[What about Europe and the market sell-off?]
It
doesn't make any difference to us. We will buy the same stocks cheaper.
These are US Stocks! Its issues we already own. The lower they go the
more we like it.
[When you see the shift away from austerity what does it mean for the future of Europe?]
It
will be very difficult to resolve their problems. Coordinating between
17 countries...it is a big problem. Even if you can sell the people on
austerity you need 17 going in the same direction. If you have a common
monetary unit you need common fiscal policies. It's difficult.
[If you look 2 or 3 years down the road what happens to Europe?]
I
don't know the answer. But there will be more episodes. 10 years from
now Europe will be producing more, you have wonderful companies. It
isn't the end of the world but it can be a very messy process getting
from here to there.
[The United States hasn't fixed its
problems, the Euro is at a 3-month low. The US is a stronger place with
treasuries but how long can that continue?]
It can continue for a
long time. The US is on a different path. The US has cleaned up a
significant amount of its bad loans, plus we have our own currency!
[Do you expect more monetary easing from the ECB?]
1
trillion isn't bad! They had a funding scare, sovereign bonds,
mark-to-market....the ECB stepped in with 3-year paper. They headed off
that funding crisis....but the problems with the banks haven't been
solved, the liquidity has been solved.
[Greece's election - neo nazis! You've seen a lot of things, does it worry you?]
There
are a lot of things that worry me in the world but they get resolved.
But asking people to vote for Pain?! It can be done under certain
circumstances, under WW2 people restricted their own consumption. But
it's not an easy job especially for a number of countries to do it.
[The proud French can't live the way they're living! There are not enough millionaires to tax!]
If you had a rich uncle you would not be too embarassed to go back to him!
