So, is being a venture capitalist a good thing or a bad thing?

[The Backlash Cometh]

Question of the year.

[NightWatcher]

1. it depends on the venture

there are good ones that sponsor upstart environmental companies and then there are evil ones.

[TomInTib]

2. It really depends on what you are backing.

I know some guys who will fund anything that they deem profitable.

Then again, I know people with real conscience who look for worthwhile ventures.

[MADem]

3. It's a bad thing, if you do it like Mittsy the Shittsy. He bought up businesses, often from

people who were struggling, or retiring, and instead of restructuring the businesses, he'd fire all the workers, toss them into the streets with nothing, no warning, no notice, and break the business up into chunks, and sell the chunks off here and there.

It's like buying a slave, killing the slave, and selling off the body parts. The slave (the business) is worth more dead than alive.

He's a bastard. An evil, rotten, selfish bastard.

[murdoch]

4. Capitalism...

All wealth is created by workers. Something recognized by all scholars of political economy until the late 19th century. A capitalist does no work, but lives off the unpaid labor of those who create wealth. Such as an heiress like Paris Hilton or her pals - a Mexican maid at one of the Hilton hotels works so many hours a day for her wage, the rest of the wealth she creates that day goes to the heiress as profit.

A "venture" capitalist shows another flawed aspect of capitalism. Barring catastrophes like floods and such (which we have insurance for anyhow), why should any investment ever be a risk? Cobblers in the Middle Ages didn't nake boots unless people wanted them. That people pump out commodities without knowing if people want them or not shows an unplanned, crazy method of production. When your economic production system involves "risk" and "venture" you are doing something wrong.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. And, of course, inside information always limits your risk and makes

the venture tempting and plausible.

That's something that the masses don't have. Inside information. So, I don't see how this passes as a fair business prospect.

[gravity]

6. Venture capitalists create new workers

If you start a new business that's destined to grow, you are going to need more workers to make it happen.

And there is risks associated with everything you do. You can't predict the future, so there is no such thing as sure bet. Even US treasury bonds could fail if our government collapses.

[wtmusic]

9. Every modern convenience you use was created by someone

who had no idea whatsoever if it would succeed. They were paid by people who believed in their idea, who also had no idea whether it would succeed.

How many workers, with no risk whatsoever, have been paid handsomely by venture capitalists who ended up losing everything they owned?

You've got it ass-backwards.

[gravity]

7. If you want to start a business and need capital

then they are definitely a good thing.

[porphyrian]

8. Neither, in itself.

Like most things, it's how it is used that determines its "goodness" or "badness."