Peter Hopkins
President and Co-founder
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As President Obama doggedly prioritizes universal coverage over a thorough revamp of the healthcare system that would deliver truly efficient, sustainable care, “Obamacons”, like me, who helped elect him, have no one to blame but themselves. "Small government" minded in my political philosophy, and a registered Republican in my affiliation, I knew I was ultimately cutting off my nose off to spite my face in voting for the President. Nonetheless, I took the plunge under the weight of Bush fatigue and the jaded expectation that neither party could really be trusted to keep th… Read More
August 31, 2009 | In Health & Medicine, Politics & Policy
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Sympathizer in Chief, Obama Heads South for Summit of the Americas
Next week, the fifth Summit of the Americas will be convened in Trinidad and Tabago. The quadrennial event will represent Pres. Obama's South American debut and, some will say, a serious test of whether he can rally a more concerted approach to the economic crisis and… Read More
April 12, 2009 | In Business & Economics, Politics & Policy, World
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Larry Summers Is The Fairest Paid Man On Wall Street
It was disappointing to see so many stories about the incomes earned by many top Obama officials in the year before they entered public service, and to watch them go viral without any context. Read More
April 5, 2009 | In Business & Economics
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It's been a week since the Obama Administration first announced its strategy to stabilize U.S. banks by establishing an orderly plan for them to unwind the so-called "toxic assets" currently weighing down balance sheets. Is it too early to pass judgement? Read More
March 31, 2009 | In Business & Economics
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The Global Balance of Power Is Shifting, One Google Search at a Time
Outside of how best to solve the current crisis, perhaps the greatest macro question of our moment is what the net effect will be on the balance of global powers when all is said and done. Read More
March 28, 2009 | In Business & Economics, Future, Science & Tech
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Geithner Speaks, Markets Tremble
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday. So why did the markets spiral out of control? Read More
March 25, 2009 | In Business & Economics, Politics & Policy
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Saving the Newspaper Industry One Lawsuit at a Time
It was only a matter of time before the newspaper industry, in a last ditch effort for survival, turned to the courts -- it's the sort of Faustian pact that other old media behemoths have submitted to in their dying moments. Read More
March 2, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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The Hard Reality of Low Expectations
Over the last few weeks, the economy may have a turned a corner. After several years in which public confidence has greatly exceeded any reasonable level based on underlying economic fundamentals, we suddenly face a diametrically different dilemma. Read More
February 24, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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A rose by another other name may not smell quite as sweet, explains Greg Mankiw, who parses the real difference between a 'nationalization' of banks and a 'pre-privatization'. Read More
February 22, 2009 | In Inspiration & Wisdom
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The cross-cutting matrix of interests that defines our new global landscape is nicely represented in this commercial for the non-profit Citizens Energy featuring founder, and Kennedy family scion, Joe Kennedy extoling Venezualan generosity. Venezuela, under Hugo Chavez's leadership, has been subsidizing home heating oil for low income Americans for a few years now in a humanitarian gesture cum F.U. to the Administration. Kennedy reminds us that it's lot harder to uphold foreign policy absolutes in the face of … Read More
February 22, 2009 | In Politics & Policy
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Seeing No End to Crisis in Sight, Soros Shorts World
George Soros doesn't see anything that even remotely resembles his idea of what's needed to jumpstart economic recovery and so still can't see the bottom. There's perhaps no one in the world at spotting the opportunities that emerge when political orthodoxy conflict with financial reality than Soros--so much. After the jump, a look into the SEC filings of his Soros Management, which provide a window … Read More
February 22, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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Getting By Without a Little Help From Our Friends
Global investors are increasingly allergic to long-term U.S. securities, such as corporate stocks and bonds, even as they flock to highly secure T-bills. This curious divergence reflects a deepening distrust of U.S. corporate governance in the face of a grudging acceptance that the U.S. government is still the safest bet on Earth. Read More
February 20, 2009 | In Belief
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Today, the market pummeled banking stocks as it worked to come to terms with the increasing prospect of a bank nationalization. In a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, each drop in the ticker makes a bank nationalization that much more likely. Read More
February 20, 2009 | In Life & Death
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China Goes Shopping, World Throws Open Its Doors
The NYT reports on a recent surge in China's foreign direct investment. China is taking advantage of a savings stockpile and cheap energy prices to seure itself reliable flows of energy into the foreseeable future. Read More
February 20, 2009 | In Media & Internet
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Clinton is High on Hopefulness but Low on Optimism
Over the last few weeks, President Obama has been beset on all sides with calls for a more hopeful tone, one more in keeping with the tenor of his campaign. Now former Pres. Clinton has joined the chorus, in this interview from Good Morning America. Read More
February 20, 2009 | In Life & Death
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It seems increasingly likely that the major world economies, China included, may have to coordinate a truly global response to the crisis, as investors remain unconvinced by everything short of it. Read More
February 15, 2009 | In History
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China Still Sees U.S. as Best Among Horrible Options
China offered a bid of (relative) confidence in the U.S. economy, stating its intention to continue buying U.S. debt, inspite of concern about the deterioration of American finances and potential depreciation of the dollar. Read More
February 12, 2009 | In Life & Death
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Gene Therapy Closes in on AIDs Cure
Amidst all the economic tumult, a medical revolution is quietly unfolding, moving us a step closer to the age of genetic therapies, a step beyond the era of pharmacology and ever closer to cures for scourges like HIV/AIDs. A new study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine offers compelling new evidence that future gene therapies may offer a cure for HIV. Read More
February 12, 2009 | In Media & Internet
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For Want of Actual Recovery Plan, Soros Proposes his Own
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's announcement yesterday of a non-plan of action on a new banking bailout invited not only immediate criticism, but also its first counter-proposal. Hot off the presses, George Soros has just released an advanced publishing of chapter 10 of his forthcoming book "Reflections on the Crash of 2008 and What it Means". Read More
February 11, 2009 | In Business & Economics
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Why Conservatives Should Embrace Charles Darwin
Tomorrow marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the father of evolution, Charles Darwin. He remains as influential as ever and, among many groups, just as controversial. There is a good piece in The Australian today arguing that Darwin's detractors on the right should reevaluate their stance, as the spontaneous order he observed in nature are the same forces that drive the free market and resist social engineering. Read More
February 11, 2009 | In Life & Death
I'm the co-founder & President of Big Think, which is dedicated to promoting informed discourse online through video interviews and getting users involved in the conversation. The site launched in beta in January of 2008 and currently features over 400 expert contributors, from John McCain to Harrison Ford. Before my life at Big Think, I was a PBS producer, where I oversaw a partnership with Google to digitize and archive 5,000 hours of content from the Charlie Rose show and launch a new multimedia website to distribute it.
