Politics | A Sales Guy

What Happens When Immigrants No Longer Want To Come To America?

Brad Feld posted this on his blog the other day: Attracting Smart People to Your Community Accelerates Entrepreneurship. The entire time I was reading it I couldn’t help but think in global terms; Attracting Smart People to Your COUNTRY Accelerates Entrepreneurship and Grows the Economy.

I think America is at a tipping point. We continue to embrace the things that made us great or we morph into something else. I’m not going to share my opinion on the something else, I’ll let that be debated. But, I am going to share my opinions on what made us great. Simply, it’s the perception of opportunity.

The perception of opportunity attracts smart people. It’s the single most impacting element to the rise of America as the most prosperous country in the world. The success of America has come almost solely from the perception that it offers more opportunity than any other place in the world. This perception has drawn millions and millions of people, immigrants, to its shores. These immigrants have been the backbone to American prosperity.

I think this core element to Americas success is being threatened and it scares me.

With our economy shaky, Americans angry, China, India and other countries taking center stage in the world economy, Americas place in the world is being threatened and our anti-immigration sentiment could be the straw that breaks Americas back.

America was built on luring the best and the brightest here. America has been the beneficiary of her own dream, but that could be beginning to change.

A few interesting statistics:

Only 6% of Indian students want to stay in the country full time after graduation
Only 10% of Chineses students want to stay in the country permanently after graduation
Only 15% of European students want to stay permanently after graduation
Over 25% of all US start-ups were started by immigrants
Over 25% of US patents were filed by immigrants
60% of Engineering Doctorates were received by foreign students
50% of all Math, Computer Science , Physics and Economics Doctorates were awarded to foreign students
Immigration founded US based business employed 450,000 workers and generated 52 billion dollars in revenue
Google, Intel, Yahoo, and Ebay were all started by Immigrants

What happens when no foreign students want to stay in the country?

Take away 25% of all US start-ups, where does that leave us?

Take away 25% of all US Patents where does that leave us?

Let 60% of all Engineering Doctorates leave the country, what happens to our future?

Let 50% of all Math, Computer Science, Physics, and Economics Doctorates leave the country, what happens to our future?

The impact immigrants have had in this country is undeniable. I liken it to the Yankees, get the best talent and the most talent and you win. (this is hard to say being a Red Sox fan) America has had this formula down pat for almost a century and we’ve benefitted from it tremendously. Now, the fear of terrorism squeezing access to visa’s, the onerous process foreign students have to go through to stay in the country after graduation, the boiling animosity towards immigration, especially illegal immigration, the economic rise and prosperity of other countries like China and India, are all threatening the American dream of opportunity.

There is a global race on for brain power. The winners of this race will lead the worlds economy. America wrote the book on attracting the best and brightest. We need to go back to the book and execute it flawlessly. We need new policies that make it easier for immigrants to set up shop. We need start-up visas. We need to be more open of immigration. We need to embrace the fact that, without immigrants, America will be a very different place, and it’s not a good place.

We can’t pick and choose what type of immigrants we want. There is no bad immigration. We embrace immigration or we don’t. We need to make it easier to come here. But more importantly, we need to ensure America is a place people want to come to. If you think things are tough now, imagine what it would be like if no one wanted to come here anymore.

I say we create a new leading economic indicator; the desire of immigrants to come to America. We need to track it and measure it. I think it’s a telling indicator, one that right now is heading in the wrong direction.

When immigrants no longer want to come to America, we lose.

How increased immigration would help fix the economy (blogs.reuters.com)
Kauffman Foundation Study Offers Revealing New Data on Immigrant Entrepreneurs Who Are Fueling U.S. Technology and Engineering Companies (kauffman.org)
Immigration and the American Economy (kauffman.org)

August 31, 2010 | Filed under: Politics | View Comments |

Don’t Confuse Like with Rights

Mark Suster and Fred Wilson wrote two powerful posts last week in defense of Gay Marriage and The Cordoba Mosque. They were eloquently written and heartfelt. At the core of both was the realization that it was just “right” to allow people to make decisions for themselves whether the rest of us like it or not.

It sadden me to read the comments. The number of people who openly opposed gay marriage and the development of the Mosque near ground zero was astonishing. The anger, venom, bitterness and desire to impose themselves on others was disheartening.

I think we are losing our grip on the definition of freedom. Freedom has nothing to do with liking. We have to stop confusing the two.

I don’t like the KKK, Skinheads, Rush Limbaugh, or the much of the crap that is put on TV today aimed at my kids. I don’t like flag burning or abortion. There are a lot of things people do, that I don’t like. With that in mind, I would fight to protect the rights of the KKK, Skinheads, Rush Limbaugh, the crap they put on TV, flag burning and aborrtion, not because I like them, but because I LOVE freedom.

You can’t expect to be free if you don’t allow others to be free. Freedom is reciprocal. Everyone gets it or no one gets it. Freedom is all encompassing. There is no such thing as partially free.

Too often we confuse liking something with providing the right to do something. But it doesn’t work that way. It actually works just the opposite. The founding fathers created rights to guarantee our freedom, to protect us from those who disliked what we did. They new that if we used LIKE to determine our freedoms we’d all be in trouble.

Take LIKE out of the freedom discussion and it makes things just a little easier. I don’t like a lot of things people do, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the right to do them.

Don’t confuse like with rights. It’ll cost you your freedom because somebody somewhere doesn’t like what you’re doing and that’s not reason enough to demand you stop. Our own freedom is tightly wrapped in how much freedom we give others and like should have nothing to do with it.

August 20, 2010 | Filed under: Politics | View Comments |

Race in America; Enough Already!!!

I’m black, if you haven’t figured it out. I consider myself black because that’s how I’m perceived. I’m technically half, as my mom is white and my dad black. However, my experiences have dictated my association with being black. I’ve been called nigger. I’ve been followed in stores, for fear I may clip something from the shelves. I’ve had girl friends whose fathers ban their daughters from dating me. I am seen as black and therefore am treated as such.

I give you this brief background as context because I’m about to go off and you deserve the context.

I’m am so tired of the race debate in this country. Race discussions and relations have been held hostage by the fringe. I’m over it.

Many blacks in this country are still bitter. We are still not taking care of our own shit. The Shirley Sherrod comments at an NAACP function are a perfect example. If we had our shit together and acted as we expect whites to act she would have been smacked off the stage. Yes, I get it. There are still ton’s of racist people out there, but that is NO excuse for allowing it in our own ranks. Being the victim of oppression or racism does not give anyone a license to reciprocate. It’s time to stop pointing fingers, blaming 250 years of institutional racism for our plight and our own individual challenges. We have a black president, black CEOs, black Congressman, black business owners. In my opinion, the US has spoken, institutional racism has been eradicated.

NAACP, your time is up. The enemy is no longer “the system.” It’s time to change your charter or shut down.

Jesse Jackson, Dan Gilbert was not being racist in expressing his feelings towards LeBron’s defection. Jesse you were, by assuming his comments were racially motivated on the sole data point that LeBron is a brother. Jesse, when the enemy was “the man,” when systematic racism was embedded in the fabric of this country, you were a leader, a deliverer of sorts and you did your job well. You pulled away “the mans” grip on the system and set the path for a black President, black CEO’s like Richard Parsons Ursula Burns and Kenneth Chenault and for that I thank you and we area all indebted to you. But, it is now time stop. Your approach is outdated. It is ineffective and misaligned. It could be argued, your outdated approaches are setting us back as they continue to operate from the fact the system is racist. This assumption is offensive to the millions of white Americans who aren’t racist, those who support diversity and have been part of the solution for years. Enough Jessee, the NAACP, and my fellow brothers and sisters who are still angry and are fighting yesterdays fight.

It’s time for us to stop looking outward and expecting the world to change for us. It’s time to stop blaming history, the system, the man, and everyone else. We were dealt a shitty hand. Efforts have been made to correct it. No matter how clumsy, or ill-conceived, changes have come and today’s environment affords us anything we WANT to commit to getting. Our focus should no longer be getting more, it should be taking advantage of what is afforded us today. Our new fight should focus on increasing black graduation rates, reducing our percentage of poverty, increasing black voter turnout, reducing the number of unwed mothers, increasing college attendance, increasing the number of black owned business, etc. The environment is different now, it’s time to take advantage of it. Jesse, NAACP, Shirley, Al Sharpton, and all the old school brothers and sisters who are still railing against the man; thanks for what you’ve done but it’s time to let go. You’re only hurting us now.

I am also over race relations in this country because of the dismissive nature of so many non-black people/white people. If another person on Twitter tries to defend the Tea Party I’m going to puke. The tacit acceptance of racial slurs, signs and more is inexcusable and is not justified by saying the NAACP is doing it too.

We’ve made progress as a country. A racist system has been, for the most part, destroyed. I thank all the white people who participated along side of Jesse and others; LBJ, John Brown, John F Kennedy, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and more. We owe you a debt of gratitude too. Despite these efforst, your work isn’t done. You can’t wash your hands of it all. Racism still exists, today it is subliminal, individual and tacit approval racism and whites in this country are not doing enough to eradicate that.

A friend told me the story the other day of how a childhood friend told him how they used to go “fag rolling.” My friend, who is white, didn’t know what that meant. So he asked. The answer was; fag rolling is when you go out looking for gays, find one and lure him into the car. When he get’s in, you kick the shit out of him and then while the car is still rolling you toss him out the door. After describing the antics of “fag rolling,” the childhood friend raised his hand for a high-five. I asked my friend, who was, as clearly disgusted as I was upon hearing the story, what he said to this guy. The answer was nothing. He sat in disbelief, but did and said nothing.

Many of my white friends still refer to their landscapers or housecleaners as their Mexican or Black housecleaner. Not that race or country of origin has any bearing on the story. To illustrate the point, I was at a party a few years ago when one of my white friends was describing how the Mexican landscaping company he used, screwed up his backyard. He went on and on continually inserting the Mexican identifier. I questioned him on why the fact they were Mexican mattered and why it had any bearing the story, as I felt it was racist to do so. He quickly labeled me too sensitive and said their goes Jim again. I’m known for calling people out on their shit. Besides, he said; They WERE Mexican.

As dinner progressed, others shared their home contractor failures, some using the racial profile of the offenders and others choosing not to. Figuring this was fair game, I shared mine. It went like this:
“I hired this white guy to redo my stairs and he completely fucked it up, and that was only two weeks after these two white guys screwed up the tile job in my foyer.” You can imagine the looks and response I got. My point however, was made.

There are still racist people in America. Blacks and non-whites still have it difficult to in comparison to whites. White people in this country have and continue to benefit from 250 plus years of a system set up to their benefit. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous.

Blacks have to stop railing against the system and blaming whites for their problems. Whites have to get their head out of the sand. Tremendous damage was done to the black community over 250 plus years. All that damage was not eradicated by the civil right act of 1964. We are barely a generation through that. The system has been addressed but, the individuals need to get on board.

White people, you need to stop expecting blacks to just get over it. You need to stop defending organizations and people who tacitly support or embrace racial language and actions. White people you need to become completely intolerant to those who display racist, homophobic, sexist, language. You need to stop pretending that because the system has been rid of racist underpinnings you have now done your job and you can wash your hands of it all. It doesn’t work like that. Stop inviting that neighbor who always has the black and jew jokes to the yearly party and tell him, to his face, you don’t want that trash in your house. Tell the old friend who brags about fag rolling to get the fuck out of your face and that you don’t ever want to see him again. Stop describing your house keeper, your manicurist, your lanscapers by there ethnic background. IT’S IRRELEVANT. It has no bearing on the story. Be intollorent, not to the slow pace of blacks to grab hold of the progress made so far, but of the white people around you who still haven’t made progress.

White america, you have just as much ownership in the bullshit racist climate that still exists in this country today as blacks. Stop pretending you don’t. Stop acting as if it’s all better and that you’ve done your job. Stop pointing the fingers at the brothers. Yes, we’ve got our own crap to clean up, but so do you.

I’m tired of today’s race discussions. They are rarely discussions, but rather blame games and grandiose efforts to one up each other trying to prove who is more engaged in racist actions.

The fringe is holding race hostage in this country and until the majority of us, those not on the fringe, those of us who don’t accept the behaviors of our fringe groups become intolerant, nothing is going to change.

I commit to you to do my part. .

Being half white and half black and not being on the fringe I am going to take the liberty to talk out of both sides of my mouth.

From my black side, to my fellow brothers. Enough! Stop worrying about the man, the system and what your being given and go take advantage of what’s there already. Capitalize on what this country has to offer. Allow Dick Parsons, Ken Chenault, Ursula Burns and Obama to represent what a blacks can accomplish. Let go of the “ghetto” as a self-defining trait. Embrace a culture of intellecualism and move forward. Look “in” for change now. Jesse, NAACP, Martin Luther King, and others changed the outside. It’s now our turn to change the inside. It’s a new fight.

From my white side, to my fellow white friends. Stop! Stop trying to minimize the impact of 250 years of slavery and Jim Crowe. There is real impact to that legacy, one you should feel blessed you haven’t had to live with. Stop allowing people to tell jokes, or express their racist tendencies without calling them out. Your refusal to call them out only allows them to walk away feeling they are not alone in their pathetic beliefs. Call them out. Call them out in public, throw them out of the party right in front of everyone. Let it be known you don’t roll that way. Stop allowing our nicety, don’t rock the boat culture to continue to allow racism to fester under the covers. Stop defending organizations who allow racist ideologies or people to sit within their ranks, EVEN if the organization itself isn’t racist. We are who we hang out with. Stop expecting blacks to “get with the program.” You have ownership in this too. Stop defending yourself. Stop saying you didn’t own any slaves. Recognize you are part of the problem. Stop blaming and look in. Evaluate your language. Look at what you teach your kids. Assess your passive and subtle prejudices, get real with how you look at others. Stop kidding yourselves. It’s not over just because you freed the slaves and passed a law. It takes time and effort.

Enough already. NAACP, you’re done. Get with the times or fold up. Tea Party, stop defending yourself. Both of you, vicioulsy and publicly distance yourself from those people who allow race to enter the discussion. They are there, stop offending people by saying their not.

The majority of you who are reading this; black or white I suspect are not the fringe and my hope in writing this and throwing down the gauntlet is you will go back to your community and tell the rest of the folks, stop pointing fingers, stop blaming, it’s time for us to take care of our own back yard. It’s the only way this thing is going to get any better.

There I said it.

UPDATE:

Now that the truth has come out about Ms. Sherrod’s case, I am a bit embarrassed that I got caught up in the back and forth. I should have dug a little deeper and maybe even waited a bit longer before posting this. It is clear now why the audience DIDN’T “smack her off the stage”. Good for Shirley for being woman enough to grow from her earlier life experiences. This being said, my point does not change. We need to stop pointing fingers and clean up our back yards first.

Shirley Sherrod Resigns USDA Job After Admitting Use Of Racial Preference During NAACP Banquet (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
Shirley Sherrod’s punishment doesn’t fit the crime (thegrio.com)
Disgraced USDA Official Blames Fox News and Tea Party for Her Dismissal (newsbusters.org)
Breitbart: Video Reveals NAACP Racism Against Whites (gaypatriot.net)

July 20, 2010 | Filed under: Politics,Random,What I Think! | View Comments |

Venture Capital — Extremely Efficient

I just finished reading Jeffrey Bussgang’s book, Mastering the VC Game. You can see the most recent books I’ve read or am reading in the sidebar.

It’s a great book for anyone who wants to get into Venture Capital, is looking to raise money, or just wants to understand how it all works.

I enjoyed the book. It’s a quick read. Jeff’s explanations are simple and straightforward. I especially liked his real world examples and interviews with the entrepreneurs.

One of the most compelling lines in the book was this one:

VC’s acting in concert with entrepreneurs function as an essential and powerful engine of the U.S. economy. In the forty years since the very frist venture-backed start-up–Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), wich was founded by Ken Olsen with a $70,000 investment in 1959 and went public in 1968 with a market value of $37 million, a 528-fold return!–VCs have invested more than 441 billion in some 57,000 companies in the United States. More than 12 million people (about 12 percent of the U.S. workforce) now hold jobs and make career at venture backed companies, and those businesses have combined sales of 2.9 trillion or over 20 percent of the total business revenues in the United States. And the VC game has led to the creation of some of the most iconic of American companies: Amazon, Apple, eBay, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Staples, Starbucks, Twitter and YouTube.

I found this to be very powerful. What drove it home for me is there are only approximately 880 VC firms in the U.S. This makes venture capital an extremely efficient economic driver.

Lately; the VC world and the Angel Investing world have been under fire. The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010 is looking to change the way “carried” interest is taxed. The banking bill sponsored by Chris Dodd is looking to change the definition of accredited investors and eliminate pre-epmtion over state regulation.

It seems to me, despite the concerns over Wall Street, banking etc. Venture Capital is an area we don’t want to be messing with. It is a powerful driver for economic growth and job creation.

Venture Capital has created twenty percent of the total revenue generated in the U.S. and twelve percent of the jobs in the U.S., There are only 882 companies employing about 7,000 people. Venture Capital a tiny space that makes HUGE impact. Doing anything that impedes this efficiency is being short.

Venture Capital is about being long. It would be great to see the government go long for once too. Shorting is no way to regulate.

Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Bearish Bullishness for Venture Capital (paul.kedrosky.com)

May 21, 2010 | Filed under: Entrepreneur,Politics | View Comments |

What Has Been Lost?

After further reflection upon my previous post Congratulations Mr. President I’m struggling. What have the detractors lost with Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? What do they gain by so vehemently bashing the decision? What do they get by taking such a negative position surrounding, what is traditionally a positive event. What is the threat? Why the anger?

I’m thinking this is what the book I just finished reading (Mistakes Were Made But Not By Me) would call cognitive dissonance.

I think all this comes down to self-preservation. For those who are opposed to Obama and his policies, any event that puts him in a good light threatens their position that he is no good for the country and must be removed. Any evidence suggesting Obama might be good for the country implies their opinion or position may be wrong. Any insinuation their opinion or position may be wrong is completely unacceptable to their view of self. Therefore, they HAVE to denounce it as vehemently and decisively as possible.

The sad part is this award does little to hurt the opposition or his detractors. It doesn’t make the Republicans less right on health care or taxes or immigration. It doesn’t make Obama the right choice either. It just makes him the Nobel Peace Prize award recipient of 2009.

I don’t think Obama’s detractors lost anything with the award being awarded to him. They lost when they so bitterly challenged the decision. What is gained with this behavior? I’m not sure too much of anything?

What do you think?

October 10, 2009 | Filed under: Politics | View Comments |

Congratulations Mr. President

Congratulations, Mr. President.

That is all that needs to be said regarding his award of the Nobel Peace Prize. There is absolutely NO need to say anything else if you don’t agree with the Norwegians choice. The decision of Obama’s detractors to speak out against the choice and openly challenge it as undeserved is just stupid. I am a huge advocate of debate and discourse. For those of you who read this blog often you know I love the contrarian, those people who challenge the staus quo. But openly denouncing this choice shows little class or commitment to our country.

Quotes like that of Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is the perfect example.

“The real question Americans are asking is, ‘What has President Obama actually accomplished?’ It is unfortunate that the president’s star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights. One thing is certain – President Obama won’t be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action.”

There is no redeeming value or benefit in this statement. There is nothing beneficial in it to anyone except Michael Steele. It’s just conservative angry sour grapes, with Republicans looking to create even greater partisan dissent and discord. Rush Limbaugh called it a greater embarrassment called it a “greater embarrassment” than losing the Olympics. Is it really?

A few other conservatives took a lighter approach such as Mike Huckabee who said;

“There will be an outcry from those on the right who will say that Obama’s nomination, made two weeks into his Presidency, is impossible to justify, but I think such an outcry will sound like right-wing whining,” Huckabee said in a statement. “The better response is simply to allow those on the left to explain what he did in his first two weeks as President that merited such recognition.”

Even this moderate statement begs for conflict and confrontation, in forcing those Americans who are in favor of it to defend the decision. I find all this sad.

To me this is an award all of America should be proud to support. Republican or Democrat it has been awarded to a sitting American President. Obama didn’t apply for the award. He didn’t lobby for it. He didn’t ask for it. He accepted it with humility and grace even saying he didn’t feel he was deserving; “To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize —

Trying to promote yourself or your cause by tearing down others has never been a noble approach. I’m tired of all the vilification, and tearing down of people to promote a political agenda. There is no controversy here. It’s an honor to our country and the only appropriate response is congratulations Mr. President. There is a time to show discourse and debate, this is NOT the time.

It is disheartening to think that such wonderful honor can’t unite us for 1 day. It makes me wonder, if any of our leaders can put the countries best interest over their own. The data is telling me no.

I’ll start. Congratulations Mr President. I’m proud to have such an honor bestowed on an American.

There is no debate here.

October 10, 2009 | Filed under: Leadership,Politics,What I Think! | View Comments |

Respect is Non-Partisan

I think we all learned as kids to be respectful. Although I’m beginning to wonder if anyone cares anymore.

Yesterday the House of Representatives voted on a “resolution of disapproval” against Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) for yelling “You Lie” during Obama’s joint session speech. It was passed by 263 Dems and only 7 Reps. Only 7 Repubs found it to be inappropriate. I don’t care what your take on health care reform is. I refuse to believe over 170 republicans felt his outburst was OK.

Our belief systems are not justification for shitty behavior. I recall when George W. was president there was an outcry for what the Repubs called lack of support for the President during war time. It is amazing how quickly the worm turns. There was absolutely no excuse for his outburst. It was disrespectful, rude, unnecessary, AND against the rules. To vote against the resolution is putting party over decency and Repubs should be embarrassed. This isn’t about health-care reform, it’s not about Obama, it’s not about illegal immigration, it’s not about socialism. Simply put its about respect for the system, varying opinions and the rules. Somewhere along the line we have begun to lose site of that. More and more we justify our inappropriate behaviors as being OK, rather than take accountability for them. There is no justification here. It was just plain wrong. There is no excuse for bad behavior.

Respect is non-partisan.

When I was kid, if I were to yell out like that in the middle of class, I would have been sent to the principle. If I were to do that during a company function, I would be fired. I find it hard to believe that 170 republicans and 7 democrats see it different. Respect is a value you have or you don’t. It’s not conditional.

Don’t sell out your values for your beliefs. Your beliefs rely too heavily on them.

September 16, 2009 | Filed under: Personal Brand,Politics,What I Think! | View Comments |

Should We Be Scared?

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while. I saw this article in the NY Times back in April, and it really got me thinking.

What struck me the most was this quote:

“Chinese leaders have adopted a plan aimed at turning the country into one of the leading producers of hybrid and all-electric vehicles within three years, and making it the world leader in electric cars and buses after that.”

It sounds very familiar to this quote:

“I believe that this nation should commit itself, to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” JFK

When people, teams, companies or countries make bold commitments like these, things happen. Our country is in tumultuous times. We need another bold commitment. Despite the good efforts of many, we are terribly inflicted with partisanship and bureaucracy. I feel we are skating to where the puck is, not to where it is going. We are consumed with protecting big dying companies, curbing immigration and stabilizing the markets we’ve forgotten how to look ahead.

I’d like to see us pick up our heads and make a new bold commitment. I’d like to see us make the sacrifices required today to win tomorrow. I fear that if we don’t we will eventually pull our heads out of the sand just in time to buy a fantastic new electric car from China and run it on wonderfully clean energy from Europe.

We have the talent. We have the skill. We have the capability to commit to another bold effort. Do we have the guts?

June 3, 2009 | Filed under: Politics | View Comments |

Sunday Morning Blog

RoadKill Refugee, is a voice for the left. A well articulated, well researched blog. Roadkill was an excellent spot for news during the election. A little quiet lately, he is still a great place to get a Sunday Morning dose of democrat coffee.