Continue reading »]]> Let’s take a trip back in time. Two years ago on May 6, early in the day, the U.S. stock markets were hit  by worries over the Greek debt crisis (sound familiar?). Then at 2:42, the market plunged 500 points in 5 minutes for a total of 1000 points for the day. The trading day, however, was not yet over. Twenty minutes later, inexplicably, markets rose sharply, regaining 600 points.

This wild ride is known as the 2010 Flash Crash. An investigation was launched and the resulting report “portrayed a market so fragmented and fragile that a single large trade could send stocks into a sudden spiral,” according to a Wikipedia article on the 2010 Flash Crash.

In 2011, at the one year anniversary, former Delaware senator Edward E. Kaufman and Michigan senator Carl Levin published an op-ed in the New York Times that critized the SEC’s lack of action to prevent a similar flash crash from occurring.

Two years later what has the SEC and the government done to solve the problem? What are they planning to do?

SEC Chair on ‘Flash Crash,’ Future Market Changes from The Christian Science Monitor on FORA.tv

Photo courtesy of Wagner T. Cassimiro “Aranha”

Continue reading »]]> As the 2012 presidential election approaches a critical point before two important primaries in Arizona and Michigan, questions about the Republican candidates abound. Is Rick Santorum’s current jump in the polls sustainable, or is his firebrand right-wing rhetoric too much even for the GOP to handle? Will Mitt Romney’s well-funded super PAC help vault him to the nomination? Can Gingrich recover in what might still be a wide-open race? Or, could Paul’s steady successes lead to a brokered Republican convention in Tampa?

Join us tomorrow on February 23 for a special TimesTalks at FORA.tv where New York Times political correspondents Jim Rutenberg, Jeff Zeleny and Helene Cooper will offer an inside perspective on how the race is shaping up as well as report on what’s happening inside Obama’s re-election campaign.

Continue reading »]]> The Volcker Rule, a key provision of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act–the resulting regulation after the financial crisis and downturn of 2007–is scheduled to take effect in July. Proposed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker as a means to prevent banks from making speculative investments that do not benefit their customers, the rule must first be approved by several federal organizations, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, headed by Mary Schapiro.

Schapiro, who was lobbied by Volcker earlier this week on the details of the rule, will join Monitor Breakfast journalists in Washington on the current regulatory climate in Washington, and how she believes Wall Street is reacting to the change.

Joyce Hansen, the Deputy General Counsel at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, explained the Volcker Rule from a legal perspective at an 2011 event titled, “The Aftermath of the Financial Crisis.”

Joyce Hansen: Analyzing the Volcker Rule from American Bar Association Section of International Law on FORA.tv

Continue reading »]]> Today the Supreme Court agreed to hear an affirmative action case that could undo a decision it reached back in 2003, according to an article in the New York Times, Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Affirmative Action Case. Nine years ago, the court ruled it was legal for colleges and universities to use race  as a factor in enrollment. That decision may change, however, with the makeup of the new court.

The debate over the pros and cons of affirmative action has been a long and heated one. Back in 2009, civil rights legend Julian Bond said students are not stigmatized if race is taken into account during the enrollment process.

Does Affirmative Action Stigmatize Students? from Miller Center of Public Affairs on FORA.tv

But Ward Connerly, author of the autobiography Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race Preferences, says the impact of curtailing affirmative action in California actually helped all minorities.

Ward Connerly – California Since Prop. 209 from The Hoover Institution on FORA.tv

Photo courtesy of  afagen

Continue reading »]]> He’s been named among the most influential Hispanics in the U.S. and CNNMoney listed him as one of the top 40 business leaders under the age of 40. As president of Univision Networks, Cesar Conde’s influence in network media is undeniable considering he leads programming for the largest audience of Spanish-language viewers and the fifth most watched network channel in the United States.

Conde will appear in a Paley Center for Media event tomorrow to discuss the growing influence of Spanish-language programming, and he may shed some light on current negotiations between his company and Disney-owned ABC to create a 24-hour news channel directed at Hispanic demographics. With a sizable Hispanic population that is fast-growing, increasingly affluent and therefore attractive to advertisers, Conde seeks to create programming that caters to bilingual Spanish-English viewers.

Not only is Conde interested in attracting viewership to his networks, he feels engaging the entrepreneurial spirit within the Hispanic population will help drive future success among the demographic.

Continue reading »]]> President Obama unveiled his 4th budget to Congress earlier this week, resulting in fairly typical reactions from both sides of the aisle. Policy analysts also got in on the action, with some saying the budget is a useful bid to open negotiations on larger debt-related issues, and others say it represents the decline and fall of the American economy.

At Thursday’s Monitor Breakfast, Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) agreed with latter (although in slightly less stark terms) saying Obama’s budget doesn’t address the looming possibility that the United States could end up with a debt crisis similar to Europe’s:

Rep. Paul Ryan Rips Obama Budget from The Christian Science Monitor on FORA.tv

Continue reading »]]> In order to keep up with constantly changing trends in Silicon Valley, technology companies are often forced to abide by the saying, “innovate or die,” which often means trying to do the impossible: predict the future. In a recent speech, Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook recently hinted the future might be in the development of their long-awaited (and suspected) Apple TV, while Google’s plans at Mountain View allegedly consist of a new hardware testing lab in order to bolster their position within the consumer marketplace.

But the future isn’t just limited to companies in Cupertino and Mountain View.  At a recent FORA.tv production, Intel gathered some of the brightest minds in technology to discuss what we might be seeing and using in 2022. From flexible digital displays to a discussion on whether or not mobile broadband access should be a universal right, participants at “Future Shock: Technology in the Next 10 Years” gaze into their proverbial crystal balls and try to predict what’s on the horizon.

Future Shock: Technology in the Next 10 Years from Intel Corp. on FORA.tv

Continue reading »]]> Rick Santorum’s interview with Caffeinated Thoughts, an evangelical Christian blog, is a fascinating one. He covers a wide range of topics, including some of his favorites: family, procreation and marriage. In one sense the interview humanizes Santorum. He comes across more calm, more focused, less angry than is often the case when he is speaking to a large audience. You get the sense that the man is being honest with himself and his audience in a way politicians seldom are.

He is also consistent, which can be another positive attribute, unless the consistency becomes rigidity. In the interview, Santorum says,

“One of the things I will talk about that no president has talked about before is I think the dangers of contraception in this country, the whole sexual libertine idea… It’s not okay because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. They’re supposed to be within marriage, for purposes that are, yes, conjugal… but also procreative.”

Santorum also says that when procreation is taken out of the equation, the special bond between men and women is diminished.

As Conor Friedersdorf, a staff writer at The Atlantic, has pointed out, Santorum’s interest in what goes on in a couple’s bedroom runs directly counter to his limited-government label but it also becomes deeply rigid, black and white without any hint of gray. In short, his thoughts on what can create a special bond is one dimensional. What Santorum misses is the chance to advance the argument. How does a couple navigate the desires for sex and pleasure within the context of their “special” relationship and without the purpose of procreation. Answering that question will impact most people’s lives.

Here’s the entire interview. Jump to the 18-minute time code if you want to hear his views on sex and procreation.

Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Continue reading »]]> Back in 2006 when Katie Couric made significant waves as the first female anchor of the CBS Evening News, there were a share of opinion articles that questioned whether her move was even relevant in a society that practically lived within the 24-hour news cycle.

Couric touched on this topic in a TimesTalks discussion from 2011 on the role network television news broadcasts will play in the future. She stressed that even though more people source news from online media rather than television, she hopes that “immediacy doesn’t trump accuracy” when it comes to reporting:

Katie Couric: Will Nightly News Still Exist in 10 Years? from The New York Times ‘TimesTalks’ on FORA.tv

Continue reading »]]> Compromise. It’s a word that’s commonly thrown around these days inside the Beltway– but unfortunately with mixed results. Most news out of Capitol Hill over the last year has concerned deadlock, especially when it comes to federal budget legislation.

Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has been a central figure in talks between Democratic and GOP leadership on issues such as last week’s battle over the Obama adminstration plan requiring insurance companies to provide free contraception, and this week’s debate over the payroll tax. Ryan will join Monitor Breakfast journalists on February 16 to discuss, in part, current compromises (or lack thereof) between the White House and Congress.

Are both sides as deadlocked as they were a year ago when Ryan talked about the lack of communication between the Obama administration and the GOP?

Rep. Paul Ryan on Obama Admin: ‘They Don’t Talk to Us’ from The Christian Science Monitor on FORA.tv