Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Studio: Charlie Rose, Inc.
• DVD Release Date: June 5, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B001AS0O8E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #571,677 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson, October 22, 2008

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Charlie Rose - Henry Paulson (October 21, 2008) (DVD)

Secretary Paulson, another of Charlie Rose's many friends, discusses the present financial crisis, what has been done, and where we stand now. One clear motive of his appearing is to give the public more confidence in the system for the crisis is as he makes clear fundamentally a 'crisis of confidence'. He talks with Charlie Rose about all the steps he and Ben Bernanke and all those in the government have taken to get the credit markets moving again, to prevent the great meltdown. There is a problem however which somewhat complicates the task. Paulson in the public statements he made did give an impression of strength and confidence. Here he seems more troubled, more problematic in expressing himself. In other words watching this program I will not say I lost confidence, but did have a diminished sense that Paulson and his compeers have gotten the thing right. For what unfolds here is that what Paulson and the government have done is 'reacted' to situations which came at them.
I wonder why Paulson who himself as former head of 'Goldman Sachs' did not himself know, have a good inkling of what was happening , long before the Bear Stearns crisis was put on his door. I too in hearing Paulson's description of the way the Banks are going to be recapitalized, and the millions of home foreclosures are going to be dealt with - got a sense not of the necessity but rather of the 'contingency' of it all. We are still on a rocky road and do not know how we are going to get where we are supposed to go.
Paulson is asked by Charlie Rose about the failure to bailout Lehman Brothers. Many have said that this was a major mistake. Paulson explains that it was not his decision, but rather that there simply was no alternative. There had been an alternative in the Bear Stearns case, the buyout by Morgan- Chase.
Paulson seems troubled and preoccupied but determined as he describes the moves the Treasury has taken, its work with the House. While commending House Leader Pelosi he disagrees with her on responsibility for any delay in action. He places this clearly on the Congress. He also defends President Bush who he says understood that an emergency situation of this kind means doing what is necessary even if it to a degree violates his free- market ideology.
Paulson when pressed on the banking questions says that the process of distributing the money to the Banks has not really been done yet. He expresses the hope that their actions will be responsible, and that there will not be hoarding but proper use for lending of the money.
When Charlie Rose suggests that he may have become indispensable and may be held in office by the incoming President tells of his having appointed someone who will be able to fully prepare the incoming Secretary.
Paulson seems dedicated, determined and of course very smart. Some of his descriptions were difficult to understand.I attribute this to the difficulty of the issues involved, the quality of his syntax, and my own limited understanding of Economics. This has never been an area I particularly liked or took interest in. But these days I sense there is no real alternative.
On the whole watching this show I had the sense that we are still in a very rocky boat, with white water raging all around us.