good morning, everybody. have a depression, scrap all rules, overnight peace in the middle east. easy, right? newt gingrich promises he can lower the price of gas to $2.50 a gallop. the president calls that promise phony. who is right? >> probably a little bit more on the president's side. $2.50 a gallon gas is a bit of a fantasy if you're thinking about it right now. i mean, it simply doesn't work. you name the things that would happen quickly or could happen quickly, they don't really work. you could lower gas prices developly by increasing the oil

surprise. you certainly hear republicans call for that, but it wouldn't do anything in the short-term. this is way too big an oil market. as you know, the bulk of what makes up the price of gas is the price of oil. >> and it's all a lot of tradeoffs, too. certainly you don't want a depression so you can have $2.50 gas. >> right. >> i want to look at this. gallop polls can find the price at which consumers significantly change their behavior is $5.35. richard, no economic statistic more immediate than gas prices and consumers are feeling it. is this justified? >> yeah. i i think that gallop poll says 50% to 60% of us start to change their behavior when that goose price goes above $5 or $6 a gallon. really, it means americans may have to change the way they live. that's the fifth factor that you and lizzie were talking about. it may seem painful in the short run. we have to change the way we live. we have to move closer to where

we were, increasing numbers are walking and biking to work or downsizing that house. if we want to make the american economy thrive, we have to make the american economy less oil dependent. that means the most important thing we can do is change the way we live. >> there's how gas prices change your behavior and change the way you live and how gas prices change the way you vote. lizzy, the president's approval rating has dropped as gas prices have risen. a poll shows people who make among $75,000 or more, the president's approval rating was unchanged. but for people making $30,000 to $50,000 ayear, a approval of the president dropped 16 points. this is evidence for me that there are two americas. you've got stocks up 11% this year. you have people making $50,000 or less feeling nothing but gas prices. >> yeah. obviously, there are a whole host of other economic factors that play into that two

americas. if that's the only legacy of john edwards, we can keep that line. but yes, absolutery, that is the price point and the income point where gas prices bite and they bite the most. one thing that's probably important to remember is that even if you have a 404011 k or retirement account, most people have something in there even if they don't realize it. while, yes, it hurts at the pump, yes, you feel it immediately one might be sort of lining your own pocket on the other side. >> that's a good point, too. now, i want to talk about housing. this is a really important paut of the puzzle for people and their monthly bills. if you've been living in your house and not paying your mortgage and you know who you are, things are about to change the the mortgage deal means banks are going to have to ramp up foreclosures again because now they have some clear sign from the government about what to do. let's talk about the big mortgage deal. are we going to see more

foreclosures now? >> i'm not a big fan of the mortgage deal. i think we have to let the housing market reset itself. in my view, it's too little too late. housing prices in america are back to about 2,000 levels. it took 25 years to get america going again and i think in america we have to get back on track and this isn't going to cut it. >> a lot of people have been screaming about the mortgage deals saying it was good for the banks, maybe not good for homeowners. >> certainly it depends on the homeowner. people who have a mortgage now held by fannie mae or freddie mac, they're not eligible for this. it's a very small group of homeowners who are eligible. and if you think about it, maybe someone used the phrase of a $25 billion drop in a $700 billion bucket, that's the overall value of under water mortgages, people who owe more than their home is worth. if the goal is to change the

housing market, it doesn't do very much. >> thanks so much. richard, lizzy, nice to see both of you. thanks. >> thank you. some are calling it the next housing crisis. why you could be a part of it and not even know it, that's next. proof zyrtec®, relief plus a powerful decongestant. zyrtec-d® lets me breath freer, so i can love the air. [ male announcer ] zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed. [ 8% every 10 years.age 40,®. we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge!

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what if i told you the next housing crisis will be student debt? a bankruptcy attorney group calls it the student loan debt bomb. here is why. americans have more outstanding student loan debt than they do auto loan or credit card debt. an average graduate leaves school more than 25 grand in debt and four out of five bankruptcy attorneys say they've seen a rise in student loan debtors and their parents seeking help. are you behind on your student loans? one in four of you are. anthony carnicale is director of

the georgetown university center on education in the work course and ali velshi is host of "your money." you look at earnings, you can't afford not to go to college. it's a terrible paradox. >> the only thing that's more expensive than going to college now is not going to college. so there's an affordability problem. and we're not rel clear how to solve it. the risk is that more and more college will be something that is only affordable for those who are more wealthy in america. >> wow. so if it's some sort of a luxury item in this country, that means that the gap between the haves and have-nots just get that much more defined. >> yeah. >> ali, it's not just get ago college degree. it's what you major is that matters here. eight of the top ten majors are engineering. the other two are pharmaceutical sciences and math and computer science. at the other end of the scale, theology majors earn 38.

ali, you majored in religion, but you wrote a column calling on students to go into s.t.e.m. fields. and the response was so, what does ali velshi have against liberal arts majors? i don't think i made et clear that i am one of them and as a result, i got a lot of hate mail about it. that 29 for psychology, it's not an average. it's a fact that a lot of people with that degree just won't get a job. so the issue here, and it was after a conversation with tony that i wrote this column. because the information is out there for parents and their kids. what tends to happen is parents work really hard on getting their kids into university. they have tutoring and s.a.t.s and tutoring. then they go ahead and study these things that don't have any relationship to getting a job. christine, you and i see them when they graduate, they're trying to get a job and i feel like saying, i get it if you really wanted to be a poet or you really wanted to study theology like i did, but did you

think about it because there aren't ralt of people working in this peeled. >> the world has changed, hasn't it? >> it used to be in the 1970s, prior to the end of the 1980-'81 recession that college degrees in and of themselves were valuable. they gave you lots of choices. they don't any more. what you take pretty much determines whether you'll work and what you make now. that is what hasn't caught up with most students. >> tony, you first. is college worth it or is it is college worth it with an asterisk? it depends. you finish that sentence for me. is college worth it? >> it all depends on what you take. in general, college is worth it. if you get a four-year gle, you'll make $2.3 million over a lifetime. but that distinguishes between people who make little more than a high school graduate, the counselors you were talking about and people like medical doctors who will make $7 million or $8 million. so there's a huge variation now. >> ali. >> college is worth it, but like

a lot of things that are worth it, including a house and a car, you do have to do your research. a house might be worrying it, but not if you're overpaying for it. there are ways to figure out how to pay the right amount for college and get a degree that will pay you when you're out and notwithstanding all of that if you want to study something that's interesting to you, go right ahead and go in with your eyes wide open. >> i think a lot of people think, i'm going to study something, but the country is changing fast. which is why vocational training and three years college, there's so many different things. thank you so much. have a great saturday, guys. four out of ten working women, including ali's wife surpass their husbands in this. what is it? next on "your bottom line." americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms.

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four out of ten working women surpass their husbands in what working categories? earnings. my next guest says that by 2030, a majority of working wives will

outearn the men they're married to if this trend continues. liza wrote the cover story this week on this topic. she's the author of the book "the richer sex." dr. robbie ludwig is a psychotherapist. liza, em are are increasingly becoming the bread winners and that was inevitable. >> it's been steadily climbing, the percentage of working women who outearn their husbands has been steadily climbing since the 1980s. there was a market reaction at the beginning of the century. >> before the recession? >> well before the recession which was a jump. the recession, called the man-session accelerated it. but it did not drive it. >> women now know they can do it and now it's three generations of women at work? >> right. women are outnumbering men on college and university campuses. that trend is expected to accelerate. and then the changes in the

economy that were illuminated by the recession in terms of declining, manufacturing based and sort of industrial jobs. an economy that's change to go be a knowledge economy, which some say favors women. >> now, robi, in your line of work, that doesn't have to be a bad thing or appear ego hit for me men. >> right. and i am in the northeast and i treat people in new york city. men actually like women who can be good earnings. and during the dating process will look for women and perhaps even choose women that will make good wives considering what kind of salary will they -- >> they're gold diggers. >> no. those are men, too, saying do these women come from a wealthy background. but it's really nice to see. and we see men saying, hey, i realize if i choose a woman who is successful, i'm going to have more options in my life and it's going to make my life easier. >> in liza's piece, you had some great comments from younger

women who were dating who were lying about what they did for a living because they didn't want to get into a conversation about law with a guy they were meeting or they were downplaying their earnings and their success. why? >> they're a little concerned about that and they will sometimes lie about what they do. and i interviewed a software consultant who tells men she teaches music or they will downplay their earnings. i interviewed one woman who carries around a lot of 1 and 5 and $10 bills. >> interesting. nel, you may not know this in 1993 is one of the women who invented the take your daughter to work day. nel, this had trend on the day you started taking our daughters to work, now our daughters are page the mortgage. >> absolutely. it is one of the things that i hoped would happen. and i think it's great for men and women that that -- fathers,

men have choices now that they didn't think they would 20 years ago where they actually can maybe worse less, stay home, enjoy raising children. but women working full time earn a median wage that is still 81% of what men make, according to the government. women are becoming the bread winners, but they haven't closed the pay gap yet, liza. that's something that is a concern. right. and it's troid that that high a percentage of working women outearn their husbands even though in the workplace they aren't perhaps earning what they should be. one can expect as the gender wage gap closes that even more women will be outearning their partn partners. and a lot of couples are going to trade back and forth. opens up options for men and women to experiment, to try new things and to trade back and forth. >> and also to stay to each other, if a woman has a really, you know, career -- great career that she feels passionate about and the husband prefers to be more nurturing and work part-time, you know, that might

work really well for a couple because they are recognizing each other's strength and what they each bring to the marriage. >> what if everyone is working harder? we have this economy that is built on you have to have two wage earners, now it takes two people to earn together as a household a little bit more than only one more than what one person did. everyone is working harder and you're trying to work and put your kids through college. >> we haven't developed a system that allows couple to work. there still isn't quality affordable child care. there's still lots of issues that come up here, because in lots of countries, people can work and raise children because of the child care that's available and the understanding on the part of employers because in the area that i work in, a lot of women start their own businesses because they can manage their schedule better, and, therefore, you know, are able to pursue a career that allows them to take care of kids and manage a marriage and all those things. >> i heard someone say recently

to me every household needs a wife. by that not the traditional wife. everyone needs a wife. that's the husband or the wife or a nanny or grandma or an aunt or someone who's the glue in the middle. do you know who i mean? >> running the household. >> one and one equals three. >> where the resentment comes in is if you have a woman who's the bread winner and feels she has to go home and take care of the kids and clean the house. she has two jobs, and that's where resentment can come in and have a ripple effect on the family. >> it's a fascinating conversation. the article is wonderful. i encourage you to take a look at it. so nice to see all of you. have a great weekend. attention 99ers. are you out of work? do you know someone who's out of work? how to reinvent your job in this do-it-yourself economy. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military,

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we live in a do-it-yourself economy. dave tuttle lost his job, burned

through his savings and he found inspiration during random dinner c party conversation that changed his life. dave tuttle has a passion for pie. >> let's face it. pie is wonderful. people feel great. >> a passion that was born of necessity in 2009 after this former film and tv producer couldn't find work in an industry that was shedding jobs. >> for about a year i really made it full time to try to find a job, to get back into the business because that's what i've known for 20 years. >> so you were living on your savings and your 401(k) and there came a point i depleted all of our funds. we were sitting at a dinner party and i had brought one of my pies, sitting with my friend, and my friends said, david, you really need to sell these pies. my wife said, yes, you really need to do something. i thought, okay, that's cool. i'll try it.

i'll bake on an average 16 to 18 hours straight. i'll use only what's in season in the hudson valley. i'll do everything by hand. i peel my apples, mix my crusts, roll them out by hand. the name of my company is tuttles homemade. >> his unique cost saver, bartering for kitchen space at local restaurants. >> it's also more advertising for you. >> bingo. >> brilliant. >> he sells and hand delivers up to 200 pies every month, most locally. but now tuttles is ready to take the next step. >> i can definitely see tuttles home made and a sign coming out of here, fresh baked pies. >> but it's going to take money. >> it's all going to take money. >> a hurdle as living on his credit cards has hurt his credit score. business loans are up but lending is still tight. he said he could help the

economy grow if given a chance to grow his business and start hiring. >> our government needs to take advantage of that. there's a huge, huge amount of people doing this. >> while he hopes his business will continue to heat up, tuttles says the experience has given him a new recipe for life. >> before it was about making that paycheck. now it's more about family. it's about being connected back to my community. what i was doing before wasn't -- it was great but it wasn't as real as what i'm doing now. >> there's nothing more real than a real good apple pie recipe. >> exactly. >> i love his story. back with us is nel. i wanted to talk to you about this because you advise people how to take their business to the next level, not just to employ themselves but to make it become a real business. what does he have to do to grow? >> he has to let go of all the details. i know he, like a lot of the

women i meet, he thinks if it's going to be homemade his hands have to touch every piece of it and he can't go beyond what he's doing or make enough money to support his family if he doesn't start involving other people. i would also suggest that he needs to expand his product line to make different pies or something with apples that isn't a pie that might be easier to transport and stuff he could mail. maybe he needs to get on line. bigger distribution, think, is a bigger opportunity. i think if he wanted to really make some money and he saw the bigger distribution, he might be able to let go of some of the day-to-day details and the baking and all that stuff because you can't continue to do that every day and grow a business. he's maxed out now. >> this is what people do. they make the job, create the job for themselves in what is a do-it-yourself job market, but then they're stuck. one person, one job, not a lot of room for earnings grouchlkt what i told him is think of the brand. >> very good. >> think of the brand, and that's the important thing here

and figure out how you can build this little brand. like the idea of another product. >> another product. and there are opportunities in big box stores locally for small businesses. sam's club does a road show where you can go in, they test your product. if they like it, they do these -- they don't do them all the time, but you'd have to go and look. there are a bunch of them in the hudson river valley. he can go and sell his product for a week and really get the sense of a kind of volume he can do. he can stay there, offer people tastes of the product and really sell it and get a sense of the customer's reaction and try some of those other products. so i tlink are lots of different ways for him to approach this that aren't all about him needing money right away. he needs to understand he's got a bigger customer base and build his brand. >> and brand. that's certainly resonating with the customers. nice to see you this weekend. thank you. here's what you told us last week. robin via