Big business is making big news. Newsweek & The Daily Beast’s John Avlon and Zachary Karabell on JPMorgan’s multi-billion dollar mistake, why Facebook’s IPO was actually a huge success and the fallout resume padding that led to the demise of Yahoo’s CEO.
Read moreDon't De-Friend Facebook Yet: Its IPO Might Not Mean Trouble Ahead
Facebook’s epically hyped IPO debuted not with a bang but with a whimper. While the company sold $16 billion worth of initial shares, the stock ended the day largely where it began, at $38 a share, leaving the company with a market cap of about $100 billion. The offering was widely derided by the Wall Street community of traders, who viewed the stock's failure to soar on day one as a sign of troubled times ahead for Facebook.
Read moreChaos Over New Elections Deepens Fear of a Greece Chain Reaction
For the third May in a row, events in Greece have taken on global significance. The spark this May, the rising debts and plunging growth of the onetime hub of civilization, is largely the same. But why does the fate of a country with not quite 11 million people and about $300 billion in GDP matter so much? Why does a nation with barely more people than one new Chinese city and an economy hardly larger than the state of Maryland continue to roil international markets? Not since the Trojan War has the fate of the Hellenes been so central to humankind.
Read moreZachary Karabell: "The Fate of Our Nation - Are Better Times Ahead or Worse Days in Store?"
Presented at the Colorado Foothills World Affairs Council on 05/15/2012.
Read morePaul Krugman’s Dismissal of Structural Causes for U.S. Employment Problem Is Misguided
The Nobel laureate insists our unemployment problems are part of a chronic cycle and require government action—and says arguing the issue is structural is an excuse for doing nothing. Zachary Karabell on why that stance is misguided.
Read moreZACHARY KARABELL ON JPMORGAN CHASE'S RISKY BUSINESS
Question: When does risk aversion become risky behavior? Answer: when you are a large financial institution in today’s world, especially a behemoth bank like JPMorgan Chase, attempting to navigate both labyrinthine regulations and shareholder demand for endless profit.
Read moreJPMorgan’s $2 Billion Loss Fueled by Efforts to Avoid Risk
In a surprising announcement late yesterday afternoon, JPMorganChase, one of the largest banks in the world, announced that it had suffered massive losses in an internal fund meant to shield the bank from … massive losses. CEO Jamie Dimon,
Read moreJPMorgan’s $2 Billion Loss Fueled by Efforts to Avoid Risk
In a surprising announcement late yesterday afternoon, JPMorganChase, one of the largest banks in the world, announced that it had suffered massive losses in an internal fund meant to shield the bank from … massive losses. CEO Jamie Dimon, who had until now steered his behemoth institution with
Read moreLibrary Event Trailer: Candice Millard and Zachary Karabell - Hail to the Chiefs
Historian, economist, and journalist Zachary Karabell talks about how Garfield's vice president Chester A. Arthur created professional civil service and ushered in a new era of reform in America.
Read moreThe U.S. Cannot Confront China on Every Move it Disagrees With
The saga of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has become the latest source of tension between China and the United States. And the way that story has entered domestic American politics sheds disturbing light on how in denial the United States remains about the state of the world in the early 21st century.
Read moreThe Monthly Jobs Numbers Don’t Matter
Today’s anemic jobs report is yet another indication that the unemployment picture in the United States is getting neither better nor worse. It is also yet another piece of evidence that there is a chronic, long-term structural employment issue in America. It is not an acute crisis; it isn’t getting much worse; and it isn’t going away anytime soon.
Read moreThe Monthly Jobs Numbers Don’t Matter
Today’s anemic jobs report is yet another indication that the unemployment picture in the United States is getting neither better nor worse. It is also yet another piece of evidence that there is a chronic, long-term structural employment issue in America. It is not an acute crisis; it isn’t getting much worse; and it isn’t going away anytime soon.
Read moreLatest Record Results Show Apple a Bigger Global Power Than Most Nations
Yet again, Apple announced record sales and earnings. Yet again, its “Jobs report” stood in stark contrast to the monthly official jobs report. For the past four years, as the U.S. economy has stumbled, Apple has soared. As millions have lost jobs or stayed underemployed, Apple has sold more phones, iPads, and computers than most thought possible. While its success certainly has come at the expense of competitors such as Research in Motion (maker of the BlackBerry) and Nokia, it has generated tens of billions in revenue and sold tens of millions of devices by reaching new customers and not simply taking market share. And it has seen its most dramatic success during one of the worst economic slumps in the developed world.
Read moreFireworks for Murdoch?
While many people may be hoping for the Murdochs to be raked over the coals this week at the Leveson Inquiry, that might not be the case. John Avlon talks with Zachary Karabell about the News Corp. scandal and what happens when new technology outpaces old laws.
Read moreZachary Karabell on Walmart's Alleged Bribery in Mexico
The New York Times is reporting that Walmart's Mexican division was allegedly involved in bribery and kickbacks. Newsweek & The Daily Beast's Zachary Karabell talks about what that will mean for the corporation's image and what it might say about American companies doing business in other countries.
Read moreHuge Corporations Win Global Economic Spoils as 99 Percent Get Squeezed
The 1 percent versus the 99 percent—the haves and the have-nots; the government or the people; China versus the United States. Our conversations today are framed by these splits, yet as compelling as these are, they are each secondary to the yawning gulf that has emerged between large, multinational companies and everything else.
Read moreObama-Republican Fight Over Gas Prices Is Pure Political Theater
Tuesday’s partisan small ball on gas prices, replete with consequential rhetoric and insignificant action, did nothing to dispel the sinking feeling that we are in for months of political theater as real challenges and issues founder.
Read moreBusiness Climate 2011 - Interview - Zachary Karabell
Interview with Zachary Karabell
Read moreGoogle’s Results Reflect Giants’ Surge, as Everyone Else Struggles
Late yesterday afternoon, Google announced its financial results for the first three months of 2012. Its results were typically extraordinary, and demonstrate—if more demonstration is needed—a truism of our time: this is a golden age for capital. It is a golden age for corporations with a global reach. It is a marvelous time to have access to capital, and to deploy capital. And it is a challenging time to be a wage earner. In short, it is great to be capital; it is not a good time to be labor.
Read moreObama, Romney Tax Returns Unleash Worst Political Instincts
So it would seem that President Obama and his family are experiencing downward mobility. The Obamas released their 2011 tax return today, and showed that they earned $789,674. That is a healthy income and places the president well in the top 1 percent of all earners in the United States. He and Michelle paid $162,000 in federal income tax, at a rate of just over 20 percent. That is less than what the president recently proposed as the minimum rate for the very affluent. In addition, the Obamas donated more than 20 percent of their income to various charities.
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