"Street Critique" -Todd Harrison, Founder and CEO of Minyanville.com
Wednesday, June 17, 2009PAUL KANGAS: Tonight's "Street Critique" guest says balance is key to overhauling financial regulation. He's Todd Harrison, founder and CEO of minyanville.com. And Todd, welcome back to NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT.
TODD HARRISON, FOUNDER & CEO, MINYANVILLE.COM: It's good to see you, Paul.
KANGAS: Give us your thoughts on today's proposed financial regulatory overhaul.
HARRISON: I think the specter of a balanced regulatory initiative is on the margin positive. It's clearly positive stuff. But I think the key word there is balance. Policy makers were by and large responsible for allowing this crisis to manifest as it did. And the conditional elements were in place. I think the risk is that they let the pendulum swing too far in the other direction and I think that's just something to be careful of as we find our way through this process.
KANGAS: The stock market certainly didn't have much of a reaction to the news as it came out. What kind of a current environment are we in? Are we in the summer doldrums already?
HARRISON: It certainly feels that way. And a smart person once told me that when it comes to financial markets, you can pick the direction or you can pick the timing, but you'll very rarely nail both. A couple weeks ago when I was on your show, we talked about S&P 950 being the key level for 2009. And sure enough we traded right there and that's where we failed. And that's what I'm looking at as we edge through the summer. Quarter end is coming up. I think the animal spirits want to try to get the market higher, but I still think that we are traversing through this W pattern. We're somewhere around the middle peak and I think that if they can get them through 950 you could see more up side. But up until that point I think you got to be prepared and I think you're going to have a chance to buy lower in the back half of the year.
KANGAS: So you think we're still in a long-term bear market?
HARRISON: Absolutely. The cumulative imbalances that are in place are not something that is going to be solved by policy. We need to see debt destruction and not the creation of more debt. So we're going to have to wean ourselves off of this credit dependency for there to be a sustainable market construct.
KANGAS: Todd, I understand there is something new going on at Minyanville. Tell us about it.
HARRISON: There's always something new going on at Minyanville. But what we've done is, I've written an e book called "Memoirs of a Minyan ." That's really, it's my life, but it's a lot of peoples' story as we edge into the age of austerity. It talks about the false Idolatry of money. I was programmed to believe that success was measured by the bottom line or bank account. And I think that we're going to have to reprioritize what's important. And I personally have been through a lot. They say that the greatest wisdom is a function of pain. And I share my miss steps and my things that I've done throughout my career chasing the brass ring, if you will and what I found to be true wealth on the other side. So I think it's going to resonate with a lot of people.
KANGAS: Sounds like some good lessons to be learned there Todd. I want to thank you very much for being with us again.
HARRISON: My pleasure.
KANGAS: My guest Todd Harrison of Minyanville.com.
