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American Morning
Minding Your Business: New Watchdog in Town
Aired December 11, 2002 - 07:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There is somebody looking to get a new job, a new nominee to be Wall Street's top dog. We're going to get that in a second.
First though, we'll look at the markets.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, a great day yesterday, Daryn. The Dow was up 100 points. That's easy to remember -- 85 -- 74, that's right, up 23...
KAGAN: Yes, easy to remember.
SERWER: ... yes, well, the 100 points was -- 23 to 1390 on the Nasdaq. Basically the fed met yesterday and expressed some confidence in the economy, said we're working through the soft spot.
KAGAN: Tell me about Bill Donaldson.
SERWER: Bill Donaldson is the new nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. It's interesting, Daryn, he wasn't on anyone's radar screen, but he probably should have been, because he's an old friend of President Bush's, an old friend of President Bush's family, a former head of the New York Stock Exchange. He worked in the Ford administration. Does that sound familiar? Everyone in the Bush cabinet worked in the Ford administration.
Seventy-one years old, and he founded Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a very successful Wall Street investment banking firm. He was also the CEO of Aetna, had sort of more of a mixed tenure at that insurance giant. He's very adept at finding the middle ground, and he's going to have to do that in Washington.
KAGAN: He is. And let's look ahead to what he hopes is the next notch on his resume, and that is as the head of the SEC. What kind of head do you think he'll be?
SERWER: Well, you know, it's interesting. What does this mean for people at home, Mr. and Mrs. America and all of the ships at sea? You know, it's kind of an invisible job running the SEC. You don't hear about them unless they do a bad job, like Harvey Pitt.
This is someone who has to instill confidence in the market. He has to go after the bad guys. There's going to be a big billion dollar Wall Street settlement that he has to do, and you know, if you don't hear about him, maybe he's doing a good job. There still are crooks that he has to go after. I met with him several years ago. He's got a very straight- arrow, straight-forward approach, and you know, he also sort of has a folksy manner. Let's listen to what he had to say yesterday in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM DONALDSON, SEC CHAIR NOMINEE: There have clearly been numerous instances of serious malfeasance, which if proven, we will continue and must continue to deal with swiftly. As my mother used to say many years ago, it's time for all of us to pull up our socks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERWER: Now, I'm not sure exactly what he means by pulling up the socks. I think I know what he means, which is, we've got to get down to business. We've got to go after the bad guys and restore confidence in the markets. And if that happens, it will stabilize the markets. It will be great for everybody out there.
KAGAN: And best news, he didn't have to resign from Augusta National. He's already a step ahead of the game as a Bush nominee.
SERWER: Yes, that's right, absolutely.
KAGAN: There you go. Andy, thank you so much.
SERWER: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 11, 2002 - 07:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There is somebody looking to get a new job, a new nominee to be Wall Street's top dog. We're going to get that in a second.
First though, we'll look at the markets.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, a great day yesterday, Daryn. The Dow was up 100 points. That's easy to remember -- 85 -- 74, that's right, up 23...
KAGAN: Yes, easy to remember.
SERWER: ... yes, well, the 100 points was -- 23 to 1390 on the Nasdaq. Basically the fed met yesterday and expressed some confidence in the economy, said we're working through the soft spot.
KAGAN: Tell me about Bill Donaldson.
SERWER: Bill Donaldson is the new nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. It's interesting, Daryn, he wasn't on anyone's radar screen, but he probably should have been, because he's an old friend of President Bush's, an old friend of President Bush's family, a former head of the New York Stock Exchange. He worked in the Ford administration. Does that sound familiar? Everyone in the Bush cabinet worked in the Ford administration.
Seventy-one years old, and he founded Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a very successful Wall Street investment banking firm. He was also the CEO of Aetna, had sort of more of a mixed tenure at that insurance giant. He's very adept at finding the middle ground, and he's going to have to do that in Washington.
KAGAN: He is. And let's look ahead to what he hopes is the next notch on his resume, and that is as the head of the SEC. What kind of head do you think he'll be?
SERWER: Well, you know, it's interesting. What does this mean for people at home, Mr. and Mrs. America and all of the ships at sea? You know, it's kind of an invisible job running the SEC. You don't hear about them unless they do a bad job, like Harvey Pitt.
This is someone who has to instill confidence in the market. He has to go after the bad guys. There's going to be a big billion dollar Wall Street settlement that he has to do, and you know, if you don't hear about him, maybe he's doing a good job. There still are crooks that he has to go after. I met with him several years ago. He's got a very straight- arrow, straight-forward approach, and you know, he also sort of has a folksy manner. Let's listen to what he had to say yesterday in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM DONALDSON, SEC CHAIR NOMINEE: There have clearly been numerous instances of serious malfeasance, which if proven, we will continue and must continue to deal with swiftly. As my mother used to say many years ago, it's time for all of us to pull up our socks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERWER: Now, I'm not sure exactly what he means by pulling up the socks. I think I know what he means, which is, we've got to get down to business. We've got to go after the bad guys and restore confidence in the markets. And if that happens, it will stabilize the markets. It will be great for everybody out there.
KAGAN: And best news, he didn't have to resign from Augusta National. He's already a step ahead of the game as a Bush nominee.
SERWER: Yes, that's right, absolutely.
KAGAN: There you go. Andy, thank you so much.
SERWER: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
