NY CITY More Needs to be Done

An Interview with Leo Hindery Jr., Managing Partner, InterMedia Partners

EDITORS’ NOTE Formerly CEO we’re misleading not only our we’ve been losing it every day for the past of AT&T Broadband and its pre- nation but also the world by suggest- 30 years. decessors, Tele-Communications, ing that the great recession of 2007 when ronald reagan went into the white Inc. (TCI) and Liberty Media, Leo is over. if you’re still one of the em- house, there were two conscious decisions Hindery chairs the U.S. Economy/ ployed, you could be deluded into made: one is that a handful of very rich people Smart Globalization Initiative at some very dangerous behaviors, like at the top was good enough for the country the New America Foundation. He entering back into excessive consumer economically; and that we could, as a country, is once again Managing Partner of credit. prosper with only about 10 to 12 percent of our InterMedia Partners, LP, which he Quite simply, we need a jobs pol- people making things. founded in 1988. He is a member icy for this nation. yet we’re a very large, diverse, and geo- of the Council on Foreign Relations, Is a jobless recovery even graphically far-fl ung country. if roughly 20 to 25 and the author of it takes a ceo: possible? percent of american workers aren’t in manufac- it’s time to Lead with integrity Leo Hindery Jr. it is if you defi ne recovery as turing, we will fail to be the dominant economy. (Free Press, 2005). He was Senior positive gdp growth. yet half of the the concern i have is that we’ve also seen Economic Policy Advisor for U.S. Presidential nation’s income is earned by 10 percent or less massive trade cheating by the developing na- candidate from 2007 to 2008, of the nation’s wage earners and the other half tions. there is nothing wrong with free trade and later unoffi cial economic advisor to now from the other 90-plus percent. as long as it’s fair free trade. there is some- President . He is a graduate of the wealthy are back being wealthy – we’re thing highly dangerous and ethically abhorrent, Stanford Business School and Seattle University. seeing profi ts on wall street that are greater in however, about unfair free trade that is based 2010 than they were the year before the reces- on illegal subsidies, currency manipulation, and COMPANY BRIEF InterMedia Partners is a sion. the economy in the eyes of Larry summers, child labor and environmental practices that will New York City-based fi rm that the president’s chief economic advisor, has, as a destroy not just our country but the world. makes control investments in media companies. consequence, recovered. the recession is tech- Is it tough to be optimistic? These are Currently investing its seventh fund, InterMedia nically over according to him – except that it’s issues requiring real leadership. (www.intermediaadvisors.com) is focused on me- jobless for millions of unemployed workers. the leaders are out there – the system just dia content catering to underserved audiences. the proof is that there were roughly 30 mil- doesn’t let them lead. and as long as there is no lion people unemployed in real terms a year ago, campaign fi nance reform in the u.s., it is likely Were you surprised at the severity and and roughly 30 million are unemployed today. the congress is going to remain a deadlocked speed of the economic crisis? Where are we Where will the new jobs come from? institution where social and selfi sh taxation is- in terms of recovery today? since the recession started, u.s. businesses sues prevent the kind of balance, fairness, and we began to see back in 2005 that the num- have accumulated $2 trillion in cash, but a lot of reemployment that are imperatives. ber of unemployed women and men who were them are afraid to spend it. i became even less optimistic when the being uncounted was quickly growing to equal so the government’s fi rst task is to help supreme court said recently that corporations the number of women and men being counted. them become courageous again because creat- can spend unlimited amounts of money but the since 1947, there have been 10 recessions and ing 22 million jobs is a very heavy lift. there are common individual is restricted. this is the fi rst time that the uncounted have ever roughly fi ve million out-of-school youth that are What is the global landscape going to equaled the counted; the worst it had ever been unemployed, so you are going to have to help look like 20 or 30 years from now? Are we before is one-third. so we began to see deep in them fi nd jobs. you’re going to have to rebuild going to be just another player? the middle class a massive problem arising. the infrastructure in this country, which would we’ll be the third or fourth largest econ- today, 15 million women and men are of- create a tremendous number of jobs. omy – china will undoubtedly be the largest. fi cially unemployed, but there are 15 million if you had a jobs policy, then you would the rest of asia will aggregate itself and be uncounted unemployed. so you have to fi nd not tolerate unfair trade practices that are cost- number three. india will be number two, and 22 million jobs for these 30 million workers to ing us manufacturing jobs. government and we’ll be either three or four, depending on how be fully employed in real terms, which is an business have to be partners, because neither you consider asia sans china. almost unfathomable number. and we have to of them can do it on their own. You were in the hospital recently with a fi nd them today. it is going to require a systemic With regard to reform on Wall Street, is serious illness but then came right back to the overhaul of the u.s. economy to fi x this. enough being done? offi ce. Why are you unable to rest? we’re in what’s called a jobless recovery the just-passed fi nance reform is better Frankly, even my hospital experience was and the tragedy is we’re masking that from so than nothing, but 10 years from now, without disheartening. i thought health care reform was many people. the women and men who are any equivocation, we will have another melt- about giving equal quality medical care to this unemployed and have lost all income in their down, because we didn’t stop the speculative nation. i didn’t think it was going to allow me to households know these numbers. but in truth, trading in derivatives and the too-big-to-fail continue to have much better health care than all american workers are being lied to about the premise that underpinned the last disaster. the women and men elsewhere in the hospital full extent of the problems. Has the U.S. lost its competitive edge? simply because i have resources, but it did.• 54 Leaders posted with permission. copyright © 2010 magazine, inc. volume 33, number 4