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
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Critically acclaimed investigative journalist and CNBC TV personality, Charles Gasparino, joins Dennis McCuistion for an intense discussion and look at the last 30 years that led to today’s financial meltdown.
Charles Gasparino talks about Wall Street’s “love affair” with risk. From the 1980’s and the advent of mortgage-backed securities, to the packaging of mortgages to bonds, to the selling of those to Wall Street. He speaks on the bond market situation in 1986 and Alan Greenspan, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, who in 1987 lowered interest rates and bailed out Wall Street.
Charles Gasparino explains the trail of culpability, including the Government’s encouragement of home ownership which prompted mortgage brokers to give loans to people who did not have the means to pay back the money loaned and the underwriters who invested in risky debt. He states the outcome was an abdication of collective responsibilities on the part of government, homeowners and financial institutions and for Wall Street – greed and risk taking.
Overall, Charles Gasparino says it was about avarice, arrogance, stupidity and greed… and the “selling off of the American Dream.”
Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/ Producer
***
1812 – 01.24.10
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During this episode on Character and Leadership, former Medtronic CEO, Bill George, now Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, joins Dennis McCuistion for a frank discussion on ethics and business practices in corporate America.
Bill George is the author of several business books, which include: True North and 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis.
He tells us,“Leaders of my day, kids of the Kennedy era, were supposed to make a difference. Yet, we destroyed big companies.” George asks, “What happened?”
Bill George believes many corporate leaders play for the short term, not the long term. He believes that in business we are “playing up leaders who are playing for that short term… Business is too serious to be about YOU… You can’t create anything in a quarter.”
In response to Dennis’ question: “Is corporate ethics an oxymoron?” Bill responds, “No- it isn’t. There’s a whole generation of leaders who are coming along.”
View the video for a discussion with Bill George on the qualities of effective leadership and the True North principles that guide them.
And as always, thanks for joining us as we talk about things that matter with people who care.
Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/Producer
***
01.03.10 – 1811
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What a wonderful year this has been. We have celebrated the 20th Anniversary of McCuistion programming and are in the middle of taping the 1800 series of McCuistion TV. Thank you for playing such an important part in the mission of McCuistion TV.
Our hope is that your holidays are full of special memories.
Happy Holidays from the McCuistion Team!
In today’s news update we have links on Obama at the Climate Conference, US stocks and cancer drug information.
Obama Tries to Rally U.N. Climate Conference, but Deadlock Persists
COPENHAGEN — President Obama exhorted world leaders today “not to talk, but to act” as they scrambled in the closing hours of a historic U.N. global warming summit to salvage an agreement to curtail greenhouse gas emissions.
Behind the scenes, dozens of presidents and prime ministers worked on a three-page document that they hope will become the lone outcome of the two-week negotiations here.
US Stocks Open Higher, Led By Technology Sector; DJIA Up 43
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–U.S. stocks opened higher Friday, led by technology stocks as a number of companies within the sector including Research In Motion and Oracle posted quarterly earnings above analysts’ estimates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 43 points, or 0.4%, to 10351, in early trading. Technology components Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard were among the measure’s best performers, up 0.8% each.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.4%, with its technology sector in the lead. Consumer staples stocks made up the only S&P 500 sector in the red.
UPDATE 2-Celgene’s cancer drug Revlimid succeeds in trial
BOSTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Celgene Corp (CELG.O) said on Friday that initial results from a clinical trial showed that multiple myeloma patients who took its drug Revlimid following a stem cell transplant had a 58 percent reduction in risk of their disease progressing.
The company’s shares rose 7.2 percent to $54.26 in premarket trading.
Revlimid is already approved in combination with dexamethasone to treat patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior treatment.
The Huffington Post posted an article today explaining why the Dow is going up while consumer spending is going down. In Robert Reich’s post he suggests that the reason is due to the expansion of government as they are taking over what consumers could no longer afford.
“So how can the Dow be flirting with 10,000 when consumers, who make up 70 percent of the economy, have had to cut way back on buying because they have no money? Jobs continue to disappear. One out of six Americans is either unemployed or underemployed. Homes can no longer function as piggy banks because they’re worth almost a third less than they were two years ago. And for the first time in more than a decade, Americans are now having to pay down their debts and start to save.”
Follow the link for more on the state of the Dow in relation to consumer versus government spending.
