Friends,
I sit here one week before the Presidential election and am thinking about the state of the country, but not so much the candidates to be honest. Not sure what that means but here is what I see (and do not see):
1. We are going through the worst economic mess since...well before I was born.
2. The US is the 3rd best performing country stock index over last year...ouch.
3. We are throwing around TRILLIONS of dollars like they are pennies...twelve 0's in a trillion.
4. Over 20+% of US mortgages are “under water”...but long-term, is this a bad thing?
5. Unemployment should be at 7-8% within 9 months...and those numbers don't include people NOT looking.
6. States are on the cusp of bankruptcy...or “pulling an Iceland” as it is now called.
7. Goodbye Princeton, hello University of Illinois...college fund/401K drops and Risky Business reference for everyone my age.
8. The Fed will be lowering borrowing rates to at or BELOW 1% tomorrow...and it is irrelevant due to credit blockage.
9. I attended my first home auction in my “McNeighborhood” recently...auctioneer was from Oklahoma City, the least expensive city in US. Go figure.
10. And on and on and on...it really is amazing the amount of news every day that matters.
But one thing I don’t see...where is ANY government help and investment in what REALLY drives the US: education, innovation and infrastructure? We are quick to bail out the mortgage industry (don’t think we aren’t) and Detroit (now there is a great return) and aggressively throw into the bailout ridiculous things about arrows and other stuff I am too insulted to comprehend. Some say that this is the democratic process....well I think it’s [editor's note: explicative removed].
Therefore, I am calling for a 1% “Innovation Tax” for the US effective immediately. Imagine what that could do to spur growth. Did you know we could have seeded 700,000 entrepreneurs and start-ups (at $1 Million each) with that 700 Billion dollar (which is now about double by the way) bailout? Think that would create more high-paying jobs than the bailout? Think we could invest 10X more in University commercialization and tech transfer and get a better return? Think we can train more people in science and technology? Yes I know we have some STEM initiatives going on and they are helpful, but why not THINK BIG and develop an innovation platform for which the NEXT generations can prosper? 1% should do it.
Oh well, enough of my soapbox, just some random musings on what I consider important, I guess more than who the next President will be.
Gary
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About Me
- Gary Augusta
- Aliso Viejo, CA, United States
- Gary Augusta is President and CEO of OCTANe and Executive Director of the OCTANe Foundation for Innovation. Gary brings over 15 years experience to his role, with experience in early stage growth strategy, corporate venture, engineering, development, consulting, and M&A at technology start-ups, for- and non-profit corporations, and Fortune 500 companies. Gary started OCTANe in March of 2004 and is a member of the UC Irvine CEO Roundtable, the Keck Graduate Institute Advisory Council, and the UC Irvine ICS Membership Committee. He serves as a board member or advisor to several start-up companies in the biomedical and information technology industries. Gary has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island and a Masters of Science and Management (MSM) from Georgia Tech.
4 comments:
Gary, you should look at how Ireland got out of its economic doldrums:
One of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world; 0 tax on royalties on intellectual property; marginal tax rates lower than what we pay here in CA; and free education, based on competition for limited spaces, through third level. Oh, and like the rest of the industrialized world, what is derided as a "voucher system" for K-12.
the US is about to make the same mistake France did in 1981.
Ireland's good times are not so good now, but the boom was both national (Irish govt) and the EU community. Only the scientific community seems to be hearing Obama calling for the things we need (see The Scientist poll and comments): education, help with medical insurance for our staff, and money for R&D.
As I've also mentioned to my congressman (5-10 times), we could do great things in the diagnostics business if the FDA would just leave us alone to innovate.
We already have the tax break: IRC Section 1202c. If more entrepreneurs and investors knew about it, maybe we'd have more innovation.
Ireland's per capita GDP exceeds that of the US (it's the 6th in the world, US is 7th, according to the World Bank this February). Times are bad everywhere, but Ireland's tax and investment policy, transatlantic free market of ideas and IP, and highly educated workforce give it an edge over the tightly regulated, industrial focused economies of the continent; and the functionally illiterate graduates of Publik Educashun in the US.
The Irish Celtic Tiger was mostly architected based on a report my Ira Magaziner (one of Clinton's advisers) called "The Telesis Report". The US would do well to heed its recommendations.
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