they put chuck todd's goatee on like 50 different people. i'm not -- i mean, i don't know. it doesn't look that bad. that would only take me six months to grow, too, so that would be a very exciting experiment. month two you wouldn't want to see. finally, a tweet here, john. this is our old friend debbie gammons brown who tweets us all the time. she coming off the davy johnson quote, the nationals manager, writes, icy hot in a bad place making me uncomfortable. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ you're the best friend ♪ that i ever had >> bill clinton announced that the era of big government was over. president obama tucked away the clinton doctrine in his large drawer of discarded ideas, along with transparency and bipartisan. it's enough to make you wonder if maybe it was a personal beef with the clintons, but probably it runs much deeper than that.

>> steve, what's up? >> good morning. it's wednesday. may 16. i don't know where to begin. you know, i really don't know where to begin. well, tj says i should start by moving to my left. so i'll do that. there are a lot of people who would suggest that that's exactly what i've done over the past eight years. but that's not the case at all. what am i looking at here, mike barnicle? because, you know, i love warren beattie. i saw "bonnie and clyde." but i don't get this. what's going on here? >> no, it's staggering. >> seriously. what's going on here? we've got enough challenges facing us as a country to have to deal with this fashion faux pass. i'm sure people will attack me, why are you going after donny. what is that? >> speaking of going after me -- >> what is that? >> again, you start. do you know how many people said what is -- >> what is that? >> will you let me finish? >> well, start talking.

>> do you know how many people came up to me last time and said, what was with joe, he was so mean to you? and i'm like, that's just what we do. >> we're brothers. >> we're brothers. >> that's what we do. >> the only thing i can think of, joe, is that last night, you know, donny is the emcee of the big apple circus. and he finished, you know, and didn't have a chance to change and came over in his circus costume. >> steve schmidt, do they dress like that in california? >> it's a good look for donny. >> that's it. >> by the way, that's a republican strategist right there. the leading republican strategist. by the way, sometimes with art, you just let it speak for itself. so i'm not even going to answer that question. >> i guess you guys heard that very sad story, the headline writer for "the new york post" was kidnapped last night by mort zuckerman. and he was scurried away to "the daily news." and this is his first day on the job. hooker agent cheated with me too. i don't even know what that

means. and i'm not going to find out. i'm not going to read it. but if i were bored on my trip in frommy and negleny and negle get that. >> hooker, agent, and cheat. they just left out prostitute. >> willie geist, the heat lose last night. this is big. >> showing a little vulnerability. people thought they would sweep the pacers, march into the nba finals. chris bosh was hurt, and they lost at home to the indiana pacers. >> i'm liking how this is coming along. mike barnicle, very exciting. the boston red sox. >> oh, please. >> the pensacola blue wahoos, double a team coming to town -- >> five straight. it was a wonderful year. >> it's unbelievable. and, you know, with that fried chicken grease coming off of beckett's curve ball -- >> that worked yesterday. >> it was falling right off the table. donny deutsch, i've got a

serious question to ask you, even though you're wearing a suit that does not invite serious questions. if i am an investor and i'm thinking about investing in the hottest ipo to come along in years, and general motors comes out a few days before the ipo and tells me that there just ain't no business model in facebook, because guess what, the kids -- and they are kids -- the kids don't click onto the ads. does this not sound like -- you know, it sounds like 1999 all over again. where have all the flowers gone? when will they ever learn? when will they ever learn? a cnbc ad. 83%, 83% hardly ever or never click on a facebook ad. i've never done it. i don't have any friends that

have ever done it. come on. this is -- this is so -- it's hyper inflated, the value. >> i couldn't agree more. i've been saying this for a while, for two reasons. >> of course you have, donny. >> no, i have. >> you said this before i even thought it. >> i have been saying it for a while for another reason. but even if you go back to the movie, and zuckerberg's whole thing of we can't put ads on because it's not cool, it's not cool, he understood intuitively that his audience was going to reject that. that's number one. my other big concern, if you look at the core essence of why facebook made it, it's because it was the thing, and it was the exclusivity thing. and obviously, there's 1 billion people. by nature, isn'ting the therine be a next social site that will be the cool thing? so this is frenzy. value this at over $100 billion is ridiculous. >> it's absolutely ridiculous. and for people that had kids growing up in the '90s and the early part of this century,

we'll remember that facebook came along right in the middle of myspace. myspace, willie, was the hottest thing on the planet. hot. everybody was on it. everybody was myplace. and then guess what? they weren't. you have a lot of housewives that are on facebook. but guess what? now it's pinterest. i mean, there are -- this is so -- because it's not brick and mortars, willie, because they haven't built this massive infrastructure, a big idea comes along tomorrow, and facebook is myspace. and guess what? there's nothing nobody can do about it. >> this is one of those great examples where the old generation is right. when my dad and i talk about facebook, he goes, $100 billion? where is that money coming from? what are they making? what are they selling? what do they do? it's cool you can plan a high school reunion. but what do they do exactly? so i get -- >> you can't compare it to amazon or google.

>> listen, we're a family here. and we have rules, ok? if somebody around this table starts talking, you've got to let them finish. >> because nobody is ever interrupted on this show. i just broke new ground. >> donny, you just interrupted me again. >> why are you such a hater? >> i'm going to have to ask you, ok, to show respect and use your inside voice. i'm sorry, willie. go ahead. >> civility. what i was about to say is, what you're paying for, donny, it seems to me is access to 800 million people. or soon to be a billion people. the question is, what do you do with that access and what does it mean? but the idea of having that many people at your fingertips is attractive to people. is it $104 billion worth of attractiveness? probably not. >> what are you going to advertise with the 800 million people? not gm cars. not the type of thing that drives up valuation. like maybe elmer's glue or something, you know? or porn.

but you're not going to get gm. >> he raised his hand. >> go ahead. >> i said porn he raises his hand. i wasn't asking. who was addicted to porn. >> i just wanted to be called on. >> go ahead, donny. >> on a separate note, and nobody has said this, and i'm just going to say it, don't you want to just smack mark suckerberg? >> no. >> no, i don't. >> i think you're just a hater again. >> i have a question. >> what's that? >> what is the purpose of facebook and twitter? why do i have to realize when i look at twitter someone just went out and ate a celery stick or is on the way to the dry cleaner's? or the class reunion from 1973 is going to be saturday. i don't care. >> it is a generational thing. >> can we just pause and state how old we sound right now? >> i was going to say that. >> if you're 25 years old, please call in to the show right now. anyone. i don't care who. >> well, we really are. and i have never been a fan of

facebook. but this does go back to valuation, and this does go back to wall street chasing vapor. as they did in the 1990s with pets.com. and it's like china as well. we're talking about two massive bubbles right now, the chinese economy and every -- you know, it's the biggest thing ever until the day it's not. and facebook, the biggest thing ever until it's not. i think that's going to happen with both of those things. so, steve schmidt, john boehner says we are going to have another showdown. like deja vu all over again. >> here we go again. >> he is talking in front of the peterson foundation, and says the next time the debt ceiling comes up, they're not going to raise taxes. and they are going to shut down the government, if it's required. listen, this is john boehner last night. >> when the time comes, i will again insist on my simple principle of cuts and reforms

greater than the debt limit increase. this is the only avenue i see right now to force the elected leadership of this country to solve our structural fiscal imbalance. we can make the bold reforms and cuts necessary to meet this principle. and i believe that we must. so just so we're all clear, i'm talking about real cuts, and real reforms. not tricks and gimmicks that have given washington a pass on grappling with the spending problem. >> american people have had enough of this brinksmanship. they want us to get things done. and it's pretty clear to me that the tea party direction of the republican party is driving them over a cliff. >> steve. >> well, look, i think a year ago that john boehner believed he could control the conference, that, you know, at the end of the day that there wasn't going to be a default, that the members wouldn't push them into default. i think he understands now this is someone trying to get to the

head of the parade of this long before this becomes an issue. and i think we'll see this whole issue repeat itself. and i think it will be as chaotic as it could possibly be. >> bill clinton came out yesterday and said, debt reform, taking care of the deficit, should be the top priority throughout the election. do you think that's a smart move for president obama? >> absolutely. look, i agree with tom coburn on this. we're going to deal with the debt crisis sooner or later. the level of debt is not sustainable. it's going to have a profound impact on this next generation. a profound impact on prosperity in this country. and there's absolutely no plan. the political debate taking place around this issue is totally delusional. it's absolutely disastrous from reality. >> on both sides. >> on both sides. and both sides are at fault. >> so if that's the case, let's do something as two republicans here, let's figure out -- personally, i think barack obama is in trouble. and i think he's in trouble because mitt romney, the republicans, have had a

miserable six months, and yet romney is still doing as well or better than barack obama. this election shouldn't be this close. and it suggests much bigger problems with barack obama. and he knows it. his administration knows it. the first six months framed him as a big government liberal. even though the bailout is something that bush helped with, and bush said later he would have bailed out detroit as well. so what does he do to get around that? because you and i both know -- people go in the voting booth, they are not sitting around and calculating. they are thinking big government liberal or tax cutter or whatever. what do you think the obama team needs to do to try to push that label away between now and election day? >> look, i think it's just an economy election. and i think you see them trying to put together a coalition that gets them over the top. i think his floor in this race is about 47.5%. his ceiling is 51% of the vote.

i think romney is slightly lower on both the floor and the ceiling. that's why you see him giving the speech he gave at barnard college. that's why you see him day after day targeting different parts of the democratic party's coalition. he wants to try to change the subject away from the economy, every day away from the serious issues. we're going to have so far -- you know, we're going to have a very frivolous campaign. a lot of diversionary and distraction issues. again, like we just talked about, there is no debate taking place around the core issues that are going to determine whether we are a prosperous country or not. >> and why not? >> i think part of it is the media culture. part of it is the attention span of the american electorate. part of it is the dysfunction of american politics right now. have you this diffusion of money away from the political parties, which have always been centering influences, moderating influences, to these outside groups. and any given competitive

congressional race, the outside groups have a far bigger impact than the candidates. they are ideological. they are about imposing discipline. you look at murdoch in indiana just beat dick lugar. this is money that says we need more confrontation in washington. i argue the opposite. we are at a point in the history of the country where people that profoundly disagree will have to sit in the room with calculators, do math, and do what leaders have always done in this country, which is move us forward. >> how does an extension of the debate that occurred last summer on the deficit, the debt ceiling, how does that help the republican nominee, if it repeats? >> because that really does, because it is such a marked contrast to barack obama being seen as a big government liberal. and i think that's the -- donny, if i'm president obama, and i'm trying to figure out how to change perceptions between today

and election day, i've got to get that off of my back. >> yeah. >> i've got to. i personally think the president should go before congress and tell them to pass, you know, simpson bowles. do other big things. whether with republicans or not. but how do you get that off your back? >> although the debt crisis we all agree is the most compelling issue, is it the most compelling issue to voters? as steve said, it's always an economy issue. and to me, if i'm obama, i'm staying focused on unemployment that is still going in the right direction, you know, dropping two points as i have taken office. i created four million jobs. i am focussed on that. and the reason you're not seeing romney focus right now because he doesn't have a clear answer. no matter what he says, he starts to lose a big chunk of the independent populace. >> here's what he said yesterday actually out in iowa. >> debt is sweeping across iowa and across the nation.

and every day that we fail to act, that fire gets closer to the homes and the children we love. now you know also this is not solely a democrat or republican problem. the issue isn't who deserves the most blame. the issue is who is going to do what it takes to put out the fire. subprime mortgages. they came close to bringing this economy to its knees. this debt is america's nightmare mortgage. it's adjustable, no money down, and assigned to our children. and politicians have been trying to hide the truth about this nightmare mortgage for years, just like liar loans. this is not just bad economics. it is morally wrong and we must stop it. [ applause ] >> so, donny, the reason why this works is because when voters go into a voting booth, they're going to have an economy that's not going well. they're going to go in, and

they're going to ask themselves, unless they watch this show every day, and if so, they'll go in twitching. but if they don't watch this show every day, they are going to go in and say, ok, the economy sucks. and it's been bad for four or five years. and it's going to keep getting worse. am i going to re-elect the guy that is going to use more government and believes that we're going to make the economy better by creating even bigger government, or am i going to elect a guy who says that he's going to trust the private sector? they may not say private sector in their mind, but it's going to get stripped down to that. and with europe as a backdrop, with california as a backdrop, government is a losing message this year. >> well, let me challenge that for a second. number one, almost 60% of people in the usa gallup poll, and to me this is huge, they think they'll be better off financially a year from now.

secondly, the interesting reference he makes about the mortgage crisis, this is a guy that wants less regulation in government, and obviously we all know everybody that didn't have their hand on the wheel. and thirdly, and steve is obviously much better equipped than me to answer this, i think by nature everybody wants to kick the can. and there's a difference between debt and my personal economy and how i vote. debt is one thing. unemployment, my individual well-being today, is separate. and we keep putting debt and the economy in the same place as the individual voter. and is it in the same place? >> no. accompanying the debt message, which i thought was a good strong message he delivered yesterday. one of the things i liked about it is when he says it's a republican problem, it's a democratic problem, because it positions him as the outside washington guy. but he also needs a pro growth economic message here. and he needs to take on the notion that the republican

president can't call for reforming the tax code because of the no tax pledges is totally craziness. it's one of the most uncompetitive, you know, tax collecting regimes in the world. and so we need a growth package, and then you also obviously as you look at california, as you look at what's going on in greece, this is going to be a huge issue over the course of the election. huge issue. >> you know, willie, when we get the papers next, i think they have pulled out the headline that barack obama made i think up to $8 million last year, has $1 million invested in jp morgan, up to $1 million in jp morgan. how do you think that plays? do you think -- if mika were here, she would be talking about the 1%, the 1%, the 1%. does that have any impact? >> $8 million is a lot of money to anybody who is watching this. he's a rich guy. no getting around it. barack obama is a wealthy man. the question is, do his policies defend the wealthy?

he would say, yes, i have some success, but i'm watching out for you the middle class. and mitt romney made explicitly that argument yesterday. i'm for free enterprise. president obama is for big government. he is drawing that distinction every time he speaks now. >> mike, i think the bottom line for voters on this is, how do you use the money? how do you -- are a good steward of the money that you're given if you are really rich? or do you buy suits like donny deutsch? i mean -- >> well, those kinds of suits. >> or those kinds of suits. >> look, i think people give this president, any president, a pass on their income. i don't think that matters much at all to anybody. i think the economy, as an issue, is such a uniquely personal item. when you say that the polls show people think that the economy is going to be better three or four years from now, they don't think that. they hope that. that's the wrong word. they hope that. and, you know, the other aspect of the economy is the anxiety

level that's out there. i think that's the biggest issue in this country. >> i think it is. >> the anxiety level. >> there's a fascinating article on the front "usa today" trying to talk about how energy independence is no longer a pipedream. that oil and natural gas boom creates an opening for the usa. that's great news. what is a pipedream? facebook. all right. through the strains of peter, paul, and mary. when will we ever learn? >> we are old. >> listen to this, kids. when will they ever learn? kids, we'll tell you about this group later. coming up, the chairman of the house budget committee congressman paul ryan. also, senate budget committee member pat toomey. also, british ambassador to the united states sir peter westmacott. we'll ask him what will happen in season three in "downton

abby." also, actress brooklyn decker will be here. donny will not. we will escort him from the building. coming up next, the top stories in the politico playbook. we have vandehei here? >> i hope not. >> i hope not. oh, god. hopefully it's patrick or gavin, the crazy guy with all the cats. but first, bill karins has a check on the forecast. bill, tell me it's going to get nicer today. >> your wish is going to be granted. we'll see beautiful weather heading to areas of the east that really struggled over the last couple of days. we have one more rainy morning for you up there in new england. i'll show that you in a second. but overall, the summer weather pattern goes from the rockies to the southeast. and it is going to continue if not spread over the days ahead. so where is it raining this morning? we have some downpours heading through coastal connecticut, just sort of hartford. providence, you'll get some rain shortly. and all of eastern mass. the other spot with wet weather this morning, raleigh-durham area with showers and thunderstorms to your north.

roanoke, thunderstorms on 95. these will shift towards virginia beach shortly here. here is the forecast throughout the day today. d.c. to philadelphia, it's going to feel like summer. humidity is still up. highs in the mid 80s today. new england, rain this morning. you'll clear out. then another round of rain later today. as i mentioned it is just a very slow, quiet, middle of may in the middle of the country to the west coast. beautiful weather once again today from texas, northwards all the way to minnesota, and all of the west coast very quiet. almost an eerie may. no weather to talk about, and no tornadoes either. and this is typically our busy season. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪

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papers. "the new york times," a new clinical trial will aim to stop alzheimer's before it starts. this is big news. federal officials plan to test the drug on people who are genetically guaranteed to develop the disease but who are not yet showing symptoms. the study is one of the few conducted to test prevention treatments for alzheimer's. >> let's hope there's something there. "boston globe," campaign finance records show banks are betting on romney. the top five donor groups in romney's campaign all associated with large financial institutions led by wall street giants goldman sachs and jp morgan. obama's top five contributor groups include individuals and pacs affiliated with technology giants google and microsoft. and "the washington post," after praising jp morgan chase as, quote, one of the best managed banks there is, new documents released yesterday show that the obama's have as much as $1 million in assets in a jp morgan chase account. the documents also show that the

obamas hold total assets ranging from $2.5 million to $8 million. "usa today." for the second time, a juror has been sent home for sleeping during the roger clemens trial. can you blame him? it happens. the judge excused the juror yesterday who was seen sleeping for an extended period of time. >> oh, man. >> even jurors are bored with this case. >> your they trying him? >> stop it. >> just go ahead and throw him in jail. let's go down to politico where we find mr. gavin with a look at the playbook. >> good morning, guys. how are you? >> let's pick up the theme we were talking about in the first segment. joe biden in youngstown, ohio, today speaking at a plant. and he's going to go after mitt romney again, coming off this bain ad. mitt romney as corporate raider. >> he's going to try to juxtapose obama economics and romney economics. saying that romney wants to

reward the rich, where my guy, obama, wants to reward the little guy. i think the campaign is really banking on a strategy they were able to employ very well in 2008, which is to put biden in a lot of these sort of muddle class rust belt states to make this economic pitch, which has not always been the best thing for the president to do, to sort of relate to folks in manufacturing plants in youngstown, ohio, and the like. i think what you're seeing is something we'll see a lot of this fall, biden playing the regular guy card. >> what's your feel on bain as think issue? will that be effective for the president to use, saying that guy stepped on the little guy to make profits for himself? >> i don't. and i think they had a rough time with the attack yesterday. they were all over the place on it. they are backtracking from it. the president is doing the fundraiser at black stone. you know, he's trying to say that -- >> now, why are you saying they are backtracking? >> i think because they were all over the place on it, saying, private equity is not bad.

you know, this part of it is not bad. he was at blackstone. just bain is bad. and i think the counterattack to it, why are you attacking the free enterprise system? why are you attacking business, is something that will put the administration back on its heels. i don't think three months from now you'll see bain being lit up the way that halliburton was. >> isn't this the core of the critique from the obama campaign against mitt romney, which is that he is a big scarinessmy businessman that doesn't care about the little guy? >> i think it's tough to stigmatize a firm and say it's a bad firm to bring them into the race without being able to be accused of attacking business, attacking the free enterprise system. mitt romney didn't do a great job of this in the primaries when he was attacked. hopefully he'll do a better job in the general election posting up and explaining to the american people economics 101. this is how the economy works. sometimes people do lose their jobs. sometimes businesses do go under. and he's not going to have to -- he's going to have to give a

robust defense of the free enterprise system. >> and he started to do that with his response to that bain ad. patrick, i want to ask you about this story ahead of the dnc convention. in charlotte, in september, the party putting together a plan to raise some cash. tell us about the super o-rama. is that what they are calling it? >> unfortunately it is named the super orama. it's the conglomeration of three super pacs because they are getting killed by republicans when it comes to the super pac. what they are offering at the convention, live music, free booze, access to eastern democratic policy leaders. part of the problem will be that number one, some folks wondering if all of this money they hope to raise will be too little, too late. it's just two months away from the election. and number two, these donors when they write checks, they want one-on-one attention. and conventions are probably the worst place to get that kind of attention. it's really kind of running the gauntlet for a lost the senior

democratic policy leaders. and also the optics of it. if you're wining and dining rich folks in charlotte, can you really make the case that you're the party of the regular guy? but they need to make up a lot of the money they have not seen coming in compared to the republican counterparts. >> i'm still working through what super orama means. what is the opposite of catchy? >> uncatchy? >> something like that. did you see "the new york times" story this weekend that after the obama administration said, we're not going to take any money from corporations, they have now set up this third party deal to take money from corporations to put on their show at bank of america arena? i'm sorry. let me say it straight. at bank of america arena in charlotte. oh, yeah, where the -- the state where gay marriage was just voted down by 20 percentage points. who picked north carolina a couple of years ago? >> i think they have a problem, yeah. >> and bank of america arena. hey, i've got a good idea. let's do the re-election at bank of america arena in north

carolina. who thought of that? >> people love banks, joe. people love banks. >> they do love banks. and i guess the democrats knew that. by the way, this hurts me. this hurts me to read this. this is from my wife. the date, may 16, 6:03 a.m. >> it's going to be defending donny deutsch. >> stop picking on donny. >> the camera doesn't lie. >>et tu, susan? et tu? >> they feel it. that's your wife. that is your life partner. >> that is a bad time. >> the audience is speaking to you. >> i'm going to have to ask you to shut your pie hole. >> you shut your big pie hole. [ laughter ] >> you big republican doofus. >> wow. [ laughter ] >> all right. see what you've created, susan? thanks a lot. >> first he talked about your wife. and then called you a doofus. >> unbelievable. patrick gavin, thanks.

coming up in sports, nationals ace stephen strasburg has a rough outing you but apparently there's an explanation, some misplaced icy hot cream. plus, the host of "inside the actor's studio" james lipton offers mitt romney a free course in what he calls acting like a human. we'll show that you just ahead on "morning joe." today, we stand against the tyranny of single mile credit cards.

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all right. time for sports. we mentioned at the top of the show lebron james and dwyane wade in miami looking to put the heat up 2-0 in their series with the pacers. a lot of people thought they might sweep this one. not going to happen, though. chris bosh, that's the reason. he was out. did not play last night. he's got an abdominal injury which could play a big role in this series. that's wade right there. james on the dunk. 52 points between the two of them. fourth quarter, heat down one. wade hits the shot off glass. that gives miami the lead. under three to go, miami up one point. david west puts indy up three. he had 16. heat with a chance to retake the lead in the final minute. they are down one point, and lebron missed two free-throws. >> no, he didn't. >> yes, he did. and they still had a chance to tie it. down three. mario chalmers misses. pacers -- >> wait, wait, wait. are you telling me lebron james missed two free-throws?

>> two free-throws. all he needed was one to tie the game. >> in the clutch? do you think his retina was detached from all the confetti that was coming out for that celebration a couple of years ago? >> going back to that. >> how many championships aring that i go to win, seven or eight, something like that? >> i think somewhere like that. >> and chalmers taking the final shot, huh? >> you've got to say. >> there's a pattern here. >> lebron really -- i mean, that adds to his greatest chokes list. >> he actually -- the two of them had a good game, but no chris bosh, nothing happening inside. they were dominated inside. they lose at home to indiana, which opens up that series. >> but seriously, he had a good game, but, man, you don't want to be next to this guy like in a fox hole. right? >> how much would the nba love to have indiana in the finals? >> indiana versus san antonio. [ laughter ] >> stern is on the phone with the officials right now. >> stern the hang himself. >> heat will win. san antonio won game one of

their series big against the clippers. in baseball, stephen strasburg pitching yesterday. in trouble early with the bases loaded against the padries. two-run homer here. >> look at the empty seats. >> strasburg lasted only four innings, gave up four runs. he didn't look comfortable on the mound. >> why is that? >> he was a little fidgety. >> what was wrong with him? >> nats down 5-0. bryce harper doing it again. 406-foot shot. remember, he is 19 years old. that is was the nationals only run of the game. 6-1 they lose. after the game, nationals manager davey johnson had a theory about why strasburg was kind of moving around funny out there. >> has it been a while since you have seen him look that uncomfortable? obviously, the weather had something to do with it during the first. but he was fidgety there. >> yeah. i can't really tell you what the problem was, but some hot stuff got in his place. >> well, you've said that, but

where would -- where did it get in his place? not on his shoulder where it was supposed to be? >> well, it was on his shoulder and -- i don't know where it got but it was uncomfortable to say the least. >> if you couldn't hear that at least, he got some hot stuff in his place. >> how do you do that? >> you get it on your hands and maybe -- i don't know. >> maybe what? >> making some adjustments. >> what do you want, show and tell? >> you make some adjustments before the game. next thing you know, you're fidgeting, giving up three runs in the first inning. >> and you get hot stuff in your place. l.a. kings, the eight seed in the west, won again last night. they are up 2-0 on their way to the stanley cup finals. >> really? >> yes. coming up next, mika's must read opinion pages. keep it on "morning joe." [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac

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welcome back to "morning joe." beautiful shot of washington, d.c. 85 degrees down there. according to tj. what a pretty shot. must-read op-eds. mika, of course, has wired them in from nice. but we are not going to talk about that right off the top. let's talk really quickly about -- i'm surprised you brought up pujols. mike, he is batting .219. blockbuster deal. the angels are in the tank. sportswriters aren't really writing about what a total collapse -- this isn't just a slow april. we're not far from memorial day, and this guy is completely dogging it. >> part of it is, he plays out in anaheim, california. part of it is everybody, i

think, in the sports writing world anticipates that this will not continue through the whole year. >> he'll come along. >> but we're in the middle of may. he's got one home run. >> and it's year one of his contract. >> one year of 10. >> that's the scary thing. >> one year of 10. >> and you look at the yankees. i hope the steinbrenners have a lot of money for the yankees' sake, and i'm dead serious, because structurally that's the most unsound baseball team. they are old. they are so old. >> but you look at -- not only are they old, but you look at the big contracts. jayson werth of the nationals. do not go out and go and spend $22 million a year for a guy versus what st. louis has now. across the board, their lineup is hitting over .300. invest in the young guys, in the even team. you'll see the rangers are going to spend $300 million for josh hamilton next year. it will be a disaster. >> that's money well spent. >> or extending a-rod five, six years. he's 37 years old. >> everybody was banging their head.

i don't know if mike was. but i was. a lot of people were. that the red sox didn't throw the money in to get teixeira in 2009. because in 2009, it looked like a great deal. and it was a great deal for one year. last year, teixeira hits zero. in the playoffs. he's been a collapse. one playoff series after another. he's a good guy, a nice -- i have met him. i like him a lot. but that's another one of those long-term contracts that is going to blow up in the yankees' face. >> unfortunately, that's what the market calls for. teixeira had a bad average year last year. but he is a great defensive first baseman. >> no doubt about it. >> he it's the older guys like a-rod that really worries you. >> we are all by nature i think hard workers. what if somebody said i'm paying you this the next 10 years, regardless of whether you suck or not. something changes in a person. i don't care who you are. and no other business does that.

>> i think they are going to have to curb back these contracts, aren't they? >> they'll never be able to. it's the one professional sport that the baseball players association absolutely runs the game. they run the game. and the owners can't help themselves. >> yeah. >> you offer someone $20 million a year for, you know -- some other owner will come in and put $22 or $25 million on the table. >> steve, i want to read this from "the washington post." where have all the candidates gone? this is profoundly depressing. americans elect had taken care of just about everything a third-party candidate would need. it spent $35 million on marketing, technology, and ballot access. as of tuesday it won a place on the ballot in 28 states and still expects to be in all 50 states. attracted 3.5 million to the website. but what it couldn't or has yet to be able to do is persuade a plausible candidate to submit himself or herself to the ravages of a presidential run. but really, the group already delivered on what it set out to

do, the lack of takers suggests that the political system is further gone than reformers realize. do you agree with that take? >> well, you know, i think, joe, you just look at the republican primary. some of the biggest stars in the party. they all took a pass on the race. and we wound up with the lines of santorum and gingrich and rick perry and michele bachmann and so on and so forth. i think that dynamic plays at least part of this. >> so is americans elect a success, a failure? >> obviously, it's a failure. they were trying to have ballot access in all 50 states to put a third-party candidate on the ballot that would shake things up. it's not going to happen. >> does this mean, donny, that everybody that talks about a third way, that talks about a middle path, or just are just pursuing a pipedream? >> i don't know. i think starting with the next big election cycle, we might see some new math. i really believe it. i think if it was the right candidate this time around, if

mike bloomberg had it in him or whatever. and maybe i'm being naive. but the two-party system just feels like it's running on fumes. >> well, that's what we hear, but it doesn't look like that right now. >> i think it will come out of california. you will see a third-party candidate emerge. the republican party in that state has collapsed. it has ceased to function as a viable institution. democratic party is wholly owned by the public employee unions. the state is in an existential financial crisis. and you'll see someone i think come out of the middle who is fiscally conservative, socially tolerant, and i think that california could be a trendsetter. >> you may be right. coming up, we have congressman paul ryan and pat toomey here. plus, willie's "news you can't use" is next.

it is time, prerecorded mika, for "news you can't use." james lipton, the great host of "inside the actor's studio" released a video op-ed yesterday addressing mitt romney, giving him some pointers on how to act like a human. >> since politics and performance have become pretty much fused, and since you've been criticized by some for not

coming across as authentic to your public, maybe we can sort of work on that today. let's start with your laugh. >> you know, i live for laughter. [ laughter ] >> it isn't working. it's inert. it just doesn't come across as genuine. worst of all, it's mirthless, which is to say that while you expect us to be amused, you're not the least bit amuse yourself. i have advised people who are watching you to freeze the frame and then put their hands over the lower part of your face and look at your eyes. there's no pleasure there. what you appear to be having the most trouble with is this portrait of yourself as a common man. sir, i don't think you are a common man. >> who let the dogs out, who, who, who? >> don't try to go with what you haven't got. stick with the type casting. go with what you've got and who

you are. it's not your best option. i think it's your only option. >> the word of james lipton. coming up next, republican senator pat toomey of pennsylvania will join us. also, our friend mort zuckerman right here onset. keep it on "morning joe." uncer) most life insurance companies

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again insist on my simple principle of cuts and reforms greater than the debt limit increase. this is the only avenue i see right now to force the elected leadership of this country to solve our structural fiscal imbalance. we can make the cuts necessary to meet this principle, and i believe that we must. so just so we're all clear, i'm talking about real cuts and real reforms. not cuts and grimmimmicks of gi washington a break. >> welcome back to "morning joe." a shot of washington, d.c. great to have you back here, along with mike barnicle, donny deutsch, and steve schmidt. we have with us the editor-in-chief of u.s. news and world report and chairman and publisher of "the new york daily news" mart suzuckerman. he is on the lam. call ray kelly? we know where he is.

so mort kidnaps the headline writer of "the new york post." and look what he puts on the cover. hooker agent cheated with me too. it's just -- it's one of the great headlines of our times. >> it's a pretty good story, too. >> is it really? >> yeah. >> well, i don't read the stories, but it's a hell of a headline, mort. >> you've got to be able to attract readers these days. >> i tell you. >> it's a really sweet mort story. >> no. >> viewers want to hear this. >> no. let's talk about greece, mort. things are looking pretty bad there. and the greeks, like american politicians, like politicians out in california for a long time, a guy yesterday asked me what i'd do if i were running california. and i said, i would move. i would move now. >> retire. >> what's happening in greece is what's happening in california. this didn't just happen over the past two, three, five years. this is 30, 40 years of reckless fiscal irresponsibility.

>> right. >> and the bill has come due. what does greece do? >> well, the question is what can they do politically. and to deal with this kind of deficit through additional austerity is politically unacceptable. not just in greece but in most of europe. >> well, in france, right. >> yeah, france. it's going to happen in germany. merkel lost the largest state in the recent election. nobody wants to pay the piper. and on some level, you can't blame them. because a lot of this is previous generations. nevertheless, they can't live with the current fiscal deficit. >> so greece falls off the cliff. italy is right behind. >> spain. spanish banks are in terrible shape. >> 50% unemployment there. and when these countries fall off the cliff, they pull down france, they pull down europe, and that has a huge impact on the united states. >> it reminds me of the guy whowho jumped off a 30-storey building,

and as he hurtled by the 15th floor, he said, don't worry, nothing's happened yet. >> but look at politicians in washington. the president has a debt commission. does nothing with it. you've got democrats in the senate that have gone over 1,000 days without passing a budget. in the worst fiscal crisis of our time. you've got republicans who doubled the national debt over the past decade, when bush was in power. both parties are just absolutely reckless here. >> we've had a complete collapse in terms of fiscal leadership in this country as well as in most of the countries in europe. we are faced with the lowest and slowest recovery from the recession that we've had by far. we still have 30 million people in this country who are neither unemployed, underemployed, or have basically left the labor force. we have housing prices under collapse, and we can't get a government to run. >> you endorsed barack obama four years ago. >> yes. >> you were sorry that you did that three years ago.

what if barack obama came out next week, joint session before the congress, and said, i am going to adopt every last bit of simpson bowles, and i'm going to -- i am going to declare war on the national debt right now, and mitt romney wouldn't follow. would that swing you back over to obama? >> well, essenticertainly it wo an absolute transformation. actually, my general tendency is not to live in a life of fantasy. i can't imagine something like that would ever happen. >> you don't think he'd do that? >> no. it's way too late. he had a chance to do it. all the democrats that i know, we all said, do it, do it, do it. and he was the guy who initiated that commission. it would have given an enormous amount of fiscal confidence to the country. we would have been able to get through this a lot more easily. but it didn't happen, and it isn't going to happen. >> donny deutsch, jamie dimon yesterday has to go in front of the shareholders. and there's some people that

were trying to split his roles, as ceo and chairman of the board. they wanted to cut his pay package. and i mean, i'm not surprised. jamie won on all accounts. this guy is still the most powerful guy on wall street, right? >> as well he should have. and the reason he gets and should get a pass, is number one, he handled it right. he came right out and said -- >> we screwed up. >> not only did we screw up, but some of the words he used were unacceptable. if this was a different banker, game over. but everybody likes jamie. they know he's competent. he's strong. this was not his hands on the wheel. and this is why when the crap hits the fan, you get -- the wrong guys get taken down, and the right guys get the pass. and he got the pass. >> i guess jamie is just a fighter maybe more so than -- >> more than that.

>> no, no. he brings up the point. >> jamie got the pass he should have. this is a guy you want in charge. and he's great. >> i was on one of his boards for six years. that guy is the most competent financial executive i have ever come across. this guy knew every bit of the bank's business. nobody escaped the financial tsunami we went through. but if any bank really got by it, it was that bank, and he deserves a lot of credit for that. what happened now is not the best thick thatng that ever hapo the bank, but it really doesn't affect the bottom line of the bank. >> and it's his person a. he doesn't seem like a bad person. >> mike barnicle, mort zuckerman has to be very excited about this facebook ipo. we're talking about how it's vapor. >> no, i changed my name from zuckerman to zuckerberg. you ought to know that before we go public. >> exactly. do you agree with us that this is the hype surrounding facebook

is just maddening? >> of course. it's incredible. the whole thing is incredible. i mean, it's really amazing. look, if it sells for anywhere near the numbers they are talking about, you have a company that has an initial valuation of $100 billion. we've never seen anything like that. >> put that in perspective. if it's worth $100 billion, according to wall street, who does that put it ahead of? >> just about everybody. i mean, there are very few company that have a market valuation of $100 billion, and none that ever started off with this valuation. >> does any aspect of the facebook ipo, the whole clamor around facebook and lining up to buy this stuff, does any of it remind you of all of these dot-com companies in the 1998, 1999 time? >> and i didn't participate in any of them. look, this has a -- they have a billion people who are on facebook. this is not an accident. it's just blown everything away that we have ever known about any kind of business that is a

startup. so it's transformed the nature of social communication. i don't know how the advertising works. i don't know what the business model is. but clearly when you have that number of people to work with, you should be able to work something out. this guy is clear's a genius at this point. >> yeah, gm has backed off. they said, we can't sell ads because people -- there's a cnbc survey we showed before. nine out of 10 people that visit facebook never or very rarely ever click on the ads. >> if that is true, and i assume that it is true for gm, if that is true for a lot of advertisers, then they are going to have a different kind of business model to work with, and it won't be worth $100 billion. and i think that it came out just two days or whatever it is before the thing went public, and that's really just what i call perfect timing. >> back to jamie dimon, he is great, he is, you know, the most efficient, the most effective guy on wall street. no doubt about that.

but because of what happened last week, to jp morgan, the legislation that's in washington, the boca rules, all of the amendments, proposed amendments, dodd frank, they will get even tougher now. >> sure. >> because now the choke chain has been taken off the legislators. they are going to really go for it now. >> yeah, the danger -- >> which is a good thing. >> may be. the danger is if they overregulate this industry, and you can't overregulate this industry. you can put in safety standards but you can't overregulate because otherwise we'll lose the role of finance in this country and in this world, and that's one of the leading roles that the american business community plays. >> let's go to capitol hill and bring in senator pat toomey. we were talking earlier about the problems in greece, italy, spain, soon to be france possibly and a lot of other western countries, and how that will impact us here. of course, we can look at california. look at the depth of debt crisis

in this country. let me just ask you this question. if you had to decide today on the up or down vote on simpson bowles, let's say the president played against type and said, i will support simpson bowles and it's put on the floor for a vote up and down. would you vote for it? >> probably not, joe. >> why not? >> and keep in mind also that simpson bowles is more of an idea than it is a piece of legislation. there's an awful lot that is left unspecified. and you have to make those decisions to turn something into legislation. having said that, you may recall from the super committee i did put a framework on the table that included a real statically scored revenue increase that included the tax reform of the nature that simpson bowles recommended. it included a ratio of spending cuts to new revenue that was very comparable to simpson bowles. so i think i have demonstrated i've been willing to go way

outside of my comfort zone to try to reach an agreement that would make some progress on this. >> pat, you are not one of those republicans who at the debate refused to raise their hands when they were asked if they got $10 in spending cuts for every $1 of tax revenue increases, would they support that. you would support, what, a 5-1 ratio? >> joe, it depends on how you cut spending, because not all spending cuts are equal. let's face the reality here. the reality is we need to restructure the big entitlement programs. it's as simple as that. if we're willing to do that, even though i don't think we should have to pay a price in terms of higher prices structurally, i'd be willing if it was in the context of pro growth tax reform that lowered marginal rates and we generated the additional revenue by reducing deductions and loopholes and write-offs and that sort of thing. >> and that's really where i am, steve schmidt, that don't talk

to me about new revenues until you come forward with a plan that's going to save medicare and social security and medicaid over the next 30 years, 40 years. if democrats are willing to do that, i'm willing to talk about anything. but until that is put on the table, don't waste my time. i think that's where most republicans are. >> yeah. no doubt. and to get the out of control spending under control, to stop a lot of the waste, to reform a lost the broken institutions of government, we were talking about california. this is the case in california. more taxes, higher taxes, but absolutely no reform to any of the broken spending programs. any of the structural problems in the state. >> yeah. >> senator toomey, you know, my instinct would be that if you want to altoona, pennsylvania, and harrisburg, pennsylvania, and took the biggest businessperson from both of those cities and said, can you fix social security, give me some ideas, between the two of them it would take them maybe 10 minutes to come up with ideas to fix social security, like raise

the retirement age, means testing. my question is, why does it take you people so long to get to common sense solutions? >> that's a very fair question. but i think you need to drill down just one level below and look what happens on the senate floor today. you'll see three different republican budgets that comprehensively faces the biggest problem our nation faces, this fiscal problem. you can argue about which is better or which works best but there's not a single alternative from the other side. there is silence about what to do about it. not silence actually, they just attack us, about the entitlements. there is no message about tax reform. my budget, for instance, i have taken some of the president's ideas. i think wealthy senior citizens should pay a little bit more for their medicare benefits. >> wow. >> so in my budget, i have integrated the president's recommendation on increasing means testing. ron wyden to his cred embraced

the plan for changing medicare so that it's sustainable. that's in my budget. we'll have a big discussion about this. and you've got multiple republican plans that address this fundamental problem. i think several of them will have broad support within the republican conference, and we get nothing from the other side. that's just not reasonable. >> so we have a republican making a charge about democrats in the senate. i'm a republican. and from everything i have seen, what he said about senate democrats is absolutely true. but i want to be fair. i want to put this on the table right now. does anybody have any evidence that harry reid's democratic senate has put any plan on the table over the past two years to address the biggest fiscal issues? donny? >> no. the answer is no. and i love -- >> i want to be fair here. but a lot of times people make charges and there's another side to the story. i think in this case, mort zuckerman, there is no other side to the story.

the democrats have decided in the midst of a financial meltdown they're going to do absolutely nothing so they can attack the other side. and we beat the hell out of republicans every day. that's why i'm drawing out this point. >> yes. >> because they do have plans to save social security. they do have plans to save medicare. they do have plans to pay down the debt and the deficit. but this president and this democratic senate is offering absolutely nothing in return. nothing. >> well, what's happened, of course, given our system, particularly where you have a democratic president, you have to have leadership from the presidency. and i think it all starts with the presidency. there is no leadership from the president on the fiscal issues. he has just walked away from it. he walked away from simpson bowl bowles. as simpson said, he asked us to put together the plan. we put together the plan he asked us. we got the majority within the simpson bowles commission to do it. and it was abandoned. of course, everybody else is going to abandon it on the democratic side because he is the leader of the party.

>> joe, let me pick up on that. i agree with you. but what was so refreshing about what senator toomey heard, i heard out of his mouth that rich guys should pay a little more. and by the way, so i'm going to criticize the republicans, save senator toomey here, for also not taking a stand. i'm not seeing the plans from them. >> well, they are on the floor today. >> ok. >> three plans today. and, pat, republicans and paul ryan has been putting up plans for three years. >> absolutely. >> and waiting for democrats to respond with their version of where america should go. and we're getting nothing from the democratic side. what are you hearing on the hill? why are the democrats refusing? because we know that the democratic senate budget chairman, he is a great man. and he is a fiscal hawk. but what's going on? >> kent conrad wanted to do a budget. he said many times. and he said we're going to do a budget, at least in committee.

if senator reid won't allow us to take it on the floor, we'll do it in my committee. i wasn't in the closed door meeting but he came out of that sufficiently shaken that he had to change his mind and said, well, we can't do a markup after all. everyone can have five minutes to say whatever they like. there will be no amendments, no votes, nothing produced. >> senator, you're telling me that the senate budget chairman said he was going to put a budget together, and then was ordered to stand down and would only be allowed to let people talk about it? >> well, all i can tell you is what happened between point a and point b. he started off saying he was going to produce a budget. much to his credit. we republicans embraced it. we said let's mark one up. let's have a big old fight and see if we can produce something. he said we will. and then the day before, the market markup was supposed to occur, he announced it would be a unique markup in which nothing would be marked up. you can't make this stuff up.

>> what are the cuts in the defense budget? >> well, they vary. for instance, mike lee is going to introduce a budget where the -- that he worked out with heritage where they have a higher level of defense spending than my budget would have. mine adopts the cuts that were enacted in the first round of the bca but does not include the sequestration that is scheduled to go into effect. i think rand paul has a similar approach, but i'm not entirely sure. but the fact is, i don't think that the defense spending can be off the table. we've got to look at defense spending as well as everything else. >> and then senator kent conrad, after going through all of that frustration as senator toomey just pointed out, said one other thing. i'm outta here. i've had it with this process. i quit. >> it's unbelievable. >> so he's leaving. >> and you know what? i think the great question would be, donny, what's the democratic plan to cut defense spending? what's the democratic plan to save social security? because we know the republican plans are out there.

if you don't like them, come up with your own plan and let us know what it is and we can have a fair and open debate. americans can see what the democratic vision is. >> by the way, we all agree that 80% is defense and entitlements. and in the republican plan, has there been sufficient cuts in defense spending? you can have a plan, but that doesn't mean it's viable. >> don't gloss over it. if the democrats will put a budget out there, we can meet in the middle. and there will be republicans like myself, republicans like george will, republicans like steve schmidt, that say, hey, let's cut even more. let's get our troops home from afghanistan. instead of rebuilding afghanistan, let's rebuild schools in america, invest in r&d in america, and take care of the long-term debt. there is a group of republicans who are fiscal hawks and defense hawks. but we -- this conversation never begins, mort, because democrats won't put a budget on the floor. >> you know, we have a -- i keep on repeating this.

we have a system of government that just works with presidential leadership. the congress, by and large, unless you have a very unique leadership, often cannot do it. and right now, everything is powerized in the congress. what we need is leadership from the presidency. that's why simpson bowles was so important.abandoned. that was a great fault. >> senator toomey, great to have you with us. >> thank you. still ahead, house budget committee chairman paul ryan is with us. and up next, how big are contagion fears across europe from the greece debt crisis? the british ambassador to the united states, sir peter westmacott will join us onset. we'll also ask him about the man city miracle. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪

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dee d we are here with the british ambassador to the united states, sir peter westmacott. mr. ambassador, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> we would be remiss if we didn't ask you about what we americans call soccer. >> i've heard of it. >> i trust you had a big party where you served beer and wings at your home for the man city finale. was that -- did you get a chance to see that? >> i did not see the whole game. but as an arsenal supporter, man city is just fine because it's not man united. >> and a liverpool supporter. anybody that stops sir alex from getting his 20th league title is fine with me. >> there is a rumor that the trophy of the english premier league might be paying a visit to the east coast of the united states of america in the coming weeks. we might be able to have a party nonetheless. >> and i hear it will be on the set of "morning joe" on june 7. >> well, well. >> very exciting.

let's talk about what's happening -- we've been talking about california and recklessness in the united states. let's talk about what's going on in greece right now. how that impacts italy, spain, and possibly france, and great britain. how dire is the situation? >> well, great britain of course is not in the eurozone. but we watch with great concern because half our foreign trade is with the rest of europe. so we're not in, but we are watching nervously and we definitely are affected by it. i think that it's a situation which is still unresolved. we are looking at the greeks trying to find a way through this thing. they are going to have new elections. public opinion suggests that the majority of the people want to stay in the eurozone and find a solution in that framework. i don't think myself we should write off the prospect of greece coming out of the eurozone. the fact is, it's very, very difficult to get people either expelled from or people volunteering to resign from the eurozone. it's messy, it's difficult.

you have to go back to your own currency. if one goes, what do you do about the others? right now, i think it's up to the heads of the euurur eurozon the greeks to take their place. but with reinforced discipline with things that weren't there. >> and yet greek voters don't appear to want to place any discipline on their elected leaders. >> well, there's that problem as well. they seem to want a solution which is part of the eurozone rather than to gepharive up, st all over themselves. but we don't know. this is uncharted territory and extremely difficult. >> it's not only greece. the effects of greece leaves are going to be disastrous. spain is in terrible shape. the spanish banks are in terrible shape. they have a 25% unemployment rate. that is an even bigger country in a sense in terms of its

impact. and you don't see spain in a sense stepping up to do what they have to do. so you now have a whole situation where so many countries in europe are in such desperate fiscal shape, and the austerity that may be necessary in a sense to save the euro is inconsistent with local democratic politics. i don't know how you get around that at this stage of the games. >> i think we should nevertheless give eurozone credit for some of the things they have done. >> right. >> we have a firewall. we have bank recapitalization. we have a number of austerity programs. but you're dead right. 25% unemployment is unacceptable in most countries. that's what the spanish are dealing with. and there is an issue with the spanish banks. it will be very difficult. but at the moment, i think the eurozone wants to stay intact. in one goes, what about the constaco contagion on the others? i think for the moment that the game people are focusing on is trying to put in place the resolution mechanisms and the

longer term disciplines so the eurozone can survive. but the jury is still out. >> mike barnicle, in spain, 25% unemployment, 50% among the young. you go through some of the countries, and it's depression. it's depression era numbers. >> right. >> that we look back on from the 1930s. what they are going through today. >> and the 1930s, you brought them up, not me, how long does germany go along with carrying so much of the load? >> that's another extraordinary important question. because at the moment, as long as things are as they are, and some of the weaker brethren have got a big deficit, and as long as they are not doing the extraordinarily difficult bits of conditionality that are necessary for part of the rescue operations, which they have already received it is germany that has to pay the bill. and the germans feel, hell, we have taken a few hits. we are still paying a tax for unification. we have restored our competitiveness. why do we have to keep paying the bill for the rest of these guys? and that is a big issue. also a constitutional question

about how far they can and should continue to fund the rest of the overspending of the eurozone. that is a big political question. we saw on sunday that a certain number of people are in germany aren't wholly convinced that germany is on the right path either. if the answer is that germany has to continue funding a bunch of fiscal transfers, then that is going to be very difficult. it has to be much more balanced, reduce the structural imbalances within the eurozone within the levels of different economic prosperity within the 17 countries. >> do the british people feel a little bit of comfort that they didn't join now? >> i was actually going to ask if anybody has gone out and shined the statues of margaret thatcher, who in the 1980s, at the end of the '80s, got absolutely abused for not wanting to link great britain with the eurozone. >> well, of course, we had a bad experience we were expelled from

the european exchange rate mechanism in '82. and then there was a number of other questions to do with sovereignty and the rest of it over whether we wanted to join the eurozone. right now, i would not say surprisingly -- we are pleased we are not in there, that's for sure. we are pleased we are masters of our own destiny and can run our own economic destiny. but we are suffering from the same contagion. we have had two quarters of negative growth in the unite theed kingdom. but at least we have got the ability to run our economic policy as we would see fit. but we are very keen to see the crisis in the eurozone resolved, just as i find the financers in the united states are as well. >> peter westmacott, thank you for being with us. and congratulations on arsenal. the gunners in the fall look like they weren't going to make it to europe. but once again -- >> we're in the champions league, by the skin of our teeth. next year, we're champions.

>> ok. i will hold you to that. coming up next, the president of the university of pennsylvania amy gutmann whose new book calls for an end of what she calls the permanent campaign. donny, you went there? >> yeah. this is $100,000.

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welcome back to "morning joe." st. louis, what a beautiful stretch of weather you're seeing. quick weather update for you. midwest is perfect. west coast is perfect. it's only in the east we have issues out there. the 48-hour rainfall totals over the last two days, we picked up one to two inches. i almost had that. just barely missed. we'll try it again next time. as far as the rain goes, we are seeing the worst of it around rhode island and out on the cape. some shower activity around buffalo, but that's about it today. in providence or newport, rhode island, that's really the only nasty weather out there. but it will clear out and we'll see some sunshine today and a beautiful afternoon. d.c., midsummer like, 85 and a little bit humid. forecast as i mentioned, kansas city to st. louis, looks great. texas is beautiful.

everyone on the west coast, looking just fine. except for the heat in phoenix. yesterday was 106. today we're turning the thermostat up to 104. coming up next on "morning jo joe", we already know barnicle will not keep it professional. we'll see about the rest of the men. come on, guys. get it together. brooklyn decker is here next. stay tuned. [ jennifer garner ] why can't strong sunscreen feel great?

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and we'll miss our last chance to solve this crisis on our own terms. >> the republican position that tends to prevail in these hot primaries was expressed by the gentleman who beat senator lugar. i'm against compromise. we have force the american people to choose which one of us is right. if that prevails, we're toast. we'll look like a bush league country. >> welcome back to "morning joe." with us now, the president of the university of pennsylvania amy gutmann, the author of the new book "the spirit of compromise: why governs demands it and campaigns undermine it." and speaking of undermining something, donny deutsch undermines the value of your institution every day. very bad for the brand. >> this is true. >> look at this -- >> i never like to embarrass you, but i have not been good for the penn brand.

>> donny likes to say he couldn't get in to penn now. and i asked the dean of admissions, and he agrees. >> confirmed it. >> how complicated is it to revoke a degree? how quickly could you do that in donny's case? >> we haven't actually faced that problem. >> before we go -- >> donny is actually a generous alum. >> amy is the best thing that has happened to penn. i'm speaking on behalf of all of the alumni. >> and i'm speaking on behalf of all the alumni who say don't speak on behalf of all the alumni. they don't want you. >> enough, enough. >> enough is right. amy, let's talk about the permanent campaign. we see it. and i'm just saying as a republican, we were talking to pat toomey about social security and medicare. i remember the president is elected. he says we can't kick the can down the road anymore. we have done it for four years because, well, nobody wants to make the tough choices because the election is always two years

away. >> every day is election day now. >> right. >> and when you campaign, you stand on principles, and you defeat if not demonize your opponents. when you govern, you have to adjust your principles, and you have to sit down with your opponents, and make deals. and the best deals are classic compromises. where everyone gains but everyone gives up something. no gain without pain. >> by the way, that happens in business. that happens in the university. in your university. you always have to compromise. i don't understand why voters want to send somebody up to washington, d.c., that will say like the guy that won in indiana the other day, well, my idea of compromise is the other side doing everything that i want to do. >> murdoch said, i don't want the far left to compromise. they should stand on their principles. and the right should stand on our principles. but nothing gets done. there's no governance. >> has anybody told murdoch that 60 votes are required in the senate to get anything moving?

i mean, seriously, that suggests a complete ignorance of the process in washington, d.c. >> you're right. and, you know, they're going for broke. and both sides, if they don't compromise, they are going for broke and they are going to go broke. the problem is it's not the politicians that will suffer, it's the american people. and most of the american public wants their politicians to compromise. a striking fact, even a majority of tea party members said faced with the debt ceiling crisis, we want our politicians to strike a compromise. so it's not the american public, although the american public has to get smart about who they vote into office. >> they do. but this image that sticks in my head, what cost charlie crist the election? what image haunted him. >> hugging barack obama. >> hugging barack obama, which is the ultimate symbolism of the two sides coming together. that was the bane of his existence. we say we want that, and that cost that man his office.

>> well, don't oversimplify it. >> but i'm simplifying it through -- can i ever say anything that you go, good point, donny? >> no. >> campaigning isn't the time to be hugging your opponents. >> but it's the symbolism of that. >> there is a symbolism. and the media plays it over and over and over again. and part of the problem is when the media goes cheap and just doesn't discuss the issues but just plays the same symbol over and over and feeds into this uncompromising frenzy. >> look, i think -- >> mike, you're raising your hand because i'm the teacher? >> that's exactly right. >> thank you. >> but i think sadly, most people in this country realize that for at least a couple of decades, campaigning has become governing, and it doesn't work. campaigning is governing, and it just doesn't work. but there's a larger issue for all of the people out there getting little kids ready for school, high school kids ready for school. you told me off air that at u

penn's commencement, students leave loan free. how does that happen? how does it happen? >> it happens because we've made it a priority to raise money and to fund every student who is hard working and talented enough to get into penn. we will give them an all-grant, no-loan policy. >> what's the tuition? >> the tuition is high. our tuition, room and board now exceeds $50,000 a year. but only people who can afford it pay it. so -- and that -- even at that rate, we're subsidizing the full direct cost of a penn education. but only people who can afford it pay it. our average financial aid student, half of our student body, pays less now than they did 10 years ago at penn. and they graduate loan free. so it's something that we think is a model for this country because it's really important to make college affordable. >> before we let you go, back to

the book for just a second. where do you trace the beginning of the end of compromise? we had bill bradley on last week, who said there was a little room off the senate floor, joe can speak to this too, where after the session he would get together with his republican buddies and say, come on, i need your vote on this. is that not happening anymore, and where did it stop? >> that is not happening. and i think and we say in this book that the end of those kinds of long-term relationships has really made a very negative difference on politics. i like to say with regard to compromise, familiarity breeds attempt. it's really important to have those relationships. it's not an accident that it was mitch mcconnell and joe biden who sat down finally to strike the deal on the debt ceiling. it's not an accident that simpson bowls -- there were democrats and republicans there, strong partisans who knew each other, who could agree. >> in the 1990s, mid 1990s, a lot of politicians stopped

moving their families to washington. >> yes. >> so you stop your 8-year-old daughter stopped going to school with the 8-year-old daughter of your person on the other side of your committee. and i saw this first hand. when i finally moved to washington for a year, i had to start being a lot nicer to people, because oh, my gosh, you know, my baby girl is going to be angry at me when i get home if i am rude. it is. it's socializing. if your families are intertwined, you can't demonize the person on the other side. you have to deal with it. >> you know, the founding fathers in the convention had certain rules which was you couldn't walk away and walk around. you had to sit there and listen. we could require people to be on the floor. >> and sit and listen. >> yes. exactly. >> amy, great to have you here.

great to hear what you're doing at penn despite some of your alumni. >> my pleasure. >> and the book is "the spirit of compromise," amy gutmann and dennis thompson. coming up next, actress and supermodel brooklyn decker will join us on the set to talk about contagion in europe. [ laughter ] you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy?

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are you ready for this? >> go on. >> are you sure? >> never been more sure of anything in my life. >> what are you going to say? >> i'm going to look up to him man to man and look him straight in the eye. >> with what words? >> my words. okay. sir, your daughter is the best thing that has ever happened to me. she's smart, kind, beautiful, funny and i'm madly in love with her. it would be an honor to have your permission to marry her. >> i love you. >> i love you, too. >> that was a scene from the new movie "battleship." awkward? are you feeling a little awkward? >> i'm a little red. >> that was "battleship"?

>> and that's a tease. here with us on set, brooklyn decker. good to you have. how's it going? >> good. how are you? >> going good. >> when i was groving wing up, battleship was two nerds sitting across from each other saying "you sunk my battleship." >> we're making the 1970s game into a movie and up say -- >> well, i was excited because i got to play a strong girl. that was the biggest allure to me to do the filfilm. you have the board game battleship and can you do

anything you want with it. he decided to go with the u.s. navy and japanese navy and make an action movie out of it. >> it's very fun. gregory gradsen, who plays nick. >> he lost both of his legs in real life. he's commanding troops all day and comes to film with us on his time off so he's a little busy. >> i wonder what he thought was easier. >> good question. he was fantastic and brought something real to the movie. >> his insight must have been incredibly useful. >> it is. >> i play a physical therapist who works with wounded warriors and he's worked with wounded

warriors. it's really nice to have something that's real. we showcase a lot of real troops, a lot of injured veterans as well. so it makes it nice. >> it's been fun, too, to watch your career arc because a lot of people can't pull it off. some people go from modeling and say i want to be an actress and they move to l.a. and to doesn't quite pan out. you have calculated how to do it, romantic comedy and now you go to blockbuster. >> i just want to be hired. i've been very, very lucky. what i loved about this but you get to play a strong girl. i usually don't love big action movies because the girl is being rescued with bithe male. >> it's interesting, i was taken by the fact that there aren't enough roles for smart, strong women in hollywood anyway. but you know who was the first strong woman in an action movie was sigourney weaver in "alien."

she was as tough as nails. >> i watched that before filming. not that we're remaking aliens by any means bu i think rihanna and i tried to -- >> rihanna, behind the scenes. >> she's incredible. i got her to do karaoke. >> what did she sing? >> journey. >> it was unbelievable. she's really good. i put the song to shame. i completely embarrassed myself in front of her. >> you don't want to karaoke somebody's own song in front of them. >> liam neeson is amazing. >> he plays the admiral and my

father in the film. i was very intimidated working with him. he's a huge guy, quite intimidating. >> you guys have a busy summer coming up, you and your husband. heap has a very exciting summer. >> you have -- it's a very exciting household. >> thank you very much for come being back on the show. more "morning joe" in a moment. ♪ ♪

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i think wisconsin is a microcosm of what's happening across the economy. the tax breaks went to the

corporations, they tried to balance the budget on the butcher, the baker, the candlestacandl candlestick maker. >> good morning rng it's 8:00 a.m. on the east coast, 5 a.m. on the west coast as you take a live look at new york city. it's nasty out there and it's nasty on the set here. have you seen donny deutsch's suit? mike barnicle is with us. what is that? >> it's called fashion. >> donny deutsch, i've got a serious question to ask you, even though you're wearing a suit that does not invite serious questions. if i am an investor and i'm thinking about investing in the hottest ipo to come along in years and general motors comes

out a few days before the ipo and tells me that there just ain't no business model in facebook because, guess what, the kids, and they are kids, the kids don't click on to the ads. does this not sound like we're -- it sounds like 1999 all over again. where have all the flowers gone? when will they ever learn? a cnbc ad, 83% -- poll -- hardly ever or never click on a facebook ad. i've never done it. i don't have any friends that have. come on, this is so -- it's hyper inflated, the value. >> i couldn't agree more. i've been saying this for a while, for two reasons. >> of course you have. you said this before i thousand of it. >> if even you go back to the

movie and zuckerberg's whole thing is that we can't put ads on, that's not cool. he understood intuitively that wasn't going to. if you look at why facebook made it, it was because it's the thing. by nature isn't there going to be a next social site where now it's the new cool thing? to me it's not like google. this is frenzy. >> it's absolutely ridiculourid. for people who had kids growing up in the 90s and the early part of this century will remember that facebook came along right in the middle of myspace. it was the hottest thing in the planet. everybody was on myspace and they weren't. you have a lot of housewives on

facebook and get, what now it's pinteres. because it's not brick and mortav, a big guy decomes along tomorrow and facebook is myspace and guess what, there's nothing nobody can doit. >> this is one of those graems examples when the old generation is right. when my dad and i talk about facebook, $100 he asks, what are they doing? what do they do exactly? >> you can't knock doc -- >> but you get access. >> hold on a second. i got to stop here. listen, we're a family here and we have rules, okay? if somebody around this table starts talking. >> nobody's ever interrepted on the show. why are you such a hater? >> you interrupted me again.

i'm going have to ask you if you shall. >> i was going to say you're pairing for access to 800 billion people. the idea of having that many people close to you is attractiveness. is it $104 billion left? not gm cars, not the type of thing that drives up valuation. like maybe elmer's glue or something. or porn! but you're not going to get gm -- >> go ahead. you said porn he raises his hand. >> i wasn't asking. i was addicted to porn. >> and on a separate note and nobody has said this and i'm

just going to say that. don't you just want to smack mark zuckerberg in. >> no. i'm sorry. i have a question. >> what's that? >> what is the purpose other than the obvious of air force base and twitter. why do i have to realize that when i look at twit exsomeone just went out and ate a remake. >> it is a generation. >> can we just pause and staet how old we sound right now. >> if you're 25 years old, employees call into the show right now. >> and i've never been a fan of facebook but this does back to vol uation and back to wall street chasing vapor as the they did in the is the is thes. we're talking about two massive punls right knew.

the economy issic think stenkowa. i think that's going o happen with both of these things. so, steve sm smid, john boehner says we're going to have another showdown. he's talking in front of the peterson foundation. he said the next time the debt ceiling comes up, they're not going to raise taxes and they're going to shut down the government if it's required. here's john boehner last night. >> when the time comes, i will again insist. my simple principle is greater than the debt rim it increase. it's the only avenue i see to force the elected leadership of this country to solve our structural-physical imbalance. we can makd the bold reforms and cuts necessary to meet this principal and i believe that we

know not tricks and gimmicks. >> the american people have had enough of this brinksmanship. it's clear to me that the tea party is driving them over a cliff. >> i think a year ago that john boehner believed he could control the conference, that at the end of the day there wasn't going to be a default. i think he understands now. this is someone trying to get to the head of the parade of and i think it will be as chaotic as it can possibly be. >> bill clinton came out and said taking care of the deficit should be a top priority throughout the election.

is that a smart move for blom a? >> i gree agree with tom kob burn on this. the lefl of debt is not sustainable pim and in fact, the political debate taking place around this issue is absolutely delusional. >> on both sides. >> beau sides are at all. let's do something that two republicans here, let's figure because i personally think barack obama barack obama is in trouble because mitt romney has had a miserable six months, yet romney is still doing his election or better. this election shouldn't be this close. and it suggests much bigger problem with barack obama. his administration knows the first six months framed him as a

big government liberal, even though the bailout is something that bush helped with and bush said later he would have bailed out detroit as well. so what does he do to get around that? people are thinking big government liberal or tax cut or whatever. what do you think the obama team needs to do to try to push that label away between now and election day? >> i think this is an economy election pip think you see them trying to put together a coalition that gets him over the top. i think his floor is 47.5%. i thi that why you see him parks etting different parties of the coalition. he want to ser himself away if

the past is prolonged, we'll have very frivolous campaign. we'll have a lot of diversionary issues, distraction esh use. there's no debate taking place around the core issues that are going to determine whether we're going to be a prosperous government. >> pat of it is it's moderating influences to these outside groups and any given kbe tiff waste. >> they're ideological. they're about imposing dispin. you look at murdoch in indiana just set what we need in washington is that we a casher

and wash. people are going to have to make deals and move us forward. >> how does an extension of the deficit occurred, how does it help a republican nominee? >> that really does because it is such a marked contrast to barack obama being seen as a big government liberal. i think, donny, if i'm president obama, i am -- i'm trying to figure out who to change perceptions between today and election day. i've got to get at that off my back. i've got to. i personally think the president shut go before congress and kill them to pass a simpson bowls. but how do you get that off of

your back? >> i think all open the debt triefs is the momenting push to me, request i'm obamased, i'm staying it ro,le points, she's focus on they -- and the reason you don't see romney is because he doesn't have an apes. >> here's what he said in iowa. >> big debt is sweeping across iowa and across the nation. every day we fail to act those fir ear get close between. the issue isn't who deservices the most mim.

the issue is who is going to teak what it take to bridges this any to a choirer. this debt is america's nightmare mortgage. it's adjustable, no more done and a sign to our children. and politicians have been trying to hide the truth of these mortgages. it is mor ally wrong we rest smep it they're going to go in and they're going to accepting is they go in twinning. if they don't want the show and say the economy sucks and it's been bad for four, five years

and it going to get getting worse. am i going to reelect the guy who wants more government and believes we're going to make the economy better by creating an even bigger government? or are we going to elect a guy who says that he's going to trust the private sector? you say private sector in their mind but it's going to get stripped down to that. with europe as a back drot, as california as a back drop, tft is a losing mess oj this year. >> snum one, almost 60% of the people in the usa, they think they're going to be better off a year from now. secondly, the interesting reference he makes about the mortgage crisis, this is a guy that wants less regulation in government. we all know everybody didn't have their hand on the wheel. and steve is obviously much better equipped forme tos and this. and we by nature everybody wants to kick the can and there's a

different between debt and my personal economy and how i vote. debt is one thing, unemployment, my individual well being today is separate. >> coming up, we have the chair of the house budget committee, congressman paul ryan. he's going to be height rear. and seen win. why betting on bpublic schools always pays off. but first here's bill request w your forecast. >> good morning, everyone. we are dealing with a summer-like weather person and in -- in chicago, northward up through the great lakes is the only cool air. we're in for a nice day today from d.c. and new york city. temperatures get up into the

80s. you look at the temperature on the map. the heat is really started to pin forwards at nk. i tell you what, i'm going to call the yawn morm at. weefr looking at a beautiful the drought -- day. right now it just warm and sunny. enjoy it while it lasts from the east coast all the way to the eastern sea board tomorrow. you're watching "morning joe." it going to be a beautiful summer day in washington. we're brewed by starbucks. ♪ ♪ hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices?

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♪ i remember >> we have the director of wynn resort. she's the chairperson of the national boards of committees and school. she's joined by dan -- they put this phonetic pronunciation. i can just read it. he's president of communities and schools, a nonprofit organization that connects students to critical local resources to keep them from giving up and dropping out.

elaine, we saw you in our new jersey town hall meeting at fort lee. tell us a little bit more about what this organization does. >> this is an extraordinary organization. we're go b to release a very important report this morning so you're getting a sneak preview. we're not like most nonprofits in the sense that we focus on outcomes. we combine compassion with being impactful to the economy of this country. my feeling is that the best source of renewable energy are our own kids who are at risk of dropping out of high school. and what we're going to share with the country today are factual results based on some research and study that we've done about actual students that have been in this program. most people go at education directly through traditional forms of reform that have to do were teacher and pedigogy.

we engage in creating a way to deliver services that exist in communities that, can help kids be prepared to learn once they come to school. and we are able to do it on great scale. we're in 25 states, the district of columbia. to our mind we're the most successful organization in this dpropout prevention world. >> dan, the thing i love about the program is that just for years it's made sense i think not mess with the school. i say wait a minute, there are so many talented people outside this infrastructure, why aren't we linking up partnerships more? that seems to be exactly what you guys are doing. >> that's a large part of what we do. our goal is not just to connect the assets to schools but get the right sets of services to

the right kids. what we hear often from teachers and students is they have 20 or 30 nonprofits, volunteers running around pu but they don't really know -- >> there's no one taking a bird's eye view of the thing. >> exactly. >> and let someone how the what's working and what's not working. >> i was telling willie i'm italian. >> you're kidding me? with this time? >> it's half german. >> the trains come out from the italian. we take these and train them certify them and they're in the school, they're with teachers and principles and they say what are the best resources we can bring, the adults, the after-cool programs, mental health providers, food, shelter, whatever it takes.

we get some of the right kids in the right dosage. we're shown that you can drive academic outcomes. we are the only organization that has proven results that so we can actually lower dropout rates. >> willie, this is great news. your mom has been involved in this for such a long time. this sounds exactly like what we need. you got to figure out what's working, what's not working and how to team up the resource ps. >> my mom's an outreach teacher. brother sharing a pair of roos. having a got that are falling through the cracks but that are critical. >> not to mention the extended

family needs, kids that are employed, health care being simple things like glass ed that prevent you from being able to read the taerls are not. but what we'd love to share with you are the results of this report. we think it's pretty startling. if community and schools were a stock, i'd be buying. >> we know where dropouts occur, in what section of each city, what school. we're pretty much aware of that. what's in the report? what specifics are you going to announce and address later today in. >> we've taken the results from our five-year longitudinal evaluation and show that it

hired and grasses the rate. we tell us a brutal fax by removing the noneconomic barriers that kid show up with and end up leaving as a dropout. for every dollar invested, we have an $88.66 return. we will return to this country $2.6 billion in economic value. >> but how do you -- i'm going to drop out. i'm 16, i'm going to drop out. how do you have save me? how do you prevent me from working out? >> one, we know who you are. we know your story. we know what your challenges are and we care. you know there's an adult who carries your narrative who will be there for you no matter gosh. we're going to make sure you're

connected to the food bank. you're working after school because you're contributing to your family wage. we're going toage end. we do whatever it tames takes to me sure you can be academically successful and we can meet up where you're at. we look at where your needs are and we overkiem -- it reminds me of superman when they talking about that maybe schools are failing because they're surrounded by a failure need to look at it in the way because the skoobl in the middle of it is not bribe brant. there as a society change in our country now and we understand that everything is integrally connected.

not only are we connected in terms of our community but globally we're connected. so this hysteria about us falling behind competitively is what's driving our work particularly. and it's important now that we turn out an educated workforce, that we focus on our human capital, which is the truly great resource we have and to ignore the economic impact of all these kids who could potentially be high earners, contribute or more importantly get them off the negative impact where social services wind up paying for themselves and their families bare not very smful. gram thanks for a sneak peek. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and we're going to be right back with the chairman of the house budget committee, palm ryan. keep it right here on morning

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republican representative from wisconsin and head of the budget committee paul ryan and the author of "great employee handbook." first let's talk to paul ryan. paul, greece is collapsing, california economically falling off a cliff, spain 20% unemployment, 50% unemployment with the youth. look at italy, they're in a fiscal crisis, great britain, france, not far behind. how far are we behind that once the dominos start falling and greece doesn't do the responsible thing, then spain falls and italy falls, they drag france down, the euro collapses. how far are we behind them? >> i don't know the answer to that question but i sure don't want to find out, joe. experts tell us it could be two, three years before we're next. the point is we are next, we will have a debt crisis if we don't stop the trajectory we're on. the president's had four budget,

done nothing about it. the senate hasn't passed a budget in four years. mitt romney is crystal clear he will prevent this from happening in america. >> so you're talking about mitt romney, talking about how he's going to be responsible. you look at mitt romney's plans, though, you add them all up, the deficit goes up as much under mitt romney as it does under barack obama. if you look at their plans, there's not a big difference. >> there's a huge difference, are you kidding me? >> how much will the dead be reduced? >> under the tax plan he's keeping revenues where they have been. mitt romney is saying we're going to do entitlement reform. heap embrazing the gee woo have medicare reform emand he's

embraced the kind of structural entitlement reforms you must actually put in place to get this debt under control. it's a huge difference. >> donny, if romney is going after trying to save medicare and social security, that's a good thing, right? >> i couldn't get a real straight answer from senator twomey. i'm a business guy. there are two things in the budget, unless you tackle them it doesn't matter and one is entitlements and one defense. talk to me about the cuts in defense. >> we take $300 billion out of the baseline. the problem with the president's cut, we fear it cuts too far and will stretch our government reserves too much. more importantly he fuses account cut to fuel more. you can't go down that path. >> okay pell, those killing to

cut the program -- >> but everything sells discussion opinion everything else doesn't matter except those two issues. it's easy to say we're going into entitlement but -- no, we disagree with their events. they use it to fuel more domestic spending and that that's the defense spending that is the driver of our future debt. it is entitlement pra we specify. we passed a budget this year and last year. we're saving, just look miss miss the president ignores it, the senate ignores it, you just can't do it or we'll have a

greek-like crisis. we're saying do it now so you can preserve the programs for people who are already retired and make it something you can count on for those of us who are younger if you do retire. the more irresponsible our leaders act, the more we'll have a taxes. >> we had senator pat twomey on earlier in terms of fiend aches has our plan, we we have our plan, the republicans have a really ashl done. in ha-- name me five people on e democratic side of the aisle you could go to to start cutting a deal. >> mark warner, jim cooper, heath schuler.

and outside democrats -- i'm a big fan of of erskin bowles. there are people o agree on how to do medicare. if you want to compromise, you have to pass legislation. we have a budget law. it says the house and senate pass a budget and then they nebt those two and pass a reconcilw version. that's how laws are written. house and senate pass a bishlgs you get together, you reconcile the differences. but when the senate chooses to do nothing, then nothing happens. that's where we are today. >> senator paul ryan, i don't know if your ears were burning.

we talking about the senator. maybe someday you'll be with us. >> maybe. >> so much quinn, obviously you're a successful business person and you basically have become very well known nationally telling businesses, specifically health care providers, how to turn things around? how do we turn things around if both sides aren't talking to each other? we're in the middle of a fiscal disaster internationally and democrats and republican can't get anything done. i think with my people where i say up just solve the problem and i look at what the private employer can do, and that's

provide a great service and quality of life. >> donnie, there's going to be a gud question on who is going to pull us out of this mess? the government or individuals? >> that's what the argue money has been for i guess 235 years in this country. let me ask you, what does washington need to do to get small businesses reinvesting not only in their businesses but hiring new people? what's the obstacle right now? >> anxiety. i think any time you run a small business and you don't know which way the government's going, how can you invest, how can you spend? so you end up sitting on your dollars, you become more northeastern university. everybody is sitting on their dollars. >> and health care helps people,

you really can't invest or make your expenditures you need to make. >> again, you work with the biggest health care providers in mork, you advise them on how to:successful yet air all -- they're just not reinvesting them p -- there's two types of anxiety. one creates an anxiety and you move forward the other anxiety is people get scared and you hunker down. >> how many times have we heard -- and i'm frustrated now -- how many times have we heard over the past two, three years that you've got $2 trillion, $33 and over again from maul businesses owners all the way to the owners of the big

corporations in the world? we were talking it a couple of strong economists. >> at the level of small business or big business, i don't care who you talk torque you can talk to jamie dimon or you can talk to a guy who own as variety stup up on 185th street. it's the lack of certainty in their economic lives that prevent them from -- >> then you hire part-time because they don't have benefits. you have too many people without benefits accessing it. we all agree, i think what we need is strong leadership that makes a decision so at least you know which way -- >> one way. we also have mort zucker man.

and finally some signs of strength in the business market. stay with us. at bank of america, we're lending an in communities across the country.

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welcome back to "morning joe." we're here with the author of "the great employee's handbook, making life better." whether we're talking to you, jamie dimon, whether i'm talking to the guy that runs bagel heads in pensacola, everything in business is saying the same thing, republicans, independents, democrats, conservatives, i'm not going to invest because there's uncertainty, there's regulatory uncertainty. i don't know what next year looks like. i've been hearing this for four years. >> yes, they did a lot of tests, university of chicago asked a whole group of business people what does regulatory or

political uncertainty mean to you? they estimated between 2 and 2.5 million jobs were not created because of regulatory uncertainty, exactly what you were talking about before, particularly health care when they didn't know what the costs were. what's happening? people are being employed on a part-time base because then the companies aren't responsible for the benefits. >> and, quint, that is talking about health care. that's ravaging some of the businesses that you consult with. >> yeah. well, i think any time you have a lot of bad debt coming in because peopledon't have coverage, somebody has to pay for that. >> let go now to "business of the bell." brian? good news from the housing sector? >> housing starts did rise nor than expected. the most important number is the single family homes, they start at 2.3%. most of the construction we've seen in housing has been

multi-family, ie, a pretty good sign. you want to put people back to work. that's where most of the jobs were lost in the great recession. that seems to be winning the battle over investor hearts. greece headed for a showdown june 17th, yet owe another election which everybody wants to remain in the euro zone. most polls show people do but they also don't want to have benefits cut. so a little bit of good news there. if i'm a business with 45 employees and i don't know if obama care is in effect, i'm going to grow. >> and even after are the supreme court makes a decision, you can't -- most ceos can't a.

>> even at this we're building at about 50% of the. >> we've lost 70% of the private home equity in the last three, four years. zun believable. >> it's the largest drop since the great depression. >> brian sullivan, thank you so much. quint, stick around. we will be right back with more "morning joe." ♪ ♪

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. really quickly, "the las vegas sun," i think we're going to have a new movement, free mandela. how about free o.j. >> no! >> o.j. simpson's lawyers claiming his first trial was so bad at that simpson must have a new trial. he's serving 33 years for kidnapping and armed robbery. >> is that grounds to release someone from prison because the lawyer sucked? >> kind of. they can try it. 33 years? he's just trying to get back some of his memorabilia!

here's a look at your business travel forecast on this wednesday. the only area of the country with still a chance of showers and thunderstorms is right along the immediate east coast, especially around new england this afternoon and areas of florida this afternoon the rest of the nation looks great from d.c. to atlanta to detroit. chicago looks dry. nice, cool beautiful air mass. all areas of the west, expect a lot of sunshine. have a great day. no! but, i'm about to change that. ♪ every little baby wants 50% more cash... ♪ phhht! fine, you try. [ strings breaking, wood splintering ] ha ha. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. ♪ what's in your wallet? ♪ what's in your...your...

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developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. welcome back to "morning joe." it's time to talk about what we learned today. joe, what did you learn? >> it's a magic tv moment when you can get brooklyn decker together here. >> what did you learn? >> i was given a taser. i learned the pensacola blue wahoos have the most beautiful ballpark. >> i'm going.

>> you are going between pensacola stadium and the red sox stadiums in ft. myers, those are two of most beautiful parks. >> what did you learn? >> i learned to my astonishment at that there are incompetent lawyers in this country. >> astonishing. i bet you hired a few. >> what did you learn, cliff? >> it's going to come down to leadership in the private sector and engaging employees. >> and i learned how to engage with people and work, get along with co-workers and bosses. will willie, it's way too early, i "morning joe." stick around for chuck today. >> it's deja vu. speaker john boehner wants a new debt ceiling and mitt romney says we're facing a prairie fire of debt. the gop messaging all moving