Share the View: Do Startups Matter?

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THE LATEST OPINIONS FROM BLOOMBERG VIEW

JANUARY 15, 2015 bloombergview.com

POLITICS The Editors: "Liberals are cheering Senator Elizabeth Warren for derailing the appointment of Antonio Weiss, President Barack Obama's nominee to be undersecretary of domestic finance at the Treasury Department. But by essentially spiking his nomination, she may have done him a favor." Read more... U.S. ECONOMY Justin Fox: "The evidence that we're in a startup-fueled economic renaissance is still pretty sparse. Despite the incessant talk of disruption and startups, most economy-wide indicators of entrepreneurship and business dynamism have been sliding for years." Read more... Katie Benner: "As the startup economy soars, media companies that present themselves as tech-media hybrids are getting venture backing and growing more valuable than traditional media companies. ... With real money being showered on this tech-and-media intersection, now might actually be the perfect time to reflect on the AOL-Time Warner deal." Read more... IMMIGRATION Francis Wilkinson: Yesterday, House Republicans voted for what might be called "comprehensive anti-immigration reform." "Republicans are now openly supporting mass deportation for the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants." Read more... DECLASSIFIED Josh Rogin: "The White House and Senate are headed into a battle over whether to increase pressure on Iran." Read more... LAW Noah Feldman: "Moones Mellouli is getting his day before the U.S. Supreme Court -- and the issue, believe it or not, is a sock. Specifically, the sock in which Mellouli was holding four tabs of Adderall after he was arrested and accused of driving under the influence." Read more... COMPANIES Megan McArdle: "Etsy, the online marketplace for crafts and vintage items, may be getting ready to do an initial public offering. ... It's only a coincidence that this comes soon after Instacart, the online shopping service, announced it has raised more than $200 million in venture funding. But both represent a rising trend in recent years: the success of companies that enable the freelance economy." Read more... EUROPE Leonid Bershidsky: "You know how the photos of dignitaries, with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, leading an anti-terrorist march through the streets of Paris were a cynical fake, produced in a sealed-off alley, with security guards impersonating a crowd of demonstrators? Well, France's commitment to 'liberte,' the freedom of expression for which staffers at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo died, is just as phony." Read more... EDUCATION McArdle: "We should rethink our current policy of endlessly dumping more money into college education. ... We may simply be setting up college as a substitute for a high school diploma: a signal to employers that you can read and write, and are able to turn in scheduled assignments within a reasonable time frame. And in the process, excluding people who aren't college-educated from access to decent jobs." Read more... 2016 ELECTIONS Jonathan Bernstein: "Mitt Romney's third campaign for the White House got off to a good start ... for about three days." Read more... Bernstein: "Hillary Clinton hasn't even declared her candidacy for 2016, but can someone tell me why she didn't just lock up the Democratic presidential nomination?" Read more... ECONOMICS Noah Smith: "Instead of too much inflation, as so many hand-wringers were worrying about a few years ago, we now find ourselves with too little. Maybe it's about time the Federal Reserve did something about it." Read more...