Charlie Rose

Arthur Gubish  10/08/2008 03:25 PM Report

To solve our current economic crisis we must implement a variety of small solutions that will benefit society while providing employment opportunities today. One solution I have been working on is to build a high quality childcare center that can provide construction employment opportunities today and create an infrastructure for a stronger educational foundation that will facilitate the 21st century workforce. While a grave economic crisis is negatively impacting our country we have a significant opportunity to create a brighter future for future generations, but we must work together this is the strength of our nation. As individual citizens we can make a difference, the solution I am working to implement can elevate the quality of care children receive beyond the accreditation standards set by the National Association for the Education of Young Children; however to fulfill this endeavor will require a grassroots coalition of concerned citizen and community leaders. If anyone is interested in helping with this endeavor I am listed in Tucson Az white pages.

Preston  09/16/2008 09:26 PM Report

Mohamed El-Erian has the most to offer, of the group, in the way of solutions. He is in command of his emotions and is very disciplined and methodically focused on the details that matter most. Also from watching his other interview, I trust his intellect and wisdom. The other guests are good at recognizing what the problems are, except for the lady, she obviously let's her emotions take over her objectiveness. Nouriel Roubini is a smart guy too. I like the idea of the housing market bottoming out next year, so we can all just move on with life. Not that, that's exactly what he said; but as an optimist, that's how I interpret it.

sock puppet  09/16/2008 02:10 PM Report

Joseph Knorr - Liked your specifics. Human nature needs regulating. Religions are an invented form of such an attempt. An admission of our innate propensities to overreach. Avarice, greed, envy all that human crap (a la 7 deadly sins) that gets in our way. So the deregulators are in some way holding themselves above us riff-raff that admit to the need for discipline. But, alas, they give themselves away when the system collapses around their ears due to egregious unregulated greed. INCARCERATE EM! (The best deterrent to the moral hazard.)

Joseph Knorr  09/16/2008 12:55 PM Report

Well in response to Brian the drinker of the privateers kool-aid; the school of thought that has permeated Wall Street and the government since the 80's, grow up and take your medicine; look at the evidence of the current and previous deregulation effort. Just as communism looks great on paper in the real world, a pure free market would be a disaster. These purveyors of the new version of Reaganomics where "if we only deregulated everything and get rid of government the free market would take care of itself." Bush rid ourselves of the up tick rule where the bears couldn't abuse and rumor monger the market for 70 years (and yes it was tested and worked in 2004 when liquidity in the market wasn't a problem) in addition to the abuse of insiders who are benefiting tremendously from Fannie/Freddie (Pimco 1.7 bn) and shorting the market. When will we learn, the very wealthy keep making more money and the pensions and individual investors are taking it in the you know where. I wish someone would write a book looking at the empirical evidence of de-regulation, from the savings and loan debacle to the energy trading from Enron all the way to the Bush administration that seems hell bent to put industry insiders in charge of regulating the industries they are supposedly acting as agents of oversight. From Reagan to Bush I to Bush II and even Clinton caved on the role of government to act in the best interest of the citizens of the United States and not the so-called private investment groups of "World Citizens" who are only interested in padding their own portfolios with complete disregard to what happens to the middle class, U.S. Companies or anyone who gives a damn. Stop the spin and look at gravity of the situation, just like gravity you can't change the facts!

sock puppet  09/15/2008 07:25 PM Report

Flattery will be dealt with by the Lord for it is written, "The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things" (Psalm 12:3).

Preston  09/14/2008 03:14 PM Report

sock puppet, now then, isn't that much better? It's as if you pulled all the wrinkles out of your clothes. Now that you're legible, the first 2/3 of comment, I couldn't totally agree OR disagree with. And the last 1/3, I totally disagreed but COULD see your point... Now I ask you... Isn't that special?.

sock puppet  09/14/2008 02:31 PM Report

Brian - You got my attention. Partly agree and partly disagree. See the merit in TOTAL deregulation, but that wont happen and thus distorts selective deregulation. As an example they regulate bankruptcy yet deregulate interest rates (that add to BR). Redlining when done for other than financial reasons probably needed regulating. Regulations for "social reasons" vs "economic" makes the question more problematic. Plus greed (ambition?) is good until it becomes egregious. But by then the regulators are so corrupted that they're sleeping with the regulatees, a la lenders, rating agencies etc. So you're right the moral hazard lives on and on and on. The corporate pimps buy the regulations (from the venal whores of congress) that favor them, then disingenously claim they want laissez faire regulation free capitalism. Unlimited usury as an example. Lenin or Marx declared that capitalism contained the seeds of its own destruction. It just might be unbridled (unregulated?) greed. I wish the world fit your view.

Robert Thompson  09/14/2008 11:24 AM Report

You partisan people are sooooooo STUPID. You should read all of the other posts above, because there are some very good comments from some very smart people. This was NOT the fault of one party or the other but the fault of BOTH lousy parties, the fault of ALL of our lousy "leaders."

You partisans are dumber than rocks.

Brian  09/14/2008 10:03 AM Report

While I applaud their candor, I am indignant that these commentators, especially those from the NYT should consider most Americans children in need of "adult" supervision from government, themselves (presumably) and corporate leaders.

Rather than additional regulation, which further isolates investors and borrowers from the realities of life, I believe that we are in this predicament precisely because of the market-distorting regulation that has already been passed. The government has created a myriad of incentives from tax deductions to quasi-government entities to encourage the giving of mortgages to those who cannot afford them. Rather than nationalize these entities and transfer the cost of these mistakes to the innocent taxpayers, the solution is to let the investors pay the price of their folly. The solution to this problem in the long term is not MORE regulation, but LESS. The government should admit that they should not be engaged in mortgage or ANY OTHER form of lending, leaving it to the private markets. That way, any lenders who make foolish loans bear the risk of the loans they make. If somebody buys those foolish loans from such lenders, then that investor should bear the risk. The system doesn't work if foolish investors and lenders are not allowed to FAIL.

Contrary to all of the commentators in this video, the nationalization of Freddie and Fannie was neither necessary nor helpful. While I realize that it saves the foolish investors still holding securities from these entities, and that some of these holders are foreign interests, those investors need to learn the reality of risk when making investments and suffer the losses from poor investments. Otherwise, they will expect to be bailed out again in the future.

The economy needs to be purged of bad debt, and anything the government does to slow down this process will only distort incentives and prolong the pain, much like during the Great Depression. What we need most is for the government to stop regulating.

JOAN HEALY  09/12/2008 05:10 PM Report

The guests on August 8th presented realilty is a way that many American's will not believe, escept those of us who loved throught the depression and the incapacity of our government to respond for quite a while. We must consider our economy as related to other countrys. The middle class has lost much purchasing power. The financial sector unregulated has cost all of our savings to decline; governmenrt agencies are not protecting us as they did and most of our elected officals are do what lobbyist pay them to do. out situation is as bad as described in this program and I sincerly hope that by some wise judgements I will not have to say "I told you so!"

Doug Pullins  09/12/2008 09:38 AM Report

Charlie, this situation with our nation's distressed financial institutions is so fluid that I think that Paul Volcker should make another appearance on your show. I am really interested in his take on events that have transpired since his last appearance in March. Off all the financial/economic elderstatesmen we have, he is, as Gretchen states, the gold standard.

Preston  09/11/2008 04:02 PM Report

"Unparalleled" blah blah blah... give me a break... Everything has a cycle, those at the top see it coming before everybody else, and of course, they take care of themselves before anybody else... Are you or anybody any different?!... HELL NO!... So quit pissing in your milk! And shut-up!

JJ  09/11/2008 02:14 PM Report

Unparalleled corruption in the government, unparalleled theft on wall street/SEC, unparallel economic crisis, unemployment.

But they still say "it's not as bad as the Great Depression"......

And the sheeps still care more about the politician's sex than their policies. You gotto admire the manipulation ability of these communist in power.

R  09/10/2008 11:26 PM Report

“Modern Debt Peonage”?

Economic Democracy Is Turning Into a Financial Oligarchy

The link to the article: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20709.htm

Dave Levy  09/10/2008 06:24 PM Report

After listening to this broadcast, I couldn't decide whether to jump off a cliff, in a lake with weights, or simply off the George Washington Bridge? I mean, talking about doom and gloom and things being half-empty, this was the worst forecast I've heard since Al Qaeda cost US 1 trillion dollar (or more), murdered over 3,000 people, and failed in their attempt at taking the lives of 100,000 plus New Yorkers (had the buildings toppled over hitting adjacent structures). Give me a break. Our economy last quarter was increasing at over 3 percent ( of 14 trillion/year), the inflation and unemployment is relatively low, interest rates on 30 year mortgages are now less than 6 percent, our exports are good, our war in Iraq looks like it's headed towards some kind of victory, Afghanistan does have a viable government, as does Pakistan (both pro-American), the Russian bear is out of hybernation, but wasn't that to be expected, the housing industry's collapse was overdue (greed over prudence by borrowers and lenders), Bush is a lameduck..best at appearing at the Olympics and hoping for a decent outcome in Iraq after he leaves office, John McCain finally woke up to his base's views on what our government should be (and picked a bulldog for V.P. with lots of really good cabinet members yet to be chosen (Lieberman, Paul, Giuliani, Thompson, etc.).

We went through the savings and loan debacle years ago, costing over 300 billion dollars, and survived. We survived spending 700 billion dollar over Vietnam. We survived WW2, when Adolph Hitler and his cronies had planned to "occupy" the US..creating a "New World Order" without any minorities, ixcluded only for the "Master race", blue eyed, blonds and all that nonsense.

We have energy problems, but a few adjustments in our oil drilling policy, use of clean coal, and nuclear plants..wind and solar power financing and tax credits, ( hear Thomas Friedman )should carry US over this century.

Iran's nukes could be a problem..but a B2 strike against those 3 plants will take it out of the nuclear equaton for awhile. (Their missile defense won't affect planes flying 100,000 feet above with anti-missile defenses).

The Palestinian/Israel conflict is close to a resolution, with the 2 state solution, Hamas marginalized, and Hezbollah fighting a futile war.

I can understand Mr. Rose's frowns during and after the interviews. I would advise him not to take these people seriously.

paul carlander  09/10/2008 05:48 PM Report

this was an excellent video and nouriel roubini has been spot on concerning the ailments of the u.s. financial system. the problem is, especially with mohamed el-erian, he doesn't have the balls to look the audience in the eye and say that the american people have been lied to, have been manipulated and have been led to the slaughterhouse like lambs for so long now, that the only end game in sight is an economic apocalypse. paulson is a liar. if you refute that statement, check all his videos over the last 18 months. bernake is a liar. check his statements also. am i some conspiracy nut... yea, sure i am. that's what they would want you to believe. if you catch nouriel on the street some time and ask if the american people have been consistently lied to, HE would look you in the eye and say yes. one last thing... you haven't seen anything yet. good luck, you'll need it.

Mr. Respect  09/10/2008 04:32 PM Report

We (the people) need to stop kicking around the goose that lays the golden egg; and then stop feeding it steroids to make it lay more eggs than what is natural, and stop trying to kill it for the sport of it or to gobble up it's tasty flesh in acts of extreme ignorance and greed... No. We (the people) should treat, our bosses, with the respect they command.

Henry  09/10/2008 03:46 PM Report

Very informative and confronting. The panel did execellent job in summarizing and validating what the economic data and the common consumer experiences have been telling us for years.

Raises key questions:

Are the efforts made to fix the "effects" or the "causes"?

How and when shall we be able to control the seemingly irreversible budget and trade deficits? Aren't these the real problems causing severly negative effects - vastly eroding US Dollar value and weakening control over Inflation, Money Supply and Interest Rate?

Should we look at our energy policy? Is the energy sector unregulated but a managed monopoly?

Are we breaking the principle of high-reward/high-risk for the "big" and "large" investors?

Is there a way out? What if we have a growing federal budget SURPLUS?

Well, why don't we start by cutting YOUR wages "TABS" (or are you a stay-at-home retiree)?  09/10/2008 10:04 AM Report

"Tab", you sound as wack as Preston or Roy Fassael: are you all related?; were your parents? I see you've (predictably) totally avoided the high wages, benefits, taxes and regulations in advanced industrial and technological European countries like Germany -- and German products certainly aren't uncompetitive; in fact, Germany is the largest economy in Europe and their products are in *great* demand, even when they are *more* expensive because of Germany's general reputation for very high-quality products! And Germany otherwise faces plenty of competition. If a company builds high quality products that others want to buy, its workers can make a comfortable living. And wages, as well as benefits, are relatively high in other western/northern continental European countries and they aren't going down the financial drain: they aren't facing a perfect storm -- any countries that weren't dum enough to over-invest in our mortgage-based securities; run up huge record trade deficits; engage in rampant laissez-faire deregulation; build large auto vehicles that most people in the world, and now most Americans, DON'T WANT; build huge gold-plated military weapons systems that most of the world's consumers also don't want; and engage in a trillion-dollar war (which doesn't include the other elective, Afghanistan, war costs) all put on the China-issued credit card -- what do American "wage bubbles" have to do with that? In short, other countries have not run their economies damn near onto the rocks by systematic economic and industrial political mismanagement. But, I see that you're as nutty as Preston and Roy Fassel, so I'm not going to bother with you anymore either, or some other silly comeback of yours, any further. My point was really made for others anyway, not you. And I'm sure my point has more than adequately been made for others. As for "wage bubbles", there is no "wage bubble" in China, an advanced industrial nation, and it is known for poor quality (in everything but clothing, where the quality is average), unreliable, lacking durability, adulterated and even dangerous and deadly products. The account/profit margin gained by low-wage Chinese overhead isn't going into high-quality products from China.

TABS  09/10/2008 08:49 AM Report

Dear Why part 2:... Because the American worker has been overpaid it has made American made products uncompetative not only in the US (GM labour contracts) but the world. That is why so much of the manufacturing of goods has left the US.

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There are four factors to the decline of US manufacturing. First is the high wages paid, second, The governmental regulations add cost to the product which competitors in other nations don't have to bear, third, the lack of capital investment in modernization of the industrial plant and fourth, Taxes, either being too high in the US, or companies being given investment incentives in other nations to build factories.

TABS  09/10/2008 08:34 AM Report

Dear Why:.........It is historic inevitability that with the rise of competitors that the US labour market would no longer enjoy having a monopoly of being the workers in the only remaining industrial nation after WW2. With the rise of competition the labour market would flatten out, their wages would increase those in the US would come down. That is the wage bubble, which dictates standard of living of the nation as a whole.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________

BTW: This is not a class warfare piece, it is merely pointing out a historical trend that this author has basically elaborated on before in greater detail.

Why are you blaming the workers (but not the blatantly overpaid executives)?  09/10/2008 07:17 AM Report

RE Comment by TABS on Wednesday, Sep 10 at 05:52 AM: "American worker has been overpaid for what amounts to decades now..." --- ARE YOU KIDDING? I bet you want *YOUR* pay and benefits to be decent; I bet you want to be able to go to the doctor/hospital if you need to (and neither Obama or McCain, or Hillary before, have a decent healthcare plan that won't continue to just enrich the private insurance companies and soak the average person in insurance premiums which would then become mandatory, but I'd bet still not full coverage); I bet you want to be able to afford decent housing; I bet you and your family want to be able to eat nutritiously (especially even organically); I bet you'd want your kids to get a good college education. Americans are always ideologically conditioned to blame down (Blacks, Latinos, poor Mexican illegal immigrants, welfare mothers, etc.) and not blame up (corporate executives and anti-regulation politicians). American worker (even professionals) purchasing power has been on steady decline since the late 60's (in the 50's, 60's and even 70's *one* breadwinner could earn enough for the entire household in a decent/good neighborhood, while the other could stay home and take care of the house and kids -- today that's hardly even possible with a college education, btw college students who will generally now graduate owing massive loans, while major university execs too get ever-larger lavish salaries and perqs)! Btw, German workers (especially college educated or vocationally trained workers) generally aren't low-paid: maybe you haven't noticed that German and other western & northern continental European workers get rather well-paid in wages/salaries & benefits; they also have strong unions; and they also actually see their tax dollars going to govt/social programs (like national health care and college-funded education!) and social safety nets rather than over half of their taxes going to just profligate war/"defense" spending alone (they certainly won't have to pay for a trillion-dollar imperialist war of aggression!); and since they get two weeks *paid* vacations from the employment get-go, quickly rising to four weeks or more, German workers are among the most internationally traveled people in the world (because they get the time and money): in almost every, if perhaps every, category their quality of life standards are well above the U.S.'s.

--- "LAISSEZ-FAIRE (CORPORATE) SOCIALISM" !!: Both Republican *&* Democrat Admin'tns were on the lavish corporate bought-&-paid-for deregulation & bailout bandwagon!! ---   09/10/2008 06:52 AM Report

Comment by chandrap on Tuesday, Sep 9 at 11:38 PM: "I wish you had supported Hillary Clinton, but to add to our national tragedy you too promoted inexperienced Sen. Obama dishing out all the praise in the world, day after day, and you still do. Sen. Obama had never talked about this matter. I feel he too is in a fantasyland just like you! The only person who was able to pull America out of this sort of decline and fall was Bill Clinton. He left us with 485 Billion surplus"

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YOU TOO ARE IN FANTASYLAND, "chandrap". ___ First of all, Clinton re-appointed ALAN "AYN RAND" GREENSPAN twice as Fed Chair. ___ Second, as was mentioned before, CLINTON WAS A CHAMPION OF CORPORATE DEREGULATION, AND ANTI-SOVEREIGNTY "GLOBALIZATION" TRADE AGREEMENTS too. ___ Third, as Thomas Frank, "What's The Matter With Kansas" book, pointed out, on issues of major nat'l/int'l(like NAFTA) economic and foreign policy (including wars), there is little actual fundamental difference between the Republicans and the Democrats -- both are "Bad Cop, Good Cop", military-corporate-industrial, imperialist political parties and both have been among the most violent (from imperialist wars to anti-democratic 3rd World govt overthrows, resulting in the deaths of millions of people) political entities on the face of the earth. ___ Fourth, the Clinton federal budget surplus had less to do with the Clinton administration itself than it did with other factors in the economy like THE HOUSING BUBBLE(!!) and THE DOT.COM BUBBLE -- both of which hadn't then burst yet but, like all massive de-/anti-regulation bubbles, were GIANT GRAND PONZE/PYRAMID SCHEMES waiting to eventually BURST.

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Eventually there was bound to be produced the perfect economic storm: after 20 or so years, from Reagan on, where the govt bailed out the S&L crisis to the tune of HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, the lesser publicized insurance funds bailouts, the Mexican investment crisis bailout, the Pacific rim Asian "tigers" investment crisis bailout, and now the mortgage market banking & investment crisis bailout (with corporate execs always getting to keep their obscene salaries, bonuses, and golden parachutes for *negative* performance, AND MOST EXECS GET TO AVOID PRISON, except for a token perp --once in a very long while-- who never ends up actually serving any *real* time), the govt/taxpayers always rescuing corporations and major investors from the financial moral hazard, the perfect storm grand total bills are finally coming due. If corporations didn't pay such relatively little or no taxes (also something championed by Repubican and Democrat administrations), some *fair* proportion of corporate tax money could also be in the govt bailout pot: that's why corporations should pay their fair share of taxes, like ordinary people, so that corporate tax money is also in the govt pot for corporate financial or corporate environmental disasters (as govt/private lawsuits against corporate recklessness can take 15 to 20 or more years to successfully litigate).

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BUT GUESS WHO ALWAYS GETS/STAYS RICH -- the 4 and 5 star reservation restaurants of New York city and D.C. will not go less than full capacity and there will be no high home vacancy rates in the exclusive golf course communities of Westchester and Fairfield counties in New York and Connecticut (although those inhabitants *might* have to hold off a bit on that half-million-dollar painting at Christie's or Sotheby's) -- AND GUESS WHO ALWAYS *ACTUALLY GETS PENALIZED* AND GETS LEFT HOLDING THE EMPTY BAG. That's what regulations are for: to protect the *public* and even the country!

TABS  09/10/2008 05:52 AM Report

The Biggest Bubble Of Them All

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________The United States after WW2 was the only industrial nation left standing. As such American labour could charge whatever it wanted as there was no competition. By the 1960's Japan and Germany had been reconstituted and became competitors of the USA. The USA standard of living has been on the decline since the mid 1970's. With ever more labour competition in the world the American worker has been overpaid for what amounts to decades now. This overpaying of the American worker has been the biggest bubble of them all. It really is disingenuous or naive on the part o Obama to even hint of a promise to bring back the heady days of the 50's and 60's. The American people are going to find themselves with a much reduced standard of living in the coming decades.Exactly where it will all settle out no one knows. It is this authors guess that the American standard of living will much resemble that of 1910.

Stephan  09/10/2008 03:58 AM Report

The woman says at one point that somebody from the polititions should step up and explain the truth to the people of what is going on in the economy and what needs to be done to solve this very troublesome issue. It is very unfortunate that she is from the media (writing for the wall street journal) and did never recognize that Ron Paul was preaching about exactly these problems over the past year.

- reduce spending

- attract saving

- don't create asset bubbles by allowing the Federal reserve establish interest rates. What kind of nonsense - to avoid the deleveraging of a highly inflated bubble lets lower interest rates again to create another bubble and then another one. Its like a druggy needing another fix when the drug wears off. I hope our society understands that for a higly addicted druggy (the United States) there are only two main options that lead to a conclusion.

1. go through withdrawls and accept all the physiological and psychological pains that come as a result of lack of drugs (credit) in the system - depression.

2. the druggy eventally overdoses.

I think as long as people don't start listening to people like ROn Paul because they don't want to face the truth or are not willing to educate themselves about this issue but rather listen to the so corrupt media we will be heading towards solution #2.

depech  09/10/2008 03:00 AM Report

Why are we all just talking about republicans here??? Sure they were the ones in the white house but the real power (one who controls $) lies within the Federal Reserve who, once again, IS NOT a government entity. In fact, they are a bunch of private bankers who have the power to print $ out of thin air. So, instead of bringing up Bush so much (sure he can use some blame), please spread that blame to mr Greenspan as well. He single-handedly pumped up the gigantic housing bubble on purpose and shrewdly passed it onto helicoptor Ben. He should be in the front line of this blame game IMO.

MotherLodeBeth  09/10/2008 02:12 AM Report

Was listening to an interesting segment on NPR this morning where they were discussing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being bailed out by the Federal government, and how the Founding Fathers would be livid at the idea or any bail out of ANY business.

And that when the Feds bailed out Chrysler they set in motion a domino effect where big business and local governments now assume that because they are BIG they will be bailed out because to not do so would mean disaster to the country.

And that those who run these businesses knowing this, have made poor choices and taken dumb risks, because they know they will not be held accountable and the CEO's can leave with a golden parachute and thus protection.

And they noted that Adam Smiths writings clearly show that the founding fathers believed that when you create a business YOU and those who invest in the business take the risk NOT the whole community or government.

Now unless we have a complete change in how the Federal Government is run, I doubt it matters whether the Republicans or Democrats get elected.

Marketrealist  09/10/2008 02:03 AM Report

A logical followup question is what will the US look like if there is a deep depression like the one of the 1930s? Will there be lawlessness in the streets? Will politicians blame foreigners, immigrants, terrorists, and start wars to prop up their positions. It is unfortunate that politicians will not tell the public the truth abbout our current financial mess and continue to promise tax breaks and wave away concerns about deficits. The truth will come back and bite us and it will not be easy to explain this to a public that is ill-prepared to hear the news. Speaking of news, the news media probably deserves the biggest blame for becoming an extension of entertainment. (Charlie Rose and NPR are some of the only true news media left). Good luck my friends. It won't be pretty.

Tim  09/10/2008 12:40 AM Report

Right, and the International Monetary Fund is starting to audit the US financial system this year, final report due out in 2010. Of course no US media outlet is reporting it: Germany's Der Spiegel and Australia's The Age have done the work: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,562291,00.html

Charlie, I'd love to see hedge fund manager Jim Rogers on the show.

charleychaplin  09/09/2008 11:54 PM Report

There's a part of Geroge Bush in every American...thus this tragic situation...

chandrap  09/09/2008 11:38 PM Report

Charlie Rose:

I want to compliment you on your last program, aired here in Seattle KCTS 9 on Tuesday September 9, 2008.

USA is like the Titanic that already has hit the iceberg. This is the story that you have not paid attention through all those years! You never asked the relevant questions from Alan Greenspan when he was on your show. The story that you have not paid attention to is going to be very depressing. Like many Americans I find you Mr. Rose living in a fantasy. I know that you have done so much to support Sen. Obama. In my estimation given the real situation with our country he’s a very risky proposition. Media people in general who dominate our lives these days, like you, Oprah and many others are who are so far removed from reality of America. It is hard to point out the gravity of the situation to you, like a child you simply don’t understand like many other Americans! When asked about what’s going on in the housing market, Frank Norris from The New York Times was making same old same old observations. And so did Gretchen Morganson and you can tell they are both small minded and did not understand or comprehended or cared much about America’s tragic fiscal situation. It took too foreigners to point out the what Allan Greenspan couldn’t. Obviously we Americans are in deep trouble. The real tragedy is that many Americans are incapable of looking at a situation, whether it would be personal or national and made the right kind of inference or judgment. I have no evidence that you Mr. Rose are capable of doing this simple calculation. And this is the real reason that America is going down. Americas are so staggeringly ignorant, that includes you! I hope you learned a lesson from Mohammad el-erian and Nouriel Rouein. Most Americans simply incapable of understand what’s happening right then there under their noses or what’s would be the right remedy. Everything is permissible, and allowed, it’s like “Whatever!” Most people have lost their sense of discrimination, distinction and judgment. The end result could be the end of America as we know it. A doctor should be capable of making a right kind of diagnosis and treat the patient. As Sen. Hillary Clinton aptly put it during her campaign stop in Florida on Monday, “Electing Republican McCain for president would be like asking the iceberg to rescue the Titanic!” I wish you had supported Hillary Clinton, but to add to our national tragedy you too promoted inexperienced Sen. Obama dishing out all the praise in the world, day after day, and you still do. Sen. Obama had never talked about this matter. I feel he too is in a fantasyland just like you! The only person who was able to pull America out of this sort of decline and fall was Bill Clinton. He left us with 485 Billion surplus? remember? But Mr. Rose you hate him with all your heart. When you had Bill Clinton on the show you kept interrupting and interrupting him.

Richard W.  09/09/2008 10:01 PM Report

In response to Luca Ponti:

With the exception of the more experienced, true newscasters and journalists, ( such as Charlie Rose, Ted Koppel, Jim Lehrer, Gwen Ifill, etc.) most of the news we get these days is little more than infotainment or financia news propaganda. Sometimes I wonder if Americans even want to know the truth anymore. The press doesn't inform because it won't provide huge ratings and income in our world of insipid television for huge profit. The broadcasters, like the politicians from either party, are bought and paid for. Not until we can elect a leader who can run a campaign without millions of dollars and PAC influence, will we have a chance at truly representative government. It's time for Americans to wake up from their drugged sleep.

Ricardo C. Amaral  09/09/2008 08:01 PM Report

If you enjoy tonights CR Show then you also will enjoy reading the following.

I am afraid that we are slowly collapsing into the first Great Depression of the new millennium and you can read what I wrote about that subject just following George W. Bush’s reelection in November 2004. The article was published on “The Brazilians” in December 2004 and on Brazzil Magazine in February 2005.

That article is interesting because I wrote it from the point of view of October 2008 just a week before the election and I look back to what happened the last 4 years.

_________________________________________________________________

It’s 2008. The US Has Dragged the World into a Depression.

By Ricardo C. Amaral

http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/1424/

I said the following in that article: “Today, wealthy Brazilians still have billions of dollars invested here in the United States. Most of these investors probably will lose a large part of their investments in the coming years, because they will not take their money out of the US, and they refuse to believe in the coming melting down of the US dollar and US economy.”

When my article was first published in December 2004 on “The Brasilians” the exchange rate between the Brazilian Real to the US dollar was 2.7 real to US$ 1.

On September 1, 2008 the exchange rate between the Brazilian Real and the US dollar was 1.64 real to US$ 1.

In currency translation alone the Brazilians lost 40 percent of the value of their investment in US dollars during the period December 2004 to September 2008.

Brazilians had invested in US dollars at that time over $ 100 billion dollars.

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If you are interested on a discussion about the US dollar then check the following website: The US dollar and the biggest default in history http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...did=121313

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You also will enjoy reading what Warren Buffett said about Fannie and Freddie

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=134783

David Levner  09/09/2008 07:07 PM Report

I would like to discuss one of the questions that Mr. Rose asked: what should Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama say to the American people about the unfolding financial crisis?

The conventional political wisdom is that you must be upbeat to win a Presidential election. (One corollary is that although Nouriel Roubini might make a good President, he's not electable.) Senator McCain's slogan is "Country First: Reform * Prosperity * Peace", and Senator Obama's is "Change You Can Believe In."

A candidate who talks honestly to the American people about the bad economic news won't be elected.

I accept the political reality that the candidates must lie, or at least cover up the truth, to get elected. My hope is that once someone is elected, he will then tell the American people the truth. As Presidents have lied to me during all of my adult life, I am doubtful.

P.S. Non-major party candidates, such as Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney or Ralph Nader, are more likely to be truthful with the voters. But these candidates are unlikely to be elected or even to appear on Mr. Rose's show. (Yes that's a challenge, Mr. Rose.)

Peter Mc Mahon  09/09/2008 06:54 PM Report

Most informative conversation in years.

How do I buy a DVD copy ?

Fezco  09/09/2008 06:08 PM Report

'Housing Crisis' for who? There has been a crisis for the last 7 years of unaffordable housing. Now that the bubble has burst, affordability will finally return to the middle class American, not Joe mortgage broker or Judy realtor. Roubini is exactly right. There has been no investment in machines or future technology. Miles and miles of stucco ghost towns in California's inland empire. How were people expected to make a living out there? Aside from self-propagating real estate, they weren't. The ponzi scheme is over and our gov't is trying to prop up Fannie and Freddie to create an artificial climate of inflated housing prices. Bring it down! The quicker housing bottoms out, the quicker it will come back up.

Richard Shonfeld  09/09/2008 05:56 PM Report

This was an important broadcast about the current and ongoing economic crisis and "perfect storm" that the U.S. and indeed the world now faces. - We can thank, George Herbert Hoover Bush for much of the past eight years of Laissez-faire capitallism.

Mike  09/09/2008 05:14 PM Report

I was just a youngster in the 1980s, but I'm aware that we had a savings and loan crisis in that era and a recession at the end of that decade. I know that our current administration has similar "trickle down" economic (and (de)regulation) policies as those of the Reagan administration. I'm curious if parallels can be drawn between our current economic woes and those of the late eighties? One thing is certain though, I definitely don't feel better off than I did eight years ago.

Montague Frumph III  09/09/2008 04:54 PM Report

I was waiting for someone to point to the elephant in the room and that is the Military Budget, the National Security Budget, the CIA budget and the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Budgets. Isn't this the real root of our problem? War making, death weapons of untold expense and sophistication, here and in outer space. A product who's only 'return' is death and fear. If only this money could be used for life and renewal, healing and jobs and family farms and infrastructure here. I think that would be return on our money for now and the future.

Montague Frumph III  09/09/2008 04:54 PM Report

I was waiting for someone to point to the elephant in the room and that is the Military Budget, the National Security Budget, the CIA budget and the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Budgets. Isn't this the real root of our problem? War making, death weapons of untold expense and sophistication, here and in outer space. A product who's only 'return' is death and fear. If only this money could be used for life and renewal, healing and jobs and family farms and infrastructure here. I think that would be return on our money for now and the future.

Franco  09/09/2008 03:47 PM Report

I thought last nights show was one of the most

important discussions of the economic and fiscal mess the world has rapidly been sliding into.

Clearly the ride is not over, and most of the public is unaware of the perilous situation.

If China bottoms out (5-6% growth), the whole basis for their governments control of their 1.3B people will fanish. Things could get very ugly, very quickly.

It's deplorable that none of our elected

politicians will even address the situation or propose plans for stopping the freefall. I wish this session could be made mandatory viewing, for members of congress and presidential candidates, not to mention ordinary citizens.

Franco

Bill Parks  09/09/2008 02:16 PM Report

After watching your August 7th program, “A discussion about the acquisition of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac,” I do not understand your overlooking the basic, fundamental monetary system.

When the US Government delegated its sovereign authority to issue the nations money to privately owned corporations, the Federal Reserve and its member banks; when that banking system creates all the nations money, the total M3 money supply, out of nothing, extended into the economy as government bond and private loans, as the principal of interest leaden debt; when the banking system creates only the principal, but not the money required to pay interest for the debt; when interest payments are made from the existing M3 money supply, leaving too little money to repay the principal; when new loans are originated to make up the shortfall, keeping the system from self-destructing, and providing an illusion of financial stability; then we see banking system is operating as a pyramid or Ponzi Scheme.

Minimlst  09/09/2008 02:13 PM Report

Charlie Rose rarely lets me down. While the rest of the media is obsessed with Sarah Palin and what she's doing to the polls, Charlie has intelligent, credentialed guests addressing our economic crisis. Too bad the electorate won’t put down their “Us” magazines long enough to pay attention. What will Bush tell America to do when they can no longer afford to shop? Chris Roberts, I'm with you - it's tea time!

Barbara Wickwire  09/09/2008 12:34 PM Report

Fascinating and frightening show. It made me sit up in bed a few times. Some comments were quite shocking, such as 40% of US mortgages to be "under water" by the end of next year! Global recession, etc.

I wish you'd have more such discussions, CR! Gretchen M. saying "Denial, denial, denial," that needs to be heard more often.

Interestingly, your guests' prognostications seem to be quite accurate during the past year or two since they began talking about the subprime crisis and unregulated investors having such a huge impact on our economy.

Thanks!

Nicole  09/09/2008 11:08 AM Report

Insightful and thought-provoking discussion! It will be interesting to see if voters are ready to take the necessary steps to become engaged in government and to pay more taxes.

Tom M  09/09/2008 11:04 AM Report

It is a very black picture yes. But don't forget that ultimately the world is forced to return to the USA to invest all those dollars and don't forget that we are an extremely dynamic, free and diverse economy with many strengths. Yes maybe the dollar will drop - but this will serve to bring investments to the USA though don't forget. We need to stay away from self-defeating economic nationalism a la Francaise and instead make it easy for foreigners to invest in US equity and debt markets, easy for them to invest directly in US as well. This will be one of the shovels which will get us out of this mess. In a global recession - if we let market forces take their ravenous course - the USA will emerge from the end of the tunnel first. The World has too many of our dollars and our economy has too many relative strengths for it not to be so ...

TABS  09/09/2008 09:35 AM Report

This program should have put the fear of God into quiet a few of Mr Rose's viewers. The US has stood on the brink of the abyss of an economic meltdown 3 times in the past 8 years. The first being 911, the Bear Sterns buyout, and then the guaranteeing of Freddie and Fanny. This latest move of taking over Freddie and Fanny is an attempt to get ahead of the curve before the world wide financial house of cards starts to crumble before our very eyes. Be assured that NO ONE will escape unscathed from an economic meltdown. Everyone will be in a soup line from Bill Gates to the bum on the street. As it was stated to this author after 911, "It won't matter if you have a wheel barrel full of money, no money or a plastic card everyone will be in a soup line."

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With a potential of a world wide financial collapse it doesn't look to good for an Obama Health Care plan. It is very likely that the world will give a vote of no confidence to a Obama Presidency. That will become very apparent the first time he proposes an increase in spending in the Federal budget for any of his majestic economic plans. The world will simply not be buying our debt. With that the USA will collapse economically. Then the world will slowly unravel a piece at a time till we have chaos in the world. Did anyone ever envision that the world could come crashing down around our ears with such rapidity? Did anyone ever envision that the great prosperity of the USA would ever end? Did anyone even envision another Great Depression? Such are the conventional thinkers that run the place.

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Well the end of what we have known for the past 65 years is about to happen. Whether or not it ends with a bang or a whimper is yet to be determined. What exact form the brave new world will look like is an unknown. The USA will no longer be standing tall in the saddle economically or even militarily like John Wayne. The USA will more reassemble Don Knotts in the Ghost and Mr Chicken.

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Tabs will reiterate it again, the USA standard of living in the future will resemble America of the early 1900's. That is if all goes well. Gone will be the conspicious consumption and materialism of America. Maybe America had better get used to the idea of not only not having one car but any car. Not having that large ranch style home in the burbs, an SUV in the driveway, and a big screen TV. That dream will be wistly remembered in the future with a bit of sadness. For no nation has squandered such wealth so quickly as the USA has. In a mere 65 years it has gone from being the wealthiest nation the world has ever seen to being on the verge of crashing to the depths and bringing everything else right along with it. Maybe that will be the legacy of the Baby Boom Generation on world history?

Rebecca  09/09/2008 09:17 AM Report

The crisis facing the USA and the WORLD is not about being pro-Democrat; nor pro-Republican.

What has brought us to this world stage is bigger than petty USA politicians who have taken bribes on both sides of the political aisle.

It is about a fundamental FAILURE to respect the sovereign nation status of nation-states. Instead, the greedy and powerful worked towards globalization. In the USA this meant offshoring decent paying jobs to Third World Nations as well as US manufacturing and technology. One can see similar actions in other First World Nations. Now, First World citizens (consumers) have no more reserves to buy the cheap, substandard imported goods that were once made in their own country. Anyone could have seen this in the USA as far back as the late 1980s when this steady stream of income production was being destroyed by politicians with a global agenda.

I am shocked that people believe that this mess in the USA is a 'Republican' mess created by Pres. George Bush. They seem unwilling to acknowledge that Pres. Clinton embraced NAFTA and pressured junior Congressmen to vote for NAFTA. They forget that Clinton nominated Alan Greenspan to be Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Pres. Bush simply carried forward on Pres. Clinton's policies of job destruction for America.

BOTH Senator McCain and Senator Obama want to continue with the dual party support of: 1) offshoring US jobs; 2) importing cheap foreign labor to depress USA professional wages; 3) continue with destructive treaties such as: NAFTA, and CAFTA, etc. The fact is that much of what has taken place in the Bush Administration could NOT have taken place with out DUAL party support. The fact is that much of what took place in the Clinton Administration could not have taken place without DUAL party support.

The citizens of the USA and persons around the world have a GLOBAL economic crisis. Its foundation is GREED. Spain is in trouble -- not from US subprimes -- it had its own greedy folks; ditto for France, Germany, England, Japan, etc.

The US Dept of Justice must look at criminal charges against the board members/ CEOs of Fannie and Freddie. Their actions must be looked at for criminal intent and fines imposed to help repay the bailout of these quasi-private companies now nationalized. WILL the US Treasury have the COURAGE to do the honorable thing and demand a full, aggressive investigation and prosecution?

Chris Roberts  09/09/2008 09:12 AM Report

Just imagine, the Republicans adopting the 1960s policies of the British Labour Party and on a Sunday afternoon. The main thing is, how do we get the money paid back before my granddaughter comes of age? Talk about taxation without representation: it's time to throw some tea into a harbor somewhere.

TABS  09/09/2008 08:21 AM Report

Dear Mr Rose:

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It might be a good idea to host a program that outlines the economic policies of both Barrack Obama and John McCain and how they will effect the US economy. How their economic programs might be viewed by the rest of the world with the relationship to their investing in the USA. The likely outcome of those programs on the economy of the US and world in light of the current economic dilemma. This might be very enlightrening to quiet a few people.