NEW YORK – John Catsimatidis – the Greek-American self-made billionaire, 2013 NYC Mayoral candidate, and host of Cats Roundtable on New York’s 970 AM Radio – told Bloomberg news that the people of Greece support their “new, strange government.”

When Bloomberg’s “In the Loop” host Betty Liu pointed out that the likelihood of Greece leaving the Euro has surpassed 50 percent and is trending upward, the veteran businessman replied: “it’s all about negotiation, I think they’re going to work it out [and remain].”

“Greeks are very emotional people,” Catsimatidis said, who raise the issue that they never received reparations for Nazi atrocities during World War II from Germany, which is now taking a hard line in negotiations.

“They’re going to work it out because they can’t afford to break up the Eurozone,” Catsimatidis said. “Next will be Portugal and Spain,” which is why he thinks that Greece’s tough stance at the moment is to make a point. “If you jump up and down enough, they believe that you’re serious.”

So the Greek people are behind the new government, Liu asks, but does that include Catsimatidis himself? “Look, I’m an American,” he responded. “I am behind the Greek people as a whole.”

FINANCES AT HOME

Speaking of the United States, then, should we raise interest rates, Liu asked? No, he replied. “We’re not doing that well,” Catsimatidis said, comparing the United States to Europe, “maybe the Europeans are doing worse,” but it doesn’t mean we’re doing well enough to raise interest rates.
Catsimatidis also believes that “as long as President Obama is president,” the Federal Reserve will hold the line on raising rates.

What does it have to do with who is president? “I’ve spoken to a lot of Republicans,” Catsimatidis says, “and they think the right thing to do is to trend [rates] up.” Notably, he added: “and I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do.”

“Are you saying the Fed[reral Reserve] is politicized?” Liu asked. “Nobody wants to think that,” Catsimatidis responded, but the Fed Chair “is a presidential appointment” and so the person in that seat tends to go with the trend. “It’s not supposed to be politicized, but it is more so than not.”