which appears to hope that syria's president assad will negotiate his own departure, seems utterly doomed. instead, america, the western world, indeed, the civilized world should attempt to dislodge the assad regime. but is there a smart way to do it? for a number of reasons military intervention is unlikely to work well in syria. unlike in, say, libya, syria is not a vast country with huge stretches of land where rebels can retreat, hide, and be resupplied. syria is roughly one-tenth the size of libya, but with three times as many people. perhaps for this reason the syrian rebels have not been able to take control of any significant part of that country. the geopolitics of military intervention are also unattractive. in egypt and even in libya all major regional powers, world powers were on the side of dislodging the regime or at least passively accepting that it would happen. in syria that's not the case.

iran and russia have both maintained strong ties to the assad regime, so were the western powers to intervene, it would xwiblg become a proxy struggle with great power funded militias on both sides. that would result in a long protracted civil war with civilian casualties that would dwarf the current numbers. think of the lebanese civil war of the 1980s that lasted a decade, killed over 150,000 people and displaced over a million. the syrian regime has stayed intact. there have been no major defections from the army, intelligence service, or business community. why? well, the regime is a shiite sect that represents about 10% of syrians, and the key military and intelligence posts belong to allawaits. they stick with the regime because they know that in a post-assad syria they would likely be massacred. but assad has also been able to stop defections from the sunni

and christian members of the ruling elite. presumably with a mix of threats and bribes. now, that's where the regime might be vulnerable. syria is not an oil state. the regime does not have unlimited resources with which to buy off elites. so we're truly crippling sanctions to be put in place, including an embargo yes on energy, it is likely that the regime would begin to crack. that might mean a brokered exit for the assad family or a full scale collapse of the regime, but it seems unlikely that the regime can persist without cash. it would be morally far more satisfying to do something dramatic that would topple the assad regime tomorrow. starving the regime might prove the more effective strategy. for more on this, you can read my column in this week's "time magazine" and on time.com. let's get started.

my guest glen hubbard is the senior economic advisor to governor romney. in that role he is the chief architect of governor romney's economic plan that will convince you either the governor is going to fix america's economic problems or not. he also has a day job. he is a dean of the columbia university of business school. welcome. >> thank you. >> let's get right into it. governor romney has an ad in which he says the first thing he is going to do is a big tax cut. now, you have talked a lot about the debt and deficit. he has talked a lot about the debt and deficit. how can it possibly make sense if you're worried about debt and deficit that the first act you would have would be a massive tax cut, which will surely explode the deficit? >> well, not really the case, fareed. first of all, what governor romney said his first stop is a spending reform that brings federal spending down to 20% of gdp by 2016.

on the tax side he is not proposing a net tax cut. he is proposing something that's in the flavor of the cut marginal rates, broaden the tax base. yes, marginal rates would be cut, but it's revenue neutral. >> the ad then is misleading. i mean, the ad says first thing he will do on day one is cut taxes. >> he is cutting marginal tax rates. he is doing so in the context of a tax reform. the kind of tax reform that economists on both sides of the political aisle have talked about for years, but what's very important is he is doing that also in the context of a plan day one that would refrain federal spending so we get the deficit back in order. >> et cetera loo talk about the specifics because that's where it becomes -- is often hard to figure out how it works. to cut marginal rates, would you have to do it, as you say, the way simpson-bowles does it. they get rid of a lot of the deductions or so-called loopholes, but the big money is in the very popular deducks.

simps simpson>> will he go et -- what governor romney has said is, look, first of all, we need to cut marginal rates, and he would cut them to exactly the same levels in the bowles-simpson so-called compromise plan. part of that revenue is made up in economic growth. most of that, though, has to come from base broadening, about which he said two things. one, everything should be on the table. there's nothing eliminated. put everything on the table. second, that the bulk of the adjustment be born by upper income households. remember, the bowles-simpson was trying to raise close to 2 percentage points of gdp in revenue. governor romney is trying to be revenue-neutral. his tax plan wouldn't have to raise as much revenue from base broadening as bowles-simpson. >> i want to press ow this because even if you're not trying to raise as much, it's very tough to get any significant revenue if you don't

touch the big deductions. the big deductions are the interest on mortgages, the interest on -- the health care and federal and state taxes. i am sorry. those three collectively -- >> those are the big ones. >> is he willing to look at those? >> he has said so. he has said everything is on the table. he looks forward to working with the congress to do it. there are many ways to do it. we have bowles-simpson and president bush's 2005 commission. there are lots of ways. everything has to be on the table, and the adjustment really has to focus on upper income households. >> that is from about 23, 24. it's a very big drop. medical record to do that, what is he going to do specifically? what programs would get cut, particularly, again, the big money that's all many medicare to a lesser extent in medicaid,

social security? what would he do to medicine conveyor? >> well, he has two parts to the spending plan. the first is the near term. the 2016. getting spending down to 20% is not as radical as it sounds. spending was 20% of gdp, or a bit less before the financial crisis, so this isn't some radical rethink of the size of government. how to do that would be cuts many discretionary spend and block granting the medicaid program. he has been very specific about that. medicare and social security are longer term issues. he specifically said those are not short-term budget issues. how would he do that? for medicare he said that he would support a move towards more of a premium support system, which would limit medicare support particularly for more affluent seniors. for social security he has talked about delaying the retirement age and slowing the rate of growth of benefits for upper income people.

>> you have worked with governor romney a lot now. >> yes. >> how would you characterize his economic philosophy? is he a supply cider? is he a classic republican kind of business type? is he sympathetic to the tea party? don't tell me all of the above because that's what people worry about about mitt romney. >> no, i think the way i would describe governor romney is he is a problem solver. i think the issue for him is how do you raise economic growth in the country and how do you make it more inclusive? once you raise those questions, he is interested in practical solutions. not theoretical solutions. how practically can we do that? if you look at what he has proposed on the budget, on taxes, on regulation, on financial reforms, there are with those two things in mind. i look at him as a practical problem solver that has elements of all of those that you

suggested, but not literally all of the above. >> we'll talk more about glen hubbard, mitt romney's chaef economic advisor. we'll ask him about the fiscal cliff, about obama care. more when we come back. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪

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zumplt we are back where glen hubbard, senior economic advisor to governor romney. you've talked a lot, governor romney has, about the uncertainty, the climate of uncertainty, that makes it difficult for businesses to invest. i can't imagine something that would be more uncertain than this issue of the debt ceiling. do you believe that john boehner and the house republicans should make it clear that the united states will not default on its debt? >> well, first, the united states is not going to default on its debt. we have a witching hour where the budget ceiling, sequestration and the live and tax rates are all occurring, and that will be part of a political negotiation. as an economist, i would think that if we get to a situation where governor romney becomes the president, then the

lame-duck congress ought to simply shift things down the road a few months to the enactment of governor romney's tax plan. if the president wins re-election, that's a different negotiation, but it should center quickly on the appropriate tax policy, but there's no question that the nation isn't going to default on its debt. >> but should we make that clear to prevent uncertainty? should john boehner make clear that the united states should not default? >> i can't give political advice to politicians. all i can say is the real economic issue here is both addressing the size of spending and then how you want to deal with the fiscal cliff. >> obama care, this is a subject you know a lot about. you wrote a book about fixing health care. when i look at the problem, it does seem as though if you have an insurance based system and you don't include everyone, you end up in a kind of negative spiral for insurance companies where they're trying to kick people off with preexisting conditions because they don't want to just have sick people on. that is the reason that governor

romney of massachusetts decided you had to have a mandate. doesn't it make sense then to preserve the individual mandate in obama care because that's what makes an insurance system work, that have you healthy and unhealthy people in it? >> no, i don't think so, fareed. first of all, have you to start with what's the goal of the reform? i think from an economic perspective, the goal of health care reform is to slow the rate of growth of health care costs to make both health care and health insurance more affordable. that, in turn, increases coverage. you don't need an individual mandate to do that, but you do need to help markets work better, and you identified some of the problems. you really do have to go after preexisting conditions. you have to make sure that the chronically ill are taking care of it in a way that doesn't hurt the functioning of private insurance markets. you have to change insurance regulation and make it possible to buy cheaper policies. if you do those things and you fix the tax bias against many ways of purchasing health

insurance and health care, you can go a very, very long way towards cost reductions. that's really what a market oriented health care reform is about, and you don't need the individual mandate to do any of that. >> was governor romney wrong to do it in massachusetts, because the philosophy behind it is exactly the philosophy behind obama care. >> no. what governor romney was doing in massachusetts was taking a particular set of state circumstances and a -- >> which is the same that you don't have the young healthy weren't buying insurance, and that was a kind of screwing up the insurance system. >> what he has said is that individual states may do all kinds of experimentations. that doesn't follow from that that a national mandate -- >> it only makes sense lodgely if you say that the massachusetts example then was a failure. was the massachusetts -- was romney care a failure? if it's a success the federal government should adopt it? >> i don't think you can say that. it goes back to the question that you are trying to answer is the goal lowering health care

costs, is it increasing the number of insured individuals, and i think all of those things that are in the mix, i don't think you can draw the link between massachusetts and the national system. i think what's on offer for the american people to decide is effectively obama care that would double down on all the flaws that i mentioned, all the mrai flawed insurance markets, all the flawed tax system, or a more market-oriented health care system. that's really what's on offer. >> what is the central focus of the romney economic plan? how would you describe it very briefly? >> i would say it's really single-mindedly focused on two things in an important byproduct. the two things are how do we get economic growth back to what this country is capable of, and, second, how do we make that growth inclusive so that all americans see the benefits of it? the key byproduct of that will be job creation. when people see that america is a country in which you should want to invest, whether you are an american saver and investor or a foreign saver and investor. it's really that simple.

>> i had paul krugman, the economist on, recently, and i asked him what he thought of governor romney's plan, and he said governor romney's plan, as i understand it, is we need to cut government spending substantially to restore confidence in the markets. what he should look at is the experience of europe, where they have cut government spending. as a result, the dmez are in a tailspin. the budget deficits are widening. the debt is growing because by cutting spending, you are, in effect, reducing demand, destroying the economy in a weak economic climate and that to him it's bizarre that given this evidence that europe provides of countries from spain to britain, that they've cut spending, and it hasn't worked. why should you adopt austerity-type programs m united states. >> it is unfortunate, i think, in europe and to a lesser extent even in the united states that policy makers define austerity as being about this year's budget.

the real problem particularly in the american setting is how do we get the budget on a glide path towards sustainability? so in the u.s. case to be concrete, how do we change and slow the rate of growth of entitlements in the long run. how do we gradually reduce discretionary spending. if we do that right, we don't have to have such dramatic austerity this year. that's a valid point. it is not a valid point to say that the act of austerity is growth diminishing. the question is whether it's forward looking, like getting government on the right path, or just budget cutting this year. that's really the question. >> that suggests you would be comfortable with a much longer-term plan where you would tolerate large deficits for a while as long as there was this long plan, and i would suggest the tea party will not be happy to hear that. >> well, and that's not what governor romney has proposed. if we can get federal spending

to 20% of gdp by 2016, the deficit will be very small. a healthy tax system and a healthy economy would produce 18%, 19% of gdp in revenue. those won't be large deficits. the very big deficits that the country should be very afraid of are the deficits that are coming in the next decade and the decade after that, and there we do have time for gradual adjustment, but, no, we shouldn't tolerate enormous deficits today. my point is we simply don't have to make huge changes in our entitlement programs today. we can do those gradually. we do have time. we don't have time if we wait four more years. >> when we come back, why china has a problem with america's human rights record? i'll explain. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the cookie-cutter retirement advice ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you get at some places. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 they say you have to do this, have that, invest here

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now for our what in the world segment. last week the u.s. department of state released its annual report on human rights around the world. it covers nearly 200 countries from tunisia and egypt and the

uprisings to north korea and cuba and the repression in those nations. the report is an annual state department tradition going back nearly four decades. for the last 13 years it has been followed immediately by another tradition, a rebuttal. china has released its own report on america. it says washington is full of over critical remarks about the world, but it turns a blind eye to its own woeful human rights situation. so let's flip through the two reports. ♪ snoelt. >> the china section of washington's publication begins by listing state-sponsored killings, political arrests, known cases of torture and disappearances. they say beijing does not respect civil liberties and it documents known restriction on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and sensorship. beijing's report, by contrast, talks about the occupy wall

street movement. that its protesters were treated in a rude and violent way. okay. not sure how that's a human rights violation. beijing's report points to the homicide rate in the u.s. it goes into great length on how the u.s. is a world leader in gun violence. again, that's not really a violation of human rights. that's what human beings sometimes do with rights. it may be bad public policy, but it's not tierney. let's not simply dismiss beij g beijing's report. on the contrary. i think it would make fascinating reading because a lot of the problems the chinese point out are, indeed, real problems. whether or not they are violations of human rights. the report points out, for example, that with 5% of the world's population, we own between 35% and 50% of civilian-owned guns. that's crazy, and it should make us all pause. the report says the united states has the largest prison

population in the world per capita, and the highest rate of incarceration. one out of every 132 americans is behind bars. this is true, and it's a terrible indictment of our justice system. one we should fix. the chinese report criticizes us for high unemployment for a widening gap between the rich and the poor. again, not a human rights issue, but an important critique of american society. the report goes on to criticize our health care system. it says 50 million americans lack insurance. it reports we've cut spending on education, school budgets in new york city have been cut an average of 14% a year for the last five years. the chinese say minorities suffer disproportionately in america. 11% of hispanics are unemployed. 16% of americans are jobless. the report cites unequalities wean the sexes saying women get paid 77 cents on average for every dollar paid for men. these are all issues worth examining, discussing, and when

possible, improving. america has many problems it needs to fix. we've put up a link to the chinese report on our website so you can read what it has to say. of course, it would be equally important for the chinese public to read the state department report on china. now, could a chinese news network put it on its website maybe? no, of course not. the report is banned in china and any website that would dare to publish it would be sensored and punished. now, that's an abridgement of freedom of expression. and, this is a message to the chinese, authors of that report in america, that is what a violation of human rights looks like. we'll be right back. >> we're going to see more and more violence in the next few weeks and next few months. my fear is that the armed protracted armed conflict could easily plunge syria into all-out sectarian strife.

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welcome on to london. i'm piers morgan. >> i'm brook baldwin from the thames. >> we're very excited because we are here for the diamond jubilee of her majesty, queen elizabeth ii. you're watching incredible live pictures from the river thames. >> this is truly spectacular. i mean, not since 1662 has anyone in this country seen a flotilla on this scale. we're talking 1,000 boats, and they will all be passing us here right at our location. this is tower bridge. >> we're at tower bridge, and this is where they're all going

to come. it will take about 90 minutes and total. the queen is abarred her great barge with all the senior members of the royal family and it's going to be a very thrilling day. i have seen many royal events in my time in britain. i have never seen crowds quite like this. >> are you brimming with british pride? >> i'm bursting with british pride. >> look at this. >> she's the second longest serving monarch in the world. she's the second longest serving monarch in british history, and today we, her grateful subjects, are celebrating the amazing jubilee. >> see you at the top of the hour. it has been well over a year since syria's uprising began, but unlike with egypt, tunisia, or even libya, there is no clear end game. my next guest is the expert to talk about this. farwas has been in and out of syria three times in the last year, and he says it looks and feels like a civil war. is he a professor at the london school of economics, and he has

a new book out "obama and the middle east, the end of america's moment." he joins me from paris. welcome, farwas. >> thank you, fareed. >> what do you make of this most recent brutal massacre? does it tell us something about the regime? it feels like this is an attempt to really rule by a kind of terrible brutal example. they are sending a signal throughout syria that if any place tries something like this, you will be mowed down. >> well, i fear, fareed, that the massacre will not be the first and the last massacre. as you said, this is using fear as a tactics to terrorize the opposition and the population. my fear is that, in fact, the rock has set in. the significance of the slaughter is that it increases sector intentions between the minority-led government, the

allawhite minority and the sunni-dominated majority. what we are witnessing now, fareed, is that the syrian crisis, which was essentially political crisis it no longer controls many areas of syria. i believe that the writing is on the wall. we'll see more and more violence in the next few weeks and next few months. my fear is that the armed protracted armed conflict could easily plunge syria into all-out sectarian strike. this is the scenario in syria. >> now, for a year while many people you said that the regime did not seem likely to fall for a variety of reasons. you said that there were no defections among the military

apparatus. do you think that with this new situation, the regime can hold on? >> there are so many unknown variables. i mean, the first unknown variable is the basically costs of the sanctions that have been imposed on syria in the last year or so. as you know, america is waging war by other means, and an economic war. a psychological war. can syria survive the harsh winter in terms of syria's need gas, cooking oil, food. secondly, we don't know what's happening within the security apparatus. the extent of tensions between the military and the security apparatus. the react is the security forces in syria have proved to be much more resilient than many observers and many western governments have believed. that the syrian government, the assad regime, despite everything that you have heard retains a critical base of support. you have many syrians, millions of syrians, feel support this particular regime, and more

importantly, fareed, the syrian crisis has been cut caught in a fierce struggle between the iranian camp on the one hand and the saudi camp on the other hand. syria is receiving tremendous support from both iraq, america's ally, and iran as well. i think assad will be with us for a while, fareed, unfortunately for the syrian people. >> so our ally, the iraqi government, prime minister maliki, is supporting the syrian regime. is that correct? >> it's absolutely correct. in fact, i would argue that the road has been the lifeline of the assad regime. syria is receiving tremendous support, material support, political support, and even military support, and iraq sees itself as basically part of the alliance against the so-called turkish, saudi, sunni dominated alliance, but my fear is that what the massacre hz done, it has poured gasoline on a raging fire, and my fear is that the

essentially political conflict in syria could easily expand into a sectarian strike, destroying not only syria, but also neighboring countries like leb monday and jordan and spinning over into iraq as well. >> farwas, do you know that there are people advocating military intervention? mitt romney is now saying the president should take a firmer stand, whatever that means. what do you think we should do? >>. >> well, fareed, it's extremely difficult to watch the massacres like this and remain to be neutral. i feel sometimes being morally commricht in saying that military intervention in syria will most likely exacerbate an already dangerous situation. in fact, i would argue that military intervention in syria will likely plunge syria faster into all-out sectarian strife. not to mention the fact that regional powers will come in. hezbollah and iran. this will turn into a

region-wide conflict. there is no security council resolution to intervene in syria. i think the obama administration is doing the right thing. that is, trying to economically strangle the assad regime. the only point here is that we know from the history of sanctions to what extent have the sanctions exacted a heavy toll on the assad regime? how long can the assad regime basically maintain its posture given the fact it's receiving support from its regional allies, iran and iraq, and also trade with lebanon and jordan and turkey. the reality is all options are back, fareed. the menu of choice is very limited. i don't think the obama administration has the luxury to basically decide, entertain military intervention in syria. this is really quite what i call the nuclear option for the united states and syria and its neighbors as well. >> farwas, pleasure to have you on. we'll talk to you again soon. >> that's it for our abelievated show today. you can catch the full show at

1:00 p.m. eastern. coming up next, cnn's live coverage of the queen's diamond jubilee. right after this break. : fidelity. now you don't have to go to a bank to get the things you want from a bank. like no-fee atms -- all over the world. free checkwriting and mobile deposits. now, depositing a check is as easy as taking a picture. free online bill payments. a highly acclaimed credit card with 2% cash back into your fidelity account. open a fidelity cash management account today and discover another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity.

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♪ welcome to london where you are watching live images of queen elizabeth ii's diamond jubilee celebrations. they've just got underway. i am piers morgan. >> i'm brook baldwin. it is so nice to be with you here live in london. we are perched just by tower bridge live along the river thames as we are really watching history unfolding. this is the largest float illa of its kind since the 17th century, and we will bring it all to you live all 1,000 boats along the river.

>> it's also, can i tell you from my experience of covering many of these royal events, this is the biggest i've ever seen. it's an extraordinary explosion of patriotic glee here in britain. there are, i would say, several million people lining these streets all to watch what is the greatest river thames extravaganza we've ever had in this country, and to go through every one of those boats we have richard quest who has claimed to be a boat expert. richard, welcome. >> good to see you. >> off you go. >> good to be with you. the boats you're looking at now, the narrow boats and the dutch barges that have caused further back-up up the river. >> we have video pictures a little earlier of the queen as she arrived. obviously it's all about her today. >> here's my question. here she is looking lovely in white. any question was i know a lot of people were anticipating what color would she be wearing? would she be wearing pink or yellow? very bright to stand out?

no, it is white because it signifies 60 years. was she wearing white during her coronation. >> my understanding as to why she is wearing white is so she stands out clearly. notice the hat off her face. >> what you'll see here in live pictures, and this is off the spirit of -- the great royal barge that they have today, and you see the duchess of cambridge looking magnificent in her alec anned der mcqueen red dress. prince william and his r.a.f. military uniform. prince harry is in his uniform. prince charles. interesting to point out, right away -- richard and i were talking about this earlier -- it's incredibly unusual to see the queen, prince charles, her heir, and prince william, his heir, all on the same vessel. i can't remember -- >> all in one location. >> the security reasons. >> never normally travel together. this is a unique spectacle we're seeing here of all of them together on one vessel. >> so is this purely an exception because of this historic day? >> absolutely. no question about it. they have thrown away the rule

book. the only ones not on board, you have the yorks and the wessexes, and you have along with some of the glousters and the kents. >> we go to becky anderson. she's at the mother of all street parties going on. becky, you having fun down there? >> reporter: that's right. we're at the biggest street party of them all. picadilly. it's the first time in its history it is closed for all the right reasons. over the past couple of hours, 2.5 million people across the country are celebrating. thousands of them, let me tell you, are here on picadilly for the big lunch street party. i'm joined by -- i know you're named pierre. what are you excited about most today, pierre? >> the queen! >> reporter: that sums up the

atmosphere we've had down here today. it's been absolutely marvelous. you can see now all of the umbrellas are up. come down here. underneath this bevy of umbrellas, if that's what you call it, a bunch of umbrellas, we have another group of people. where are you from? >> from greenwich. >> greenwich, england, of course, that's what you mean. are you enjoying the day? >> fantastic. it's a really good time. despite the rain. >> the rain is not going to dampen spirits, is it? >> no. >> reporter: no. i don't think he knows what dumb kirk means, but it is getting a little windier and a little more iffy as far as the weather is concerned, but it's great down here. you have the ritz out here. you have carousels. we have accordian players. we've got the lot down here at this street party. come back to us now, and i'll find you some more atmosphere. >> it does look amazing. we're looking at live pictures again of the incredible scenes on some of these boats. 20,000 people in total on 1,000

ships. obviously led by the queen and the main royal party. they are surrounded by royal navy kind of squadron of folks. you can imagine the world carriage for the wedding with the great artillery. this is the naval version, isn't it, richard? >> ten naval vessels from different branches of the royal navy all not only playing ceremonial, but playing crucial security role. you have the royal marines as well. >> you know, this nation hasn't had a diamond jubilee. this is the only one we'll see in our lifetime, but it was since 1897 it was queen vick to tora at age 78, and we have, as we were looking from from all these vantages of this tremendous flotilla, let's go to zane because somehow she made it on to one of the boats. i think you're in the narrow boat section. how is the weather down there? >> reporter: it is very windy, and that's been part of the

problem for the last little while. i'm m narrow boat section, and basically if you look all around me, these are canal boats, and, you know what, they can't deal with the wind. a lot of the other vessels have a v-shape, and they can maneuver themselves with the currents and the wind or other boats are motor powered and they have two engines and they can control things, so we've been having a situation maybe a little bit like a bumper car situation. there have been one or two rearendings going on, but right now all is well. we're willing good. we're in a fabulous formation. the rules are basically you have to keep a distance between these vessels of about one boat, so that's kind of the general rule of thumb. the other piece of advice that i have been given is if you go overboard -- and i'm standing pretty close on the edge, but the rule is none of these vessels can stop and rescue you. you're basically on your own. there's a real sense of excitement here. there's a real sense of history as this pageant cruises down. you know, like helen of troy was

the face that launched 1,000 ships, and today it's the queen elizabeth ii who has 1,000 vessel flotilla here on the thames, and it really is a moment where everyone here is savoring. if you take a look, guys, you can see that so many people who are some of the more popular people in london right now because they have balcony views of the thames and the flotilla, and they're having a great time. people have lined up for hours to see this pomp, this pageantry, and this patriotism. piers, brook. >> it is an amazing spectacle. in terms of the weather, it apparently was exactly the same weather 11 or 12 degrees on coronation day back in 1953. it rained as well, and it's pretty much rained every sense since for queen elizabeth ii. >> you have decided it will rain continuing today. >> we're british. we don't care. >> we're brimming with pride. go ahead, richard.

>> the spirit of -- carrying the queen is now passing under water. i'm guessing she's about 10 to 15 minutes away from arriving here at the tower of london. >> it will be an amazing moment. we'll be back after this break. ♪ [ pilot ] flying teaches me to prepare for turbulence. the key is to have a good strategy. the same goes for my retirement. with the plan my financial advisor and i put together, a quick check and i know my retirement is on course.

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>> being the queen comes with privileges. she doesn't have a passport, but she can travel the world. she's the only person in britain allowed to drive without a license. it comes with a staff of 1,200 people. this is cnn's live coverage of the diamond jubilee. ♪

you're watching live coverage of the queen elizabeth ii's diamond jubilee here in london where we're by the tower bridge waiting for the royal flotilla to float down towards us. i'm with brook baldwin here and richard quest. what a day. what a day to be british, richard. >> this one is brimming. you're bursting at the scenes as well. >> my bossom is overflowing with pride today. >> no, it's interesting because i was reading sfw you were writing yesterday about how traditionally the brits are stoic and with a very stiff upper lip, but this is the perfect excuse to show that emotion, to brim with pride, to go gaga over the diamond jubilee. >> that's a reason why. look at it. who else does it this? >> the spirit of chartwell. >> the british do this pomp and

circumstance. this is the spirit of chartwell. one of the greatest vessels that i think i've ever seen on the river thames. >> in the old days, of course -- >> off with your head. >> if you were married to king henry xv, you would be taken down there and beheaded. right now we're at tower bridge. there are tens of thousands of people here. imaging this for eight miles, i would say there are well over a million people lining these streets. an extraordinary spectacle. >> those are the boats of the representing the commonwealth because all the queen's realms, all the queen's territories, all the countries she rules -- >> one-third of the population. >> they're all represented today. >> there she is. her magesty, the queen, 60 great years. she's the second longest serving monarch in the history of great britain. she's currently the second longest serving monarch anywhere in the world still alive and still on the throne. she's about three years to catch up with the king of thailand.

>> judging by those pictures now, the beginning of the flotilla, we should start to see -- >> approaching us. >> it's approaching us. we will hear the royal jubilee bells and see them, i'm guessing, within minutes as the flotilla comes forward with the manpowered craft. >> let's just take a quick look. let's just listen in. ♪ >> extraordinary pictures here in london. i haven't seen anything like this. i lived on the river thames on and off for the lst 20 years, and i have never seen a spectacle quite like this in my life. 1,000 boats coming down the thames to celebrate the diamond jubilee of her magesty queen elizabeth ii who had been on the british throne since 1953. the famous coronation. here she is today still in charge.