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pratik912 11/17/2010 04:57 AM Report
Honestly , it was a pain going through the whole interview . All he had to do was say the right thing , he does not deserve the job he has . Wonder how boards select people for jobs like these .
tartufe 12/23/2008 06:02 PM Report
WORLD’S TOP THREE SCAMERS OF U.S. TREASURY: 1. OSAMA BIN LADEN, 2. NOURI MALAKI, 3. HAMID KARZAI. (HENRY PAULSON HONORABLE MENTION).
OSAMA BIN LADEN
11/01/04 - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden said he is trying to bankrupt the U.S. through its war on terror, a strategy he says felled the Soviet Union two decades ago in Afghanistan, according to a translation by al-Jazeera television of his videotaped statement.
“All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point East to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaeda, in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits for their private companies,” bin Laden said, according to the al-Jazeera transcript.
Well, the wiley old fox may live in a cave but he’s well on his way. And he even cites the M-I complex - accurately!
NOURI MALIKI (VIA BUSH, CHENEY, M-I COMPLEX OF COURSE)
By Bob Deans Cox News Service Published on: 02/28/08.
The Iraq war will cost Americans between $3 trillion and $5 trillion, including military spending, broader economic costs and decades of benefits and medical care for combat veterans, a Nobel prize-winning economist told the Joint Economic Committee on Thursday.
HAMID KARZAI
“And Afghanistan will not allow the international community leave it before we are fully on our feet, before we are strong enough to defend our country, before we are powerful enough to have a good economy.” Karzai said.
He then added that the world community can’t leave “before we have taken from President Bush and the next administration billions and billions of more dollars.”
“No way that they can let you go.” said Karzai, whose remarks drew laughter.
As of last summer, the United States had spent about $200 billion on the war in Afghanistan, according to congressional officials. Both Bush and President-elect Obama have made continued U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan central to their foreign policies.
HENRY PAULSON - HONORABLE MENTION
By: CNBC.com [28 Nov 2008 ] 01:56 PM ET
Given the speed at which the federal government is throwing money at the financial crisis, the average taxpayer, never mind member of Congress might not be faulted for losing track.
CNBC, however, has been paying very close attention and keeping a running tally of actual spending as well as the commitments involved. And there’s been quite a jump since we last tabulated things two weeks ago.
Try $7.36 trillion dollars. That’s more than double what was spent on WWII, if adjusted for inflation, based on our computations from a variety of estimates and sources.
COMMENTARY
We (Congress/Bush) have given Mr. Paulson a license to steal (TARP).
He has outdone the top three non-resident scammers, and history will wonder (1) how he did it, (2) how he gained the presumptive right(?), and (3) why he was never tried, convicted and incarcerated (for crimes against humanity if nothing else). Of course many other conspirators are due the same attention. Citigroup, a large recipient of TARP funds to rescue their hedge fund operations - the very corrosive part that should be allowed to fail - comes to mind.
It’s obvious that to date the financial wise-guy hedgers got the bailout medicine when excising the putrescent corruption from the financial body before gangrene set in was what was really needed. The really vulnerable and more extensive mortgagee’s crises have gone begging (literally). The predators seem to prevail a la the law of the jungle. Maybe we’re not that much a higher form of animal after all?
Oligarchic governance is a lethal combination. Like a corrupt cop.
Paulson et al should be consigned to living under a Detroit bridge for the downturn’s duration with their victims. Osama bin Laden has to be applauding him and all his ilk - firing his AK47 in the air with great jubilation over the accomplishments of the three non US coconspirators, but doubtless equally exuberant for his unexpected partner and allies “Allie Baba Paulson and his forty plus thieves.”
We’re run by a ship of fools, venal whores and grasping children.
tartufe 12/04/2008 10:52 PM Report
The recent justifiable raking of the auto CEOs magnifies the egregious free-pass bailout the perpetrators of the need for the auto bailouts - namely Citi etal wise-guys. They have purchased the best legislators money can buy. What a corroded putrescent corrupted system full of venal whores and scumbags. The ramped up scale of misery Citigoup alone has created with their world wide reach justifies meaningful fines and imprisonment. Not the rewards they're receiving. Gagamaggot!
MPCalifornia 12/03/2008 04:58 PM Report
Very bad performance by Vikram Pandit. He hand-waved for all the questions, never took any responsibility by emphasizing he was the CEO for less than a year. No wonder the finance industry and the company is in the state it is now.
tartufe 12/01/2008 05:36 PM Report
fbabich n jsmoke spot on. Here's some more Citi incredulity: "The bank [Citigroup] said the damage caused by the financial excesses of the last quarter century was forcing the world’s authorities to take steps that had never been tried before.
This gamble was likely to end in one of two extreme ways: with either a resurgence of inflation; or a downward spiral into depression, civil disorder, and possibly wars. Both outcomes will cause a rush for gold.
“They are throwing the kitchen sink at this,” said Tom Fitzpatrick, the bank’s chief technical strategist.
“The world is not going back to normal after the magnitude of what they have done. When the dust settles this will either work, and the money they have pushed into the system will feed though into an inflation shock."
This was under a "Seeking Alpha" prediction by Citi that gold was heading to $2,000 range.
Beyond that it's as if the author was an employee of another planet let alone Citi. The financial excesses cited were caused by Citi's own heavy hand in sponsoring the legislation (repeal of Glass-Steagall et al) that enabled the overly complicated financial instruments that led to the pathological predation of subprime loans, credit card usury ad nauseum. Then they write stuff like this in the third person when it should have been in the first person plural. As in "we" have met the enemy (Pogo cum Citi et al) and it is "us."
And Obama is beholden to these scumbags a la Rubin, Summers. He prostituted himself for campaign pieces-of-eight. Their ilk will prosper on the corruption attendant with the so-called bailout. Ahh well - it was a great experiment while it lasted.
fbabich 12/01/2008 04:46 AM Report
A pitiful performance by Pandit. The common catch-cry of Wall St's leaders today is that we are witnessing a "one in one hundred year event". Implicitly they, including Pandit, invite us to conclude the credit crisis was not predictable and they are not culpable. Baloney! This crisis started in the US housing market. It is in large part due to the securitised mortgage-backed securities that Pandit and his cohort designed, manufactured and distributed. They knew, or should have known, the excess to which that product was being marketed. They failed to rein-in that excess because it was lucrative for them. Profitable, that is, until the bubble burst. Now they've been caught holding the very assets that they flogged. Many investing institutions around the world made the mistake of investing in collaterised mortgage-backed securities without, perhaps, fully understanding their nature. That was a mistake. But it is not the mistake that institutions like Citi made since they are the ones that designed and promoted the product in the first place. Those responsible for the crisis still lurk within the managements and boards of our financial institutions. As part of the bail out, they need to be cleaned out.
johnnysmoke 11/29/2008 06:04 PM Report
This interview was frustrating and a huge waste of everyone's time other than to shine a bright light on the cockroach P(B)andit appears to be. He took no responsibility, evaded all of Rose's tough questions and continually harped on the 4-5 talking points that came from somewhere in the bowels of Citi. You'd have thought this clown was running for office. This appeared to be an uncomfortable interview after about the first 15-20 minutes including Rose's need to fill in the blanks for Bandit. In typical Rose style and his need to say something Rose actually helped Bandit with several of the answers by putting words in his mouth. At some point Rose should have taken the gloves off and call this guy on his evasive responses. It’s this kind of nansy pansy journalism that got us into a war in Iraq. I thought Rose had more mettle. Hopefully, the NYT or WSJ will dig deeper into this matter if they can bring themselves to get off their master’s laps.
Here’s one thing that’s for sure and I believe this in my heart. I’ve worked in the financial service industry for more than 22 years and these are a very smart and cunning bunch of people that sit around all day trying to figure out how to get people’s money from their competitors into their institutions. This is the exact same thing only on a much grander scale. Unless the taxpayer stays involved and engaged with this via their congress and press, their going to get left with the empty bag. We’ll get hosed and a “howdy do” on the way out.
tartufe 11/29/2008 04:24 PM Report
From Bobby Rubins CR bio: "An hour conversation with former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin about his book "In An Uncertain World". He discusses his position as Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Citigroup, the need to address the national debt more effectively and the qualities that have served him best in attaining respect and success."
What bloviating irony. This creator of abject misery through his sponsorship and encouraging of Citi's ugly participation in subprime mortgages has such a puerile ENTITLEMENT aura to it, it's amazing. Are there any adults amongst the financial wise-guys? And no sense of embarrassment in the carnage they have wrought. That would take some introspection. Like with Bush that will never happen. All the trolls living under bridges, thanks to all of these ENTITLED FINANCIAL ELITE, should be grateful for the chance to pay homage to these princes of egregious greed and unpunished corruption. Their may be a few victims left not totally naked as yet. Perhaps Bobby, Vikram, Larry, Paulson, Bernanke, Bush, Cheney should form a posse to correct this oversight. Predatory bloodsuckers all. Have to end with the lovely chutzpah from Bobby Rubin (above) ". . . the need to address the national debt more effectively and the qualities that have served him best in attaining respect and success." HOLY FECES, RESPECT? BRRRRRAAACK! Gagamaggot! Like a rapist that demands the victim's expressions of gratitude while in the act. Oh gods-of-equity wherefore art though? Please build a hell for these guys where everyone ELSES yacht is ALWAYS a foot longer than their own.
elidyl 11/29/2008 09:20 AM Report
Those who don't understand the past, examine it, study it are doomed to repeat it. I found this interview an embarrassment for Pandit. He spoke like a politician: look to the future, be positive, stick to your talking points ... as the house of cards that he (and his colleagues) built crumbles around him. He sits amidst the bombed out craters of a war torn financial sector and says: "we have to look to the future, Charlie, we'll build a better mouse trap and forage on the remains of the dead and dying."
tartufe 11/28/2008 09:52 PM Report
Paulson and other idiots, and unfortunately Obama behind him with advisers like Rubin and Summers, are debauching our currency which by the shear dumbed-downed magnitude will take down our system along with it. Bailing out their greedy compatriots and their big-bank colleagues and hedge-fund wise-guys are long term assurance our system is toast. Made so by bailing out the very institutions that their supposed survival is alleged to salvage the system.
POOH! The reverse is true. The small commercial banks that are devoted to moving commerce (rather than overly sophisticated financial instruments) are the ones that need to survive. Citigroup et al need to dissolve and get out of the way. The BIG bank wise-guys are too clever by fractions. They need to go the way of the dinosaurs for our very survival.
arexub 11/27/2008 11:30 PM Report
Agree with what was said... It's said that a CEO of one of the largest banks is working sooo hard on saying nothing... this is so hypocritical... common, just say it, that capitalism in the US has turned into socialism 'on steroids'.. said to watch.. could barely sit through it
grfiv 11/27/2008 10:08 PM Report
Extraordinary ... Pandit came to Citibank when it bought his hedge fund, which has since gone broke and been closed.
He has no experience as a manager of any number of people, to say nothing of a manager of hundreds of thousands; he has no prior experience as a banker.
Was Citi so desperate with so few people to choose from? Or just thoughtless? Or just stupid? The bank has lurched from one error to another.
If nothing else comes of this crisis, let it be the end of banks that are too big to fail because apparently the bigger they are the more poorly run they become.
shair 11/27/2008 09:31 PM Report
This guy must have said "most important thing Charlie" is... bla bal bal
He did not said any important thing.
He should have said the most important Charlie is get me fired.
Poor Charlie tried hard and he could not get any thing out of this bafoon.
shair 11/27/2008 09:28 PM Report
This guy is a high class bafoon.
This idiot was bailed out by FED's and instead on accepting the worg he sat there he defended City lending.
I could not belive we have these kinds on idiots running a bank. There was no risk management and that is the job of the CEO.
No wonder we are in trouble.
With the bail out we should fire these bafoons.
The board of Citi is a bigger idiot to keep this guy as an CEO.
tartufe 11/27/2008 04:38 PM Report
Excerpt from Vikram's bio: ". . . Pandit left Morgan Stanley with a few colleagues to start a hedge fund named Old Lane Partners. Citigroup subsequently purchased the fund in 2007 for $800 million. Pandit received approximately $165.2 million for this transaction. Many analysts believe that this hefty price was paid for a hedge fund with only $4.5 billion under management to get Pandit onto Citigroup."
From a poor boy's definition of ENOUGH the incentive for many of the financial wise-guys, Mr. Pandit obviously included, has to be POWER rather than monetary compensation. The desire for POWER has to be fueled foremost by a sense of entitlement cum arrogance. His self-satisfied smirk clothed in his $1000+ threads says it all. Compassion for subprime victims that he helped create is obviously below his radar. Bailout money applied to the real problem will thus be remote to nonexistent. Surely, if the gods of equity are merciful they will make him endure the alleged grandeur of pomp, power and circumstance to an indifferent, suffering bunch of other financial wise-guy scumbag cohabitants of Dante's singularly defined environment.
timpe 11/27/2008 03:49 AM Report
This interview was a disaster. Charlie asked one pertinent question after another and Pandit answered with slogan following slogan. It reminds me of the auto execs and their testimony on capitol hill. If this is the caliber of those in in charge of the companies receiving huge bailouts, we are all in deep trouble and maybe, just maybe, people like Jim Rogers and Marc Faber are on to something when they tell us these execs will be back for more, it will never work and the only ending is bankruptcy, either for the companies or the country. If Pandit's objective was to induce confidence he failed and did quite the opposite.
tartufe 11/27/2008 01:26 AM Report
Emile - you have touched a concern re Obama. His governing and political soul was bought and sold on the campaign trail. He surrounded himself with all the wrong types: Rubin, Summers et al. The very financial perpetrators of the mess he professes to want to clean up. But he will put the same scumbags in charge of wiping their own arses with our (paper) money. The big banks are the most corrupt, while the small banks are probably moving commerce around the country. Lots of freight in motion so money is flowing at least somewhat. The bank cartels and the Fed are an indomitable conspiracy.
Emile 11/27/2008 01:04 AM Report
Charlie asked some good questions. Bravo! Pandit answered none of them. Shame on him! It seems we have many incompetent people at the head of our financial as well as of other American institutions. Moreover they are not willing to take responsibility for their failures and their destructive policies that earn them big salaries and hurt the little guy. Corruption and incompetence seem to be everywhere. The people in government who are supposed to protect the citizens of the United States are protecting and bailing out the people on Wall Street they are beholden to. So far I am not impressed by Obama’s choices. Most are Clinton people who were also responsible for much of the financial mess we are in. Paul Volcher is the exception.
tartufe 11/27/2008 12:45 AM Report
The crass hypocritical call for universal and transparent regulation is rife with irony as it was with influential Citigroup lobbying that repealed Glass-Steagall, got overriding legislation of states usury laws, and championed making bankruptcy more difficult for those struck with health and unemployment troubles. NOW they want a 'level playing field." Citigroup is a scumbag institution the world would be better off without, all contrary BS notwithstanding. Indeed the system might recover even faster with the confidence that these and other predators have been purged. A society that tolerates the likes of the financial wise-guys deserves everything that it appears to be reaping. The gated community these guys deserve is not in the Bahamas but in Leavenworth, Ks. They're all too clever by fractions.
tartufe 11/26/2008 11:50 PM Report
Plagerized without permission with apologies to Anton.
AntonGrambihler 11/26/2008 11:27 PM Report How many Taxpayers get to buy insurance after the house burns down?
AntonGrambihler 11/26/2008 09:00 PM Report When John Reed and Sandy Weill announced on television that Travelers and Citibank were going to merge even though they knew it was illegal, the Federal Reserve said they would be given up to 2 years to get congress to change the law so they would not be in violation. Illegal activity by this new entity called Citicorp was partially responsible for the Enron Default. John Reed was later rewarded by being made chairman of the New York Stock Exchange to help boost investor confidence in the Stock Market.
Why are People put in jail for robbing Banks while Banks are rewarded for violating the law?
Why is Citicorp being rewarded for yet another mistake?
Why are Rubin and friends not being fired?
Will taxpayers who rob Banks to get their money back be put in Jail?
tartufe 11/26/2008 11:35 PM Report
Bydesign - intriging post. Watched all 12. Dismayed with the last two as my naivity didn't realize it was John Birch promoted. Since I agreed with much of it perhaps I'm a ideological member and don't know it. New world order solely for power a bit off putting, but who knows. The banking cartel with Citigroup in the NY middle could validate the premise.
Everyone should at least be aware of the first 10 parts. Make you think - which is better than most fare.
lifeform 11/26/2008 11:11 PM Report
Well said, pulipower. Mr. Pandit seems better qualified for a public relations position than that of Citigroup CEO.
pulipower 11/26/2008 10:20 PM Report
Pandit must be on his way out or is very sleep deprived. He dodged Charlie's questions and feels no shame about the disastrous actions and consequences of his firms, Citi and Morgan Stanley. I studied with him at Columbia years ago. He impressed me a lot more then than he does now. Citi and the financial system need stronger leadership.
pulipower 11/26/2008 10:15 PM Report
test
doodahdaze 11/26/2008 09:13 PM Report
CANDY ASS LIBERAL COWARDS!!!
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH TABS?!
doodahdaze 11/26/2008 09:10 PM Report
Oh this is just great. The NEW Charlie Rose website is turning into a real Liberal Assperger Syndrome convention.
Hi sock puppet. Have fun trying to be me.
raghuveern 11/26/2008 08:44 PM Report
This guy seems so slippery and in-authentic, I wouldn't want to leave my money with him for a second unless... it was FDIC insured.
jimdonnellan 11/26/2008 07:40 PM Report
I am delighted to see the tone of the comments posted thus far. I would add one caveat - he had the guts to appear. So, he got part of it right. What he said, however, did not clarify the issues at hand. He tried to refocus on the plan for the future. Based on his lack of insight into the current crisis - or his unwillingness to share it - I view his performance as dismal. Contrast his lack of candor with last Friday's NOW (Credit and Credibility). NOW provided powerfull insights into the nature of the problem. Pandit provided none. Very discouraging. I wouldn't give him a dime.
gguppy 11/26/2008 06:25 PM Report
Pandit's performance seemed to be the aggregate of a used car, insurance and snake oil sales pitch. His call for transparency is counter to his bobbing and weaving of Rose's questions. It seems he spent more time practicing to be evasive with his Public Relations team than trying to be forthright about the issues facing his bank (what got them to this state and what the future holds for Citigroup and banking in general.)
When he comes back begging for more - and Citigroup will - I hope Geithner has the courage to demand a change in Management.
christophefp 11/26/2008 05:07 PM Report
That interview certainly was enlightening!
Does Vikram Pandit ever answer a question straight? If the financial crisis is about lack of confidence, his evasiveness (if not his refusal to give straight answers) made me think more of an old school politician (the type that nobody trusts anymore) who was using such obvious tricks to try to keep control of the discussion by parroting off-topic the few arguments he wanted to bring to the viewers, in a used car salesman manner, with that constant overacted anyway-I-know-better-then you-idiots-out-there arrogant smirk. How delusional must he be to think he got anyone fooled by his pathetic performance?
The impression he gave me is of someone who has not got a single clue on how to fix things.
After the show, I have absolute zero confidence in that man. One earns confidence by being open and transparent. No one trusts someone who obviously is hiding something, or at least gives that impression. If I owned any share in Citigroup, I would dump them right away at any price, because it will not take long before Citi needs more help from the governement and de facto will be nationalized, and that is all it deserves. By then the shares will be worth just slightly more than 1 cent, Vikram Pandit will be sent away and the company, just like AIG, will eventually be cut in pieces and sold. The US governement has become the world's largest private equity fund!
tartufe 11/26/2008 04:42 PM Report
The crass hypocritical call for universal and transparent regulation is rife with irony as it was with influential Citigroup lobbying that repealed Glass-Steagall, got overriding legislation of states usury laws, and championed making bankruptcy more difficult for those struck with health and unemployment troubles. NOW they want a 'level playing field." Citigroup is a scumbag institution the world would be better off without, all contrary BS notwithstanding. Indeed the system might recover even faster with the confidence that these and other predators have been purged. A society that tolerates the likes of the financial wise-guys deserves everything that it appears to be reaping. The gated community these guys deserve is not in the Bahamas but in Leavenworth, Ks. They're all too clever by fractions.
craigb 11/26/2008 04:31 PM Report
Here's a strong "I'll second that" to VCL's comments.
Initially, I wanted to say that the interview was totally useless ... bad; but upon reflection, it was VERY revealing. By having Charlie asking serious questions and having Vikram 'Slick' Pandit continue to be so evasive painted a very clear picture of someone who deserves no ones trust or confidence. One more time, how many billions of our dollars are we giving to this joker?
tartufe 11/26/2008 04:17 PM Report
Zelmo - try "knees" for "clients."
Zelmo 11/26/2008 03:37 PM Report
I, for one, learned a lot about Citigroup from this interview. Bottom line: Citigroup brings the world to its clients and brings its clients to the world.
vcl 11/26/2008 03:22 PM Report
Mr. Pandit's responses were vague and evasive. It is this type of self-preserving response to serious questions that generates the very fear he says he wants to alleviate. How is the public able to trust financial leadership that does not disclose specifics? He wasn't even willing to share"lessons he has learned" other than "respond faster." Respond how and to what events specifically? If taxpayer money goes to bail out companies like this, ceo's like Pandit should be required to provide full-disclosure to the American public. His lack of forthright, specific, honest responses is completely unacceptable.
Diogenes 11/26/2008 03:04 PM Report
Agree that this one of your worst interviews, Charlie -- almost as bad as the sycophantic interview of Buffett. We could have learned more about Citi if you had someone like Meredith Whitney from Oppenheimer on. Your pal Bob Rubin belongs in jail along with a few others. You might consider a pre-prosecution and arrest interview with Rubin. Also why did you ask what Pandit thinks of Geithner? Did you expect him to say "I think he's a real stupid guy and I don't need money from him anymore."? Or questions, like what do you think of the additional consumer bailout? Surely you must realize that CEOs looking for more handouts are going to have the nicest things to say about Treasury and the Fed.
Harlenda 11/26/2008 02:23 PM Report
If this was a Citi Group PR move, I think it failed miserably. Charlie's efforts to "help" Pandit better explain the bank's position (past & future) and allivate the public's distrust of its over-paid directors seemed to fall on deaf ears. Mr. Pandit seemed to be reciting a rehearsed speech that had very little to do with any of the troubling issues that Citibank's customers and American tax payers would like addressed and that Charlie asked him repeatedly.
kcolonel 11/26/2008 01:56 PM Report
I agree. This interview was far less than informative. This was another example of an interview when Mr. Rose needed to push harder for answers rather than worry about whether or not he would remain friendly with the interviewee and have access to him in the future. Mr. Pandit did not answer one question directly. After the interview was over, I had only one question uppermost in my mind..."How did Mr. Pandit ever get the position of CEO in the first place?"
tayhimself 11/26/2008 01:43 PM Report
I thought he was exactly like a politician. Evasive to the extreme, and parroting talking points. Charlie tried, but I think should've pushed harder. Easily the worst interview that I've seen on this program.
charlizecourriers 11/26/2008 01:36 PM Report
Where the hell is Taleb? One Taleb=1,000,000,000,000 Pandits.
tartufe 11/26/2008 01:34 PM Report
REMant - nice post. Mr Pandit's $3,750 pin stripes didn't help his reasoning any. He offered as a rationale for the subprime debacle that in essence the housing bubble was deemed to be infinite. And further offered that a means test of a drop of 15% was some how meaningful. That's so specious he aught to have been fired in situ. That's the 'wisdom' of a minimum wage clerk. The financial wise-guys all make sums approaching or exceeding billions and that's the best they can offer. Like they never heard of bubbles? Tulips? Savings and Loans? Bobby Rubin's salary alone was $17,000,000+(?). A minimum wager makes less than a thousandths of that. Is it not reasonable to expect the reasoning, logic and yea verily the wisdom from the financial wise guys to be a 1000 times more acute, astute, cautionary, wise, careful, sensitive and aware of potential pitfalls in an industry rife with such? They (and we) need protection from themselves - called regulation.
The abject misery the egregious and colossally STUPID greed these wise-guys have caused should be rewarded with well earned meaningful fines and jail time. Would also inhibit the moral hazard affect downstream. Alas, they will be golden parachuted and given the reigns to add to the corruption that will accompany the bailout. A society that tolerates the likes of these guys deserves everything it gets - as the current corrosion is corroborating.
Oligarchic Capitalism cum Involuntary Socialism cum Voluntary Anarchy!
Mandan 11/26/2008 12:44 PM Report
I was surprised with this interview. This interview reminded me of the auto executive interviews from earlier this year, although Mr. Pandit seemed slighly more clever.
ByDesign 11/26/2008 12:32 PM Report
Learn how the Fed came about and how congress and banks were partners in it. Take it or leave it... you choose.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7auQEXTWomA
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsxDmzl19Yo
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp2yJldtKQI
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xISSTVF_KgM
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie1H0EodcDU
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ4fNcJslO8
Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHuM6NRlAaQ
Part 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBcurfZKDWQ
Part 9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_HXSfiOZtU
Part 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcpaCto8bsE
Part 11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1hsVvnoCXU
Part 12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRaMHiSCrzU
REMant 11/26/2008 11:53 AM Report
The markets, as always, welcome inflation and false hope, because they are the fuel for speculation, but stock prices are like the price of anything else, and if you haven't already noticed, in many essentials they are rising more than the mkts. Obama's plan is to simply transform monetary inflation into fiscal inflation. It is still inflation, even if he is able to find somebody to buy the debt it will incur, and esp not if he can't. Now if he coupled it with a requirement that a reasonable percentage of the wages be saved, it might be of some real value. Either the debt holders have to renounce their claims or the debtors have to come up with some money to pay them, and it can't just be Monopoly money, but if there is enough inflation, then that's what it will be. First there was watering cattle (we still do that), then watering stock (we prohibited that) and now we have watering money. The money-men aren't stupid and they know how to push the inflation off onto the poor and less savvy, which makes the next bubble all the more certain and its consequences all the more deep, if some how this one is reflated. However, it is inflation that causes ppl to hoard in the first place, so only a Bernanke could possibly believe that more of the former will end the latter. We seem to have a war brewing between the monetarist Keynesians and the fiscal Keynesians, to see who can outdo the other. Or perhaps it has begun to sink into his feeble mind that he really began this mess when he started lowering rates in the spring of 2007. There can only be a few ppl in the world more obsessive than George Bush, and it seems Bernanke is one of them. Bush is so far out of it that if someone left a revolver on his desk and shut the door, he would try to pick his teeth with it. But, fortunately, it is unlikely that this Fed move will have any more effect on ppl than the last several.
As for Mr Pandit, I think he did his firm a disservice by his appearance and all it seems we learned is that he too believes credit is not addictive. I am not sure anyone agrees with him anymore. Maybe we need a fund paid for by the banks, etc., to fund the mortgages they sold and a series of TV commercials on the perils of easy money.