By Madina Toure
At last week’s Queens College Business Forum, John Tamny, editor of RealClearMarkets and the political economy editor at Forbes, maintained that allowing rich individuals to keep their money gives everyone else immediate access to their wealth.
Speaking before students, faculty and alumni at the 10th annual business forum in the Student Union of Queens College, located at 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Tamny gave a presentation on his book, “The Unrelenting Beauty of Wealth Inequality.”
He argued that an increase in society’s wealth gap would make goods and services accessible to more people at a faster rate.
“I don’t buy all the negativity out there, all this talk that our best days are behind us,” Tamny said.
He also noted that students need careers that capitalize on their talents and that wealthy individuals cannot spend all their money in one place, giving socialite Paris Hilton as an example.
“If you want to spread the wealth of the rich around, the quickest way to do it is to let them hold on to it,” he said.
Tamny previously worked in private wealth management for Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs. He received his bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin and his MBA from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Queens College President Félix V. Matos Rodríguez commended Tamny for his ability to communicate complicated economic principles in a simple way.
“He makes them simple, he makes them understandable,” Rodriguez said. “He makes them accessible to any large audience.”
During the question-and-answer session, attendees expressed concerns about what they believed to be Tamny’s oversimplification of inequality.
Sponsors of the event included the Melrose Credit Union, the Queens Chamber of Commerce, the Queens Economic Development Corporation and Farrell Fritz Attorneys.
Launched in 2005, the business forum unites the business community, local government, academia and students. Influential leaders spanning a variety of fields serve as keynote speakers at the forum’s breakfast and lunchtime lectures.
The next business forum, scheduled for Nov. 20, will feature Patrick Foye, the Port Authority’s executive director.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
