You're watching...
Former Reagan Budget Director David Stockman on why he opposes corporate bailouts.
Also in this playlist...
Auto-advance: ON
Auto-advance
This transcript is automatically generated
Amount it has -- the legacy.
Little little this president's term the prior president's term a lot of bailouts for banks.
For auto companies.
A lot of that actually started long before either these men came to office you'd have to go back.
To the Carter years and Chrysler and that big bailout that and then congress and Dave stockman said no to.
It made him a lot of friends in his -- count.
But your argument then.
Actually -- -- -- -- it did I was running for reelection my district in southern Michigan Chrysler was the biggest employer in the district where indirectly through its contractors.
And I got the highest vote in the next election 75% of the disease here guns because -- stuck to my principal need an overwhelmingly the farmers in the district in the small businessman in the district.
In the professionals knew that if they got in trouble they weren't big enough to make a stink -- to go down to watch now.
But -- obvious things is so let's try to me now we've gone from too big to fail to too many.
To not help and and it did set the very precedent you worried -- -- Well that's the speech that I gave in my of course I was very unpopular in Michigan delegation one out of nineteen members.
I voted against that we have corporation might remember was the CEO them he says -- -- -- things.
-- elderly daisy use and territories senate.
But in the put Ronald Reagan liked it yeah -- the point was it was a mistake then and it wasn't only mistake for Chrysler because we just had to bail out the bail them out again.
25 years later was -- -- data banks it was set it was a terrible mistake minded.
Bad because how can you have financial markets that are discipline.
Where reckless.
Bets and where mistakes and errors.
Go on punished you can't capitalism doesn't work.
Unless the argument -- and I agree -- -- maturity concern you but it appeared to later tangled they have that will delight to Jack -- in the late great Jack -- part of the time.
We had no choice because there was a financial abyss waiting a free fall and all financial assets that if we didn't stabilize.
The whole world would have.
I think that's an urban legend I don't think was close to true I've been spending last two and a half years writing a book.
On this very topic that will be coming out next week so -- -- what happened well America take out AIG for instance it was basically a holding company where they had to have written the CDS these gambling and wagers it had no capital the holding company was bankrupt.
That all the insurance subsidiaries of AIG throughout the United States in the world.
Would have been taken over and protected by their insurance regulator at the state.
Or other country level so therefore we -- put AIG into bankruptcy the only loss would have been the London rogue operation that was writing all this crazy.
Credit default swaps so -- want to survive and yes it.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Wall Street doesn't pop unless it gets us the signal from the Fed it's kind of rescue them right -- the European Central Bank will do the same over there.
What's become a capitalist we don't have capitalism laugh because the capital markets have been destroyed by the central banks.
After all interest rates of the price of money they're the price of debt.
In when you have the entire financial system trading.
Off the last move from the last statement.
The last whispered word of the central banks it is no longer doing his job of allocating capital discounting the future.
Making choices.
With the in the financial system so if you don't have capital markets that are robust in working.
How can you have a dynamic capitalism I don't think you do.
And so this is the ultimate fault of this monitor the money printing binge.
That we're on his.
That's a chicken it's coming on the wrist and what spell that out let's say we don't get -- dresses and -- get serious.
David -- -- view of the world.
What everybody's making their own choice we have massive speculation going on because the Fed is saying.
You can borrow overnight money -- mid -- you -- you don't mind that what happens it well it we're gonna basically we're diverting capital to totally unproductive speculative -- is -- markets -- -- At some point dollars RS at some point they will and then let's say what we're -- telling Washington we're saying you're running a trillion deficit for the fourth year in a row.
And yet you can borrow money almost for nothing so why don't you just wait another year two years who wants to take.
The fall who wants to take the political heat.
If you can borrow money for seventy basis points for five years which is what they're doing now.
So we're still living here tonight about the Fed is building inaudible we're building a -- -- -- person then with the depression.
Well I don't know what you would call we've never been there before we've never had a Central Bank to spend this much money we've never had central banks in the -- you don't think you can walk past the graveyard much longer I don't think so I don't think you know move they can whistle -- to -- Very much longer.
OK so if you have a wet suit you would buy if -- you have cyanide pills would take America.
Didn't David Stockman Ronald Reagan's budget director.
