Why wouldn’t the magician, philosopher, former Chairman of Bear Stearns and former friend o’ Jimmy not want to see his old pal, who he hasn’t spoken to since Bear was sold to JPMorgan (where Greenberg took a gig, while JC chose to spend his time perfecting the perfect panini to eat whilst baked)? According to a new interview with AG, it involves a desire to avoid stepping in shit. Also, Cayne impugned on the dignity of magicians.
IDD: If you ran into [Cayne], what would you say to him?
Greenberg: I would not like to step in horses—. So why would I stand around him? He’s a lying f—. Some of those lies in “House of Cards.” Lies about my wife — how could he bring my wife in that? How could he do that? He’s just a miserable, unhappy person…He said in the book, I understand, that when it came time for bonuses, I called the key men in and threw their bonuses on the floor and made them get on the floor and pick up their bonuses. Does that sound like me, really? Is that how you build a firm? A guy doing magic tricks, would he do that?
IDD: [America is going in the right direction] in terms of the economy?
Greenberg: Very much so. I think the Obama administration has been terrific. Just terrific.
IDD: Even though they have been pretty critical about Wall Street.
Greenberg: Well, they are trying to get elected. You know you can’t do great things in this country if you are not elected.
IDD: What about the problems with the euro and what they mean for our markets, the equity markets?
Greenberg: Greatly overrated, in my opinion.
IDD: Greatly overrated in terms of its importance?
Greenberg: As a danger. They can have their problems over there. Greece is a tiny little country. Portugal is a tiny country. Portugal has got two things: sardines and cork. That’s what they have got. Cork is being replaced by a synthetic now. So I feel sorry for them, but what can I do? Spain is a bigger problem, but there are always problems.
IDD: So you think it has been blown out of proportion?
Greenberg: Yes. I think once again the media and people on TV make a big thing out of this. People on TV, in the midst of the rally, said the trouble with this rally is there’s not much volume. Is that a terrible thing? If they’d asked me, I would have said “Yes, it’s a terrible thing if you are a discount broker.” If you’re not a discount broker, who the hell cares? Stocks are going up. If you want to sell, there’s no problem. If you want to buy them … what’s this no-volume business? Like that’s important. Like you can’t have a good rally without big volume. We had a pretty good rally without volume.
A true gent and a pleasure to work for but the guy needs to move on.
Old and senile. Sad, he is out of touch and doesn’t appear to have a clue as to what is going on. Cork and sardines? Really?
Feeble old man. Sad.
Portugal has got two things: _____ and _____.
Bonus points for a rhymed pair.
Yes the european situation is overblown by CNBC, that’s why Europe did a trillion dollar bailout.
I bet he reeks of old cheese and liniments.
3- Jimminy and Jillackers
does alliteration count?
-Hobart English Major
….penis….
@6 There’s no need for profanity.
-3
(BTW I had in mind something like “booze, cooze” or “sheets, teats,” something you could use as a slogan for Portugal’s economic development.)
rolls and holes
@9 I picture that on a “Visit Portugal” billboard, amirite?
port and snort
I knew both J.C. and Ace. Ace was a superb CEO. He was tough but he was fair. He built Bear Stearns after Cy Lewis from a small shop of very smart people into a a player.
Interesting comment about Ace. I recollect that it was JC who took pleasure in the art of humiliation. I recall the office manager on all fours as J.C. was deciding which outlet he wanted to plug the phone in.
I never understood the deal between Ace and J.C. other than that they played tournament bridge.
Ace would walk the entire firm every day to see who was there and who wasn’t. I always admired that. He had an open door policy but you had better have a good reason for going through it.
The place was fun to work for when there were only about a hundred or two hundred there. There were some of the best and the brightest.It was a place where one who marched to a different drummer could work with the same. Ace had a saying which I can’t quite remember. It went something like poor,hungry people with a deep down desire to be rich. Maybe,I should use the quote marks but I am quite sure this is a paraphrase.
I always had respect for Ace although,the firm morphed into something I spent a career avoiding. Lehman was the first to my knowledge to employ the huge cold calling rooms. When Bear went that way it was time to go. Neither exists anymore and that is more than just coincidence