[Superfly]

I worked directly with Jon in 1990 and 1991. Can't stand him personally, and abhor his politics, but there's no one better at playing chicken.

I remember one day Goldman, as a primary dealer of US Treasury bonds, did not meet the Fed's minimum bid on a whole shitload of ten years. It was a critical auction, and as always, Goldman was the biggest piece. But they didn't meet the bid, and threatened the whole auction. The Fed threw everything at him, including a review of his status as a primary dealer. Jon wouldn't back down. He felt his bid was fair and anything else was unfair to his clients. He could have played nice, and the Firm would have gone along. As a matter of fact, in that situation, he was expected to play along rather than risk any heat on the firm. He refused, and the effing Fed had to accept his bid. He stared down the whole US gov't and they blinked first.