Reid Hoffman’s recipe for jump-starting the economy

[t]o translate the stimulus into sustainable growth, we need incentives for business innovators.”  Among Mr. Hoffman’s suggestions for the new administration are (a) encouraging small businesses with loans by emulating the micro-lending model that has proved successful in developing countries, (b) welcoming foreign innovators by removing the H-1B cap and (c) nurturing American talent  by imposing a 10 percent payroll tax above and beyond the benchmark salary for any position being filled by holders of H-1B visas in order to finance the continued education of domestic workers.

Yahoo!Tech reports that “German authorities on Tuesday warned against the ‘catastrophic’ state of security on the Internet, with growing armies of viruses, worms and Trojan horses unleashed by ever savvier criminals.  A study presented by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) at the world's biggest high-tech fair, the CeBIT, found that Web crime and sabotage were on a steep climb even as consumers grew smarter about security.  ‘The situation is serious — it is even more catastrophic than we feared,’ BSI division chief Hartmut Isselhorst told reporters.  ‘We are all being attacked. As soon as we go online we become the target of attacks.’”

In more CeBIT-related news, the San Francisco Gate writes that, during a tour of the fair with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that “[t]echnology is really our great hope for creating extra revenues and stimulating the economy — especially green technology is where the action is.”  Schwarzenegger praised “Germany's commitment to renewable energy and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and he echoed Merkel as he blasted one of her favorite targets, economic protectionism.  ‘The world is the marketplace … and the only way we can protect the consumer is if we let the consumer choose from products all over the world no matter where they come from,’ he said.”

The Guardian has an interesting article on a new “innovation map” published by McKinsey and the World Economic Forum.  Researchers used 700 variables including infrastructure, demand, government regulation, human capital and business environment to assess the activity and impact of hundreds of innovation hubs around the world.  And, according to the map, Silicon Valley, despite its recent problems, is still the world’s most important innovation hub.

According to CnetNews.com, “[c]lassifieds listings have returned to Facebook, thanks to the social network's partnership with e-commerce service Oodle. With Facebook Marketplace's focus on making classifieds ‘social,’ the company hopes to give Craigslist a run for its money. But at least right now, it won't mean any new revenue streams for Facebook–it's powered by ads and sponsored listings, with no transaction fees yet.”