thanks for joining me tonight, arianna.in our endeavors try to present optimistic views of what is to become. you at aol "the huffington post" will optimistically tell people how the business will look a year or two from now. there are certain situations it's hard to fake optimism. how should the president handle this after this situation where they took the debt ceiling hostage and they ran this crazy negotiation. he has to somehow suggest that there's an optimistic course here. >> i think he needs intense therapy to explain to himself, first of all, why he did what he did, because there's no rational explanation. there's no economic explanation, you know, economist after economist, most recently jpmorgan told its top clients that this deal is going to reduce the growth rate by over 1%, 1.5 maybe. jpmorgan, lawrence summers have been going around doing show after show saying that 1% increase in the growth rate over the next five years would have had a much greater impact on the deficit, not on jobs, not on anything, but on

i think that's what he wanted. >> arianna, what happens to the left? will you rent hundreds of buses for obama's next rally the way you did for jon stewart's? >> well, actually, i think this right-left distinction has nothing to do with this debate. because there's a real consensus, as joe said, among the american people that we need both revenue increases and ways to encourage the creation of jobs. there's a real consensus around big infrastructure projects, for example. even if we're at full employment, we would need big infrastructure projects because our infrastructure is crumbling. there is consensus around a national payroll tax holiday. there are a lot of interesting proposals on the table but not easily divisible as left or right. >> i'm not sure there's a consensus around that. >> this goes back to what nick was saying. the most important consensus among the american people is this stuff that washington is obsessed with isn't nearly as important as the economy. i think that is -- >> what arianna is talking about is ways to get the economy grow

and arianna joins me now. knowing you, i would imagine you're a bit fed one only being 31 on this list. >> i think it is a great list. and i'm very happy with my placement, piers. >> but quietly you're thinking, hang original i should be at least in the 20s here, aren't you? >> no, no. would you ever be thinking that if you were in any number on that list? would it matter? >> yes. well -- i would be a bit concerned if i'll on the most 100 most powerful women list. but on any list, i think it doesn't mat here you are. you can be bill gates. if you're second to warren buffett, you're really annoyed, aren't you? >> no. that's terrible to think that way. >> this book of yours, which is a fascinating read. it come at a very timely period in american life. i love this quote from you about the american dream. the core idea of the american dream, work hard and advance up the ladder, has been gutted. now the american dream is to try to not fall or to do all you can to slow your rate of decline. a pretty devastating ind

harpist not included. ♪ breakdown of the political >>> arianna huffington has called the debt battle breakdown of the political system and she joins me now. why do you say that? >> i say that, piers, because here we have a major crisis in the country, a growth crisis. and which means that the jobs crisis and a debt crisis, we do not have a debt ceiling crisis and that is a completely manufactured crisis that we spent an enormous amount of time and energy trying to resolve. and in the process, we have made the economy worse, because we have reduced demand at a time when the economy is so fragile and last quarter we grew by 1.3%, and the unemployment at 9.2%, and almost 29 million people unemployed or underemploy and nothing in the deal that makes the economy any better, and absolutely nothing at all. that is a truly dysfunctional system if after all of the debate, if after all of the effort, that is what we have ended with. >> what is extraordinary is that nancy pelosi said earlier it was a satan sandwich with satan fries on the side to describe the deal, and what kind of deal is that

and now let's come to the winners and the losers here, arianna, because the real winners are the teabers who inflamed this into a huge scandal when you say as the debt ceiling issue comes up all of the time without any problem normally, and they have had control over the speaker john boehner, haven't they, because they have pushed him back on the original vote, so that the tea party, really, they have been calling the shots with both sides? >> well, the tea party was allowed to call the shots. there was a vacuum of leadership, and into that vacuum stands the tea party who without any economic theory to back up the solutions they were offering. but if it had been real leadership on the other side, this would not have happened. i really liked what bill clinton suggested president obama should have done which is basically appeal to the 14th amendment, the constitutional option, and raise the debt ceiling and refuse to be held hostage, and more important refuse to allow the economy and the lives of the american people to be held hostage by a party that simply does not understand economic

i think that is -- >> what arianna is talking about is ways to get the economy growing. you think they don't make that connection? >> i think the american people believe that this whole debt -- long-term deficit and debt debate is irrelevant to their lives. what's relevant is the fact that the economy is sagging. >> but then they would be in favor of keynesian fixes, but they're not, are they? >> they're in favor of everything. the answer is yes. yes to tax cuts, yes to more benefits in medicare and social security. yes to budget cuts. yes to more benefits. >> there's no clans there's going to be a stimulus bill, is there? >> i don't know what's coming down the pike. there's one thing you said at the beginning i would quibble with and it's this. in the days before the debt ceiling deal was made, u.s. treasury bonds, especially the ten-year bond, were strengthening in value, not weakening. the interest rates were dropping. there are two reasons for that. one is that our bonds are questionable except for every other country in the world which is more questionable. but also

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arianna huffington is with us. washington, we have nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director and host of the daily rundown, chuck todd who i watched all day and into the night with the story. he owned it. he owned it! >> i will put down anyone that describes the deal as a satan sandwich. how does it look on the republican side. >> i guess his vote, steny hoyer won't be calling him, i need one vote. it's going to be a heavy lift in the senate. we might see more democratic votes in the senate for the deal and more republican votes in the house. the house is the majority -- is republicans are a majority in the house. because the deal feels, if i would have shone you this before, you would think it's a republican deal. it's a slam dunk for the republicans. it's unclear what the numbers are going to be in the senate. the house vote counters really would like to see 75/25, or 80/20 out of the senate. anything less, it plays seeds of doubt in some members. the basic math i have heard is kevin mccarth

>> e.j., the voters you're talking about tend to be middle class, we're going to be talking with ariannafington later about how politicians tend to ignore the middle class. is there something the president should be saying in the job's speech next week that addresses specifically middle class worries about job insecurity? >> i think there are a couple of things. one is if democrats don't take the payroll tax cut to the republicans, they ought to find another line of work. by the republicans' own standards, if you let a tax cut expire, that's a tax increase. this is going to be a tax increase on tens of millions of people. they ought to be able to win that fight. the other place where i'd like to see more focus is on the long-term unemployed. there are a lot of middle class people who have been out of work for a long time, and even when the economy comes back, they are still going to have a devilish time to find a job, and so i hope he does something in that area and talks to them. >> e.j., you, in a recent column, mentioned it's not just liberals who are looking for big movement on the e

. >> arianna huffington, thank you very much for joining me tonight, arianna. >> thank you, lawrence. >> have the last word online at our blog and follow my tweets @lawrence. "the rachel maddow show" is up next, and filling in tonight again is melissa harris-perry. hi, melissa. >> hi, lawrence, thanks. and thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. rachel has the night off and we're going to be coming to you tonight live from the great city of new orleans, a city which at this moment is being physically consumed by this. no, despite all the outward appearances, that is not, in fact, a haboob, but it's a new orleans version of a haboob. that right there, that big ominous looking grayish-brownish cloud is the result of a giant marsh fire that's been burning for three days now. literally swampland that's caught on fire and is blanketing the city in this lovely haze. if you have the fortune to be walking around new orleans right now, this is what you're breathing in, a thick smokey stew. i know that sounds sort of organic, nice, maybe even southern, but this big plume of

times" columnist has some cunning words for the newspaper, and arianna huffington's website apologizes engineer smart gasoline that works at the molecular level to help your engine run more smoothly by helping remove deposits and cleaning up intake valves. so when you fill up at an exxon or mobil station, you can rest assured we help your engine run more smoothly while leaving behind cleaner emissions. it's how we make gasoline work harder for you. exxon and mobil. to normal. to normal. >>> time for the "media monitor." the thing media writers know all too well is the battered state of the newspaper business. tim ruden, who wrote a smart and sharp-edged media column for "the los angeles times," has been let go after nearly 40 years at the paper, a victim of the latest round of layoffs. he talked about his pink slip and how businessman sam zellmann drove paper into bankruptcy after buying its parent, the tribune company, with an interview. he said the "l.a. times" is a shell of what it was ten years ago. strong parting words from an awe bankruptly unemployed media columnist. >>> t"the h

and that is called third world america by arianna huffington. it's a very readable book. she's a good writer, and she touches on the, you know, the trends that we have seen for a number of years in terms of our physical infrastructure, in terms of education, in terms of health care but frankly if we do not reverse, and this is her point, we have to end up looking like a third world country. and what that's about as a friend of mine came back last year from china. he was in an airport in china, flew into the united states and while he was waiting for a plan that to vermont to be sitting on the floor, it was crowded, the plane was delayed, and he was wondering which was the third world country, the united states or china. so a lot of ominous trends in the country moving us in the wrong direction in terms of the physical infrastructure, more and more people without health insurance, growing up between the very rich and everybody else, the dominance of big money interests in wall street and i think arianna's point is we have to get our act together and reverse those trends so

the dominance of big money interests on wall street, and i think arianna's point is we've got to get our act together and reverse those trends so that we become the great nation that we know that we can and should be. another book that, in fact, i'm reading right now is a book about the life of somebody i have known for a number of years. i wouldn't say he's a good friend, but i've known him for many years, and that is willie nelson. and the book is called "willie nelson: an epic life." it is not the most readable book in the world because i think what joe does is give us the name of everybody in the world who had anything to do with willie nelson. but given the fact that willie nelson is one of the more, is clearly one of the great entertainers of our time and he's really an icon and a unique type of individual because of who he is and his entertainment qualities. in vermont where i've seen him a number of times, all over this country, he brings together just a huge range of people. you know, most singers will appeal to this group of people, that group of people. willie brings them

it's a another book that i liked, "third world america" by arianna huffington. it's a very readable book. she's a good writer. she touches on the trends that we've seen for a number of years in terms of our physical infrastructure, in terms of education, in terms of health care, that frightly if we do not reverse, this is for a point, we are going to end up looking for a third world country. and a friend of mine came back last year from china. he flew into the united states. while he was waiting for a plane, he was sitting on the floor, he was crowded, plane was delayed, and he was wondering which was the third world country, united states or china? a lot of ominous trends moving us forward people without health care, growing gap between the rich and everybody else, and dominance of big money interest and wall street and i think arianna's point is we've got to get our act together before we lose the trends so we become the great nations that we can. another issue -- another book that i'm reading right now is a book about the life of somebody that i have known fo

this is not a career of americans for tax reform added thanks so much for being with us because for arianna so this is this is precedent it is people make it out to be historically true floyd it's a double a plus and why couldn't that have been a punishment for me get in trouble in high school all right well really. given that these credit rating agencies are the same credit rating agencies that totally missed that financial meltdown and gave gold plated ratings to fannie mae freddie macin all these other subprime mortgage lenders who essentially caused the financial crisis to how credible is this really this downgrade in american debt not very how do we even i think you told us that they'd probably be downgrading us for growth we reached a debt limit deal or not simply because of the political longer going on in so much faith in the political system are you saying that people in charge of this country have no credibility left to lose the amazing things here at the dodd frank financial bill that was passed last year actually give the credit rating agencies last credibility than they even ha

book that i have read recently which i like very much, and that's called "third world america" by arianna huffington. it's a very readable book. she's a good writer. she touches on, you know, the trends that we have seen for a number of years in terms of our physical infrastructure, in terms of education, in terms of health care. that frankly if we do not reverse, this was her point, we're going to end up looking like third-world country. and what that is about, a friend of mine came back last year from china. he was at an airport in china, a new, modern airport. flew into the tiny. while he was waiting for a plane, he was sitting on the floor, it was crowded. his plane was delayed and he was wondering which was the third-world country, the united states or china? a lot of trends in this country will lead us in the wrong direction in terms of physical infrastructure, more and more people without health insurance. as the dominance of big money interests, wall street, and i think her point is we've got to get our act together and reverse that so we become the great nation, that we know we c

now meet arianna huffington, on the economy, and keeping america great.n governor scott walker. tonight he talks about that and about the gop's crowded sealed in about his love for his hog. that and more at the top of the hour. >> piers, thank you very much. a lot more ahead. >>> new developments tow battle to forcibly medicate jared loughner. what did he in his cell. >>> plus what landed polygamist sect leader warren jeffs in the hospital. and set off reports that he was in a coma. than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris, to the nose. did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include headache, nose bleed, and sore throat. got allergy symptoms out of my way. now life's a picnic. [ man ] omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal allergy symptoms? omnaris combats the cause. get omnaris for only $11 at omnaris.com. discover aveeno positively radiant tinted moisturizers with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals. gi

i saw you shaking your head in agreement with arianna. >> i think it's been a long time coming with theinistration. ann as an actor i'm consistently underemployed. megyn: people always talk about the next generation of children. they are getting the shortened, they rack up enormous debts. >> we are concerned. megyn: you want a change of administration. do you trust obama to turn this thing around? >> i trust him but he better get a move on. what's going to be there for our kids when they get to be old enough. will they have a college education and how will that be rewarded? with minimum wage jobs or will they have to compete with people who have, you know, who are from my generation they are trying to get those jobs. megyn: that the situation we are now in. lily, you are a recent college grad and job seeker, how has that been going? >> it many tough. a person with a degree and struggling to get a job in my field of work. megyn: you figured you would get one by now. >now.view. megyn: what's your degree in? >> media communications. megyn: have you thought about taking a job at starbucks?

and that's what people like arianna huffington are saying. >> does it appeal to moderates that he desperatelylected if they are moderates. he is caught between two extremes that are increasingly polarized. if his base believes the best way to create jobs through the economy is through more spending and the right wing of the republican party believes that the problem is spending, and that's a difficult divide to bridge. that's the responsibility of the new joint committee. leaders in the congress put forward like the gang of six to serve, we'll be okay. if they put the most extreme members, we have even more problems ahead. >> we will be looking to see who is on the committee. thank you very much, john. your mortgage, your car loan and your credit cards, how will they be affected by the u.s. downgrade? an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare suppleme

people coming into the social security arianna and people coming out of the social security area.accounts for part of the reason why they tend to appear smaller than many people expect. spurred activity is an -- productivity is an assumption that is fly-specked a lot each year. future productivity will be roughly consistent with what has few business cycles. you do not fund the system with productivity. you fund it with taxes upon wages. an important component of this is what is the share of productivity growth that is expressed as real wage growth. this is important because compensation that is expressed as real wage growth is taxable by social skirting, where -- social security, whereas compensation that comes in forms that are not taxable like other benefits, do not result in additional revenue for social security. there is the wage differential more than productivity projections that is relevant to social security finances. we are projecting a slight increase in real wage growth: peace ford, based on projections that the share of worker productivity growth going forward expres

i take the plane to lax were there is a holding arianna at midnight put us on a charter plane just filled with young voters.'v i have never been on a charter plane. ie learned that there is no waiting for the plywood to save the year at the cruising altitude you can get out of your seats. 10 seconds later they were out of their seats making a beeline for the liquor cabinets passing out blooms within minutes they are dancing and drinking having a party trying to look golden maturek my seatmategoin baby 28 was sitting with me in right out of central casting as schoolmarm. her in a bun but somebody offereder her a glass of whine. she took it.o and another and another and flying for our she started to complain it is getting hot on the airplane. [laughter] the plan came out.h the buttonsai started to get a button to. i am guessing we're somewhere over kansas when she looks at me after a 12 drinks and says, you are a really nice guy. you seem like you are easy to talk to. can i tell you a secret? it sure. she said i have a personality disorder. [laughter] that piqued my interest. what is it? sh

arianna huffington is editor and chief of the aol huffington post media group and dr.or. what is the level of the financial desperation that is causing these college women and to a smaller degree men to make this decision? >> we don't promote it because it puts flesh and blood on the statistics that we hear every day how kids graduate from college and can't get jobs. 85% of them go back to live with their parents because they can't make ends meet. and they graduate with unprecedented loans. there's now $1 trillion in college loans that college kids owe. so just think of it. this is the american dream, right? you play by the rules. you work hard. you graduate from college. but we have an economy which does not make it possible for them to get a good job and pay their debts. so this is really an act of desperation. >> okay. >> hundreds of thousands of them. it's not just a small problem with a few thousand women who look for sugar daddies who sell themselves, who basically take a step that's ultimately going to affect their whole life. >> you say hundreds of thousands. t