basic income or would it make people not want to work we have two views today, michael tanner and jason furman, harvard kennedy school professor, chief economist to president obama gentlemen, thank you both for joining us today michael, let's start with you. this idea of free money seems to violate the american work ethic. why do you think a universal basic income is a good idea? >> well, i think it would theoretically, at least, be superior to the existing social welfare system it would be more efficient, it would be more humane, and it would be a lot less paternalistic. the current system penalizes people if they get a job and leave welfare. the marginal tax rates for leaving welfare for work are extraordinarily high this is theoretically a way of dealing with problems in the existing welfare system. >> jason, why do you think he's wrong? >> you know, a lot of people when they first hear this idea really like it, and then when you look at the details, turns out it doesn't work, it costs $2, $3 trillion, you would need to double the current income tax to make it work, and i think the premise

realized they weren't supposed to be there for that >> they sent them there to do better than jason furmanhot, jason. and what they're going to get is repealed tariffs, immigration restrictions, that will hurt american manufacturing and growth going forward enjoy your free market >> you know what you know what? the invitation's rescinded it's a big tent, jason love you jason now andrew loves you see you later. thank you. >> thank you, guys when we come back, we are in the thick of earnings season find out where you should be putting your money to work from two market pros right after the break. and then at 7:30 eastern time, congressman john yarmuth is going to join us ranking member of the house budget committee is going to talk to us about budget cuts, the debt ceiling, the president's economic policy. stay tuned you're watching "squawk box" right here on cnbc. >>> welcome back to "squawk box. we don't talk about the ads enough but that sock slider is something. i'm thinking about it. i don't know >> i feel like that's -- >> that fascinates me. >> velcro sneakers, too? >> you don't seem

walmart has reduced prices for the poor by an estimated $2,000 plus per household, that's from jason furmanas obama's economic adviser. more than $2,000 to every family in america -- can. john: this was his research before obama. >> exactly. intellectually honest economist. if you're poor and you can reduce your costs, your life is better. capitalism, when allowed to do so, always reduces costs, increases quality and creates more diversity which is why we need to allow walmart and other companies to give more poor people more access to better goods and services for lower prices. john: all right. they and we can buy stuff, save money, buy it for less. but when they're paying $9 an hour and they voluntarily raised it above minimum wage because it's good pr for them, and it helps them keep good workers and it's how the market should work, but people say $9, that's good middle -- that guts good middle class jobs. people can't live on that. in fact, a lot of walmart workers are getting government subsidies. >> it's not walmart's fault. walmart is part of a globalization movement. millions of job

you know, there was a very interesting "wall street journal" editorial by a very prominent -- jason furman, prominent members of both parties advocating for this. among other points they made, democrats are currently using the debt limit as leverage to increase spending. so i was wondering what your reaction would be and what the reaction of the administration would be to the idea of just saying let's have ab appropriate budget -- an appropriate budget process instead of arguing about whether or not we should pay for a meal after we've eaten it. >> well, i think we've got to look at this, and i agree that there should be a change going forward. we're obviously not going to address this now. but we have a debt limit, we have a budget process, and we have an appropriations process. i'm all for there should be very strict controls of spend ising money. -- spending money. but once we've agreed to spend the money, we should make sure that the government can pay for it. >> right. so the idea of the debt limit as a mechanism is not something you're enthusiastic about it. >> i'm not. >> all right,