By Patrick Clark 10/16/12 8:00pm

mind the gap

Photo by Arnaldo Magnani/Liaison

Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild’s Kinder, Gentler Capitalism

“Thirty years ago, the Anglo-American capitalist system was the apartment block everyone in the world admired,” Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild told a gathering of business and political influentials gathered on the 28th floor of Bloomberg LP’s Lexington Avenue office tower on Thursday morning.

“Now, that apartment block has really nice apartments up on top. In the middle, they’re kind of cramped and dowdy, and on the lower floors, they’re underwater. But the worst part of it is—the elevator’s broken.”

The metaphor wasn’t hers (she’d borrowed it from Harvard economist Larry Katz), but the morning was. Wearing a slim-fitting sleeveless dress and lots of gold, Ms. de Rothschild was welcoming guests to the U.S. launch of something called the Henry Jackson Initiative for Inclusive Capitalism. It was less a think tank than a movement, less a movement than a platform for a double-edged idea: That everyone should benefit from gains made by the capitalist system, and that it’s good for capitalists when everybody does. Read More

By Patrick Clark 10/10/12 12:39pm

self improvement

Business, Policy Leaders Set to Launch “Inclusive Capitalism” Initiative in U.S.

When The Observer reviewed Chrystia Freeland’s new book on the rise of a new global elite last week, we were struck by the thought that in a world where billionaire capitalists (of whatever flavor: Russian oligarch, high financiers or tech evangelist) exert an outsized influence, it’s hard to change the world without first changing the minds of the men and women at the top.

And so we were interested to learn about the Henry Jackson Initiative for Inclusive Capitalism, a new think tank formed with the intent “to promote a more responsible, sustainable and inclusive capitalist system.” Read More

By Mike Taylor 11/17/10 2:08pm

Appointments

Will Roger Altman Replace Larry Summers?

Multiple news outlets are reporting that Roger Altman is in line to replace Larry Summers as head of the Obama administration’s National Economic Council. If this is true, Obama is replacing a controversial, Wall Street – friendly former Clinton staffer with a lower-profile, Wall Street -friendly former Clinton staffer.

The rumored appointment comes at a Read More

By Mike Taylor 11/16/10 1:34pm

Wall Street

Morning Roundup: Larry Summers Hasn’t Quit Yet

  • National Economic Council head Larry Summers, whom we’d forgotten about since he announced in September he’d be leaving the White House, said getting along with China would be crucial to America’s economic recovery. [WSJ]
  • The Congressional Oversight Panel has an idea for what to do about the foreclosure crisis: Stress tests! Read More

By Mike Taylor 9/21/10 9:30pm

Update: Larry Summers to Leave White House

Update: The White House has now officially announced that Larry Summers is leaving his position as Director of the National Economic Council and will be returning to Harvard at the end of the year. Here’s a part of President Obama’s statement:

I will always be grateful that at a time of great peril Read More

By Emily Geminder 11/23/09 4:29pm

Larry Summers’ Old Hedge Fund, D. E. Shaw, Doubles Space at 1166 Sixth

D. E. Shaw, the hedge fund known for its elaborate (and secretive) statistical trading formulas, is expanding its footprint at 1166 Sixth Avenue, where it currently leases floors four through six.

The fund will now move into floors seven through nine, which insurer Marsh & McLennan, a major landlord in the building, currently subleases from Read More

By Jimmy Vielkind 10/09/09 3:54pm

Cuomo to Washington, FYI

ALBANY—Attorney General Andrew Cuomo doesn't usually put out a "public schedule" like some other elected figures, but today he did, to let us know he'll be in Washington meeting with the president.

PUBLIC SCHEDULE FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL ANDREW M. CUOMO

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2009

Attorney General Cuomo is in Washington, D.C.

1:15PM     Attends meeting with Read More

By Eliot Brown 9/29/09 9:05pm

The Other Shoe

Almost from the moment that the financial industry entered its tailspin a year ago, landlords and developers began to sound the warnings that commercial real estate would be the other shoe to drop in the economy. Then early in the Obama administration, regulators threw the real estate industry a bone, expanding a financial rescue program, Read More