blog – Page 4 – CAPITAL INSTITUTE

Ecological Overshoot ·

John Lennon Said It Best: “Living is Easy with Eyes Closed”

I was floored by this Saturday’s New York Times article, “Seeing a Supersize Yacht as a Job Engine, Not a Self-Indulgence.” I was amazed not only by how the subject of the article, Mr. Jones, rationalized his extraordinary consumption habits, but also by the mere fact that the article was published. Mr. Jones of St. Louis, we learn, is living…

designburd·
July 30, 2014 11:28 pm·
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Capitalism ·

The Central Contradiction of Capitalism that Piketty Overlooked

It is instructive to observe the reaction to the Piketty phenomenon — a 700-page treatise on political economy that became an overnight Amazon bestseller deserving, according to Larry Summers, of a Nobel Prize. It is similarly instructive to note the spectacle of the viral Russell Brand interview with theBBC’s Jeremy Paxman in which Brand pretty much shreds Paxman and calls for revolution. I can’t claim to have…

John Fullerton·
May 21, 2014 3:07 pm·
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Financial Crisis ·

High-Frequency Trading is a Blight on Markets. Tobin Tax Can Help.

This blog post previously ran in The Guardian’s Business section. A tax on financial transactions can calm the frenzy of speculation fuelled by computer-driven algorithms The dark side of the world of algorithmic trading in financial markets has twice been in the spotlight this week. First was the release of Michael Lewis’ explosive new book, Flash Boys: Cracking the Money…

John Fullerton·
April 4, 2014 12:01 pm·
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Future of Finance ·

Exclusive Sneak Peek at “Limits to Investment”

Perhaps the most important book missing from the bookshelves of most financiers is Limits to Growth, written in 1972 under the auspices of the Club of Rome. Demonized as neo-Malthusian alarmism when it came out, the book has since sold 12 million copies, been updated three times, each validating the original message, and it

John Fullerton·
March 21, 2014 12:51 pm·
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Financial Reform ·

Can We Escape Bank Regulation by Lawsuit?

When I worked at JPMorgan in the 80s and 90s, even in the context of deregulation, the concept of “self-regulation” in the financial industry was discussed with a straight face. Last week, Better Markets, a sophisticated civil society non-profit organization, run by former Skadden attorney Dennis Kelleher and committed to protecting the public interest in the

John Fullerton·
February 10, 2014 12:17 pm·
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Climate Change ·

Transcending the Tension between Climate Change and Inequality

This year’s gathering of the World Economic Forum at Davos was kicked off with the reading of a letter from Pope Francis, which ends: “I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it.” One can almost feel the squirming. I recently participated in a roundtable among leading thinkers, activists, and social entrepreneurs on…

John Fullerton·
January 28, 2014 7:09 pm·
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Future of Finance ·

Startled by the Clarity of Regeneration

Several years ago, my friend and Capital Institute Advisor Simon Rich introduced a group of us to the hauntingly poetic wisdom of T.S. Eliot: We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.

John Fullerton·
December 16, 2013 6:22 pm·
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Divestment ·

Harvard and Brown Fail Moral Leadership Exam

At a time when institutions of business and government continue to fail society, two of our leading academic institutions missed the opportunity to provide essential moral leadership on the most pressing challenge ever faced in the history of human civilization. Harvard President Drew Faust issued her October statement

John Fullerton·
November 19, 2013 4:35 pm·
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Evergreen Direct Investing ·

6 Reasons Why Stock Markets Are No Longer Fit For Purpose

Another version of this post ran earlier today on The Guardian’s Sustainable Business Blog. 6 Reasons Why Stock Markets Are No Longer Fit For Purpose:

John Fullerton·
October 21, 2013 2:02 pm·
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Financial Reform ·

Are We Not All Jasmines Now?

What is it about a Woody Allen film that leaves us always with a discomforting feeling of identification with its most abysmal character? This is certainly true with his latest film “Blue Jasmine,” which initially disappointed me, Kate Blanchett’s hauntingly brilliant performance notwithstanding. But given a little more time and reflection, its deeply disquieting meaning

John Fullerton·
August 20, 2013 3:37 pm·
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Commodities ·

Commodities are Different (In a “Full World”): Part 3

(This post is the third in an occasional series on why stronger oversight of commodity markets must be a public policy priority.) JPMorgan has announced that it plans to exit the physical commodities businesses, while remaining committed to its historic roots in commodity

John Fullerton·
August 5, 2013 10:22 am·
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Future of Finance ·

Beyond Sustainability: The Road to Regenerative Capitalism

Thomas Berry tells us, “It’s all a question of story. We are in trouble now because we don’t have a good story. We are in between stories. The old story, the account of how the world came to be and how we fit into it, is no longer effective.” For better or worse, economy, from the local to the global,…

John Fullerton·
July 8, 2013 3:06 pm·
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Climate Change ·

CO2 400ppm Milestone Hit Last Week

John Fullerton·
May 12, 2013 9:54 am·
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Evergreen Direct Investing ·

How Stewardship Investors Can Drive the Great Transition to Regenerative Prosperity

We are pleased to introduce this week’s guest blogger, Tim MacDonald, who is joining Capital Institute as a Senior Fellow. Out of his experience as an attorney organizing partnerships in tax-preferred projects like renewable energy and affordable housing, Tim has crafted a model for stewardship investing that we believe has real potential as an alternative to capital markets

John Fullerton·
April 29, 2013 12:57 pm·
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Carbon Bubble ·

Beyond Divestment

Two years ago, students at Swarthmore College began a fossil fuel divestment campaign, initially focused on coal. Last November, 350.org, the grassroots activist NGO dedicated to reducing carbon in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million joined the fight with a nationwide “Do the Math” campus tour. The movement spread to cities, and soon to

John Fullerton·
March 28, 2013 5:13 pm·
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