Obama, GOP cautiously optimistic post-summit

Yey Brotha Clark President Obama stated he thinks they made inroads and some progress, Yea! on his side. The republicans are in opposition. We see it, the world sees it. Why can't the President see it. I know he's under stress to be bi-partisan, but that doesn't mean cow tow to these idiots who want nothing more than to line their pockets and the pockets of the rich and famous. Times never change, the rich just keep on getting richer.

Something we tend to forget, how do the rich get rich? Why aren't we all rich? How come I'm not the President? Where would we be without the overachievers? No. let's just treat them like criminals because they do the things the rest of us can't or won't.

Steve I in no way would deny the rich what they deserve, but they should also pay their way. The more you make the more taxes you should be responsible for. They have a cut off, I believe 1 million to be the cap. I could be wrong on that. If they paid their way and weren’t given all of these cuts, everybody would be better off. If everybody in the world were overachievers, there would be no world order and no balance. After all someone needs to operate those businesses on lower levels therefore creating said world order. I know there needs to be order in the world, but it seems to me that this world is out of order. How come the top 2% continue to get richer and richer.and the poor get progressively poorer.
If more opportunities were available for more, a whole heck of a lot more people would be rich. Not only that, those who have been there will be the one to help those that need to get there. When you haven’t been there, you don’t give a dam. I never said treat them like criminals, just pay their dues like everybody else.

I apologize Anita, I wasn't saying you specifically treated them as criminals, but making a general observation about how the rich are often seen. But the rich do more than pay their way. It's called the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

Say an employee has stock options (which is a common incentive for those working in a startup company). The company succeeds (this takes a lot of commitment from the employee: sacrifice of health, family, leisure time, etc.) and the company goes public. Say the stock options are exercisable at $.10 a share, and the shares rise to $100 a share. Say the employee needs to exercise the options for whatever reason. The term limit is expiring, the employee is leaving the company, whatever. Now say the employee has 10,000 shares, but isn't going to sell, just exercise the options. So he/she pays $1000 to buy the 10,000 shares. He/she is now a millionaire on paper. But even though he/she is not selling the shares, they have the privilege of paying the government the tax on $999,999 (the difference between the exercise price and the value at the time of exercise). Remember, he/she doesn't want to sell the shares, but will likely need to, because he/she now has a tax liability on $999,999 and he/she hasn't made a cent for his/her self. That's the beauty of AMT, and the American Dream.

Okay, so I can't subtract. Read: $999,000.

Clark, here's a reposting, but the full article is now in the archives and I didn't feel like setting up an account to retrieve it. Still, I know I don't need to tell you where venture capital comes from.

Mercury News (08/25/10) O'Brien, Chris

The latest study from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) found that 10-year returns on venture capital investments turned negative at the end of last year and plummeted in the first quarter of this year, while 90 percent of surveyed venture capitalists expect industry contraction through 2015. Mercury News columnist Chris O'Brien says this trend signals a venture industry in free fall, and NVCA president Mark Heesen says that fewer innovative companies are being founded amid the increased difficulty in obtaining venture capital. The platform for the venture sector's financial model was having a substantial number of their portfolio companies hold initial public offerings (IPOs), but the IPO market has been in a holding pattern this past decade, and a revival of IPOs this year has not happened. The combined trends of fewer startups and wide-ranging consolidation translates into an impediment to job creation, and O'Brien concludes that "with venture capital in retreat, we must look elsewhere for a new model for startup funding to kick-start [Silicon Valley's] next era of innovation and the kind of job creation we desperately need."

Irma, how many pages long is the tax code?

Brotha Steve, Companies offering stock options would be great, but its rare for a company to offer its employees actual stock options, and most companies get out of paying AMT’s, if their taxes already exceeds the tax limits calculated by the government, that company becomes exempt.
Steve you’re giving us a lot of what ifs, not actual. What remains is the banks ain’t lending to start-up and small companies and the rich are getting richer. If those tax cuts go into effect for the higher 2%, the poor will continue to get poorer.

Anita, the information I presented is based on my actual experience with startups, venture capital, stock options and AMT. I participated in the dotcom bubble, before it became known as dotcom. Also participated in the housing bubble. What goes up must come down, and our current situation is due to the cycle of fear and greed, not politics. We had surpluses under Clinton, not because of policy, but because of a whole lot of revenue coming in from all those people that became rich off the development of the Internet. More below to Clark.

Clark, I don't correlate administrations with economic health the same way you do. I don't believe the 10 year period of a lack of IPOs is related to tax rates. It is the economic downside, the fear part of the cycle. Economics is not an exact science. We should just settle on tax rates and simplify the tax code, and quite playing around with monetary control, tax control, bottom up, top down and all the rest of this nonsense. Nobody can prove what effect these various measures have. The best thing we can do is settle on fair tax rates, and we absolutely should get rid of AMT, and simplify the tax code and eliminate all the machinations. When we play with the money supply/demand it is playing with fire, just like they are playing with fire with geoengineering. We are not smart enough to meddle in either of these fields.

Brotha Clark, I too owned a business in what was considered the economic boom, and even then banks would not extend venture capital, except to a certain criteria of people, myself not included, at a time when I had an excellent job, excellent credit and collateral, after all I was a government employee . I succeeded through 60,000.00 in grants and loans, which if not for the SBA I would not have obtained, because the information was not out there, especially for people like myself (African American single moms). Thank God for good accountants.
The dotcom and housing bubble burst for what reasons? Greed! The fact is the capital was distributed to the top 2% and the middle class barely got the leftovers. It didn’t have to burst, but due to greed , that’s exactly what happened, and whose greed was it? The Rich! So now if they spread that money around a little more evenly this go round, like you said, what goes up, at least there would be cushion. If only the rich get richer, then when the bottom falls out, there is no where to go but flat out bottom with no cushion in between!

@Brotha Clark, I don’t quite agree. If you have to have a track record than why are there start up programs in the first place. Then no one would get the funding they needed for a start up loan. You’re supposed to walk into a bank, have a great concept, a great written business plan and some collateral and bam, but that’s not the case anymore.
What we as African Americans don’t understand, and I don’t know if this applies today, but at the time I got my grants and loans for my salon, I didn’t know about certain minority programs that were funded by the government, for people just like me (woman, African American,black) and without my accountant (the greatest accountant in the world) having done her homework I would not have known. The crazy thing about the programs were, if the money that being allocated wasn’t used by a given date, the money then went to other programs or to white counterparts.

But Irma, President Obama just extended our stay in Afghanistan. Who is going to stop the madness, if neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will?

And Anita, if you can find a partner who is a vet, that helps too.

@Brotha Clarke, my mistake. I thought those were your views, but yes you’re right. That’s the way it should be, but of course its not.
@Brotha Steve, you are right, but the problem with partners is this. You don’t have complete control. You always have to confer with your partner. My Vet SBA advisor tried to advise me against taking on a partner when I first opened my salon and I didn’t listen and had to endure my first 5 years of my salon ownership with a good for nothing partner who did nothing to contribute except collect. My advice to anyone starting a business, if taking on a partner, make sure that person is a goal oriented person or at least on the same level, financially & mentally. Make sure they will come to the table with equal qualifications. It is a burden carrying someone.

Anita, that's it right there, the key is the team. Most of my career was in a team environment, corporate. It took about 13 years before I found the right team, but wow! when I did, it was off the charts!

http://blackinamerica.com/cgi-bin/blog.cgi...

Sista Irma you are just too much. If our president doesn't get himself together and fight these Republicans where they stand, a lot of us won't see a christmas or any other holiday for a long time to come. Oh did anyone here, the owner of wikileaks is wanted and suspected of molestation, which he denies and says its a set up for him to shut up. Looking for the story now. By to the issue. The democrats are going to have to force the vote to the floor and make the republicans show their true colors.

AMEN! Can't wait. C-Span here I come!

I have a question. Are the majority in this country left right or center?

My answer is center. So why do we allow ourselves to be pushed to the left or right?

Because if you don't take a stand, the right will take over. I do tend to go to the center, but when Democrats try to do that, the Republicans feel they have a victory and want full control as they are now doing. They pretend to sit down to the table, but have no intention of compromising, and that the left right back over to the left. Being Center only means you have no loyalty to either side and they can bounce back and forth and sway public opinion. In my opinion thats the easy way out and only for commitment phobic people. If you stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

...and, not to mention...jobs exported, the $$$4 billion that Haliburton just only had to say theycan't find it...how much money poUred into Iraq still to make it safe for China to get all of the oil it needs from Iraq at tHis very moment...

how much being borrowered from ChinA to send to Afgan and Palistan this week, this month...

and, I repeat...BRAINWAShINGS WORK IN aMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! nUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

palin for president in 2012...

ONLY IN AMERICA..do we insist on mentioning fOrmer pres.Regan endlessly and never ever mention how he raised taxes "11 TIMES"!!!...

lol along with PALIN FOR PRESIDENT 2012 ...(SMILE)

@Steve, the last thing I want to be is considered as being "rich" / above the legal -moral laws, even if I did not have to pay taxes. lol ...

"I" am enjoying my life as someone who does not want nor do I expect someone to do any more for me than I am willing to do for my self, in my duty with my one vote a direct part of the u.s. government that is of , for and by the people...(smile)

@ President B.H.O., "where have you been the last two years" ? (smile)

@ America...this statement by a leading Republican at that summitt, I admit I found facinating...no PRICELESS...

"The president has Admited taht he has not done enough to reach out to us..."...

ONLY IN AMERICA. (NUP)

I do hope that this what I just heard on both CNN & MSNBC fits this topic...they were discussing why is it not our president in states like Mich. having a cup of coffee with the unemployed wh o will not be getting an unemployment check for Christmas toys- dinner...and here teh Repubicans are already out in front telling the American citizens taht right after Christmas they will be facing a cut in pay and a tax incerese???...

then it hit home to me something I have yet heard one politican say about this tax cut creates jobs by the upper 2%...

how many of those jobs outsourced were not out sourced by the upper 2% ????????????!!!!!!!on top of all of those tax avoiding monies just disclosed in Switzerland banks????Oh, that's right it did not cause a mass media frenzy now did it??????????????????

"I" don't know about you but right now Wikileaks is looking like a blessing for us in our resistance to do our own home work on what has caused this CONTINUINGS disasters in our country as far as main street is concerned...(smile)

@Clark, looking at the position taht the right has ended up in as a result of just saying "N-O", they would be utter fools to CHANGE now. (nup for teh Dems)(the Rep are smiling all the way to the bank with those lobby find raises the so, so deserve)

...oops as it is now looking like the right is going to shut down the federal government we can all take a break on discussing any of the now three political party system in America. (smile)

Here is some of a lecture we got in a socialogy class by our professor...

He said if the rich man were to pay his housekeeper at his salary rates then his wife would not be able to do all of taht volunteer work s, shoping, going to spa or bridge with the girls but would have to remain at home raising their children, doing the house work, cooking, and maybe making their clothes ect. because of the extra money paid to her/him as housekeeper.(smile)

or in other words, we all must help to balance things out, we just tend to not look at life this way. As in truth, reality and actually how each and every one of us is due respect just for being members of teh human race.(smile)

You are so correct Anita and we will see them finally going into action tomorrow in the senate...can't wait to see them voting on the floor tomorrow on C-Span for permenant tax cuts for the middle class or not...it is a great first step...

and it seem tha tin the House they are gearing up to not allow any Christmas break at all to allow teh right-wingers to show just how seriously they take their need to filibuster....I now have some hope that they are finally listening to the main street calling for the Left to get a back bone!!! (smile)

now it looks like the need to blaim our president for what the right are not willing to do such as act like they were sent there to do more than just say "NO"!!! (smile)

@ Mr. President, you now have two options left open for you...LEAD OR FOLLOW THE REPUBLICANS AS THEY TRY TO EAT THE TEAPARTY ALIVE, THE NEXT TWO YEARS...LOL

...we can not get any place if we continue to ignore each other now can we...anyway Steve, my husband alway as have done my taxes as I have no idea how to understand them. But , "I" do know enough to not do anything to make the government spend millions to collect a few pennies from me.

NOw if we were talking about helping people in the grips of some of teh countless abuses of the tax man then that is more up my alley of expertes. ((smile)

...iwthout poor there be no rich...(smile)

@Steve anyone ever collect the $million for proving taht they paid more incomtaxes than their sectrary? any things like tis ever hit us in teh real world about who pays taxes...and by the way Steve now that the democrats are not in as much power as theywere how much of the military, pentogan budget will get cut...or how long will we be borrowing .4o cents of every dollar we spend from China...now how much was taht that the rich in congress got in millions just for having a farm and not planting any thing or doing any work on them at all?????

ok steve...I am waiting fo ran answer on tis Legal tings....? (smile)