stephens just retired at 90. blackman retired at 85. it's hard to apply the measure for most people to members of this court. they clearly do not like to give up this job. if you look at the the '70s, romney could change dramatically the trajectory of this court just for those four alone. >> jonathan turley gets tonight's last word. thanks, jonathan. >> thanks, lawrence. >> "the ed show" is up next. >> good evening americans and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. the day after mitt romney hangs out with a koch brother, president obama goes on offense for the middle class. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> we should all agree to extend the tax cuts for the middle class. let's agree to do what we agree on. right? >> the president puts republicans in the corner again. >> the republicans say they don't want to raise taxes on the

middle class, i don't want to raise taxes on the middle class. >> will republicans hold the middle class tax cuts hostage yet again? i've got commentary. howard fineman has answers. democrats are tearing into mitt romney's offshore accounting. >> he is the first and only candidate for president of the united states with a swiss bank account with tax shelters, with tax avoidance schemes that involve so many foreign countries. >> senator dick durbin is here tonight. the big panel takes on the ridiculous details coming out of mitt romney's koch brother fund-raiser. and a day after this terrifying picture was taken, the beaches were back open in cape cod. >> equwe will be open for busin. >> we'll ask a shark expert if there's anything to worry about. >> you're going to need a bigger boat >> he good to have you with us tonight. thanks for watching. president obama has put the issue of tax fairness front and center in this election. speaking in the east room of the

white house, the president asked congress to immediately extend the bush tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 a year. >> the republicans say they don't want to raise taxes on the middle class, i don't want to to raise taxes on the middle class. so we should all agree to extend the tax cuts for the middle class. let's agree to do what we agree on. right? >> now, i'm going to show you some numbers in a few moments. you can be the judge. this really puts the republicans on the spot. they have to take a position on supporting middle class tax cuts without an equal tax cuts for the wealthiest of americans. now the romney campaign believes the best way to deal with the announcement is to say the president is raising taxes. president obama's response to even more bad economic news is a massive tax increase. here's the problem with the romney camp's statement. it is blatantly false. but they think the head shaking

crowd will buy what they say. the president did not propose a tax increase of any kind today. instead, president obama said that we should deal with the expiring tax cuts for 98% of americans right now. could congress do something right now? instead of waiting for the deadline on january 1st? come on, congressional members, prove you can earn your paycheck. whether or not the taxes should go up on the top 2% will be up to the voters in november. >> in many ways, the fate of the tax cut for the wealthiest americans will be decided by the outcome of the next election. my opponent will fight to keep them in place. i will fight to end them. >> so what is happening here in the president is showing a clear distinction between his idea of taxation and mitt romney's. president obama continued to highlight this line in the sand throughout the day. >> they say they agree that we shouldn't let middle class taxes

go up. why not go ahead and take care of the 98% now. have the debate about the 2% and if mr. romney wins or the republicans control congress, they can go ahead and provide more tax breaks to the wealthy and if i win, we won't. >> of course, republicans will never allow this extoengs happen without extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. mitch mcconnell said so yesterday. >> what we ought to be doing is extend the current tax rates for another year with a hard requirement to get through comprehensive tax reform one more time. >> we all know the real reason republicans will not pass the extension for the majority of americans right now is because they need a hostage in order to get what they want, the middle class tax cut is the hostage this time. mcconnell said he learn this had lesson during the debt ceiling debate last year. we did learn this, it's a hostage that's worth ran soming. and it focuses the congress on something that must be done.

this is why the obama camp is pushing the tax message right now, and it's really a brilliant move. in a campaign memo two weeks ago, white house adviser david fluff explained why this is a fight to win. if republicans want to talk about taxes, then we're happy to have that debate. republican plans will raise taxes on middle class families to give millionaires and billionaires a $250,000 tax cut. recent analysis problems this, my friends, to be true. for example, if you're a person who makes between $50,000 and $100,000 a year, listen up. your taxes will go up nearly $4500 under the republican noon offset the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. that's how they want to play the game. the big question tonight is whether democrats will follow the president's lead. this is where the president of the united states needs every democrat out on the campaign trail saying this is what we can do now. this is what we have to do.

this is what americans want. and they should. as president obama pointed out today, his proposal is something that the vast majority of americans have agreed with for a long time. so i'm not proposing anything radical here. i just believe that anybody making over $250,000 a year should go back to the income tax rates we were paying under bill clinton. back when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest budget surplus in history and plenty of millionaires to boot. and this is not just my opinion. the american premium with me on this. >> okay, we got a poll for everything in america these days but you know what? there's a couple of years of polls backing the president's statement. the people are backing the president on this and have been for several years. gallup asked voters in 2010 whether tax cuts for the rich should be phased out. 59% of americans said yes.

only 37% said no. fast forward. a year later. 2011. gallup asked if taxes should be increased on the wealthy. 66% of americans said yes. the top 2%'s got to do more. only 32% said no. that's a minority number, 32% where i come from. this year, fast forward to the numbers. gallup asked if the rich are paying their fair share in taxes. 62%, they said they paid too little. fair share 25%. 10% of americans think the wealthiest americans pay too much. yes, the people are with the president. the american people have been told that, well, we can't raise taxes on the job creators. you know what? i think they should take a poll on that because i think most americans are sick of that line. there has been no proof of any jobs created because the wealthiest americans have had the lowest taxes over the past decade. you never hear the rich explain to the american people just how

bad they have had it under the old rates. where is that story? let's take somebody who makes $2 million a year. let's talk about a wealthy person. do you think if somebody was making $2 million a year, would you consider that person wealthy? i think you would. under is the bush rates, they would be taxed at 35%. that's where we are right now. under the old rate, from the clinton years, they were taxed at 36 -- 39.6%. 39.6 -- what's that mean in money here? see, bush rates, 35%. old rates, 39.6%. look at the numbers. this is with the bush tax cuts, this is what you would take home. $25,000 per week under the old rates. you take home $23,230 per week. someone maybe should go on fox news and explain just how hard

it is just how hard it is to make it on this number. or that number or this number. let's go back to the old rates. this is what the president wants to do. $23230 per week is what somebody make 2g million a year would take home. ask yourself the question, could you live on that? the president is trying to fix the treasury. the president has come to the table. the democrats have come to the table and said okay, you want to do big cuts, we'll do big cuts but we want to do this, too. and the wealthy and republicans don't want to serve it up. i believe that the wealthiest americans can help save this country. i believe that. but there just doesn't seem to be any economic patriotism floating around these parts these days. it's all take, take, take. later in this broadcast, we will show you how middle class americans are serving it up, but

the wealthiest americans are being protected by the republicans. ask yourself -- go ask your husband or your spouse, your wife, honey, could we make it on 25 grand a week? well, yeah. do you think we could make it on $23230 a week? that's where america is right now. the polls show it. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, will republicans work for the middle class and extend the tax cuts for the 9%? text a for "yes," b for no to 622639. you can comment on our blog@ed.msnbc.com. it's about tax fairness, about common sense. it's about asking the tough question, can the wealthiest americans serve it up for america and president obama today is asking that question. i'm joined by howard fineman, nbc news political analyst and editorial director of the "huffington post" media group. great to have you with us

tonight, howard the president has to win the middle class to get re-elected. let's operate on that premise. does this issue win the middle class? >> well, the white house thinks so. an aide today said what you said, this is the way they're going to fight back. and i think the republicans and democrats inhabit different universes. mitt romney's really being run by that 10% that you showed in the poll, the 10% who think that taxes on the rich are too high. those are the people who are running his show. and from the republican strategist point of view and i talked to one today, they think any time they yell tax at barack obama, they've got a winner. he's a tax raiser. he's a tax raiser. that's their universe. they're talking to their own people to turn out their own people. the white house answer to that is going to be that mitt romney and the republicans are out to screw the middle class and they're not using the tax code in the best possible way to

create jobs. because if you talk to economists, and i have, fair-minded ones, not raging liberals and you know fair-minded ones will tell you that cutting taxes on the wealthiest americans, while it might create some jobs is certainly not the most efficient way to use the tax code to create jobs. as a matter of fact, the best wait to create jobs is to focus tax cuts on the middle class. study after study has shown that. and that's part of the president's argument. >> well, is it an argument that can hold up? we're 120 days away from the election. this is going to be the narrative for the obama campaign, and this is really not mitt romney. this is the obama campaign and the president willing to make the clear distinction in front of the american people. so the question is, are they any republicans out there in congress that might wind up agreeing with the president on this extension? >> virtually none. certainly none that are in

congress now. you have a few renegades out there, but don't forget, most are still signed on with the grover norquist no new taxes pledge, number one. number two, the republicans understand what mitch mcconnell said on television. which is they've got to hold together on this or the whole thing falls apart. the president is trying to split them very shrewdly i think. but procedurally in the congress, having caught up with a couple of congressional aides today, the republicans are not going to allow in the house, they will not allow the kind of vote that the president wants. >> no. >> that the president is daring them to have. it will never happen. >> yeah. >> so it's going to be a rhetorical thing. there will be a vote on an overwhelming -- on a complete reupping of extension of the tax cuts. the bush era tax cuts. there will be a vote on that in the house. all the republicans will vote for it. virtually all the democrats will vote against it. the republicans will then say

see, obama and the democrats want to raisetachs and barack obama will lay down the marker he said again today. they wouldn't give me the vote i wanted and therefore, they're out to screw the middle class. what we've got as the president said, this is like the regular season of the nba. you know, nobody's paying -- the real ball game is going to be in the playoffs and then the finals are going to be right after the first of the year, and it's for home court advantage here. it's for whoever has home court advantage. >> the romney campaign has to get out on this because the polling shows that the wealthiest americans can be paying more. he can't wait till the last two minutes and play hard and expect to win this game, which is normally how a lot of regular season games go. i also think, how important is it for democrats to get behind the president on this? he's correct on this issue. the people are with him. how can any democrat go home and say i don't want to do it this way and turn around and say i'm for the middle class.

>> i agree with you on that. we'll see what happens. i think the leaders of the congressional committee and the senatorial committee are behind the president on this. but let's see how they whip it to use the term from the hill and whether they can enforce that because they're going to be some candidates in some red states or swing places who are going to be reluctant to take the dare. but i agree with you, if the democrats don't go firmly on this and back up the president's strategy, then it will have no use whatsoever. >> they have to go to the fire wall on this issue. >> absent a vote, ed, they got to do it rhetorically if they're going to make the point stick. >> howard, thanks so much. remember to answer tonight's question. share your thoughts on twitter on ed show and on facebook. is mitt romney is not giving very good answers on why he has so much money socked away in offshore bank accounts. illinois senator dick durbin joins me next.

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welcome back to "the ed show." democrats have come out swinging against mitt romney's offshore bank accounts. here's maryland governor martin o'malley. >> the relevance is this, that governor romney can't claim that his state actually was great at creating jobs when he was

governor so he's fallen back and said look, vote for me. i was a businessman. i created jobs. you want to talk about going the way of europe, what went the way of europe were the swiss bank accounts and the american dollars that mitt romney stuffed in that offshore swiss bank account. >> and this is key in this campaign. mitt romney has never been critically questioned by any journalist as to why he has money over there. what's wrong with american investment? what's wrong with american jobs. >> of this guy's running around the country telling everybody he's a job creator. yet his real wealth is overseas. why is that? any manor has money overseas it's only for one reason and that is to be as wealthy as you can be. senior obama campaign adviser robert gibbs said romney's offshoring issues can be cleared up only by releasing more tax rush returns. >> the one thing he could do to

show whether he's shielding his income in bermuda or switzerland is release a series of years of their own tax returns. >> i think we've got to be very clear about this. this isn't something ginned up by the obama campaign. this follows a week of more news reports about romney's offshore accounts. does that relate to average americans? do you have offshore accounts? the romney campaign spokeswoman said this. the obama campaign's latest unfounded character assault on mitt romney is unseemingly and disgusting. he had a successful career in the private sector, pays every dime of taxes he owes, has given charitibly to numerous organizations and served numerous organizations. but the fact remains this is a man running for president of the united states who seems to like offshore bank accounts, does he not? here's illinois senator dick durbin. >> he's the first and only candidate for president of the united states with a swiss bank account with tax shelters, with

tax avoidance schemes that is involve so many foreign countries. you either get a swiss bank account to conceal what you're doing or you believe the swiss francing is stronger than the american dollar. >> let's turn to senate majority whip dick durbin of illinois. appreciate your time. >> thanks, ed. >> this is abnormal. you pointed that out. do you think the american people are okay with this, or is this a real issue? >> it's a real issue. and let's put it in perspective. who set the standard for income disclosure of presidential candidates? mitt romney's father. mitt romney's father filed 12 years of income tax returns and said, this ought to be the standard. how many years of income tax returns has mitt romney, his son filed? one it's the least amount of disclosure of any presidential candidate of either political party in the last 36 years. >> so it's tax avoidance or is it romney just not trusting american banks and the american

currency? what do you think it is? >> i'm serious. i have asked business leaders, i have asked republican senators. i asked warren buffett the following question. what would anybody need a swiss bank account. buffett said i never had one. i think we've got a lot of great banks in america. they basically say the same thing. there are two reasons to have a swiss bank account, to conceal your wealth and transactions involving your wealth from government scrutiny, number one or number two, because you happen to think the swiss franc is a stronger currency than the united states dollar. i might remind you mitt romney made his decisions on moving money into switzerland when there was a republican president. >> today, romney said the offshore investments are in a blind trust. his comment was, i don't manage them. i don't even know where they are. is this an adequate response? >> no, and let me tell you why. when he was badgered by his fellow republican opponents in the course of the primary, he finally released one year's tax

return. that's all we've seen. one year and they were able to trace this is san cady, a private corporation blind trust that his family owns, listen to this, ed, the day before he was sworn in as governor of massachusetts, he transferred the money in this san cady organization into a blind trust in his wife's name in some foreign tax haven. >> no coincidence. >> so it won't have to be reported. >> just happened to be the day before he was sworn in. >> yes. and so it's never been disclosed. and you have to ask yourself, the average american has to ask himself, why would we stand for a person running for the highest office in the land concealing important elements of their own investment decisions? >> so -- he says he's a great businessman. >> is this the way it's going to be up to the election, that we're going to know very little about the republican candidate's finances and where his money is and he tells the american public he doesn't note where they are,

it's managed by somebody else. >> he's taking on water on that little boat when it comes to disclosure at this point because americans are skeptical of this. >> you are sponsoring a bill to reduce tax haven abuse. >> here's what it boils down to. al franken and i put in a bill several months ago that says on the financial disclosure forms for all members of congress, for all candidates for president and vice president, you have to specifically disclose whether or not you or anyone in your family is invested in foreign tax havens to avoid taxes in the united states. i think that's a very basic question that should be asked not just of mitt romney but of all members of congress, all candidates for president. >> do you think that mitt romney is abusing the american tax system and not paying his fair share? i don't know. i wouldn't draw that conclusion. i would say to him present the evidence. show us what you've done. have you paid your fair share of taxes? have you handled your financial affairs as a businessman and a person of wealth in a manner

that's responsible. >> senator dick durbin, good to have you with us on the. thanks so much. coming up, the republicans are coming unhinged. find out why they're ramping up the attack on president obama when we come back. and the 1% came out in droves this weekend to be support mitt romney. keith boykin, ron christie and john fugual sang will weigh in on the republicans' fund-raising taking place in the hamptons over the weekend. stays. we're right back. those surprising little things she does

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show." as president obama's poll numbers get better, the right wing seems to getting crazier. the chair of the national republican party, the committee, the rnc says re-electing president obama will end america as we know it? >> mitt romney has to win for the sake of the very idea of america. mitt romney has to win for liberty and freedom and we have put an end to this barack obama president before it puts an end to our way of life in america. >> generic pab lum is what it's called. text tea party candidate ted cruz joked that the president might put him and his supporters on a so-called kill list. >> kill list. should congress have oversight? well, number one, i'm worried all of us are on it. >> but nobody's laughing when

florida representative alan west claims the obama administration wants to enslave americans by offering food stamps and unemployment benefits. >> we are creating economic depend and thecy and i call it slavery. it's not physical but it can be even worse because it trounces the indomitable spirit of the united states of america. >> i think that the reason people love you is because you're so plain spoken. >> and crazy. on many subjects i might add. the governor of maine might have been too outspoken. paula page apologized for what he said about affordable health care during a radio address. >> you must buy health insurance or pay the new gestapo, the irs. >> governor lepage apologized for that gestapo remark saying it wasn't my intent to insult anyone especially the jewish community or minimize the fact that millions were murdered. at the should have stopped

there, but he added more crazy talk. he says the word gestapo simply clouded his message and insists our individual freedoms are being spriped away by the federal government. the chair of the rnc claims that president obama is the most negative campaigner this country has ever seen. that might be the craziest thing they've claimed so far. richard wolffe, great to have you with us tonight. is the obama campaign running a negative campaign? >> well, they are running negative ads but that's not all they're talking about. you know, as in any campaign, certainly as it happened in 2008, they're running positive ads. they've got a positive agenda and they're talking about their opponent in yes, critical way. that's the nature of politics. you know, i'm just surprised that these republicans many of whom gained power and elected office through the bush years have norection at all of this guy called karl rove and the politics that he's brought

through that period and into the current one with his current organizations like crossroads. this is their kind of politics. they should recognize it, but they should also recognize that's how these elections get played out throughout america by the way, that's what the founders intended a vigorous contest and ask the historian who's look at abraham lincoln's time. there's nothing particularly dirty about this time. >> well, ramping up the rhetoric, clearly that's what they're doing. how does romney benefit in any way from this in why doesn't he tell them to back off and get to the fakes? because it's all a lot of generic hateful talk and hate and scare tactics. i don't see that he benefits from that. >> for a start, i don't think he's in a position to tell the party anything. if anything, the party's telling him what to do as we saw just last week on the whole question of the health care mandate. was it a penalty or a tax. he'll change his tune no matter what because he came out of the primaries incredibly weak.

this is a party that cannot exert central organization in any way. john boehner doesn't have a lot of control over his own caucus. the problem for the romney campaign is that if it's just about firing up the base, if they think there are enough republicans out there, this makes sens they know full well if you look at their messaging and how they're trying to position themselves, this election will be decided by the middle by independent voters, by infrequent voters, the people who are not going to be fired up by this kind of crazy talk. >> when the president comes out today and offers up an extension of tax cuts to 98% of americans that's nothing but positive. it's winning the middle class. does today's announcement somewhat shift this campaign and put more pressure on romney? what do you think? >> for a start, the president's talking about the economy again and about pocketbook issues. what are republicans going to do? they want another vote on repealing health care they're off mess and, off topic. they wanted to frame this whole

tax debate about money going to everyone, a sort of equality issue. this president reframed it in terms of middle class and how do you get the economy moving again for the middle class in the short term and long-term. i think this is how as president, having the bully pulpit means you set the agenda. the other side has to respond in a meaningful vote. that doesn't mean another repeal of health care. >> richard wolffe, thanks so much. a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show'. the reports from mitt romney's koch brother fund-raiser read like an obama bashing mustard commercial. >> pardon me, would you have any gray poupon. >> the big panel weighs in next. police and firefighters. forced to take minimum wage pay decreases. we'll tell you about the middle class nightmare in scranton, pennsylvania. and it's the picture everyone is talking about. and now the man in the kayak is

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every four years... for the rest of your life. visa. supporting athletes and the olympic games for 25 years. people everywhere go with visa. well, they were high on the hog. in fact, they dined on prosciutto wrapped melon balls, mingled in multi million dollar mansions while live bands played margaritaville. the 1% showed up in droves this weekend to support one of their very own, mitt romney raked in close to $4 million at a trio of fund-raisers in the hamptons on new york's long island. it began with a $25,000 plate lun yoch at the estate of one billionaire and ended up with a $75,000 per couple can at the estate of david koch. these romney supporters drove up in bentleys and porsches, one

donor called president obama a socialist from inside a gold mercedes. another poked her head out back of a black range rover demanding, is there a vip entrance? we're vip. romney himself was there to hobnob with his own kind, but as one new york city donor told "the l.a. times," the former massachusetts governor needs to do a better job connecting with the little people. the quote was, i don't think the common person is getting it. nobody understands why obama is hurting them. we've got the mess and, she added but my college kid, the baby-sitters, the nails lady, everybody who's got the right to vote, they don't understand what's going on. i just think that if you lower income, one, you're not as educated, two, they don't understand how it works. they don't understand how the system works, they don't understand the impact. wow. these comments have been all

over the web today. joining me now i guess this is the men's grill after these guys got off the golf course. this is mens night out here. i've had ladies here three at one time, as well. be cool about it. >> oh, go bragging. >> i'm not bragging. keith boykin, great to have you with us tonight. ron christie, good to have you back on the program, john fugelsang, always. ron, first, what about these comments? it's almost as if these people at these fund-raisers are talking down hard working middle classers. >> i don't think so. to coin the phrase that john mcenroe, come on ed, you can't be serious for the obama folks to criticize mitt romney for raising money this week, i look to anna wintour. she went to sarah jessica's place in new york and raised a ton of party. to suggest that obama is out of touch is a nice bit of political theater but they all do it. >> every candidate raises money. it's about the attitude of the

1% who are attending mitt romney's fund-raisers, people contributing to this. the egoism and arrogance of these people to suggest that somehow the rich know better than the rest of america, that to me is a representation of the class warfare that republicans are always crying about. >> only in this case. >> it's only class warfare if you fight for the bottom 99% of the population. i will no idea days i buchanan from the great gatsby was a romney supporter. it's aristocracy versus democracy. six states will decide this election. mitt's supposed to run on his personality or his record? no, he's got to raise the super pac money and flood the six states with negative ads. otherwise all he's got is his own record which conservatives don't like. >> is it an attitude issue? >> absolutely. >> workers versus the wealthy? >> that's the distinction between him and obama. ron is right. obama is rolling around in the wall street dough as well but he stood in front of the supreme

court and decried citizens unites. he sure can't win on his record. >> ron, you have the floor on the attitude issue. >> i think it's an attitude issue for the republicans and democrats when they're seen in these haifa luton plays raising money by very wealthy donors. governor romney is doing because he's legal. you're not going to tell me somehow the republicans have an attitude problem when president obama is out at the home of george clooney, he's going to do a fund-raiser overseas. these fellows are operating with the guidelines of the law. they're doing what they're legally obligated to do. let me finish my last point. to say that republicans don't look at people and say if you're not in the top whatever%, area going to look down on you. they look at people as individuals, not by how much money they have. >> exactly, john. we saw those people at the hamptons fund-raiser, people donating to mitt romney doll

exactly that. the problem is not about people making a lot of money. this is america. we don't have a problem with that. the problem is about the attitude. >> you don't think there's an attitude at all with rich democrats when they have these fund-raisers? >> it's very different. >> they're not giving money to the obama campaign hoping to help prop up the 1% and the aristocracy. the reason why this fits in so neatly with the romney narrative about disclosing his tax returns, why won't he disclose his returns, why does he have an account in bermuda or why in the cayman islands or why in a swiss bank account. it contributes to this feeling that somehow mitt romney and the people he's representing are not really trying to help the working class. >> they're pulling the wool over their eyes. this is a losing strategy for you guys. americans are saying this country is hurting. it doesn't matter whether you have $1 million in the bank, $10,000. what are you going to do to put policies forward that help americans. this class warfare nonsense is a

distraction. >> what is mitt romney going to do to help those people tax cuts for the rich? >> it's not just tax cuts. this whole mantra of all republicans care about is tax cuts. if you look at health care. >> war too. >> look at health care. republicans have said we need to have a system in place where you can buy insurance across state lines and pool together. that's an innovative idea. >> they've had 30 years to implement it and did nothing. romney's running on trying to do exactly what bush did and call it something different. and for anyone who is not a millionaire to still vote gop, they're a damn sucker. no republican president has balanced a budget since nixon. there's no reason to trust your money with these folks anymore. all they are good is redistribution of wealth to the top 2% and making conservative americans think that's a good thing. >> ron, he made some good points >> he made interesting points. the reason that modern american history we had a balanced budget it was the republicans. i worked for the house

republican budget chairman who worked with president clinton. >> raisingtachs. >> and said we need to have honest deficit reductions. >> fair enough. >> good discussion. 19th hole. i like it. keith boykin, great to have you with us. john fugelsang. >> we'll continue in the green room. >> coming up, the disgrace of paying police officers and firefighters minimum wage? fun it can happen in scranton, pennsylvania, don't you think it can happen anywhere? that's coming up. stay with us. ♪ ♪ why do you whisper, green grass? ♪ [ all ] shh! ♪ why tell the trees what ain't so? ♪ [ male announcer ] dow solutions use vibration reduction technology to help reduce track noise so trains move quieter through urban areas all over the world. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. [ all ] shh! [ male announcer ] solutionism. the new optimism.

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this county, this city has gone through some tough times. it's had its heyday, it's come back. it's had tough times.

>> welcome back to "the ed show." vice president joe biden on the campaign trail in scranton, pennsylvania, which once again is going through tough times. the mayor chris do you herty reduced the pay of all city workers including his own pay and the pay of police and firefighters to minimum wage. $7.25 an hour. scranton is broke. they're out of money. the mayor wants to raise taxes to make up a $16 million budget gap, but the city council wants to borrow the money and they can't agree on anything. the terrible practical effect can be seen with the firefighters' pay. john judge is a scranton firefighter and president of the international association of firefighters local 60. he normally gets about $1500 every two weeks after deductions. on friday, his check was less than $600 before deductions. he says he's not sure how long he can pay bills on this kind of salary.

this isn't just about scranton, pennsylvania. every time president obama sends a bill 0 congress that includes more money for state and local firefighters and police force workers, republicans, what do they do? they kill it. mitt romney is equally dismissive of public workers. >> he wants to hire more government workers. he says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. did he not get the message of wisconsin the american people did. it's time for us to cut back on government and help the american people. >> well. this can happen. scranton, pennsylvania, it really can happen anywhere in the country and it would set a precedent. police and firefighters getting minimum wage? it's an absolute disgrace, our infrastructure falling apart and being attacked. tomorrow night, mr. judge will join us and tell us how this is impacting his family and how he's going to pay the bills and, of course, the fate of other city employees in scranton. tonight i asked you, will republicans work for the middle class and extend the tax cuts?

for the middle class? 98% of you said no. 3% of you said yes. coming up, it's shark week on both coasts. find out how a kayaker managed to escape a great white. the amazing story when we come back. you know what i love about this country? trick question. i love everything about this country! including prilosec otc. you know one pill each morning treats your frequent heartburn so you can enjoy all this great land of ours has to offer

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>> oh, telegram. just a moment. [ screaming ] >> well, some real life sharks are scaring the heck out of beachgoers on both coasts this summer. just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, take a look at this picture. a man was kayaking for the first time off cape cod yesterday when a great white shark started to follow him. >> i got a pretty good glimpse of him. it was good sized. i just turned and paddled. >> that's walter. he was only 100 feet offshore when he saw that dorsal fin. he actually teased his daughter earlier in the day about being afraid of sharks. the harbor master estimates the great white shark was 12 to 14 feet long. >> he says his instincts kicked in. >> i thought it was either in or get in. i kind of ran out of the water

like a little child. >> another kayaker on the west coast had a much closer encounter with an even bigger shark this weekend. look what the shark did to the bottom of his kayak in santa cruz, california. 15-foot long great white bit into the hull. you can see the teeth marks. the shark left behind fragments. he wasn't hurt. both beaches in santa cruz and or leans are open today. swimmers are being told to watch out for seals, not sharks. experts say the sharks are hunting seals, not people. even so, it makesvationers nervous. >> the thought of a shark coming near me up in the water is freaky. >> definitely makes you think twice about jumping in the water. >> i'm joined by chris wojcik. what do you make of all of this? >> i have that same conversation about once a day that that

fellow had with his daughter which is to tell people there's no reason to be afraid when you go in the water of sharks. i mean, obviously, that's where sharks live. we live to re-create there. sooner or later we are going to overlap and come in contact with one another. >> what about the seals? is this a global warming issue? because all mr. life relates to water temperature. what's happening mere. >> marine life generally moves around the ocean relating to water temperature. it almost acts like a physical barrier or a wall. certain fish or marine mammals won't cross through that wall. they basically move along these what we call fronts and it's just basically an area of big temperature difference. so the seals i think that their population has actually been increasing greatly over the last couple years which is a good thing. but unfortunately, for swimmers, their primary predator is the great white shark and that's copping in closer contact with

humans. >> how much danger was that gentleman on the kayak in? >> i would say that when this picture was taken, he was in very little bit of danger. probably a couple of minutes before that, before anyone actually saw the shark, he was probably in a little bit more. >> why is that? >> because great white sharks are what are referred to as ambush predators and lurk low down near the bottom and hunt things up at the surface and they're making a silhouette along the top. so basically the sun is over the top and you look very much like a seal or a sea lion swimming along. what's that the shark is looking for that silhouette along the top of the water. >> so i'm hearing from you that you really don't think these sharks are hunting people, that it is safe to go in the water, that this is unusual. >> i would say that the second story that you had shown there with kayaker who was actually knocked out of the kayak, he was actually -- he was actively being hunted by that white shark for