Big Ideas For a Better World

The Nationalization Option: Considering a Government Takeover of Citigroup

by Robert Weissman

Citigroup is among the world’s largest financial institutions. As of July, it is also one-third owned by the U.S. government. Without the various subsidies and guarantees — totaling hundreds of billions of dollars — made available to Citigroup, it is very likely the bank would be insolvent. Many believe that — even with the government supports — with an honest accounting, it would be insolvent today. In the case of the failure of Citigroup, it would be taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which has a long record of “resolving” failed banks — albeit not banks of the size and reach of Citi.

The existing government stake in Citi, and the lingering prospect that the government might have to up its control share still further, raise the questions: Should the government exercise its ownership powers? And if so, how? MORE>>

The Wall Street Rip Off: Fees and Consequences

An Interview with John Bogle

John Bogle is founder and retired CEO of the Vanguard Group — one of the two largest mutual funds in the world. Fortune magazine named him as one of the four “Investment Giants” of the 20th century; he was named one of the world’s 100 most powerful and influential people by Time magazine; and Institutional Investor presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. He is the author of seven books, most recently Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life. MORE>>

Eyes on the Prize: Incentivizing Drug Innovation without Monopolies

An Interview with James Love

James Love is director of Knowledge Ecology International, a Washington, D.C.-based not-for-profit. He is also co-chair of the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue Working Group on Intellectual Property and chair of Essential Inventions. MORE>>

New Directions for Government Motors

An Interview with Jerry Tucker

Jerry Tucker is a former executive board member of the United Auto Workers union and co-founder of the UAW New Directions Movement. He is also co-founder of the Center for Labor Renewal. MORE>>

A BIG Idea: A Minimum Income Guarantee

An Interview with Karl Widerquist

Karl Widerquist is a lecturer in politics in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Relations at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. He serves on the coordinating committee of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG). MORE>>

Grassroots Power and Non-Market Economies

An Interview with Beverly Bell

Beverly Bell is program coordinator for Other Worlds, an international multimedia education and organizing collaborative. She is the author of Walking on Fire: Haitian Women’s Stories of Survival and Resistance. She most recently wrote the report, “Who Says You Can’t Change the World? Just Economics and Societies on an Unjust Planet. MORE>>