August 19, 2011
I believe there is a quick, easy, no-brainer initiative that both Republicans and Democrats could get behind and would have an immediate significant and positive impact on the U.S. economy, create millions of jobs and have zero negative effect on the federal budget.
We are currently in a state where cash is at an all time high on the balance sheets of U.S. corporations, banks and a smaller amount of individuals. But for various reasons, including unstable markets, fears of a double dip recession, and general economic uncertainty, this capital is not being actively invested to grow the economy and create jobs.
In addition, the returns on this capital are, ironically, also at historical lows due to the unprecedented low interest rate environment and fearful investment climate that exists today.
So, we have enormous amounts of capital sitting on the sidelines providing almost no return, in a significantly challenged economy that is in dire need of job-producing capital investment.
The Proposal
Congress passes and the president signs a bill reducing the capital gains tax to 0% on any new capital investment beginning immediately and made through the end of 2012, with certain important stipulations (which I will explain in a moment), if the investment is held for two years or longer. It would not matter how long after the two year holding period the investor realized profits on his investment for the 0% tax rate to apply to the gain as long as the investment was made after the enactment of the legislation and is this type of investment:
- All NEW capital investment made by corporations, partnerships and individuals for newly issued shares of stock in both private and public companies (including start-up businesses) after the enactment of the capital gains legislation.
- All NEW investments made by corporations, partnerships and individuals purchased after the enactment of the new capital gains legislation for all new capital assets.
- All NEW construction real estate, both commercial and residential by corporations, partnerships and individuals developed after the enactment of the new capital gains legislation.
- All NEW capital improvements made by corporations, partnerships and individuals to existing real estate, both commercial and residential, made after the enactment of the new capital gains legislation.
The 0% capital gains rate would NOT apply to:
- The sale of any stock, bond, etc. (private or public) that existed prior to the enactment of the new capital gains tax.
- The sale of any capital asset, including real estate, that existed prior to the enactment of the new capital gains tax.
- Any and all capital gains realized on any asset purchased prior to the enactment of the new capital gains legislation and sold after the enactment of the new legislation.
In other words, this special capital gains tax rate would only apply to new job-producing investments made after the enactment of the legislation. It would not apply to gains on investments that were made prior to the enactment of the legislation.
It would also not apply to the mere exchange of capital assets that existed prior to the enactment of the legislation, but were both purchased and sold after the enactment of the legislation or purchased before and sold after the new legislation.
This simple approach highly incentivizes the movement of the enormous amount of dead capital from the sidelines into the economy in the form of desperately needed new job-producing long-term capital investment with no negative effect on the federal budget and without any windfalls to those who only trade existing capital assets.
Seems like a win all around and one both Democrats and Republicans can get behind in a bi-partisan manner that would also have the residual effect of boosting confidence in Washington, which is as desperately needed as new job-producing capital investment is needed in the economy.
July 21, 2011
Entrepreneur and NBA Hall of Famer to join venture capital firm launching tech companies in Detroit.
DETROIT, July 21, 2011 – Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Hall of Fame NBA star, philanthropist and entrepreneur, announced today he will join Detroit Venture Partners (DVP) as a general partner. DVP is a Detroit-based venture capital firm that invests in seed and early-stage technology companies primarily located in the heart of downtown Detroit. Mr. Johnson will also be investing millions of dollars into the fund itself.
Detroit Venture Partners was launched in 2010 by entrepreneurs Josh Linkner, Founder & Chairman of ePrize; Dan Gilbert, Founder & Chairman of Quicken Loans and Majority Owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers; and Brian Hermelin, Founder & Chairman of the private equity firm Rockbridge Growth Equity.
Magic, a Lansing, Michigan native who played basketball for Michigan State University before being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, said:
I am investing in Detroit Venture Partners and the City of Detroit because I want to have a positive impact on the biggest downtown in my home state. I believe strongly in the Detroit 2.0 movement and creating opportunities to help people get back to work.
Dan, Josh and Brian share my core values and are approaching their venture investing with the ‘hands on’ style I am familiar with because that is how I do business.
DVP is well on its way, already investing in six of the 12 companies it expects to fund in 2011. In the next several years, DVP plans to impact Detroit by investing in early stage companies who are expected to create numerous jobs, bring significant economic activity and occupy substantial amounts of office space in downtown Detroit.
Linkner, CEO and Managing Partner of DVP, said:
Earvin brings so much to the DVP team – entrepreneurial experience, a passion for Detroit and Michigan, additional capital to fund businesses, and the well-respected Magic brand.
Gilbert added:
There is absolutely nothing more important than transforming Detroit to an exciting place for young, eager, wealth-creating entrepreneurs to embark on their business journeys. More and more great people, investors and businesses are joining the initiative to build something very special downtown every single day. And Magic’s involvement will only accelerate this process further and faster.
DVP, along with some of the businesses it invests in, will be located in Gilbert’s downtown Detroit Madison Theatre Building, which is currently being transformed into a hub where tech and creative companies can collaborate and innovate.
DVP is “all digital” – with investments exclusively in the areas of digital media, software, cloud computing, e-commerce, marketing technology, mobile apps, internet and social.
The company’s investments include:
- FLUD, a news-reader application for iPad, iPhone, and Android devices, based in San Diego, California with plans to launch a business development office in Detroit
- Hired My Way, a Birmingham, Michigan-based company that better connects job seekers and employers
- Are You a Human?, a Detroit-based business providing a better alternative to the difficult-to-read internet form “CAPTCHA”
- Detroit Labs, building Web, iOS, and Android applications for businesses ranging from local start-ups to Fortune 500 Companies, with offices in Detroit
- Gumshoe, based in Detroit, is an alternative reality game of Clue right in your back pocket where players compete against friends and a community of sleuths to solve mysteries
- Favers, a Detroit company providing a social shopping platform for specialty retailers where consumers can share the products they “like” – plus “follow their faves” to get instant product updates
In addition to DVP, the real estate arm of Magic Johnson Enterprises is in talks with Gilbert’s real estate partnership, Bedrock Real Estate Services, exploring potential investments in downtown Detroit real estate.
July 17, 2011
Let’s talk Detroit.
As you may have read, we (as in our entire organization from top to bottom) are like the pig at breakfast when it comes to Motown:
Fully committed.
Or as those who play Texas Hold Em’ like to say:
“All in.”
Why?
- Because we live here and work here (and we’re here, anyway).
- Because if we (as in all of us in SE Michigan) don’t create a safe, lively, exciting, technology-focused urban core that brings hope through new (and old) entrepreneurial companies that serve as a magnet for young, smart professionals, the vast majority of whom have made crystal clear they want the experience of living, working and playing in a cool downtown oozing with OPPORTUNITY, then just say “sayonara” to an entire generation of would-be “Detroiters” and “Michiganders.”
And this time, we can turn out the lights for good. (If the electric company doesn’t already do us the favor because we won’t be able to pay our bills.)
It’s not only a generation we are trying to save from fleeing to the likes of Chicago, NY, San Francisco, Boston or South Beach (God forbid!).
It’s THE generation that will and is already creating the most amount of wealth in the shortest period of time of any generation since Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal men walked the earth.
Don’t believe me?
Say “Groupon.”
Groupon was created in the fall of 2008. That’s less than 36 months ago or after most of you signed your last car lease.
In other words, your current automobile (hopefully, an American one) is older than this little company.
Little?
Well, they will likely be public in less than six weeks or so at a “little” 25 BILLION dollar or more market capitalization.
That’s a higher market value than each of these “big” companies:
- Staples
- Kellogg
- Alcoa
- Gap
- Sears
- Southwest Airlines
- Nordstrom
- Campbell’s
- Hershey’s
- DTE Energy
- Pitney Bowes
- Whirlpool
And bigger than the COMBINED market value of Penske, Compuware, Comerica, Lear, Masco, and Goodyear.
In less than three years.
And not only is Groupon creating thousands of new jobs, but they are also creating an entrepreneurial, urban-based, downtown hotbed of spin-off companies and other start-ups near their headquarters located in:
Chicago, Illinois.
Where were two of the three founders of Groupon (who together control over 30 percent of the company) born and raised?
Detroit (and its close suburbs).
Where did they go to college?
University of Michigan.
Who paid for their college?
Partially you, me and every other state of Michigan taxpayer.
Why did they move outside of Detroit and SE Michigan?
Because, back around the turn of the century, downtown Detroit simply was not the place that any Internet- or technology-focused entrepreneur was going to set up shop. This was the same time Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell were beginning down their entrepreneurial paths creating the start-up companies that eventually led them to the launch of Groupon.
Did Detroit and SE Michigan miss out on this one?
Only to the extent that you believe hyper-growth, 25 billion dollar, e-commerce, entrepreneurial, job-creating machines that will further sprout an entire
eco-system of additional start-up, new economy businesses around it should be located in the downtown center of your city.
There is absolutely nothing more important than former rust-belt, manufacturing-dependent, major urban cities like Detroit and Cleveland to become attractive, exciting places for young, eager, wealth-creating entrepreneurs to embark on their business journeys.
How tragic is it that some of the highly talented people who are now doing exactly that in other cities and states not only grew up in the cities that need them most, but were educated by the public universities that the taxpayers of our state partially pay for?
We must create an environment that keeps them here.
That environment is a downtown that is hustling and bustling with young technology-focused people who can find cool lofts to live in, abundant retail and entertainment options close by, safe streets day and night, and most importantly, numerous
start-up and growing entrepreneurial companies where opportunity is endless and creative minds are free to collaborate and do what they do best:
CREATE!
That’s why we are investing heavily into downtown Detroit (and Cleveland as well).
So much is happening. More and more great people, investors and businesses are joining the initiative to build something very special downtown every single day.
It’s happening fast folks. And it’s happening now.
Detroit 2.0 is real.
We can’t afford to lose the next Groupon, created by our own kids coming out of our own universities, to some other town.
How do you measure that kind of loss (or gain) on a spreadsheet?!
Although there have been some major announcements and excitement over the past year or so, the best is yet to come for downtown Detroit.
My gut is we haven’t even scratched the scratch on the surface.
Stay tuned…
-Dan Gilbert
December 20, 2010
Our Quicken Loans family celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. For a quarter century, Quicken Loans has helped more than one million American families in all 50 states realize the dream of homeownership.
In the past quarter century, I have made my share of mistakes and have learned a few things along the way as well.
At a recent all company “huddle,” I gave a 29 minute talk to more than 4,000 of our team members in downtown Detroit, where I presented, “25 things I’ve learned in 25 years.”
For better or for worse, here they are.
Hope you enjoy them…
-Dan G.
#25
Comic Sans…
If you don’t like it, then don’t frickin’ read it.
#24
Throw a curveball once in a while and your fastball will work WAYYY better.
#23
Silo thinking is poison.
#22
Things aren’t always as they seem…
GO DEEEEEEP!!!
#21
The difference between poison and medicine is the dose.
#20
Spreadsheets measure.
They do NOT create.
#19
Winning the hard stuff does not make the easy stuff easy.
#18
You don’t choose the cards.
Play the ones you have been dealt.
#17
Give what the greedy man won’t
and you will get what the greedy man wants.
#16
Write it down.
#15
The one who tells you there is food on your face is your friend.
#14
You now need 5 things to survive…
1. Air
2. Food
3. Water
4. Shelter
5. Technology
#13
If your ideas are any good,
you’re gonna have to shove them down people’s throats.
#12
The price of knowing is too high.
#11
Nothing clarifies like clarity.
#10
You affect the outcome.
(If you choose to do so, that is.)
#9
There is always a plan B.
Find it.
#8
The answers are easy.
Asking the right questions is the hard part.
#7
Melt the “Abominable NO-man”
or be frozen forever.
#6
Simplify it and you will be paid a lot of dough.
#5
Building anything great is messy.
#4
You can’t go WRONG
doing the RIGHT thing.
#3
What’s the name of the cleaning person?
Better find out.
#2
We are in the Downtown Detroit and Cleveland rebuilding business…
And business is a-boomin!!!
#1
The words need music.
October 27, 2010
I apologize for my absence, but I’m back and ready to blog! To kick off this fresh start, I’d like to share with you a letter I wrote to Cleveland fans, which will be included inside our Tipoff magazine and distributed to everyone who attends the Cleveland Cavaliers 2010-11 season home opener tonight at The Q:
“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; make it hot by striking.”
- William B. Sprague
Cleveland,
The mission has not changed.
In fact, the level of energy, motivation and determination by those of us in every part of your Cleveland Cavaliers franchise has never been higher or stronger.
We will play to win.
Every season. Every game. Every minute.
Why?
You.
The thousands of emails, letters, notes, phone calls and words of support you shared with us this past summer has fueled every one of us with a further heightened sense of will-power and grit to deliver the incredibly loyal and passionate fans of the Cavaliers the ultimate prize.
That prize is an NBA championship.
No fan base deserves it more.
No city deserves it more.
Words will never express the gratitude and appreciation for the overwhelming support and confidence you showered upon this franchise over the past few months.
There will be nothing we do not explore.
There will be no amount of time, capital, brain-power or ingenuity we will not invest if we believe it will contribute to our chances of success.
The train has left. It will not stop until it pulls into “Larry O’Brien Station #1.”
I am looking forward to enjoying the ride with you.
Onward and upward.
Dan Gilbert
Chairman
Cavaliers Ownership Team
Twitter: @CavsDan
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