means for every day americans with our guest from cnbc. spending cuts go effect in january. and actress barbara hershey is here, the star of many noble project. she is on the hit abc series. glad you have joined us. coming up right now. >> there is a saying that dr. king had said, there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only about halfway to completely eliminate hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

tavis: pleased to welcome the maria to this program. in addition to your column and the syndicated series, she is the host of a show on cnbc and joins us tonight from new york city. the dow have you back on the program. >> good to be with you. >> i mentioned all this drama, what happened at the closing bell the day? >> we saw a pretty good rally, there was rhetoric over the weekend that the two sides, republicans and democrats along with the president have the will to come together on these very important issues surrounding the

fiscal cliff. has been a rocky situation as investors anticipate any outgoing talks from this conversation. we are not there yet at all. the markets are still down 5% because of the uncertainties about compromise. tavis: i was watching your show this weekend, i wake up this morning and read all the major newspapers, the new york times, beating the threat of higher taxes. investments fall off a cliff. tell me what about investors are doing or not doing if they can figure out where they are going. >> they talk about when the bush tax cuts will expire, the largest increase of all incomes, 90% of then comes coinciding with the elimination of spending

programs to the tune of $600 billion. the fear is, we will see the weight of the higher expense on folks because of higher taxes coincide with the spending programs. the federal government is a big customer for corporate america. the government plays can -- and pays contruction companies for certain work to be completed. those federal dollars will go away as an automatic occurrence. everyone is trying to figure out what the impact of that will be. if nothing is done about those tax rates, we will go into a recession in 2013. that is one concern, but put that on the sidelines for the moment. the community recognizes that taxes are going higher. if you talk about your income, your dividends, or your capital

gains, if you make money on those, you will pay a lower tax than in 2013. the uncertainty of where tax rates will be is really the biggest issue for corporate america sitting on cash. there is $3.50 trillion on balance sheets right now. you can imagine, i understand why they are sitting got it because i am not sure what their economic story will look like in 2013. we don't know if we will see the spending programs cut that will lead to layoffs. many will look at their situation and say that the federal money is going away, we don't need this set of employees anymore. both of these concerns as they relate to the fiscal cliff at the automatic issues, we are seeing higher taxes in 2013 pushing investors to sell. tavis: it is pretty clear to me

as i am sure it is to you, there will be some spending cuts in this country and the president, when he talked to the media, use that wonderful phrase, entitlement reform. it is a fancy term for cuts. something like entitlement spending is going get cut. how will those cuts impact of big cities, small towns? >> we know that the state and city governments have been cutting, and knowing what is to come. that will likely continue. the demographics of this country have changed tremendously. we are living longer, for example. generations of today living much longer than we ever dreamed. i always laugh when someone says we are living longer and we can't been afford social securi,

this is a crisis. listen to what you just said, we are living longer. this is an opportunity. but the entitlement programs like medicare, social security, these programs have not changed at all. you can understand that at some point, we need to resize the government programs to the reality of the world. the fact that we are living longer and working longer, i think most people buy into that and recognize that we are going to see cuts in medicare, medicaid, and social security. the politicians and the leadership, and nobody wants to have their name on that, to be the guy that cut off the care for our grandmothers and senior citizens. that is really the sticking point. earlier in the week, i social wr the impression both sides were digging in. on tax cuts, he said he will not

extend a tax cuts for anyone making more than $250,000. the republicans say we can get rid of the loopholes in the exemptions and still raise a fair amount of money. i am told that if we eliminate loopholes and exemptions, that is $1 trillion. it seems that the president wanted both as well as raising their rates for the top earners, the highest earners out there. he is looking for $1.60 trillion. whether or not that is just a negotiating, it could be. if that is the case, we will have to see spending cuts to the tune of the kind of tax increases that we will save. that is where we get pushed back from the democrats. we have everyone holding onto their sacred cows, but without

compromise, it is difficult to see us not going over the cliff. tavis: have said that budgets on moral documents. we know what you are when you put your budget on the table because budgets are moral documents. if there is going to be a need for some entitlement reform cuts to programs that matter for seniors, the children, disabled veterans. if people are talking about shared sacrifice, is wall street of the opinion that they are going to have to do their part? they will have to take it on the chin like everybody else. >> i think so. i think most people realize that this is a compromise on both sides of the ledger. that is raising revenue as well as cutting spending programs. the fact is, we have a debt of

$16 trillion. we have had annual deficits of more than $1 trillion every year. everyone is on an individual basis, a corporate basis or a country basis, you can't consistently spend more than you take in. we will have to cut and a big way. it is not just medicare, medicaid, and the social security, but those are the big ones. and so, that will also be part of it. if we can get to a compromise of cutting spending and defense, cutting medicare and social security, you get to a place where cutting back and raising revenue whether it is just extending those tax cuts for the people making under $250,000, still talking about raising $1 trillion in revenue, hopefully

that will be enough. tavis: they say that social security is off the table, he is taking get off the table so we will see where the conversation goes. we talked about how wall street is going to navigate the way forward, but how will consumers navigate the way forward? >> i think we are facing our own austerity programs. of an individual basis, we need to look at our own lives and to say, what does this mean for me? what does it mean for my long term savings? i expected to worry about recession will cause a change in behavior. we are not out of the woods, we are talking about 8% unemployment, an economy that is not growing that much. i think the president has been very clear about shifting toward the priority of growth, growing

the economy that derives revenue because it increases tax rates. at some point, we need to make growth a priority. i think that will help consumer confidence. all this talk about higher taxes and spending cuts, governments on a city and state level, i think it dictates consumer behavior. it looks like things are going to get more expensive. cuts,tavis: how is this going t challenges? they will be hiring people for trying to? >> corporate america needs to feel like the environment has enough clarity that they can say here is where my business is going to go. here is where my tax rate will be and what the demand picture looks like. they will spend the money

because the truth is, we are looking at a strong corporate america today. ever since the 2008 financial crisis, companies are slimming down and sit in on $3.60 trillion in cash and they will have to spend that money. they will allocate that capital. they just need a catalyst to do so. the clarity will be one impetus for getting that money to work. it takes time, and by all means, it takes clarity. tavis: mr. romney has made news again with this assessment that he lost primarily because of the gifts mr. obama game to

people. a number of republicans who pushed back on that kind of assessment, i have even seen if you will street personalities that push back on that kind of language. what kind of sense do you get? those comments are being interpreted by those of wall street, many of them a fund- raising age. >> i think the corporate sector and the business community thought that romney could win. he has made missteps in communicating the folks. there is a disappointment in the way that he communicate certain things. i believe the business community thinks the governor romney has the will to lead this country, broadening the tax base at lowering the corporate rate. so that they could higher. we keep hearing commentary from the governor, and it is coming

out not the way he intended. what can he say? i am sure there is criticism around it. tavis: maybe it sounds like class warfare the some of us, but i digress on that point. thank you for sharing your side. >> happy thanksgiving. tavis: up next, actress barbara hershey. pleased to welcome barbara hershey to this program, the star of chicago hope, black swan, and one of my favorites, hoosiers. she now stars in once upon a time. she also just started in the lifetime project. here is a scene from once upon a time. >> glove is weakness, reggie out. it feels real now, at the start it always does. but it is an illusion.

it fades in your left with nothing but power. your power indoors. -- endures. you don't have to rely on anyone to get what you want. you have ruined everything. >> i loved them. i loved him. >> i have endured this. >> clean yourself up, because now, you're going to be great. tavis: most of the fought on this show happens in the studio and the audience can see or hear it, so david says that he loves this show. i just love the fantasy, so i leaned over to you, this must be

the nastiest person you have ever played and you said that there are different kinds of nasty. >> i have become a connoisseur. tavis: what is it that they are connecting to? >> i do not know, i will have to ask dave. for me, she is just extremely psychotic and passive aggressive. tavis: that explains it. >> it is all imaginative stuff and i get to go like this that someone flies across the room right here the heart out of people. i just turn someone into a fish the other day. you can say that very often in your life. tavis: were you immediately attracted to it? >> i have always loved fantasy, that fairy tales were rooted in something deep, the newspapers

of the soul. tavis: the newspapers of the soul. >> even though they are magnified in these extreme terms, they are all about the human condition. this is all about bad parenting, people misplacing their hearts. these are interesting games. tavis: how would you describe this show? >> it goes in completely different directions. it is only revealed a few episodes ahead of the audience. you don't know yourself where

they are going to take the characters. tavis: view like that? >> i like it as an experience, but i also like the beginning, middle, and end. you can lead your character toward that, and it is such an ongoing thing, it is some kind of experiment and you have to bend. they throw things at you and you have to say, ok. we don't know anymore than the audience. tavis: you have bounced back and forth between television and film. and what feels safer for you at this moment? >> save is an interesting word. i am never looking for safe. i always go for the role. there are wonderful films and

there is wonderful tv ad there are bad films at a bad tv. i have always gone for the best that was offered. i also tried to go for variety. tavis: are you seeing enough now? >> i have always felt like i was a dark horse as an actor? i have never been at a place in my life where there was a lot coming. the roller coaster, i don't think i have ever felt complacent about things coming right away. it isn't like that, i am always looking for the best. it is harder as you get older,

because they automatically do that to you. tavis: i am curious about how you have navigated that journey. this is a tough business, and i have such great respect. we talked before you came on camera, acting versus the real world. i do want to come back to that, but how have the navigated this career of ups and downs? >> the one thing that is not dependent on if i am hired or not is my love of acting. it has been a thread inside me, no matter what, i can be disappointed and i let myself feel that and go through. had that i just recovered. but it is my love of acting, that is there. that can't be taken from me.

that has gotten me through all of it. tavis: back to the conversation we had when you went on the air, i barely had a chance to say hello to you. you immediately went serious on me. about politics, the election, poverty, so i take it that you are a serious person? >> i am like you, i like to laugh, too. >> but this real-world stuff matters to you. >> i also think that acting at its best can check into something that has been very real and deep, so kind of got an entertainment level. i am pretty passionately involved in life.

tavis: did this campaign feel like fantasy to you? >> yes. it was quite frightening, and quite a relief. i was really proud of america and not letting itself be bought. it was important. that was really nice. tavis: advancing conversations in the real world, have you ever sought out specifically rules that allowtavis: you to make statements, to the advancing issues or causes? there was a project on lifetime. that poor woman was in ecuador, in prison for drug trafficking.

trialsn't even brought to or anything, just put in prison. the government just left her there. it is i opening. it boils down to an empathy about all kinds of people, i really do believe that if we look deep enough and hard enough, we can find each other. in there is something really beautiful, and hopefully you help an audience get the feel of things. it touches. tavis: speaking of empathy, the

older i get, the more impossible it is to get that full episode. >> that says so much about you. that is so wonderful. tavis: i can't do it. >> i am still a different way. tavis: it is called once upon a time, written by the people that did lost. as david is, you will want to check it out. it could have you here. that is our show for tonight. you can download our new

application, see you next time. thank you for watching and as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with author paul tuft on how children succeed. that is next time, we will see you then. >> there is a saying that dr. king had said, there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only about halfway to completely eliminate hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs. >> be more. pbs.