and the former chairman of the federal reserve, allen greenspan.gh in. >>> tonight we have examined where the economy is growing and where headwinds remain. but let's shift to the bigger picture and explore what the long-term significant obstacles could be to america's economic privacy and prosperity. four challenges we face. challenge number one, health care. we will spend $2.8 trillion on it this year. that's about 1 out of every $6 the u.s. can economy will generate. we pay more for health care than the next ten biggest spenders combined. and we don'tç get better resul. we have higher rates of disease and injury for every age up to 75 and shorter life spans than any of 17 other wealthy nations. we rank 50th in the world in infant mortality. according to "time" magazine, cuba is number 41. >> we have to do something about health care costs. that is the main driver. but it doesn't really mean cutting benefits. that means cutting costs. >> reporter: bottom line, even though health care creates jobs, an expected 5.5 million this decade, what we spe

are caused by government policy and the federal reserve has been very creative and in this case allen greenspan made bad mistakes because he wanted to go out a hero. we were having a minor economic correction, he created negative economic rates. then ben bernanke created a new yield curve, because we suddenly had a negative spread, which is a whopping reason this has lasted several years. the context in which the mistakes were made were really federal reserve policies and they got deflected primarily in the housing market, specifically fannie mae and freddie -- freddie mac and fannie mae. it was destructive for housing and consumption. people don't think about it, but if you consume it and a massive overconsumption, which is one reason we have had such a hard time getting the production process going again. we have taught millions of people how to the mortgage bankers and learn new jobs. this housing, investment, the federal monetary reserve problems is particularly destructive from an economic perspective. the other thing, i don't know that we disagree on this because is because peter doesn't

plus, planning for the fed's exit with special guest allen greenspan. ♪ [ construction sounds ] ♪ [ watchoutta here. ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪ [ laughter ] ♪ [ female announcer ] each one of us is our own boss. ♪ and no matter where you are in life, ask your financial professional how lincoln financial can help you take charge of your future. ♪ >>> welcome back to "squawk box" this morning. futures looking good. dow opening up 36 points height arer. s&p 500 up about six points. jim cramer at the new york stock exchange. becky had had a nice shout out earlier about some of your comments about the consumer. i saw a little tweeting action going on. >> she said -- it was just another optimist, moronic comment. people say what does he know? he's siding with walmart and costco and home depot. i'm simply listening to the companies. others want to listen to the commerce department, the gasoline tax. there's a lot of good things happening. thank you for bringing them out even in the face of people who just want to talk about how it is all fed induced and a big joke. man, people making a lot of money on