we asked you at the top of the show what you're doing at >> john what are they saying? >> hey, willie, good morning. good morning. i usually get up at 5:00 a.m. to watch the beautiful lynn berry read the news, but then i stay up to watch you delve deeper into current events. you're witty, but you ain't pretty. >> 5:00, if you can get up that early, 5:30, but homely is the kindest thing i've been called today. i've got one tweet for you. i get up at 5:00 just to watch your show, i trained my cats to eat at 5:00 so that i'm ready for your show at 5:30. now, that is commitment. that is what "way too early" is doing to this country. people changing the feeding

habits of their animals so they can be with us at 5:30. "morning joe" starts right now. . i understand people's frustrations. i understand their concerns. and i frankly understand that we have differences in america. but we are not going to engage in class warfare. president's out there doing it every day, i think it's unfortunate. because our job is to help all americans. not to pit one set of americans against another. >> and you think that's what's happening? >> the president's clearly trying to do. and it's wrong. you know, the president and i have a pretty good relationship, you know, it's been a little frosty the last few weeks. but we've got a pretty good relationship. >> i just really -- it's over with that. good morning, it's monday, november 7th. >> it's just begun. >> welcome to "morning joe." happy national bank transfer

day. >> the long awaited. >> i think it's a cool idea. with us onset. >> that didn't take long. >> mark haleprin, we also have the executive editor at random house jon meacham who didn't get my message over the weekend, or maybe just ignored it. >> i think suri sent that message to the wrong person. >> let's rapidly move on to the news. >> yeah. we don't want to get to the contents of it. the "new york times" article yesterday about sleep medications, which is serious. >> maybe that's why the message is on -- >> someone else's end. >> there was a fascinating story. >> it is about more women seeking treatment for sleep disorders than men across the country and a rapid rise in women taking sleep medications. >> this is the front page of "sunday style." >> i thought it was timely and it applies to me and i'm being quite serious. but yeah. i think i might have left you a

message -- >> while you were on sleep medication. >> yeah. >> willie, i didn't get a lot of sleep myself saturday. >> right, i'm sure you didn't. >> honey badger time? >> i decided i should go into -- >> gracious in defeat. >> gracious. listen, i'm going to be gracious. you're not going to hear me say -- you're not. but for that terrible interception call on the goal line or the horrible offensive play calling by alabama or just the fact that alabama is a better team than lsu, we lost anyway. you're not going to hear me saying that. >> did you see. the bcs standings? only number three. >> these teams are going to play again. i will never understand that call. i just won't. so he goes up and look at this, alabama guy has the ball, he's on the ground. the lsu guy still has his right arm not on the ball, and they give lsu the ball.

>> and if it's even close, it goes to the receiver. >> anyway, it was horrible. but i've got to say this, though, alabama has as they did last year, the best 57 players on their team of any football team, and i never blamed the kids for any loss, willie, for a team this good, you blame the coaches. and on the offensive side, it was well-deserved because you knew what plays they were going to run. it's the bill simmons mom test. if your mom is saying why is the coach doing that? you know. and susan was watching the game and she's not a big football player, and she's like, please, please don't run the ball up the middle on second and nine. and here comes the ball lsu. >> and lsu was doing the same thing. it was a story of two great defenses. people online saying that game was terrible. it's like saying a great pitching duel was terrible.

there were some sloppy teams, but if you love football, that was fun to watch. >> those were the two best teams in football and there's not a close third. they would take stanford and eat them. just eat them whole. at the coin toss. >> well, stanford's got a tough game this weekend against oregon. >> he's telling us to get to news. >> speaking of the honey badger. the guy -- >> the little guy. >> that's the guy that took -- >> matthew -- >> took drake's head off? >> who? >> he was the one busted for marijuana? >> i don't know what the specifics of the charges were and i stand in no judgment. >> i don't know the charges either. that's what i heard. it was a cheap, cheap shot. and -- i thought lsu players showed a lot of class. les miles showed a lot of class. he's a good coach. >> all right. we're going to get to --

>> lsu, though, they're an incredible team. did you see it? >> i saw every minute of it. >> were you bored by -- >> the 52 yard feield goal attempts. the intensity was palpable. >> it was a great game. >> let's get to the news and i want to talk about if we can andy rooney, as well. "washington post" reporting that profits for america's largest financial firms are once again reaching record highs, not seen since before the financial crisis of 2008. in fact, wall street firms have earned more in the first 2 1/2 years of the obama presidency than all eight years of the bush presidency. $89 billion in profits. >> in the first two years they made more than the bush administration? >> that's correct. >> their campaign contributions paid off very well for them.

>> big banks can profit from our recession, which the washington post has a great article on. yesterday in the front page of the sunday paper. meacham? >> we talk a lot about an independent movement or some third force between the two established parties that have dominated american politics really since the civil war. >> right. >> exhibit "a." >> exhibit "a." and you know the thing is this chart is actually -- and i didn't know they were going to put it up. this is real -- it doesn't tell the story. if you did it per year, it would be even more pushed to the guy who claims he's with the occupy wall street movement. there are two wings of the same party. there is no doubt -- >> the data also shows the largest banks have increased their assets by 10% by the beginning of 2009 and have reported profits of $34 billion so far this year. wall street's salaries have

grown on average by 16.1% and last year financial firms gave out more than $20 billion in bonuses. really? it's just unbelievable. the "washington post" article points to the low-cost money the banks received from the federal government along with not being compelled. i think this might have been the deal they missed. along with not being compelled to increase their lending with the prime reasons behind the profits. the abc news poll finds 61% of americans disapprove of the way president obama is handling the economy and only 13% of americans say they're better off today than they were before president obama took office. >> now, that being said, mark haleprin, i think most americans blame george w. bush for the recession. >> it is obviously a lot of spillover. >> there's a lot of spillover. so those numbers are bad. but there is a -- you look at the percentages. >> there's something wrong.

>> did you see that story yesterday? in the "new york times," the front page of the "new york times" magazine? i thought percentages would kick it off, where there's a 47% chance that barack obama will have an ingrown toenail at the end of the month, and a 32% chance he may not. >> i was too busy trying to find mika's message. >> did you find it? >> not yet. >> i want to hear it. >> yeah, but no, that's the reagan test you just put up there. >> are you better off? >> but that being said, mark haleprin, the president still wins head-to-head in most match-ups. >> he's doing surprisingly well given the state of the economy, but there's something out of whack with our country with at a time of hardship for so many countries -- and the shlogan of we need a bailout for the middle class will be the slogan for one

of the presidential candidates. >> neither party can really do it. if you look over -- >> not in the short-term. >> if you look over the past four to six years, neither party can do it. >> i don't know how the president can continue to go out on the stump and with a straight face talk about the fat cats in wall street. he's got more money than all the republican candidates combined. >> the president -- >> it's okay, just don't go out and call them fat cats. >> we don't mind him getting $38,000 per fat cat on a friday night -- >> fine. >> which he does and fills up a room of his so-called fat cats, $38,000 to come have dinner with me, but the next morning he flies out to kansas and talks about fat cats who he just shook down for $38,000 per person. how stupid does he think america is? >> the fat cats -- >> it's exactly 20 years since president clinton -- governor clinton then managed to take the war for the middle class out of

cultural terms and put it in economic terms. his great line, they got us too busy pointing at each other instead of pointing at them. and the engines of social mobility in the country, education, jobs that can stay here, are just evaporating so rapidly. it's not a form of class warfare to say that when wall street does so well, that that's -- you cannot say that's intrinsically bad. but it is bad for the country if they're making that much money in a financial sector that's self-pro -->>female speaker and the biggest problem, john, it's not the massive profits. i have never worried about anybody raking in cash. if it were just happening this year or if it had just happened over the past three or four years, the problem is, and this is what i tried to tell my

conservative brethren and my republican brethren. this is not about class warfare. it's about class warfare if you're pointing at one person saying look how rich they are, we need to take your money. but if you're talking about a 30-year trend. a 30-year trend where you can see the trend lines of the middle class going like this, if you can see a trend going back to 1973 as jeffrey sachs says in his book, it says the average income for men has been falling since 1973. and we say men because you -- there weren't as many women in the workforce at the time. our average wage has been falling since 1973, and yes, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the rich have been getting richer under republican presidents and democratic presidents, and then republican presidents, and now again democratic presidents. under the last two years, the

rich on wall street have gotten richer faster than ever before and the chart just showed it. so this isn't a republican or democratic issue, it's really not. this is a middle class issue. >> and there were two factors that created the post war prosperity, post world war ii prosperity in the country that can be recovered. one was a public education system that worked for a lot more people than it works for now. access to college with the gi bill. and the other was a sense that there was a role for public money to be spent in terms and along with private growth. what gave us the internet? what gave us interstate highways? what gave us dish washers? >> let's stop with the first two. what gave us the internet? dwight d. eisenhower's investment in science, what gave us infrastructure? dwight d. eisenhower deciding we were going to have an interstate system.

what gave us -- our government is going to get aggressive, and we're going to make sure -- and we're not doing this just to get people -- we're doing this to keep up with the soviets. and in return, these scientists, these mathematicians that dwight d. eisenhower invested in 1957 created a generation of economic growth. got us to the moon, created the internet, did all of these remarkable things. >> tang. >> tang. >> gave us tang! >> space food. >> very, very importantly -- but it was not one or the other. >> for kids that are watching. what we're talking about -- this is the drink of the astronauts, tang. >> okay. so -- >> that's what we're talking about. >> it was not one or the -- the point is that you could have a political conversation and a political system in the country in which it was not one or the other. it was not the law of excluded

note. you could have public spending and private contractors and that's what gave us this. and you can't just blindly dismiss one or the other. >> okay. so before we move on to end the block here, i do want to point out what happened over the weekend. i saw a piece on it on abc. if we covered it, i didn't see it. i think it's a little bit like occupy wall street where it's going to percolate and become something more. it's national bank transfer day. and they had like 82,000 people responding online to it. people were calling for a shift of their funds from for profit banking institutions to not for profit credit unions. and as you can see here in several cities across the country, it became a day of celebration when people walked out of big banks with their receipts cashing out and going to small banks, smaller institutions where they have more trust and less fees, and they don't feel like -- >> the poor credit unions are final little having their day. i've got to tell you, i've never seen any group -- i'm saying and this is great, yay.

hey -- >> you just watch. >> as far as shifting it to credit unions, i have never seen so many congressmen and senators feared as when the credit unions back in the 1990s got their people calling. they are an extraordinary -- i've never seen lobbying like the credit unions. so it's very funny. i'm seeing these people dressing up and hitting bongos hitting the credit unions. i love bongos. can we talk about herman cain for a second? >> just for a second, though. because it's really silly the whole thing. >> the media elites, the manhattan cocktail party circuit people like mark haleprin and me have been saying that herman cain's not qualified to be president. i'll tell you the only reason i've been saying that -- can i tell them why i've been saying that? only reason i've been saying that is because he's not qualified to be president. but anyway, the cain train keeps

going on that track. >> there's some delicious cartoon-esque stuff over the weekend. >> do not interrupt political analysis of mine with the word delicious. it doesn't fit. >> it does. >> nothing's delicious in politics. >> this was. >> the cain train, it just keeps going down the track. >> yeah, raising money, poll numbers are fine, his supporters are skeptical of the allegations. >> he demands we stay on message. >> i love when he comes out and says i'm on message. rather than saying the actual message. message i care. >> message i care. >> we've got two debates this week, one on economy, and one on foreign policy. >> when's the economy debate? >> wednesday, cnbc, john harwood. >> that's going to be good stuff. >> yeah. but then saturday night, south carolina on foreign policy. >> i can't wait. >> it's going to be interesting.

mr. cain has had slipups on foreign policy. >> has he really? >> he was down in the reuters poll? >> that was in, i forgot, some measure of trust. >> among republicans. favorability he's down nine points. >> favorability. >> he's raised a lot of money. >> jon huntsman on "meet the press" yesterday, still struggling, but believing he can make a run for it in new hampshire. how did he do? >> very tough on romney. people have to realize there's going to be a romney alternative. there's a vacuum there. and huntsman in new hampshire has as good of a chance as any of the other candidates to catch mitt romney. >> he's got the goods. of all the candidates, he's got the goods. >> who does? >> jon huntsman has all the goods. and i don't get your party. i don't get them. i don't get them. >> he kind of has a haircut like meacham too.

jon huntsman. >> it's a popular look. >> it's a good look. >> where is that popular? >> east tennessee. >> east tennessee among a small clique of professors and pointy headed bureaucrats for the tennessee valley authority. but other than that, not a whole lot of people wear their hair like that these days. >> so, idiots, can we get serious for a second. long-time cbs "60 minutes" correspondent andy rooney passed away on friday at 92. according to his family, he died from complications following surgery. rooney began his segment for "60 minutes" in 1978, winning four emmy awards over that time. an amazing story. he will be missed. >> yeah. >> i spent time with him at cbs and loved him dearly.

and he told me when he stopped working he probably would die. >> he did. it's amazing. >> he loved his job. >> he did. >> can i say something? i want to get a replay. you know at the top of the show i was talking about lsu and i was joking. i will tell you in my personal life and i showed my bad side here on tv, i want to salute the lsu players. >> that is so nice. >> no, seriously, they showed so class after the game. and everybody at alabama always says les is dumb, huh? if they started that this week too -- if he's so dumb, why does he always beat us? why does he always out coach us in the big games? les is not dumb, les is a great football coach and he showed class after that game. i thought it was -- i think you're right too, willie, i think it was a great game played by two great teams. and anybody whining there weren't enough touchdowns doesn't know what real football is. >> it was like whining about a

great pitcher's duel. just because there weren't home runs, it was a great game. >> do you agree they're probably the best two teams? >> but i don't think they should play again. i think they had their chance. >> no, no, it's never over. it's never over. coming up, we're going to talk to senator chuck schumer. chuck todd, and jonathan capehart. coming up next, "politico's" top stories. but first, not so thrilling, bill karins with the forecast. bill? >> we won't take it to overtime here. good morning, everyone, hope you had a wonderful weekend. still adjusting to that clock change thing. we've had now eight dry days in a row. ever since that historic october snowstorm through the northeast and mid-atlantic. and we're continuing with a fantastic forecast into the middle of this week. temperatures in the 60s all the way from boston to d.c. the storminess in the middle of the country. if you have to throw the umbrella on today, it's going to

be in chicago, st. louis, indianapolis, all the way back down through texas. the heaviest rain along interstate 44, tulsa, springfield, joplin, up to st. louis. and we're expecting snow on the backside of this later on tonight. rural areas of kansas, nebraska, and colorado. today's forecast, gorgeous on the eastern sea board. all the troublesome weather there is stuck right in the middle. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with the lowest national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003.

or go to walmart.com for details. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you."

and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years.

on wednesday, a third woman from the national restaurant association came forward alleging she was also sexually harassed by herman cain. so just one more and he gets free crazy bread. >> all right. time now to take a look at the morning papers. i don't need to hear any more of that. you can press delete. we begin from our parade of

papers. the tampa tribune says the wealth gap between younger and older americans has stretched to the widest margin on record. new census data shows a typical household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than someone greater than 35. this gap is double what it was in 2005. >> can you believe that? >> things are out of whack. >> they are really out of whack. joe, it's your turn. >> i want you to look at that. let's stay on that. median net worth 42% higher than somebody below 35. and we have the aarp running commercials acting as if we are going to have senior citizens freezing on the floor if people 50 or younger are told you don't get social security until you're 70. >> right. >> it is a disgrace. and you know what? i'm going to say it. it is immoral. it is immoral what we are doing

to the next generation of our children, the younger people. it is immoral, it is shameful, and the aarp should be ashamed of themselves. the "new york times" says -- >> absolutely right. >> leon panetta is considering spending cuts in areas once considered off limits, that includes medical and retirement benefits. shrinking the number of troops and possibly -- wait, another round of base closings. fine, fine, fine -- but medical benefits and retirement benefits for the very people that you send overseas to fight your wars for a decade? >> did you see the piece on "60 minutes" last night? >> i can't believe that. i can't believe -- you know, our military men and women have been promised for decades that they were going to get free health care for life, that they were going to be taken care of if they take care of us. and they've had the pentagon and they've had congress lie to them for decades.

for decades. no -- you know what? i believe everything should be on the table to be cut. but not everything. and i mean everything. but not military retirement benefits, not medical benefits for these kids that are going over and fighting for a decade and coming back without limbs, coming back with shattered bodies, who are going to be living with this for decades do not cut military health care. i -- i -- how can anybody think that way in 2011? how can anybody even think that way? it's a disgrace. >> i completely agree with you. i would also add that it seems to me that your opinion comes strongly out of a moral, a moral imperative to do so, correct? >> yeah, i just -- i don't throw the morality word around here because we're talking about policy and people can have

differences of opinion. i use that on the aarp ad. i didn't want to throw that back out there again, but yes, i will say that. it is immoral to send young men and women off to war, and we've been doing it in this country for decades now, promising them health care for life, promising them retirement benefits, and then when we come back after the war's over, lying to them. and cutting those benefits. no, those benefits have to be off the table. >> but is it possible -- and i don't know, is it possible this is like what my old boss charlie peters used to call the close the washington monument story. that whenever the interior department was threatened with cuts, they'll say, well, the first thing we'll have to do is close the washington monument for tourists. in order to get outrage going and wait a minute, back off of any kind of cuts. >> unfortunately, enough people aren't outraged. tricare 1996, when it got put into place, that was a broken promise by congress and the president.

no, vets unfortunately, military retirees have been lied to for decades now. i wish it weren't that way. and i wish more people would be upset about the fact that we send our men and women off to fight and die and if they make it back, we lie to them and don't take care of them. >> and send them back five, six seven guys. >> one guy we had a story last week, was killed on his 11th deployment. 11th deployment. "new york times," 19-year-old woman killed this past week in afghanistan. but there were three, four, five, six more 19-year-olds that lost a limb or had their vertebrae shattered or have some condition that will stay for them the rest of their lives. >> mentally broken. >> or mentally broken. >> then we come back and then we think about putting that on the table. it's shameful. >> and a lot of them don't have the money as it is without these cuts they need. a lot of these medical groups require outside help, private money and associations with different hospitals just to get

the basic care needs. >> basic care let alone the type of work that other groups do. >> they need all the help they can get. >> they sure do. >> let's turn to "politico." mike allen with a look at the playbook. mike, good morning. >> happy monday, willie. >> big story today. politicians from early primary and caucus states shying away from endorsing mitt romney. what's going on there? >> yeah, so many people who seem to be outside the states that actually vote keep talking about how this nomination race is over, that we already know where this movie is headed. here's another sign, not so sure. it was discovered in the three early voting states new hampshire, iowa, south carolina, only one member of the house or senate delegation has endorsed senator lindsey graham of south carolina is among the people who said is looking increasingly

unlikely. so this is a sign that things are fluid. that it's mitt romney's to lose, but there's still plenty of opportunities to lose it. >> but jim demint's not getting involved this time? >> that's right. and someone who has a big voice with the tea party voters and who is someone who could bring a lot of people with them. the one person who endorsed was a house member of south carolina who went for governor rick perry. >> and the governor -- >> what's nicky haley doing? >> i don't think she's endorsed either. people are waiting. the same thing with the money people. lots of money still on the sidelines. a number of them, including some of the biggest fundraisers told me they're going to wait. >> wow. for the next candidate. draft willie. >> thanks so much -- no, you don't want that. coming up, the fake rick perry drops into snl's weekend

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let's do some sports, shall we? >> oh, yes. >> let's just stay on the nfl.

>> last night, sunday night's game, nbc, ravens/steelers in pittsburgh, ravens got the best of the steelers in week one, looking to sweep the series last night in pittsburgh. in the fourth quarter, five minutes left, steelers down three, roethlisberger scrambles out of the pocket. i love this -- he's mobile for a big man. mike wallace in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown. steelers take a four-point lead. ravens get the ball, 16 seconds left on the clock in the game. joe to smith. with a couple of seconds left, how do you let a receiver get behind you in the end zone? how do you let that happen? >> safety's got to get there and make that play. >> what is the safety doing? >> took a bad angle. good throw. ravens win 23-20, tight race in the afc north.

thing bengals -- >> where did they come from? and how about the ravens? >> cincinnati bengals have won five games in a row, so they're tied with the ravens on top. they have this rookie quarterback -- >> who's even on the ban gaenga? >> remember all the snow bowls. giants and patriots, incredible game in the rematch of super bowl xlii. ely manning looking to back up comments he made in the off-season. a beautiful throw to mario manningham. giants up 17-13. they gave tom brady a little too much time. on fourth day, 14-yard -- >> this game's over. >> ely leads them down the field in a minute and a half. 15 seconds left, ballard made another incredible catch on the

drive. ely, 250 yards and two touchdowns. brady threw for 324 and two, but also two interceptions. giants beat new england 24-20. >> huge win for them. >> the fickle new york tabloids today in the front page "the daily news" saying he's the man. we'll see what they say next week after they lose. >> he was in the same class with brady. >> yesterday, he was. bills looking to gain ground in the afc east yesterday. the jets up ten already, big day for the jets. mark sanchez, 8-yard touchdown to holmes. watch the celebration. >> oh, my goodness. >> boom. jets beat the bills 27-11, afc looks like this. pats, jets, and bills all at 5-3. dolphins got their first win of the season at 1-7. >> who'd they beat? >> the chiefs.

san diego, a shootout. in the first, chargers quarterback, watch the return by charlie, weaving through the chargers' offense. they don't do a lot of tackling drills. he takes it 40 yards for the touchdown. three interceptions, and this guy was good. nearly perfect going for 240 yards, they are undefeated still at 8-0. >> river's a good year, he's having a tough season. >> showing you this one because your man julio jones, the falcons taking on the colts. matt ryan launches one, jones trips, but somehow catches the ball. >> you are kidding me. >> he had two touchdown catches yesterday. an incredible rookie season. >> we miss him this year. >> falcons win 31-7. if you can believe still winless

0-9. >> how did tebow do? >> everyone hated him last week, this week they love him. had that terrible game against detroit last week, yesterday tebow threw for 124, two touchdowns, ran for 117 yards. >> wait, a quarterback ran for 117 yards? >> 117 yards for the quarterback. >> boy, if you can do that -- >> believe it or not, denver, even though they're 3-5, still in the mix of that terrible afc west. >> they're 2-1 with him and only a game out of first place. >> yeah. all right. up next, mika's must-read opinion pages. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ man ] i got this citi thank you card

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nominee if i can be honest for a minute here. he was never going to be the nominee. the air is slowly going to go out of the herman cain bubble regardless of the sexual harassment charges. >> at some point, you've got to say here's the deal, here's the facts. i think he's trying to do that. so long as we don't see more damaging facts, this is not the issue that will decide the issue. >> he's the latest balloon boy. we've asked commentators off the air whether they think it's probable that herman cain even before the allegations would be president, and imagine there's no pizza in the white house, and they will tell you no. >> all right. welcome back to "morning joe," 45 past the hour. a live look at capitol hill in the morning. we have -- i just chose two from frank bruni. he says this isn't the media's finest hour.

the focus of late has been the charges of sexual harassment against herman cain in the late 1990s. if they prove true, he's a bore, a bully, maybe a bit of a predator. three more reasons he shouldn't be president. but we didn't need them. we had at least 999 already. that sometimes got lost in the discussion as did the sad prevalence of men in high places seeking to take sexual advantage of subordinates who are at least behaving insensitively. if cain is among them, it's relative to his fitness to office. is there anyone at this table who thinks that he's going to win the nomination? >> well, mark, you actually think he's got a shot at winning the nomination. >> i still think he does. there's something going on out there with the country at large and the new republican party. and it's a strange year, and strange things have already happened. and i think he's not been hurt so far. in some ways he's been helped by what's happened. >> mark, of all the entire republican field, who is the most qualified to be president

and to take on obama on the issues? on the real issues? like the economy, like global interdependence, like china? who is the candidate who really deserves to win the nomination? >> i'm letting the voters decide that. >> i'm wondering, if there's one that comes to mind that stands out. >> i think most of the leading candidates have strengths and witnesses, and i think in this year at this time, anticipating and presuming who is the most qualified to take on the president is a fool's errand. >> you can't even look at their just resumes and say this one at least is worth talking about? >> under conventional resumes, jon huntsman and mitt romney would be the strongest. >> that's what i was aiming at. >> this is not a conventional year. >> this is not a conventional year. >> i didn't know -- and he might speak mandarin. >> is there anybody -- answer my question! because i don't know, i'm just a dumb country lawyer, but is there anybody that speaks mandarin.

i'm just curious? >> or jon huntsman who might be the most qualified and yet these -- i don't get it. >> let's keep -- >> the chemical industry. >> that would be helpful too. >> can i ask a question? >> yes. >> does frank bruni -- he's such a great reviewer of restaurants. i just want a big plate of spaghetti every time -- >> he may have covered herman cain. >> it's called the invention of outrage and sort of where we focus our attention stupidly. the greek tragedy is one of degree. and the greeks are a magnified versions of the rest of us playing a magnified price. it isn't honesty or entirely just. honest, just, such lofty adjectives. back to kardashian. for those of you unfamiliar with her rise to renown.

here's a crash course, naked in a sex video -- >> willie, this is how we make lots of money. so first, naked in a sex video. okay. >> naked in the 2000 issue of "playboy." >> done. >> a reality show. >> done. >> another reality show. >> i've got to get that. >> a friendship with paris hilton. >> check. >> that's willie. >> a cupcake flavor named in her honor. >> she's got me on that. >> clothes for sears called the kardashian collection. >> i don't think they spelled that right. >> a book entitled "kardashian konfidentia lrk konfident konfidential." she means nothing and can mean everything. an empty vessel, a malleable moral for many stories. >> that's another one, waste our

time on. >> about 18 years ago now, a biography was written that explained how the political media culture that we talked about came to be in the 1930s, and he was sort of the avatar, the maestro, it's a brilliant book. but it speaks to everything we've talked about this morning. >> yeah. >> you're absolutely right. >> the more things -- >> no, no -- really, jon, seriously, the more things change, the more things change, the more they stay the same? >> yeah. mark twain says history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. >> yeah. >> and when you have everybody talking about how dirty political campaigns are, it's very easy to reset to the first contested one in our country. go to 1800. you had vice presidents shooting treasury secretaries. up next, willie's news you can't use. keep it on "morning joe." why do we have aflac...

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oh, is it time? >> time for news you can't use. >> little refresher before we show you the clip from snl. two fridays ago, new hampshire, rick perry. >> this is such a cool state. come on. live free or die. it's like live free or die, victory or death, bring it. if they print any more money over there in washington, the goal's going to be good. today has been awesome, girl.

>> so on saturday night -- >> why did you need -- >> like snl. >> that was the real life. we put these up next to each other. bill hader playing rick perry on snl on saturday night. >> a lot of people are saying you seemed intoxicated during the speech you gave in new hampshire. >> who said that? was it this lady? right there? was it maroon 5? >> yeah. i know. a lot of people said it. and i have to say, governor, it actually seems like you might be a little drunk right now. >> no, i don't drink. my drink is coffee. i drink coffee. >> okay. all right. well, i'm sorry. governor, but if you weren't drunk -- do you want to explain what was going on in new hampshire? >> okay. right before the speech, herman cain shows up with a godfather's pizza, and he's like, hey, man,

do you like pizza? and you know me, i said i love pizza. it wasn't until after i ate it that i realized the pepperonis were ambiens and the tomato sauce was beer. so next thing i know, i'm standing waist deep in lathe la with a pacifier in my mouth. look, seth, a hawaiian girl. >> yeah, no, i can see that. >> hola, seth. >> hola? governor, it looks like you're just flat out losing it. >> what? the election? i know. i'm losing it really bad. you've got to run, you've got to run, you'll definitely win, and

my polls go like -- >> we should remind our viewers, governor perry said he was not drinking. >> well, exactly. >> it was just him -- >> let rick be rick, girl. it's called passion, girl. >> come on, girl. come on, y'all. >> wow. >> live free or die. still ahead, senator chuck schumer. and from the supercommittee chris van holland. but up next, jeff greenfield. [ male announcer ] how are we going to make this season better than the last? how about making it brighter. more colorful. ♪ and putting all our helpers to work? so we can build on our favorite traditions by adding a few new ones. we've all got garlands and budgets to stretch.

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don't even go there. >> can i ask my question? >> no -- >> can i ask a good question? >> where's my chief of staff? >> i'm right here. >> send him the journalist code of ethics. >> you got it. >> who else? you want to ask another good question? >> i was going to do something my staff told me not to do and try to respond. what i'm saying is this -- can you -- we are getting back on message, end of story. back on message. read all of the other accounts. read all of the other accounts where everything has been answered. end of story. we're getting back on message. >> okay.

top of the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." live look at the white house. what a beautiful day. mark haleprin and jon meacham still with us. joining the table, jeff greenefield. >> show the white house shot again, t.j. you see the leaves. those of us in the northeast who got hammered with snow last weekend. my family and i drove across connecticut and absolutely gorgeous yesterday. >> stunning. >> it was. the sun was out, and we're not used to that in the northeast. so it was an exciting day. >> that's why they wrote the song autumn in new york. this is kind of what they had in mind. >> not last weekend. >> no. >> with snow in october. >> they've never written a song called january in des moines. >> they have not. >> not yet. >> you could write one, joe. >> we'll do that. we'll do that. >> with mandolin. >> with mandolin and herman cain in the refrain.

it rhymes. >> you really want to do herman cain? >> jeff, we are curious -- >> feels like a waste of time. >> herman cain is defying political gravity. and i suspect there's something larmger going on here as mark haleprin suggests. >> well, i think a lot of this campaign will be decided on all the models most of us grew up with and think we know are true. by every conventional standard, herman cain should have been a joke long ago in terms of -- it's a hollywood movie. >> right. >> except that in hollywood, he would have been a liberal. but to the ordinary guy with no experience who shows up the experts is a classic of our american myth, only in this case it seems to be playing out in a very different way. and i think the reason fundamentally is what's happened of the last several years has made expertise a liability. herman cain is arguing the same thing ross perot was asked. you've had no experience.

that's right, perot said i've had no experience in running up a $5 trillion debt, and now it's $14 trillion, and lack of expertise seems to be an asset. >> and how fascinating, jeff, that the same republicans that said barack obama wasn't ready to be president of the united states -- and i didn't believe with his background he was ready to be president of the united states by a long shot. but these same republicans are now reaching out to somebody with even less experience just three years later. >> joe, you're suggesting the consistency is not a driving force in american politics? >> it shocks and stuns me. >> there are two things about that. one is, obama didn't have any experience, so what's wrong with taking a risk on one of our guys? and the other thing is they say he's had experience. a lot of people who have read his book are really impressed. he's a guy who has run something and understands how the private sector works. >> i'm sorry. there is no way -- there is no way to clean this story up.

he has a remarkable background. and speaking of if he were a democrat. if he were a liberal, we would have been reading profiles of herman cain's life that would've made us all tear up over our oatmeal. that said, jon meaam, there is ever written, any part of his story and say this man is qualified to be president of the united states when he's had no idea that china's had nuclear e weapons for 47 years. and everybody's talking about monica lewinski by the end and the republicans. it wasn't that that disturbed me so much, it was so many other things that took place in that administration. here, we don't know what happened at the national restaurant association, we do know he's ignorant when it comes to foreign policy. >> i think cain is the fulfillment of a american

political fantasy. of someone coming in -- >> mr. smith goes to washington. >> dave, exactly. all these things. and i think the reason it's a perennial fantasy, the reason it's working so well right now, it feels so broken and so beyond conventional repair that you think why not? but we have these moments where we think why not, but they are just that, they are moments. >> if cain were really good on the issues and hadn't made the mistakes on china and everything else, would you consider him qualified to be president? >> sure, i would. dwight eisenhower was never in politics before. and if he said you know what? we've got problems with china militarily, but i'll tell you my bigger problem with china right now is economics and then if herman cain had explained how we've been losing ground since china went global in 1978 and talked about how we were also fighting against the forces of productivity and how actually we

would've had 30 million more people in the workplace if we were as productive today as we were in 19 the 3 and this is what we need to do as far as trade goes, as far as our relations with china goes. this is what we have to do about undervaluing the currency and the challenges, and we can pull jobs from europe. we're building jobs. in alabama, they're building mercedes, they're going to be building bmws, airbus -- >> but he's not. >> i would say, yeah, maybe herman cain's the guy. >> he's not. >> he doesn't even know that china doesn't have nuclear weapons. >> joe, doesn't this remind you of three years ago? sarah palin came on to the stage, made a brilliant acceptance speech -- >> so let's not waste our time. >> and she was the hollywood icon, the norma ray -- then it turns out when she was asked some tough questions like what do you read? it didn't work. had sarah palin done what you talked about. all right, i've only been governor for a year, all of these condescending guys are

saying i'm nothing. let me show you what i know, she would've a formidable figure. >> and by the way, jeff, if she'd done that -- >> but she's not. >> if after the race she'd gone home and done even what pat buchanan suggested and studied up on the issues, sarah palin would be in first place right now. but she decided not to do it. she decided to be a reality star instead. >> but the question is, the reason people keep talking about this, despite the fact that it's demonstrable that herman cain's act ii doesn't exist because the models we're used to judging people by which have always been in some doubt back to let's get henry ford as president, a business person, seemed to be doubled and tripled today because we've looked at the world -- people who read the books about how we got into this financial mess. turns out some of the smartest people in the world by their own measurements screwed us up. >> so the models are showing

there's an interest in cain. where does the media play a role in that? we have headlines like iran, the greek prime minister has stepped down, financial firms doing better than ever, and we're talking about herman cain. and why do you think his poll numbers are up? >> tell us how herman cain's going right now. we've had the story on the prompter for nine minutes. i know you don't want to talk about it, but go ahead and talk about it. how can you not like that guy? very likable guy. >> the harassment allegations surrounding businessman herman cain may be beginning to have an impact on his republican presidential bid. i'll read it slowly for the stupid people that want to hear this. >> according to the reuters poll -- i'm talking about cain's favorability among republicans dropped 9% in one week. i have a question out of this. >> well, you called me stupid, so i'm going to keep my mouth shut. >> last friday, a poll showed cain in a statistical dead heat

with mitt romney atop the gop field. i'm going to ask the same question i asked mark haleprin and he hedged politically around it. >> that's usually not what mark does. >> i understand -- >> play the voice mail. >> i understand america and i want to understand the republican party, i really do. of all the candidates, the republican candidates, which one on paper -- forget how you feel -- and give me your opinion. >> just ask the question. >> which one on paper is most qualified to win the nomination and take on obama on the issues? and is most -- >> okay, perry. >> i object, your honor, leading question. >> okay. the old model tells you it's mitt romney. i think based on what we've seen strictly on that basis. >> and on the issues that are really, really important to this country. >> lead him into china. >> you obsess about china. >> i hate getting involved in domestic -- >> i know. >> she wants you to say jon huntsman. >> i think the answer is newt

gingrich. >> oh, good god! >> wait a minute. >> you didn't expect that one, did you? >> excuse me. i followed -- i've followed your instructions. >> this is important. >> listen. go ahead. >> go ahead, jeff. >> when you read that item, it sounded like a hostage tape. >> well, it was. >> if you're looking at who can come out of the field and make arguments across a wide array of issues that we used to think mattered of these candidates, i think the answer is gingrich. >> well, i can't be objective because he lashes out about my father all the time. i can't be objective. i recuse myself. >> we all appreciate it. let's talk about newt gingrich. >> okay. all right. >> so jeff, newt gingrich, it's fascinating you bring him up because i think newt's the next guy, possibly the next guy. he made some terrible mistakes,

he stepped on a lot of land mines and put down himself. but if you're looking for the next guy, former speaker of the house. in iowa this past weekend, michele bauchmann's getting tepid applause, he was treated like a rock star. this was a guy if he could discipline himself for more than a week at a time. if he could discipline that mouth of his -- >> but he can't. >> you can't either. you said you were going to stay out of the conversation. he can gain traction. and actually, jeff, newt gingrich is going up in the polls. we may see a surge by newt in late december. >> i actually had to watch the alabama/lsu game. it's a shame one of those two teams had to win. but i did tape the gingrich/cain thing and watched it. and the thing you see when you watch gingrich, particularly in a setting like that when he's not limited to a minute, there is a range of responses that he gives that i don't think any other candidate can give. he knows the stuff probably too

well. he'll tell you the details of the medicaid and medicare problem as he sees it. he also, by the way, is very skilled at feeding the conservatives, red meat or outright demagoguery when he says let's abolish the congressional budget office, let's cut off electricity for the judges we don't like. i'm not sure he made that point, but came close. he has an ability to deal with these issues which i think is why he's the next guy up. >> he could be the next guy up. mark haleprin, for people that have only heard gingrich speak in sound bites, i will tell you -- stop that, look at your face. i just saw your face in the monitor. that's why people are e-mailing me about your facial expressions and you're usually doing that for me. but for people who have never heard gingrich speak -- i will say this about gingrich, he would have been a great -- and i'm not being facetious, a great 19th century candidate. you hear these stories about these guys that would get up and

speak for an hour in crowds. newt gingrich -- the longer newt goes, the better he gets. and if you actually are ever in a locked caucus room like i was and forced to listen to him an hour, i will guarantee you, even if you're trying to overthrow him at the time, and i was, you sit there in attention because he knows what he's talking about. it's just a stham thhame he's a demagogue. he could go far. >> it's still the case of mitt romney even in this unstable climate has the best chance by far of being the nominee. but one of the other republican candidates will get hot. normally you want to organize a lot and get hot at the end. >> does organization matter? >> it does matter. but rick perry could get hot, someone's going to find their voice and speak --

>> ron paul's the only -- he's organized. >> not really. not in a conventional sense. >> really? >> he has troops, but it's limited. >> nobody's organized. jon meacham, before mika gives another nasty face, what say you? >> i say that we forget sometimes that he had one of the most spectacular rises and falls in modern politics. remember in 1995, this time in 1994, almost exactly this week -- >> tomorrow, 17-year anniversary. >> 17 years ago, he was remaking american politics. he was the smart boomer who was on the right side, the right-wing side as opposed to the left-wing side. clinton had gone too far. and by '98 it's over. >> "time" magazine named him person of the year. bill clinton having to say, i'm still relevant, read your constitution, i'm in there somewhere.

>> i love these debates more than anything because you have this -- it's like the great thanksgiving dinner. and uncle newt who puts his fingers up and making the three very, very smart points, which you're right about. he is a 19th century figure. but politics, presidential politics, and certainly governing is about more than talking. and we have a record that gingrich talks well sometimes and has just not governed well. >> jeff? >> what i'm suggesting here is something that a very smart pollster mentioned to me a year ago. when i asked her who called -- and i was polling nationally. she said i think at the end of the day or whatever cliche i put in her mouth, the republicans are looking for a problem-solver. and you've seen a whole bunch of people who presented themselves as that have fallen by the wayside, pawlenty, mitch daniels, perry was supposed to be that guy.

and if the republican base decides that the hollywood movie has had its run, maybe we want somebody who has some experience governing whatever the reality of his success or failure. gingrich is a candidate to become the other guy. if romney's going to be there like pawlenty, somebody that's nobody particularly interested in, but maybe they have to take them. and all i'm suggesting is when we make these judgments, he's finished, he's toast, we should remember back to three or four years ago when a guy named mccain in the summer of '07 was bankrupt without a staff and played a long game and waited for the others to either destroy each other or destroy themselves and wound up the nominee of a republican party that didn't like him. >> didn't like him. >> that's all i'm saying. >> i didn't know how to do predictions, if i did, i'd have the powder bowl. >> and by the way, mika, the long game is even longer this

year in '12 because republicans have changed their rules. this one's probably going to be going into the summer. >> you talk about who they want, and i just wonder if they want someone who can win. do they want someone who can win? >> and govern. wouldn't that be nice? parties never focus on that. they never do. coming up next, the supercommittee's deadline to reach a deal is just over two weeks away. we'll talk to one of the group's 12 members. and a little later, senator chuck schumer will be here onset. but first, let's go to bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> delivering another beautiful day on the east coast, make this eight or nine in a row in most areas. and just wait until you see how warm it is tomorrow and wednesday. nice conditions here. middle of the country where all of the issues are. enjoy today, boston, d.c., all the rain this morning from st. louis down to interstate 44. and thunderstorms are in the forecast today for areas like dallas, ft. worth, could see strong thunderstorms with some large hail and damaging winds,

maybe an isolated tornado. it's not a surprise, usually we get a little mini severe weather season in november as the cold air from the north begins to arrive. you're watching "morning joe." we're brewed by starbucks. why did we build a 556 horsepower luxury car with a manual transmission? because there are those who still believe in the power of a firm handshake. the cadillac cts-v. manual or automatic, that's entirely up to you. we don't just make luxury cars, we make cadillacs.

the president needs this committee to fail. because he's already decided to run against what he calls the republican congress while he was lecturing in constitutional law, he missed that part of the article one that says there's a senate also, and the democrats control that, and as boehner said they're holding up a lot of legislation. if he's going to run against a do-nothing congress, it has to do nothing. >> all right. 22 past the hour. joining us now from washington, democratic congressman from maryland and ranking member of the house budget committee and a member of the so-called debt

supercommittee. representative chris van holland, good to have you back on the show, chris. so y'all close? >> will this get signed by the end of the day? >> look, you all know, this is a critical week coming up. the clock's ticking, just a little over two weeks. and that includes the time it will take to put the final touches on any agreement we might be able to reach. so i think everybody member understands that time is running out. this is the moment to get it done if we're going to get it done. >> so there are obviously things you're going to say and we're not going to say, and we're not going to play that game. >> let's play the game. >> it's boring. >> are you guys going to ask for an extension? >> no, i don't think -- >> you will have something by the deadline? >> well, we'll know by the deadline or not whether we're able to reach an agreement. >> so you don't know -- >> i don't think we should be asking for an extension. more time won't get us there. you know, unless we were really, really close, but, no, we're not

talking about an extension. >> jeff greenfield's here, and he's going to ask a question. >> is that what you want? no, chris, it's a really simple question. we saw months and months of what seemed like a system that was close to total dysfunctionalty. why should any of us who don't live in washington, who live in the heartland like here in manhattan, why should we have any optimism that congress will be able to do what it's been incapable of time after time? >> one is the pressure from the country watching and that sentiment you've expressed which is the feeling that congress can't get anything done. people would like to try to prove them wrong for the good of the country. every member of the committee came to this task recognizing the huge obstacles, but they also go home every weekend and hear people saying they want to get it done. number two, obviously if we do

not get an agreement, you could have an impact in the markets. and that would only make things worse for the economy. and number three, if we don't succeed, of course, you have this hanging over everyone's head, which includes pretty deep and arbitrary cuts across the board. so an agreement would be, obviously, the best solution, but as you indicated, we're trying in a very short time to overcome, you know, constraints that the congress has not been able to overcome in a longer period of time. but we're working harder to do that. >> mark haleprin? >> good morning. >> good morning. >> we saw scores of your colleagues, including a lot of republicans write a letter saying we're open to new revenue to fix this. has that letter had any impact on the republican colleagues you have on the supercommittee and change their openness to new revenue as a way to deal with this? >> well, mark, i hope it will. in other words, i hope they'll get a sense that there are members in the house on the republican side who understand that you've got to take this balanced approach.

like other bipartisan groups have done. unfortunately, the day after that letter came from a bipartisan group in the house saying you have to have this balanced approach, you had a letter organized by senator jim demint in the senate saying they don't want any net tax revenues on the table. and unfortunately, that was signed by three members of the gang of six. so these members are getting very mixed signals, we're hoping that at the end of the day they recognize this bipartisan group needs to take the same approach as the other bipartisan group and take that balanced approach. >> but those letters are posing, right? they're posing for the home district. their home districts, right? home states. >> absolutely. but they do have, i believe, you know an impact on what members of the committee think the political traffic will bear in the congress. but look, everybody's very focused right now on trying to get the job done.

one is a piece of this to help get the economy moving again. because the congressional budget office has pointed out over a third of the current deficit is because the economy is stagnant. >> right. >> and second, take a balanced approach over the ten years and beyond. again, along the lines of the framework of these bipartisan groups. that makes the most sense as you indicated, a major obstacle is the willingness of some of our colleagues to close down some of the loopholes, ask the folks at the top -- >> let's move on, congressman, we've got 87 people at the desk and they want to ask a question. jon meacham, perfect backdrop, though, politically to provide some cover. greece, we're seeing a meltdown in europe because of debt. i think that actually gives them some cover. >> was the question of -- and i was going to ask the congressman, to what extent does the international situation play into these conversations? do you all say, oh, my god, we can't become greece?

and we need to -- if we're going to come out of this thing, we have to be fearful on a political level. not just of next cycle, but of four years, six years out. >> i think this situation in europe with the banking crisis and the debt crisis feeds in two ways. one is that what happens there obviously help weaken our economy today, right now. which makes it all the more important that we, number one, do something on the jobs front and the economy. and number two, getting back to the earlier question, it would obviously help provide some boost in confidence if we were able to show on a bipartisan basis to get things done. the point you're making which is, yes, on the long-term, we need to act now in the fiscal house in order. otherwise you will begin to see the kinds of problems you're seeing creeping in greece and throughout europe. >> go ahead. >> well, he talks about -- yeah.

acting now. i just want to do a little retrospect. bill clinton has a book out. it's in a new book and he talks about criticizing the current president obama saying he should've increased the debt limit while democrats controlled congress. >> should've tackled the debt limit issue when democrats controlled congress. >> do you think he should've? >> well, look, we can all look back and engage in monday-morning quarterbacking, but i'm not sure at that point in time you could have gotten agreement on that. what i've heard is in the lame-duck session that we should've dealt with this right after the elections. but i'm not sure that our republican colleagues would have been in bigger mood to do it that point in time than before. that came right after the midterm elections, you had a lot of tea party candidates that had just been elected. rather than looking back, i do think if we can get the economy moving again and do something to

tackle the long-term debt, at least a down payment on that, that would help restore a confidence and help all around. and, you know, what you're asking about today in terms of letters, the dueling letters is really the issue we're struggling. those who say look, we're prepared to take a balanced deal and those who are not. >> jeff greenfield, i'm optimistic, and i usually don't get optimistic, this country's going to do something. >> i hope you're right. >> what do you think? >> my optimism level is at historic lows right now. >> all right. >> joe, we're hoping to do a little better than alabama. sorry about alabama. >> oh, my god, seriously? the team with a turtle as a mascot? come on. we only fell to number three, chris. >> my redskins lost too yesterday. >> i know. it's a shame.

>> chris van hollen. >> what do you think about shanahan? what a surprise. >> that was quite the picture of him today. >> thanks, congressman. >> thank you. >> chuck todd is next. >> why does he hate when loving would be so much easier? [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up

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jon meacham, looking at the white house. we were talking offset about a man who has shaped american culture for a long time who turned 93 today. >> billy graham. william franklin graham who -- asked him what his first memory was and he said my father calling. his father calling him from across the field. you can't make this stuff up. but a formidable life in global evangelical circles. and someone who, north americand mike duffy did a great book about his relationship with all

the presidents from eisenhower forward. learned from his mistakes making remarks with richard nixon caught on tape and has moved away from politics and more toward theology, a good lesson for a lot of people. >> for preachers. and you said he was early on civil rights and as well as i was talking about how he went to the soviet union and a lot of conservatives criticized him for it. but he basically said they're christians there too. >> right. he was a media creature in some ways. back in the end of the '40s really pushed him. hurst insisted, i want this man publicized because he was leading crusades, an economist, and he wouldn't preach in segregated halls very early. and he did cross the line in his own words, in '68 he went to president johnson with a message

from richard nixon saying mr. nixon wants you to know that if he's elected, you're getting full credit from him. it was a way of asking him not to intercede on behalf of hubert humphrey. i think after that, he repented if that's the right word. but definitely a man over the decades who had a very -- always among the most admired people in america in every poll every year. >> no doubt about it. have they ever heard of billy graham in tennessee? >> i believe they have. >> i believe they have. >> not vanderbilt. >> anybody who has lived in the southeast -- we were talking about this too, everybody in the southeast knows for so many southerners for a generation, from my grandmom, my parents, everybody, billy graham is like our pope. >> jimmy carter taught graham -- he was brilliant at mastering every element of media. and they would do films where he couldn't go and someone would lead a conversation about it.

jimmy carter was the explicator. >> there you go. all right. chuck todd -- >> what does that word mean? >> chuck todd is next. we'll be right back with more "morning joe."

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welcome back to "morning joe." joining us now, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director and the host of "the daily rundown." >> he's a little bit of everything. >> he's so busy. chuck todd. >> good morning. >> chuck, the cain train, it keeps going, buddy. >> no, it doesn't. >> mika's afraid we're going to hijack, aren't we? >> we're going to do rapid-fire questions very quickly. herman cain's holding up surprisingly well, why are we

talking about him? because he's a front-runner in a lot of these polls. >> you know what's interesting, it feels as if his supporters are basically saying, you know, thumbing their nose at the media, thumbing their nose at the elite republicans. it was interesting to see over the weekend a lot of the establishment republicans scratching their heads. as surprised that basically cain is holding up. i'll tell you, if you saw this stuff in 2010, it actually shouldn't come as a surprise. >> and we're looking at newt gingrich, number four in this washington post abc poll, he seems to be picking up. he may make a push. the candidates were in iowa, it was newt getting the biggest rounds of applause. >> it is. i'll be -- the question is, does newt have staying power? there's always this good newt/bad newt. the intellectual guy that sits up there and you're like, wow, he's the smartest guy on stage, he really can go deep on a lot of issues. and then he'll pop off on

something bizarre. or he goes too far on a criticism of someone that seems over the line. that's his history. can he actually go six months without doing that? i don't know. >> like calling cabinet members stalin? >> that's a mistake. anyway, go ahead. jeff greenfield's here. >> how you doing, chuck? >> how you doing, buddy? >> all the nonsense, that for all the months and months of people going around iowa, that the good people of iowa don't start focusing on these essentially fraudulent caucuses until a few weeks out. what do you think? >> wow, fraudulent caucuses. i don't think they're fraudulent. >> we'll talk about it another time. >> and i'll argue at least on the republican side it's a secret ballot and they don't have the whole business of threshold, all the complicated

bureaucracy that the democrats created. i think there's something to that. they'll start focusing. and iowans usually punish candidates that don't take the caucuses seriously. and herman cain is not going back to iowa again for another ten days. he's not spending a lot of time in iowa even though he's doing well. the two guys doing the best in the polls are the two guys not spending time in iowa, romney and cain, and that's going to come back to haunt them. >> i have a hypothesis. >> that's double greek, isn't it? when you throw in the hypo. >> herman cain's poll numbers are up because he keeps getting this feeding frenzy of media attention because it's like red meat for the media. and he really shouldn't be where he is. >> well -- >> i do think he's being helped by the fact, it's right now, the media is reinforcing the feelings conservatives have toward the media saying, boy, they'll just tear down a conservative any time he gets

any traction. and because, you know, cain's benefitting that his accusers are staying no, ma'anonymous. there's basically a he said/lawyer said. and under those circumstances, the he said guy's going to win every time. >> chuck, after mitt romney comes in , say, second, will we look back on this period and say, of course it was going to be mitt romney all along the way it was going to be john mccain as we got closer to iowa and new hampshire? >> i think that's -- that's the 7 out of 10 likelihood if you run the scenario ten times. that's probably what it is seven times. but when you look at romney's numbers, they're not strong with the voters. they need to be strong with in order to win republican primaries. and at some point, does that -- does that cost him somewhere -- first of all, second place in iowa won't necessarily be a good thing for him. winning -- if all he can come up with. if he wins one of iowa or south carolina, it's over, okay.

he will end this thing. but if he's 1 for 2 going into florida, then we're in for a long -- we might be in for a long haul that he eventually grinds out. but it won't be easy. >> jon meacham, the difference between romney and mccain. mccain is a guy who came in at 1980 as a reagan guy. he was a war hero. he was a conservative until he knew he had to run as a moderate in 2000 against bush. he was the type of guy that my dad would go john mccain, yeah, vote for him. that ain't mitt romney. i'm not knocking mitt romney. i'm just saying, mccain had a greater reservoir of good will, even through a dysfunctional campaign and lurch left over eight years that pulled people like my dad in. >> yeah. i hesitate to throw out too many analogies with jeff greenfield at the table because he'll check them, but this is not unlike 1988 where you had george h.w.

bush, not a lot of affection for him. bob dole ran in iowa. >> pat robertson in second place in iowa. we saw, i remember jeff greenfield in '98 an op-ed in the "new york times," the george bush that i know because everybody in '87 was calling bush a wimp. saying he was too weak to be president. >> yeah. in '80. >> in '87, though, everybody said he was a wimp, he was too weak to win, he wasn't a conservative, and it's not the george h.w. bush we talk about today. >> i've got an analogy riddle for greenfield, what about mccain as george mcgovern. riddle me that. what if the republicans or democrats of '72? >> certainly worth a column or two and several minutes of air time. definitely.

>> all right. >> what if martin van buren was on "the daily rundown?" >> it would be an exclusive. >> the idea of a guy with an intense -- >> it would be an exclusive. and look at chuck todd. i love this guy. 19 loses this weekend, but i love chuck todd because he was actually tweeting about his great miami hurricanes doing well against duke. >> it was against duke. that's all i got. you know what, buddy, you've been there before. you know it happens. >> i have. >> i'm on the low end of the ebb, i hope. i hope i'm about to go up on the roller coaster. >> it wasn't so long ago we were losing to hawaii in bowl games. >> thank you, jeff greenfield, come back soon if you will. >> i'll bring a family therapist. wanna know the difference between a trader and an elite trader? it's this... the etrade pro platform. fast. beautiful. totally customizable. finds top performing stocks -- in three clicks.

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flaco, again protected well. it is caught for the touchdown by smith. >> really. i swear to god if that had happened on my high school football team or yours, a receiver gets behind you at the end of the game you'd be off the team. >> he took a bad angle on ta one. >> that's what they are going to

be saying today when they're breaking down the film. >> tough day in the film room. joining us now pro football talk.com nbc's meek floria is with us. also the dog. >> the dog is here. >> lsu football. >> you are a punk. >> i knew you'd say that. >> by the way, a rematch. i'm surprised i'm happy. alabama is number 3. >> i think sanford will win enough games. >> win enough games. you're going to lose. >> nobody is going to swallow a rematch on this one. alabama lost at home. >> if you guys get paid to do sports analysis, give your checks back because bama is going to be there against lsu. >> ravens, steelers last night.

nice throw there by flaco at the end of the day. >> very important wein for the ravens. a huge performance out of flaco. had two drops and still went 2e9 yards. here we go. show the clip. i love the dog. >> touchdown pass, mike. this is a pass interference. >> this rookie has bad manners. >> how do you not guard the endzone in that situation. >> drop everybody back. >> look at this. it is the end of the game. you're thinking okay. they may through it in the endzone. >> bad angle. >> he doesn't just jump behind the receiver. he jumps b s behind the receive

>> the ravens have been ignored. they did great. for new yorkers only one game this week. >> let's give eli manning some credit. looks like brady had him down. >> he's been doing it every week quietly this week. he said it at the beagaining of the season he's an elite quarterback. he's getting it done. i think part of it is he sees ha his brother payton is going through. >> he is a great fourth quarter quarterback. two drives on this game. the patriots' defense stinks. they cannot run the ball. >> other than that, they are pretty talented. >> packers chargers. >> 45 points aaron rogers puts up on the board. tough day for rivers.

>> you cannot let the chargers back into it that could be the achilles heel. >> they are going to win the nfc. 8-0. remember, their last two dames at home. chicago at christmas. then they played the lions the last game of the year on new year's. it is not impossible, mike. >> the biggest question mark i have right now about a franchise has got to be the redskins. they have had years. they have had different coaches. they cannot win football gaems. >> they have the money. they have the head coach they wanted. >> they always have a head coach. then two years later he decides he wants somebody else. remember this, when dan snyder decided he was done with jim, he spent a year trying to get shanahan. john beck.

shanahan said i'll stake my reputation on beck. >> shanahan had gotten three quarterbacks wrong. how many more mistakes? >> he's got a big contract. how about the 9ers? >> what about the 9ers. >> 7-1, mike. they're going to get the two seed. five games left in the division. >> with jim harbaugh, he is the guy that can punch whatever xs and os. >> is there a better young coach in america on hard ball? amazing what he's doing for the 9ers. >> les miles is better. >> he's 58 so he's not young.

>> even though he's a hater do you think i can borrow his name? i want to be dog because i'm noisy. people like that. >> it's perfect. we'll be right back.

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whoa! chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. apply now at chasesapphire.com/preferred good morning. it is 8:00 on the east coast. welcome back to "morning joe." back tonight set is halgren. >> it is a fascinating storys? it is. more women sleeping treatments

than men. >> i thought it was very timely and certainly applies to me. i'm actually being quite serious. but, yeah. >> while you were on sleep m medicati medication. >> i didn't get a lot of sleep myself saturday. >> i bet you didn't. sorry. >> i'm going to be gracious. >> you're not going to hear me say that but for that terrible interception call on the goal line, but for the horrible offensive play calling by alabama or just the fact that alabama is a better team than lsu, we lost anyway. you're not going to hear me saying that. >> did you see this, though, the bcs standing they are only number 3. >> these teams are going the play again. i will never understand that

call. i just won't. that was something. alabama guy has the ball. he's on the ground. the lsu guy still has his right arm not on the ball and they give lsu the ball. >> if it's even close they go to the receiver. >> it was horrible. but i gotta say this, know. alabama as they did last year had the best 57 players on their team of any football team. and i never blame the kids for any loss really. for a team this good you blame the coaches. on the offensive side as well because you knew what plays they were going to run. it's bill simmons mom test. if your mom is saying why is the coach doing that. susan was watching the game. she's not a beg football. she was like please don't run the ball up the middle on second

and nine. >> wow. >> and they would go here comes the ball lsu. >> it was a story of two great defenses. people on line said it was terrible. leek seeing a great pitching dual. sloppy plays, special interceptions. if you love football that was great to watch. >> there is not a close third. they would take stanford and eat them whole. >> stanford's got a really tough game this weekend against oregon. >> speaking of a honey badger -- >> the little guy. >> that's the guy that took drake's head off, right. >> whose head off? >> draker. >> it was a cheap shot.

i thought lsu players showed a lot of class. les miles showed a lot of class in that press conference afterward. said, you know, nick saben's a good coach. anyway, lsu they are an incredible team. did you see it? >> saw every minute of it. >> were you bored by it? >> no. it was a great game. the intensity was palpable. that was a great game. >> no doubt about it. >> let's get to the news. the washington post this morning is reporting new government data that shows profits for america's largest financial firms are once again reaching record highs not seen sense before the financial crisis of 2008. in fact, wall street firms have earned more in the first two and a half years of the obama presidency over the bush presidency. >> wait. you mean in the first two years

they made more than in eight years than in the bush administration. >> that's correct. >> their campaign contributions paid off very well for them. >> what's also interesting is how big bank cans actus can act profit off of it. >> we talk a lot about an independent movement or some third force between the two established parties that are dominating american politics really since the civil war. >> right. >> exhibit a. >> exhibit a. you know the thing is -- >> two we think. >> exactly. this chart is actually, it doesn't tell the story. if you did it per year it would be even more pushed to the guy who claims that he's with the occupy wall street movement. there are two we thinks of the same party. >> yeah. >> there is no doubt about it. >> so listen to this.

the data also shows the largest banks have increased their assets by 10% sense 2009 and reported profits of $34 billion per year. wall street oos avera's average by 16 preponderate 1% and they gave out $12 million in bonuses last year. i think this might have been the deal they missed along with not being compelled to encreaser that lending as the prime reasons behind the profits. meanwhile, the latest washington post abc news poll found 61% of americans disa prove with how the way president obama is handling the economy and only 13% of americans say they are better off today than they were before president obama took office. >> that being said, i think most

americans still blame george w. bush for the recession. >> tez obviously a lot of spillover. >> so those numbers are bad. >> but there is a -- you look at the percentages. >> there is something wrong. >> did you see that story yesterday? >> which one. >> in the new york times. the front page of the new york times magazine. i thought percentages would kick it off where there is a 47% chance barack obama will have an in grown toenail by tend of the month. a 32% chance that he may not. >> i was too busy trying in ind the message. >> that's the reagan test. are you better off. >> but, that being said, mark halpren, the president still wins in most matchups. >> he's doing surprisingly well given the state of the economy. there is something out of whack

in our country when our financial institutions who got government help could be doing we well. we need to bail out the middle class i think will be the slogan for one of the presidents. >> neither party can do it. over the past four to six years neither party can do it. >> i just done know how the president can continue to go out with a straight face and talk about the fat cats on wall street. with the way they have done over the last two years, we had the washington post story last year. he's got more money than all the republican candidates come beaned. >> we don't mind him getting $38,000 per fat cat on a friday night. >> fine. >> which he does and he fills up a room of his so-called fat cats. $38,000 to come have din we are me but the next morning he flies out to kansas and he talks about fat cats who he just shook down

for $38,000 per person high pressure how stupid does he think america is? >> exactly 20 years since ptd clinton, governor clinton then managed to take the war for the middle class out of the cultural terms and put it in economic terms. the engines of social mobility in the country, education, jobs that can stay here are just evaporating so rapidly. >> right. >> it is not a form of class war fair to say that when wall street does so well, that's -- you cannot say that's sbenicily bad, however. tez bad ultimately for the country p they are making that much money and there is not enough spillover where it creates employment and growth and opportunity for people here. >> the biggest problem is, john, it is not the massive profits. i have never worried about

anybody raking in cash. if it were just happening this year, or over the past three or four. the problem is, and this is what i try to tell my conservative brethren and my republican brethren. it is about class warfare if you just point at one person saying look how rich they are. we need to take their money. but if you're talking about a 30 year trend where you can see the trend lines of the middle class going like this, if you can see a trend going back to 1973 as jeffrey sack says in his book. >> yeah. >> it says the average income for men has been falling since 1973. we say men because there weren't as many women in the work force at the time. our average wage has been falling since 1973, and yes, the rich are getting richer. the poor are getting poorer.

and the rich have been getting richer under republican presidents and democratic presidents. under this democratic president over the last two years the rich on wall street have gotten richer faster than ever before and the chart just showed it. so this isn't a republican or democratic issue. this is a middle class issue. >> and there were two factors that created the post world war ii prosperity in the country that can be recovered. one was a public education syst system. the other was there was a sense of the role of public money to be spent in terms of private growth. what gave us the internet? what gave us with the

dishwasher. >> let's start with the first two. dwight eisenhower. what gave us moon shot, eisenhower saying our government is going to get aggressive and we're not doing this just to get people. we're doing this to keep up with the soviets. in return these sign tests, these math me tigss, these engineers that eisenhower invested in in 1957 they created a generation of economic growth. got us to the moon, created the internet, did all of these le markable things. >> tang. >> gave us tang. very, very important. >> hang on a second. >> for kids that are watching, this is the drink, tang.

>> it was not one or -- the point is you could have a conversation, you could have a political conversation in which it was not one or the other. it was not the law of the excluded note. you would have public spending and private contractors and that's what gave us this. you can't just blindly dismiss one or the other. >> before we move on to the other block, i saw a news piece over the weekend. didn't see a lot of coverage but i think it is like occupy wall street where it is going to percolate and something more. national bank transfer day. they had like 82,000 people responding online to it. people were calling in for a shift of their funds from four profit banking institutions to nonprofit credit unions. as you can see here in several cities across the country it maim kind of a day of celebration when people walked out of big banks with their receipts cashing out and going

to small banks where they have more trust and less fees an they done feel like -- >> the four credit unions are finally having tear day. i have to tell you, i have never seen any group -- this is great. yay. >> just watch. >> shifting it to credit unions. i have never seen so many congressmen and people fear as when the credit unions back in the 1990s got their people call. i have never seen lobbying like the credit union so it is very funny i am seeing these people dressed you have hitting bonngo. >> dope make fun. >> i'm not. can we talk about herman cain. >> yes. >> people like mike halperin and

me have been saying herman cain is not qualified to be president. can i tell them why i have been saying that? only reason i have been saying that is because he's not qualified to be president. but the cain train just keeps going. >> there is delicious cartoon stuff from over the weekend. >> do not interrupt political analysis of mine with the word delicious. that does not fit. >> nothing is delicious in politics except black walnut ice cream. >> oh yeah. okay. >> cain train just keeps on going down the track. >> raising money. poll numbers are fine. s his supporters are skeptical of the allegation. >> i love when he comes out and says i'm on message. rather than saying the actual message. message i care. it will be interesting. two debates this week. one on the economy and one on foreign policy. >> when is the economy debate?

>> wednesday, cnbc. >> good stuff. >> then saturday night in south carolina on foreign policy. >> i can't wait. >> going to be interesting. mr. cain had some slip ups on foreign policy. >> has he really? >> he was down in the reuters's poll over the weekend. >> republicans. favor ability. >> still hanging on in the horse race and has raised a lot of money. >> john huntsman still struggling but still believing he can make a run. how did he do? >> very tough on romney. people have to recognize there is going to be a romney alternative. huntsman in new hampshire has as good a chance to test met romney. >> i want to get a replay. you know at the top of the show i was talking about lsu and i

was joking. i will tell you in my personal life and i showed my bad side here on tv. i want to salute the lsu players. >> that is so nice. >> no. seriously. they show sod much class after the game. and les showed -- everybody from alabama always says les is dumb. they started that this week, too. i said if he's so dumb, why does the he always out coach us in the big games. les is not dumb. he is a great football coach and he showed class after that game. i think you're right, too. i think it was a great game played by two great teams and anybody whining that there weren't enough touchdowns doesn't know what real football is. >> it was like whining about a greatpitcher's dual. just because there weren't home runs doesn't mean it wasn't a great game. >> you think they are the two

greatest. >> probably. but i don't think they should play again. coming up next, jonathan capehart. race against the machines. he will bring in an mit professor who says technology is hurting our recovery. >> he's hurting our economy. >> he's just hurting. >> hurting america. i have to figure that out. >> good morning, everyone. all the travel trouble and problems are going to be in the middle of the country the next two days, especially texas, oklahoma and kansas. right now showers and thunderstorms moving across oklahoma. still a draught in the area. we just don't want severe storms. every november we usually get one or two severe weather out breaks. nothing too bad today and tomorrow. isolated tornados are possible. dallas ft. worth, you have to oklahoma city, keep your eye on that.

west coast looks kind of chilly but all right. the east coast, how gorgeous is that. temperatures are going to be up near 60 degrees. no one can really complain. tomorrow it gets even better on the east coast as all than stormy weather continues to spread from texas to chicago. you're watching "morning joe" presented by starbucks. i trade on fundamentals. analysis. information. i trade on tradearchitect. this is web-based trading, re-visualized. streaming, real-time quotes. earnings analysis. probability analysis: that's what opportunity looks like. it's all visual. intuitive. and it's available free, wherever the web is. this is how trade strategies are built. tradearchitect. only from td ameritrade. welcome to better trade commission free for 60 days when you open an account.

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the president need this is commission to fail because he's already decided to run against the republican in congress.

he missed that part of the article 1 that say there is is a senate also and the democrats control that and as boehner said they are holding up a lot of legislation. if he's going to run against a do-nothing congress it has to do nothing. >> this is a critical week coming up. the clock is ticking. we've got just a little over two weeks and that includes the time it will take to put the final touches on any agreement that we might be able to reach so i think every member understands that our time is running out. this is the moment to get it done if we're going to. i don't think we should be asking for an extension. more time won't get us there. unless we were really, really close. no, we're not talking about an extension. >> joining us now democratic senator from new york with us. also head writer for the washington post and msnbc reporter jonathan capehart. >> hello. >> good to have you all here.

>> good to be here. >> we saw the chart earlier today showing how the rich have gotten richer and how the rich have gotten exponentially richer over the past two years. this is not just about barack obama. shocking that the wealthy, the top 1% has accumulated more in the top two years than they did over bush's eight years. that's going on. >> well, i think one of the fundamental things going on is the restructuring of our economy and not in a healthy way. if you don't have a strong middle class america is not going to move in this direction. between 2001 and 2007, the time that we had growth middle class declined. it's gotten worse now, as you know, during the recession. >> yeah. >> i think there is a fundamental thing happening that we have to examine that goes beyond the immediate jobs

problem. in a new kind of economy, wealth naturally aggregates to the top. it is not a political statement. it is an economic statement. take two people. henry ford, bill gates. they each created a brand new idea, mass production of cars, mass production of computer platform. but, henry ford needed a million people to carry it out because it's a product. make the car, gas the cars, transport the cars, to repair the cars. >> right. >> so he created a million people that got $10,000 a year who never had that before. huge middle class p bill gates didn't need many people. yeah, it was physical. it was a little hard board thing you bought but he only needed 10,000 people to carry it out so he created 10,000 peop$10,000 p made a million. >> i don't know if you ever heard this stat but i'm glad to hear you talking about this because americans have to have it put in perspective. i saw an article about steve jobs' death saying, yes he was a

great innovator. take all the people that worked at apple, intel, microsoft, facebook. the top seven tech companies. yes, but at least we have this. they only have 1/3 of the number of people working for gm in 1970. >> you got it. >> look at up state new york. >> you got it. >> i lived in up state new york when eastman kodak was up. they had huge companies up there. how do we rebuild up state new york? how do we rebuild the economy? >> you need a couple things here. eastman kodak had 65,000 people in rochester. they kept it here, most of it in 1985. they now have less than 7,000. and yet, here is the good news. the rochester economy has about the same number of jobs. with that loss and xerox cut back and bausch & lomb, there are a lot that are growing. some of them do certain kind f

of service type things. we have to encourage those and how do you do that? there are three ways i think in the first, education. you have to have better education. rochester has a very well educated labor force. that's the only reason it is still on the map. >> great schools. >> public an private. listed as one of the 20 best in u.s. news. number one is education both k through 12 and college. and this idea of cutting back on we in pell grants or student loans. we have to change our trade laws. i know all of the elites. here is a company in rochester, okay. makes these lenses that are very technical. had 100 people three years ago. now has 300. they need engineers. that relates to point one.

china has basically told them unless you come make it in china we're not sending you the rare herbs. china is sucking away our middle level companies whether they are manufacturing or even service. >> so what's point number three? i agree with you completely. >> point number three is our tax code. and this is a place where i might agree with some of our conservatives. in the long run has to be more focussed on helping production not consumption. american can't be the consumption giant out becoming again the production giant. >> oh, my god. >> we do those three things -- sorry to go on here. the 2012 election, 2011 was about budget cuts. 2012 is going to be about jobs, growing the economy, helping the middle class who now seems beleaguered for the reasons you have sited that their incomes are not keeping up with their costs. and that's why i think that

actually we're going to be in better shape. >> jonathan capehart. >> senator, do you think we'll ever go back to the days pre-september 15th, 2008? basically are we in a new normal? will we ever have growth rates and employment rates that we saw then? >> here is what i think, jonath jonathan. i'm an optimist. america is a practical self-correcting country. we have a lot of things no other country has. we have a great system in terms of rule of law. our economic fundamental system is best. we tell people, other countriesed to, not india, not china. go for the stars. we're not going to put barriers in our way. i would argue to you that between 2000 or 1995 and 2007

all we did is consume. and now our total focus is on cut, cut, cut, cut . well, some things should be cut. i don't disagree with the waste. health care costs need to come down but some things we should growing. such as education, such as infrastructure. >> senator you mentioned taxes a minute ago. there's been this argument the last several weeks of the president wanting to raise taxes on the mill millionaires versus closing loopholes. >> i think we can do bot. the problem on the other side, when they say close loopholes they say we want no net revenues. i don't think the super committee is going to succeed because our republican colleagues have said no net revenues. the millionaires, taxing income is over a million. remember what we proposed.

>> right. >> hold on a second. democrats, we know. i worked with you in congress. we know how these letter go. they are playing for the cheap seats. democrats are doing the same thing with associate security and medicare. don't you think a bill at the end of the day will be done? >> no. look, when democrats move too far left we move. we're now the basic stream of democrats. we're willing to move to the middle. we are willing to entertain. >> you're willing to slow down the raet of growth in medicare, social security. >> correct. they are not willing to do any revenues. and here's what's happening. this is why you're seeing a gradual change in the poll numbers. the american people are beginning to sniff that the other side has dug in and not compromising. here is an interesting statistic that i as democrat like to look

at. in the last two months who do you prefer to be in congress, democrat or republican? one poll said 47-21 republican democrat and now it is 45-41. that's for two reasons. one, they see they are being extreme. two, we are focusing on jobs in the middle class. again, i think that the middle class angst and who can do more about it is the issue in 2012. and the average middle class person doesn't believe government is the negative on this. they believe that a government helps them it's a good thing. >> senator, you talked earlier about how this country has this amazing ability to self-correct and yet i agree with you it doesn't sound like that tl is going to be a deal. >> well, we done self-correct in a week. i mean 30 years. it is just not time pz. >> the inability of democrats an republicans to compromise, isn't

that feeding and perhaps leading the way to our inability to self-correct? >> i would say this that democrats, not talking about what people want to hear in 2010. i supported health care. i think it will be regarded as a good thing the end of the day but people were saying what about the economy. what about jobs. the call came from the republicans. cut back on government. i think that is being discredited now. so i think you're going to have -- it got delayed in a certain sense because health care came to the floor. >> let's just say it. >> my belief is 2013 and i won't predict the outcome of the election. is going to start focusing in a much more practical way. maybe even 2012. >> yes. >> if our republican colleagues begin to see that their strategy of no, no, no is going to fail and our strategy of focusing on middle class and anxiety will

succeed you can get a grand compromise in the middle of 2012 because you've got the tax cuts coming in 2012 and the -- >> senator we have to go. great to have you back. come back soon. our next guest will look at how technology is impacting the jobs economy. we'll be right back.

38 past the hour. fr professor of mes co-author of the new book race against the machine. driving productivity and irreversibly trance forming employment and the economy. >> doctor, thank you so much. >> love the tee l. >> thank you, doctor for being with us. somebody recommended you via twitter. i hit the leng and it is a fascinating book. it explains what is we need to know, americans need to know, that you'll have politicians on one side screaming at china and india and out sourcing. the other side they will be screaming about other things. >> uh-huh. >> the fact of the matter sis a lot of our problem is we're like

the matrix. >> not yet. >> but we're there a race against machine in our own productivity is one of our biggest challenges. >> that's right. there are plenty of political problems but what we talk about in this book is something deeper and scarier in a lot of way which is are some big changes happeni happening. the other thing that is not as widely known is this has actually been the best decade sense the 1960s in terms of productivity growth. >> we are more productive today than ever before. >> by far. >> where are the jobs? >> that's the thing. productivity is more output per worker. now, the way that's supposed to work is we all keep working. we all have more material things, more things we can use. but the way it's worked in the past decade in practice has been that we have fewer workers produce the same amount.

>> our economy is actually now more productive than it was before the recession is one point you bring out in your book. yet, how many less jobs? >> we right now have passed the out put of pre recession usa but we have 14 million people unemployed. >> wow. >> this is the problem. it is not out sourcing to end ya. i'm sorry. it is not that the textile plans have left and gone somewhere else. yes, tragedy. this is a far more complex issue from south carolina to central pennsylvania across the midwest. >> that gets to the question that i asked senator schumer. are we in a new reality. something post september 15, 2008? what do you do with these 14 million people whop don't have jobs. how are people who have exhausted their unploebloimunem

where can they go. >> the basic problem is technology has accelerated and is advancing much more rapidly than our ability to keep up with it. as a consequence the skills in our labor force is not keeping up. also you have to put only onus on sbentrepreneurs. historically people have found new jobs. i heard henry ford being mentioned. he created a whole new industry. 90% of the work force used to be on farms. those people are working lots of other productive things. today this generation of entrepreneurs is doing great but they have to work harder to create the new industries for the 21st century. >> you talk about bank tellers being gone now. i conditian't tell you the lasti saw a bank teller. we talked about suri.

he said this weekend i'm just not going to need a secretary in a couple years. you multiply that a million times and that is our challenge. >> truth is mark zuckerberg doesn't need as many people to carry out his business as henry ford did. >> right. >> so how do we harness the good things about grow jobs rather than continue to whittle them away. >> you're right. all those companies put together, facebook, my space, hire fewer people every month just to keep up with polllation growth. so it is great the value they are creating. what we need to do is a transformation of the economy. this is not something -- we're not going to go back to the way things were before. technology is advancing rapidly. google's car. truck drivers, taxi drivers.

all of us will soon be able to have atonymous things we can do. in the book we laid out 19 recommendation which is had to do with ways we can reform our education skills and also reform the way that we are creating new companies through entrepreneur ship. >> really is fascinating. i talked about the matrix. since you don't watch movies you don't know. there is an old classic story that my mom told me when i was young and that was john lavedhe against the steam engine. >> he was working at a railroad drilling through. the sad thing is although john henry won the battle against the machine at the end he collapsed from a heart attack and died. >> we hope it doesn't end that way. this is an updated version.

read it to your kids tonight. >> race against the machine. fascinating. thanks for coming on, erik. >> one thing that machine will never be able to do? what do you think. business before the bell. >> we could ask if suri could do it. >> we've got somebody that was born into a wealthy family and multiplied that. anyway, we'll be back. michelle francis talking about the greek crisis. >> we'll be right back.çó

we're just doing a little suri test and mika said. >> tell me about the crisis in greece. >> hits and goes to a website.

>> searching the web for the crisis in greece. >> and then pop, pops it up. >> it's funny, melissa, i'm looking at the latest news on the crisis in greece. i'd rather hear it from you. >> well -- >> the funny is on friday i'm sitting next to joe telling her what to do and it pecks up his voice and starts doing it. >> what do you do? make sure you enunciate. tell me about the crisis in greece. >> amazing. >> the crisis in greece is sort of solved for the moment at least. they have a coalition government in place. they have agreed to accept the bailout. they are going to putxd off elections for a period of time so immediately -- uh-oh. >> wait a second. tell us about the crisis in italy. >> the prime minister denying rumors that he's going to step down. how does he do it? he facebooked about it.

why not. that's what you would do if you were a leader of the country. >> especially if you want to reach out to 17-year-old woman. >> i think we have the page for you just in case you haven't visited his facebook page. he says the voices of his resignation are unfounded. he is also delaying the release of his latest album of love songs which sends my christmas list into a total tail spin. >> seriously. >> sounds like a joke. >> yet and yahoo's waltz. >> you want to know how the market is reacting. they were out there selling italian debt overnight in fears that this was the next heart of the crisis. they started buying it back and then selling it. basically says the market

doesn't trust that he can make the tough decisions for his country. maybe he should start tweeting. maybe people would have more confidence in him if he was tweeting. >> that could work. >> it's a mess. it continues to be a mess. >> the problem is that if greece ever solves its crisis for good we immediately turn to italy. >> and then spain. >> itly solves it, we immediately turn to spain. the dominos are lined up melissa. >> it will keep in me business for awhile longer. >> we'll be right back. have a great day, guys. announce] ananjanust how many applias are on our wish lists? 'cause this season, the timing couldn't be better. right now, we can get those black friday prices without fighting through all those black friday crowds, which means we can do more this year without waiting around for the season to start. ♪

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welcome back. time to talk about what we learned today. willie, what did we learn. >> i learned that you only had one out fit change. now you have come back home to sweet home, alabama. >> i got a text from my wife susan to let you know how rough this series is. trying to be nice to lsu. she texts me and say what is the hell do you mean lsu showed class. what about what they did during the game.