First, Sarbanes-Oxley mandated byzantine corporate bureaucracy to 'protect' investors. Then, the SEC damaged the Silicon Valley economy by forcing companies to count stock options twice, both as dilution and as expense. As a result, Silicon Valley, for decades the bright spot of the American economy, produced only one [initial public offering] in all of 2008. Now, Geithner wants to regulate venture capital firms to protect us some more. It's like watching children deface an economic work of art.
--TJ Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semi via online.wsj.com
OK, lets get this straight.
Enron and Worldcom destroy trust in corporations and line their pockets along the way, and tech pays the price. Sarbanes-Oxley took cash directly out of the pockets of almost every tech entrepreneur out there, burned most of it, and gave the rest to accounting firm and auditors.
High flying masters of the universe on Wall Street use their quant models to yet again fleece the American public, and now tech is going to suffer yet more heavy handed regulation when DC puts a choke-hold on access to life-giving venture capital?
I was never a libertarian, but I'm certainly coming around.