you need to start preparing your holiday budget. karen lee joins us at 2:00 eastern time to help us. at 3:00 dr. bill shows us how your birth order can affect your health and career. "your $$$$$" starts right now. americans are counting on washington to fix the economy but public trust in the government is at an all-time low. welcome to "your $$$$$." i'm ali velshi. only 15% of americans today say they trust the government to do what's right always or most of the time. that's the lowest on record since 19 -- since the 1950s. robert rice professor of public policy at university of california berkeley, the author of "after show the next economy and america's future." bob, good to see you. thank you for being us. talk about not trusting government. you recently wrote the republican party wants to keep

the economy lousy through election day. let me ask you, if the president is really serious about fixing this economy, wouldn't he have drafted a jobs plan he spoke about a few weeks ago that would be more likely to garner partisan support and get done. >> the problem the president is facing republicans have said no to basically everything so far. i think they will agree to certain provisions, certain tax cuts in the president's plan but it's going to be like pulling teeth for the president. when i said republicans want a lousy economy on election day, i certainly didn't want to paint with too broad a brush. it's not every republican. but undoubtedly the just say no policies of the republican party do tend to lead one to believe that a lot of republicans wouldn't mind a bad economy on election day because that is almost a sure way to get rid of president obama. >> there is a danger, though, with that. this economy, which is shaky

right now, takes another current, a clear turn downward, the next president of the united states, if it's not barack obama, is going to have a worse situation they inherit that they might not be able to get out as as easily. >> that is true. but presidents, generally speaking, like to have a very bad economy at the beginning of their four years or their eight years because that usually means, given the business cycle by the time their four years are up the economy is much better. we may have a new normal. that is after the great recession, it may be unemployment is going to stay up at 9 or 10% for a very long time. that's absolutely right. it is a great danger politically but also a huge danger to the economy and to our south, because i don't think that is sustainable socially. >> all right, robert. hang on. peter is a professor at the university of maryland school of business. economists surveyed by bloomberg believe president obama's jobs plan not only reduces

unemployment but keeps the u.s. from sliding into a recession in 2012. first of all, do you believe that? because if you do, that would be something we should all support. >> i don't know how many jobs it will create. it certainly will create smchlt providing states with additional money to pay for school teachers while you subtract money on the health care side, trim medicaid or medicare in some way to pay for it doesn't help a great deal. where we really have a difference of opinion between the two parties is whether spending more will get us out or whether taming the budget deficit will get us out. the republicans were elected last time to tame the budget deficit. they see what the president is proposing is something that -- >> let me ask this. you're right. you're absolutely right. that's what they got elected on. that doesn't mean that's the answer. >> absolutely not. cutting the deficit right now would not be good medicine for the economy. if they want to move forward, though, i think they will have to look outside the government for real stimulus.

the president's program may provide some. to really get the economy moving, they have to find a way to get to private sector spending. for example, opening up more oil and gas that provides the same spending construction does. >> bob, let me ask you this. most economists, smart people agree, raising tacks right now is probably not ideal. taxes will have to be raised. not only on the rich but possibly the middle class down the road. maybe stimulus is not a bad idea right now. cutting deficits and budgets are going to be a better idea down the road. why is that not a normal part of the discourse coming from moderate republicans and moderate democrats? why are we having discussions on the extremes, particularly on the republican side? >> one problem, ali, we don't have many moderate republicans. not that many moderate democrats. certainly more moderate democrats than moderate republicans. if we had a normal political dialogue right now, politicians would certainly be in sync with

economists and policy analysts would say don't cut the deficit. spend more. don't impose taxes. later on impose the deficit and taxes. it's sequencing, right now growth and jobs. >> good point. sequencing thing. good to see you. bob reich former labor secretary, california of berkeley and author of "aftershock." peter, stay there i want to bring in diane swonk from mesere mesereau. there's only so much influence the government has over the economy, so what's really holding us back? >> we have over a trillion reasons to stimulate on corporate balance sheets. we just validated for not using, redeploying funds they have been hoarding in august and september

because of the political gridlock and political malfunction we've seen. although i don't think government is the only solution, it can certainly help on the margin one direction or the other. when your economy is only growing marginally and a crisis of confidence it can play a major role. in the larger debate stimulus versus austerity if we had a credible plan where we had vision going forward on what the deficit and austerity program would look like over 10 to 15 years, credible plan, knew what potholes were, businesses can do that as long as they knew where they were, changes in spending coming, so could households, that would free up in the near term some room for stimulus debate we're talking about. the rush to cut and offset any spending increase or any tax cut immediately with spending cuts is really dysfunctional. the gridlock in washington is having a much outsized effect because the economy is so marginal. >> the work needs to be done to fix this economy outside of washington in the private

sector. the idea there is a road map, there is some destination and some agreement as to how to get there is the thing that is going to help businesses make those decisions to ploy people. ultimately the gridlock you're saying, diane, is a large part of the problem. peter morici. do we have to have an election to get the message you have to get something done in washington or reactionary politics that plays down to the voter and affects them personally? >> the fact of the matter is we're going to see marginal action on the president's plan. even the democrats in the senate are putting it off. my feeling is there will be a package. it won't be nearly as comprehensive as the president likes. a basic problem we have is when the republicans win, they think they should get everything their way and the democrats think they should obstruct. when the democrats win they think they should get everything their way and republicans think they should obstruct.

the reality is folks want moderate, solutions in the middle. until politicians are willing to do this, we're going to have this seesawing in elections. that's all there is to it and we're going to be a country divided. there are real solutions getting the private sector going. we haven't had a clear vision from the white house how to do it beyond stimulus. cutting taxes and deregulating doesn't warm me up. >> we're going to talk about solutions. diane and peter stick around. the solution we need is unemployment. we're going to talk solutions when we come back. you're watching "your $$$$$." rey income - month after month. what's it going to be this month, mr. z? i'm gonna renovate my son's house. baby room. congratulations! [ male announcer ] no matter what the future holds, we're making tomorrows people can count on. what can we make with you? transamerica. transform tomorrow.

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solution s, let's talk solutions. tax reform, do we need tax reform for economic growth and subsequently job creation. senator toomey, republican member of congress, he's on the super committee and charged with reducing deficits. he thinks tax reform is the answer.

listen. >> this the most pro growth thing we can do is fundamentally reform our tax code. >> peter morici, is he right? >> it's important. the corporate tax is too high in the united states. there are too many loopholes. a lower corporate rate with fewer exclusions and loopholes would be beneficial. america fundamentally is held back by a lack of demand, due to credit overhang from the housing crisis and debt people have and trade deficit and so forth. those are largely problems that need fixing in the private sector that requires public initiative to get there. i'm not hearing that from the white house. frankly i'm not hearing a lot of that from the republican candidates as well. >> diane, this is going to become a catchphrase for many, many months. we've heard it about comprehensive tax reform. as peter says american corporate taxes are high. on behalf a lot don't pay taxes, we have loopholes. corporate tax could mean

different things to different people. we know the president wants to expand the payroll tax cut which he says is going to save the average american family about $1500 a year. now, from an economists perspective, how direct is the link between tax cuts like that one, or others, and job creation? >> well, the issue on the payroll tax cut is if you don't extend it, it would be a payroll tax increase for americans at a fragile time for the u.s. economy. it is one of the things that would affect demand issues. the problem with tax cuts we're not sure how many americans at the wealthiest level would save or restructure debt and spend. the demand issues peter is referring to i think are important. i do believe in fundamental tax reform. i think we need to dramatically change behavior, lower tax rates, broaden base, do changes to corporate tax rate as well. that's not the single issue, i agree on that. the biggest issue, you cannot

move forward on the economy until we heal from the fundamental thing that got us here, the housing market bubble and bust. >> that's sometime away. >> it is. but there is some opportunity for changes in policy that can help accelerate our process through that that we're not doing at all. >> let's talk about this for a second. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke referred to unemployment as a national crisis this week. peter, would you say this is the time for infrastructure projects? what's the kind of stuff we should be doing if it's not fundamental tax reform to get things going? >> well, infrastructure projects are a bridge to the future. they give you a temporary boost in employment. to get us going, we need to do something about the debt people have. we have helped out the banks. we need to start to restructure these mortgages, writing down debt by perhaps making the banks partners in the house where people are underwater so they can refinance.

we really do need to develop more domestic energy. it's great to develop alternative vehicles, electric vehicles and all that but they are not going to solve energy dependence right away. we have a lot of oil and gas. we're using oil and gas we need to develop that now. a trade dech sit with china. the issue of regulation on wall street. we've added to the cost but i don't think we've solved the problem. there's got to be a more effective and efficient way. >> ultimately as you and diane both point out, sure, there's things holding businesses back, creating uncertainty and not permitting them to hire. the other side of that equation as you just eluded to, diane, is demand. the $1500 that president obama says the tax cut -- the payroll tax cut is going to give people, ultimately we need something that is going to cause people to say i need to pay down my household debt, get my debt situation under control and spend enough to create demand. what's that sweet spot?

>> there is no -- we've been saying this for ages. if it was a silver bullet, it would have been shot. we're still working through this process i do think peter makes an important point about changes, what we could do to move forward, correction in housing. foreclosure. we've not changed foreclosure laws yet. this is a major problem in the united states. i think they take your first child in sweden if you don't make your payment on your mortgage. that's an exaggeration, of course. the problem is we don't have the recourse. we have to change the incentive structure, heal and do it productively. i also agree regulations thrown without a lot of thought behind them, we have not consolidated regulatory agencies. there's going to be a huge surge in s.e.c. filings for hedge funds. they are not staffed for that. i hardly see anyone spending money to have s.e.c. be the hire of last resort, increased funding from hedge funds, regulatory issues they have to deal with there. we've got a lot of things that are just mismatched in the

economy. we need to think more holistically about the consequences. >> think holistically about the consequences. that's not exactly what i think when i think about congress is up to these days. >> congress doesn't do that. >> one of these days we'll have you two making decisions. that will help us a lot. >> diane swonk and peter morici, good to see both of you. some people think is a solution, can chris christie save the republican party and american economy? we'll check it out next. or no collars. we are business in america. and every day we awake to the same challenges. but at prudential we're helping companies everywhere find new solutions to manage risk, capital and employee benefits, so american business can get on with business. ♪

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"your $$$$$." chris christie running for president speculation does not seem to be dying even though the new jersey governor said several different ways he won't be running. editorial reporter with "wall street journal," stephen, what is the fascination with chris christie? he's fiscal conservative, we get that part. he made major budget cuts in new

jersey. not entirely loved in his home state for making those moves. the idea he's a budget slasher, is that what's appealing to you conservatives? >> ali, it's sort of like remember when you were a teenager and you went on ondate and said, not this one. another date, not this one. that's the problem with republicans. they are not enthralled with the currents choices. there is a lot of fascination with other choices. the one i hereby far the most is chris christie. in addition to the things you said about hitt him, i think he has a couple of characteristics that are appealing to conservatives. by the way, he's not as conservative as ronald reagan by any means. number one, his toughness. he's plain spoken, stood up for fiscal responsibility, something conservatives would like to see with $1.2 trillion deficit. the other issue about chris christie, i've been around politicians for 25 years, ali, i would say he's a political phenomenon, he has a special gift of communicating with

people that's very much like ronald reagan or bill clinton. i think he's of that caliber and that's what republicans are looking for. >> he's unvarnished in some ways which is very appealing. in the current race those candidates unvarnished somehow things that are a little shocking. those that are a little too varnished don't say the things necessarily appealing. he lives in the middle ground as do a lot of people who haven't won a presidential race or committed to running. it's different when they are in. let's bring in joe. chris christie has fiscal conservative drengss, socially relatively moderate. he doesn't wear his religion on his sleeve. used to be pro-choice, flip-flopped when his wife was pregnant, for civil unions, for gay people, against gay marriage. he's got no foreign policy experience. is this economy so bad budget slashing and deficit reduction is the kind of stuff that trumps everything else? >> it may well be.

we're in a process right now where the country is basically coming to the conclusion, urged on by the tea party and most conservative elements in the republican party that the thing that matters most deficit reduction, cutting government spending and reforming entitlements. whether they are right or wrong, it has become the preeminent issue with the possible exception of jobs. here you have a generally blunt spoken governor who has done that in his home state without fear or favor. the fight as always in a presidential election is independents. independents turned against obama largely. they are looking for a candidate. they are not going to find rick perry appealing, certainly not michele bachmann. they could well find chris christie appealing. >> more so than romney. >> well, romney is the default

candidate. they are looking for somebody else to fall in love with. romney has been a while. people don't feel like they are going to fall in love with him. they are going to grudgingly accept hip as nominee. but in the meantime -- >> they are worried about chris christie being in the race, should they be worried and start to appeal to moderate independents who barack obama used to appeal to? >> yeah, look, i think one of the things that's interesting about chris christie, in addition to the things joe was saying, if you listen to the speech he gave this week at the reagan library, he talked about solving problems, you know. he said, look, we solved problems in new jersey that haven't been solved in washington. that's a practical message. not a conservative message, practical message. don't forget one other quick thing about him. he represents a blue state. if republicans can win in a place like new jersey, can he with win anywhere. >> he did bring that point up, joe. he said in new jersey we have

made divided government work, because so many americans think the whole concept of divided government is one that can't work. what we used to think fantastic about checks and balances seems to be coming back and biting us in the ankles. >> americans right now find the idea of a pragmatist appealing because that is not what's happening in washington today. the question whether chris christie could go to washington and be a pragmatist just as obama thought he could go to washington and bridge the partisan gap certainly remains to be seen. running a state, creating consensus in a state, in a state where every state by law has to balance their budget, a very different ball game. by the way, i think chris christie is doing the right thing kind of staying away from this and saying -- i know he made speeches lately that made him appear more presidential. the fact of the matter he hasn't been governor very long. there is a question, in my mind at least, whether he's jumping

in before he's really ready for prime time. >> let me ask you this, stephen, because "the wall street journal," you guys had an editorial where you put together a good endorsement of a particular plan by jon huntsman, economic and energy plan by jon huntsman. sadly that didn't move the needle. the folks you're influencing aren't the people who vote in primaries for the republican party unfortunately. that is to say people who come forward with good solid economic plans, relatively moderate, as jon huntsman, almost all of his policies are, are not catching fire in the republican party. >> yeah, but the guy who is catching fire this week is herman cain. he has quite an ambitious plan out there right now. my reading of the electorate, joe is right. people want problem solvers. i agree with that. i think the american people think these problems we're facing as a country are bigger than the politicians do. they see these as supersized problems that need supersized solutions. that's one of the things whether you like what herman cain is saying about this 999 plan or

not, it is a bold and radical plan and he's rising in the polls. >> i thought you were going to say stephen need supersized people, which is, of course, what chris christie alludes to now and again. >> he does face up to it. he talks about his struggles with his weight a fair amount. he's making so much sense to people, they look right by it. the fact chris christie reflects so much of what so many of us are in america might actually be some of his appeal. who is actually to blame for everything going wrong in washington and with our economy right now? our two guests are back right after this. blah. instead of getting to know you they simply assign you a number. aviva is here to change all that. we're bringing humanity back to insurance and putting people before policies. aviva life insurance and annuities. we are building insurance around you.

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americans criticizes the government for being broken. at the same time american people are pretty divided on what they want from washington and what they think is best for the country. stephen moore still with me. how much weight do you give this whole notion that the divided congress is a reflection of a

divided nation. if you're mad at washington, mad at yourself. >> no question the congress does reflect a big divide in the country in terms of where to take it. you see it in the polls. the democratic party has moved to the left. i don't think there's any question under obama. the republican party is more of a conservative party than it's been at least since the 1980s. that does reflect divisions among the public about what to do about this country. it's interesting, normally when you have divided government in washington, usually the economy does very well. the economy usually likes divided government. >> checks and balances that brings things toward the middle which is where most people live. in this case we have gridlock that pushes us to the edges. >> right. the deals aren't getting done. there's no progress. what you've got is paralysis now not deals. >> it's not even paralysis i think. i think it's worse than that. i think the debt crisis, so utterly avoidable had a destabilizing effect on the economy, on the way other

countries thought about our own stability and it caused s&p to lower debt rating. >> lowered borrowing cost in the united states. i will ask you this, joe, what is it that we're supposed to do? you almost said it under your breath a little earlier ago. you said this whole discussion about the debt made the debt and deficit and budgets the most important in this country, most important issue save perhaps for jobs. jobs still should be the most important issue? >> they certainly should be. certainly if you're president obama and going into election with 9% unemployment, you've got a big, big, big problem will putting politics aside, people need jobs. people want jobs. i look at our discussions about the debt and deficit. i know stephen is going to disagree with me here. i think about 1930, 1931 when that's all herbert hoover talked about.

meanwhile the economy just collapsed. do we need to do something about entitlements, yes. do we need to get the debt under control. yes. do we need to be free spending in sanely, no. the notion we should tighten the vise on government right now when we're in trouble doesn't agree with me. >> number one, president obama hasn't really put anything on the table as a conservative that i believe would actually create jobs. that's why there's gridlock. >> let me bring in roland. roland martin, cnn contributor. we feel bad, my friend. an aggie got into the national race, got on the national stage 72 hours, started to flame out. now we're talking about chris christie. are democrats worried about chris christie and should they be worried about chris christie attracting, as joe said, the very independents that barack obama used to be very attractive to. >> this is very simple for any republican watching. stop wasting your time for

somebody who is not in the race. the problem with this conversation from day one it has been -- first it was will newt run. he gets in. then it said, will pawlenty run. he gets in. will palin run? will trump run in will christie run? i swear, literally, if they could somehow go into a shop and create a ronald reagan, they would try to create a ronald reagan robot. it's a riddiiculous conversatio. you don't have a discussion until somebody is in the race. perry on paper looked great, wonderful. when you go into a debate it's a whole different deal. i remind people also, you can be all concerned right now. the reality is this, at this juncture in 2007, obama was down 31 points to hillary clinton. things change over a period of years. bill clinton in iowa, he was

dead on arrival in new hampshire. what happened? he rebounds. republicans need to stop trying to find a perfect candidate and say let me deal with who we have. if christie gets in, great. but he's not in. so suck it up and deal with who is in front of you. >> what i like from what i hear from chris christie, unlike so many people who are in the race, who are just about being mad and blaming in extreme situations, christie says he wants to come in, he's been in a place where there's divided government and can somehow get through this. >> he can say that right now. >> you don't want to say anything nice while your aggie friend rick perry is in the race. >> easy to say that when you're not in the race. >> you're not in the race either and i want to know what you think is going to help this economy get further, because we're in a mess. >> i recall president george w. bush coming in in 2000 saying i want to end partisanship in washington, d.c. what happened? i heard president obama, then

senator obama, say in 2008, i want to come into washington, d.c. no politician, democrat or republican, they have to be able to confront the problem that you have few moderate republicans and you have a decreasing number of conservative democrats. as long as you have people who are on the extremes, you cannot bring folks together. we still are a split nation. that's the fundamental problem that we have. >> that's exactly where this conversation started, joe. we are. so how do we, who vote for these governments that are divided, how do we expect a solution? what is that solution likely to look like because we've got about 14 months to solve this? >> we're not going to solve it in 14 months. the actual solution is prosperity. if we had a growing economy and people felt like they had job prospects there would not be a tea party. >> let's get there. the actual solution is prosperity. prosperity comes to most people in three different ways.

there are two extra ways, you can marry rich or rob a bank. but to most people it means the value of your stocks or investments going up, the value of your home going up or the value of your wage increasing. joe, none of those are consistently happening. >> that's correct. i think the failure of obama to get its arms around a reasonable sensible housing economy, to help restart the housing economy is the i thinkel most negligent thing the administration that done. >> they tried, joe, a lot of housing -- no, no. >> they tried a lot of small bore solutions. in terms of figuring out what do we do about fannie and freddie, how do we restart the housing market. how do we keep housing from continuing to drop. >> interest rates if you're trying to buy a house and have good credit, what more can they do. >> ali, here is where the fundamental problem was.

have you to go and say, look, we bailed your butt out. we fattened up your lines. it's time to restructure these loans. you can't keep sitting here and say we're going to hold onto the assets until things get better. if you don't force the bank's hands you have no shot at doing it. joe is absolutely right. they failed to do so. the current foreclosure program of the obama -- >> i'm looking at stephen moore. he looks very sad right now. this is not a guy who is going to want further intervention into what happened. robert reich was on the show before you guys, said the same thing joe is alluding to, same thing roland is alluding to, that is at some point, stephen, we have to deal with existing mortgages, underwater mortgages, better mortgages and help people out from the situation they are in. >> i think, ali, housing foreclosures is more a symptom of a bad economy than the cause

of the bad economy. look, when people get back on jobs they can pay. you'll see a big drop and houses rise. something we write about at the journal, $2 trillion businesses are sitting on, ali. they want some incentive to invest. they want this anti-business atmosphere in washington to go away. >> it's going to come from demand, come from people with jobs saying i'm going to spend something. joe. >> i thought cross fire was not on the air anymore. >> those were the good old days. >> where do you get growth? where do you get growth? government can work on the margins, a huge amount of capital on the sidelines. i don't think it's because of anti-business sentiment or anti-business climate, i think it's because there's not enough

demand. it's such a chicken and egg thing. i think the government should be doing everything it can on the margins to help create jobs. i also think the organic economy itself has to start to revive on its own. there's only so much government can do. we can't expect government to come in and fix everything. it would help if the government could create programs that made people feel like there's hope. >> stay tuned. we have to take a break but cross fire will be right back. . so what are you doing at a gas station? well it still takes gas to go farther. but you're not getting gas. true. not this time. uh, don't have to gas up very often. so you have to go to the bathroom? no. yes you do. thought these were electric? yes, it's a uh, a chevy volt. so what are you doing at a gas station?

welcome back to "your $$$$$." christa with digital editor and joe with us. let's talk about markets. to say the market has been volatile would be an understatement. one day up 300 points, the next day down 200 points. wild swings. to under the markets these days, i don't know if we need an analyst or shrink. >> and do we need to be in new york or london or berlin. i think part of what's going on is we understand the world economy is interconnected. there are lots of big things happening outside the united states. i think the big driver of the latest volatility has been europe. people have realized what's happening in europe has the

potential to be another lehman. they have also realized there is the possibility of a political solution. i think the markets are following that very closely. what you're having is people thinking, okay, europeans have it figured out. oh, no, they don't have it figured out. >> that's right. european markets, operations markets up on the hopes there might be a looming solution to the european budget crisis, next day markets down, why, because we're wondering what's going on in europe. make some sense of this for us. >> no question the potential for contagion is there. not just in europe for europe but to jump the atlantic. no question. it happened in the 1930s, austrian bank folds in 1931 domino affect causes problems in the united states. >> we were less connected then than today. >> if greece and bailout, ongoing bailout is their version of aig, right, which was a back

door bailout of many banks, the prospect of a lehman like failure is very, very scary. volatility like this even on an up day is bad. it's bad psychologically for investors. it signals a kind of unsureness and instability by market participants of it's just very unhealthy. >> they should be unsure. it's not just about, you know, if they all did a lot of yoga. if all traders did yoga, everything would be okay. there is a lot of uncertainty in terms of what's going to happen to europe. what i would add to what joe was saying, it's not whether european banks survive this crisis, it's morics extension, the collapse of one of the three major currencies, that would be a big deal. >> people working, unemployment

high, over 9%. housing market as we discussed in this show continues to be troublesome. very little growth in the economy. a little more than we thought there was but still slow. the cost of employer sponsored health insurance went up 9% for families according to the kaiser family foundation. joe, let's talk about this. this is a major, major problem in a time of slow growth, slow economic growth where we've got all sorts of challenges for middle class families and private health insurance continues to get more expensive every year. >> because health care gets more expensive every year. as a country we realize in election year we need to hold down health care costs but individually nobody wants to hold down their own health care costs. why would they? >> the only reason i'm going to stop you there, when you say why would they? i think there is a fundamental intellectual mistake that americans make about health care. they have this view that more health care is like more shoes. so i personally think i can't

have too many pairs of beautiful shoes. if i could afford an infinite number, that would be great. you can have too much health care. this is what's fundamental about america today. health care is wrecking family budgets but the outcome is not that great. it's worse than countries that spend less on health care partly because americans are overtreated. >> there's another part of this? >> don't you agree with that? >> i do agree with that. we don't know how to solve that because nobody is willing to step out and say this treatment we don't need. in fact, it's just the opposite. there's so much pressure on the fda to allow 80, $100,000 drugs that extend life for six weeks. these are all drivers. the other way to think about this, the government understands they need to do something about medicare. there's a big move to get that entitlement under control.

what is driving the rise in the cost of medicare? it's not the government per se, it's the fact that health care costs are rising uncontrollably. but nobody in the government is saying let's fix the health care problem, they are saying let's fix the medicare problem, which will not fix the ultimate problem. >> part of what you need in america is a fundamental national cultural rethinking of attitude towards medical care. it needs to be more focused on prevention. >> in theory we were going to have in 2009. it was going to be about all these things about health care. it didn't he said up being that, ended up polarized. >> very technical and not fundamental. no one has said to americans, you know what -- and to american doctors. you know what, doing every single test you're capable of doing, that's not the best way to have the healthiest people. >> well, doctors do that also because they are afraid of getting sued purchase and they like to get paid more. >> we solved that one for you.

>> chrystia freeland and joe, always good to talk to you. that he very much. a clue as to what could drive growth in the u.s. coming up next. this one works. ooh, the price sure doesn't. i'm tired of shopping around. [ sigh ] too bad you're not buying car insurance. like that's easy. oh, it is. progressive direct showed me their rates and the rates of their competitors. i saved hundreds when switching. we could use hundreds. yeah. wake up and smell the savings.

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trade commission free for 60 days when you open an account. about the economy makes consumers hesitant to spend money, makes companies less likely to command. what does it mean for the auto industry. i sat down with the president of nissan motor company and asked him about strongiest influences in the american car market now? >> i think without any doubt one of the reasons for which the market is growing again is because there's a lot of innovation, there's new styles, new concepts and the cars are more efficient. competition is picking up. it's exciting to be in the car industry in the united states. >> let me take you back into your global ceo perspective for

a second. when you look at what's going on in the world, tell me a little bit about your concerns for the united states. >> mainly uncertainty. that's all. there's no particular concern. the u.s. is growing. not at the level we would love. we would think one pre-occupation there's not enough jobs created. at the end of the day it affects consumers. this is a situation we don't like. you take the year 2011 for the car industry has been a year of growth compared to 2010. in any senso we're seeing 2012 in the u.s. higher for the car industry, higher than 2011. we're doing fine. but we're far from the potential that this market has sold 16, 17 million cars a year. >> it's a mature market. >> exactly. we're still very far it from. we're expecting this year to be around 12.8 to 13 million cars, and next year we'll see another growth. so, there is no particular

serious concern for the u.s. market but some pre-occupation that this uncertainty should not stay a long time. >> we've talked in the past about how sometimes it's uncertainty about individual jobs that stop people from buy agnew car but lately it's been just the lack of availability of credit. what your seeing? your seeing greater availability of credit for people who are employed and have the money? >> i don't think credit is a problem in the u.s. i don't think there is a pre-occupation about the functioning of the financial system like we saw in 2008, 2009. this may be a concern in europe because of the latest scares. the u.s., the only major question is about, you know, when are we going to have a little bit more significant growth for the u.s. market. that's the main question. >> why a double dip recession if it happens will be felt differently by each of you out there. i'll explain next in my x, y and

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call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply. time now for the x, y and z event. i won predict if we're heading for a double dip recession. but a double dip will not be felt equally. there are two u.s. economies at least. one for people with good jobs and good credit and one for people who have neither. if you're lucky enough to count yourself in the first group, this lousy economy presents some opportunities. yep the stock market's recent plunge has been painful but it means wall street is on sale giving the chance to snag quality stocks that pay good dividends at a discount. secondly despite low mortgage rates home prices can't seem to fine their bottom so scooping up property now if you're prepared to sit on it could bring big returns when the housing market

comes back to life. that's the story of the haves, the story of opportunity. if you're living in the have not economy as so many of you are, yours is an entirely different story. bargain stocks and cheap real estate don't do you much good if you're struggling to get by. instead you have to do what you can to protect yourself. build that emergency fund even if it means cutting 401 contributions for a while. don't take on any new high interest debt. and consider relocating or retraining. there are jobs out there, they may not be in your backyard, they may not even be in your specialty. you got to find them. no matter what keep this in mind. if this economy does take another leg down we're not likely to count on washington for help. the political will just isn't there. we all got to forge our own path forward no matter which economy we live in. that's it for me. thanks for joining the conversation this week on your money. we're here everry saturday and sunday. and catch christine romans on your