[heartbeat, music playing louder] ♪ i'm feeling better since you know me... ♪ announcer: this song was created with heartbeats of children in need. find out how it can help frontline health workers bring hope to millions of children at everybeatmatters.org. >> yes, we can. yes, we can. >> they keep saying it. >> yes, we can. >> john: and people believe. >> yes, we can! >> john: but when we need government the fac is they can't. politicians think they can run our lives, but no, they can't. that the title of my n book which explains that individuals suction is a seed but government spends huge amounts of money on trivial things. >> it's tlifl to you because you are arrogant.

>> john: no, politicians can't. do you liberals live in a fantasy land? he thinks the tsa does a great job. they can't protect our money. they can't educate kids. >> the government just can't do it. >> get out of our way. >> john: this time the politician says -- >> yes, we can. >> we the people say, no, we can't. >> politicians claim they create jobs, but no, they can't. >> president obama was a job creator from day one. >> we're going to create millions of new jobs. >> my job is to create jobs. >> john: they keep saying that. but does government create jobs? >> absolutely. >> john: congressman keith ellison is chairman of the progressive caucus. >> they must be working together

for the market to work properly. >> john: wouldn't be nice if the men and women in washington make the market work properly and create jobs. >> no doubt there are schools crumbling and parks need more attention. in minneapolis, we saw a bridge fall into the river. >> john: government doesn't have any money of its own, it has to take money from the private sector to give to these plans. >> it has a plan that will create 2.2 million jobs? >> if they can create the two million jobs, why not 5 million jobs, 10 milion jobs, spend more? >> there needs to be a balance. what we try to do --. >> john: how do you know it's the right balance of taking money taking money from the private sector. >> i think this guy has the right answer. that is mark cuban, owner of the

dallas mavericks. >> how many jobs have you created? >> thousands, tens of thousands. >> when politicians take money from the private sector, they take it from job creators like cuban. >> government is not efficient at using money. >> when he was 24 he had no job himself and no prospect. >> what more can i ask for. >>e started a software company. he grew it and sold it for millions. >> then my partner said, you are the geek. there h to be a way to listen to indiana basketball over the internet. >> so he started another company. >> i put a line in the second bedroom in my house >> without a government program, mark cuban created something. >> when this over, we're idiots and this is worth nothing.

>> five years later they sold that company for 67 bye. >> the most patriotic thing you can do as an american is be filthy rich. you creating opportunities. >> he used his billion dollars to create more wealth. he bought a lougs si basketball team. >> we took team not expected to win and they became national champions? >> i walked in evebody if you mention our win-loss record you are fired. losing is contagious. we had a survival attitude as opposed to let's win attitude. if you don't think like winners, i'm going trade yound get rid of you. it took us 12 years but we won a world championship last year. now he stars into a show that invite entrepreneurs but he

says it would be hard for him to start his business today because government has gotten so mh more inthroughs i have? >> there is so much paperwork and regulations and so many things you have to sign up for, you have a better chance of getting in trouble than you do have being successful. come on guys. you want people to start businesses, why make it so hard? >> john: they think their rules provide safety and fairness. they also make it hard because big government demands higher taxes. cuban will survive that but little guys get killed. >> one for me, one for the government, one for me. >> he bought a small farm in south carolina. >> how can a farm produce an income that can pay for itself? that is when we decided to go into this business.

>> he has events at the farm and sells cattle and produce but he has been held by government. >> i am tired of telling us what to do, how to do business and ask them for permission. you come out and run t damn thing. >> john: what did they do? >> this is just part of the regulations we have to deal with. they go on and on and keep growing. >> government regulations stopped him from caning and selling his crops. >> we couldn't get the kitchen certified in time. >> they forced him to make changes to his buildings, a regulat said. >> you need to put a handwashing sink. what is wrong with the other sink. the sink on its own was not a big deal. it's the little things that keep mass go together to make this big ball before long i can't carry the big ball.

>> he learns that bureaucrats keep their jobs by finding a problem. >> if an inspector comes out and he can't find anything, what good is he? so it just keeps rolling. >> john: the time could have gone to create jobs. >> without the government deterring the growth of this business we would could have hired ten more easy. >> john: but big government doesn't get out of the way. it keeps helping us. are you disabled? the politicians say they can help you find jobs, but, no, they can't. >> must take strong action. >>ohn: for this guy, young senator al gore helped convince democrats and republicans to overwhelming pass the americans with disabilities acted. >> the point is to get people

with disabilities employed and had the reverse effect. >> the reverse effect. when the law was passed, 61% of people were in the work force. now it's just 33%. one reason is that the law makes employers see the disabled as a legalhreat. you fire a disabled person he may sue you. in addition, it would force businesses to accommodate handicapped people. it includes hundreds of pages of rules. every new doorway must be 32 inches wide. every mirror 40 inches above the floor. if they aren't, they may sue you. he filed hundreds of lawsuits every year. >> john: what would you do if you were in a wheelchair, to don't you want something t protect your rights. >> but the prottion is a nasty thing. now some businesses are sued by

disabled people who have never been in their store. drive-by the lawyers call them. a scout working for them drives up and down the street looking for businesses tt might not be compliant. eric was asked to do that. >> he got an e-mail from his attorney. go to the following 19 businesses, get 19 business cards and receipts and i'll pay you $1,000. >> just get a business card to prove he was there and a lawyer would find a reason to sue. eric said no he could have made thousands of dollars a day. >>ohn: disability rules are hundreds have pages so most every business violates some rules. >> it could be mirr is an inch two high, round doorknobs. >> a round doorknob is illegal? >> it could subject you to a lawsuit. >> he owns a store in san diego. his father was disabled and used the scooter to move around the

store. >> we have a lot of disabled customers that never complained and we felt we were in compliant. but if an attorney comes in and their not slayings is to make money, they can be very creative. >> john: one person sued claiming the store aisles were too narrow but they aren't? >> we decided let's look in our security camera. lo and behold we couldn't find them. he never was in the store. >> john: but the plaintiff's lawyer still demanded money. if he would go away for $14,000. >> so george paid, even though he had proof the man was not in his store. it cost him in total $100,000. >> they are faced with these claims even when they are not true they pay them anyway because it would cost them much more to win. it's as assistant as that. we know a number of defendants who spent $100,000, $500,000

dealing with these cases, clint eastwood was one of them. >> john: he has a handicapped accessible bathroom but a woman sued him. eastwood is rich enough, go ahead make my day. he fought back in court and won. usually businessmen pay them to go away. >> it's extortion? >> it feels that way. >> it's an ugly process but it works. >> john: you sue about all kinds of trivial stf? >> it's trivial yeah to you becse you are arrogant. >> you are free loading off of productive people? >> if it wasn't for people like me, thousands and thousands of businesses would not be compliant with the ada. if you want to call it a racket, okay, its racket that is written in the legal system. >> john: it's legal extortion? >> the entire system is driven

by money. >> john: yes, and by politicians who say.... >> yes, we can. >> coming up. >> the first thing is our jungle lobby. lobby. >> did you k i always wait until the last minute. can i still ship a gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you n. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery.

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>>. >> john: want to go toollege? a year in harvard is cts more than $50,000. state schools often cost $30,000. politicians say we can make college affordable for everyone, no, they can't. they've tried. federal spending at college aid has doubled and doubled again, but is government aid grew so did tuition. over the past 30 years, inflation was 160%. healthcare costs grew more, 400% but college tuition rose 750%. >> first thing you are struck by

is our jungle lobby, all of the trappings of jungle retreat. >> john: one place is luxuries that entice students and their money. this is rec center at the university of missouri. >> you'll find yourself in a jungle gym to welcome you. tiger lai is sitting studio and it is outstanding with work by an international artist. new life is a day spo spa. >> it's no surprise that tuition i high are we keep feeding the problem. >> they wrote a book how colleges waste money. >> they hike their prices the federal government we'll contribute a little more. >> john: today almost aul hatch have students get federal aid. >> we have to make it's available for everybody that nts to go. >> the government got them into

this mess. >> john: because the government pays for everything? >> yes the cost of colleges, it's not just this number that comes out of thin air. colleges know they can keep increasing the costs because the government says we'll keep paying for it. if the government said we are not going to make up the difference no matter what you add to the costs, the costs would start to go down. >> john: progressives say the government should pay more. >> there is no evidence of that. >> john: if you give people money, tuition goes up. >> she works for a think tank that president obama fund. >> if you look what happened, absolutely, the funding has been steadily and pretty aggressively cut. >> john: it's gone up from $55 billion, $80 biion. >> it has gone up in absolute

terms because there is a lot more students being educated. >> john: do you live in a fanta land? >> per student on financial aid. >> john: today average student gets $12,000 in federal and state aid, up from $7,000 in 1987. >> good morning mr. vice president. >> at least vice president biden understands that subsidies raise prices. >> how do you feel about the idea goverent subsidies increasing the availability of student loans is parally responsible for rising costs? >> government subsidies have impacted the rising costs. >> john: they advertise lobster dinners and luxury pools. >> pools and spas and fancy gym

and sushi for lunch. every college why do you spend so much money on this. they say we have to compete with the college down the street. >> terrific climbing tower, 42 feet with a variety of lights on it so can simulate different times of the day. >> so the administrator says i'll build a new rock wall. i'll show yo more than 600 colleges have rock walls. >> what is important to a leisure resort and any red blooded american student, spring break. give them they step in to the complex. >> the students here, they throw that in your face. >> students will come to us and say this is what seals the deem. it used to be reading and writing and arithmetic. >> every parent i have is saying

i wanted to be back in school. how do i get back to going to school. >>e are putting colleges on notice. >>ohn: now progressives are upset about rising costs. >> we can't subsidize skyrocketing tuition. >> john: but he also said. >> my administration is increasing federal student aid so more students can afford college. >> do they see the irony? no. coming up. imagine a place where fewer rules create prosperity. ♪

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>>. >> john: when the housing market burst they said we must do something. politicians sd we know what to do, dodd and f franks wrote more rules so make sure it never happens again. so they wrote and wrote. hundreds of pages. they say this will create a new financial system. >> one that is innovative and competitive and far less prone to panic and collapse. >> why is that a good thing? >> an agency dedicated to make sure that financial products like mortgages, credit cards have simple contracts that are easy to understand. >> john: dodd-frank simple? did you read it? >> absolutely. >> john: did you understand it? >> yes. all these pages. >> yes, i've stayed up and read that thing.

running a bank is complicated. >> john: but they had to follow thousands of pages of complex rules even before dodd-frank. >> if you want to open a bank you he to go through this. >> a former bank regulator. >> most people have trouble recommending the ten commandments let alone 10,000 pages have something. >> he used to work in the cayman islands. does it sound familiar. >> you've got assets hidden there. >> we're not going to beat barack obama with some guy that has cayman island accounts. >> accounts where mit romney hides his money. >> you know the reputation of the cayman islands. >> people keep telling us, it's where rich people go to cheated on taxes. >> here is a building down on the cayman islands. >> over 12,000 businesses claim it's business. either this is largest building in the world or the largest tax

scam. >> you hear it all over the news. >> it really isn't true. >> john: look at this gao report. irs says cayman officials provide all requested information in a timely manner. >> mitt romney pays taxes on all the money earned from this cayman entities, i would say it would be like pirate heaven, some pirate would go and steal all the money. >> that actually doesn't happen because the rules are understandable. >> john: our laws are so complex even regulators don't understand them. sec investigated bernie madoff six times but didn't stop him? >> h could never got away with n the cayman with what he got away here in the u.s. >> remember the solution after the enron scandal.

>> it's a tough law. for those that have shaken confidence. >> that gave us a law which cost americans billions in paperwork but did not prevent madoff's fraud or the next big bubble. >> banks make bad decisions. it makes sense you should have a rule to stop that. no, what about the cayman building. doesn't it suggest tax fraud. thousands of companies are registered here. >> it has nothing to do with taxes. in delaware there are buildings that have hundreds times a my registered companies. >> it's true. companies register themselves in delaware because delaware has simpler rules i once started a business there in one wk. >> fox t-shirt and fox hat. great stuff there. >> john: i could have registered faster in the caymans. >> what i set out to do was design a system that was market

responsive and fast. >> he helped create the rules. it takes ten pages to register a hedge fund. the simple rules work. >> look at our track record. just in the past decade we've been through the crisis of 2000, 2004 and the more severe crisis be in 2008. no cayman financial institution needed any kind of government intervention or any type of bailout. >> john: they also created prosperity. >> today we have the highest standard of living in the world. >> jobs are always opening up and businesses are booming and hotels are being built. >> simple rules have been good for people. people's reaction we protect people with more rules. i go back to the ten commandments. you know, the bible said you needed ten. th didn' say you needed

hundred thousand. >> john: coming you do you hate the tsa? >> it's disgusting. >> john: good news, there is something better. >> people here are willing to help. help. >> john: that is next. [ malannouncer ] it'that time of year again.

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site. now back to toss el. ♪ >> john: after september 11th, politicians said, government must take over airline security. >> get federal law enforcent to do this job. >> john: tom daschle says i can't professionalize if you don't do it. and they voted to take over airport security screening. >> is it now professional? >> john: these people don't think so. flyers complain. >> subjected to disgusting

abusive power. >> they ordered the elderly woman to remove her diaper because it was preventing a pat down. >> this woman felt molested. >> didn't the tsa keep us safe? there haven't been any attacks since september 11th so it sho its working. >> it shows that tsa misd thing but what saved us is passengers and crew. >> congressman helped create the tsa. now, he chairs the transportation community. if you look at the diaper bomber it was the passengers and crew that saved the time. times square bomber he called on his cellphone and ordered on his ticket and went through tsa and got on the plane. >> john: on top of that tsa is such a lousy place to work, more than 50% of the work force has quit. >> agency keeps losing empyees and hiring new ones.

>> they are advertising o top of a pizza boxes. >> a career where extra vision and benefits are standard. it's not because they are underfunded. we spent ten times what the previous private companies spent. mica says he was shocked how much money they can waste. >> you don't wanted to know. they have a warehouse i texas and bought hundreds of things that didn't work. >> remember these, they cost $150,000 each and were supposed to detect explosives but they didn't work. >> they sat in warehouses and they paid us $600 to destroy them. >> so they waste money. misses terrorists and infuriates passengers and creates long lines. isn't there a better way. here is one. the lines are shorter at san francisco airport. they move quickly and passengers even say the screeners are nice. >> people are willing to help.

>> everybody here is friendly. a lot more friendly than dallas. > dallas and all the other airports employ government screeners. sa francisco is one major airport that to hire screeners that work at a private company. they are better at finding stuff. they were twice as good finding con from a band. why were they better. here is the reason. practice. he have a security cards, faster screener will win $2,000. there is dramatic music. >> tsa trains it's screeners, too, but not like this. in this competition they search bags and identify forbidden item. here is pipe bomb. then they rush toetest the bag. >> in this test they look at slides of people and try to remember details.

how many buttons are on her sleeve? >> four? >> yes. >>. >> john: the private company makes these screeners special. >> they have to be able to look at something and look at a lot of people and be able to retain what they saw. you find out who is really good at this. >> we are really competitive. >> they love the contest. >> so usually, if you tell them the score and you wanted to be the winner. it's like bragging rights. >> they get better with the contests? >> yes, they have to. >> you don't have the passion you need to find another job. >> who knew privatization would create better attitude? >> privatize seems so selfish. >> john: i bet you are making money and that coming out of my pocket? >> it's the american way. >> john: profit makes you try

harder? >> makes you work hard. >> john: that means getting passengers through security quickly. wait time here is short because they move screeners around. >> moved from here over to this point. >> we show red, we know we are short staffed there. we started to back up and send people to help them. >> make those changes. >> director of this airport wishes her screening company tried as hard to keep lines moving. >> we get a high number of visitors in the summer. >> john: of course she does. her airport is right next to montana's glacier national park. traffic triples butthe tsa doesn't respond to that. >> the screening remains constant. >> john: because of that and delays it creates and passenger complaints about other screeners. cindy wanted to switch to a

private screening company. the law allows for that. they asked but the tsa didn't respond for a year and a half. then they said no. >> john: what reason did they give you? >> they didn't. >> john: we asked officials to explain their position but they declined. their spokesman lied to us when we asked for permission to film the competition at san francisco airport. private company is camera shy and wants to stay out of the limelight, but it wasn't true. >> i don't know if they did that. >> only reason the tsa is rejected san francisco ex parents there is no clear advantage to the federal government. >> i bet mcdonald's would like to tell burger king, you can't open here. there is no clear advantage. >> they would love that, i'm sure. >> john: the congressman says the bureaucrats are protecting

their turf. >> it's typical government and gives them more power. >> keep the power in washington >> john: what were you thinking? you did this. >> there is no question. it's grown into a monster. they become a huge personnel operation instead of a security operation. >> john: coming up, people think the program head start give poor kids a head start, but no, they can't. i look at her, and i just want to give her everything. yeah, you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em. dude, those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute. bobby? bobby! what are you doing, man? i'm speed dating! [ male announcer ] get investing advice for your family at e-trade.

>>. >> john: this is one government program that most everyone says is big success and that is head start. >> head start has been such an extraordinary success. >> it's a program that is working. >> john: everyone loves head started. it gives kids an early education to give them a head start before regular school. it's lobby says it's a place.... >> where dreams are born and minds are nourished. curiosity flourish. >> head start is a great program and it gets results. >> john: everyone thinks that but 's n true. >> we have spent $180 blion on a program that has zero advantage. >> john: what do you mean? >> there was study that came out in010 funded by the federal governme. it looked at 114 indicators and did not find one positive outcome. >> john:? poor kid got head start and

others didn't? >> they couldn't tell the large he head start investment and the similar for disadvantaged kid. >> john: they found positive impacts while they interest were in head started but one year later, it's all gone. >> by kindergarten and first grade they couldn't find a difference. >> our president has taken a strong stance. >> we have to eliminate programs that don't work. eliminating programs that no longer work. >> john: we spent more than a $180 billion and the government finds no difference. they say, okay, we're going to stop? >> no, instead they give a billion dollar increase and next year in 2012, this year, $400 million and 2013 budget it gets hundred million dollar increase. >> i had a chance to visit a

classroom and it has me choked up. >> we should be choked up because government spends more money on programs even they admit don't work. i wanted to confront the adminiration, people from head start about this, but they wouldn't talk to me. so i'm glad congressman did. >> you can't tell me that the food that they give the instruction they give and they are not doing tremendous benefit. >> john: i would le to believe they get benefit but the government's own data finds none of that. >> you know what, that is not the problem of head start. that is problem of not adequate investment in our public education system. >> what would be enough? $50,000 a kid, $100,000 a kid. the line is we have to spend more money. if we are just better funded we will eventually get better outcomes. >> john: that is what they always say almost everything

that government does. >> yes, we can. >> john: more money and government power will fix everything, but no, they can't scloojts okay, although governments can't. looking for a better place to put your cash? here's one you may not have thought of -- fidelity. now you don't have to go to a bank

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>> yes, we can. >> yes, we can! >> john: no they can't. it's a nasty title for my new book, but politicians can't do what private individuals can. over the years, politicians energy independence, world peace and end to poverty. if we gave them more money, they would solve those problems, but no they can't. their plans go bad. head start doesn't work.

college tuition pays for spas. tsa is awful. there are hundreds of other examples of how government. you can read more about that on my website. if government can't, what about cutting edge science. we all liked this. but think about it. it costs billions and what did we get. pro mogs for a breakfast drink. >> john: they did bring us the c.a.t. scan but billions haven't got us much. we got a lot of delayed science. government science is clumsy. for a fraction of the cost a private group does better they promised ten million dollars anyonehat can launch three men into outerspace.

25 teams competed. >> i have never been myself as creative as i have following this prize. >> spaceship one won the prize and billionaire investors, i want to piece o that. >> richard branson and commercialized the company. >> a company that plans to run a tour bus in space. already tom hanks and katie perry have bought tickets. branson says it will be as cheap as normal airfare. >> john: i'm told private companies won't want to do this, there is no money made going to moon. >> all innovation comes out of the pliestd sector. it comes out of sbrurgs. >> john: are they going to make money? >> by charging for the ride. >> government support is critical in helping businesses get new ideas off the ground.

>> john: the program to believe if it's high-techuturistic innovation it has to come from the government? >> it's just the opposite. >> they have thrown billions at companies like solyndra and that was tiny compared to solar one and the hundreds of billions wasted on sin fuels. >> some things work out and some things don't. >> they say it's worth theisk. >> i like the idea of government taking my tax dollars and investing into technologies of tomorrow. >> progressives like forcing private companies to do it. >> there is fuel efficiency standards have forced detroit to innovate in ways they may not have. >>ohn: so if government didn't dictate 35 miles a gallon? i think we do need government to enforce it. >> john: no, we don't. while government spend billions,

ex-prize offered $10 million. >> we have to do this. we're going to go for this. >> some teams use gasoline and some electricity and even compressed air. >> 130 teams entered. it's proving what is possible. >> the design face, they had to pass a looks test and then came the safety and performance test. most teams were eliminated. >> we had the range and mileage butero to 60 our transmission didn't hold up. >> this team won the prize with a car that got 102 miles a gallon. >> john: i can't buy these cars? >> components a going to auto manufacturers. >> thousands of barrels of crude oil. >> government took charge after the bp oil spill. >> we'll continue to do with a whatever isecessary enter into

we brought in the best of e minds that could deal with this? >> no, government hadn't. >> we started looking at this, we cleaning up oil on the surface hasn't changed since exxon valdez. >> how would he improve it? >> i don't know but competition will bring it to the top. >> john: it's odd that you say i don't know. government assumption that someone in government does know but you are giving away this money, you say i don't know. >> we don't pick the winner in advance. research funding agency says you are good researcher, here is money. we flip it and say, i don't know which you have hundred teams are the best one but the one achieves it we will pay four. we only pay for success. >> i'm waiting for that great big check. >> so they offered $1.5 million prize for a faster way to clean up oil. >> 350 teams around the world and entered the competition.

>> we gave it ourest shot. >> some teams didn't have any prior experience wit oil spills. >> how long have you been in the oil industry, i was asked, counting today? >> seven of the ten teams doubled the preexisting standard that had been used to clean up oil for the last 20 years. >> if we got this pump working. >> they met in las vegas tatoo parlor. i can't make this stuff up. they built a scale model in one of the guys pools and it still doubled the rate 6 cleanup. >> so for 20 years they tried and tried, but with the prize you double it. actually the winning team quadrupled it. >> why can't the epa do stuff likehis?

>> they could. >> just because government can't doesn't mean we can. we can. individuals succeed while government fails. that is our show. i'm john stossel. thanks for watching. can i help you? i heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. that's right. i've learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot? [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ground shipping at fedex office. [ engine revs ] ♪ ♪

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