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tv   MONEY With Melissa Francis  FOX Business  June 12, 2013 5:00pm-6:01pm EDT

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around. sometimes the markets react better to bad news on the economy than they dot other way. all comes down to interest rates and what the fed might do in response. liz: money with melissa francis is next. melissa: i'm france france an here's what's "money" tonight. forget the whistle-blower, should a journalist who leaked secret nsa documents be prosecuted? congressman peter king says yes. he joins to us explain why. plus, should employers be able to reject job applicants because they have a criminal history? regulators sue two major companies over it. we'll tell you how the outcome could affect every business in the country. "who made money today"? let's just say they're cranking up the music and head banging in celebration. stay tuned to find out who exactly that is. even when they say it's not, it is always about money.
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melissa: starting off tonight, money is not bringing you just the headlines it is making the headlines of the last night i spoke with former congressman ron paul about his concern that nsa whistle-blower richard snowden could be the target of a u.s. drone strike. >> i'm worried about somebody in our government might kill him with a cruise missile or a drone missile. i mean we live in a bad time where american citizens don't even have rights and that they can be killed. melissa: that interview went viral with media outlets around the country picking it up. the question is, how far should we be going to get snowden? should others be faced with charges like "the guardian" reporter glenn greenwald who broke the story? republican congressman peter king says yes. i spoke to him just a short time ago. melissa: let me ask you. you have been hopping mad about this situation and ron paul has
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heard you. as we just said he is in fact, you know, worried that edward snowden could be target of a drone attack. do you think that is taking it too far? >> yeah it is. this whole issue has become so hysterical. when republicans or conservatives call them spying and snooping, this is absolutely necessary program. it is something that is saving american lives and something totally protected by the courts, totally constitutional and totally in conformance with law. as far as killing people with drones, no, i do think every effort should be made to extradite snowden, to prosecute him, to the fullest extent of the law. what he has done is absolutely disgraceful. this guy is not american here remember. he is a defector and possibly a traitor. melissa: not only to be a traitor but done a service? he wanted to bring to light the ffct that many people did not know that the nsa is collecting record on hundreds of millions of people and saving them over time, storing them in warehouses, server facilities in
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utah, that could be used at any point in the future, just enormous dragnet i think is bigger than most americans thought, you don't think there is a value in the public knowing that. >> absolutely moment. thank god the nsa is doing this i'm a beneficiary of this in new york. i saw how this program saved american lives back in two thousand nine with when he attempted to blow up the new york city subway system. everything they're doing is constitutional, monitored bit courts and in conformance of law. absolutely not this is one of the worst services any american could have done. he violated his oath and disclosed information that could put american lives at risk. it is helping al qaeda. how is that possibly a service to the american people? how could that possibly be in any stretch of imagination to service for the american people? melissa: i think it was shocking to the american people when they see things like what is going on with irs the way the power, still it leads to a climate of distrust. so is there a way to reconcile the two things in the minds of americans? what could you say to americans
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that, to make them feel better about the fact, maybe i can't trust the irs but i can trust the nsa? >> absolutely. first of all there is no reason for the media to be spreading this distrust. the fact there is no comparison between the irs and nsa. the court is not monitoring the irs. congress is not monitoring the irs the way it does the nsa. the fact is this program is set up is actually a special court to deal with it where every 90 days the program has to be reauthorized. i have spoken with lawyers who go before this court, how difficult it is. they set very, very strict standards. this is absolutely essential to protect american lives. have people forgotten nine 11? we can not find one instance of american's rights violated. everything is entirely legal and constitutional. and talk about spying and storing in secret places in utah, that is roger moore talk of the right. melissa: you've taken it one step further -- >> michael moore. i don't want to besmirch. michael moore.
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michael moore talk. melissa: "the guardian"'s glenn greenwald should be arrested, implicated? what do you think should happen in the reporters? >> i'm talk about greenwald in particular. should be prosecuted. and consideration provescution because of the fact not only did he disclose classified information very damaging to th3 united states, as far as intent he also said he may well release the records of every cia agent and asset around the world which would result in americans and our assets and our sources being murdered and tortured. this is what happened before back in the 1970's when this information was released and station chief in athens, greece, was murdered. that shows is intent it is to hurt america and he disclosed classified information. are limits to every amendmeet. melissa: how do you draw the line to what was done by james rosen and ap? when you say something like that it sends chills to reporters around the world who are trying to get good information out to
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the public? how do you draw the line? >> first of all, no right is absolute. we live in a world where you have to make distinctions. james rosen was not attempting to kill americans. he was not saying he would release information that would put american lives at risk. this is something that should be done in only very, very selective cases. i'm saying this one where you have someone who disclosed so much damaging information an then is threatening to disclose more information which can result in americans being murdered, that to me shows his intent is to harm america. and this information, again, lives could well be lost because of it. i don't want that on my conscience. melissa: do you worry the american public is not on your side? you were flogged in effigy on the steps of the can capitol? do you worry about public opinion with your position on this? >> those lunatics are not representative of the american people. only reason i think the majority of the american people are against the program. i don't think they are. because of hysteria put out by too many people in the media and frankly too many people in
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washington, too many politicians who never cared enough to observe this before. who are not focused on terrorism and are fanning flames. that irresponsible. the purpose of leadership is not worry about some whacko screaming on the steps of the capitol. it is to save american lives. melissa: damn media. always our fault. congressman, thanks for coming on the show. uniting going on the offense since the nsa scandal broke. google release adler asking the government for permission to publish requests of data. some critics accuse google enabling spying because of their technology. is google good or evil? remember that is their motto, don't be evil. with me, a privacy and security researcher and stephen hayes from the "weekly standard." thanks so both of you for joining us. steve, i want to start with you because google is trying to get out there in front of this story. they have put out a public letter to general general asking
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if theydattorney general eric holder to publish the transparency report which is supposed to show how many times they refused the government when the government asked to see the users data. is that compelling or convincing? will it do anything? >> it could. google is showing the scope of their involvement in this. by accounts we heard from google lawyers and people i've spoken to, you know, americans will likely be surprised that it is not broader. i think that is the case that google wants to make and wants to make publicly right now because there is sense, there is perception, i think it's a misperception that you basically to the the government tacked into the servers of you know, google and all these other tech companies when that is not in fact what was happening. melissa: let's ask sammy. is that the case? are they tap understood the servers? do they know exactly what's going on? because steve doesn't think so but i sort of do. >> well actually i don't believe that the government is really tap understood google servers. i do understand the government is sending subpoenas, search
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warrants and now foreign intelligence surveil rans act getting warrantless information and using gag orders to hold google, essentially shut their mouths about what information they're leaking to the government. however i don't believe that the government has basically a back door into google servers or anyone else's where nervous when yourelationship heh president obama. he was a key part of the campaign, obama for america, designing really the internet-based campaign that reached out through social media so effective to some people. he has gone on and transformed it into sivi is analytics which will help independent and democrat candidates and it feels like use the power of google. is it wrong to make all those connections? >> no, i think those connections are supported by fact. the things you just laid out are all true. i think they're indisputable. the question what does that have to do with nsa?
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i think there are some people conflating google's democratic activities, the fact they supported democrats, supported this president, with what's happening at the nsa i think the two are separate issues. if you were a republican stratgift or a conservative activist and you had concerns that google might have been providing data to the democratic party, to president obama's re-election campaign, to help him win, i've talked to republican who is are concerned about that and, you know, raised questions about the extent google might have been helping the president in that manner. that is totally different than i e-mail, they can actually see my words and thoughts and what i was saying and thinking. that is what makes the google thing scarier. do you agree with that? >> absolutely. i think that is really scary. we need to understand this has been happening for a long time. there is in the carnivore software fbi employed 10 or 15 years ago in various isps
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where they were able to look at e-mails and other internet information and now w what they're getting. again if a gag order is given to a company like google they may never, we may never know what information was actually given. only reason, we understand what the nsa's requesting these days is because of this information that was just recently leaked. melissa: yes. >> otherwise we wouldn't have known. >> the problem -- melissa: steve, go ahead. steve, you can have the last word and then we'll fet out. go ahead. >> problem with some of the stuff in the leaks we understand was inaccurate. i talked to an intelligence official over the last couple days who said that when he first read "the washington post"'s version of what has been called the prism story, the one that broke last thursday and involves these internet groups, these tech companies, he said he thought there was a new program. he was well aware of the program that existed but because the description of what was happening was so at odds and so different than the program that
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he was familiar with, that he had been briefed on, he didn't even recognize the program. so i think we've got a lot of learning to do what exactly is in the program. melissa: great point. we'll end there. guys, thanks for coming on. >> thanks, melissa. >> okay. melissa: coming up on "money," should employers be able to reject a job applicant solely based on a criminal background check? two companies are being sued by the feds for not hiring convicted criminals, not hiring criminals. do you have a problem with that? we took to the streets to see what people think. >> i think they should be able to hire them. i don't think because you have a criminal record that you should be x'd out of things. at od, whatever biness you're in, that's the businese in.
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♪ melissa: whether it is on wall street or main street, here's "who made money today." anyone who owns live nation entertainment. the concert promoter scoring a huge legal viitory. a german ticket seller was seeking $900 million in damages over a contract dispute. live nation won the arbitration ruling that sent the stock soaring more than 16%, closing short after one-year high. good for them. meanwhile losing money, facebook. it is unveiling hash tags for
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the social network. seriously? i mean they are literally just ripping off twitter. was the asterisk not available? investors are apparently unimpressed. facebook shares slid -- the hashtag. come on it, was taken! trying to stop wasting money today, espn. remember the 3-d chan they will that was supposed to change tv forever? espn is pulling the plug. there are too few viewers to keep it running. who would have thought bowling in 3-d wouldn't sell? oh, well. this is something you may be shocked to hear, the federal government slapping two huge companies with discrimination suits for basically not choosing to hire job applicants with criminal background. the equal employment opportunity commission is accusing dollar general corporation and bmw america of improperly performing criminal background checks on potential hires. should employers be able to reject a possible employee if they have a criminal past?
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we went on the street to ask what people thought. take a listen. >> if the person is professional and some things he did in his past or his professional life. >> i think any criminal record is justified for any private company that wants to hire any employee. >> depend how serious the crime is. >> i think it depend on the industry. i think for the financial industry there is obviously any sort of misdemeanors or anything involving money that is probably a pretty good red flag. melissa: here to weigh in, is seth a business lawyer attorney and ty, the chief operations officer at take the interview. nice to have you both on the show. seth, i want to start with you, what specifically was illegal about what the companies did? i feel like when i applied for the job it asks have a criminal record, that seems pretty standard. what did they do wrong? >> essentially what they did wrong they applied procedures criteria whether someone was ever convicted of a crime. for these two companies they
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allegedly considered that and since they decided they didn't want to hire anyone convicted of a crime they have been attacked by eeoc in two separate lawsuits in district courts. there are painful ironies here. the first irony, they're not accused of intentionally discriminating again anybody. they're accused of muddled claim called disparate impact where they use criteria where the government says has effect potentially of impact on minorities. the other irony they're between a rock and hard place. if they apply the criteria they get sued by the eeoc. if they don't apply it and allow someone convicted to come in and they create a problem or someooe gets harmed at the work place then they could get sued for wrongful retention or hiring. >> they can. wow, that is interesting. ty, that is compelling argument. i also wonder if you're hiring someone to operate a cash register it seems relevant to look to see if they ever been convicted of the crime of stealing money from someone. i don't know, you can't do that and not hire them on that basis?
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>> yeah, absolutely. the employ hears every right to screen based on whether a candidate has a criminal background, right? it's clear that if you're handling money and you're an accountant and stolen from a past employer you should not handle money again and you should be able to screen based on these pretenses. >> seth, what is wrong with that? why is that not okay? >> i agree with you completely. the problem we have bureaucrats in washington, specifically at the eeoc, want to march into the hr department, lift up hood on employment manuals on these private companies and tell them what to do, to make the judgment calls for the companies despite there is no dispute they never intentionally does crime the against anybody. i think this abuse of power and i think cases will be ultimately dismissed. melissa: ty, do you agree. >> completely. the government doesn't need to get involved who companies want to hire based on their background and whether or not they have a criminal background.
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obviously when you deal with things such as race and ethnicity, sex, those are areas that the government should get involved but, with background, pertaining to a criminal, that should be a no-brainer. melissa: but, you know, seth, the equal employment opportunity commission must have a leg to stand on here because they have gotten this far. >> well -- melissa: seems like, if nothing else this is going to, isn't it going to cast a chill so to speak on employers as they could go out and look ad backgrounds or do it and stay silent about it? >> you're absolutely right. it will cast a chill. eeoc was waiting to latch on a case like this. they had statistics they're going back several years and trying to latch on to that feds are talking out of both side of their mouth. it is not unusual under federal law to look at old convictions. for certain crimes, 10 or 15 years ago someone could be imported that involved a crime with potentially imprisonment for over a year. you mean someone can be deported
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for a certain crime or i will get sued for hiring them? that is a convoluted in my view. melissa: if you hire someone convicted of pedophilia or attacking a child to work in a nursery school, and then later they attack a child again without question aren't you liable then to that family, legally? >> you have negligent hiring. you have negligent retention issues. you get in front after jury with a situation like that and they will absolutely crush the company. companies need to have latitude to exert reasonable policies and procedures to make hr decisions. melissa: yeah. >> you're absolutely right. it is really a big problem. this is a trend from the eeoc that we'll have to watch very closely what happens in this case. melissa: ty, what would you tell employers to do right now, look at the record or not? >> i would say, yes, obviously make sure you look at records, make sure you document well but i think screening based on criminal background is something absolutely, should be allowed and is something that employers have the right to do.
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melissa: got to do it. gentlemen, thank you so much. >> you bet. melissa: here is the "money" question of the day, should employers be able to reject a job applicant solely based on a criminal background check? caused quite a stir online with almost everyone saying yes. we want to hear from more of you. facebook.com/melissafrancisfox or twitter @melissaafrancis. coming up on "money" where the irs targeting began. we'll find out why it is leading to more questions than answers. do you ever have too much money? ♪ she's always been able to brighten yo day.
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stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialisor daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. ♪ melissa: brand new details on one of the other big government scandals. the irs targeting conservative groups. a report shows that it all started back in 2010 when low
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level irs employees in cincinnati saw tea party protests on tv and decided to take a harder look at their applications for tax-exempt status. the report also confirms that managers in washington were aware of what was going on. joining me now is former indiana senator and fox news contributor evan bye. welcome back to the show. >> good to be back. melissa: a lot of details in the latest report. this is elizabeth saying she was micromanaged to death. she says that every correspondence had to be reviewed by washington and by july the irs had developed this bolo list be on the lookout. they started gathering up all the information and started sending it to washington. at that point does that mean that this debunks this theory it was a few rogue officers in cincinnati? >> sound like it, melissa. pretty clearly was a hair-brained scheme. shouldn't have been done. people permitting it or authorizing should be held to account. some should lose their jobs, the notion of irs applying
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additional scrutiny to groups or individual because of their political beliefs, it is just plain wrong. melissa: seems logical first thing they said. they were watching tv and see the tea party demonstrators out there demonstrating. wait a second, they recognize one of the names of the group. i saw an application come across my desk. they w for tax-exempt status, saying, they were doing social work. they were not a political group and i'm looking at screen seeing them out there demonstrating. that seems logical. >> well this has been a gray area and source of some controversy for some time in washington where, groups are allowed to have tax-free status to engage in free speech, express themselves, pursue social causes et cetera, et cetera. what they're not allowed to do is engage in overt political campaigning for a candidate, against a candidate, that kind of thing. when one morphs into the other is really hard to know. it is very task-specific. melissa: do you believe, does it sound right to you they would target an entire group, target right wing, target tea petition
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as opposed to a broader net? does that sound like the washington you were a part of? >> clearly it was wrong. as you recall in the aftermath of obamacare and stimulus bill and all going on in 2009 and 2010, a great counter reaction in the country. a lot of these groups began springing up. so i think if it had been one or two or three it would have been one thing but suddenly they're starting to get dozens and dozens of them. a number of political figures, prominent, the groups are say lighting the law up to no good. whether they came up with this on their own or people said we should look into it, that is what we need to get to the bottom of. melissa: we need to figure out what the source is. that is concern for loft people now there are some scandals every day this one guests lost and we don't ever find out what the genesis was. do you have faith we'll find out the source of this? >> you know, i do, particularly with congress being divided. the house of representatives is controlled by a party that is not, same party that controls the administration.
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they're having hearings. they took statements that served as bases is ffr some articles you're referring to. i think we'll get to the bottom. the fbi is investigating. the fbi will not go into the tank for the administration. i have a fair degree of confidence because of melissa, quote-unquote scandals this will have the greatest legs and resonance with american people because everybody interacts with the irs. i hate to say it politicians and reporters are not in such high favor with american people, they don't care about us but the notion of government going through your tax returns, using political lens that gets people's attention. melissa: i can't believe that but i feel like more and more we found the bad apples, it is these three bad apples we'll fire the people and it is all better. i don't know that the american public would be satisfied with that would you be satisfied with answer that it started with this group of people, five or six, we've gotten rid of them and now we're better? or is it a systemically problem where there needs to be change within the laws the way the irs operates? >> that's a great question. my opinion it will be formed by
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whatever the facts are. there will be a thorough investigation. the house of representatives controlled by republican party will investigate. fbi, which is a pretty credible organization will investigate. let's see what they come up with at the end of the day. statements are taken under oath. people have to tell the truth, otherwise they're perjuring themselves. then we'll know whether the law needs to be changed or whether this is all there was and we need to get to more. melissa: i hope it was. but i hope it is not buried by other scandals. senator, thanks very much. >> great to be here. melissa: there are plenty of little-known opportunities still out there. i think it is enough to completely transform our economy. i do. energy legend t. boone pickens is here with his newest outlook. "piles of money" and lots of oil coming up. ♪ i go ahead of you? instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fiy thousand dollars.
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drilling could create 3 million high-paying jobs in the next decade. it is clear we need to do something big to get america back to work. where are the most promising fracking plays right now? let's ask the man who knows, t. boone pickens. so good to have you back on the show. >> thank you. melissa: so this is my theory. i think that fracking could really be our thing. that, in the past when we've seen this big structural shift in the economy where all of a sudden millions of jobs disappeared and don't appear to be coming back we've either had war or the internet crop up.3 we had some huge shift that created a new industry. do you think fracking and shale could be that industry in the u.s. that could get us going again? >> the, you know, the industry has done a very good job and i'm not up here stumping for the industry but at the same time recognize what's been accomplished. but you came out of the tech period and a lot of information developed in the tech period was, went over to the oil and
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gas industry. fracing has been one of the things that we've gained from some of the computer technology and all. plus, horizontal drilling but the oil and gas industry, you said three million jobs by the end of the decade, i think that is, is doable. it could even be more than that but there are jobs there all the way up from, you know, say, up from truck drivers's a good job but you've got jobs, rough neck, truck drivers, you've got all kind of jobs all the way to the top. so the industry has done, i think, a rather fantastic job. melissa: absolutely. especially when you look at @ages, we went and tried to break down what these people were making especially folks at home may be out of work from construction or other fields trying to figure out what to do. according to the bls the average wage for all workers in the fracking industry is $51 an
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hour. that is the average. white-collar jobs like petroleum engineers can get 35 to $67 per hour. skilled and semiskilled workers, $20 and up. you're someone with so much experience down in texas in the field, seeing people out there. if you're an unemployed construction worker, can you make the traps significance? is it too late if you're an adult, can you retrain and find a job in the fracking and shale industry? >> well, no, i mean there's opportunity continually. i speak to college students quite a bit that are majoring in geology and petroleum engineering and i was over at smu a month ago and i said, i can tell you you have picked the right career in geology or petroleum engineering. there is so much energy, so much resources. if you look around the world, the countries that are doing the best are countries that are using their own resources and the united states has ample
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resources to take care of our needs. so what an opportunity for all of us. but, it's, you know, if the energy industry has done one thing they probably created too many jobs someplaces. but you have 30 states, you have 30 states now that are producing states. and when i started in the industry years ago there were nine producing states. so that's three times as many today producing oil and gas as there were when i started. melissa: yeah, absolutely. you were way out in front of this. i remember many years ago when you said natural gas for transportation on a show i was doing, and i got a bunch much e-mails afterwards saying what? is that even possible. i think he was mistaken, he met gasoline. >> i know it. melissa: you were way out in front of this. so if you are an investor right now where are there opportunities that aren't hot yet? what are you looking at next in this industry? what, either, businesses or
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areas or locations? what is the thing that people haven't discovered that you're looking at? >> well, today, you know, people see natural gas at 3.76 cents today. asia, $15. europe, $15. the price has to go up, get on the supply side. let me tell you there is a lot of natural gas in the united states. the price will go up. it will not be a runaway price i can tell you that. there are only 364 rigs running today on natural gas. four years ago there were 1600. those rigs all moved over. they're drilling for oil now. but when the price of natural gas gets up to $5, we'll put more rigs over off the oil area into the gas area again. $6 puts damn near everything back to work. but, and so, $6. -- $6.
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let me give awe comparison, on btu equivalency, oil, at $100 a barrel, natural gas would be 16. it is 6 to 1 on a btu parity basis. so here you are, with, you know, with the price of natural gas, it's just a fraction. melissa: it's a tiny fraction. it's a tiny, tiny fraction what you're paying to get the same energy from oil. boone, you're so right. thanks for coming on. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. i enjoyed it. melissa: coming up on "money," need some extra days off to take a week-long beach vacation? oh, yeah. at one company that is no problem. employees can buy and sell time off. we talk to the company how this idea can revolutionize vacation tile everywhere. at the end of the day, it is about vacation days. know your paycheck. never mind. ♪ vo: traveling you definitely end up meeting a lot more e people t
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♪ melissa: who says you can't buy time? want a few extra days off work to hit the beach? who doesn't? maybe you rather not take all the time off than you're allowed. more companies give employees to
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buy or sell extra vacation time. it is a novel idea. kind of feel like it could backfire though on employers. chicago based manufacturing company usg is among those offering employees this option. the senior vice president of human resources brian cook and project analyst lindsey sandal join me now. brian, why don't you go ahead and tell me exactly how this works. i mean it is kind of like the flex accounts, right? at the beginning of the year you decision. does it have to be at the beginning of the year? >> it does have to be at the beginning of the year. first of all thanks for having us on the show. we're excited to talk about this. this is something we've been doing for over 20 years. interesting to see how much interest has grown in the concept just recently but when employees enroll for their benefits on an annual basis they get the option to buy or sell a week of vacation. they make that election in the fall preceding the year which this is going to happen. so they can, if they, i'm sorry. melissa: yeah, no.
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one of the problems with flex benefit accounts sometimes you go ahead and you buy time, you buy something, whatever it is like health care expenses and then at the end of the year you haven't used money so you lose it. is that how it works as well, and buy a week and don't spend it by the end of the year you just lost that money? >> i guess in theory but we haven't really had that issue with employees. they schedule it like any other vacation. we make sure we work it into the schedule. melissa: the main problem that see when the economy is down, it seems like everybody would want to sell back their vacation days. all of a sudden you wwuld have given almost the whole company a raise. has that been a problem? >> it hasn't. about half of the employees eligible to do this buy a week every year. may not be the same half but about 50% of the employees buy a week and that's been constant really as long as we've had the program. some people sell a week but it is much fewer. that has not really risen in the last few years.
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melissa: brian, what happens if everybody decide they all want time off in a given year? everybody wants to go to the beach at the same time so they all buy extra weeks for summer, and all of your company is a ghost town, you could roll a tumbleweed in the middle. that is a big problem. around here we need angst cores when everybody takes time off. it's a big problem. >> at that time we allowed people to buy two weeks. after a few years weehad to restrict it with to one week. even with one week if half employees by a week, we fit it into the schedule. it is not a major issue. melissa: lindsey is this a big benefit that makes you want to stay at this company versus others? >> absolutely. i never have a problem using my vacation. that is certainly not an issue but joining us. sg four years ago i've taken the benefit every single year. it allows me to go on vacations to see my family scattered across the u.s. otherwise i
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might not fit in all the weddings and baby showers, 80th birthday parties. it's a great advantage. melissa: do you feel like you're basically taking more time off than your employer wants to you do? if you're buying extra vacation days to me it would mean i'm not at work as often when they want me to be. maybe when it is time for a new contract or deciding maybe putting someone else in my spot i've taken all the extra days off so i look like i don't really want to be there don't you worry about that? >> not at all. like brian said, over half of the population takes an extra vacation week. and usg is really flexible. it is definitely not seen as detrimental to your career, thank goodness. melissa: okay. i don't know. you might be getting a lot much job applications after this interview. thanks for both of you coming on the show. we appreciate your time. >> great, thank you so much. melissa: coming up on "money," when you run something on solar power you might want to think how often it gets cloudy, right?
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just a thought. but apparently a thought that was apparently lost on the guys behind city bike. how it is creating a mess for new york city's bike-sharing program. that is next on spare change. you can never have too much solar power obviously. ♪ if you've got it, you know how hard it can be to breathe
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♪ melissa: it is time for a little fun with "spare change." to their rick joined by our all-star team. thanks to both of you for joining us. that music, land. i thought it was fabulous. >> see nt network. country stars. >> i'm with you. melissa: first up, my favorite mayor is at it again. bloomberg is tryyng to save the city from a climate change. this plan and cost about $20 billion. one of the proposals is to build a sustainable island on manhattan's lower east side to shield the city from bad weather. seriously? is it possible to fully protect the city from extreme weather? you are a weather expert. by justice sam.
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>> first of all, $20 million. -o dr. evil. i will say to my think we have one on the west side, battery park city. it takes in all the bad weather. so, east side, take my bad weather, lower east side. >> so ridiculous and grandiose. this is delusional on the part of the mayor. this is not aimed at keeping a safe. this is the mayor's own ego. one thing i resent is this instant assumption now, almost politically incorrect to have any doubt about climate change. did you know that last year in 2012 u.s. carbon emissions went down to 1992 levels. the tornadoes that happened this year have nothing to do a3 climate change. i mean, they do. melissa: 99% of all scientists agree.
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>> well -- melissa: we were debating how lame mayor bloomberg is. i'm not debating it. >> where is your seven? this one surprisingly because on soda and big macs and salt and everything else, when is this guy leaving? >> this man wants to run for president. melissa: another one of my favorite mare's great ideas. no one involved thought about the downside to solar power. so the bike still work when it's cloudy out because the doctor solar powered. on gray days writers either can't get the bugs out of the terminals or put them back and. how was this not work done before they rolled out the program. it's not always sunny area. >> as an entrepreneur did this a matter figured out, because government did it they don't bother. who will bother.
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way for the losses to come in because they don't provide helmets. melissa: these things aren't working. so they're getting stolen by the truckload. >> and getting charged. at know anyone who has tried this. everyone is complaining. >> they're always over half full. of think anyone is even renting them. melissa: they're gone now for a nice try, but they're walking -- blocking all this traffic. >> here's the thing. go to central park and get a bite the way people have been for a hundred years. melissa: saw in case you're wondering who the next steve jobs is, it's tiny west. a controversial rapper actually said in an interview ," i am undoubtedly, you know, steve of internet downtown, fashion, culture byline job. i'm not even sure what that meant. somehow people got out of that that he is steve jobs.
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tennessee even come up with this stuff? >> he is -- how low he goes. and the one thing he is right about, steve jobs for all is brilliance some people thought that he was a jerk. now he's showing that he is an incredible jerk. >> are hard and fast rule, if you have anything to do with the kardashian, i'd want to know you. >> accounted. the new york times interview. he uses the word, and i was like 34 times in this interview. the new york times uses six times. melissa: we have to go. that's all the "money" we have. we will see you back here tomorrow. here's "the willis report." ♪ gerri: hello, everybody. i'm gerri willis. tonight on "the willis report" crux steal your personal health information. tonight we will show you how easy it is only had into the system ourselves. >> also, a new danger on the roads.
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aaa is here to warn us about what they're calling a public safety crisis. and big box stores towing gourmet. how good is the fresh brewed target? we're watching out for you tonight on "the willis report." ♪ gerri: we will have all that and

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