Thursday, May. 14, 2009

Stephan Schuster

On capitalism
The system as a whole is still working. But for capitalism to have a future, it needs to survive. What are the regulatory mechanisms that will ensure that in 100 years — in 500 years — there still is a system?

On the economy
Decisions are being made on quarterly reports, annual reports. National decision makers are re-elected on four-year cycles, six-year cycles. You cannot plan a robust, resilient future if all the decisions that you make have to be paid back in the time frame that you as a person would benefit from.

On unemployment
In other areas of the world, the crisis is about finding qualified people. It's not about finding jobs.

On poverty
We've been talking about converting bonds into equity. Maybe we need to let people convert the equity that they got into vouchers that can be used for education.

Watch video clips from the roundtable.