George Hahn

The unknown unknowns aren't the emerging economies.

They're derivatives in Zurich, London, or New York that nobody stress-tested for $110 oil.

I was a teenager during the two major oil shocks of the 1970s.

Those shocks weren't abstract basis points.

They upended my mother's household math.

Take the bus versus the car.

Wear sweaters instead of raising the thermostat.

There are hundreds of millions of mothers in Bangladesh, Egypt, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka doing the same math right now.

The bankers in London and New York will be fine, but for millions of kids in emerging markets, studying will cease at sunset.

There were valid arguments for military strikes, but none for war.

America's greatest asset is its optimism, an attitude that's unleashed unparalleled wealth and validated the thesis that anyone can achieve the American dream.

But here's the glitch in the matrix.

Capitalism is the belief that there should be winners and losers, that incentives drive innovation and prosperity.

And they do.

but the gilded few amass power and use that power for regulatory capture to expand their wealth.

A lot.

The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality popular among economists.

Zero indicates everyone in a society has the same.

A score of 1.0 means one individual owns everything.

In the U.S., we're higher than 0.8, about the level seen when the French were separating people from their heads.