captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" with abc7 naonal correspondent rebecca cooper. >> thanks for joining us this week for a look at busininess and finance in the washington region. what will washington do to clamp down gas prices? taking china to court. and goldman sachs and unhappy employee who quiuit viathe new york times. first, the story of a local l bank that has b become one of the fastest-growing b businesses in

our region. john marshall bank has landed on the list of top commercial lenders. customers s the bank answers your call when you wt a loan. joining us today chahairman and ceo john maxwell, and the bank president, bill ridenour. thank you r joining us. johnhn, let t me start with you. yoyou took off and had ge to europe and enjoyed some time with your family and three young boys. things were not looking as good in the banking indndustry. >> i asked myself at q question many times. when we came back, so o many bankers were o out there that waed to do this again. we looked at the market and said itas a perfectct time to start

a communityy bank. it was security first bank and first opened u in 2006. we were growing but we could d not get o off the ground. we put t two t togetr and renamed it john marshall bank. it took off from ther >> you w were warning people do not expect th samee growth, that the fundamentals are not there this time e around. what do you think happenedo allow this bank is success in the rececession? >> when we went into the original bank and took over, wee were able to start with clean slate. we were able to go out intnto the marketplace with o our new capital and make loans to people. we knethere were good credit

risks. >> what is your experience when you know someone is worth making a loan to that the bigger banks do not know of? >> we a able to look at things since we are s small on a case b by case basis. some of the larger banknks will look at things more in a mro sense. if they decide the real-estate maet is declining, they will take the position that we nt to strip our real-estate lending. wewe will take t the pitio -- not all real-estate transactions are bad. wewe can make a case by case decision. >> talk to me aboutommunity banking. we have seen other banks do well. it is because they stayedut of some of the riskierer financial products. was that a part of your success as well? >> we attribute it to knowowing

our clients and providing the services that they need that not doing the riskier things or things that we did not quite understand. >> i cited this earlier. the ceo of leesburg pharmacy -- yodid offer to take her out t to lunch when she asked for a loan. do you do that for every client? >> we do that for everybody. >> you are going to have a big lunch bill after this show is over. e do that for all of our clients.s. that is what is s nice about working wit a community bank. you can go to lunch with t present or the ceo. weo offer th opportunity. we encourage our officers to go the customemer's business as opposed to them, and seeing uss.

>> how d do you handle t the ft that -- i am constantly doing stories about the great things that community banks c can offer. you only have four b branchehes in this area. i think you grew something like 73 four branches it is four branches. whwhat can you say to customers abou its worth? >> what has helped communitity banks in this market are technology c changes. if you are our ctomer, youan use in the atm machinet a 7/11 for free. there are heck of a lot 7/11's. there is a technologyy called remote deposit machines. you can have a machine in your office that is a secured scanning system, where you can tatake your checkcks, scan the and

there a are transferred to the banko yo never have to come into a branch. >> we have seen it with so many banks. so many of t big one's saying we are not making enough money so we arare going to start chcharging more for atm fees or debit cards. how are you resisting the calls of increasing fees on those services? >> that is one of the things that differentiates us from the bigger banks. if you looook at our bottom line, it mig be 5% of our income. we count on a loyal customer coming in we are not looking at raisg for fees. part of the attctiofor us is we do not have all of those fees. if we puput then plalace, we will b be like the other big

banks. >> during the recession, some say it is very difficult to get a loan. ias talking to the owner of very successful restaurant that continues to grow but he talked about how difficult itit was convinng the bank to give him the money he needed to grow. what do you tell a smalll business when they come to your doors? whatat's the e first thin we look at is their track record and if they have been successful. do they know the business that they are in? do they have secondary sources of repayment? if tir salales drop o or if something chchanges in their businessss, they have other resources to tap into. >> i have to ask you. you were the janitor at a bank when youou started off. through high school, college and you finally worked your way up t the top.

what are your k keys to success for other ceceo's? >> it is what we tell ourur own clients. invest in yourself, investor business and keep your hands at the wheel. everything will take care off itself. >>entlememen congratulations and ththank you for joining us o on "washington business report." after the break, pay at the pump and presidential politics. the e roundtable is next. laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug.. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] get the mileage card with special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ ♪ okay. what's your secret?

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>> you don't have to hear this

from us. we are now paying about $4 per gallon for gas in the washington region. rising energy costs s are not only afcting ththe economic trends, but politil tacticshis year as well. joining us now bloberg white housreporter kate andersen brower and peter morici, professor of economics at the university of maryland. what is t white house saying about oil and gas pririces? last week, presint obama said there is not much he could doo about it because of all of the woworld events. this weeeek, takg a a stance of there are things we are going to doike stress intervention. >> it i is really interesting because i was s in toledo, ohio, with the vice president and lked to a union member whose

job was saved because of the bailout and he said if g prices go up it will not matter. the administration does not have ailver bullet. tapping the reserve might notot do it and they have not come out and said tt is something they are going to do. >> reuters mistakenly reported there was a dl after the meeting david cameron -- >> oil is not like gold. gold prices can be kept up because itan be stored. you u have to take e delivery of l becaususe it spoils. the prpresident likes to blame everybody he confined. listen to the secretary. he said in 2008 we have to figure out how to get energy prices to european levels. the man was confirmed secretary of energy. now $4 a gallon. pretty soon, it is going to be

$8. >> it may not be only "drill, baby, drill." it would not affect gas prices tomorrow, but it would affect as princess. this president is trying to confuse people about thisssue. he does not nt to drill because he is banking on alternative energy. remember those 5 million jobs? i amtill looki for them. >> the president will be goioing to oklahoma next week. that is going to be a big part of the narrative next week. >> that is tricky. if keystone was approved, they would be going through oklahoma. >> pusng i is a great -- >> kate was going to finish. >> keystone isis sh a complicated isissue. he is going to mexico, ohio,

oklahoma. he is goi to be talking about oil and held the jobs can be brout back. he did not really have control over part of this. part of the transcanada p pipelinee has been approved. the administration is really clning that up. >> peter, we love you becse you are realally smart. a lot of experts would say you are wrong to say that increasing domestic production n would have that much of an impact overall. >> the president and his supporters say increasing domestic production would not matter. 4 million barrels peray would increase glolobal supplied by 4%. it would probably have a four- time increase on global prices. in the old days, the cushion praise was essentially the same.

the markets haveve diverged. addingo domestic supply would ha a consequent. on top of that if we are paying $100 a barrel for oil, , that money would stay in the united states and create jobobs. 2.5 million jobs. if you want to get someone from the administration -- the treasury s secretary -- to dispute that i wld be happy to discuss that with him. >> i would not be surprised if theyapped the strategic reserve. >> kate you made a good point and an article y wrote this week every time t there is a big republican primary day the democrats at the white house maged to john roll some domeststic inititiative. they announced a big help for hoowners on mortgages.

this week, it t was taking china to courtrt over rare minerals. >> it is a about politic they are slapping china on the wrist for producing these rare minerals. >> we ed them for boeing, helicopter blades -- >>verything. it i is hard to sayow important that issue is. a l lot ofhinese e expts i talk to say they not eect china to o retaliate significantltly. ina is in a period of transition. the vi presint isoing to becomeme president next year. the president using thaspeech tuesda that he is tough china. romney ss the fir day in office he is going to o label china as a currency manipulator. >> let me point out that i earned my tenure buy rating

trade agreemenents. the chese are going to lose this case. they have lost silar cases. it aects things as mundane as making those alternative light lbs and thgs like this. the presesident did the right thing by where he had -- b but where has he been the last three years? >> according to kate, he has -- >> absolutely. he reminds me of chasing the mice with a hamme, when the problem is that the source of the- the president has refused to do what he himself says it is slowing growtwth. frankly, it appears that this prident is afraid of china. if youou can deliver the treasury secretary, i would be happy to discuss that with him.. >> we will see if it matters. we are goioing to take a break

come back, and talk about goldman sachs.

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on december 22nd and you still need to reti td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in controntnow, mayans? >> welcom back. we are back with peter morici, professor at the unersity of mamaryland, and always ready to take h him on, kate andersen brower bloomberg white house reportrter. let's take on a topic -- just how evil wall street is. they tried to do to rein them in but lo and behold a 33-year-old

traderer or wrwrite an editorial this week out of "the new york times," saying i amuitting because goldman sachs is evil and toxic. >> it really plays into this argument but it is not entirely a fair argument. at the state dinner, the president had a lot of contributotors to his campaign debt or private equity people. my colleague did a story about how the president surrounds himself with a lot of ceo's but he coses to surround himselflf with p people who make things. not people who invest money. >> he hahas had plenty of people in his administrtration who are friendss with wall street. are we being naive? he said they were calledm muppets. at l least five management

directors referr to their clients as muppets. >> thehey said they were figuring out that they were out tre to make money. >> running around witith hundred dollar bills in their pocketsts and delivering women at a good time for their clients is nonsense. goldldman shs, morgan stanley and the oers -- the culture o of wall street has anged. compared to other industrtries in the 1970's and the 1980's when investment bankers were not rewarded as well. is all about making money. for example, goldman was invovolved in the greek crisis. papering things over f for a few years. a lot of criticism of goldman is deserveded, and this administration is very close to goldman sachs, j.p. morgan, and the others.

the difference between the bush treasury and the obama treasury is the difference between the fifth and sixth floor at gogoldman sachs.s. they are running the treasury department. >> c'mon. >> i expect our treasury secretary to be there before it is over. >> there are plenty of outanding people at the trsury and elsewhere. one trader at gdman says there used to be leadehip and he said people kept the firm's value at their d desks. now if you make enough money at your firm and d you are not an ax murderer, he will be promoted to a position of influence. >> the romney campaign probablyly is notot happy to see that. it was really interesting because a vice-president joe biden could go first campaign

speech called out bain capital. >> tell us about that -- >> it was the first time that the campaign really came o out and named names. he calledut mititt romney. the whole point o of the trip was he was tkingo a bunch of uaw memberers. it was ieresting because he said private equity companies or not lining up i in 2009 to hehelp save thehe auto industry. >> the e other thing you wrote about this week - republicans wooi hispanics. how ch play with his voters? >> it is not looking great. they sayhey need to get up to 46% of the hispanic vote. >> one or two words? >> the repepublicans need a 46%.

that is wh bush got. i doubt they will l get more than 20%. >> very good. we will be back after

how did this small colorado town get through tough economic times? freight rail. it attracted large companie like vestas. we built four factories to make turbine blades towers, and generators. creating over seventeen hured jobs. then suppliers, stores more companies followed, creating more jobs. economists call that the ripple effect. i call it the freight rail effect. freight rail connects ery corner of america, bringing jobs and economic growth along for the ride. visit freightrailworks.org. >> our numberf the week -- $7,100. that figures $1,000 more than the nation average according

to a report by the consumer creditompany. that is s all for us this wee [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar on december 21st polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd and you still need to retire td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans? laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong

plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] get the mileage card with special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ ♪ okay. what's your secret? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in.