Globalism, Poverty and Protectionism

Address by Eugene H. Rotberg April 15, 1994 I have been given much advice about my remarks this evening: keep it light — perhaps even whimsical — but at the same time, make sure it is emotional and inspirational. I am afraid I cannot pull that off. I also have been told not to lecture, […]

No nuances; no caveats; no rhetorical defensiveness.  Time does not permit it.  Virtually every sentence can be qualified or, indeed, disputed—but the essence of my comments are a distillation of my own experiences.  No pretense that I am right, and, indeed,  my appearance of certainty masks a lot of ambivalence.  I have eight points to […]

by Eugene (Gene) Rotberg University of Pennsylvania Law School September 22, 2006 When I was asked to talk to law students here at Penn, I was ambivalent. It was suggested I should talk about my experiences, how Penn Law School informed my life and offer some words of wisdom.  I was ambivalent for three reasons. […]

March 18, 2012 I would like to talk to you today about the links between several subjects: global poverty, the loss of economic leverage in the United States, globalization and its implications for risk. And, finally, what kind of public policies might mitigate the difficulties everyone’s children and grandchildren are likely to face.  But, first, […]

By Gene Rotberg Galileo, Darwin and Freud were pilloried for exposing societies’ and individuals’ lack of centrality and control.  Galileo for supporting the view that the earth was not the center of the universe; Darwin for arguing that we were not all that special, but were merely descended from “lower” forms of animals; Freud for […]

Trump Negotiator: We intend to levy a tax of 35% on any shipment of goods made in China by U.S. companies for export to the United States. Chinese Negotiator: Our Response: First, no goods or products from U.S. companies shall be sold in China unless the plant making such product is located in China, employing […]

An Open E-mail to My Son-In-Law Who is Concerned about the Loss of Decent Jobs for the Middle Class The problem you have identified – the loss of decent paying jobs, particularly in manufacturing, in a country of 320 million is a fundamental one.  The dirty little secret:  the jobs are not coming back.  But […]

Gene Rotberg, November 2018 Informal Remarks Tomorrow morning, around 7:30 a.m., I will be in a seminar that I have been attending each month for the last 18 years.  The subject tomorrow is Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – “The Clerk’s Tale.”  In the prologue, she gives advice to speakers: “…keep your flowers of rhetoric in store, […]

December, 2018 Ovid, the Roman poet, some 2,000 years ago, ended his masterwork “Metamorphoses” with these words:  “I shall have mention on men’s lips forever, and, if the prophecies of bards have any truth, through all the ages, shall I live in fame.”  His last Latin word was “vivam” – I shall live.  He predicted his own immortality. […]