The Big View

Reuters Breakingviews columnists tap their best contacts to explore the biggest issues driving business and markets today. Every Tuesday, Global Editor Peter Thal Larsen and his team tackle a pressing question with a senior executive, financier, policymaker, or other expert. The Big View helps you understand what is going on, explore all sides of the argument, and think about what happens next.

[For previous The Exchange podcast users, we didn't want to leave you hanging so we've decided to repurpose this feed for the launch of The Big View podcast. You can still find the legacy episodes below marked under the old title]

News
276
The Exchange: Gary Shteyngart
To create the hedge fund manager character Barry Cohen – the protagonist in his latest novel “Lake Success” – Shteyngart spent lots of time with real-life financiers, from quants to activists. He discusses what he learned about Wall Street and the mone...
25 min
277
The Exchange: Joe Kaeser
It’s hard to imagine a company embodying as many of the challenges and opportunities of 21st century capitalism as Siemens. The German conglomerate’s CEO swings by Times Square to discuss trade, breakups, power, automation, labor, Saudi Arabia and lots...
36 min
278
The Exchange: Erika Karp talks climate change
As world leaders meet in Poland to beef up the Paris accords, Cornerstone Capital’s founder explains why the economics of battling global warming trump naysaying politicians. She also lays out how to spot green washing and says investors who ignore ESG...
33 min
279
The Exchange: 1MDB, Goldman, Jho Low and Leo
The new book “Billion Dollar Whale” chronicles the Malaysian mega-scandal involving Goldman Sachs and Leonardo DiCaprio. Co-author Tom Wright joined Breakingviews in Hong Kong to discuss how alleged mastermind Jho Low pulled it off and what the saga’s ...
30 min
280
The Exchange: Pascal Lamy
Few people have dedicated their careers to expanding international trade and globalism like Lamy, the former head of the WTO and EU commissioner. But rising rhetoric and increased tariffs between the U.S. and China have him worried, as he tells Rob Cox...
30 min
281
The Exchange: Goldfingers
Oliver Bullough's book "Moneyland" delves into the parallel world of super-rich super-crooks, where rules are for the little people. He discusses wealth, corruption, tax havens and how to fix it all with Clara Ferreira Marques and Nichol...
17 min
282
The Exchange: Leta Hong Fincher
China’s fledgling feminist movement has laid the foundations for a #MeToo moment. In the wake of the infamous one-child policy, author Hong Fincher has documented the development of women’s rights, and activism. She joins Katrina Hamlin to explain why ...
15 min
283
The Exchange: Kevin Rudd
Australia's prime minister in 2008 told Breakingviews how his government decided to spend some 6 pct of GDP on tax breaks, infrastructure and cash payments to citizens. That helped the country heavily exposed to China, commodities, financ...
18 min
284
The Exchange: Stephen Harper
Canada’s former prime minister, in office through the financial meltdown a decade ago, is an advocate for conservative politics with a small “c.” He talked to Breakingviews about the revamped NAFTA, Donald Trump’s standoff with China and the pros and c...
27 min
285
The Exchange: Anshu Jain
Deutsche Bank was credited with coming through the 2008 crisis in better shape than many of its rivals. Jain, who rose from running the German lender’s global markets business to eventually become CEO, stopped by Times Square to speak with Rob Cox abou...
25 min
286
The Exchange: Howard Marks
The founder of Oaktree Capital, with $120 bln of assets, doesn’t see signs of an imminent correction or crisis. But investors, particularly in the credit markets, are acting bullish in ways they’ll inevitably regret when the cycle turns, Marks told Rob...
19 min
287
The Exchange: Jeff Lacker
The presidency of the Richmond Fed, whose territory included two top U.S. banks, offered a unique window on the financial crisis. Wachovia needed rescuing and BofA’s deal to buy Merrill Lynch nearly collapsed. Lacker reflects on what went down and wher...
25 min
288
The Exchange: Neel Kashkari
Even before Lehman Brothers went belly-up, the U.S. Treasury was hatching a contingency plan. Kashkari was one of the architects of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which plugged some $250 bln into banks. He joins Rob Cox from his current perch runni...
24 min
289
The Exchange: Sheila Bair
The chair of U.S. bank regulator FDIC in 2008 recalls how competition and disagreements between watchdogs contributed to the crash. A decade later, despite leaving the industry, she still feels an obligation to warn of the dangers of rolling back some ...
29 min
290
The Exchange: Europe’s tech-slayer in chief
Margrethe Vestager has taken on Apple, Facebook and Google as Europe’s antitrust commissioner, leaving behind huge fines and bruised feelings. She talks with John Foley about Silicon Valley’s missteps, Europe’s challenges and what she’s buying on Amazo...
24 min
291
The Exchange: Vikram Pandit
As the chief executive of Citigroup, Pandit engineered the bank’s rescue and recovery from the crisis ten years ago. He swung by Times Square to discuss lessons learned, the things that still worry him and where he’s placing his bets on the future of t...
30 min
292
The Exchange: A chat with Gary Cohn
President Trump’s first National Economic Council director and former Goldman Sachs No. 2 discusses the financial crisis and its aftermath with Gina Chon. He also gives his take on tax cuts and trade, and explains why JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon would ma...
65 min
293
The Exchange: Congresswoman Maxine Waters
The senior Democrat on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee recalls the lack of answers that lawmakers had in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Gina Chon went to Congress to discuss that period and find out her priorities if she takes over ...
24 min
294
Exchange Podcast: Greg Fleming
On the day Lehman Brothers went belly-up, Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America. As president of the “Thundering Herd,” Fleming was the architect of that transaction. In conversation with Rob Cox, he defends the deal, reminisces on the crisis an...
23 min
295
The Exchange: Frank on finance
Barney Frank helped craft the post-crisis rules that put banks back on track. He talks with John Foley about how politics has made the system more fragile, why populism thrived on the right but fizzled on the left, and what it was like to be one of the...
26 min
296
The Exchange: From slump to Trump
In the first of our “Ten Years After” series, Peter Thal Larsen talks to Adam Tooze. The Columbia University history professor joins the dots from the 2008 crash to Brexit and U.S. elections, noting a declining faith in U.S. willingness to be the globa...
23 min
297
The Exchange: Beth Comstock
Over two decades at General Electric, former Vice Chair Beth Comstock had a window seat on the industrial group’s attempts to adapt to changes in technology and markets. She popped by Times Square to discuss GE, and how she became the company’s most se...
18 min
298
The Exchange: Asia’s bubbly entrepreneurs
Pete Sweeney hits the RISE tech conference in Hong Kong and hears pitches on vegan cryptocurrency, fog computing and big data for shrimp farmers. Trade tensions haven’t dented enthusiasm, but venture capitalists expect a correction to flush the dumb mo...
14 min
299
The Exchange: Italy's almost premier
Carlo Cottarelli talks about how he nearly led a caretaker government after President Sergio Mattarella last month rejected a euroskeptic finance minister put forward by the parties that won March elections. The former IMF economist has some advice for...
19 min
300
The Exchange: A Down Under take on Trump
Former Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gives the U.S. president some credit for his dealings with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. But he explains that Donald Trump’s protectionism has enraged China’s leaders and may play into the hands of the country’s ...
11 min