but senator carl levin says goldman is misleading the country about its mortgage bets. it will be an interesting hearing, susie. >> this sure looks like it's shaping that up way, darren. we got from your report a preview of what lloyd blankfind, the ceo of goldman sachss is going to say tomorrow but you can give us an idea of what you think the questioning by the senate panel will be like to cover all these hearings, what do you expect? >> i think it's going to be very contentious, susie. this panel has spent 18 months digging through goldman sachs e-mails, thousands of them. and they believe that they basically have a morality tale here that goldmans is the example of what went wrong in the mortgage markets and how wall street kind of spoon fed these toxic assets out to clients and out into the financial system. goldman is having none of it. they know that the committee has all these e-mails in their own words. but they're arguing still that they are misunderstood. so i expect a lot of fireworks tomorrow. >> darren, that hearing tomorrow does put goldman in the forefro

let's listen to the chairman, carl levin. pursuant to rule 6 all witnesses who testify before the subcommittee are required to be sworn so we would ask you to stand and raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> yes, i do. >> thank you. thank you very much. you -- i don't know if you heard -- >> the opening statement, we did get that text last night. we'll watch it, we'll see if there are any changes and then go and check out his answers to some tough questions. let's check in with jack cafferty. he's got "the cafferty file". i assume this guy has been practicing. it is going to be some pretty tough questioning to him today, jack. >> i wonder if levin will use profanity in talking to him like he did earlier today. we have another example of our representatives in washington not listening to what the people of this country want. i guess that's not breaking news. they seldom do anymore. despi republicans h

>> reporter: the credit rating agencies are supposed to be the referee on the field and senator carl levin says their call should never determine whether someone gets a bonus. the financial regulatory reform bill doesn't address that conflict, but levin says it's got to find it's way into the bill when the senate takes it up next week. darren gersh, "nightly business report", washington. >> tom: more encouraging news on housing, new home sales surged 27% in march from february's weak pace. the gains snap four months of declines. it's the strongest sales pace since last july and the largest one month percentage gain in almost 50 years. lousy weather in february and the first time buyers tax credit that expires april 30 figured into the sales gains. economist richard dekaser is optimistic the housing market is stabilizing. >> if you, for example, compare the first three months of this year with the first three months of last year-- which really does pretty much abstract away from these tax related issues-- you see a modest increase in the 5% to 10% range for home sales. that's what i think w

committee chairman carl levin charged goldman treated clients like objects to move around for its own profit, not telling those clients it was actively betting against their success. here levin grills david viniar, goldman's chief financial officer, on why the firm was pushing a deal it described in graphic terms. >> i want you to understand what's in the customers' minds, that you don't think it's junk, you don't think it's crap, you don't think it's [no audio]. >> it depends on how you mean it. >> how i mean it? these are your employees who mean it! >> can i explain? if we sell a security to a customer... let's say we sell it at 20 cents on the dollar. they buy it at 20 cents. that doesn't mean we think it's a terrific piece of paper. >> reporter: levin also tried to pin viniar down on whether goldman was placing big bets against the housing market and the securities it was selling to clients. >> you made billions going short. you can talk about risk management. i call that making lots of money. >> reporter: on balance viniar said goldman made half a billion dollars when taking into

senator carl levin talked a little bit about what he thinks goldman did in advance of this hearing for tomorrow. let's listen. >> the evidence shows that goldman repeatedly put its own interests and profits ahead of the interests of its clients. >> $20,000 an hour, is what i heard, by the way, that he made as well. this sounds also familiar, joe. it's not going to be the first time that blankfein himself has appeared on the hill about this. so what is new here? >> well, the one thing you can say for sure is in all likelihood, they're not going to admit any wrongdoing. blankfein and the bank deny, basically, all the charges. they say they're up-front about their investments, and the real question about this guy is about what's known on the street as shorting. basically betting that some mortgage-backed securities products sold by the bank were going to fail. goldman claimed during the financial crisis it lost money, but we have an e-mail and a graphic of it. blankfein wrote, "of course we didn't dodge the mortgage mess. we lost money." but then listen to this, he said "then we made more

. >> carl levin says he will wait until after these proceedings to determine whether or not to refer the findings to the justice department and to the sec for any possible criminal charges. >> there is no debate yet for the financial reform bill. for the second day in a row, the republicans have blocked from coming it up from its coming up. -- from its coming up. -- from it coming up. president obama criticized republicans for stalling. he spoke about the economy and clean energy programs. his next stop is illinois and then missouri. >> the district pasquale malls are in danger of being overturned once more. laws arestrict's gun in danger of being overturned once more. d.c. delegates say they're prepared to fight the bill. >> the obama administration is prepared to go to court over arizonas new immigration law. the law requires police to ask people for documentation if they are suspected of being in the country illegally. than it would make it a state crime if they are. the former arizona governor said that the new state law could [unintelligible] she says that congress needs to take

there was a story in "the washington post," and there is carl levin, the powerful chairman of the senateed services committee. you are chairman of the very powerful house ways and means committee, the first time two brothers had headed these two powerful committees since the 1800's. you are only outdistanced by brothers in congress by a clan named kennedy, so what does that mean for you and your brother, at this point, this critical junction in america to be chairman of both this very powerful house and senate committees -- both these? >> i was talking to a colleague of mine very briefly. i think whatever else that is in this article, i think people read it, it says something about the vital nature of bonds in families and bonds among siblings. as my brother said so well in that article, nothing can take the place of love among a family and love among siblings, and i think more than anything else, that is what the article speaks to. i think so. power, that is one thing, but love of family and of siblings is more important, is more powerful than any other power, at least earthly power, at

. >> reporter: michigan democrat carl levin is chairman of the subcommittee investigating the role of investment banking in the housing meltdown. he made the goldman emails public. >> they bundled toxic and dubious mortgages into complex financial instruments, sold them to investors, magnifying and spreading risk throughout the financial system. >> reporter: in a statement today, goldman sachs again aserred it lost money in the mortgage market, $1.2 billion in one year. and said the senate subcommittee "cherry-picked just four e-mails from 20 million pages of documents," "making it seem the subcommittee had reached its conclusion even before holding a hearing." on wall street thursday, president obama criticized bankers for what he called reckless practices as he works to head off a republican filibuster of his financial reform package when it comes up for a vote next week. more trouble for the powerful investment bank. 63 members of the house, including one republican, are urging the justice department to open a criminal investigation of goldman sachs, while two of its shareholders h

. >> susie: the chairman of the senate panel examining wamu, senator carl levin, says the company's lending created, quote, "a mortgage time bomb." wamu failed in september 2008. its assets were sold to j.p. morgan chase. >> tom: the financial crisis had its roots in complex trading instruments that few people understood. now with financial regulatory reform working its way through capitol hill, there's a big push to make the investments we buy easier to understand. but as stephanie dhue found, some familiar products are growing more complicated. >> reporter: with interest rates near record lows, some banks are souping up certificates of deposit. they've taken the simple c.d. and linked it to a stock market index. tom gletner of suntrust investment services says the product is aimed at investors hoping to cash in on the market's performance. >> the majority of people who buy index-linked c.d.s know the stock market, are comfortable with it, want to participate, want to get the inflation beating returns it can potentially supply, but are paralyzed with fear of loss, so this allows them to pa

i think carl levin will be closer right. they did make $4 billion making the short bet against the mortgage market. maybe the american people have to decide. they obviously made a lot of money where other banks did not. >> no question the american people are angry at the banks. maybe at goldman sachs in particular. but how big a hit is this to goldman? as i said at the top, they have been the gold standard of investment banks. and the whole idea is they put their clients first. is that reputation at ris snk. >> i think the way they do business, and traditionally have done business, is at risk. i would argue that the old goldman sachs, from 15, 20 years ago, would never put themselves in position to be under such public scrutiny where it was so close to the line about what they did was right or not. just because you can do something, just because you can create a synthetic cbo, whatever that means, doesn't mean you should. and the old goldman sachs wouldn't have done this. they would have been focusing on raising capital for

further strengthen that concept and that amendment also takes on -- and i applaud my colleague, carl levin from michigan, my cosponsor, who has brought forward a part of that amendment and emphasized it, saying we need to address the conflict of interest in financial firms. and so what is that conflict of interest? you shouldn't be in the position of designing and selling securities, telling your customers they're the best thing since sliced bread over here when at the same time you're betting against those securities because you think they're going to fail. that's a conflict of interest and it shouldn't be allowed. and the merkley-levin amendment will address that as well as strengthen proprietary trading. and i am very comfortable bringing that to the floor of this senate and having that debate. it may have a majority. it may not. but that is the type of debate we need to have on this floor. and i could go on through the treatment of derivatives, and i applaud my colleague, blanche lincoln. discussion of a consumer financial protection agency that provides the same fairness in financial

obviously carl levin will have a showdown with lord blankfein.'ll get his name right. >> blankfein is fine. >> not today because they found about 3.5, maybe $4 billion more in these assets. so there's going to be some real problems with goldman sachs. and then i guess the republicans, mark halperin, we'll talk about this after news. the republicans have decided to block the financial reform bill. >> i still don't quite get their strategy because i think eventually they're going to give in. i'm not sure why they're saying please, sir, may i have another? there's some substantive complaints but those they could probably work out in 20 minutes. >> in the immortal words of "top gun," gutsiest move i've ever seen, maverick. >>> senate democrats remain confident they will be able to push through financial reform zpat failing to get the 60 needed to start debate on the measure. yesterday gop members stood firm, voting unanimously to block the legislation from reaching the senate floor. republicans maintain there are still too many problems with the bill

i think there's a way we can come to common ground. >> do you think carl levin's committee is doing thisring today to hurt those republicans who stood against the bill yesterday? >> listen. i think that senator levin had this hearing planned for a long time. the committee's been working on this issue for, i believe, most of the last year. i'm not on the committee. i don't know the substance of what he's getting at. you know, i can see where people are suggesting the timing but i do think this thing has been on the books for many, many weeks. you know, what i hope would be this, every financial institution i talk to, and i'm a pro-business guy, spent 20 years dealing with the markets before i got this job. >> i know. you were the first person in your family to make $100 billion. >> that's right. i want to try to get it right. i mean, this is not democratic/republican. we've got to get it right. everybody that comes in to see me says, hey, i agree, we need financial reregulation but let me tell you why the one section that affects my firm, you shouldn't do because of unintended consequence

in a statement, carl levin said washington mutual built a conveyor belt that dumped toxics assets into the financial system like a polluter dumping poison into a river. in 2003, up to 75% of the loans bought didn't meet the thrift standards, and even though senior management knew about it, did little to try to change it. employees went so far to cut and paste bank statements from current clients to create files for new borrowers so they would be approved more quickly. it was in the employees' interests to do this, because they were paid on volume rather than the quality of the loans they approved. in another instance, loans generated by one office in california were so defective, aig stopped writing insurance on them, subsequently alerting the otc, the office of thrift supervision. levin says wamu did this in pursuit of big profits by selling them to wall street firms. and then they resold them in securitization process. questions of criminality at the failed thrift are going to be left to the justice department. the subcommittee holds the first of four hearings tomorrow, and wamu's fo

in one of the most simplest exchanges, the bleep was something carl levin was referencing in an e-mail it wasn't his use of the word. he was repeating an e-mail. that was quite a saucy stretch for a hearing. this has been colorful and interesting. >> it reminds me of the classic moment in "casablanca." >> i don't think anybody was ever in the room but paulson, were there, mr. tourre, really? let's be honest here. that was a paulson deal and you put in there as some kind of fig leaf so you could do what you're doing now. why didn't you use aca on the other deals? you know what the interesting thing is on timber wolf? you know who gray wolf is, your alum alumni. they're all goldman sachs people. if gambling, pure and simple, raw gambling. you are the bookie, you are the house. you have less oversight and regulation as you all began this wild, wild west, you had less oversight than a pit boss in las vegas. >> ron, also, david brooks in today's "new york times," an op-ed where he says -- >> i won't agree on that. with respect to senator mccaskill, i think the interesting portion as -- i am

. >> in addition what carl levin and i have in our bill is to say if you are a financial house, distinguishing it from a lending bank, and you are in this business, which it's a good thing to be in, then as you become a bigger player in the market there should be additional capital requirements so you don't -- so you have an ability for regulators to control the systemic risk. >> senator, thank you so much for joining us. we really appreciate it. trish? >> when we come back, we're going to show you the smart way to invest in financial regulation reform. >> all right. plus, caterpillar, humana and black rock all out with earnings. we're going to head over to earnings central for a breakdown of their results. you're watching cnbc first in business worldwide. gecko: uh, you wanted to see me sir? boss: come on in, i had some other things you can tell people about geico - great claims service and a 97% customer satisfaction rate. show people really trust us. gecko: yeah right, that makes sense. boss: trust is key when talking about geico. you gotta feel it. why don't you and i practice that with a

democratic chairman carl levin of michigan lashed out at the office of thrift supervision. >> o.t.s. was a feeble regulator. instead of policing the economic assault, o.t.s. was more of a spectator on the sidelines, a watchdog with no bite. noting problems and making recommendations but not acting to correct the flaws and the failures that it saw. at times, it even acted like a guard dog. >> sreenivasan: the head of the office, john reich, denied he'd been too cozy with wamu managers. and sheila bair, chair of the federal deposit insurance corporation, said her agency did all it could. battle lines have hardened on a bill to reform financial regulation. president obama called again today for reining in "derivatives". they include the mortgage-backed securities that triggered the housing market collapse. the president said, "i will veto legislation that does not bring the derivatives market under control." the senate could take up the bill next week, but all 41 senate republicans announced today they will oppose it. nearly all u.s. hospitals will have to give same-sex couples greater

will deal with the product of an 18-month investigation by a senate committee that is headed by carl levin, democrat of michigan. they have been pouring over documents, examined e-mail. they've looked at all kinds of evidence that they say shows that goldman sachs a premiere banking and investment firm, really engaged in practices that amount to selling a security and then betting on that security to fail. and misleading clients. of course, goldman sachs says it did not do anything wrong. it followed appropriate practices, but would in fact agree that maybe it needed to be a little clearer about some the things it has done. that sort of sets the outline. but one of the things that makes this all interesting is when you get to look at e-mail from inside the company talking about some of the things that might get them into trouble and there's one particular former employee who is being talked about, actually, i believe he's still currently there, fabrice tourre heads a london office. there were e-mails that the committee uncovered that dealt with some of his communication, personal stuff he

senator ted kaufmann, senator sharrod brown, senator blanche lincoln, dick durbin, maria can'twell, carl levin. bernie sanders. they all want an honest debate about the fundamental flaws in the bill. however, those in the leadership role are attempting to quash that debate and serve the bankers who deliver them the money. lawmakers, actually trying to bring transparency to the shadow banks. lawmakers actually trying to stop the police and regulators for being under the employment of the crooks they're supposed to supervise. trying to fix a bill that perpetuates permanently too big to fail. it's a bill that is designed in fact deliberately to hide the next bailout so that congress never has to do it again. and meantime, all of them, the bankers and the politicians, hold you and i prisoner, to too big to fail banks that have only gotten bigger. four of them now control 60% of all the assets in our country. with leverage like that, my friends, you don't need a democracy, you own the place. the goldman sachs lawsuit finally put a spotlight on the dire need to fix the derivatives market. remember t

. >> brown: committee chairman carl levin, a democrat, said the company's behavior called into question the conduct of all of wall street. >> wall street is on the wrong side of this fight. it insists that reining in those excesses would unduly restrict a free market that is the engine of american progress. but this market of ours isn't free of self-dealing or conflict of interest. it is not free of gambling debts that taxpayers end up paying. >> brown: with that, the first panel of current and former goldman sachs executives got their say. >> the culture at goldman sachs was one in which excellence and integrity are expected. >> we provided significant liquidity to our customers in a difficult and challengixng market, while also managing to post a profit during this period. >> brown: fabrice tourre was the only goldman employee directly accused in a securities and exchange commission civil suit alleging fraud. the s.e.c. claimed he marketed investments designed to lose value. but tour insisted today that was not the case. >> i deny, categorically, the s.e.c.'s allegation. and i will de

there was a press briefing with carl levin who leads that committee. what he said is that it's clear to him that goldman amassed this short position, this negative bet, and that the negative bet allowed goldman to profit. goldman disputes this. goldman says that they lost money on mortgages in '08 and that they were just trying to be neutral on the market. i imagine we'll hear a lot more about that tomorrow. >> suarez: one document released today at 5:00 eastern time was from a goldman trader involved in mortgages and involved in the european exposure who said the company had really damaged its brand over there. >> you're right. there was an email from october '07 written to dan sparks who is the head of mortgage trading at goldman. that email said, you know, a lot of european investors are very upset with us, with goldman about these deals. we really damaged our brand there. the big question for goldman and all of wall street is, how much have they damaged the reputation with clients, with the public? you know, goldman released the ceo. they released

. >> we all work for carl levin.is the future -- >> what about the people putting money in the wall street firms and being gyped? >> chris: gentlemen, we can continue this on panel plus. let's turn to the debt commission, because you heard the cochairs, alan simpson and erskine bowles talk about to the degree they were willing to tip their hands what their plans are. what do you think are the chances by the end of the year we'll have serious deficit reduction? >> serious deficit reduction? >> chris: yes. >> or a plan calling for serious deficit reduction? >> chris: either. >> i think the commission will agree we need serious deficit reduction. i think the committee will probably lay out a list of ways to get there without necessarily picking any. i don't know whether they can agree enough on that. the idea that by the end of this year that this fiscal train wreck, which refers not only to the current extraordinary levels of debt, but all this unfunded liabilities going forward, social security, medicare in particular

>> melissa, senator carl levin came out swinging ahead of tomorrow's hearing on the investment bank's role in the financial crisis. goldman will be the case study tomorrow. and at a press briefing earlier levin accused the bank of putting its own interests ahead of its clients'. >> for large fees goldman helped run the conveyor belt that dumped hundreds of billions of dollars of toxic mortgages into the financial system. >> e-mails like this one from ceo lloyd blankfein as evidence goldman kaz was cutting its exposure to the housing market and off-loading its bad assets to customers without telling clients that had gone bearish on housing. in the e-mail he writes, "could/should we have cleaned up these books before and are we doing enough right now to sell off cats and dogs in other books throughout the division." levin goes on to say contrary to goldman's claims that it didn't make a large directional bet on the housing market its proprietary trading operations profited handsomely in 2007 from betting against residential mortgages. >> the best number that we have is that they made ab

senator carl levin of michigan who was just on the floor presided over the permanent subcommittee on investigations, the committee on homeland security. carl levin told me that he had worked for 16 months in preparation for that hearing, trying to understand the complexity of wall street and how it works. he brought in the highest executives from goldman sachs and asked them point-blank to explain what they had been doing. we saw it on television last night and this morning. when the men who were called before him who have literally made millions of dollars out of this investment scheme were asked to explain it. something as basic as this: how could they sell a product to a consumer at goldman sachs without disclosing that goldman sachs was betting that consumer would lose money? that's what happened. they were so-called shorting the market, meaning they were betting huge sums of money that the investment they were selling to their customers was going to fail. and these men sat before that committee and said that's business. that's how we do business. well, that's the sort of thing t

over the weekend, democratic senator carl levin released internal e-mails from the company that seemedo bolster charges the wall street powerhouse misled investors. one e-mail lloyd blankfeif said we don't dodge, we made money, then we lost, then we made money, then we lost because of shorts. goldman sachs contends the e-mails were cherry-picked and blasts the senate for drawing a conclusion before they had a hearing. >> they truncated the one e-mail because the next sentence says, it's not over so it's not clear how that's going to work out. i read that and you look at the actual e-mail, they swipe that out. not to defend goldman, but the whole e-mail -- >> it's a shame. here's -- i'm not defending goldman sachs, willie and i both want to get a job there, whenever they're willing -- >> ceo, coo -- >> we'll take whatever. >> top trader. >> just quiet recruitment. we'll smoke cigarettes and golf all day like john boehner, if they have a job like that. but it is so easy to cherry-pick on this goldman story. you know this reality. people on the street know this reality, that this is what

. >> so this will be a showdown between the goldman ceo and senator carl levin.nd who has wiggle room. >> today it's all levin and the season at committee on home turf. levin is producing reams of documents saying this proves my case that goldman defrauded investors. lloyd blankfein's strategy will be to strike a conciliatory note which he's saying, i was part of the problem, we leveraged too much but now we'll lead the reform out. and today's probe is for the season at. >> frank, no disrespect to the financial world out there, why do i care? what does this mean to the taxpayer? >> goldman is a prime example of what we call retail presence. meaning no interface with you and me, like jp morgan chase and citibank that do investment banking and also has a bank on the corner. so goldman is even farther removed from us. but it does have imact because capitol hill is right now weighing financial reform that would change the way the banks do business and could impact them in negative ways that could get passed down to us. >> and that leads into the big question of does

the committee headed by senator carl levin and john mccain, both strongly support the promotion of general walsh. that support was given and the notice of promotion was voted on by the armed services committee in september of last year. this soldier's career has been put on hold by the hold of one senator, the senator from louisiana. i informed him that i would speak on the floor on this so i'm not -- i am not being impolite. i normally would not speak of another person solely on the floor of the senate, yet, the senator from louisiana is the one who has exhibited the hold to prevent the promotion of this soldier. i know this soldier. that's not why i'm on the floor. i've known general walsh. he commands the mississippi valley division of the corps of engineers. does a great job, in my judgment. but, again, his career has been stalled by the actions of one senator. that senator indicates that there's certain demands that he has of the corps of engineers an unless they are met he will not allow this soldier to be promoted. the point is this soldier executes. this soldier is not making polic

sachs points out, more than 20 million pages of documents released over the weekend by senator carl levin's lloyd blankfein commenting on the company in the mortgage crisis. of course we didn't dodge the mortgage mess. we lost money, then made more than we lost because of the shorts. he goes on to say, it's not over, so who knows how it will turn out ultimately? there is another e-mail from a goldman sachs manager, tony, on the downgrade of mortgage securities. as the securities were downgraded, that triggered things that meant goldman would make money and this manager said, sounds like we will make serious money on that particular downgrade. there are a couple of other ones that seem to appear as if there are goldman managers gloating over the fact that they are making money while the mortgage market was coming unglued. goldman is coming out hard on this saying, overall, tony, in 2007-2008 on residential mortgage-backed securities they lost $1.2 billion. they say the senate subcommittee has cherry-picked four e-mails from almost 20 million pages provided by goldman sachs. lucas van praag s

senator carl levin, put together a good senate hearing. we started out and talked to washington mutual, the largest bank to fail. how did they fail. why did they fail. then we talked to the regulators. finally we spent last friday talking to the rating agencies. how did these 10,000 of these securities that are aaa rated end up as junk. the final piece of puzzle is, the folks on wall street. they maybe these mortgages up and send them up to wall street. wall street put together and package and sell them. that's the part that i think we're focusing on and the committee has done a great job putting together e-mails. one of the things, ali, the big point i make, we know from washington mutual 90% of the home equity loans were stated income loans. >> you don't have to prove what you earn. >> you can go in the bank. >> so i guess the question that our viewers want to know. who is to blame for this? if you don't have to prove your income, who's fault is this? p when you have something this big. a lot of people. >> reporter: involved. they went y

our friend, carl levin, has the goods. he has the internal memos and it shows that internal investment banking company is making profits now and was betting against its customers, betting against the american economy. so the question is: when all of that was going sour and the american taxpayers were told, you know what, these companies that are doing that are too big to fail, we have a moral hazard here, we have systemic risk with grave consequences to this economy, therefore, the american taxpayer has to be told, you bail them out. the american taxpayer decides we're going to provide unlimited money and new loan window for the first time in history to investment banks. we go to the fed to say, how much did you put out there? and they say, you have no business knowing. we don't intend to tell you and we don't intend to tell the american people. that's where we find ourselves right now it's unbelievable. there's an old country saying, the water's not going to clear up until you get the hogs out of the creek. this issue of

also last week, our colleague, chairman carl levin, ranking member tom coburn, and the staff of the permanent subcommittee on investigations began a series of hearings on the causes of the financial crisis. it is a testament to the professionalism and dedication of chairman levin that he has brought the subcommittee's resources to bear in such an effective and thorough manner. i also want to commend ranking member tom coburn for his dedication to the effort as a partner in this effort. chairman levin and the subcommittee staff deserve credit and our deep appreciation for the work that they have put into this series of hearings on wall street and the financial crisis. since november 2008, subcommittee investigators have gathered millions -- millions -- of pages of documents, conducted over a hundred interviews and depositions, and consulted with dozens of experts. it is truly a mammoth undertaking, and the fruits of their labor were evident in last week's two hearings on washington mutual bank. i look forward to the subcommittee's remaining two hearings on this subject, including this friday's

with carl chairing senate arms services. the levins are the first brothers since the 1800s to serve simultaneously as committee chairs. this year levin has said the economy is job number one for his committee. and he's ready to take on one of the controversial tax issues of the day. whether to extend the bush era tax cuts. other issues include looming shortfalls in social security, trade with china and helping u.s. businesses become more competitive. he's the father of four. and his daughter, jennifer, as noted is here with us at the head table today. he's also reported to be a means squash player and a red wings hockey fans which has been difficult in recent days. the national press club welcome back congressman sander levin. [applause] >> thank you very much. and thank you for inviting me. and my daughter. jen. -- jenny. i can't remember the first session or meeting or event my late beloved wife of 50 years vicky and i took jenny to. i'm not sure she remembers. but i can remember her at our house in berkeley. on the stairway as we ha

it is chaired by carl levin of michigan. >> we ask you to stand and raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? >> yes, i did. >> thank you very much. i don't know if you heard the earlier testimony, but we use the system of lights, so you can give us our testimony if possible in five minutes. >> chairman levin, ranking member coburn, members of the subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today as to examine some of the causes and consequences of the financial crisis. today the financial system is fragile but it is largely stable. the stability is the result of a decisive and necessary government action during the fall of 2008. like other financial institutions, goldman sachs received an investment from the government as a part of the efforts to fortify our markets and the economy during a very difficult time. i want to express my gratitude and the gratitude of our entire firm. we held the investment for approximately eight months

carl levin used a certain word you probably do not permit on this show.it was a measure of how frustrated senators were with the legalized passing that lloyd blankfein and others were given in attempting to deny the the responsibility. overall, i would say goldman came off pretty badly but there were no home runs. there were no sort of gotcha moments that will be played again and again on the channels. they avoided that disaster. but they came off badly nevertheless. host: let's take some calls. we can talk about financial regulatory or other matters that are facing congress. also politics, if you want to talk politics and get his thoughts on that. i did want to ask you one more question. this is the lead story in your "financial times" this morning. greece agrees to 24,000 euros of cutbacks. greece has agreed the outline of a 24 billion euro austerity package including raising the retirement age from an average of 53 to 67 in return for a euro plan. you could retire in greece at age 53? guest: you can, and you can retire in other places. the next club me

if he would just go to c-span and look of the hearings that carl levin had with washington mutual, hed readily learn that many of the subprime loans, alt-a loans, all of thoseloan ls that should never have been made went directly to wall street. it was only late in the game that fannie and freddie got involved. i resent congressmen who like to use them as whipping boys when they themselves do not even know that the early loans went directly to wall street, wall street and bought them up, and the government was not involved. bush actually encouraged fannie and freddie to buy those loans in order to keep the real state ball rolling. host: back to the article in the "washington post" talking about the change in tone -- jim on the republican line. silver spring, maryland. caller: i think what is needed in the area of financial reform, in addition to everything else that has been suggested, we need a form of birth control for financial influence. there should be an approval process which could be difficult that would not allow cdo's to enter the market. host: "roll call" says -- let us tak

carl levin is the chairman of the subcommittee. on investigations. it should get underway shortly. also today we're covering this morning a discussion on the 15th anniversary of the oklahoma city bombing. the senate for american progress action fund is holding that discussion. former president bill clinton will speak to that. and that is coming up -- he is the keynote speaker. he'll speak about 10:00 eastern in about a half hour. the event is getting underway live now. you can follow that on c-span2. another senate hearing for you this morning the judiciary committee hearing for a california law professional. the associated press writes that the professor will be a test case of president obama's ability to win confirmation for a liberal appeals court nominee. round one is today when professor lu nominated for a san francisco based appeals court will appear before the senate judiciary committee. it will begin live at 10:00 am eastern on c-span. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible

senator carl levin chairs this hearing. it's about 35 minutes. >> our final panel this afternoon, sheila bair, chairman of the federals do state insurance -- deposit insurance corporation, john bowman, acting directer of the office of thrift supervision. we are grateful not just for being with us today, but for your voluntary or involuntary patience. i think you both know what our rules are, so under rule 6 our witnesses, all of them, are sworn in, so we would ask you to, please, stand and raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear the testimony you're about to give to this subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth so help you god? ms. bair, why don't we ask you to go first. >> chairman levin, i appreciate the opportunity to testify regarding the role of regulators in their supervision of washington mutual bank or wamu. the fdic shares the subcommittee's concerns about issues associated with the primary regulation of large and complex insured depository institutions that posed significant risk

executives at a major wall street firm in the way that they conducted themselves in front of senator carl levin'sinvestigation subcommittee yesterday in a hearing. i mean, it's rather extraordinary that the republican leadership is not letting us come up with the bill, so we can get it out here, discuss it, and amend it. and this senator has a number of amendments that i would like to, as we say, perfect the banking committee's bill. but we can't even get to that. i don't know what is the thinking of the republican leadership that they would do this. and especially in light of the fact that the american people, they want some changes with the way that investments are handled on wall street, and they want to see some movement. they want to see some action. and so when we attempt to bring up a comprehensive bill to reform wall street and the reckless practices that nearly brought down the global economy, we're prevented from having a free and open debate on the bill, and we're prevented from perfecting that bill with adopting amendments. now, i guess the alternative to this, since we can't do it ou