John Paulson Has A Message For The Protesters

John Paulson commented on the Occupy Wall Street protests today.

Paulson's message for the protesters: "Don't vilify our most successful businesses."

At the same time of his call to investors to discuss redemptions and the future of his hedge fund on Tuesday, protesters marched to the Upper East Side to tour the homes of rich people.

As the movement spreads, many on Wall Street are starting to speak out against the protesters. Some argue they've accomplished nothing. A poignant moment occurred when a trader in Chicago said that the protesters are arguing for the same things that got us into this mess in the first place, while some men dressed like Robin Hood protested nearby. Traders in Chicago proudly put a sign in their windows saying, "We are the 1%."

Finally, someone big on Wall Street said what many are thinking.

UPDATE at 3:10: The protesters are said to be marching to John Paulson's house now. 

The full statement from Paulson & Co:

“The top 1% of New Yorkers pay over 40% of all income taxes, providing huge benefits to everyone in our city and state. Paulson & Co. and its employees have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in New York City and New York State taxes in recent years and have created over 100 high paying jobs in New York City since its formation.

New York currently has the highest income taxes of any state in the country and thousands of businesses have fled New York to states with no income taxes such as Florida, Texas and Nevada, or moved offshore.

Instead of vilifying our most successful businesses, we should be supporting them and encouraging them to remain in New York City and continue to grow.”

CNBC just tweeted, "Paulson & Co. Answers Occupy Wall Street March - Paulson & Co.: Don't Vilify Our Most Successful Businesses."

Don't miss: this 30-second exchange explains what the protesters want and what Wall Street's response to that is >

Who's in the 1%? Click here to see the Richest Billionaire hedge fund managers >

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The Resounding Message Coming Out Of The Bretton Woods Conference Is A Call For Leadership To Solve The Euro Crisis

The resounding message coming out of the world's economic leaders at the Bretton Woods conference today is that we need action.

And that in order for action, we need a strong leader. The fact that one does not exist right now was clearly on the speakers' minds as they spoke today.

Jean-Claude Trichet said that swift decisive action is needed in Europe.

Speaking at the Bretton Woods Conference in Washington DC on Friday (which we attended), the ECB President said that the world faces a sovereign crisis that is centered in Europe but has spread to larger economies. The rapidly rising risk of contagion threatens financial stability. In order to prevent contagion, Trichet says, decisive action is needed soon.

It sounds like the consensus is that we need a leader to come forward to propose and implement a solution to the crisis. The U.S., because historically it has been the global leader, has an opportunity to play that role. Unfortunately, Obama acts as a leader of the American middle class, etc, and not the world economy.

He also might not have enough business experience for his proposed action to be taken seriously, were he to make one. That suggests he would have to propose someone else's solution. Obama's war with business leaders makes that an unlikely possibility.

At the conference today there were multiple signs that the world's top economic intellectuals and leaders believe that what we really need is leadership.

Brazilian central banker Alexandre Tombini said that we must move fast to resolve the confidence crisis, and that the solution must come in a single message.

And Trichet said that we need authorities to who possess unquestioned authority, so that people have confidence in a solution, to deliver that message. What this leader would say, according to Trichet, would have to have 2 key components to it: triggering action – but not despair.

He echoed Larry Summers’ statement earlier Friday at the conference that one of the most difficult problems during a crisis is finding the language that generates concern and action, but that won’t trigger despair.

The obstacle right now is a leader who will deliver that message, or a lack there of.

These are solvable problems, said Summers. We just need action.

One action that has been gaining enthusiasm is the implementation of the EFSF, which could leverage investments by private investors to buy bad bank assets, among other TARP-like stability-increasing functions. However like TARP initially, the EFSF doesn’t have broad support yet.

PIMCO's Mohammed El-Erian said that the solution will involve convincing healthy balance sheets to engage in funding, which they will only do if they're convinced that the rest of Europe will participate.

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Chinese Communist Party Newspaper Has A Message For Europe

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Chinese newspaper "People's Daily" published a front page editorial Saturday telling Europe to quit "dilly-dallying" and get its act together, via Reuters.

While the paper is not the official mouthpiece for the government, it is considered an organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party leadership. Even an editorial is thought to be indicative of government sentiment.

Author Qin Hong pointed to a deepening of the European fiscal union as a way out of the eurozone mess.

"If it is able to set up a fiscal union, Europe can still turn its luck around. If the decision comes too late, some (euro) members may be forced to pull out," the Hong wrote. "But if Europe keeps dilly-dallying, the situation can only worsen and gather speed. Outsiders who want to help will not dare, and then the euro zone may really disintegrate. Without doubt, this would be a huge disaster for Europe and the world."

China has around $3.05 trillion in foreign currency reserves according to Reuters, and stands to lose big in an escalating eurozone crisis.

This commentary suggests that Chinese preoccupation with the eurozone crisis is escalating. It follows discussions last month among BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) on lending to Europe to stabilize markets. BRICS leaders ultimately pointed to the G20 as the proper organization to carry out such an action.

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White House Screws Up Jobs Plan Message

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Hours after top adviser David Axelrod asserted that President Barack Obama wants his jobs bill to pass Congress without amendment, White House economic adviser Gene Sperling said the opposite — that Obama would not veto a plan that only contained parts of his proposal.

On Good Morning America Tuesday, Axelrod said "we’re not in a negotiation to break up the package, and it’s not an à la carte menu. It is a strategy to get this country moving."

But Sperling told reporters today that if Obama is “presented with parts of his plan, his instinct would be not to reject things he favored but to come back and keep fighting and fighting to get the entire program,"according to POLITICO.

House Republicans have said they do not approve of Obama's plan in its current form, and intend to make significant modifications to the bill. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor categorically ruled out any tax increases to pay for the bill on Thursday, eliminating any chance the bill can pass in its current form.

The confusion is the latest miscue for Obama since the White House struggled with Republicans over the date of his speech to Congress to outline the plan. 

Obama will travel to Ohio today to try to build public support for his bill.

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