First of all, this post is NOT intended to be a political statement or judgment, merely an observation. The only provocative aspect of this post is that the title could have been, "One Way the Government Affects the Economy," but instead I chose to use Obama's name because my example comes from his policies.
Last Friday my company
(AlumniFidelity) was selected to give a presentation to a room full of private investors at something called a Grubstake Breakfast, where investors evaluate new companies to see if they want to invest in them. We were selected to appear along with four other companies out of a pool of 40 under consideration. As many of you know, AlumniFidelity sells software and consulting services to schools and nonprofits to help them find new donors and lower the costs of their online fundraising. The other FOUR companies that were selected to present were ALL health care companies. Typically, this Grubstake tries to showcase a wide variety of companies.
The consensus in the room was that due to the stimulus, as well as Obama's general focus on health care, right now investors and entrepreneurs want to focus on certain types of health care businesses that can be expected to profit from government spending.
When it comes to major industries, it is not a groundbreaking revelation that government spending has a major impact on shaping the economy. However, I was surprised to see an example of government policies shaping such early-stage investment and entrepreneurial activity. Especially since the government hasn't even started spending money that would affect these companies, and the health care policies themselves are not even finalized in any form.
Again, I'm not casting judgment or making a political statement. (And, for the record, my company actually benefited, because we stood out from the crowd as the only alternative for people who simply weren't interested in the health care industry.)
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