captioning funded by cbs and ford-- .captioning funded by cbs and ford-- built for the road ahead. >> kroft: good things can happen to you if you're a powerful member of congress. take nancy pelosi. while speaker of the house, she and her husband were offered and accepted an insider's opportunity to invest in a credit card company, just as tough legislation affecting the industry was making its way through the house. did you consider that to be a conflict of interest? >> i don't know what your point is of your question. is there some point that you want to make with that? >> kroft: i guess what i'm asking is, do you think it's all right for a speaker to accept a very preferential, favorable

stock deal? >> well, we didn't. >> give yourselves a hand. >> pitts: he has an unusual name and a fascinating life. at the age of 12, he was thrown in jail during a civil rights march. >> spat in my face and threw me into the paddy wagon. >> pitts: for the past two decades, he's been president of one of america's most innovative universities. >> i don't care how smart you are; nothing takes the place of hard work. >> pitts: but even with all of that, there was one question we needed to ask first. how does a black man get a name like "hrabowski"? >> ( laughs ) >> stahl: you're a role model and you know it. >> i think it's my responsibility to know it. good evening, los angeles. >> stahl: taylor swift is a role model to millions of fans who pack into arenas all over the world to hear the 22-year-old sing songs she writes herself.

♪ ♪ her shows are extravaganzas, and we were allowed backstage to watch taylor run in and out of quick change rooms, getting ready to hit the stage. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm lara logan. >> i'm byron pitts. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." i had enough of feeling embarrassed about my skin. [ designer ] enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin. [ rv guy ] enbrel may not work for everyone -- and may not clear you completely, but for many, it gets skin clearer fast, within 2 months, and keeps it clearer up to 9 months. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system,

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>> kroft: congressmen and senators are expending much of their time and energy right now raising the millions of dollars in campaign funds they'll need just to hold on to a job that pays $174,000 a year. few of them are doing it for the salary, and all of them will say they are doing it to serve the public. but there are other benefits: power, prestige, and the opportunity to become a washington insider with access to information and connections that no one else has in an environment of privilege where rules that govern the rest of the country don't always apply to them. when we first broadcast this story in november, it was legal for members of congress to trade stock based on non-public information gathered during the course of their duties. this story would change that. >> peter schweizer: this is a venture opportunity. this is an opportunity to leverage your position in public service, and use that position to enrich yourself, your friends, and your family.

>> kroft: peter schweizer is a fellow at the hoover institution, a conservative think tank at stanford university. a year ago, he began working on a book about soft corruption in washington with a team of eight student researchers, who reviewed financial disclosure records. the results became a jumping off point for our own story, and we have independently verified the material we've used. schweizer says he wanted to know why some congressmen and senators managed to accumulate significant wealth beyond their salaries, and proved particularly adept at buying and selling stocks. >> schweizer: there are all sorts of... forms of honest graft that congressmen engage in that allow them to become very, very wealthy. so, it's not illegal, but i think it's highly unethical, i think it's highly offensive and wrong. >> kroft: what do you mean, "honest graft"? >> schweizer: for example, insider trading on the stock market. if you are a member of congress, those laws are deemed not to apply. >> kroft: so congressman get a pass on insider trading? >> schweizer: they do. the fact is, if you sit on the

healthcare committee and you know that medicare, for example, is... is considering not reimbursing for a certain drug, that's market-moving information. and if you can trade stock on... off of that information, and do so legally, that's a great profit-making opportunity. and that sort of behavior goes on. >> kroft: why does congress get a pass on this? >> schweizer: it's really the way the rules have been defined. and the people who make the rules are the political class in washington. and they've conveniently written them in such a way that they don't apply to themselves. >> kroft: the buying and selling of stock by corporate insiders who have access to non-public information that could affect the stock price can be a criminal offense. just ask hedge fund manager raj rajaratnam, who recently got 11 years in prison for doing it. but congressional lawmakers have no corporate responsibilities and have long been considered exempt from insider trading laws, even though they have daily access to non-public information and plenty of opportunities to trade on it.

>> schweizer: we know that, during the healthcare debate, people were trading healthcare stocks. we know that, during the financial crisis of 2008, they were getting out of the market before the rest of america really knew what was going on. >> kroft: in mid-september 2008, with the dow jones industrial average still above 10,000, treasury secretary hank paulson and federal reserve chairman ben bernanke were holding closed door briefings with congressional leaders, and privately warning them that a global financial meltdown could occur within a few days. one of those attending was alabama representative spencer bachus, then the ranking republican member on the house financial services committee, and now its chairman. >> schweizer: these meetings were so sensitive that they would actually confiscate cell phones and blackberries going into those meetings. what we know is that those meetings were held one day and, literally, the next day, congressman bachus would engage in buying stock options based on apocalyptic briefings he had the

day before from the fed chairman and treasury secretary. i mean, talk about a stock tip. >> kroft: while congressman bachus was publicly trying to keep the economy from cratering, he was privately betting that it would, buying option funds that would go up in value if the market went down. he would make a variety of trades, and profited at a time when most americans were losing their shirts. congressman bachus declined to talk to us, so we went to his office and ran into his press secretary, tim johnson. we're not alleging that congressman bachus has violated any laws. all... the only thing we're interested in talking to him about is his trades. >> tim johnson: okay, that's a fair enough request. >> kroft: what we got was a statement from congressman bachus' office that he never trades on non-public information or financial services stock. however, his financial disclosure forms seem to indicate otherwise. bachus made money trading general electric stock during the crisis, and a third of

g.e.'s business is in financial services. during the healthcare debate of 2009, members of congress were trading healthcare stocks, including house minority leader john boehner, who led the opposition against the so-called "public option," government funded insurance that would compete with private companies. just days before the provision was finally killed off, boehner bought health insurance stocks, all of which went up. now speaker of the house, congressman boehner also declined to be interviewed, so we tracked him down at his weekly press conference. speaker boehner. you made a number of trades going back to the healthcare debate. you bought some insurance stock. did you make those trades based on non-public information? >> john boehner: i have not made any decisions on day-to-day trading activities in my account, and haven't for years. i don't... i do not do it, haven't done it and wouldn't do it. >> kroft: later, boehner's spokesman told us that the healthcare trades were made by the speaker's financial advisor, who he only consults with about once a year.

>> schweizer: we need to find out whether they're part of a blind trust or not. >> kroft: peter schweizer thinks the timing is suspicious, and believes congressional leaders should have their stock funds in blind trusts. >> schweizer: whether it's $15,000 or $150,000, the principle, in my mind, is that it's simply wrong and it shouldn't take place. >> kroft: but there is a long history of self-dealing in washington, and it doesn't always involve stock trades. congressmen and senators also seem to have a special knack for land and real estate deals. when illinois congressman dennis hastert became speaker of the house in 1999, he was worth a few hundred thousand dollars. he left the job eight years later a multi-millionaire. >> jan strasma: the road that hastert wants to build will go through these farm fields right here. >> kroft: in 2005, speaker hastert got a $207 million federal earmark to build the prairie parkway through these cornfields near his home. what jan strasma and his

neighbors didn't know was that hastert had also bought some land adjacent to where the highway is supposed to go. >> strasma: and five months after this earmark went through, he sold that land and made a bundle of money. >> kroft: how much? >> strasma: $2 million. >> kroft: what do you think of it? >> strasma: it stinks. >> kroft: we stopped by the former speaker's farm to ask him about the land deal, but he was off in washington where he now works as a lobbyist. his office told us that property values in the area began to appreciate even before the earmark, and that the hastert land was several miles from the nearest exit. but the same good fortune befell former new hampshire senator judd gregg, who helped steer nearly $70 million in government funds towards redeveloping this defunct air force base, which he and his brother both had a commercial interest in. gregg has said that he violated no congressional rules. it's but one more example of good things happening to powerful members of congress. another is the access to initial public stock offerings, the

opportunity to buy a new stock at insider prices just as it goes on the market. they can be incredibly lucrative and hard to get. >> schweizer: if you were a senator, steve, and i gave you $10,000 cash, one or both of us is probably going to go to jail. but if i'm a corporate executive and you're a senator, and i give you i.p.o. shares in stock, and over the course of one day, that stock nets you $100,000, that's completely legal. >> kroft: and former house speaker nancy pelosi and her husband have participated in at least eight i.p.o.s. one of those came in 2008, from visa, just as a troublesome piece of legislation that would have hurt credit card companies began making its way through the house. undisturbed by a potential conflict of interest, the pelosis purchased 5,000 shares of visa at the initial price of $44. two days later, it was trading at $64. the credit card legislation never made it to the floor of the house.

congresswoman pelosi also declined our request for an interview, but agreed to call on us if we attended her news conference. madam leader, i wanted to ask you why you and your husband, back in march of 2008, accepted and participated in a very large i.p.o. deal from visa at a time there was major legislation affecting the credit card companies making its way through the... through the house. >> nancy pelosi: but... >> kroft: and did you consider that to be a conflict of interest? >> pelosi: the... i... i don't know what your point is of your question. is there some point that you want to make with that? >> kroft: well, i... i guess what i'm asking is, do you think it's all right for a speaker to accept a very preferential favorable stock deal? >> pelosi: well, we didn't. >> kroft: you participated in the i.p.o., and at the time, you were speaker of the house. you don't think it was a conflict of interest or had the appearance... >> pelosi: no, it was not. >> kroft: ...of a conflict of interest? >> pelosi: it doesn't... it only has appearance if you decide that you're going to have... elaborate on a false premise. but it... it's not true and

that's that. >> kroft: i don't understand what part's not true. >> pelosi: yes, sir... that... that i would act upon an investment. >> kroft: congresswoman pelosi pointed out that the tough credit card legislation eventually passed, but it was two years later and was initiated in the senate. >> pelosi: i will hold my record in terms of fighting the credit card companies as speaker of the house or as a member of congress up against anyone's. >> kroft: corporate executives, members of the executive branch, and all federal judges are subject to strict conflict of interest rules. but not the people who write the laws. >> schweizer: if you are a member of congress and you sit on the defense committee, you are free to trade defense stock as much as you want to. if you're on the senate banking committee, you can trade bank stock as much as you want, and that regularly goes on in... in all these committees. >> brian baird: there should only be one thing in your mind

when you're drafting legislation-- is this good for the united states of america? that's it. if you're starting to say to yourself, "how's this going to affect my investments?" you've got... you've got a mixed agenda and a mixed purpose for being there. >> kroft: brian baird is a former congressman from washington state who served six terms in the house before retiring last year. he spent half of those 12 years trying to get his colleagues to prohibit insider trading in congress and establish some rules governing conflicts of interest. >> baird: one line in a bill in congress can be worth millions and millions of dollars. there was one night, we had a late, late night caucus, and you could kind of tell how a vote was going to go the next day. i literally walked home and i thought, "man, if you... if you went online and made some significant trades, you could make a lot of money on this." you... you could just see it. you could see the potential here. >> kroft: so in 2004, baird and congresswoman louise slaughter introduced the stock act, which would make it illegal for members of congress to trade stocks on non-public information, and require them to

report their stock trades every 90 days instead of once a year. how far did you get with this? >> baird: we didn't get anywhere. just flat died. went nowhere. >> kroft: how many co-sponsors did you get? >> baird: i think we got six. >> kroft: six doesn't sound like a very big amount. >> baird: it's not, steve. you... you could have national cherry pie week and get 100 co- sponsors. >> kroft: when baird finally managed to get a congressional hearing on the stock act, almost no one showed up. it's reintroduced every session, but is buried so deep in the capitol, we had trouble finding congressmen who had ever heard of it. have you ever heard of the stock act? >> the what? >> kroft: the stock act. do you know anything about it? >> no. >> kroft: congressman. congressman. >> i haven't heard about that one yet. >> kroft: have you ever heard of something called the stock act? >> no. >> i've heard about, but not... i can't say it's an issue i've spent a lot of time on. >> i would have no problem with that. >> kroft: okay. >> but then again, i am big fan of, you know, instant disclosure on almost everything. >> kroft: they're looking for co-sponsors.

>> and yet, i've never heard of it. >> baird: when you have a bill like this that makes so much sense and you can't get the co- sponsorships, you can't get the leadership to move, it gets tremendously frustrating. set aside that it's the right thing to do-- it's good politics. people want their congress to function well. ( laughs ) it still baffles me. >> kroft: but what baffles baird even more is that the situation has gotten worse. in the past few years, a whole new totally unregulated $100 million industry has grown up in washington called political intelligence. it employs former congressmen and former staffers to scour the halls of the capitol, gathering valuable non-public information, then selling it to hedge funds and traders on wall street who can trade on it. >> baird: now, if you're a political intel guy, and you get that information long before it's public, long before somebody wakes up the next

morning and reads or watches the television or whatever, you've got it, and you can make real... real-time trades before anybody else. >> kroft: baird says its taken what would be a criminal enterprise anyplace else in the country and turned it into a profitable business model. >> baird: the town is all about people saying, "what do you know that i don't know?" this is the currency of washington, d.c., and it's that kind of informational currency that translates into real currency. maybe it's over drinks, maybe somebody picks up a phone and says, you know, "just to let you know, it's in the bill." trades happen. can't trace them. if you can trace them, it's not illegal. it's a pretty great system. you feel like an idiot to not take advantage of it. >> kroft: following our broadcast, more than 284 members of the house signed up to co- sponsor the stock act. it passed the house and senate, and was signed into law by the president in april. however, the provision requiring

registration for people involved in political intelligence was dropped from the legislation. >> cbs money watch pup date sponsored by:. >> glor: good evening. tomorrow microsoft is expected to introduce its first tablet computer. gas prices fell this week. and americans spent $113 billion for father's day this year, a new record, but 30% less than mother's day. i'm jeff glor, cbs news.

>> pitts: last fall, we introduced you to a man with an unusual name you'd probably never heard of, but his message about education and america's future is something we thought you should know. freeman hrabowski says the united states is not producing enough scientists and engineers, professions critical to creating more jobs.

hrabowski is president of the university of maryland, baltimore county. umbc, as its called, was once known primarily as a commuter school. today, this mid-sized state university has earned a reputation as one of the most innovative schools in the country, especially when it comes to getting students into math and science, and keeping them there. how freeman hrabowski got to umbc is a journey through american history. and there's a story in his name. i'm not sure how to phrase this in a delicate way, but how does a black man get a name like "hrabowski"? >> freeman hrabowski: ( laughs ) well, you're asking the question that most people just look at me and think, and they don't know how to ask it. my grandfather's grandfather was the polish slave master in rural alabama. >> pitts: and freeman? >> hrabowski: and freeman-- i am the third, freeman hrabowski iii. and my grandfather was the first one born a free man, as opposed to having to be freed.

>> pitts: freeman hrabowski was an only child. his parents were both educators. >> ♪ we shall overcome... >> pitts: he grew up in birmingham, alabama, when segregation was law and the civil rights movement was growing. >> this is birmingham, the south's mightiest industrial city, as the world knew it this week. >> pitts: in may 1963, hrabowski was in the children's march, organized by martin luther king, jr., a march made infamous when sheriff eugene "bull" connor unleashed dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators. in the midst of it was 12-year- old freeman hrabowski, who had his own encounter with "bull" connor. >> hrabowski: he asked me, "what do you want, little negro?" i was so scared. and... big guy. and i said, "we want to kneel and pray." all we wanted to do was to kneel and pray for our freedom. that was it. and he picked me up, he spat in my face, and threw me into the paddy wagon. >> pitts: he spit on you?

>> hrabowski: he did, indeed. he did, indeed. it was an awful experience, and it took years for me to get over that. it taught me that even kids can make decisions that can have an impact on the rest of their lives. and it also taught me the importance of getting support from each other in that experience. it was frightening. i was there five days. >> pitts: in jail for five days? >> hrabowski: in jail for five days. it was awful. and yet, it was rich. >> pitts: hrabowski excelled in school. at age 12, he was in the ninth grade. at 15, he went to college, where he studied math and began a career devoted to higher education. since 1992, he's been president of umbc, a state university on the outskirts of baltimore. >> hrabowski: we want people to take ownership of umbc. >> pitts: he uses the lessons from that birmingham jail, of the importance of commitment and support from others, as he leads the university today. >> hrabowski: there's this balance between being nurturing and supportive here at umbc, but also about setting very high

standards. we are preparing students to compete against and work with people from all over the world. they're working, they're working hard, they're working very hard. this is interesting. we have to teach americans of all races, from all backgrounds, what it takes to be the best. and at the heart of it is the same thing we saw when we were kids-- hard work. nothing... i don't care how smart you are, nothing takes the place of hard work. >> pitts: much of the hard work at umbc is in science, engineering and math, which accounted for 41% of the bachelor's degrees earned there last year, well above the national average of 25%. nationwide, most college students who start off in the sciences either change to a different major or don't graduate. umbc keeps undergrads engaged by including them in research typically left to graduate students. these students are investigating the secrets of h.i.v.

>> hrabowski: we need hands-on experiences. we need to be encouraging that curiosity. and people cannot... should not be allowed simply to sit back and be bored. >> pitts: students can also get jobs and internships at one of 76 companies located on campus. most are technology startups. they get help growing their businesses, and tax credits, along with access to students and faculty. one thing you won't find at umbc... you had a chance to get a football team at umbc, right? and you said no? >> hrabowski: people talk about that. right. i mean, well... well, first of all, it takes a lot of money for a football team to win. >> pitts: hrabowski prefers to win on different playing fields. incoming freshman francois rice noticed right away. >> francois rice: it seems like everything's flipped, where you might go to another university and the football team might be top dog, here, it's the chess team that's top dog. and it's... >> pitts: the chess team? >> rice: yeah, it's cool to be smart. >> pitts: rice is part of the

23rd incoming class of meyerhoff scholars, a program that recruits high achievers in math, science and engineering who are aiming for graduate degrees and careers in research. the meyerhoff scholars, what's that concept? >> hrabowski: it is that we can create a program that focuses on both excellence and inclusiveness, starting with african americans, and then hispanics, and now whites and asians, students of all races, who are excellent in science and engineering. we need people from all backgrounds, and meyerhoff says, "it can be done." >> pitts: the program started in 1988 when hrabowski teamed up with billionaire philanthropist robert meyerhoff. both men worried that african- american males were shut out from careers in the sciences ot talent. over the years, the program expanded to all students, and helped put umbc and hrabowski on the map of higher education. >> rahel zeman: i love sciences, math are definitely my passions.

there's, like, so many... >> pitts: you're passionate about math and science? >> zeman: oh, definitely. >> pitts: rahel zeman, debra silver and eleban ortiz are all interested in medical research. michael roberts and francois rice want to be mechanical engineers. >> time's up. put your bags down. >> pitts: to get them jumpstarted, umbc runs a summer boot camp for the new meyerhoff scholars, with surprising rules for such a high-tech generation. >> zeman: there's no cell phone rule, no laptop, no facebook, no electronics. >> rice: no headphones. >> zeman: there's just so many, but the point is, they want us to be socializing and... and form real bonds and relationships with each other. >> it requires energy to dissolve. >> pitts: for six weeks, they work hard, but the most important lesson they get is how to work together. the key to success, they're told, is collaboration, not competition. to reinforce the idea, the 72

young scholars are required to learn together, study together, live together, and move around campus together, literally. gaps in the line are not allowed. >> eleban ortiz: you could be worried, you know, "oh, i might not make it" or stuff. but then, there's the 72 people right around you saying that you can do it. >> zeman: we have 72 of us that we can ask, 72 teachers all around us. it just makes such a difference that i love. >> pitts: "72 teachers"-- that's how you describe your classmates. >> zeman: definitely, definitely. because i... i can safely say that we can all learn from each other and teach each other. >> hrabowski: we make this assumption that either math and science are for you or they're not. you know, i get goosebumps doing math. i always have. >> pitts: goosebumps? >> hrabowski: goosebumps. i always have. students laugh at me, but my students get goosebumps doing math and science. we love it. >> kafui dzirasa: he always tells this story about, you know, 19 years old and graduated from college, and how he used to get goosebumps doing math problems. and all i can remember as a 17- year-old thinking to myself was, "i never want to be like that."

( laughter ) >> pitts: anybody but that guy. >> dzirasa: yeah. >> pitts: kafui dzirasa loved to take apart computers as a kid, and says he breezed through high school without too much effort. he went to umbc as a meyerhoff scholar in 1997, thinking about his next track meet, not a career in science. >> dzirasa: when i got to umbc, i had no idea what research was. in fact, for about the first eight months, i lied about wanting a ph.d., because i didn't know what a ph.d. was. >> pitts: today, dr. dzirasa has both a ph.d. in engineering and a medical degree. he heads up a research team at duke university studying the brain and mental illness. >> dzirasa: i seek to understand the range of human suffering that comes in the context of psychiatric illness. and this is what the brain cell activity looks like... >> pitts: dzirasa says the problems are too complex for one scientist to solve alone. that means the first critical step to success in his lab, and most other labs, he says, is building the right team. and you learned all that at

umbc, that... that framework of the kinds of skills you need? >> dzirasa: yeah, yeah. i think... and i think that that was the most beneficial thing that i got out of umbc. believing in myself as a scientist, and learning how to work with others, how to think deeply, how to seek people who were great in other areas without being intimidated in that, and build teams to solve problems together. >> pitts: so far, 873 students have come out of the meyerhoff scholars program, and nearly 90% of them have gone on to graduate school. >> hrabowski: good morning. >> pitts: hrabowski worries, though, that the u.s. is not doing enough to create more homegrown scientists. >> hrabowski: most people don't realize that only about 10% of americans in 1965 had a college education. >> pitts: and today? >> hrabowski: and today, we're up to about 25%. ♪ ♪ >> pitts: he says the difference is that, 50 years ago, most jobs didn't require a college degree. >> hrabowski: today, we need more education. we need people with post- secondary training.

we need people with two-year degrees and four-year degrees, and people in graduate programs, if we're going to talk about making sure they can take care of their families, and if we're going to talk about meeting the needs of companies and agencies in our country. so what do you want to do when you graduate? what are you...? >> i'm going to be a teacher. >> hrabowski: oh, i love it, i love it. >> pitts: around campus, hrabowski is a familiar sight, full of encouragement and contagious enthusiasm. >> it's fun. i like that class a lot. >> hrabowski: you like genetics? >> yeah, the lab is really good. >> hrabowski: i like that. we say at the beginning of the year, "look at the student to your left, look at the student to your right." most people who have gone to college heard the dean say, "one of you will not graduate," all right? and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. if i'm at all insecure, or if i know i'm a little immature, i'm going to say, "oh, my goodness, he's talking about me. so, i may as well party this year, because i'm not going to be here next year anyway." and it happens, right? we say, "look at the student to your left, look at the student to your right. our goal is to make sure all three of you graduate, and if you don't, we fail. and we don't plan to fail, because we accepted you because you can do this work."

>> pitts: but aren't you just romanticizing the possibilities, because there... there... many kids just won't make it, because they won't do the work or they're not bright enough to be there and be successful. >> hrabowski: but... so, do you just say, "well, those who were already ready to... to study hard, they'll make it, and let the rest fail?" i think that's not what an educator should do. i want you to keep dreaming about the possibilities. nothing takes the place of hard work, attitude, and getting support from each other. and that's what... that's what this is all about. focus, focus, focus. give yourselves a hand. keep working hard. ( applause ) [ male announcer ] it's back again at red lobster,

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>> stahl: five years ago last fall, a 16-year-old girl released her debut country music album and dreamed of making it big. well, today, that girl is as big as it gets. she has sold more albums in the u.s. over those five and a half years than any other artist in any genre. taylor swift's has been a meteoric rise. as we first reported in november, she seems to know, even at her young age, just the right notes to hit-- in her songwriting and in her business. in an era of declining record sales, taylor swift appeals to people who still pay a lot for music-- girls and their moms. she's held onto her country fans even as she's gotten huge in

pop. and then there's her image-- in a welcome deviation from the all-too-familiar story of early success gone wrong, she has been in the spotlight without a single public misstep. ( cheers and applause ) take a look at the crowd at the staples center in los angeles, where taylor swift sold out four shows within minutes. >> taylor swift: well, hello, los angeles! ( fans screaming ) >> stahl: the decibel level here reminds you of the beatles. ♪ ♪ it's almost as if she's their spiritual leader, with her message that you can be a good girl, a nice person, and still have fun. taylor swift writes her own songs, about love and heartbreak and being the ordinary girl next door. she's been called "the poet laureate of puberty."

♪ ♪ are they great songs, in your opinion? we spoke to bill werde, editorial director of "billboard." >> bill werde: maybe if she looked different, like, let's say she wasn't young and cute. i think people would be talking about her as a great songwriter. >> stahl: so, you think that the persona and the fan base and all that almost diminishes... >> werde: yeah, i definitely think it does. you know, i think that it's hard for critics to look at an arena full of screaming 12-year-old girls and say, "this is really credible songwriting." >> stahl: but you say it? >> werde: oh, absolutely. yeah, no doubt. ♪ ♪ >> stahl: all taylor swift's songs are autobiographical. "love story" grew out of a teenage argument she had with her parents over a boy. they thought he was a creep. >> swift: and he was, but i, at the time, just thought he was amazing. >> stahl: she started thinking shakespeare. >> swift: and i got this pre-

chorus in my head that said, "you were romeo, you were throwing pebbles, and my daddy said 'stay away from juliet.'" ♪ ♪ >> stahl: she raced in to work out the chords on her bedroom floor. >> swift: maybe it's... ♪ you were romeo, and you're just like, "oh, okay, well, that's that." ♪ you were romeo, you were throwing pebbles, ♪ and my daddy said 'stay away from juliet'... i had to fight for that song, because when i first played it for, you know, my family, a few people, they were just sort of like, "eh." >> stahl: but you believed in it. you trust yourself. >> swift: yeah, it's almost more fun that way when...when you have something to prove. >> stahl: "love story" went to number one on both "billboard's" country and pop songs charts, the first song ever to do that. proving doubters wrong is a big theme in the tale of taylor swift. she started singing when she was still a toddler. ♪ ♪

she fell in love with country music, and not as a coal miner's daughter from kentucky. she's a stockbroker's daughter from wyamissing, pennsylvania, who, at age ten, began nagging her parents to take her to the mecca of country music. >> swift: it was just on repeat, just like a loop, constantly. like, "how about we go to nashville? can we go to nashville? can i take a trip to nashville? hey, so i looked up this tourist brochure about nashville. can we go see nashville?" >> stahl: spring break 2001, they finally gave in and headed to mecca, says her mother andrea. >> andrea swift: we started driving up and down music row. and at that point, she would say, "mom, mom, pull over. that's mercury records. let me out." >> stahl: she was 11, toting cds of herself singing karoake songs. and she'd run in? >> andrea swift: she would walk up to the receptionist and hand them a demo cd, and say, "hi, i'm taylor. i'm 11. i want a record deal. call me." >> stahl: anyone call? >> andrea swift: no. sadly, no.

( laughter ) >> stahl: she spent the next few years performing every chance she got, even in a bar when she was 13. >> taylor swift: i remember there was all these, like, rock- n-roll dudes and, like, biker guys. and i'm like, "this is a song that i wrote about the guy who sits next to me in class." and it was just like... ( laughs ) you know, sometimes i ended up in the wrong venue. but it was still... it was learning to talk to a crowd, regardless of whether it was the crowd that's going to be most susceptible to liking your music. >> stahl: somebody at rca records liked her music and offered her a one-year development deal. that's when the swifts moved to nashville. taylor was finally where she belonged. or so she thought. >> taylor swift: i would go and turn in songs, and more and more, i would just get suggestions that i write... that i sing other people's songs. and, you know, i just didn't want to. >> andrea swift: and at that point, she said, "my contract's coming up, mom.

i need to just walk." and i thought, "you're kidding." >> stahl: how gutsy was that for a 14-year-old? >> scott borchetta: gutsy? no. how about unheard of? >> stahl: scott borchetta was an executive at another label. >> borchetta: you don't have artists walking out of one of the biggest record companies and saying, "you know what? i don't think i need another year of development. i'm going to go." all right. >> stahl: she did it, though. >> borchetta: she absolutely did it, at 14. >> stahl: borchetta heard taylor, liked her songs, and offered to sign her as his first artist on a new label he was starting. she took the risk and it paid off. >> borchetta: as of this week, "speak now" has sold five million copies worldwide. ( cheers and applause ) >> stahl: "speak now" is her third multi-platinum album, and she's been on a worldwide 76- city tour to promote it.

the show is an extravaganza, with aerialists and fireworks on stage... and frantic darting about below, as taylor runs in and out of quick-change rooms, and braces herself inside this glass contraption, preparing to be tossed in the air. >> taylor swift: i'm praying that i'm not going to break my leg. i'm like, "dear god, i'm very clumsy. i'm not a gymnast, i'm not graceful. please don't let me break my leg." that's what's going on. ( cheers and applause ) >> stahl: like big-time musicians today, taylor makes a bundle on her tours. she's become a brand, with "merch," as they say, like t- shirts and show programs; product endorsements, like for cover girl. she even owns her own buses. taylor swift is big, big business. >> borchetta: yes, she is. >> stahl: i've seen figures. >> borchetta: they're big. >> stahl: $100 million to $120 million, just on this tour. >> borchetta: i've seen those figures.

>> stahl: that's like a major corporation. >> borchetta: taylor swift is a major corporation. >> stahl: and who's at the helm? look who we found running the management meeting. >> taylor swift: it's like they messed with the color... >> stahl: unlike other stars of her caliber who sign up with management companies, taylor created her own. as c.e.o., she manages herself. >> taylor swift: it's fine, just because it's subtle. >> stahl: but it's taylor's way of tirelessly courting her fans that may be the key to her success. remarkably, she spends an hour before every show meeting and greeting and charming. she was a pioneer in using social media to connect personally with her fans, posting funny video blogs she edits herself, with glimpses of her offstage life, making her fans feel like they're part of her close circle of friends.

and she's orchestrated her concerts, too, to get as close to her fans as any performer we've ever seen-- halfway through the show, she walks through the audience and sings three songs to the people in the back. all while members of her team search the crowd for the most enthusiastic fans and reward them with gold-- an invitation to hang out with taylor after the show. ( screaming ) >> stahl: then, taylor heads back to the stage through the crowd, touching and hugging all over again. and when the crowd roars, her expression of awe, again and again, can be, well, hard to believe. are you really surprised, or are you just kind of putting it on? >> taylor swift: i'm really surprised every time i see a crowd like that, because i never thought i'd get to play to a crowd like that. >> stahl: so when you go... it's real?

>> taylor swift: does it look like that? great. ( laughter ) >> stahl: one of the things her fans love about her is that she laughs at herself, as in this video with rapper t-pain... >> taylor swift: ♪ i knit sweaters, yo. >> stahl: ...poking fun at her squeaky clean image and turning her uncoolness into cool. >> taylor swift: ♪ you guys bleeped me and i didn't even swear. >> t-pain: ♪ she didn't even swear... >> stahl: taylor swift has won just about every music award there is, including the industry's highest honor, the grammy for album of the year in 2010. but the few setbacks in her meteoric career have come, ironically, on award nights, as when kanye west grabbed the mike from her... and the time she sang a live duet with stevie nicks at the grammies off-key. one nasty review said she had

killed her career overnight, and was "too young and dumb to understand the mistake she'd made." >> taylor swift: the things that were said about me by this dude floored me and, like, leveled me. and i... i don't have thick skin. i hate reading criticisms. you never really, like, get past things hurting you. >> stahl: but then, taylor did her thing and turned the wound into a song... ♪ ♪ >> stahl: the hit single "mean." and in the music video, taylor broadened it beyond herself to a boy in a locker room reading a fashion magazine, a girl who shows up wearing something different. the song has taken on a life of its own-- a sort of anti- bullying, anti-meanness anthem. ♪ ♪ ♪ there's a deep, deep connection

here. as one of her fans told us, "taylor lets us know it's okay to be ourselves." ♪ ♪ scott borchetta says she's a cultural leader and she knows it. >> taylor swift: well, i definitely think about a million people when i'm getting dressed in the morning. and that's just part of my life now and... >> stahl: you're a role model and you know it. >> taylor swift: i think it's my responsibility to know it and to be conscious of it. and it would be really easy to say, you know, "i'm... i'm 21 now. i do what i want. you raise your kids." but it's... that's not the truth of it. the truth of it is that every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation, so make your words count. ♪ ♪

>> stahl: what it's like to achieve your dream so early? >> taylor swift: you know, it's great. ( laughter ) >> stahl: the answer is, "it's great." >> taylor swift: you know, it's not bad. and it just means that i have a lot of time to figure out how i'm going to prove myself over and over and over again, and i have time to do it. ♪ ♪ ( cheers and applause ) >> go to 60minutesovertime.com for a look backstage and behind the scenes at a taylor swift concert. [ female announcer ] 100% natural lipton iced tea. it's delicious goodness, just the way nature intended it. when you put goodness inside, you can't help but shine on the outside. lipton. drink positive. you can't help but shine on the outside. it's more than laundry time. it's more than snack time.

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>> kroft: i'm steve kroft. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes."