[captioning made possible by bloomberg television] >> this is "taking stock" for monday, january 6, 2006. i'm pimm fox. and it gets colder across the u.s., this hour we're going to focus on progression. janet yellen one step away from becoming the next fed chairman. she would be the first woman to lead the central bank. we discuss what it's going to mean for the global economy. india's largest e-commerce retailer is progressing to be the next amazon.com. and yes, it's monday, so my producers will once again try to stump me with tonight's mystery guest. all that and more over the next

hour. but first, headlines from carol massar. >> pimm, thank you so much. a holding company for icon is said to be planning a $3.5 billion debt offering, the largest ever for the company. according to a person with knowledge of the transaction, as part of the deal icon enterprise may sell three-year notes which cannot be called in five-year bonds after 2 1/2 years. first-quarter earnings in line with what was forecast. however, quearl revenue with $126.7 million, short of the estimated $127.5 million for the nation's largest chain of drive-in restaurants. and aviation bumpy start to 2014 continues for jetblue as the carrier cancelled 300 flights today. additionally they announced on its website that it will be cutting operations at j.f.k., laguardia and newark. those operations are expected

to resume on january 7. pimm, those are some of the top headlines at this hour. back over to you. >> the u.s. senate in session today coming back from their recess. they're on capitol hill. one of the first items on the agenda is the nomination of janet yellen to be the head of the federal reserve. we expect that vote to begin within the hour. phil mattingly joins us from washington, d.c. phil, this is the last step in what has been a lengthy process. any roadblocks expected? >> well, pimm, senate democrats really took the drama out of this nomination when they changed the vote threshold for nominees a couple of months ago. but there's something key to watch when they have this vote later on this hour. how many people vote against janet yellen? ben bernanke set a record in 2010 when 30 senators voted against him. 34 senators voted against janet yellen in a procedural vote before they left. there is an i am ens growing political pressure on the fed, even more than the last year, year and a half.

republicans are about to start an investigation process on 1900th year anniversary. how many people vote against janet yellen today will be an important thing, an important gauge to look at going forward. obviously she has an enormous amount on her plate, pimm, going forward. clearly, as ben bernanke alluded to his last couple of times in public, dealing with congress is pretty high up there. >> thanks very much, phil mattingly in washington. all right, turning to the world of e-commerce. india is the world's fifth largest marketplace and its top online retailer, snapdeal. it's only three years old but it has secured investors such as ebay, intel, bessemer venture partners and silicon valley bank. also, 20,000 members. the future of snapdeal is bright. what does that mean for an i.p.o. perhaps? for more i'm joined by the founder and 30-year-old chief executive. i know you just came in from india today.

so you're just in that entrepreneur mode. how did you start this company? >> the company actually was started in my bedroom. and we just wanted to do something together -- >> go ahead. >> it was challenging to find stuff in fine retail shops in india, and i thought an e-commerce site would solve that problems as it has in many markets around the world. >> is there a particular challenge in india, because you have so many mom and pop small retail merchants? >> india has a $600 billion retail market, out of which only 7% is organized. >> $600 billion? >> yeah. so only 7% is organized. so there's a great opportunities we saw in ago grating a long tail of supply in these mom and pop small services and offering it to

consumers across 4,000 towns and cities. we're talking about a billion consumers. >> many people when they think of india, if they have not studied the history, it can almost look homogeneous on a map. there are elements of distinct regionalism. explain about catering to that audience. >> it's one of the most heterogeneous market out there, which makes it an interesting market to build a business in. the kind of clothes people will wear varies in different parts of india. the kind of food people eat also changes and the money they're willing to spend also varies. the per capita income varies by region. our philosophy has been let's provide certainty of availability of products at best prices to consumers, because that's the common minimum denominator that applies to all consumers. >> tell us about the infrastructure that exists in india, we hear, for example, amazon.com trying to give you

same-day service. what's the infrastructure like? >> the third-party logistics is actually quite good. all the large players, such as fedex and d.h.l. are present in india. we work with all of they will. we're one of the largest e-commerce for all these third-party logistics companies. -- challenge in india >> why is the beats, the business to business relationship, why is that a struggle? >> you need bigger roads for that. to deliver a small package, you don't need a very big -- >> you can do it on a bicycle or a motor scooter. >> so a lot of the deliveries are actually done on moped. >> the golden quadrilateral , this was a highway project akin to the u.s. highway project in the 1950's. how has that changed the infrastructure in the country? >> it doesn't have much of an

impact. almost everything we ship goes by air. so all shipping is free on snapdeal for byers and all shipping is by air. and almost everything reaches within 48 hours from ordering. it's a great customer experience because the country is really small, so you can go from one corner to the next in just about two hours. >> your investors. how did you line them up? did they come to you? did you find them? were they in india and they went shopping? what happened? >> my philosophy with investors has always been, we never take money from folks we have not known for at least one year, because that sets a good foundation. i think all the investors we have onboard have actually known the company well enough before we engaged in a commercial partnership. and it's been a great partnership. >> how many business users have you signed up, those that are supplying you with the goods? >> we have 20,000 sellers and 20 million registered users across the country. so one out of five internet users in india is actually a user of snapdeal. >> is there a mobile app that already exists?

>> 30% of our transactions happen over the mobile. mobile, leapfrog fixed line frog. mobile phones will leapfrog e-commerce in india. we've gone from 5% of our orders that were mobile one year ago to now 30% a year later. >> is that going to mean that you've got to raise more money in order to build out this network? what about an initial public offering? >> i think we would consider that somewhere down the line. i think there is a lot of attractiveness. >> do you have to reach certain hurdles in order to make that more realistic? >> i think there are some market comps that are available. historically, where companies have been public. typically $1 billion in sales is a broad number that's used. >> where are you now? >> we are about half of that. and i think within the next year we should get to about $1 billion. so the i.p.o. becomes a realistic possibility for us. >> and are you hiring? i mean, is this a place where people in india want to come and work for snapdeal? >> absolutely.

the average age in our company is 25. the average age of the senior management is 32. so i'm actually one of the older guys in the company. >> you're one of the older guys. does your family feel as though you're already older? >> i feel i'm getting older. >> who would you like to make a joint venture with, if you could? >> i think the market's really large for multiple nbd players. our goal is to build a long-term brand which provides great value to the byers, sellers and our team members. we would love to continue being an independent company in the really long rub. >> do you have a favorite item that you buy on a regular basis at snapdeal? >> i buy many items. i think most of the items i buy are for our home. and that rye correlation with me getting married last year. >> congratulations. i want to thank you very much. the chief executive of snapdeal. >> thank you. >> best of luck. coming up next i'm going to talk to the chief executive of a company that just bought pat

enter. we'll find how he plans to profit from them. mystery guest clue number one --

>> apple and microsoft. normally they compete against each other. in 2011 they teamed up with other technology companies in order to buy thousands of patents from nortel networks. the group calls itself the rock star consortium. now rock star is selling a bunch of those patents to another company. joining me to tell us more about the deal is the chief executive, anthony hayes. anthony, thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> patents are a popular area right now because all the technology companies need the legal wherewithal to use them. how did you get into the patent business?

>> well, in law school i worked for a judge, general litigation at a large firm. one day many years back a clients walked in, needed some help with some intellectual property and that's how i wound up backing into this line of business. helped him effectuate a sell, propped up his company and sent him on his way. then i became the firm expert on potents. >> how do you get to be the guy that helps close a $60 million deal in order to buy some patents from this rock star consortium? how did that happen? >> again, circuitously. a good friend of mine who is head and vice president of business development at rock star -- we went to law school together, went our separate ways. reconnected about a year ago and as we reconnected, we started talking, trying to put a deal together. how do you merge the public markets, which is what the

company said. it's a nasdaq traded company. with the private sector of patent assertion or patent licensing. we started working together. we closed a small deal in july. and then just december 31, just before the stroke of midnight almost, we closed this $60 million deal, which was one of the largest deals in the space for 2013. >> well, happy new year. i'll bet it was a nice celebration. >> it was. >> what do these patents include? how would you describe this to people who are not technology savvy? >> what's interesting about it, is that rock star is really what used to be nortel. nortel was one of the most famous companies to file bankruptcy. they came together. >> still going through the court. there's still litigation related to nortel. >> that's right, bankruptcy. >> they were a technology company. they couldn't make it. they went bankrupt. this technology deals with how information moves over the internet. literally whether it's a private network or a public network.

it's how voice or data moves through the internet. >> all right. now, these patents, do they end up getting royalties because of the patents? what's the value of a patent? >> of course, that's the big question, what is the value of a patent. what's important to remember -- and you don't have to take my word for it -- is that rock star values -- it's called the total size of this market just for 2013 is $20 billion, with a b, just for 2013. >> just for patents. >> the total addressable market is $20 billion for this particular spafmentse we have industry standard essential patents, and that's what makes this deal also very interesting. you're talking about standard essential patents on a $20 billion space. that's just 2013. that's not counting years back or years forward. so the addressable market is exceptionally large. >> so you have to sit down with a spread sheet and determine how much those patents are worth to a company like

spherix. >> gactly. we run that process. we try to negotiate the best deal we can, but we're really partners with rock star. they are our largest shareholder. they took $60 million worth of our stock and we're the first publicly traded company to have that type of partnership with rock star. >> what's the benefit for them to sell these to you? >> i think a couple of things. one, personally i thought it was somewhat genius in that they get the money up front. we share a piece of the back end on our licensing. plus they get to kind of play both in a public market space. if we do well and the licensing revenue comes in, stock goes up because they are our largest stockholder, the money they receive increases as the value of our stock increases. >> right. >> plus they get a share of the back end. we took it as a real vote of confidence that they would choose us to partner with, and that's a real shot in the arm for us and we're really, really

pleased and very grateful to be partnering with rockstar on this. >> how do you make sure if you're an investor that getting involved with a company that buys and sells patents is the real deal? >> well, that's a really important question, and i get that question a lot. a lot of times you hear, well, we don't know what you're buying. we can't read your patents. we don't understand the technology. i've taken all that information in and that's why partnering with rockstar is so interesting. they are microsoft, sony -- >> they are the technology companies. >> right. they were the ones that paid $4.5 billion for this technology. so you don't really have to take my word for it. who you're kind of now partnering with is the biggest tech giants in the industry, and that was really one of the impetuses behind us doing this deal, that investors can feel comfortable that, hey, we're not trusting some guy we never heard of. look at these companies that bought these patents. people have heard of apple and microsoft. >> indeed.

anthony hayes, much appreciated. still ahead, a super bowl party where you can rub elbows with some of new york's most celebrated chefs. we're going to talk to the chef of the little beet about what he's doing at the 50-yard lounge. time for clue number two --

>> in less than one month new york is going to host the super bowl. well, east rutherford, new jersey, is. it's being called the food and wine festival in the week leading up to the game. what's dubbed as the 50-yard lounge will feature food, music and, of course, football. chef franklin becker of the

restaurant little beet will be there, and he joins me now. thanks for being here, franklin. >> thanks for having me. >> tell us about this super bowl events, the idea that you're going to do the 50-yard lounge. >> well, listen, everybody chows down during the super bowl and everybody is looking to put their signature tricks and stuff on the table. so what we did was we created this whole 50-yard lounge and all the best chefs from new york city are coming together and we're joining some sports stars and we're cooking for the public. >> and where is it going to be, and how can people learn more? it's going to be at 1 penn plaza. you can learn more on the website. >> what kinds of things will you be featuring? >> my mom's lat cast, we're doing this challenge where you have to repeat what your mom did. so i'm doing my mom's latkes. >> this is what you ate while watching football as a child? >> no, but they asked me to repeat something my mom did, so

that's what i chose to do. i'm also doing a burger competition and doing this juicy lucy burger, where the cheese comes oozing out of it. yeah, things like that. >> the idea that you have this fast casual, but it is higher end, right? people want this experience quickly, but they also want high quality. tell us about that trend. >> so what we're doing is the way people are eating nowadays is very unhealthy. so we decided to take the whole model of the whole foods and the fairway markets and we decided to take those points and do organic food, really fresh, really wholesome. >> seasonal? got to be in season? >> seasonal 100%. fresh juices, kale salad, millet sclad and things that people want to eat but they don't know how to and they can't afford to. so we brought it down to a more mass production. so we're doing it at a $14

check average, ballpark, $12 to $14. you come in, you get a protein, you get a couple of sides, you know. you're full by the time you leave and it's a great model. it's just bringing restaurant-quality food to the masses. >> franklin, when did you first discover this twist in the way that food was going to be presented? because if you go back into time, no one thought, oh, it's got to be healthy. they just thought it has to taste good. >> that's because it was always healthy when we were growing up. there was no genetic modification. there was no things being altered here and altered there. the food was pure. so when we were growing up, they didn't talk about that, because it was quality. and then all of a sudden the 1970's, 1980's, they started to play with things and they started to crossbreed this and crossbreed that and you created this whole genetically modified organisms that are unhealthy. and they started giving antibiotics to the cows.

and before you knew it our food source was polluted. we're bringing it back to where it's supposed to be, back to nature. >> you're doing that also with some new ingredients, right? >> absolutely. >> tell us about it. >> we're taking things that are actually staples of nigeria, which is a millet grain. it's actually one of the grains that the nigerians eat for their source of protein and their source of fiber, their main source of protein and fiber. we've combined it with southwest flavors, tomatoes, avocados, jalapeno, lime juice, olive oil, onions, slantrorks and we turned it into a salad which is actually with us onstage. it's really fresh and light and aromatic. it's delicious. >> what would you like to see happen with the little beet? what's the next challenge? >> so store one right now. store two hopefully three to six months from now, and so forth and so on. hopefully 100. >> want to thank you very much.

great ambition, many thanks. chef franklin becker of the little beet. this is "taking stock" on bloomberg.

>> this is "taking stock" on bloomberg. i'm pimm fox. r the headlines, let's go to carol massar. >> wholesale electricity prices in texas topping $5,000 a mega watt, as frigid temperatures boosted glands. grid operators in texas have had to import energy from mexico as well as urging consumers to conserve power. men's wearhouse is going to shareholders in order to purchase joseph a. bank.

they are raising their bid to $57.50 a share and began a cash tender offer valuing joseph a. bank at $161 billion. the offer is scheduled to expire on march 28. ireland plans to sell at least $4.1 billion of 10-year bonds according to a person familiar with the matter. the sale signaling ireland's eturn to the debt market after exiting its november 2010 bailout just last month. >> carol mentioning the cold weather. united states midwest experienced some of the coldest temperatures in 20 years. temperatures are so low and conditions have become so dangerous that schools are being closed and businesses are shutting down across the midwest. i want to go to shock traumaburg, illinois. they say hot matters, cold matters, it matters. we have the vice president of marketing, julie ryan, joining us on the phone where it is minus 15 degrees fahrenheit tonight, julie. >> it is. with the wind chill it feels

like it's about minus 40. so iis definitely nice to be inside and it's actually a little bit sunny. the sunshine always makes everything feel a little bit better. >> julie, can you describe for us the business of thermomost in terms of the season -- sherm os? >> they make a wide range of products. we offer products that keep your coffee or tea warm as well as insulated hydration bottles to carry water with you throughout the day. >> tell us about some of the products that are specifically designed for cold-weather use. >> exactly. which most people are concerned about today. many of our insulated products actually keep food and beverages hot for up to 24 hours, even in these extreme conditions. not only is having a hot cup of coffee or soup a great comfort on a cold day like today, it's also actually an essential part of the readiness kits that you're hearing a lot of the news stations talk about when traveling or commuting to and from work today.

>> julie, can you give us an idea of the range of products, the costs, and where they are made? >> yeah. our products are really -- they range anything from $10 retails up to $25 retails, depending on the product. you can find them at any major retailer out there, as well as at thermos.com. > how do you make thee thermos? >> it's a proprietary process that we have, and we actually manufacture our products either overseas as well as in our domestic facility in mississippi. >> julie, next year you're going to be celebrating 110 years. what are your plans? >> we've got a lot of promotional efforts surrounding the genuine thermos brand, messaging, about hot matters, cold matters and it matters. we really think they're calling it chiberia today in chicago the it's appropriate for people to take a thermos brand product

with them, similar to what ernest shackleton did in 1914 in his expedition to ant arca. it's probably not as cold as it was then, but who knows? maybe it is. >> do you have individual stories of people using their they are most products in order to -- thermos products in order to bat m the cold weather? >> regarding the readiness kits, really to kind of pack your car with a blanket or a flashlight or water. when using a thermos brand hydration bottle, it actually will keep the water from freezing inside that water. >> julie, what kinds of other products are you working on at thermos? >> we have such a wide range of products that are in the works right now for further expansion of various hydration products, food storage products, lunch kits, cooler, as well as our traditional mugs and tumblers. >> julie, where is the biggest

competition for thermos? >> really our competition is -- we have so many different product categories that our competition ranges from competitors in the mug and tumbler category as well as the water bottle category. >> i want to thank you very much for joining us. julie ryan, tmp hermos vice president of marketing joining shaumburg, illinois. janet yellen, the voting process has begun to make her the next federal reserve chairman. we'll go to washington and get reaction about that vote. we continue with the weather. the temperature in new york city expected to be 6 degrees tomorrow. yes, 6. do you know what the coldest temperature ever recorded in central park was? it was -15 degrees february 9, 1934. followed that by -13 degrees december 30, 1917. we'll just keep going. -8 degrees february 15, 1943.

all right. my next mystery guest clue, i'll give you the final clue now. they put their names where their needle and thread is.

>> it is mystery guest monday. i've got no idea who my next guests are. luckily my producers are kind enough to provide us all with a few clues. they will help turn my weather-induced frown upside down. they use mud and stone to keep consumers toasty. and my mystery guests duo put their names where their needle and thread is. let's bring out our mystery guests. great to have you with me here. welcome to "taking stock." hi, how are you? nice to see you. it says needle and thread. are you in the apparel industry? >> yes. >> you are. are you in the apparel industry that is designed for winter? >> that's correct. >> so you're great for the cold

weather. you're all ready for the cold weather. >> all ready. >> do you make your own products? >> we manufacture our own products. >> are you originally from new york? >> born and bred. >> born and bred in new york and you make your own products for winter. do you make sportswear? >> it's sporty but it's mostly outerwear. >> which means it's more expensive sportswear. >> that's right. >> and it can be found in department stores or do you run your own stars? >> blooming dalse and saks. >> so big department stores. >> and better specialty stores. >> and better specialty stores. >> like an intermix or scoop. >> so a little higher end. you like to keep it the higher end stuff. >> are you by any chance married? >> we were. and we were ners partners in marriage and now we're partners in business. >> that's obviously proved successful. >> very. >> are you involved with brands

such as patagonia? >> no. >> how about brands such as columbia sportswear? >> not as active. >> the north face? >> it would be what you wear -- >> oh, my goodness, five, four, three. i've got to confess, i don't know hure. >> big in the 1990's and 1980's. >> fur-lined jackets with leather. >> andrew mark. >> my goodness, andrew mark schwarz. and suzanne schwartz. congratulations. i'm so glad you could be here. andrew marc, i kept thinking eyeglasses. >> well, that's robert marc and it's got a similar font. a lot of people say, what do you do, glasses? >> tell us about what you're doing now. tem me about the brand. >> we started a new brand three years ago called sam, suzanne andrew marc. we were away from the business for about four or five years. i saw a void in the market and thought we could fill it duane.

we have the utilitarian style with a luxury twist. we make obviously outerwear that's warm but also very fashion-forward and not bulky. we have jackets here that we brought. >> can i ask, how can you determine what kind of down to actually get in a jacket? because i see all these numbers. how do you measure the quilting and the down? >> in terms of down, it's a matter of fill and power. it's the amount of feathers you use in like a square inch. so you can make a down jacket that has fill power, but still very light, but warm. >> i see. >> so it depends on, again, the kind of quality product you're making and the kind of retail prices. like for instance, there's a lot of down jackets, but people want to buy the sam down jacket. and that's because it fits well, it looks good, and it's warm. so the key to our business is trying to make sam a brand,

where people really enjoy the product and really have -- >> sure, well obviously. >> it makes them look good, it makes them feel good, it makes them feel warm on a day like today. >> of course, and tomorrow and the next day. what about the technology that goes into this? because i've seen, for example, that many of these down jackets, they come with a technology marketing skew and it's all designed to be lighter weight, but warmer. thinsulate, a 3m product. no bulk but a lot of warm, close to your body. we line the jacket with that and put an extra fur liner in, so you have a very utilitarian look. >> how difficult was it to get into places like blooming dalse and saks fifth avenue? describe what that process is like. >> well, the process is basically we called up -- i would call up and say hi, it's andrew marc schwartz. we started a new business and

we want you to come and look. so we get them to come up, but the product and the line is as good as we are, like last year, meaning to say they all will come up because of our reputation. but they're all going to judge us based on what we've done like this year. i've got to tell you we're coming off a year where we tripled all our sales. again, it was cold. >> right. >> the economy was in our favor. and the stores in which we sell have a better customer that really -- the customer always knows, and the customer can always tell the difference of what's quality and what's not. o our product, our old company as well as many other vendors, we sold extremely well and we were the best-selling product in many stores, bloomingdale's, macy's a couple of weeks. >> so you're very popular with those people now, whoever decided to take you. >> whoever decided to take us and test us has done extremely well and we're moving forward

with them. >> what's the next thing that you want to do? >> we want to continue to grow and build our business with the retailers we have, who have an excellent -- >> but just outerwear? >> at the moment just outerwear. we like the purity concept, doing less is more, doing one thing really, really well. we're starting a kid line. but we have a long way to go in what we're doing right now. contemporary consumer and -- >> i think the approach is that we have like a group of product that is like a collection that stands inside of a category. so mostly the people in which we compete with, they sell items and we sell more of a group. >> i think of the initial public offering of monthclaire. >> unbelievable. that's a future interests, but right now we want to focus on the quality and have people love our jackets. >> i want to thank you very much, andrew marc schwartz and suzanne schwartz. great to be here with you and your sam brand.

well done. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> all right. as we await the results from the u.s. senate's confirmation vote on janet yellen, next we're going to discuss what janet yellen's appointment means for the u.s. and the global economy.

>> all right. from cold weather we progress to the u.s. senate. it is voth right now on the nomination of janet yellen to head the federal reserve. she'd be 159th chairman and the first woman to head the -- the 15th chairman and the first woman to head the femble. alice rivlin, former vice chairman of the fed currently a fellow of the brookings substitute of washington d.c. lso, stephen oliner. stephen, i want to start with

you. tell us, what do you know about janet yellen and what kind of federal reserve chief would she make? >> i think she'll be a great chief. i really supported her nomination from the very beginning. nobody could possibly be better prepared for the job than janet is going to be. she's been the vice chair of the fed for the past four years. she's been an important architect of the policies that the fed has been pursuing. and she has the right pemterment for the job. she's very analytical. she really focuses on the problem at hand. she's very careful and she's got great judgment so. i expect good things from janet. >> alice rivlin, ben bernanke has made a lot of the transparency and the public disclosure that the federal reserve has made and continues to make. what will janet yellen do? >> oh, i think she'll continue that policy. it's been a progression over the last 10 or 15 years. the fed used to be terribly

mysterious and you couldn't figure out what they were doing. t successively through the last few years, beginning in the 1990's, the fed has been more explicit about what it's doing. and under bernanke, who actually met with the press, which they never did before and made quite explicit statements and answered questions. it has become much more transparent. i certainly expect janet to continue that tradition. alice rivlin, what is her biggest challenge on becoming the head of the federal reserve? >> well, i don't think it's the same as taper. they've started to taper off the bond-buying program. they've started slowly, which i thought was the right thing to do, and i think they will continue to taper it down, unless there are surprises in the economy. i actually think her biggest challenge is on the regulatory

front and with the new esponsibilities of the fed for avoiding another 2008 catastrophe for being conscious of systemic risks. i think those are new powers and they're pretty difficult and sensitive at the moment. >> stephen oliner, does janet yellen have a philosophy when it comes to community banks as well as large banks and banking consolidation in the country? >> well, i think her overall philosophy is what we're seeing at the fed, which is that the financial system needs to be a lot more resilient than it was in the lead up to the last financial crisis. the fed is already moving in that direction. it has much more extensive supervision of the major banks and it's requiring them to hold a lot more capital so that they'll be better prepared to

weather another financial -- period of financial difficulty, if we have one. >> alice rivlin, ben bernanke was not shy about talking about the government and its inability with the legislature to pass a balanced budget of any kind and also was very clear about many economic efforts that were made on behalf of the public in passing various kinds of legislation. will janet yellen be so vocal? >> oh, i think she'll be as vocal as she needs to be. fed chairs have sort of an awkward position talking about fiscal policy, but ben bernanke's been quite frank. he has said if there were more sensible fiscal policies coming out of the congress, namely less austerity at the moment and more in the future, that the job of the fed would be easier. >> alice rivlin, do you know

that she already has relationships with the other heads of central banks around the world? >> oh, yes. janet and i go back to the 1990's when we were both on the board and then subsequently she's been head of the -- president of the san francisco fed and vice chair. the vice chair does a lot of the international traveling, d she's been to the meetings all over the world. so over a long period she's gotten to know the major players. >> stephen oliner, what has been the reaction of the banking industry to the appointment of janelle yellen? you mentioned regulation. >> well, i think the banking industry will want to see exactly where her views are. she's much better known at this point for her monetary policy views than for her regulatory

views. but as we saw during her confirmation hearing, there were many questions about the fed's regulatory burden on small banks, and i'm sure she heard that loud and clear. and also on the kinds of institutions the fed is starting to regulate that are not banking substitutions, such as insurance companies. so she's a very good listener and she really will take her regulatory responsibilities seriously, but also will try to make sure that there isn't undue burden on substitutions. >> stephen oliner, based on your experience at the federal reserve, is there a necessary for reform as to the way the banking system in the united states works? >> well, i think there has already been a lot of reform. really the whole regulatory apparatus before the financial crisis was way too lax or regulatory gaps. and the fed actually didn't even use all the powers that were at its disposal and it was much too complacent about

financial risks. and that is not true anymore. so i think a lot of the changes that need to have been implemented have been already, and we need to make sure that they get carried out in a consistent way. >> last one to you, stephen oliner. is the job of being federal reserve chief also political? >> no doubt. i'm sure that janet will be very attentive to her relationships with important senators and congressmen up on the hill and with other central bankers. the job is to make sure that the fed maintains its political independence, but also is not subject to political pressure. and that's a tough line to follow. >> and finally, stephen, if you could say one thing to janet yellen, what would it be, stephen oliner? >> good luck and be yourself, because i have complete confidence that she's going to be a great fed chair. >> want to thank you both very

much. stephen oliner american enterprise substitute and alice rivlin from the brookings substitute.