ellisons loved lilacs, they had lilacs in their summer place in the berkshires, and of course, mrs. ellison beat ralph to the punch, lilac is the coolest -- april is the coolest month pulling lilacs out of the ground. i hadn't been thinking about that at all. in any case, they were warm and formal people. so ralph ushered me into the -- into his study, and the study had -- it was all kind of one big old room, kitchen connected to the study connected to the kind of little living room that had a magnificent view of the hudson, and there was a very elegant italian marble table in the middle of the room, and there was a leather couch on either side of the table so ralph pointed out where -- the couch i was to sit and he sat across and we talked, 50 minutes or so, and you would never have known from this conversation that ralph ellison was a man, a jazz man of the vernacular from oklahoma, or that i was kind of a black irishman from up the line in new haven, connecticut. we talked as if they were inhabitants of one of the later novels of henry j., it was pretend husband and i glanced at

i love warren buffett but if berkshire -- i just read berkshire hathaway had to put away $8 billion in a safe place so this would stop, so we don't have to bail them out. we can't go on like this. the whole world has been affected. as you mentioned earlier, greece, i read about that, too. it is just a moral dutyimmoral, and i hope -- it is just immoral and i hope they write laws that make it a felony. these people don't have any lack of -- i don't know. they don't care. they lead and a different world. people who have billions -- for instance, richard -- paid 12.5% taxes if you years back when he was fighting with his divorce lawyer. little guys never pay that little in taxes. it is just stunning to me. what they are forgetting is we need a strong middle-class. and it is dying. host: the caller mentioned gree ce and that is the headline in many newspapers. financial fears grow in europe over great debt. here's a story about ford -- fourth positive quarter in a row. the finance division played a part in the $2 billion earnings. the chief executive warns of a challenging outlook. that is

. >>> former treasury secretary henry paulson talks about his new memoir "on the brink" with berkshire hathaway warren buffett. he talks in response collapse. this event was part of the greater omaha chamber of commerce 2010 annual meeting. >> well, hank i want to thank you for coming us. you honor us. i should declare right off the bat that i am a friend of hank's. i have been so for some years. i admired him before he took the job. i get my ear him a lot more after the job is done as the secretary of the treasury. the name of this book is "on the brink," and that is exactly where we were in september and october of 2008. at that time, our economy, our financial world went into cardiac arrest, and we had four people in the operating room we were fortunate as a country to have in place. we had hank, we had been bernanke, we had tim geithner and sheila bair the head of the fdic. i really -- i know a lot of people in finance and a lot of people in business, i know a lot of people in government, and i can't think of for that would have done a better job of getting us through that. now it'

so congress is adding to the deficit and on that note in recent weeks berkshire hathaway and proctor and gamble and lowe's and johnson & johnson debt traded at lower levels, lower yields than treasuries of similar maturity. and essentially the market is saying it is now safer to loan to warren buffett than it is to the united states government. mr. geithner disagreed with that conclusion or that assessment. i would just ask you your view because i don't know what else it could mean and also ask have you ever seen this in a bond market? what does this say about our fiscal outlook? >> it is very unusual certainly. there are a number of possibilities. the one you raise is one possibility. although if the u.s. government is not paying off going to be a huge amount of economic dislocation that would affect everybody. i think one of the issues recently has been and this would be consistent with what you're saying is that the u.s. government's very large debt issuances have been very large auctions with lots of borrowing going on has put some pressure on the normal purchasers of that debt a

the stocks i would stay away from are large insurance companies like berkshire hathaway, which is way overvalued. and companies that really are going to get their head handed to them in this like small banks as well. >> mark, we've seen a tremendous rally. earlier in the program you said you were concerned about volatility returning to the marketplace. do you think as a result of fin reg we're going to see a dent here in this market that's been on quite a tear over the course of the last year? >> a lot of people haven't really thought this through. this financial stability oversight council and the liquidation authority panel is going to make it way easier for bear rates to occur. because all you have to do now is just start putting a lot of pressure on an overleveraged stock or some kind of stock with a hiccup. and try to get the two panels, two groups to basically take it over. prior to this all you had to do -- you had to try to force the board of directors and all kinds of other shareholders. the reason why lehman fell was because -- not because of their balance sheet. it was beca

berkshire, pfizer, but that demand for aaa assets built the business for structured assets. rating agencies by putting inappropriately high ratings on this stuff enabled investment banks to manufacture product that could be purchased by regulating institutions. the problem with credit link note with a aaa rating, it sdent didn't deserve the rating and they got basis points for two years and then lost their investment. that's an inappropriate investment for a financial institution. jim had taken that bet, which he wouldn't because he's skeptical of those kind of bets, frankly if fidelity had bought that security, don't think there's an issue. the issue to jim's point, a party not at the table, the taxpayer h to step in. the financial reform bill in its current form, with respect to this resolution authority, happened in the u.s. and happened overseas, as long as the invests in the institution bear the loss as opposed to the government or taxpayer, i think that you won't have these kind of problems going guaforward. >> jim, you're on record saying there will be more cases and

berkshire pork htender loin is also really good. >> you can show me how you wrap it? >> sure.e that pancetta. it's nice to have it room temperature so it's pliable. and we'll put the pork right on top an thd then roll it around until it looks like that. >> you didn't seen it. >> not yet. the pancetta naturally has a lot of salt, so we'll go light on the salt and pepper. >> so after you wrap it, season it a little bit. >> salt and pepper. >> that's all it needs. >> it's really about the natural pork flavor. it will seer and be great. nice and crispy on the outside. a little bit of oil in the pan. hot skillet. >> let's listen for the magic sound. so you get it nice and brown on both sides. do you put it in the oven? >> that's right. we'll toss that in the oven. what we have is one that's here. it's already ready coming out of the oven. >> how long do you put it in there? >> after you brown it on both sides, you're talking about another five or six minutes or so. it won't be too long. it's not a really, really thick cut of meat and we want to keep it a medium temperature. >> and

democrats agreed to kill a provision from a derivatives portion that would have helped warren buffett's berkshire hathaway avoid a big financial hit. they write -- we have philadelphia, mississippi, on the independent line. good morning. caller: it is just a matter of both sides being too cozy money- wise. earlier you mentioned $30 million over the past 10 years. but until we get the lobbyists and the money men out of this -- the main street people have a voice, this will never change. thank you. host: chicago, mary, line for democrats. caller: you read from "the wall street journal." that is the rupert murdoch paper. he is the main one pushing hatred and vitriol. when people say both parties do the same thing. all you have to do is go to senate.gov, you will find of the vote on repealing glass- steagall, republicans owned the house of the senate and clinton was president and you had 45 democrats in the senate and 44 of them voted no, the one that voted yes was hollings, a conservative from south carolina. all republicans voted to repeal the last-steagall. -- glass-steagall. host: the front page

berkshire hathaway urges lawmakers to pull back cut. >>> test vote on banks.epublican leaders said sunday their ranks are unified and determined to shoot down a key test vote on monday. >>> and "the san francisco chronicle" -- city's $100,000 club swells. more than a third of san francisco city workers earned $100,000 or more last year. that's a look at local papers. >> willie geist, what are you looking at on the top of the new york post? >> can we get in on this? push in on this. andy, you were explaining a -- >> first, read the headline because a lot of people are eating their cornflakes and not eating their screen. >> it says boobquake day. >> what does that mean? >> there was a muslim cleric that said women who show too much cleavage were bad for men, it was añagr bad influence and were causing earthquaking around the globe. >> yes. how is that? >> that sounds right. >> i'm just reiterating what he said. >> okay. >> and then this woman read this and said we should all -- women should get together and do something -- >> got it. we're good. you know what i

impulse is a marvin group, berkshire hathaway company and a member of the american public transportationsociation. my testimony today is on behalf of my company. i am pleased to report that in 2009, my new project business grew 35%, ending 2010 i expect sales to grow another 10 to 15%. i do not believe that my business would have survived without the incessant and public transportation by way of the arra spending money that our projects include los angeles goal line extension, the denver west corridor line, the pittsburgh north shore connector and the portland streetcar flew projects among others. i recognize that most of these projects were already in the funding pipeline. as a new capital projects. and as the program and project authorizations under safetea-lu approach expiration, are a funding serve as an important bridge between that bill and the next authorization bill and help expedite these projects. in talking with my supply partners, i've come to learn how much they have relied on my business to the tough economy. shirley gaines, president of the sign height casting a woman on b