James B. Stewart Quotes

Early investors in Uber and Airbnb, though they remain private companies, have valued them at stratospheric multiples based largely on the notion that Uber will transform and dominate local transportation and Airbnb will revolutionize the hotel industry.

It’s often said that the most important qualities in a chief executive are character and judgment.

President Trump named Rand his favorite writer and ‘The Fountainhead’ his favorite novel.

Most European countries fund their low corporate taxes with some form of a value-added tax, on consumption rather than income.

I’m hardly a smartphone addict. I rarely look at social media.

As in many cities, Uber has disrupted powerful interests in London, starting with the drivers of black cabs, who trace their lineage to 1634, and their influential Licensed Taxi Drivers Association.

During his campaign, Donald J. Trump embraced the cause of fiscal responsibility and accused President Barack Obama of shackling the country with a ‘mountain of debt.’

Divestitures have long been the preferred remedy for horizontal mergers, where there’s an overlap between the two companies. Airlines, for example, may have to sell routes or airport gates where the two airlines compete; cable operators may have to sell operations in cities where both companies operate.

For every Tesla or Uber, there’s a Valeant Pharmaceuticals or Theranos – two story stocks that seduced an astounding array of prominent investors and supporters based on stories that did turn out to be too good to be true.

A study by the Federal Trade Commission found that concerns about every vertical merger examined by the commission from 2006 to 2012 were resolved through ‘conduct remedies’ rather than divestitures, and that all these remedies had been successful at protecting competition.

There’s no question that the Internet generally, and Netflix specifically, upended the traditional content-distribution supply chain and caused profound changes in the entertainment industry.

Mr. Trump has said he strongly supports immediate expensing of capital expenditures, which many economists agree would encourage growth.

Republicans seem to be gambling that most Americans won’t care about a few rich private equity managers if their own taxes go down, their stock portfolio goes up, and economic growth accelerates.

The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that in 2016, the corporate income tax raised $300 billion in revenue, while what it called ‘targeted subsidies’ cost about $270 billion. In other words, Congress could eliminate the subsidies and cut the corporate rate nearly in half without any significant loss in revenue.

Advocates of a tax overhaul often point to the 1986 act as a model for a comprehensive approach that ushered in a long period of economic growth.

The appreciation of capital assets is already taxed at an extremely favorable rate compared to labor. That’s why the rich pay such a low effective tax rate no matter what their marginal tax bracket.

Mr. Trump’s election has caused a tectonic shift in advertising – just as it has in media more generally – and themes that might have once seemed innocuous or patriotic have suddenly become politically charged, controversial, and divisive.

The rationale for eliminating the alternative minimum tax is that such a backup system should not be necessary if the tax code is fundamentally fair and eliminates all the loopholes that made it possible for high-income taxpayers to escape taxation in the first place.

Low-volatility funds, which tend to smooth out performance, have been especially popular since the financial crisis. The PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Fund is the oldest, begun in 2011.

Tax reform advocates generally agree that a fair code shouldn’t single out certain groups for favorable treatment at the expense of others.

While there continue to be critics of the Comcast-NBC merger, it’s hard to argue that competition in news and entertainment has diminished as a result, given the rise of Netflix and Amazon and the explosion in entertainment options that followed the merger.

A major way that losses are generated in real estate ventures is through depreciation, which is supposed to reflect the way that assets lose value over time. But a well-maintained building typically gains value.

If Republicans are correct that lower rates spur economic growth, then lower rates on all income – made possible in part by raising capital-gains rates – should bolster economic growth across the economy.

The biggest revenue target is the preferential rate for long-term capital gains, which raises a perennial question: Why should capital income be taxed at a much lower rate than ordinary income? Capital assets are owned overwhelmingly by the rich.

Many people in London – and in the rest of Europe – view giant American technology companies, and Uber in particular, with intense suspicion and resentment.

Many tax experts say a key element to any fundamental overhaul is getting rid of certain deductions for businesses – the ‘special-interest giveaways that are masked as tax breaks,’ as House Republicans describe many of them in their own proposal.

Losses from partnerships and limited-liability companies, the entities through which the Trumps report much of their income, do not have to be added back as part of the A.M.T. calculation.

The A.M.T. is much reviled by tax experts across the political spectrum for its unintended consequences and fiendish complexity.

The bar for a chief executive of a public corporation to repudiate a United States president is extraordinarily high. Corporate leaders aren’t given their power, prestige, responsibility, and nine-figure pay packages to use the corner office as their personal soapbox.

My experience bears out an adage about airlines: People almost always opt for convenience and price, even while complaining loudly about crowded planes and a dearth of amenities.

Like or loathe Donald J. Trump, you have to give him this: He’s done more to shine a spotlight on the loopholes and fundamental unfairness of the tax code than any other American president.

Almost everyone agrees that corporate tax rates need to be cut because of global competition. Companies should not be able to stash earnings overseas tax-free.

Mr. Trump had no political or military experience, the traditional routes to high political office. Virtually his only qualification was his business career, and a checkered one at that, considering his own brush with personal bankruptcy.

The National Multifamily Housing Council, a trade association of apartment owners, managers, developers and lenders, has come to the defense of the interest deduction and other provisions favorable to the real estate industry, describing them as ‘core principles’ and promising a fight.

The idea that content is king has long rested on the notion that distribution – in whatever form it takes – is a low-margin commodity, and the biggest share of profits flows to the creators of original programming, who can sell to the highest bidder.

As a global disrupter, Uber is no stranger to conflict, and its instinct has always been pugilistic.

When it comes to valuation, there’s only one thing stock investors really care about, which is earnings.

Various justifications for lower capital-gains rates have been proffered over the years, none of them self-evident. But even conceding the wisdom of lower capital-gains rates, why should they never be taxed at all, even as they are passed from generation to generation?

From what little is known of Mr. Trump’s tax returns, he used losses to offset virtually all of his taxable income for years by generating something called net operating loss carry-overs.

September 2001 turned out to be an unusually bad time to sell stocks: By New Year’s Day 2002, little more than three months after the post-9/11 low reached on Sept. 21, the S&P 500 had gained close to 20 percent.

Seattle was hardly a tech magnet before Amazon, Microsoft, and then a host of once-fledgling technology firms set up operations there.

Amazon and Snap both have stories that are compelling for many investors: Amazon has transformed retailing and is destined to dominate it. Snap is reinventing communication, at least for millennials and those even younger.

The A.M.T. is a parallel system for calculating tax liability intended to ensure that high-income taxpayers pay a substantial amount in federal tax even if they have large deductions or other items to offset income.

Amazon deliberately provides cafeteria space for only a third of its employees, which encourages people to venture out of the office.

Under Armour’s success depends in part on endorsements from celebrity athletes, many of whom – like Stephen Curry, the basketball star – are African-American.