Business

What a Tangled BigBiz Tech Web We Weave

By Marc Comtois | February 9, 2011 |

First we all disapproved of Microsoft and they went down. Now it’s Google’s turn….and guess who it blames? Google is under siege in Washington like never before — and it says an “anti-Google industrial complex” is to blame. In an interview with POLITICO, a Google spokesman argued that a cabal of antitrust lawyers, lobbyists and…

Update: Senators Reed and Whitehouse Vote Against 1099 Relief

By Carroll Andrew Morse | February 6, 2011 |

In response to my Friday 1099 repeal post, commenter “bythebay” notes that Rhode Island Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse did vote for a 1099 repeal amendment that was submitted by Michigan Senator Carl Levin. The Levin Amendment would have offset anticipated revenues from the 1099 provision by eliminating certain tax-breaks for oil companies. (The…

Senators Reed and Whitehouse Vote Against 1099 Relief

By Carroll Andrew Morse | February 4, 2011 |

The United States Senate voted yesterday to repeal the section of the new Federal Healthcare Law that would have required businesses to file a separate 1099 form for every vendor from whom they purchase $600 or more in goods and/or services. (CNN has a good description of the scope of the 1099 provision, available here).…

We Need to Prune Regulations, Not Regulate Pruning

By Monique Chartier | January 19, 2011 |

Pulling out a bill from Andrew’s latest handy-dandy list, it’s not at all clear to me, setting aside crass considerations like the impact on our hedge trimming and lawn mowing bills, how this would improve our rankings of 49th worst business climate and 49th worst economy in the country. A bill sponsored last week by…

Creating Pants on Fire Out of Truth

By Justin Katz | November 22, 2010 |

Sunday’s PolitiFact correctly rates as “true” RI Democrat Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s statement that “the law… permits companies that close down American factories… to take a tax deduction for the costs associated with moving the jobs to China or India or wherever.” But in its headline, in its presentation, and in an expanded quotation from Whitehouse,…

John Robitaille (And Clearly John Robitaille) on Today’s 38 Studios Development

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 31, 2010 |

As of 8:45 this evening, Katherine Gregg‘s 7-to-7 item on today’s developments in the 38 Studios deal contains what appears to be a typographical echo…Urging them both to cease their attempts to “interfere” with the $75 million loan guarantee agreement with Schilling’s 38 Studios, Carcieri said: “Businesses and the bond market should not be subject…

Ken Block, on Frank Caprio’s Move in the 38 Studios Saga

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 31, 2010 |

In the course of an interview with Moderate party Gubernatorial Candidate Ken Block, I had the opportunity to get Mr. Block’s immediate reaction to the news that General Treasurer and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio had taken steps today to prevent the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation loan-guarantee deal with 38 Studios from being implemented……

On “Giving Back”

By Justin Katz | August 21, 2010 |

Kimberly Dennis summarizes a cliché in such a way as to give me hope that maybe differing perspectives really are just a clarification away from harmonization (via Paul Caron, via Glenn Reynolds): Successful entrepreneurs-turned-philanthropists typically say they feel a responsibility to “give back” to society. But “giving back” implies they have taken something. What, exactly,…

“Religious” Varieties, Ideology and the Man in the Mirror

By Marc Comtois | July 26, 2010 |

Alexis Madrigal at the Atlantic has written a piece that uses the latest Apple iPhone problems as a jumping off point to examine the “religious experience” of being an Apple “fanboy.” In short, there are 4 myths surrounding the Apple “mystique”, according to Texas A&M’s Heidi Campbell: 1. a creation myth highlighting the counter-cultural origin…

“Getting Unstuck”

By Marc Comtois | July 26, 2010 |

I don’t usually directly plug a blog, but Seth Godin’s Blog is a pithy record of his thoughts, mostly applicable to business, but broadly applicable to life. Godin looks at things from different angles and, though some of his solutions may boil down to re-wordings of the familiar, his explanation and method is engaging. For…