Weekend Roundup: Tax Deal Off Again; 'Start-up Mentality' & More
Congress almost agreed to an extension of the payroll tax cut. Plus: Another holiday sales record and more of what you missed this weekend.
Just when it looked like politicians had reached an agreement over the payroll tax cut, House Majority Speaker John Boehner’s comments on Meet the Press Sunday once again put the bill’s fate in jeopardy.
A day after the Senate passed a two-month extension of the tax break—which economists say would put around $930 in the average consumer’s pockets over a full year—Boehner (pictured) decried the deal, saying an extension wasn’t good enough. Congress needed to reach a final decision by the time the tax cut expires Dec. 31, he said, according to The Washington Post.
Republicans had won a major victory in the Senate extension, with President Barack Obama agreeing to speed up a decision on the XL Keystone Pipeline. He had earlier vowed to veto any legislation that mentioned the pipeline.
Boehner is ready to keep his party in Washington this week in an effort to hash out a new bill. But the Senate has already adjourned for the holidays, making it look likely that the payroll tax will expire.
Here’s what else you might have missed this weekend:
Zynga Wants to Keep ‘Start-up Mentality’
What will Zynga use the $1 billion it raised from its IPO? Well, it’s going to try and keep its “start-up mentality,” CEO Mark Pincus told Businessweek. This means a focus on product, Pincus said. As soon as he pushed the ceremonial button to start the NASDAQ Friday, the employees assembled around him quietly returned to work. “The sign of a great company meeting is that a lot of employees are so fired up that they want to go back to work,” he said.
Another Week, Another Holiday Shopping Record
Four days last week saw online sales that eclipsed $1 billion, according to comScore, which tracks digital-retail trends. There have been 10 days with $1 billion or more in online sales this holiday season. Last year, only Cyber Monday brought in $1 billion or more.
Hey, Silicon Valley: Are You Giving Enough?
When Laura Arrillaga met her future husband, Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, she had one question for him. “One of the first questions I asked him on the night we met was what he was doing philanthropically,” Arillaga told The New York Times. Now Arrillaga is trying to get Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to become greater philanthropists. Too many of them, she said, either donate only later in life or don’t at all. She’s had some success already: She was a main driving force behind Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to the troubled school district in Newark, N.J.
