Charlie Rose

seanmcc  04/30/2009 05:26 PM Report

Leonard, it's 'you're mistaken', not 'your'. Publik Edukashun worked for you, huh?

Leonard  11/18/2008 01:03 PM Report

No. Your mistaken. He wasn't really drunk, he was pretending to be drunk. It was part of his shtickt.

He does look a lot younger without the beard. Too bad he chose a life of crime.

show-must-go-on  11/18/2008 12:50 PM Report

Even though this guy was always drunk, he was great on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast... In my opinion... For what it's worth...

Eugene  11/05/2008 01:05 PM Report

he neglects to mention bernanke's raising the rates to 5.25% and holding it up there for a few months, long enough to kill the housing and other business sectors. the fed's weak dollar gave us the rise in commoditiy prices, oil, etc.

the high interest rates, and high commodity prices led to the total collapse that we see.

Eugene  11/05/2008 01:04 PM Report

he neglects to mention bernanke's raising the rates to 5.25% and holding it up there for a few months, long enough to kill the housing and other business sectors. the fed's weak dollar gave us the rise in commoditiy prices, oil, etc.

the high interest rates, and high commodity prices led to the total collapse that we see.

Preston  11/02/2008 07:21 AM Report

Mr. Tax, I didn't bother watching this interview, but I enjoyed reading your post. It's interesting how the founding fathers were smart enough to have built in "Revolution" into the system. Now we'll have to see if the game builders of today will choose a civil or violent Revolution. I hope for the sake of our children it's done civilly, that's why I feel like turning violent when I see evil.

TAX  11/02/2008 01:09 AM Report

This guy seems liberal in his social belief but conservative in his government belief. I think it all comes down to a mistrust of government on all ends. If you go on the premise of a basic mistrust of government (a founding principle of our nation) than the only time you should care is when the caretakers screw up so badly that the citizenry is forced to pay attention and take action. We are at that point. Government spending now threatens the very thing that we stand for, liberty and freedom for all. The freedom of choice has always been ours to decide whether to work your ass off for more or be content with what you have in life. And if raising taxes on the wealthy means they will be content with what they've got, than so what. The system works. As if the only measure of our society is increased productivity of the rich? I'm gonna worry about a rich guy's actions to spend his money? Surely you must be joking. There's better things to worry about in life. This idea that if you give the rich more money than they'll spend it on hiring more people? Or starting a new company? Or expand their business to a point where you can't go anywhere without running into one of their companies selling you stuff? BS. You can blame whomever you want for the situation we find our govt in, but the fact is if the government wants to keep spending than the citizens will have to pay more. And so the choice is to pick the guy whom you think can play King Solomon and make a fair decision as to whom should pay more. Because the current guys running the show have spent more than ever and they are supposed to be the guys that stand for not spending more. I am one of those people who will enjoy having the social security benefit when I decide to collect it. Hell I've been paying the maximum into the system for the past 15 years. If you don't agree with the govt spending than we should elect a 3rd party candidate since neither D's nor R's have done a good job of it lately. But you can believe that the spending will go on. And when we can't borrow anymore from foreign countries the govt will take it our of yours & mine asses. That's when the trouble begins. Hopefully some sanity will prevail in the coming years and people will stop feeling like they have to have the 50" TV and the jet ski and the vacation, etc.. I agree with one thing this guy said, we are not all equal. Ever. Depending on your religion we're not even equal in God's eyes. And yet equality is what we strive for. It is in our social fabric to continuously strive for some sort of equality. That is as American as it gets. Yeah, he may be rich, but I bet I'm smarter or I bet I can kick his ass at....pick your pleasure. No superhumans here, just humans. So we need to stop looking for superhumans. We are the only ones that can solve our problems.

lisa  10/31/2008 11:09 PM Report

I love Charlie Rose! This guy. . .do you really believe in the whole Obama-redistribution-of-wealth thing. Please!! Even if he REALLY wanted to redistribute wealth in the TRUE sense of the term rather than the liberal American sense of the term (graduated tax system), our system of government would never, ever, ever let that happen. Get real! Do you REALLY believe that Obama wants equality of RESULT versus equality of OPPORTUNITY? I can't say "idiot" --he's not dumb--but IGNORANT. Wow, Forstmann, educate yourself on more than just your own political ideology before you go on national television. I can't believe you've bought into the whole "Obama-the-socialist" line of bull. Mesmerized by Palin's fancy pageant walkin', no doubt. Unbelievable.

Steve  10/31/2008 10:49 PM Report

Ken -

Your grasp on the markets and economy is impressive.

Ken  10/31/2008 07:04 AM Report

This guy is an idiot. He thinks Obama is so stupid that he doesn't know the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome? As someone wrote earlier, why is it not okay to help the poor, struggling middle Americans by simply going back to the old (Clinton Era) tax rates on the top 2% of Americans? And why is it okay to help these slimy, greedy bankers who put the credit markets in peril because they wanted to squeeze the system out of every last dollar they could get--to the tune of tens of millions (in some cases, hundreds of millions) in compensation. And why is Exxon still raking in record, all-time high profits? People like this guy make me sick.

James Brown  10/30/2008 10:07 PM Report

Actually, he's Catholic, Ron, you anti-Semitic ass.

rich  10/30/2008 09:47 PM Report

wow another billionaire bragging about his genius and blaming others for their greed.. it should be the other way around...greedy criminals playing with peoples livelihood in the stock market casino and calling it investing!!!!

Peter Namtvedt  10/30/2008 09:06 PM Report

This was a great interview. However, as far as I know the moment of peak interest was when Forstman was answering a question about the remainder of Obama's campaign and started to say something about what he hoped Obama would absolutely not done.

What did you do? You left me high and dry at a moment of suspense. You talked over him.

This is one of the few times I had wanted to scream at you, "Who do you think you are, God Almighty?"

Otherwise, keep up the great work.

Ramesh  10/30/2008 08:18 PM Report

It is pretty ironic that someone who seems to be so against a helping hand for the underdog (except for the opportunity of education) is not ranting and raving about the bailouts of the rich. This financial crisis has shown how tolerant the US leadership and many right wingers in the public are about the wrong doings of rich. When the CEO of Lehman walks away with $550 million while risking other people's hard earned money, its ho-hum news. If someone steals a pizza, throw him in jail. How have we come to this?

TABS  10/30/2008 06:40 PM Report

It is also revisionist history to claim that the US has always has had "reach in the systems benefits." It is purely an invention of the NEW DEAL that society owes you something or should do something for you. Abe Lincolns old man rented out his labour to pay off his debts. Lincolns old man thought Abe was being uppity cause he wanted to learn and advance himself. The old man thought Abe should know his place and not aspire to greatness. So how did ole Abe get to be President...by shear hard work and perseverance. There was NO HELPING HAND government or otherwise for Abe. The only support he got was a good word from his Step Mother who recognized his desire. As a consequence Abe did not even try and see his old man as he lay dieing.

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Let us go one step further. Hank Paulson recently told Charlie that the Chinese have such a high savings rate because THEY HAVE NO SOCIAL SAFETY NETS..if ya get sick ya have to pay for it yo self. So ya save money for a rainy day. That is what my old Granny did, saved her money for a rainy day. As there were no safety nets in her day. That is essentially the period where Amertica became the RICHEST NATION ON EARTH. What incentive is there to aspire to anything if you know you are going to be bailed out, and get a trophy for just showing up. We are all just winners right? We can all be Mick Jagger Rock Stars. Or more than likely as there are not enough Gulfstreams to go around we all will be pushing brooms together. That is true equality of results.

TABS  10/30/2008 06:07 PM Report

"Equality of Opportunity" does mean removing a foot from some ones neck SO THAT THEY MAY ACHIEVE. That means that the kid in South Central or Up Town can both go to school and be what they can be. That doesn't mean that the Up Town kid is going to be a Multi-Millionaire Rap Star. Equality of Results means both are going to be Multi-Millionaire something or others.While being a nice thought it ain't gona work. Cause the UP TOWN kid can't rhyme.

patrick  10/30/2008 05:44 PM Report

I enjoyed the interview - but I wish libertarian/free-market people would think I be more deeply about thier philosophical position. Equality of opportunity, rather than equality of outcome, is all weel and fine. As the guest pointed out, people are different after all - some all, so short, etc. etc. So, human beings have different aspects or capacities - fine. But unfortunately, we live in a soceity that prioritizes some capacities over other capacities - in our society the rules of the game mean that the capacity to "allocate capital," as Warren Buffett puts it, is ranked more highly than being a good nurse, firefighter, mechanic, etc. So, given this fact, society must look at questions of social justice, regardless of whether free-market libertarians want to or not. Simply put, the success of individuals in a society has more to do with the social rules of the game than it does with the individual. The libertarian view is always particularly attractive for people who have inherited wealth, since they, I suspect feel anxiety over whether in fact they deserve what they have. The great American philosopher, John Rawls said somewhere that in a justice society every person would be able to look every other person in the eye and feel no gulilt or anxiety over the question of whether they should have what they do have - American society is never going to reach the utopia of a wholly free-market society, nor of a social democratic one. So we stumble along - lots of free-market, with capital allocators doing very well for themselves, and some redistribution of wealth, so that even the weakest has some dignity in the face of the good and the great...

sock puppet  10/30/2008 05:25 PM Report

TABS - You appear to be arguing with yourself. I agree in principle. But a defining virtue and envy of the US is (or was) the reach of the systems benefits. A little compassion included in that reach will enhance not detract. When compassion is not considered it results in preemptive easy-wars, predatory creditors, and too ready exploitation of the vulnerable. Like kicking a puppy because you can. If you need to label that as socialism charge on McDuff. Equality of opportunity sometimes means removing a foot from someones neck.

TABS  10/30/2008 05:12 PM Report

What do the fking moronic NEOCONS have to do with capitalism? For nearly 30 years I have listened to the John Birchers eg Right Wing Nuts cry about the UN and Foreign Aid and how the US should tell em all to fk off as they don't like us anyhow!...Well with GW they got their chance...and they fked it up good! US Foreign Policy has ALWAYS BEEN about GIVING EM A REACH AROUND so that they feel good about themsleves after we have gotten ours. The NEOCONS FORGOT that honey catches more flys than salt. Even GW the SLOW got that message after 2006. Exactly where are all those high riding NEOCONS today....GONE...on unemployment eg at some university or consulting job in the tules..Wolfie couldn't even hold a job that was given to him at the fking World Bank for christ sake.

TABS  10/30/2008 05:01 PM Report

Dear Sock: I to am all used up emotionally. I can not fight at least not right now. One thing as clarification. "Equality of opportunity" is where everybody in this country is given a shot at achievement. Everybody will use that shot to varying degrees with varying success. That means that a kid in South Central gets a shot at being the best he can be. ........"Equality of Results" means that everybody achieves at the same level. That means the smart kid is going to be going at the same pace as the slowest kid in the class. In a sense that is what the American Public Education system has done. We are ostensibly a Egalitarian society and it goes against our grain to think that the smart kid is any better than the slow or even average kid. Yet it is the smart kid or achievement orientated kid that moves the society (including tech & science) and economy along. Ya gotta let em run at their own speed. Bureaucracies are anathema to that notion.

sock puppet  10/30/2008 05:00 PM Report

TABS - Was that it? You've had eight years of neocons. If your happy clap your hands.

TABS  10/30/2008 04:46 PM Report

Liberals make me want to cry. Without big capital and corporations that $1500 big screen TV your watching Charlie Rose on would cost $4000. Everybodys standard of living would be DOWN. You need economy of scale to bring the unit cost down, you need R&D to provide the tech for those products and you need jobs that will enable one to buy those products.With that there is going to be environmental dedgration as MORE people are vying for those goods and services, and are going to be putting an ever increasing strain on the environment. It does seem that Liberals WANT to return to the early 19th century. When a pair of boots cost the equivalnt of $250 instead of $25 down at Wallmart. What do you want, you can not have your cake and eat it to. Quiet frankly living today is much better than living 150 years ago, for one we live longer and in better health. So Liberals better watch what they wish for, because they just might get it.

sock puppet  10/30/2008 04:38 PM Report

TABS - your flattery of singularly addressing me forces my second entry. I was / am pretty used up. Shot my wad. BUT by your stressing "equality of opportunity" over "results" is Forstmann's (and yours) own fanciful little straw-man that you each appear to enjoy feeling smug about blowing over. Presumably that's from the vacuous equating of Socialism with Democrats; which under the results of this Republican regime is so ironic I have to wonder what planet we're on. Haven't heard your dismay over socializing the "results" of the investment community's wise-guys mismanaged "opportunities." If it's for the top one per cent it's OK, eh? Here's an example of the responsible rich building buiding bigger and better tax evasion havens.

..................................................................................................... ..............................................................

By David Cay Johnston

NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

August 1, 2006

So many super-rich Americans evade taxes using offshore accounts that law enforcement cannot control the growing misconduct, according to a Senate report that provides the most detailed look ever at high-level tax schemes.

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You ended with, "The USA will then sink into the same kind of economic malise that Britain in the 1960's and then the former Soviet Union fell into. At that time ole GW will be looked upon fondly as being representaitve of the good old days when America was prospersous." ISN'T THAT EXACTLY WHERE WE ARE? WE HAVE MET THE TITANIC AND (GLUB) IT IS US. You're like someone obliviously standing in a barrel of crap pointing at another potential disaster. I do agree Obama's in bed with the snakes however. And the corruption attendant with the bailout will surely finish us off. Plus, he'll permit any omitted tax loopholes for the financial wise-guys that should instead be tried for malfeasance (if not treason). Our empire is toast! -- Nero.

jrterrier  10/30/2008 04:16 PM Report

forstmann's concerns' about obama's plans to increase taxes was very interesting and valuable commentary. of course, charlie immediately tried to step in to protect obama, whom he supports.

Bob Tourville  10/30/2008 01:06 PM Report

Interesting interview. One thing that was that was very noticeable was that Charlie hardly interrupted this guy. That indicates that the guy had nothing interesting to say. Charlie's interruptions are directly proportional to the quality of the ideas presented as Charlie gets motivated to interject his own conceptions. In this case, I would have loved to see Charlie interrupt with a comparison of Buffet's ideas about taxation, on the richest Americans. Or perhaps a question on their contribution to paying for the two ongoing wars, and patriotic duty. ( See Frontline War Briefing . Our guys are dying in Afghanistan fighting a "war of economy") Or the Social Security Surplus being given away as income tax breaks to the wealthiest. Or if the people in the U.S. are broke who will buy the widgets that the companies he invests in produce. Or where are the investments in job creation here in the U.S. from those tax breaks. Or if his ideas on taxation are so correct why was the economy so successful with Clinton's tax rates? Or ask Warren Buffet if he would stop working (producing) if his tax rates went up. Maybe Ted Forstmann would. Fine let him get out of the way. I fail to see his claim to fame. Was it that his funds avoided the sub prime mess? Even a blind pig finds an acorn... When asked what he would advise the next President, all he had to say was fix the economy, without a single specific idea? Specious at best.

sydney carton  10/30/2008 12:22 PM Report

Mr. Rose, Salve:

Next time a guy (especially one whom your website describes as a “philanthropist”) complaining about OWNING, not just investing in, NINE hedge funds, whines about the top 1% paying 40% of the taxes, would it hurt to interject that they also control forty per cent of the wealth in this country?

If not also that they enjoy one hundred percent of the political power and social influence. (E.g. Access to your program.) Not to mention more than one hundred percent of the rights and exemption from most of the other obligations. (Aka: Entitlements.)

Or were you, perhaps, thinking more about the yachting trip to the Caribbean this clown proffered just prior to the interview?

Re: Opportunity versus Outcomes.

Ya gotta think health-care here Charlie. And nutrition. Before even education.

Which one suspects that your guest, who - while bragging about adopting two black African children, has probably done more to keep entire continents subjugated than just about anyone, equates with “Uniquely-American, Faith-Based, Conservative Capitalist” indoctrination rather than genuine “leading out.”

So much for “spirited” conversation.

Geez, Charlie, you’re on PBS, not FNC, Bloomberg, CNBC or even the super exclusive “Colbert Rhodium.” (Which, unlike “Colbert Platinum” . . . oops! . . . Aluminum, is doing quite well, thank-you.)

Ciao. :o}

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=top+1%25+income&aq=f&oq=

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=wealth+distribution+in+america&aq=2&oq=wealth+dist

~~~~~

http://www.intrade.com/aav2/trading/tradingHTML.jsp?evID=45788&eventSelect=45788&updateList=true&show Expired=false

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/latestpolls/index.html

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/health_care/

~~~~~

"It is noble to be good; it is still nobler to teach others to be good - and less trouble."

- Mark “Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion -- several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to (the most accessible Plasma-domed Golfing Commune / Menagerie . . . [puff\ . . . While the D’s and R’s are, in point of fact, philosophically and pragmatically, orthodox DNC-ists and RNC-ists . . . the RNC and DNC being federally funded, if not faith-based, religious sects. Just note the rigid conversion of Wm. II O’Bama since he formally secured the DNC presidential nomination, and of Geo. III McCain since he began to truly covet the RNC’s [thus proving the Buddhists absolutely correct about the ultimate cause of human suffering\. The real dogma of not only both of those cults, but the majority of Americans, is not Faith-based Capitalism, or even Commercialism. But Ploutosism . . . Fundamentally.).” Twain

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews%2011:1&version=31

~~~~~

“Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon.”

- Mr.* Winston “I left torture off of my enumeration, but who would have ever suspected?” Churchill

* No peerage in America, elected aristocracy notwithstanding.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_main.html?name=Toles&date=08252 008&type=c

[Please note: The CEO is really suggesting, “You should employ the stick differently . . . and possibly the carrot.” :o}\

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHZFYpQ6nc

[Please note the last interchange of the video. :o}\

~~~~~

“The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”

http://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=love+of+money

“Anybody who tells you money is the root of all evil doesn't f-ing have any. . .

(And doesn’t know their scriptures, either.)”

- Dialog, Boiler Room.

~~~~~

“All you care about is money . . .

This (nation) needs a better class of criminal . . .

. . . and I’m gonna give it to them.”

- Dialog, The Dark Knight.

~~~~~

Mobius Strip:

There is no great fortune without a great crime.(Or lesser fortunes without lesser crimes.)

The business of America is business.

Business is war.

War is organized theft.

War is an extension of politics by other means.

Kleptocracy reigns.

~~~~~

“Creative destruction.”

http://www.gocomics.com/patoliphant/2008/09/23/

“Unlike the utopianisms of the left, conservatism is defined by an understanding that this life can never be made perfect. So you state your ideals and then you compromise when life gives you no other choice. Pry free the bricks you can, loosen the ones you can’t, and make peace with the ones you can’t budge, until you can.”

- Rabbi Jonah “The Burke admonition on hypocrisy, when applied to evil-LBRLs is a chastisement. To Conservatives, a strategy. Of course, that Twilight Zone gremlin* is our sect’s totem. ‘Creative destruction,’ indeed . . . BTW: the Greenspan Mea Culpa applies only to the Ayn Randians / Objectivists and not the Conservatives or Libertarians. Even though we all three share the same philosophy regarding the ability of markets to self-regulate.” Goldberg 10.31.07

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhk4HcxhZQM

“Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises; for never intending to go beyond promises; it costs nothing.”

- Edmund “War never leaves where it found a nation (. . . I mean country

BTW: I’m not wearing hockey pads).” Burke

~~~~~

1458 days since, “Mission Accomplished.”

[Thanks for doing the arithmetic, if not the analysis. :o}\

~~~~

82 days until ROI, max.

[Unless, of course, we can evince a couple of overtime periods . . . Even if we have to become helicopter parents to do so. :o}\

~~~~~

Maktub

:o}

“Why you’re not a good guy at all.”

“I’m a lawyer, you idiot!”

- Dialog, Rustler’s Rhapsody

~~~~~

Perpetual WØRD 1:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/UNIMPEACHABLE

Perpetual WØRD 2:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/HYPOCRISY

Perpetual PHRASE 1:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/MIXED%20ECONOMY

Perpetual PHRASE 2:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_kune_do

:o}

WØRD to FCCM:

Hydrology Rule of Administration:

Scum always floats to the top while sludge settles to the bottom.

Also:

“The axiom that you can’t keep a good man down is wrong. Most organizations are elegantly designed to do just that.”

- Unattributed.

:o}

Preston  10/30/2008 11:19 AM Report

McCain is going to go after the lobbyists stronger than Obama, because the lobbyists screwed him and his reputation a long time ago and he has vowed revenge ever since. He will put a "real" dent in the welfare to the RICH. And even up the playing field for the best of the country. Obama is too nice to go after the real assholes, foreign AND domestic.

fccm  10/30/2008 11:08 AM Report

It is impressive how scum like this finds its way to the top.

Boxer  10/30/2008 11:05 AM Report

Just pathetic. Another billionaire who doesn't want to pay his fair share of taxes and who uses the specious argument that taxability or lack of it drives investment decisions. Hogwash, pure and simple.

Hipocrisy and self interest rule as he admits that opportunity is not equal but fails to recognize that unequal opportunity is largely responsible for unequal results. That way its easier to justify his greed.

For a supposedly smart and informed guy, I can't believe his mutterings that Obama desires a "redistribution of wealth" when in reality the policy represents a belief in a progressive tax philosophy once championed by, among others, another Teddy, Roosevelt.

I would also ask Mr. Forstman what he would recommend the next president to do to "put our economic house in order" since one of the root causes was the huge deficits resulting from the Bush tax cuts which enabled the greatest redistribution of wealth in our history. Of course when money is taken from the lower middle class and the poor and given to the wealthy we never call that socialism or "redistribution of wealth."

Again, PATHETIC!!

truthhurts  10/30/2008 10:31 AM Report

What we're experiencing is the 2nd Clinton Recession right now due to relaxed financial standards he ushered in during the 90s. The 1st Clinton Recession was the dotcom bubble and that was extended by 9/11 -- also thanx to his relaxed foreign policy back then (bin Laden planned attacks during Clinton). Poor Bush is paying the price in opinion polls for what Clinton did years ago. If people elect Obama thinking we'll have those "good ole days" again, they're sorely mistaken.

Jane  10/30/2008 03:54 AM Report

did anyone notice his mafia ring.

TABS  10/30/2008 03:38 AM Report

Dear Sock: Today on CNBC the CFO of P&G alluded to the fact that if the corporate tax rate should increase that P&G might find a new home offshore as a homebase for operations. Mr Forstmann is exactly correct in claiming that if the entrepenuers are taxed more heavily it will deaden their footsteps. Take a look at the growth and unemployment rates of Europe and tell us how well socialism has worked. Also Mr Forstmann is exactly correct in saying that it is "equality of opportunity" and not "equality of results" that is important to remember and to foster. If the USA should follow the path of "equality of results" then the USA will cease to be a world economic leader having handed it over to both China and India. The USA will then sink into the same kind of economic malise that Britain in the 1960's and then the former Soviet Union fell into. At that time ole GW will be looked upon fondly as being representaitve of the good old days when America was prospersous.

Vanessa  10/30/2008 03:30 AM Report

This fear expressed by Mr. Forstmann is indicative of the hysteria the wealthy of this country are experiencing at the prospect of a president that would protect the middle class and working people from the "busts and booms" of the free market wild west economy. To associate Sen. Obama with the Marxist principle of demanding substantial equality of outcome is grossly irresponsible of a man of Mr. Forstmann's stature. We have a graduated tax system in this country. Sen. Obama is not some radical who wants to overturn capitalism. On the contrary it seems he wants to honor the fundamental principles of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, the opus of capitalism, that being that we need to create broader access to wealth. It's sad that more of the wealthy of America (Colorado 400) can not embrace the noblesse oblige of the UK or France where the wealthy understand (however begrudgingly) that it is in their interest to ensure stability for working folks who are the consumers who buy the products of companies that are traded on Wall Street. For Mr. Forstmann to criticize hedge funds, which sell nothing and are as he stated basically gambling; admit that opportunity is not open to all; and then cast Sen. Obama as a socialist with code phrases because he wants to at last make adjustments to the way we spend our taxes is just, well, beneath us all in times like these. The unregulated greed of Wall Street is destroying this country--and the world economy. The lack of judgment of the president has gotten us into a war we can not afford. Yet everyday Americans are losing their homes and jobs. I personally don't want to be Mexico where the rich only care about themselves. I want to be a western democracy that understands a country's wealth is not measured exclusively by how many billionaires it has.

It's time for the paradigm shift. It's time for change. Sorry, Mr. Forstmann if that scares you.

TABS  10/30/2008 03:21 AM Report

Mr Forstmann is a down to earth common sense type of guy. As such Ditto.

sock puppet  10/30/2008 01:45 AM Report

His disdain for taxing the rich on the basis that they will have no incentive to perform, is so specious he should be blackballed from all his country clubs. The drive to success for someone worrying about taxes doesn't qualify as a drive, and deserves failure. Plus when will the top dogs accept that it might be a civic thing to do. Most of them have lobbyed so many loop holes they avoid taxes altogether anyway. Bahamas? No complaints when they redistributed the wealth to the top one per cent.

sock puppet  10/30/2008 12:34 AM Report

The so-what of hedge funds falling to the same number of a decade or so ago is that they've wiped out a helluva lot of people and caused abject misery and poverty. Glass-Steagall and other regulations were repealed under Clinton, lobbyed through by Citigroup and Robert Rubin et al. And they own Obama.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________

Helluva guy tho.

RE Mant  10/29/2008 11:51 PM Report

Prices should fall with productivity growth not rise. That they do rise is due largely to the attempt to maintain greed through constant inflation, which is essentially fraud. As inflationary greed increases, productivity falls, and as productivity is required to pay the debts acquired by creating the money, there is no way other than to create more debt to support the money. This is what the Fed has been doing, lo' these many years, which having impoverished America, is now extending its reach world-wide. The Fed incredulously seems to have adopted a what-do-we-have-to-lose attitude, but though they may not, since we no longer punish outcomes, but only intent, the world has a lot to lose by the loss of credit they have been laboring so hard to demolish. It would be better if the other central banks ignored us or even raised rates instead. Some are saying that interest rates can't be set below zero, but, of course, they already are, if the null is taken as the natural rate of return, which it ought to be. Even so one could always make it into a guaranteed income. Everyone sings the no more taxes mantra, but increasing taxes in an inflationary environment, even if it is a depression, should help sop up the excess money and pay the govt's debts. If higher interest rates are fiscally responsible, then so are higher tax rates, assuming that the taxes do not go into relief programs, thus robbing Peter to pay Paul. Before America had banks it issued fiat money, and then took it up in taxation, btw. I also cannot agree with the idea that the banks had to be re-capitalized. This was tried by Hoover in the Depression. They "hoarded" the money, outraging the govt, the entire episode hastening the collapse of the dollar and the run on the banks.