Behind the Scenes

Today Allstate CEO Thomas Wilson joined me for an exclusive interview from the Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles. He has been on his bullhorn for two years plus that the insurance industry should be regulated by the Federal Government. He says it is "ridiculous" that states sit in charge of regulation when it truly should be a one size fits all mandate by Uncle Sam. Each state has different ... read more

Today we had an interesting discussion about Libya.  Just how worried should the average U.S. investor be about the situation there, and the Middle East/Africa region in general?  Jim Awad said even the smartest investors are not getting the potential impact of what this means for the stock market and the bond market.  Never in his lifetime has he seen something like this take hold so quickly, ... read more

We launched our 2011 "American Icon" series out of Purchase, New York from the headquarters of Pepsico on Tuesday. The location shoot was over quickly, but it took two months to coordinate all of the logistics with the help of my producer Yvette Michael. I have to credit her for all the work she did in planning the day. Sadly, Yvette had to travel to Cairo and she missed seeing the end result of ... read more

As I write this the Goldman Sachs hearing continues, and I feel that the Senators are missing the point with regards to their line of questioning.  You have Fabrice Tourre there, the only person named in the SEC civil complaint, yet most of the questions are going towards Daniel Sparks, the former head of the mortgages department.  If Sparks testimony is so important, then why didn't the SEC ... read more

I'm just coming out from under the cover of SEC vs Goldman and before this story takes off in a thousand different directions and angles, many of which will prove to be false, some quick thoughts here. First, why would Goldman Sachs go to the trouble to do something illegal, then lose 90 million dollars on the same deal by going long?  Second, why if Goldman is at fault as a firm was only one ... read more