tv The Kudlow Report CNBC November 21, 2013 7:00pm-8:01pm EST
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cut. the price cutting in the natural and organic section of the supermarket business remains very powerful. i'd like to say there's always a bull market somewhere, i promise to try to find it for you here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer, and i'll see you tomorrow. breaking news, the most populous state in the union has just decided it will not accept the obama care fix. in other words, you can't keep your plan if you live in california. and this puts another nail in the obama care coffin. just look at the brand new issue of time magazine. this is a domestic disaster. if you're the democrats, the question is how do you dig your way out of this. the temperatu democrats went on the offensive and eliminated the filibuster. republicans are furious at the nuclear option and ebl it wii b
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will move the courts way to the left. and it is all smiles on wall street. dow closed over 16,000. we'll look at what is keeping this rally going. all those stories and much more coming up on the kudlow report beginning right now. breaking news from california tonight. in a blow to president obama's proposed fix, california decides against any extension for about a million health insurance policyholders in the state. bertha coombs joins us with the details. >> it's controversial within california itself. they have voted against allowing health insurers to renew a million plans that have been canceled because of the new standards. those ensuspeciall insures incl
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the of the estastate's largest. now, the concern is that it may disrupt the enrollment on the exchange which is going well in california. 80,000 have signed up, over a third are over 65, at less than a quarter under the key younger dw demographic. dave jones called it a disservice to consumers but admits there is little he can do about it. he says insurers like cigna which are not selling plans on the exchange have been trying to extend plans for their customers through next year. california isn't alone. other states that have bimt their own exchanges seem to be
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trying to protect their turf and they're seeing relatively smooth enrollments, so they're also saying no including new york, massachusetts, minnesota and washington state. >> this may be a dumb question, but for these big insurers, you mentioned stig in cigna, the bl out there, can they go and do what they want if they're not part of 9 obama care exchange? >> no, that depends on what the insurance regulators say. obama? >> no, that depends on what the insurance regulators say. in new jersey, the regulator hasn't weighed in. florida is pushing for it and texas is pushing for it. but the regulators there -- some of the relation late informatioinformation regulate informations are worried about the confusion. >> jones who is pro obama care wants to have the renewals. can he tell the other insurance companies in california go ahead and renew?
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>> he can't because they have contracts with the cexchange on the type of plans that they will sell and that's why the covered california exchange can have this kind of influence on these particular insurers. those that are not selling on the exchange like cigna are fine. they have the insurance regulator's blessing. but the exchange plans cannot. >> many thanks. appreciate it. here is more on the crumbling obama care rollout. check this out. house speaker john boehner found out firsthand today the site is still plagued with glitches. he's posting this screen shot of the error he received when he attempted signing up for coverage earlier today. let's be honest. i think we can all agree the obama care story has been an unmitigated disaster. the website, president falsehoods, insurance cancellations, premium hikes. democrats on the run. and the question this evening, is there a way out of this mess, how account democrats recover
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and save a sdwen senate seats and 30 to 40 house members. how can they survive. so let's talk. here now, political expert panel and democratic strategist steve murphy and former white house press secretary arrei fleischer. i think you won't disagree in a this thing is a bad scene. the question is, what should democrats do if you were counseling them how do they dig themselves out of this mess? >> we have to make it work. we have got to get the problems fixed so it works as it was originally intended. it's not just the website getting fixed. it's the basic concept that has to fulfill -- be fulfilled according to plan. it is this why i disagree with what you said about california being bad. that's good for the future of obama care for two reasons. a one year extension as the president proposed, the states that will implement that are
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just kicking it into the time line of just the next election. that won't help us politically. and number two, we need -- those substandard plans under obama care, they have to go away for obama care to work. they have to be eliminated. we have to get the healthy people paying for a full plan. >> i think you were on a roll until you hit the last sentence or two. because ari fleischer, i have to ask you, this is steady drip, drip, drip. not just that the website won't work or the payments he saend w work. it's the steady drip, drip, drip. you'll get more employer based cancellation, more individual based cancellations. it will all be pushed well out into next year. i don't see how the democrats get out of this mess. i just don't. >> it's really more than a drip, drip, drip. it's soak, soak, soak. and the problem is got such a bad launch. anytime it gets off to such a poor start, it's very hard to
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recover. so at least for the short term between now and the off year laerks it will be impossible for the democrats to recover. longer term i think the only thing president obama can do is speak aspirationally, hope to inspire his liberal base that he betwe did the right thing, providing people to insurance who don't have it the right thing. but the problem is middle class voters and especially senior citizens, seniors who are increasingly voting bloc, even though they're on medicare, anytime they hear health care is not working, they fear for themselves. >> that's the thing, steve murphy, back to you. you've xwrgot a dozen senate democrats, and i don't mean the more conservative ones like joe manchin. i think about centsenator jean she sha sheen. she wants to stepped a lot of these deadlines which in my
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humble opinion makes a lot of sense. i'm not for obama care. but if i were, i would want to open up and extend, it's not just the individual mandate, you'll have to go through the employer based mandates. who knows, there may be -- estimates run up to 50 million or 100 million. why wouldn't the white house say to a jeanne shaheen and the 6 or 8 or 10 others, all right, well will give everybody time to get this done properly and feix the white house. why is the white house so inflexible when the polls are killing them? >> the answer is very simple. the white house understands what i just said. in has to work and they have to get it fixed. there isn't any point in delaying most parts of it for a lengthy period because that's not going to do anything to help get it working. i do think this. i think democrats in congress are going to have to play a role in getting it fixed and they may
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have to prod the white house, they may have to pass some legislation and get it septemnt the white house. >> what kind of legislation. >> that's an important part. >> legislation like the employer mandate. i think maybe we ought for be taking a look at altering the employer mandate, period. >> a lot of people are saying democrats will join republicans and say this whole thing out of play. but i'm going to ask you -- >> that won't happen. >> i know. probably won't. but there is a lot of talk about that. but what is your take on how the republicans are playing this? today there is headlines the gop on obama care let it just self get. eight house investigations are scheduled for the obama care. democrats are going to move with republicans to create some legislation maybe along the lines that steve murphy is talking about. is the gop playing its cards right, ari fleischer? >> republicans start to play that are cards right when they
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voted against this in the first place. that was the right stand to take because they feared the effects it would have, they predicted many of these effects where people would pay more and it would damage health care delivery in this country. that's another shoe that has yet to fall. as it goes forward, only thing that republicans can do that messes this up is to shut the government down again, go back into some of the same fights they should not have gotten into around october first when obama care kicked in. i think they have learned that lesson. i certainly hope they won't make that mistake again. but there is nothing republicans can do without controlling the senate or the white house to change obama care. >> maybe they should just to what -- in other words, they're basically doing nothing. if your opponent wants to hang himself, give him all the rope in the world. >> pie point is they took the principled action, they did the right thing by voting against it. they tried to repeal it, it they can't. so you it now it is up to president obama
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to prove that it is good for the people. if he can't, they will take their lumps next november. >> lumps in the next election that to me is the issue. i'm not a democrat obviously. but let me just come back to this other question. i'm not sure you answered it. what do you do with the center liberal center left democrat would stand as good chance of losing because of the public's dislike of obama care over 60%? it's like they have to do something. they said if you like your insurance, you can keep it. they followed obama off that cliff. what do they have to do to survive or is it going to be republican land slide in 2014? >> here is what they can do. and here is where i think ari is wrong about republican exposure on this. the senate could pass a fix, one that doesn't undermine, a fix to those who are going to lose their health insurance who want to keep it. the senate can pass that. can pass a more reasonable version. then the house has a version and
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the senate has a version. the house has been refusing to go to conference with the senate on legislation. it would be back -- ball is back over the net in the house's court once that legislation passes the senate. and we'll have a real debate about how to fix this. >> got to happen fast. you know, you'll get a lot of enrollments coming up. you know the story between december 1st and december 15th, in order to qualify for the january 1st final enrollment date, you have to get all your stuff in. and a lot of people are saying the website is not big enough, it doesn't have the capacity to handle this. so -- >> they may have to extend that. extended the signup. >> why doesn't obama do that is this that's wh this? that's what i'm saying. >> because you want to promote people getting it done now. >> i'm giving you good advice.> people getting it done now. >> i'm giving you good advice.
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what is he waiting for? we're coming to the end of november. i'm going to cry crocodile tears if the thing doesn't work out in the good half of december. about i but you're a good sport. we appreciate yyou coming on. let's get off politics and get to solutions. we have a man who has a real plan to fix the mess. he's about to join us. and don't forget free market capitalism always the best pros. senate democrats pulled the trigger on the nuclear option today. they killed the filibuster for judicial appointments and more. talk about a flip-flop. we'll have a lot more on this filibuster story. but here is what one prominent democrat had to say about using the nuclear option just a few years ago. >> if the right of free and open debate is taken away from the minority party, then the millions of americans who ask us
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with obama care completely broken, the question is what is the right next. what could possibly attract republicans and maybe endemocrats to fix the health care system. here now fell us more about his plan and a great column yesterday, we welcome back jenkins. and recently honored with the first annual prize for journalism from the coolidge memorial foundation. i loved your column yesterday. >> thank you, larry. >> let's go right into it. you talk about the national health insurance charter . fill that out, the national health insurance charter. >> it's not a new idea. it simply says let insurers design and market planner
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nationally, free of the obama mandates which make them cover a lot of things that people don't want to pay for. it simply is create a national competitive market and insurance plans that people really will want to buy for a price that really makes sense to them. >> so this is like total health care insurance freedom. which is what i yearn for. i want to be free to make my open choice and i want to be free to buy whatever products are out there to that also add to choices. >> that's right. and the time is now because it can be sold as an additional option under obama care. it's an option for the millions whose health insurance is being outlawed by obama care and a very hardball move in california is an interesting thing because they're trying to force people into the exchanges instead of giving them an option like the option they have been forced to surrender. and it takes care of millions more who are forced to buy the
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expensive plans. and a lot in small business who will probably lose their insurance over the next year or so. so it takes care of a lot of people's problems. >> let's stay there. just on that point. might democrats like your free to choose approach? let's say in the california decision where the board denied people the renewal of their canceled notices. if i were a democrat or republican and some bureaucrat in sacramento denies me the choice to go back and get my canceled policy, i'd be furious and there are a hell of a lot more democrats in california than republicans. so are you saying that this free choice approach will work for democrats as well as republicans? >> i would think so. california was ground zero of the cancellation crisis.
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cent senator dianne feinstein was one of the loudest critics. i want to know what the white house's role in this decision was. white house is supposedly in favor for people to keep their plan for another year. but the real goal is to force them to buy obama care insurance to prop up the exchanges. so i'm curious to know what was going on there. but for a lot of democrats, the way out of this problem, millions of people being angry, is provide this other option. >> so the other option, let's stay with this now, democrats will say right off the top that there has to be some mandate for the people with pre-conditions, people who are sick, too elderly and are ill. how do you solve that problem with your what i'm going to call free to choose charter approach. >> well, the obama care exchanges still exist. they still are obliged to cover people at a favorable rate with
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pre-existing conditions. we've so priced out of the insurance market so many people that there are applicant are pl people who don't have insurance and plenty of other people one pink slip away from losing their insurance because we tie insurance to jobs. this helps both those problems. but in the short term during the transition, you'll have to help those people and the obama care exchanges are good for doing that and the government is already committing to making insurers locinsurers local for e sick people. >> i think pre-existing conditions and universal health care coverage, these are the two building blocks for this whole j jury-rigged strult. what do you say on the universal coverage part? >> the mandate survives. you'd be able to satisfy the
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mandate by buying these cheaper policies i'm talking about. the mandate on constitutional grounds is maybe not a bad idea on policy grounds because it does bring people in and makes them pay for their own health care under the plan i'm talking about. the problem with the obama care approach is they're charged so much that they're actually paying for other people's health care. that's not a deal they're willing to take and millions will vote with their feet. >> let me clarify, you would keep a mandate or you would not? >> the mandate is in the law and frankly, i would just leave it there. you won't get rid of it anyway. you won't repeal obama care. what you can do is sell to both republicans and democrats that this is an option. a new option under obama care that takes care of a lot of the problems and a lot of the unhappiness that we're seeing how. >> so this kind of broad approach, including helping the sick and elderly, including the
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plan dat mandate, but including total free choice for consumers and producers of insurance, you're saying the two parties could actually can together because each will get something out of this deal, but it will all be cheap he wee cheaper, less bureaucratic, less taxing. if you're in the senate, is that how you'd sell to mary landrieu, sell to jeanne shaheen? >> exactly. everybody in obama care survives, but there is an additional option and it gets insurance on terms that makes sense for them and them voluntarily go towards. >> i love it. terrific stuff. as always, glad to see you. now, janet yellen came close to being fully confirm dad as our next fed head. i know she's our empress of the doves. but i'm going to give her a real honeymoon period and i even have some sound advice for her next up. but first, don't forget obama care website is still not close
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to working well. here's what one cyber expert had to say on cnbc earlier today. >> most of us felt you got to start all over again. we need health care 2.0. back in the '80s, we built apembassy in russia when they almost got done, it was filled with bugs. and listening device. and it cost us $130 million to tear it down and start all over again because it coukocould wou have cost more to fix it. a and that's the position we're in here.
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it is very likely janet yellen will be confirmed. as loyal viewers know, i've been calling janet yellen the empress of the doves. we even had our graphics department make this graphic. you about it's all tongue in cheek. i mean no disrespect. the truth is, fed chair men are like supreme court justices in a way. you never know what they will do up they do it. shem remain a governor for the foreseeable future, but my advice is this. use monetary rules to reduce uncertainty as you unwind the fed stimulus. what do i mean by rules? in brief, listen to markets. market price indicators. especially commodities including gold, the value of the u.s.
quote
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dollar, and treasury bond market spreads. that will it tell you whether you're inflating or deflating. right now i don't see any problem about inflation at all. yes, keep a sharp eye on the growth of nominal gdp, total spending. and i'd even take a careful look at the taylor rule, too. so while you're at it, a rule based policy vastly more pro-growth than forward guidance or ad hoc activities. that's my take. i don't know if ms. yellen will agree or not. some people believe that when we get back to normal whenever that is, she will go to a rules based policy. we will see. i think markets are smarter than ecop m emonday metric models. let's talk about this briefly with art hogan and jeff kill
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bour bourne. jeff, i'll start with you you. what is your take? >> that's great advice and janet yellen is a brilliant woman. last year she said there are no asset bubbles. you were spot on. you said she was spot on dovish. shechb she was even more dovish than maybe you expected. and the fact that she said that there no bubble and she'll potentially do more, i think that statement alone, we're in for a world of hurt when it comes january 31st. >> that's the thing. statements hfr-and i agree, statements like ms. yellen made last week confuse the whole idea of forward guidance. >> mixed messages. >> shouldn't markets dictate monetary policy to a much
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greater extent and is janet yelp ca yellen capable of doing that? >> you make a great point.yelp yellen capable of doing that? >> you make a great point.elp yellen capable of doing that? >> you make a great point.lp yellen capable of doing that? >> you make a great point.p yellen capable of doing that? >> you make a great point. yellen capable of doing that? >> you make a great point. >> you said a couple things that make a great deal of accepts before first of all, let's give her a honeymoon period. statement in front of congress versus the action you take once the job is yours are two completely different things. she has a much more difficult job you can argue than her predecessor. her predecessor had to do pretty interesting things with monetary policy at a very drastic time in the economy. now they have to be unwound. you're right, the markets want to dictate policy especially in the bond market when you look at what the bond market is saying, we'll get out in front of my nunu moves that the fed makes. >> it's the spread.
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this is the commodity price rule that had served us well for 20 years. and i'm trying to bring that back. i agree keep an eye on nominal gdp, total spending. the question is how in god's name can she unwind what bernanke has created which she was his co-pilot. that's the question. jeff, i'll let you finish it out. >> my thought was i don't know how she unwinds it. the ten year yield wants on go above 3% and the bond vigilantes who have been in a coma, they're starting to wake up p and i think they will come out here and tidick at that time from di. the fed is fearful, they are scared they are loosing control. >> i don't think they ever had control. but before we break, the great
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e est central banker in my professional life time was paul volcker. he concurred inflation from 15% down to 2% or 3%. that was one of the greatest most heroic things i've ever seen. ronald reagan gave him the ground to stand by, by volcker used to look at commodities an gold. stay we me. we hit and stayed over 16,000 on the dow. that's next up. me. we hit and stayed over 16,000 on the dow. that's next up. i me. we hit and stayed over 16,000 on the dow. that's next up. th me. we hit and stayed over 16,000 on the dow. that's next up. th
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welcome back to the "kudlow report". in this half hour, democrats pulled the trigger on the nuclear option. they voted to ed td to end the filibuster in favor of a 51 vote majority for judicial and executive appointsme poinpointm including the supreme court. the question is will this poison the waters for years to come.
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like senator obama warned in 2005. but now singing a different tune. the dow closed above the 16,000 mark for the first time ever, so let's toss it over to bob pi zasa pi zani for all the details. >> maybe it was for the wrong rope reasons. it stack off after 10:00 a.m. and the november philly fed numbers came in well below expectations. traders bought into the old idea that this made it less likely the fed may begin tapering its bond purchase program in december. cyclical sectors all rallied and the defensive sectors like health care all lagged. high beta names that have been beaten up all week particularly internet related names like gro groupon, linkedin, all rallied.
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williams sonama did very well. sears and target disappointed. after the close, gap beat reaff year guidance. >> get go to our investors. back with art hogan and jeff killburg. before we get heavy into the stock market, i want to read and you piece of research. very strong economist, michael darta, he's a very bright guy, so he writes today and i want to you hear this and weigh in, he says over the last 16 months, the ten year treasury has gone from 1.4% to 2.8%. a huge increase. but he also points out that during that same period of rising interest rates, the s&p 500 up 30%. so i ask you, jeff, is wall street overly spooked about
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interest rates? a lot of times raising rates signal growth which is good for stocks. >> true. and i would like to add in and maybe we can put this on a chart, look at the fed balance sheet expansion over that same period. the whole reason the s&p is up is due to the expansion. and i know today we hit 16,000 and that was a triumphant victory for in-vegs tinvestor, but middle america did not win. there are no new jobs. unemployment rate of 6.5% has a snowba snowball's chance in hell to get there. there is a big disparity between the actual economy and the 16,000 print in the dow jones. >> epg wall street frets too much this whole in and out game about tapering and nontapering. they're not actually going to tighten policy for quite some time. but i'll ask you the same question. does wall street fear the long
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rates too much and is there fundamental backing behind the rally in stocks. once again i say this, long rates virtually doubled and the stock market went up 30%. important to keep in mind. >> i certainly position it's important. when pisani brought that up, i agree to a certainly septembextt we have to get back to where we were this august. we need to get our heads wrapped around the fact when the taper happens, that is good news. the which i wieconomy needs to t to a place where it moves on its own. i think we're getting close to that.a place where it moves on own. i think we're getting close to that.place where it moves on it. i think we're getting close to that. also the market is up because the global economy is getting m markedly better than a year ago. europe is staying flat and in some places getting better. china which had fits and starts is improving and getting
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modestly better. japan is obviously doing better and the u.s. is going to go from 2.5% to 3% gdp. so i think there a fundamental backdrop. >> very good. >> it's very good. >> behind those fundamentals, you have a decent rise in profits. i'm going to say at a steady 5%, 6% rate. financial s rose, technology stocks rose. a lot of buy backs out there. i like buy backs. they're good. buy backs put money into individual investor hands. and think people are smart enough to spend their open money. that's one of the reasons i like the buy back story. >> i'll disagree. the buy back undercurrent has ban more of an impact. fedex said they were buying back
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32 million shares. that was a $4.5 billion buy back on one company. coopera wouldn't it be great to see that spent on jobs? >> it may be. here's the hinthing. >> but there is no clarity. >> sometimes the corporations don't make maximum use of the cash on happennd. sometimes it's better that they return the cash to the investors. they can also be wealthy investors who take that cash and reinvest it into the economy. this is a second and third order, knockoff effect that people forget p now t. now the money is in noncorporate hands. maybe more risk. maybe more entrepreneurial startups. i like the buy back story. i'll give you the last word. >> you're right. we've been talking about the amount of corporate cash sitting on balance sheet. what is the appropriate use for it. buy backs is certainly one of those uses. let the private sector decide
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whether wr that will go next. and i think you're right, there is too much cash on balance sheets and i'd like to see it put into jobs creation. but i'd also like to put it in the rift secretaprivate sector. >> you'll get churn. i want churn. >> get some velocity. >> cluhildre churn picks up vel. anyway, we're out of time. how could a 747 land at the wrong airport? it happened and today they tried to make it right p the latest on that story and other headlines just ahead. ♪
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welcome back. a boeing 747 landed at the wrong airport. that's right, the wrong airport. the dream lifter cargo plain was supposed to go to mcconnell air force base in wichita, kansas. instead, it landed at a much smaller airport a few miles away. there was a concern that it wouldn't be able to take off from the smaller runway, but it
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did successfully without incident. no word yet on how or why the pilot landed at the wrong airport. none honeywell says 35% is high for companies to be a able to compete. earlier this week max baucus threw out some ideas. honeywell is happy the conversation is getting started. and weak results from target today. ceo saying, quote, consumer spending remains constrained which has a lot of people worried about the low end consumer during the holiday season. and of course i'm always thinking obama care and for a lot of people, that's when their first premiums are going to be due. and for a lot of them, the first time they have to pay this and they will have on budget that around christmastime. >> and good for david coate.
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he wants 25%. bravo. thanks for helping us. now, today senate democrats adopted new rules on the so-called filibuster. it's a long term tradition to protect the minority party. instead of 60 vote, now 51 is enough to confirm judicial and executive appointments. but years ago when the democrats are in the line ority, they warned of dire consequences if the gop ever used the nuclear option. listen to then senator biden in 2005. we'll be right back with that story. >> this nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power. it is a fundamental power grab by majority party. we've been through these periods before in american history, but never to the best of my knowledge has any party been so bold as to fundamentally attempt
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harry reid pushing through a major senate rule change today weakening the power of the filibuster. the president's not so hidden agenda is to move the judicial system and the regulatory system way to the left. that's my view. make no mistake about that, folks. president obama praised today's senate move saying it was a response to, quote,
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unprecedented pattern of obstruction, end quote. and harry reid called it an essential step, both a far cry from their comments when the republicans were in majority by the way. take a listen. >> if the right of free and open debate is taken away from the minority party, then the millions of americans who ask us to be their voice, i fear the already partisan atmosphere in washington will be poisoned to the point where no one will be able to agree on anything. that doesn't serve anyone's best interests and it certainly isn't what the patriots who founded this democracy had in mind. >> this so-called nuclear option is off the table. is this this is a significant victory for our country, for democracy and for every american. checks and balances have been protected. the senate was designed by the founding fathers to go very
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slowly. that's what's been the preservation of our republic. >> well, okay. republicans are furious over this and we need to know what it really means. we have now john lott author of dumbing down the courts. we also welcome back ari fleischer. thank you, gentlemen. i don't know. first thing i saw -- ari first. this tells me we'll get some left wing appointments, regulatory agencies, left wing judge, all bickering in the u.s. court of appeals in washington, d.c.. am i wrong here or is this going to be five giant steps to the left? >> you nailed it. and the reason he's doing this is because he's increasingly unpopular. what he has left is the liberal left wing more extremist based. and that's why he's prepared to flip-flop, change his position on this and do something he vowed he wouldn't do. but there is a bigger story and that's the president's words are increasingly meaningless.
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they have no value. they're wind. he opposed this, he opposed raising the debt limit -- he is forred so many things that he is now information and flip-flopped. regular la. >> regulatory issues and then the judge issue. how do you see this? will the republicans overturn it if they come back to power or is this the way it is forever? >> you been ununfortunately,ic is this the way it will be forever. it's amazing left wing that some of these judges were. pillar positions the federal discrimination law shoes apply
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to religious groups hiring religious leaders. so if you're the catholic church, she thinks the government should get involved in determining whether you have male or female priests. anything from suing gun makers or whether or not it's proper to have race for a defining factor whether somebody will be admitted to college. >> ari, stay with this. i know harry reid and obama are blaming this all on senate filibusters. but really, they're blaming it on the house republicans. which stopped the legislation. i know the house doesn't confirm. i know it's a different function. but i think that's really the undertow here. and that's why i just wonder, the gop came out today with a lot of heavy breathing, but never really said if we take over the senate in 2014, we will change this. that troubled me.
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republicans are being a little too easy on this process. >> it won't be changed. if the senate taken over by republicans, one day it will. this is now a firm new feature. i've made the case the filibuster is overused by both par parties. but there is a right way and long way to fix it. you don't move the fences in when your team is up to plate. >> what is the right way? >> the right way would have been to make the effective date of such a change january of 2015. nobody knows who will control the senate in the next congress. it might go republican. if it's being overabused, which it is, you make the effective date a date that is neutral. no one knows about it will benefit one party or the other. >> that's an interesting point. okay. so back in 1975, i think it was robert bird who got the change. i don't know. it used to be two thirds. then it was dropped down to 60%. now it's dropped down to 51%.
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at 51%, that basically nullifies the whole process. do you agree with ari in a ichi has been overused and it should have been pushed off at least a year? >> i'm not sure i do. the bottom line is what's the rate that the president will be confirming his nominees. and obama has it up extremely well by that measure. you look at circuit court nominations during the bush administration, bush got 72% of his circuit court nominations confirmed. during obama's first term, he ended up getting 85% of his circuit court nominations confirmed confirmed. there are other ways people can hold up nominations besides using philly bfilibustefilibust. i think i'm see more of those other ways and delays. >> i don't accept the proposition that 60 votes is the threshold. i believe majority rule should prevail, but it should be it up --
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>> you'll get more extreme judges. the fact that you have -- >> i got to jump out. sorry. lover the debate. that's it for tonight's show. tla thanks for watching. tomorrow the 50th anniversary of the tragic kennedy assassination. we'll look at his true legacy with special guests. please join me tomorrow. i'm larry kudlow. i think this fully bilibuster c is a real bad idea. stateme
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>> narrator: in this episode of "american greed" -- dennis kozlowski, the former c.e.o. of tyco. >> rightly or wrongly, kozlowski has been seen as sort of one of the epitomes of greed. >> narrator: to some, he's a poster boy of excess. >> i love you, darling. >> why did he have to spend tyco money on this $2 million birthday party for his wife? >> it's almost out of greek mythology. it's a classic tragic story. >> we're here today to announce the indictment of dennis kozlowski for stealing... >> narrator: once a c.e.o., now a convicted felon, dennis kozlowski tells his story. >> in my view, you know, the system failed me at that point in time.
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