Tuesday, January 15, 2013

A Fund To Fund Underfunded Funds

From the government presser re their Venture Capital Action Plan:

$250 million to establish new, large private sector-led national funds of funds (a funds of funds portfolio consists of investments in several venture capital funds)

Can anyone tell me this isn't straight out corporate welfare?  But wait!  It is, it is straight out corporate welfare!

6 comments:

Robert G. Harvie, Q.C. said...

Really.

Well, now, that's nice.

Here we are with a growing deficit and our "conservative" government wants to continue investing in private enterprise.

Wait.

Aren't you a liberal blogger? Aren't Blogging Tories supposed to be decrying this sort of government effort meddling in business.

Is hell freezing over?

Are pigs flying?

Say it ain't so.

Robert G. Harvie, Q.C. said...

Ok.

Had to give you props and try out some photoshop today...

http://nopuppethere.blogspot.ca/2013/01/harper-venture-capital-program-pierre.html

crf said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
crf said...

More muddled thinking from the Conservatives.

This kind of goes against recommendations of the Jenkins commission. It recommended the government BUY more products from Canada's high tech companies. (Similar to the way the US government has historically bought large amounts of product from US high-tech companies (aerospace, science, defence, energy, computing, health-care)).

Providing investment capital is a bit muddled in today's economic environment. Customers and revenue is what high-tech companies most need. Capital's cheap, but banks won't lend to you without customers. Having steady sources of federal revenue allows them to more easily justify investments in RD that may pay off with many private-sector customers. But it's the truth that most RD is highly risky, won't end up paying off, and harder and harder for even the largest companies to justify.

To be fair, the government may have got the message when it comes to MDA, and its purchase of a new radarsat satellite program. But it didn't get the message with respect to AECL, and the maple reactor or ACR, for instance.

Jenkins' report

crf said...

Blogger is butchering that href link. So swear at it while you cut and f'ing paste ...
rd-review.ca/eic/site/033.nsf/eng/home

Terrence said...

It is corporate welfare. And I can't believe that there are some soi- disant fiscal conservatives who still trust the CPC.