Foreign Welcome to in conversation this week Former directors of the United States Mint Philip deal and Ed Moy discussed The closing of the San Francisco mint Why that decision was made and the Problems that caused Philip at his Senate confirmation hearings Mr director it's always great to be with You always and how unusual is this to Have two mint tractors here at the same Time yes that that's right it's really Unique and you and I have gotten to be Such good friends in this time and to be Working together On issues related to the mint and U.S Money Reserve very special and we're Also seated appropriately uh Democrat on The left and a republican on the right Exactly right United by our experience Serving this country in a really uh Important and cool job right yes that's Right the most fun job I had in my Career and also I feel like uh the job In my career where I was able to Accomplish the most Curious minds want to know How did you become mint director well You know it was sort of a shot out of The blue uh I had been Chief of Staff of The U.S treasury Department and that was One of the most difficult jobs I had in My career and I um after about six Months in it and I was also liaison to
The White House and the White House was In chaos at the beginning of the Clinton Administration I told the Secretary of The Treasury Lloyd Benson that I wanted To go home to Texas and he said well I Know you want to run something and we've Got a turnaround situation with the United States men and upon us to go over And look at it and you don't tell the Secretary of Treasury no yeah so I went Over very skeptical especially secretary Pence yes I've just quite the icon yes Yes that's right and And so I went over and uh looked at it For about three months my predecessor David Ryder Was there he gave me a great Introduction to the men what was good What was not so good all the challenges And I went back to the secretary and Said yes I'd like to do this when it's Very unusual people like me who go to Deal with policy issues to go run Something like the United States meant a Manufacturing a marketing operation for The most part and so like I said best Job I ever had So um it's a senate confirmed position Right that's right uh the White House Nominated you no uh tell me about your Confirmation hearing I heard that that Wasn't exactly smooth writing yes that's Right well one of the pieces of wisdom That every presidential appointee should
Be given and I was not given was do not Make any decisions until you've been Confirmed by the Senate because it just Introduces you to controversy and but One of the first things I did within the First three months was read this report About the San Francisco mint and the Danger in the case of an earthquake and So in there was this big particle it's a Built beautiful building Um and there's a big protocol over the Entrance where school children in the Thousands came into the museum And I came to the conclusion that we Needed to shut down that Museum and so I Went through all the appropriate Processes of informing the Congressional Delegation the two senators through Staff through the treasury staff and Then at the end of the year we announced It and uh a lot of difficulty broke out At that point I could put it I could put It in a little more sharply but Um and we ended up I went to the Secretary secretary Benson and I Suggested to him that he announced that The decision was suspended And we were going to give the Congressional Delegation in the city the Opportunity of the race of the funds to Restore it and it was like 30 million Dollars and there are a whole bunch of Bake sales and stuff like that and they Raised a you know you know 20 or 30 000
And at the end of that then the uh you Know we end up closing the place yeah so We couldn't afford it and it was not Worth spending 30 million dollars to Um and Congress wouldn't appropriate it So and we're talking about the old Granite lady right which is what the uh Uh um nickname for was and it survived The San Francisco earthquake yes yes That's exactly right and when the media Ran with this story and of course we Were vilified in the local media and I Learned another valuable lesson and that Is you can give your best story in a Controversy and nobody Pay attention to it and instead they use It to feed the criticism and finally you Know after a couple weeks I realized Shut up don't stop saying anything You're feeding your story and it's all Being misrepresented and so you know it There were some valuable lessons that Came out of it visit Usmoneyreserve.com for more information On precious metals coins and precious Metal IRAs America's gold Authority U.S money Reserve is proud to be a leading Distributor of government issue Gold Silver Platinum and Palladium For over 20 years hundreds of thousands Of clients have placed their trust in The company to help select the highest Quality and most appropriate precious
Metals for their portfolios So whether you're a first-time buyer or Looking to expand your current portfolio U.S money Reserve is committed to Bringing you a superior customer Experience I'm Chuck Woolery Thank you for watching in conversation
