Forbes June 2021

entrepreneurship for all

The pandemic from which we are hopefully, finally emerging yielded an unexpected dividend. Researchers at MIT and Columbia recently confirmed what we all anecdotally felt: Entrepreneurship surged in the age of Covid-19. Change drives opportunity; a temporarily obliterated job market injected motivation. This shift was particularly strong in predominantly Black communities, while women, disproportionately affected by unemployment, yet again proved resilient. This is a perfect moment, as the world pivots, to try to ensure that everyone has an equal shot at the American Dream. An economic system that demands equal outcomes, as we learned in the 20th century, is doomed; for capitalism to continue to thrive in the 21st century, however, equality of opportunity is paramount. That’s this issue’s dominant theme. The Next 1000 (page 90) seeks out those entrepreneurs about to…

recklessly endangering our health

At a time when Washington routinely complains about China stealing our intellectual property, the Biden administration has announced that it supports what would be one of the most destructive thefts of intellectual property in U.S. history. President Biden has declared that the U.S. is endorsing a World Trade Organization scheme to force pharmaceutical companies to turn over American Covid-19 vaccine technology to any country or company that wants it. This, after these drug companies have spent billions of dollars and devoted immense brainpower and time to develop these vaccines in record time, thereby saving millions of lives. The implications of the Biden move are ghastly. Washington is about to smash up one of our most innovative industries—and for no good reason. To start with, such a theft won’t increase the output or availability…

inclusive capitalism

I was in Oakland, California, when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit in October 1989 and brought a section of the Bay Bridge crashing down. Leaders then had a choice: to restore the bridge to how it was, or to reevaluate and strengthen its support system to withstand future shocks. They chose the latter. As we emerge from the pandemic, our nation has the same choice to make—for our economy and our businesses, specifically small businesses and startups. The pandemic has exposed the flaws and the fissures in our economy. One in three small businesses has closed. Nearly 2 million women have been forced out of the workforce. And millions of families have struggled to buy groceries and cover rent. In this moment, more than repair, we must reimagine. And after providing $60 billion…

joe’s regular joes

JOE BIDEN’S CABINET looks rather different than Donald Trump’s, with more women, more people of color, more liberals—and a whole lot less money. It’s not that Biden’s bunch is poor, exactly. The president himself accumulated an $8 million net worth, mostly by writing a book and giving speeches since he departed the vice presidency in 2017. Vice President Kamala Harris is worth about $7 million, thanks in part to big earnings from her husband, a highly paid lawyer. All but two of the 15 officials alongside them are millionaires, and the group is worth $118 million overall. That’s comfortable, sure, but it’s the length of the Acela corridor (and then some) from the $6.2 billion combined net worth of Trump’s crew or the $2.8 billion fortune of Barack Obama’s second-term…

reboot

On May 3, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates announced they were divorcing after 27 years of marriage. That same day, Gates’ Cascade Investment arm transferred $2.4 billion worth of stock in four companies (Canadian National Railway; car-dealership group AutoNation; Mexican Coke bottler Coca-Cola Femsa; and Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa) to French Gates; he also transferred $851 million in John Deere shares to her in mid-May. One of three living American women, as best as Forbes can determine, to attain billionaire status via divorce (Jeff Bezos’ ex, MacKenzie Scott, and Sue Gross, who was married to Pimco’s Bill Gross, are the others), French Gates stands to get more—potentially much more. The couple have asked a judge in Washington (a community property state in which most divorces are settled with a 50/50…

big-digit divorces

BILL GROSS The bond king’s 2016 split from his wife of three decades devolved into dueling restraining orders and a fake Picasso. Sue Gross reportedly got the 1932 painting “Le Repos”—except she allegedly already had it, having swapped it on Bill’s wall with a copy she painted herself. TED TURNER His decade-long marriage to Jane Fonda broke up in 2001, yet the Oscar-winning actress still calls Turner her “favorite ex-husband.” The media mogul speaks fondly of her, too. “When you love somebody, and you really love them,” Turner said in 2012, “you never stop loving them no matter how hard you try.” HAROLD HAMM The fracking tycoon wrote his ex-wife an astronomical $974,790,317.77 check from his Morgan Stanley account after their 2014 split. She pocketed her zillions, unsuccessfully tried to get more—and then funded a…