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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (54177)	12/27/2006 11:58:34 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

The two most statesmanlike former Presidents died at age 93 and we are left with the father of the current President and a couple of self centered petty media hounds with no sense of decorum. It is a sad moment in the Presidential historical context.

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (54177)	1/4/2007 10:35:49 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Respond to of 90947

How the 38th president saved New York. BY FELIX G. ROHATYN Thursday, January 4, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST NEW YORK--The year 1975 was a difficult one for the city. A new mayor, Abe Beame, and a new governor, Hugh Carey, were elected as the economy was faltering due to a recession, an Arab oil boycott, the war in Vietnam and inflation. At the national level, Watergate and the Nixon resignation suddenly elevated Gerald Ford to the presidency. But a crisis had been building up here for some time. The city's financial condition was deeply concerning, running a significant deficit as a result of an exodus of private sector jobs and an influx of new municipal employees. Politically New York was always a Democratic city, a union city, with a strong Republican business community and little contact between the two. Morale was bad, the city was dirty, crime was up and the economy was weak. In April, New York and its lead underwriter, the Bankers Trust Co., was preparing its spring financing when I took a call from a broker offering to sell short-term city notes. "It is a bargain," he said, "9.5% interest, triple tax free, backed by the city's credit. How can you say no?" The terms reflected desperation more than a bargain. Sure enough, soon thereafter, Bankers Trust refused to proceed with the offering to underwrite the city's financing on the grounds that there was "insufficient assurance of repayment." Almost without anyone noticing, the markets had closed on New York. ... Message 23151963