tv The Last Word MSNBC October 14, 2011 8:00pm-9:00pm EDT
8:00 pm
wall street occupiers will be no better than some of the people occupying seats in the congress right now. the difference is, of course, we haven't had to pay them. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" starts right now. here comes trouble. michael moore is here tonight. >> showdown between police and the occupy wall street protesters in new york was averted last minute today. >> they're postponing their cleaning. >> the city asked them to move temporarily so the parks' owners could clean this park. >> the protesters are planning a weekend of massive marches after the postponed cleaning of the park. a march on chase bank and times square is scheduled for tomorrow. the anti-wall street movement has spread now to at least 190 cities. >> they're about consciousness
8:01 pm
raising. that's how they perceive themselves. >> i've ever seen some people try to compare it with the tea party movement and the tea party thinks they do too much in washington and the protesters think they don't to enough. >> a lot of tea party folks don't like the comparisons. >> a new "time" magazine poll shows a majority of americans has a favorable view of the protesters, twice as many that say they support the tea party. >> i don't worry too much about polls. i know a lot of people obsess with them. i'm more worried about those people out there who don't have a job in america. >> now there's this, a 41 page jobs plan that governor perry claims will create 1.2 million jobs but also deconstruct the environmental protection agencies. >> i'll stop the epa's draconian measures related to the regulation of greenhouse gases. >> it does sound a lot like drill, baby, drill. >> let's drill, baby, drill. >> 9-9-9. >> 9-9-9. >> herman cain has done a lot, but he's really in a moment now.
8:02 pm
>> they're just making it up. disaster was averted at dawn this morning in new york city when a police action to forcibly remove occupy wall street protesters from their encampment in zukati park was called off at 6:18 a.m. >> brookfield properties said they are postponing their cleaning. >> brookfield properties, the owner of the park, issued this statement. "at the request of a number of local political leaders, brookfield properties has def deferred the cleaning of zuccotti park for a short period of time while an attempt is made to reach a resolution regarding the manner in which zuccotti park is being used by the protesters. any such resolution will be respectful of the laws of the city of new york and ensure the park is used in a way that maintains the health, safety and
8:03 pm
viability of the surrounding residential and business community. later on his radio show, michael bloomberg said there was some behind the scenes political pressure on brookfield to do the right thing. >> my understanding is that brookfield got lots of calls from many elected officials threatening them and saying if you don't stop this, we'll make your life more difficult. >> once protesters learned they were free to stay in the park, some decided to march to the new york stock exchange. police made 14 arrests. police avoided violence except in this case. >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> occupy wall street is planning a mega march tomorrow as part of a global day of
8:04 pm
action. their facebook page urges supporters to "take times square, massive convergence of solidarity with the october 15th world day of action, we are building a new world." joining me now, michael moore, academy award winning filmmaker, activist, and author of the new book "here comes trouble: stories from my life." michael, thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> thanks for having me here. before we start, can i thank you for coming down there, you were the first live broadcast from this demonstration when you were going to have me in the studio here, and i asked if you would come down there. because no mainstream media had been down there. live. on the air. for their broadcast. you came down and did the first live broadcast. i just thank you from everyone down there and everyone across the country. >> it's you who got our cameras down there. >> somebody here had to make the decision to do that. >> yeah. i heard, i said, of course we want to. that was easy. michael wants to do it down
8:05 pm
there, is that okay? yeah, that's okay. michael, the new york media was ready for an explosion this morning. we had the tab ploiloidtabloids york post," their headline, wall street face-off, showdown at "the daily news" accompanied by editorials that were egging on mayor bloomberg and saying, get in there and clean this thing up. i really felt something very, very ugly was going to occur this morning and we're lucky this was averted. >> i did not think that was going to happen. i've been down there for, you know, on and off half a dozen times in the last couple weeks. i honestly thought that mayor bloomberg and those in charge would realize that they would be giving this protest the best headlines of the month. if they were to do anything like that. i think they were afraid to go there. i was down there, one cop down
8:06 pm
there actually asked, why don't you think this happened? why don't you think the eviction happened? he said because the may you're is afraid of youtube. i mean, when you stop and think about it, the power of the new media, the media that's in the hands of the people that those in charge are afraid of what could possibly go on. so i think -- i'm not surprised that they -- they're not dumb. they didn't get to own most of the world's wealth by being stupid people. >> right. >> so the upper 1%, though, they are shaking in their boots right now because this has gone so beyond zucotti park, liberty plaza. so beyond. it's in so many hundreds of cities now that it's a movement that can't be stopped. >> it is my impression of mayor bloomberg and ray kelly, the police commissioner, they don't want -- it's not a matter ofof, oh, we don't want the youtube video. they don't want the incidence or something get out of control and turn violent.
8:07 pm
simply deciding not to go in there was the smartest thing they could decide. it's possible the mayor wanted some political coverage. so the statement comes from the owners of the park which is peculiar here. normally these things are public areas. that's what it was in chicago in '68. they went into a public park to get demonstrators up. it's private property so the real public controller of the decision turns out to be this thing called brookfield. >> by the way, the mayor's girlfriend is on the board of the directors of the people that own the park. they obviously did the right thing. they don't have another choice. it's not really their choice. the choice has been made by the people occupying the park. they're not going. we're not going. we're not going anywhere. we are there until we have justice. and for people that say, what does that mean, or what does everybody want? what we want is a really a fundamental change. this is no longer about trying to get some bill passed or let's elect this congressman or whatever. we've been down that road.
8:08 pm
everyone's been down that road. everyone's depressed by the way the political system is run. until we get the money out of that system, thank you dylan rat bega igan, until we get the money out of the system we're going to have to depend on grassroots people demanding the change and making the change occur. people are running for office next year i'm sure are frightened by this and trying to figure out how to handle it. unlike the tea party, this is not some clique, this is not some ideological clique over here. this is a massive group of people. brian williams led the evening news tonight with just this incredible report of even wall street, people work on wall street are going, you know, i kind of agree with the protesters, i don't really know what -- >> right. >> but they can't -- cbs evening news had three stories on. there was not one story that said, here's the other side or here's the opposing side. it's one of those stories who doesn't have an opposing side except for the 1% on top.
8:09 pm
there's nobody who's going to stand in front of the camera and justify the greed that's taken place. the assault on the middle class that's taken place over 30 years. that's what you're seeing. you're seeing this uprising because for 30 years working people have just been beaten and beaten and beaten to the point of how much more do you want to suck out of us here? >> you want to suck out 5 bucks a month if you use their atm card. like that. we can think of more things. >> and the machine will think of more things. that is how it's designed and built. that's why it has to stop. it has to stop. we live in a democracy where we the people are supposed to control everything. not just go and vote every two or four years. but we should have a -- we should have a control over this economy and have a say of how the pie is divided up. the people don't anymore. the people are told, i'm sorry you're losing your health benefits, i'm sorry, no vacation time this year, i'm sorry, no sick day, i'm sorry, your job has been moved to brazil. that's essentially what people
8:10 pm
have listened to for 30 years and just had it. that's it now. this can't be stopped. mayor bloomberg saying we have to clean the park, it's laughable down there because the cleanup that has to take place is two blocks away on the actual wall street. corporate america and wall street have to be cleaned up. people aren't going to stop until this starts to happen. >> tim geithner has something to say about cleaning up wall street. let's listen. he was on cnbc. and he was being asked about -- >> his favorite channel. >> he was being asked about enforcement actions and the whole question of who has gone to jail for the crimes against this economy. >> let's see, who has? >> let's listen to what geithner has to say. >> one of the things occupy wall street people point out is there's been no criminal charges, anything related to what's happened. >> that's not true. and you've seen very, very dramatic enmeforcement actions already by the enforcement authorities across the u.s. government. i'm sure you're going to see more to come. you should stay tuned for that.
8:11 pm
>> i don't know what he was talking about. >> yeah. maybe he was talking about another country. >> i think, i think at best he's referring to things like madoff and this insider trade case -- yesterday a guy got 11 years. those kind of things have always been going on. those are individual speeding tickets on the interstate highway of commerce. that's all those are. >> no, no. what the people want to see is a perp walk. we want to see the heads of goldman sachs, of chase, of these banks, of these firms, of the rating agencies that were part and parcel of this problem, that caused the crash of '08. i can't believe over 1,000 people have been arrested in the city for nonviolently standing up against this and not a single perp walk, not a single arrest of these bankers and -- but that's only one -- this protest isn't just about arresting bankers. this is, again, it's not just one fix. it's not just bringing back glass steagall, it's not just
8:12 pm
let's increase taxes on the rich. everyone agrees with all this. we're going to have a new problem. like you said, with the bank of america, with the debit card charges. they'll come up with something if we don't change the fundamental foundation of this economic system that's unfair, it's unjust, it's not democratic, people have had it. and this isn't going away. >> and it's human beings who are working on wall street. you know, mitt romney is fond of calling corporations people. well, if they are people, they have a corporate, civic citizenship that needs to be brought to their decision making. i mean, one of the things i like about what you're saying, this demonstration is beyond politics, it's beyond pass this bill or pass that clause of this bill. you're not going to be able to anticipate what these companies will do next as long as they have absolutely no sense of corporate citizenship. >> and as long as they can buy the politicians that run for congress. as long as they can control
8:13 pm
that, it's a rigged game and the 99% who are not part of this, who didn't cause this who have been the victims of this, i'll tell you what's so great about being down there. you have all kinds of people and nobody's talking about, should abortion be legal? should i have a right to own a gun? you know, do i care can those two gay guys are married over there? all those social issues that those on top have had to divide working people with over the years, that's like kind of who cares about any of that right now. we care about getting our country back in our hands and out of the hands of the kleptomaniacs who have formed a kleptocracy. that's our country. they're not going to stop. they're not going to stop. i just want to encourage anybody who's, you know, watching this out there to get involved, don't, you know, there's occupy things going on in things all over the country niles, michigan, where i come from, had
8:14 pm
100 people out there the other day. 100 in 11,000 population town. it's going on in places you don't know about. it's not in the news media. everyone out there, get out there, get involved. this is the time. if you've sat on the couch a long time and said i'm sick and tired of this, these politicians, these fat cats, quit complaining and get up and get out the door and get involved. you'll meet all kinds of people. your neighbors. there's all kinds of people there. be part of this. tomorrow is the big day. all around the world, october 15th, demonstrations, not just in hundreds of cities around the country but all over the world in support of what's going on with occupy wall street. so this is a big day tomorrow. big day in new york. big day across the country. big day to be an american. >> occupy wall street cut its first commercial which of course occupy wall street cannot afford to get on this network so we're going to play it right now. >> wow, this is very -- thank you. >> let's give them a free 30 seconds right here. let's watch it. >> i want to see more serious
8:15 pm
political conversations starting to happen. >> i want corporations out of the government. i want people back in. >> i want peace rather than militarization. >> i want the top wealthiest americans to be taxed higher and that money to go to education. >> i was economic justice. >> i want a greater regulation of the banks and the markets. >> i want my kids to have a job and health care. >> i want true democracy for the 99% of us who don't have it anymore. >> the media's been asking the question from the start, what do they want? there's the answer. >> there you go. believe me, yes, all you have to is go down there and get the answer quickly. you've been down there, this show has been down here. it's clear what people not. that cost nothing to make. this is, again, what you can do in your town. can i talk directly again to people? you can make these little spots in your town, put it on the internet, send is to ten friends and tell them to send it to ten others. now 100 have seen it. they'll send it to ten.
8:16 pm
1,000 have seen it. everybody is affected by this. everybody has a story, whether they've lost their health insurance, whether they've lost their job, whether they've got a student loan they're paying off still after 20 years. i mean on and on and on. the boot has been on people's necks for too long. they want the boot off. >> guess who doesn't get it? herman cain. who had -- >> number 9, number 9, number 9. >> nice, calm newspaper, wall street had an op-ped piece today in the "new york post" where he says, "capitalism in wall street to main street is the economic engine that's made the united states the super power it is. i have a hard time imagining what these protesters think will come of this. that wall street execs will come running out of their offices to write them a check? rather than protest against wall street, those camped out on the streets should examine their own failures and take a hard look in the mirror." this is a guy who says, if
8:17 pm
you're poor, blame yourself. >> right. well, he's running in the wrong century. that would have sounded great maybe back in the 1800s. those days are over. and it's -- you know, when you and i were growing up, there were rich people, right? >> yeah. >> and i seem to remember they lived pretty well, didn't they? >> they had millions of dollars. they didn't have billions of dollars. >> you grew up where? >> in boston. >> okay. so they had summer homes out on cape cod. >> that's right. >> in michigan they lived in bloomfield hills or gross point. >> and they drove to their summer homes. they didn't get there in private jets. >> because they had to pay 50%, 60%, 70% in taxes. they paid a lot in taxes yet lived a great life, didn't they? my dad built spark plugs at general motors. other dads, moms, nobody begrudged them too much because they built the factories, gave us jobs and entered into an agreement with the working class. this was the agreement, lawrence. if you, the working people, if you work hard and we prosper, you prosper.
8:18 pm
they changed it to you work hard, we prosper, now you lose your job. and it -- they totally flushed the american dream down the toilet and patriotic people around the country are standing up against it saying they want it back. they want -- no one would begrudge, you know, you if you built us a factory and create jobs and want to have your summer home on cape cod, go do what you people do out there. right? because at least when we were growing up our dads could send the kids to college, had a roof over everyone's head mind dad, spark plug worker, four weeks paid vacation. full medical. no deductibles. full dental. this is what built this country. these people have gone about trying to destroy the country for 30 years since reagan fired the air traffic controllers. it's been a downward slide. and this is the end. this is the end.
8:19 pm
i knew this would happen sooner or later. i knew people would rise up. you're going to see this now continue all over the country. >> michael moore, author of "here comes trouble. "kt thank you very much for joining me tonight, michael. >> thank you very much for st staying on this issue. we love you for it. >> got to have you come back. today rick ferry released something he calls a job plan saying it will create more than a million jobs. what it really does is let big oil do whatever it wants. reverend al sharpton who's leading a march tomorrow joining me next. herman cain says his 9-9-9 plan will cut taxes of the avera average family of four. ezra klein helps us calculate -- michael, how wrong do you think herman cain is wrong on this? ezra klein is going to do the math for us. ♪ ♪ let's go ♪
8:22 pm
is anyone surprised when a republican governor from texas comes up with a plan to create jobs that it's a long list of giveaways to big oil? al sharpton joins me next on jobs. and later the late night comedians get tonight's last word. >> today the occupy wall street protesters gathered at rupert murdoch's home in new york and started chanting, what do we want? murdoch interrupted and said, i already know, because i hacked your phones. so when is this stud muffin of yours coming over? any sec---o-m-g dad, you are not meeting him looking like that. i look fine. just a little trouble with a bargain brand cooking spray. quick, hide yourself behind the butter. do i embarrass you? yeah. i told you like a gajillion times
8:23 pm
8:24 pm
began voluntarily vacating freedom plaza in order to make way for the crowds that will assemble for this weekend's martin luther king memorial dedication. tomorrow in washington, the reverend al sharpton will lead the march for jobs and justice. the march will be held by thousands of members of the civil rights community and all those who continue to push for jobs and justice. republican presidential candidate rick perry today finally revealed his up to now secret jobs plan. you know, the one he wasn't prepared to discuss in this w week's debate. >> we have to have a president who is willing to stand up and to clearly pull back those regulations that are strangling the american entrepreneurship that's out there. a president particularly with the plan that i'm going to be laying out over the next three days, and i'm not going to lay it out all for you tonight, mitt's had six years to be working on a plan. i've been in this for about eight weeks. >> perry calls his jobs plan
8:25 pm
energizing american jobs and security. it puts perry in a tight competition with herman cain for most ridiculous jobs plan of the year. the perry plan pretends that it would create 1.2 million jobs simply by opening new and protected federal land for oil and natural gas production. it is the texans' way of trying to cross dress drill baby, drill, into a jobs plan. governor perry and his wife are now double teaming herman cain on the 9-9-9 plan. >> when i hear 9-9-9, i want to call 911 because it will raise the taxes. >> i think that's pretty close to hitting the spot. >> joining me now is the reverend al sharpton, host of msnbc's "politics nation." thanks for joining me tonight, al. >> thank you, lawrence. >> so you're marching for jobs tomorrow. i don't know, you might want to
8:26 pm
just relax because rick perry just said all we have to do is open up federal lands and drill some more and we're going to have, you know, more than a million jobs for all those people out there who you know need jobs. >> well, you know, if i wasn't going to march tomorrow, after hearing of mr. perry's texas oil plan and mr. cain's 9-9-9, i'm ready to march even further than we had planned. i mean, it is absolutely incredible to me. he had originally planned, national action network and the labor unions and urban league, to do this march in august when the king memorial was going to be dedicated. we moved it to tomorrow, the day before. and it is a better and more appropriate time, lawrence, now, because we saw just this week the senate stop the president's job plan for $1.9 million and the republicans have no job plan. if there ever was a time for the civil rights community and labor
8:27 pm
community to come together in the name of martin luther king, it is now. on a week that we've seen this, when we've seen these demonstrations all over the country and now tomorrow parts of the world with occupation wall street. people are tired of this. and ironically, martin luther king preached about this. he died fighting for labor rights, for jobs, and for economic equity. so martin luther king iii will join us in leading this march tomorrow from lincoln memorial to the king monument. >> al, i have to get your reaction to what happened in new york city this afternoon on the occupy wall street demonstration. there was the showdown that was coming. it seemed very threatening as of this time last night that something really terrible could have happened this morning. no one has more experience in street demonstrations in new york city than you do. were you surprised by this thing being defused at the last minute? >> i was but i was glad.
8:28 pm
one, because i think -- i was there monday down at the park. i spent most of the day there, did my syndicated radio show from there. and these are very sincere and passionate people. young and old. and i think that what they're raising is important. and i was afraid that if there was a confrontation, they having the righteous indignation of a just cause, being confronted by if you just had one policeman that would overreact, it could cause a problem. i was glad to see for whatever reasons it not go to that. i hope it will not go to that. because first of all, let's be real clear. the real object down at wall street is not cleaning up a park. it's clean iing up wall street. it's cleaning up policies that have made 1% of this country control 40%. they're trying to clean up the wrong thing. they need to, as michael moore just said on your show, be perp walking the people that have polluted and poisoned the economic order in this country.
8:29 pm
you're talking about picking up some cots and some papers in one park while you're allowing people to break this economy, think that the wrong sanitation is being emphasized down there. >> al, i have to say, i think that the republican campaign of all of the candidates, their approach to jobs so far has been extremely helpful to president obama's re-election campaign. you have rick perry saying today that creating jobs is as simple as changing presidents. he just, you know, he reduces it to just that. when this president is the only one who's come out with an actual jobs bill, fully specified, fully paid for, trying to get it to a vote in the united states senate. being denied by republicans getting it to a vote in the senate. being denied so far by republicans being, getting it to a vote. even just to a vote in the house of representatives. it seems to me that as the republicans continue to do absolutely nothing, the president, the only one out there in our politics pushing a
8:30 pm
real jobs plan, that isas good a dynamic as the predent could ask for many re-election terms. bad for the country. bad for policy. in re-election terms, the president seems to have the real advantage here. >> no, there's no question about it. it's the old put a clean glass next to a dirty glass. when you look at the fact that the president's bill would have produced 1.9 million jobs and comes back and says, let's vote for it in parts, republicans respond by an abortion bill in the house. i mean, how do we go from dealing with the fact that we have 9.1% unemployment that we have a 7% decrease over the last decade in income, and we're going to keep arguing about issues that don't deal with the economic problems that we're facing? and then the republican candidates come with gimmicks, tricks, on how do we reward the rich? including this 9-9-9 which would only put an additional tax burden on the people that are already overburdened.
8:31 pm
so in that political landscape, the president clearly is the one ahead in terms of having a plan. who are the losers? the american people. because in the name of partisan politics, they're blocking the president and they have no plan of their own. there's not competing plans. there's a plan versus no plan. in that light, the people must speak which is why occupy wall street is right, which is why the march tomorrow is right. we're going to be announcing 25 cities we're moving in after tomorrow. simultaneously. tomorrow is the beginning. not the end of the civil rights of labor community fighting back. >> reverend al sharpton, thanks for joining me tonight. thanks for previewing this important upcoming weekend in washington. >> well, i know how to have the last word before march. >> you just got it. thank you very much, al. >> thank you, lawrence. coming up, last night we showed how herman cain's 9-9-9 plan is the biggest job killing plan any presidential candidate has ever proposed. tonight, we'll show you how
8:32 pm
cain's plan would raise taxes on most taxpayers. and later, a moving video from north carolina on the struggle for marriage equality. ♪ [ female announcer ] the road is not exactly a place of intelligence. highway maintenance is underfunded, costing drivers $67 billion a year, and countless tires. which drivers never actually check because they're busy, checking email. this is why we engineered a car that makes 2,000 decisions every second. the new audi a6 is here. the road is now an intelligent place. ♪ and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now.
8:33 pm
we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. [ female announcer ] get money saving coupons at aleve.com. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger,
8:35 pm
8:37 pm
[ snoring ] [ male announcer ] vicks nyquil cold and flu. the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold...medicine. ♪ i've tried it. but nothing helped me beat my back pain. then i tried salonpas. it's powerful relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours. salonpas. so i got my nephew i neto build a website., i hired someone to make my website...
8:38 pm
five months ago. we are building a website by ourselves. [ woman announcing ] there's an easier way. create your own small-business site... with intuit websites. just choose a style that suits your business, then customize, publish and get found... in three easy steps. [ bell dings ] sweet. [ announcer ] all from just $7.99 a month. get a 30-day free trial... at intuit.com. people have all kinds of retirement questions. no problem. td ameritrade has all kinds of answers. call us for quick help opening your new ira. or an in-depth talk with a retirement expert. like me. stop by my branch for a free retirement check-up. retirement hows and how-muches? whens... and what-ifs? bring 'em on. it's free. you're gonna retire. and we're gonna help. retirement answers at td ameritrade. roll over your old 401(k) and get up to $500.
8:39 pm
i think once this really gets looked at, sounds pretty cool to say 9-9-9 but at the end of the day it is a big tax increase on some people out there that vote, that care and i think it's going to be a tough sledden for 9-9-9. >> finally, rick perry is right about something. in the "spotlight" tonight, the income tax increase in herman cain's 9-9-9 plan. last night, the current republican front-runner ran the numbers on how much a nemedian income family will pay in federal taxes under his 9-9-9 plan. >> a family making $50,000 a year, around median income, under the current system they're going to pay $10,200 in taxes.
8:40 pm
under the 9-9-9 plan they're going to pay $4,500 for the middle 9. that leaves them to apply to sales taxes they would pay on the third 9 on food and shelter then if they buy goods, no taxes on used goods. >> all of that sounds good, if you've never seen the tax return of a family making $50,000 a year. joining me now to check herman cain's mouth, "washington post" columnist and msnbc contributor ezra klein. thanks for joining me tonight, ezra. >> good evening. >> all right. ezra, turbo tax this thing for us. the family of four making $50,000 a year. how did herman cain's numbers sound to you? >> they don't sound all that right actually. let's back up for one second before we get into the nitty-gritty. herman cain has a revenue neutral tax plan so means everybody can't get a tax cut because we're raising the same amount of money. he's changing the distribution.
8:41 pm
the way he's doing it is he's replacing a series of taxes that tax rich people a higher rate than poor people, the income tax, corporate tax, things like that, with a set of consumption taxes, a value added tax basically on businesses and a sales tax on everything else. now, folks who have to spend their incomes in a year, folks who have to buy things and make $50,000, they pay consumption taxes at a greater year in a single year. taking taxes that tax rich people more and replacing it for people who make less pay more. >> let's go through the numbers of how it would actually look for a family of four with a $50,000 tax return. what would they be paying under current law? >> right. so for the $50,000 family, under current law they pay on their own side of the payroll tax about $3,000, 4,000 bucks. if you add in the employer side, the employer pays a 7.5% payroll
8:42 pm
tax on your earnings, too. you're dealing with $7,000 some in payroll taxes. >> let's hold it there. there's an important question. herman cain keeps saying he's using the total number on both. the 7.5% that you pay on your end and adding into that the 7.5% employers pay. it is arguable -- he's assuming, he's assuming that if the employer did not have to pay that in social security tax, the employer would immediately hand over 100% of that without even being asked by the employee. that is a huge assumption. the employer might hand over none of it. so the only thing we're absolutely sure of is that the worker pays 7.5%. >> right. so there are those taxes. that's the bulk of what a worker ends up paying. but the other piece is under the federal income tax, that worker isn't going to pay much at all. imagine dealing with a family of four. standard deductions, 11,500 off, four personal exemptions, about 3,000 per of those.
8:43 pm
get two child tax credits. add that up, you have another 800 bucks in federal income taxes. it's not all that much. if you add in the employer side of the payroll, the employee side of the payroll and federal income, and i had a tax attorney or tax loan at usc help me out with this. the family of four with 50,000 bucks is paying about $8,300 or $8,400 a year in taxes. go over to herman cain's plan and herman cain's plan, it's really, it's very vague and very complicated. in particular the business tax is not a corporate income tax. if it was, herman cain is planning to raise half as much as the current tax code and have the largest deficits in american history. he says it's revenue neutral. we take him at his word. we has essentially a sales tax on businesses, something they have in europe a lot, a value added tax. that's at 9%. you have one on the sales tax side. those essentially the same taxes done twice. it's like an 18% sales tax for people. even 9% personal income tax. the way you get to it's a tax
8:44 pm
rate of about 26%, 27%. the way you get to that is not just adding them all up. it's a complicated calculation that comes up at 27%. when you put it all together, the way he put it, it's like a 26% payroll tax with no exceptions. so that same family is paying around $12,000, $13,000. it's a $5,000 tax increase on them. >> we're not going hear that from herman cain. ezra klein of the "washington post." thanks for joining me tonight. >> thank you. we'll end tonight as we do every friday with the week in comedy. next in the "rewrite," the campaign for marriage equality is trying a novel idea in north carolina. we'll show you an amazing video of people trying to be married and being denied that right. siol basketball for 12 years. today i own 165 wendy's restaurants. and i get my financing from ge capital. but i also get stuff that goes way beyond banking. we not only lend people money, we help them save it.
8:45 pm
[ junior ] ge engineers found ways to cut my energy use. [ cheryl ] more efficient lighting helps junior stay open later... [ junior ] and serve more customers. so you're not just getting financial capital... [ cheryl ] you're also getting human capital. not just money. knowledge. [ junior ] ge capital. they're not just bankers... we're builders. [ junior ] ...and they've helped build my business. here's one story. [ regis ] we love to play tennis. as a matter of fact it was joy who taught me how to play tennis. and with it comes some aches and pains and one way to relieve them all is to go right to the advil®. i have become increasingly amazed at regis's endurance. it's scary sometimes what he accomplishes in a day. well i'd rather not have time for pain but unfortunately it does comes your way every now and then. and that's when i take my advil®. [ male announcer ] take action. take advil®.
8:47 pm
and dress crossing. the week in politics later. marriage equality takes a step forward in north carolina but only a step. we have important video for you to see of people trying and failing to obtain their basic human rights. right here in the united states. . yes we are. yeah. how many tires does ford buy every year? over 3 million. you say you can beat any advertised price on tires? correct. anywhere? yes. like this price? yes. riously? yes what about this one? i'll beat it. this one? s we will. right, i only have one more question for you...this one? (laughing) yeah. get $100 rebate when you buy four tires. 100 bucks! only at your ford dealer. 3 million tires. 11 major brands, fiona's kind-of-nice. i don't know why you're not here.
8:48 pm
8:49 pm
all need to see. over the past two weeks, the campaign for southern equality has recorded the experiences of same-sex couples applying for marriage licenses in asheville, north carolina. they were expand the we do am pain to other north carolina communities and more states across the south starting next year. the goal is, of course, to rewrite state laws and achieve marriage equality. >> good morning. how are you? >> good morning. >> we want to request a marriage license. >> okay. >> we filled out the application online. >> marriage license. >> okay. are you getting married in north carolina? >> yes. >> okay. >> we're here to get our marriage license. >> this is the application? >> yeah. >> we've come today to put on record that we are married in massachusetts. >> are you a teacher? >> yes. okay. i want you to know that this office respects equality,
8:50 pm
however, i am not able to issue a marriage license to you. >> when carol, according to north carolina law, i'm not allowed to issue you a marriage license. >> north carolina state statute changes, we're unable to issue your marriage license. >> okay. all right. we know that you're doing your job and we just hope that one day you'll be able to present this license to us and our family. >> i hope so. >> we've been together for 25 years. we're in our mid 60s. can you tell us what steps we might take to become full and equal citizens under the law? before we die, can you help us with that? >> i commend you for being
8:51 pm
courageous to doing this. >> thank you. >> we've been together for plm 11 years. this is our newborn baby. she's 2 weeks old. we have a 6-year-old at home. we need equal rights in order to protect our family. >> we have to reject your application and i'm sorry. >> i've been together 15 years. we've outlasted most of our friends, most of our heterosexual friends' marriages. >> absolutely. glad you're doing what you're doing and i'm truly sorry to have to deny your application today. >> okay. all right. thank you. >> thank you. thanks, ryan. >> would you be able to write the detected on that form? >> i sure would. ♪ come go with me to that land >> a launch last week in
8:52 pm
asheville. this campaign is based on a very simple set of beliefs that all people are fully equal. that we have to resist laws that deny this and treat us as second class citizens. and that we will continue to do this until these laws change on the federal level ensuring lgbt people in all 50 states have full equality under the law. >> so we'll be back. >> that's why we're here. it's that simple. the story is beginning right now. it's an old story but in some ways it's just beginning right now. ♪ starting my progresso soup for lunch plan, huh. nope, just having some tender chicken and some tasty noodles. let's see...south western vegetables...60 calories. ya' know those jeans look nice. they do? yup. so you were checking me out? yup. [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less.
8:53 pm
8:54 pm
that's because you always get two times the points on travel, from taxis to trains, airfare to hotels, and all kinds of dining... from fast food to fine dining. and that's not all you get. there are expert advisors who answer immediately, whenever you call. and absolutely no foreign transaction fees. does your card do all that? apply today and earn 50,000 ultimate rewards bonus points when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months. that's $625 toward your next trip when you redeem through ultimate rewards. so, why settle for gold when you can have so much more? chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. apply now at chasesapphire.com/preferred.
8:56 pm
front-runner among comedians doing impressions of presidential candidates. here's the week in comedy. >> it's a major election news today. new jersey governor chris christie announced he's endorsing mitt romney for president. yeah. it's good news for romney. i mean, you always want chris christie on your side. unless you're in a canoe. then -- >> during the republican debate last night, michele bachmann said that she has 28 children. five of her own and 23 foster kids. it's all part of her new election strategy, adopting a majority of voters. >> i tell you something, michele bachmann was trying a little too hard to show how smart she was. every time herman cain went 9-9-9, she went 27. >> i tell you who was the big hit at the debate. herman cain. from out of nowhere this guy is the front-runner, herman cain. he's got this economic plan, he
8:57 pm
calls it the 9-9-9 plan. the 9-9-9 plan. you know who -- this really got under michelle obama's -- she didn't care for this -- >> who? >> michele bachmann. >> michele bachmann? >> michelle o'bachmann. yeah. she took on herman cain's 9-9-9 plan. look at this. >> you're never going to get rid of it. one thing i would say is when you take the 9-9-9 plan and turn it upside down, i think the devil's in the details. >> you got to let me respond. >> we've given you several chances to respond. i'll come back. >> that's right. >> isn't that amazing? wow. actually happened. >> last night the republican candidates held their eighth debate in new hampshire. after every debate the guys get criticized. the front-runners have been putting out commercials. >> hello, i'm mitt romney.
8:58 pm
no, i'm not. and i'm ready to fight for america. nah-uh. i have a job plan to help deal with our nation's soaring unemployment and this job will bring jobs back to our country. that jobs plan won't work. >> hello. i'm rick perry. as a former front-runner, i have one question for our great, great country. how did i screw this up? no, seriously, you all used to love me, now i'm polling behind mitt and the pizza guy. what, what happened? >> hi, i'm michele bachmann and i want to be your president. as a member of the congressional intelligence committee, i know a lot of scary stuff most americans don't know. i know for a fact that china's using lasers to blind our satellites and melt the north pole. i know that thunder is the sound of god bowling with the angels.
8:59 pm
>> hello, i'm herman cain. former ceo of godfather's thpiz. recently i unveiled the bold now tax plan called the 9-9-9 plan. ♪ 9-9-9 ♪ not quite 10 ♪ it's a tax plan for america courtesy of herman cain ♪ ♪ the black republican ♪ 9-9-9 ♪ the cost of pizza with a coke ♪ ♪ eat it here or take it to go ♪ 9-9-9 pizza >> you can watch that
118 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
MSNBC Television Archive Television Archive News Search Service The Chin Grimes TV News ArchiveUploaded by TV Archive on