As Congress begins negotiations this week on a fourth coronavirus stimulus bill, Steve Case, CEO of venture capital firm Revolution and co-founder of AOL, is making the case for supporting startups in a package that could put upwards of a trillion dollars into the economy.
"The first bills really did a good thing in terms of stabilizing existing businesses," Case told Cheddar. "Now the focus needs to be on startups, because startups actually create the jobs in this country, not small business, not big business, but young, new businesses."
While small businesses still make up the vast majority of jobs in the U.S., startups play a larger role in generating job growth, according to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service. Investing in these companies now will serve the economy in the long-run, he said.
Case, who outlined his argument over the weekend in a Washington Post op-ed, recommends that the new legislation allow those drawing employment benefits to take a larger chunk upfront if they promise to invest the money in a startup. He would also like to see startups getting a share of the billions currently going to large pharmaceutical companies to develop treatments and vaccines.
"We need to get capital to more people and more places," he said. "This phase four legislation will be an opportunity to do that by putting startups at the epicenter of that."
Outside of the stimulus, Case also endorsed a bill introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the spring that would create a fund within the Department of Treasury to boost entrepreneurship across the country.
Simply investing in startups isn't enough, he added. The venture capitalist would like to see a more diverse array of startups and founders benefit from the stimulus bill.
"We need to do better than normal because normal didn't work for a lot of people," he said. "There were a lot of people who were left out in the last decade because of what's happened in places like Silicon Valley."
That means investing in more women and Black-led startups, but it also means looking outside coastal startups hubs for possible investments.
"Obviously Silicon Valley is awesome and will continue to be awesome, but we need to make sure that we have a more inclusive innovation economy," he said.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
