Added 10.10.18. In this 2011 episode Milt talks with two authors about the 2008 financial meltdown in the U.S. and necessary course corrections going forward, as economy-builders traverse the slippery slopes of growth. One guest is Economist columnist and former Financial Times writer Philip Coggan. He is author of “Paper Promises: Debt, Money, And The New World Order.” Another is former Wall Street investment banker and hedge fund partner, later an adjunct professor at the International Affairs School of NYU, Ann Lee. She is author of “What The U.S. Can Learn From China: An Open-Minded Guide To Treating Our Greatest Competitor As Our Greatest Teacher.” Flashing forward: As of late August 2018, the U.S. public debt had grown 50 percent since this episode aired, from $14 trillion to $21 trillion. Seventy percent of that more recent U.S. public debt was owned by either the U.S. government, the U.S. Federal Reserve, or U.S. investors. The rest was owned by foreign investors, foremost those in China and Japan. Coggan accents in the episode that rising public debt means many public health care and Social Security beneficiaries will not be paid all or most of what they are owed. Meanwhile, context around China’s impressive economic growth over recent decades has advanced since the episode aired. This 2017 PBS analysis pinpoints three big risks for China: financial instability from bad lending; accelerating private de-capitalization; and growth constraints stemming from authoritarian mis-rule.

Before the heirarchs of the digital world became the heroes of business students and MBA professors, the most admired “captain of industry” was Jack Welch, the long-term  head of General Electric. Shortly after he retired in 2001 we chatted with him and found him delightfully and surprisingly bright, candid, unaffected and probably not really ready for retirement. As this conversation and his continuing public presence reveal.

From 2006, Milt talks with British historian David Cannadine about his biography of Andrew Mellon.

Donald Rumsfeld has been a Congressman, White House Chief of Staff, CEO of numerous corporations, and served as Secretary of Defense in two different administrations. Over his many years of government and corporate life, he’s become known for what he calls his rules – a collection of stories, quotes, sayings and other lessons useful to anyone in a leadership position. Now he’s collected these rules into a most informative book called, what else, Rumsfeld’s Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life. We talk with him about his time in government, the war in Iraq, and how these rules have guided him through his various posts and challenges in life.

Steve Bernas of the Chicago Better Business Bureau, and Steve Baker of the Federal Trade Commission explain the latest consumers cons and how to avoid them.