Charlie Rose

Tisow  07/04/2009 06:53 PM Report

I've watched this conversation twice, rarely have I been so

impressed by the scope and depth of knowledge Mr. Peterson

possed. He also goes to the heart of complex issues, in the

process making them easily understandable.

The substance of his remarks is frightening. I would like to

know where I can obtain a copy of the report his institute

prepared. Clearly, we don't have time to waste.

Tisow

MrBuzz  11/03/2008 10:16 PM Report

Mr. Peterson has such a good way to explain hard to understand subjects to normal people. He did not start out rich. His worth is a result of steady, hard and smart work. With good dose of luck. He is dealing with broad subjects with Charlie Rose. So given limited time the answers are brief and general. I wish I could know and learn from Mr. Peterson. It would be a dream to work for someone like that. Thanks.

Frank Bargar  08/18/2008 04:30 PM Report

I heard what Mr. Peterson had to say, then I read some of the other comments. I wonder if we all heard the same talk. Entitlements ( Social Security & Medicare) Just the unfunded part of these two programs is far greater than the current national debt.How can we not talk about tax incresses. But that is not what folks want to hear. I am 75 and glad that I am not 45, for when the 45 year old reaches 75 this country will be like what is now called third world. Unless w as Petreson sugested that we must cfontrol spending.

jd  08/08/2008 10:27 AM Report

I am a saver. I saved $10,000 US cash in 2000. Now it is worth perhaps $6,000 or $7,000. How much will it be worth next year? Was my forgoing consumption and saving an intelligent decision? I saved in my 401k. It is worth 15% less just this year. Was that saving an intelligent decision? I leave it to the reader. Our leaders, both political and financial, have institutionalized "Ponzi-ism".

Jahbu  08/07/2008 11:06 PM Report

Pete Peterson sickens me. I would laugh if it wasnt so sickening that this man is trying to mold the debate for when inflation gets out of control. Not one mention of the Federal Reserve(a Private Bank)

True patriots of this great nation knew and still KNOW what has caused the destruction of our great country.

Banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks... will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs..

The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched the earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating. -Thomas Jefferson

History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance. -James Madison

If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations. -Andrew Jackson

The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity. -Abraham Lincoln

Issue of currency should be lodged with the government and be protected from domination by Wall Street. We are opposed to...provisions [which\ would place our currency and credit system in private hands. - Theodore Roosevelt

Despite these warnings, Woodrow Wilson signed the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. A few years later he wrote: I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men. -Woodrow Wilson

The real truth of the matter is,as you and I know, that a financial

element in the large centers has owned the government ever since

the days of Andrew Jackson... -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Hey PETEY the Snake, YOU MIGHT Say you HAVE A No CLUE what has led our country into DEBT, but I sure the heck do and so did our forefathers. So stop lying through your teeth protecting your golden goose. WE AINT STUPID!

My biggest dream would be if United States Marines bust into a back room CFR meeting and arrest each and every one of them for treason.

"The most powerful clique in these (CFR) groups have one objective in common: they want to bring about the surrender of the sovereignty and the national independence of the U.S. They want to end national boundaries and racial and ethnic loyalties supposedly to increase business and ensure world peace. What they strive for would inevitably lead to dictatorship and loss of freedoms by the people. The CFR was founded for "the purpose of promoting disarmament and submergence of U.S. sovereignty and national independence into an all-powerful one-world government." Harpers, July l958

Throw in the Bilderbergs as well. Are you listening Charlie Rose? How was your trip to Virginia?

huti  08/04/2008 05:43 PM Report

"Save more" the dollar is losing its vale at 10% a year, and you are going to save. Spend go get goodies and buy things for the next decade while they are cheap. It will probably be the best investment you will make.

Ed Meehan  04/13/2008 12:41 PM Report

I am in the middle of Mr. Peterson's book, "Running on Empty". I find his candor and thoughts very insightful. I'd like to hear the current presidential candidates take on his positions. I wonder if they even understand how their inability to be truthful with the public on these issues is making matters worse.

TW  04/12/2008 06:41 PM Report

Got it - Paul Tillich. Although the phrase "comfortable with ambiguity" seems to be apocryphal, if not, in its sense, too far from some of the things Tillich did say.

TW  04/12/2008 05:51 PM Report

What is the quote towards the end when Peterson says "Paul Tilley once said 'the problem of the 20th, 21st century is to be comfortable with ambiguity'" and Charlie and Peterson mutually agree that 'Paul Tilly' is a "great philosopher...who is Paul Tilly? Are they talking about Charles Tilly, sociologist at Columbia (who never said that, as far as I know), or someone else I've just never heard of? Anyone know what Peterson's talking about because Charlie acts like he does and I have no clue...

thanks

MaryElizabeth  04/12/2008 10:14 AM Report

Double Wow. This show impressed me. Thank you Charlie for introducing me to Peter G. Peterson. I agree with the Concerned Canadian below. I am 54 and very concerned that both my retirement savings and the entitlements promised to me for over 35 years of full-time working will not be there.

Bob Debevec  04/11/2008 05:18 PM Report

I saw this show last week, but did not have the chance to comment until now. To the say the least, and this is because I am such a big fan of what you do Charlie, I was disappointed, and even angered. Mr. Peterson should never have been invited as a guest. You really let us down. And it's not just because this man has an ego the size of China. It's that I found this man to be absolutely, disgustingly self-centered and disingenuine. Your question to him on the taxation of carried interest was his moment of truth. And Mr. Peterson, you failed miserably. Any of us who truly understand this issue know that carried interest income carries a far lower tax rate (approx. 23% lower) than if this income was taxed as what it truly is, i.e. as earned income. You should have come clean; but now it's too late; your moment of truth has passed and is now gone. Mr. Peterson, If you're looking for a big reason why so many of us are skeptical about our leaders, look no further than your own mirror. Charlie, I thought the disclaimer at the beginning about the Peterson foundation funding was odd; until mid-show when the plot became clear. The man with the big wallet bought his way onto your show and into my living room where his ego, arrogance, and cluelessness were all on display. Yuck. Let's all take a cold shower and vow to never let this happen again. Mr. Peterson, close your foundation and take your money back. For godsake man, do not go Gore on us and make a movie; we already have more than enough misdirection to deal with.

Concerned American  04/10/2008 09:57 AM Report

I am convinced that one of the reasons that we don't save more is that Americans think it's patriotic to spend. After 9/11 what did Bush say? He said "go out and spend". I keep hearing about how consumer spending is what our economy is based on and that it's such a bad thing if it slows down! We have no will power and are totally unrealistic about how to live within our means. Of course, big business is going to take advantage of this. I don't think anything will change until there's a big recession.

salvo envy  04/09/2008 10:53 AM Report

Salvo, I wish I had said that. A nice salvo. McCain is thick as a post.

Concerned Canadian  04/09/2008 10:17 AM Report

It would be too much to ask but for all kinds of reasons a substantial change in U.S foreign policy would be a good start.

The present foreign policy has been a failure for many years. One would think that this could not have occured but it has.

gilded_age_2  04/09/2008 09:21 AM Report

Editorials aside, I see few options in the future:

1) weimar inflation (10k's of %)

2) nationalisation of exxon

3) an end to the political status quo and the US imperial economic model

of these 3, which do you think is most likely...

hence the gold in my safe.

salvo  04/08/2008 03:51 PM Report

The Americans voted in Bush not once but twice (though the first time was a usurping of sorts), and a distinct possibility exists that the heroic but doltish donkey McCain will succeed him. Sadly enough, America, bloated, self-righteous, self-serving, dangerous, arrogant and absurd, deserves what it got and what it will get . . .

Concerned Canadian  04/08/2008 10:35 AM Report

How will the U.S get out of this mess?

Low wages

Credit maxed out

SUV culture

Big home culture

Homes used as an ATM

Inflating the money supply

A depreciating U.S $$$

Trillions of $$$ spent around the world to cause trouble

Trillions of $$$ in unfunded liabilities

A defence budget approaching a Billion $

No health care

Homeowners bankruptcies a record high

The election/ placement of a President with the support of a conservative judiciary

Democratic erosion

Options to executives that have been untenable

Wall Street decimated - Citigroup, Bear Stearns, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch

Failed CEO's exit with outlandish packages ie Home Depot CEO and others get multi millions when they leave a company regard of their performance.

Foreign Policy that has been wrong

Subprime mortgage greed crisis

A President who lied

A War on an innocent sovereign country

Almost 5000 dead from that war, 30,000 wounded and hundreds of thousand of Iraq citizens killed or wounded.

A manufacturing base that has disappeared

Having China and other countries pick up your tab.

A society needs the Mr Peterson's of this world, people who can think, did not create the problem and are working towards a solution with their thoughts and their money.

You may not come out of this one.

China will prosper. India will prosper. Europe is prospering. This is because they have much that the U.S does not have and they are free of the problems that you do have.

Concerned Canadian  04/08/2008 05:05 AM Report

I am distressed at the number of negative comments on Mr Peterson's candid and serious concerns about United States society. I would have thought that this Charlie Rose audience would respond very favourably to his observations.

The fact that you did not undertand the observations of this experienced man means that the many domestic and world problems in your country are very close to being beyond repair.

Keep spending. Keep fighting. You are losing on both fronts. You have not even recovered from your post world war two reputation (we know it all )and now you have trumped that.

As a nation you are in serious trouble

George  04/07/2008 09:16 PM Report

Today's Americans need to be more humble.

In the past, when America we bit the bullets and hold on together as a country. Today, Americans are citizens who lay blames on other countries for our misfortune. Even our founding fathers would laugh hard on today's Americans because we are screw up.. Our economy will be bad for 3-5 years, even the Canadians will surpass Americans if we keep our entitlement of arrogant.

Travis  04/07/2008 08:53 PM Report

wow...I would dare say a very impactful video for me...can't thank you enough.

raffi batalian  04/06/2008 06:18 PM Report

Recently you asked Peter G. Peterson Senior Chairman of The Blackstone Group "Why is it we have a negative savings rate?", And you iterated that you keep asking this question without a satisfactory answer...

The answer, for me, is very clear...It's not that we are consuming more, it is that what we consume, COSTS a hell of a lot more. Everything is triple the price of what it used to cost a dozen years ago. From gas to electricity to goods, and even services. Food is MUCH more expensive. We are not making double, or triple the amount of what we were and yet we are nevertheless paying it.

A hundred dollars at the supermarket used to (not long ago) fill your cart. Now it barely gets you a few meals. Filling your tank with gas was not that big a deal, now it's $40.00. Electricity was $75.00 a month for a household. It is now $200.00. Oil for heat every month was $150.00, and now, it's over $500.00. Sneakers used to be $15.00, now they are $50.00.

How are we paying? On credit! Credit companies are ruthless in their dealing with customers. The percentages are extreme. The penalties for slight violations, devastating, and the tricks to get everybody hooked to more credit much, MUCH more clever. The pertinent information's in whatever you spend or put on credit are obfuscated to mind-boggling levels, and the feeling is consistently to being 'ripped-off' and not to 'customer-friendly' service. Corporate America has a much more take the money and run attitude than not so long ago, yet has gotten all of us to spend at a particular level for comfort. Kids demand for satisfaction is much pricier than it ever was with the proliferation of electronics. Car companies haven't done a thing to deal with real issues that might help the consumer other than to make huge gas guzzling SUVs the car of choice.

Frankly I was surprised to hear you say that you can't get an answer to this question that makes sense. It is obvious. We are being asked to pay top dollar for essentially worthless garbage and we are creating new industries to deal with the garbage (recycling). Our basic energy needs have become difficult to afford. I make a decent salary but I can barely keep up with my bills, I can't imagine how poorer people do it!

I guess you and all the people you interview still see these costs as 'a drop in the bucket' and can't imagine how debilitating it is for the average American...

Haigh  04/06/2008 05:19 PM Report

Fix the savings problem. That's easy.

1. Get the Democrats and Republicans to stop supporting a Federal Budget that drives the Fed into inflating the money supply.

2. Eliminate taxes on income and capital gains.

How to pay for this? As Ron Paul says there's a trillion dollars being spent to cause trouble around the world, start there. I don't see China spending on military bases in 130 countries, why should we? Eliminating the Dept of Ed could help too.

And that pesky $54 Trillion unfunded liability of Social Security/Medicare that the baby boom has been supporting at the ballot box their whole voting life?

It's inevitable there are going to be income and asset tests when social security gets repackaged as an old-folks poverty prevention program.

Alitza  04/06/2008 03:53 PM Report

Wow! I look over the majority of the comments and my reaction is "The truth hurts."

I thought it was a wonderful interview. I think there are two main reasons Americans don't save. We look at the rates for savings and the fact that we are taxed on the tiny income we would get from savings and say, "Why bother." We're arrogant, ignorant, and foolish. And why not. I think the second reason is that, few alive remember (lived through) a real war (WWII) or a truly bad times (a depression). The con jobs (credit cards, home equity,...) have gotten flashier and prettier than our level of education.

Having said all that, I'm not proud of being arrogant, ignorant, and foolish. I think it is a sad, sad, thing and I fear the consequences.

I wish PP all the best with his foundation. I hope something comes out of it that does make a difference.

Patrick  04/05/2008 04:15 PM Report

Why, Charlie and Peter ask, do we have a negative savings rate in the US? Part of the answer is that the interest rate on savings is terrible. When banks offer nothing, virtually to savers, and relatively secure bonds offer nothing to savers, there is a natural inclination to not save. This fact in conjunction with the fact that "investing" in one's house appeared a smart way to save for the future, because housing prices were rising, credit was cheap, the asset was tangible, and the rewards were fairly immediate - i.e. you could enjoy living in a nicer home and thus were willing to put what would have been savings into your house payment - encouraged American's not to save.

So, the answer to Charlie and Peter's question is not simply that American's like to consume now, rather than save for later, which of course they are inclined to already do as all human beings are, but because the reasonable alternatives seemed so relatively poor.

If we wanted to encourage American's to save more three places to start would be the following: (1) do not tax for crying out loud interest on savings!! That we do this is really incredible. (2) Allow people to contribute more to their IRA's and 401 K. The limits are way toooo low! (3) Make the "investing" of savings in other assets besides houses - which have huge tax breaks for average Americas - more transparent. Right now the mutual fund industry - although not quite criminal is often immoral the way it prices it services.

Regulators should make it more easy for small savers, that is, to save and get a reasonable rate of return on their savings. rather than the 2 to 3 percent they can now get. Given that inflation is at 4%, come to think of it - I am going to go out and spend all my savings right now... So, don't blame the American public, fix the system.

~Angel  04/04/2008 04:14 PM Report

Horrendous.....

the 84 years old (multi?) billionaire who has leveraged the system his entire life.... now is sitting pretty, and after reaping the benefits and not stopping the ruination.... blithly says it's the younger generation (who is totally screwed and knows it)... that not only do they need to fix it... they are ignorant for not already working on the fix!!!

News Flash:

We know Mr. Petersen.

I fall just on the edge of "slacker" generation, just behind "boomer" ... and we have always known we're screwed.

We're not getting a dime and we're going to pay through our you know what unmentionalbe for elders, who had it soft in booming economies. All the while, we will strugle through unimaginable economic disaster. How long to pay off these debts? more than our lifetime.

We are not ignorant Mr. Petersen, but you and your cronies are still in the power seats...making your billions... by the time enough of us get there to make changes, we fully expect it to be too late.

Any wonder someone under 50, much less 25 will vote for Obama? no....

Jerry  04/04/2008 01:03 PM Report

Great interview as always!

I wish Pete Peterson had been taken to task regarding his comment that entitlements were the only place to cut back spending. Pete, what about the 100's of billions per year on this immoral war? What about the 700+ billion defense budget? Not too many years ago the defense budget was a paltry (!!) 400 billion. I'm a veteran, so I feel particularly entitled to comment on this. Entitlements are not the place for cutbacks, in fact they need to grow (health care for all), but grow smartly. We spend way more per individual on health care than do the European countries, which have care for all, because we are saddled with this very inefficient and profit-making insurance scheme.

Thanks.

Dianne  04/04/2008 01:02 PM Report

What an ingenious solution P.P. has to the saving problem- spend a billion dollars to pit the younger generation against the older generation. How about spending a billion dollars teaching kids to use critical thinking skills so they don't turn into the kids he saw at his first job "screaming for more things". But what happens if kids don't want more things? What will happen to the corporate fat cats selling all those things? Maybe P.P. should watch the PBS special on "Unnatural Causes" so he expands his view of what needs to take place in this country. I also thought he did a pretty good job of skirting the question on corporate compensation, both Paul Volker and Warren Buffett have spoken to this issue in a more honest way. Would P.P. ration a second liver transplant to a rich corporate fat cat or just to a poor person? We have investments, savings, health care coverage,investment property,etc. but we also try very hard not to spend money on "stuff" ie no cable, no big screen TV, buying good used cars in other words we are not the conspicuous consumers that have driven this economy for years. This is what P.P. should spent his money teaching young people. That is what we are drilling into our children.

Mark  04/04/2008 05:58 AM Report

One other thing. Mr. PP complains that we don't save. That we're gluttonous spenders. Americans spend 17 cents out of every dollar on healthcare. Canadians 9%. Europeans, on average, 6%. All, according to the WHO, get superior care. Give us the kind of government controlled health care that they get and immediately there'll be 8 cents out of every dollar available for saving. That would be an 8% saving rate. But, beware what you wish for Mr PP. That'll be 8 cents that won't go to an insurance company. Horror of horrors.

Mark  04/04/2008 05:51 AM Report

PP displayed his facility for a reign of error. First, he states that the US has 8x the MRI's of Canada. He suggests that in the "good old days" we all took aspirin but today the MD of the greedy boomer sends him for an MRI. But Mr. PP, Canada 1/10th the population. Therefore, their population actually has more MRI's. And, they spend nearly 50% less on medical care. OMG, how can that be?! Could it be that out of every dollar we spend on healthcare, half of it goes to an insurance company, who's only task is to deny us the right to spend our money on healthcare? But, Mr. PP posits that we need to cut government spending on "entitlements". Why? Because, then the money now spent much more efficiently on healthcare via the government will be spent on the private sector providing health care. People will not merely stop getting healthcare. They'll pay out of pocket or... as surely Mr PP desires, via profit making insurers. Which would provide evidence that there is ample money in the US to pay for healthcare. It's just a question of whether we want the private sector to administrate it or the public sector. Well, in as much as it costs the private sector 18% to administrate it and the "fat, bloated, ineffficient government-run bureaucracy" Medicare only 2%... I vote for the latter vs. the former.

The problem with enitlements in this country is not that they're excessive. They're not. By innternational standards, they're quite meager. The problem is that they're not funded via equitable taxation. He talks about the SSA being in financial trouble. So, we're going to have to cut the $1500/mo pension that elders and disabled get because we can't afford it? BTW, this single program lifted an entire class of people out of poverty with a single act. And, we need to cut it. We can't afford, says PP. Really? Why not. Many, many other nations do so and better. How do they do it? Well maybe..., they don't impose a cap on those who are obliged to pay for the system. Now, only the first 100K (approx.) of income is taxed to pay for the SSA. Mr. PP never mentioned that. Raise or lift that limit and the SSA problems disappear. But, Mr. PP doesn't want to mention that because he'd like to see the funds that go into SS go into th private sector where they can further enrich his class. Before we try his idea, let's try what seems to work quite well aboard. Tax the rich, more.

Mr. PP tries to suggest that his rate of taxation is greater than his secretary's (in an allusion to Buffetts comments that he pays less). This whole discussion about rates of taxation is rubbish. As a famous ad once said, "It's not what you pay. It's what you keep". Mr. PP may well pay a higher rate of taxation than his secretary. But, 24% of $60K is leaves far less left over than 34% of $10 million leaves Mr. PP. I'm assuming that Mr. PP, like his secretary, has two arms and two legs. Why then, does he need so much more than his secretary. But then, Mr. PP says he knows he has "enough". So, he's opted to commit a billion to an organization that is designed to teach the young that they're being raped by the old (who insist they continue to get $1500/mo pensions and health care). Better, much better would be that more monies come from the likes of the Mr. PP's of the world to pay for the kind of dignified life that is readily available to the average European, Candaian or Japanese by good old fashioned taxation.

Shalom Freedman  04/04/2008 03:13 AM Report

One of the reasons I watch Charlie Rose ( perhaps the principal one) is to learn about various people, aspects of the world I have no great knowledge of. Once again Rose chooses a guest who enables them to be done in an outstanding way.

However what is learned in this particular conversation is not very heartwarming. For Peterson lays out clearly what is wrong with the American economy, and in fact with American habits and social reality.

1) The Society has been spending and consuming above its head, living on credit in part from what it assumed would be the ever- rising equity of homes. The fall in housing prices means a contraction in available funds for consumption- i.e. economic turndown.

2) The entitlement programs of Social Security and Medicare mean the future of America is mortgaged beyond its capacity to pay. Peterson wants to help the younger generation, and one way to do this is to somehow limit the impossible burden of obligation upon them to pay for the entitlements of the generations before them.

3) The declining American economy in terms of its financing itself from sovereign funds of others means less economic power for the U.S. future. Downhill may be far worse than expected.

There is more . The conversation is truly a rich one. Petersen is articulate, smart, down- to- earth. His noble idea of not taking his billions with him to the grave but passing it on or a good share of it for the American society that has given him so much makes him another in the Gates, Buffett mold.

Charlie Rose was once again a humane Renaissance man who seems capable of speaking at their level with guests from so many different areas of human endeavor.

carla  04/04/2008 02:47 AM Report

...and one other thing, take one entitlement, for example. BIG OIL is subsidized by the US Government, and in the latest Congressional hearings the Fat Oilcats claimed their gains were in line with other huge industries.

Only the pharmaceutical industry with 20.8% profits came out higher than BIG OIL with 16%, but the pharma people only need to send in a few of their 35,000 lobbyists to bring Bush and cronies to their knees, and new, egregiously priced drugs pop onto the market. My sister, a pharma rep, makes so much money that she doesnt know what to do with it. When i asked her if she might help out with our mother who has dementia she replied that caring for my mother was MY job because I have lived a life of volunteer work...so much for generosity. so much for kindness where only mean-spiritedness rules.

carla  04/04/2008 02:40 AM Report

the comments are always better than the charlie chatting.

and the conversation with peterson had one great part which wasn't his, the quote by heller talking to vonnegut, and saying he could identify when enough is enough...it needs to be emblazoned on the flag of this creeping, crawling country.

I read several comments before I heard the interview, and am compelled to describe a powerful kind of beauty in knowing when enough can mean paying no taxes needed by Bush to kill more innocent victims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is bad news to hear that Pete is good friends with Henry the Kiss (of death)....Henry hasn't a clue that there are 90% of us lowlings left behind...we were never in his plans for anything but to milk.

"Knowing when enough is enough" needs to be the mantra of this century as we slouch toward doom.

nuther cr sock puppet  04/03/2008 10:45 PM Report

Well said Mr Jones.

nuther wise-guy  04/03/2008 10:31 PM Report

Subprime solution: fix the total mortgage principal at whatever the initial rate and monthly payment will capitalize over a 30 year fixed rate and make the predators pick up the difference, with no foreclosures. No repeat. No future moral hazard. If Citigroup et al bellyup, the world will be better off. Baby rapers, puppy kickers and abusers of little old ladies. Their egregious greed has destroyed us. -------- Pogo.

Stan Jones  04/03/2008 10:04 PM Report

What are you talking about, Peterson? So the US has 8 times the MRIs that Canada has. The US also has 10 times the population. So we Canadians have more MRIs per capita than you do.

christine  04/03/2008 09:41 PM Report

Well.... first let me remark on the fact that I noticed that Charlie, as another big moneymaker, was wearing a custom made suit that made Pete Peterson's suit look like it came off the rack at a discount store.

Now to my sense of what was said: As a baby boomer I resent the characterization made by Mr. Peterson. Our gen. has not had such an easy time of it. I have worked hard and saved as much as I could all my life.

I see Mr. Peterson has been on Charlie's show ELEVEN times, and has apparently given some monetary support to Charlie who seems to butter him up. I have noticed that over the years Charlie Rose has gone up and up to yuppie and then "connoisseur" of the pricey, it can't help but go to your head, I guess, being around all these billionaires who are spouting "wisdom".

As to Mr. Peterson's saying the problems are all with people like us middle class schmoes not saving enough, I agree with another person who says why? save? when interest rates and bond rates are in the toilet.

Finally, I was enraged when he talked about letting go of ENTITLEMENTS. What have we been putting our money into all these years if we aren't going to get medicare and social security??? I am sure he's not terribly worried as he's a billionaire and doesn't have to be concerned about making enough to pay his own bills.

Having seen Charlie Rose's smirk when Peterson mentioned his wealth in an underhanded way, I am afraid that I can't have much respect for Charlie Rose anymore.

I thought PBS was "for the people" but kind of wonder when we have to endure this sort of thing and the put-downs of people like us who have worked hard and been screwed by more than one "billionaire".

Christopher  04/03/2008 09:37 PM Report

How tasteless, joking about what a break PGP and CR are getting with the Bush tax cuts? And then, claiming to say "enough" after making his first billion. Altruistic foundation? another tax break. I was really impressed with the profundity and wisdom of this self-satisfied capitalist. Does he realize how the majority of people in our 3rd world country are living these days? and his part in the economy of endless greed of the wealthy class has contributed to it? I would suggest he not put the blame on people that WORK for a living and then are encouraged to buy to keep it all afloat.

Val F.  04/03/2008 08:28 PM Report

Re: P.P.'s "Best practices in medicine" statements

I have a comment on Pete's passing remark that in the old days if you got arthritis, you simply took aspirin and carried on. He takes issue with the use of MRI as a diagnostic tool for arthritis. If it had not been for the early intervention of my rheumatologist requesting an MRI, I might now be suffering even more debilitating effects of a very serious and crippling disease called Rheumatoid Arthritis. I'm glad that P.P. didn't have the final say in my care. Early diagnosis must not be dismissed as a frivolous medical practice. I'm sure that if P.P. or one of his relatives were faced with a similar scenario, they would avail themselves of any and all appropriate diagnostic tools. His statements suggest...one set of rules for the general public and another set for the super wealthy. Economic perspectives do not necessarily result in 'best practices'.

Allan Ramesh  04/03/2008 08:06 PM Report

We deliver medical care very inefficiently in the US. I believe Pete was about to give the statistic that we spend twice as much per capita as most European countries and provide less care. Solving the health care crisis will go a long way to improving our overall entitlment deficits. Rationing has to be part of the equation. We simply cannot give everyone everything in the world of high tech medicine. We have to be rational about sustaining by artificial means for terminal patients.

On his economic prescription for why we don't save, I think he is simply out of touch with the realities of life for the common man. Yes, there is too much consumerism. However, the other half of it is that with health care costs, lack of safety nets, and poor job prospects for many, there just is not much to save.

wiseguy  04/03/2008 07:11 PM Report

oh well, we can always sell Alaska back to the Russia at a profit if the United State is ever going to go broke over entitlements

MikeTheKnife  04/03/2008 07:02 PM Report

Peter and Charlie spoke of the Oregon Medical plan. I was aware of the proposed medicare/medicaid program hatched by Oregon and killed by Bush #1 for being "rationing". Well, I think it should be revived. It was a BRILLIANT program with cost containment and it DID ration medical care. How? If you had an ailment, such that if money got spent on it, it would not improve your quality of life, it wasn't reimbursed. So if you had a baby born without a brain stem (no fix for that, they die soon, but lots can be spent on their care), no reimbursement. Sorry for all you brain stem less babies. Most things would be covered, and the more they mattered the more probable the coverage. The application of the insurance business model to the medical and health care inductry is a non sequitur.

Fungas  04/03/2008 07:01 PM Report

Mr. Pete Peterson,

You are a great role model for all MBA students!!

Take care of yourself first and give back to society later with a carrot stick (others poor fellows must save more).

Jonathan  04/03/2008 05:56 PM Report

Wow, the boomers are feeling a little sensitive, eh? Listen to the interview. Peterson never said anything bad about the boomers. He made it clear that he was merely repeating theories he'd heard regarding how we got in this economic mess, and he never endorsed any of the theories, including the one about baby boomers creating the mess. Secondly, in a country that has a negative savings rate, what is so controversial about saying that people need to save more? He wasn't attacking those making minimum wage; he was merely stating that many people have the capacity to save and do not. I would think that is evident. Thirdly, I heard him say that Social Security is not nearly the problem that Medicare is. Given the way health care costs are rising, that, too, should not be surprising. Thank God that Charlie Rose interviews people that have the temerity to suggest that this society's current course is not sustainable. Take a look around you, read the paper, pull your head out of the sand . . . some sacrifice (from the so-called fat cats all the way down to the average future Medicare recipient) is going to be required to get us out of this mess. Charlie does viewers a great service by educating people as to this fact.

Julie Friedman  04/03/2008 04:54 PM Report

Where do you and Pete Peterson live? Do you live on some other planet? Do you not remember our President Bush pleading with the American people to spend spend spend after 911 so as to save the economy???? How can you forget so quickly????? I can't belive the conversation between you and Pete Peterson. First they beg the American public to spend in order to save the economy and then blame the American people for not saving. Wow!!!!!!! Talk about crazy making. You all hit the jackpot!!!!!!!!! It was also unbelieable to watch this guy threaten to go over seas if the American public doesn't dance to his tune. What kind of American is this guy? He seems to be for himself and himself. Thanks

Julie Friedman  04/03/2008 04:54 PM Report

Where do you and Pete Peterson live? Do you live on some other planet? Do you not remember our President Bush pleading with the American people to spend spend spend after 911 so as to save the economy???? How can you forget so quickly????? I can't belive the conversation between you and Pete Peterson. First they beg the American public to spend in order to save the economy and then blame the American people for not saving. Wow!!!!!!! Talk about crazy making. You all hit the jackpot!!!!!!!!! It was also unbelieable to watch this guy threaten to go over seas if the American public doesn't dance to his tune. What kind of American is this guy? He seems to be for himself and himself. Thanks

driverknits  04/03/2008 04:33 PM Report

"The only public place in New York City where a person can walk and not be confronted by commercials is at Ground Zero"

Maybe everyone should relocate or go to Ground Zero more often or more likely just STOP CONSUMING! It CAN be done.

Dr. Fran Harper  04/03/2008 04:30 PM Report

What a neocon! Deeply believing all his arrogant, self-serving ideas. Why don't Americans don't save? because they are irresponsible!

Same reason the people are unemployed! Just like the Robber Barons of old who insisted the

unemployed and farmer who lost their farms were

lazy and irresponsible.

This is the same guy who suggested that we could use American marketing skills to make the world love Bush's policies!!!

I suggest he spend his money learning to listen

and develop some compassion.

John Gelles  04/03/2008 04:23 PM Report

Tremendous show. Sorry to read negatives here--but understand some of them.

Mr. Petersen should consider that the SHORTAGE of money and funded reserves for Medicare, ss, etc., and be seen as a possible SHORTAGE of the THINGS that will have to be purchased by the providers of THINGS for the care and support of beneficiaries.

As such the THINGS will provide JOBS in the future IF America has the RESOURCES to produce the THINGS.

These RESOURCES are materials, skilled labor, organization, etc.

The key question is: IS MONEY TO PAY FOR WHAT WE PRODUCE a scarce resource or an efficient enabler?

Please CR and PP try to answer this question on air.

Transcripts of CR shows ought to be $1 on line. Higher cost reduces your volume and profit and limits target audience to businesses.

Shows on TED TURNER and PP are milestone shows IF they can be followed up.

PP repeated Freidman on --Do not short-change YOUR personal comparative advantage--. PP's advantahe is clear thinking--as is MINE. I'm senior in age to PP. He owes me a note so I can help him advise and advocate winning strategies to make the American Dream real for billions of people scaled to what is possible. The DREAM is not mainly for WINNING THE LOTTO. It is for LEARNING and PRODUCING the modest needs without which the human being is SAD and sometimes even SICK in the head and body.

Allyn  04/03/2008 03:59 PM Report

Everything that is happening now has been obvious since the 90s. This current crisis could have been solved in the past ten years without major impact, but instead of acting in the best interest of the public everyone allowed "greed is good" to be their rallying cry.

- Twenty years ago every personal financial expert said, Do not borrow money to go on vacation, etc... Only borrow money to finance real assets like a house or car. Yet in past years I've heard constant radio ads from my local credit union for people to borrow money on their homes so that they can "take that vacation to Hawaii."

The press and regulators should have been crying "stop" the instant those ads appeared. But instead people were encouraged to use their homes like an ATM cranking out the money, and you were considered a fool if you did not max out the value of your house.

- Ten years ago the Japanese had their meltdown. They got up to 100 year mortgages, we reached 50 year mortgages before the bubble burst. They had a major recession that actually forced deflation on the society, where the price of goods and services were forced to drop by half or more. The value of the houses dropped to a third yet they still had to pay the 100 year mortgage that still existed. Their government tried to stimulate the economy by public works projects. In one case they built a stadium that in current Yen will take 300 years to pay off. The Fed is making the same tragic mistakes by bailing out greedy corporations that should have their CEOs going to jail for the obvious crooked schemes. The current corporate mess makes Enron look legit, yet officials merely spout empty platitudes about a sound economy.

Here in America housing prices and all else will have to drop in value to match the fact that salaries have not kept up with inflation. The consumer dollar has less buying power than it did in the 70s during the oil crisis. Actual deflation will have to occur to bring prices down to realistic values.

- Everyone forgets that after the dot com collapse brokers and pundits came forward and admitted that they were ordered to lie about the status of the stock market before the crash. No one was punished for misleading the public. I suspect that after this latest fiasco fades a new wave of brokers and pundits will come forward to say that they had been ordered to lie.

- The only way to fix this systemic problem is to have a truly free and independent press. One that is not-for-profit and that exist solely to cover the news, inform the public, hold politicians to task, rather than simply entertain a befuddled consumer nation as it does now. We need a press that will tell the truth whether we want to hear it or not.

Thank you for your time.

Calm  04/03/2008 02:37 PM Report

I have always suspected that all these anti-terrorism laws are being enacted because the elite know full well that nobody is gonna standby and watch all the promises made to the Working Class during the past 50 years being broken.

At the moment, the No-Fly list contains more then 1.3 million names and counting.

Calm