Alan Blinder, former vice-chairman of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve, expects three to four rate hikes this year. Prior to that, Bill Lee, Citigroup's head of North American economics, says sentiment data aren't good predictors of real data or the economy. Jim Millstein, former chief restructuring officer at the U.S. Treasury, says the confirmation process has become uncivil and we have to change it if we want to get qualified candidates into public service. Finally, Mike Mayo, a former CLSA banking analyst, discusses the future of sell-side research and banking regulation.