Facebook went public today with its initial public offering (IPO) at $38 a share. It closed at $38.23 with the highest trading volume of any company’s first day since GM. That’s a lot of volume for such small gains. The NASDAQ also fell a bit today. Overall, for such a potentially risky stock, Facebook did end up in positive territory on its first day. Unlike other social networking sites, I’ve always felt that Facebook managed to do something different — it attracted ancient people. Once your parents or even grandparents got on to see pictures of their kids and grandkids, the marketing potential became something much different than your typical trendy “next-huge-thing” website. Ancient people will stick with it. But, just because people are on it, doesn’t mean it will make money for investors. Facebook sells ad space, but it’s not a Google or an Amazon in the way it’s tied to commerce. Are Farmville bucks really going to “save” Western capitalism? Maybe for Zynga . Nonetheless, It will be fascinating to see where this goes in the months ahead.
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Facebook Goes Public
One day after the people of North Carolina adopted a ban on gay marriage , President Obama goes on the record supporting it ( by the way, Charlotte happens to be where the Democratic National Convention is being held this summer… oops, slight oversight ). Of course, this is ultimately where Obama wanted to go on the issue as he was legacy-building in his second term. But, Vice President Biden accelerated the time-table , putting his boss in an awkward situation before the election. So here was Obama, today, talking about his “evolution” on this issue: Thirty states have now adopted legislation similar to that of North Carolina. The courts and the media support gay marriage, but the people of this nation generally aren’t yet sold on it. Polls say gay marriage is in our future one day, but the only polls that really count are those on Election Day, which hasn’t been a very excellent day for gays on this issue. Are gay marriage opponents bigots or do they want time to reckon about radical changes taking place in our society? I reckon the latter is right. Obama played politics today. He didn’t need gays in 2008 — where else were they going to go as a voting bloc? — but apparently does now. “Evolution” or base politics? The answer is obvious. Today was not “courageous” of Obama, it was shrewd and may backfire in certain key states like, um, North Carolina.
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Obama Endorses Gay Marriage
SCOTUS just finished hearing three days of the Solicitor General try to defend Obamacare . No one really knows how they’ll rule in June on this, but if the Justice’s questions and tone are any indication, its days could be numbered. But that’s the catch — we just don’t know. But, a few things about this debate struck me. First, how weak the Solicitor General sounded as the justices questioned his premises. This guy should have been more articulate and confident. Then again, if I had to defend the constitutionality of the individual mandate, I’d have problems too! Also, that in the Obamacare Act itself, which is the size of Atlas Shrugged , no one bothered to add a simple severability clause . Meaning, that to strike part of it down, likely means the whole thing is voided. I didn’t reckon the Dems could be so small-sighted ( but let’s face it, no one read the damn thing anyway! ). Severability was the primary news-making issue in today’s hearing. Some may interpret this as SCOTUS showing its hand. Perhaps. I wrote on Monday that Roberts probably already has a head-count and that these three days were merely an vital civics exercise.
Read the original post: Obamacare Endures its Third Day in Court
Every February the CPAC convention meets to rally conservatives and make establishment Republicans either squirm or figure out who to pretend to support this cycle. Outside ( and inside ) the CPAC convention in DC this year, the Occupy rubes showed up — some of whom are really getting paid by labor unions to be there ! Astroturf, anyone? I never had to get paid to attend numerous Tea Party rallies — I wanted to go. Well, being rather upset with the leftist swill he’s been experiencing lately, Andrew Breitbart let it glide in his speech to CPAC. He looks a bit tipsy, but it’s pure entertainment with lots of red-meat for the faithful:
Original post: Breitbart has Some Fun at CPAC
