conomist Zachary Karabell will discusses job creation in the U.S. during the CSG 2011 Growth & Prosperity Summit. As president of River Twice Research, where he analyzes economic and political trends, Karabell challenges common assumptions ranging from global economics to environmental sustainability. With a prolific, award-winning writing career, an illustrious background on Wall Street and a doctorate from Harvard, Karabell brings a unique perspective to the discussion of globalization, the domestic and world economy, the greening of business and the shape of things to come.
Read moreAT&T and T-Mobile: A Deal That Will Create a Friendly Cellphone Monopoly
After months when markets have oscillated on the ebbs and flows of political tumult in the Middle East and natural catastrophe and near-nuclear disaster in Japan, the business world was pleasantly rocked by the announcement of a mega-deal: the planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&T. If the deal is approved, AT&T will add nearly 35 million new subscribers and vault past Verizon to become the largest wireless carrier in the United States with about 129 million customers, surpassing Verizon’s 100 million or so.
Read moreStock Plunge, Day Two: How the Dow is Dealing with Japan
For the second day in the row, the US stock market plunged, and then bounced back. Hurt, yes, but shares were not beaten, even as investors had to worry about the double whammy of concerns of nuclear contamination in Japan and a housing report that showed new home construction plunged more than it had in 27 months. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 300, before ending the day down 240 points. It wasn’t as big a bounce back on Tuesday, but we still didn’t end the day at the lows, which was a good sign.
Read moreOil Price Increases Are Irrelevant to the Recovery
With gas prices approaching $4 at the pump and turmoil roiling Libya and other parts of the oil-rich Middle East, the past week has seen multiple warnings that rising oil prices imperil the American economy. David Rolley, a money manager who helps oversee $150 billion for the firm Loomis Sayles, is typical of the breed, declaring that higher prices at the pump
Read moreThe Insider Trading Scandal: Is It the Crime or the Prosecution?
The media is abuzz with the news that the former head of McKinsey consulting, Goldman Sachs director and current board member of Proctor & Gamble Rajat Gupta has been charged with insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is now the highest-profile individual to be implicated in the widespread investigation driven by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara that has already ensnared dozens of lower-level traders and Raj Rajaratnam, former head of hedge fund Galleon.
Read moreShould You Put Your Savings in a Chinese Bank Account?
In the middle of last month, the Bank of China quietly announced a startling new bank account available to America citizens. At one of three Bank of China branches in the United States–two in New York and one in Los Angeles–an American can walk in, open an account and convert their grubby dollars into the currency of the hottest, and arguably the most important, economy in the world, the Chinese renminbi.
Read moreZachary Karabell: Future of Food and Commodities
Political analyst Zachary Karabell explains the shifts we can expect to see in food supply and commodity prices.
Read moreThe Economic Roots Of the Revolt
The mass movement engulfing Egypt exposes a fact that has been hiding in plain sight: In a decade during which China has brought more people out of poverty at a faster rate than ever in human history, in a period of time where economic reform has been sweeping the world from Brazil to Indonesia, Egypt has missed out.
Read moreHu’s on First — China and the United States
So Hu came to Washington, met with some CEOs, had a nice dinner and a 21-gun salute, and opened the Chinese purse to the tune of $45 billion in new business between China and the United States. The buzz was mostly positive, and the billions didn’t hurt. But it’s safe to say that most Americans are hardening into a view of China as a hostile competitive threat, and many Chinese have concluded that while the 20th century may have belonged to the United States, the 21st belongs to them.
Read moreWhy College is a Waste of Time: How Higher Education is Becoming Mass Education
Zachary Karabell is an American author, historian, money manager and economist.
Read moreBen Bernanke ’60 Minutes’ Interview: What He Got Wrong
When Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve announced last month that it was initiating another round of $600 billion in “quantitative easing,” the reaction was swift and negative. The supposed profligacy of the Fed was yet another arrow in the Tea Party quiver and was used to support the contention that government spending is out of control.
Read moreCancun and Climate: Government Won’t Act, But Business Will
Over the next two weeks, Cancun will be in the spotlight for something other than spring break madness. As host of the annual climate summit that once saw such promise in Kyoto in 1997, Cancun in 2010 is framed by the spectacular failure of last year’s Copenhagen talks and by the stark realization that nearly 200 nations simply cannot agree on anything of consequence.
Read moreThe G-20: This Time, It’s Different
Last week’s G-20 economic summit in South Korea was widely depicted as a failure for the Obama administration and a rebuff for the United States. In many respects, it was. Obama remarked that if the U.S. hadn’t tried to set the agenda, it would have had an easier time. “Part of the reason that sometimes it seems that the United States is attracting some dissent is because we’re initiating ideas,” he said. “We’re putting them forward. The easiest thing for us to do would be to take a passive role and let things just drift which wouldn’t cause any conflict.”
Read moreObama's Misfire at the G-20 Summit in Seoul
With the leaders of the world gathering for two days of economic points and counterpoints under the aegis of the G-20, Seoul has become the scene of a showdown between a testy set of European and Asian powers and a rather flummoxed and flat-footed America represented by President Obama in all his post-Nov. 2 glory and malaise.
Read moreSustainable Excellence: The Must-Read Book
Fast Company Review of Sustainable Excellence
Read moreSustainable Excellence
Today's business landscape is changing in fundamental ways: Natural resources are growing ever more scarce and expensive. Technology and changing consumer expectations are making transparency a fact of life. The rise of emerging economies creates vast market opportunities for companies--and better living standards for hundreds of millions. In Sustainable Excellence, Aron Cramer and Zachary Karabell tell the stories of the companies who are transforming themselves by responding to these paradigm shifts and in the process shaping the future.
Read moreSustainable Excellence: The Future of Business in a Fast-Changing World
The economy continues to limp along, and from the debate in this U.S. election season, it seems as though the path to restoring economic vitality is terra incognita. Over the past generation, economic advances have been jump started by fundamental changes: first, globalization, and then the rise of the internet economy.
Read moreCSR Video Updates: Interview with Zachary Karabell
Zachary Karabell: discusses about river twice research.
Read moreThe China Blame Game
So bipartisanship isn’t dead. By a vote of 348-79, Democrats and Republicans alike put aside their acrimonious differences and agreed, at least for a moment, to stop blaming each other for the sad state of American economic life. Instead, they agreed to blame China.
Read moreBook Review: "A World Without Islam"
One of the sadder consequences of the near decade of war and violence that has followed the attacks of 9/11 is that so many people are convinced that we are in a clash of civilizations divided along religious fault lines. The rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric in Europe and the continued attraction of radical antinomian Islam in parts of the Muslim world attest to this situation.
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