Nixon's Spirit Speaks
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
July 4, 2002
WASHINGTON — From a small but oval office in purgatory, as he expiates his sin of suspending the convertibility of the dollar into gold, Richard Nixon occasionally grants his former speechwriter an interview:
What's your view of the current market slump?
I am not a broker. But let me say this about that: The howling mob that used to worship at the feet of dot-com whiz kids and celebrity wheeler-dealers now wants blood. Fine, put the greedy richies in the slammer, but put the blame where it belongs — not just on the crooked bean-counters and conflicted analysts, but on the financial press that never got off its fanny to give tycoons the same unfair treatment you give politicians. And S.E.C. enforcement has been the Pitts. Heh-heh.
Will the general distrust trigger a double-dip recession?
Sure, unless Bush does the unexpected. The lefties expect him to make a speech on business ethics wagging a finger at his contributors, which will make him look like a hypocrite. The bankers expect him to say the economy is "fundamentally sound," making him look like Herbert Hoover. No, he's got to get ahead of the curve, find a new villain, ride a fresh news cycle. Are you getting this all down? You can use a recorder.
And the new villain should be —?
The hedge funds. There are a half-trillion dollars in assets, John Mitchell tells me, sloshing around in 6,000 or 7,000 hedge funds. Nobody regulates them the way we do mutual funds. The hedge funds' short-selling and rumor-churning and fast covering — all in secret — are what has turned stock exchanges into casinos. Flush 'em out and zap 'em.
A Bush "hedgehog" speech?
You got it. |
