with the story. hi, savannah? >> the president's pr offensive hits zenith today. this is a chance for him to reach the wider auns er audienc make the pitch for the health care. he has a democratic divide. he has blue dog democrats, the fiscally conservative democrats in the house, and they are concerned about the cost of reform. and there is another issue. the issue of taxes. speaker pelosi still supporting the idea of a surtax, although she wants the level to be higher so it doesn't kick in until you are making half million dollars if you are an individual. and she supports the surtax in principle. and other democrats not so sure. they want to ring out savings before you get to taxes. and then a lot ready to rumble. they think that they have an

issue that works for them. we have seen fighting words from people like senator demint. and republicans trying to portray what the president is doing as a wholesale change of the health care system of quote, government takeover, of the system. and then the issue is, is congress any closer? the president set the deadline saying he wants the house and the senate to pass their versions of the bill before the august recess. and the house, as the graphic says, it's a house of cards. stinie hoyer, the majority leader still thinks it can pass. and over in the senate, that's where things are looking dicey. the senate finance committee

looking feverishly behind closed doors. and it's unlikely they will be able to get something out of the full senate before the august recess if they don't come out with one soon. and that deadline is likely to slide. the president wants to keep the pressure on. >> yeah, and a senator joins us at 10:00. and he has been pushing a personal choice option effectively where you push the decision as to who your insurer will be back on the patient and take it away from the employer. savannah, we will talk to you soon. thank you for joining the conversation. with us now, karen finny, back, and nice to see you. jeff garr dear back at the meeting. have you not been here since we talked marriage. it's nice to see you. and i have not seen you -- i see you, but i have not seen you at the table. jay, i will begin with you. welcome.

>> thank you. >> i cannot recommend you read it more highly if you have not read this piece yet. and we will have a link to it on our website. i want to read it to you and ask you to elaborate. americans get the care they deserve. innovative, expensive and wasteful. why do you believe that's the care americans deserve? why do you characterize it like that? >> what i am trying to say is that health care is an exfreshen. in japan, people love to go to the doctor. >> yeah, they bring gifts to the doctor. >> yeah, and here, health care is very american in a lot of ways. very entrepreneurial, and there is a lot of waste and unfairness in the system. and i think in reforming it, you have got to recognize that this

just did not happen. >> but you say -- it's interesting, because it's almost if you contradict yourself. you say we get what we deserve, and then you go to say the current system of health care is add odds with american's character in three respect, moral, economic, and social logical. one say you say it's a chaotic and free, and then -- on the other hand, we have this moral issue. health care comes down to either you are a bad person because you don't believe people should have health care, what kind of barbarian are you, or they say we can't afford to pay for it, as opposed to getting in to our system is the new york knicks, and we need them to make the

playoffs. i will spend the money, but i need the team to make the playoffs. i need the health care that works. the current system of health care at odds, moral, social and economically -- what do you mean? >> my point is there are things that we probably cannot change and should not try to change. we should not try to spend a lot of money on health care. we wanted to spend a lot of money on health care. and we are not going to deny care in any way like they do in other places. >> england. >> but there are ways in which it is not american. if you look at the way the economy works, people don't have the same job for our whole lives. when our health care system developed, people worked for the same place for 20 years, and getting health care threw your job made a lot of sense. and now people change, i think the statistic, the average person changes jobs 11 times by

the age of 40. we have a mobile workforce, and a lot of people want to work on their own, as independent contractors, and entrepreneurs, and getting health care through your job ties you down for what might be a bad chase for the economy. >> i feel like senator ron widen is trying to say let's take the decision-making process -- either have you a employer man or nothing or something expensive because you can pay for it, and push it on the people and allow a spirit of competition start to chew the fat that all the health insurance companies are sucking out of the system all of these years. am i crazy to be thinking the way i am thinking? i look at the insurance money, and it's like a -- speaking of health kacare, it's like a canc

boil on the side of the health care. >> you are making a lot of sense. i think that senator is the smartest center in health care, and his bill is the smartest bill, because it not only has the cost control that the other bills don't have, but it's systemic reform. it looks at the whole system and says this link to employment doesn't make any sense any more. and he has a mechanism for converting it to a tax credit. your employer would pay you in salary -- >> well, the thing is, we have to start talking about this. who is most vested in my health care? i am. and then maybe my employer, because ge would like me to show up, because if we can sell the ads we can sell money. jeff, one comment from you, and then i will bring karen in

africafte contessa. does the ratings go down when we talk health care? the argument quickly becomes you have to pay for everybody or how can you pay for everybody, which is a conversation about the new york city knicks, and we pay a lot of money and don't make the playoffs, like the health care. >> people are afraid of change. you talk about the entrepreneurs, their families are paying around $12,000 a year for health care. people think this is about socialism, and it's not about socialism. it's getting people to get that universal health care, which we all need. don't be afraid of change. >> it's human psychology, where people have their foot jammed in the most uncomfortable shoe they have won in their lives, because they think they will be barefoot, and you say, there are

other shoes. karen, and torie, we will get you in. i am impressed by the senator's idea. the conversation is developing. >> yeah, i am the same way. >> we will play it another day, i am sure. contessa, what is going on in the world. we have big news on the michael jackson investigation, dylan. police want to talk to the doctor that was with jackson before he died for a third time. they also want more records from dr. murray. a new political storm is brewing in los angeles let's get to jeff for that. >> reporter: hello, carmen totanige is an investigation, $1.4 million was spent on the memorial service, and he wants to know why and where the money

went. there was a big flack how the police officers involved got bagged lunches from a deli about 70 miles away from los angeles, and he launched an invest, his office has. his office can only bring misdemeanor charges, but the feeling is if he does find something he can give it to the d.a. he thinks there could be criminality, but he doesn't say what. >> we are waiting for all kinds of news on the michael jackson front. and during yesterday's meeting, we talked about extreme measures to help balance california's budget. and today we are learning the off-shore drilling will happen, but not without criticism. and it would generate $100 million advanced royalty payment

this fiscal year, and almost $2 billion in royalties over 14 years. but the chairman of the state lands commission claims the deal was done in a back room as a sellout to the oil industry. and today government schwarzenegger talked to lester holt about the deal as a whole. >> nobody wants to make cuts to some of the programs, especially when it comes to education. and at the same time, we have great re-forms because of the difficult times, reforms that we tried in 2004, and 2005, 2006, and all of those years we could not get them. now we got those reforms. i think it's a great victory for everybody in california to really streamline government. >> well, governor schwarzenegger says the real culprit in the whole big mess is the economy. the economy is the culprit. >> yeah, that's a company -- not a company, that's a state that only makes money when the economy is working. they have no property taxes.

any way, they did the oil thing. i wonder if they will do the marijuana thing? two out of two. you think they will drill instead of legalizing marijuana? >> they will not go all the way. >> the interesting thing, they will drill for the first time in decades. the budget office in california did the math on marijuana legalization, and came up with a billion dollar tax structure. was there any talk on that front, contessa? >> well, if iphone has an app where you can find a place to buy marijuana in california, how are they not going to legal -- >> well, they have retail stores for marijuana, and lollipops that have marijuana in them, and they -- >> what is this? >> you can grow out to work and

cultivate, and work with the d.a. not to get arrested. >> the price of lands used to grow marijuana has grown fast in the potential legalization of marijuana in california as well. >> speaking of growing drugs, we are looking at ethical problems for sarah palin. and anonymous sources say she had donations, and a spokesperson says it appears suspect, but in the final days of the governor's term, somebody would again violate the law and announce a supposed conclusion before it's reached. she has faced 19 ethics complaints, and most have been dismissed. she says this is why she is stepping down, because it's too much money for the state to prosecute those. hundreds of millions of

people watched the skies darken. the eclipse lasted a maximum of six minutes and 39 seconds over one spot in the pacific ocean. and that will not be surpassed until june 13th, in the year 2132. i don't think that i can wait that long, dylan? i don't know about you. >> time eliminates all of the problems, and that's one we will not have at that time, and unless we can maybe live 500,000 years? why not? we have synthetic organs we are working on, and synthetic tissue. up load your brain. we will be here for millenniums to come. contessa, she doesn't want to hear anymore. ron paul going to be along as senator ron widen on health care. and i mention senator paul for a reason, he has a piece of

legislation advocating to audit the federal reserve, particularly at a time when the federal reserve is bearing in excess of $10 billion of risk, and the federal reserve refuses to disclose what the risks are? who is fighting ron paul's desire to audit the federal reserve? can we trust the federal reserve but economists in general to reflect productivity? that's coming up. (pouring rain)

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welcome back. ben bernanke, chairman of the federal reserve, back on capitol hill. >> he is talking too big to

fail. congress is grilling him on why companies like aig and others were allowed to make financial decisions that in the end could have toppled our economy? bernanke is telling lawmakers what he needs to keep it from happening again. more power to police large companies. he is trying to convince congress not to audit the fed or let the obama administration create a consumer protection agency. he says both would take away from the fed's ability to do its job, and weaken confidence. and the top money man is offering a status report on the nation nearly 20 months long. >> we expect a gradual recovery. i don't know what that corresponds to. we would pick up steam over time, well over the potential great of growth by 2011. we do expect to see job creation at the end of this year and

early next year. >> bernanke predicts it would take a couple years to see employment rebound. and the financial system remains stressed. more than a year ago, here was bernanke's prediction. quote, despite a recent spike in the unemployment rate. >> i am just going to go with this for a second. bill, are you there? >> yes. >> i want to be clear. bernanke is saying that he does not want senator ron paul's legislation to audit to go forward, and he does not want any additional ruled made for consumer protection, but he would like an accumulation of power so he can do more for the too big to fail.

now, as we evaluate whether our congress ought to empower more power instead of making smaller financial institutions. here is bernanke. this is after bear stearns had collapsed, and the wheels of the stock market start to come off. i know because i was there. take a listen to mr. bernanke. >> overall the u.s. economy appears to expand at a moderate pace with growth and strengthing in 2008 to a rate close to the underlying trends. >> 2008 was the year we put trillions of dollars in the financial system in order to prevent total financial apocalypse. and we lost the largest insurance company of the group, and citigroup the largest commercial bank on the planet earth, and all a component of the dow jones industrial average. and now listen to his predecessor in allen greenspan and his predictions of how the

economy would behave in the days and weeks and months ago. >> while local economies may experience significant price imbalances, a national severe price distorsion seems unlikely. the housing problem became clear to me in 2006 retrospect. we never had a significant decline. >> bill, my question is simple, for all of us setting up. it's not that i want to indictment these people for their inability to predict the future, i think that's a difficult task to take if not impossible. i am saying we need to make systems that acknowledge we cannot predict the future but are prepared to deal with whatever the future will be, and that means we need to look around. why would bernanke be resisting

to the audit and all the things you are familiar that he is resistant to? >> i cannot say precisely why he would not want that, other than i think the people at the fed have this notion that they are all powerful, kind of like the wizard of oz, and they should be able to do that, when, as you pointed out, they have made horrendous mistakes. when you are given the ability to print money, and to do the things that they can do, their financial weapons of mass destruction, if misused. and so they have not been able to do that, so to give -- and in addition to that, they had no -- they did not do their jobs from a regulatory oversight standpoint. so to give them more power is completely a non-secwator to not have this happen and go forward.

>> karen, what is the system in washington, d.c. that the congress -- when ron paul shows up and says we need to audit these guys. there is a good reason for it. they are unreliable in predicting the future, and i don't have to read narratives for you. where do they run into resistance? >> it's like the fed is becoming like weather men, and they tell you it's going to be a sunny day, and you look outside and it's raining, and you think what am i missing here? you would think after what has happened, there would not be a call for a little bit of a regulation, and there would not be a not for consumer protection. you cannot -- i agree you cannot expect to be so far off the ball, and have their not be consequences and not have people ask questions. the other side of it is, the

republican rhetoric and democrats rhetoric, one thing to hold bernanke accountable -- everybody is a little responsible for what happened. >> i am not worried about that, i am worried about the system, where we know we cannot predict the system. they have no idea. nobody can predict three to six months in the financial markets. they can't do it, because you don't know what is going to happen. people that are successful in financial markets are the people that can deal with the unknown. what is it -- it's the same as health care. people would rather believe in the wizard of oz in washington, d.c. magically deciding things -- >> well, they are looking for direction, and anything that can tell them what is going on. if we listen to what bernanke is saying, it's not something we don't already know. it will take a while for us to come back, and we are so desperate for information, and we are not getting it.

>> they failed us horrendously, and we still cannot get beyond a band-aid, which we had a huge systemic failure, and i need medical attention, and now we need to understand how the system failed, and how do we fix it so we don't keep blowing tax-payer money? >> dylan, the inspector general to the top fund is saying he is not getting clarity or information. >> karen, go ahead. >> well, i did a lot this year talking about the very issue here, and i think the psychology of the american people shifted. for a period of time they were willing to believe the people on wall street and the people at the fed knew what they were doing, and they were the experts. now we have the absolute crash and they are saying if the people don't know what they are doing that are supposed to know what they are doing, what is going on? >> yeah, the only ones that don't lose money are the only ones that get 100 cents on the

dollar, and you start to wonder whether having goldman sachs running everything is a particul particularty, or have they been taking advantage of the tax system. >> yeah, they are hearing the same things that i heard from the constituents, saying these guys can't be smart but we cannot keep rewarding them forgetting it wrong. they may have to be part of the solution, but we have to have more of an understanding of what is going on here. if those are the people we are supposed to trust, and they are blowing it big time, what are you guys doing to make sure we keep tabs on them. >> and bernanke says don't audit me and give me more power. talk about living in crazytown? >> yeah, it's an abomb nation. greenspan could not figure out what was going on. in 2006, they said we were heading for a bubble and everything was going to crash.

greenspan knows more than they do. >> the stupid tea of the model was adjacent neighborhoods have no correlation in real estate prices. the way they did the model, if my house goes down in price, it is next to your house, it will have no impact, and that's a stupid assumption. we are going to take a break, and we will plug in with contessa right after this. (male announcer) if you've had a heart attack caused by a completely blocked artery, other heart attack could be rking, waiting to strike. a heart attack caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots. ask your doctor about plavix,

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welcome back. resetting the agenda, quick and dirty. what would you do if a car caught fire and a child was trapped inside? would you be a bystander, just watch, or would you shoot it on your cell phone camera or keep

walking or rescue the child? president obama pushing his health care plan in a primetime conference tonight. and talking to ron wyden about putting people in charge of their health care. stunning. obama takes a break to listen to country artists at the white house. he says he appreciates country music. why don't more african-americans feel the same way. rap was able to cross over to white suburbia, but country music was not. and the new york stock exchange bell has rung, and let's get back to work. contessa is here plugging into the universe. we are getting shocking video coming to us from peta, and they went undercover at the wringling brothers circus. wait until you see what they were doing to the elephants.

it shows them whipping them and using bull hooks on trunks. one of the trainers is caught on camera, saying f- you, fat ass. to the elephant. >> they don't speak english. >> they say they are smart. and the wringling brothers say we don't know about this video, and they say peta is an animal rights extremists group. and peta is holding a 10:00 a.m. news conference. and there is a shortage of fiber expert. and federal agencies are facing a shortage of experts. book banning in the digital age. courtney hazlett is addicted. >> yeah, it's the future of the newspaper is the kendall.

>> it has ultimate sensorship. these are pivotal books about capitalism, right? killed. they deleted them after they bought them. >> who is they? >> amazon. amazon maintains these books are part of the service, and you don't own the book like if you go in and buy it. >> they can delete it anytime they want, and -- >> they give you a refund. >> but they decide if i can have the book or not? >> yes. >> are you about this? >> it's like if they come in the house and grab the books they don't like and run out of the house? >> yes, that's my point. in the future, if a government entity doesn't like a book, they

can take it. what a good way to do it. >> i will burn mine at lunch. we need to do that until amazon gives up that right. if they can delete the books, i don't want the product. we will be back with a look at the kind of person you are. the dramatic rescue caught on camera yesterday. would you run to the rescue or shoot the tape, all the questions i was just asking a moment ago. and senator ron paul, a pair of strong leaders at the meeting in the 10:00 hour. that's coming up.

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so it's only the most dramatic pictures of the week. a car on fire. a 4-year-old trapped inside that car. you come upon a scene like that,

what do you do? a, run in and try to save the victims. b, call 911. c, stand there and videotape the drama, obviously somebody did that or i would not be able to show you what i just showed you. d, do nothing. and you can go back to when somebody jumped in the icy potomac to save somebody. karen, we know what kind of person you are. you would jump right in? >> really? tell me, dylan. >> i will start with the professional, and then the amateurs like ourselves will express our opinions. it is clearly definable? are there different types of people? >> yes, there are. >> i can anticipate what they will do before it comes, right?

>> yeah, the person that will jump in and help, and then -- >> how do i know who is who? what type of person saves a victim? >> the one that saves the victims is like karen, and community-minded. they care about other people as much as they care about themselves. it's not just about their immediate families. they see the actual neighborhood as being part of their family. they will help raise another child. they will correct somebody if they are doing something wrong. they will pick something off the street and put it in the garbage. that's the kind of person that will jump in. >> and the person needs to be in nar neighborhood or in a neighborhood they feel identification to, right? >> well, not necessarily. if it's in their neighborhood they are more likely to react, but if they are on the highway and outside the neighborhood, these are the same people that

will stop and help. >> the world is the village. >> some people will help more in their area, like for instance, in brooklyn, i will go in here, but i am in d.c. -- >> that's when we had neighborhoods back in the day, not so much any more. >> let's move to a couple others. who comes upon a scene and sees a 4-year-old burning in a vehicle, i will not help and call 911, but i will get myself a device and start rolling tape, because this is saw some? >> this is the person who has no real connection to anybody but themselves, and they want to see how they can capitalize on that particular situation. this is the same person who would be on the highway who will cut you off because it's for their own comfort. this is the same person who will cut in front of you on a movie line because they want to get there first. it's all about them. they don't care what happens to somebody else. >> these are the people that

will be rubber necking on the highway to try and see what happened in the accident, that sort of thing? >> you have two people rubber necking on the highway. we can't stand any of them because it slows traffic. >> yeah, we can solve that, with driverless cars. real quick, i want to get karen in. >> the voier will say, can i see a body or blood. and then you will see the rubber necker, that will stay oh, my god, that was terrible and i will say a prayer for them. >> don't we all have a little bit of each one of these tendencies. what is remarkable about the story, what i would like to believe, is the better angels of our nature, of most of our nature, and i hope and i believe things like this happen everyday. and there is not always a video camera there to see it. there is something in thuman

nature that would like to try and help. i will bring it back to the other subject of health care, and that's part of why. when we talk about health care reform, we live in a country where people die and live with illnesses and injuries that we can actually treat and fix and correct. but they can't -- they don't have access to the health care that they would need to, you know, get better. that's immoral. that's not our american way. this is somebody who would jump in and help a 4-year-old without thought to their own safety. when we talk about the health care reform, let's bring it back down to the human level and remember that a lot of people in the country are suffering. >> what frustrates folks, or what frustrates me, as i totally agree with you with the emotional aspect of that, but when politicians exploit the aspect to waste piles of money, and deliver the new york knicks, right -- >> i will get at-shirt, dylan,

come on. health care is the knicks. we need to make the playoffs on this one. to capture our moral center, and then add to it rational thought, and maybe we can get it done. i have to take a break. we will come back, all four of us, we would jump in. even if we would not, we would tell you that we would. what kind of person is that? that's a liar. >> we would, because we care. we will k back with is not only senator ryan, and senator ron paul, but also the potential natural bias, against african-americans, including a bias in african-americans for african-americans. we'll have that conversation coming up.

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still ahead here at the meeting, congressman ron wyden, and his idea of health care. shocking and potentially true. and senator ron paul, trying to audit the fed. who is resisting him and why? and plus the grand old opry comes to the white house, and he says he appreciates the music. we'll have that conversation coming up. come on in. you're invited to the chevy open house. where getting a new vehicle is easy. because the price on the tag is the price you pay on remaining '08 and '09 models.

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city boy. but i do appreciate listening to country music because, like all americans, i appreciate the broad and indelible impact that country has had on our nation. >> all right. . the president can we look at the video? what exactly is the story with the president and country music going on? >> they are doing a music series at the white house. this is the country music installment. president obama settled in to listen to some of that good old country music. charley pride was one of the several artists who performed

for the first couple last night. he is one of the country african-american country stars. so, dylan, the question is he just saying that, guess? >> got it. >> i love country music, by the way. i'm a huge kenny rogers fan. >> no, i understand. karen, are you there? >> i'm here. >> you sent me an e-mail. >> i did. i was so pleased to see an old friend of mine, african-american country music singer, darius rucker. >> one of few. >> that's true. he used to be the lead singer of hootie and the blowfish rock band. people say how come there aren't more armies in rock bands. if you look at the roots of country music in the south, a the although of african-american influences. jazz and blues which influence country music and then what is called hillbilly music. i think a great thing the first couple is really using the white house to showcase the best of america. the first part of the series was

jazz and now country music. those are two very american -- >> you're right. a lot of roots of how blues music and gospel both in the song lyrics and in the sound of the song. but here is part of the thing. here is part of the thing. why we like what we like in terms of music is about identification. we identify you with the person who is on stage and the people who are in the audience with us. the imagined audience who is also listening to it and people at the concert. >> right. >> when i go to a jayz show i identify with him. or another show, i identify with those people. >> integrated audiences. >> absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. not just racial. >> gender, age, et cetera. >> you believe in the moral with the world you want to be, right? >> right. >> this is why a lot of white kids are able to come over to hip-hop. they like the world that jayz --

>> you don't see a lot of latino country artists or a lot of fan base for that music outside of white people. hang on. karen, go ahead. >> i think there's more than you're giving it credit for. certainly in the south. and, look. i know a lot of african-americans, myself included, i can relate to some of the songs of johnny cash and loretta lynne when you're talking about working hard for the man and not liking it. i think there are some roots there. >> he wasn't even nodding his head. nothing. he was like this. >> nothing there for us, the african-americans. why we like country music? i just don't see -- >> why do you hate country music, toure? >> i don't identify with the people on the stage. johnny cash in particular. >> down and out? >> of course, but the way they sing is is not the way marvin gayee sings it. my parents didn't listen to country music. >> don't be a hater. johnny cash is someone who is extraordinary who i love, partly

perhaps he goes to prison and he performs for those people and make them think -- i like johnny cash. >> country music is ray charles. not charley pride, ray charles start doing country music and put out a country music album and black folks like digging it but we don't have enough of the ray charles out there. we don't even get into charley pride as much as we should. he's a pioneer. >> charley pride is not the one country music in most african-american homes, no. >> but it's preposterous to think black people like the black country guy. >> i don't think it's racist. >> we watch tiger woods. i come into golf liking tiger woods and then i start to understand phil mickelson, vijay. >> gives you somebody to identify with. >> a way in. >> i'm like who else does this? >> i like that guy. he puts extra black twinge. >> two-hour meeting, karen, fear

not. every day. it's crazy. >> be nice. >> but it's a good time. still ahead here in the second hour, speaking of interesting and exciting. senator ron widen. a plan to try to put patients in control of their health care as opposed to governments and corporation to talk. i certainly like to hear. wyden is gaining attraction and talk to him about it. senator ron paul wants to audit the federal reserve. who is resisting him in this effort and why on earth would they do so? i will talk to senator ron paul in the second hour of the meeting. car insurance company in the nation. but, it's not like we're kicking back, now, havin' a cuppa tea. gecko vo: takes lots of sweat to become that big. gecko vo: 'course, geckos don't literally sweat... it's just not our thing... gecko vo: ...but i do work hard, mind you. gecko vo: first rule of "hard work equals success." gecko vo: that's why geico is consistently rated excellent or better in terms of financial strength. gecko vo: second rule: "don't steal a coworker's egg salad,

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may have the beginnings of that and talk to him about his plan in a second. also arrested inside his own home. an african-american harvard professor cuffed on his front porch. would that have happened if he was white? my bet is no. is racial bias inate and is there anything we can do about it? we'll converse. dangers of using cell phones in cars. the "morning meeting" solving every problem that could exist in a car from drunk driving to text messaging to making out with your girlfriend. driver list cars, toure, you could go nuts riding shotgun. who has the power? the federal reserve wants more power to regulate the big banks but they were supposed to be regulating the big banks in the first place. why we give them more power and why is the resistance to senator ron paul's efforts to audit the federal reserve, senator paul joins us. it's 10:00 a.m. let's get back to work.

all right. we continue the health care conversation. one democratic senator may be winning over a number of skeptical republicans. more important than that, he may, in fact, be putting the patient in stronger position to deal with their own care as opposed to the insurer/employer/government. so i'm referring to senator ron wyden, a democrat from oregon. oregon already has one of the most innovative states in dealing with health care and contessa has more. >> here is what the senator is proposing. he is calling his plan the free choice proposal so it creates an insurance exchange for people to find insurance. it would let employees pick their own plan and businesses would then provide vouchers to their employees to help them pay for it. insurance companies would not be allowed to cherry-pick only healthy customers. under wyden's plan, every person

would have to be enrolled. the luen group says wyden's plan would reduce international spending on health care by 1.5 trillion dollars. over the next ten years. that would equal right now what the house democrats plan would cost. >> joining us now is senator wyden. senator, where do you stand in advancing this conversation? where do you find you get the most resistance when you try to advance it? >> i think that americans want choice, dylan, and they're going to wake up pretty soon and find out that under these proposals, up here on the hill, most americans are not going to get choice. they don't want some people to get it. everybody ought to get it. >> what is interesting to me is where you run into resistance. in other words if your idea is try to put patients in a stronger position to dole with their own health care and create more competition and insurance, all of the things that you're discussing, why and where is the resistance to advancing that -- why is there a rns resistance to

a conversation that takes health care responsibility away from the employer, away from the government, and puts it with me and my mother would have her say, i'm sure she would like to be in charge still. why is there resistance to your efforts to put patients in a firmer footing for their own health care? >> unfortunately, there is still a pretty strong status quo caucus in this country. you have, for example, the insurance companies. this is going to create a lot more competition. this is going to force private insurance companies to compete for people's business. not only is it going to be illegal to cherry-pick but, for the first time, consumers are going to have some real bargaining power. by the way the employer would have more bargaining power when they have to negotiate with the insurers. >> when the republicans say we don't want to do this, it's going to cost too much is that them simply taking, lobbying money from the health insurance companies? are they bought by the health insurance companies to basically kill anything that diminishes

the profitability of health insurance companies and why are politicians beholden to protect the profitability of health insurance companies even when it comes to the expense of health care of anybody else? i look at the health insurance companies as the allan houston deal. we're blowing a lot of money and getting very little out of them. >> certainly there are some republicans who more than anything just want to defeat reform. they want the president, for example, to get a big defeat, but we've got a lot of republicans that are prepared to change this inhumane model of the way insurance is priced. today, it's all about cherry-picking. finding the healthy people -- >> get it. >> we got republicans, dylan, who are prepared to support real insurance reform. >> senator, can i ask awe question? i kind of wonder if this is actually a moral issue for america, because we want -- we tell pollsters we want universal health care but don't want to

pay for people who can't afford it in the current uninsurable. we are going both ways there. >> my and his point is that whole conversation is nonsense. in other words, all or nothing which is the hatfield/mccoy conversation which is the conversation everybody has been educated to have is part of the problem. in other words, we need to stop having the universal and no universal and start having the conversation why are we pumping piles of money into health insurance companies and depriving people of health care when we could put people as the senator suggest in charge of their own health care and then use competitive force to drive that fat profit margin that is that cancerous boil on the side of our society that is health insurance that is sucking money out and depriving people. we just inject competition into that little boil and it dissipates and that is why i like the wyden plan as much as i do. i'm curious what resistance you have found. what are the next steps for you as you try to advance a personal choice type of a model? >> certainly, we're going to face strong opposition, as you

suggested, from insurers. some say, dylan, that this is blowing up the employer-based health care system. i don't think that's the case at all. i think there is a sweet spot in between blowing up the employer-based system and saying you're not trying to improve things at all for the consumer. we outlined on this show how the real target of these practices are. this plays hardball with the insurers. this makes sure everybody has the opportunity to have leverage with the insurance companies and have a good deal. >> i would argue because resistance is so obvious i think they will have a hard time because basically the insurance companies against everybody else. if you can get beyond that, where else do you run into resistance in an effort to, again, be honest about the fact that people change jobs 11 times before they are 40 years old, that the employer-based health care plan was predicate on a model where people stayed where they were and now young people in this country, creative people that want to go out and do

things but are afraid to leave horrible jobs purely because they don't want to not have health care. it's crazy. >> the other big problem is the president has correctly said that you can keep the coverage you have. but, unfortunately, the way these bills are written on capitol hill, you can't reject the coverage you have if you don't like it and go get something better. so what i want to do is make sure that everybody, not just some people, have these kind of choices to get a better deal for themselves and their families. they can save a thousand bucks on the insurance exchange and get a better policy in terms of prevention. my plan would let them do it and it means millions of people, their premiums are not going to go down and they aren't going to get choices like members of congress. >> exactly. you have an idea that allows everybody to make choices and forces the health insurance companies to deal with honest competition and provides potential care to everybody as opposed to three-quarters of the people or two-thirds of the people or whatever we've got. senator, thank you for the time.

>> thank you for having me. >> please come back. we'll talk to you soon. senator ron wyden out of oregon. contessa, what else is going on? >> here is the big question everybody is facing. what is in your wallet? probably a credit card with a rising interest rate. and lisa myers has been following this story. i thought they were supposed to be cracking down on these huge rates in washington, d.c. there, lisa. >> you're absolutely right, contessa. they are supposed to be doing that. a couple of months ago, congress passed a law to protect consumers struggling to pay their bills from the predatory practices of credit card companies. since then, millions of americans have received another round of notices that their credit card costs are going up. some consumers are asking can they really do this? >> reporter: struggling with medical bills and a consulting business, hard-hit by the economic downturn, linda and jay gal a ger reluctantly downsized

last year from the townhouse they had renovated to a manufactured home. >> one of our major concerns is that we wanted to be able to pay our bills. >> basically, said we have to make a really big change and i have to say, it was scary. >> reporter: then the notice arrived from chase last month the interest rate on their 5,000 credit card bill was almost doubling to more than 15%. why? to maintain profitability on their account. >> i was really angry because it was an injustice. it was a great injustice to us who we have worked so hard and we weren't missing any payments. >> reporter: since the president signed a new law to crack down on credit card abuses two months ago, the big credit card companies, chase, bank of america and to a lever extent citibank has raised costs to consumers, jacking up rates and changing fixed rates to variable and increasing minimum payments. >> it's perfectly legal what

they are doing, but i think it does violate the intent of the law. >> reporter: but, in fact, congress made all this possible. because banks said they needed time to adjust, congress delayed the effective date of most new consumer protections until next february. now, the banks say all these changes are essential, because their costs are providing credit have gone up dramatically and they also say they are losing money on their existing credit card operations. >> lisa, thank you. in less than an hour, "endeavour" starts the third space walk. today's task replacing batteries on one of the international space station solar rays. on monday, space walk astronauts used a large robotic arm. they should be all set now, wouldn't you say, dylan? >> yes. i'm talking health care with toure over here and i have no idea what you're saying!

>> thanks a lot. >> we're going back to talking health care and health insurance. i'm sorry! >> i really was not listening to you! sorry. >> i do it in class. listen. we're talking health care. sorry. >> it happens. it shouldn't, but it happens. >> i'm sorry. >> what i'm talking about is important, too. i'm just saying. >> i know. it's true. >> what were you talking about? >> we are going to take a break. i apologize, contessa. >> that's okay. >> senator ron paul still to come auditing the fed and driverless cars, and his racial bias innate. we'll have the conversation coming up. my doctor told me something i never knew. as we get older, our bodies become... less able to absorb calcium. he recommended citracal. it's a different kind of calcium. calcium citrate. with vitamin d... for unsurpassed absorption, to nourish your bones.

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welcome back. prominent black professor at harvard yesterday trying to get into his own home reignites a conversation about racial bias in this country. contessa, give us the news, first off and then get into the conversation. >> henry louis gates want apology after a white police officer arrested him at his own home. gates forced his way into his own home because he was having trouble with the lock, apparently. police reported a witness reported somebody was breaking in. police arrested him. they say he yelled at an an officer and accused the officer of bias. the city of cambridge is calling the incident regrettable and unfortunate. professor gates tells "the washington post," quote.

apparently gates had managed to get in the home when police officers arrived. so he was inside when police asked him for his identification. >> got it. all right. thank you. i'm kind of tumultuous in general but i would be tumultuous. >> you cannot be how frightening this is in your home. in your home police officers come in and demand your proof in your home. this happens not? a vacuum but this happens when i know my uncle was arrested wrongfully and i know my father was harassed 30 years ago. it's not just me happening in this moment. >> but let's accept that this exists, right? that black people are treated -- >> revolutionary. >> just accept it, it exists. >> we saw it with the election of barack. racism is over. no way! >> not at all. not happening.

>> let might have give you some statistics. missouri black drivers 66% more likely to be pulled over than any other driver on the road. arizona, minority drivers 2.5 times more likely to be searched than anybody else. alabama, 30% black population accounts for 55% of traffic citations. >> more than that. undercover, black police officers in new york city, i think five have been murdered? >> right. >> since the '50s but no white undercover police officer has been murdered by another police officer in new york ever. >> got it. >> dave wilson, welcome, by the way. >> thanks. >> you are operating every day and you're at nbc property. >> right upstairs. >> grio.com which i happen to contribute for. >> yes, he does. >> i'm just establishing you here. but go ahead. >> well, no. one of the questions i put out there is how do we change it? when we did the film, me and david wilson film, we replicated dr. kenneth clark's baby doll

test. >> which is? >> we took 3-year-old kids and showed them a white doll and black doll and asked him which was the good doll and the bad doll. this is in 2005. the young kids -- >> 3 years old? >> yes. >> were the kids of any particular racial? >> they were black kids. almost straight down the line, maybe -- the kids preferred the white doll. >> black kids? >> hold on, you guys. karen, i'll get new here. this is an article written by rina kelly who writes for "newsweek" and talks about a study done out of hard verdict, i believe, called the implicit association test. which is what you're talking about. i see a black face a white face, i see whatever i see, i have a differently emotional and psychological response before i even have a thought, whether i'm a police officer. here is what they say, this is implicit association test. the iat, which that test, made a

lot of news last year which the results showed that 70% of those who took it lasher harbor unconscious preference for white people over black people. i mean of all races who took it, including african-americans. >> absolutely. this is something that is spread throughout and interesting. some of the parents of these 3-year-olds saying i never taught my child this. i taught my child to be proud. but the images that these children see from television, in the magazines, reinforces -- >> how long ago was that study? >> about 40 -- >> answer his question. >> 1940 the original test. >> it was replicated again and they got the same results just a few years ago. >> exactly. >> go ahead, karen. >> here is the thing, i guess, what i think about this. in the civil rights movement it was about legislating access, but, you know, you can't legislate changes and attitudes and behaviors.

you know, we can't forget -- we had this happen with henry louis gates but a group of african-american and history span nick hispanic kids kicked out of a pool. i think we have to realize it's each one of our responsibility on an individual basis with our children, with one another, to change these attitudes and behaviors, because we are constantly bombarded by messages that actually reinforce these biases and these prejudices. finally, we've got access and we're able to go to school together and, you know, live in culture together, but we've got to keep, you know, breaking down those barriers. >> jeff? >> we have president obama now. we don't have a post-racial society yet but the issue becomes now that we do have a black president and we could start looking at people of power and of intelligence who do more than just play basketball for the knicks, all right? now will this change our psychology as black people and i tell you that it will. if we replicate that clark study and in another five to ten years -- >> the decade of the association's potentially of children -- >> i think --

>> you think -- >> i think oprah and barack obama. >> michelle obama. she looks like we would call around the way girl, you know? >> what does that mean? >> she is dark and lovely. >> yes, she is dark skin. >> she's black. >> exactly. she's not oprah. >> she's not? >> not a halle berry. >> right. >> i got it. i got it. >> so we see her in a positive light. >> yeah. >> i think young kids pick up on that and say, wow if i'm a young black teenage girl or young black 3-year-old girl, wow i can inspire to be michelle obama. >> again, we're going to come back to this conversation. we have, we will. we will take a break. still to come, ron paul auditing the fed. i probably need a little editing. also drivers terrible when they get in the car. the biggest problem is cars require drivers and we think they have solved that with

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. welcome back. you know the president is holding a prime time press conference today, looking to again continue this health care conversation. they've got a lot of people's attention. the president has a big job this evening. contessa is plugging into washington, d.c. in general. >> we are watching the senate right now because we are expect ago vote at 12:30 on concealed weapons permit. a senator introduced an amendment to a defense bill and allow people with sxeled permits in their home state to carry the weapons across state line. for instance, truckers for their own protection if they have a

sxeled weapons permit, they would be able to drive, everywhere but wisconsin and illinois which don't have sxeled permits in their state at all. big controversial amendment. >> we'll get to that gun conversation. >> the justice department is before a judge arguing it should not be forced to release the interview with dick cheney investigating the cia leak case. so the justice department -- >> they don't have to release it, they say? >> they are arguing they shouldn't have to release it because they want to make sure that anyone else who was involved will still cooperate with the investigation and they think if you release dick cheney's interview it may prevent other people from cooperating with the investigation. we'll have to see how the judge rules on that. arnold schwarzenegger is now on twitter and keeping people up-to-date on the problems with california's budget and where he is going to talk about those problems. but he is also relieving releasing this video on twitter. let me play it. >> thanks very much for all of the great news you're giving me. we talked about making some cuts in the budget. getting rid of some of the

state's costs, and then, all of a sudden, you come up with a great ideas why don't you sign the costs and celebrity governor, sign the costs and sell it for more money. that's exactly what we're going to do. so i love your ideas. give me more of those ideas. we need it. >> he says he is also going to use crazelist and ebay for the garage sale out there. i'm for innovative ideas. if it takes a celebrity governor giving an autograph on what you're going to sell, more power to him. >> we have cut in health care and cut in education. we have to deal with this prison situation. you got real problems in california. huge prison population and huge educational costs and they're like what if he just signs some stuff and we sell it on ebay? can we sell it that way? i feel like you're dealing with -- i recognize the symbolic gesture. >> you do nickel and dime but at the end of the garage sale you have a few hundred bucks. if it works, better than

nothing. >> 18 billion. they did the oil drilling. >> better than nothing. >> better than nothing but, again, that's also a red herring is a problem, right? we're over here talking about a false solution. it means we're not actually talking about a real solution. that's a risk, right? eye. ahead the jetsons had it right and so did david half hasselhoff in "night rider." why not gps inside the cars? human beings actually driving them and they like to drink, text message and do nak makeup and talk on the phone. eat soup. driverless cars. we have a man at stanford who has invented precisely such a device. this is not -- i'm not just talking out of my you know what. we have driverless cars coming up at the meeting after this. at 155 miles per hour, andy roddick has the fastest serve in the history of professional tennis.

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. national highway traffic safety administration has known for years that distracted drivers are as bad as or worse than drunk ones and why they kept that a secret is another thing and why we are still making decisions in general behind the wheel, yet another. so for a solution, for that is why we called this meeting is in search of solutions. we may have solved the whole drunk driving, texting driving and makeup while driving

problem. joining the meeting from stanford university, professor sebastian thrun. professor of computer science, electrical engineering at stanford and also serves as a director of the stanford ai all about artificial intelligence and his research features on intelligence and artificial intelligence. welcome. we started this conversation yesterday by sort of joking about the texting and drinking and this and that. and then we stopped joking and started putting a couple of pieces together. gps and spatial awareness in the cars and things you're aware of more than we are. we found you and you have a driverless car. tell us how it works. >> thanks for having me on the show, dylan. it's basically a car where you push a button and say on the highway i want to go to exit 34c and then the car basically just drives for you. so you can basically sit there and do something else. you can text guilt-free without running the danger of having an accident in the car when it reaches its destination, it

tells you it's there. >> what is the barrier to implementation of a technology like this? i'm presuming it's expensive and i'm also fully aware of the fact that if your computer crashes, that the use of the word crash, obviously, would take on new meaning? >> yeah, it's the same in the industry where we use the pilots for many, many years now successful. same for cars. cars a little more difficult because we have to make it much cheaper than aircraft and we on our way. i think right now when the prototypes still tens of thousands of dollars but it's very feasible to do the same thing for a few hundred bucks extra per car. >> professor, how does the driverless car react when, you know, you have human random error? somebody like dylan runs a red light and the car doesn't see that coming. the car is talking to the light so it knows it has a green light and then a human runs a red light. how do we deal with that? >> the beauty of this tech knowledge is many ways much

better than people. how do people react when someone runs a red light? in a large number of cases, you might be on the phone or texting and doing something else distractive and you won't see it. the nice thing about a computerized car it looks all the time and has no reason to text. it will see the vehicle entering the intersection and take the appropriate action. >> can your driverless car function -- in other words do i need to be in a situation where every car is using some version of this technology so i have relationship between your smart car and my dumb car which doesn't have that? in other words, do i need to have every car have this level of intelligence? >> no. it would be desirable. you could do great things like you could have very close -- on the highway that could save a lot of gas and space and so on, but i think for the time being, we have to live with the fact most of our cars are human-driven and should be human-driven for a while. the cars just blend in. you won't notice them from the car next to you on highway. >> what do you say, karen?

can we go to washington, d.c. in the professor's car and get the hov lanes -- >> now i sperted my technique of driving and putting on my makeup and texting at the same time, i know, it's bad! don't tell my mother. two questions. do we think, first of all, that the american auto industry can handle this challenge? we don't even have electric cars and at the beginning of hybrids and great if it creates jobs. i think secondly there is something in the human nature we're control freaks. will people give up control of having their hands behind the wheel? clearly, they should but i wonder about that in terms of human nature. >> so first to the second question. i think if you have the choice between texting and making phone calls and interacting with other people and alternatively being stuck in traffic with the idiot in front of you that doesn't drive properly, i personally would rather have the freedom to do everything at once this drive my car to and from work every

morning, right? >> that's question one. question two? >> remind me what the question was. >> karen? >> can the u.s. auto industry -- you were talking a little bit about the cost. what would it take for the u.s. auto industry to be able to do in this a mass production way? i mean, what would that require? certainly create jobs but what would it create in terms of the technology we need? >> here is my picture. i think the technology is getting there. the next three or four years you would be able to do this on highways reliable. for the u.s. automotive industry, here is my pledge. i think the sus a country of innovation. we always set ourselves apart and coming up with better technology and solving ideas and solving problems better than anybody else on the world. this is on the back burner the last couple of years. in other spaces it has like the web, for example is new and twitter and so on. i think if you take the car in crisis and turn it around and say and look forward and invent new technology and play with these things and try them out,

be open-minded i think you can find amazing amount of american power and become leaders. >> here here. >> in the short run, 330,000 accidents a year, 2,700 fatalities a year because of texting and being on the telephone. we've got to regulate that industry. we have got to do something right now. >> regulation for sure. we should need to deal with texting the same way we dealt with drunk driving but the more quickly we can push for technological solutions whether driverless cars or more efficient health care. the science and technology to karen's point is why america is america. trs, light bulb, internet, all of these things, driverless car, even though clearly by the professor's accent he was not an original american but came to america to bring that technology to america. >> that is stanford. >> dylan, when are you going to test drive this? i want to see you test drive it. >> tomorrow. >> stick shift!

>> i'll be drinking, writing, shotgun while texting as i come to work in the morning. >> talking about this today. the tech industry is your drug dealer feeding the intense social economic pressure to stay constantly in touch. the tech industry knows will never dissect. >> the thing is if you take the same crazy -- i got to talk to ron paul. he will get me. i want to talk to the congressman. i've been calling him senator all morning. >> i was wondering shra! >> that was me. it was me. professor, thank you very much. congressman ron paul is here in just a second talking about auditing the fed. quickly, contessa, what sels going on? >> senate minority leader harry reid telling fellow lawmakers doing nothing is not an objection. the president will hold a prime time news conference this evening. you can see the president live here on msnbc tonight and we'll take the press conference live at 8:00 eastern and followed by

special editions of our lineup. hillary clinton insisting pursuit of iran's nuclear weapons unacceptable. she spoke in thailand earlier today and suggested the u.s. could do more to enhance the military strength of its allies if iran continues to pursue nuclear arms called the umbrella approach. south korea opposite of the parliamentary procedure. lawmakers screaming and wrestling after the south korean ruling party tried to stop a set of bills on media ownership. opposition officials tried to use the couch and other furniture to block ruling party lawmakers from entering the main hall of the national assembly. one person sent to the hospital. in new york state i was wondering if we would see a scene like that in sort of the tittat we were seeing. >> anything can happen. we will take a break because i'm

saving time for congressman ron paul. i called him senator. call him what you want. he wants to audit the federal reserve and a darn good reason to do it. i don't understand who is resisting him in that effort. we're going to talk to him about his efforts to audit the federal reserve when we come pack. come on in. you're invited to the chevy open house. where getting a new vehicle is easy. because the price on the tag is the price you pay on remaining '08 and '09 models. you'll find low, straightforward pricing. it's simple. now get an '09 silverado xfe with an epa estimated 21 mpg highway for under 28 thousand after all offers. go to chevy.com/openhouse for more details.

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those are live pictures of testimony. ben bernanke currently testifying second day on the hill talking about too big to fail and arguing the federal reserve should be in mondaying too big to fail instead of creating institutions that are not too big to fail. as a result, the largest insurance companies, the largest banks and multiple investment banks, students -- failed. no student loans, retirees wiped out and et cetera, et cetera.

the federal reserve still thinks they shouldn't be audited as they carry trillions of dollars on their books. still no audit. ben bernanke says. a man with us now who thinks an audit might be in order. peculiar, though, that may be pip i'm referring to congressman ron paul, republican and frequent fed critic. congressman paul, first off, thank you for taking a moment to talk with us in the course of your work day. i know our time of the day is tricky. what is the resistance? why is there resistance to your efforts to audit the federal reserve when the reasons to do so would seem phenomenally obvious? >> i think the resistance comes whose interests are being challenged. those who are involved in the federal reserve system, they don't want to be challenged. >> who is that? is that goldman sachs? is that the previous -- who is that? >> the immediate federal reserve board, as well as all of the banks that along, especially the big banks and that would include

people like goldman sachs and all of the big banks, because, you know, the federal reserve works with big banks because money is created not only by the federal reserve, but it's created by fractional reserve banking and for that reason, it's an empire that they have. but those people who benefit by the system, and there is a lot of benefit, deficit financing by congress benefits. >> sure. >> they are getting to the point they need to look in, because they are starting to realize the federal reserve is a government unto itself. you've mentioned already trillions of dollars are involved and they are not appropriated. so entirely unconstitutional process of bailing out people off budget so it's an outrage. >> it makes me laugh, because when you really put all of the pieces together, it makes you think about russia sometimes. anyway, we had the conversation with ron wyden about health care and the resistance from health insurance to a more competitive

environment to health care to exploit the system is diminished. right now dealing with the banking infrastructure and politicians bought and paid for by the infrastructure trying to protect the secretory of the federal reserve because the preserve right now is hiding the secrets of the american banking system. is that a fair -- is that fair? >> absolutely correct. and they say they want anybody looking at anything they do under the fomc. >> here is the question. here is the question. i think the american people are with you on this one. i think it's obvious the federal reserve has failed the american people. i think the american people understand what a trillion dollars is and let alone 10 trillion dollars is they understand what it is to risk if i take your money to vegas and blow it all and pay myself with the winnings and stick with you the losses which is what the banks did to the american people. what can the american people do for to help you get an audit of the federal reserve for all of us? >> continue to do what they have been doing. when you have co-sponsors in the

house. american people have woken and told their congressmen and now calling their senators. up to 19 senators. we have to continue to do this. and something will have to be done. they're going to fight us tooth and nails and if you noticed yesterday, they came out pretty hard against me in "the wall street journal" because they don't want to have any part of this audit. they are trying to discredit us and the argument now is that transparency, we'll cause the interest rates to go up. and that is the reason. don't do that, because we want the right to lower interest rates or raise interest rates without any political influence, as if presidents don't have political influence, as if these companies that benefit that they are not considered a political influence on the fed. >> the thing that i like about barack obama as a president -- i can just -- be criticized about him as a president -- but the thing i like about him is his rhetoric says i want to open the cans of worms in health care and

health insurance and i want to open the can of worms that is finance regulation and the finance cabol. when i see the actions of the democratic congress or the action of the president himself, they tend to be much weaker than the president's rhetoric. finance regulation to me was a joke. they didn't address too big to fail and didn't address the cops working for the crooks. you can't get an audit of the federal reserve who currently warehouses all of the shenanigans of the american banking system in secret on its balance sheet. what can the president do to turn some of his rhetoric into more action on either side of the aisle to help the american people, which was the argument that he made in running for office. >> well, i think he has to do but one thing and keep his promises. whether it has to do with civil liberties or foreign policy or the financial institutions. he should just do what he says. he wanted transparency. he wanted to cut back. end to bring troops home and protect civil liberties and he wanted to punish those who tortured and on and on but

nothing seems to happen and why his numbers are going down because the american people were very hopeful, that we have a new president, young guy making these promises and now they are saying it looks like it's more of the same. >> but in his defense, needs our help. in other words, unless the voters are pushing people like yourself and congress and unless the press is interrogating people like yourselves it's hard for the president to get it done alone. i'm curious what you think he could do better to either get more support from moderates on the democratic side or more support for moderates on the republican side to get fed audit and a honest financial regulation instead of appointing a new cop. how do we get real change as oppose to do baloney? >> i think we continue to do what we're doing. we are getting more attention on this audit bill than i ever dreamed of. it has to continue. we're up to 275. we to get 350 and get 60 senators to finally endorse it. if this bill came to the floor

today either in the house or the senate, i don't know anybody that would vote against transparency of the fed. the arguments are so strong approximate we need more grassroot efforts. the president like you indicate isn't going to do it on his own, but if he sees more pressure from the people calling their congressman and the senators. their congressman is not on this bill, they need to be on this bill. >> benefiting owe. >> we need more support. >> >> i was calling you senator all morning and i'll call you dock congressman now. we love what you're doing. listen. all we want is information. we get information, we can work it out but hiding information while goldman sachs collects a hundred cents and gm is bankrupted. too many backroom deals being done and basically coming at the taxpayers expense. >> i'd like to emphasize what you said. this bill doesn't take over monetary policy. >> exactly. >> this opens up the books. monetary policy, would still be done the same way but we would have a right to know what they

did and why and for whom. >> no. it's almost crazy that we don't have that when you consider the amount of authority they have to move trillions of dollars around. congressman, thank you. up next in the meeting here, take-away. senator ron wyden, health care and a solution brewing there as well. we'll have a conversation coming up. i'm robert shapiro. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. at legalzoom, we'll help you incorporate your business, file a patent, make a will and more. you can complete our online questions in minutes. then we'll prepare your legal documents and deliver them directly to you. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

all right. welcome back. my take away after talking with senator ron wyden and congressman ron paul is the following. clearly resistance to more efficient, more taxpayer friendly and more people friendly solutions in both health care and financial regulation. clearly there is a very huge flow of money from health insurance to lobby against those solutions and from the banks to lobby against the finance solutions. we will dedicate this show to identifying where that lobbying money is coming from, to resist our politicians some of whom are trying to work against the

interests in both finance and health care and get on that tomorrow. [ engine revving ] [ engine powers down ] gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you. introducing hotel price assurance, where if another orbitz customer books the same hotel for less,

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good morning. welcome to msnbc. i'm carlos watson. right now on msnbc, president obama takes his push for real health care reform. as polls show his political capital is shifting. we'll have a personal conversation with valerie jarrett in a couple of months. president obama is expected to put pressure on iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki when the two leaders meet today. we'll talk to richard engel about that. on wall street investors reacting to the latest batch of corporate earnings showing certain sectors still feeling pain but does the silicon valley have answers to make this stick? we have a power-packed lineup

today. senior white house adviser valerie jarrett and republican senator judd gregg and others will join me this hour. plus, entrepreneur and investor adrian mcclain how silicon valley could lead us on the road to recovery. first, fast forward to the top stories this hour. tough talk from secretary of state hillary clinton on iran. speaking in thailand she reiterated iran's nuclear agenda was unacceptable. >> iran needs to understand that its pursuit of nuclear weapons will not advance its security or achieve its goals of enhancing its power, both regionally and globally. >> secretary clinton added iran crossing could spark an arms race in the region. senate about to vote on bill that could allow people to carry concealed weapons across state lines. 400 mayors aposed to it saying

the bill could make it harder for police to determine who is legally carrying guns. john thune said it would deter criminals because they would fear potential victims could be armed. harvard professor henry lewis gates wants an apology. he forced himself into his own home after having trouble with a lock. solar eclipse over asia lasted 6:39 over one spot in the pacific ocean this morning. every morning on msnbc live, i welcome a guest co-host and each week i'm happy to have the renegade himself, richard wolf. >> i'm pretty conventional. >> i thought you did a great job on "meet the press" this week. >> thank you. >> you and others seem to think the pri is president is a make or break, the whole health care