Listen now | Michael Milken revolutionized American finance and democratized access to capital for thousands of companies that Wall Street had previously written off.
I was in Gary Becker's graduate econ class at U Chicago in the late 80s when he came to class after lunch one day and mentioned that he had just had lunch with Michael Milken, who was universally being villified in the media at the time. Becker clearly had enormous respect for Milken for his amazing role in transforming capital markets. It was the first time I had ever heard a calm, rational case for Milken as a positive force. Becker clearly believed that Milken was being persecuted because he had disrupted the powers that be. Clearly tragic, and then Becker moved on the the lesson in Price Theory for the day.
it is great to see slow, but ongoing, vindication of Milken.
I think it was because he was helping entrepreneurs get access to capital, and was helping finance ways to dispatch do-nothing boards of directors that were aiding and abetting their fellow company executives in the pillage of their company's treasuries. Those directors did not understand that the company belonged to the stockholders, and they considered the stockholders a nuisance to be tolerated, rather than their ultimate bosses.
As a former Moody's bond analyst, this was a fascinating conversation. We were always very cautious about "junk bond" projects, and yet the undervalued gem is always present. Could definitely see why Trump gave this pardon, given that the "felonies" that Trump was convicted of were novel and certainly bald-face politicization of the law.
It is great to hear the story of Mike and Drexel get put out there as it is now a while ago from when he and the firm changed finance; really revolutionized finance; in a positive way. And then healthcare.
I was in Gary Becker's graduate econ class at U Chicago in the late 80s when he came to class after lunch one day and mentioned that he had just had lunch with Michael Milken, who was universally being villified in the media at the time. Becker clearly had enormous respect for Milken for his amazing role in transforming capital markets. It was the first time I had ever heard a calm, rational case for Milken as a positive force. Becker clearly believed that Milken was being persecuted because he had disrupted the powers that be. Clearly tragic, and then Becker moved on the the lesson in Price Theory for the day.
it is great to see slow, but ongoing, vindication of Milken.
I think it was because he was helping entrepreneurs get access to capital, and was helping finance ways to dispatch do-nothing boards of directors that were aiding and abetting their fellow company executives in the pillage of their company's treasuries. Those directors did not understand that the company belonged to the stockholders, and they considered the stockholders a nuisance to be tolerated, rather than their ultimate bosses.
As a former Moody's bond analyst, this was a fascinating conversation. We were always very cautious about "junk bond" projects, and yet the undervalued gem is always present. Could definitely see why Trump gave this pardon, given that the "felonies" that Trump was convicted of were novel and certainly bald-face politicization of the law.
It is great to hear the story of Mike and Drexel get put out there as it is now a while ago from when he and the firm changed finance; really revolutionized finance; in a positive way. And then healthcare.