{"id":15975,"date":"2012-11-12T09:09:29","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T14:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=15975"},"modified":"2012-11-12T13:40:22","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T18:40:22","slug":"optimistic-on-the-fiscal-cliff-and-maybe-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=15975","title":{"rendered":"Optimistic on the fiscal cliff, and maybe immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I’m optimistic on the fiscal cliff. Implications for now:<\/span><\/p>\n

+ Taxes will rise next year — for everything from dividends to death taxes.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

+ Certainty of sorts will dawn. CEOs will look at their investment plans positively.<\/span><\/p>\n

+ Many erstwhile high-gaining stocks will fall until year-end as we all take gains in anticipation of paying more taxes next year..<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I remain heavily in cash.<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If yo have a stomach for writing your congressperson, senator or president a letter, please implore them that we need immigration reform. Here’s an email I sent my senator on the weekend:<\/p>\n

Please make immigration reform happen.
\nI am an immigrant. I came to America to do an MBA at Harvard.
\nTwo years studying in America convinced me I wanted to stay, as it convinces many.
\nI’m now an American, and a happy one.
\nIn my years here, I’ve started many new businesses, employed many people and paid the IRS over $60 million in taxes.
\nToday I invest in technology companies, some startups, some along the way.
\nAll our companies are short of trained, bright people, especially software engineers.
\nThe technology community needs more H-1B Visas.
\nThe technology community needs trained, bright, young people to start and manage companies, and to stay here and become tax-payingAmericans.
\nI suspect if I graduated today from Harvard, I would have a hard time getting a visa to stay.
\nI like this place and the opportunities it affords young people.
\nPlease make immigration reform happen.
\nThank you,
\nHarry<\/p>\n

Amazing interest rates<\/strong><\/span>. Yes, they can still fall. From Vanguard over the weekend:<\/p>\n

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was down 13 basis points for the week to 1.62%, for a year-to-date decline of 27 basis points.<\/p>\n

And you thought they couldn’t get any lower.<\/p>\n

The biggest lesson remains<\/strong><\/span>: Obey our inviolate stop loss rule. 8% (or even less) continues to make sense. If you don’t believe me, look at the recent price moves of “hot” stocks, such as Apple, Netflix, Intel, AGNC. Annaly, and even Con Edison.<\/p>\n

How Zara Grew Into the World’s Largest Fashion Retailer.<\/strong> The guy who co-founded it is now richer than Warren Buffett. <\/strong>Fascinating piece. Click here.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nice warming entrepreneurial story.<\/strong><\/span> From Huffington Post:<\/p>\n

When 12-year-old Nicky Bronner awoke the day after Halloween 2009 to find his parents had confiscated the previous night’s booty, he lost it. His father, Michael, explained the candy wasn’t good for him, and Nicky set out to prove him wrong. Instead, he was horrified to learn the ingredients in his favorite treats. Why not create an all-natural candy that also tastes good?<\/p>\n

After calling about 15 chefs, Nicky found one who shared he and his father’s vision — Adam Melonas — and the three started Boston-based Unreal in July 2012. They immediately went big: Unreal Candy is already on the shelves of 20,000 stores, including Staples and CVS, will soon be sold in Target and 7-Eleven.<\/p>\n

Read the full heart-warming story here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

After many false starts, QR codes are finally taking off.<\/strong><\/span> That’s the heading on a story in the latest Economist. I love these things:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you don’t have a QR scanner on your iPhone, pick one up for free. It’s called QRReader.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here’s the Economist on how they’re used.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You should be using these in your business. They’re easy to create. Read the full story here<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>or scan the QRCode above.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/div>\n

Harry Newton who teaches himself “time management.” Two elements:<\/p>\n

1. Every morning list the five most important tasks of the day, and start with the hardest.<\/p>\n

2. Put 20 minutes aside to do the easy ones. Many tasks look daunting, but can often be done in five minutes. Saves them piling up. Makes the family happy.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m optimistic on the fiscal cliff. Implications for now: + Taxes will rise next year — for everything from dividends to death taxes. + Certainty of sorts will dawn. CEOs will look at their investment plans positively. + Many erstwhile high-gaining stocks will fall until year-end as we all take gains in anticipation of paying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}