Too Big to Fail - Andrew Ross Sorkin [305]
“They’re nuts! They know nothing!”: “Ben Bernanke needs to open the discount window…. He is being an academic! This is no time to be an academic. Open the darn discount window!…My people have been in this game for 25 years. And they are losing their jobs and these firms are going to go out of business, and he’s nuts! They’re nuts! They know nothing!…The Fed is asleep.” Jim Cramer, Mad Money, CNBC, August 3, 2007.
BNP Paribas announced that it was halting investors from withdrawing: As of August 7, after declining 20 percent in just under two weeks, the funds had some €1.6 billion ($2.2 billion) left in assets. Sebastian Boyd, “BNP Paribas Freezes Funds as Loan Losses Roil Markets,” Bloomberg News, August 9, 2007.
“The complete evaporation of liquidity”: Ibid.
Bigger cash infusion than after September 11: On September 12, 2001, a day after the attacks, the European Central Bank (ECB) injected a record €69.3 billion. “ECB Injects 95 billion Euros Into Money Supply Amid US Subprime Worries,” Agence-France Presse, August 9, 2007.
“unprecedented disruptions”: Countrywide’s SEC filing late Thursday said it had adequate funding liquidity but added, “[T]he situation is rapidly evolving and the impact on the company is unknown.” Randall W. Forsyth, “Why the Blowup May Get Worse,” Barron’s, August 13, 2007.
“Every banker knows that if he has to prove”: Bagehot, Lombard Street, 69.
reversed his earlier decision: On Friday, August 17, 2001, the Fed issued a statement lowering the rate on discount window borrowings, which buoyed the market. “S&P 500 Futures Sharply Higher On Fed Statement,” Dow Jones, August 17, 2007.
“at this point, the troubles in the subprime sector”: Bernanke delivered this speech via satellite to attendees of the 2007 International Monetary Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. See Ben Bernanke, “The Housing Market and Subprime Lending,” June 5, 2007. See http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20070605a.htm
“I’ve got some fairly heavy background in mathematics”: Faber, And Then the Roof Caved In, 95.
was also a die-hard Sox fan: Stanley Reed, “Barclays: Anything But Stodgy President Bob Diamond has turned the once-troubled investment banking unit into a powerhouse,” BusinessWeek, April 10, 2006.
they joined the board of Barclays at same time: On June 1, 2005, Robert Diamond Jr., chief executive of investment banking and investment management, joined the board as an executive director, while Robert Steel, former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs, joined as a nonexecutive director. “Barclays PLC—Directorate Change,” Regulatory News Service, May 27, 2005.
Diamond had so abruptly left Morgan Stanley in 1992: “‘Coach’ Proud of His Trading Floor Origins,” Financial News, December 4, 2000.
losing an expensive bidding war for Dutch bank ABN AMRO: Seven months after its initial bid for ABN AMRO, and following a battle involving investors in China, Singapore, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and even Bank of America, Barclays withdrew its bid for the Dutch bank on October 5, 2007. Carrick Mollenkamp, “Barclays’s CEO Shifts to Plan B—U.K. Bank Pursues Emerging Markets As ABN Bid Fails,” Wall Street Journal, October 6, 2007.
CHAPTER FIVE
breakfast meeting with Dick Fuld: Took place on Thursday, April 2, 2008.
counted as one of his best friends Eliot Spitzer: When the prostitution scandal broke, Cramer had this to say about his Harvard Law School pal: “Eliot’s one of my oldest friends, so is Silda. You know, look, I hope it’s not true. You know, I read it like you did—I hope it’s not true…. Eliot’s my friend. So he’s my friend, he’ll be my friend after.” “DealBook: Wall Street on Spitzer: ‘There Is a God,’” New York Times, March 10, 2008.
“the uptick rule”: After the rule’s repeal on July 6, 2007, Cramer continuously lamented the loss on his show Mad Money. “Cramer Is Uptick’d Off” and “Out with Cox, in with Uptick Rule,” Mad Money, CNBC, May 4, 2009, November 21, 2008.,
unbelievable portfolio from