doesn't mean they were guilty but one of the the fun's that henry paulson was betting against or john paulson about the right to paulson's big stuff was betting against was a fund that goldman sachs all put together but paulson helped pick the mortgages and they were they picked the ones that were the most likely to fail and yet when i think the allegation is when goldman sold them to its other customers it didn't point this out at pretended that this was structured to be a good investment not to be a bad investment so somebody else was was betting that they would fail and in fact goldman themselves was betting against some of the very products that they will recommend that their customers buy but the reason that some of that is able to dial on it the fact that these that last we have so much and we'll end on washing. down that's what we've got to stop i'd like to open up first of all we need to get rid of these regulatory bodies i don't like i don't think that a brokerage firm or an asset management firm should be licensed by the government you know i think that individuals should be able to

meaning some of these funds, john paulson and other, scale and size became so big, and i just wonder whether it's not just the bet themselves, but the fact they have to put so much money to work that it doesn't work the way it it used to. >> i would agree. in why nogeneral, size is the e. bridge water is an exception because they're playing globally across hundreds of markets and they have a quantitative approach to investing that enables them to put a large amount of assets to work. >> so what happens to the john paulsons of the world? was he a flash in the pan? david tepper, are these names that you imagine come back on your list in the next year or two? >> definitely. if you look at both paulson and tepper, one of the problems they had, they were both a little too positive on financials making a comeback. so last year it hurt both tepper and paulson. this year it's clearly going to be helping. >> they were just too early on the calls? >> way too early on those calls. >> is there one name that's been consistent on your last for the past couple years? >> if you look over the history

gold i really really like houses and you have people like john paulson david when. you can source even buffett actually about houses. a lot of buy houses and these are smart guys so i think i would i would tend to side with them as opposed to mr bernanke you maybe will end up with them for name contrary and jack's eric maybe that's next the wii's the guy that aside i want to go more into housing you have been writing about it you mentioned it just now we just got numbers out earlier this week from case shiller showing that housing prices if we can bring them up are back to two thousand and three levels so this was just the news that we got out earlier this week but then you show that when you look at median home price in terms of per capita disposable income it's actually much worse than we can bring up those numbers too because we have a chart from you eric and it shows that they're lower than they have been in forty years if we could bring that up eric tells us what is the opportunity here. right well i mean obviously out of that i would start by saying i have i h

inexpensively so you put almost no money up front and then you could make millions or in the case of john paulson billions by putting a very little money up front if you looked at the securities and you knew they were going to do nothing but. employment once the deterioration became obvious to the general public what risk did they still pose today and also i'm curious how if they allowed banks to hide risk and also how have they benefited big banks in term. fees well they you can put in a lot of hidden fees with this that's why it's also very popular but you know derivatives and it pains me to see what has happened in the market because the riverdance were originally developed as hedging instruments however now they're primarily used for speculation that gary gensler the head of the c f t c say that most of the people in the market are not customers but rather their financial institutions or others and basically he's saying that most of the people who are now in the commodities market commodities futures the kind of derivative or speculators i would say the same thing is true in the credit deriva

edelman's man or santorum is foster friezes guy or romney is paul sr and john paulson's man because the corporate media are the ones who end up with all that super pac money via t.v. radio print or even internet advertising it all goes to the media and we're talking big bucks here this election cycle could well see over two billion dollars spent almost all of it to the media which seems so reluctant to report on or about super pac money heading their way as americans concerned about the integrity of our electoral process we all need to be paying close attention to what's going on in massachusetts and we need to be talking about the media's refusal to cover the real story because the unelected because a five i don't like you right wingers on the supreme court our nation is now in uncharted waters for a democracy if your eyes and ears open and call these big spenders out when you learn about them. that's it for the big picture tonight it's always remember that my radio show is now on a live three to six pm eastern on free speech t.v. and radio stations across the nation and around the wor

he's a hypocrite for taking john paulson's money, the other contributor to the super pac deal. i don't know why you always ask me these question, but maybe he has this problem because he looks like an aging male lead in the 70's movie. >> i don't know why i was thinking that. should he return the money? he had as made, whether it's the super pac or the money he made on the board from porn in some sense. should we figure out how much money he has made from porn, and does he have the responsibility to give it back? >> i don't know if he has a responsibility necessarily, but% he's being hypocritical if he doesn't. early on in the primary, and this was lightly reported there is a group that campaigns against porn, and they got the current top three republican candidates to sign a pledge to crackdown on really hard on illegal porn, and to pressure the justice department in every way possible to stop the piratecy of porn. he has been on record wanting to fight this. but at the same time it seems that the money is going back to him. he seems to be a hypocrite. if he wants to return th

as a result, i'm told, john paulson, the founder and ceo will pay some employees out of his own pocket based on their performance just for 2012. in other words, employees are starting with essentially a blank slate on jan 1uary 1st of this year. if they get into the black, they will be able to receive a percentage of the profits i'm told. this is something they haven't heard much about since the financial crisis of 2008. it's interesting what paulson is doing, no doubt to keep dow going and keep people from leaving. >> kate kelly, good to see you back. thank you. >>> as we head toward the closer and the last half hour of trading, let's get a stat check on the dow jones industrial average. right now, the dow is down 7 points at 13,234. it was down as many as 17. and then it was up 23. so it's been a pretty narrow range so far today. but technology stocks have been amonth the best performers. juniper networks. jds, micron, tellans and motorola. >>> treasury markets have seen a pretty good pop in the month of mar, but, the pop may be short-lived as ben bernanke this week pointed toward qe

move coming from shareholder and hedge fund manager john paulson.has been intense. >> he wanted the spin-off. he didn't get everything he wanted. >> not everything, but he's getting something. >> he's getting something. there's been a strategic review over the last year internally at hartford. i think when you look at stock price itself and it's a stock price that's really struggled, lifted here a little bit throughout february in the belief that something would get done. i think it's a sell the moment opportunity though. >> let's trade some of your tweets now. terry walker 33, grasso, your take on lvs. >> i bought las vegas in the low 50s. i sold it a little too soon in the mid-50s. at this point i still think you have more room to run. you're coming up against resistance but the ultimate china growth play. if it breaks off from these levels, you're looking at maybe low to mid-60s if it could breech those levels to the upside. i still think it's a buy. >> real images, joe, target for nxpi. >> a name i'm long. how high is high, how low is low? no on

perhaps the biggest loser, john paulson, believed to have personally lost about $3 billion.llionaires either declined comment or did not respond to our calls. now the managers argue that unlike some corporate ceos, they only do well if their investors do well. dalio has pledged to give away at least half of his wealth to charity. ann? >> all right, lisa myers, thank you so much. >>> coming up, talk about andrea yates. should the texas mother who drowned her five young children in a bathtub be allowed to leave a mental hospital to attend church? we're going to tell you about her new request. but first, this is "today" on nbc. >>> and still ahead, the new expo that caters to all of your divorce needs. we'll talk to the women behind that. >> and also do you want to walk in the footsteps of katniss and peta? >> this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am jennifer franciotti. here's a look at one of our top stories for you. hundreds of maryland soldiers are headed to afghanistan. members of the air national guard have been shipping out all week. family membe

quickly, before we end, we should take a look at who was not on the list before number one was john paulsonearned $4.9 billion in 2010. but had a very poor 2011 as we well know. tepper, lambert, mr. soros also gave back his outside money. >> when we come back this morning, squawk on the tweet is about mega millions. the fever around the country. i'm more likely to blank than win the lottery. tweet us and we'll get your responses coming up. let's get a look at this morning's early movers. there there's wnydam. the most spectacular experiences are happening here. imax now showing on the big board. ♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, that's logistics. [ female announcer ] the next generation of investing technology is now within your grasp with the all-new e-trade 360 investing dashboard. e-trade 360 is the world's first investing homepage that shows you where

responded last time with all the hoopla on abacus or whatever those trades were, remember, with the john paulson trade and a lot of clients of goldman came forward at that time and said goldman -- ask warren buffett about whether these are ethical and whether clients are satisfied with the work goldman does for them. >> i agree. >> not a 33-year-old who is disgruntled. is he giving his money back? he seemed to be happy for 12 years. >> made $500,000. >> no wonder he's mad. >> someone else pointed out this is the divide between the 99% and 1% on wall street. not everybody even makes it on 0 wall street. so he didn't make managing director. the point being even if you work really hard you may not make it to the elite of wall street. i don't know the guy so it's hard to say. this is just what's being reported within the firm. >> i started 0 out -- >> and the defense of the firm. >> loyalty to a pirm, just not being a rat, whining. i tell both my kids, the minute they start pouting. nobody likes it. but you don't want -- >> there's a difference -- >> a whistleblower. >> there's a difference between

perhaps the biggest loser john paulson, believed to have personally lost about $3 billion.ined comment or wouldn't return our calls. the managers argue that unlike some corporate ceos, they only do well with their investors do well. mika? >> oh, gosh. >> wow. >> i feel so bad for them. >> i do too. >> lisa, thank you very much. >> thank you, lisa. >>> up next -- >> by the way -- >> how much did you lose last year, joe? i lost $3 billion. >> you lost $3 billion? >> i lost a couple of chickens in the backyard. the coup opened up, and they ran off. >> you cut their heads off. >> i think the dogs next door ate them. i'm trying to recoup my losses. but, you know, we were talking about mika's conspicuous consumption. and we -- the guy got married at versailles. and what did mika say? oh, i spent a wonderful summer there. i tell you, i'm not making this up. i spent a wonderful summer there. how many people can say i spent a summer in versailles? coming up next, "in gold we trust." the book explains why one of the world's oldest forms of currency is at the center of the new evoluti

they are yielding to demands from john paulson. >>> shares of general mills down. quarterly profits are in line with wall street expectations, standing by its lowered full year forecast. they face higher costs for raw materials, ie input costs are up. >> worst in 30 years. i think this yoplait accusation will come under acquisition because of the sales that are not so shot. >> let's get ken powell on the phone. >> i'd love to. ken is a classmate of mine and a terrific guy. >>> okay, now to a surging stock to watch that i have been pushing endlessly on "mad money. " the shares of cintas. the company reporting a nearly 30% increase in its third quarter profit which surpassed estimates. stock hitting a 52-week high yesterday. i might also point out this is a company that literally starts with negatives. i think that that is cincinnati's way of doing things. first on "squawk on the street" is the company's ceo, scott farmer. scott, welcome to to the "squawk on the street" show. distinguish good to see you. >> thanks very much for inviting me. >> a phenomenal quarter. i

perhaps the biggest loser, john paulson, believed to have personally lost about $3 billion.e billionaires either declined comment or did not respond to our calls. now the managers argue that unlike some corporate ceos, they only do well if their investors do well. dalio has pledged to give away at least half of his wealth to charity. ann? >> all right, lisa myers, thank you so much. >>> coming up, talk about andrea yates. should the texas mother who drowned her five young children in a bathtub be allowed to leave a mental hospital to attend church? we're going to tell you about her new request. but first, this is "today" on nbc. [ female announcer ] here in california, our schools need help. the largest class size in the nation. 47th out of 50 in per-student funding. but right now, we can make history with a ballot measure to send every k-through-12 dollar straight to our schools. to every school and every child. not to sacramento. it's the only initiative that can say all that. check out our online calculator and find out how your school would benefit. visit ourchildrenourf

the time who said there was a big there was a big change that at least hank paulson was was technically the head of the firm john thing and john. were pretty influential management basically were actually thoughtful and cared about the franchise and that was the blankfein cohort came in that was just a big i mean that really was all we care about was profits and we don't really care about tomorrow we just care about making money and that's something that greg smith says in his op ed is that this is really deteriorated under the watch of lloyd blankfein and he calls him out by name question though if this is the broader ecosystem we know that making money is the number one goal and we've seen recent instances where it appears that people are willing to steal at least in the evidence that's been laid out in m.f. global right there was an investigative journalist i interviewed yesterday who had it by e-mail she did a story a long time ago about an executive at bear stearns all of these e-mails and he caving he was engaging in defrauding its customers essentially went on to have an executive position at goldman so i

john's positions when they conflicted with hers. there were no policy questions. >> you guys didn't grill her because you wanted it to work. >> i wasn't in charge of the vet, nicole. >> sarah paulsons great in this movie. the heart of my heart watching this movie as a political guy was the exstential reality of being a guy as, you know, you get -- you aren't responsible. you don't make all the decisions that lead to where you are. you make some of them. but you are stuck with who you are. i kept thinking about steve schmidt's character. look at him there. i can't think of a better performance by woody harrelson. it's just unbelievable what he's going through here. he's stuck with this candidate. >> yeah. >> it's a really profound moment for him. he advocated for her at the very beginning of the film. he's a person who believes that winning at all costs is necessary because the goal is to win. and he goes on this really profound journey where he comes to realize that, you know, in the game of presidential politics, winning isn't everything. and that you need to make responsible choices. and that, you know, the vice president needs to be able to govern as opposed to needs to be able

john mccain didn't always come across so well in the book. there were times especially when he was fumbling through papers, going to meet with bernanke and paulsonas disconnected add sarah palin, but in this movie he comes across as 100% grade a all-american hero. why did you make that decision? >> well, i admire john mccain and i admired especially, you know, early john mccain and was a fan for years and i think he found himself in a very tough pickle in this, beginning of this story. obama was surging in the polls, and it was all kind of going to a very tough place for him when he had to make this decision, and i just felt -- i want the audience to be in his shoes and look at the dilemma he faced. especially when people were saying, you can take this risky choice, or you can lose. i just thought, i want people to relate with him at that moment, and casting ed harris was part of it because i think ed is such a dynamic, thoughtful person, and you can see the -- his soul at stake if you will. i mean, i think that's what great actors can do is, let you feel that it's not just a choice. it's like everything. >> there was a close-up shot of ed harri

john harwood, would you agree that to a certain extent, our relations with that country are on an ad hoc basis? >> actually, i wouldn't. look, ever since the bush administration, hank paulsonesident's met with hu jintao ten times since he's been in office. so i think there's a long-running dialogue. certainly the timing of particular actions, this one is coordinated with japan, and the eu, is subject to criticism on political grounds. that's what i was hearing from the team romney today. but, we are talking all the time, this is the president makes the case that he, like china, is trying to play the long game here, i don't see it quite the same way as rick. >> interesting. >> carl, dialogue, blah, blah, blah, blah. that's dialogue. i think action, either you're part of the solution, you're part of the problem. i remember interviewing hank paulson in the euro/dollar pit at the old cme five years ago. he was telling me how many trips to china he had. and all the strategies that he wanted to implement. blah, blah, blah, blah. you can still buy a knockoff purse on park avenue. we don't lead by example. we don't take action. how can we impress others to hold true to intellectua