#edward conard

[worshiptheglitch]

In a country of almost 300 million, 26 people provide almost half the superPAC presidential funds. 

Who are they? 

[socialist-anxiety]

In America, the middle class, their income has not grown to the same proportion as that very rich investor class, and I think I take issue with the idea that they [investors/venture capitalists] are facing "risk." For example, the guy at Lehman. The company went bankrupt, and he walked away with — and I am obviously not an economist — but I think the term is "a shitload of money." So what "risk" are these bankers taking? It seems to me that the real risk is a guy who works in a coal mine his whole life, suffers from a debilitating health disease, puts his hard-earned money into a pension fund that some guy on Wall Street decides to gamble with on securitization and loses it. He [the coal miner] goes bust, and that guy [the guy on Wall Street] walks away with tens of millions of dollars. How is that appropriate?

Jon Stewart in an interview with former Bain Capital partner Edward Conard

[colbertnewshub]

Better Know a Guest: June 4 – June 7, 2012

Hello, Hubsters!

Wow. As Carly Simon sang: Anticipation...is keeping me waiting! The Colbert Report has a blow-you-away week coming up. The guests are amazing, and my hopes have risen high into the stratosphere, beyond our galaxy, boldly going where no one (okay, maybe a few) have gone before. And with The Daily Show also having some top-notch visitors, I've got really great expectations.

So let's hop right to it!

Monday, 6/4: Rep. John Lewis?

There is some uncertainty about Monday’s guest. One website says Lewis, but ColbertNation.com does not have anyone listed as yet. So, will Stephen get to better know this representative of Georgia’s 5th district, who has served in Congress since 1987? That’s still TBD, but I'm taking a chance. Having grown up in the segregated South, Lewis was active in the Civil Rights movement, a follower of Dr. Martin Luther King, and a former chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). If he’s on, I suspect he’ll be discussing how some states are beginning to demand voter IDs, which has the effect of preventing many people from going to the polls. He spoke about the issue with Chris Matthews, and likened the ID to the old poll tax and literacy tests designed to prevent blacks from exercising their rights. Lewis is also author of a book called Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement.

Here are some links so you can find out more about him—if he does appear on the show.

Visit his website: Judging from what’s there, he seems to be a good guy: Lewis sponsored an amendment demanding an accounting of the cost of our recent wars in the Middle East; wants to help people in trouble of losing their homes; and supports LGBT rights because “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Follow him on Twitter.

Brown University recently honored him. (Harvard did, too.)

The Academy of Achievement considers him a champion of Civil Rights.

He recently appeared with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC where he talked about voter suppression and gay marriage.

In 2011, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Like him on Facebook.

On a lighter note--here he is, dancing at Atlanta’s Baconfest!

Tuesday, 6/5: Jill Biden

After welcoming the First Lady on the Report last week, Stephen is about to greet the very impressive Second: Jill Biden, wife of the Vice President and a force in her own right. A long-time English teacher, she has worked in high schools, with emotionally damaged teens in psychiatric hospitals, and now at a community college in Virginia. Dr. Biden recently co-hosted the White House Summit on Community Colleges with President Obama in order to call attention to how beneficial these local and often lower-cost schools can be in training young people. Spurred by a number of friends who have battled breast cancer, she and her husband also became Honorary Co-Chairs for the Global Race for the Cure in Washington, DC. Finally, she became involved with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and is particularly focused on calling attention to famine-struck areas in Africa.

Now, Jill Biden has something in common with Stephen: like him, she has a new picture book out. In fact, it’s released this very day. Hers, however, is on a rather more serious subject and I believe it contains no stripper poles—although it is just as patriotically inclined as his. First, it’s important to remember that the Bidens’ son Beau served in Iraq, leaving a family behind. (Aside: Note that none of the Bush children joined the battle he started. Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.) Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops deals with this poignant subject. Inspired by her granddaughter, who missed her father greatly when he went away, it shows how the girl finds a way to channel that sadness by doing good and sending care packages to the troops. By the way, Beau is now back home, safe.

Naturally, supporting military families is important to Biden, and she and Michelle Obama created Joining Forces to show the public what they can do to help. Given how much Stephen himself does for soldiers and vets (including donating profits from his new audiobook), I’m sure the two of them will have a wonderful conversation on the subject.

Jill and Joe Biden have been married since 1977. When they were wed, she became stepmom to both Beau and his brother Hunter; later the couple had a daughter, Ashley, who got married this past weekend! Congratulations to the new bride and groom. (As a Jewish woman I HAVE to say it: You married a doctor! Mazel Tov! Kvelling.) I'm sure most people know, but Joe Biden’s first wife and a daughter tragically died in a car crash, leaving him as a single parent until he met Jill.

Visit her website.

Kirkus Reviews likes the book.

Both Jill and Joe Biden have spoken out against spousal abuse and in favor of the Violence Against Women Act, which, amazingly, has been under fire by Republicans.

Politico wrote about this upcoming appearance.

She recently gave the commencement speech at Broward College.

Last year, Biden visited Kenya to discuss the famine in that country. As we know, it’s a nation with special significance to her husband’s boss. (He was born there – HA HA. NOOO.)

Follow her on Twitter. Her latest tweet, as I write this, is quite strange: “Joe said he suffers from finger flatulence. I told him to stop asking the grandkids to pull his finger.” Hmmmm.

  Wednesday, 6/6: Neil Patrick Harris

The “Company” co-stars are reuniting!!!! Okay, I am so excited about this that I jumped up and down when I learned about Neil Patrick Harris’s appearance. I adore NPH, who is smart, funny, talented and absolutely up to a Colbertian interview. And dare we hope for a song? Maybe a Sondheim? (There are two chances for a musical experience this week; see below.) I expect that this joyful occasion is due to the Tony® Awards, which Harris will once again host on Sunday, June 10th. I say, let him host everything, and when he takes on the Emmys®, he can just announce Stephen as the winner whomever those terrible Emmy voters choose.

Harris first came to fame playing the teenage genius Doogie Howser, M.D., which gave little indication to the world at large where his future career would go. Yes, he was appealing and got a Golden Globe® nomination—but would anyone who knew him only from that show have imagined him singing and dancing so brilliantly on Broadway? Or, as some of us Joss Whedon fangirls would note, as the star of the absolutely wonderful web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog? And by the way, in case you’re not aware, Harris is also a skilled magician.

Currently, he stars in the successful sitcom How I Met Your Mother, for which he garnered many Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, and his stage credits include Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, the Emcee in Cabaret, Rent, and Sweeney Todd (another Sondheim). He’s also directed some theatrical productions. Interestingly, Harris hasn’t really done too much in the way of movies, although one of his first roles was in the film Clara’s Heart, for which he received several award nominations. He also recently did voice work for Smurfs. Still, that leaves a lot of room for future success. NPH—you have a new area to conquer!

He and his fiancé (husband yet?) David Burtka are the parents of twins—who recently had a celebrity meeting with Oprah.

Follow him on Twitter.

He came out as gay when it wasn’t so easy to do. Here us part of his wonderful statement: "I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love."

Of course, he’s also recorded an “It Gets Better” video.

Like him on Facebook.

He and Hugh Jackman blew everyone away at the 2011 Tony Awards.

Here’s a good fan site for NPH.

Like every star worthy of adulation, he’s gone on Sesame Street.

NPH supports a number of charities having to do with cancer, AIDS, hunger, and green causes.

He appeared on The Daily Show just last year.

Thursday, 6/7: Regina Spektor

The Russian-born singer Regina Spektor has a new album out, her sixth, called What We Saw from the Cheap Seats. The child of two musicians—her mother was a professor at a college in the then-Soviet Union while her father is an amateur violinist—she started playing piano from a very young age. Facing discrimination due to their Judaism, the Spektors emigrated, finally ending up on the Bronx. Regina continued studying piano with a professor at the highly respected Manhattan School of Music and later received a degree in composition from the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College. Given her exposure to both the classical repertory and to contemporary folk, rock, and punk, Spektor has quite a musical vocabulary to draw on, as well as voice with an amazing range.

Spektor’s career began in a number of downtown, East Village clubs in New York, and she later signed with Sire Records. A look at the late night shows on which she has appeared is dazzling—Conan hosted her four times; Leno, Letterman, Kimmel, Farrell, and Ferguson all had her on two times each; and she’s been the musical guest on SNL. (So Stephen, what took you so long?) She’s also opened for a number of major bands, including the Strokes and Kings of Leon. Finally, you may have heard her songs on the soundtracks of various TV programs such as Grey’s Anatomy, Weeds, and—get this—How I Met Your Mother! Maybe NPH is a fan, too. I particularly love the fact that her music has also been used on a Brazilian telenovela, which almost assures that she’s become famous there, too.

Not surprisingly, she’s also socially conscious and has used her money to help raise funds for Darfur, Planned Parenthood, Doctors without Borders, and in support of human rights in Tibet.

Visit her website to order the new album, watch videos, find out her tour dates, and more.

Comment on her official forum.

Like her on Facebook.

Follow her on Twitter.

Go to her YouTube channel to watch videos.

Listen to some songs on Soundcloud.

The new album is doing extremely well, per Billboard!

The New York Times profiled her.  (It contains a touching story of kindness and generosity that probably allowed her to continue her music career.)

Read an article in the Guardian.

Hear her on NPR.

  And now, let’s check in with our good friend Jon!

  Monday, 6/4: Thomas Mann & Norman Ornstein

You thought Congress was a mess? Here's the bad news: it's worse than you thought. Mann and Ornstein are the authors of a new book, It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism. It’s been widely praised in The New York Times and the Economist, as well as by Bill Clinton, Paul Volker, and Juan Williams. Ornstein writes a weekly column for Roll Call and is a resident scholar at the extremely conservative American Enterprise Institute, while Mann, who has formerly taught at such top universities as Princeton, Georgetown, and Johns Hopkins, now is with the Brookings Institute.

Read the Washington Post review.

Visit the site for their Election Reform Project.

Listen to them on NPR.

  Tuesday, 6/5: Gary Johnson

Obama, Romney…and Johnson. Though he’s received much less attention than the big-party candidates, Gary Johnson is running for president on the Libertarian ticket. A former Republican governor of New Mexico, Johnson is also a super-athlete who participates in Ironman marathons and has climbed Mount Everest. After that, running for president must be a piece of cake! Dealing with Jon—maybe, maybe not. The bad news about Johnson is that he wants to slash the budget, including eliminating the Department of Education, and give the money to the states—minus a certain percentage. The good news is that he’s anti the drug war and wants to bring troops stationed in peaceful countries (like Europe) back home. I trust not, I fear.

Visit his website.

Like him on Facebook.

Follow him on Twitter. (He’s tweeted excitedly about this visit.)

Read an interview with him in GQ.

  Wednesday, 6/6: Michael Fassbender

Okay—time for a fangirl break. Michael Fassbender…sigh. Mind you, the first role I ever saw him in was as Bobby Sands, the militant Irish hunger striker, in Steve McQueen’s brilliant film Hunger. (McQueen the British director, not the now-dead actor.) To play the role, Fassbender had lost so much weight that it seemed as if he, too, would disappear, just as Sands did. (Sands died on his strike.) Beauty was not an issue in the work, but his considerable talent and passion for the role certainly were. Fassbender also received a lot of notoriety for his fearless performance as a sex addict in McQueen’s next film, Shame, for which he won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award, as well as for A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg) in which he played Carl Jung. And oh yeah, he’s also appeared in such blockbusters as X-Men: First Class. Fassbender's newest film: Prometheus. This one’s a biggie.

He discussed his role as an android in Prometheus.

Here’s a fan website dedicated to him.

Read a recent interview in New York's Daily News.

Definitely stole this link to Esquire cover shots from The Daily Show website. (Okay, some others too.) But anything with pictures of Fassbender is good with me!

  Thursday, 6/7: Edward Conard

Uh-oh! I hope Jon is at his toughest for this visit, because Edward Conard was the former managing director of Bain Capital—the Romney-associated firm that bought and closed businesses, putting people out of work. His new book is Unintended Consequences: Why Everything You've Been Told About the Economy Is Wrong, which in fact will be released on this very day. And by the way, that’s no typo: it IS Conard, not Conrad.

Read the BusinessWeek review.

Like him on Facebook.

Follow him on Twitter. Looks as if he just stated tweeting for the book’s release. As someone who works in publishing, I say: bad. You should be doing it way before to build up an audience and not just look like you’re selling.

Visit his website to see video, read an excerpt, and more.

  That's all for this week! Let me know who you're most looking forward to -- there are plenty of exciting choices this week! Have a great time watching. Cheers.

Original Article

[stevens1]

Crashing a book on the financial crash: E-book bestsellers breakdown

This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: Crashing a book about the financial crash. http://j.mp/J7kz3P via @paidcontent

[bloombergview]

Part 2: Roe v. Wade brought pro-investment voters to power in the U.S. (Illustration by Tim Lahan | Op-Ed by Edward Conard on Bloomberg View)

[bloombergview]

Part 1: Investment, the engine of U.S. prosperity, is underrated. (Illustration by Tim Lahan | Op-Ed by Edward Conard on Bloomberg View)

[longreads]

Edward Conard is Mitt Romney's former partner at Bain, and he's not afraid to have an honest conversation about wealth: 

A central problem with the U.S. economy, he told me, is finding a way to get more people to look for solutions despite these terrible odds of success. Conard’s solution is simple. Society benefits if the successful risk takers get a lot of money. For proof, he looks to the market. At a nearby table we saw three young people with plaid shirts and floppy hair. For all we know, they may have been plotting the next generation’s Twitter, but Conard felt sure they were merely lounging on the sidelines. 'What are they doing, sitting here, having a coffee at 2:30?' he asked. 'I’m sure those guys are college-educated.'

"The Purpose of Spectacular Wealth, According to a Spectacularly Wealthy Guy." — Adam Davidson, New York Times

More #longreads by Davidson

[sarahlee310-blog]

Ever since the financial crisis started, we’ve heard plenty from the 1 percent. We’ve heard them giving defensive testimony in Congressional hearings or issuing anodyne statements flanked by lawyers and image consultants. They typically repeat platitudes about investment, risk-taking and job creation with the veiled contempt that the nation doesn’t understand their contribution. You get the sense that they’re afraid to say what they really believe. What do the superrich say when the cameras aren’t there? With that in mind, I recently met Edward Conard on 57th Street and Madison Avenue, just outside his office at Bain Capital, the private-equity firm he helped build into a multibillion-dollar business by buying, fixing up and selling off companies at a profit. Conard, who retired a few years ago at 51, is not merely a member of the 1 percent. He’s a member of the 0.1 percent. His wealth is most likely in the hundreds of millions; he lives in an Upper East Side town house just off Fifth Avenue; and he is one of the largest donors to his old boss and friend, Mitt Romney. Unlike his former colleagues, Conard wants to have an open conversation about wealth. He has spent the last four years writing a book that he hopes will forever change the way we view the superrich’s role in our society. “Unintended Consequences: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About the Economy Is Wrong,” to be published in hardcover next month by Portfolio, aggressively argues that the enormous and growing income inequality in the United States is not a sign that the system is rigged. On the contrary, Conard writes, it is a sign that our economy is working. And if we had a little more of it, then everyone, particularly the 99 percent, would be better off. This could be the most hated book of the year.

[...]

A central problem with the U.S. economy, he told me, is finding a way to get more people to look for solutions despite these terrible odds of success. Conard’s solution is simple. Society benefits if the successful risk takers get a lot of money. For proof, he looks to the market. At a nearby table we saw three young people with plaid shirts and floppy hair. For all we know, they may have been plotting the next generation’s Twitter, but Conard felt sure they were merely lounging on the sidelines. “What are they doing, sitting here, having a coffee at 2:30?” he asked. “I’m sure those guys are college-educated.” Conard, who occasionally flashed a mean streak during our talks, started calling the group “art-history majors,” his derisive term for pretty much anyone who was lucky enough to be born with the talent and opportunity to join the risk-taking, innovation-hunting mechanism but who chose instead a less competitive life. In Conard’s mind, this includes, surprisingly, people like lawyers, who opt for stable professions that don’t maximize their wealth-creating potential. He said the only way to persuade these “art-history majors” to join the fiercely competitive economic mechanism is to tempt them with extraordinary payoffs. “It’s not like the current payoff is motivating everybody to take risks,” he said. “We need twice as many people. When I look around, I see a world of unrealized opportunities for improvements, an abundance of talented people able to take the risks necessary to make improvements but a shortage of people and investors willing to take those risks. That doesn’t indicate to me that risk takers, as a whole, are overpaid. Quite the opposite.” The wealth concentrated at the top should be twice as large, he said. That way, the art-history majors would feel compelled to try to join them.

[...]

At its core, Conard’s book addresses what is perhaps the most important question in economics, the one Adam Smith set out to answer in “The Wealth of Nations”: Why do some countries grow so rich and others stay poor? Where you come down on the answer has as much to do with your politics as your economic worldview (two things that can often be the same). Glenn Hubbard, a prominent economist and one of Romney’s chief economic advisers, takes his ideas seriously. “He doesn’t have the blinders of a model-based view of the world, which is an advantage and a disadvantage,” Hubbard told me. Others, like the progressive economist Dean Baker, were less kind. “I can’t say there was much I found compelling,” he told me. The celebrated New York University economist Nouriel Roubini went out of his way to say that he had “great intellectual respect for his sharp mind,” even if he didn’t agree on numerous points, especially the benefits of inequality. Nearly every economist I spoke with said that Conard has too much faith in the market’s ability to reward only those who create real value. Conard, for instance, insists that even the dodgiest financial products must have been beneficial or else nobody would have bought them in the first place. If a Wall Street trader or a corporate chief executive is filthy rich, Conard says that the merciless process of economic selection has assured that they have somehow benefited society. Even pro-market Romney supporters take issue with this. “Ed ought to be more concerned about crony capitalism,” Hubbard told me. “Unintended Consequences” ignores some of the most important economic work of the past few decades, about how power and politics influence economic growth. In technical language, this field is the study of “rent seeking,” in which people or companies get rich because of their power, not because of their ideas. This is one of the few fields in economics in which left and right share many influences and ideas — namely that wealthy individuals and corporations are able to influence politicians and regulators to make seemingly insignificant changes to regulations that benefit themselves. In other words, to rig the game. One classic example is banking. Banks have enormous resources to constantly put explicit or subtle pressure on lawmakers and regulators so that regulation can eventually serve their interests. Conard’s version of the financial crisis ignores much reporting and analysis — including work I’ve done with NPR’s “Planet Money” team — that shows that some of the nation’s largest banks actively manipulated customers and regulators and, sometimes, their own stockholders to profit from dangerous risk. And for many economists, rising inequality can create exactly the wrong outcomes for society over all. Rather than simply serving as an invitation for everybody to engage in potentially beneficial risk-taking, inequality can allow those with wealth to crush new ideas.