Progress In Peril

It's not hyperbole to assert that when the practice of capitalizing new ideas is suppressed, the future - innovation, technological growth, progress itself- is threatened.

Scott S. Powell turns over a few possible reasons why the Obama administration suggested that venture capital firms needed to be regulated.

You really should read the reasons he discards before he settles on this:

The third and most plausible answer is the administration's distrust of venture capitalists is simply an extension of its antipathy toward the free market. It suspects that venture capital seeks economic returns over political ends and will not direct enough funding to politically favored sectors — particularly after recent disappointments with clean-tech investments in fuel cells and ethanol. Regulating VCs is an indirect but very real means of forcing alignment with the political objectives of the administration.

Emphasis me.
I would add to that somewhat. It's easier to crush a seed than pull down a tree.

There's a possibility that a man with no real business experience or accomplishments gets a psychological kick out of kneecapping potentially successful entrepreneurs. Preventing people from choosing political concerns over financial ones (that's, um, stupid) is a win-win for him.

And of course, if you're going to cripple an economy, you have to make sure it can't get back up.

I'll guess 'evil' over 'stupid' in this case, because how new ventures drive this country (and improve our lives in a million unforeseen ways) is a rather easy concept to grasp.

However; conceiving of a way that venture capitalization harms the economy, as Mr. Obama asserts, requires some fanciful brainstorming.

ANY regulating, stifling or obstructing the funding of new ventures will be (yet another) direct attack on the standard of living of your descendants.

One can hardly devise a better attack on the economic and technological supremacy of the United States than to strangle innovation while it's still in the crib.

This is an ominous threat indeed. Please write your congresscritters.

posted by Laura. at 10:11 AM

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