former labor secretary robert reich knows the answer. constitutional scholar michelle bachman doesn't understand the 14th amendment. >> he would be making spending decisions and tax decisions. clearly that's unconstitutional. >> we'll review the document for her. and while republicans hold the economy hostage, nobody's thinking about putting americans back to work. tonight, my commentary on how washington and big business need to start hiring. good to have you with us tonight, folks. it's an unbelievable day of news coming out of washington, d.c. house speaker john boehner, i guess you could say is finding out the hard way that a stiff drink and round of golf just isn't going to solve this problem. the speaker is politically hog-tied in his own caucus. he doesn't have the votes. the american people are now witnessing the hourglass being turned on the american economy. going to be a lot of losers if they don't get it together. disaster looms and the tea partiers just don't seem to give a damn. a vote on boehner's bill was scheduled for 6:

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. >>> robert reich is joining me now, he was labor secretary under president clinton. he recently wrote that the tea party kids have trashed the stage. thank you for being with us, profe professor. 9 guy i spoke with, the congressman, doesn't look like a child, but what he said to me does not make a lot of adult sense. can you help me here, professor? >> i was listening as well. frankly i was disturbed by what he said. one thing i do agree with is the long-term debt does have to be tack many. the health care costs are what's pushing up most of the big expenses we have. hopefully we'll be doing that, but much of what he said, honestly did not make sense. bill clinton ended his eight years in government with $22 million net new jobs, and a budget surplus. what did george bush do? he turned that into a gigantic deficit. he didn't find a spending bill he couldn't resist. he created 8 million new jobs. well, in eight years, you know, bill clinton created 22 million net new jobs, george w. bush created 8 million. 8 million new jobs is nothing to crow about. the medians wage

of labor, and chancellor's professor of public policy at university of california at berkeley, robert reichhe is also author after book "aftershock." how did democrats take control of this conversation? speaking with the national urban league and that's what we are talking about, we are talkinging out of the book of reich. how are we on the wrong conversation? we are talking about deficit reduction and our jobs. >> yeah. well look at, let's be very clear. i think the president, every democrat, every politician, every leader has it make sure that the public understands the crisis right now is a jobs crisis and it is not a budget crisis. i mean the united states is the richest country in the world. the budget problems den years from now could be serious but we don't have to address them this instant. in fact by addressing them now, cutting the deficit now, we actually withdraw money and jobbes from the company. this is the worst time to be asteer. this is the worst time for a budget cutting strategy. yet the republicans have grabbed the lime light and created the impression, manufactured a bu

i want to bring in robert reich, at berkeley. authored "aftershock, america's economy and future." i want to begin with you. i know we have you on and i want to talk jobs and that's what people want to hear about. two scenarios, labor secretary during the government shutdown oddly '95 and early '96. at the time businesses couldn't get loans guaranteed through small business administration, health services for veterans stopped, national parks were closed because, you remember, there just wasn't a budget. so let me give you the if. if congress cannot reach a deal on the debt ceiling by one week from today, how, sir, would the impact compare to what we experienced during the government shutdown during the mid-90s? >> brooke, it would be much worse. a government shutdown is one thing. even in the government shutdown vital government services will continue. people got medicare checks and medicaid, social security, unemployment checks. the government continued to pay its creditors what was due. but if the debt ceiling is not raised next week, none of that happens. government simply doesn

families and this intuition is in many ways here in japan compounding the nuclear energy expert robert reich was in hiroshima explaining the current situation in japan. but rock obama is calling on the american people to step up to the plate to pressure the politicians in dealing with the debt standoff congress has a week left to raise the country's multi-trillion dollar debt ceiling if it wants to avoid a potentially devastating default in a nationwide address obama warned that an american default would impact around the world he blamed republicans for stalling talks and refusing to accept a balanced approach republican speaker john boehner hit back if using obama of spending beyond the country's means and expecting a blank check republicans and democrats have been locked in a dispute over whether spending cuts all times hikes is the answer to the debt crisis washington what mathew bottom says the government needs to act fast to avoid an investor exodus. obama and the democrats in congress just want to keep on spending. and so they would like to see the debt ceiling raised so that they can

. >>> joining mess is former labor secretary robert reich he's the author of "aftershock." professor, good to see you this morning. >> good morning, thomas. >> senator cardin is given an insider's perspective. we have regular man on the street interviews about how they feel, but when we talk about the specifics, about the u.s. credit rating that could be downgraded, even if we raise the ceiling on time, some analysts are saying that a downgrade is inevitable. lawmakers have gotten this country into a real mess. in your estimation, from your background, is washington broken? it just can't seem to get its act together? >> undoubtedly washington is broken. the big problem, though, is that you have two sides who are still way, way far apart, and the clock is sticking. i mean, we have to have an agreement by tuesday, or interest rates not only for the federal government, but really for average people with regard to auto loans, variable rather mortgages, everything else, start going up. the possibility, thomas, is those interest rates could go up very, very dramatically. that wil

even clinton's administration, robert reich didn't have the vis, and there's the voices of people, and those voices that majority polls show us say the real crisis is not a deficit crisis, but o jobs crisis. that's not well represented inside the halls corridor of power. afghanistan, you know, if we listened to president obama during the campaign, and i was one who said that,ing you know, progressives need to be tough and pragmatic about president obama as he is about us, he spoke about afghanistan as the good war, and he did that because he needed to show because of the national security state grip on our politics, until we find a way to end that, a president remains captive to a large extent. he had to show he was tough. i think now what's going on in this country is you have the ability, polls are snapshots, but on a number of core issues, afghanistan, corporate powers and others, there's majorities of people who want a way out of afghanistan, who believe corporate power is too strong in this country, and a president with leadership could seize that. it's not too late, and find a wa

. >> professor robert reich. sir, it's great to see you today.nks for your time this morning. >> thanks, thomas. >>> while the stand-off continues on capitol hill, around the nation governors have reached across the aisle to pass timely budget and also tackle issues. andrew cuomo signed the first on-time budget and cut spending. indiana governor mitch daniels ended the year with a $1 billion surplus. and new jersey governor chris christie reformed the state pension system while shaving $1.3 billion off the budget. so the big question, why can't congress really get its act together? joining me now is vermont governor who has his own tales to tell. sir, it's great to have you on today because in your state as governor you signed a bill putting vermont on track to become the only state with a single payer health care system. in your estimation, how do you explain the achievement gap between the states and what all of us are witnessing in washington? >> you know, i guess i'm as perplexed as the rest of the governors that just met together out in utah

i agree with robert reich on that. it didn't go far enough.ing marred in these debates over the sanctity of our future economy rather than focus on jobs. alisyn: if only we had a bigger stimulus, rich we won't be in this jobs crisis. >> the idea you had a 877, whatever it was billion stimulus, the idea if you had a trillion, would it make a fundamental difference? that's ridiculous. what this president has proven is what we should have already known, you can't spend your way into a sound der economy into recovery. he is out of tools now. the things he talks president bush silly and ridiculous. patent reform and an infrastructure bank, that is not going to make a difference. alisyn: when robert reisch, obviously tkaepl krat comes out and calls for the president's plan for jobs grossly inadequate that probably means he hasn't done enough. >> he is also saying that the republicans haven't done enough either. i want to go to rich's point. look, businesses which are paying their lowest packs levels in the last half century are sitting on a record $

robert reich said what country should we model ourselves after to get out of this?said the united states of america. [laughter] [applause] >> we did this after lubold were too. we invested in ourselves in the right things and education and infrastructure. we invested in science and technology and innovation and education in 57 when sputnik was launched, i was 6-years-old, my brother was 11. my parents -- we were scared to death because the soviets were ahead of us and in space now, and if they had nuclear weapons. our parents to cross into the living room in minnesota and said you are going to have to study math and science to beat the soviets, and i thought that was kind of a big burden to put on an 11-year-old and a 6-year-old. [laughter] but we studied math and science and we beat the soviets. [laughter] the benefits in the space program were just on told. i was watching a debate during the last campaign and the republican candidate for senator said the government never created a job, and i notice i ron ackley the debate was carried on satellite. [laughter] >> wh

robert reischauer one of these hearings said, what -- robert reich at one of these hearings said, whatntry should we model ourselves after? the answer is, the united states of america. [laughter] we did this after world war ii. we invested in the right things. we invested in education, in infrastructure, in science and technology, in innovation, education, science and math education. i was a sputnik kid. in 1957 when sputnik was launched, i was 6 years old. my brother was 11. we were scared to death because the soviets were ahead of us in space now and they had nuclear weapons. my parents took us into our living room in minnesota and said boys, you are going to have to study math and science to beat the soviets. i thought that was kind of a big burden to put on an 11-year-old and a 6-year-old. [laughter] but we were obedient sons, so we studied math and science, and would you not know it, my parents were right, we studied math and science and we beat the soviets, my brother and me. [laughter] and the benefits of the space program are -- i was watching a debate during the last campaign,