Re: Peter Fisher

[Jurriaan Bendien <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yes. The Federal Reserve orchestrated the bailout of the hedge fund Long
Term Capital Management, using $3.5 billion provided by the private sector.
See:
www.t-bird.edu/pdf/about_us/case_series/e06990020.pdf

Peter Fisher was the moving force behind Bush's Presidential Commission on
the U.S. Postal Service. He became Under Secretary for Domestic Finance on
August 9, 2001 but resigned October 10, 2003, saying he wished to return to
family life in New Jersey. Mr. Fisher's accomplishments are officially cited
as "his efforts after September 11, 2001 to reopen U.S. financial markets,
stabilize the airline industry, enact terrorism risk insurance and to
promote the investment and job creation that are the engine of the U.S.
economy's growth. (...) developing Administration policy on deposit
insurance reform; disclosures of government-sponsored enterprises; the Fair
Credit Reporting Act and the fight against identity theft; and the accuracy
and transparency of pension plan funding." Fisher also "focused on the
long-term cost of borrowing that led to improvements in federal debt
management - resulting in the elimination of the 30-year bond, developing
the market for Treasury Inflation-Indexed Securities, increasing market
transparency, and improving Treasury auction performance".

On Nov. 8, 2001 Enron announced it would have to reduce its earnings by $586
million going back more than four years, risking another credit downgrade.
Rubin then called Fisher, who was actually assigned to monitor the Enron
fallout. Rubin and Whalley asked Fisher to encourage the banks to extend
Enron credit, but Fisher refused to cooperate. (Ken Lay also appealed
personally to Greenspan on Oct. 26, just days before Moody's Investors
Service downgraded the credit rating on Enron's long-term debt, the event
which sent Enron's stock nosediving).

The following remarks by Peter Fisher made on November 8, 2002  are quite
interesting from the point of view of intellectual property rights, the
ownership/control gap, and the reality of the Smithian invisible hand:

Securities markets is dependent upon improving the quality of information
that investors receive.  Nothing is more important. Our securities markets
are extremely efficient at pricing and allocating capital on the basis of
all available information.  Unfortunately, the important information is too
often not available.  When critical information is absent, or where great
disparities exist in the quality of information available to different
players, the power of markets is misdirected and the allocation of resources
becomes skewed, mocking the claim - which both you and I make - that our
securities markets are the most efficient means we have of converting our
collective savings into investment. Today, I want to ask you to promote the
idea that investors have a fundamental right to see the companies in which
they invest through the eyes of management.
Source: www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/po3609.htm

For Fisher's testimony to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban
affairs with regard to the Federal Deposit Insurance system, see:
http://www.senate.gov/~banking/03_02hrg/022603/fisher.htm

Jurriaan


----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Perelman" <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <PEN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2003 4:02 AM
Subject: [PEN-L] Peter Fisher


> Didn't Peter Fisher do some of the heavy lifting in putting Long Term
> Credit Mgmt. together after it crashed?
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>