Monday, November 12, 2007
Al Gore: Venture CAPITALIST
The lure of the green…back, that is, has apparently ensnared Al Gore:
Gore Joins Major Venture Capital Firm
“Al Gore announced Monday he's joining Silicon Valley's most prestigious venture capital firm to guide investments that help combat global warming.”
Fret not, however, his heart remains pure:
“Gore said he'll donate 100 percent of his salary as a Kleiner Perkins partner to the advocacy group, which focuses on accelerating policy solutions to the climate crisis.”
Now those familiar with tendency of Mr. Gore to get green by going green will not be surprised to learn that the advocacy group named is one that he helped found and with which he remains active: The Alliance for Climate Protection (whose “…mission is to persuade the American people — and people elsewhere in the world – of the importance and urgency of adopting and implementing effective and comprehensive solutions for the climate crisis.”) Apparently a key part of their strategy is to be a non-stop shill for Al Gore ( The Alliance in the News).
Further, I can’t resist parsing the bit about salary donation: is that partner salary vice partner share of income or is it all included. Amusingly, if his salary is sufficiently large enough so that it accounts for more than 50% of his Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), then he would run up against the 50% limit on charitable contributions (no more than 50% of your AGI can be offset by charitable contributions) meaning he’d have to pay tax on money he hadn’t received. Of course, based on previous donation records, it would be understandable if the former Vice President was not familiar with this provision of the tax code.
Bottom line: this (as well as other tax code traps such as AMT and limits on itemized deductions) could mean that the government will be taking money from Al Gore that instead could have gone to his efforts to solve global warming. But hey – ask any liberal-progressive – who knows better what to do with our money than the government.
Gore Joins Major Venture Capital Firm
“Al Gore announced Monday he's joining Silicon Valley's most prestigious venture capital firm to guide investments that help combat global warming.”
Fret not, however, his heart remains pure:
“Gore said he'll donate 100 percent of his salary as a Kleiner Perkins partner to the advocacy group, which focuses on accelerating policy solutions to the climate crisis.”
Now those familiar with tendency of Mr. Gore to get green by going green will not be surprised to learn that the advocacy group named is one that he helped found and with which he remains active: The Alliance for Climate Protection (whose “…mission is to persuade the American people — and people elsewhere in the world – of the importance and urgency of adopting and implementing effective and comprehensive solutions for the climate crisis.”) Apparently a key part of their strategy is to be a non-stop shill for Al Gore ( The Alliance in the News).
Further, I can’t resist parsing the bit about salary donation: is that partner salary vice partner share of income or is it all included. Amusingly, if his salary is sufficiently large enough so that it accounts for more than 50% of his Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), then he would run up against the 50% limit on charitable contributions (no more than 50% of your AGI can be offset by charitable contributions) meaning he’d have to pay tax on money he hadn’t received. Of course, based on previous donation records, it would be understandable if the former Vice President was not familiar with this provision of the tax code.
Bottom line: this (as well as other tax code traps such as AMT and limits on itemized deductions) could mean that the government will be taking money from Al Gore that instead could have gone to his efforts to solve global warming. But hey – ask any liberal-progressive – who knows better what to do with our money than the government.
