thanks a lot and thank you for watching. see you tomorrow. ♪ ♪ none of us should be negotiating on a debt ceiling. it should be -- >> that's what the big spenders say and they get their way. but what if this were the budget of someone you know? what do you think of these people? they're making $24,000, they're spending $35,000. almost $11,000 in debt. >> they should get their priorities straight on what they need to be spending and saving their money on. >> actually this is the federal budget. i just took zeros off. >> oh, wow! >> suppose america were a person trying to borrow from the bank. >> i would like to raise my debt limit.

>> i would like to raise it. >> it says you're $140,270 in debt. >> right. so i figured we raise that limit to about $170,000. i just bought a flat screen. >> america's bought plenty of flat screens and promises everyone maybe more things. is there no limit on what politicians can promise? who will pay for it? oh, kids will. excuse me? i have to take some of these. no, no, i'm the old person. i need this. no, i won't give it back. stealing from kids isn't fair. so tonight, the week after the government barricaded veterans away from the memorial, i say what america needs is a barricade to keep congress away from our money. because up to almost $17 trillion. that's our show tonight.

and now john stossel. >> okay, congress kicked the can down the road again, but this doesn't address the irresponsible spending that is going to bankrupt us. so tonight, we'll solve america's debt problems. really, it's not that hard. once you stop assuming that what makes america work is government. our politics didn't always believe that government was so important. and they used to spend billions less. this week, i was trying to think about how i can illustrate this and so we built a big, goofy chart and took it outside. this is federal spending per person since america began. started low, less than 5% of the economy. here's world war i. here's world war ii. used to go down after wars but now even in peacetime it only goes up. pretty soon, we're up here.

how are we going to pay for that? what's going to happen? >> we're going broke. our grandchildren and even our children. i just -- they're going to be burdened with the big debt. >> it is unbelievable the amount of debt we're wracking up in our country right now. >> $20,000 per person. >> that's astronomical. >> this is where we're going. >> well, you should stop. you should stop. >> we should, and yet there are some who just have faith that thanks to our brilliant politicians things will work out. the woman using this scooter believes that. so how do we pay for my generation who's been promised health care, but now we're living 20 years longer? >> i think that there are definitely plans for that. i mean, the affordable care act is in place. i think it covers a lot of people including people -- >> that's going to take care of that? >> i think it will. >> yippy, the affordable care act will solve the biggest problems. if only it were true.

but the truth is that government solutions are the problem. government does too much and promises too much. dan mitchell and abby mccloskey spend their days looking at the budget and they work for competing think tanks. dan is with cato institute and abby with the american enterprise institute. dan, you say the $17 trillion debt is not the problem, but the symptom. >> it's a symptom of the problem of government being too big and doing too much. and let's do an analogy. let's say that you went to the doctor because you were coughing a lot and you found out you had lung cancer. oh, that's really bad, but what if the doctor said, well, here's some robitussin, you won't cough anymore. will you be happy with that? >> well, if it worked. >> it will get rid of your cough, but not get rid of the lung cancer, but as the chart you had illustrated, government has exploded and because of the entitlements that are poorly changed and the demographic has changed, it will reach european

levels in the future. something has to be done because no amount of tax increases is going to solve the problem. as a matter of fact, that would probably make the problem worse. >> what's wrong with european levels? people say europe is doing okay. >> greece, italy, spain, portugal. a matter of time before france hits their fiscal crisis. belgium hits their crisis. japan is going to blow up. politicians promising things they can't deliver and imposing problems that are crippling the private sectors. >> and the problem is the debt ceiling, they shouldn't have one. i want's the uncertainty. >> right, i mean, the debt limit has been turned into the enemy as opposed to the actual federal debt. in 25 years everything we make and buy and consume in this economy, that'll be the same size as the federal debt. we know from economic research that when a country has that

much debt we have slow growth, less jobs. people can't retire, it's a real problem. >> the president said stop treating government like an enemy. >> people will stop treating government like the enemy when the government stops stealing from us. >> i'll stop regarding it as an enemy when it stops spending 3-plus trillion dollars. it is hilarious to go back in time and look at how responsible senator obama was when he ran for president. s he upset about how -- he was upset about how the previous president increased our debt. >> the way bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the bank of china so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back. that's irresponsible! it's unpatriotic. >> and just five years later, mr. obama is president and suddenly the debt isn't the problem, the debt ceiling is the problem.

>> congress must authorize the treasury to pay america's bills. this is done with a simple, usually routine vote to raise what's called the debt ceiling. this is important. raising the debt ceiling is not the same as approving more spending. >> it's not? i already gave one unfriendly analogy involving lung cancer, let's give another one. let's say i'm a drug addict, strung out on heroin. i will feel better in the short run if i inject more heroin. in the long run i'll be better if i go cold turkey or go to the methadone clinic or figuring out some way to get from my addiction to being cured. likewise, we have to figure out how to go from the addiction to government spending. that's the problem we have to deal with, that we have too many people in our country who are being trapped by in effect the heroin of government dependency. we have all the special interest groups, lobbyists.

washington is one of the most corrupt towns that you can imagine. >> i don't see people objecting to it. most people. we do. >> well, we heard people objecting to the fact that the government was shut down and that we were about to defate on the debt, but it was shocking we didn't hear more people talk about the $17 trillion of debt we see. that's one of the few times that politicians have to come together and fess up to the free lunches that they were giving out and guess who gets to pay for it? us. >> but then we're doomed if nobody cares. >> well, people care. we saw the tea party care and throw a wrench -- >> it's a sliver of the electorate. >> and they have managed to refocus our attention on the debt. now, their efforts in this last time were far from successful. i think a lot of people are disappointed about the deal we reached. but at least we're talking about the debt. >> and spending, $3.6 trillion is the problem. i find it fascinating how many politicians will say, government doesn't even have a spending

problem. here's senator harkin from iowa. >> if we've so rich, why are we so broke? is it a spending problem? no. >> so it is almost a false argument to say we have a spending problem. we have a budget deficit problem that we have to address. >> we don't have a spending problem. >> last year president obama spent 45% more than the tax revenues we got in. that's some minor budgetary issue. that is an entire mismanagement of federal resources. we have a spending problem, it would be great if we could figure out a way to cap spending. maybe that's something the joint committee on the debt limit deal can work on. >> good luck with that. i get angry at listening to the congressmen speak. it's as if the world revolves around them and government. listen to senator durbin talking to the press before this week's agreement. he's so arrogant. >> people of america have seen this movie several times.

the american damsel is tied to the tracks and the engine is bearing down and the question is whether or not congress at the last minute will come to the rescue and save this country. >> government's going to save the country. i like senator durbin's analogy but what he didn't tell us is he's driving the train and all the cars attached to the train are medicaid, medicare, food stamps, the military budget, the department of transportation. that's what our problem is right now. we have gone so far afield from what our founding fathers wanted in terms of a limited, central government bound by the chains of the constitution. yet, if you're one of the pushers up on capitol hill which is what senator durbin and senator harkin and the rest are, they think it's great because they get to buy votes with our money. >> i'll build on dan's analogy a little bit. where is president obama with this train bearing towards the damsel on the tracks? instead of rising above the

partisan bickering, the congressional gridlock and acting like the leader of the free world we hope our president to be, he's urging the train to go faster. >> he likes to spend. >> it's great when you don't have to be accountable to who is paying for it. >> all week long i heard not raising the debt ceiling would be a disaster. >> philosophically you might be opposed to borrowing money. everyone realizes as long as we're borrowing money, defaulting on our debt would be an irresponsible thing to do. it would be a disaster for the country. everybody realizes that. >> everybody realizes that. defaulting would be a disaster, but that's not what would happen if we didn't increase the debt ceiling. the federal government is projected to collect 12 times as much revenue to pay interest on the debt.

>> the debt is $300 billion. they collect 300 -- >> the interest on the debt is going tobacco about $235 billion. tax revenues are $3 trillion. i don't have great faith in the competence of the federal government, but even i think that with $3 trillion they could somehow figure out how to prioritize their spending so that they paid the $235 billion of interest on the debt so we didn't default. would it be messy, would bit a hassle, of course it would be. but the whole notion we'd default without an increase in the debt ceiling was either dishonest or ignorant. >> and finally, i want to point out that people in the street didn't know what -- yes, we should cut. people had no idea what to cut. >> what would you cut? >> what would i cut? >> what would it cut? a tough question. >> so what would you cut? >> look at the situation, i

guess. >> i don't know what to tell you, to tell you the truth. >> they don't know. >> we need reforms to entitlements for this country to be sustainable. i would recommend having some sort of cap on federal spending so we can have a real conversation about what size should the federal government be. >> all we need to do is limit government so it grows at the rate of inflation and we balance the budget in five years. i would like genuine cuts but simply slowing down the growth of government will get us where we need to be over time. >> good luck with that. thank you, dan, abby. if you'd like to keep this conversation going, go to facebook or twitter and use this hash tag over here, #maxed out. there's nothing funny about the $17 trillion debt, but some hollywood moviemakers found a way to make me laugh about it. >> what can i get for you today? >> i'd like to raise my debt limit. >> excuse me? >> my debt limit, i'd like to raise it. debt

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♪ it's hard to get your brain around how much our government spends. more than $3 trillion this year alone. on top of our $17 trillion debt. so sometimes i like to lop eight zeros off the budget numbers and then you get a chart like this.

it looks like a family budget and when i show this to people, they understand. so what do you think of these people? they're making $24,000, they're spending $35,000. they're almost $11,000 in debt. >> they should get their priorities straight on what they need to be spending and saving their money on. >> actually this is the federal budget. i just took zeros off. >> oh, whoa! >> that's a lot. >> that is a lot. and when they see this they get it. so i thought i was so clever to come up with that idea, but then i saw a video which is much more clever and a better way to explain the problem. a man goes to the bank to get a loan. >> what can i do for you today? >> i would like to raise my debt limit. >> excuse me? >> my debt limit, i'd like to raise it. >> because last time i checked, mr. smith, you were in serious debt. >> yeah, yeah. it's pretty bad. i figure we should raise that limit. >> it says you're $147,270 in

debt. >> right. i figured we should raise it to $170,000. i just bought a 60-inch flat screen. >> and politicians keep spending. so i'm happy that even in hollywood, there are at least a few people who think that's ridiculous and two got together to make that video. put it on youtube where it has been watched more than 2 million time. seth meyer produced the film and brian was the actor and the director. you made you guys do that? >> well, we enjoyed making it. it was something that kind of -- we had talked about and i had thought of the idea and pitched to my brother. we were both laughing so hard that i decided it was something to move forward with and write a script. >> yet, you say you're not political. >> well, we just thought it was a universal theme that really -- if we could lop of all the zeros, they could get it.

we made this video two years ago and it seems timeless. every time this topic comes up, we get a surge of hits and views and people come and view it now. of course you found it. >> we appreciate the feedback on it. >> some of the numbers now are old, which you'll see as we play some more of it. >> yeah. >> seth meyer makes me think of seth meyers on "saturday night live," but you don't look like him. >> no. i get that a lot. >> so you made gi joe 2 and smurfs -- >> just take the credit, man. take the credit, yes, i am seth meyers. >> yeah. back to your movie, the bank officer asked the kind of question that a loan officer would ask. >> do you have some new income that i don't know about? >> no, still making 21 grand a year. >> okay. all right. are you still spending $38,000 a year? >> that's what it says. >> so you're adding $17,000 a

year in debt. >> oh, is what it comes out to? debt limit going up, ding. >> do you have any cuts in your expenses? >> oh, of course, yes. my wife and i cut $380 out of our annual budget. >> okay. so you're adding $17,000 a year to your $140,000 in debt. and you cut $380. >> when you say it like that it sounds like not a lot. >> you don't -- >> i cut my budget by $380. are you kidding? >> and the $380 refers to what we supposedly saved at the last budget deal. >> yeah. i want to point out how brilliant that bald actor is. that guy is unbelievable. little bit of a diva, but he's phenomenal. >> easy one. >> yeah. >> let's watch the end of your film where the irresponsible

consumer and banker find a solution to the loan problem. the same solution america's politicians choose. the borrowering bri brings in h daughter and she signs the loan papers. >> sign there. all right. >> the blessing. i mean, she's got plenty of time to deal with this. >> absolutely. >> all set? >> you're all set. >> let's go, kiddo, we have to meet mommy at the car store. >> thank you, seth and brian. i'm glad millions of people watched that. i hope you raise people's consciousness. >> thanks, john, for getting it out there. next, we look more closely at what the end of their film really means. america does assume our kids will pay our debt. i'm sorry, i need this here. can i have -- you know, we have to pay for my medicare. >> wasn't nice to steal from my sister like that. [ coughs, sneezes ] i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest.

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i need to take this phone. >> what are you doing? hey, give that back! >> i'm old. >> i need this. >> stop, stop. >> i need to take this scooter. >> hey, give that back! >> taking things from kids is nice for me, but the rest of you have to deal with the debt bomb. our almost $17 trillion debt is bad enough, but the real bomb is coming. it's coming because people my age rudely refuse to die and we baby boomers have been trained to believe that we deserve not just social security, but the real budget buster, medicare. which includes all of the cool new stuff modern medicine invents. we paid into social security and medicare our whole lives we're entitled to get our money back. but what my generation doesn't know is that most of us will get back much more than we put in. and this is unsustainable. and to try to pay for it, we commit generational theft. we older people basically steal from young people.

people like a ramesh. and he writes about these things. you're not that young, but you have to pay for me. >> that's the plan and people younger than me have to pay for me. that's what the system amounts to. it's a generational chain letter. >> and that was what it was supposed to be when fdr set it up. what's wrong with that? >> well, the problem is that it's just fiscally unsustainable to keep promising each generation they're going to get more and more money. especially as the length of the average life is getting longer and the number of kids people are having is getting smaller. so that -- you've got to support people for a longer time in retirement and you've got fewer workers who are doing it. >> people forget that when fdr created social security, most people didn't live to age 65. >> that's right. you know, it's one of those things that is part of our

welfare state, that has not been modernized or changed with modern times. >> people say raise taxes. >> you know, if you raise taxes, you're hurting the economy and that's just another kind of generational theft, because you're leading a smaller economy to the future. but you're not also to raise taxes enough to make up for the short fall. it's a huge short fall. >> there are so many people roughly my age with the baby boomers. you could double taxes and it wouldn't cover this. i keep hearing these numbers. $30 trillion unfunded liability. $90 trillion. we spend $3 trillion a year which is enough. but these future numbers are impossible. >> that's right. it's -- i mean, if you want a good scare before halloween, go look at the projections on u.s. federal debt and if those

projections are driven overwhelmingly by medicare and social security. >> and the $30 trillion is going out about how many years? >> you know, i forget which o one -- which numbers go with which, because nobody knows. we don't know what health care costs are in the future. we don't know what miraculous, but expensive new medicines there are going to be. but we know that the federal government is supposed to pay for it all. >> at least some people outside the studio were aware that young people have to suffer to give money to people like me. >> how are we going to pay for that? >> i don't think we'll be able to pay for it. looks like we'll leave it to the next generation again. >> they'll have high inflation, high prices. shortages. >> the real problem is entitlements. that's you two and me paying for our health care. >> right. right. >> so you want to give some of your medicare back?

>> no, not really. >> ligright now this is kind of generational theft. that means you, you and i are stealing from these kids. sorry, i need this here. can i -- can i have -- you know? we have to pay for my medicare. >> i don't like it. >> it wasn't very nice of you to steal from my sister like that. >> so they don't like it. but they don't vote and even when they come to voting age, we older people are much more likely to vote. i don't see how this is going to end well. >> well, that's right. i mean, the good news is that we can make adjustments that are modest starting now. >> like? >> the bad news -- well, for example, we could make social security benefits not rise over time. you know, so somebody who retires 20 years from now, they should get the same benefit level as somebody who retires today. right now, the law says they'll get a much bigger benefit. that would be great if we could afford it. we can't. that's the sort of adjustment you can make now so you don't have to make a sudden change when you're out of money. the problem is exactly what you

said. older voters, whether they're republicans, whether they're democrats, whether they're something else, they don't want to make that sacrifice. partly because they have been told they everybody just getting their open money back. even though that's not true. they're getting them back a lot more than they put in. >> we older people are also richer. the median net worth of somebody over 65 is $170,000. median net worth of someone under 35, 3 1/2 less that. >> warren buffett gets social security and medicare benefits, part of the perversity of it is that it's redirestributing mone to those who are wealthier. >> thank you. i'll fight with bob beckel and he says what this singer says. ♪ ♪ raise the debt ceiling, raise the debt ceiling, raise the debt ceiling ♪ ♪ raise the debt ceiling, raise the debt ceiling ♪ how mu protein

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soon it will be up to $17 trillion in debt. hard to get my brain around that, but it helps to look at our debt over time. for 150 years america had almost no debt. then it rose during world wars. came down after world war ii. but then starting around 1980, exploded. it's gone straight up and this is unsustainable. outside this building, the big graph i showed people is not america's accumulated debt and most agreed that america has a spending problem and need cuts. i asked them what would they cut? >> i don't know. you can't cut education. >> we need to cut spending.

>> what would you cut? >> you can't cut health care i don't think, because we all -- >> not health care. what should we cut? social security? >> no. >> defense? >> i'm not sure what else you can cut. >> spending a great deal on the military, on medic care. >> yet that should be cut? >> that's a hard question. >> you can't answer it either? >> absolutely not. >> few people had suggestions which helps me understand the viewpoint of the democrats who say just raise the debt ceiling, and one of those is the brilliant bob beckel. i say he's brilliant because you fight with four people on "the five" every day and often win all by yourself. but you're not worried about the $17 trillion? >> john, you know, i like you a lot and every time i hear you talk about this and that fear and pain on your face, i worry about you. the answer to your question is no, i'm not, because for the following reasons. yes, it has skyrocketed and why

has it skyrocketed? simple reason which is defense spending and entitlement spending. that's the reason it's gone up. the rest of the budget is relatively insignificant. what is significant -- >> well, 20 -- 30% is left out for that. but it's not nothing. >> but you have to take into account the interest on the national debt. >> you're right. defense and entitlements are the biggies. >> that's right. and the interest on the national debt which is almost $300 billion. >> right. >> at some point, when i say the debt doesn't matter, what is it about the debt that bothered you personally? not bothered you philosophically. but bothered you in your life financially in your life when you woke up? what was it? >> i thought about that $300 billion and there are 300 million people in the people and fewer that are half pay taxes so it's costing me a couple thou every year. probably 10 thou a year in my

bracket. >> you thought of the cost of your own tax liability -- >> and how it will hurt my kids because they'll have to pay for that. >> let me try to take you another way. this is assuming the projections on debt are always assuming the status quo. that nothing is going to change. now, is there a reason to believe that's not a bad thing to think, they're not going to change things, yes. except for this. at some point, the interest on the national debt is going to begin to intrude on programs where you can't spend any money that both democrats and republicans like. where can you cut, that the people didn't mention? certainly defense department. we spend more money for defense in this country than all other countries in the world combined. >> we agree, but that's not enough. >> no. what we ought to do is means test medicare because that's out of control. >> you agreed -- >> absolutely. >> any democratic politicians

who would go there? >> i have talked to them about it. i go to talk to their caucuses. they want somebody to beat up on who's outside so i go and i point out to them that when you keep paying interest like this, at some point whether it's a farm program, or it's -- it's a head start or meals on wheels, something has got to give because you won't have enough money. what's going to get you guys to finally get through this your thick heads that you have to do something about this is when the interest on the national debt -- forget the rest. we can pay the interest on the national debt, $300 billion but at a cost from something else. so i would say means test medicare. i would say that you redo the formula on social security. social security was never meant to be a retirement program. if you go back and look at the debate about social security, it was meant to be insurance. >> sure. for a few people who live past 65. raise the retirement age?

>> i would raise the retirement age. i would certainly raise the -- what do we pay now $112,000, up to the first $112,000 for social security, i think that should go 150 to 200. >> take some money away from you? >> and you, that's right. i think we can aftford that. but for the medicare thing, i can't understand why we're spending that much money on people wealthy and living in florida and we pay them huge medical payments to pay them when 85% of those who are currently -- >> i'm delighted to hear a democrat talking about my cuts these days. we're out of time. but thank you, bob beckel. >> you're welcome. coming up, next time we run out of money would default really be so bad? wouldn't you rather stiff the chinese and some rich bankers who hold bonds than some american people? what would defaulting on our debt mean? that's next. en percent

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before the government shutdown, we were told a shutdown would be a catastrophe. what happened? how do you feel about the shutdown, the partial shutdown? >> i personally love it. >> why? >> life goes on. >> right, life went on. most people hardly noticed the

partial shutdown, but of course default would be worse. default means a government can't pay its debts. i'm told that would be a real catastrophe. >> the pain will be felt across every sector of society. >> it would actually plunge this country back into recession. >> we're playing with fire. >> default didn't happen either this time, but what about next time when we don't have enough money to pay our bills? why not default? wouldn't you rather stiff the chinese or the bankers who hold bonds rather than not pay social security or military? i would. but garrett jones says no, america must not default. i'm assuming you know more than i. so where have i gone wrong? >> well, we have pension funds, we have banks we hold our savings in and we have retirement accounts. these are ways that we have

saved and if america breaks its promise to debt holders it breaks the promise to many of us. >> at the rate we're going we won't have the money. three choices, right? they can inflate the currency into nothingness and they give us the money, but it doesn't have the value. they stiff the chinese or bond holders or don't pay the old people who need the money. >> yes, those are the three ugly options that face all of us. >> you say you can't do any of them? >> i think -- they're all ugly choices, so my guess in real life, what will the rich countries do, especially the u.s.? we're going to do some mixture of raising taxes and cutting spending. because politically and economically it's really hard to stiff it to the bond holders. >> why? russia defaulted, argentina defaulted. a couple of years later they were doing well. >> relatively well. there's still argentina and russia. those are middle income

countries. there's something about the average american getting pulled over for a dui and the class valedictorian. when the u.s. which has made every single bond agreement, when it breaks a promise to bond holders, investors will be terrified for years to come. >> we said that we'd attack syria. the president said in 2008 that he would cut spending. why should this be so different? and back to argentina, or russia, they suffered greatly. their countries are way out of whack. within a couple of years they were growing at 8%. like prices found a new floor. they got a new start. >> you're right. someone who has had bad luck, bad financial luck can go through bankruptcy and come out soaring. but the u.s. we have been the financial center for for quite some time. the u.s. is able to borrow at super low and cheap interest rates and our private sector builds on the stability of the government sector. so people would be afraid to lend money to big u.s. firms.

>> i would think they'd be afraid now because they can see that the direct -- the direction of things are going merely by saying we'll give you a 5% hair cut that then suddenly changes everything and then interest rates shoot up? >> you make a good point right there. 5% hair cut might not scare international investors or american investors all that much, but a 5% hair cut, promising to pay 95% of what you own won't save us that much money either. >> we need much more. let's look at this video made by a we rely so much on chinese money to cover our debt. it shows a chinese teacher mocking us. . [ speaking chinese ]

>> but what are they going to do? i don't see what the problem is. they're not going to repossess the empire state building and apple and general motors. what can they do? >> you're exactly right. it's always really tempting for national governments to default on their debt for just that reason. there's no repossession agency in most cases, right? >> right. >> but the reason why is because nations want to keep their reputations. there must be some reason why when rich countries go to the trouble of defaulting they actually end up only sort of half defaulting, partially defaulting. they repay about two-thirds of it. because they hate being cut out of the international credit markets. governments and the private sector rely on borrowing to keep the engines of capitalism running. >> thank you, garrett. coming up, our $17 trillion debt is not an insurmountable problem. it just requires a few cuts. and i'll make them when we come back. twins. i didn't see them cing.

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i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. this week, this week, congress kicked the can down the road again. but in a few months we'll be up against the next so-called debt limit. congress created those limits because politicians thought it might put a ceiling on how much government spent. but it didn't. or maybe it slowed things down a little bit. but now we're about to pass 17 trillion in debt, and soon according to promises made to my age group, handouts and debt payments willate the whole economy.

at this rate, disaster is coming. if the attitude of many's captured nicely by the performer in that recent tv video we've been playing. ♪ raise the debt ceiling >> none of us should be negotiating on the debt ceiling. it should just be lifted. >> so congress did, again. the only good news is that this time, thanks to some republican pushback, big government is finally part of the debate. >> lots of people i talked to said government needs to be cut. >> this idea of kicking the can again to february is just a terrible concept. >> tonight i poked fun at how many couldn't name any specific cuts. >> oh, that's really tough. >> but i should also point out that some could. in my experience, this is new. >> what would you cut? >> education spending and social programs. >> really? what about the people who need them? >> that's what the states are for. >> you don't want to pay for my

health care? >> no, sorry. >> what would you cut? >> anything not authorized by the constitution we eliminate. >> what would happen to the poor people? >> well, i'm a poor person. i would eat. i wound find a way to eat. >> this woman borrowed $250,000 to pay for law school. >> would you like the government to stop giving loans like that? so we don't go broke? >> i think the government makes it a little too easy for individuals to obtain loans. >> it was too easy for you to get the loan? >> way too easy. no questions asked. here's 50 k. enjoy it. >> government shouldn't dominate the student loan business. government spendsan an insane amount of money on harmful things. i nominate nancy pelosi for ridiculous politician of the month for saying this when asked why won't democrats negotiate cuts? >> why now? there's no more cuts to make. >> they spend almost 4 trillion and the cupboard's bare?

this is nuts. central planners think without big government, planes will crash, trains, parks and big bird will disappear. but none of it's true. there is so much we could cut and should cut, like npr and pbs funding. there shouldn't be government television. and big bird doesn't even need the money. foreign aid. it usually does more harm than good. onto bigger cuts. end the war on drugs. when americans hurt only themselves, leave them alone. kill fanny and freddy. government shouldn't finance 90% of meamerica's mortgages. that's socialism. eliminate cabinet departments, commerce, energy, agriculture, secretary. we don't need them. commerce happens. it doesn't need a department. education's a local responsibility. the feds spending 100 billion a year didn't raise test scores one bit. finally, the three biggest

programs. first defense. we are not safer when we try to police the world. we could cut military spending by hundreds of billions if we limited the military's mission to its intended role, protecting americans. and finally, social security and medicare. we have for do things like raise the retirement age and turn medicare into an insurance plan that's self-sustaining. that means if i want the latest in fancy medicine, i have to pay for it myself. there's much more that could be cut at downsizing government.com, kato institute analysts detail. hundreds of ideas. there's a chapter where i cut all the way to a fat budget surplus. but to save america from bankruptcy we don't even need to make all those cuts. we could grow our way out of debt if congress simply froze spending. it won't do that, either. but even if they limited

spending growth to 2% per year we'd balance the budget in just three years. so let's do it! and that's our show. see you next week. so glad you could join us. hello, everyone. welcome to brand-new our inside america's news headquarters. >> topping the news this hour, one of mexico's most violent and notorious drug lords who did time in a u.s. prison shot dead by an assassin. get this. dressed as a clone. >> also glitches galore. congress prepares to grille those behind the obama care web site that's frustrating millions of americans. we're told the woman in charge is planning to be a no-show at those hearings. our political panel weighs