hindsight is 20/20 vision. as you live through this, it looks like isolated segments are pieces of information. when you piece them together after the fact, it makes a coherent story. i am reluctant to second-guess what happened in that particular situation without having personally reviewed the facts. host: let's get the calls, ontario, toronto, on our independent line. good morning. caller: i follow these things as much as i can but what about the would-be terrorists got -- that got on a plane in nigeria? wasn't he put on the plane and put back on? i don't know who it was that enabled him to do that. did anyone ever find out what happened? guest: i am not sure which case you are referring to. nigerian who came here at christmas,,he did in fact have a passport. the issue was that there was lagos, nigeria about the reliability of this individual. with the benefit of hindsight, we know that information was not acted uponajl' whereas perhaps t should have been. host: our democrrts line from nantucket, mass., good

have they proposed any solutions that you have turned down and that in hindsight, if you had just done what you were told to do, the well would not continue to be leaking? >> i do not know of any solutions that have been proposed that we have not done.+ >> ended is bp's resppnsibilitt for the well. i mean, if you are the owner of the well, but in terms of litigation, in terms of cleanup on the beaches, did bp tell the president of the united states that we should not let the police -- should not let the people of louisiana go out and build sand berms? >> we are tryinn to work through unified command. decisions for matters like that go through unified command. we agreed that was a unified command decision to go forward. >> are any of you gentlemen here because you were subpoenaed? >>no. >> you are all here voluntarily. to come and answer any questions that this committee has, is that correct? in terms of a bp, the television camera showing the oil, isn't that your television cameras? >> that is the remote operated vehicle camera that is contracted. >> but you are providing in voluntaril

have they proposed some solutions you've durned down and in hindsight if you had 3 the well wouldn't ten to be leaking? >> i don't know of any solutions that have been proposed that we haven't done. >> and it is b.p.'s responsibility for the well. i mean, you are the owner of the well but in terms of mitigation and in terms of the cleanup on the beaches, did b.p. tell the president of the united states we shouldn't let the has -- let the louisiana people go out and do the sand berms? >> what we're trying to do is and decisions like that go through unified command. they did go through unified command and we agreed once it was a decision to go forward. >> are you any of you gentlemen here because you were subpoenaed? >> no. >> you're here voluntarily and chosen as free citizens to come and answer any question this committee has, is that correct? >> correct. >> in terms of b.p., this television camera showwng the oil, isn't that your television

but it is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight -- >> it is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight. >> ad hoc is always with the benefit of hindsight. >> touche as my french colleagues might say. [laughtee] the french never saw to apply that alex law in a succession until they saw -- the phallic law until they saw to get rid of henry's ancestor. there's a foundatiinal body of law for the french. it is a fairly random body of six century law which the french who were living in the netherlands. >> i guess you could say that about the common law for us, could you not? >> the phallic law had never before been cited until the french saw to the dispossessed edward iii. the battle agincourt was a small, but important part, to be sure. the hundred years' war was started by the french. one of the ways in which they started that was by dispossessing edward, notwithstanding his stronger claim. >> rejected my suggestion that you have a good preclusion -- you have rejected my suggestion that you have a good preclusion claim. you we should just argue the merits. -- should we just argue the merit

you know as well as i do that hindsight ais 20/20 vision. someeimes they look like isolated segments and pieces of information. when you piece them ttgether after the fact they make some sort of coherent story. i am reluctant to second-guess what happens in that particular situationnwithout having personally reviewed all of the facts. host: let's get to the calls. this is from ontario, canada. the independent line. caller: to you remember the terrace, or would-be terrorists that got on tte plane in nigeria -pwithout a passport? i think she was taken offfthe plane and put back on -- i think he was taken off the plane and put back on, but did anyone ever figured out what happened? guest: i am not sure which case you were referring to. if you are referring to the nigerian that came here at christmas. pe did havv a passport. there was some information that was provided to the embassy about the rail -- reliability of this individual, and with the benefit of hindsight we now know the information was not acted upon, whereas perhaps it should have b

wi the benefit of hindsight, many oervers have suggested that the events that came to pass were inevitable and easily predictable. as they were occurring, various outcomes were considered possible. market experts in the public and private sector had differing views about the ultimate performance of the u.s. housing sector and the potential effect on the rest of the economy. these questions persist today. the economic downturn exposed serious vulnerabilities across the infrastructure of the global financial system. members of my management team and i solicit ideas and perspectives from both inside and outside the company. we have sought to better understand what caused t performance of our ridings in the sector and have sought to improve the creditate -- crit risk. we've undertaken numous initiatives to improve the credibility of o ratings and strengthen their quality, transparency, and independence. these actions are extensive and have occred in six principal areas. we have strengthened the analytical integrity of our ratings, enhanced consistency across groups, improved the transparency o

because i'm asking you to look with hindsight as to what happened and the decision that was made. but, your own engineers warned in advance that this was a risky approach and i would like to put on the screen what's called a plan review that your engineers prepared in mid-april warning against the long string of casing as you can see. your engineers said if you use a long string of case, quote, it is unlikely to be a successful cement job. you would be unable to fulfill mms regulations and there would be an open annulus to the well head. those are serious risks, a failed cement job, violation of mms safety regulations and open pathway for gas to travel to the top of the well. the same document says that if you use the liner and tie back approach which is what exxonmobil and other companies said you should have used you would have avoid or lessened these risks and here's what the plan review said. if you used the liner there would be less issue with landing it shallow. it would be a second barrier to gas in the annulus and higher chance for a successful cement job. now you said bp

in looking back on thateriod with the clarity afforded by hindsight, many commentators think that the credit rating agencies and others in the market did not fully appreciate the macroeconomicnvironment and anticipate the magnitude of the housing market downturn. moody's, like other market participants, certainly did not foresee as imminent the severity or speed of deterioration that occurred in the u.s. housing market after that period or the rapidity of credi tightening th likely exacerbated the situation. during mytenure, however, i i believed that moody's ratg depended on the credit worthiness based on the informatn available at that time. i understand that many changes have been made to improve the performance -- >> can you wrap up, please, mr. siegel. >> yes, chairman. and i believe at this and other forums can play a valuable role in assessing what additional changes may be propriate. ank you. i am happy to respond to any questions. >> thank you so much. >> good morning mr. chairman and mrvicehairman. i'm the chief crediofficer for moody's investor service. in 2007 i was managi

. >> with the benefit of hindsight or investigatory work, this seven days after this event, is there anything you can identify that was wrong? >> i am unable to draw that conclusion. >> yesterday, i think bp took a constructive step in agreeing to put $20 billion in an independently-administered fund to pay for cleanup. it was the first step in establishing confidence that bp's words would be matched by their deeds, but today, your appearance has done a good deal to erode that confidence. we know you're not an engineer, and we know you were not on the deep water horizon, but your answer 65 times that you do not know to questions that are reasonably posed to you by both sides of the aisle e. rhodes confidence. it does not inspire confidence. the question in the company has to ask itself is whether it has strict procedures in place to make disciplined decisions that give it confidence that at a critical moment where the lives of its workers and investments of shareholders is at stake, critical judgment will be exercised, and that is the obligation of a ceo. however it is you accomplish

. >> in the benefit of hindsight, there seems to be a rush to get this stuff done. it strikes me as central to your role, and you have a chief risk officer. and knowing the way in which these ratings were done, waiting get more information -- we heard from a panel earlier today about the capital underlying cdos, but the study was not done, and the pressure from outside the organization to manage the market, all of which was striking testimony to a real effort to moving toward short- term gain at the expense of what turned out to be the reputation and the long run value. >> the housing bubbles and the collateral consequences from the housing problem, if we had thought they were going to be what they in fact turned out to be, we wouldn't have had very different opinions on the securities. with just under estimated and dramatically underestimated the significance of the downturn. >> mr. buffett, you said you are interested in a long-term value and not short-term profit three were you aware of the problems of the housing-related structure ratings? >> not sufficiently ge

. >> hindsight is a wonderful thing. the key is that we are here right now and the key is a achieving the affordability for those who want to and have the willingness to stay in their home. >> i know you would say that we separate people into too expeive of a home. >> yes, yes. i would also say that the total debt ratio is actually 64%, and that is going up. that is before food, clothing, anything. knowing what we know now from 10 years ago, where there is hamp or some of the loan modifications, in many cases isn't our real goal of keeping people in a house often keeping them in a house that is bigger and more expensive even after reductions than it would have been right size for them to begin with? as such, if the federal government is going to be trying to find affordable housing for people on the edge income-wise, if we're lucky enough to have the treasury back up here and they're looking at extending component missing from hamp? that is, it kes people in whether or not there is a fact that there is a completely affor

. >> hindsight is a wonderful thing. the key is that we are here right now and the key is a achieving the affordability for those who want to and have the willingness to stay in their home. >> i know you would say that we separate people into too expensive of a home. >> yes, yes. i would also say that the total debt ratio is actually 64%, and that is going up. that is before food, clothing, anything. knowing what we know now from 10 years ago, where there is hamp or some of the loan modifications, in many cases isn't our real goal of keeping people in a house often keeping them in a house that is bigger and more expensive even after reductions than it would have been right size for them to begin with? as such, if the federal government is going to be trying to find affordable housing for people on the edge income-wise, if we're lucky enough to have the treasury back up here and they're looking at extending component missing from hamp? that is, it keeps people in whether or not there is a fact that there is a completely a

in hindsight, it is easy to see the merger is a culmination of continental's efforts over the past to it were yeatwo years. a year ago, it was insisting that it did not need to merge. it was pursuing antitrust immunity to join united and 20 other airlines in the star -- over the objections of the department of justice, continental received antitrust immunity and now is engaged in flight co-sharing and frequent- flier plans and under the joint venture, can even share revenues. now continental and united -- say last year was not necessary. in addition, to sit again antitrust concerns which i will briefly outline here, there is the possibility that continental may not have been completely forthright. -- with congress and regulators with respect to its marketing and joint ventures last year or the proposed merger before us today. yesterday i sent a document request directly relevant to see the begin concerns produced by the inquiry and discussed below regarding the legality of the proposed merger under section 7 of the clayton act. the mergers advisability as a matter of policy and the ve

with the benefit of hindsight, many observers have suggested that the events that came to pass were inevitablend easily predictable. as they were occurring, various outcomes were considered possible. market experts in the public and private sector had differing views about the ultimate performance of the u.s. housing sector and the potential effect on the rest of the economy. these questions persist today. the economic downturn exposed serious vulnerabilities across the infrastructure of the global financial system. members of my management team and i solicit ideas and perspectives from both inside and outside the company. we have sought to better understand what caused the performance of our ridings in the sector and have sought to improve the credit rate -- credit risk. we've undertaken numerous initiatives to improve the credibility of our ratings and strengthen their quality, transparency, and independence. these actions are extensive and have occurred in six principal areas. we have strengthened the analytical integrity of our ratings, enhanced consistency across groups, improved the tran

. >> in the benefit of hindsight, there seems to be a rush to g this stuff done. it strikes me as central to your role, and you have a chief ris officer. and knowing the way in which these ratings were done, waiting get more information -- we heard from a panel earlier today abo the capital underlying cdos, but the study was not done, and the pressure from outside the organization to manage the market, all of which was striking testimony to a real effort to moving towa short- term gain at the expense of what turned o to be the reputation and the long run value. >> the housing bubbles and the collateral consequences from the housing problem, if we had thought they were going to be what they in fact turned out to be, we wouldn't have had very different opinions on the securities. with just under estimated and dramatically underestimated the significance of the downturn. >> mr. buffett, you said you are interested in a long-term value and not short-term profit three were you aware of the problems of the housing-related structure ratings? >> not sufficiently geared to

because i'm asking you to look with hindsight as to what happened and the decision that was made. but, your own engineers warned in advance that this was a risky approach and i would like to put on the screen what's called a plan review that your engineers prepared in mid-april warning against the long string of casing as you can see. your engineers said if you use a long string of case, quote, it is unlikely to be a successful cement job. you would be unable to fulfill mms regulations and there would be an open annulus to the well head. those are serious risks, a failed cement job, violation of mms safety regulations and open pathway for gas to travel to the top of the well. the same document says that if you use the liner and tie back approach which is what exxonmobil and other companies said you should have used you would have avoid or lessened these risks and here's what the plan review said. if you used the liner there would be less issue with landing it shallow. it would be a second barrier to gas in the annulus and higher chance for a successful cement job. now you said bp

now 20-20 hindsight you lo back and say, this isn't a smart thing to have said because they were in huge trouble. they continued to be in ge trouble. the are ways extended way beyond theve any mns to pay for. they have lots odebt that they houldn'tave, so there is a huge problem. in washington, d.c. because the had lbyists wmany, many thousands, and hundreds o thousands and millions of dollars, which th ge out to political people in washington, d.c. so freddie mac and fannie mae were very popular anit was quite a nuer of people, particularly democts said no, there no real problem with m. as know, freddie mac and fannie mae did have a problem anthey aren a tremdous crisis and as that crisis developed, what happe then is not only does acorn d the social enneing thre just the housing mket, but it affected noonly just our economy,ut ei world economy andreated is cisis ich stard inoing,u unfortunatelyid not stay contained just te housing market. soe see beginning ofhe econom problems that we're experienci now started with acorn,tarted in housg market now threople o -- theare pple whsay this i

>> well, it is easy for us to say in hindsight that we should have known that this would happen. i think that it took many people -- it took more people than just the u.s. government by surprise that there was this outpouring in iran that turned into the green movement. i think the way the regime handle the elections took many people by surprise. but i will say that i think our understanding of what happens inside iran is imperfect. part of that is due to the 30- year absence of diplomatic relations. most u.s. officials of the current generation have never had any direct experience with iran or with iranians. ambassador nick burns, who was the u.s. nuclear negotiator for several years, will tell you that he almost never met an iranian during his time as a negotiator, which is quite something. p think iranian officials have similar misconceptions of the united states, and iranians in general may have similar misconcepttons. this is a tremendous obstacle when you are trying to use diplomacy to solve the types of problems we have with iran. there is no doubt we need to continue to l

. >> i think hindsight is a wonderful thing. we are here now. the key is affordability for home owners that want to and have the willingness to stay in their homes. >> mr. pinto, i know you would say we suckered people into too expensive a home. >> yes. i would also add that the ratio that was just referred to is running 64% and has been going up. that is before food, clothing, or anything. >> knowing what we know now from 10 years ago, whether it is hamp or other loan modifications, in many cases is our real goal to keep people in a house often keeping them in a house that is bigger and more expensive, even after reductions, then it would have been right size for them to begin with? as such, if the federal government is going to try to find affordable housing for people on the edge, income wise, if we are lucky enough to have the treasury back up here and they are looking at extending this program, is there not a component missing? hamp keeps people in the house they are in rather than evaluating whether there is a completely affordable non-ren