G-20 Notes
As I drove home last night, I was listening to President Obama’s post G-20 news conference. Two key points made during his Q&A struck me…
I think that there’s always been a spectrum of opinion about how unfettered the free market is. And along that spectrum, I think there have been some who believe in very fierce regulation and are very suspicious of globalization, and there are others who think that it’s always — that the market is always king. And I think what we’ve learned here, but if anybody had been studying history they would have understood earlier, is that the market is the most effective mechanism for creating wealth and distributing resources to produce goods and services that history has ever known…
And this…
I strongly believe in a free-market system, and as I — as I think people understand in America, at least, people don’t resent the rich; they want to be rich. And that’s good. But we want to make sure that there’s mechanisms in place that holds people accountable and produces results…
"...to marshal more venture capital for more new industries -- the kind of efforts that begin with a couple of partners setting out to create and develop a new product -- we intend to lower the maximum capital gains tax rate."
"The tax on capital gains directly affects investment decisions, the mobility and flow of risk capital from static to more dynamic situations, the ease or difficulty experienced in new ventures in obtaining capital, and thereby the strength and potential for growth of the economy."