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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Les H who wrote (196879)	10/11/2002 10:30:58 AM
From: Les H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

on CNN - Fredericksburg shooting, major roads leading back to DC shut down

To: Les H who wrote (196879)	10/20/2002 9:20:57 AM
From: Les H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Buy the War Dip. Seidman 'bullish' on war Saturday, October 12, 2002 By Joe Snapper The Grand Rapids Press Hours after Congress authorized President Bush to use force in Iraq, an economic adviser under four U.S. presidents told Grand Rapids business leaders Friday that going to war "is probably the most bullish thing I can think of." Former FDIC chairman Bill Seidman, who served during the Nixon, Ford, Reagan and the senior Bush administrations, said defeating Saddam Hussein and controlling Iraqi oil is "at least as important as eliminating weapons of mass destruction." Seidman, a chief commentator for CNBC, said the prevailing view that a war would prolong and even deepen a bear market is the "most misleading to the market today." "Oil prices fluctuating is a very large drag on the economy -- ours and the world's," said Seidman, 81. "If we are in Iraq, nobody can use oil as a weapon." Speaking to a crowd of 35 at the Peninsular Club, Seidman had just arrived from a State Department briefing in which the Bush administration outlined for the first time a post-Saddam power structure in Iraq. "I think probably the most bullish thing I can think of today is winning the war. We are planning to set up a MacArthur-like" government, said Seidman, referring to U.S. General Douglas MacArthur's temporary rule over Japan after its surrender in World War II. "Getting control of that oil," and thereby gaining sway with neighboring Saudi Arabia's oil production, "will make a vast difference (to the economy) in all sorts of things, but particularly the price of oil." "Having the two major oil producers not part of any radical Muslim or any other unfriendly government," he said after the speech, would be "a huge additional factor in the world's economy." Seidman said he was befuddled by popular warnings of a further economic slide in the event of war with Iraq. But he's not surprised the Bush administration isn't the one heralding a return to profitability by way of war. "I deny it, specifically, on behalf of the government," Seidman said, joking. Many who heard his comments said they weren't surprised. Bob Rector, a retired orthodontist from Muskegon, however, is wary of war. "We have young families. We think about that," he said. Louis Canfield, a research analyst in Grand Rapids, said the early days of an attack may be decisive for the economy. "Over the short run, you have the potential to have some instability," said Canfield, 24. "Now, how long that instability lasts depends on execution. During the first two weeks, if things look good for us on the ground, I think things will be just fine." In Seidman's speech -- sponsored by Grand Rapids-based RWB Capital Management, where he is a consultant -- the outspoken East Grand Rapids native also touched on corporate scandal, the accounting profession and investing. He labeled Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan "politically a devout coward" for pulling back from comments that might have exposed the stock market bubble sooner. But he blamed CPAs --"my own profession" -- for letting Enron and others go unchallenged for so long. Seidman, who lives in Florida, from 1989 to 1991 headed up the Resolution Trust Company, the federal entity that mopped up the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s. He oversaw the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from 1985 to 1991. He has also been an executive in a Fortune 500 company; publishes Bank Director magazine; helped elevate what is now BDO Seidman to its national status; and is a director of Fiserv and U.S. Order, Inc. Seidman said he plans to stop at his New Mexico ranch before traveling to Japan next week.