Lane Report Archives
Displaying 1 through 40 of 263
Monday, December 2, 2019
How the European Union and California are Changing the Way Personal Data are Collected Online (and What That Means for You)
By Alexander Konetzki
We live in a data-driven world. In just over a decade, data has arguably become the most important currency in global commerce. Many companies collect as much personal data as possible about the individuals who...
Friday, November 1, 2019
Davos Adds Its Voice to the Growing Call for "Stakeholder Capitalism"
By Marc J. Lane
Recognizing that this is a time of widening economic inequality and deepening distrust of business, the Business Roundtable, an association of many of America’s leading CEOs, on August 19 restated its historic commitment to generating long-term financial returns to...
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
#MeToo Safeguards Come to Illinois
By Marc J. Lane
Illinois has joined a growing list of states that have enacted laws to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. Effective January 1st, the Workplace Transparency Act will prohibit the use of nondisclosure or non-disparagement agreements that prevent employees, contractors and consultants from making...
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Is Shareholder Primacy Dead?
By Marc J. Lane
In a 1970 essay for The New York Times, economist Milton Friedman famously argued that a company has no "social responsibility" to the public or society; its only responsibility is to its shareholders, a view he justified by considering to whom, in his judgment, a company and its executives are accountable:
...
Thursday, August 1, 2019
It's Time for Business to Help Tackle the Climate Crisis
By Marc J. Lane
Climate disasters are happening at the rate of one a week, according to the UN Secretary-General's special representative on disaster risk reduction. Droughts, cyclones, wildfires, rising seas and retreating icecaps make headlines around the world. Already we've seen rising...
Monday, July 1, 2019
Illinois Builds a Future for Worker Co-ops
By Marc J. Lane
A worker co-op is a business enterprise collectively owned and democratically controlled by workers who come together to pursue the economic, social and cultural goals they share. Prizing transparency and accountability, co-ops embrace the values of self-reliance, equality, equity and...
Saturday, June 1, 2019
The United Nations Empowers Young Corporate Leaders to Drive Positive Social Change
By Marc J. Lane Corporate sustainability starts with a company’s value system and a principles-based approach to doing business. This means operating in ways that meet fundamental responsibilities in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and...
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
It’s Time to Act on a Federal Bill of Data Rights
By Marc J. Lane When petroleum spawned a new industry dominated by the Standard Oil Trust, antitrust regulators were prompted to break up the Rockefeller empire to protect consumers. Now, concerns are justifiably being raised about the tech giants that deal in data, the new oil – Alphabet...
Monday, April 1, 2019
With all eyes on the results of Chicago’s overstuffed mayoral race—and the prospect of the city being headed for the first time by an African American woman — it’s an exciting time for the Chicago Reader. The free alternative weekly, founded in 1971, was recently bought by an investment group headed by local heavyweights and turned...
Friday, March 1, 2019
Learning to Love Corrections By Kenneth N. Green, MBA, CPA
Last year, between September 28 and December 24, the S&P 500 dropped from 2,914 to 2,351, or 19.3%, with most of that occurring in December alone. Such market corrections are like summer storms in that they seemingly come from nowhere and are very scary. Between February, 2016 and January, 2018...
Friday, February 1, 2019
At a time when Democrats and Republicans rarely find common ground, the U. S. Senate and House have overwhelmingly supported the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, which was signed by President Trump on January 14. It’s now U. S. policy to ”regard the prevention of genocide and other atrocity crimes as a national security...
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Readers of The Lane Report may recall the new Qualified Opportunity Zones program (discussed in the June 2018 Lane Report), which was established under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Under this program, investors can defer paying capital gains tax by re-investing their capital gain in “qualified opportunity funds” within 180 days of...
Monday, December 3, 2018
The 1,600-page Congressionally-mandated National Climate Assessment was quietly released on Black Friday—the Friday after Thanksgiving. The report, the work product of career employees at 13 federal agencies, was the first of its kind under the Trump administration. It pulled no punches in describing how climate change “is transforming where and...
Thursday, November 1, 2018
The U.S. Treasury Department has now fleshed out guidelines for taxpayers seeking to defer or reduce their capital gains tax by investing in Qualified Opportunity Funds which, in turn, will provide equity investments in new and expanding businesses, infrastructure and energy projects, commercial real estate, affordable housing, and other needs-driven...
Monday, October 1, 2018
Social entrepreneurs interested in ESOPs and worker owned cooperatives: Take a look at what’s happening in the Chicago area. The Cook County Commission on Social Innovation, which was formed in 2016 to foster initiatives related to underemployment, public health, education and a slew of other issues, is exploring a variety of ways to support such...
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
A new federal law has just been enacted which authorizes the Small Business Administration to help business owners sell their businesses to their employees. Not only will the law benefit the owners of companies at risk of shutting down for lack of a successor; it will also preserve jobs, and help employees and communities grow wealth in a way that nothing...
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
In 2010, the U.S. Senate came within one vote of passing the DISCLOSE Act that would have significantly expanded disclosure of the source of political ads and nonprofit organizations’ donors. But the Trump Administration has moved ahead to make it even easier for “dark money” donors to keep their contributions in the dark so long as...
Monday, July 9, 2018
Local governments and public school districts around the nation have historically made their food purchasing decisions based primarily on cost, tragically discounting the greater public good.
Stewards of the tax dollars entrusted to them properly see themselves as fiduciaries charged with managing $11 billion in American school-food budgets along with...
Friday, June 1, 2018
Despite the fiscal challenges and competing policy priorities they face, governments at every level are uniquely positioned to attack all the invidious manifestations of poverty. Similarly, nonprofit organizations, through the programs they manage and the social enterprises they operate, are unrivaled in their capacity to drive positive social change. But...
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Perhaps no other provisions of our Constitution have generated more mythology and controversy than Article Two, which creates the office of the President and defines his prerogatives, but with only a few vague instructions.
It’s well known that the President is required to send a state of the union message "from time to time," and to "take care that...
Monday, April 2, 2018
Our nation is at an inflection point and, perhaps now more than ever, cultural phenomena are informing the decisions individual and institutional investors make.
The Parkland students have turned their mourning into a movement. Along with their teachers, their parents and hundreds of thousands of other supporters, they “marched for our lives”on...
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Chicago skyline (Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
Cook County, where Chicago is situated, just handed social enterprises an official leg up. The second largest county in the U.S. recently enacted an ordinance giving impact ventures a preference in government procurement of goods and services. The rule, which took effect in October, was just published....
Thursday, February 1, 2018
In 1831 French sociologist and political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville traveled throughout the United States to study its prisons and returned home with a wealth of broader insights he memorialized in his classic work Democracy in America, one of the most influential books of the 19th century. With its trenchant observations on equality and individualism,...
Friday, January 5, 2018
Kudos to the 16 institutional investors which have joined forces to develop a "Framework for U. S. Stewardship and Governance" that took effect on January 1.
The Framework, an unprecedented investor-led effort, establishes common-sense governance principles which public companies are urged to adopt. Although adoption is voluntary, it carries with it the...
Friday, December 1, 2017
The Internet of information is evolving into an Internet of value. While the Internet, as we’ve known it, was the product of computing and communications technologies, its new iteration is powered by cryptography, mathematics, software engineering and behavioral economics.
Blockchain’s technology combines the transparency of the Internet with...
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Cook County, Illinois, the second most populous county in the United States, continues to lead by example. On October 11, the Cook County Board passed the first procurement ordinance in the nation to encourage financially self-sustaining social enterprises.
The Cook County Social Enterprise Ordinance, which I was privileged to draft, favors organizations...
Monday, October 2, 2017
I am proud to report that, once again, The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane, P. C., Marc J. Lane & Company and Marc J. Lane Investment Management, Inc., based on their human rights, labor, environmental and anti-corruption policies and practices, have been found to qualify as members of the United Nations Global Compact. The Global Compact, the world's...
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
We are grateful that clients all over the world favor us with their confidence. While it’s well known that we help for-profit companies, non-profits, social enterprises, and high net-worth individuals with their tax planning and compliance, wealth planning, corporate and governance issues, intellectual property protection, and business decisions, we...
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Despite a disturbing rise in unequal voting structures and virtual shareholder meetings at public companies, this year’s corporate proxy season reflects the best of corporate boards’ growing commitment to transparency, accountability and engagement. It’s no surprise that the savviest of corporate directors are eager to set themselves...
Thursday, July 6, 2017
During Jeff Sessions’ four terms as a U. S. Senator from Alabama, his anti-abortion and anti-immigration positions were well known. He was skeptical of climate change and hostile to same-sex marriages. On criminal justice issues, he was a champion of “law and order,” stern marijuana prohibition and the unregulated use of civil forfeiture...
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Delaware has long been the top-of-mind domicile for businesses and trusts. But Delaware's vaunted status as the "go-to" state may be at risk.
Settlers of trusts have favored Delaware for decades, for good reason. They don’t need to be residents of the state. Their Delaware trusts can hold personal property forever and real property for 110 years....
Monday, May 1, 2017
In accepting his party’s nomination for president on July 21 last year, Donald Trump singled out “the evangelical and religious community” for their help in getting him nominated and acknowledged that, “They have much to contribute to our politics, yet our laws prevent you from speaking your minds from your own pulpits.” He...
Monday, April 3, 2017
This month’s Lane Report features Hedy Ratner’s unsolicited testimonial in Wealth Management about her long-term experience with Marc J. Lane Investment Management, Inc.
Our proprietary Advocacy Investing® strategy identifies investable companies that not only meet our exacting financial and governance standards, but also satisfy criteria...
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Illinois is becoming a hub for companies that want to change the world and make a profit at the same time, said Marc J. Lane, an attorney and economic development expert at an event hosted Feb. 8 by the Great Cities Institute at University of Illinois-Chicago.
Imagine a “Shark Tank” television show where non-profit charities bring their needs...
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Millions of President Donald J. Trump’s supporters continue to applaud his unwavering commitment to “Make America Great Again,” even as shockwaves are sent throughout the nation and the world. Yet those disheartened by Mr. Trump’s election need not have looked beyond his first day in office to justify their fears. The...
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Few doubt that Donald J. Trump’s presidency will be both controversial and consequential.
Our new president takes office when the public is disillusioned, having lost faith in the political class and in government itself. While the fate of elites has been buoyed by globalization, technology and free trade, the middle class has been hollowed out, and...
Thursday, December 1, 2016
We are grateful that clients all over the world favor us with their confidence. While it's well-known that we help for-profit companies, non-profit organizations, social enterprises, and high net-worth individuals with their tax planning and compliance, wealth planning, corporate and governance issues, intellectual property protection, and business...
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
The Cook County Commission on Social Innovation was pioneered in an effort to reduce the burgeoning effects of poverty in Chicago and the surrounding neighborhoods. With a goal of total transformation, it hopes to provide a model for other cities working towards sustainable poverty reduction. This multifaceted approach focuses on catalyzing social...
Monday, October 3, 2016
Too many people are living on the outskirts of hope. Some 50 million Americans are living below the poverty line. And the challenges that poverty brings with it are tougher than ever.
Yet the social sector is under enormous stress. Nonprofits can no longer count on government contracts and grants, and charitable resources are inadequate to fund the...
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Nowadays, we hear a lot about “sustainability,” but what does it truly mean for investors? What can we learn about sustainability that can both benefit environmental and societal causes but also result in successful financial outcomes?
Sustainability means to meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet...
Displaying 1 through 40 of 263
