pay, it has gone up 127 times faster than your salary. this is ridiculous inequality. unacceptable. all right. "viewpoint" with eliot spitzer is next. great program. check it out. [♪ theme music ♪] good evening i'm eliot spitzer and this is "viewpoint." after a brief high at it advertise out of respect for the colorado families but now we're getting an picture of how effective the attacks have been. according to a new reuter's poll over a third of the registered voters have heard of romney's

time at bain as well as the argument over his tax returns. which reflects similar findings from the usa today poll which found a large majority surveyed felt his business background would help him build the economy. romney's new ad uses the president's you didn't build that speech to paint the president out of touch. even though it presents the line out of context, it apparently struck a chord with the president. >> what i said was together we build roads and we build bridges, and so if you have got a business you didn't build that, meaning the roads and the bridges, not your business. so this is just a bogus issue. >> today his campaign issued a

nearly 3-minute video rebuffing the attack. >> ironically mitt romney knows better than anyone that business can't do it alone. when bain was on the brink of bankruptcy, romney negotiated a bailout with the fdic. >> over the next four months you have a choice to make not just between to political parties or even two people. it's a choice between two very different plans for our county. sometimes politics can seem very small, but the choice you face it couldn't be bigger. >> but apparently his opponent felt no such need to change the flavor of the campaign. >> i have come here today to share my view. i am an unapologetic believer in

the greatness of america. leadership depends as it always has on our economic strength, on our military strength and moral strength. if any one of those falter no skill of diplomacy or presidential oretory can compensate. if look to cut defense spending as an easy way out, that including our corrupt president. >> thank you both for joining me. mitt romney speech a lot of rhetoric, what you would respect. nothing discernible in terms of a real foreign policy. the world corrupt crept in in the end. a corrupt president. is this a new turn? >> it really is quite

extrordanaire extraordinary extraordinary. he is about to go on his foreign policy tour, and this is very hard for him. and since romney is about to turn up in london in the middle of the olympics with 50,000 vips, he will avoid the shows, and be [ inaudible ] fat cats organized i my the people -- >> the barclays people -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> diamond was cohosting, and obviously didn't anymore. what i will say about romney is this. i will be very interested when he starts receiving the government intelligence reports. then he should know more about what he is talking about, because he will actually be getting proper information. >> but there was nothing in this speech to suggest he had any

vision. if you think osama bin laden gone. we are out of iraq. afghanistan, we are on our way out. these are very real foreign policy successes for barack obama, not the usual platform for a democrat. so what is mitt romney really going to talk about when it comes to foreign policy? >> that's an open question. nobody really knows, and it's part and parcel of how romney has run his campaign to date, which is to avoid any specific on issues and basically identify himself as the not obama. you heard it very clearly in the vfw speech, which he is talking about not apologizing, he is pumped up the notion of american exceptionalism, another argument they have been making about obama. but this is a red meat speech

for his voters back home and to get the donors cranked up overseas, toss in even more money to a campaign that has the money silo filled nearly to the top and then some. >> i was hoping he was going to stop off in switzerland and open up the vault and make sure his bank accounts were still full. [ laughter ] >> he says we will not cut defense, we will not apologize, but i just didn't see a foreign policy there. and it is a void, gauzy, but devoid of anything tangible. am i missing something that he can go other than his appeal to jewish voters -- what -- >> he does have that very close personal relationship. they have known each other for years and years and years. to israel will be the high point of the trip. but he is hiding behind the

olympics. the whole world will be focused on london for two weeks -- >> maybe that means it is a good time to go. >> yes. he can't beat obama in 2008 so maybe he has got to do this trip, all candidates do have to do the trip, but does he really want to focus on it, no? >> okay. let's turn to the reality that barack obama is facing. the bain attacks may not be working. if you believe some of these poll numbers, then after all of this rhetoric about bain the public is still saying mitt romney will do better on the economy, and that's because the economy is looking worse every day. will the president turn to david axelrod and say now what? >> i think what they have managed to do is put romney in a box and define him as a guy doing a stealth campaign. and they are doing it in a way

that removes one of the key weapons from romney's arsenal. the bain attacks have worked. in that you don't hear him talking about his private business experience. the difference is, that even though they have done an effective job of removing that from romney's arsenal. the president himself is limited in what he can say about the economy, because of one simple number 8.5. and no president going back to the days of the depression and back to reagan and clinton, and jimmy carter, no president has been elected with an unemployment higher than 7%. that's what obama is facing. it's a really uphill challenge and definitely the ball and chain around his feet. >> i think that is exactly right, which is why the participate's attacks continue on bain. but is it working? the poll numbers suggest -- okay we have heard that. and what i expect out of mitt

romney is a speech written by somebody else explaining that capitalism works, and will be the equivalent to capitalism what his speech was today. when he gives that isn't that the best reputation of the bain attacks and will it work? >> absolutely. he has to own bain. he does know -- he has inside knowledge, let's face it on yes yes, jobs may have gone abroad, but he is the man on many levels okay. i know that. it has got to work for america -- >> no. no. joe continue. >> just saying -- i think there's bathe of a problem there. he does have to own bain because he doesn't really have a choice but you are talking about capitalism in the era of the '99, of 8 point-whatever

unemployment. where people understand that capitalism may work, but trickle-down capitalism is definitely a bust. and unless there's a different way to define that capitalism that is going to be a struggle. >> mitt romney can look back and say bill clinton and al gore got nafta through. we cannot erect a wall around america. but if he becomes that voice, might that not be a better response on bain in he hasn't yet given that speech. why not? >> i have no idea. he should be on the offense here. and he has been on the defense. it's absolutely crazy. as far as the polls go fundamentally a week is a long time in politics. we have a long way to go.

it matters what independents think in swing states. national polls whatever, really. it's great for us to talk about, but at the end of the day did they really matter that much? >> you are right although the swing state voters won't will so differentiated from the national poles. joe, but she is right, we are going toe be looking very soon only at ohio and the other swing states, and the rest of the guys, you won't matter. you are predictable. >> if you are talking about those states particularly the rust belt, ohio pennsylvania indiana, i think they resinate. certainly in detroit they do, where you have romney not winning the popular republican primary vote in his own home state, and that's largely -- he won the primary, but it was a struggle. it should haven't been as

difficult as it was. certainly that is because a lot of the message that his republican opponents was about capitalism downsizing and the fact that romney didn't support the detroit auto rescue. i think the swing states come into sharper focus when that does happen. >> but there is -- this is what you and i and i'm sure joe as well, think that mitt romney has to focus on. there does seem to be a different view of cappalism between mitt romney and president obama. and the you didn't build that phrase. and they eliminated a very big block of words in the middle, nonetheless that phrase, you don't build that. and the private sector is doing fine, and that has left the president in a dangerous position. >> to an extent, however, the

media -- we do this -- we have done this to mitt romney corporations are people. that was somewhat taken out of context. you fire people. we live in a sound bite culture, it's all too easy to tweet. i am guilty as well. but at the same time fundamentally the american people are interested in issues. campaign wise from president obama was the new commercial called the choice. the president being presidential talking about politics on a higher level. we need more of that, and that will have more impact actually on the bain attacks. >> music was too muted but the words were good. >> not bad music. not like the doors music. >> yeah, soft rock. joe what do you think? >> i think she has a point but

the notion of capitalism is going to be a very important issue, and how it gets defined. people who believe that president obama is anti-capitalist that is a message that the republicans have been hammering on him. i think that's why that particular catch phrase was so successful for mitt romney. but it's hard to argue that the president when wall street is doing really good, it is a different -- this would be a hard one finesse going forward. >> i think that is right. i love the sign somebody occupy wall street was carrying. political reporter joe williams, and immagen thank you for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> more "viewpoint" coming up next.

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you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. does breathing with copd weigh you down? ask your doctor if spiriva can help. supreme court citizens united opened the flood gates to unlimited campaign spending by outside groups and the deluge has arrived. $164 million have been spent on ads in the election. the percentage is our number of the day. 87% spent by super pacs. some say this is the only reason mitt is staying afloat.

the ad funds by american cross roads and others highlight mitt's background, and recent polls have shown his business background is a powerful selling point. we have only just begun to see the fund-raising and spending power of super pacs. few others are going. >>it doesn't get anymore real than this. >>occupy! >>we will have class warfare. >>i'm being violated by the health-care system. >>we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs, bodies. >>we go in and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. >>the award winning series "vanguard" only on current tv. cu if you have an opinion, you better back it up. >>eliot spitzer takes on politics. >>science and republicans do not mix. >>now it's your turn at the only online forum with a direct line to eliot spitzer.

now that we have established the libor scandal absolutely did have victims the focus goes back to where the blame lies itself. a large number of traders from at least nine different banks are currently under investigation for their role. investigators suspect that a worldwide conspiracy took place. most of traitors suggest that it was far from isolated. timothy geithner will appear before congress tomorrow to answer questions about what he knew about the libor scandal when he was president of the new york fed. joining me is neil barofsky to discuss libor.

he recounts his dramatic detail in his new book "bailout." neil thanks for being here? >> thanks for having me. >> you stood up for those who often did not have a voice down in the halls of the treasury department. i want to begin with libor, bank call lewd and regulators do nothing. >> it is absolutely the case. it is depressing to see how much it confirms the problems we have with our financial system, and how they haven't been fixed. now we're learning what we suspected just a few weeks ago. this is a global international conspiracy to fix the most important interest rate imaginable in the world, and our regulators knew about it in 2007 and the spring of 2008. and the reaction is nothing

short of pathetic. tim geithner sends an email, and had a meeting with some speculators in washington, but where is the oh my god, we just found out about an international conspiracy and we have one of the banks confessing on tape. where was that outrage? where was telling the markets what was going on? >> i think i have heard this perspective before sitting right here every night saying the same thing. but it is déjà vu all over again. this is not the first time regulators have failed. and they take credit and pat themselves on the back for sending the email but never going beyond that. what is the psychology of tim geithner? what is your understanding of his psychology that permits him to almost do nothing? >> the problem goes well beyond

tim geithner. what i saw when i went down to washington is that there is a complete ideological capture of these individuals and regulators. it's shocking to see how a handful of powerful banks really do control our economy. they would view these incidents through wall street-colored glasses, so their action isn't clamp down let's do it it's to work around the problem. we saw this in tarp where the banks were clearly violating the rules -- >> just so people know the effort to help the homeowners. banks got a ton of money, and the counterpart was homeowners were supposed to be helped. and when it came to helping the homeowners they failed. >> right. the banks were not helping the

homeowners. and as we -- at sig-tarp where we would point out these problems there were various excuses from the treasury. first they were afraid, if we clamp down on the banks, they are going to run away from tarp. and then it became a series of excuses why not to force them to take action. >> and you had the authority to force them to do this. or when they were bailed out make it a condition of their getting tax dollars. that was the failure, the nexus there was very real and probable. did geithner understand the leverage he had? >> absolutely not. and the problem was consistently a lack of recognition of leverage, but i think it's worse than that. i think you need to step back and say this was a series of choices. they chose to design this bailout in a way that benefits

the banks and did next to nothing to the main street home owners. this was by design. >> and this was reflected in the early proposals in what became dodd-frank, and did not impose any structural reform. and as you point out in the book, for all of the money, we could have gotten reform. >> it was opposed by treasury. there was a movement for reform of bipartisan movement for reform, and treasury department and the administration lead the crusade against that and beat that down. for the housing program, the design as tim geithner said was to foam the runway for the banks. so even that effort was much more about helping the banks an the home owners. >> all right. i want to know about this personal relationship with tim.

what happened? >> we didn't have that many face-to-face interactions. but the one meeting that i describe in the book that has gotten the most attention when i had a meeting with him, and pointed out that i thought he need to be more transparent more up front with the american people, and he for want of a better word exploded at me in the expletive-filled tantrum. it was almost comical at the time. he was clearly trying to intimidate me. >> he did not succeed in intimidating you obviously. tomorrow we'll watch him testify, and he will be examined about libor. do you think he'll say anything knew? >> no, he has worked out his talking points and put them out there. he is going to claim they acted

quickly and swiftly but common sense says if you find out something in april of 2008 and more than four years later nothing has hand about it that tells you everything you need to know about what is wrong with washington. >> the time line says everything unfortunately it's sad story. former special inspector general for the troubled asset relief program and author of "bailout", neil barofsky, thank you so much for your time. fighting for the little guy. fox news politizes a lemonade stand. the view finder is next. >> this court has proven to be the knowing, delighted accomplice in the billionaires' purchase of our nation. >> and you think it doesn't affect you? think again.

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still to come fall on an empire. charging coming in the murdoch hone hacking scandal. when it doesn't mitt anywhere else we put it in the view finer. >> clara how do you feel about the president saying that you needed help to start this business and just speak from -- speak from within. ♪ >> this dude isn't even grounded? doesn't get detention? you are abc, sentence him to "wipeout." [ laughter ] ♪ >> oh! >> do you like a woman masseuse or male masseuse just so i know. >> oh, my god. >> the jim hanson company has

notified chick-fil-a that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors. [ applause ] >> the muppets were partnered with chick-fil-a. did big bird know anything about that? ♪ ♪ world war iii, that's obama's plan for and me ♪ ♪ that's why i'm voting for mitt romney ♪ ♪ he's a hero in my ♪ >> mitty has no mourn experience. what do they call that? no foreign experience. he and his wife mrs. mitty are taking a trip to foreign

countries so he can get a feel of foreign experience. here is the flight crew. there they are. >> nothing says god bless the usa like a berea? >> yeah. ♪ will ferrell is one of those guys that always make you laugh. charges come down on rupert murdoch's phone-hacking scan l. while you're out catching a movie.

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. in blow to the murdoch scandal they conspired to hack the phones of many people. several others were also charged

today. >> who with the exception of glenn mulcaire will be charged with conspiring to intercept communications about lawful authority. >> and these charges may just be the beginning as operation weeding the phone hacking probe and additional investigation. with me today is ed pilkington and eric boehlert. thank you for joining me. this is serious stuff. these two guys were right at the foot of rupert murdoch. right? can he escape this now? >> he can escape because he has it all planned out. but to think these two major figures -- we don't have a perfect analogy in america but it's like having a u.s. anchor

being charged with a crime. it's like the white house being charged for the crime of hacking. this is a huge deal. but it has been 54 weeks since this story exploded. >> the magnitude of the scandal. we have now in the charges 600 people hacked. what began has one or two, and now the two top lieutenants to rupert murdoch, enormous sums of money being paid to bribe officials in government.% it's inconceivable that they wouldn't have known about this. what am i missing? >> you are missing the fact that they did what always gets people in the end, is they tried to cover up bad business. there were hints and people talking to them about it, but they chose not to look closely at it. and we're seeing a huge global company meltdown. >> it is in meltdown and rupert

has dropped off of the board of some of his british newspapers. what does that do? does that in any way insulate him politically or in terms of the public uproar in britain and what will continue over here in the united states. >> his son already left the uk he was so tarnished. he was going to take over the company in new york. now him leaving the newspaper, these were the newspapers he was synonymous with, the newspapers that got him a foothold and now he has no personal connection with them -- >> he owns -- >> yeah. personal -- exactly. but he really seems to be run out of britain on a rail. it's amazing. and this is just him relinquishing that personal connection with the newspapers. the suspicion is maybe we'll

just sell them. >> yes. it has always been said of rupert that the newspapers ran through his veins the way most of us have blood. this must be tough for him. >> absolutely. he was given a newspaper in australia by his father, and i think romantically ever since he has believed that his heart lies with newspapers and also to have to separate the company. this is a terrible, terrible blow for the publishing end of his company. money coming from hollywood and fox tv has gone in to supporting newspapering, the thing he loves the most. and now it will be really difficult for them. >> i have been in rupert's office many times, and on his desk all of his newspapers.

that what he loved to look at them. are his television companies legally at risk because of this? is there any way this legal culpability can jump from the newspapers to the television stayings. >> the department of justice is looking into all of this. whenever something like this the justice department is looking to connect dots, and specifically they are looking at the issue of bribery. news corp is an american company based in new york and you cannot have reporters around the world bribing public officials. and that's what they were doing. >> they have legal exposure which is enormous and that's why -- let's move to the tv in

britain. is that at risk? >> no i think companies there are a very successful, solid business. and so far there is no suggestion they are involved in any of this. but he had to give up his big hope there, which was to purchase bskyb, which he has given up entirely now. >> with 600 specified individuals who were hacked over in england, it's clear some of them over here were hacked. andy colson was has close to the prime minister as one could be. how does this affect british politics? >> the two most important people in charge were very, very close to david cameron as they were to rupert murdoch and the same

pattern is happening the problem for cameron. why was he so close to these guys? so why did he give him what he called a second chance. these are questions of judgment that go to the heart of cameron's government really. >> is this any demmenution to him here. >> he is being run out of britain and he is having something of a renaissance in the united states. he tweeted a couple of critiques of the romney campaign and it was a popular tweet for weeks. >> we quoted him a few days on this show, he sent out a tweet

on gun control. >> that's right. >> he is occasionally an eclectic thinker. >> because he is the godfather of right-wing media in america, he still has that strong hold here, everywhere else it is gone. >> who takes over the company? does it become a more traditional company with standard management. >> i think that's the story that lies behind the scenes. within the company moves are being made to change the company rather dramatically. a knew generation chase kerry, joel klein is crucial, and i think we'll see the emergence of a totally different type of company. having said that, they still control the majority of the shares.

>> yes. and the question is will the new generation of leadership will less idealogical, or will they see that as the way the company makes money. >> yes. >> certainly drama in the murdoch empire. ed pilkington and eric boehlert thank you both for your time tonight. one man goes through the vice presidential vetting process just for fun. more "viewpoint" coming up. >>it's the place where democracy is supposed to be the great equalizer, where your vote is worth just as much as donald trump's. we must save the country. it starts with you.

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the culture wars grill chick-fil-a. that's next. and jennifer grandholm will have the latest installment in her ongoing series, mitt's secrets and lies and he'll look at how the irs is going after political groups hiding behind the social welfare label. more