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A conversation Peter Peterson, Founder of Peter G. Peterson Foundation
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futurevisionaries 04/22/2011 03:25 PM Report
peter ,
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DragonScorpion 07/26/2009 05:14 AM Report
I just wanted to say that I saw this episode on my DVR and deleted before I got 2 minutes in. I didn't even bother watching it past the introduction because I thought it disgusting that someone would spent 1 BILLION dollars on "awareness" about "financial insolvency". The irony of this aside, no one, and I mean NO ONE spends 1 billion dollars bringing "awareness" to people unless he stands to make a hell of a lot of money in the deal somewhere. And considering the fact that, outside of hidden media manipulation, I haven't heard anything about this man or what he has to say until now, I must say that he obviously is not spending his money wisely if "awareness" is truly his agenda...
I have long watched the show and I have a great deal of respect for Charlie Rose, but I am deeply disappointed that a financial opportunist like Mr. Peterson was actually given voice on such a prestigious show.
ibbrad 07/20/2009 11:55 PM Report
I just wanted to share my views on healthcare reform and its importance. It would be nice to have a descent healthcare system in place(even if it had to be taxed) - I much rather be taxed on healthcare that benefits the majority of Americans than the thousands of other things that we aren't even sure is coming out of our taxes(where does the 30% of what we work for go? that is if we're lucky to have a job today so that we can pay taxes). I like the idea of healthcare reform, however I think we also need to reform our current tax system that has been in place for hundreds of years and prioritize what really benefits majority of Americans, after all - hard working Americans are paying 1/3rd of their paycheck towards taxes(for some things that don't benefit the majority of us)…tax reform and healthcare reform go hand in hand, that is where we’ll find the money that we need.
Most Americans are thousands of dollars in debt because of healthcare expenses(that's without a serious illness of some sort), Americans are paying more for healthcare from their $10/hour job to doctors, lawyers, collection agencies, courts, banks and other agencies that all make 6-10 times more per hour than the average American...that's why Americans are in debt, buying and spending more than we're bringing in every month. Something needs to done and cut-backs in our tax system is crucial to our survival and for the survival of our kids and generations to come.....it's time to do something now while the opportunity is here.
I also think a flat tax might be a consideration, there are too many obstacles for everyone to go through to file taxes every single year, plus some have to pay someone else to do for them - more money someone doesn't have, and if they don't pay on time they’re penalized with late fees, again money Americans don't have(keeps adding up)…plus some aren’t able to pay, which in turn if it were a flat tax the government would already have and could invest in other things that are important – like healthcare and equipment to help save someone’s life.
We have to be cautious with the money we are spending, otherwise taxes will continue to increase, cutbacks are necessary in order for this to work - we can't just keep adding more taxes on without fixing the root of the problem first. The government needs to make cutbacks just like a small business would have to(prioritize what's important and get rid of some programs that don't benefit as many even though it may be tough or upset some, it’s impossible to make everyone happy – but at least we could make most people happy).
Hopefully some of these ideas may reach someone who has the power to make a real difference. It may not be easy to do, however Americans can overcome anything that we set our minds to - we have to do what's right for the majority of everyone in order for us to prevail. The reason nothing has been done yet is because those who have profiting off everyone are the same ones that are fighting it while there people who pay those who are profiting barely have enough money to put food on the table for their families…this is why businesses are going out of business and the economy is the way it is, everyone has been spending more than their making too long now and have become greedy, what comes around goes around. We need to quit playing games, something needs to be done now before things get even worse)this wasn’t something that just snuck up on us, we’ve been putting this off long enough), even if we have to expand Medicare for people of all ages to use – maybe give incentives for those that work and have businesses(reward those that work and that try to do what’s right every day that haven’t gotten any credit, not those that just want hand outs or to profit off others…too many people have been suffering way too long now, it’s time for a change and to do what’s right). What’s the use of working every day if we have nothing to show for it, it would make Americans feel better knowing that our hardworking money is going towards something good that helps the majority of Americans and not just a select few. It’s important for us to stay the coarse and put our ideas together to make something work, it may not be perfect at first and may require some changes later, however something is a lot better than nothing for some of us that don’t have anything. I know that we can do it as long as we remain positive and stop thinking of reasons of why we can’t do things, that’s the great thing about America and why I’m proud to be an American – we can learn from one another and try our best to make things better…I know some people and countries aren’t as fortunate as we are, however it’s important to make the best of what we have and to help those who can’t help themselves even if others aren’t appreciative, at least we know in the end that we did the best that we could do and tried our best to make others happy – that’s what’s really important and what people respect. We can’t just give things away though, it’s going to require hard work from everyone in order for this to work…if you pay taxes you should be able to rest assure that you have health care.
We have to change our mind set and make some changes for the better, we can talk about change all we want – but the bottom line is, are we going to make a change for the better or for the worse? It’s our choice.
It’s important that we get businesses back up and running and reward them and give incentives for those that work hard and try to make a difference, that in turn will give people jobs that are taxed that will allow them to have health benefits for their families and know that their hard work is going towards something worth while, even to those less fortunate. Whatever the healthcare is, we have to make sure that some people don’t abuse it so that others that truly require care get the help that they need, maybe reward those that stay healthy and take care of themselves(which will keep them from abusing the healthcare system).
Also maybe it may be worth considering that tobacco companies or other companies that cause some of the health issues should be taxed more to help cover some of the cost.
ShalomFreedman 07/07/2009 03:29 AM Report
Peterson is a truly admirable character, whose major point regarding the U.S. deficits and debt is a correct one. The price will be paid in future global pressure against the U.S. The price may also be paid in the U.S. coming to be a second- class power. Something has to be done to counter the situation of the U.S. living off borrowed funds.
Secondly, Peterson is to be commended for putting a good share of his fortune to work for the public good.
Thirdly, Peterson is of course part of the Establishment and among those who profited from the very practices he and others now condemn.
Fourthly, Peterson is a hard- working, dedicated American whose deep appreciation for the opportunities America has given him makes him seem to me much like my own grandparents and parents. These were people who loved America and felt it had given them opportunities and freedom they could not get elsewhere.
NoPardonforMichaelMilken 07/07/2009 12:12 AM Report
Hey, Pete, I'm one of those little people with a spotless credit rating. Pay all of my bills early. Don't let you and your offshore banking pals on Wall Street and in Connecticut make a single cent off of me. Glad to see you really care about Americans with less than, oh, $900 million in individual net worth.
Don't believe it, though. You live for money. You'd sacrifice a virgin, if you could find one, LIVE on Charlie's show to get an IRS tax break. The one and only thing you care about is money and using it to extend your veritable financial middle finger to the rest of the world.
No crying for you in Argentina, pal. None indeed.
REMant 07/06/2009 05:37 PM Report
There's nothing wrong with Peterson's emphasis on saving and budgets, but his thinking is still mired in Keynesianism, or at least that part of it that infected monetarism, which I believe Friedman, himself, rejected once he encountered stagflation. If he really admires Volcker, he should pay more attention to what he has said about moral hazard. The Keynesians, it seems tho, generally like the idea of supporting govt; monetarists, banks. That's a matter of social control, but it implies nothing about sustainability. The only thing I can say about govt is that there always seems to be an excess of utterly crazy ppl in it, and they do their level best to make sure it stays that way, doing their damnedest to remove any vestige of real mkt discipline, which ought to issue in enlightened self-interest. Because, ultimately economic efficiency = sustainability.
For an economy - national or global - to succeed ppl must be able to buy what they make and vice versa. When an economy expands it does so by serving its own needs, not by serving the needs of others at its own expense, nor by consuming what it does not make. In that we have been contracting, moving back to the kind of feudalism Smith, himself, directed his fire at, the result, on the one hand, of short-sighted private sector policies to get the greatest return on the least investment, and, on the other, of fiscal and monetary policies aimed at welfare. We see this in healthcare and in many of our industries, just as much as in finance. In the face of dysfunction, well-intentioned folk decide the thing we need is more credit, more redistribution, which has the perverse effect of increasing the desire for short-term gain, hastening decline. Presumably this is why Moynihan opposed Clinton's healthcare reform. Welfare is clearly a disincentive to work. Easy money encourages mergers and takeovers, while the inevitable busts shake out smaller competitors. It shifts wealth away from labor and replaces goods with services, engineers with brokers and salesmen. We have known this since the early 19th c, but it has even infected our understanding, making economics a matter of markets instead of production, demand instead of supply, of survival of the fittest, instead fitness for survival. If we continue in this vein we will see an actual return to the jungle, not merely the law of the jungle, because this is the way the world really works.
robert_CT 07/06/2009 03:05 PM Report
Peterson deserves credit for consistently warning about budget deficits and he had a lot of interesting things to say about the situation we face. Yet on the other hand it makes me sick to hear one of these LBO titans lecturing the country about debt and fiscal prudence. This guy became filthy rich via activity that provided little if any real benefit to the American economy and society at large. The LBO or “private equity” business is primarily about using the banking and capital markets systems to borrow, borrow and borrow some more in order to concentrate economic power and wealth. Trust me, I worked in the same business and the basic model is to slash employment related costs so you can cover the interest on the debt used to gain economic control of the enterprise. Jobs get outsourced to China, wages get frozen and benefits get slashed in order to boost the IRR and payoff to the deal makers. Peterson was the beneficiary of an explosive and permissive increase in leverage that proved fundamentally unsustainable and destructive. Furthermore he was the beneficiary of perverse tax system that subjected his income to rates lower than that of a fireman or school teacher. These LBO titans set in motion a whole host of business policies that decimated the basic relationship between business and its workers. I am not surprised he went to the University of Chicago because that was the incubator of “market fundamentalism”; a business and economic philosophy that has been thoroughly discredited along with its patriarch Milton Friedman, an ideological fool if there ever was one. It was disgusting to hear Charlie go through this whole interview without making any reference whatsoever to the question of whether it’s prudent to concentrate such a large portion of a nation’s economic resources in the hands of buyout firms whose indisputable and overriding purpose is to enrich their founders. How is it that people like Warren Buffet and Paul Volker constantly and passionately reject the use high leverage as part of any business enterprise yet Peterson was one of its greatest champions? And now he wants to preach about the dangers of borrowing. Of course he borrowed and borrowed and borrowed all he could because he was part of a rigged game where he had nothing but upside and none of the downside. He alluded to luck and he has been nothing but lucky all his life. He founded an LBO shop at the birth of a dramatic and reckless increase in the availability, use and acceptance of leverage, and he bailed out before the whole house of cards came crashing down. Charlie should have asked Peterson who contributes more to the welfare of society, an engineer or a financier. It would have been interesting to hear Peterson try and fudge the answer to that question.
Does the irony of these interviews ever dawn on CR?
tartufe 07/06/2009 12:53 PM Report
The winter of our discontent. Hear, hear!
winter 07/06/2009 11:05 AM Report
So, the billionaire is telling the little people out there to sacrifice and ration. The irony, if it is that, is just so far flung I don't know where to go from here. What should be rationed is profit from suffering ...ya think? I can't think of anything less justifiable than to skim a profit from people who are as captive a market as being on a death bed. Not that there shouldn't be a means to fund treatment at cost and whatever is needed to maintain it. But, that convenient clarion call that the right has suceeded in popularizing "government can't run anything" just insures that any competition amongst health insurers will always fall under the lobby's juristiction. No, "profits" not a dirty word and if you believe that then ...gee, I can't even use the old "then I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you" since even that's actually been exploited ...taxpayers were sold a bridge to nowhere.