On the New York Stock Exchange - NYSE Euronext (NYX*)...
JJC:   I own it for my charitable trust...  Thain's a good man, and he's a tough guy, and I like him, but Duncan Neidermeyer (named to replace John Thain - who is leaving NYX* as its CEO to head up Merrill Lynch - as CEO of NYX*) is a cost-cutter.  I've known Duncan from my days at Goldman Sachs... I've spoken with him... I've done a lot of stuff with him...  Duncan's a cost-cutter... He's a pro-technology buff...  He is not a friend of the specialist, which is, of course, the way I look at it.  He might disagree with that, but I just think that the specialists represent an older-school thought... Duncan's a tech guy... I think he's learned a lot from Thain.  I like this... Oh, I think he's right...  I think he's learned a ton.  Nelson Chai, who's the CFO there, is also great.  They've been a great team together... I don't think the first thing's he's going to do is go overpay for another exchange.  I think he's a cost cutter... and that has been... and this is the quarter where the costs are allowed to start to be cut... That's been the problem.  The leverage hasn't been there like the CME Group (CME)...  I mean, I like him... I know him from Goldman... I think he's learned a tremendous amount since he's been there.  I wish Thain the best of luck.  I think Thain's done a terrific job...  but Duncan will do a great job...   It's not half European, it's majority European!...  And it's a great weak-dollar play, and people keep talking about the share of Nasdaq versus the New York Stock Exchange... You know, this is not 1985, for heaven's sake!  The actual trading on the floor is only like 10% of the earnings... This is a total European situation!.... I'm so sick of hearing it's an American story... it's a European story.  It's two-thirds... two-thirds of the income comes from Europe... two-thirds!  And it's blown away the numbers, but it's such a hated stock, in part, because I've championed it... and people hate me, and I say bring it on, because I've been hated all my life from the day I was born, February 10th, 1945 (uh, actually that is the correct day, but the year is 1955 - see here)...    

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On Merrill Lynch (MER)...
JJC:   (regarding the effect John Thain will have as its new CEO)... Well, it means that there won't be any nonsense, and there won't be like 23 rounds of golf played when the company... Thain is a no-nonsense guy...  Now, O'Neil was a no-nonsense guy... it was one of those wicked witch situations where he melts into a pool, and the next thing you know, everybody's cheering... This guy was a disliked guy... Thain is not a warm, loveable guy... You don't go Cement-heading (that's a Midwest term for Anheuser Busch) with Thain... you don't...  You actually would go for a drink with Thain...  Like, I always straighten my tie before I go see Thain...  I think that he'll be good for MER, because he's a guy who is a coalition-builder, and I think that he will be able to make that firm whole again...  I wanted Bobby McCann, clearly, from the work I've done with St. Jude's Wall Street division...  I think it's going to be a better MER under Thain... I think Thain's going to do a good job... I think Thain's a money maker... Listen, let's go straight to the chase... I like Lloyd Blankfein... There's Blankfein, and then there's everybody else... which, by the way, there's Goldman's stock (GS*), and then there's everybody else...   Did you read the GS* speech?... Did you see what he said yesterday about culture?... Did you see what he said about not letting people down?... Or, did you read about the other guys?...  The Citigroup (C*) call, which was one of the funniest calls, after they deposed Prince?...  Which was like, I don't know... We've got a lot of CDOs (i.e., Collateralized Debt Obligations)... I don't know what they are... If we service them, I don't know... Did Lloyd talk about that at all?... No!  He talked about like... The C* conference call was a comedy...  Trust me, that the C* is in disarray... John Thain should go work...  He should run C* in the morning, and he should run MER in the afternoon, and he'd do better than those guys...  I have never turned on Lloyd, not from the day I met him!...