simplify the rates and get rid of the deductions. that's what i want to see. not just singling out fairness or populism. makes no sense whatsoever. >> larry kudlow, appreciate it. >> he's going to have more from the new york historical society. we're done. we'll see you tomorrow. "closing bell" right now. >> hi, everybody. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. >> i'm bill griffeth. we're moments away from a key speech by the president. he's expected to outline his plan for the so-called buffett rule. mr. obama will talk about this proposal to tax millionaires. tax them by 30%. it's something that will be voted on in the senate in the next few weeks. we will carry that message for you live.

>> meanwhile, red on wall street. the market is down for a fifth day in a row. more fears of global slow downs rattling investors. there could be higher tax but given the uneasiness in europe and selloff in the euro zone. it is the worst losing streak for the market so far this year we're see a flight to safety. yields on the ten-year falling below 2% in a month. coming up, ways to protect your money during these uncertain times. take a look at how we approach this final stretch. with the dow jones industrial with the decline of 199 points. it was down 200 points. nasdaq, also weaker. it, too, bouncing off the lows. very close to it. 52 points for the nasdaq. check the s&p 500 declining by 1 2/3%.

the cyclical names under pressure at 1359 in the s&p 500, bill. >> as we wait for the president's speech, let's bring in some guests to kind of kick some things around as we watch this market sell off. santelli is in chicago, bob pisani. what a way to spend at headquarter. bertha coombs is at the nymex. david, is it any coincidence that this selloff began after the fed meeting minutes in march where it was suggested -- the implication was that there would be no mormon tear easing from the fed beyond what they've already done? >> the market had been running off quite a bit. this correction is the healthy part of the market. this is a good thing for the

market. >> let's not also forget that we've got the first quarter earning with alcoa and everybody expecting very minimal earnings growth, under 1% for the s&p 500. >> bertha coombs, if you're there, the demand level from china is reducing for oil, for example, as we watch a slow down continue there. not to mention the european debt crisis. oil goes lower as demand for china goes lower. >> those numbers helped set the tone following the european close. we've got brent falling below $120 a barrel for the first time in several weeks and now we have wti absolutely flat on the year. the last trade, december 30th, was 101.35 and we are right back there right now. >> and simon hobbs, yields continue to rise in europe and we have one of the worst days for the european markets.

we're back to 12-week lows as yields go higher? >> yes. and what was really concerning is the big heavy falls in the italian banking sector. some of those big banks down 7 or 8% as you get that potentially lethal combination, of course, of bull markets selling off. italian yields heading in the same way and those banks which as a result of taking that money from the ecb have been georging on local debt and, of course, on the ecb, those are mark to market. you see when the italian market comes down, sovereign market comes down, are they going to have to mark to market? are the worst of those banks falling? potentially a big moment i think now. >> bob pisani, the sectors that brought us higher are -- i guess the president is getting ready to make this speech here in boca ra tone, florida, at the

atlantic university where he'll be making the case for the so-called buffett rule. this 30% tax on those americans who make at least a million dollars. we'll be back when this speech is over to talk more about that and the market. the dow is down 209 points right now. >> thank you! how's everybody doing today? well, it is great to be back in florida. it is great to be back in boca. great to be here at the home of the fighting owls.

[cheers and applause ] i want to, first of all, thank aiden for not only leading us in the pledge of allegiance but also giving me great details about the burrowing owls. he explained it all to me and then he told me he wants my job. and i explained to him that the constitution requires that you are 35 years old. so i will keep the seat warm for him. [cheers and applause ] >> for a few more years. i want to thank rebecca for that extraordinary performance. [cheers and applause ] >> in addition to having an unbelievable singing voice, she wants to be a teacher. she is an english major and we need great teachers out there so we are very proud of her. i want to thank your president,

m.j. saunders, the mayor of boca raton, susan welchel for hosting us here today. we also have your senator and former astronaut, which is kind of cool, bill nelson in the house. a wonderful congressman ted deutsch is here. and my great friend, congresswoman debbie was ser man schultz is here. and you are here, which is very exciting i am glad you guys came out. now -- i love you back. [cheers and applause ] >> now, look, guys, i know this

is a busy time of year. some of you are less than a month away from graduation. some seniors in the house. pretty soon you'll be closing the books at wimberly for the last time. maybe you'll be making that one last trip to the beach or coyote jack's. we'll be picking up -- you'll be picking up that diploma that you worked so hard for. your parents will be there, beaming so full of pride. and then comes what folks call the real world. i actually think college is part of the real world. but obviously there's a transition that will take place as you leave college and some of you may go on to post-graduate

degrees and some of you are going to be out there looking for work. college is the single most important investment you can make in your future. i'm proud that you've made it and you've seen it through. but i also know that the future can be uncertain. we've gone through three different times in our lifetime, worst economic crisis, worst economic crisis. our economy is now recovering but it's not yet where it needs to be. too many of your friends and too many of your neighbors are still hurting out there. they are still looking for work. too many of your families are looking for that sense of security that started slipping away long before this recession hit. got the amen corner here.

in a time like this, we've got to ask ourselves a fundamental question as a nation. what do we have to do to make sure that america is a police where, if you work hard, if you're responsible, that that hard work and that responsibility pays off. because -- and the reason it's important to ask this question right now is because there are alternative theories. there is a debate going on in this country right now. can we succeed as a nation where a shrinking number of people are doing really, really well but a growing number are struggling to get by. or are we better off when everybody gets a fair shot? [cheers and applause ] and everybody does a fair share. and everybody plays by the same

set of rules. that's what the debate in america is about right now. this is not another run of the mill gab session in washington. this is a make or break moment for the mid-kell class and everybody who's aspiring to get into the middle class. and we've got two very different visions of our future and the choice between them could not be clearer. now, keep in mind, i start from the belief that government cannot and should not try to solve every single problem that we've got. government is not the answer to everything. when i wasn't much older than most of you, my first job was working with a group of catholic churches in the south side of chicago in low-income neighborhoods to try to figure

out how we can strengthen neighborhoods and families and i saw that the work that some of these churches did and can take the place of a parents' love and attention. and i also believe that since government is funded by you that it has an ability to be efficient and effective. and that's why we've eliminated dozens of programs that weren't working, announced hundreds of regulatory reforms to save businesses and taxpayers millionsle dollars which is

before i was born, much less you being born and i believe here's the thing, i also agree with our first republican president, a guy from my home state. a guy with a beard named abraham lincoln. and what lincoln said was through our government we should do together what we can not do as well for ourselves. that's the definition of a smart government. and that's the reason why we have a strong military, to keep us safe, because i suppose each of us could grab whatever is

around the house and try to defend our country but we do better when we do it together. and we've got the best military in the history of the world with the greatest men and women in uniform. we pay for that. that's why we have public schools to educate our children. you know, if we didn't have public school, there would still be some families that don't do very well. there would be a lot of kids that would fall through the cracks so we do that together. it's one of the reasons why we've laid down railroads and highways. we've got to get our neighbors and friends to say, let's build a road. that's why we've supported the research and technology that's saved lives and created entire industries.

the internet, gps, all those things were created by us together, not by ourselves. it's the reason why we contribute to programs like medicare and medicaid and social security and unemployment insurance. we know that eventually we're going to get older. we know that at any point one of us might face hard times or bad luck or a crippling illness or a layoff and the idea that together we build this safety net, this base of support that allows us to take risk, try new things, and try a new job because we know the base that we

can rely on. so these investments and things like education and research and health care, they haven't been made of some grand scheme to redistribute wealth from one group to another. this is not some socialist dream. they have been made by democrats and republicans for generations because they benefit all of us. and they lead to strong and durable economic growth. that's why we've made these investments. if you're here at fau because you got financial aid or a student loan, a scholarship, which, by the way, was how i was able to help finance my college education, that's how michelle got her college education.

that doesn't just benefit you. it benefits whatever company might end up hiring you and profiting from your skills. if one of you goes on to become the next steve jobs or mark zuckerberg or one of you discovers the next medical breakthrough, think about all of the people whose lives will be changed for the better. we made an investment in you. we'll get a return on the investment. when we guarantee basic security for the elderly or those that are sick, that doesn't make us weak. what makes us weak is when fewer americans can afford to buy the products that businesses are selling, when fewer people are willing to take risks and start their new business because if it doesn't work out, they worry

about feeding their families. what drags our economy is when it goes only to a few and the gap between those at the very, very top and everybody else keeps growing wider and wider and wider. in this country, prosperity has never trickled down from the wealthy few. prosperity has always come from the bottom up, from a strong and growing middle class. [cheers and applause ] that's how a generation went to college on the g.i. bill, including my grandfather helped build the most prosperous economy that the world has ever known. that's why a ceo like henry ford

made a point to pay his workers enough money so they could buy the cars that they were building. because he understood, look, there's no point in me having all this and then nobody can buy my cars. i've got to pay my workers enough so that they buy the cars and that, in turn, creates more business and more prosperity for everybody. this is not about a few people doing well. we want people to do well. that's great. but it's about giving everybody the chance to do well. [cheers and applause ] that's the essence of america. that's what the american dream is about. that's why immigrants have come to our shores because the idea was, it doesn't matter what your name is, what you look like, you can be named obama. you can still make it if you try. and yet we keep on having the

same argument with folks that don't seem to understand how it is that america got built. and let me just say, the folks that we have political arguments with, yeah, they are americans who love their country. democrats, republicans, everybody, we all love this country but there is a fundamental difference in how we think we move this country forward. these folks, they keep telling us that if we just weaken regulations that keep our air or our water clean or protect our consumers, if we would just convert these investments that we're making through our government in education and in research and health care, if we just turn those into tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, somehow the economy is going to grow stronger. that's the theory.

and here's the news. we tried this for eight years before i took office. we tried it. [cheers and applause ] it's not like we didn't try it. at the beginning of the last decade, americans got two huge tax cuts, 201, 2003. meanwhile, insurance companies, financial institutions they were all allowed to write their observe rules or find their way around rules. we were told the same thing we're being told now, this is going to lead to faster job growth, greater prosperity for everybody. guess what? it didn't. yes, corporations got richer. we had the slowest job growth in

half a century. the typical american family actually saw their incomes fall by 6% even though the economy was growing. because more and more of that growth was just going to a few and the average american wasn't seeing their income increase. and then our entire financial system almost collapsed. do you remember that? it wasn't that long ago. i know you guys are pretty young but it was pretty recent. now, some of you may be science majors in here. usually -- [cheers and applause ] >> -- i like that. we need more scientists. we need more engineers. now, i was not a science major

myself. but i enjoyed science when i was young. and if i recall correctly, if an experiment fails badly, you know, you learn from that. sometimes you can learn from failure. that's part of the data that teaches you stuff, that expand our knowledge, but you don't just keep doing the same thing over and over again. you go back to the drawing board. you try something different. but that's not what has been happening with the folks in washington. a lot of the folks, including members of congress and certain people running for searn office right now who shall not be

named -- [cheers and applause ] they are doushling down on these broken down theories, instead of changing their views slightly and saying, you know, what we did didn't work and maybe we should try something different. they have doubled down. they have proposed a budget at -- that showers the wealthy americans with even more tax cuts and then pays for these tax cuts by cutting investments, in education, medical research, in clean energy, in health care. now, these are the effects. if the cuts they are proposing are spread out evenly across the budget then 10 million college students would see your financial aid cut more than $1,000 each.

that -- now, thousands of medical research grants, like cancer and aids would be eliminated. tens of thousands of researchers and students and teachers could lose their jobs. our investments in clean energy that is making us less dependent on imported oil would be cut by nearly a fifth. you'd get a voucher to pay for your health care plan. but here's the problem. if health care costs rise faster than the amount of the voucher like they have been for decades, the rest of it comes out of your pockets. if the voucher isn't enough to buy a plan with the specific doctors that you need, you're out of look. and by the middle of this century, by about 2050 at a time

when most of you will have families of your own, funding for most of the investments that i've talked about today will have been almost completely eliminated altogether. now, this is not an ex saj rags. when i said this about a week ago, the republicans objected. they said, we p didn't specify all these cuts. well, right, you didn't. because you knew people wouldn't accept them. so you just gave a big number and what we've done is we've just done the math. this is what it would mean. they said, well, we didn't specifically propose to cut student loans. okay. if you don't cut student loans, that means you've got to cut basic research even more. the money has got to come from somewhere. you can't give over $4 trillion worth of additional tax cuts, including the folks like me who

don't need asking for them, comes from magic tree somewhere. so don't -- if you hear them saying w. he will, the president's making this stuff up, no, we're doing the math. if they want to dispute anything that i've said right now, they should show us specifically where they would make those cuts. they should show us because, by the way, they are not proposing to cut defense. they are actually proposing to increase defense spending. so it's not coming out of there. so show me. look, america has always been a place where anyone who is willing to work benefits from it. it grows from the bottom, outward from the heart of a

vibrant middle class. and i believe that we cannot stop investing in the things that help create that middle class, that create real, long-lasting growth. we certainly shouldn't be doing it just so the richest americans can get another tax cut. we should be strengthening those investments. we should be making college more affordable. [cheers and applause ] we should be expanding our investment in clean energy. [cheers and applause ] now, here's the other thing that the republicans will tell you, we've got to make all of these drastic cuts because our deficit is too high. our deficit is too high.

it might have a shred of credibility to it if you didn't find out they wanted to spend $4.6 trillion on lower tax rates. i don't know how many of you are math majors, business majors, you can't pay down a deficit by taking in $4.6 trillion of less money. especially when you're denying that you're going to be making all of these cuts. it doesn't added a up. it doesn't make sense. and keep in mind, more than a trillion dollars of the tax cuts that they proposes going to people who make more than $250,000 a year. that is an average of at least $150,000 -- again, we're taking an average with the numbers that they gave us. that average is to at least $150,000 for every millionaire, billionaire in the country. each millionaire and billionaire on average would get $150,000.

some folks would get a lot more. so we did some math of our own. we added up all of the investments $150,000 could pay for. let's say a tax break that i might get that i really don't need. you know, i've got -- treated pretty well in this life. so right now i'm going to be okay, malia, sasha, they are going to be able to go to college, michelle's doing fine. so understand what this means. here's what $150,000 means. $150,000, this is what each millionaire and billionaire would get on average. this could pay for a tax credit that would make a year of college more affordable for students like you, plus a year's worth of financial aid for

students like you, plus a year's worth of prescription drug savings for one of your grandparents, plus a new computer lab for this school. plus a year of medical care for a veteran in your family who went to war and risked their lives fighting for this country. plus a medical research grant for a chronic disease. plus a year's salary for a firefighter or police officer. $150,000 could pay for all of these things combined. think about that. so let me ask you, what's the better way to make our economy stronger? do we give another $50,000 in tax breaks to every millionaire and billionaire in the country? >> no.

>> or should we make investments in education and research and health care and our veterans? [cheers and applause ] and i just want to emphasize again, look, i want folks to get rich in this country. i think it's wonderful when people are successful. that's part of the american dream. you know, it is great that you make a product, you create a service, you do it better than anyone else. that's what our system's all about. but understand, the share of our national income going to the top 1% has clindeclined to the levee haven't seen since the 1920s. the folks that are benefiting from this are paying taxes at

one of the lowest rates in 50 years. you might have heard about this, but warren buffett is paying a lower tax rate than his secretary. now, that's wrong. that's not fair. and so we've got to choose which direction we want this country to go in. do we want to keep giving those tax breaks to folks like me who don't need them or to give them to warren buffett, he definitely don't need them, or bill gates, he's already said, i don't need them, or do we want to keep investing in those things that keep our economy growing and keep us secure? that's the choice. and florida, i've told you where i stand. so now it's time for members of congress to tell you where they stand. in the next few weeks, we're going to vote on something we call the buffett rule. very simple. if you make more than a million

dollars a year. i'm not saying you have a million dollars. i'm not saying you saved up, you know, all your money and you made smart investments and now you've got your nest egg and you're preparing for retirement. i'm saying, you're bringing in a million bucks or more a year. then what the rule says is you should pay the same percentage of income tax as middle class families do. [ applause ] you shouldn't get special tax breaks. you shouldn't be able to get special loopholes. and if we do, that it makes it affordable for us to say for those people who make under $250,000 a year, like 98% of american families do, then your taxes don't go up. and we can still make those

investments in things like student loans and college, science and infrastructure and all the things that make this country great. and this is where you come in. this is why i came to see you. yes, it's nice to see you. the weather is nice. you guys have been a wonderful audience. i learned about the burrowing owl. so there are all kinds of reasons for me to want to come down here. one of the reasons that i came, i want you to call your members of congress, i want you to write them an e-mail. i want to you tweet them. tell them, don't give tax breaks to folks like me who don't need them. tell them to start investing in the things that will help make the economy grow. tell them if we want to bring down our deficit sensibly, we've got to do it in a balanced way that is fair for everybody. remind them who they work for. tell them to do the right thing.

[ applause ] you know, as i look out across this gymnasium, everybody here, from all different background, from all different parts of the country, you know, each of us is is here because somebody somewhere felt responsibility for other people. our parents, obviously, great grandparents, the sacrifices that they made, some of them took enormous risks coming into this country with nothing because they wanted to make a better life for their kids and grandkids. a lot of them did without so you could benefit.

but they weren't just thinking about their communities, their country. that's what responsibility means. it means that as you have greater and greater opportunity, then the scope of you being able to help more people and think about the future expand. and so you're not just thinking about yourself. you're thinking about kids, your spouse, your family, your grandkids, your neighborhood, your state, your nation. you're thinking about the future. and now it's our turn to be responsible. now it's our turn to preserve the future. it's our time to rebuild, to make the investments that will assure our future, to make sure that we've got the most competitive workforce on earth, to make sure that we've got

clean energy that can help clean the planet and help fuel our economy. it's our turn. it's our turn to rebuild our roads and bridges and airports and ports. it's our turn to make sure that everybody here, every child born in whatever neighborhood it is, that if they are willing to dream big dreams and put some blood, sweat, and tears behind it, they can make it. i know we can do that. i know we can do that because of you much much you're here because you believe in your future. you're working hard. some of you are balancing a family or a job on the side.

you have faith in america. you know it's not going to be easy but you don't give up. that's the spirit we need right now because here in america we don't give up! [cheers and applause ] here in america we look out for one another! here in america we help each other get ahead! here in america we have a sense of common purpose here in america we can meet any challenge. we can cease any moment. we can make this another great century. god bless you. thank you. >> all right. president obama there endorsing the buffett rule. let's get comments from the buffett rule. >> joining us is brian gardener, washington research analysts and eamon javers is there in washington. this is very much a campaign speech, let's face it. he has two other events today.

they are both related to the campaign and this is one of them, don't you think? >> absolutely. you heard those chants of four more years, four more years at the end of those remarks from the president and the republicans today may be in the end game figuring out who their nominee is going to be to face president obama. but president obama wasn't waiting for them to sort out a nominee. he was going head to head with republicans in washington who he said shall not be named. their argument is not the fair one. and saying that it's simply unfair that warren buffett plays a lower effective rate. that's what this whole speech has led up to. in terms of practicality in washington, there's not much here. we may see the senate vote on this as early as next week. this is really a political argument that the president is making here about the buffett rule going into this election

season. >> chris, let's talk about the effectiveness of it, hypothetically speaking. where do you come down on the revenue? would this put a dent in the nation's debt? >> it raises, according to the community on taxation, about $47.5 billion. less than 1% of the deficits under the obama budgets. the white house is pretty clear to point out that this is not about deficit reduction. it's about economic fairness and tax fairness, which is, you know a. good point to make because it clearly is a drop in the bucket. >> it's a political issue. is there a more pal table way to reduce the deficit than just adding a tax to the rich, in your view? >> no, deficit reduction is never going to be palatable.

going into the election, you can hear the crowd buzzing about it but i'm not so sure this plays as well across the country as the white house thinks it does. >> well, we'll find out. gentlemen, thank you all. appreciate it. >> thanks. >> more now on the president's economic proposals from one of his architects. joining us from the white house lawn is gene sperling. good to have you on the program. thank you for joining us. how does raising taxes on a portion of the country actually create jobs when in fact we've seen evidence out there of other economies like canada, like hong kong, a number of others where lower taxes have actually created jobs and gotten small businesses toed a heads to the payroll? >> well, maria, this is part -- this is one part of the president's reduction plan and

part of the issue is what is the right components of a long-term deficit reduction. i've period people poo-poo the numbers. that makes no sense. this raises $47 billion if you assume the high income tax rates go back to where when clinton was in office. the question is, when we're putting together a debt reduction plan that is fair, this s this a good component? if you think that this is just a drop in the bucket, that 160 billion doesn't matter, you have to make a choice. would you rather achieve that kind of reduction there or do it as the budget does from doing things like cutting medicaid for people who have disabilities, people in nursing homes. those are the choices that a deficit reduction has to make. >> are you saying this plan will create jobs or it's not about job creation? >> i'm saying that the

president's overall plan includes a powerful american jobs act that would be good for job growth and a long-term plan that brings the deficit down. when you do deficit reduction, you look at each component and say, that's only $160 billion. yes, this is a component of an overall plan that is pro growth and this is one component which includes, in our proposal, medicare savings, medicaid savings, and significant cuts in domestic discretionary spending. but we're going to ask those making over $1 million to pay a fair share, to not pay less than middle class families. >> gene, let's face it, it won't

pass the senate, it won't go to the house floor. it's dead on arrival. in fact, what do you say to those who feel this does nothing more than demonize the rich in this country and promote class warfare if you will at a time when we need to come together and figure out how to reduce the deficit in this country? >> you know, i disagree. this is a country where he believes in people. we celebrate people who do well, who make money and become millionaires, who succeed. it's really about when we put together a shared sacrifice plan that will be good for economic growth, good for our economy. whether you ask those most well off to pay at least a component of that and it's also about whether we have trust in our tax system and one of the things that people, the general public feels strongly about for tax reform is that we not have a tax system where some people can use preferential rates so they are paying less than let's say a

school teacher or fireman who is working an extra hour are paying. so this is not class warfare. it's about shared sacrifice and the president's plan includes very serious spending cuts across the board. >> where are those spending sdmu cuts? >> this president just signed and passed the budget control act which cuts domestic spending to the lowest levels on record sints the eisenhower administration. that's pretty significant spending cuts. he has $300 billion in -- >> mr. sperling, how tough -- >> and we have this component, which you just said, paul ryan and others saying, well, it's only 47 billion or if you do it off of current laws, 160 billion. well, this is not -- it's about getting trust and fairness in the tax system and being part of an overall reduction plan that has shared sacrifice asks

everybody to contribute. >> how tough has it been operating without a budget? why is it that the president puts forth the budget and not even one democrat bought into it? was it so reckless that your party couldn't buy into it? >> there is about zero truth to anything in the question you just asked. >> okay. where's the budget? >> if you look at the president's budget -- >> what budget? >> maria, the president of the united states puts out a budget. it's the most detailed thing in the united states right now. >> how come no democrat wanted to buy into it? >> maria, the president put out the only budget out there that is detailed and line by line. that is a fact. >> but you're operating without a budget. >> maria, if you're going to -- you've got to let me answer your question. >> okay. >> maria, we put out a detailed

budget and the congressional budget office has looked at the details of our budget and found that it brings the deficit down to as low as 2.5% a year and brings down the debt in the economy the budge jut that we support is the budget house resolution put forth by chris van holland. what you saw was republicans put out something that included none of the values in our budget, none of the fairness of how to raise hef news on those over 250,000 and as a political gesture they put that out and we communicated to democrats. don't be distracted by that. vote for chris van holland which is the budget resolution in the

house of representatives. >> so do you have any thought as far as why not one democrat voted for that budget? i'm just trying to figure out why it is still in the planning phase and not a working budget. >> maria, maria, the president put out a detailed budget line by line. you add it all together, and the congressional budget office looked at the detail budget and found that it actually brought the deficit debt down and then stabilized it. in the house, when the house was voting the ryan plan, the democratic alternative, which we supported and felt was the budget that closely resembled our budget, was put forward by chris van holland. republicans try to put up a mock

budget of ours. and that type of balanced plan, it will be something that both democrats and republicans are voting nor a future. >> gene, thanks for being on the show. bill? >> back we go to the markets now. where were we? ten minutes left here. the dow has been hovering near the lows. the nasdaq is down 55 points. down #.8%, back below 3,000. the worst percentage decline in four months t wiped out 60

points. it is still holding on to gains in excess of 18% year to date. technology has been the sector for all seasons. materials, energy, and financial stocks have been leading the market's decline since the recent selling began last week. each of those indices erasing more than 5% of their value over the past week or so. well, the u.s. markets are extending their losses. s&p on track for the fifth straight day of declines. the longest day for losing of the dow was august 2nd when the dow was down eight days in a row. as for the s&p 500, it's on pace for the worst losing streak since november 25th where it was down seven sessions, maria. >> down about 192 right now. is the selloff a buying opportunity? joining us is larry can for good

to have you on the program. thank you for joining us. let me get your thoughts for what is going on today. we saw the tone set out of europe. do you think something has changed? why the heavy selling? >> we've had quite a rally. nobody expects the market to go up all the time. we're seeing renewed credit restraints. this is reminding everyone in the market that not all is well. that said, i think the recovery is in tact. we had a weak march after two very strong months in january and february in jobs. i think this recovery will stick. when you compare it to the yield that you can get on bonds,

equity is looking relatively attractive. >> what do you think? more to come to the down side? what do you do? let this happen or go out and do bargain hunting? >> i think it's a great opportunity for the risk assets. we like gold, u.s. equities still really undervalued. if you look at emerging market equities, they are the cheapest of the asset classes. >> you like gold why? inflationary implications , a safe haven? >> well, for one, the ecb is still easing. the fed is still easing even though they say they are going to stop, they haven't declared that they are going to do that. we're in a negative real interest rate environment. when you're in that environment,

we've found that gold with a market that has traded up year to date, people made a lot of money. is that trade still in place? what about europe as well in the whole international investing forum given the creep up in rates? >> i think it still is. the recovery is still in tact overseas as well as here. if you look at sort of the stats from the first part of this year, the s&p was up over 10% for the first quarter. generally speaking when it's done that, it's positive 90% of the time this pullback is part of a normal, healthy correction. >> what do you think the fed thinks about this selloff? no coincidence that this began within months of the response

you think the fed was expecting. >> not really. the factor was a little exaggerated. when you see the u.s. growing 2.5%, generating 200,000 jobs a month, that's not an environment where the fed is going to take another step and engineer qe 3. >> if the market continues lower, is it a catalyst to get the fed to rethink qe 3? >> i think it's an element to cause them to rethink the fed to start stepping in with qe 3 but one employment report is not going to do it. >> we looked at charts yesterday and the idea that every time

stimulus came from the fed, the market traded up and every time we got close to a selloff, the fed came in, whether it was qe 2, qe 3, operation twist is expiring in june. are you expecting this market to roll over in june if in fact we don't have more stimulus. i know you're a bull longer term but over the short term how much are we going to see? >> i don't think that much. we had a spike in oil, a japanese er japanese earthquake, a bunch of things that have taken the economy down i guess the economy is okay and you pointed out every time we get in trouble, the chairman has made it clear, that's still there. in other words, he's left the

door open. >> he's doing what he has to do. >> he's doing more and that's going to reassure investors. >> earning season begins shortly. we've heard from alcoa. what are your expectations for this reporting season coming up? >> you know, i think they will be reasonably good. the recovery is under way. to your point, there's a lot of money that needs to flow out of the bond market. investors can't expect to earn much on their bonds in this environment. >> you don't think expectations have been too high for earnings season for what corporate america is going to report about the first quarter? >> i'm not sure about that. i think long term the earnings of the s&p and international company is still going to be good. i don't expect to see a big pause in earnings. >> let me get your take on one area of the market that has been sort of repeatedly pushed and

endorsed and that is the dividend payers. we're coming off of the speech by the president in terms of the buffett rule. we know the president would like the bush tax cuts to expire at the end of the year. if in fact that happens, dividend taxes will triple. is that going to send this market spiralling down? >> i don't think so. people are going to be attracted to things with yield, whether it's dividend paying stocks, emerging market debt. you can go into the emerging market debt, brazil, india, and get yields of 10%. >> capital gains are going up. if that happens, it would hurt dividend stocks a lot. don't you think it's going to happen? >> here's what i think. you really have to watch for it as you get into the summer. there is a very risky event coming up. if you add up all of the

stimulus measures, they added a up to 4%. it's very unlikely congress is going to get to this before then and then a lame duck congress. that i think is going to start to be on investors' radar screens as we move through the summer and that's going to be tough. >> so you think they will come up with a deal? >>. >> nobody is focus canned on it now but it's a good deal. coming up on the final 30 seconds and finishing near the lows with the dow jones industrial down 200 points on the backs of a big decline for the european markets. this will be another triple digit decline for the major