anger and rage on the streets of greece. why american investors are feeling the heat from europe's latest crisis. is it another lehman lurking? the highest paid ceo in the u.s. talks to maria. a media mogul on what you'll be watching, and how you'll be watching it. and the business of baseball. the owner of the team that hasn't won the world series since the turn of the last century. on how he plans to build a winner. >> this is america's number one financial news program, "the wall street journal report." now maria bartiromo. >> hi, i'm sue herera. maria will be along with the rest of the show in just a minute. but here is a look at what is

making news as we head into a new week on wall street. angry protests in greece and new worries about a greek contagion helped push markets down around the world during the week. the demonstrations were against new austerity measures so the country can meet conditions for a new bailout. that sent shivers around the world on concerns greek bonds may need to be restructured. many european banks hold greek debt, and their exposure is making markets nervous. that helped push the dow down sharply on wednesday, after breaking a two-week slump earlier in the week. the markets rebounded later in the week. retail sales were down 0.2% last month, the first decline in nearly a year. but that was actually encouraging news because analysts had expected a greater decline. and shares of pandora went into a free fall, two days after its ipo. the internet radio company priced at $16 a share and has yet to turn a profit. and the company, after an initial bounce, tumbled on an analyst downgrade. what does all the drama in

greece mean to american investors, and why does such a tiny economy have such a big impact? allison dean's partner at varek asset management has some answer. thank you so much for joining us. greece is a tiny country, but this is having ripple effects throughout the country and indeed the world. why is it having that financial impact? >> because a lot of institutions have funds connected to the banks in greece and the companies in greece. and those banks then do their borrowing in money market funds and things along those lines if there is a downgrade in greece or they default on their debt, it could impact funds in the u.s. there is a tangle web of financials similar to what happened with lehman brothers. >> exactly. a lot of people are bringing up the lehman brothers example. we in danger of a lehman-like event, or is that overblown? >> my sense is it's overblown because lehman happened. and a lot of people have learned from that. while it does seem every year around this time everybody

becomes concerned about greece, i think that ultimately the eu, and i think other monetary authorities will step in to prevent there being a default. you see right now that looks as if europe is stepping up. but they're pushing papandreou to put through the reforms. >> perhaps some of the jitters has to do with the fact that here at home our economy and the economic statistics that we've seen have been soft. and a lot of people wonder whether we're headed for the double-dip, or whether this is a temporary soft patch. what do you think? >> my sense is it's a temporary soft patch. my view, however i've been expecting much slower growth in the economy for several years because we're continuing to go through deleveraging on a consumer side and in government. and that should result in lower levels of economic growth. so you might see periods of strong spurts of growth, but i think they'll be offset by slowdowns which is what we're seeing right now. >> but the housing market, we're getting very mixed signals. sometimes housing starts and housing numbers have been better than expected, other times worse than expected. we sustain an economic recovery if housing doesn't recover?

>> i think we can. but i think it will have to be slow. part of the deleveraging is consumers, and the way consumers leveraged up is using the value of their houses. so i think until the deleveraging really worked its way through, which will take many years, that will continue to dampen consumer spending as well as the housing market. but corporate america right now is in incredibly good shape, and global growth is very healthy. and that's what is driving growth. but because it was smaller than consumer spending is why i think growth for several years is going to be slower. >> so perhaps that growth, though, could offset the weakness that we're seeing in housing? >> yes. >> okay. well, that's one good sign, right? the debt limit, though, is looming large. >> yes. >> is it a healthy discussion that is going on in washington, or are they playing with fire? >> my sense is it's very healthy to talk about fiscal responsibility. and if we're going to tax, let's also cut spending and be more rationale. i do worry that some of this gamesmanship they're taking to the media too much. they're grandstanding and that could hurt in our ability to pay

debt. and we always have been historically a strong currency. i do worry washington might overplay their hands in the political process of trying to have a good discussion around this. >> what are the ramification, though, for the markets? are we looking at increased volatility as this discussion takes place? >> increased volatility and pressure on the dollar. i think volatility is something that is going to occur over the next several years because of the whole political process of do we spend more to get the economy going, do we cut debt? but also because we're in a slow economic growth. but i think all the grandstanding, all the sort of going after media to talk what they're doing on either side will create a lot of uncertainty which creates a lot of volatility. >> and it is pushing down the dollar, as you mentioned. and that brings us to inflation. even though perhaps the statistics that we look at don't show a lot of inflation, when you and i go to the grocery store, it's costing a lot more. how dangerous is that inflationary trend for the economy. >> my sense is if you look at the food side, it's a long-term issue that globally we have to think about. but i do think that the

agricultural side and raw materials is where you're going to continue to see pressure. and that has to be something that is dealt with, because population growth in and of itself will also put pressure on it. on the other side, i think the offset is, again, housing is very affordable right now. so i think that's an area where things are getting cheaper. energy is coming down in price. and technology and equipment, things along those lines, continue to become cheaper. so i think there is enough of an offset that i don't see rampant inflation. but i do think attention has to be paid to the agricultural and raw materials side, because i think it's a long-term trend, despite what economic -- the economic growth trends are that is going to put pressure on inflation. >> and that's the china play, correct? >> yes. >> the china and asia play as the economy improves there, more and more people have access to better food, raw materials. has china negotiated their way to a decent slowdown? that was one of the worries that was out there as well. >> it feels as if they have. i have to admit for as much as i believe in our economy, our political system, there are

times when nine men locked in a room to try to navigate through tough times can be quite effective. and it feels as if they have really managed this well. >> allison, thank you so much for joining us. >> pleasure. >> allison deans. up next, the highest paid ceo in america on what is coming up the highest paid ceo in america in what is coming to you. maria talks to viacom's philippe dauman. and his team hasn't won a world series in more than a century, the business of baseball. and as we go to the break, a look at how the stock market ended the week. i will send this to shelley. yeah. and i can have a proposal to you within half an hour. we're a small business. with 27 of us always in the field,

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tv is not just for your living room anymore. media giant viacom is working overtime to create content for its diverse cable networks and movie studios that find viewers on all platforms. from the national cable and telecommunications association trade show, viacom's ceo philippe dauman told maria more about it. >> very exciting for us. we're a pure content company. so we are able to reach consumers through the television set, through mobile devices, through the ipad, you name it. and we are able to do it on a global basis. so it's very exciting times for us. we've done innovative deals with netflix, with hulu, with others around the world. and our audiences want to interact with our content. so our shows incorporate twitter walls where people can tweet live during shows that gets read on air. we can localize calls to people who are watching our shows and make them a celebrity for the

minute. on 106. so it's very exciting. people chat about it even before the next season appears. and by the time the next episode "jersey shore" airs, they'll be very excited and want to see what is happening. it's great for marketing, great to get our content out there. and a wonderful opportunity for us as we produce more and more content. >> the ad seasoning totalling 8.8 to $9.3 billion. where is the money moving? we've been talking a lot about money moving online. and yet cable once again very strong. >> cable is very strong. the cable networks in the aggregate are making more content. we certainly are investing more and more in content. a lot of our networks are experiencing all-time high ratings. we have more and more hit shows. if you want to reach audience, and audiences that are passionate, audiences that are paying attention, it's the place to be. if you want the open a movie this weekend, you have to advertise on mtv, b.e.t.,

nickelodeon, comedy central, all of our channels. so we get a lot of movie advertising. we get a lot of advertising for anyone who wants to reach the consumers who are passionate about our brand. >> but doesn't the slate of new products, new devices open up a whole new can of worms? for example, the ipad. first of all, how do you measure who is watching the ipad? and secondly, is the ipad considered a tv screen? i mean you've got contracts in place in terms of content, distribution. if i'm on my ipad and i want to watch viacom programing somewhere else, are you going to try to do a new deal? right now you've got sort of a back and forth with time warner over this. a lot of time warner customers are watching viacom. >> we have a lot of distributors. what we do and what we do really well is make great content, and then we have to monetize that content in order to make more content. so we have experimented with a number of distributors. we have deals to have our don't

on ipad. we have a lot of apps out there on ipod, apple. these are all issues that get worked out so you have the appropriate economics. and importantly, if you're an ad supported network, you need to have measurability. because our currency is ratings. that's what we advertise. we're working issues through with most distributors. and we're in a very happy place. >> at some point, these issues i guess take care of themselves because you'll have to do new deals. but today's moment in time, is the ipad in your opinion another tv screen? >> well, it's another device. you can call it whatever you want. but people are using all sorts of devices and they're experiencing content in different ways. you have to make different kinds of content. it's not about just putting on what you have on a television screen on other devices. you also have an adverse creativity where in the app world you're creating new forms of experiences, new forms of content, whether it's games, videos, short films.

and it's a wonderful time to be creative. because there is so many ways to express your creativity. and we have a lot of people who are we are attracting to our brand, attracted to our studio who are excited by this new world. we're very excited about it as a company. >> let me ask you this. it seems like the low-hanging fruit has been picked in the business. i mean, much of the united states is covered at this point when you look at cable. so is the next frontier in terms of growth for your business, is it outside the united states? is it devices? where does the growth come from at viacom in the next five years? >> many places. it's the most exciting time i've been involved in business. so we have growth in the u.s. and elsewhere, and new forms of distribution that is a very rapidly growing business, and will continue to grow for years to come. international is a big growth area. just last week, i was visiting our operation in milan and berlin. the excitement we have there,

the mobility of content over there, the new channels we're launching, we just launched nickelodeon, our 51st country, which is bulgaria. so we're exposing dora the explorer, spongebob, icarly to bulgaria and the rest of the world, driving consumer product sales to consumer products and the licensing revenues are also a new frontier and a growing revenue stream for us. i looked at spanish spongebob cell phone just this past week. we have great brands, great content that we can exploit different ways. new consumers around the world. >> $1.6 billion in cash, and we expect consistency increases deals. what is the best use of that cash? >> we eroo recently increased our dividend. we increased it by 57% for the quarter to quarter. and our buybacks are accelerating. we're buying $700 million this quarter. so we're returning capital

shareholders and investing in our business. >> philippe, good to have you on the program. >> thank you. >> philippe dauman of viacom. up next, maria has more from chicago. is 96-year-old wrigley field a national treasure or a dump? what the boss thinks is next. [ man ] i got this new citi thankyou card

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sculpted by an unyielding passion for design. ♪ and tempered by 125 years of legendary performance. introducing the all-new 2012 cls from mercedes-benz. where the world's greatest automobiles take shape. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. welcome back from wrigley field, the home of one of the oldest baseball teams in the country, the chicago cubs. this stadium was built in 1914

at a cost of about $250,000. and the cubs, which began playing professionally in 1871, move heard in 1916. two years ago, tom ricketts led his family's acquisition of the cubs and its related assets such as this stadium for $900 million. ricketts is the ceo of investment bank and capital as well as the cubs chairman. he joins me now to talk the business of baseball. good to see you, tom. >> good to see you, maria. >> thank you so much for joining us and thanks for having us. i'm excited to throw the first pitch. i hope it stops raining. >> welcome to wrigley field. i wish it was a little less rainy, but we'll get through it. >> hopefully it will stop. but let's talk business before we get into it. last week "the l.a. time" reported that the major league baseball staffers informed the tigers, marlins, phillies, rangers as well as the cubs that you're in violation of baseball's debt service rules. the commissioner doesn't dispute the story. what about the debt structure of

the cubs? >> yeah, i mean the commissioner came out and the league is completely comfortable with our debt structure. the cubs are an investment grade credit. i think that the important thing that people have to know is that nothing in our debt structure, nothing in our balance sheet is in any way affecting our ability to put a team on the field. it's really just a technicality driven by the structure of the transaction, and it's really nothing more than that. so there is nothing to worry about for anyone. >> the transaction the tribune? >> the transaction from the tribune. >> also there is talk out there about this possibility of realignment of the two leagues. what is that all about? primarily, bringing one national league team to the american league to create two 15-team leagues. truth? >> i know there has been a lot of talk about trying to even out the number of teams in each division, which is a little bit awkward. i don't know if there is anything substantial behind any of the rumors. it's a lot easier to talk about realignment than do it.

>> the cubs have the fifth highest paid baseball this year. this is something people are talking about. $125 million yet you're second to last in the national league. >> well, obviously, i mean the cubs do have one of the highest payrolls in the national league, and one of the highest payrolls in all of major league baseball. and we haven't gotten the kind of performance on the field we were looking for. we're very frustrated and disappointed by the season. with that said, i think we have to -- we're all working very hard ever day to get that turned around, and we still got 94 games left. we're optimistic we'll have a good season yet. >> well, you're certainly investing. so what is not working? we talked moments ago during the commercial break. you're looking at new facilities, investing in arizona elsewhere. what do you need to do? >> that's a great point. we're working on the organization as a whole. we're definitely investing in arizona. we're investing in the dominican republic. we're doing everything to build a better organization. on the field up here this year, we just haven't played well. to be honest, we have given a lot of games away. we just haven't played very

well. we've had a few injuries which have held us back. but the team is working hard every day to kind of put that back in place and get the season turned around. >> this is a historic place, we all know that. 1914, as i mentioned. yet baseball analysts, i'm sure you heard peter gammon's comments recently, wrigley field a dump. ouch, ouch. you as an owner, you've got to make this historic ballpark livable, he said. so given the state-of-the-art facilities elsewhere around the country do, you feel the need to put more money into the stadium and change it? >> obviously, we respectfully disagree with peter's characterization of us as a dump. however, we knew that the park needed a lot of work when we bought the team and we put a team together of people that are focused specifically on designing a plan to do the things that we need to do to preserve and improve wrigley, and have it around for the next 50 years. so we're on it. you know, we're working hard toward a good solution. i think that it's not a dump. it just needs a little love. >> talk to us about your day job

which is executive chairman of n capital, underwriting corporate and government bonds. how is the environment right now? what can you tell us? >> my day job is really here. >> spending all of your time here. >> so the number two guy there is now my number one guy there. he is doing really well. everything is fine in capital. we're doing very well. we focus on safe investments. and you know, that doesn't really ever go out of vogue. things are okay. corporate markets are good. and everything we're doing there is working great. >> all right. i'm psyched about tonight's game. we're hoping for the rain to stop. >> are you going to throw out a pitch? >> first pitch. i've been practicing. >> good, good. >> thank you so much, tom. >> thanks for being here. up next on "the wall street journal report," we'll take a look at the news this upcoming week that will have an impact on your money. and then if the markets are throwing you a curveball, wait until you see what i've got up my sleeve. stay with us. who's ready to break through more barriers, from brick walls to budgets.

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welcome back. here are the stories coming up that may move the markets and impact your money this week. tuesday, the nation's realtors report on existing home sales for the last month. on wednesday, the federal reserve wraps up its latest meeting with an announcement on interest rates. and chairman bernanke meets the press for his second news

conference following an fomc announcement. thursday, the latest new home sales figures are out. and friday we'll get the final revision of the first quarter growth domestic product. and finally, maria's not here today, but she took the windy city by storm this week. first up in chicago was the introduction of this year's class of the national cable hall of fame. maria's only the second journalist to be included, honored for her leadership and innovation in the cable industry. >> i'm also proud to have been able to contribute to this industry and these firsts in cable. producing in real-time in that first gulf war to the booms and busts of the financial industry from the floor of the new york stock exchange at cnbc. the truth is i'm so proud because i know, and we all know that cable has changed people's lives. >> congratulations, maria. and did the practice pay i off for the cubs' newest pitcher? well, once again the rain

stopped at wrigley field, and maria threw out the first pitch before the cubbies took on the milwaukee brewers. the windup, the pitch, and of course the crowd went wild. and we're all team players here in business news. so that's the show for today. thank you so much for joining me. maria's guest next week is nobel prize winning economist michael sten. each week keep it right here where wall street meets main street. and have a great weekend. california should be proud.

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