I spent more than a little time originating trades for an investment bank. Origination is the bank word for sales - it has more class and pays a lot better. But there is a fundamental phrase that describes the role:
"Marketing doesn't start until the customer says no"
That is always, always, always what I heard when I complained back to a trader on the desk that the price they were offering a client was outrageous, that they would never buy it.
"Marketing doesn't start until the customer says no"
It means - any offer that you make must be rejected. If they say yes, you left money on the table.
What does that have to do with Paulsen?
Paulsen comes from Goldman - the orginator's orignating firm. A firm steeped in
"Marketing doesn't start until the customer says no"
The original proposal was simply the most outrageous plan that could be proposed. The one thing the originator has to fear is that the cusotmer will walk away and say "screw you, if you won't offer in good faith don't bother coming back."
The Democratic Congress - walk away? Are you kidding me?
If you can get them to scream at the outrageous offer but not walk away, you win. Now, they are negotiating away from your offer - not negotiating from reality. You just assured that whatever the outcome, it will be absolutely the best outcome you possibly could have gotten.. Your goal is to walk - very slowly - back until they say yes. And they say yes at their uppermost limit - because that is the direction the negotiation works from.
Especially because they won't walk away from the table. In that negotiation style, the only way to sieze control back is to say "hell no, you want something so bad, call me when you have something worth considering."
They won't do it - too bad, because regardless of what Congress thinks, the trades know:
"Marketing doesn't start until the customer says no"
And all I've heard so far is maybe.