“Morning Joe” and the banking crisis

A metaphor of how the Fed and bank regulators have dealt with it

Friends,

When bookers for MSNBC’s show “Morning Joe” asked me to appear last Friday to talk about the banking crisis, I agreed — even though asked me to appear at 9 a.m. on the East Coast, which is 6 a.m. where I live.

Why do people on the East Coast assume that we on the West Coast operate on the same time schedule they do? I’ve learned (from a few embarrassing experiences) that I should never go on national television early in the morning when I’m half-asleep.

But I thought “Morning Joe” worth it. It’s a good show that’s widely watched by people interested in politics. Besides, the banking crisis isn’t being covered as it should be (as you know if you’ve been reading this letter).

I went to bed as early as I could Thursday night and set my alarm clock, hoping to get enough shuteye to be sufficiently articulate seven hours later.

When I was younger, it was easy for me to sleep on nights before I had to get up early to do national television. But I’m now old, and the sleep fairies do not favor the elderly. I tossed and turned and woke up every hour or so to check the clock.

I finally settled into something resembling sleep, only to awaken just 15 minutes before I was supposed to appear. The damn alarm hadn’t gone off. Yikes!

I sprang out of bed, switched on the lights, poured cold water on my face, pulled on some clothes, and ran into my home office. No time even for coffee. I turned on my laptop, clicked onto Zoom, and one minute later heard the “Morning Joe” producer ask if I was ready.

Ready?

Within seconds I was on air. Hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough asked easy questions, but my responses were slow, long-winded, and meandering. (I’ve posted the segment below.) I can only hope a few people learned something from it.

Asleep at the switch, alarms didn’t go off, slow and inadequate response. A fitting metaphor for how the Fed and bank regulators have dealt with the current crisis.