Silicon Valley Days » Business

Fortune magazine, what is a “nube”?

Silicon Valley Dazed — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:14:10 +0000

In the March 12, 2012 issue of Fortune, there’s a cover story on Facebook. It’s a good overview of the company although much of it will be familiar to those who’ve been following company. I mention the article since they must have copy editors who lack any online gaming experience. They’re all probably a bunch of noobs.

O’Hare International Airport inspiring a new running shoe design.

Silicon Valley Dazed — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:15:18 +0000

O’Hare International Airport inspiring a new running shoe design.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/the-greatest-running-shoe-never-sold-01122012.html

Dunkin Brands IPO

Silicon Valley Dazed — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 03:45:47 +0000

I didn’t know the same company owned Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robins. Looks like Dunkin Brands had a successful IPO today. I think Dunkin Donuts has a lot of growth potential in the west seeing how popular they are on the east coast.

When I worked at Baskin Robbins, the owner said we could eat as much ice cream as we wanted. I wonder if some Dunkin Donuts stores have the same policy.

The Warning and Brooksley Born on Frontline

Silicon Valley Dazed — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:14:53 +0000

The amount of dollars and intangibility of credit default swaps and derivatives make my head swim. This Frontline episode is a compelling story of how Brooksley Born tried to warn about the dangers of unregulated hidden markets back in 1998. Politically, she ultimately lost to the triumvirate of Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, and Larry Summers, but sadly, she was ultimately vindicated in the financial collapse of fall 2008. Greenspan’s mea culpa in front of the congressional committee near the end of the documentary is shocking since so much trust was put in him by both political parties and the American public. I was greatly impressed by Brooksley Born’s strength and determination and although she lost her battle in Washington, it was good to read that she was awarded a 2009 John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award. I personally believe markets and everything else in life can be over-regulated, but if we don’t pay heed to Born’s story and the lessons of the recent financial crisis, we’ll be doomed to repeat them, and the results may be worse in the future. Honestly, and the ending of the Frontline episode somewhat shares my opinion, I’m a little cynical substantial changes will be made to correct the lack of regulation of the black box markets.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/

Fortune’s “How marijuana became legal”

Silicon Valley Dazed — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:26:42 +0000

Link via Fortune

As a small business owner, I regularly deal with the State Board of Equalization regarding sales tax reports and occasional audits. This Fortune article is quite enlightening regarding marijuana and the BOE. Key section:

In the early days of dispensaries the California Board of Equalization, which collects state and local sales tax, refused to issue seller’s permits to dispensaries that sought them — the necessary prelude to paying sales tax in the state. The board viewed such establishments as certainly illegal under federal law, and possibly illegal under state law.

In October 2005 the board changed tack and began allowing dispensaries to pay sales taxes if they wanted, and in 2007 it completed the reversal by requiring them to pay sales taxes and demanding that they do so retroactively to October 2005.

The board assured the dispensaries in a February 2007 letter that it would now issue seller’s permits even if the dispensary refused to answer portions of the standard application — identifying the product sold, for instance, or listing suppliers — due to “concerns about confidentiality or self-incrimination.”

Since sellers’ permits do not require establishments to identify themselves as medical marijuana dispensaries, the board has no hard records on sales taxes collected from them. Unless there is extremely poor compliance by dispensaries, however, the numbers should be robust.

Harborside alone reported about $15 million in sales in 2008, for instance, and DeAngelo estimates that the average revenue for each of California’s 700 dispensaries probably ranges from $3 million to $4 million annually. If so, gross statewide medical cannabis sales are approaching $2.5 billion, generating taxes of around $220 million. That does not include the state and federal income taxes that dispensaries and their employees also pay, and employee payroll taxes.