security scandal. a dozen secret service members protecting the president sent home for misconduct. what exactly did they do? a live report in minutes. a celebration, but why? north korea's rocket fail leads to a rally in the streets. we'll take you there live. a rare early storm warning as well. weather officials are already telling people in parts of the country, lookout. dangerous storms are headed your way. tax day approaches. it might not be so bad after all because some places are giving away free stuff. good morning, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." i'm richard lou in for alex today. first, president obama is attending the summit of the americas. 12 secret service personnel were dismused from the country amid accusations of misconduct. last night four small explosive devices were detonated in the site of the president's summit. joining me is the white house

correspondent mike have a caro. let's start with the explosions, reports say it was 45 minutes away from where the president was to be. any concern here? what are you hearing? >> reporter: so far no undow concern for this in the capital of columbia. the president arrived there last night and there have been some official functions. two small explosions in bogota and the president for the summit is in the city of cartagena. there were explosions at 8:00 p.m. last night in cartagena. they are said to be small with investigations underway, richard. >> also secret service personnel were dismissed. what do you know about that? >> these are uniform secret service agents in plain clothes in suits that are with the president virtually wherever he goes charged with protecting him. the uniform service secret is here on the white house grounds, a strong presence around the white house, operating the

checkpoints, traveling with the president. here's what we know. as first reported by "the washington post" last night, a dozen secret service personnel had been sent home from cartagena for misconduct with disagreements with prostitutes in cartagena. this happened before the president arrived in the country last night. >> and the secret service personnel, they are uniformed and look like police officers? >> they look like police officers, they will in uniforms, white shirts, black slacks, a stripe down the side. they are here on the presence in the white house grounds, around the embassies on massachusetts row and you often see them in cruisers as well. there are several hundred of them, i don't know the exact number, but they work in conjunction with the service service agents as part of the united states she secret service. >> all right. stand by, i want to bring in jonathan allen, what sort of

compromise are we talking about here? people might be saying there's a big concern here about perhaps these other individuals leveraging based on what we are hearing reported from mike baquero. we haven't heard this before, have we? >> well, i think that this is a story that we are still getting details from. i think that's probably a little bit of a bridge too far to start making assumptions of leveraging going on, of sort of foul play on the other side. i think this is a situation where the white house was hoping to get a message across and it's been undermined by this. the huffington post is headlined with the word "secret serviced." whatever the administration is hoping to get out of this, they are going to have to talk a lot about the secret service agents. it is a reminder that small uncontrollable things for an administration can really get underminded. >> was the president in danger,

that's what people are going to be asking. it doesn't appear to be so, but that's the first question most will be thinking. >> well, obviously there's danger any time you have agents shuffling in and out, but it sounds like folks believe that there won't be an immediate danger in terms of the danger. there's prostitution involved and always a question of whether or not somebody is compromising service information. if you have a lapse in judgment like that, whatever lapses in judgment you have, but it is too early to tell what actually happened. we really don't have a lot of information. i know they reported last night there was one agent involved with prostitution, but a dozen got sent home. so it is not clear yet what has happened there. >> okay. the president is meeting with 30 leaders today and how this could affect the meetings? >> like jonathan said, one small thing can divert attention. the president really, when it

comes down to it, the white house staff is loathed to leave the country during an election season. when so much is going on, with the data up and down, as a matter of fact, the president on his way to colombia yesterday stopped in tampa to talk about the importance of this trip to jobs here at home. so they want to bring the focus back to jobs and bring the focus back to the economy. certainly, these sorts of diversions so far do not appear to be a threat to the president in any way, shape or form. just one nuisance to say the least. >> thank you. jonathan, we'll get back to you in a bit. we'll go to kristen welker traveling with the president. a live report from her at the bottom of the hour. now to the other big story we are watching, tornado sirens blasting this morning across oklahoma city. the nation's midsection is bracing for what forecasters say could be a day of life-threatening storms. for the second time in u.s. history, the national weather service issued a high-risk warning 24 hours in advance. meteorologist bill karins is here with more on the rare dire

warnings. good morning to you, bill. >> well, good morning to you, richard. today is all about preparation and getting the word out. we'll have a dangerous tornado outbreak throughout the areas of the midwest. it is very important that if you or your family, if anyone lives in nebraska, kansas or oklahoma, you need to know about the potential for deadly tornadoes late this afternoon and this evening. that's the timing of it. the areas at risk, the yellow areas are a slight risk in the storms. they should be forming going throughout the early afternoon there and in western kansas. the area of red is a moderate risk of severe storms. if you live in the red coloring, it means you're guaranteed to see strong storms today. the potential of tornadoes. and definitely wind damage through kansas city, but the areas of white is who is at the high risk, it is pretty rare, we only get a couple areas every year. the area in white is where we have the best chance to see strong tornadoes that could be on the ground for long periods of time. these are the classic ones that can do lots of devastation to towns as they travel through and cause many fatalities.

it looks like starting first up in nebraska from omaha to lincoln out there on interstate 80 is where we are going to see the early afternoon thunderstorms forming, possibly with a tornado. then late this afternoon it looks like from oklahoma city up interstate 35 into wichita, kansas. now tomorrow into sunday it's not going to be as bad. we'll only see isolated wind damage from areas of little rock down to houston. maybe isolated tornadoes. the real threat is today. we have seen strong thunderstorms up near tulsa to joplin and springfield, but these are not the big tornado-producing storms we'll see late this afternoon. so once again, it's the midwest where we are really talking from oklahoma city northward to omaha and eventually to kansas city late tonight. a lot of populations centered in the cross-hairs of this tornado outbreak. we'll update you throughout the day here on msnbc. back to you. bill, thank you for watching that for us today. and to front page politics now, one of president obama's senior advisors stepping up the push on mitt romney to release all his tax returns. >> i think there's a tradition,

transparency and trust. if he's got nothing to hide, there's nothing to lose. >> a spokesman or spokeswoman for the romney camp says romney is filing for an extension for his 2011 taxes like he has in past years. the romney camp also says romney will release his taxes before the november election. meanwhile, after democratic strategists said his wife never worked a day in his life. or her life. >> i happen to believe all moms are working moms. and if you have five sons, your work is never over. >> president obama is also weighing in. here's what he cede said to jose ballard. >> i'm never surprised by what happens during the political season, but as i said, there's no job that's tougher than being a mom. i saw that with my own mom, a single mom trying to put herself through school, i see it with michelle and the incredible energy that she brings to

raising her kids. >> let's bring back in politico's jonathan allen and "the washington post's" amy gardner. andrea mitchell tweeted last night reminding us in the "west wing" series that you put out the trash on fridays. the romney spokesperson releasing the news of the extension, are they trying to bury that? >> well, it isn't the best of little narratives to suggest that for him to say that he going to wait to release his tax return. however, i think it is important to point out that millions of americans do seek this extension that is legal and granted without exception to people who ask for it. and it's also important to say that governor romney has a particularly complicated tax return as a former private equity man, those are some of the most complicated tax -- >> hundreds of pages. >> exactly. however, the other question

besides, is he trying to bury it, is why would he seek the extension? he's got the means and the resources to hire some accountants, get this thing done and release it now. does he want to release the turn in october and revive the whole question of his wealth and how he earned his money? i'm not sure i understand that one. >> yeah, and we know that april 15th in this case, monday, happens every year at this time. one might be able to plan around it, but extensions are pretty common when you have complicated tax returns. an extension means he doesn't have to turn it in, at least until october, that's the drop dead deadline, jonathan. does he want to have his discussion, though, so late, so close to the voting data of november if he were to file as late as october? >> well, i think that's the question, will he actually file as late as october. the extension gives him the option of choosing when he wants to drop this news on everyone between april and october. so he's certainly as opposed to having to talk about it now, he

has that option to roll it out when he wants to. perhaps he'll pick a friday when there are other major news events to go on to do that. he makes a good point that he has a complicated tax return, but that's the point his critics would make, his tax reform is so complicated he's out of touch with the average american who may struggle to put together their taxes but doesn't need to hire a team of accountants and lawyers to do them. >> and just licking their chops right now are abba research firms, they can't wait to get into that. supporters of president obama want the previous years, those tax returns, does he need to give into those requests? jonathan? >> i do think that he'll probably have to do more than just the last couple of years at some point. particularly if there's a lot of pressure, but the narrative that mitt romney's a rich guy is one everyone's familiar with. i don't think he'll win or lose a whole lot of voters at this point on the question of whether

or not he's rich. everybody knows it. the president of the united states is also rich. in the past he filed as much as $5 million in income. you can't win the nobel peace prize every year, but he makes a good deal of money. >> amy, this also goes back to the issue jonathan is outlining for us at the moment, can he identify with the every day taxpayer? the every day voter, at least by initial estimates from his filing, i believe, $3.4 million verse $3.2 million to what he owes at the moment. it looks similar to 2010 and 2011 for the most part, but how will he overcome what jonathan is describing here if he can at all? >> it seems to me the challenge for mitt romney is not to hide the fact he's a wealthy man but to get past it. to embrace it. one of the problems his campaign encountered is a series of gaps that highlight his wealth and

highlights his opponents have taken advantage of to showcase the ways like he's not like every day americans. his challenge is to, i think, embrace the reality that he's a wealthy man and yet still manage to reach out to every day americans and persuade them that he, in fact, does understand their play and does understand that this is a difficult economic time for our country. and it's going to be difficult for him if he continues to, you know, expose himself with the gaffes he's shown us over the last several weeks. so that's the challenge, to stay on message and reach out and connect with the we have day voters in spite of his economic circumstances. >> we'll see if that comes in the coming months closer to november. amy and john thank, thank you so much. >> thank you. what happens if prosecutors can not prove second-degree murder against george zimmerman? can he be convicted of manslaughter? plus, what was behind a celebration in north korea?

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south korean warships today are searching the yellow sea from debris from north korea's failed rocket lawn. . in north korea today there were celebrations honoring the 100th birthday of the country's founder. more from richard engel live for us in north korea. slight delay, richard, good morning to you or rather evening where you're at. the worry is a nuclear test to try to recoup that failure of the failed rocket launch here. another oldie, if you will, from the north korean playbook. what's expected, how have north koreans reacted to what has happened as well? >> reporter: well, they are reacting, richard, and it is evening here with a show of patriotism. they are doubling down on this

cult of personality. first off, on the ships, those south korean warships are scouring the waters. they are looking, in particular, for pieces that could reveal intelligence. in particular, the engines and the guidance system could provide a great deal of intelligence. technically, those pieces of the rocket still belong to north korea, but it's highly up likely that south korea would hand them over, especially considering that south korea considers this rocket launch a violation of international standards, a violation of u.n. security council resolution. so unlikely that if the pieces were found they would be given back to this country. the celebrations are continuing. yesterday the country unveiled two enormous statues, two colossal-sized of kim, 50 to 60 feet tall bronze statues of the country's two past leaders. they were several hundred thousand people in attendance at that ceremony.

today another ceremony, another show of patriotism and faith in this system. perhaps 40,000 to 60,000 military officers will gather in a main soccer stadium here in pyongyang to show their allegiance, their love, their devotion for kim jong-un. the country' new leader. he attended the ceremony, he didn't say anything, but received an enormous amount of applause. this is part of north korea's reaction trying to show strength, trying to show it is undaunted by the rocket launch's failure. the concern is it may take a more concrete step, not just these shows of patriotism by trying to launch a nuclear weapon, nuclear bomb, underground to send a message to a potential adversary that this country remains strong despite its inability to launch a satellite into orbit. >> richard engel, thank you so much. live from pyong yang in north

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when we all come together, my restaurants, my partners, and the community amazing things happen. to me, that's the membership effect. and we are learning new details in the trayvon martin murder case jens gorge zimmerman. a conflict of interest could force the judge to step down from the case. meanwhile, reaction from trayvon's brother who says he was not a violent person. >> everything i heard was from zimmerman's perspective, and it didn't sound like my brother at all. you know, my brother attacked him and did all this stuff. it doesn't sound like him at all. he wasn't confrontational. >> joining me now is defense attorney rebecca woodland and the grio.com's alekis stauchill.

>> basically the judge in the case may have to step down. she held a hearing on thursday to announce the fact, i think it was friday, the fact that her husband is actually working for mark jame, an attorney before marco amera. he wanted to get this out in the open. she held the hearing himself and she may hold a hearing next week to step down. >> in the conflict of interest, he was not chosen. >> right, but we don't know what happened in their one-on-one discussion. now if they have a very private discussion, confidentially privileged, he can privilege to have a conversation with his law partner, who can again under privilege have a conversation with his wife who is now sitting as the judge. even if they didn't, she doesn't

have to reveal what was said because that is all privileged, but there is a conflict in this case that you don't want to have. and i can understand why she's concerned and she may actually take herself out of the case before even they make a motion. if i were her, not knowing the specifics of the facts here, i might say to myself, this is not a good situation to be in. >> even if they allow me to -- >> exactly. >> why make the controversy. >> it is not really appropriate. and another judge who has nothing to do with this might want to sit and better determine that. >> early on, what stands out to you at the moment? >> the second-degree murder charge. i was shocked when it came down. i said, i understand that they are going to move against zimmerman. i do understand that. but for the prosecutor to come out with second-degree murder, she's got to prove malice. i thought manslaughter. because malice in this case might be very difficult to

prove. we don't know all the facts. >> from what you have seen is what you are saying. >> from what i've seen, it is going to be hard to say there was malice aforethought, not me bredation, premeditation. >> they said zimmerman's arrest was done under pressure. what are you seeing? >> i'm definitely not seeing that. when i was in sanford i saw zi commissioners and spoke to the city manager and felt everyone there was calm. they were comfortable with the press and were not pressured by the press at all and were set on making the decision based on facts and the best interest of the victim and the people of san today sanford. >> they moved quite quickly before the arrest. >> they did, but angela curry took three weeks to make the decision. before that it was several weeks for them to make their decision. the sanford police department did take time to do their investigation. and the justice department and all the officials came in did as

well, so there was a 45-day period before zimer man was arrested with the entire time reviewing evidence by several different parties. >> can that be brought up in the case, this issue of pressure? >> oh, sure, it will be brought up. some of the initial investigation by the police department, that defense will probably claim that as faulty or not done well enough. not investigating eyewitnesss within a close amount of time so that they continue on memory. those are all things brought up by the defense. and the prosecution can use it as well because now this is a special prosecutor, but the strength is in the defense saying, these eyewitnesss don't remember enough because they weren't interviewed soon enough in time to the murder. or if we don't want to call it a murder right now, to the death. >> we haven't gotten into the issue of immunity, either. thank you so much. i wish we had 30 minutes to talk about this case. . more on the questions being raised after several secret

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for strong all day sinus and headache relief. two stories developing this morning. in colombia president obama is attending the summit of the americas 126789 personnel have been dismissed amid accusations of misconduct. four explosive devices were detonated last night. joining us right now from colombia is kristen welker, nbc news white house correspondent. we'll start with the secret service personnel. what's the latest you are hearing? >> reporter: well, richard, as you say, numerous secret service personnel were sent home according to secret service officials. there are reports that as many as 12 were sent home amid allegations of misconduct, including the allegation that one may have solicited a

prostitute. the secret service not confirming the numbers and also not confirming the prostitute allegation. but we can tell you that senior administration officials say that those that were involved were part of the uniform division. those are the officials sort of charged with manning entrances and not necessarily a part of the president's private detail. nonetheless, richard, the secret service taking the allegations quite seriously. that is why they sent the officials home. they have replaced them with other secret service personnel. they have also launched an internal investigation and they stress that the president's security was never compromised in this incident. but this has to be an em bars ament for the secret service, an agency that prides itself on protecting the president. and the president is here for serious business, he's here for the summit of the americas and will be discussing trade and immigration. so this is undoubtedly unwelcomed news for him as well. >> with 30 other leaders there in attendance, also when we talk about the president's security and his safety, those

explosions, we are hearing 45 minutes away, at least some of the explosions were. what about the others? >> reporter: okay, well, there were two different explosions, or as many as four as you say, but two here in cartagane. they took place in a remote location and then you have one or two others in bogota near the embassy. that is disconcerting. the good news is that there are no injuries, no major damage. and officials are describing those explosions as low-level intensity explosions. they are taking this very seriously. local authorities are investigating the u.s. embassy and the white house monitoring this situation quite closely. >> and, of course, the con sin tency plans are in existence, but were these aimed to the

leaders? what are you hearing about them and who is behind them? >> reporter: right, at this point in time there's no indication that the blasts were necessarily aimed at these leaders. there are reports surfacing it was possibly the work of some guerilla groups, but that has not been confirmed by officials here. they are look into this. contingency plans are always in place, but there's no high level of threat right now. the activities of the summit are going to take place today as scheduled, so that's an indication they don't feel overwhelmingly concerned about this. having said that, they with monitoring this and keeping a close eye on it. >> a busy first day there for you, kristen welker. thank you. north korea is facing pressure over the nuclear program after the failed missile launch this week with the u.s. not sending food aid. the multi-state rocket broke up moments after it launched over

the yellow sea and now the world is watching to see if north korea will conduct an underground nuclear test. joining me now is gore don chang, the author of "nuclear showdown: north korea takes on the world." north korea, the dprk is the largest prolive ray or the, a key concern when it comes to this technology are. they going to do a test? >> they definitely are. they have been excavating the earth from the tunnel and the site of the two previous tests in 2006 and 2009. the failure of this rocket 90 seconds after launch, they have more incentive. they will accelerate the tests. >> whether it is an explosion of a size important for us to consider, is it? >> well, yeah, even small explosions are important because of the effect it would have on the global economy and the global community. so it doesn't matter whether it is an enormous one or a small

one, any detonation disrupts things. >> they are saying to the world, those could be their customers, we can do this. >> reporter: right, north korea and iran have been running a joint nuclear weapons program for more than a decade, so this is not just about north korea but this is also about iran. you need to stop north korea today. >> they work together. gore don, one of the elements of the failed rocket launch as we see in the past when they broke up over japan or in the seas in the area, is that there's regional questions. japan saying, we can't let this happen. south korea mobilizing the warships. the concern is will this affect us? therefore, we need to militarize, how does that worry the united states? >> there's an arms race in north asia and this will just intensify it because the japanese will want better systems to shoot down missiles. the south koreans, they want nuclear weapons anyway. so the united states is trying to maintain peace and stability there, but it gets more difficult there when you have north korea doing these things.

yes, it will royal the neighborhood, which is the most volatile in the world anyway. >> this is why we are seeing many troops coming from the middle east reapportion to that part of the world. gordon chen, thank you so much. tornado sirens woke up oklahoma city residents as the state braces for life-threatening weather conditions. the warnings span from minnesota to texas. the worst conditions are expected this afternoon between oklahoma city and solina, kansas. the storm tore roofs from buildings and knocked down a brick wall yesterday. nobody died but several were injured in that. to front page politics, mitt romney is looking for support from the national rifle association. the gop presidential candidate spoke at the group's annual convention in st. louis on friday taking aim at president obama. >> we need a president who will enforce current laws, not create new one toss only burden current gun owners. president obama has not, i will.

>> the karl rove backed by american crossroads criticized the president's policies. >> our health care and pension policies are on the line. is a know to say no to the epa rule. >> the suspension of rick santorum's can pain has ended the republican primary with mitt romney as the presumptive nominee. and one of the first objectives is to bring together gop voters after a divisive start to the election year. one key demographic will be the evangelical vote, which strongly sided with rick santorum and his religious conservatism. but will romney's mormon faith and silence on religious beliefs alienate him on the way? joining me is vice chairman of the rnc platform committee. thank you for being with us this morning, ken. i would like you to take a look

at two polls. first off, this shows white evangelicals voting in the wisconsin primary. and the second shows how they voted in all previous primaries. does mitt romney, take a look at the data, does he now get those santorum votes? will he appeal off the evangelical voting bloc, which has been his bugaboo until this date? >> i think the challenge will be getting them excited about his candidacy. just the desire to get rid of president obama will be insufficient for victory. he has to be able to connect with that block of voters around public policy issues that move them and move them to the polls. he can do that. he has the time, but it is a public policy energy that he has to ride into the general

election. >> you know what we have not seen? we have not seen rick sar or the santorum come forward saying he supports mitt romney. he mentioned he will be suspending his campaign, but will that come around? if rick santorum doesn't get onboard with mitt romney, the entire board of evangelicals may not go his way. >> i've started to see social conservative organizations, pro-life, pro-marriage organizations endorse the romney candidacy. look, i think rick and mitt will find common ground and i think they both understand the importance of this defining election. somebody once said that a government big enough to give you everything that you want is big enough to take everything that you have. and so this is going to be about the size of government.

it's inintrusiveness and issues like religious liberty are going to be important to the social conservatives. and i think romney can articulate a vision. >> that will be there, but when we talk about romney's mormon faith and the perception of some evangelicals, at the end of the day, will the evangelicals go to the booth. and number two, will they pull the lever for mitt romney? >> well, look, every day in political spear, i have seen evangelicals work with mormons on public policy issues, whether it is oran hatch or jeff flake. as long as we keep it on the publish policy it will be important. somebody else once said that i will, in fact, defend your right to be theologically wrong. sol this constitution is going to be what is at stake here.

and i think there's enough time and enough history of collaboration for mitt romney to get the evangelical vote energized. but it has to be around public policy and his enthusiasm. right now he has an enthusiasm challenge. >> that enthusiasm gap is to key because it comes down to single digits in places like ohio, a key state, a battleground state. even evangelicals, a handful, if they decide to stay home, that could hurt him. >> oh, it could. that's why he just can't ride the desire to get rid of the president. you need people to be enthusiastic about your platform, your policy, your personality and your ability to affect change. look, in our difference to the states, this is going to come down to four states. i think it is coming down to ohio, florida, virginia and north carolina. and social conservative

evangelicals will play a big part in carrying victory in those states. >> there are a lot of folks who agree with you there. thank you, ken blackwell, from the family research council. appreciate it. while president obama touts the fairness of the buffett rule, a new poll shows what americans think about. it that's next on "weekends with alex witt." the capital one cash rewards card

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the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? ha ha. ♪ the buffett rule is goingto a vote in the senate on monday and president obama used his weekly address this morning as a final push to gather support. take a listen. >> this trickle-down experiment before, it doesn't work. and middle-class families have seen too much of their security

eroded over the past few decades for us to tell them they're going to have to do more because the wealthiest americans are going to doless. we can't stop investing in things to grow our economy and create jobs, things like education, research, new sours of energy, just so folks like me can get another tax cut. >> the measure has become a hot-button issue with republicans accusing president obama of class war fair while the white house paints the opposing ryan plan in bush tax cuts as social darwinism. matt welsh, editor and chief of this magazine, you have seen these numbers before where the majority of americans do support the buffett rule. 60% to 37%. you can see republicans, 43% to 54%. 11% on the other side. and independents a key voting bloc here almost doubling on the favor side. so why are republicans behind this? let's focus on that top line there when most adults, six out

of ten here, do support this rule. >> well, six out of ten is a slight majority there, but it is because of their own set of interest group politics saying they will never support tax cuts ever, even though they will support the growth of government. you know, the buffett rule, if enacted, is going to raise, according to the best case scenario, $47 billion of new tax revenue in ten years. we spend that much money in a half a day in the federal government. >> so you're saying it is incremental is what you're saying. >> it is not just incremental but completely insignificant statistically going forward. >> shouldn't it be fair for all americans, that we look at the 1% as well as the 99%. >> what does that even mean? i mean, shouldn't it be fair for all americans? the baseline thing is that when bill clinton left the office, the budget was $1.8 trillion. barack obama's first budget was $3.6 trillion. the guy in between hiked the

budgets up. george w. bush, we doubled the cost of the federal government. and the question is, how are you going to justify that is the ultimate thing. >> okay. the joint committee here from the tax policy center, this is the graph right here, revenue raisers. look very closely here at the buffett rule, $265 million over the course of ten years. >> yeah. again, it's statistically insignificant. that's not actually what the obama administration is out thing as the amount to raise, but ultimately that's not the issue. the issue we are facing right now -- >> everybody little bit counts, doesn't it, matt? >> sure every bit counts, but i want the president to make a proactive case for this government as what we need. we need $3.8 trillion every year as a minimum threshhold. we need to go to historically unprecedented levels of gdp -- we're going to spend 25% of gdp

of government forever because we're getting twice as much government ten years ago that's important to do but he's not making that case. he's making a 99% case, fair share case, it's an emotional appeal in an election year, he's not making a proactive case for the government right now -- >> i want to talk to your point, $4.5 trillion if you let all the bush tax cuts expire, that addresses the question you've got. why not that? >> what i think you need to do is cut defense or military spending. you need to address the fact that medicare and the entitlement state is indefensible. >> they are cutting defense. >> they are not cutting defense. they're projected t ecutting th growth rate of spending by this much. they are not cutting military spending in this budget. no one right now despite the fact that everyone thinks we're cutting down to the bone, no one is talking about cutting the size of government.

>> you know this is tough because so many citizens and voters across the country look at this issue and they've got at least a trillion dollars sitting on at least businesses do and their taxes might be affected as well as entrepreneurs in this space will be affected by this and why not go for it. matt, thank you so much for your time today. we'll have more of this on, of course, later on on msnbc. right now more people are quitting their jobs. why is that a good thing? to make tax day easier to swallow, many restaurants are offering freebies. or hires another employee, it's not just good for business, it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities. that's why we extended $6.4 billion in new credit to small businesses across the country last year. because the more we help them, the more we help make opportunity possible.

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it's tax time, and with the hundreds i saved on my car insurance with progressive, i'm out here, giving a little tax relief. are you guys touring? we are. we're going to need some savings. oh, you certainly will. [ laughs ] forget tax season -- it's saving season. what do you do for a living, sir? i work at a green grocery. there's a little green for your grocery. thank you. absolutely. and as part of my saving stimulus package from progressive -- this can go in my wallet. that can go in your wallet. 30 bucks. whoo! how's it going? good afternoon. don't feed that meter. this meter's on me. with all the hundreds i've saved at progressive, this meter's on me. thank you. de nada. with all the hundreds i've saved on car insurance this year, this meter's on me. there's a catch? there's no catch. nothing but savings. thank you very much. have a great day. you, too. you're sexy. [ laughs ]

another losing week on wall street is leaving investors wondering about the prospects for economic growth. a stock drop on friday capping the worst week for the markets we've seen all year. meanwhile, here are your three big money headlines this morning. consumer cringe, quitting time and deadline date freebies, i'm joined by consumer expert regina lewis. good morning. food and gas prices are up but the rate of inflation is slowing.

how much is your average consumer going to be affected by this all do you think? >> the consumer price index was up 2.7% in march year over year, economists usually look for 2%, that encompasses everything we buy in a given month from groceries to cars, clothes, the gas we put in those cars, so it is significant, but it's not expected to change the federal reserve stated position of keeping interest rates low until 2014. you just mentioned the stock market. closed down. stocks actually tend to rally on indications of inflation because it means you can charge more for goods and services but it is a key number because it is linked to wages and collective bargaining agreements, the payout of social security for lower income americans and the face value of food stamps. >> what about tax day freebies? we're looking at tax day right in front of us now. >> this year it looks like a lower chance of auditing and any chance for promotions, the

restaurants, here are the big na names are offering freebies, many times you have to go to the restaurants and express your love for fast food to get something. >> irs audits may dip this year. >> yeah, they may be down to 1 in 90. this year the irs has 5,000 less employees. granted they have 91,000 workers working on the tax processing, but also they are up against increased fraud mostly in the form of automated computers filing fraudulent tax returns in hope of getting refunds, they've had to redeploy people to this identity theft issue. >> got it, regine that, thank you so much, regine that lieu wil lewis. >> that it is for "weekends with alex witt." and on small business saturday they remind a nation of the benefits of shopping small. on just one day, 100 million of us joined a movement...

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