BlackRock, a $3 Trillion investment firm and an LP in Venture I have met with, is bullish on the U.S.
We agree with Chief Equity Strategist Bob Doll that U.S. entrepreneurial capacity will continue to lead the world, despite the way we see a subprime financial system, or socialistic capitalism, suppressing innovation. Apple and Facebook are great examples of custodians of innovation that have escaped the wrath of Venture Capital and grown dramatically despite (not because of) the traditional playbook of Venture Capital.
I agree with Bob on some of the economics he mentioned, but remain a staunch critic of the deplorable and suppressive role of defunct financial arbitrage. With a new financial system guiding innovation, we could be doing a lot better. Our cultural capacity to innovate, despite the flawed economic principles of our financial system, escapes and keeps rising above its arbitrage. But looking inwards, as we have found out, is not part of the interest or risk analysis of many financiers.
Interesting points:
- U.S. productivity is “OK and better than lots of other places. Over the next 20 years, the U.S. workforce is going to grow by 11%, Europe’s going to fall by five, and Japan’s going to fall by 17.”
- Half of the 2009 stimulus program was “true stimulus” for the economy. What about the rest? “Call your congressman and find out.”
- “We face formidable long-term structural problems that make the U.S. less attractive than it otherwise might be.”
- In 1995 the U.S. produced roughly 25% of the world’s goods and services, and in 2010, after 15 years that included a tech bust, a terrorist attack and a housing bust that triggered a financial crisis, the U.S. was still producing that same 25% of global GDP
Read the full article here: [Links: The Wall Street Journal]
