Guest, Charles Gasparino, is a critically acclaimed investigative journalist and CNBC TV personality and joins Dennis McCuistion for another look at Wall Street.
In part two of this program Charles Gasparino illuminates the crisis of today and what responsibilities Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson and others played that led to the global meltdown in our economy. He cautions that the present day situation had its roots in irresponsible actions taken 30 years ago. He urges that if we want answers we need to look back at the players then and the key figures today… all built on yesterday’s greed and risk taking.
Wall Street’s romance with risk developed an ever increasing appetite for risk taking; which led to investments that were bizarre, esoteric and complicated. So complicated that former Treasury Secretary under President Clinton, Bob Reuben, a trader deluxe at Citigroup, didn’t even understand collateralized debt obligations. Yet, here was a man who earned a $15 million salary at Citigroup. According to Gasparino, “There was no responsibility. He should have stepped up to the plate, but instead advocated Citigroup to take on even more risk!!!”
A mild rupture to the system, that of decreasing housing prices, among others, created massive implosion. The model, did not have a possibility that home prices could go down so they were kept on balance sheets. The correction led to defaults, people could not afford the mortgage they were paying, they had variable rate loans, had bought homes with nothing down and nothing invested, homeowners in increasing numbers walked away from obligations they could not fulfill… and the list goes on.
You’ll walk away from watching this program angry at the irresponsibility of government and Wall Street and the risks they have taken that have put all of us at risk.
Join us as we talk about things that matter with people who care…
Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/ Producer
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1813 – 01.31.10
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Niki sits down with Dennis McCuistion to discuss his interview with Charles Gasparino and his views on topics discussed and the upcoming program.
In today’s news update we provide links to information that is going on in Haiti, Obama’s banking proposals, China and Internet censorship and GE’s Q4 Profits.
Obama’s banking proposals: The impact on Europe
“If these folks want a fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have,” Mr Obama vowed on Thursday.
The president’s opening salvo, designed to stop banks taking too many risks in the future, comprises a four-punch combination:
- To limit the overall size of banks
- To ban banks from buying and selling assets with their own money, a practice known as proprietary trading
- To ban them from dealing in hedge funds
- To ban private equity trading, or buying and selling whole companies.
But these wide-ranging activities are undertaken by big banks across the world, and not just in the US.
Haitian Government to Relocate 400,000 Displaced by Quake
Haitian government officials say an estimated 400,000 residents displaced by last week’s earthquake will be moved to new villages to be set up outside the devastated capital, Port-au-Prince.
Officials said Thursday they will provide transportation for the residents and hope to begin moving them as soon as possible. The 7.0 magnitude quake left an estimated 1.5 million people homeless, and earthquake survivors have been living outside in overcrowded camps with little or no sanitation.
China Says U.S. Internet Accusations Harm Ties
BEIJING — The Chinese Foreign Ministry lashed out Friday against a speech on Internet censorship made the previous day by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, calling on the United States government “to respect the truth and to stop using the so-called Internet freedom question to level baseless accusations.”
2nd UPDATE: GE 4Q Profit Drops 19% On Finance-Arm, NBC Weakness
General Electric Co. (GE) on Friday beat expectations with a 19% drop in fourth-quarter earnings, with an upbeat outlook that foresees a return to growth in 2011.
Orders have improved since its investor update in December, with delinquencies in its problematic finance unit also trending down, though commercial real-estate remains a key concern.
“The world we look at really has improved,” said chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt on a conference call with analysts.
Net profits for the December quarter of $3.01 billion, or 28 cents a share, compared with $3.72 billion, or 35 cents, a year earlier and a 26-cent consensus forecast among analysts. Revenue dropped 10% to $41.44 billion.
In today’s news updates we provide links to the current situation in Haiti, an update on arms in North Korea and Toyota’s plans for the hybrid cars by 2011.
Look here for news updates on the aftermath of a 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti. All times are Haiti local time, which is the same as Eastern Standard Time in the U.S. and five hours behind GMT.
North Korea’s Kim calls for stronger army amid tension
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said his country must bolster its armed forces, state media reported Sunday, two days after his regime warned it would launch a war against South Korea if necessary.
Kim’s all-powerful National Defense Commission had threatened Friday to initiate a sacred “retaliatory battle” against the South in anger over its reported contingency plan to cope with potential unrest in the communist country. The commission also warned it could break off all dialogue and negotiations with the South.
Toyota shooting for one million hybrids by 2011
Toyota wants to be producing 1 million hybrid cars worldwide a year by 2011, reports Reuters, quoting Nikkei business in Tokyo. That would likely be double the number of hybrids it built last year.
Among the 10 new hybrid models planned in the next few years, Toyota showed off one hybrid concept for the U.S. at last week’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It’s the FT-CH concept, which would be smaller, cheaper car more along the lines of the Corolla. In addition, Toyota’s brass disclosed that they plan to turn Prius into a family of cars.
Updates In Haiti
Haiti aid efforts hampered in critical hours
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) — Impassable roads, a bottleneck at the damaged airport, an unreachable dock and not enough equipment to unload supplies kept much of the world’s help Friday from desperate Haitians.
With thousands of people trapped under the rubble since Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake, every minute mattered. Officials said the window of opportunity to save many lives was closing.
Burst of Mobile Giving Adds Millions in Relief Funds
In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, many Americans are reaching for their cellphones to make a donation via text message. And plenty of them are then spreading the word to others on sites like Twitter and Facebook.
The American Red Cross, which is working with a mobile donations firm called mGive, said Thursday that it had raised more than $5 million this way.
Health Reform
Massachusetts vote could threaten health reform
Democrats envisioned a smooth passing of the baton in the January 19 special election to fill the seat of the late Edward Kennedy, a political giant who died of brain cancer in August after holding the seat for 46 years.
A victory would maintain the Democrats’ 60-seat Senate majority, allowing them to overcome Republican procedural hurdles that could block reform of the $2.5 trillion healthcare sector, Obama’s top legislative priority.
Wall Street
Intel shares fall on ‘peaking’ fear despite strong quarter
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) – Shares of Intel Corp. fell early Friday after the semiconductor giant reported strong fourth-quarter results that won rave reviews from Wall Street, but also triggered worries about a peak in earnings growth.
In today’s news update, we provide links regarding the U.S. job market, AIG Payouts and health care priorities.
Obama Returns to Job One — Jobs
President Obama hoped to put the Christmas Day terror scare behind him — at least temporarily — by saying Thursday that the “buck stops with me” and setting in motion a streamlining of intelligence efforts and a ramping up of passenger screening.
Today, he returns his focus to jobs after the latest unemployment report showed the jobless rate stuck in double digits.
N.Y. Fed Told AIG to Shield Payouts
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York told American International Group Inc. not to disclose key details of their agreements to make big payouts to banks in the insurer’s regulatory filings in late 2008, according to a set of email exchanges released Thursday.
House Democrats discuss health care priorities
Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives briefed party members on Thursday on healthcare talks with the Senate, with competing approaches on taxes and the shape of new insurance exchanges topping the list of priorities.
Bill Moyers, veteran PBS journalist, has announced that he will be retiring from PBS in April of 2010. His shows, “Bill Moyers Journal” and “Now on PBS”, will conclude at the end of April. With the announcement of his retirement from weekly television and the honorable name he has made for himself, the topic of journalism of today naturally comes to mind. Despite the naysayers of our time and the few journalists that have regrettably stigmatized the reputation of all, we have been fortunate to have had many great journalists bring us stories, fresh from the “eye of the storm”. In the video below you’ll hear quick snippets from PBS’s Bill Moyers, Dan Rather, Bob Schieffer and Jim Lehrer. Each discuss what they deem to be the role of journalism.
The politics of journalism are a polarizing topic between proponents of any party; however, the role of journalism has never changed. As Bill Moyers succinctly states, the role is to find what’s “under the surface.” Roger Cohen, columnist for the New York Times, says it well,
Yes, journalism is a matter of gravity. It’s more fashionable to denigrate than praise the media these days. In the 24/7 howl of partisan pontification, and the scarcely less-constant death knell din surrounding the press, a basic truth gets lost: that to be a journalist is to bear witness.
The rest is no more than ornamentation.
To bear witness means being there — and that’s not free. No search engine gives you the smell of a crime, the tremor in the air, the eyes that smolder, or the cadence of a scream.
And so to Bill Moyers, Dan Rather, Bob Schieffer, Jim Lehrer and all of the journalists that have labored to provide for the American people the information that is “under the surface”, thank you.
In today’s news round-up, we view links to news articles on the Obama-Bush debate, the EU economic summit and a report on US job satisfaction.
Obama’s terrorism summit — and another Obama-Bush debate
As President Obama conducts a summit meeting on the Christmas near-tragedy, backers and critics beyond the White House are sure to be arguing about his approach to terrorism — writing yet another chapter in the battle between the Obama and George W. Bush presidencies.
New EU President calls for economic summit on first working day
BRUSSELS, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — The European Union (EU)’s first full-time President Herman Van Rompuy marked his first working day on Monday with a call for a special summit among EU leaders to discuss economic issues.
“This is my first official working day. I am preparing already the next European Council (summit) on Feb. 11, I took the initiative to convene this council,” Van Rompuy, who took office in the new year but just started his job Monday due to the holiday, said in a statement.
US job satisfaction has hit 22-year low, survey says
An annual survey suggets that Americans who still have a job are less satisfied with their work than at any time in the last two decades.
Researchers found that only 45% of workers were happy with their jobs, dropping from 49% in 2008.
The Conference Board research group concluded that the recession was only partly to blame for the drop.
Bonus Link:
C-SPAN Challenges Congress to Open Health Care Talks to TV Coverage
The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves.
C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open “all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings,” to televised coverage on his network.
“The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety,” he wrote.
