Finally, let's keep well in mind the most important lesson of the auto rescue: While government should stay away from the private sector as much as possible, markets do occasionally fail, and when they do government can play a constructive role, as it did in the case of the auto rescue.
Steven RattnerPicking winners among the many young companies seeking money is a tough business, even for the most sophisticated investors. Indeed, most professionally run venture funds lose money. For individuals, it's pure folly. Buy a lottery ticket instead. Your chance of winning is likely to be higher.
Steven RattnerThanks to decades of accumulated federal budget deficits and, more significantly, imprudent Medicare and Social Security policies, we've stolen almost $60 trillion from our children.
Steven RattnerDuring my 30 years on Wall Street, taxes on โunearned incomeโ have bounced up and down with regularity, and Iโve never detected any change in the appetite for hard work and accumulating wealth on the part of myself or any of my fellow capitalists.
Steven RattnerMost troublesome is the legalization of 'crowd funding,' the ability of start-up companies to raise capital from small investors on the Internet.
Steven RattnerNeither the George W. Bush nor the Obama administrations volunteered to bail out G.M., Chrysler and other parts of the auto sector. Both subscribed firmly to the longstanding American principle that government should resolutely avoid these kinds of interventions, particularly in the industrial sector.
Steven Rattner