robert kelly, welcome. >> thank you very much, paul.elcome to our bank. >> reporter: first the president's proposal to tax the banks to get the money back from tarp. >> one of my worries would be that for the less healthy banks who are still trying to rebuild capital and profitability, will they reduce lending because of this tax? will they reduce the number of people they employ to help their bottom line? will they try to pass the costs on to customers? it doesn't feel constructive to me in many ways. >> reporter: what about the proposal to separate trading for your own account, like a hedge fund, from the deposit taking function of a bank that you can't do both? >> i don't think propriety taer trading was the essential problem with the economy. the banks didn't have enough liquidity. i actually think having a limited number of really big financial institutions in this country is a good thing. firstly, many businesses in the nation need really sophisticated, complicated products for them to be more successful. >> reporter: give me an e

earlier this week paul spoke with robert kelly, c.e.o. of bank of new york-mellon. tonight, a former budget director weighs in. it's part of his ongoing reporting on "making sense" of financial news. >> reporter: david stockman, former michigan congressman and ronald reagan's budget chief, who's also toiled in the private sector at wall st.'s salomon brothers, private equity firm the blackstone group and his own controversial private equity fund. charges against him for accounting fraud there were filed and later dropped, and he settled a dispute with the s.e.c. just last week. stockman's now working on a book about the financial crisis called "the triumph of crony capitalism" and has come out in favor of the president's bank reform efforts. david stockman, welcome! >> thank you. >> reporter: so you like the obama banking proposal, why? >> i would give the administration credit for trying to move us back to something that's a lot saner than trillion dollar banks being propped by the taxpayers which is exactly where we are today. the fact is wall street is entirely i

so far we've heard from robert kelly, c.e.o. of "bank of new york-mellon," and ronald reagan's budget chief, david stockman. tonight, the view of a former bank regulator who thinks today's bankers have not been regulated enough. it's all part of paul's ongoing reporting on "making sense of financial news." >> oh, hi, vern. me and shorty just borrowed your new truck to go down to that new branch of vernon savings and loan in wichita falls. >> reporter: vernon. or, as it became not so affectionately known in 1987, when the "newshour" did this story on the savings and loan crisis, vermin savings and loan: a deregulated bank that invested depositor cash boldly, rewarded executives lavishly. and went bust in a texas minute. >> don dixon has filed for bankruptcy and investigators have accused him of looting vernon of some $8 million in salaries, dividends and bonuses. >> reporter: the government's william black gave our tom bearden a peek into dixon's perks, including his yacht, the "high spirits." >> it's the sister ship to the presi

kelly interviewed six eyewitnesses among members of the audience who were there that evening at ford's theater. they also met for eyewitnesses who were at the bedside, where lincoln died. it was dr. leal, robertlincoln, james tanner, the corporal agenda stenography note, eyewitness testimony of this kind. and also thomas prock are. thomas proctor was one of the residents of the peterson house of order there he was their lincoln's bedside. and after the war was a successful lawyer, he fell on some very hard times and kelly found him and did some extensive interviews. another judge, judge what shall he arbat folder from transferred new jersey. batchelder was a secretary lawyer for general benjamin butler. in the day of the assassination, butler had left to do to fortress, monroe. he was supposed to go but was delayed and had to wait for the following day. that evening he said i would go to the theater. while batchelder's interviewed by kelly and starts off at the beginning of his life. batchelder said i was born in 1843 and nine in the 22 at the time of the assassination. i joined general butler in 1863 batasuna fortress monroe before i went to washington. i was secretary to general butler. it