so would have to deal with the consequences. Goldman didn't have to deal with the consequences of transacting with unstable partners, the Government (in the form of the taxpayers) stepped in to deal with those consequences, and that is why in large part Goldman is able to exist, earn a profit, and pay bonuses.
couldn't agree more . . . just because something exists in a market doesn't mean it should. Capitalism is a system/strategy, how you apply that depends on your values (or what you value).
Only if you CHOOSE to ACCEPT outside investors, and CHOOSE a board that doesn't have the same vision for the company as you do. I'm no lawyer, but I'm guessing if you own your own business, your fiduciary responsibility is to yourself.
I think what Jason's getting at is to look beyond the offer/fiduciary responsibility mindset and to think bigger, to be motivated by passion and have grander ambitions than looking at one's business as "company + product + customer = offer/price".
There are many successful business that truly don't have a number they'd HAVE to take. It's a choice, and that choice doesn't appear to be actively made by this generation's poster-child business leaders.
I do disagree with Jason, I think that there are a lot of unspoken young businsses, not in the spotlight, that do have the passion to take the baton from the previous generation; it's just that they don't seek out the attention, nor does the attention seek them out.
I think it's mentioned that part of his company was sold to brad greenspan of euniverse/intermix(myspace) fame. I don't know how much this reflects on Andrew and/or mailbits, but brad greenspan and euniverse are know for, among other things, 'legitimizing' the adware business, until most everyone realized it wasn't legitimate. Also euniverse and brad had a pretty well publicized accounting fraud scandal that resulted in him leaving euniverse. Anyone that worked in the LA online advertising business during the late 90s early 00s will know euniverse is about as shady as shady can get, without actually getting thrown in jail.
If I had to guess I'd say vc oversight is part of a larger 'lets watch all the money in the system' initiative. Seeing as how the govt has pledged upwards of $12 trillion to bridge parts of the us financial system, I can understand why the government would want to keep an eye on everything to limit the chances of something in the shadows blowing up and requiring further govt bridging. Will it work, who knows ... personally, I don't agree with it, nor do I agree with any of the bailouts: banking, auto otherwise.
its not an aversion to making money, there's no way to survive without making it. I will never understand the glorification of making money as an end, its so obvious, it should go without saying, yet here we are with yet another big bucks lottery article. the energy and focus should be on making things better, focusing on refining the product, with the obvious profit constraint.
really? I wasn't there, but it sounds more like running ads would ruin the product to them so it wouldn't be something they loved anymore.
I'm amazed that the idea one should make money is so novel . . . it's like breathing, it should be assumed, how else does something sustain itself? The focus should be on greatness, making something better, pushing something forward (with the assumption that it should be able to pay its own way), not simply how to angle an extra dollar.