Inside Philanthropy
Founder and editor of Inside Philanthropy and senior fellow at Demos, a public policy center; author of The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Do Well and Fortunes of Change: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America
How Much Money Do Universities Need? It’s graduation month. High school seniors are going off to college, and many parents are figuring out how they’re going to pay for an increasingly expensive education. The schools, on the other hand, aren’t all as cash-strapped. This week, USC got $25 million from trustee Rick Caruso to start a department of head and neck surgery. And Harvard, already the richest university in the world, received a $400 million donation from billionaire John Paulson. Where do big donations to already rich (and expensive) schools go?
Education Reform and the Power of Silicon Valley California's teacher-tenure laws are under fire in a Los Angeles court room. In Vergara v. California , nine students, backed by a millionaire from Silicon Valley, claim quality education is damaged because it's so hard to fire bad teachers and that poor and minority kids are disproportionately affected. If that's the verdict, it could radically change the way public education is conducted. It could also be a demonstration of how a single individual can amplify his or her own views by strategically spending big money.
Barclays, LIBOR and Banking Culture The latest global financial scandal may be the biggest of all, involving a benchmark used to set interest rates for contracts worldwide. It's the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR . As the world learns more about international banking, one public policy expert calls it a "cheating culture." We hear about the growing LIBOR scandal and what it might mean for $350 trillion in contracts -- from multi-national business and municipal government bonds down to mortgages and student loans. Photo: Bob Diamond, then-CEO of Barclay's UK, speaks at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 27, 2012.
The LIBOR and Why It Matters The London Interbank Offered Rate , or LIBOR, is what banks charge each other to borrow money, and it's not just for financial wonks and accountants. It's also used as a benchmark to set rates for $350 trillion in contracts: commercial loans, home loans, car loans and credit cards, including yours. Now it turns out that major banks may have manipulated the LIBOR for their own profit. Are they being run by a "cheating culture?" Would regulation of the latest global financial scandal help or should bankers be required to risk their own money, not everybody else's?
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
The week that wouldn't quit Will next week get even weirder? (Special one-hour episode)
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.