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tv   The Willis Report  FOX Business  March 11, 2014 5:00pm-6:01pm EDT

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i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) ranked highest in investor satisfaction with self-directed services by j.d. power and associates. gerri: i'm gerri willis. right now on "the willis report." gm faces new pressure over its massive recall. congress now investigating. also our special report, a user's guide to taxes. how to buy the right software to get the job done. the all-american breakfast is getting more expensive. the price of bacon going through the roof. we're watching out for you on "the willis report." gerri: tonight, many senior citizens health care may be at risk. the obama administration is still holding firm to its
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proposed cuts to medicare advantage. now, this despite the white house doing an about-face on its plan changes to the medicare part-d prescription drug program. it is sticking by its looming cuts to the popular program. joining me now, ovik roy, of the manhattan institute. always great to see you. before we get to the medicare, two medicare stories actually i want to talk about some news that broke this afternoon coming from kathleen sebelius at health and human services. they released february total enrollments for obamacare. they said in that month alone 94thousand people signed up. that is down -- 94thousand. that is down from the levels of january at 1.1 million. what do you make of these numbers? >> i don't think that is surprising. i think you will see that slow down. the big burst happened around the holidays but the most important number is the number they didn't tell you, what percentage of those people actually paid premium and therefore have coverage and what percentage of those people were previously uninsured. we had a survey a week ago from
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mckenzie and company, that only 14% of the people hhs describing selected a marketplace plan, previously uninsured people gaining coverage under the law. gerri: republicans demanding that very number this afternoon. we're still well short of the goal of 7 million and short onioning people today. 25% of 18 to 34 said they were signing up. we're still a long way to getting enrollments projected on obamacare. let's talk about these medicare stories because i think this is just fascinating. two programs that work so well for the federal government, medicare advantage and prescription d program, worked well. seniors love them. looks like the government would like to get rid of them. let's start with the prescription drug program. what is going on there? >> yeah. so as we talked about last week on your show, the cms, centers for medicare & medicaid services, issued 700 pages of regulation effectively designed to underline market-oriented elements of the medicare drug benefit because of idealogical
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hostility to the program. gerri: it says it hands money prescription drug companies. what do you say. >> that is not true. if you look at statistics over 80% of prescriptions are for generic drugs and not branded drugs. medicare part-d as currently designed is big driver. it is moving money away from drug companies into cheaper generic. gerri: government stepping back from the plan to cut prescription d, the drug part of the benefit and they are not stepping back though that what they want to do to medicare advantage that is very popular program. what will happen to that? >> one of the things that is interesting, underappreciated about these medicare advantages cuts, so far they haven't had the catastrophic implications that a lot of people predicted four years ago. what has happened thus far, seniors, younger seniors continue to enroll in these products. insurance companies continue to do very well selling them. part of that is because the obama administration postponed cuts in lawless way actually. thus far the indication is that the private insurers are
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competing with the government. they're competing with the public option. they're stilling selling product that is seniors want to buy despite rate cuts. that is very good. that means private companies though they're more -- showing they're more efficient than the government. gerri: talk about the drug benefit, it drew fire from just about everybody, not just seniors. companies that are in that arena, also from capital hill, everybody climbed on board. it occurs to me some of the things we're trying to do might actually carve back health care costs. now seeing all that pressure against it. do you see us bending the curve at anytime? >> there are a couple of things about cms trying to do, 10% is constructive, but 90% is destrict tiff that would increase costs -- destructive. obamacare closes doughnut hole in medicare part-d, incentive to spend less on branded drugs and more on generic drugs. it uses modern private
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techniques to steer people to generic drugs. that is a good thing. gerri: we'll stay on top of this. thank you so much. seniors affecting home health care. the obama administration's 14% cut in medicare payments is rocking the industry and leaving many folks to wonder what is going to happen to them. here with details, doug holtz-eakin, president of the american action forum and dan weber, president of the association of mature citizens. i will start with you, doug. what is going on here? where is the money going? why are they cutting it? >> these are ma style cuts built into obamacare. they promised to cut money to pay for the new entitlement program of the as with the medicare advantage, cms had some discretion how they did it. what they chose to do impose the maximum, 3 1/2% per year for the next four years despite the fact that cms itself says 40% of the providers are going to have negative margins. they will lose money if they do
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this. so, you've got a situation where these folks are going to do the only thing they can do. they will lay off home health workers. most of them are woman. gerri: right. >> they will cut back on services. >> lose-lose situation i guess. >> yeah. gerri: done to you, who will get hurt here? doug started talking about it but at the end. day wasn't this a program to save us money. >> wasn't this supposed to save money for health care? >> that's right. gerri, unfortunately of the 1.2 people who joined amac, the driving force of many of them, they were afraid, they were afraid they were going to lose their health care. now we're finding out this is exactly what's happening. the poorest, the eldest, the sickest people are the ones who receive home health care. they're the one that is are going to receive less service. they're the one that is are going to have to be institutionalized. it is almost like the airplane over malaysia. it got lost. it did you turns. it did circles. nobody, we don't know hot pilots are and same thing with this
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program. gerri: i hope that the results are not the same, let me just say that to you. doug, to you, you started talking about some of the companies that will go out of business. what's the out look for home health care? people need these services. is anybody going to be available to provide it? >> i mean know. many of them also care for medicaid patients and they will make less on medicaid. there is really nowhere to go. the important thing from the point of view of seniors is, these are the oldest, the sickest. 75% have poor chronic conditions. a quarter need help bathing, walking and eating and home health is the place where you do the care coordination that keeps them out of the hospital. if you want to save money, keep someone out of the hospital. this is a shortsighted, wrong-headed kind of cut that gets us in trouble down the road. gerri: dan, to you. i look at these programs that are working. right? medicare, advantage. the drug benefit program. home health care. and these are the programs getting the knife in the back. these are the programs that have some incentives from the private
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sector, right, the private sector participating and getting a knife in the back from the obama administration. what do you say? >> they sure are. we're saying mr. president, stop the war on seniors. that is what obama care has turned into. an out and out war on seniors. you're taking 700 billion out of medicare and putting it into obamacare. you shouldn't balance the books on the back of seniors. that is the wrong way to do it. gerri: well, doug that is exactly what republicans were saying and the administration was denying for so long, they were robbing from medicare to pay for obamacare and now here we see it full-blown. >> yeah. there is no question about that. we're seeing it for real and we're seeing consequences. we've seen medicare advantage plans cut back on their doctor networks and you know, the administration understanding what they're doing has tried to paper that over by throwing in a bonus money from demonstration projects and like. they're out of those tricks. we're here to see the cuts. seniors will be harmed. happens in medicare advantage.
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happening in home health. they ducked on part-d but my guess they will be back. they don't value competitive pressure these programs bring and services they deliver. gerri: we have a long way to go on this one. doug and dan, thanks for coming on tonight. pleasure to see both of you. this is one of the story that is people missed and really important to folks. thanks so much. of course we have more to come this hour, including the best way grandma and grandpa can help pay for college if they want to. next we head to capitol hill as the house gets set to investigate, why, why gm took a decade, 10 years to recall 1 1/2 million cars with problems linked to more than a dozen deaths. don't go away. [ male aouncer ] we all think about life insurance.
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gerri: general motors in the hot seat as it faces new scrutiny over the recall linked to 31 crashes and 13 deaths. the house energy and commerce committee has launched an investigation into gm's response time to the faulty ignition switches. joining me now, is republican congressman tim murphy, who holds a senior position on this committee as chairman of oversight and investigations. welcome to the show, congressman. it is great to have you here. why investigate this now? >> well, it is great to be back.
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we're investigating now because gm just announced the recall and it is time to find out what occurred over the last 10 years. there have been tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of complaints about this switch. and the nhtsa did an initial investigation and ended that a few years ago, saying they didn't find anything. so we want to find out what happened with the national highway transportation board, why did they change their minds? what is happening now with general motors? was there information out there that people did not act on, or were they not gathering the information properly? we're glad gm is moving forward with a recall but we have to find out why the long delays so you're not just investigating gm but you're investigating nhtsa at this point and the government response to the problem? >> exactly. that itself we're concerned. did they have all the information they needed? gerri: right. >> did they analyze it correctly? when a car company is presenting information on the early warning system they're supposed to talk about dealership problems.
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they're supposed to talk about consumer complaints. they're supposed to talk about warranty claims. all of these things should be coming forward to nhtsa over the past several years based on year 2000 law called the tread act. we want to know was the information get to nhtsa and were they reviewing it properly? gerri: what we read, nhtsa was getting complaints two a month. as you understand the problem i'm sure you read extensively about, people who have heavy key chains would disconnect the ignition, faulty ignition and the car would lose power. you couldn't drive it. the airbags wouldn't blow. the brakes would be out. it was just non-functional. but, i'm wondering, what gm's culpability here is? is mary barra going to be appear before her committee? are you guys going to call her? >> we're, at this point, we have sent her a letter, myself as chairman and bipartisan letter. we sent this through asking nhtsa to tell us every communication they have had with
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general motors about this issue. what they have heard from consumers. really their full list of information on this we'll review this aggressively and thoroughly and thought fully and make decisions with regard who we call for as witnesses. >> congressman, just momentsing a, reuters moved a story about the new york attorney general launching a criminal probe into gm. do you think the situation warrants that kind of effort? >> this is still early in the whole aspect here. they are making leaps with regard to accusations about this we don't know if gm willfully with held anything. we have to find out what people knew. maybe they were notifying nhtsa. all those things are unknown. taxpayers, citizens, drivers of these cars need for to us get to the bottom of this we'll be focus and thoughtful and very fact-based on this and determine what happened in this whole process. this was supposed to have been taken care of by laws that made it clear that general motors was report to nhtsa and nhtsa was
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supposed to act. somewhere the ball has been fumbled. gerri: i hope you find out because clearly nobody else is doing the hard work here. i hope you come back, congressman murphy, and tell us all about it. appreciate your time. thank you so much. >> thank you so much as well. gerri: now a consumer alert for you. listen up, muni bond owners. if you put your cash in these tax-free investments, well, a new study from "the wall street journal" shows you paid twice the trading commissions as if you had bought a corporate bond. think about it. twice. you paid twice as much as you would have if you bought a corporate bond. you want real comparisons? okay, if you were trading $100,000 in bonds say washington state, you paid your broker 1.73%, or, 1730 bucks. a comparable corporate bond would have cost you $870. 870. why the difference? well the muni bond business is dominated by individual investors,ely to carp about price differences, less likely to even know about them. once more in the muni bond world
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there is no requirement brokers give customers the very best price they can. they call it best execution. brokers say it costs more because the bond trade less frequently and in smaller amounts. the sec is going after the problem but muni bond firms are sure to try to protect their advantage. later in the show, it is day two of our users guide to taxes with advice on filing online plus we have advice how grandma and grandpa could help pay for college without hurting them come tax time. find out how you do that after the break. ♪ so ay bank really has no hidden fees on savings accounts? that's right, no hidd fees. it's just that i'm worried about, you know, "hidden things." ok, why's that? well uhhh... surprise!!!
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gerri: forget the bank ever mom and dad, more college kids are relying on grandparents to pay for college. we have expert advice coming up.
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gerri: as nation digs itself deeper and deeper into college debt more grandparents taking it on themselves to help pay for grandkids education. how do you that without putting your finances at risk. we have joseph hurley, saving for college.com. good to sigh again. i -- see you again. astonished grandparents, people over 60 let fastest growing segment of the population with college debt. seems to me you could do this right and sure do this wrong. are too many grand parents actually giving many to their grandkids. >> too many? i don't think there are too many. certainly a large number of grandparents who are contributing to the college education. at at least among grandparents with, ses assets and if you ask
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grandparents would they be willing to help fund a grandchild's education if asked by the parents the vast majority of grandparents would say absolutely yes. gerri: i think they are more generous than their wallets can actually accommodate. if you're a grandparent, how can you do this and figure out how to afford it? you. >> to look at your own lifestyle. naturally you're only going to be able to afford helping out if you have those assets set aside and no other reason to use those. so i wouldn't advise any grandparent to feel pressure to pay for college. in fact, most parents don't see that as a responsibility of grandparents. they feel the responsibility themselves or perhaps shared with their child. but certainly not the grandparents. gerri: what is the best way to do it? do you give cash? do you open up a 529? >> well the answer depend on whether the parents are depending on financial aid. if they are not depending on financial aid, the best way for
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the grandparents to simply write a check to the school for the tuition bill. that way they don't even have to worry about gift taxes because that will not be considered a gift. but if the parents are depending on financial aid that could be the worst answer because that could severely impact the financial aid award. gerri: right. >> so in that situation it is much better strategy for the grandparents to hold off and not do anything until the grandchild enters their senior year in college. gerri: and at that point, you start to ponying up the dough. tell me what are the tax consequences of this? because there are rules, there are gift tax rules that limit how much you can give. what do grandparents need to know? >> well the general gift tax rule you can give $14,000 per year or $28,000 for a couple to anyone else without having to file a gift tax return. but once you go above that $14,000, gift limit, you do have to file a gift tax returns and you will use up some of your lifetime exemption against your
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gifts. gerri: that is important to know. should grandparents open these special college savings accounts? or should it only be in cash and only in the senior year? >> oh, i think when the grandchild is young, if the grandparents wants to help pay for college through savings, they can start by opening up a 529 account for that grandchild and over time make contributions to that account, watch it grow and then have that account used to pay for the grandchild's college expenses down the road. so that is a great thing to do when the grandchild is younger. >> about 30% of grandparents and parents are using, currently using a 529 plan? the nice thing about opening that in your family you sort of encourage everybody to contribute, right? that then becomes a vehicle for this kid to go to school and, it really makes, makes it front of mind in way it might otherwise be, joe. >> it really does and i think grandparents need to know when they set up an account, it doesn't have to be there their
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own account. they can simply put money into an account that is set up by a parent. or tell the parent, listen, you go set up a 529 account and i will help by making contributions to your account. gerri: all right. joe hurley, thanks for coming on the show tonight. great to see you. >> my pleasure. gerri: time for a look at stories you're clicking on foxbusiness.com. after months of back and forth it's a done deal for menswear hours and joseph a. bank. mens is buying its rival for $2 billion the combined company will have more than 1700 stores with the joseph a. bank outlets keeping their name. as we mentioned congress is adding its name to the list investigating the way general motors handled a recent recall and nhtsa. congressman fred upton says the national highway safety traffic administration got larger number of complaints about the ignition problem over the last decade but gm didn't recall the 1 1/2 million cars until last month. upton said a hearing will be held soon.
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disappointing report on job openings. traders were upset with the slate of retail earnings today and report that wholesale businesses increased their stockpiles in january. the european union is preparing another round of sanctions against russia that could be in place by monday you about governments are divided exactly how much to punish russia for sending its military into ukraine's crimea peninsula. those are some of the hot stories on foxbusiness.com. coming up the all american breakfast is about to get more expensive. we'll have a live report on the rising cost of bacon, coming up. ♪ (vo) you are a business pro.
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gerri: tax season is underway. if you haven't filed yet, get on board. it is time to start thinking about it. hiring a professional can be pricey. you may want to consider doing it yourself using tax software. with so many options out there, what is the best for you? thank you, welcome to the show. this is something that is such a benefit to people out there thinking about picking up the software. where did they go, what do they do? 80% of us will file electronically this year. a large number will file with the software. tell me what package works best and which one works for the most people? >> absolutely. good to be here with you today. first on my list for the year we have done extensive research and turbotax tops the list again for our second straight year. the features they have and the
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tools they offer really put them at the top of the list for the year. the support they offer is really amazing. they have a great support line with a team of professionals, licensed professionals and cpas. those who are using turbotax are able to call in and get professional support unlike some of the other software's out there. gerri: that is a big benefit. you mentioned enrolled agents. these are folks who are experienced with taxes, just not full-blown accountants or cpa but a lot of experience doing this kind of things. best tax software, let's also talk about h&r block. >> absolutely be ed h&r block ranked number two. they have some great features from a checklist that walks you through the software, being able to click on embedded links in
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each of the forms and be able to kind of do it yourself, get information as you need. the difference between them and turbotax is if you need help with them you can pick up your stuff and go to one of their retail locations and get in person support at the offices basically. there is a price to pay for that but of course that is an option for consumers who need that extra help. gerri: apparently the irs is not taking calls. they say they're taking calls on basic questions. but let's talk about tax ask. >> what it features, the one great thing that we love is the stock assistance tools. for those that are trading stocks, daytraders or have a few stocks, the stock exchange tool is awesome because they provide you with a spreadsheet with
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prebuilt columns and essentially you can go in, but in all your information, gains, losses, short-term, long-term, and uploaded into your tax return. that is one of my favorite features this year. among the other thing is the top of the list with under $10 for a federal filing. gerri: you get major discounts if you don't earn a lot of dough, you can essentially file for free. tax layer is another one. >> tax layer is starting to get on the map, they are doing a lot of marketing online this year and even some commercials on tv, starting to develop brand name recognition. they are far kin behind, but thy are pretty decent product. they have limited support so it
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will be a challenge for somebo somebody, they may spend extra time to do the return themselves. they offer totally free filings the military for federal and state filings. gerri: that is very nice. before you go, not everybody should be using software. some have complicated returns that would be done better by a real-life human being. if you own your own business or have had big changes in your life, divorced, married, any other reasons you think would be good that people actually choose a real-life human being? >> absolutely. something to be said about bring your own taxes and save money, but your ultimate planning your finances. when you get into complex returns, it is so complex it
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does not take much to get it wrong. there is something to be said for doingyourself but there is no substitute for having a qualified licensed professional helping you do it the matter what that price may be. gerri: it is expensive, that is what i say. this was my for taxes and on top of it we have to pay for the tax preparer. it is too much. thank you for coming out and watching us through the software packages. thank you so much. >> thank you, it is a pleasure. gerri: now he wants to know what you think. who does your taxes? you or a professional? i will share the results of the end of the show. coming up tomorrow, our user guide to taxes looks at the deductions not to miss. what might you be able to score if you thought about it? and if you have questions, we want to bring you the answers. this friday we had some of the favorite experts helping you out.
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when we come back, realtors caught on tape, what you need to know before your next open house. and legalization of pot in colorado causing new headaches for the highway patrol. what they are doing to spot high drivers. no kidding. next. ♪
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don't wait to ask your doctor about spiriva. iwe don't back down. we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new portunities and a new tax free plan. there's only one way for your business to go. up. find out if your business can qualify at start-upny.com gerri: a deadly virus plaguing hog farms has triggered record high prices for pork and thereby bacon. jeff flock at the pork shop barbecue restaurant in chicago. i would love to be there.
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jeff: you would? i love being here. a great place to they are watching you. they are also watching the raw material costs. if you want to see pork, look at this, take a look at this, what is that? >> fresh ribs, st. louis style and a bit back style courtesy of our chef. jeff: take a look at what we closed at today, this is hog futures over their crosstown at the cme and the close was 117.42. another all-time record. the head chef used to trade treasury bonds over there, now you make more money in the kitchen cooking pork. >> about the same. jeff: that is interesting. this virus you mentioned, gerri, has decimated the swine herd out there. a number of cases reported, it has been spiking up, and with
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that the number of cases spiking up, your prices for raw materials are spiking up. >> very true. we had one today, look for some in the near future. we will have to raise prices at some point, it is just getting too high. jeff: i have learned how to open the smoker, gerri. >> there is a pork shoulder, that has gone up 60% in the last 90 days and it is on the rise as we speak. >jeff: it is hard to size it up. the number of cases reported are about 4000, literally millions of piglets between 2-5 million they say, 26 states. this thing will get worse before it gets better. >> i cannot see it getting better before june. grilling season coming up, everybody will be buying more pork products, it will be a high
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demand time. jeff: before we get away, these pigs take a while to get to market. we are talking eight, nine, 10, 12 months before you see the real impact of that. >> what we buy right now is looking ahead in june, july. it will make a big difference. jeff: if you're thinking about an investment, bile the pork you can get your hands on because it will not get any cheaper anytime soon. gerri: thank you for that. the next time i am in chicago i am coming to the pork shop. that looks fantastic. thank you. all right, onto a totally different story. marijuana, drive high, get a dui. colorado transportation department combating a new problem in this state driving
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under the influence. it is a want approach. gleglenn davis, the highway safy manager. welcome to the show, the story is fascinating. tell us about your ad campaign to get people not to drive high. >> thank you for having us. we are going have it on tv. we will have it is a marijuana dispensaries. our approach is we not against people using marijuana, but we are against people using marijuana and driving if they are high. gerri: what is the limit? how does it work if it is so different from drinking alcohol? >> it is 5 nanograms in a leader, but really people are interested for nanogram level, people arrested for the behaviors and contacted law
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enforcement. gerri: so what are you guys looking for? >> we just had a training with the drug reconnection experts. with marijuana sometimes during the contact, the odor of marijuana may be an indicator to take notice of, the eyes sometimes a read, they cannot do maneuvers such as the roadside. gerri: i have to tell you instead of speeding you may be going super, super slow if you were high. maybe the risks are very different, i don't know. are they? >> it is difficult to say this is one indicator, and impaired driver has. somebody drinks alcohol, depending on the mood or the attitude or different things. gerri: great information, half the drivers involved in fatal car crashes tested positive for
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drugs. 11% tested positive for marijuana. 21% reported consuming pot and driving in september. how dangerous is it? >> it is significantly dangerous like alcohol. it is an impairing substance. colorado law enforcement will take any impaired driver off the road. it really does endanger not only that person, but the public no matter how they may feel if they are impaired, they will be arrested. gerri: marijuana is now legal in colorado and has been for several months. the state has collected $2 million from the sale of pot in january. does your business to the benefit of any of those taxes? >> colorado public transportation is interested in some of that money because we would like to increase our marijuana awareness to drivers, we are interested in that, yes.
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gerri: where does this go from here? i'm just curious because it is an unintended consequence i didn't think about but it would seem to require more law enforcement. >> it doesn't require more law enforcement from a traffic safety standpoint as our position. it does require more highly trained law enforcement. drug recognition experts we have about 200 in the state and we will try to have 300 of those by 2015. also other training we can get law enforcement to be aware of the signs so they can get the drivers off the roadway. gerri: thank you for coming on tonight, thank you so much. >> thank you so much, gerri. gerri: coming up, i $0.02 more and how trustworthy are realtors? shocking actions being taken by people showing your home. you have to stay tuned for this. ♪
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gerri: shocking video surfacing showing what your real estate agent could be doing when you are not home. coming up.
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or add a car to your policy. personalized coverage and savings. all the things humans need to make our world a little less imperfect. call... and ask about all the ways you could save. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? gerri: realtors sabotaging a home listing for. we have new video obtained by inside edition cap showing lewd acts by a couple coldwell banker agents supposed to be selling a vacant new jersey home. they were doing something else entirely. the homeowners have filed a lawsuit but is this just the tip of the iceberg? joining me now, roger, thank you for coming on the show be at
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this is a wild story. the realtor intention listed the house above market value to avoid traffic in the home while they carried on. now, you know, have covered real estate for a long time and this is the first time i've ever heard this kind of story. this is common, does this go on all the time? >> first of all, thank you for having me. no, the answer is no. we all have our stories. i have seen my fair share of stories but this is definitely an extreme situation. as a realtor, we abide by certain code of ethics but this is on the other side of it. this is not something we see, they. we see realtors that shouldn't be practicing but this is an extreme case and this is the first time i have seen a videotaped or something like this happen.
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gerri: it essentially it is rare you trust strangers in your home. normally don't leave your house, abandon it entirely, but that is what happens when you hire a realtor. you bring in somebody you don't know and they have open houses and invite in even more people. it are the risks to that? >> we have gotten so reliant on the internet a realtor is like going on a first date with somebody. rarely do they hire somebody without checking to make sure you have somebody in common. the beauty and the agony of something like google is it tells you everything whether it is true or not. you can do your due diligence before you pick somebody. gerri: is it enough to do a google search? is a place to go to find out what kind of track record they have, if they are trustworthy, if they have had problems?
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>> the top 50 100 markets will allow you to check on the agent. if anybody has had a license suspended or expelled or withheld, it is a red flag you want to avoid working with that realtor. gerri: they are very different things. you have a license, you are considered, think, much more above. but people concerned about the kind of downsides that could happen. what do you say to people who don't want to open their host an open house but they are worried something will get stolen? >> especially working with a luxury price point like we do in dallas, you take that risk. to be blunt i tell my agents open houses in my opinion don't sell the house, it is for people looking around, nosy neighbors, people that are just curious. most houses sell by people looking in the internet. gerri: that is exactly what happens.
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any other words what advice for people who might be looking for a realtor, and agent, somebody to list the property, any other conflicts of interest they should be aware of? >> i would just say trust your gut. the number one job is to be present but make sure they are knowledgeable and look you in the eye when they shake your hand. i would ask for referrals. many have been doing it for a while and will have clients willing to help you out and help secure a deal. trust your gut is something we live our life all the way around especially picking a realtor. gerri: i won't forget that story for a long time. thanks for coming on and talking to us about it. thank you. and we will be right back with my two cents more and the answer to our question of the day. who does your taxes? yourself or a professional? i ys say be thman with the plan
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gerri: here are some of your e-mails. "the true definition of a nonprofit organization, government." "gerri, thank you for a great hour of current topic coverage." thank you. earlier this hour as part of our users guide to taxes we brought to a look at the best tax software out there and ask if you do your own taxes or do you use a professional, which of those two things? mike right to have a degree in math but tax cut is a whole different animal. i defer to my accountant. she agrees, love accounting would never do i own taxes. usa needs a simpler system, that is why we should do something to get rid of the irs. a flat or fair tax could do that. 43% said yourself, 57% said a
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professional. you know, we have been talking all week and will continue to talk about taxes. we're trying to provide healt hp because you are residents doing it this year. typically they feel calls from taxpayers of this are they said don't call us unless your questions are basic. whatever that means. can always go to i rest.gov no place to go. if the irs is not available for questions really tiny might have contact is through the enforcement division. not good p.r., right? especially such a complicated system, in all likelihood you have to pay somebody to figure it all out for you. coming up tomorrow, or user guide to taxes continues. the deductions you don't want to miss, that is a for tonight's "the willis report." dvr the show if you cannot catch
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us live. we will see you back tomorrow. neil: welcome, everybody. glad to have you. after the all nighter, here comes the hangover. for the rest of us, just end over. anytime i see a bunch of democrats in a room all night, god knows what is going on in there. that is what a bunch of them did to demand action on climate change pronto. i could take a more pressing issue for what they should be working into the wee hours, but we do not even have a wee bit of money. we have no cash, we're out of cash come out of time and this is how these guys committed their time being

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