forget the 600,000 government jobs that could be impacted. neil: might be. might be. >> exactly. one point* four in the private sector. neil: i do think that my worry is there will never do this again and that sequestration is the fact that backbone now it is here. do something. if you move it you move the backbone and you are the jellyfish. >> gives this was a doomsday scenario he has the option to get out to reduce spending elsewhere, to work with the g.o.p.

>> they were last time a tax increase of 77% of americans. >> we gave you a pound of flesh. >> the last budget was clinton was 1.8 from obama is three point* 6 trillion. do some math to figure out we have a spending problem. if we kept spending at rates of inflation plus population we would talk about surplus but we're not unless you have a gun to its head morrow. government will grow itself constantly. >> i think this is a win for democrats, the bush budget problem we inherited. neil: there we go. you left out fillmore. that will do it. see you tomorrow. good night. report."

should the government be buying their property? and consumer reports is here with an exclusive review. 72 is the next 30, life expectancy is way up, but can we afford to live this long? "the willis report" is on the case. gerri: all that and more coming up later in the show, but first our top story, the government big bout. residents at one neighborhood hit hard by super storm sandy, staten island getting the best of deals thanks to taxpayers. homeowners whose homes were destroyed in sandy will get 100% of their damaged homes pre-storm market value.

those in highly vulnerable flood areas will get more, 10% mark, a bonus. for those staying on staten island, an additional 5%. it is part of a fema program that has been around for a long time. hazard mitigation assistance. it includes buying out homeowners. john stossel joins me now. he is the author of the book "no, they can't." welcome back to the program, great to see you. so, is it right taxpayers are footing the bill? for these bonuses, what do you think of this? >> i don't think it is right, but it is better than what they have done in the past which is federal flood insurance. they do it three more times, and

that is even crazy. gerri: you descri yourself as a freeloader on this program. >> i discovered this myself because i built a big house and asked my father to help with the mortgage. are you nuts, it is on the edge of an ocean. but i can't lose, there is a federal flood insurance, and it is true. it had a lot of sand in front of it, nothing will happen to it. sure enough, that happened in the government, thank you, you help page repair it. it happened again and he paid to repair it again. i'm ashamed i did this. gerri: here is the reality right here in new york, a federal flood national limit 350,000 if you include structure in the property. look at some of the values of these homes whi are still on

websites that pre-market value, 400,000, 500,000, so these people are getting a massive bailout, more than the federal government itself with just a regular flood insurance policy. does government need to get out of this business? >> yes. they are getting a little more than the top, but why does government so eager to forbid or require? if people want to build on the edge of oceans, spend your own money, take your own risk. they said we're losing so much money bailing these people out, disaster, we have to get them to buy insurance, there is no private market. gerri: the private market didn't want to take on the risk. melissa: it would have at the right price, but the federal government offered a great deal, cheap, we took it. gerri: i know we will get all kinds of e-mail from people who say these people should get this money no matter what. they deserve it.

but look, at the end of the day what are we financing? there are homes that have been rebuilt seven, eight times with federal dollars. >> they will not do it again, but federal flood insurance was supposedo break even. they said we won't lose any money. billions in the hall like everything else. gerri: many have said yes, we will take it. i want to get you to a slightly different topic, you bring up the idea of fema has its problems. that is true. number of disaster declarations, you've seen that every time there's a big storm in the country, they call up and say please, please, please bail us out. the numbers have gone through the roof. obama 153. the folks on the left say it is

climate change, things are getting worse and worse and worse. do you believe that? >> no. the costs are going up because more people build on the edge of the river and ocean. but if it were climate change, how come the disaster appointments go up before an election time? if they declare disasters in snowstorms that is a way to say here is free taxpayer money. gerri: is a way of paying out, and fema still owes $18 billion from katrina. >> and sandy, they don't know how much they will be in debt from that. gerri: it is amazing we keep doing the same thing over and over again and it hurts more and more. >> a buyout stops at police and that one little area. gerri: we can be thankful for small favors even though we are footing the bill. tell us what you have on your show this weekend. >> p the sequester.

we take a meat cleaver to some things. gerri: the sequester is something we haven't covered a ton here, but boy does it serve it. thank you for coming on, really appreciate your time. now we want to know what you think. should the government he buying the homes of sandy becomes? log onto gerriwillis.com, we will share the results at the end of tonight's show. staten island isn't the only area where federal spending is running amok. telling congress the fed intends to keep the easy money policy flowing until the job architects up. warning against across-the-board spending cuts friday. joining me now, chairman of the house of service finances ready, which we will hear testimony from bernanke tomorrow. welcome back to the show, great to see you again. the federal reserve has a

balance sheet of $3 trillion, is that a good idea? >> no. if it ever was a good idea, it is not a good idea now. we have reached the limits of what monetary policy can do and all this extra money they are trying to throw into the system creates an incredible inflationary risk. there is very little benefit beuse all this money standing up as excess reserve but at one point we hope the economy will take off and if ben bernanke can't be harry houdini and get us out of this, we will have an inflation that will make us look the soldiers we upon the carter era. there is almost no benefit, we have reached the outer limits of what monetary policy can do. gerri: congressman, every federal reserve in every country all of the world is doing the same thing. mimicking ben bernanke.

>> it doesn't mean it is a good idea. i have a nine-year-old son and soon-to-be 11-year-old daughter always telling me everybody else is doing it. just because everybody else is doing it doesn't mean it is a good idea. we are drowning in debt, doesn't mean it is a good idedea. the challenges our economy faces today are fiscal in nature. making sure we raise taxes are not endorse and job creators. we have had a 53% increase in the regulatory burden. gerri: that is absolutely true. in the senate hawkins testimony today, they asked an interesting question, and it was about the implied backing for large banks in this country. some $83 trillion, $83 trillion. it is implied too big to fail cushion from the federal

government which basically says we will be behind you, the banks pay less money in interest rates, and now when you do the math the big banks would not even be doing money it wasn't for the backing of the federal government. would you be asking the chairman about this tomorrow? >> we have a limited amount of time to ask a lot of questions. the bottom line is dodd-frank did and too big to fail, institutionalized too big to fail. nuer one, now hav i now have the federal government giving the ability to designate firms as too big to fail, and dodd-frank sets up the orderly liquidation that essentially allows the fdic to take taxpayer funds up to 90% of the balance sheet of the too big to fail firms and usethat to resolve the firms. as chairman of the financial services committee, we're going to deal with too big to fail,

and we will introduce legislation to terminate the designation, financial institutions and tw there is something wrong in america were some institutions are too big to fail and others are too small to matter. gerri: a lot of frustrations about sequestration and not just in washington, all the country voters are so tired about hearing about the fact congress and the president can't get together and make progress on the very important issues. john boehner today, speaker of the house, addressing his frustrations with what is going on. here is the speaker. >> we should not have to move a third bill before the senate begins to do something. gerri: and that was to the point. i think it shocked a lot of people. what do you say about that?

>> i couldn't agree with the speaker more. i hope my motr isn't watching so will not repeat the language, but we have united states senate hasn't even bothered to pass a budget in four years, the president has still submitted his budget, legally he was supposed to submit it. the house has passed twice a bill to ensure that we keep with the deficit-reduction levels but we don't do this crazy across-t-board cuts that doesn't prioritize, the president doesn't have a plan, the senate hasn't passed a plan. by the way, the president talks about a balanced approach, guess what, in early january he got $660 billion of new tax revenue before the election it was all 3:1. gerri: a long way to go. >> where is our 1.5-1.8 in budget savings? it is a shell game. they wanted to make it an

enforcement mechanism. he is trying to get more tax increases before he is even paid for the old ones that he got. and so this clearly rests on the president's desk. gerri: we will be watching it tomorrow with the testimony from the fed chief and see what questions you actually do ask. thank you for coming on, appreciate your time, thank you. >> thank you, gerri. gerri: new figures on the cost of obamacare. the report ss the president's health care program will add $6.2 trillion lo-term deficits. that wasn't supposed to happen. the first attempt to examine the cost of obamacare over a long-term period. this time 75 years. they said it would cost 2 trillion over 10 years. whenresident obama was selling his plan, he said it wouldn't add a single dime to the deficit. remember that? it wasn't true. he said he can keep your doctor,

your plan won't change, none of that's turned out to be true. they say the goal of the obamacare was to pass a bill, this is how the country goes broke. coming up, wipe big banks can keep making one big subsidies to keep rolling in, and another subsidy could be sold to china. next, a senator trying to put a stop to all of that. ♪ [ woman ] if you hav the audacity to believe

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gerri: is taxpayer money about to be driven to china? it may happen if embattled electric car maker is sold to a chinese company making the

second taxpayer backed green energy companyold to china in recent months. with more on this, republican senator chuck grassley of iowa. wh gives here? why are we allowing this to happen? gerri, very good question. and i think it all goes back to the extent of wood shop. the partment of energy is not accountable for what it does and it is not holding where it dishes out taxpayer money accountable. for instance, in the 81 to three corporation, $127 million. in the case of fisker, $200 million. gerri: let's drill down those numbers a little bit. receiving 250 million in u.s. taxpayer money, who is accountable for this? this is my taxpayer dollars going to china. it seems crazy to me. >> yes. we appropriate money, you are

expected to be spent according to law. and if there is anything congress can do about it, it is kind of like locking the barn door after theorse is dolan. to our oversig, with the case of fisker going back to june trying to get information fr the department of energy on this whole issue. we don't really get answers, to tell you the truth, and hav we e a constitutional responsibility to dig in and it seems to me the department of energy has constitutional responsibility to answer our questions but they don't do it. gerri: that has been an ongoing problem, i think. is there any other risk or danger of a company like fisker or a123 being sold to the chinese? >> at least in the case of a123 it was a possibility. and maybe it has been taken care of, but the possibility there

was national security issues involved. we are told that is taking care of by that part of the company not being sold to china. buyou get back to this business of the chinese plying us for suckers in the sense they are not only able to take advantage of the taxpayer dollars that are out there, but the research and development that goes on. we are kind of providing the intellectual basis for them to come more competitive. gerri: it is astonishing to me. the real issue here, maybe it is not being sold to the chinese, but the real issue is why is the government involved in this program in the first place. why is the government picking winners and losers. why is the government deciding what technology is the right one to invest in. >> i am not the perfect one to ask that, because i sponsored someax credit bill's for other things like wind energy or biofuel, but if you get right

down to it, those are tax incentives that you have to have the private sector put up money to take advantage of it. as opposed to these are grants going out the door of the department of treasury, or in this case energy, dishing them out like shoveling money out of an airplane. gerri: that is never good. jack lew, you have opposed his nomination as treasury secretary. we said how he doesn have a lot of backing from wall street executives. why are you so opposed? >> for the reason you gave number one, that is the most important one. one less a reasoned, and i will get to a more important one, kind of the hypocrisy of this administration complaining about romney having money invested offshore, legal as it is, and appointing an appointment like jack lew who has money invested in the same thing.

gerri: that shocks me to my core. senator grassley, thank you for coming on, we appreciate your time. thanks for illuminating us in particular about green energy. an absolute pleasure having you here. >> thank you very much. gerri: a fox business alert for you now. the housing market is getting stronger, and today we have more evidence of that. the real estate market really picked up steam in the final three months of last year. prices shot up 6.8% ithe last quarter according to s&p case-shiller. today one of the economists robert shiller who put together the new report says the housing market has more momentum now, but as usual the permit there had some words of caution. >> housing hasn't shown in most of the history of housing in the united states hasn't shown a tendency to be going up and up. it was just a bubble in the

early two thousands. that was really unusual, let's not go back and think it is going to happen all over again. if it does, it will be a surprise. gerri: he is never upbeat. the commerce department and new home sales surged to the highest level in four and hal and a hal, record l borrowing costs, a 30-year mortgage for 3.5%. one of the main reasons for the continued strength in the market. i will not throw water on the recovery, i want to celebrate it. later in the show, is 72 the new 30? in a report on how long we are living and like 2008 all over again with the country's biggest banks getting billions of your taxpayer dollars. how too big to fail is alive and well taking money out of your pocket next. ♪

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gerri: almost five years after tarp, in report shows big banks are getting your taxpa

♪ gerri: every once in awhile you have the sale of its soldiers so. this is one of those days. as we have been saying and the show for some time, the dodd-frank law which we wrote the regulatory rulebook for banks did nothing to get rid of too big to fail. that is the implied promise that big banks would get bailed out of the get into trouble, this like they did during the financial crisis, using your money, by the way. in fact, to reduce our help to -- to researchers at pin down what the promise means the bank said, a subsidy of 83 billion per year. here's the math.

the bank's nearly a full percentage point less than borrowing costs for interest rates because they're back by the federal government. if anyone of the big banks were to go bust the government would face enormous pressure to step in and keep the bank going. tune of that is. interest-rate discount applies to everything. liabilities, even customer deposits, and not one little percentage point makes a whale of a difference. multiplied that amount times the total liabilities of and the ten largest banks and you get a whopping $83 billion per year which according to the researchers is akin to giving the bank's $0.3 out of every tax dollar collected. think of that. $0.3 of every tax dollar collected. most live is going to buy banks. we did take that subsidy away u.s. will take whether profitability.

here's what to of them have to send. >> should they be reaping the american taxpayer. $803 billion subsidy that they're getting. there is growing bipartisan concern across the whole political spectrum about the fact i believe it was the fact that too big to fail is alive and well. gerri: what is interesting is that one of the centers is the loftiest of the left, elizabeth warren. and marketer is a super conservative bush should tell you something when the hard right and left agree on something. they may have a point. the government is to get out of the business of guaranteeing the business of banks. we just cannot afford it. while the biggest benefits of

these big bank to the taxpayer subsidies, there often as if replace debt put your money. the online site 247 wall street has but to go west of the sickest banks an america which is tonight's top five. number five, key corp. this bank headquartered in cleveland has won 11 under branches nationwide. the return on assets was under 1% and its return on equity was a nap% in 2012. pncinancial services. pets burbank is the ninth largest in the country by asset with 305 billion. even with the internal ceo transition, the company's net income last year was 3 billion. pays a two and a half% dividend to investors. number three, u.s. bancorp, despite being a most reasonable it -- regional bank this commercial bank caters to millions of consumers busting a high return on eity of more than 16%. number two, j.p. morgan, even what the london scandal from last year, this bank's finances

are in solid shape according to 247, even though they disagree with the report i decided. a profit of more than 21 billion in 2012, and the number one city to bankamerica, wells fargo. the reason it is so safe, this bank makes its money acting more like a bank and a brokerage investment firm and gets a lot of kudos from analysts. also on the last. coming up, the first lick "consumer reports" top five cars for 2013 and next, is 72 the new 30? the details of the new scientific report and a look at what it means for your retired plant. coming up. with the spark miles card from capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewas for his small business take theseags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjors small busiss earns double miles

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gerri: talk about for everyone, new scientific study saying people are living longer than ever before and that at 72, the new 30. with more on this, the fox news medical a-team every let's start there, talk about the study. at that this was amazing. what do you make of it? >> i love it. and the reality here is that the chances of you dying now at the age of 72 is the same as our chances 200 years ago and dahlia the age of 30. the last four generations of humans have done much better at living longer than the first 8,000 generations. the reason for that is because we are cleaner, public health, we clean up the sewage. we have clearwater. we had better food. we have vaccinations. we stamp out diseases like smallpox and polio in the united states with vaccines, antibiotics. gerri: a lot going on.

>> a lot of technology. gerri: living longer, but are we living better? >> at think we are in the sense that we have more comfortable lives, air-conditioning. we are not worried about the elements. we're not in pain as much. we look at comfort and air and a lot more comfort. of course, i also think we need to exercise more in the better. gerri: you're always nagging me about that. >> you look great. gerri: another study reporting that the mediterranean diet as huge benefits. we knew it was always good, but now they're saying it can prevent heart disease, prevent strokes. do you agree? >> yes, and it is great to go to that study after this month because announcing you're going to lead to 80 years old, will look into shape burndian. 30 percent decrease dressed in a study from spain. the new internal medicine which is our top journal, 30 percent decreased risk of having heart attack or stroke of the of a mediterranean diet to midinettes, using all well, having diets that are high in fish, low in meat, legendary.

gerri:he tebow and his right out. >> the fox business you could have occasionally. the food and vegetables and grains and fibers are warlike. anti oxidants, may threes, fiber. gerri: actually i and fat. a lot of fat. there is a lot of fat in a diet. >> good fat is the key word. these are on saturated fats, not the saturated better, not the trans fats. all well as great fat. we need vats, but windy the unsaturated kinds. gerri: thank you for coming on. i think the studies are amazing. some good news finally end of the scientific community. i love that. >> the seven are all well and that's the mill on the treadmill. gerri: okay. all right. up to the t-bone in the freezer. no one will be upset abo the prospect of living longer, certainly at downside financially. i'm talking about social security. already the program is facing a serious cash flow a shoot. according to the heritage

foundation's of security as promised more than seven half trillion dollars more in benefits than it will ever deliver. the indefinite deficit will start in 2016. now worse yet workers under 35 right now well received less in benefits than they paid into social security. no silver bullet, there is one simple way we can f this problem, raise the retirement age. congress has not changed the eighth since 1983 when it started increasing the age from 65-67. by the way, that one took effect for another ten years. even countries like italy, greece, spain are in the process of increasing their retirement ages because they face reality and we haven't. social security program was created in 1935. the man who retired at 65 was only expected to live another 13 years. women 15. at the time, only a little more than half of americans even made it to the age 65.

already social security has more people than it can handle. 36 million people over the age of 65, four times greater, that is draw them back in 1935. i don't want to reverse the trend of living longer, people in washington need to face reality. people are now spending a quarter of their lives in retirement, and if it was a scary to be around, changes need to be made before it is too late. coming up later in the show, the top new cars a 2013. you won't want to miss that. and reaction to is giving report on etf trades. don't go away. ♪ [ lorenzo ] i'm lorenzo. i work for 47 different companies. well, technically i work for one. that company, the united states postal service® works for thousands of home businesses. because at usps.com® you can pay, print and have your packages picked up for free. i can even drop off free boxes.

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trade. >> we still don't know where the cost will be, and it is not necessarily the funds t you want. think the other thing is, the funds that are in there are very thinly traded. and when an etf is then me traded you may get the free trade, but your execution, the price you are buying and may not be such a great price. and when your execution is bad, that is where you have a cause that you cannot even figure out. gerri: does that hold true for charles schwab and his new trading platform called one source? joining me now, the vice-president of charles schwab etf platform management. now, i have to tell you, i have been looking at these things for a long time. they're cheaper. that is what people returning to them. you recently initiated a study. inside the min of the etf investors. what defines? >> that's right. we found to things primarily. first of all, investors love etf it tells the more than 41 percent are going to invest more heavily in the coming year

and that cost matte. there are couple of costs which will talkk about. expense ratio is the most important, but commissions follow on on its heels which is why think along should be the tea etf one source with the most commission free. gerri: this has been a big change for investors bause these ets, what you pay for them is typically so much lower than regular old fashioned mutual funds. when i had check on not too long ago he took issue with you guys because the university -- the university t.s., it is not that big. 105 of 970 etf is with no commission. he said there may be ets out there that you want that are not on this platform. how you respond? >> well, like schwab he is a great advocate for investors. he misses the point on this one. the point of the program is to develop a comprehensive range of 105 etf with coverage in nearly every morning star category, not at every single etf available

commission free. you can buy all those. sosa for now. we are delighted with the lineup of 105. from six leading etf provider. clients of choice among asset categories. we think that's a great start. gerri: what about the fact some of those popular are not on this bank. the s&p 500 trust. the spider s&p 500, the spider s&p mid cap. you know, let's get some of these a new wonder, why are they part of your trading platform? one not? >> right. well, the program is not for everyone, and our goal was to have coverage and all the major asset categories. terrific products is of the main asset categories. the we are the lowest in the industry. they said that the initial launch is 105. we hope that is going to grow. with love for other providers. gerri: you want to be bigger. >> yes. the cause that we have done since launch but weld. gerri: let's talk for a second

because i want to get back to etf and the drop because a lot of people, they know that the fees are low, but they may have missed the fact that these things trade like stocks. unlike mutual fund where it may be hard to that of the thing if you really want to dump it quickly, these you can sell right away. gerri: that's right. that is one of the appeals of exchange traded funds. we have seen our active trader client bases in the more frequently in lieu of individual securities. along with tt also comes in education a round out the best trade them, w to get best execution. gerri: a lot of people doing this kind of investing, not just on your platform, but other places as well where they're making these choices, getting all the diversification that they want and paying so little for it. no one saw steady it show that it is not release the funds the you choose but the fees they pay that at the end of the day make a big difference. gerri: for the small investor to the fees matter. a stake in investor, you know, who is trading 100 shares.

$9 commission rarely eats into that and makes it difficult to reinvest and dollar cost average a cost-effective way. so we say that eliminating commissions, especially for the small investor is going to be a real one and let them keep more of their investing dollars. gerri: thank you for coming on. appreciate your time. >> thinks having me. gerri: sti to come, my "2 cents more" on an interesting trademark site. consumer reports give us their picks for the best cars on the road in 2013. he will take a look at everything from a luxury cars to minivans. ♪

♪ gerri: looking to rev up the new year with a new car? we got you covered with the best

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♪ gerri: consumer report putting nearly 300 vehicles to the test. it is releasing its top picks of the best of around vehicles that 2013 s to offer. we have the story right here. "consumer reports" managing editor. yet in the title. others joining me now. congratulations. >> thank you. gerri: avenue along time. none of you get a big promotion. >> not that big. gerri: tell me about how you guys go about bikinis. is there an american carn this list, my friend? >> first things first, we get to read testing group and which cars or the best of the tesng, then we like reliability. that allowus to recommend our not. kara seven evers' liability,

cannot be a topic. in the crash tests, how well performs. those parameters. gerri: that makes a lot of sense. is there an american car. >> there's not this year. gerri: o account. don't know how we do that. less talk about your top midsize sedan. >> honda accord. the redesigned for this year. gerri: that's boring. come on. >> it has gone back to the old honda accord or it is a drive to unpack -- drivetrain powertrain company i a great transmissn, great engines, 30 miles per gallon for four-cylinder. continues the valuable transmission very great fuel economy, and intrusive. tell you what, this is the car, you get in and then you don't know it's an automatic. gerri: top sports cars. >> the twins, the subaru and this i am. made by tweeting and subaru. 200-horsepower, four-cylinder. excellent weight balance, very nimble, very sporadic. you don't have to have 400-horsepower a whole lot of fun and the stars prove it. gerri: they look great. what is your advice for those looking for an affordable budget car? this is always an interesting

category. >> if you're looking iran 18- $20,000 cost of credit on night elantra, a great little car. a lot of safety features, lot of comfort and convenience features. thirty-four mpg on my way, 29 overall. gerri: this certainly does. >> and for those elements of the accounts. >> and it has been reliable. it is like a toaster. turn on the key to my goat. gerri: i love tha no one to think about it. th best luxury-car. >> out the a-6. supercharged. gerri, 22 mpg. above average reliability was rare for the germans. it is superfast or super smooth uncomfortable. will do both. gerri: and pretty darn good gas mileage. where families looking for in a new minivan? >> donna odyssey is our top minivan, and it was awful is the last couple of years because reliability was kind of an attack. come back, average reliability, 19 mpg overall fuel economy. >> o.c. for separate. got a little quieter.

honda's usually loud, this one not. gerri: what happened to the american cars? >> well, they're just not their overall. don't do everything perfectly. for example, the for the state, that is our top-rated small suv, but we don't have reliability data, as we cannot recommend that. we're not want to get the benefit of the doubt. gerri: you're the consumer report. it will test it out. you'll mess around. is there anything close? was there any american car that was close? >> you know, the ford escape. the fourth focuses another one very small car competing with the subaru and present, what is just a couple of points below. reliability just is not there. you know, they're their neck-and-neck, but they're so big that they're spending their money across the to wide range of vehicles. gerri: i want to come back into some vehicles. i hope you love me out. >> any time. any time. you're invited. we have the driver seat right there. porsche, bmw, whether you like to drive. gerri: it sounds like fun. thank you for coming on. >> my pleasure. gerri: on to this ig day in

business history. back in 1930 the first traffic lights were installed rht here in manhattan. after witnessing a collision between an automobile and a horse-drawn carriage geared morgan took his turn at inventing a traffic signal. the morgan traffic signal was that t-shaped performing three functions, stop, go, and then all directional stop position. the third light stopped traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets safely. eventually he sold the rights is traffic signal to general electric for $40,000. the first traffic light was installed in new york city today that you're 26, 83 years ago. it seems like it should be longer. we will be right back with my "2 cents more" and the answer to the question of the day, should the government be buying homes with sandy victims? stay with us. ♪

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