tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...until i choose to focus on something else. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 trade at schwab for $8.95 a trade. >> this is a test and trade tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 up to 6 months commission-free online equity trading tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 with a $50,000 deposit. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 call 1-800-653-0240 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and a trading specialist tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 will help you get started today. dennis: i am dennis kneale in for melissa francis and here is what is money tonight. hurricane isaac hours away from windfall. bracing for isaacs punch. oil refineries shut down, shortages sweeping the region. we have new details on just how far the fallout could spread. plus, is the housing recovery on a firm foundation? home prices jumped, hosting their best month in two years. why is the fed quietly arguing for getting fannie and freddie into the home rental business? we will explain. and the faa finally may allow

gadget addict's to use their phones during airline flights very good airlines them. even when it's not, it's always about money. >> ♪ ♪ dennis: taking a look at the stocks. wait and see mode. waiting between positive and negative territory. the dow closing 21 points. we'll prices raking in. oil climbs on isaac, $96.33 per barrel. major-league baseball reportedly signing a blockbuster deal with the ftn.

espn. paying over $6 million, double the current contract rate per the agreement will show up 10 more season games in a wild-card playoff. hurricane isaac is now a category one storm. barreling towards the goal post. residents bracing themselves for heavy winds of 36 hours. we have a reporter there in gulfport, mississippi. reporter: one of the reasons for the oil prices that you mentioned is because we don't know what's going happen to happen with this storm. take a look at here. the beach in gulfport. you never see serf like this. it's pretty well protected. today it is churning heavily. if you could see farther out there, you would see all sorts of gas and oil drilling rigs.

they are not evacuated and shut down. production and shut down. production takes place, the repining that takes place on land. off to the west of us down on the bayou, that has all been shot. not a long time have they had a storm like this that has this much when over such a long period of time. we are talking about wind speeds not that tremendous. just category one strength. but it's going to be around for 36 hours as you pointed out. that pushes a lot of water on land, which could inundate some of that oil production and capability. and it also threatens storm surge and puts more stress on everything. we don't know what's going to happen in new orleans. they think the levees are going to hold. we hope so. we will see. dennis: the fearless jeff flock. thank you so much. hurricane isaac wreaking havoc. 93% of all gulf crude production

shutdown. gas supplies running dry. how much worse will things get? joining me now is the executive of the lara energy. and president of louisiana oil and gas association. bill, how is this affecting oil refinery? they have closed a dozen refineries, 22% of national production? >> most of the american refining capacity along the gulf coast, valero has two refineries. we have shut both down as a precaution. many other oil refineries and on the same thing. the employees have left anyway because of these evacuation orders. we have gone ahead and done in an orderly shutdown as a precaution. luckily, valero and other companies have refineries elsewhere along the gulf coast coast and around the country to make up the difference. tracy: dennis: when i shutdown my

refinery and bring up a week later, can i catch up on output or am i behind the rest of your? >> you are a little behind, but not for the rest of the year. you can usually make a production in about a month. whether it's good news or bad news, because of the economic slowdown, refining capacity has not been at its full level recently. we have some spare capacity and we do have the ability to increase production at those refineries. dennis: okay, don, what is worse for drivers at the pump? shutting down the oil platforms in the gulf of mexico or drilling for oil or those on shore that are turning oil into gasoline? >> as long as neither one of them are prolonged, which we don't think there is a high probability of that, that we will be shutdown for a prolonged period of time, it should not be a major problem at the gas pump. >> are you seeing lines at gas stations in the louisiana area because of the hurricane?

>> definitely. the storm has been sitting out there churning for some time. people are going to the gas pumps and filling up in just about every town is doing now. there have been a lot of lines and there has been some, you know, shortages of gasoline. so far, not any major crisis with it. dennis: at valero, you said you shut down a couple of refineries. near new orleans. how much is the flooding that everyone is expecting -- this is a category one storm -- not near as strong as katrina was. how much will the flooding make it difficult for you to open the refineries back up? >> hopefully not very much. one of the lessons that we learned after hurricane katrina and hurricane rita is that flood damage, especially to electrical equipment can delay restarts. a lot of the equipment, the wiring has actually been raised up so the flooding will not affect it. wind is usually not an issue at

refineries. they are built to withstand very high winds. the issues are whether you have water damage, and of course, electrical power. refineries use a lot of electrical power. and if there are extended outages, that can affect the refinery restart. dennis: if i am a gas station owner in the louisiana area. the gas that i am pumping up my tank, that is stuff i have paid for at cheaper prices. are my prices at the pump already going up because the next load i bring in will be more expensive? >> there is a possibility. there's a chance the price is right that much as five to 15 cents. but it shouldn't be much higher than that. if it does rise, it's just going to be for a short period of time. it's not going to be a long period of time. dennis: you know, bill, when a crisis looms, politics is not the point. but given that since obama became president and we are

right in the middle of the republican convention, this is the worst thing that could happen for a president to have gas prices go up near the election. isn't that? >> you know, like you said, a political decision. and that is sort of low on our list of top priorities. safety of our employees and safety of the community, and of course, getting the refineries back up and running. whether or not there and effects from this hurricane or even things like the refinery fire in venezuela, it remains to be seen dennis: bill and don, thank you so much for being with us and good luck to you. on some good news, switching gears, about housing. for the first time since the summer of 2010, home prices have climbed over a level of the year ago. could this mean that the housing market is on its way to recovery? you might have heard it before. we turn to stand humphrey, chief economist with the website

zillow. prices are up since september 2010. would he think of those numbers? >> that's right. the numbers are finally confirming what other embassies have been showing for a while. which we have the bottom. in terms of home prices. in late 2011, early part of 2012, we are up year to year. excluding foreclosures. dennis: i think you guys said the turnaround this year. but i worry that we are a little early out there. are you guys little too optimistic on that? >> that would be the first time if that is true. generally we have been pretty bearish on how the housing market has been doing. on the better side in terms of outlook. but we think that we have waited long enough. we think that we are right right now. home sales seem to be up every

month consistently, anywhere from five to 12%. home values showing a consistent upward trend and we are starting to see negative equity's receipt as well. but they all seem to be pointing in a good direction. dennis: negative equity of. okay. i've been here for two years. supply of vacant homes is keeping those prices down. but now i read that there are actually shortages in some areas. can you tell us about that? >> that's right, in areas like phoenix and miami, we are seeing acute shortages. markets are down about 30% from where they were last year. particularly shortages in the lower prices of homes. in phoenix, for example, for-sale homes are down almost 60% from where they were last year. very acute inventory shortages. some of these people might want to sell their homes. but they can't because they're underwater.

dennis: let's talk about underwater. still 15 million homes underwater. 1.1 show in dollars, they owed the banks and the homes -- the numbers are down 400,000. according to a report a day or two ago. that is largely because of the foreclosure process. when you think about the other home problems. is it still stopping a full rebound from coming? >> the negative equity situation is definitely going to cast a long shadow over the housing market. our expectations -- because of neither negative equity, when you pair that with 30% of outstanding mortgages being underwater, about 8%, you're still going to get a lot of foreclosures in the coming years and we think for the next two to for years, it's going to keep a firm grip on appreciation naturally, we are looking at 1% appreciation. then we take a look at normal appreciation rates. because of negative equity for

the meantime. dennis: if we have underwater homes going down, the fed still feels like the federal housing administration, ought to get into the business of renting out vacant properties. really bad idea for the government to get into the rental home market, is in a? >> well, you definitely need to look at government intervention and direct intervention in the rental market. you need to look at that territory. the rental market overall has been a silver lining. a very successful part of the housing market in the past year and a half or two years. private investors have been moving inversely to take advantage of these homes and being turning them into rental homes. demand is going through the roof because of these foreclosures. people have to live somewhere. we do want to be careful about the government. we want to be careful because these people making an

expectation that they will be able to service the rental properties themselves. we do need to be careful about direct intervention by the government. dennis: a message to been cranky bernanke. stay out of the market. is it time to pull the plug on the mandate for good? we are going to hear from both sides. plus, arctic sea ice melting to a record low, sparking fresh fears over climate change. one professor says the u.s. carbon tax could cut greenhouse emissions and help balance the budget at the same time. he is here to make his case. we have more "money" coming out.

dennis: here is another potential casualty. at all mandates, where makers who supported the requirements favoring waivers because the drought has lashed this year's corn crops and sent prices soaring. joining me now is the national cattlemen's beef association president. and the president of the renewable fuels association. support the ethanol mandate. something kind of strange about burning up 40% of our corn to buy 2% of fuel? >> well, thank you for having me on. right out of the gate, i would like to respond about 40% claim. we hear that so much. the fact of the matter is one third of the corn we use for ethanol comes back to the livestock sector in the form of animal feed. we only uses starch in the corn kernel or the fat and fiber goes back to the beat market.

most of it goes to mr. walz members, you know, most refreshing survey include about 40 or 50% distillers grain, which is the coproduct better industry produces. we produce less ethanol we will be producing less of this very high-value amount. dennis: you used it once or goes right back. that is a third and 40%. we are burning up fuel at a time when other countries are trying to switch stuff. how hard are the rising prices making it for your industry? >> we have had over a 224% increase in the price of corn since 2006. sending that back in the form of tbg is is kind of like giving me a hamburger but you eat the meat out of it and all i did is the barn. it's a little bit of a red herring.

>> i don't think the cattle feeders that we talk you would agree with that. they love the protein and the energy content. we have had cattle feeders and nebraska concerned about whether they are going to be able to weather these high corn prices and continue supplying the livestock. dennis: you say that you guys are trying to find ways to switch over. it just takes a lot of time. if corn is so great, why switch to brass at all? >> corn ethanol has provided the base for the renewable fuel standard -- transitioning into new feedstocks, things left over after the grading is harvested. after the grading is harvested. commercial scale plant being built today. if we walk away from the ethanol program for the administration sends a signal to the investment community by waving this program, you're going to see investments really chilled and

not next generation of biofuel technologies. dennis: in the notes that the producer passer jeff, he kind of wonders whether gasoline makers would buy any corn for ethanol at all if they were not mandated by the federal government. isn't that a sign of a bad idea? >> we would say that because it's ethanol truly is the magic bullet or claims to be, let the marketplace decide. that is all we are asking for. the national cattlemen's beef association is not against this. if we can get weaned off for a while, we can be so much better off. we are just asking the business to get out of picking winners and losers in the corn market. dennis: it just seems like ethanol has been going on for 20 or 30 or 40 years. jeff, what is your prediction? will these ethanol mandates be vacated and waved and

out-of-the-way? or will the hold firm? >> i don't think they will be waived at all. your point about subsidies, there is no longer a terrorist. the only government support that we get today is in the form of renewable standards. the epa and other folks in washington dc understand that -- personal or won't have any meaningful impact because refiners are not just going to walk away from using ethanol. they needed and they want it. second of all, i think they understand the long-term benefits to maintaining this program. just today we are talking about the impact of the hurricane on gasoline production. clearly, this isn't the only act of mother nature. dennis: gentlemen, thank you for being there. here's a novel idea. save the planet and balance the

budget. all of the same time. our next guest says the carbon tax will do just that. but it also means that the price of a gallon of gasoline could go well past $6 per gallon. i want to bring in a man with a plan. robert frank at cornell university. proposing a 300-dollar tax on every ton of carbon we emit into the atmosphere is what you are proposing. $1.6 trillion per year. that is quite a tax increase, is in a? >> it is a big tax increase. it is not just on carbon, but co2 emissions. the notion that the taxes are designed to deal with, that there is some nontrivial risk that we are going to suffer catastrophic climate change in the next century. we thought it was a long ways off. now there is new evidence linking the extreme weather

patterns to global warming. we don't know that this is going to happen. by one estimate from mit, a one in 10 chance that the average service overture of the earth will rise 12 degrees fahrenheit in the next 100 years. that is a huge temperature increase. would you want to pull the trigger on the go might not? >> i would not. [talking over each other] dennis: a 10% chance that i'm more than willing to take that risk. what i'm wondering here is, you know, the first quarter of this here come the first four months, the energy information agency of our federal government said a week or two ago, our co2 emissions went down to levels not seen in 20 years. we have put out less -- 1992,

not just because of government edicts and some carbon tax. but because the private market forces. you know, utilities gave a cool when they saw how cheap natural gas was. it is something like that. taking carbon emissions down by 20 years. [talking over each other] [talking over each other] dennis: sir, no one's going to understand either one of us. what when we need a carbon tax for the private market just was used on carbon emissions. >> the private market will not reduce carbon emissions by an amount sufficient to deflect the long-term risk that we face. dennis: says who? >> i don't. they don't know either. the climate forecasters. they said that there is a nontrivial chance that we face catastrophic change. it's not about arguing about it, to ask as a practical matter, how much would it cost to do

something like this. the astonishing answer is it wouldn't cost very much. dennis: you don't think so? $6 trillion? >> i think it is an emotional debate so far. and it really needs to become a much more calm and reasonable discussion of what our options are. dennis: okay, $1.6 trillion not a huge price to pay. thank you so much for your ideas and good luck. have a good night. >> thank you. dennis: republicans roll call votes officially nominating mitt romney is underway. some of the top business leaders are sounding off on what they want from the gop nominee. paul mitchell cofounder and petrone tequila joins me next. can you ever have too much "money"

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>> the republican convention roll call is underway. all eyes are on the votes needed to push governor romney over the threshold to officially become the gop presidential nominee. herewith the latest on the voting in the game plan for the rest of the night is neil cavuto. hello, neil. >> hello, dennis. we are going through this roll call quickly.

a lot more quickly than thought to be the case. 1144 delegates are needed. mitt romney is a little shy of that. doing this in alphabetical order. that is interesting. because they are not going to interrupt for either new hampshire or massachusetts or even michigan. under any one of the numbers that you could consider a home state, put met ronnie over the top. so whatever state is going to be in the roll call with enough delegates to put met ronnie over the top, we are told it is going to be an end state. we need to work dakota or new hampshire. at that point he will become the 2012 presidential nominee for the republican party.

paul ryan, his number two is voted by acclamation. the officials official vice presidential candidate. a lot of people may be saying that this is happening a lot earlier than we thought. this vote is running about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. it was not supposed to be that way. i have to tell you what i have to tell you that this convention has to be running ahead of schedule. so ahead of schedule that a number of times he had been the average speaker that has been going to minutes less than he or she was allotted. and if they were allotted a minute, they spoke 15 seconds less this is a convention first. it has never been done. massachusetts, of course, he brought ronnie care to the

world. the state did his father governed, running for president himself in 1968. his son is now on the verge of casting all of those states delegates, very close to the 1144 it's going to be. michigan, i might add, is one of those states were surprisingly, mitt romney who was an opponent of the bailout, is polling very well here. he had a lead in michigan, which could result in a conventional wind and sentiment against the bailout would hurt. it comes at a time when the ronnie ryan ticket is doing extremely well across the entire midwest. in ohio where it's even, in wisconsin, it goes on and on and on and on we go.

the closer we get, you and i can go back on the significance of hell early the opposition of ron paul notwithstanding, telling me earlier today that he has not onboard with this ticket and not ready to support this ticket. even though they hold the texas congressman in high regard. they are now ready to go full throttle on mitt romney. dennis: ron paul still insisting he's going to be a problem? well, i am really admiring the republicans are being soaked coolly efficient ahead of schedule. but i had thought that the top vote thing would be kind of a primetime moment. but the republicans might want to wait. how can we be wrong on that one? >> the original idea was before isaac came along, they would get this out of the way right away. in other words, maybe you and i are old enough to remember when they changed the telecast to try to show this is one of the major

categories. showing this very early to keep our interest. this is howhey were going to do with this convention. get the nomination early with an overweight. but then isaac came along. then something happened. this rearranged schedule and it rejiggered the format. it ended up going a lot better than they thought. speakers that they thought would be blowhards ended up not doing that at all. we are just getting the sense now from michigan that it is now been over mitt romney. now we are going to get some of these states -- i suspect it might be at new hampshire where this candidate keeps a vacation home. in 2008 and 2012. i have to tell you, if there is any concern about the ron paul phenomenon and whether he is on board with this, his party seems

to be on board with mitt romney. either glossing over these differences are not making a big deal of them. even when you hear ron paul's name mentioned. giving him a robust round of applause. he is a passionate and well respected candidate. but i do want to break in a little bit. i think this is a bit of americana. and i think it always brings back what we are all about. this is the count going on with the state of mississippi. a state that was very crucial for rick santorum,. >> mississippi, 40. romney. missouri, 52 votes. [cheers] >> madame secretary, missouri, the show me state, missouri

tigers are proud to be an fcc country. the home of the world champion st. louis cardinals. [cheers] and the only battleground state that voted republican in 2008. [cheers] cast three votes for senator santorum, the four votes for ron paul. and 45 votes for the next president of the united states, mitt romney. [cheers] >> missouri, 45, romney, montana , 26 votes. >> madame secretary, from big sky country, the treasure state with coal, oil and gas, fuel in america. we cast on 26 votes for mitt romney. [cheers] >> montana 26.

romney. >> nebraska, 35 votes. >> madame secretary. i am proud to be from the cornhusker state. a red state. the state with the top-ranked college women's volleyball team in the nation. home to the best annual collegiate sporting events of the nation, omaha's college world series. a state that is the land of the city of sandhills, from where our next u.s. senator, deb fisher, a rancher and small-business person hails. and when she is elected, every federal office and every statewide office in nebraska will be held by a republican. [cheers] >> estate led by dead dave heineman who has balanced the state budget without raising taxes.

the nebraska delegation proudly casts 33 votes for the next president of the united states, mitt romney. [cheers] >> nebraska, 33. romney, nevada, 28 votes. >> in nevada, freedom is not a word, it's a way of life. the silver state is well represented here at the national convention. we have delegates, the home of entertainment. >> the 2012 republican party nominee for the republican president of the united states. they are going to be one of these next couple of states to do it. sometimes when they realized that they get close, and even if it is a divided delegation, they will vote en masse. and by acclamation further nominee. that would be mitt romney. nevada has successfully placed

its delegates, virtually all of them for mitt romney. and this will put the element on the next path to the next day. whether it falls on new hampshire new jersey, it depends on what happens. we are minutes from mitt romney being crowned at the republican nominee. shortly thereafter we will make it official. shortly thereafter, his running mate, they will not be accepting rollcall for vice president. this will be done by acclamation. this is what we are watching right now. very close. let's see where we stand right now. these are some very big geographical states, but relatively few delegates. this is the state of new hampshire. the state that mitt romney all the calls home. these delegates expected to although for mitt romney. let's listen in two the entire state will turn red. new hampshire, home of

wolfeboro, the next summer white house for the next president of the united states of america. our adopted favorite son, mitt romney of massachusetts and representative ron paul. >> jericho. >> new hampshire, nine. mitt romney. new jersey, 50 goats. >> madame secretary, the garden state, the proud home of tonight's keynote address given by governor chris christie. >> if they do not apportionment and mitt romney has done it -- >> this has done it. with that delegate total. it was the state of new jersey. the home of chris christie, who will be speaking tonight that

has put mitt romney over the top. the garden state has put mitt romney over the top and made him the 2012 republican presidential nominee. they went in alphabetical order. they could have deferred to any one of the governor's so-called home states. they left that to new jersey. a red state a couple of years ago for him. they are hoping it will go read similarly next year. in the state of new jersey, barack obama has about a five-point lead. it is not an insurmountable lead. joining us now, mitt romney has officially become the 2012 republican presidential nominee. they are going to go through the run of the states and get the official count, and then they

will by acclamation, that's the term that they use, they are going to make paul ryan the official running mate of the vice presidential candidate for the whole idea of this is to build the drama early ahead of the big speeches so that we can kind of hit the ground running. that was their hope, delayed by a storm nevertheless. they feel that they have the wind at their back. the nominee has some of these out of the way before he and his surrogates start speaking en masse tonight. mitt romney is it. after failing to post the deal four years ago, he comes back with a vengeance tonight. back to you. dennis: thank you very much, neil cavuto. mitt romney is it. a new chapter in american history being written. we will see if obama is reelected in november. officially clinching the gop

nomination

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>> met ronnie clinching the gop nomination for president just moments ago. joining me now for reaction to this is one of the business leaders attending the convention, john paul joya. he is also the palmetto cofounder and founder of petrone

tequila. a dramatic moment. new jersey putting on the over the top. what do you think about it being in prime time? >> it is quite interesting. what i really like is the convention schedule and maybe hope, the deficit reduction going ahead of schedule. maybe that is a good indication of what is happening here in the months and years to come. dennis: what she thinks are you telling republicans. >> the first thing i'm going to tell everybody it is the accountable is. write down your campaign promises and afterwards, if i don't do what i say the first year, impeach me. what people want, whether republicans are accountability. people want things to work what republicans have to do is the

accountable for what they say and do it in writing and by gosh, put your job on the line. dennis: we are in the middle of what is the worst recovery ever. so how much of that is because of the exact policies coming into place for the democrats and the obama administration, versus the field where you get this administration sometimes the a spouse is very business philosophies. >> i would say that beyond any question of a doubt. all of us, both leaders of both parties have contributed to the recession right now. i don't agree with throwing out a lot of money and raising the deficit. i think that is really wrong. more importantly, i think, all this should work together to clear things up. if we have a strong republican party and they are the one that are chosen, by god, let them lead to get us out of all this

for the private sector is right here with a very positive attitude. dennis: president obama had promised that he would unite us. people feel more divided than ever. what can the republicans do about that? >> i think republicans can step forward and say hey, we can be divided. but let's get together again. we the people. let's get back to old politics. we, the people of the united states of america. we can stand forward and help any campaign that is negative and say we, the people, changing things. what are the important issues? the important issues with all due respect are getting jobs back in america. reducing the deficit and uniting america when all parties work together. by gosh, why couldn't republicans make the first move and say hey, let's work together. let's stop all the bickering. it would be one heckuva nice direction to go into.

dennis: yes, it sure were. bending the politicians ears. one last thing. we kind of need an assurance that things will be all right. republicans returning to the gold standard. are they going to live fire under america. >> with all due respect, we need a fire lit under america that continues on. not with promises, but with action. it should be we, the people, are very valuable and we should create the standard and reduce the deficit. it wouldn't be bad to go on a gold standard here either. more important, we have to work together, there are more people saying positive things. not just reporting them enough. we report the positive stuff is going on and we should do more of it. there is a frequency rising that you can't stop it. it's going in a good direction. dennis: thank you, sir, thank you for being with us.

be sure to watch neil cavuto's coverage of the convention tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. gm and chrysler, locking out candidates and throwing away the key. the automakers banning politicians from their plans during the election. we will take a look at if it makes a difference in their business. at the end of the day, it is all about "money."

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taking the kids to swim lessons. swim lessons? yeah, it's the safer thing to do. safer thing. cocome on, let's go. rb water alarm. nice. isn't it? i just have to put it in the pool, and an alarm will tell me if my kids jump in. it's just a backup to the mesh fence i'm installing. yeah, looks great, jim. juns doing the safer thing, steve. it doesn't get safer than tt, jim. [ cell phone rings ] steve? wait tilyou see... you've got to be kidding me. you win. with layers of protection around pools, everyone wins. so you think -- not now, jim. i'm the water watcher.

dennis: general motors has a message for the presidential candidates. leave us alone. the auto giant is banning candidates from its plans until after the election. this is the same gm that took more than $49 billion in bailout money from the government a couple of years ago. joining me now is fred barnes from the weekly standard. and you for being with us, fred. why do you think gm is trying to look at the political right now? >> well, it is really president obama and vice president biden who they do not want showing up at their plants. for political rallies. they are worried about providing this feeling of around the country that they are not general motors, the government's voters. obama, of course, all that so far, in his speeches has mentioned general motors and the bailout 20 times. this does not help sales of general motors cars.

dennis: america hated to think they'll operate yet we made proper. the gm bailout as well. >> it's too late for him to switch. the bailout is unpopular, except in some states like michigan and ohio and indiana. that is where the obama campaign is focusing on. obama's support for the bailout. it may open the states. dennis: good look at the convention. that is all the "money" we have tonight. we will see you tomorrow. gerri willis and "the willis report" is up next. ♪

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