Interesting video from CNBC's Fast Money
Transcript of Introduction: Voiceover by Dylan Radigan
1:50 Introduction:
January 20th, 2009. It’s your first day as President of the United States of America. And the briefing from your economic advisors sounds something like this:
The economy is contracting, both at home and abroad
People are losing their homes, at a record rate
The deficit stands at about a trillion dollars
And the capitalist system still in it’s worse shape since the Great Depression
And, by the way, there are two wars going on.
The expectations for President Obama’s solutions are as high as the challenges themselves. The first task will be what he does in the first hundred days. Many expect a speedy FDR-type game plan, in which Roosevelt passed fifteen major bills right off the bat aimed at jump starting the economy, regulating Wall Street, and creating jobs.
But Obama’s first moves may not be so sweeping, as spending will be hamstrung by a ballooning deficit. From Wall Street to Main Street, the eyes of the world are on Washington, D.C. right now. Fast Money has come here to find out what we can expect in Obama’s first hundred days.
3:06 Dylan Radigan: And joining us now, fresh out of that meeting in Chicago with Obama’s transition team, William Daley, former Secretary of Commerce, a long list of accomplishments for you Mr. Daley. I’m curious from an advisory standpoint how you are counseling the President elect. In other words, are you advising him to focus on stimulating infrastructure? Are you advising him to stimulate directly as the Bush Administration has? And what is your view on deficit spending as a mechanism to accomplish it?
3:41 William Daley: I think what you heard today at the meeting, what you heard from President elect Obama, is a commitment, only after only 72 hours of being President-elect, to making sure that this transition goes smoothly. Obviously, we have one Administration, we have one President until January 20th, and what President-elect Obama’s statement today indicates is a desire to make sure that the markets know, and the world knows, that the American economy will come back. He is strongly believing that we need a stimulus, as he said, sooner rather than later. If it doesn’t get done in lame-duck, it will get done first thing after he’s President, January 20th.
4:21 Dylan Radigan: Yeah, understood. But philosophically, as a member of that team, where do you come down on a view on stimulus, and a view on deficit spending.
4:33 William Daley: There’s no question that you’ve got to get stimulus moving, that’s a combination of short term and long term. If you believe that we are early in this recession, infrastructure stimulus is a good thing to do.
We listened to Mayor Villaraigosa today talk about the need for infrastructures, both cities and states are talking about. That’s longer term. But, short term, we’re going to need to do something about unemployment and other items, and I think the President elect is going to be very specific over not just during the transition, but more importantly as he prepares for the Presidency on January 20th.
5:08 Dylan Radigan: Yeah. Specifically, what is your view on tax policy, and how would you counsel the President-elect to view the use of taxes in the first hundred days.
5:20 William Daley: As the President elect said today, the tax cut for the middle class, and a very broad one, is an important part of his agenda, and an important part of stimulating the economy next year. Ah, he’s committed to it, and he’s prepared to make sure that that happens for the vast majority of people next year.
5:40 Dylan Radigan: What about taxes on capital. Both capital gains and otherwise. In other words, taxes on businesses, things that affect the flow of capital in the economy; capital that could indeed flow into alternative energy, flow into healthcare, all those sorts of things.
5:55 William Daley: Everyone wants to know the specifics for his Administration that starts in January. They’re not going to be laid out until he’s President. He’s been strong about the need to stimulate the economy, do that now; and prepare for an Administration, prepare for a program that begins to change these difficult…it took us a long time to get into these difficult times, and I think it will take us a while to get out. We all know it. We all know we have to go through a recession. The government’s got to be committed to making sure that this recession is not as deep as some predict it may be; but, no one can stop the difficulties that are coming. It’s just trying to slow them down, make ‘em not as deep, and shorten it. And those are steps that will be taken after January 20th.
6:39 Dylan Radigan: Understood, do you have a view as to how many jobs you think are at risk in this country?
6:44 William Daley: I think we’re going to continue as most of the people probably today predicting after today’s numbers, that this, that the numbers for the last month may not be the high point by any stretch. So I think we’re going to continue to see difficulties. But, this economy as we know, has gone through difficulties before; we will come out of this. The President-elect was very optimistic not only in the meeting today, about the American economy, and the opportunities that will present themselves; but we will go through some difficult times, no doubt about it. The numbers that we heard today, and the re-adjustment for last month, which may be as upsetting as the actual numbers this month, probably are not the low point for a while.
7:26 Dylan Radigan: And my last question for you: What is your view on how the U.S. Government should deal with the automakers?
7:31 William Daley: Well, I think the President-elect was very, also, very sympathetic today, to the difficulties of the auto companies. He has stated before, that he wants to see the auto companies and the autos of the future help us break the dependency on the oil that we’ve been on for all these years. And so he has been also very emphatic about the need to retool Detroit and make sure that the industry not only survives, but grows, and grows with the new energy needs of the country, not the old ones. So, I, I think you will see action by Congress, whether it passes or not, it remains to be seen.
8:12 Dylan Radigan: Alright, Mr. Secretary. I understand that you used to work out with Pete Najarian, so you must be a rather strong man. Ah, we appreciate your time with us today…
1:50 Introduction:
January 20th, 2009. It’s your first day as President of the United States of America. And the briefing from your economic advisors sounds something like this:
The economy is contracting, both at home and abroad
People are losing their homes, at a record rate
The deficit stands at about a trillion dollars
And the capitalist system still in it’s worse shape since the Great Depression
And, by the way, there are two wars going on.
The expectations for President Obama’s solutions are as high as the challenges themselves. The first task will be what he does in the first hundred days. Many expect a speedy FDR-type game plan, in which Roosevelt passed fifteen major bills right off the bat aimed at jump starting the economy, regulating Wall Street, and creating jobs.
But Obama’s first moves may not be so sweeping, as spending will be hamstrung by a ballooning deficit. From Wall Street to Main Street, the eyes of the world are on Washington, D.C. right now. Fast Money has come here to find out what we can expect in Obama’s first hundred days.
3:06 Dylan Radigan: And joining us now, fresh out of that meeting in Chicago with Obama’s transition team, William Daley, former Secretary of Commerce, a long list of accomplishments for you Mr. Daley. I’m curious from an advisory standpoint how you are counseling the President elect. In other words, are you advising him to focus on stimulating infrastructure? Are you advising him to stimulate directly as the Bush Administration has? And what is your view on deficit spending as a mechanism to accomplish it?
3:41 William Daley: I think what you heard today at the meeting, what you heard from President elect Obama, is a commitment, only after only 72 hours of being President-elect, to making sure that this transition goes smoothly. Obviously, we have one Administration, we have one President until January 20th, and what President-elect Obama’s statement today indicates is a desire to make sure that the markets know, and the world knows, that the American economy will come back. He is strongly believing that we need a stimulus, as he said, sooner rather than later. If it doesn’t get done in lame-duck, it will get done first thing after he’s President, January 20th.
4:21 Dylan Radigan: Yeah, understood. But philosophically, as a member of that team, where do you come down on a view on stimulus, and a view on deficit spending.
4:33 William Daley: There’s no question that you’ve got to get stimulus moving, that’s a combination of short term and long term. If you believe that we are early in this recession, infrastructure stimulus is a good thing to do.
We listened to Mayor Villaraigosa today talk about the need for infrastructures, both cities and states are talking about. That’s longer term. But, short term, we’re going to need to do something about unemployment and other items, and I think the President elect is going to be very specific over not just during the transition, but more importantly as he prepares for the Presidency on January 20th.
5:08 Dylan Radigan: Yeah. Specifically, what is your view on tax policy, and how would you counsel the President-elect to view the use of taxes in the first hundred days.
5:20 William Daley: As the President elect said today, the tax cut for the middle class, and a very broad one, is an important part of his agenda, and an important part of stimulating the economy next year. Ah, he’s committed to it, and he’s prepared to make sure that that happens for the vast majority of people next year.
5:40 Dylan Radigan: What about taxes on capital. Both capital gains and otherwise. In other words, taxes on businesses, things that affect the flow of capital in the economy; capital that could indeed flow into alternative energy, flow into healthcare, all those sorts of things.
5:55 William Daley: Everyone wants to know the specifics for his Administration that starts in January. They’re not going to be laid out until he’s President. He’s been strong about the need to stimulate the economy, do that now; and prepare for an Administration, prepare for a program that begins to change these difficult…it took us a long time to get into these difficult times, and I think it will take us a while to get out. We all know it. We all know we have to go through a recession. The government’s got to be committed to making sure that this recession is not as deep as some predict it may be; but, no one can stop the difficulties that are coming. It’s just trying to slow them down, make ‘em not as deep, and shorten it. And those are steps that will be taken after January 20th.
6:39 Dylan Radigan: Understood, do you have a view as to how many jobs you think are at risk in this country?
6:44 William Daley: I think we’re going to continue as most of the people probably today predicting after today’s numbers, that this, that the numbers for the last month may not be the high point by any stretch. So I think we’re going to continue to see difficulties. But, this economy as we know, has gone through difficulties before; we will come out of this. The President-elect was very optimistic not only in the meeting today, about the American economy, and the opportunities that will present themselves; but we will go through some difficult times, no doubt about it. The numbers that we heard today, and the re-adjustment for last month, which may be as upsetting as the actual numbers this month, probably are not the low point for a while.
7:26 Dylan Radigan: And my last question for you: What is your view on how the U.S. Government should deal with the automakers?
7:31 William Daley: Well, I think the President-elect was very, also, very sympathetic today, to the difficulties of the auto companies. He has stated before, that he wants to see the auto companies and the autos of the future help us break the dependency on the oil that we’ve been on for all these years. And so he has been also very emphatic about the need to retool Detroit and make sure that the industry not only survives, but grows, and grows with the new energy needs of the country, not the old ones. So, I, I think you will see action by Congress, whether it passes or not, it remains to be seen.
8:12 Dylan Radigan: Alright, Mr. Secretary. I understand that you used to work out with Pete Najarian, so you must be a rather strong man. Ah, we appreciate your time with us today…
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