weekend. but you have to get some cash. there is a problem. your atm is closed. so you go to another bank. go to another bank and it is closed. they are all closed. they are shut tight and not

reopening anytime soon. the latest word is maybe by tuesday. but this is friday, and you need money now. what are you going to do? what you going to do? welcome, i am neil cavuto. i bet you look at these images out of cyprus today and say, those poor suckers. at least they can't shut down our base here or limit how much we can withdraw our banks, like they plan to do when they reopen there, at least they can't monitor us and how many times we use our agents over there. that is cyprus. it is not us. for now, you are right. but i want you to look very closely out of this tiny island nation. this is what happens when the government fears contagion. it starts doing naughty things. this is limiting how much those folks can take out once they can get out the money.

it is enacting sweeping measures that are raising eyebrows worldwide. banks rethinking even being there. paying customers wanting to get out of there. it is a mess. in these next 72 hours, cyprus officials are very lelia. they are working overtime to contain this mess. let me put it this way. cyprus is no longer an island. cyprus is a tsunami. it scares me customers worldwide. that is what they are hoping to avoid this weekend. it depends on whether they deal with this. going to john brown, and our own nicole petallides on whether they can and will. nicole knows of what she speaks. her parents are from cyprus and

she has visited there many times or so. these are wholly times. >> i am so glad that you're painting it in the roper way. this is .2% of europe's gdp. it is a small island and it is being menial to so many. but it paints a picture of what is going on there. which is catastrophic. you go in there and you are talking about confiscating peoples money. not letting them have access and availability to them. almost tuning this over what really is a huge political battle around the world. the russians and germans and the eurozone and cyprus is caught in the middle. in the meantime from the people are not able to access their money. they don't have gas lines. they are not able to get gas. it is unbelievable the fact that they are living there. the fact that they are frightened and scared. they work so hard to put money in the bank. neil: your parents were born there. they are not there now. a lot of money find its

attraction. now that is being questioned. so even when the banks reopen, do they tell you that they might not keep their money there? >> there are a lot of people that are ready to hit the banks and get their money out there trying to institute all of these rules. they are going to be checking baby's diapers at the border to see whether people are shoving this or that in her. [laughter] >> they will be policing the borders to see this. in the meantime, this move has really hitcyprus whether anything happens or not. it has already had them economically. because now, the fear is already there.

neil: john brown, a former uk parliament membe john, do you think that the country, if they stabilize over the weekend, but the fear is there and they star withdrawing money, whether it is limited terms to nicole's point -- but that is what is going to be the problem? >> i was a soldier once in beautiful cyprus. it was veryrosperous on its own. i agree with you, i think that cyprus is the canary in the mine. the amazing thing is that although the central banks have been taxing myself deposits, giving negative interest rates and by a depreciating currency,

like 26% depreciation in last 10 years, the ecb would come out so openly. that is the shocking thing. and of course, people should be very worried about what happened in argentina. they froze deposits and withdrawals so that this could spread. as we look at the united states and europe and the way that the politicians are running the show, it'd heading for disaster. as simpson-bowles said, it is a cancer. there is a time when bank deposits will be threatened if we continue even if the united states and europe -- people go to banks today thinking that it will be okay to. neil: that is a good point. not that it would be imminent or a near-term threat. but the fear is, here is a vulnerable little country where this is looking ke a real

fear. what about greece? what about portugal? >> i mean, this is a western country. the last i heard is that europe is part of the west. >> what is your fear? >> my fear is that if things go awry in this country, you could find out that i can't write a check one morning. what is going to guarantee that? would say that the saudi oilfields oil fields are hit over the weekend. heaven for bed. and there is a mad crash in this country. you wake up and can't write any checks or pay your employees. then what happens? neil: you are scaring me. where do you go with that? what is your biggest fear? that this breaks the trust and banks? >> absolutely. also, it is government getting so big. what right does the central bank

-- and let's not forget the imf. the last i heard, their address in their envelopes read washingt dc. so make no mistake, the u.s. knew about this. what came out of the u.s. was no condemnation. neil: when you talked to them, whether parents or friends, the banks reopen, they want to slowly -- however the government will allow it, they will be taking it out? >> the people will begin taking some money out. they are all spooked. the damage is done. neil: they do not think their money is safe? >> they do not at all. they do not feel it at all. what is interesting is when you talk about this, everyone around the globe becomes spooked. your confidence is gone, your trtrust in the bank is gone the government. all of the politics that goes

on. thatith the fact that you ruined the country now if that was thriving. as one of our previous vigil said. it was thriving on its own before it entered the eurozone. >> my parents were born there and i can tell you that economically, they have a beautiful country. they wouldn't have had this. neil: maybe they will wake up and realize however dramatic and unruly be adjustments, maybe the longer-term direction is away from a club where most of the members don't even qualify to be a part of it and just bolt from the club altogether. in the european union union does divide. >> yes, it is a battle for supremacy for a domination of europe. it is being done almost totally covertly without real approval of citizens.

>> there is the european union going? >> i think it will. being british, i hope that it will. i am vice president of the independence party in the uk. >> i have no idea. i always thought that was a fake accent. [laughter] >> you know, the country that is benefiting by far is germany. they have the most undervalued currency in the face of this globe. if you break up the euro right now, youare this close to a depression in germany. this goes. whatever it is. >> i have to say one last thing. we left out natural gas. which will be developed over the next five years. that is going to be a big part of theegotiations that are

going on forward. so cyprus has become the talking point of the world. it really is scary. nobody is driving their cars because they don't have any money. they can buy gas. it is horrifying. if this were to happen in this have two tax we have in the bank right now. >> they are already doing that with negative interest rates and, of course, currency depreciation. but what eople feel is oh, we have fdic insurance. $10 trillion worth of deposits in u.s. banks. the fdic has 25 billion, less than a quarter of a percent. so it would have to be massive funding from the ctral bank to protect the u.s. deposits. neil: thank you, john. much appreciated, sir. in the meanime, remember when

rahm emanuel wanted to be mayor? he got his job. %-iron fist. with his famous so how is that so many chicago people are responding? it is suddenly not a pretty windy city. and be more afraid of government. th my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams.

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we're not simply saluting history... we're making it. neilhere is what happens when the government gives you everything you want. it wakes up one morning and sa, do you know what? we cannot afford any of it. chicago and the latest spending city. it has rahm emanuel in a heck of a jam. he is closing more than 50 schools to take cash and now the teachers union that helped make him the mayor is right now.

detroit had to bring in outside supervisor in. when good intentions go very bad. >> that is right. they are making the right move to merge these failing schools in places like chicago and detroit. they have already seen this. the problem is the unions who are balking at this. they have been living a very nice lifestyle for a long time. and they don't like to see this happening. but pontiac michigan has done with great success. the problem is when you have urban sprawl inthe campaign for coming out to find a way to pay for it. it may be an issue of emerging entire towns throughout the

country. >> you have to do stuff like this at times. what i'm wondering is what is going on in chicago and detroit and what could be happening very soon in upstate new york. or is it a sign ofhe times? >> those areas just don't have the tax base to solve the problem with cuts and spending. a lot of democrats have actually been fine with unions because of this. they have to cut these things. those are states that we saw to help raise the problem. you don't have that flexibility in chicago as much. so you do what you have to do the. neil: is it enough, wayne rogers? what you think? >> nobody knows until they get into it.

especially if they knew what they were doing. you have five cities in the state of califnia. the city of bell and san bernardino. the biggest oblem fundamentally is that you have a million pension plans that are underfunded. in some cases, in the case of san bernardino, going into the bankruptcy court and trying to get the money from the bondholders. that is a huge risk. once you do that and say the bondholders are in second sition as they did in the gm case, the financial stability of the whole system goes down the drain. >> wayne makes a great point. they are so heavily politically connected. they can get in front of the bondholders and that is true. neil: with the autos. >> that's right. that goes through the bond

market and turmoil. a lot of citi privatize their assets. neil: when you think about? bankruptcy has become less of a scarlet letter? >> it is. if you start cutting the school down to nothing just to make the bond payments, there is no comeback. you are never going to grow your way out of it. >> but they had what was way too expensive as an urban sprawl and california. they cannot aim for that. not the way they overbilled. >> i am cut talking about more cuts to school districts. it could cause problems. >> you mentioned the tax base. obviously, taxing the wealthy as far as they could go.

but we are not getting any blood out of that stone. so now would have to be substantial. so now they are not winning any friends. >>nd have to be substantial cutting. many people ask me what is the risk. and r now it is a aaa, refunded bond. the risk is big and political. it is not financial. it is political. you will see a municipal bond market goes to hell in a handbasketnd a lot of rich people are going to rise p and you will have a problem between the rich and the poor. >> i agree with what he is saying. when you hr these debates, they become news.

rich people tend to attack fiscal reform this way. i'm not sure it's the way to go. we have these problems popping up like mushrooms. we are at the leading edge of it now. if you are a city mayor who sees what is happening, you better start thinking about doing fiscal reform. get ahead of it before it overtakes you. neil: good point. coming up next, who cares about harry potter on your candle? and what hackers don't care about. we will have that next mowing your lawn isn't always easy. but maybe the problem isn't your lawn. introducing the all-wheel-drive mower from husqvarna. we engineered its unique drive system and du transmission to handle hills&

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neil: drones over your house. it is weird, but okay. google snapping pictures of your house. annoying, but that's okay. tracking your purchases online, have always been happening. okay. but the government scanning internet traffic and getting into cahoots with phone companies to help police say, no, that is not okay. the former white house individual on snooping. what do you make of this? what is going on here? >> it is just not the online retailer that most of us know about. but they are very proficient about the ability to leverage the infrastructure and provide data services whereas in the past we have had her own data3

centers and staff them with her own i.t. people. rt of those services consistent with the government plan, in other words, don't build new data centers, don't expand once you have up there. outsource it. that is effectively, if thse reports are true, that is what sound like is going on. they are saying that we will buy those from you and put the services of ourselves. >> they are working for the government to spy on their customers? >> once again, from what i have seen, everything that has been reported so far, it doest seem that that is the case. there are legal mechanisms, other government agencies cago to any retailer or any online retaer and figures the government legal services that tell us about this a lot of the

discussion is making sure that it doesn't get mangled by providing one set of services, making sure it doesn't cross over into the normal business things that you and i and many of us worry about is the governme getting too close to the information, like you said at the top. neil: you are right. i suspect that on the part of these companies that do this, i always worry about the potential for just that. and companies that could enter to an arrangement like this because it is profitable. i am beginning to wonder how far this goes. and exactly what access the vernment really has. >> you're absolutely right worry about it. when you see what we have seen of the past two years about cybersecurity and intellectual property, a lot of these things

are really anchored in warm fundamental freedom of expression, privacy issues that many of us care about deeply. and that is why we need to make sure that there is a transparency out there. what is really the business model that is taking place. how are we making sure that there is a firewall. no pun intended. between the regular business things that we care about anything to the government caaes about and the way they run their business. it is not only looking at this now, but also king sure that the business process has our privacy and civil liberties protected. neil: what do you think, howard? >> concerning the business practices? neil: i don't know, i do think it has gone way overboard. >> that is a whole another discussion. what it boils down to is on

somebody has some data, it's easy to look at and say, okay, this is a national security issue and conceivably go outside of what the plans and policies are. neil: thank you very much. i appreciate it. >> it is good to talk to you. neil: remember when these taxes started springing up? uncle sam is coming and he's uncle sam is coming and he's asking someone to clean [ kitt ] you know what's impssive?

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neil: government officials say they want to clean up the tax code. to make a very serious point, the government is looking at a uniform internet tax. when we were told would never happen on top of the other taxes that we were told would never happen. this federal internet tax, i am telling you, ge ready for it. it is coming soon. charles payne and melissa francis they do not expect it to stay at the levels for long. it is here, the question is whether europe starts low and high. >> you are right, it opens the gate to that. but it makes you very nervous one of the things about buying online is that a lot of the time you don't pay taxes.

if a store or vendor doesn't have this in your stae, then you get away with not paying taxes. it's like a tempting morsel out there and they are going to go grab at. neil: every time someone comes up with a new tax, it's not as if they get rid of an old one. neil: that was supposed to be a benefit for taxes. neil: to your point, it has gone straight up. u know, i understand there is one side that is saying that it is unfair. that there is an unfair advantage. i think it is more of a states rights issue. neil: so if you're ordering something from illinois, you're paying the illinois tax.

and that is their decision to make sure what happens. this is nuts. they are out of control as it is. >> if you look, amazon is in favor of this and i could not figure out why. i thought how could this possibly be. but they are realizing that if you level the playing field, they are going to do better because they have the most leverage, the bill is grill out there. >> they also he a distribution center. >> it becomes a barrier to enter the competition. >> exactly, it helps out that the guy.

>> i go to bookstores, i love going in their. >> i never do. neil: i am with you, i buy everything on amazon. it doesn't matter how small it is. free shipping. you know. >> i trip over a box like dick van dyke. i may open up a distribution center at my house. >> i will say a final statement, what happens is i have a lot more creativity than on cutting spending. >> i would also say that if you think amazon is paying this tax, you are paying this tax. this is just another thing for the little guy who's trying to get by. >> would make a difference if someone shot on amazon?

two you you're getting away with something by getting it online. you tax the things you want to discourage. at a time when the economy is struggling? >> i agree 100% with you. there is no creativity at all. >> i like the show even more all the time. [laughter] neil: thank you, guys. thank you very much. in the meantime, what is jimmy fallon getting that has a guy named mitch saying my goodness look, if you have copd like me, you know it can be hard to breathe, and how that feels.

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[inaudible] >> keep up the good work. >> thank you. neil: if jimmy fallon does get "the tonight show" and it does come to new york, the joke ultimately could be on businesses already in new york. because andrew cuomo's new budget would give this show a huge tax break for moving into the big apple. other companies are saying, hello, what about us, we have been struggling in the big apple and have not left the big apple. we have been supporting the bi apple. why not give us a break for sustaining the big apple?

sporting-goods ceo mitch mundell is one of them would he think. >> i applaud the governor. it's going to create jobs. it is all about job creation. you know better than everyone. >> it will bring people to new york, hire more people for the hotels and restaurants. >> i think he will be tremendous. at the end of the day,, i would hope this is the start of something big with the governor hopefully the state and washington will figure it out. you know, if they give us tax credits, we are going to spend more. >> if they don't, the economy will continue to be in a

tailspin. >> other states trying to woo a new industry. the thing came up in texas. you have a lot of friends and colleagues in the business that are saying the same thing? that whatever breaks they may get, we should get? >> absolutely. it is all about if we invest in our business. this will create a tremendous ripple effect to create new jobs. it will be great for the economy. we will hope that this is something that will be a start for all of us. neill i don't think the government cares. i think coming to new york and

hearkening back the days of johnny carson. you know, i don't think it's fair or right, but i do think it is that retailers make up almost 60% of the volume in this country. >> okay. >> would you go to new jersey? would you leave the city? >> no. neil: do they know that? he is an institution. so he will complain. >> we are still investing regardless. we are panting and putting new fixturing. if youontinue to do that, we will give you tax credits and hopefully something will be happening. neil: how are things in new york right now? >> i think people realize when the government added a 2% tax --

an effect. plus you have the delay of the refund checks to the consumer. on top of that, you have washington that is dysfunctional. >> is a lot of this discreonary income. if you're pinching that come your pinching your customer. >> parents will always buy sports equipment. they would rather not buy something for themselves. but take care of the children. neil: thank you very much. it is great to hear from you. yo look great. neil: i have lost 65 pounds. neil: that's enough of that. okay, when weome back, michigan unions are fighting back.

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the. neil: unions are finding ways. making sure that they pay dues for a long time. now, michigan republicans are threatening to cut funding. would he make of this? >> thank you for having me. let me guess, big oil.

many don't crack the top 10. people are tired. unions are used to wielding so much political power. [inaudible] you can then provide kickbacks. the. neil: can they enforce this?

>> you know, i don't know if it can be enforced. i am hoping that we see. i really hope that it can't. i don't throw this around flippantly, but you say, this is unmerican or you are a great american. you force people into paying duals that is by definition anti-american. very un-american. people can have the right to work. unions are losing right now. they are losing big. you look at michigan, who would've thought that that would've been a right to work. generally if your team is losing, it is because your team consists of losers. neil: i want to switch gears here. there are many who still watch the show. but i wanted to address this. we talk about these cougar

cruises. >> it was wonderful to be in a place where younger men were free to express a preference for older women without any strange looks were prejudiced or anything like that. just being really free. neil: so what do you think? >> well, she associated younger man with worker bee. i really don't have a strong opinion, but i don't like what she said. i don't like what she stands for. your people to grow up and are two different kinds of people. people that say i wish i know what i know now when i was younger. i'm so glad. other people say that i want to go back to those days. doctors are calling it a second adolescence. he used to be called immature behavior. people don't grow up, 25, 30, 35. they are still liing in their

college years with glorified alkyl-ism. and this woman is saying that i want to date younger guys because they are in my line of thinking. you need to change your thinking. you are a mature and beautiful woman, act like it. the. neil: i found it amazing. british petroleum, all of these companies that are hiking dividends, they have a lot of money on the side. they are buying out shareholders. maybe a competitor in the business, but not one that i can see yet committing to a plan or expanding operations or dare i y jobs. what do you make of all that? >> well, it is popular to hate on bp. i don't exactly know. let me tell you a story. i was raised in québec and oil prices are about three times the price.

people began hating oil companies. but in québec there is a pie chart on a gas station where you go. wherit actually shows the profit margin for the oil company versus the canadian government and the provincial government. it is incredibly thin in québec. i like it, they power my car to get here. i'm not going to be an idiot to ride my bicycle to work and tucks in my pants. neil: steve, it is always good to have you. on that issue, whether it is big oil or anything above, saying thank you orville and wilbur... ...amelia... neil and buzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history.

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the. neil: i do want to focus on this development about all of the

money company selling out. but not like you'd expect help the economy. as we mentioned, a very serious commitment. >> the s&p 500 pays out in dividends. also hitting the 118 billion. letting the multiplier taken fact for investors. the. neil: what you make of that? >> everyone running these companies -- not all of them are rational people.

as opposed to taking risk in investing it in some other way. it might create jobs, but it could also be a risk to the company. i sat on the board of the company that did justthat. we looked at all of the options and say, we have cashier. we can use this cash. >> yes, this is still capital prervation. >> yes, a few things going on. a huge cash flow -- [inaudible]

so they have to return it one way orhe other. next0 years, shares of the next decade could go up to be one it can remarkably get stronger and stronger. >> i do agree. neil: jjstifying the se of this policy by barack obama. >> they say 1.5% regrowth. historically when you have a weak economy when you have a recession, usually have companies coming in. companies are still.

neil: i don't know whether some take their business overseas, or whether it will happen anytime soon, but more that they will have under their own domestic on bella now -- this is the stuff they deal with. it back when you move the needle on t economy? definitely move the needle on the stock market. >> capital is capital.