monitor. this is where leslie came into place, with the center for body competing. >> having this great experience in the car, and then in the background, passively, if you need to access it, you're learning about your own health and wellness. imagine i had a long day, i get into my car, i turn it on, grab the steering wheel. it immediately goes to the right temperature because i'm warm, i'm tired. it then measures my biometrics without me being aware of it and plays a song we have identified is good for me. people are not going to learn themselves or participate in their health and wellness without having these experiences create habits and follow them everywhere. it enhances their relationship with everything they do in their life. medicine can no longer being segregated and you have no access. it has to be entertaining. this car with this product is an unbelievable opportunity. for everybody to love this, it has to be easy, and the seamless

experience where suddenly i'm getting the mash-up of the music i like, the driving experience i like, and my heart rate. >> i try to live every day like i'm in a start-up, that i could go broke tomorrow, and in some cases, it's really true. if you live with that urgency, that means you have to get stuff done. what is next is getting some of the products we had a big part of out to the marketplace. then i think we'll see this world of possibility. big dream for me is being able to say at the end of the day, we brought experts to people. we taught the world about health. and we used tools we had, and we saved money. we had all that money left over to do all these amazing things like cure cancer, understand genomics, designer drugs. that would be just an incredible accomplishment, and then i would like to focus on french. in any rate, the journey has been worthwhile. >> dr. saxon's quest to integrate medicine with the digital world isn't far fetched. she estimates smartphones that send health data to doctors

could be in patients hands in five years. imagine having an examine and a diagnosis without having to leave your home or your car. dr. saxon is finding wireless solutions that bring her closer to patients, transforming the way they live and giving them the power to monitor their own health. that's what earns her a spot on the next list. i'm dr. sanjay gupta. hope to see you back here next week. the stock market continues on its four-year tear culminating in record breaking highs this month. i'm ali velshi. this is your "your money." where was your money while everyone else's was growing? i have a message for the 47%. you know who i'm talking about. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. >> not that 47%. i'm talking about the 47% of you not invested in the stock market. an all-time record high for the dow. simple message, wake up.

while you have been hitting the snooze button, stocks have been soaring. this isn't a new thing. it's been going on for four years. whether it's $100 or $10,000, you need to be invested. putting that money in the bank or the pillowcase is costing you as inflation erodes the value of your money. i know what you're thinking, easy for you to say now that we're setting records. pay attention. when the market was at its lowest, i was saying the same thing. >> for those people who did stay involved in the stock market, they have seen something of a gain. >> today with the stock market in record territory, half of you still say that investing in stocks is a bad idea. i know you're afraid. i know you still don't trust banks and regulators and maybe even companies. but while you're mistrusting or being wary, everyone else is making money. lots of it. >> the question for those who had the foresight to get into the market is now what? with the dow ascending from its

bottom of 6,547 to its new record of 14,539, set on march 14th, the question is, stay in or cash out? it's an important question and one i'll get to later in the show. first, i want to focus on the 47% of you who admit you do not invest in stocks. not even through an ira or a 401 kansas city k or some sort of pension plan. we're going to figure out why you don't and bust some myths so you can take advantage of the market even in the midst of a bull rally. let's start with the reasons you aren't invested. you have no money, no trust in the system and no guts to withstand the ups and downs and uncertainty of the market. you're just plain scared to get in. joining me now for more on this, lewis barahas, who heads up his own management firm in california, and ryan mack, a financial planner and a vocal advocate for financial literacy in america. ryan, let's start with you. no money, that's what a lot of people say.

they do not have the money to get into the stock market. you wrote a book where you talk about how little people can have to get started. can you, if you can put away $25 a month, get into the stock market? >> absolutely. you know, we have two types of individuals. those that say they are struggling to live check to check. they are struggling for shelter. then you have those that prefer to believe they're struggling, living check to check, but when it comes to getting the new iphone, they're first in line. when it comes to paying $15 to go out to lunch, they can do that. the premium cable membership that you don't watch television for, they can afford that. there's tons of things that are available for $25 out of your paycheck. direct purchase programs, in terms of purchasing stocks. you can buy microsoft, you can buy ge or different types. all these types of fortune 500 companies, you can purchase for as low as $25 a month directly from their website. >> like ryan lewis, you deal

with people who in many cases are making their first foray into financial literacy, and a big problem they're going to have is trust. a lot of people say the markets are rigged against individual investors, small fries like them don't have a chance against the big boys. i have to tell you, i don't disagree. i don't trust the financial system all that much myself, but i need it to create wealth. and the stock market has made people rich over the last four years. >> absolutely, but the problem is there's no trust because we don't even trust our politicians, besides the financial institutions, besides the media. we're watching this show, we're going to turn the channel and watch another show. we don't know who to trust. even with our own communities, we don't know who to trust, and the financial planning industry, it's based on commission. they're selling us products that at the end of the day, they're really high in cost, lots of fees, and again, who do you trust? >> but in the end, what do you tell people you counsel because you have seen this market run. i get it, there's a real reason not to trust people, but what do you do, sit it out?

>> no, you don't sit it out. i focus on long-term. i focus on creating hope in people. letting them see, look, if you're going to be investing in the stock market or equities, you have to invest. those are growth type of investments. putting your money into the savings account for long-term for your retirement is risky. it's riskier than putting it into an index fund over the long term. they have to trust themselves, educate and inform themselves. >> that's an interesting point. most people would think the opposite. putting my money in a bank is not risky. putting it into an index fund, which is a basket of stocks, is risky. comes down to people's fear. no guts. worried about the market. the market is volatile and it's risky. what do you do when people tell you that? >> it's the thing about fear and ignorance allowing us to dictate financial decisions. we should never allow that. nothing wrong with being ignorant, something wrong with staying ignorant. we should never be scared of something you don't know about. a lot of individuals are scared

of something because they have not put pun in the market. what i ask is what other alternatives do you have? show me another that can give you a 13.2% return. for a three-year average, what is what the dow jones gave us in the past three years. you show me another that can give that type of return or security. what we have to do, this is what lewis has been doing for years, what i have been doing for years, directly addressing and making sure you know there are other alternatives such as exchange traded funds. for $150 a share you can buy the entire s&p 500. >> all you need is a trading account to get in. this gives you exposure. to the entire s&p 500. >> again, you don't trust because it's high risk. there's ways to mitigate that risk by diversifying your portfolio. >> i want to remind my viewers that you and you, lewis, you talk to people who in many cases start off without a great deal of financial literacy. not guys dealing with exclusively high net individuals who know the financial markets inside out.

get down to specifics. how should a newbie get their feet wet. what should they do with their money if they have listened to you today and want to do something? >> the first thing they need to do is get educated. understand the difference between risk and volatility. they need to learn the rules of the game. ryan and i have written countless books on this stuff. basically, what we're trying to tell people, learn the rules of the day and don't feel intim da intimidated. ask a lot of questions. go to people who are not going to sell you a product. they are not going to sell you anything and give you great advice. >> you pay them for the value of their advice, but you pay them a fee like a lawyer or accountant? as opposed to necessarily a commission? >> right. and be careful. anybody you talk to is going to try to sell you something. it's more of an intimidation factor at this point. what happens in our communities is we don't have money mentors. the reason i went into a mutual fund is because i had a friend

who did it. the business model, it's really made it into a point it's not sustainable for a lot of advisers to work with the poor or people who are just barely making it. so it's all about priorities. so. >> ryan is big on this as well. ryan, you're very big on mentoring people. this is one of your biggest points in your book. people need mentors. they need to say, hey, i like the way you make money. let me in on that. >> it's time for us to start looking for education from outside of the box thinking. we don't have to go to a financial adviser, but you must get educated. >> if i'm putting in $25 a week or putting in $150, how do i do so without getting scraped through with these fees that lewis keeps talking about? are there ways to get in and not end up overpaying to be a small investor? >> we have to educate ourselves. direct purchase programs, many companies are charging zero dollars for you to invest directly. stock websites that invest $4 per transaction fee. you have bye buyandhold.com.

it's very important for you to educate yourself about how to go about purchasing different types of things. folio.com, oneshare.com allows you to invest in one stock and get one share as a gift or something. like a gift to a kid or something, to encourage them. >> put it up on your wall and gives you good motivation. i'm advocating making sure that before you put your dollar in anything, get fully educated. >> both have written great books that appeal to those who are otherwise intimidated by the idea of getting into the stock market. lewis and ryan, thank you. okay 47% of you who don't invest, that's it. i'm off my soap box. no more complaining, no more berating you for not cashing in on this rally. next i'm talking to the 53% of you who do invest in the stock markets. stocks are still on a tear, but how long will this run last? longer, i think, than some of you may think.

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okay. we talked about the 47% of americans who haven't taken advantage of the stock market rally. what about the rest of us? this month the dow has been shattering records. sure american companies are doing well and the economy is starting to look up, but there's no denying this it rally is in large part fuelled by the fed, which has kept interest rates so low you can't make money anywhere other than the housing

and stock markets. the stock market is lot more liquid than housing. to help prop up the down economy, the fed has been pumping money into the system every month in exchange for bonds. that increases the money supply. it drives down interest rates. for awhile now, the fed funds rate, which is the benchmark for loans americans use to raise money, has been at near zero. the hope is that banks and other lenders will use this cash to lend to consumers and businesses. borrowers will take advantage of the lower interest rates to buy homes and perch cars and start new businesses and get the economy churning again. it's been working. home prices are rising again due to low mortgage rates. more americans are finding jobs again. but fed says it won't stop printing money until the unemployment rate dips below 6.5%, which means the fed's probably going to be at it until 2015, probably to the end of it. the flip side to the fed's action is that investors in bonds and interest baring accounts have suffered. it's a low-interest environment,

which makes stocks the only liquid investment game in town and that explains the market we're in. joining me is michelle gerard, the chief economist at rbs securi securities and ned riley. i have laid out why the fed has fueled the rally. when you buy a stock, you're buying a share of its earnings. the price to earnings ratio used to figure out the value of a stock is still low. let's take a look here. i want to show our viewers. the s&p 500 is seeing average price to earnings ratios of 15. that the bottom bar. that's half of where they were in the dot.com bubble. lower than where they were five years ago when the dow was trading at about where they are now. that makes me think this isn't just the federal reserve. what do you think? >> it isn't. as a matter of fact, the fear that's in people's hearts right at the moment, it reminds me of rodney dangerfield. the market has no respect.

nobody has respect for this market that it is real. clearly we're seeing the public and institutions, i might point out, have been lowering their equity exposure. during this period of time. the public only has 30% in equities. 47% don't even invest in the stock market, which i think in my 40 years being in the business is the craziest thing i have ever heard of. the final thing i would like to make a point of right at the moment is there's so much liquidity, people are going to be losing money in bonds as interest rates rise. people are going to be losing real return when they have money market funds because the inflation is going to beat that low return. there's over $1 trillion in my judgment to be put back into this equity market. i agree with your statement. it's going to take more than a year or two. in my judgment, i think this is a long-term secular bull market. i said it two or three years ago. i'll say it again. right at the moment. this is a long-term bull market that's supported by low

confidence at the moment and as a simple axiom goes, you buy when there's a lack of confidence. you sell when there's greed and giddiness prevailing. >> michelle, assuming the market continues on this bull run, what happens next? at some point, unemployment starts to go down. it will happen. we have been creating jobs for 36 months straight now. the fed is going to realize that they can't put $85 billion into the economy every month. it starts to pull back. explain how that ends up working? >> a couple things. you're absolutely right, and you laid it out exactly what is happening and how the transmission mechanism is working. the fed is buying $85 million a month, and that's exactly putting pressure, bringing down interest rates and yields and pushing people into the equity market. the fed has been very clear as the labor market improves their need to continue to buy at that pace is going to be reduced. so there's a lot of concern in the marketplace that as the year

progresses, if the unemployment rate continues to fall, we may see the fed's scaling back a bit. a couple points to remember, the fed, and i would agree with them, doesn't necessarily think it's that $85 billion a month in purchases that matter so much. it's just the fact they are keeping the balance sheet large. if they stop buying, but all of that money is still sloshing around in the system, that is still going to be very supportive obviously for the financial markets and the economy. the other thing to keep in mind, as we get the fed into this situation where they're needing to provide less support, that's because the economy is doing much better. >> as they pull out, because a lot of people say the minute the fed bails out of this thing, take all your money out of the stock markets and move somewhere else. the fed pulls out, that's a signal that the market is life support, right, like you're taking somebody off life support because they're brighting on their own. >> all the medicine has worked, the operation is successful and

clearly, we then shift to the private sector. you have to remember that the unemployment rate today at 7.7% or whatever percent is costing us a fortune. over $100 billion for each percentage point of unemployment. the fact is as the economy grows, the fed goes from that current rate of 7.7% to 6.5%. real growth will start to accelerate. that's the whole point. inflation may come back, but we're still well below the long-term average of inflation. and bills will come back from the fractions of today to 3.5%. >> michelle, at some point when normalcy returns, there will be people who can go back to putting money into treasuries or bank accounts because interest rates will come up. until then, the stock market and housing market do remain largely the biggest games in town. what does this low interest rate mean for industries? what industries benefit the most from this type of thing? >> we're seeing it really much across the board.

this is one of the the reasons why when people say it's just the fed pushing the stock market higher, the fundamentals that are supporting the stock market are there. the companies balance sheets are so strong in large part because across the board we have seen companies able to refinance their debt, bring down their interest expense, deleverage. all of this in this environment, corporations have strengthened and remained probably the strongest sector of the u.s. economy. profits as a percent of gdp are near record high levels. they were record high levels in '11 and they haven't come off much. these are the reasons why the fed's actions are working and again, i think you're selling the market short to some extent if you say it's solely because of the buying the fed is doing. >> both of you, great to talk to you, as always. michelle is the managing director at the bank of

scotland. up next, one of the most important things to look for when investing your money in a company is transparency. one showed how transparent it is or how transparent its yoga pants are. i this lululemon handled the mess shows some sheer genius. [ female announcer ] new york strips. sudden trips. mr. wiggles and curling irons. for the little mishaps you feel, use neosporin to help you heal. it kills germs so you heal four days faster neosporin. also try neosporin eczema essentials.

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even if you read our top stories every day, which i recommend you do, you won't get our take on the news anywhere else. christine romans joins me now. let's first start with a budget, and i say that with air quotes, because it will never become the law of the land. yet elected officials feel the need to spend lots of time on it. this week, house republicans passed the latest version of congressman paul ryan's budget. they did this in the same stupid way washington does things. budgets are not meant to be presented and put forward for a partisan vote like this one was. they are meant to be discussed and negotiated and compromised on, none of which has happened sin 2009.

>> let's break it down. there was no new taxes, it would curb spending by repealing obama care and eliminate the deficit in ten years. total cuts, $4.6 trillion, and given it has zero chance of passing in the democratic-controlled senate, it's dedz on arrival. >> lawmakers in the house and senate approved legislation to fund the government through the end of september. that avoids the risk of a partial federal shutdown. in the process, they are on spring break for a couple weeks. what's your take on this? >> my take is the whole financial dysfunction of our congress is mind blowing. you look at this week. let's say frederick, maryland, where there's air traffic control that will be shut. a tower that was built and refurbished by the stimulus money. so stimulus money went into this tower. the government saying it's a priority. and the the government because of its dysfunction saying we have to shut is down. that's a perfect representation, i think, of how washington is not doing its job.

we can't even pass a budget. it can't even run the books. there's no strategy. when you look at some of the forced spending cuts, you see exactly a lack of strategy in american finances. that's a real problem. >> complaining about this for months. when i say fedex, you probably think of the guys coming to deliver a package. what you should think about is fedex as a gauge of the global economy. fedex posted its third drop in earnings and raised red flags saying shipments to and from asia slowed substantially. also customers are starting to ship their orders to slower methods of shipping in order to save money. fedex ships worldwide so analysts look at earnings report as an early indicator of where the global economy is headed. >> the stock tanked. dropping below $100 a share since immediate-january. it slipped back into recession, but these fears center around slowing growth in asia. how worried should we be about what fedex is telling us? i'm going to bring this up for you, so interesting. fedex global revenue, $44 billion.

cypress, $24 billion economy. what fed ex says is happening in the world really matters. it's twice thecise, revenue twice the size of cyprus. they really do have their thumb on the pulse of the economy. >> when it comes to companies, transparency is crucial. when i say that i'm talking about policies or practices. not their yoga pants. lululemon is a great canadian company and unlike blackberry and nortel, they never struggled for survival. does well selling yoga and athletic wear. excellent anthem in the background. it had to pull several styles of pants from its stores because they were too transparent. too see through, too shear. >> the company's stock price got hammered. after the recall, a tough year for lulu. but don't shed tears for the investors yet. the stock is up 220% in the past three years. and stores are packed with the

kind of customer every retailer wants, loyal shoppers with money to spend. so the ceo was asked during a conference call with investors this week, basically, why the company didn't realize the fabric was see through. the response is priceless. rarely in a conference call with investors do you get this kind of, i don't know, truth. the truth of the matter is the only way you can test for the issue is to put on the pants and bend over. >> okay. on that note, we'll close this up. up next, when should it make you happy to get a d plus? when the grade you got last time was a d. i've got the new report card for america's infrastructure. if uncle sam had parents they would ground him for a month and cut off his allowance. it kills germs so you heal four days faster. neosporin. use with band-aid brand bandages. neosporin. michael, tell us why you used to book this fabulous hotel? well you can see if the hotel is pet friendly before you book it, and i got a great deal without bidding.

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lookin' good, flo! feelin' good! feelin' real good! [ engine revs ] boat protection people love. now, that's progressive. call or click today. when is a d plus a good grade? when it's better than the grade you got four years ago. this isn't a term paper. these are america's roads, bridges, waterways and power

lines. this d plus is the first time in 12 years that america's infrastructure has earned a grade this high. a new report out this week from the american society of civil engineers measures 16 categories from aviation to roads and waste water. no category earned a lower grade than it did four years ago. six categories saw improvements. bridges, railroads, drinking water, solid waste, and drinking water. solid waste earned the highest grade on the report, a b minus. go solid waste. what's driving the improvements? the stimulus gave infrastructure a short-term boost. cities and states are renewing their efforts to fix roads, bridges, drinking water and waste water systems and private companies are investing in railways, ports, and the energy grid. but civil engineers say that investment is not enough. but 2020 the infrastructure will need $3.6 trillion. that would get us to a b grade, which is adequate for now, but the american society of civil engineers projected the u.s. will spend just $2 trillion,

leaving a $1.6 trillion gap. i want to bring in michael grun wald and ken rogoff. also the author of the new new deal, the hidden story of change in the obama era. ken rogoff is a professor at harvard and a former chief economist at the international monetary fund. gentleman, welcome. michael, i want to start with you. when i tell my viewers, when i tell them about investing, i say pick a goal. we should think about investing in infrastructure in the same way. what do you mean? >> i think that's right. as you mentioned the obama stimulus did pour about $150 billion into our infrastructure and its build america bonds was a hidden stimulus inside the stimulus put in another $180 billion. that's a start. that's how you start to create the sort of strong infrastructure that makes people want to make our economy more competitive and make people want to invest in us. you have to ask what the goal

is. it's not just to build more roads or sewers, you want to get people places. as opposed to just building roads. sometimes that involves more infrastructure. sometimes it involves more tell acommuting. sometimes it involves smarter infrastructure that's going to tell people where to go so they're not in as much traffic. >> the goal is a good standard of living and the idea that businesses will invest and create jobs? if you have a good standard of living, it makes companies want to hire people. people want to live in these places and that's largely what it does. >> exactly. you want good mobility to get to work so you can get around. you want good drinking water so that you don't get sick. you want a good energy system so that the lights stay on. this is the basics that make our economy attractive to investors. >> ken, this is an old conversation. you've been having it for a long time. you have been on the show having it with me for a long time, and i have spoken to a lot of

politicians about it. generally speaking, the overwhelming majority says sure, you should have a better infrastructure and government should be involved in it. there's a small proportion of people generally conservatives who say government has no role in this. assuming your in the group that agrees government has a role in it, the conversation switches to how you pay for it. what's the best way for us to look at how to pay for improving our infrastructure. >> first, government has to have some role. even if the private sector is building a road or building a port, there's all kinds of regulations, environment approvals. it's sort of nonsense to say the government can't play a role or shouldn't play a role. but clearly the u.s. has a very conservative attitude towards allowing private sector funding in. we should have more partnerships. the president has proposed the idea of a infrastructure bank to provide seed money, catalyze

private/public partnerships. they can grow out of hand, but we're in no dangerous of that. that's the road we need to go down at this point. >> when you have a d plus and trying to get to a b, you have more leeway than when you have an a and are trying to get an a plus. >> there's a lot of low-hanging fruit. >> let me ask you about that. we do associate spending on infrastructure on roads and things like that. but in fact, should we be looking at the stuff that michael just talked about? we're not competitive on any of these fronts including broad band and electricity transmission and things like that. those can be as valuable. part of our problem is everybody expects to turn their tap on and get water and expects to turn the switch on and get electricity. we don't see the value in investing more in those things. >> michael made a good point about smarter infrastructure. the world is changing and what you used to need to have an economy and what you need now is changing. things like new broadband is an issue. as our population explodes in urban areas, wanter is an issue.

the electric grid is a horror show, especially some of the software connecting some of the grids. it's actually quite vulnerable to terrorism. so there are many things we need to do at a national level that we will wake up some day and regret if we don't. >> we need to look at a lot of new things. ken, michael, stay right there. i'm going to take you ten stories underground to one of the biggest public work projects in the history of civilization. the cost is in the billions and people won't ride this train until 2016. is it worth it? is all we humans get. we spend them on treadmills. we spend them in traffic. and if we get lucky, really lucky, it dawns on us to go spend them in a world where a simple sunrise can still be magic. twenty-five thousand mornings. make sure some of them are pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org.

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investing in infrastructure is one of the best things we can do to boost the economy. it creates short-term jobs.

over the long-term, better roads, railways, ports, electrical grids, broadband. they invite businesses to operate more efficiently. they save them money, they create jobs. if you're a regular viewer of this show, you probably saw me go underground in new york city last summer to get a closeup look at one of the biggest public works projects in american history. i'm talking about manhattan's second avenue subway line. completing it will cost around $22 billion or $24 billion. what's behind the mammoth tab? here's what i found out when i traveled ten stories underground. >> backhoe excavators that can cost $700,000 a piece. man lifts that sell up for to $500,000. see that hydraulic drill? they can go for $800,000 a pop. these are the machines of modern day engineering. new york has them working on the second avenue subway line. subways are expensive. way back when, the first subway in manhattan was 21 miles and

cost $35 million. this one is about a mile and a half for about $4.5 billion. that's more than a billion dollars a stop. >> reporter: that's just for phase one. we went digging ten stories below manhattan to find out what goes into the bottom line on a new subway line. >> it's a bargain. $800,000 a pop. >> the most massive piece of equipment used is the tunnel boring machine. the last time new york built a subway it used the cut and cover meth. digging from street level, boring is much more efficient and disrupts life aboveground a lot less. >> the one that did this is 22-foot in diameter. a little over two stories tall. it can go on average about 50 foot a day. >> one of these things costs $12 million and requires 20 people to operate it. at 50 feet a day, boring two

mile and a half tunnels takes a long time. >> this is a linear project. you must do the tunnels before you do this. >> and highly specialized laborers are the ones doing nat. sand hogs or earning miners work alongside operating engineers who drive and maintain the machi machinery. >> on average we pay about $1,000 a day. that's base salary plus benefits. >> reporter: it's putting people to work in a tough economy. they expect phase one of the subway, three and a half stops and a new tunnel at a fourth stop, to create 130,000 jobs with an economic impact of almost $18 billion over the nine years of construction. >> new yorkers keep asking why does it take so long. it is normal. this is what it takes. >> reporter: all the while americans are footing the bill no matter where they live. >> second avenue right now, $1.3 billion comes from the federal government. the rest of $3.15 billion comes

from new york. >> reporter: the portion from new york comes largely from new york state bonds and mta bonds. >> in 2016 when we swipe our card and ride the first train, it's going to feel real good. >> new york and the feds investing billions in infrastructure. let's bring ken and michael back into the conversation. ken, you say infrastructure projects that give a positive rate of return should be funded, particularly in these tough low-interest times. how do you define huge projects and in an age of cheap money, what's the kind of return we should be looking for? >> first, i was startled by that report. those boring machines look like they are out of a novel. it was futuristic. it was incredible. i'm sure my kids would like to go watch them in action. but that is the tough question that's a very political question. there are lots of ways to cut the numbers to say one project

better than another. i think it's one of the reasons why you need some sort of technical, nonpolitical body, maybe a couple of them to judge these things. i like the idea of a national infrastructure bank that might be like the world bank, which does countries, would have technical experts who wouldn't necessarily decide things, but at least give a point of view, to say what are really the benefits, what are the likely costs? we need a way to do that. there are just thousands and thousands of different projects all competing for the same money. >> and that's often the criticism. these things if you have an infrastructure if it becomes political, people will want it in their districts. people are going to tweet me to say that was amazing. i love that we're doing this, i love that we're building that tough and i'm going to get as many tweets from people who say i have nothing to do with new york, i'm never going to use the second avenue subway. why is $1.3 billion going into this. how do we decide what we should

be funding and shouldn't be? >> part of this at the public level there needs to be a real evaluation of the public benefits. of getting millions of people to work, keeping new york city the world financial center and you know, that's maybe as you do the long island railroad to the grand central, you know, you don't have to invest billions of dollars into the l.i.e. these are the kinds of decisions that get made at the public level. as the professor mentioned, when you get in private money as well, that helps provide some rigor to the conversation. you look at the freight rail industry that invested $25 billion in its own infrastructure last year, which is all goods for the country because they felt it had a return for them. they are also doing some public/private work on projects that had public benefits. again, you see that in chicago. you see that in the washington, d.c. area where they competed for public money and won.

that's going to help the country in terms of moving our stuff around more efficiently. going to help us in terms of the carbon emissions created by long-haul trucking, in terms of the congestion on the road. when you bring in the private sector as well as the public with the kind of mare acrattic public approach, there is a synergy there. >> you mentioned the second avenue subway in an op-ed you wrote. you said there's a joke about chinese tourists who asked their new york city tour guide how long the subway will take to finish. and on being told two years, the translator hesitates and asks, wait a second, you mean two weeks right? what are you getting at there? >> it does take us longer to do things. of course, it's a lot harder to put a subway under new york city than if you're building it in the middle of an empty space in china. and also, we have to respect the rights of our citizens who live above it.

we have all sorts of rules and regulations. but at the same time, you want to find ways to speed some of these things up. one of the recommendations from many different sources is to find ways to get approvals faster so these projects don't take 15 years but more like a couple years. >> and some of the folks who are in that construction, the businesses on second avenue are not thrilled with this. they will do well one day, but right now, it's costing them. good to see you. what a great conversation. ken is a professor at harvard university and the former chief economist with the monetary fund, and michael is senior national correspondent at the time and the author of the new new deal, the hidden story of change in the obama era. coming up next, why most of you aren't saving enough for retirement and what you can do about it. don't worry, you've got a lot of company. [ lane ] are you growing old

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are you doing something -- anything at all? the employee benefit research institute conducted a survey and asked people these questions. 66% said they're doing something. they have saved money for retirement. my good friend christine romans joins me again and says that is bad news. >> you want to be in that 66%, but you want that number to be better. it is down from about three-quarters before the great recession. it means fewer people are thinking about and getting ready for retirement and that's a problem as we all get older. >> now when you look at how it breaks down, it gets even more interesting. they asked people how much confidence do you have in having enough money saved up for retirement. 13% say they are very confident. 38% say they're somewhat confident. that's half the pie, the top right side. 21% are not too confident in having enough money to save for retirement. 28% not confident at all. >> in terms of how much people have saved, you can say you think you've got enough but then there's the amount of money people are actually putting away.

total saving and investment for retirement, more than 24% have $100,000 saved. 19% have $25,000 to $100,000. they're trying, they're on the path but they can catch up. they're going in the right direction. some of these are younger people as well. that's kind of important. you want younger people maybe with only $1,000. it means they're not failing. it means they're just getting started. >> 29% have between $1,000 and 235$,000 saved for retirement. that's basically nothing. and 28% have less than $1,000. by the way, that's not 28% of all americans. that's 28% of the 66% who are saving for retirement. 28% of 66% of people have less than $1,000 saved for retirement. >> people say they don't have money to put away for retirement again and again. even in retirement, 39% of retirees say they still have debt, they are concerned about their debt levels. they say their day to day expenses are getting in the way. they have too much debt and they feel like their job market

uncertainty means they aren't saving for retirement. >> could you come up with $2,000 for unexpected expenses in the next month? here's the good news. 69% said they definitely or probable would but when you ask people if they could not, 32% said they definitely or probably could not -- or that they don't know. >> interesting thing about retirement planning is that they don't know. what we keep saying -- i don't want to feel like we're giving you a lecture, we're not. we say you have to have a plan. you have to kind of know. you can't get to the end of your work life and not know what you're facing in retirement. >> the good news is that we combine the probably couldn't and don't know and the don't know is a much smaller portion. but if you fall into that category or fall into the category that says you couldn't, plan that right now. as soon as this is over, go around start saying where would i come one $2,000fy needed it. a payday loan -- which we don't look. where would you actually go? family? do you have the ability to take out a loan or the ability to

sell something, do you have the ability to get out of some of your obligation pz. >> remember 70%-10%. 10%. you live on 70%, you save 10%, maybe donate 10%. then have you savings. you cannot afford to try to put it away. lots of people were tweeting about a big milestone twitter hit this week. i'll tell you what it is next. michael, tell us why you used priceline express deals to book this fabulous hotel. well, you can see if the hotel is pet friendly before you book it. and i got a great deal without bidding. and where's your furry friend? oh, i don't have a cat. priceline savings without bidding.