♪ >> live from bloomberg headquarters in new york, this is "market makers." --stagnation japanese style ilion or george soros says that's what your places unless it overhauls banks from lending. >> tesla will have to shut down its direct sales outlets in the state of new jersey. the garden state says i can only

sell cars to franchise dealers. we will talk to the man who represents those dealers. >> wall street heavyweights are looking forward to a dance partner with candidates that can reverse the economic alysia president obama with 970 days to go, who do they want to ask out? you're watching "market makers." >> there is a lot happening this morning. >> nerves are on edge in manhattan. it appears as if a building on park avenue in harlem around wanted 14th street -- 116th street has collapsed pretty is as live footage from one of our affiliate cameras showing you what is going on. it's a three alarm fire. >> 33 fire department units, 138 personnel, that so many people are headed to the explosion. as you said, this is north of the park. this looks massive. >> people in new york city are

inclined to jump to the worst of possible conclusions. it has been more than a decade but the memory of 9/11 is still very fresh for many people. we don't know what is going on but we cannot rule out anything. --'s put it into perspective we are talking about a building in harlem relative to some of the office towers downtown -- no one would content -- would consider this a high-value target. this >> is probably a gas explosion. >>it does not seem like the type of building that would be a target. northe at least 10 blocks of mount sinai hospital. we will note more and will continue to cover that for you. let's go to the top business stories. malaysia is vowing to do whatever it takes to find that missing passenger jet. so far, all leads of turned into dead ends print the air force in malaysia is denying that it tracks the plane flying hundreds of miles off course.

there is a new ceo at east men codec, jeff clark emma who has he chairman of orbitz replaces antonio perez. eastman kodak emerged from bankruptcy last year now makes equipment for commercial hunting and packaging. that story still breaks my heart. we all grew up on codec. on wall street, profits were lower last year but bonuses were higher. that is according to the new york state comptroller. 15%ays the bonus pool grew to a total of $27 billion. profits for stock exchange members fell by 1/3. the bloomberg exclusive -- george soros. anchor,pean down withacqua sat george soros and he weighed in on everything. it was an exclusive interview.

he is watching the crisis in ukraine closely. here's what he said about what it means for europe. call tone is a wake up europe. russia has emerged as a rival of the european union. utin has tried to reconstitute the russian empire as a rival for the european union. he has been very successful politically. he has not been terribly successful financially because the russian economy is not doing well at all.

putin has outplayed, out maneuvered the european union because europe is true to form. they demanded too much and offered to little. t was not difficult forputin -- putin. >the ukrainian people screwed u. by sacrificinged commitment toeir be part of europe. this is a challenge to europe. to rediscover its

own european identity instead of each country just pursuing its national interests and getting further and further into conflict with the others. there are certain core principles. this is a political thing. democracy and open society and freedom. europe has believed him these things but needs to stand up and be united. >> george soros using some of his favorite words like open society. francine lacqua is with us live from london. he was born in hungary and watched soviet power in action when the iron curtain fell over that part of europe. what else did george soros share

with you? he also spoke a lot about a big part of his foundation is based in russia because he has been working so much there. i asked him whether he was actionsnted by putin's and he said no, he thinks about things differently. he says vladimir putin has a blind spot and we should not come as europeans, focus on russia or try to punish him. we should try to get the ukraine closer to the eu. the interview was wide ranging. we spoke about china and he says there will be tremors because they are adjusting to a new model where they consume more instead of only exporting. he says everything should be under control in china. we talked about the u.s. and tapering and talked about the european union. this is something he has been passionate about. the last five years, he has been

trying to convince germany to do more. he says when you have a monetary union, you need the wealthiest countries to transfer money to the weaker ones. he's talking about a family where the parents need to give money to the kids if they are going through rough time. we talked about that and i asked him about whether we are seeing too much complacency on the market. a lot of the political vacuum he talked about in europe, i suggested, is maybe because the markets don't focus on us, the yields in europe have remained under relative control. he said his is not the markets job to do that. they need to focus on making money and he says there is a lot of opportunity in a lot of the banking stocks in europe. no question george soros is pro-european. risk innot see any putting all of the ukraine efforts on european integration -- i'm trying to ask you, if

ukraine moves closer to your, is he not worried that the russians will just move further into ukraine? that's not something he did not contemplate. i try to ask him what the response should be to russia. for me it is vladimir putin trying to redraw the orders which in 2014 should not be conceivable. he said you are focusing on the wrong thing. and the vote in ukraine ukrainian people wanted to be closer to europe and out your place to stand up and integrate them. this willis is how lead to a resolution is if europe actually takes charge and lends money to ukraine and tries to get them closer to the european union. >> thanks very much. onto a story developing in washington-millions of more americans will soon be eligible

to get overtime pay for it a white house will issue an executive order requiring companies -- i will take a minute -- i want to reference this explosion. here we are on 58th and lexington and you can hear outside right now, we are 50 blocks away and you can hear the fire engines heading north. i spoke to someone moments ago was building was nine blocks away from the explosion and is building was safe but he says they felt a major shake. we need to take a minute. i want to go back to this to look at this. this is a serious explosion. >> yes, we are asking what the cause of it is great we don't know. that is an uncertain situation that all of us are uncomfortable with. this is new york city, the city that is expert at responding to disasters. that is what is going on right now. >> we will keep you updated on that. let's take you back tod.c. more americans will be eligible

to get overtime pay. white house will issue an executive order that is requiring companies to pay more of their employees time and a half for working more than 40 hours per week. republicans in the business community re: crying foul. let's bring in phil mattingly. what exactly does this mean if you work more than 40 hours per week? the government could say you need to pay more employees overtime? ofwhat you will see out president obama tomorrow is he will ask the labor department to draft regulations that increase the threshold under which employees have to be paid overtime if they work over 40 hours. 450 fiveshold is about dollars but administration officials will not say what they will recommend. they say it will apply to millions of people. is the issue right now business community. the chamber of commerce is literally across the street from the white house and they are literally across the street. they will have a problem with this. >> has there and it -- has there

been any sign of the minimum wage move in congress? >> it is along the lines from what was laid out in the state of union. i was in new york city with the president yesterday who was up there for fundraisers and he stopped by the gap. there is a recognition that congress is not going to move on a minimum wage increase. what they are doing is reaching out to companies like the cap that are willing to raise it on their own. they want to work with private business and congratulate them and give them a nice photo op if they cooperate. they want to use those avenues. as you see with this executive action that he will announce tomorrow, the white house does not feel that congress, particularly the house, will not put them on this so they will do it on their own. >> i guess he did not like that red sweater. >> he did not i genes for himself. we were disappointed. he got two sweaters for the daughters and a sweatshirt or something for the first lady. >> nice, that's the latest from d.c.

give us some idea of what the effect of this would be on the business world? >> if you make less than or hundred $55 per week, you cannot be excluded from overtime. -- $455 per week. there are professional employees who are exempted from this on the president wants to change that as well. know what the due definition will be or what the new level will be. it could potentially affect not -- affect millions of people. jarod bernstein wrote a paper last year in which he said it could be 5-10,000,000 people depending on how high they raise the level if they want to $1000 per week. 980 four dollars which is $51,000 per year which would get millions of people -- dollars.ts 984 addition to the

president's efforts to raise the minimum wage and a comes in addition to the president's efforts to expand the current income tax credit. what would the impact of all those things be? >> all those things together would do a lot to raise living standards of millions of people. focus on this because he can do this by executive order were the earned income tax credit and the minimum wage have to go through congress. he promised during the state of the union that his pen would become a policy instrument. in this case, that's what he is planning on doing. >> thank you. good perspective. up, a short circuit for tesla -- it loses a big battle with car dealers in new jersey. >> plus, apple, microsoft and other u.s. companies keep piling up overseas profits. that money would not come home unless congress does something. we will cover that and more on

"market makers," on bloomberg television, streaming on your phone, your tablet, and bloomberg.com. you can watch all of our good stuff on apple tv. ♪

>> you are watching "market makers." in washington, there are one point 95 trillion reasons for congress to finally overhaul the nation's tax code. dollars largey u.s. corporations have parked overseas. ." kaz more. -- peter cook has more. we have been talking about this for years, why might it finally change? >> because there are numbers like this that have democrats and republicans acknowledging the problem that u.s. corporations are leaving so much of this money overseas because the u.s. tax code is incentivizing them to do that. 307 companies in the

s&p 500, the total amount out point $95 trillion and it went up in 2013. microsoft, apple, and ibm accounted for the eight alien dollars. these are the top five. apple is quadruple what it had three years ago. the reason these companies are leaving that money abroad is because of they brought it to the u.s., they would have to pay 35% on those profits in the don't want to do that when they can leave it somewhere else like ireland. they could pay 12.5% on their profits overseas. this is more incentive for congress and the it ministration to reach a deal on what to do with these overseas profits. there are lots of ideas out there but not a lot of agreement right now. there is a general acknowledgment that there is a problem. >> we have taken a close look at securities filings to try to get

arense of which companies availing themselves of these loopholes in the tax code. walk us through some of that. seen a big number that has to do with drug companies. they have historically been among those who have parked a lot of these profits overseas. you got a rising number of technology companies. wasntioned apple and there a hearing in washington about what they were doing with profits in ireland specifically. this is an issue across the board with multinationals from different industries who have banded together and said it's time to do something about this. we are prepared to bring the money back but you have to lower the tax rate. what do you do with the money when he gets home? the president and dave camp, chairman of the ways and means committee, have come up with the same basic idea to devote that money to infrastructure and win bipartisan support. they are starting to get movement toward that in washington but there are other

issues. what do you do about the individual tax code that will slow this up? in these to be a comprehensive plan or it will not move anytime soon so this is stock right now. dave camp is the first title long time to proposed a specific plan or overhauling the tax code and bring this money back from overseas. >> thank you very much. those numbers provide a pretty compelling case. we will have more "market makers." bloombergtching television. ♪

>> welcome back. you are looking at a live shot of the explosion on 114th street

and park avenue here in new york city. i want to bring in gene west, a former new york city fire marshal. >> i can hear you. >> to put this in perspective, where are you? >> i am in my own home looking at this on my television set. >> from your ex.'s we are hearing unconfirmed reports that it was possibly a church or store with apartments on top. when you think about the address, it does not seem like a likely target for an attack, what do you think? -- a fires looks like like this would normally be associated with a gas leak. that is the first thing that jumps to my mind. it does not look like an act of terrorism. you have to analyze the debris and analyze the full circumstances of the fire to determine whether or not we have something that we would call a detonation which we associate

with high explosives. the gas leak will lift and separate parts of the building and cause it to collapse were a detonation would rip and tear pieces of the building. there are many things to look at here. what i am looking at looks consistent with a gas leak right now. >> they call it a four alarm fire. what does that mean in new york city? is a largelarm fire assignment of vehicles. you will probably have somewhere on the order of 60 or 70 fire department apparatus respond to the scene. they will respond for a number of reasons. first of all, they will have to secure the area and put out the fire. they will have to perhaps start the process of shoring up the other buildings and they will have to do searches. one thing that will concern

themselves is are we missing people? >> thank you so much. clearly you're someone who will know. >> coming up, new jersey pulls the plug on teslas electric cars.

from bloomberg headquarters in new york, this is "market makers." you are watching "market makers." new jersey governor chris christie has taken a lot of heat for closing lanes on the george washington bridge to manhattan. only lanes he is closing are the tesla showrooms in the garden state. they voted to ban direct sales of cars to consumers in new jersey, shutting tesla out of one of the most lucrative markets. ofsident of the coalition automotive dealer supports the decision and a law professor at

the university of michigan is with us. thank you very much for joining me. allowingrong with tesla to sell cars directly? at the very least, it's not like the tesla buyers had a problem with that and they are the consumers. 1/10 of one percent market share in new jersey. the 99.9% of the remaining market share in new jersey is the way that laws are written. they are not le written for the .1%. the statute that has been on the books are more than a decade is intended to protect the public interest and price competition and public and highway safety. integrated monopoly controlled by a manufacturer

crushes price competition and insurers that one price is paid. it does not save money on the distribution system because the manufacturer still has to establish its own retail network and still has to buy advertising and still has to pay for facilities. more importantly, the state's compelling. interestis in public and highway safety in the state of new jersey, the legislature has mandated that a franchise system of independent dealers is in place for the simple reason that when a manufacturer sees a warranty or safety recall incident, they see expense. they look to control that expense whenever they can. a new car dealer sees an opportunity to serve a customer and revenue because the manufacturer has to pay the dealer to fix their mistakes. crane hasid, dan spent a lot of time building the case against these dealership protection laws. tell us your side of the story. jim makes good

economic practice. a vertically integrated company like tesla faces lots of competition from other car incentive ists that it invests business -- billions of dollars creating a new brand and they want to make sure the customers get the experience that will keep them coming back loyal to tesla. if the only way they will be able to recover the investments they are making. if tesla provides that service to consumers, and summers will not become loyal to the brand and tesla will never be able to make good on its investment. this is a very anti-consumer strategy that is motivated by protecting the monopoly currently enjoyed by franchised auto dealers and not the interest of consumers. >> professor, i know you are an economics professor at a professor of law. i happen to be a lawyer and i think this discussion goes into the legalities. the big point we are missing is the tesla business model in new

jersey as unwise and unlawful. the action by the motor vehicle commission yesterday was to enforce the laws that are on the books currently and have been for a decade with respect to the unlawful behavior tesla is engaged in. this go to the question of whether it is a wise just to be some model. of one percent10 market share in the state of new jersey. if tesla is ever going to realize its potential as an automaker, it is going to have to expand its bandwidth so it can both sell and service more than five or 600 cars per year in the state of new jersey. last year in new jersey, new car dealers sold over 500,000 new cars. there are 500 dealers in the state to provide that service and to provide a service and safety recall capability. units in theor 700 state of new jersey will not have a problem. when they get to 70,000 or 170,000, how are they going to

deal with a safety recall? if you doubt the question about a manufactures disincentive to support warranty or safety recalls, just look at what is happening today with general motors. 13 people had to die before general motors took action to address the recall situation. they see expense and they dig in their heels and try to cut expense. >> what you're describing is under the current system that you and your lobbies in other states have foisted on consumers which foist -- which forces car companies against their will and against the consumer interest to distribute cars in a way that may not be in the interest of consumers. you talk about the legality of this question, that's what we're talking about. should a state like new jersey imposed on consumers a method of distribution that may not be in their interest? tesla is spending billions of dollars in treating a brand, much more than the car dealers

are spending and creating the tesla brand. tesla is the one that has the biggest incentive to make sure that the brand is protected in the long run to provide service and putting safe automobiles on the highway. for some manufacturers, distributing through dealers may be the best solution. i am not against the dealers but the question is, why should the state commission imposed a restriction on consumer choice as to how people want to be able to buy their cars? tesla is one of the most innovative and dynamic car companies in the nation and to infringe upon their ability to deal directly with consumers is an affront to the freedom of enterprise anticonsumer choice. >> professor, we regulate in the u.s. securities and exchange. we regulate real estate agents. we even licensed dogs and cats in this country. we license motor vehicle dealers because they have an impact on the health and safety and economic well-being of the

public. the public interest is compelling to regulate this. no one is saying that we should not regulate cars. >> let me make the point that you might try to make as well -- from the perspective of the consumer, you say it is different to buy a car than buying a computer. if i want to buy an apple computer, i can go to the apple store or i can go to best buy. if i buy a big mac, i don't even know whether that mcdonald's is a franchise or a company location. there are some consumers might ask themselves why should the government tell me where i can buy my products? >> for the same reason you don't buy securities from a guy on a street corner or you don't buy real estate from an unlicensed individual. there are serious economic and public safety repercussions. if you do business with a company does not properly structured. the franchise system was developed in this country to encourage the investment by local businesses in a system of

distribution that would encourage price competition, vigorous price competition, and would ensure that consumers got full and fair treatment when it came to warranty protection. competition is not helped by giving the auto dealers a monopoly on distribution methods. >> how can a monopoly be held by 15,000 auto retailers across the nation who competed mightily? you say tesla has invested more money than the car dealers. there are 15,000 dealers across the country who have invested. tensof millions of dollars each that's force any investment tesla has made. >> you just told me that tesla has less than one percent market share. of one percent is not a monopoly. tesla does not have a monopoly. >> it's a monopoly on tesla vehicles. >> a single brand is not a monopoly. tesla competes with --

>> where i live in new jersey, that's a monopoly. >> this is a debate i'm afraid we will not result today. we love to continue some time and i want to thank you both, dan crane and jim appleton. thank you very much. on the comeback, changing of the guard at the world's biggest entertainment company, disney's entertainment chief is living. -- is leaving. ♪

>> welcome back. a big shakeup that disney that everyone is talking about. anne sweeney announced she has leaving the company next year and she has been running the company. she is leaving not the retirement or another big job but to try her hand at tv directing. the hollywood reporter broke the

story this afternoon. -- thehis down for me most powerful person possibly in tv suddenly says she wants to be a tv director. what you make of this? >> she said this has been a creative passion of hers for many years and has thought long and hard about it. she told the hollywood reporter in her interview that she had been talking to different people in tv and is learned a lot and wants to pursue this. >> have we ever heard this about her before? has she ever mentioned this before? >> she has not and that is led to speculation that perhaps she saw the writing on the wall, that she would not get the top job when bob iger leaves. sweeney iger and anne say this is just something she was to pursue. >> do you believe it? >> she has had a lot of success and she might have said this is something new. >> how legitimate is a tv directing job? >the power players in hollywood

who direct movies, named the director of a hollywood tv show. >> it is a writer/producer medium, not a director made him so it's not as prestigious a job as being a film director. television hasll i had a huge resurgence. there is a lot of opportunity there. >> you don't think she can get an opportunity in movies? but sheould, perhaps, considers it a way to start and she said she will talk to the creator of "scandal" who she has a relationship with to get the lay of the land and start from there. >> how does the exit package work? >> she was offered a three-year contract renewal and took a one-year deal with goes to next january. she will be out by the end of the year. we are not quite sure what that packages. >> do you think any of this could be the result of declining viewership at abc?

the cable channels do well. could this have to do with underperformance? >> the abc network is not doing well in prime time but there had been successes in the disney empire. beatsmorning america" now nbc. they have had successes in certain areas, just the prime time which is not doing well. tappinganne but who will he potentially? >> the focus has been on tom say sherylome sandberg at facebook might be an option but it is early and iger is not talking. >> she will be interested until the end of the year. will there moves being made or will this be a slow slide? iger told us in the interview he would like to have someone new in place by the end of the tv pilot season which ends in may.

this could be a quick transition. >> thank you so much for breaking it down. when we come back, the high-stakes dating game -- who will get wall street loving money and 2016, chris christie or another republican candidate? ♪

>> welcome back. with more than two years to go until election day 2016, the top dogs of wall street already aren't wasting time. some of the biggest republican donors were eyeing chris

christie but the bridge gate scandal has given them second thoughts and now we have a bit of a dating game happening. we have been digging into the story. we have terry holt with us from washington. max, you have done the research, tell us what is going on? on wall street are these republicans really looking that hard already? had come up with the phrase dating game but it was from one of the sources themselves who talked about it. they said it's like dating. i think it was jack oliver who said you are not ready to get married but you are starting to have first dates and people on wall street are really frustrated with where things are now. i think they are very excited to find someone perfect. >> terry, why are they so frustrated?

theythink they are because married in amateur. the obama administration has been pretty schizophrenic on business issues. they come out with a lot of hot rhetoric and the tech wall street and use it as a punching bag. at the end of the day, they sort of saddle -- sidle up to them and ask them for advice and for their money. i think the community in general is looking for more reliability and more consistency and someone who is not going to throw a lot of rhetorical punches in the process of formulating sound economic policy. >> did you feel like these were real names thrown around? a year ago, it seemed like jeb bush was in the mix but he seems like in the background and so many guys were outspoken about their love for chris christie. what will they do? >> i was surprised to hear tea party names,. i assumed this would be pretty pure like jeb or maybe mitt

romney. we found important wall street guys who are willing to sit down with ted cruz and there is just in marco rubio. i found so much anger and so much fury about obama but in the middle of my reporting is when dave camp came up with this or postal to tax the big banks and he is a republican. it's there to bring up the point that wall street guys might be for democrats. >> bill ackman was at the party for obama last night. >> the kicker is a guy pretty close to charles and david coke said it they nominate a tea party person who does not appreciate capitalism, he would look at hillary. >> is it possible that the wall street people max has been speaking to are citing the tea party names as potential white house candidates because they made the mistake with mitt

romney and now they are trying to find a candidate who they can sell better to the rest of the country? >> that might be part of it but i honestly think ted cruz and rand paul understand the power of the financial potential on wall street. they are courting themselves. id guys that have the name will bubble around in the world and see a lot of people. i think that experience will be a big factor in who they choose. you want somebody who understands the executive function of the presidency and the power it has and understands the macro economics of running the country. i agree with the analysis that hillary clinton is a viable candidate for wall street. everybody knows her and she is very consistent and has the experience. she is going to be a powerful candidate so republicans cannot take the business and economic world, the wall street world, for granted. >> there are people who love the clintons. if hillary clinton becomes a

candidate, you could get a lot of big republican fundraisers. >> at the end of the day, we mentioned ted cruz in marco rubio -- i think ted cruz's pretty clear that he is not a fan of gay marriage and wall the mostople are among socially liberal people you can talk to. i think wall street people seem annoyed by some of the social politics of some of the people they otherwise would be dumped about. >> kimye overstate the fax that ted cruz's wife -- can we overstate the fax that ted cruz his wife works for goldman sachs. ? important point is that goldman sachs is among the top five career contributors to bothcruz and rubio. aren't they also huge contributors -- you cannot look

at those two in a bubble. goldman sachs has supported a ton of other politicians as well. >> that's true and a few years ago, wasn't wall street the biggest contributor to obama? >> hedge funders loved obama the first time he ran. >> that's an excellent point. there is some parallels between barack obama and ted cruz that are not so inviting. this is a guy without very much experience and has a very big personality and he grabs hold of people's attention just like barack obama. at the end of the day, he did not understand the big world. we have seen that with president obama. we might wind up seeing that with ted cruz is as well. >> you need money to run campaigns but money in and of itself does not win elections. how much is wall street guilty ofnavel gazing and not understanding enough about the

political system? to win atto be able least iowa and new hampshire and south carolina. they have to be able to carry two of the pre-election events to be viable. some of these names might not get there. is that thext internal battles going on in the republican arty. if you talk to mainstream folks or people running businesses around the rest of the country, there is a real fight for the soul of the republican party. you guys have covered that. i believe that money is what gets you to the table. it makes you viable but ultimately, you have to have a vision for the country and you have to have a consistent reliable approach to how you will formulate economic policies. everybody will be looking at that. the tea party guys will get a look but whether they get a second look is a different thing. >> great conversation, thank you both very much. ,heck it out on bloomberg.com

the story on wall street republicans looking for a horse to bet on in 2016. ♪ . .

>> live from bloomberg headquarters in new york, this is "market makers," with erik schatzker and stephanie ruhle. two senators unveil a plan to kill freddie mae and fannie mac -- fannie mae and freddie mac and that is just killing the hedge funds. >> waiting for a sign? republican senator marco rubio sits down with bloomberg and talks about what it will take for him to run for the presidency. >> presidential rebound. a new bloomberg poll shows president obama's approval rating is bouncing back. welcome back to "market makers." i am stephanie ruhle. >> and i am erik schatzker, everybody.

from are the top stories around the world. president obama wants to make more people eligible for overtime pay, looking for so-called white-collar exemptions for restaurants and convenience stores according to a white house official. the president is expected to issue an executive order tomorrow. a puerto rican bond offering went much better than just about anybody thought. the debt-ridden island sold $3.5 trillion of debt, 500,000 -- $500 million more than they expected. rated debt jeunk sales in history. and we have been following a --lding exposure a explosion. it took place in east harlem near 116th street. the fire department says it is a multiple dwelling explosion and collapse. according to the associated press, at least 11 people have been injured.

we certainly hope those are minor injuries and at no more serious casualties are reported. meantime, you might say it is a good time to be an m&a banker. a merger is good news. mostly unscathed by new banking regulations and dealmaking activity is picking up as the stock market hits new highs and confidence slowly returns to board rooms and ec suite -- these are perhaps even better time to be the senior managing director at the blackstone group, head of the firm of the investment bank -- >> he might have the best job on wall street. >> it is great to see you. thank you for coming. >> good to be here. >> i'm thinking about what is going on in ukraine, and the reason i'm thinking about that is because i wonder how much of a chilling effect does geopolitical instability have on investment activity? not just mergers and acquisitions but other things that you deal with, that you look at in your capacity at blackstone.

>> two ways to look at it. the m&a business is going to continue to be robust into this country because there is an enormous amount of cash, activism is ripe, obvious -- >> this country meeting the united states. >> in the united states was up having said that, with what has happened in the ukraine, which is puzzling to a number of people, trying to understand the perspective of the world from putin versus obama versus merkel , what it does is as an investor, it makes you a little more careful, a little more cautious with respect to investing in so-called emerging markets where there may be some geopolitical issues. >> does that make sense, though gekko i can certainly understand wants to putor who capital to work might be a little uncertain about eastern europe, for example. there is clearly some potential for spillover in some countries, bert emerging markets as a role what doe -- as a rule?

what does that have to do with brazil, may be vietnam? >> there was a meeting on turkey and in stumble as a result of the death of one activist. but three or four years ago, turkey was a darling of the emerging markets investor community. we take for granted the fact that the u.s. is a long-standing democracy with a stable capital market, a big capital market, therefore the m&a business, the investment business is very robust. people in them perusing -- people in emerging markets have to take into effect that there is always a coefficient that something may change in the short term. >> that is because of the uncertain role of law? >> the rule of law, the gap between the rich and the poor, the magnitude you saw in the arab spring, which you've seen the ukraine, which obviously you see in turkey, you brazil.n

these issues with sosa media we essentially have a new form of democracy. >> john, there are people talking tough. -- dickey, for example cheney, for example, saying that u.s. needs to stand up to vladimir putin. want president obama to do, angela merkel and david cameron to do? specifically as a concerns ukraine, not necessarily as a concerns tax policy, social body policy. from the perspective of the executive, allocating capital, deciding what to do with his business, what do they wanted politicians to do? >> there are three perspectives on the ukraine. there is the henry kissinger perspective that the ukraine should become sort of the newfoundland. there is the george soros perspective that there should be more integrated into europe.

there is the vladimir putin perspective which is this is part of the russian empire, and it was under stalin, the breadbasket of europe. it is one of the biggest sources of corn in the world. but if you are an executive, if you are pepsi and you are heavily invested in russia, if you are -- american companies are much more invested in russia than british companies are, but ironically, it is the europeans that are more skeptical about sanctions, so where does this all go? it basically means that europe is going to have to take a more decided view about energy security, energy dependence, but also have a stronger stand as it relates to the ukraine. it will have to start with angela merkel first. >> it does not seem like it is in europe's dna to be that definitive about anything. >> vladimir putin and angela merkel have known each other for a long time. he is the former head of the kgb. he understands what he speaks german fluently. >> and angela merkel i think

understands russian quite well. she comes out of the eastern european training -- training ground. so they understand each other well. pre-k's who is tougher? -- >> who is tougher, angela merkel or vladimir putin? the latest bloomberg news, the national poll, it says that president obama is in a much better position than he was just a few months ago. julianna, can you break this down for us? just as we read that, my bloomberg is on fire from wall street, guys, saying what are you talking about? wall street has never been so negative on the president. >> if you look at the numbers in our poll, he is up six points from december, 48% approval rating. sx-point jump is the biggest we've seen during his residency according to our polls. all is not so rosy for the president because then when you look at his job approval across a vast swath of specific issues,

he is still underwater where he gets the majority of americans disapproving of his job, for example, on the economy, on the deficit. on the economy, that is important because that is where you are going to cd drag on democrats coming up in the november midterm elections. >> and the obama approval .atings -- 48% it is not making any sense. >> well, he is still held by higher favorability ratings. he got 49% there. and his approval jump really was fueled by women, young people, independents. we saw a big jumps in his approval rating among all those different groups. >> how about minimum wage? know, there are some holes in the democrat argument. he president we know is pushing congress to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. 69% of the country agrees with

that, but then when you show them the cbo report that says well, it could, the expense at 500,000 jobs, then people are people are, and split there. among the 69% of americans who approve it, once you ask them about half say it is unacceptable to have that trade-off. so that is a potential challenge for the democrats' argument. >> all right, giuliana, thank you for giving us the latest. our own julianna goldman. >> john studzinksi here. ulianna mention this will lead up to the numbers. the conventional wisdom is going to hit the pause button. is that good for corporate america or bad for corporate america? >> corporate america is going to continue to move along.

i'll even know -- where does the question come from? corporate america has a lot of strategy to implement. corporate america -- you have big industry like technology, media, digital, cloud, mobility -- a lot of things are moving on. there are parts of america, particularly california, that probably do not even know where to find washington on the map. let's be clear -- those people are focused on the business model and technology. >> are the executives who have delayed decisions over the last four yearsrs -- last beginning with those plans into action now? there far enough past crisis, if you will, that legislators have got to get onto business. >> i think the market, andd the term, isto use your

much more confident. quite confident in what he ? >> confident on a need to reinvest, to deploy cas, to do with shareholders, including activist, not for any need to be proactive about their position. many of these companies also remember they have an enormous amount -- there was a bloomberg statistic -- $1.4 trillion of cash -- >> $1.95 trillion. >> i stand corrected. it is offshore. many will not repatriate that cash -- they will use that money for him in a. >> and that relates directly to your business. i presume that is what they're telling you any conversations that you have, that m&a activity but becausetake up, so much of it is overseas, does that mean that a large chunk, percentage, share of those transactions will be cross-border? >> i think a lot of them will be international and are going to -- there is an enormous group -- most american companies are international. there we have follow-on on

investing in international businesses. if you look at last year's m&a tables, about 40% of all transactions had a cross-border m&a international element. >> 40%? >> let's say we had tax return. let's say there were no penalties for earning profits here in america and all of that money could be treated equally. as muchsee international m&a activity is companies in america could -- if they had the choice, i could spend the money here in america or i could spend it overseas, with the statistics change? >> i don't think they would change that much because you have a good check and balance right now with the activist community. what the activist community is doing is forcing management and boards to be rigorous about the logic underlying investment, and recently when you look at certain investments, when it is in your core area of competence or complement her to strategy, share price has gone up. not or somewhat

confused, the share price has gone down. you can remember case studies recently. i do not think that is changing the allocation of cash is going to do that. it just encourages them to have to invest. >> john, it is the perfect segue into our conversation, activism, which we will take up after this short break. >> coming up, republican senator marco rubio on the race for the white house. is tol see how close he making a big decision. this is "market makers," on bloomberg television, streaming on your phone, your tablet, and at bloomberg.com, and now we are also on apple tv. ♪

>> welcome back to "market makers." i am erik schatzker here with stephanie ruhle and john studzinksi -- >> what a great guest. he is the senior managing director at the blackstone group and like i said, has the firm's

advisory business and is often the first call to the activist hedge fund manager. you said to really surprising things during the break. we will get to both of them. let's start with this -- activism played a role in 20% of the s&p 500 last year? that is amazing. >> you go through the s&p 500, there are about 100 companies that had either an activist shareholder or the threat of an activist shareholder and some discussion of either restructuring or in some cases an actual m&a transaction because as you know, there are some activists who are focused on apple structure, some focus on governance, some are focused on chief executive competence. some are focused on catalyzing an m&a transaction. there are probably about 10 different categories. >> you think there are instances where companies, there are actually ceo's that work well or positive on activist investing because they like to have the constructive criticism? from where i said, what i think what it is like when a carl

icahn, dan roaf, or bill ackman knocks on your door, that is your worst nightmare. >> you're making every important point, which is if you were to survey most boards right now, they would say their biggest nightmare is an activist. having said that, if the activist is discrete, rigorous, and actually brings the good input -- let's remember, shareholders own the company. many managers actually act like they own the company. so analysts -- what activists are doing is they're trying to require five the roles here. you probably sell this morning, microsoft announced that the value act shareholders is going to send a representative to their board. on a activist asides to go board, they're not doing that because they have nothing to do. their lp's actually don't want them to go onto to mourn a boards because it takes a lot of

time. it distracts them in a very strong position of accountability, so if someone goes on a board, they actually have the potential to play a very positive role, constructive role over a longer period of time. >> erik, if you ran a company and a carl icahn-style investor took a seat on your board, it might feel like a nightmare but maybe it is a huge positive. you have one of the best investors in the world helping you fly right. >> perhaps, but it is hard to feel good when your cages being rattled by carl icahn. >> maybe not carl -- >> there are a lot of investors. i was talking earlier about upsenstein, jana partners, he is what i call it is what i call a discrete, behind the scenes activist. he does rigorous analysis, he is behind closed doors, he does not necessarily want to get on the front page of the "wall street journal," and when he goes forward with an investment

thesis, he is focused on trying to make the company understand his point of view. >> if you can do activism in such an understated, quiet fashion as berry rosenstein, then why are so many activists as loud as they are. carl icahn definitely wields a megaphone. we talked about dan loeb and bill ackman, who are is not as loud as carl's certainly as public and have relationships with the media and try to influence events in their direction. >> carl icahn is a brandon to himself. untorives -- is a brand himself. he arrives and basically says one thing -- value. there is value in that stock , by it. that is a simple brand identity right now and he has built up a

fortune, over 20 billion u.s. dollars, and that is carl icahn. everybody else, you talk about black men, dan loeb -- they have all -- you talk about bill ackman, dan loeb, they have all evolved and what you are seeing now is less and less are below going to take public profiles because -- >> turned to the media -- >> yeah, turned to bloomberg, cnbc, "new york times" -- >> what about holding a press conference? >> bill control that press conference. he controlled all of the information that one out because it was his press conference. >> there are tactics on how to work the company. you have to work for both to understand that you are supposed to be close to your friends but you better be closer to your enemy. if the board is prepared to engage, if you pick a very ackman,tive, bill procter & gamble -- he engaged discreetly, behind closed doors, two senior independent directors, and had an enormous impact on the way the board thought about procter & gamble.

there was no trumpeting on the front page. if someone tries that strategy and the board tells them to buzz off, then i have got to go to the shareholders, to the analyst community -- >> kind of david einhorn style. >> it is a bit like playing bridge. you see what happens. step, step, step. and if people play -- a lot of boards now are very willing to engage. more and more my advice to the board is engage and listen. >> it is a lot more multidimensional than people think. john, thank you very much. john studzinksi, helping us see the shades of gray between black and white, he is the senior managing director of global head of blackstone advisory partners. >> when we come back, we will give you the latest on the terrible building explosion in east harlem just 50 blocks north of here minutes ago. we could hear the firetrucks racing up 3rd avenue. we will give you an update of the status of these lotions. you're watching bloomberg tv.

stay with us. ♪

>> i am scarlet fu in the newsroom. new york city police and firefighters are battling a five-alarm fire. street ine and 116th upper manhattan. according to the "new york times" and bloomberg, one person has died from the explosion. officials are saying there could be much more fatalities and minor wounds are too numerous to count at the moment. windows were blown out as far away as 10 blocks from the actual site, and cars across the street were destroyed as woelfel stub you are seeing live pictures of the scene right now. police say it was a gas explosion. the major utility said emergency crews were in route and they have no information on whether a natural gas leak might have

played a role. service on the metro north, the commuter rail that goes in and out of grand central and runs nearby the building was also suspended. "market makers" will be right back after this break. ♪

>> live from bloomberg headquarters in new york, this is "market makers," with erik schatzker and stephanie ruhle. >> welcome back to "market makers." i am stephanie ruhle. >> and i am erik schatzker. president obama hosts the ukrainian prime minister at the white house. it is a message of solidarity. back on capitol hill, the republicans have not been slow to present the president. peter cook sat down with one of those republican critics, who also happens to be on the president's job in 2016. we are talking about florida senator marco rubio. peter is back with us to tell us

about the number station. peter, marco rubio wants to be seen as a bit of a foreign-policy guy, doesn't he? >> he does. he is a member of the foreign relations committee, flexing his foreign-policy muscles here in this conversation. normally, politics stops at the water's edge when it comes to a crisis. foreign-policy richly bipartisan but rubio and others have not been able -- have not been afraid of criticizing this president. we talked in his office about the ukraine situation in his own aspirations perhaps in 2016. >> concerns about the stability in europe, i mean the notion after world war ii, democracy and freedom spread throughout europe and that could somehow be retreating is a particular concern. i think people are missing the broader point out what is happening in ukraine. the russians have a territorial claim that they have moved on, basically thumbing their nose at the world, making outrageous lames like there are no russian troops on the ground, and it's like they're getting away with it. that is going to have

implications all over the world, particularly in the age of specific region. china has territorial claims as well. i have territorial claims on rock island, rock formations and islands that both japan and the philippines claimed in different instances. those chinese are watching very carefully. in the 21st century, what is the consequences of a country making illegitimate territorial claim in an moving on it? they are watching on it because of the consequences are not too high, i think we did see a potential conflict in the pacific region increased dramatically, and the difference between crimea and the pacific is that we actually have a defense agreement to protect japan, to protect taiwan, to come to the assistance of the philippines. that will put at risk america's credibility if we are not able to prevent that. has gotten aent lot of criticism from republicans, yet i do not hear policy differences in terms of what he is actually doing. >> i outlined a number of specific ideas, and so far they have moved forward on many of

them. i think what i am critical of, and now is not the time to harp on it because national unity is critical at this point, but i do think it is worth mentioning that i think we arrive at this point in substantial point because of things leading up to it. i have been saying two years that the reset with russia was a mistake because i believe that people like vladimir putin and tyrants like that run the world oftentimes view the language of those sorts of things as an act of weakness as an invitation to move forward. i think this immense ration has failed to be clear eyed as to the nature of the putin government and what their true ambitions are, and that does not mean this would not have happened anyway. perhaps it would, perhaps it would not have, but i certainly think it has accelerated the the -- the aggressiveness in which putin has been willing to move on this and steering, iran, etc. ever't think we should except that in the 21st century that a country can simply say we are going to move in and take over a part of another country and make false claims like the people on the ground of russian

descent are being oppressed. now they're going to try to dress this up as sort of referendum. there can be no free referendum when your own soldiers are in the streets. i think of russia gets away with it, it is going to have dramatic implications for the way other countries are going to behave in the 21st century. >> let me ask you finally about politics. you unveiled ideas on education, on poverty in america, on the economy. does it sound like this is preparation for a run in 2016 ? >> that is an interesting question. that also is what i happen to do warehouse in the florida legislature. i actually had a book with 100 ideas. i am also saying what else am i supposed to do, even if i was not being speculated about? isn't that the perspective of the senator, and particularly in the minority, but to offer alternatives? i truly believe the country is facing a real choice here. what frustrates me the most is not what is wrong in america.

what frustrates me the most is what could be right about america that we are not doing yet. i do believe that americans are going to reach what we are failing on capitalizing that opportunity, and for me, the sooner the better. >> what will decide for you whether you will run? >> i will have to decide one way or the other in 2016 because i happen to be up for reelection. he choice is going to come down to first and foremost, my personal condition, my family and otherwise -- repair me in position manages to convey but to do the job. the other consideration i will have is can i from that role do a better job advancing the things i believe our country needs to be doing versus the role i have now or some other role? we have time to make that decision and it is one i will make at some point early next year. >> if jeb bush kicks in, does that make any difference to you? >> i have a lot of respect and deep admiration for jeb and we are personal friends, but i think he would give the exact same answer. my decision will be based on me and what i think i need to be doing at that stage in my life.

it is not going to be predicated on what he decides or anyone else decides. i would imagine the same is true for him. rubio, of course, has been hurt politically by his push for immigration reform with conservative republicans. it has hurt his standing with them. that is one reason he has been changing the subject to other issues, taxes, the u.s. economy, even education. another issue has been highlighting -- more hawkish views on foreign policy. they make in contrast with what we're hearing from rand paul and ted cruz as well. a differentiating factor for him if he just considers to jump into the ring. >> peter, i was wondering how much of what rubio says on foreign policy will resume with a republican base, the right wing, if you will, of the party. how much of his domestic policy agenda will is not. we know much about what he has to say about immigration reform not all that different from what some democrats had to say did not resume with the base

particularly well. what about wall street? asking you kind of to many questions at once, but let's talk about how that will play on wall street because last hour we work gaming at wall street's horserace, if you will, for the republican domination and where wall street is going to fall, but do they like while -- do they like marco rubio ? wife they do because he is arguably more of an establishment republican. there are a lot of folks on wall street who favor, hate -- comprehensive immigration reform. it is important of course for the u.s. economy, but he has to get out of a republican primary season if he jumps into the ring with mainly a lot of active conservative voters who are very turned off by his position on immigration reform. he has to get past that. one way he is trying to do that is talking about some of these other issues and hoping that the immigration issue does not hold him back in and of itself. the conservative political action committee had this big gathering the other

day. a year ago, he finished second to rand paul with 22% support. this year, a year later, he finished seventh was just 6%. it is taking a toll on whether these other issues can elevate marco rubio to the top. >> it has taken a toll with tea party members, but what has it for marco rubio as a candidate, as a brand in general, with more of a general population? ofarguably, that is the kind candidate that would do better in a general election, but you have got to win the republican nomination first of all to do that. you have to win out with conservative voters in places like iowa and south carolina. you all were talking about it earlier. that is a challenge for marco rubio. one thing to remember -- these all numbers generally about people liking arco rubio have been pretty good, consistently good, and he delivers a better speech arguably the most any of the other contenders out there. introduced reason he mitt romney back at the

republican convention. marco rubio has been to his advantage, but he also has the immigration out there like a huge red flag for republican voters. we have got to get past that if he is going to jump into the ring in 2016. the has to decide if he is running for the senate again in florida first. >> peter, thank you for that great interview, exclusive with marco rubio. coming up, wipeout. and i am not talking about the show i would love to be a contestant on. that is what happened to investors as a proposal to kill and fannie mae full stop you're watching "market makers." stay with us. ♪

>> you are watching "market makers," on bloomberg television, i am erik schatzker with stephanie ruhle. all those hedge fund managers who bought shares of fannie mae and freddie mac look like geniuses. the stock is almost doubled in 2.5 months. they are not so genius anymore.

two key senators unveiled their plan to kill fannie and freddie, a proposal that appears to have the backing of the white house. they envision private capital stepping in to fill the gap with the government only on the hook for catastrophic losses. their plan would charge fees in exchange for that from a guarantee, which would be used for affordable housing programs. most borrowers would be required to make down payment of at least five main percent -- 5%. >> if it becomes law, it wipeout the equity holders, which includes a bill ackman's purging rshing -- pe square. i want to talk to the senior analyst of bloomberg government. neela, what is bill ackman thinking today? what could all of this mean? >> i don't know if i did say that on television, stephanie. the reality is, what he and other investors must think is that congress is not going to do anything substantive on gse

reform this year or next year or for a long time. the issues are too big to get the reform most of for the gst's will be decided in the courts, not by congress. onhink they will double down their losses. and not on their lobbying. that that the same, nela, long-term, there is no prospect for sensible reform of fannie mae and freddie mac because really sensible reform would require an act of congress, and if it is the course that will decide the future for these two gse's, then congress is not going to get involved, at least not to a degree that would make a difference. >> actually, erik, i would differ a little with you on that opinion. i think -- first of all, long-term, congress does not actually have to have a huge role. it just depends on what type of overhauled you are looking for. there were some steps started by

dimarco in fha, freddie and fannie's regulator, that looked like a long-term solution to government's overinvolvement in the housing market. that is the monetization of the circuit -- of these securitization platform allowing private market to step in what wi-fi could be guaranteed by an act of congress? to step in -- >> that could be guaranteed by an act of congress? >> yes. to make them a par with private capital so they can have an even playing field with fannie and freddie. these are simple things that would reform the market in ways that most would find acceptable. >> the government would still have a huge role in the housing market under those -- at least for the next little while under the vision. it is not like -- it's not anything like the plan being proposed by these two senators. >> it is important to note that even under this plan, which was the annihilator, illumina and freddie and fannie in a

five-year period, the government involvement is still intact. they are doing away with fha for fannie and freddie but there is a creation of another government entity, the federal mortgage insurance corporation, that would be mimicked after the fdic, so government involvement is not going away under this plan. it is just shifting into a new agency, which will have new risks and new challenges. >> what can they actually execute that? if they were to regulate and reform the existing gst's kumbaya could be a windfall for taxpayers, americans, -- the existing gse's, it could be a windfall for taxpayers, americans, yes. >> it is either next to grind against private capital or an ax to grind against fannie and freddie, which generated a lot of bad well over the years. yes, there are things that the government -- that the private market can do, that the government can do, and fannie and freddie can be reduced in size and made more manageable to

allow private capital to go in in a way that does not challenge the current position of equity holders. >> if they want private capital to go into help fix the gse's, why would crushing private capitals who are invested in them now be the right move? understandportant to the government never intended to see the explosion in investor interest and fannie and freddie that occurred. under the original agreement when fannie and freddie were losing money and they don't take treasury -- and they had to take treasury under 10% dividend, there were no investors really in the space. what happened as investors realized that these shares could be underpriced given the recovery of the housing market, and they started pouring money into. at that time, and i am not saying these two events whirling, the government changed the game. now they insisted on a profits week so that all the profits go to the treasury. that change of game really flew into the face of a long-term plans of the investors and that is what is at stake right now in the court system. a separate issue, but a huge

issue in terms of any kind of overhaul plans that congress tries to push. >> flew into their face or punch in the face? thank you for joining us, nela. joining us from bloomberg government. >> we will be back in a couple of minutes on "market makers." do not go away. ♪

>> that is going to do it for "market makers." today. thank you for watching, everyone. i find not sure, erik, you and i just spoke to nela richardson. the amount of the mill i have just gotten in the last 45 seconds -- >> people are passionate about fannie and freddie. >> they are blown away. basically, people are looking for private investment to help these gse's, well, we just told

those private investors to go fish. at least the government has. it makes you wonder -- a motive for the big election year. >> we have a great guest hosted tomorrow, a cofounder of the website reddit. reddit has been a hotspot for discussion about bitcoin and many other things. >> thank you for watching. see you tomorrow. ♪

>> the new york city fire department is calling it an "major disaster." two buildings have collapsed in

east harlem here in manhattan was of according to the "new york times," two people are dead. we had reports earlier that we have confirmed at least one death, but it appears to be will have died, more than one dozen injured. this explosion took place at about 9:30 this morning. you can see here what it looks like up in harlem at the moment. it is a disaster scene, stephanie. >> indeed it is. you have just given us an update, but i want to put this in context was about one to bring in pat holloway. december 2013, this is the man who is deputy mayor of operations right here in new york city. he oversaw police, fire, and all emergency systems through new york city. clearly that included a number of disasters. hurricanes and he, busy time for you. talk to us about this explosion, what you think this could mean, what the action steps are for new york city. >> sure. first, by all accounts, first responders got there right away.

this is one of those cases where the facts are going to change. you're just going through, we have a confirmed report of one dead, maybe now two, cello -- 70 be will injured. whatever those numbers are, they are going to change because these situations develop quickly and you do not exactly know. what you are trying to do it immediately is number one, who do you think would be in the building and how could we get to them safely and account for everybody there? that is the first operation. police department -- is there any reason to consider this a criminal investigation? if you can roll that out, that it becomes a life safety investigation. once you go through that, that will be over the next several hours really what the focus of all the first responding agencies are. d says there was a gas odor reported near that site this morning. by the time crews were dispatched, the explosion had already taken place. it was too late. how much of a risk does the gas delivery system pose? i asked this specifically

because i remember a couple of years ago they were replacing gas lines in my neighborhood in brooklyn and one of the people on the scene said man, you would not believe it -- this thing is filled with so many pinholes, i would not be surprised if it left longer, this whole neighborhood could have blown sky high. as a general matter, the gas to live racism is very safe. as a general matter, the gas delivery system is very safe. mains, it is as substantial part of the energy supply for the city. it has to be well-maintained. my understanding is in one of the report, there could have been a complaint about an order of gas early in the morning but the fact is, you have 950,000 buildings in the city, many so maintaining them on a building by building basis is one of the things that landlords and maintenance teams have to watch out for. now, that is what we think right now in terms of what happened in this particular case, you do not

know. could it have been a maintenance issue? as a general matter, should this raise concern about the entire distribution grid of the city? no. but one of the things that will happen after we do all of the safety things this people will look at ok, what happened? the inspector will come in, the fire marshals would do an inspection, and can we pinpoint that quickly or is there a systemic issue, is there something that we need to look at more generally in terms of safety measures and other things? >> on a smaller scale, how often do you see -- clearly we do not see giant explosions like this on a regular basis, but as far as it relates to buildings not being maintained, how frequent is it in a city as crowded as new york? >> well, i is to get notifications, and it is one of the things i have gotten used to not getting now since january 1, about dozens of things, carbon monoxide because that can cause life safety issues. it is odorless. gas leaks they get addressed by con edison. so it is something that happens,

and if you live in the neighborhood and you smell something, you're supposed to call 311, and you generally get a response will stop it is not in frequent. now, of course, that turning into something like an explosion -- that does not happen quite often. >> what does it take for it to turn into an explosion? does it just have to ignite? gasomething that causes the to actually ignite. could beuld be come a any actual basement level, it could have been -- it depends on the concentration and where it is. >> all right, cas, thank you for giving us an update, cas holloway of bloomberg. ♪

>> welcome to "lunch money." i'm adam johnson. take a look at the many. here's what we've got. the president walks in to the gap. forget the euro crisis. the euro has bigger problems. with politics, marco rubio a new course after regrets on immigration reform. a 20 billion neighborhood. -- a $20 billion neighborhood. take ae man who wants to bat wing suit for a ride off mount everest. we will