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and then a little later, citi's ceo vikram pandit. morgan stanley chief john mack tells maria the financial crisis was a big miscalculation. >> i don't think we really believed at the time, or rn understood at the time how bad it really was. ♪ must have been one of the strangest days ♪ everyone may face the same uncertainty. ♪ some would say that you won't find ♪ protecting yourself, however, requires good decisions. find strength and stability with mass mutual, a company owned by its policyholders. ask your advisor or visit massmutual.com. >>> john mack earned a nickname mack the knife for his ability to cut costs. mack's cut throat style proved to be a success. leading the company he helped build for 30 years through the toughest times at morgan stanley. a $10 billion federal reserve injection, plus a $9 billion investment by mitts you by shi stabilized the firm. in january, mack was back on track to grow morgan stanley. acquiring a stake in the newly formed morgan stanley smith barney for $2.7 billion. that created the largest brok

. >> reporter: now ceo vikram pandit. he needs to make citi a leaner, meaner machine. not only survive but thrive but does pandit have enough time to perform? >> to get that answer, let's go off the record with the man who keeps the picture of matt lauer in his office. >> who? >> our very own chad gasparino. >> oh, come on. >> by the wait author of a soon-to-be best-selling book. the sellout that hits shelves november 3rd. chad. >> that's almost angelic. >> yeah. >> i wrote such a nasty book about people and you make it sound like it's so angelic. >> let's keep some suspense in there. >> i'm going to wear my glasses because you put on yours. >> who looks better? that's our "fast money" poll of day. >> i'm sure that i will -- >> vex ram pandit how much time does he have? >> his position with citigroup and i'm talking to people that are at citigroup, people that are pretty close to the board, people on the outside, regularly converse with board members have stabilized. i don't think this guy's going anywhere, anytime soon unless he wants to go. i whole thing with sheila

i spoke with vikram pandit this week. >> there were a number of us there who knew this wasn't a question of only about intercompany contracts and whether we make money or somebody else makes money, but if something did happened to lehman it could undermine confidence in the entire system, which would drive away investors invested in financial system bonds and financial capital, and that could have feedback effects, so much so that it could cause a lot of gridlock in the capital markets, the funding markets, all of that. of course larry fivg came out a big winner. barclays was able to pursue a solid foothold. we visited barclays trading floor, which of course was lehman's trading floor. the firm was doing well today. the asset management system was sold to blackrock, who becomes the largest manager of assets. the plays field has played quite a bit to fewer players, less ri risk, one year later, reflections from the street, and of course, larry and melissa, we're going to talk about what now? >> you know, in the tim geithner town hall yesterday, geithner said at least once, if not more, we

. >> how about the fact that an event in new york, vikram pandit said $100 million is too much to pay? >> i think it is. >> unless you signed a contract saying that that's what you -- >> that's the thing. rip up a contract because now in hindsight it was too much? why did they sign that contract? >> in this country a contract is a contract, right? >> yes, but at the same time congress should do something. congress is so dysfunctional. the fed has to step in. and i disagree slightly when you said that this may not be the fed's responsibility. the fed does have responsibility to restore confidence. and i think if you want to restore confidence, there has to be some level of reasonableness in compensation. >> all right. gentlemen, great conversation as always. appreciate it. see you soon. >>> up next, my sitdown with president bill clinton. we'll get his take on the state of the global economy, health care reform and his recent trip to north korea. >>> this is "tech check." movies are all the rage, but digital 3-d projectors can cost 100 grand or more. and the first name in film technolo

. >> now citigroup's vikram pandit says $100 million is too much for a bank employee to earn in a year. well, here to debate all that is peter morisi and a former chief economist and cnbc contributor jerry boyer. hang on. sit tight for one second. before we get your take, i want to once again turn to "the kudlow caucus" on this subject. we put this question to our regulars. is $100 million too much pay for a banker? here's what they said. out of our 12 members, six said yes and six said no. an even tie. here is the yes camp and here is who said no. there's the yes boys. and here come the no boys. boys and girls, i remember your pardon. to cast your own vote, please head over to kudlow.cnbc.com. how about this picture of your humble anchor, okay? i'm going to break the 6-6 tie because i get ten votes. my law is simple. just say no to class warfare, income redistribution takeovers by government. andrew hall made a couple of billion dollars for citibank and he got a 5% commission for that $100 million. is a hero. on the other hand, our friend dick pandit who is a good guy, he sold his old

because the other ceo that everybody is watching in terms of who is next to step down would be vikram pandit. what's going to happen there. >> but you know, vikram isn't is not under -- vikram may get sued because everybody is getting sued. i don't know if there's suits against citigroup. i'm sure chuck prince for some of the disclosure problems or alleged problems is probably getting sued. but you know, vic ram pandit doesn't face regulatory issues. i mean, you know, clearly ken lewis does. whether that's the reason why he resigned -- i'm sorry, i've got a crick in my neck from holding the phone on my neck all day. but if that's -- you're laughing at me. >> you need a bluetooth. get with the program. >> whether that's the exact reason, because of regulatory issues i can't tell you. but clearly the difference between vikram and lewis, ken lewis is that listen, they both have problematic banks, they've both stabilized their banks. the difference is the regulatory issues which ken lewis faces. i will say this. it was karen who thought maybe an outsider might come. we put those five names up. i

. >>> after the bell, john mack and vikram pandit look back on last year's financial meltdown and tell us how business as changed as a result. we are first in business worldwide. ♪ look at this man ♪ so blessed with inspiration ♪ ♪ i don't know much ♪ but i know i love you ♪ and that may be ♪ all i need ♪ to know (announcer) customers love ge aircraft engines almost as much as we love making them. innovation today for america's tomorrow. this is humiliating. stand still so we can get an accurate reading. okay...um...eighteen pounds and a smidge. a smidge? y'know, there's really no need to weigh packages under 70 pounds. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. cool. you know this scale is off by a good 7, 8 pounds. maybe five. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. what's on the minds of independent investors? let's ask. when you're trading a stock, every penny counts. i hate when the trade is done and you find out you paid more than the quote price. i want i

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she'll sit down with vikram pandit, john mack, and other top bosses on wall street. time now for the final trade. tim? >> 9/11. a tribute to our fallen heroes. never forget. >> okay. i'm melissa lee. thanks so much for watching. see you back here monday. 5:00 p.m. for more "fast money."

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she'll sit down with vikram pandit, john mack, and other top bosses on wall street. time now for the final trade. tim? >> 9/11. a tribute to our fallen heroes. never forget. >> okay. i'm melissa lee. thanks so much for watching. see you back here monday. 5:00 p.m. for more "fast money." if you're still one of the guys who's going over and over... going urgently... waking up to go... it's time to do what lots of guys everywhere have already done-- go see your doctor, because those could be urinary symptoms due to bph, an enlarged prostate. and for many men, prescription flomax reduces their urinary symptoms due to bph in one week. one week. only your doctor can tell if you have bph, not a more serious condition like prostate cancer. avoid driving or hazardous tasks for 12 hours after your first dose or increase in dose, as a sudden drop in blood pressure may occur, rarely resulting in fainting. if considering cataract surgery, tell your eye surgeon you've taken flomax. common side effects are runny nose, dizziness and decrease in semen. millions of men have been presc

here is what john mack and vikram pandit told me this week. >> the impact to me was really how bad or not how bad, how do you contain this contagion, and is there a way that you could build a buffer that it stops with lehman and clearly it didn't. >> finding a solution to lehman was important for confidence in the financial markets, and we ought to do everything we can to ensure confidence remains because ultimately it's confidence that drives liquidity and capital access for all banks. >> of course, one year later we also look back and we can clearly see who saw the opportunities in all of the wreckage. blackrock's larry fink came out a big winner. jamie dimon come out a winning. barclay's able to secure a solid foothold in the united states. moving from a british bank to a global operation. regardless, everybody involved was fielding phone calls all weekend to ensure their own survival. >> going into the first part of this year, we just went from bad to worse, worse to worse to worse, and the marketplace was so frightened that people put so much of their free money into cash. they h