Big Think

William Castle on June 11, 2009, 2:36 PM

It was uplifting to hear Mr. Doctoroff mention how Mike Bloomberg only started his company when he was fired from Soloman Bros. 27 years is not all that much time since he founded his empire – it’s extremely impressive.

Another commentor – Avner Ronen from Boxee – said something very similar in his video: it is the small companies that are going to make the largest impact on the new economy, the same way that Bloomberg did years ago. Doctoroff did not mention it directly here, but he is talking about creative destruction.

And he’s right, who knows how this desctruction is going to effect the new financial system?!

Eliot Spaulding on June 11, 2009, 8:43 PM

It was uplifting to hear from Doctoroff, and his research, that he found in other times of economic collapse New York and Wall St. always came back. I was very surprised however that regulation tended to be lighter than people expected it would be. But in the case of the conditions now I strongly beleive that we are in need of very high government regulation – I’ve read that it was de-regulation that really put us all in this poor spot in the first place. Wouldn’t we all be better off to have too much and then scale it back slowly?

Karim Homaifar on June 11, 2009, 10:33 PM

Thank you Mr. Doctoroff. I truly feel better already. Honestly. Just the way you spoke about how these up and downs are a normal part of our economic cycle made me feel better. Many of us have lost our jobs. More of us will. People are on edge and nervous. Somebody as successful as Doctoroff offering reassurance and comfort about the current economic situation is very helpful to those of us who are very worried.

I’m wondering about this though: Are there ways that we can soften the blows that businesses and people receive during future recessions?

Isn’t it it time for all of the sectors to get together to and try and hammer out some good ideas about how to prevent such devastating effects on all of us from occuring in the future? No one group, be it government, business or academia, has all the answers, but maybe a real effort by these groups working together might develop some positive, preventive and proactive measures. Not just an “Economy Czar”, but a real coalition is needed.

Maria Garcia-Reyes on June 12, 2009, 12:10 PM

Karim raises an interesting point about trying to look at solutions for softening fincial system corrections in the future. I see that as the role of the regulatory bodies in the government – the Fed, congress, the SEC, etc. in putting in the correct restrictions and regulations. Business, as always, is going to go where the money is – and go there quickly – as well they should.

Of course business should consider the ramifications of their actions when looking at new financial models – but really I put the blame on Alan Greenspan and the deregulation in the 1980s. The regulation – while it did slow down the speed of the economy – was there for a reason!