Just kidding, he claims! Count Vikula spoke at a “fireside chat” at Harvard Business School yesterday, and courtesy of a Dealbreaker reader in attendance, we’ve got some highlights. When asked about his biggest mistakes, he first offered the crowd-pleasing, “Taking this job and then staying in it,” to much laughter. Then he remembered he wasn’t doing a set at Caroline’s and responded that he had no “moment of catharsis” when he first arrived at the Big C, and should have communicated the trouble the bank was in faster and done more in a shorter period of time. Pandito apparently blamed the crisis on “global imbalances” and poor regulation of CDS and CDOs, and said that rebalancing and getting to a “stable platform for growth” will take “a long time” (he did not offer a timetable for getting Citi back to $55/share). On the matter of renovating his office to the tune of $10 million the jolly elfin fella characterized the situation as a “shit storm.”
And speaking of human waste– for students looking to get jobs on Wall Street, Vikula proffered the advice that they’re shit outta luck. (The actual exchange was a question by HBS professor Tom DeLong, who asked if VP had “any advice for students looking to get jobs in finance” and then, realizing the absurdity of the question, considering the dearth of positions on the Street, added “…or something,” to which Vikram responded with the suggestion they “go with the ‘or something’.”)
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what’s cms?
constant menstrual stress
Wait a darn minute…so you’re saying that HBS grads might actually have to APPLY for jobs after graduation????
Holy Hell.
I think this is one of those signs mentioned in the biblical book of Revelations.
Vik. Do the shareholders a favor and pull a Kellermann.
@4- what’s it like be a COMPLETE and total scumbag?
@4 go take your own advice scumbag
Tony Danza is not amused
I had a moment of “catharsis” myself a while ago after a muffin and two mocha lattes.
@5 Scumbag > Limp dicked pussy. Now shuffle off to your lunch time Yoga class twinkle toes.
LOBSTERCLOPS should cut you in half @5. I hope you get AIDS from a Somali pirate.
For @1, CMS = constant maturity securities.
He’s right that global imbalances caused this crisis. The oft-cited “more regulation” would have been worthless. This crisis was caused by massive reserve accumulation by Asia (especially China) and other Emerging Market countries following their own crises in the late 90s. Unfortunately it’s too complicated an argument for most in the media to understand. Also you get higher ratings if you blame the evil bankers.
@12 Yeah, right. A bunch of bankers loaning boatloads of money to deadbeats and homeless people so they could roll the paper into crap wads and then pay AIG to slap a AAA rating on them had nothing to do with it, right? Christ, you people are dense.
@4 I wet my pants reading your advice…LOL!!! Tastelss? Well, yes of course….but worth a laugh….
anonymeeee.
shit outta luck ?
Nope 13. You’re completely wrong. Where do you think that money came from? It came from Emerging Market countries accumulating massive amounts of reserves as they manipulated their currencies.
I’d insert a link here to the many places you can look to educate yourself, but you’re probably hopeless.
@13- nah, not worth a laugh at all. thanks for playing, though.
maybe it’s a sign that you can’t screw around at a liberal arts college for 4 years and then expect to go to Wall Street–wow what a new concept
@17- um, are you kidding? I know plenty of liberal arts grads who work on the Street, mostly because it’s all rich kids that go to the top liberal arts schools, meaning their parents are well-connected and can get them jobs on the Street. Try again.
@18-um, are YOU kidding? the only reason why those English majors get jobs on Wall Street IS because their parents are rich and well-connected, which is the whole problem in the first place because none of them know finance. you try again.