we asked you what you could possibly be doing up at this hour. rob gifford has answers. >> daryl says, why am i awake? because my fiancee and i are getting married in 18awake? my fiance and i are getting married in 18 days and realized we just forgot to invite willie to the wedding. >> i will tell you what you're getting, what i give all my wedding people, a wlooming onion gift certificate. watching willie is part of my court ordered community service. >> we're seeing a lot more of that. state by state, people increasingly coming to this show as punishment for crimes. some people view it as an insult, i view it as another viewer. "morning joe" starts right now.

>> i think the president has done a good job in stabilizing the economic system. wall street was collapsing, the whole economic structure of the country was falling apart. that's been stabilized. where i think it has not gone as well and reflected in the election just a few days ago, was that he has not communicated to the american people what we will do about getting jobs back and getting the economic recovery down to the retail level where people are still unemployed. wall street is doing fine. wall street's got a lot of bonuses still going out. but the american people are losing some focus on president obama, what he's trying to do. >> okay. good morning. it is a rainy tuesday morning in new york city. november 16th. with us on the set of "morning joe," msnbc contributor, mike barnicle, and, hmm- >> yeah. >> interesting, editor in chief, of the daily beast and new

editor in chief of "newsweek." tina brown. we're here, we're her friends, it's all tina all the time. tina tina tina. >> susan sparks breaks up with me in 9th grade, i find out from a friend, last to know. >> all i wanted was sara hite to be my friend. never happened. >> it's "newsweek" of the daily beast coexisting. experienced teams with venerable legend. >> how did you do that the night we were at the second street y. that deal was going down. you were up there on stage, chatting with us, nothing. >> there was a certain amount of medication going on, let's put it that way. >> speaking of great things to go together, here are the beatles. itunes! this has not happened -- >> how cool is that?

>> in fact, the beatles and apple have hated each other quite some time because apple's record label. the beatles record label, apple. they have been accusing steve jobs of stealing their trademark for years, but it's coming together. you know what, that's why we're playing it. i opened up itunes yesterday and i saw something big was happening, really big. you know it had to be this. how quickly do you think we will both max out buying every beatles song? >> 30 seconds. >> just hearing that in my ear, "get back," was such a happy moment. >> front page of the "new york times." >> no doubt. >> i saw a pretty remarkable stat. it wouldn't be remarkable to you, because you are about as unplugged from popular culture as anybody i've met. >> ah. i like the beatles. >> willie, when kids want to know what's happening in popular culture, they talk to willie geist. >> such a sweet young thing.

>> i read the beatles sold more albums, this century in the 2,000s than anybody other than eminem. they were number two. >> is that right? >> more than slim whitman, more than elvis. >> slim whitman? >> slim whitman used to have these albums, he sold more albums than the beatles, like elvis and beatles combine. asterisk, in what week in 1942. >> can you believe that? even 40 years after they formed, they outsold -- they were number two in album sales in america. >> there aren't that many bands who can be passed along generation to generation and have it hold up. they're one of them. stones, i would argue, slim whitman. my 19-year-old says the beatles are just as hip as they ever were. incredible. why aren't the beatles on itune? i had an ecstatic e-mail last

night. >> god love them. a lot of younger people walk around, that's a great song, just came out. a great song. track the beatles from the time they arrived at shea stadium, 1964, 46 years ago, they still shoot to number one on the charts when they come out with old songs, unbelievable. ask yourself what songs today written in the last two or three years, 45 years from now, you'll be whistling? none. >> exactly. >> slim whitman stuff. >> except for slim whitman. >> it's eternal. >> we have jet quarterback, mark sanchez. >> do you know who he is yet? >> yes. he did a commercial. russell simmons will be on the show today and congressman paul ryan. >> call him chairman, chairman of the budget committee. little known fact, the number 3 group over the past ten years, selling cds, this trio, sanchez,

simmons, ryan. >> they'll do well. >> the bee gees of our time. >> charlie rangel. >> charlie rangel. >> start there. >> and talk about colin powell and why he did that. >> let's do that. first, an ethics panel continues deliberations on u.s. new york congressman, charlie rangel, who walked out of hearings yesterday after he was denied more time to raise money for a lawyer. >> 50 years of public service is on the line. i truly believe that i'm not being treated fairly and that history will dictate that not withstanding the political calendar, i am entitled to a lawyer during this proceeding. i am being denied the right to have a lawyer right now because i don't have the opportunity to have a legal defense fund set up and because i can't afford another million dollar, i can't

even promise that to council. >> so with rangel absent, theeth thinks subcommittee enthusiasmly agreed there was evidence to support 13 counts of misconduct against him. however, there was a bright spot for rangel, when the top ethics committee lawyer said the congressman was not corrupt. >> i see no evidence of corruption. do i believe, based on this record, that congressman rangel took steps to enrich himself, based on his position in congress? i do not. i believe that the congressman was overzealous in many of the things that he did. at least sloppy in his financial, his personal finances. >> okay. rangel said this in a statement. the committee has deprived me of the fundamental right to council and chosen to proceed as if it is fair and impartial and operating according to rules,

when in reality, they are depriving me of my rights. in the end, i hope i would be judged my entire record that determines i have been a credit to the house and to my family, friends and supporters who have entrusted me with this honorable duty. >> the new york ci"new york timr editorial skewered rangel, said he knew what was coming, he was warned -- >> a lot. >> to get a defense trust fund. the times goes further than the committee that we think the 13 ethics charges against the congressman are more than just a simple sloppiness. if he hadn't apologized -- if he had accepted the rap in the house, he would have spared us this hearing. now, he's raised even more questions about his fitness to represent the district. >> the panel will try and determine whether he actually violated house rules.

if he's found guilty, he will get a public reprimand. >> this is a great tragic spiraling tracky -- >> comic end. it's really a sad end to this guy's career. he just cannot accept the world has changed and you are under scrutiny and you cannot do this kind of thing. he was a great guy in his time. a son of a maid, went to work as an aide, a star and it's really tragic to see him unraveling. peter barn hard that a great piece in "the beast," who reminds you who charlie rangel was. >> you have your new york paper? i have mine. they crystallized it differently in the "new york times." >> what was charlie rangel thinking? he knew this day was coming and he walks out. >> to tina's point, he lost the thread of his life story. >> he lost the -- >> he lost it. he could have taken the deal

months ago and chose not to. >> come on. you've done some screen writing, pal. i can see this. i mean, i actually -- i think this is all planned. you can already see the hbo story, tina started telling it. listen to the end. this is the end. as we go to credits, as charl , charlie,as they're burying charlie, the voice comes on saying charlie rangel was convicted in abstentionia in the ethics committee, after 50 years of service to this country in pinstripes and khaki brown, he couldn't even afford a lawyer. people look and go, oh, what have they done to this terrible man? how could they have done that? come on, he knows what he's doing here. he knows he's guilty, he knows they will pound him. pulls back at the last second,

goes out, you're going to convict me in absentia. poor little old me, i'm the chairman of the ways and means committee, the most powerful guy on the hill, i can't even afford a lawyer. >> maybe i should sell one of my apartments. >> but if you'd like rented control -- >> it's grotesque. >> he should have behaved the way almost everyone in congress behaves, we'll pay you later. like the national debt, his legal fees. >> chris has important news. >> you have important news? >> about screaming. america should be interested pris wi prince william and kate middleton are officially engaged. >> tina brown, finally, you're of use to us since you don't give us the "newsweek" story. this guy, mika says he's absolutely gorgeous, good looking guy. >> he never says that. >> very popular in this british press.

tell us who she is. >> kate middleton -- her mother was an air stewardess, her father has a business about selling party planning equipment. she's a very middle class girl actually, in british terms. she stuck it out. her nickname is weighty katie she spent so long waiting for prince william to propose. she kept nearly bringing it off. in june, i wrote they were about to announce their engagement and they were. there was a complete scuffle where the queen ordered the champagne on her personal account. william, when he gets busted, gets very mulish, wants to surprise everybody, would be his announcement. >> you said she's very middle class by british standards. does that mean she doesn't own a castle? >> her mother was a stewardess, as the british press constantly reminds her. she went to all the porsche schooporsche -- posh schools and frat

enterized with all the posh people. she's been a waiting girl. not many girls, seven years, the press harassing her, doing a pretend job, all the things she's been doing. she pulled it off. >> how's william handling his role? >> william is very traditional, actually. he looks great and sort of hip. he's really not. william is basically pretty square. he's pretty square. he wants to be a farmer. >> is he charles' son more than i do anna's? >> he's very much charles' son more than i do anna's. harry is the renegade, the fun one. everybody prefers harry. william is a little square, a little overprivileged, how could he not be? he will be the king of england. he actually -- he's 28. this guy has been so protected. he's a soldier. the idea of protecting him from the press, they managed to pull

that off for a long time. >> let's go from buckingham palace, willie geist, to philadelphia. michael vick. this is news, actually, michael vick last night, the performance of the year. it was nothing less than stunning. >> he looked like the mvp of the nfl last night. the score was 28-0 at the end of the first quarter, eagles on the road in washington. it was 35-0, nine seconds into the second quarter. he threw for four touchdowns, ran for two more. mcnabb was the guy who got the big contract extension, his night to pay back the team. >> here's the first play from scrimmage. look at this arm! >> effortless. >> it is effortless. it is insane. the guy was in jail for two years. >> 88 yards. then, here, he can't find anybody. watch him juke this guy for five. >> oh, my- >> gracious. >> as you know, willie, i'm a falcon fan. when he was on the field for the

falcons, i really thought he lost his step. he hasn't lost his step. >> yep. >> it always stunned me how he made other nfl players, talk about the fastest, strongest, best, most agile, made them look like children. he's got it back! >> the irony of the jail sense was an nfl player, by the time they hit 30, is pretty much done. he saved his body for two years, i hate to say it, while he's in jail and looks as good as he ever looked. >> he's keeping his head down. said he's sorry, model citizen. >> do you think he might be the most exciting athlete playing professional sports? >> emight be, yes. >> i will be honest, the nfl is boring. a lot of teams are boring. i don't waste -- michael vick, he goes on the field, you got to watch him. he is a great player. you know who else is great? >> who else is great? >> mark sanchez. >> really? he'll be on the show today. >> really?

>> and russell simmons. and alaska, we'll get a first look at the political playbook. >> did sarah palin, her home state, did her candidate win that? she knows about the constitution and the alaska people know about the constitution. i'm sure her candidate will win. >> i would think so. >> bill karins. is sarah palin's candidate going to win in alaska? are they still counting those votes? >> just some weather. >> we've got more. this morning, as far as the weather front goes, we're continuing to watch the rain. umbrella k brel ledee for ever everyone -- umbrella day for everyone. airports will probably be problematic, just opening up now. but you can count on delays from logan to dulles.

possible delays in the afternoon and morning. not that cold out, temperatures in the 50s just about everywhere. we will be watching severe storms in florida, joe's old stomping grounds, panamasi to tallahassee, and why we're watching tornado warnings this morning. atlanta could see airport delays, middle of the country, great dallas to chicago. anyone traveling to the west coast, grab the sunglasses, beautiful weather this sud. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪

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president obama's asia trip was a total disaster. his economic views somewhat rejected.

no resolution with china over currency. and failed to reach a deal with asia. and no resolution with pakistan. >> a tough meeting with the german chancellor. >> he lost his mojo. why is he going on this trip? >> this is an extraordinarily expensive trip. >> what did he get besides really nice photo ops. >> why did he go and when he went, why did he [ bleep ] it up so badly? i haven't seen a trip review this badly since the griswalds went to vegas. >> okay. >> seriously, you know what, as i was watching all this, he made -- his staff did not help him. they set him up for failure in south korea. that's fine. you know what the most important part of this trip was, india. the president got it, he went to india first. >> thank you. >> that will pay dividends long after these cable chatterers move on to another problem.

far be it for me to defend barack obama on the international stage because he's made some mistakes but this trip was not a mistake. >> 21 past, let's look at the morning papers, anchorage daily news, reporting for the first time, lisa murkowski is leading joe miller in the u.s. senate race with more than 8,000 write-in ballots still to be counted. and rubio down playing his election. he is playing it so smart. he blames the republicans for a lot of things, says we will do better and keeping his head low. san francisco supreme court became the first to affirm the right of illegal immigrants to pay the same college tuition as state residents rather than higher out-of-state rates. the case is e suspected to be appealed to the u.s. supreme court. "wall street journal,"

governor chris christie ramps up his war on school superintendents' salaries, ordering a freeze on all contract renewals or extensions for district chiefs until a review is completed. >> what will they find in that review? >> they will find there are school superintendents making a lot more money than the governor. >> that doesn't work. >> can you believe that? they keep ramping it up. >> just watch out for chris christie. >> he will make sure things are fair. >> harvard university study finds video games are mostly harmless for teens and might lower smoking rates. i don't know about that, but the ceo of facebook told me to let your daughters play video games. >> it's what makes them kind of such experts how to do this better than the parents. i think it is a great brain

developer. >> the other is when you try to engage them in conversation, they drool out of the left. >> what's new about that? >> yeah. yeah. >> seriously -- serious -- >> hey, hey, right here, baby, talk to me right here, ah! >> summer of love, joe. >> they were smoking weed back then. at least the computer- >> they're doing that as well now. >> oh, no! >> all right, willie. >> i don't want teens anymore. >> a look at the morning playbook, hey, jim. >> hey, willie. i know since i started playing madden 2009, i've been smoking significantly less. >> is that right? >> there is a link. >> we have two theme songs. we're going to have the viewers photo-opes. >> first songs? >> that's the first of two. we will play the other one going

out. >> the office depot commercial. you can do better than that. nancy pelosi facing dissension in the ranks and scrambling around washington to extinguish it. >> half of the conservative democrats lost in december and are frustrated they will go into the next congress with the exact same leadership team as this congress, pelosi at the top and hoyer and clyburn behind her. they don't think they can defeat pelosi, shuler will make a bid and do it symbolically, have no chance of defeating her. they will try to go after her power and a lot of it is being able to appoint people to key positions. the ranking member on rules committee, group of people who get to decide who's on congressional committees. they will try to make those elected so members have more of a say and not just a nancy pelosi democratic party. >> we heard shuler expressing

that. and huffington being targeted, some guys accusing her of stealing the idea for her hugely successful website. what's going on? ? this came out of nowhere. two democratic operatives will file lawsuits in new york saying they were cocreators 0 of theite and gotten no money from it, no publicity for the fact they were involved and this fight is now going into court. sounds like there had been efforts to try to settle this before a case was actually filed -- a suit was filed. it was not and now you will have these two operatives who have been in democratic politics for some time making this charge. this will be at least a big media story. >> you know these guys, right? >> i know one. >> their credibility is undercut a bit by they claim to have written half the songs since sergeant pepper and said they created the atomic bomb and the feds owe them $28,000. >> and the internet. >> who are they? i know james boyce, who worked

for john kerry for quite some time, was active at the beginnings of the "huffington post." when did you figure out this was a success. >> this is insane. ken leara, i had an assistant working this and they were doing it on their own and arianna was working on her blog and it was ken and arianna and not right to say it was stolen. >> and taking care of business, willie is this money guy. that's the first one. number 2. we want people to vote on it. no opinion. >> one of their best songs. >> i thought it was their only song. look at the straight face, no reaction. "taking care of business," come on. >> we will let the voters decide! >> we will be right back.

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♪ live shot of new york city. pretty morning. welcome back. a little rainy on "morning joe." 6:31 on the east coast. >> pretty if you're like -- >> it is pretty. >> that's pretty? >> all right. fine, it's raining. it's not going to be a good day, don't leave your house. you want transparent? >> what are we doing here? >> i'm doing a little news. >> we don't have to do news. >> that can wait. >> and we need to get to mark sanchez. everybody is yelling. put up pictures of michael vick? >> he did a great job. >> i will take the rain reins . you sit back and zip it.

>> mark sanchez is here to promote your shape exercise involved, a new fitness video game developed. >> this is why i do these. go ahead, no. >> how do you say that? >> you're on your own. >> willie, you take it from here. >> and x-box 360 connect thing. >> idiot. trying to help you. you help yourself. >> let's talk. >> a new call of duty. new call of duty is this best yet. it is insane. you can assassinate fidel castro. >> no. >> go down the mikong delta. it is insane. >> burning calories. >> there it is. >> i'm not impressed. it leaves me displeased, like -- >> mika wants to see -- >> it doesn't follow through. >> a lot of people don't realize, joe sits in his living room with the headset on talking trash with gamers across the country. >> i'm sorry. i stepped on. >> his is a fitness game.

let's talk last night, monday night football, we will show highlights. michael vick, donovan mcnabb got a $78 million contract extension before the game. >> flicks it with his wrist, boom! >> the first play from scrimmage, 88 yards to jackson, he walks in backwards. we see him scrambling here leaving jockstraps and laundries on the 5 yard line. >> nobody to help me, i will do it, see! >> michael vick threw for over 300 yards, threw for four touchdowns, ran for two touchdowns. >> he's not slow. >> no. >> he is not. >> what do you think when you see a man running like that? >> i wish i was that fast, number one. he's doing such a great job. he was this player before and looks like he's really hitting his stride, comfortable in the pocket and giving him great options and jackson and jeremy maclin, doing a great job for

him. >> what's the reaction been around the league for michael vick. kept his head down since he came back, doing and saying all the right things. >> absolutely. it seems to be genuine. i don't know him personally, just through our preseason games we play them every year. the first time i saw him was last year. hey, man, good luck with everything, doing a great job, handling things well, keep going. real positive. this next year, i saw him in preseason, seemed great, all his interviews, just the way he carries himself, he's done a great job for that team and really has become a leader for them. >> you did a great job in the ryan bowl on sunday. we would show clips and the nfl would execute us because we'd be on 24 hours. man, first of all, what's with rex ryan? that is one crazy family. he's out of his mind! >> he loves football now. i couldn't ask for a better coach. he takes all the pressure off you and the media. he handles all of it.

he's a blunt force trauma guy. >> terrific. >> doesn't sweep anything under the rug, straightforward and lets you know if you played well or poorly. >> at the beginning of this season -- i loved the jets and have since namath won. we were scared to death because this guy was talking so much, northbound stuff, new york city magazine, we're-like, dude, keep your head down! yet you guys are delivering. weren't you guys a little nervous? >> i don't think so because he really believed it and been around this game so long, it didn't feel like he was saying stuff for his health, serious about it. he believes in his players and we respect him. >> one final question. i love football. i played football, i've lived football forever. one of the things that scared me over the past five years is how big and how fast players have

gotten in the nfl and how a helmet- >> yeah. >> back 25 years ago, you had two guys colliding, for the most part, it isn't like it is now. helmets are being used as weapons. do you think the nfl should really enforce it? if somebody comes in, spears you with their helmet and you go down, don't you think there should be a two or three game suspension? >> it's tough. it's tough. >> why? >> these guys are taught since they're as tall as this table on defense, whatever you have to do, you hit that other guy and you get the ball. that's what they're taught. >> you know how you deprogram them? say, dude, if you hit them with your helmet, you're going to sit on the sidelines without pay for three weeks. >> right. and the fines. i understand where -- >> lower the shoulder. >> i understand where roger goodell is coming from that. he wants to protect players. you have to understand what happens in this league. people want to see offense and

high scoring games and sells tickets and makes money for the league. if you hurt all these players, there's not as much offense. i understand that part. but at the same time, as a defender, you're going to tell troy polamalu and tell meriweather from new england, you can't knock out that receiver when he's going for the ball and they live for that. that's their job. >> i mean this, mike, break their ribs. they're out there, break their ribs, that's fine, stay away from their helmet. >> the other side of the coin is protection of the quarterback. ray lewis slaps you on the shoulder and the flag drops. >> that's tough. it's tough. the referees are trying to do it the right way. that's the most important thing. everybody has the right idea in mind, want to keep players healthy and want to see them play long tremendous careers and do well and put up numbers. but, you know, it's a part of the game. i think guys have really

responded to the fines. there's been less. that one weekend there were so many helmet to helmet contacts, and injuries, concussions, it hasn't been the same since. guys are obviously responding and the fines have done what they're supposed to. >> it helped some. >> i don't know if you read peter king si.com, writes a column every morning. >> about farve? >> yesterday morning, you could see the slobber on the keyboard as he wrote about mark sanchez. the whole idea of the boy becomes a man. >> does he have a new man crush. >> a demarcation in your career. you've grown up and entered the upper echelon of quarterbacks. >> the new farve. >> by the way, don't send text messages, go ahead. >> i meant that for mr. sanchez. >> i apologize. do you want me to do the interview? >> willie, go ahead, just don't send text messages. >> explain to people. you're only a year and a half into your career, how tough it is to not only play quarterback

in the nfl but to walk in as a 22, 23-year-old kid into an nfl huddle and be given the job not only as an nfl quarterback but in new york. you handled it -- you've handled it well. >> it's an ongoing process. that's the most important thing to recognize, is that it's on the field, off the field, 24-7 job. i love every part of it. you know, sundays make it all worth it. especially with the team we have, i'm pretty fortunate to have the kind of weapons around me, have the offensive line up front that can block the run block, pass block, nick mangold, brannon moore, mat sloesen, all these guys do such a great job. i couldn't be in a better spot. i had great preparation for this, what i thought was a large media market in los angeles, you come to new york and it blows the top off. >> it's a little impressive. >> unbelievable. >> take your time. >> it helps you were in a

professional program at usc. >> so tell us- >> yeah, man -- >> tell us -- >> it came up so fast, no way pete carroll could have known that was coming. he couldn't have known that was coming. who would have guessed? >> mental drama. >> i never saw that coming. i went to seattle. >> let's bail mark out here and ask about the x-box. tell us about the game, x-box 360. >> it's connect on x-box. you're in front of the screen, it measures you up, your shape, your weight, all that. you work out with a virtual personal trainer. >> here you are. >> it's awesome. >> i need that. >> weights in your hands, put a weight vest, all that. you're working out in your home. see those little squares on the ground? if you jump out of that square, it will pause the game. it's really practical, a mom at

home with kids, somebody has to go to the bathroom, somebody has to get picked up from school, whatever it is. >> i love that. >> let's keep showing that. obviously, wii has its fitness brand sold. this looks a lot more intricate. >> you don't have to really hold anything and it's so accurate. this is crunching, punching all these balls around you. they have a hula hoop one. it's pretty intense. amazing what they can do with these games. it's been fun for me and you burn a few calories and our tight end, dustin keller will be helping me today. >> do you graduate in proficiency? >> there's levels and start off as beginner. >> you're not going to do this. >> let me ask you this. >> the mental image is killing me. >> novice. >> so can i do a split screen? can i do this on one side while i'm doing call of duty? >> storming the beaches at

normandy? >> all right. it's a really good idea. i like it very much. >> it's fun. >> by the way, this has an impact, wii has had an impact in this area with seniors, helping them move a little bit. this x-box program, this x-box program actually looks again, a little more complex. >> it's great. >> this is a big commercial. we love it. it doesn't matter, we're transparent here. mark sanchez. >> can you smoke while you do it? >> of course you can smoke while you do it. you get extra points for the motion. >> what's the deal with the fines? with the body language? rex will fine you if you hang your shoulder? >> there we go. that's probably buffalo last year. >> what did that cost you? >> that's probably 100 bucks. >> what's the idea? >> it started with mark brunelle. it was a joking thing between us, talking about how you always

stand positive how you act and talk, everything. it's a process, learning how to play and not showing your emotions all the time. see a guy like brady and peyton manning, they'll get upset and frustrated, they'll never hang their head. that's something you learn in this league from your rookie year to your second year. i'm still going through that right now, trying to learn on the fly. it's been great with mark brunell. and our offensive coordinator said it. when they first asked me about it. i said that was actually for the quarterbacks who started games in college. they let the cat out of the bag and it wasn't supposed to be out there but it's out there. >> good luck the rest of the way. >> you'll work out now? >> yes. >> all right. at least someone is. >> see you guys sunday at home. >> good luck! >> go pick up the game. x-box 360. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] at&t introduces a new windows phone.

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obama wasn't in america for veterans day. he was in srk giving a do nothing speech to a faceful of american troops. that's right, active duty troops! what does he have against veterans? even korea is 14 hours ahead of the u.s. while obama was celebrating veterans day, it was still november 10th over here, wrong day! >> welcome back to "morning joe," 48 past the hour, time now for the must read op-eds. we'll speak to david brooks who writes in this "new york times," the two cultures. it's become harder to have confidence legislators can successfully enact the brilliant

policies that liberal technicians come up with, far from the age of macroeconomic mastery and social science triumph, we seem to be entering an age in which statecraft is once again an art not a science. when you look around the world at countries that have come through the recession best, not the countries with the brilliant aggressive stimulus models, it's the ones like germany that had the best economic models and all makes one doubt the wizardry of the domestic surgeons and appreciate the old wisdom of common sense, simple regulations, low debt, high savings, hard work, few distortions. you don't have to be a genius to come up with an economic policy like that. >> mike barnicle, i don't know who he's talking about. that may not win you a nobel peace prize for economics but will help revive your economy, basic economic truths. >> it's also how we got here as a country, how we got here.

hard work, a lot of savings. >> every country has its own model and own problems. we don't yet know how it will pan out in the uk. it seems to work well in germany. we don't know how the austerity model will work in the uk. >> what he's touching on is arrogance of those who think they can micromanage down to the last person how they will spend their money and as brooks says, people are somehow cogs in this giant economic scheme, not the case. your brother. >> ian, the one who worked for president bush, writes this. >> you can tell by this op-ed. >> yes. okay. obama's five challenges at lisbon. ian writes this. president obama must demonstrate unambiguous determination to prevail in afghanistan. what has been a year of increasing western forces is instead regarded as a year of

european withdrawals and media counts of a u.s. president focused solely on bringing american troops home. without a clear u.s. commitment to win, one cannot expect europe to sustain or increase its contributions to this important mission. he goes on to say, i'll read one more line lower down. a forcefully articulated resolve to defeat the taliban is needed to complement to the west's long term commitment to afghan political and economic -- >> i would not want to be at that dinner table at thanksgiving. your father versus ian. >> i just invited everybody over. >> is there anybody in your family not brilliant, mika? >> my brother's -- >> we need to get him here to debate this issue. >> ian and mark do that. it ends up outside. >> when your father asks him, define "win," what do you figure he will say? >> you will make her nervous. >> i'm getting hives right now. >> i think that's a debate we

will have as a country over the next year, afghanistan. now, the 2011 deadlines pushed to 2014. we will be there forever, aren't we? >> it will be very hard to get out of there. i still feel incredibly anxious about the state of women in afghanistan when we go. recently, i met with some incredible entrepreneurial woman, a 25-year-old afghan woman started a business, has 75 people working for her as a contractor, which is incredible. doing this without a market, without safety, without all these things, it's so exciting for these women to have a little bit of something. it's all going to go when americans pull out. i do worry enormously about that. >> that is terrible. >> tina, thank you for being here. when do you efficiently take over the helm at "newsweek"? >> i'll be getting in there after the turn of the year seriously to try to get it going. it will be a while before you see the new changes. it will have to be redesigned

and be rethought. i don't want to do a high issue, the first issue, we'll just try to get the improvements. >> i'm so excited for you. >> congratulations. >> we have done a lot to get this done. we'll see. >> thank you, tina. still to come, russell simmons and representative paul ryan. ♪ [ male announcer ] what does it take to excel in today's business world?

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it's time. >> it's time for the abbreviated version of news you can't use. you spent so much time fawning over mark sanchez. >> someone just told me he was a heartthrob. >> someone just told you? don't play coy. >> you're embarrassing willie. seriously? come on. >> he's a handsome son of a gun. >> i thought he was kind of a nice guy. >> breaking news. >> mika is in love. >> two people, the two royal people are getting married. >> the two royal people. >> they're getting married. prince harry and kate middleton. >> which one is kate middleton? >> on your portside, left. >> they are engaged, will get married in london next year. a fantastic report. the office of prince charles announced he's delighted to announce the engagement of pris william to kate middleton. they met in college eight years ago and got engaged last month during a vacation to kenya. as you can tell, i'm one of the

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i think the president has done a good job stabilizing the economic system.

wall street was collapsing, the whole economic structure of the country was falling apart. that's been stabilized. where i think it has not gone as well, reflected in the election just a few days ago, was that he has not communicated to the american people what we're going to do about getting jobs back. getting the economic recovery down to the retail level where people are still unemployed. wall street is doing fine. wall street has a lot of bonuses going out. the american people are losing some focus on president obama, what he's trying to do. >> top of the hour, a foggy rainy morning in washington as well. welcome back to "morning joe." mike barnicle is still with us at the table in new york. joining us, host of the nationally syndicated radio show, "the bill press show," bill press. we love having you on. >> he's working on his own video game. >> he is? an exercise game? >> no. not exercise.

>> about bootlegging. >> colin powell, did you hear him? pretty cutting and to the point. >> i think so, we go back a year and a half, colin powell was already warning barack obama, you're doing too much. narrow your focus, worry about jobs. this is nothing new. this isn't monday morning quarterbacking by the retired general. >> no. i would feel a whole lot better about the country and the obama administration, everybody wants the president to succeed if colin powell were in the white house every day talking to the president. >> what a chief of staff he would make. bill press, there have been so many people wringing their hands the past week or so, what went wrong? don't you think the president, even as running as an outsider learned what jimmy carter should have learned and a lot of presidents, if you want to change washington, you need somebody that knows washington? >> absolutely. i thought colin powell's remarks

were right on. everybody has their own opinion what the mid-term elections meant, i don't think anybody knows but one center colin powell touched on, jobs, jobs, jobs. people were feeling unsure about the economy. they don't feel -- they see the markets going up but their own situation is not improving. they're disappointed, they're frustrated, they're scared. they want to see some real improvement in their lives. i think what colin powell is saying the president has to focus on that. he hasn't. one day in indonesia, next day in portugal, next day talking about something totally unrelated to jobs and the economy. >> it's hard tofor both sides t govern with ideology call extremes who have an 8. on the far left an agenda and far right an agenda and presidents have to constantly tune that out if they're going

to succeed. do you think this president wasn't as effective tuning out the big agenda items? we got elected, we own washington and will push our own agenda, instead of what you said, first, we have to get people back to work? >> absolutely. >> the thing that puzzles me, as someone watching several administrations right, we've been out a long time, this gang never made a mistake during the campaign. they were so brilliant on the message. we talked about that. the best campaign i've ever seen. once they got in the white house, they lost that and lost their focus. president obama even said this. they really felt, i think, as long as we're doing the right thing, everybody will know it, everybody will realize what we're doing, everybody will give us credit. it doesn't work that way. bill clinton realized you never stop campaigning, you have to get out there all the time,

telling people what you're doing and why it's good for them. president obama didn't do that in my opinion, enough. >> you can do a series of things that are considered quote right, but collectively, add up to a very bad solution for how -- we talked about this before, with my dad, who's been hospitalized on and off all year, had so many doctors, and every doctor, every specialist would come in and do the right thing. they would think vertically, his heart, and then his lungs and think vertically and doing the right thing for his lungs and think, i'm doing the right thing for his circulation, then after six months, you realize, the medications are fighting each other and it wasn't a horizontal view. this administration made the same mistake. >> take one example, bailout of the auto industry. i think that was so important. it saved american jobs, plants reopened, people coming back to work, auto industry is doing better than it ever has, selling

more cars, selling better cars. o doesn't get credit for that because he didn't go out there and tell people what he was doing. >> you're exactly getting to my next question. play chief of staff, if you could, you're helping shape the message. you have the auto industry, how that worked out, have whether you like it or not, financial reform and health care how that got done in some shape or form and education reform. why couldn't they put that together in a coherent message during the mid-terms? why wasn't there a way to spin that positively? >> unemployment was at 15%. because there's$3 trillion sitting on the sidelines that didn't move back into the economy after financial reform. there's $3 trillion sitting on the sidelines that didn't move back after cap and trade. there's tree trillion that didn't move back to invest in the economy. after all these seemingly good things that barack obama passed. if you want jobs to be created, barack obama needs to understand, it will be created by the markets.

you have to control those markets, you can't let them run wild, but, mike, we've heard this for two years. we've had people come on that run the biggest corporations, a lot of obama supporters saying, there's billions -- trillions sitting on the sidelines, we're not going to reinvest in this economy until we know what washington -- what rules we have to play by. >> that's one element. the other element you allude to, let's take the mortgage crisis, housing crisis. why is it that the president of the united states has not called the heads of the three or four biggest banks to washington, sat them down in a room and said, look, let's solve this thing? they want to solve it. they probably could solve it but they have to work in conjunction with the administration. the administration has just distanced itself from so many things in this country, housing, jobs, come on! >> here's the bottom line, come

on, man! the bottom line is, bill, there is a fundamental disconnect between barack obama and his administration and the business community. they don't get the business community, they don't! >> i don't understand that. what i would say, mike, too, is that he ought to call them in and say, look, we didn't bail you out for nothing, we didn't bail you out to sit on this money, we bailed you out to get back to work and help the people of this country who need it and who want to stay in their homes or get their jobs back. you have to get that money out and start lending that money to small businesses to create jobs. use the power of the presidency, i think he's been reluctant to do so. it's not just kissing up, joe, i would say to the business community. >> i wouldn't say kissing up, let them know, if you invest in the market, in the economy, this is what the world will look like for this next two years, i can only control the next two years, i can tell you regulations aren't going to be overarching on small businesses, tax rates

will stay the same, don't have to worry about taxes going up 4 or 5%. the fundamentals from washington d.c. will be the same as they are right now. they just need to have certainty. also, i think they need to see the president as a partner. he doesn't have to bend over to business, but bow down, but most of them -- >> still helpful to him. >> and for political reasons, too, political, purely political reasons, president obama, if he wants to get re-elected, if he wants to raise that billion, he better reconnect with the business community. they flooded him with money in 2008 and they're not coming back until he meets them halfway. >> let's get a lay of the land here. there's new cnn exit polling data that paints a newport trait of disgruntled voters in the mid-term elections. according to the survey, the approval rating how president obama is doing in his job remains split. 48 approve, 50 disapprove.

>> those are good numbers. >> they really are. i'm not sure where you're critique lies within those numbers. >> let's explain the numbers very quickly. >> i'd like to hear. >> they are a bit higher because african-american voters have stayed with president obama predominantly. his problem, when you dig into the polls are the white working class voters that voted for hillary clinton in the democratic primaries that fled in 2010. he has to get them back. the number's high. it's a great poll number considering everything else. but he's going to have to do better if he's going to win pennsylvania, ohio, indiana, illinois, michigan, wisconsin, minnesota, those states that will determine who wins. >> let's look at a few more. >> i was just going to say, as i recall, george bush and bill clinton were 34% at this time. >> doing much better than clinton, bush or reagan. >> something to keep in mind.

americans don't have too much confidence in the amount of work congress will get done compared to the current one. you have a great piece in "politico" every incoming fresh march should read. >> thank you, mika. >> everyone has been talking about. >> thank you. willie was beaming. >> who think they will get more done, 32%, get less done, 26% and no difference, 41%. here's what americans believe republican control of the house will mean for the u.s. good for the country, 52% versus 39%, we think it will be bad. >> i think that's more about divided government than the republican party and i think even republicans will tell you that right now. >> republican victory in the house meant a mandate for the gop, 17%, a rejection of the democrats, 70%. which is interesting, given the president's numbers. >> it really is. what's your take away? >> again, i don't think anybody really knows what the message of

this election -- republicans want to make it a total rejection of barack obama's policies i think is a mistake and president obama wants to say, it's just because we didn't do a good enough job of selling, which i don't think is totally accurate either. i think people feel a malaise about the way things are going right now. they don't know what they want but they don't want what they've got. >> does anything change now over the next two years. we had this big revolution, overturn the applecart, we want change, this country is going the wrong direction, now two years of republican house, democratic senate, democratic president obviously, does anything change? does more get done? less get done? what does this mean to the layman? >> we will see how it plays out. we have set ourselves up for more gridlock. it's a perfect -- >> what breaks that. >> a perfect solution for getting nothing done. >> great. >> we wanted more out of washington and- >> we might get less.

>> in your lifetime, can you recall the anxiety level for lack of a better phrase as high as it is for people? >> not about the economy, i don't think in our lifetime we have seen it. there have been moments when we've gone down but come back up a lot faster. you know, we saw the disconnect about the vietnam war in our lifetime, but that was a different issue. about the economy, i haven't seen it, mike. >> you know what the president seems unable to do, joe, at least you get the sense in the country, bill clinton, issued a "saturday night live" cartoon figure when he would say, i feel your pain. people don't think this president, president obama feels their pain. >> no, they don't. >> there was a noticeable disconnect during the bp spill. the president just looked so awkward and out of place down in louisiana. every bit as much as george w. bush, i'm not comparing the two. i'm just saying he looked

so -- he might as well been nixon wearing wing tips on the beach in san clemente. he seemed out of touch. this lack of empathy also hurting and this lack of anger hurting in selling some economic policies. i actually would have loved to say, okay, so you wish john mccain had been elected and you think this bank bailout was a bad thing -- >> that was my question to you -- >> you -- >> why doesn't he say that? why doesn't he sell what he's got? >> he has been incapable. >> on the bailout, auto bailout, you talk about the auto bailout, please put me in front of factories in indiana, in illinois, in michigan and say, okay, so you wanted to let chrysler go under, you wanted to get gm go under. >> you wanted to let mr. and mrs. banker lose their livelihood. >> you want real unemployment be

25%. guess what, if you want 1 out of 4 americans out of work, fine, vote for your candidate that wants 1 out of 4 americans out of work, i'm not going down that path. if the president would sell some of these programs he might be in better shape right now. >> i think joe's auditioning for the chief of staff position. >> you talk about president obama looking out of touch at the gulf. i never saw any president look more out of touch than george bush in that square after katrina in new orleans when he gave that speech. that was pretty out of touch. >> so what you're doing is you're trying to gain some solis by talking about george w. bush being -- i think that's a given. >> put it in context. you're right. the president ought to be out there on the road in front of crowds talking to people all the time. get out of the white house. >> he's doing that. >> he's doing that. no, he's not. for a guy that's transformative. >> in yards this and that. >> he was supposed to be a different type of democrat. this guy has morphed into the democrat the republicans have beaten for decades.

people are afraid to go out and say, yeah, we bailed out wall street, and guess what? guess what? we made more money in the short term than any other program the united states government has ever engaged in. so if you don't like the federal government actually making money, fine, vote republican in two years, that's fine. because i'm sure they wish we would have lost money and more people -- there's so many ways to go after it. >> coming up -- congressman charlie rangel walks out of his ethics hearing. he doesn't have the money for a lawyer. >> and he didn't even have money for his own lawyer. >> plus, behind every good man -- >> after 50 years of service. >> excuse me, let me say this line. behind every good man, there's a great woman, as russell simmons knows, you need a team of them to be a media mogul. russell joins us to explain. here's bill karins with a check on the forecast.

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i'm drunk. i was drunk as a skunk. i was drinking too much. i was probably drinking too much. i said some stupid things. >> i made an ass out of myself. plus, i didn't pay that much attention. >> i think a lot of -- a lot of --of course -- what is sex like after 50? i'm kind of a peeper. siegfried and roy. are my testicles black? are my testicles black? >> wait. when did that come in the book? what? >> his father asked his doctor that. >> why? >> well, he meant to say are my symptoms back and he was trying to get his attention, so he said -- it's in this book, are

my testicles black? it's just -- it's just one of those embarrassing parts of the book. don't we miss george w. bush? >> yeah. >> hey, kelly o'donnell is in washington. what's up? >> reporter: what an artful segue to me, guys. >> i'm sorry. just take it. tell us what you got. >> reporter: good morning. i'm up here on capitol hill, a lot going on here, nothing quite that interesting, one of the things we're dealing with this morning, you've been talking about the lousy weather, the big class photo for the new congress will get pushed off. but talking about policies like tax cuts being debated, should they be extended or not. also, the serious deliberations

picking up again where four democrats and four republicans are deciding if charlie rangel violated a whole series of house ethics rules, a case we've been watching closely. he's been here 40 years. at the same time, we're watching all these new careers getting started. lawmaker boot camp. for more than 100 new members of congress. only two are already sworn in. >> do you solemnly swear you will support the constitution of the united states. >> reporter: brand-new senators filling vacancies for delaware and west virginia. >> you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of your office on which you're about to enter, so help you god? >> i do. >> reporter: for republicans, their getting to know you session needed more seats. >> after the '08 election, we had two freshmen republican senators. obviously, i'm excited to be sitting here with 13 these year. >> reporter: sounding like he's

been to a tea party, the top republican, mitch mcconnell reversed his own position on federal money for earmark pet projects. >> i've concluded on the issue of congressional earmarks as the leader of my party in the senate, i have to lead first by example. >> reporter: turning to the tea party's top star, sarah palin revealed more about her presidential ambition, saying she will assess the electable contenders first. >> who won't care what the heck the media says about them and do the right things and shrink government so the private sector can survive. if there's good choices, i will support them. if there's nobody else, i would do it. and on the line in a rare public trial. >> i am being denied the right to have a lawyer right now. >> reporter: claiming he can't afford new lawyers, new york democrat charles rangel was on his own facing 13 ethics rules violations. >> count 3, a violation of the

gift rule. >> reporter: counts involving the use of his office and staff for fund-raising, failure to report all his income and pay taxes. >> he affirmatively stated he did not have income in the documents -- and the documents indicate that he did. >> reporter: rangel left the hearing in protest saying the spent $2 million on lawyers and needed time to raise more money for his defense. one of the issues with this, in a criminal case or something like that, you might get a free public defender. in the house, that would be considered a violation of gift rules. one of the things rangel complained about he needed time to raise money for a legal defense fund. the committee plowed ahead said he knew this was coming, had plenty of time to prepare and want to wrap this up before their term ends. rangel has had a rough go of this, an embarrassing circumstance for him yet he was overwhelmingly re-elected in his home district, you know that. the consequences there may not be so great politically.

when we hear what the deliberations result, it could be something like a reprimand, if they find he did commit these violations. >> by this time, kelly, i would guess the democrats are disgusted with charlie rangel. this could have been over, could have accepted his medicine on the house floor. when you have the editorial page of the new york citytimes attac him as they are, i would guess a lot of democrats on the hill disgusted he's dragging it out. >> reporter: many thought he would come to a conclusion and we're wrapping it up somehow and here we are and he had that dramatic flourish of walking out. it certainly did not go his way. >> kelly o'donnell. >> thank you, kelly. >> what about sarah palin in that clip of fox business news? would you run for president? hey, i'd do it, like going to a movie on friday nite, i'd do it. >> well- >> well, palin keeps dropping hints about 2012. what does lisa murkowski think

about that possible bid? that story is next. >> she's from alaska, i amnes'm she supports it. >> i would think. >> don't forget about the newsletter including a recap of the show and big stories of the day. sign up by going to joe@msnbc.com. ♪

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ladies and gentlemen, barack obama's 10-day post election asian sojourn has ended. it was a trip filled with high level political intrigue. circumstance, and the kind of citizen in the world theatrics that have so endeared the president to his critics. [ speaking foreign language ] >> don't believe him, indonesia, ask for his indonesian birth certificate! >> that's pretty good. welcome back to "morning joe," rainy morning in time square in

new york city. let's get a quick look at the news. the latest tally shows write-in candidate, lisa murkowski holding on to a narrow lead in the still undecided narrow senate race. she is ahead of joe miller by about 1700 votes. meanwhile, murkowski is lobbying criticism at former governor sarah palin who endorsed miller this year. in an interview with cnbc last night, murkowski said she couldn't support sarah palin. >> what's up with your relationship with sarah palin? can you explain that? >> i'm still her senator. i will work hard to represent her, too. we don't really have much of a relationship. >> you have said you would not support sarah palin for president because she is not worldly enough. i ju >> i just do not think she has those leadership qualities that intellectual curiosity allows for building good and great policies. she was my governor for two

years. and i don't think that she enjoyed governing. >> intellectual curiosity. there's a phrase. >> i think murkowski will go ahead and win this thing. certainly, everything seems to be breaking her way. if so, that's a stunning rebuke of sarah palin. home state endorse, joe miller, put her credibility on the line time and time again for a candidate who probably going to lose now. snow not sure she cares? >> it's tough. it's tough to run and tougher to win a write-in campaign. >> my gosh. >> especially in a state like alaska and a name like murkowski. can you believe she did that? >> which again, makes the rebuke all the more stinging. >> rebuke and indictment. >> coming up next, we have my good friend from congress, transportation secretary, ray

lahood. and looking ahead, senator barbara boxer, who survived a tough fight in 2010. keep it right here on "morning joe." we shall return. >> ♪ >> ( laughing ) >> yay! no! no! no! no! aah! >> that's your water? it's bad water. isn't that right? >> healthcare that goes everywhere.

even if you ignore all the statistics, and you think the risk is low and it won't happen to you, the consequences are huge. i would not want to be responsible for causing this amount of pain to someone i loved or to someone else. who has people that loved them. it's not worth it. >> the words of a woman who lost her mother to a distracted driver, just one of over 5,000 stories of people who were killed because of distracted driving in 2009 alone.

this morning, the department of transportation is launching a new web video series called faces of distracted driving in an effort to raise awareness for this growing crisis. joining us now from washington, the secretary of transportation, ray lahood. good morning, mr. secretary. >> good morning, willie. >> tell us how big a problem this really is. we hear the numbers. it kind of snuck up on us the last couple of years, people texting. a lot of people didn't take it seriously. this is becoming a huge killer on our roads, isn't it? >> it's an epidemic, willie. everybody has a cell phone, everybody has a blackberry, people think they can use them wherever they go, whether it's in church, whether it's in their car, whether it's in a meeting. people just have had very bad behavior, and in their car, they have had very dangerous behavior because people use their blackberries, text messages, receive messages. in washington d.c., there's a very good law on the books against cell phone use.

you can drive down the street and everybody is on their cell phone. you cannot drive safely. >> so, secretary, that's true. everything you just said is true. everybody does it. everybody's on their phone. if you look around in my neighborhood, all the moms trying to pick up kids on the phones, trying to pick up other kids. it happens. isn't the only way to stop this, have a device in a car, when that car is on, the slammer, literally, the phone slammer starts and phones don't work. isn't that the only way to really stop it? >> there's a lot of technology out there now that can disable phones, we're looking at that. a number of those people came to our distracted meeting in washington and presented their technology. that's one way. you have to have good laws, you have to have good enforcement. you have to have people take personal responsibility. that's the bottom line. if you're texting four seconds, your car goes the length of a football field, a 5,000 pound car going the length of a football field, when you're not

watching out the windshield and don't have both hands on the wheel, the reason we put up this video, these are faces. you can talk about statistics but when you hear the heartbreaking stories from people who lost parents or children, you get it. >> my problem, ray, is 17-year-old girls are probably not looking at that video and i can hear the battle coming because we've got chris licht, our ep, when mika was talking about disabling devices, said, great, that's all we need, the federal government telling us when we can use our phones. i actually do want the federal government- >> i welcome it, too. >> i don't want my 17 -- i don't want my kids run over by a distracted driver. it seems to me if the technology is there -- >> we should do it. >> and stop texting, scramble it. >> we have a generation of children growing up on blackberries and uber phones and ipads. that's what they use all the

time. >> mr. secretary, might we do that at some point? could we do that at some point? >> i think it will be done. i think the technology is there and i think you will see the technology become adaptable in automobiles and disable these cell phones. >> i love it. >> we need to do a lot more if we're going to save lives. >> they make us wear a seatbelt, make us not use your phone. >> ray will tell you, i'm crazy, a small government conservative, i distrust the federal government but in this case- >> could care less. >> for my life to be saved, insurance policy rates will go down, so many good things will happen if we scramble the signal of cell phones in cars. >> we have to get people to take personal responsibility, too, joe. >> there you go. it's not just cell phones. tim barnicle, 18, just got his license last friday, i'm telling you the touchscreen radio, changing the radio frequency in the car is a huge distraction. mr. secretary, what about

raising the age to get a license to 18? >> please do that. >> across the country. >> yes, we want that. >> do it! >> that's decided by states. states decide that. >> we want you to do it. come on, ray, start a nanny state. we're pushing you. >> the election is two years away, please, please, please. >> we start doing that, we'll have scarborough blaming me for trying to -- >> i'll take care of him. >> can i ask him, mr. secretary, billing press here. i'm all for you. no cell phones period. what about the argument, if a have somebody sitting alongside of you driving along the road, having a great conversation, it's more distracting than talking on the cell phone. >> come on. >> you're turning your head, looking at that person, back and forth. >> pilbill, the epidemic has to with cell phones and blackberries because everybody has them and everybody thinks they can use them everywhere

they're at, including in their car and it's simply not safe. >> that's true. those words are absolutely true. completely hollow to america. >> somebody jacketed by sitting next to each other. i don't understand what bill press is talking about it. >> it's funny. you don't have to revel in it. >> i have had friends who actually crashed their cars in high school and college p. >> joe scarborough, 16 years ago, you and i were sitting in the capitol as part of a freshman class that thought we would overrun the world. quite interesting what's going on there now. >> you wrote in "politico." you ought to read it and you will get a big laugh. i basically tell these incoming freshmen don't do the things we did. we did, balanced the budget, reformed welfare, balanced it four years in a row and paid down the debt.

>> we passed two good transportation bills with the votes and bipartisan can win in some instances. >> isn't that a nice way to end. >> the website is distraction.gov. >> this is big. >> secretary, if you move toward a sweeping plan of having phone slammers in cars, i will be up there helping in any way. i need it. i need it. bill press, thank you very much. >> bill, let me say, good luck out on the road not getting distracted by whoever is sitting next to you. >> i'll remember that next time. >> i don't even know what to say here. russell simmons will be on the set. >> he's on the phone. he's distracted. watch your step! >> you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪ [ upbeat instrumental ] [ rattling ]

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i used our slate card with blueprint. we can design our own plan to avoid interest by paying off diapers and things each month. and for the bigger stuff, we can pay down our balance faster to save money on interest. bigger? bigger. slate from chase gives you extraordinary control over how you pay for life's surprises. trip...lets... slate customers pay down their balances twice as fast with blueprint. sorry. >> thank you so etch for taking some time for me today. it was really really important that i talk to you. i just met you, but i have to put out a 2010-2009 budget. they won't help me anymore i don't know.

>> wait a minute. with your accent, speak slowly. what can i do for you? >> i have a charity. >> just another day in the life of hip-hop mogul russell simmons, entrepreneur, and star of oxygen's new show, "running russell simmons," joins us on the et -- set of "morning joe." good morning. >> what does it run russell sim monos life? >> they have been with me a long time. they manage me and give me support. i can trust them with everything. the show is about the girls in my life. the executive assistants. global grind, i want close. the woman who runs that company is also a star. >> are you a tough boss? >> huh? >> are you a tough boss? >> no.

the devil wears argyle because i have an argyle collection. it's not that at all. it's an easy atmosphere at work. a bunch of giving. the great servants of the different companies. it's how it works. >> who gave you your start in becoming russell simmons? >> robert that worked for billboard magazine. he liked hip-hop. we started working on a record called christmas rapping. he was a writer of billboard. a famous album came out, "rappers delight." he taught me about management and i would say i could credit him with giving me the most support. >> obviously, you took something

you loved, that you were good at and built it into a great empire. >> a lot of luck. you find one thing that encourages you and one that convinces you you have it in you and you continue on that path. a little success breeds a lot of energies, if you are open minded about it. i have seen lots of luck and some success. >> has there been a point in your career that you say man, i'm lucky, but i could lose it tomorrow. >> there's nothing to hold on to. i couldn't have the experience or worry that i'm going to lose it all. >> yeah. >> i was sick once. i had an infection and thought i could lose it all then. no, i don't feel that kind of fear. i do things i love. i don't think i wouldn't be useful somehow. that's what makes me excited. i wake up in the morning and have something to give.

>> for the women running your life, what does it take to work for you? what do we learn about them? >> in the show, to be more compassionate and loving, good givers and great givers. there's experiences of the social political, fill an tlopic activities. they learn that, you know, just to be good servants. i don't mean to me. i intend to be a good servant to them and the staff around us. i think that's the corporate culture. we go to work and we put our heads down and serve each other. >> in the corporate culture you spoke of, do you think in the common sense department, women are smarter than men? >> well, i would say, no. i can't say that. women happen to be -- >> they bring something different to the table. >> women are in charge in my company. it's been that way for years.

>> why is that? >> i don't know. i like to give everybody an opportunity. i have a diverse office. i have rabbis who run charities. i have black broth earns and hindus. i look for people talents, i don't stop at race or gender. my office is a diverse place with a lot of fun. i think the people learn a lot about each other in my office. i don't think they take it out into the world. it's the way we market and develop our brands, with a broad understanding of the culture. >> so, the president, obviously, is having problems right now. >> from reality show to the president. >> it's a reality show in itself. >> would it be a great reality show, running barack obama. do you have suggestions? how do you think the white house should run their operations? >> i think the messaging

department is off. we were losing 800,000 jobs per month when he took office and women didn't have equal pay for work. >> still working on it. >> we are pretty much there. >> there's an act lingering around in congress. there's a fair pay act we are waiting on. >> it's like reform, still working on it. we have done good work on it. >> we have. >> it's like financial reform, wall street is upset. >> correct. >> health care reform, more people are taking care of now under this administration. it's like an ongoing process. i'm an animal rights activist. the humane society, peta, afpca, we all chose the president. i'm a gay rights activist. we didn't get the equal, what is it?

it's early in the morning. >> don't ask don't tell. >> yeah. it would get done if we support our president. there's an agenda a lot of progressives wanted that we went to work on. george bush did everything he wanted and more. the idea of compromising, we should stick with our guns and move toward taking care of the people in this country that need support. i think it's the fact that i got a tax cut still. it doesn't make sense. the top 2% should not keep a tax cut. >> the president should stay the course? >> i think he should stay the course. >> so, looking forward, you have done so much already. what do you see for yourself in the future? what do you want to accomplish? >> forbes has you as the most influential celebrity. you have been named win of the

top 25 most influential people of the past 25 years. >> that's big. that's big, baby. >> anything else? good lord. >> if any part of that is true, i should be using my resources to do good. i run for ethics, i do social and political things. the first show, we get, we use hollywood, we use celebrities. we had 200 victoria's secret girls come in my house. we built a maternity ward. it was a fun party. took two hours. we raised $400,000. >> mike, you wish you were invited to that one? >> only the richest men in new york were invited. >> do you think you are influential? >> we have fun. i believe 10 billion suffering farm animals, what it does to the environment is worse than

transportation together. i believe the farm animals is not what they meant by dominion over the animals. the karma and sickness is not worth it. every energy, every show has an effort toward creating a better world. as much as i can use, kim kardashian has 5 million twitter followers. more than the president. i sent her to my school in africa. it made a big difference. the branding idea for television, it reminds people of some of the things -- >> i like that. it makes it worth it. >> yeah. >> when you came on, you said mika is a brand. >> yeah, i agree. she looks like an anna winter type dude, a tina brown. i feel the energy around her. >> you said we could build an industry around her. >> an industry. we have a lot of girls with your

name in new york and the city. but you are -- no one branded the name. i think it's good. >> okay. >> thank you so much. >> thank you, i think. >> the show is running russell simmons. >> paul ryan, next. >> 10:00 on oxygen. ♪

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all this week, morning joe brings together minds. >> it's time to start the conversation. >> tomorrow, morning joe's week long series continues. could coal be the key to cleaner energy? tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. on msnbc. democrats were ignoring the wishes of the american people. when it comes to earmarks, i

won't be guilty of the same thing. make no mistake, i know the good that has come from the projects i have helped support throughout by state. i don't apologize for them. there is simply no doubt the abuse of this practice caused americans to abuse it as a waste that every republican in washington is determined to fight. >> i like what i hear. welcome back to "morning joe." a foggy morning in washington, d.c. mike barnicle is with us. ranking member of the house budget committee, congressman paul ryan. good to have you on the show. >> good morning, mika and mike. >> do you require now, paul, that we call you what? chairman-elect? is that it? >> mr. chairman? >> why don't we stick with paul. >> all right. let's practice something. practice like banging the gaffe.

i want to hear your best. you are out of order, sir. you are out of order. >> i'm practicing in the mirror now. we'll get to that. >> congratulations, first of all. i'm excited you are the budget chair. >> it is something. i'm like the dog that caught the car. >> he's a young guy. >> i knew him when he was a little kid. paul, let me ask you this question. first of all, we have been rough before to mitch mcconnell, i have. let's tip our hat to him. >> absolutely. >> he's gotten the message. >> the religion is here. we are not doing earmarks in the house or senate. that's a good improvement. these guys are serious about it. they get the deal. they get the message. tom coleburn said we have to

take on the deficit problems without doing earmarks. come on, they are important. they are small, but there's a significance. if you can't deal with earmarks, how do you deal with the mess around the corner. >> this is like confession for me. i have been tough on john boehn boehner. he wasn't always engaged in the fights for less spending. he was the status quo republican in leadership. john boehner seems to be doing and saying the right things. >> he does. >> it seems like people like you who got enrolled in 2004 trying to enact budget reforms. i read it in a book in 2004. >> you did. >> your message has won over the republican party. >> they have ascended to other areas of leadership. look at the reenforcements we have coming. we have 63 seats. we are going to have 80-some new

freshman conservatives. it's bigger than your class. >> let me ask you, are you going to walk around or will other people walk around with pictures of me in 1994 foaming at the mouth saying do not do this? do not destroy it like scarborough? >> i remember you and the debt ceiling in 1995, if you remember that fight. >> we were actually joking about that. i was one of five or six people that voted against it. i was shocked and stunned it was going to go over $5 trillion. >> that's right. we have a lot of people coming up who were serious. when we recruited people, we didn't try to get career politicians, we wanted people working for the cause. get the economy growing. get the finances on track. it's the kind of people coming up. >> i really am excited about

this. i'm rarely excited about something going on in washington, d.c. i have known paul since a young age. the criticism i hear from the republican party because they spent too much money, paul is one of the guys i read about in 2004 in my first book that stood up to his president, stood up to the majority leader, stood up to the speaker when it wasn't the popular thing to do. he fought to be responsible fiscally, now he's in charge. >> now, he's going to have 80-plus new members, mostly conservative coming into the house. you are going to have the numbers, congressman. i think people in this country want to know, give us a couple areas where you think you might be able to work out a reasonable deal on fiscal issues with the obama administration? >> it's a good question. first of all, on discretionary spending, i like to think we can get caps on it.

we might not set them where i would want them, but getting caps on spending in the first place. just putting the caps in place. i think the president is okay with the idea. it's a step in the right direction. there are budget projects reforms. a line item veto. the president is okay with this as well. a constitutional amend. as well. >> we should have the breaking news bin running under what you just said. in my memory, this is the first time -- you have done it before, a couple other people have done it before, getting specific about what can get done with the administration. >> i want to push the fold on that stuff. i want to get it done. i think agriculture reform and other areas, trade. we can't do nothing for two years. >> are you part of the group going to the white house on thursday night to talk about tax cuts and what do you think

should be done. >> no, i'm not. not that i know of. >> there's a bipartisan meeting at the white house. >> they come at the last minute sometimes. >> what do you think the compromise is there? >> on tax cuts? the president is not going to accept permits. some permanent, some temporary. the lake duck, is a kill. it's a question of how long will they be extended for. that's the question the democrats have to decide. they control it in the lame duck. it's better to do it in the lame duck. after the first of the year, after tax laws have been printed, it's ugly, bad for the economy, bad for jobs. get it done now. itis not permanent like we like it. it's better for the economy. it's up to the president and the democrats because they still control the place. >> we are talking to the chairman of the budget committee, come january 4th or 5th.

paul, i was disappointed in something jim demint said on "meet the press." leader of the tea party, speaking of small government, but backed away from entitlement reform, said we are not going to hurt senior citizens. when they asked him about social security reform, he said we don't have to touch that. he started talking about waste, fraud and abuse. why not say we are going to sell more of the spectrum. newt was talking about that. we are going to have to be serious and say over time, we are going to have to raise the retirement age. isn't that the only rational thing to do? >> look, in my bill, i obviously endorse that. i didn't see jim's performance. what he's saying, like in my bill, it doesn't affect people at the age of 55 and above. you can grant people near retirement, for my generation,

my kids' generation, you have to support it. i do means testing to benefit future generations. i think they are common sense ideas. they don't affect people above the age of 55. maybe that's what he was referring to, i'm not sure. >> alan simpson, throughout their suggestions, reducing the deficit, it was met with what we thought was just an incredibly hysterical reaction largely among democrats. a muted response. give us an idea, if you could, of two or three areas you need to look at. >> okay. the response i gave, i'll give it to you now, it's a serious plan. i'm glad somebody else put it on there. the caps on there are good. i would do the firewall differently between domestic and

defense. it's quibbling over numbers. they did agricultural reform, which i think is good. i think you need to make sure the war fighters have what they need. i think they did a good job. the thing that was exciting is you have to have lower tax rates on individuals and corporations by broadening the tax base. that is good tax reform. that means sen tryst democrats are saying we have to be better and lower tax rates on corporations and individuals. that means broaden the base. i think it was provocative. i'm excited they did that. >> who is going to be on the show on friday? both of them. okay. kelly o'donnell e-mailed it's for incoming leadership. that will be interesting. >> good. so, paul, let me ask you about

nancy pelosi. she wants to run the democratic caucus in the house, again. you said of nancy before, i think the exact quote is she just doesn't talk. what do you mean by that and will she running the democrats make compromise and order in the new session? >> i think i was asked on cnbc, she doesn't talk to us. she just doesn't talk to us. i'm not making a statement one way or the other, only that she's an us against them kind of person. she sees us as enemies i guess you would say. those are words that get thrown around. she doesn't talk to most republicans. they are electing the same leadership they had. i don't expect many different results if we reelect the same

te people. that's the point i'm trying to make. >> are you leaders in the new republican congress telling the young members coming in, the rookies coming in to measure their words, to not get distracted, not go off on rabbit trails, focus on the economy, focus on jobs, focus on bringing the budget to balance? >> yes. yes, i think they are. i haven't met most of these folks yet. we are going to meet them for the first time. i'm excited to meet them. i believe it's happening. right now, they are learning how this place looks how you get your office and staff and where things go. those are the conversations we have to have. let's focus on what the country sent us here to do. >> paul, congratulations. >> i can't wait to see it.

thank you. >> coming up next, political play book. >> did you see the story that's new republican freshmen coming in from maryland? he ran against government run health care, his entire campaign. yesterday, he stands up when they have initiation and he's talking about not getting his government-run health care for a month. seriously? if you had to talk about that, whisper to the house administrator. by the way, i think he's a doctor. >> come on, stop. all right. >> cobra. it's called cobra. get over it, dude. come on, man. can you believe that? the federal government should not be in charge of our health care. it's socialism if the government is in charge of our health care. my hair is on fire. oh.

oh. where is my government run health care. >> it's just wrong. seriously. >> i guess he was against government run health care. >> also, new developments -- on the undecided senate race in alaska and big news in the music industry involving the beatles and a place where their music isn't being played. >> i like listening to you mika. you know, it's nice to listen to you. let's talk about what's going on out there this morning airport wise. in philadelphia, 45 minute delays. it's the only problem. it's a murky day. let's look at the size of the storm. it goes from maine to the gulf coast. a lot of areas from memphis to nashville up to the big cities of i-95. the heaviest rains will be later on tonight and tomorrow morning in new england.

thunderstorms from atlanta and charleston. waking up on the west coast, beautiful in california during the day today. you are watching "morning joe" by starbucks.

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♪ all right. a view, top of the rock, new york city. foggy day. welcome back to "morning joe." it's 20 past the hour. anchorage daily news is reporting for the first time lisa murkowski is leading joe miller with more than 80,000

write-in ballots to be counted. mark arubio is down playing the buzz saying he spent sunday watching football. wall street journal governor chris kristi wraps up the school salaries ordering a freeze for district chiefs until a review is completed. >> they are paid more than the government. a new study at yale university says video games are dangerous for teens. >> we have to read into that. weird. >> strong. >> it doesn't seem right. >> what are they doing? it doesn't make sense. >> larry sent you that? >> what's that? >> you got that from larry? >> what? >> liverpool stuff. >> what liverpool stuff? oh, this!

this is my liverpool -- >> that was nice of larry to send it to you. you'll never walk alone, when you walk -- >> i thought he'd send me something. >> look at this. look at this. >> that's really nice of larry. >> it would have been more exciting a week ago after they won. they phoned it in. after they beat chelsea. >> a week ago. a grim, grim match. >> what else did he send you? >> i think larry will take care of you. i'm not going to lie. >> this is big for me. it's not a polyester scarf. >> it's real wool. >> this is real wool. >> very nice. >> let's go now. maybe he's wearing a chelsea scarf. let's go to jim with the morning play book. >> hey, guys. >> what are you looking at today? >> looking at your column is spot on for what's happening on the hill. you have all these republicans

coming into town and figure out how do they not go native and make the mistakes of 1994. make a list of the folks you went to congress with. so many that had sex scandals or so many ended up voting for bills they never thought they would vote for in '94. how do you avoid it. on your list, the first point was move your family here, keep them close. having seen them so close, they get a loan, it's the first time they have been with their wife since college. bad things happen. i would be curious why it would be the most important point. >> politically, it makes sense to keep your families down in the district. go home every weekend, hold town hall meetings. over time, there have been so many tragedies from good friends in '94 not only with marriages,

but the kids. bad things happen. it happens when you are away 200 nights a year. the impact, i found over a decade on a lot of my friends' kids is devastating. dad is the big guy in the district. when he gets home, the kids are waiting for him to get home and it's just miserable. actually, in washington, there's the kids can sort of quietly go to school a little bit more, live in the suburbs. it's a great way to protect your children. it may not make political sense in the short run. in the long run, it will help keep families together. >> how do you resist the urge? one of the things conservatives got so upset with the class of '94 was they ended up spending money like they were democrats. how do you resist that? how do you come to washington and not become a part of

washington? >> i can't tell you how stunned i am that the revolutionaries of 1994 became status quo guys by 1998. i had one conversation off the record, so i won't say it, with one of the most hard-core people you covered off air it was during the bush years. you are spending more money than democrats ever did. he's saying yeah, and we are getting reelected. the '90s are over. they lost their majority. you have to remember why you got elected, why you ran in the first place and understand if you don't keep your word, they are going to throw you out. >> mike, you have seen this, too. >> rule two, focus on your local office. that is the guaranteed to get re-elected rule. we have seen it many, many times, multiple times, ten days ago, especially in the case of barney frank. a lot of talk going around that

he's in trouble. in his district, he served his constituents. it's a firewall. it is a firewall. i was known in my newspapers as an ideological small government fire brand. yet, the first thing i did was set up my local office. if somebody called, they got an answer. at the end of the week, after all the screaming and yelling on the house floor, i sat down in my office. i wrote, i signed 1,000 letters with little notes congratulating kids on the honor roll, congratulating them for things. ten years later, people come to me, my kid got that in second grade, put it on his or her wall and it inspired them. these small personal touches. jim, you saw us screaming and yelling in the great revolution of '94.

nobody remembers the vote i took. nobody remembers a single vote i took. but, people you help in your local district remember it all these years later. it's the essence of politics. >> i add back to number one, in protecting your family, from our experience of entering the washington bubble, it's a collective journey. everybody's sacrifice. my mother put her career aside and followed my father around and managed him. you need that. you cannot be separated from your family when you are in an incredibly intense bubble of power. it's not rig. >> jim, as we go to break, what would your one big overarching piece of advice be to members of congress. new members? >> i think, i honestly think the first point is the most important. i covered the hill for 16 years, it's amazing the effect this place has, especially on men.

men who come to washington, away from their families and the behavior you see at night is what you saw from our friends in college. unattractive members of congress who have not had women show them attention since college, they come here, suddenly, they have women interested in them. it's a temptation we have seen. some just can't with stand it. >> some of the ugliest fattest guys walking down the street smeeking with his mistress. you don't love me anymore do you billy? what? i didn't buy this cereal to sweet talk your taste buds it's for my heart health. so i can't have any? if you can deprive me of what can help lower my cholesterol... and live with yourself. right. mmm, i worry about your mother. cry herself to sleep every night over my arteries, but have yourself a bowl. good speech dad. [ whimper ] [ male announcer ] honey nut cheerios tastes great

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♪ welcome back to "morning joe." i's raining. let's take a look at the news now. at the white house, president obama will award the medal of honor to salvatore genta who placed his life in the line of fire to save two soldiers. it marks the first time a living recipient will receive the highest honor for his actions in a war being fought. brian williams caught up with the sergeant who insists the medal belongs to others including his comrades that did not survive. >> i know braver and stronger

people than me. i have served with a lot of them. i'm mediocre at best. i'm the middleman in the scheme of things. >> mike, there are so many guys that do this without thinking. they got the right training. something hit the fan. explosions everywhere. this guy put his head down. he was yanked down the hill. he jumped after him, saved his life. >> it's in his book, "war." you hear from many military people, there's a sense of why is the pentagon been so stingy with awarding more medals of honor out of afghanistan. these actions take place every day. >> what about iraq? what the guys and women did in iraq. still, the turn around in iraq from february, 2006 forward, it

went chaos rained in '06 and beyond. it's remarkable what some of those men and women did in iraq. >> i suspect you will see a lot more of them. this young man echoed what many say. why am i getting the medal when my two buddies didn't make it out. >> you hear that from all around. they come home and you tell them they are heroes. they tear up. they say, time and time again, through the years, through the generations, the heros are the guys that didn't come home. you hear it time and again. >> yep. there are reports apple is expected to announce they have reached and agreement with the beatles and their record company to sell their music on itunes. they both declined to comment while representatives for the beatles could not be reached. customers should click back for a day they will quote, never forget. apple is set to make the

announcement at 10:00 eastern time. >> we talked about this earlier. it's stunning to me, in the 2000200 2000s, nobody had sold more music except one person. >> slim whitman. he sold more records than beatles and elvis combined for one week in 1942. >> that was a great act, by the way. that's crazy. they broke up, 1970. they broke up 40 years ago. >> yeah. >> you have a story you want to talk about. >> a new study suggests overweight people may eat more because they have a greater sense of smell for food. >> no, not me. i can't smell a thing. still having sinus problems but i want to eat. >> what is this? >> british researchers believe hyper sensitive noses make food more appetizing and encourage them to endulg.

they had a stronger sense of smell after consumer a full meal. it's interesting, that's all. >> smells good? >> it's another excuse for no discipline. how an event 30 years ago became the root cause of our financial crisis. up next, an activist who says al gore oversold the message on global warming. we'll be right back. you could switch for great gas mileage or seats that flip and fold with one hand. you could switch for up to 600 highway miles on a single tank of gas. or the hundred-thousand mile powertrain warranty. over a thousand people a day are switching to chevy. they're not just trading in, they're trading up. qualified lessees can get low mileage lease on this 2011 malibu ls for around one ninety-nine a month, a consumers digest best buy. call for details.

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in many ways, fear has been ruling the climate debate. this is one picture that summarizes how a lot of people see global warming as a catastrophe. the tag line of al gore's film

is, this is the most terrifying film you will ever see. >> it was designed to scare you. the actual icc numbers wouldn't scare you. so, they produced pictures that would scare you. >> cool. that was a clip from the new movie, "cool it" which follows an environment list as he challenges the status quo. he was named one of the 100 top global thinkers of 2010 and the author of "smart solutions to climate change: comparing costs to benefits". he joins us for the power and progress series. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> let's get it out. do you believe in climate change? >> yes. global warming is real. it's manmade. it's an important problem but we are not tackling itery well.

we are throwing hundreds of billions of dollars into solution that is do no good because we are scared. >> i have been fascinated. i talked to david about this. fascinated about the arc of this issue. an inconvenient truth comes out in '05. they win the pr war. >> yep. >> the concerns go up, up, up. then a scandal or two here or there on research, then suddenly the numbers plummet. what's happened? why is it people that believe in global warming are in a worse position today than before al gore's film came out? >> it's bigger than that. can you scare people to worry about global warming. yeah, you can. it's a 50 to 100 year problem. you can't keep people scared for 50 to 100 years. we get tired of listening to we are all going to die, it's not

going to work. what you need to hear and is crucial about the film is about the solutions. it's about finding smart solutions. after copenhagen, the negotiations broke down. we are not going to get global action on the standard ways. let's find other and smarter ways. >> we americans and we global citizens are not good at long term thinking. if the al gore approach doesn't work, what is going to cut through and grab people's attention in a way that makes them more serious? >> i don't think it's about grabbing their attention all the time and every day. it's about grabbing enough to make good decisions. now, we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars buying inefficient solar panels to feel good about ourselves. it's not going to fix it. what will is if it's so cheap everyone wants it. imagine if we could invat solar panels. everyone would buy them, not

just rich, well-meaning westerners, but the chinese and indians. >> you mentioned solar panels. what are we doing now and what can we do? >> we buying lots of inefficient technologies now. it makes us feel good, but it won't actually do much to tackle it. >> what about the hybrid cars, are they worth it? >> if it is worth your cost, buy it. it's not going to solve global warming by itself. it's half a percentage point of where we need to go. it's about changing the entire engine. so, this is about making it cost effective. >> some people say global warming. some say climate change. are they the same? what's the deal? >> they are pretty much the same. the presentation patterns and all that stuff. you know, i actually perform

global warming. it's the greenhouse effect that comes from putting out more co 2. >> let's talk nuclear. is that a good way to reduce global warming? >> we know it works. co 2-free. it's also costly. it's actually two to three times the cost of fossil fuels. my point is to say, don't try to do stuff that's very costly, but will do fairly little good. innovate. there's lots of people saying we can do fourth generation nuclear that will be cheap. they said that about the last three generations as well. this is about dramatically increasing investment across the board of all the researchers. come up with smart ideas. they will work. it's like the i.t. revolution. we didn't make it in the 1950s by taxing alternatives. we didn't do it by buying lots and lots of computers for people in 1960.

that would have been silly. what we did was dramatically increased investment so that by 1980,ibm would take computers to market. it's what we need to do with solar panel and wind and all the technologies we go through in the film. >> thank you so much. we appreciate your coming in. tomorrow on "morning joe" we continue with senator barbara boxer, chair of the senate committee on the environment. that's tomorrow on "morning joe." >> thanks again. up next, how something 30 years ago was the root cause of our crisis. it's getting a lot of buzz. it's straight ahead. mom, new shoes? old legs. p.a.d., the doctor said. p-a-d... p.a.d. isn't just poor circulation in your legs causing you pain. it more than doubles your risk

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♪ welcome back to "morning joe." joining us now, new york times author of "all the devils are here". the hidden history of the financial crisis. good to have you on the show today. >> thanks. >> he writes a great column for "the new york times" every week. >> absolutely. >> we were talking about your famous ipad column years ago.

apple and the beatles coming together today. that's big. >> it took awhile, didn't it? the persuasive powers of steve jobs. >> it happens wh you sue each other. let's talk about "all the devils are here". >> should we name the devils, first? >> well, we decided to write it for the same reason as everybody else. bethany and i have been covering this stuff for years and we thought we had something to say. we did. our book stops before lehman weekend. all the inner connective things. a regulatory care, for lack of a better word. the craziness of the subprime world. the connection between wall street and subprime and what they did with the crappy loans they bought. you put them all together in a 20 year history and you wind up

seeing how this, you know, a little spark here, a little spark here turns into a bonfire. >> you wonder how we did this. it takes seven days a week. great columns. yet, he does this, too. >> he pushes the send button on the column after the presses role. here is the jacket cover. as soon as the financial crisis erupted, the finger pointing began. should the blame be wall stree, pennsylvania avenue, sleazy sub subprime companies or home buyers. all those who think all of the above, raise their hands. >> that's right. >> wow. >> that's right. it's quite a rose gallery, really. alan greenspan, countrywide, merrill lynch, aig, it took them all. it took a village. who is not watching.

who is not paying attention? >> the government regulators were not watching at all. we have moments in the book where people are going to greenspan -- first of all, go to greenspan sand say if you like subprime mortgages so much, do you have one? he says of course not, i have a 30-year fixed. what do you think, i'm crazy. >> isn't it ironic, greenspan got hammered after the market crashes for cheap money. his successor bernanke is taking it to unforseen heights. we are making the same mistakes. >> we are, but if you are bernanke, nobody else is going to do anything. >> that's what greenspan thought. how else do we get out of this? he's doing this. bernanke is doing the same thing greenspan did to save the

economy for 20 years. >> the only problem with not balancing the budget is balancing the budget. if you balance it, the economy crashes. otherwise, you print cheap money. >> you write about the game before the lehman weekend and now you write about the current game. is it different? are the rules different enough? >> i don't think they are different enough. 1930s, they forced companies to break in two. they's radical. they erect the fcc. that's radical. the system is safe for the next 50 years. that's good for one set of regulations that came out of the 1930s. this set of regulations, they have some good points, but they are really on the margins. they don't fundamentally change anything. derivatives are going to be arnlds. there's question about how transparent they are. now that the republicans have the house, there's going to be

an effort to make sure the regulations are as minimal as possible. you know, as bethany likes to say, my co-author, it wasn't lack of regulation, it was the lack of interest on the part of the regulators. the question of whether that's changed is up in the air as well. >> what have we set the table for? we have financial reform without much teeth. what's in the horizon? >> well, right now, everybody is too scared. so, you are not going to have another financial crisis. nobody is going to take those risks. the incentives, misaligned incentives, ie, everybody wants to make tens of millions of dollars. that hasn't changed. as long as that doesn't change, we will have another crisis, not 50 years from now, but 10 years from now, 15 years from now. once the fear goes away and is replaced once again.

thus is the story on wall street. >> right there. >> what about the real danger of inflation with all this cheap money flooding into the market? what happens when the economy turns around and we have all this cash lying around? >> if we have inflation, you'll see them tightening quickly. the problem is, will it be too late. >> yeah. >> okay, on that note. thank you. is book is "all the devils are here." read it. buy it and read it. thanks for being on the show. please come back. up next, what did we learn today? i love winter.

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i'm drunk. >> i was drunk as a skunk. i had too much to drink. i was probably drinking too much. i had remorses. i said stupid things. i didn't spend time thinking about things. i made an ass out of myself. of course, i -- what is sex like after 50? i'm kind of a weeper. are my testicles black? >> earth. on on earth? >> o