Chuck Schumer on the Rise of Sovereign Wealth Funds

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And if the sovereign wealth funds follow what the IMF does, we won't have a problem.

But with some of these funds coming to the rescue of American financial institutions in distress, is this really the time to be holding their feet to the fire?
I don't think it's asking very much. Dubai has already said it's going to comply with transparency.

But is there any real evidence that these funds plan to use their investments to further political agendas?
Well, there's no track record. They're brand new. So we just don't know. Even if one country, say Singapore, has a very good record here, are you sure that the next country, whose fund is newer, will also? So setting rules, particularly voluntary rules created by an international organization that apply to all countries, is the right thing to do.

Has anyone from the Israel lobby called you and politely suggested you press ahead with calls for disclosure?
No.

Has anyone on Wall Street called you and politely suggested that you back off?
No, I think most of Wall Street thinks I'm pursuing this in a very rational way. Transparency, openness, that's part of Adam Smith's rules.

I heard that when the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority wanted to invest in Citigroup, Citi executives called you or your colleagues and warned against opposing the deal because if it didn't go through, there would be a lot of layoffs in New York.
That didn't happen in my office. But we're working our way through this, and as long as we don't do anything rash or motivated by either protectionism or xenophobia, I think we're going to do just fine.

One last question about taxes. Here we are in a slowing economy, and Democratic candidates are talking about not extending the Bush tax cuts. Is this the right time to raise taxes?
I think we have to let the economy play out for a while. But while you certainly don't want to raise taxes on middle-class people, wealth is agglomerating to the very, very top. If we're going to have to raise revenues, it has to come from the highest-end people. And I think there has been a change in America. Ronald Reagan and the Republicans were very successful at saying tax cuts for the rich were tax cuts for everybody. I don't think that equation holds anymore.

Maria Bartiromo is the anchor of CNBC's Closing Bell.