Should We Let Members of Congress Trade Equities and Securities?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

In washington, d c, the merits are not necessarily the most important thing. It's the politics that are much more important. And so sometimes if somebody from silicon valley comes to washington says, i have the best software. Look what it's doing for america. We're selling a lot of services and peopler living better because of it. That may not mean much to people in washington. So they throw resources at the problem. Do they understand how dese works? Well, i think they don't understand. In technology, whoever has better technology might ultimately prevail. If some people are complaining all the time because the prices are too high, or something like that

Baltimore native David Rubenstein is a founding figure in private equity, a prolific philanthropist, and author. From leveraged buyouts to his patriotic philanthropy to his leadership roles within institutions like the Smithsonian, Kennedy Center, and the National Gallery of Art, David has spent much of his life evaluating what makes institutions—and people—succeed.

He joined Tyler to discuss what makes someone good at private equity, why 20 percent performance fees have withstood the test of time, why he passed on a young Mark Zuckerberg, why SPACs probably won’t transform the IPO process, gambling on cryptocurrency, whether the Brooklyn Nets are overrated, what Wall Street and Washington get wrong about each other, why he wasn’t a good lawyer, why the rise of China is the greatest threat to American prosperity, how he would invest in Baltimore, his advice to aging philanthropists, the four standards he uses to evaluate requests for money, why we still need art museums, the unusual habit he and Tyler share, why even now he wants more money, why he’s not worried about an imbalance of ideologies on college campuses, how he prepares to interview someone, what appealed to him about owning the Magna Carta, the change he’d make to the US Constitution, why you shouldn’t obsess about finding a mentor, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded September 30th, 2021 Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Follow David on Twitter
Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.