steve schwarzman is the ceo of blackstone group. steve, here we are once again. how does it feel? >> good to see you. >> nice to see you too. you have come here for many years. >> how many? >> i think the answer is money. i do not know whether it is 15 or 20. it is a lot. >> seeing people here and hearing the stories about dysfunction, does that make you feel any better about the path forward? >> i think the u.s. is on a pretty good path. we probably will have less political dysfunction this year. for a variety of reasons. everyone was a loser from last year. it isms of job us itself, a fascinating place. you run into so many people from all over the world. it saves travel. >> davos is a savings opportunity. >> is an economical use of time. when you meet people privately, it is 15 minutes or half an hour. you can transact a lot of business. you can learn a lot. that point, people talk about the usefulness of private equity firms. that is a reed or a brahman or of what is happening in the economy. from yourhat you get portfolio contrast or compared to what you hear from people here

we have interviews coming up with larry summers, steve schwarzman and, yes, goldie hawn. a moment. in the face of danger, and under the most demanding circumstances. experience builds character. experience builds confidence. and experience... has built this. introducing the 2014 glk. the engineering and the experience of mercedes-benz. see your authorized dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. >>> welcome back to a very special edition of "squawk box" live from davos, switzerland. this hour we have much more from our exclusive interview with jpmorgan's jamie dimon. >> the american economy, i believe, the sun, the moon and stars will line up. >> plus, u.s. congress secretary penny pritzker will join us. >>> and academy award winner goldie hawn will join us on set. the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now. >> good morning, everybody. welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we are coming to you live from the world economic forum in davos, switzerland. we'll have more of

steve schwarzman, would he invest in iran? >> we are a long way from that. this is a forbidden country now. >> maybe for not much longer. >> that is why he is here. >> for americans, nothing will change unless we make some type of arrangement. we tend to be pretty cautious people. even though iran has been around for a very, very long time, you would have to see if things normalize and get a sense of what is going on. it has been a productive country with a smart population, well-educated. >> the ukrainian president was banned from coming to davos. you must come here and look for interesting places to invest do you think there is opportunity there or is it not a place you would touch? >> mostly i try to invest in places that i would like to visit twice, as a simple rule. >> that is a good rule, actually. the bahamas, for example, where adam johnson is right now spending the weekend. more from carlos ghosn and his plans for production ramping in china. first, carl icahn once split sville for paypal and ebay. is it a good idea? and that is the canadian prime m

from the credit crisis -- referring to blackstone because the numbers came out -- i remember steve schwarzmang we were buying at a discount in 2008 and that is why the numbers look so good. >> they bought at a huge discount because they had the cash. people who have the cash without another good place to spend the money are continuing to buy these homes up. prices are rising. personal income is flat. the savings rate is down. the number of families buying for the first time is down. when you do get that together, you worry, are we beginning another bubble. >> what does securitization, if anything, bring in? >> it creates a mechanism to fund further incidents of the trend -- institutional investors buying up more of these things. , of 2008, and mark twain's quote, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes, and this rhymes. >> there are people saying it is only the big firms that have audits of cash and they can absorb losses if there will be losses. >>) but this new securitization becomes popular, just like last time. the big boys do it and it is fine, but as people get desperate, it creat

steve schwarzman is the ceo of blackstone group. steve, here we are once again. how does it feel? >> nice to see you too. you have come here for many years. >> how many? >> i think the answer is money. i do not know whether it is 15 or 20. it is a lot. >> seeing people here and hearing

steve schwarzman will be here.oca-cola company. >> the number one employee of all time at imax theaters. that is it. we will see you back here tomorrow. ♪ >> is 56 past the hour. we are on the markets. i am out steel. we are diving straight into derivatives because it is time for today's options insight in focus is the s&p 500. y etf. on sp you have been saying a lot of people want to be part of some kind of smp rally but are scared to put money to work. what is your solution? >> i get the question all the time. they say they are excited about the market but are worried they are so far dented that maybe he could be in order. people say there to afraid and to sit on the sideline. if that is your sentiment, a better trade could be to sell. we will keep the money in cash. you only have to come to the market if it does comes down -- does come down. while you are sitting on the sideline waiting to get paid. in this situation, i am looking at the april 1 70 put. i collect the dollar 72 on that. if the s&p goes down below

. >> after what steve schwarzman went to with his comparisons, how could anybody be so blind to this?traordinary. it was not like it was a spontaneous pop off. this was a letter. i gather it was carefully considered. it shows he is totally out of touch. >> is it an argument? >> i don't think you can group them all together. there are some in the 1% -- warren buffett, michael bloomberg. >> a lot of people consider it to be a highly hypocritical conversation because, yes, it is true that the people on the far end of the 1% can do the most about income inequality, but just talking about it does not a whole lot done. >> it is bad for business and economic climate. federal reserve chairmeb have been talking about income inequality. it is an economic and business climate erie it >> sitting in d.c., did you think it was hypocritical in davivos? >> i was just so mesmerized by your performance over there. [applause] >> you can come back any time. you need to tune in tonight for our special coverage of the state of the union address right here on bloomberg television. up, and options strategy f

. >> we rather be steve schwarzman or jamie dimon? who has more money? >> we are slicing -- >> we are not. >> really thin. 0.01%.f the conversation, would you rather be working at goldman sachs where you don't have to risk any of your own capital, get paid $1 million a year or whatever. or a teacher in the new york city schools -- >> the teacher versus goldman sachs are two different things. >> neither person is risking any capital. was 2001, notage today. if you are a high deals trader at goldman sachs today -- >> it will be again. i came into wall street in september 1987, one month later, the market crash. i saw grown men crying. over.ught it was wall street constantly reinvent itself. there is less competition now. the people who are smarter going to make money -- >> watch out. >> if i am a distressed debt trader today and i have a great idea, do i went to be at blue crest capital, a hedge fund, or at goldman sachs? i don't want to be at goldman, they are going to say give it to a customer because you cannot take risk any more. >> what's your point?

have treasury secretary jack lew, larry summers, commerce secretary penny prizker, muhtar kent, steve schwarzmanwn. >> "laugh in" was a show decades ago, yes, there was a guy named ronan and martin and a lot of different characters be

steve schwarzman is sanguine about china. and people say it can do plus seven.january 31st date for this piece of paper must be kept in front of us because no one's talking about it. >> interesting. a lot of talk about the pmi potentially being altered by the lunar new year where some of the seasonality factors that come up but it's the worst in six months. >> and we have sandanter, the consumer part, but the euro zone pmi was good, it's the shoe on the other foot. two years ago we wouldn't be discussing point-blank the euro pmi and how about. and spain how bad. i don't want to get caught up in the idea that china is really horrible, because we have to recognize it's a command economy. if they want that piece of paper to collapse, they will let it collapse. but it's always with the idea they don't want the steroidal growth, they don't want a-rod growth but jeter growth. i was looking at the guy that got all the money. >> growth? >> jeter didn't juice. >> no, he did not juice. >> let's make that clear. >> although he did have a heck of a year. >> you want richard