David Rubenstein, chief executive of the Carlyle Group, outlined Tuesday at an Economic Club of Washington dinner the history and current operations of Carlyle, claimed by Rubenstein to be the United States’ largest private equity company, with $18 billion in asset value under management. Carlyle’s history brings closely into focus a disturbing trend in the […]

“In my Father’s house are many mansions” says the Bible (John, 14:2). I always thought that description made Heaven sound like an American suburb, rather overdeveloped in a building boom. This time around, though, many of those mansions are going to be empty.

India’s rejection of prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee reminds one in its ingratitude of Britain’s rejection of Winston Churchill in 1945. Like Margaret Thatcher’s ouster in 1990, it imposes a heavy brake on the pace of economic reform. Yet unlike the departure of Arthur, Duke of Wellington in 1830, it does not represent the irreversible […]

“La Grande Bouffe” (Blow Out), the cult 1970s French film in which a group of Beautiful People ate themselves to death on French food with occasional breaks for sex, may have its analogy this year in the forthcoming Google share issue, expected to value the company at $25 billion. The production values are wonderful, the […]

Phillip Longman, author of “The empty cradle” (Perseus Books, 2004) is worried by declining birth rates worldwide, but particularly in the United States. His problem isn’t really a problem, but one particular variant on his solution could have other uses.