Yup, bite the hand that feeds you. Excellent plan. California has a stellar track record of producing essential things for the rest of America. I'd be willing to bet it's a better record than what is produced in Washington. Please, don't fuck up the goldmine that is the Valley with uninformed regulation like this.<p>---------<p>On a related note, our financial system is so convoluted that our Treasury Secretary doesn't even understand it. His knee jerk reaction is to regulate everything. The complexity of our economy on a national scale has grown beyond the reasoning ability of most people.<p>I have an idea. How about we simplify things. Reduce the role of the government and give states more control over the situation. Competition between states would produce a far more optimal result than the behemoth that is the government can produce. It's what we would (read: should) do with a large failing company, why not with this?
Honestly, it looks like it's a very small amount of work required on the part of VCs – and only the larger ones, at that.<p>But it's still stupid. I know we're not exactly an unbiased bunch when it comes to VC firms here on HN, but you don't have to spend too long thinking about it to figure out that VC is about as isolated a risk as one can make. If a firm managing a 401k is throwing money into startups, now <i>that's</i> a WTF scenario. But a VC firm putting money into startups? I'm pretty sure they know what they're getting into, and I haven't heard of VC firms repackaging investments into startups as default obligations to sell to other companies. I mean I guess they could? That seems quite a bit more insane than the already insane CDS stuff that was going on.<p>All of this knee-jerk legislation scares me. Both parties are guilty. Leave ALONE the sectors of the economy that aren't doing anything wrong.
I can't believe I'm saying this but... I'm feeling increasingly guilty for voting D in the last election, as the Nancy Pelosi 'nanny state' Democrats take over.
I actually sympathize with Geithner. You have to look at Geithner's approach from a system design point of view. All things being equal, financial instruments will prefer less regulation over more. As other areas of the financial system become more regulated, he has to be mindful of the money will just flow to unregulated areas.<p>An analogy would be like squeezing a circus balloon on one end, and unless there's equal pressure all around, the other sides will just expand.
Is the Wall St. Journal becoming the new Fox News? Seriously, there is a strong trend of articles against Silicon Valley and provoking animosity with the Democrats.<p>This <i></i>opinion<i></i> article has plenty of half-truths and fallacies. Don't let them play you.