Venture Capital anyone???

"The challenge has been formidable. Faced with a near-frozen market for initial public offerings and few mergers or acquisitions, many venture-capital firms have thrown more of their resources behind only their portfolios of existing businesses. Some have ceased investing altogether. In fact, 64 of the 721 U.S. venture-capital firms that invested in companies between Oct. 1, 2007 and Sept. 30, 2008 haven't made an investment since then, according to according to Dow Jones VentureSource, a research firm owned by News Corp., which also publishes SmartMoney.com and The Wall Street Journal."

"VCs Change Their Tune" By Diana Ransom, WSJ, 11/11/2009


"This year, 435 venture-capital funds have hit the road to raise money, compared with 452 for all of 2008 and 445 in 2007, according to research firm Preqin.

Out of that field, just 134 new venture-capital funds had completed their fund raising and closed to investors as of early November, down from the full-year totals of 309 funds in 2008 and 363 in 2007.

The newcomers raised just $20.4 billion in total capital, down 65% from $58.2 billion in all of 2008, according to Preqin."

"Venture Funds Sweetening the Terms" By Pui-Wing Tam, WSJ, 11/23/2009


"According to International Monetary Fund data, U.S. GDP has fallen to 24% of world GDP from 32% in 2001. And as U.S. capital escapes the weak dollar and high tax rates, the U.S. share of world equity market capitalization has fallen to 30% from 45%. This leaves the U.S. alone with Japan at the bottom of the monetary heap, with rate expectations so low they repel investment."

"Near-Zero Rates Are Hurting the Economy" By David Malpass, WSJ, 12/03/2009

Welcome to the Washington (D.C.) Two-Step!

Or should I say: Bait and Switch. Or, perhaps, it's a Shell Game. Oh, Hell, let's just call them all Grifters!

House Democrats keep stepping on President Obama's applause lines about innovation and job creation. On Tuesday, Mr. Obama announced that "we're proposing a complete elimination of capital gains taxes on small business investment" for one year.

Responding with rare dispatch, the House voted yesterday to change the capital gains rate for venture capitalists who invest in technology start-ups. But rather than eliminating the tax, the House more than doubled it, moving the tax rate to 35% from 15% by reclassifying such gains as ordinary income...

Knowing how popular tax increases are with unemployment at 10%, the House majority rushed the bill to the floor without a hearing or even a committee vote. Then they buried it in a package advertised as an extension of tax cuts for research and development.

Zero to 35 in 24 Hours