four. coming up, some of the hottest investments these days. our next guest helps us to take a look at what you and money can do together. that is up for "the willis report" tonight. have a great night. lou: good evening, everyone, and thank you for being with us. president obama spoke today. leading many to ask a the question, why now? the president himself answered the question himself in a candid and frank manner in a speech designed to change the conversation. president obama took a clear shot at republicans who continue to pursue the truth regarding the numerous scandals currently engulfing his administration. >> but with this endless parade of distractions and political

posturing and phony scands, washington has taken its eye off the ball. and i am here to say that this needs to stop. >> this moment is important. >> should president obama asked the families of the our terrorist attack and how thisazi government does or does not go debatable ones. could that be phony? and how about chief washington correspondent james rosen and thosof the asociated press. i'm guessing that they don't considerheir anger over the government's violation of their first amendment right phony. celina border patrol agent brian

terry -- is there anything phony about their pursuit of the truth seeking those that are responsible for the death of their son? can you imaginwhat would happen if the presidents president told onservative groups and activists and others audited by the internal revenue service but simply because of thei political views that their concerns are phony. and how did jack lew come to an absurd conclusion regarding an investigation into the irs scandal wch is nowhere near completion after all of four and a half months. we are told that with all of the investigations that are going on, that there has been no evidence of any political decision-making of the irs. the statement is a direct contradiction offered by irs

attorney carver hall, who implicated th irs hief couel's office and the conservative group targeti scandals. the office headed by an obama administration political appointee. today's attempt by the president, diverting public attention from the white house for president obama said himself. because such clarity from this president is still rare, i is worth hearing hi say it oe moretime. >> with this endless parade of distractions and phony scandals, washington has taken its eye off the ball. i'm here to say that this needs to stop. this does not require short-term thinking. it does not require having the same old stle debates. lou: the president says e has a plan to grow in the middle

class. but there is barely a hint of new policy claims to achieve growth, all while blaming congress and his republican opponents for gridlock and obstructionism. it has ke his agenda. chief correspondent ed henry has more on the president's speech from galesburg, illinois. >> this speech was three minutes longer than his state of the union. at the start of the second term. >> if we just stand by and do nothin understand that parrt of our character wille lost. >> at the same illinois location as a young senator in 2005. >> white house aides say the return visit shows rebuilding the middle class has always been his central focus.

in today's speech also sounded like a familiar laundry list of promises that could have been delivered on the 2012 campaign stop. >> good job. good education for your kids. secure retiemt. i'm ging to keep focusing on health care. reporter: republican said the only new part of this is the presidentis going to give more speeches, as he announced. just 25% of independents say that they approve of the president and 10 president obama struts performance among the

subject of jos and economy. >> with thisendless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals, washington has taken its eye off the ball. i am here to say that this needs tostop. reporter: at one pointtthe president said he is willing to work wh anyone. and at other points he vowed to go around them. >> what is billed as a major economic address, he repeated a major refrain, we are not there yet. drawing a scorn from his rivals. >> it's like an easter egg with no candy in it. reporter: the president also boasted that he had ved the american auto industry and those coanies are hang strong les.

lou: now the looming budget bale ahead. supportingthe continuing resolution that would fund the government beyond sptember 30 if it includes funding of obamacare. joining us ow is teve stockman, member of the house committee of foreign affairs. congressman, it is so good to have you with us. let's get the reaction to t president's speech, which has been styled by an important speech in a major speech by the whe house that this is the second time that the president has tried to change topic. thee firstime he went to africa and the white house pre corps issued a retraction of health care. what he did is he gave it great to big siness and what w want to do in the houses give a break

to the american people. the american people are interested in the slain members of government he wants to talk about republicans. lou: >> when what that call for exactly this select committee to investigate? >> well, we have introduced the challenge to the leadership and it is long overdue. we are coming up on the one-year anniversary and we need some

answers. we cannot say what hillary says. it doesn't really matter. it does really matter. if we do not want to repeat these misakes, we need to get to the bottom of this scandal. apparently, i believe, there's so much smoke that there must be fire because the administration %-from what i heard it was witns intimidation telling them not to testify.y. it's a real concern to me that there's a lot re there that needs to be answered. lou: we have just received wrd that this happened within last minute. it is obviously opposed by the

adership of the republican party. >> i just came back from that vote. one of the things tha we had as a young man who is already being prosecuted was in the army, and stealing data. we have another oe that stole data and my concern is not just with this collection data, but who can access it. what is disappointing is that the nsa never looked at the other case and cases that we need to change our polics. what happened to the military could happen to us. i pointed this out that this data, while you may want to safeguard it, i don't think we should be collecting it because other people may have easy access as it has been demonstrated twice within last year he won the idea that he would not want an essay to collect intelligence data information to protect the

security of data that is not selected, it seems to me to be a bit of a stretch. this would impair and impede one of the most important intelligence agencies in the country from doing its job. by the way, the congress of the united states come in the senate of the united states, this checks off on each one of these programs that has been an iue because of the edward snown leaks. our congress has bn given an opportunity to raise objection and approve each of those programs smack your right, that is what we're doing aga. we are looking at the program. i have a different pinion. so do some who have helped to write ththe bill. judge ted post, he said this is a violation of the ourth amendment a searing for things they really haven't been

processed. the amendment simply stated that it should be targeting those that they are investigating, which they can do easily. lou: , spend congressman cummings much for speaking with us. we thank you, sir. >> thank you. lou: the senate giving relief to some students passing a bipartisan deal that ties interest rates on those federal student loans to markets. intere rates were undergraduates will go from the current rate of 6.8%. we'r're talking about federal loans rates of 20%to 3.9%. the new graduate student rate is 5.4% and parents can borrow this at 6.4%. why there would be such a discrepancy is not in alignment with the markets, if you will. the rates will fluctuate, but there is a cap of 8.25% for undergraduates. the white house supporting the bill. but lizabeth warren, senator

warner has voted against an and e argues that students should be able borrow at the same rate like large commercial banks and that would be under 1%. lou: the governor's race in virginia is turng ugly. democratic candidate terry mcconnell talks about funding from hillary clinton's brother and the race is hating up already. is getting complicated out there. virginia's attorney general and gubernatorial candidate jim with the spark cash card from capital one... boris earns unlimited rewards for his small business. can i get the smith contract, ease? thank you. that's three new paper shredders. [ boris ] put 'em on my spark card. [ garth ] boris' small business earns 2% cash back on every pchasevery day.

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lou: one of the scandals plaguing the obama administration is also influencing thvirginia race

for governor. under investigation for allegedly helping hillary clinton's brother. the company in questn also has ties to the gubernatorial nominee terry mcauliffe. joining me now is the virginia gubernatorial candidte, ken cucinelli. good to have you with us, mr. attorney general. >> thank you for having me. lou: that was a top rollicking affair. it is getting dirty, is in a? >> well, they have been up with negative ad and are in their second week of that. up on television,up on the air. filtering it into the debate was apparently no big deal.

terry acauliffe was attacked for that immediately after the bate took place by the press. we have continued to compile inaccuracies and most people would call them something us. but we have tried to push our obs through their it s consistent with limiting government. he was talking about growing mediid is a jobs program. so terry acauliffe thinks that this is how y create jobs and i think we are leaving them with more to invest. those are the kinds of differences is the one that shows you trailing terry acauliffe 33 to 49%. this is now being influenced by

the scandal of alejandro mayorkas. the number o choice of dhs. in a company called gulf coast funds manager. run by hillary clinton in part. >> so why is it an issue? >> well, it really raises more questions about spepending an kerry has been very resistant to any sort of transparency to answering questions from the media or anyone else about these arrangements.

i have been incredibly transparent to the voters of virginia and just last year he said he was suggesting that romney should release his tax returns and this is a real trust issue of the news of the investigation that raises the importance of it and i think that virginians deserve those kinds of questions. lou: governor bobcdonald announcing that he paid more than $120,000 inloans we have star scientific executives.

and that is a full-blown scandal in the state of virginia. he founded the attorney general did nothing wrong. >> certainly what has gone on >> certainly what has gone on with thh governor has been disappointing and a lot of other things. and terry acauliffe is trying to sort of wrap that around my neck, even though this is all very personal to the governor. looking at my disclosures.or your listeners should know that i referred my own case to a democrat prosecutor to review this. his review concluded that there

was no evidence that i had done anything wrong. so i did that on my own collection. i brought my own mistakes forward and i asked a democrat prosecutor to review them with authority to prosecute if anything has been done wrng. that stands in stark contrast to terry acauliffe hiding, not answering question about his businesses not releasing his tax returns. it's very hard to trust someone who is hiding about. >> that the kind of commitmentransparency that virginians can expect from me soon coming when debates do you have? >> we only have one that kerry has agreed to. and they have only agreed to one other debate. lou: mr. attorney general, if you were to say that, you too

will need some really good rest after the debate. we thank you for being here and we wish you luck. we look forward to talking to you again soon. new developments tonight off the coast the gulf of mexico. a blot on that raid las night. the offshore well hs partially collapsed and it is still thorities say the damage won't be as severe as 201. it has been spotted on the water without hydrocarbons being released into the gulf. all 44 workers on the raid were rescued and no injuries were reported. turning now to wall street, stocks finishing mostly low following mixed earnings reports the dow jones industrial is down 25 points. s&p own, the nasdaq is up a fraction. facebook stock surging after

hours trading. the social network company beating earnings expectations and renue is up 50% from a year ago. apple shares up. the tech giant now has more than $146 billion in cash. apple's cash holding is now higher than the total market value of 480 other s&p companies not combined. they are in the top 95 percentile. another stock we are watching is lumbar liquidators. it was recommended to viewers yesterday. >> we have well over 100%. were going to reiterate it and are we going to this well too

much? well, we are going to find out. lou: we are going to follow charles on each of his recommendations. up nearly 7% today to more than $92 a share. we are watching carefully. i'm not going to the chalkboard to show you whether or not president obama is still relevant or is he already a lame duck. that is next. stay with

lou: the president tod tries his very best to take the economic ideas to pratt -- prepackage it is shiny new package what is the effect? it will not help the 22 million america that are under employed or unemployed or have given up and that is what counts his speeches will not get legislation to congress and some critics say the campaign style tour ofthe dwest with his battered agenda is a sure sign he is

in fact, a lame-duck. take a look of the question is president obama relevant or is he a lame-duck? take a look at the president's foreign policy. says secretary of state john kerry can't have a real possibility that is not a probability the odds of success are long to say the least but we will say the administration is still relevant. so move this to the side of relevance. on the other hand, if t administration has managed to add to the chaos of libya, egypt, syria, and also with the prospect of the middle east process, put libya here. it is the indication he is a lame duck, egypt as well well, syria, this is not

going to well and the fact of the matter isohn mccain is not heing even as we speak tonight? domestically congress in the white house will need to raise the of philae limits over the next six months to avoid defaults of t downgraded the president is already making noises he needs to make a deal with republicans so is the relevant? it is an interesting question because the debt ceiling issue is of little ambiguous talking about the lame-duck status ramped up in april pushing for gun-control. of the debt ceiling, we will put it over here. now the pu for a good control fails, a gun-control is not helping the of president.

his persistence isn't lping him but definitely a laid-back with gun-control and now the legislation still alive but notow he envisioned with immigration and now the house goes with a very intelligent approach to immigration reform incrementay, focusing on security and they are making certai tere is a path to legalization it puts those behind who have the lawful process to have a expedited path to citizenship most say the reason iis still tickingecause the president has chosen not to meddle. immigration, witho a question up next come monday sequester that it coinues to complain about criticizing sequester.

calling it a at cleaver it was his administration's idea and his white house idea if he has not engaged house republicans on the ise nor persuaded anyone and also by the way the president who signed it into effect with the issue of sequester he is behaving like a lame duck and of course, there is the big 53 pert want this law repealed but they say all he eds is a good public relations but til they start thinking about how to fix it and implement intellently effectively, obamacare only serve to make the president

a lame-duck. two ises for the presint so he is a lame-ck i would say i thought this president was in trouble. what you think? >> his ian bil is carlos danger. [laughter] is twitr handle makes him the laughingstock but the joke is on the voters of your. in the big apple's mayoral race. did we mention eliot did we mention eliot spitzer? this man is about to be the millionth customer. did we mention eliot spitzer? would you mindf i go ahead of you? instead we had someonego am and win fiy thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth custom. nobody likes to miss out. that's why ally treatall their customers the same.

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lou: breaking news the house of representatives has just passed a defense appropriations bill the legislation includes an amendment to bar it military

action in egypt and of course, the war powers act if the president chooses to engage in syria. the $512 million defense spspending bill passed 315 / 100 highberger joining us now is the te. great to have you here. so i could say this did it how bad of an idea is it from this president's political standpoint? >> nnouncing the huge speech with the economy is a void oany ideas or principles or policies what the president wants to a variance of was was a speech in illinois and those that will support him no matter what your fox news ll reflects that, he has lost

in the middle of the road people but he has also lost a good percentage of his basethose that support the president the most, the president's plate game is alive and well and will not play well in 2013 and 14. lou: are you surprised the president chose to do this? that look most peculiar to see a president at the beginning of hissecond term looking like he was on the campaign trail to talk exactly that way. >> i am not surprised. thcountrylected a grass-roots organizer that is all he can do is give a really good speech. and you are right from the standpoint he is moving the based when you have cornell west saying al sharpton is on the obama plantation that

is a problem. lou: looking at what is happening with the republican party, the legislation today was voted down by a narrow margin one of the youngest congresan congressman, republican incumbent and the white house said he was being destructive of the nsa interest. republicans were deciding it was not in the national interest. what is the deal with the republican party with this kind of nonsense? >> it is in the majority we would never know what with the bills come to the floor because the vote count'' was incorrect you don't bring the bill unless you he the majority they cann have

important pieces of budget -- legislation but it is the tail wagging the dog and the senate has their own challenges. we have plenty of fodder and ammunition to tell the current leadership quite a stink. get their act together. >> i don't even wa to use the fodder with republicans. [laughter] because you had a lot last year and you blew it. we're watching the president right now. the organization for actioni loy of this man obama says he would give a very good speech but he has given lots of good speeches with the private and litical army. it is serious stuff and the republicans have nothing. >> and when john baker says

the president's speech was like the easter egg, no cay we need leadership ofof all sides the bottom line is that people are suffering and to get back to the nsa with the amendment voted down army given that nsa so much control? i think some republicans are brave enough to go against the establishment. lou: what you talking about? bid is to go, microsoft go, microsoft, facebook, they are gathering more information with the health care company'snsa tries to keep up with these son of a gun as. [laughter] >> we need to revisit all privacy laws. i am for protecting your

homeland by any means this is -- necessary. lou: you sounded like yo were not including us. [laughter] eighty-four being with us. up next, the president turns his focus on the economy and the markets finished lower are the two related? next. announcer: where can an investor be a name and not a number? scottrade. ron: i'm never alone with scottrade. i can always call or stop by my local office. they're nearby and ready to help. so when i have questions, i can talk to someone who knows exactly how i trade. because i don't trade like everody. i trade like me. that's why i'm with scottrade. anuncer:cottrade- proud to be ranked "best overall client experience."

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lou: id joing us now peter , good to have you with us the market today not paying any attention to the president's speech. the market what will drive it from here? >> i think today's market action you are right less about the president's speech did more about the earnings release that came out during

the day some more robust and some fell flapped. i think it reflectshe country in general that just cannot seem to take off for the sustained period of growth. lou: the president wa give the a campaign speech but not a policy speech to expect from the sitting president. what will it take to gethe econommovi? we have seen some outstanding earnings from technology companies and huge disappointments as well how is that stagnating here? your thoughts? >> i think the marks have done remarkably well in light of a tepid economy is up 80 or 20%.

lou: no no no. i am not talking about history that going forward. we have that many in our pocket. we want more >> we all want more but people need to be convinced that companies will have good earnings this year and next year but there are too many crosscurrents right now to give people a lot of confidence you have seen retailers and restaurants the other day site slow sales and a slow outlook for the rest of the year. lou: but i am talking about the united states primarily right now and what would it take? obama has to have an extra cup of coffee o pick up the base? what will it take to get this thing moving?

>> i think it comes back to confidence and those who do the hiring and i don't think it is the area for a number of reasons. people are concerned about the cost of obamacare a.m. the direction of the economy with problems in washington possibly in theall with a budget negotiations. we have to get those behind us before we can get confidence to grow again. lou: gooto have you with us. take a look how this accurately predicted what is today's society. the award winning novelist is year and it turns out h is one heck of

we used to live with a bear. [gwl] we'd always have to go everywhere with it. get in the front. we drive. it was so embarrasing that we just wanted to say, well, go away. shoo bear. but we can't really tell bears what to do. moooooommmmmm!!! then one day, it was just gone. mom! [announcer] you are how you sleep. tempur-pedic.

lou: next guest says the roots of our problems to date joining me now is an awar winning novelist author of the newly reissued novel will tears we recommended highly it is brilliant a it is great to see you the idea to reissue the book "voltare's bastards" is a superb idea. what made you do what? >> it is still in print a all ov the world in all languages and i thought let's put a four word on itt like i told you so. [laughter] but there is a chapter in

their on debt and many and i thought i will have to rewrite this how the west made a mess of africa in the '90s with the moralistic views and i did not change a word because it is ect what the same people, two generations later are doing to ourselves. lou: this is reason in washington d.c.? these people are reasonable? >> the idea of rationality whatt did was separate at you call being onal into -- intuition and imagination of a lot of it is imagination which is not rational and ethics is not rational. lou: with a brilliant economist using the most

advanced arithmetic to you some idea what the economy would do but yet at the same time if there is any kind of distraction they have the animal spirits we have to get them back throughout society. what do we do about it? >> we have to break away from different schools that is creating and replacing leadership with managing things. most of ou government is run bymanagers, not democrats. frankly they are both guilty they don't get the idea that this this is about whist and creativity and imagination not buying cookies that

exist and if you have to have good administration and but actually it is about leadersh and it is about remembering when you have a debt crisi, what happens last time or over theast 2,500ears? when you get too far into debt for less the you say is it will deroy you. lou: faith and relign? >> this may not be popular but every petty has sothing. every betty. even those two did not lieve in god have a face. -- face where you have to sit down for those who did not believe the same thing and how do we live together?

even the nonbelievers? knowing the real have a faith how to live together? lou: humanistic i suppose and also living in our face. >> heystically it one negative two mystically is right. lou: it is absolute right i have said that is one of the problems when resend cfo in to the ceo role we lose a lot of the imagination and creativity that defines the american business that does not provide the leadership. >> how do we get this economy going? we cannot have growth.

so you have to do it and i believe it has cheaper goods and will not work for the middle-class prophecy. middle-class prophecy. lou: the book is "v the pursuit of a better tomorrow is something we all share. but who n help you find your own path? who can build you a p, not just a pie chart? who can help keep your vestments on course, whatever lies ahead? that someone is a morgan stanley financial advisor. and we're ready to work for you. 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.

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>> the president pushing for more housing rescues even though the bailout needs to we rescued. i am charles payne. the president's big economic speech today confirms he is committed to keep helping the housing market spin negative good news is over the past four years we have helped people in oklahoma state in their home and sales are up and prices are up and fewer americans are under water. but we're not done yet. charles: did you hear that last part? let me play it again. >> we're not done yet. we are not done yet. charles: he is not done yet but