chief economic correspondent ben white.morning. >> nice to see you. >> bill: welcome to the program. joining our team, peter ogborn, dan henning flying the 747. >> good morning. >> bill: cyprian bowlding keeps us on -- in focus on camera. >> he makes us look this pretty. >> bill: well sometimes. he keeps us on focus. sometimes deliberately. >> the little soft core fantasy lens here and there. >> bill: fuzzy thinking. fuzzy math. >> that helps some of us who need a little blurriness in the morning. >> bill: phil backert has the phones there ready to take your calls. it is a -- i dropped off some christmas cards rather at the post office the other morning. long lines at the post office. long lines everywhere today. fedex telling us yesterday that fedex set a new milestone yesterday. >> busiest day in history. we expect to pick up over 19 million packages companywide. >> bill: 19 million. one day. >> wow. hopefully that's good economic news. >> a little early for me. a little early for me. i like to really push that. >> gy to

chief economic correspondent for politico, ben white. jen bendry of the huffington post. partisan ranker and frustration all around, we've arrived at the fiscal cliff. the senate, which was expected to hold an up and down vote on a final bare bones budget deal last night wasn't quite able to make it happen. harry reid gave us problem or lack thereof. >> there are two sides still apart, and negotiations are continuing as i speak. there's still more before we can bring ledges laying to the floor. what else is new? can anyone save this congress from itself? turns out the new man responsible is vice president joe biden. yep. that's right. joe biden is the latest person to be called on to try to get congress out of the straight jacket they've put themselves in. the vp and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell exchanged phone calls until midnight last night and again this morning, and appeared to be zeroing in on a tax rate compromise in the region of a $450,000 to $550,000 threshold. a higher rate than the president's earlier compromise as well as an agreement on the estate t

joe williams, ben white, thank you both for your insights tonight. >> thank you.take care. >> eliot: never have so few been rewarded so well for losing so much. >>we tackle the big issues here in our nation's capital. >> eliot: if there was a theme in business this year, it was scandal unpunished. fines against hsbc, expensive mistakes at citi corp, jpmorgan chase cries out for real reform and real arrests of senior executives. where is the justice and where is the justice department? joining me now, dennis kelleher, president and ceo of better markets. dennis, is it fair to say that by in large, wall street and senior executives continue to get off almost scot free? >> the objective evidence proves that to be true. the real question is when is the law going to be applied to wall street like it is applied to the rest of main street and the rest of america. it is interesting, at the conference announcing the ubs settlement of $1.5 billion, the head of the criminal division said crime on wall street will not be tolerated. while he was indicting a japanese subsidiary

ben white joins us now with the very latest.and the markets seemed to be very relieved but really, one of the biggest issues is still down the road, left to be contended with. >> the debt ceiling is going to be a bigger market-moving event. any deal if we get one tonight, tomorrow, the next day, it's not going to have an extension in the debt limit or raising of the debt limit and republicans aren't going to give that up. that's their wedge. >> all they got. >> which this deal is apparently not going to have much of, if any, spending cuts, that's what republicans want. they have to use the debt ceiling to get it. obama says i won't negotiate on the debt ceiling, how can he not? he has to. >> why is the it flip? when we were looking at, we opened the show, we talked about revenues and also talking about entitlement cuts, why did it flip around? why was there supposed to be $3 of cuts to every dollar of revenue and we never heard about that again. >> it's a very good question. that's what obama and boehner were talking about, how

." >> joining me today, chief economic correspondent for politico ben white, editor at large for salon.com, joe walsh, queen bee and editing manager of the grio.com, and buzz fooeds.com ben smith. the labor department delivered a december surprise, which might just alter the debate over the fiscal cliff. despite predictions of stalled job creation in november in superstorm sandy and looming fiscal cliff, the nation added 146,000 jobs last month, and unemployment ticked down to 7.7%. while november's figures are higher than expected, september and october were revised down 16 and 33,000 jobs respectively. chief economists for moody's analytics mark zandi cautions november may see a downward revision but the numbers are a good sign. >> bottom line, feels like the job market is holding firm in the face of sandy and fiscal cliff concerns, so that's good news. >> surprising exactly no one, the white house and republicans had different spin on the numbers. >> if congress does address the problems that it needs to address, concerning the fiscal cliff, if we have reasonable resolution type of prog

we're going to ask that question of politico's ben white.take for both sides to get together and avoid a debt disaster. plus how to position the portfolio before the clock runs out. a look at the sectors to watch in 2013, as becky, joe, and -- >> you saw becky? >> i saw a little shot. >> okay, there's you. good. >> let's get to commercial quickly. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. ♪ >>> welcome back. shoppers hitting the malls for last-minute gifts, while not yet. it's a bit early in california. cnbc's jane wells joins us now with more. just one time of the year, jane

tom ronafaruhar and ben white. one man could hold the key to a successful second term for president barack obama. senator jeff murphy will join us to explain why before the senate does anything, it has to reform the fill la buster. and we will look at this debate that has been prompted by the movie "zero dark 30" with professor, author, and emmy award winner. all that starts in just three minutes.

let's bring in ben white and explaining this to us. is a deal about to happen? >> it's close.may an day or two away. both sides have moved closer to each other's position. boehner moved over and opened the door to the final horse trading, where we're getting to a number that the white house is comfortable with and what the republicans are comfortable with for spending cuts. i think republicans will would like to see that maybe go to $500,000, but they'll get to a deal and then a question of spending cuts. the white house is at $1.2 trillion which is more than where the house republicans are but what the republicans generally want are more cuts to social security and medicare. >> eliot: what had been a theological debate that rates could not go up, and hard negotiating around that, they either go up or they don't go up the republicans caved. >> well, john boehner cased. the question is has the entire republican caucus come along with him? i don't think he would have gone to the white house if he wasn't confident that his troops would come along but to move away from the margina

i'll be back tomorrow joined by steve gornacki, politico's ben white and senator jeff merkley who willhis plan to fight filibuster. next is "andrea mitchell reports." luke russert is in for andrea. how are you doing? >> i'm doing good. nice to see a writer for "the nation" dress like that. >> i cleaned it up. >> great stuff, good to see you in the hosting chair. i'm luke russert in for andrea mitchell. >>> up next, deadline looms and house is staying out on the winter break. the movements and lack thereof in washington with senator kay bailey hutchison and congressman jerry nadler. plus what's next on gun control and all you can look forward to in the next 24. iti price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving

we are packing our parachutes with luke russert, aman jabbers, politico's ben white, and mckay and the huffington post ben. plus, the latest on secretary of state hillary clinton's health concerns and how the new benghazi report and succession at stake will impact the white house's other looming cabinet concerns. and the president officially puts gun control on his second term agenda. can his new priority become a reality? all that when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. keep my eye o. but, i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics. they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

joining us now is ben white, politico's chief economic correspondent. ben, maybe it's good news they didn't come out and say, we're so far apart. >> it's a good sign. any time that boehner doesn't come out and say, we're nowhere, that's good. these things are going to get done in private. both sides need to leap off a bridge here. the republicans need to some how figure out how they're going to let the top rates go up. democrats need to swallow some changes to entitlement programs, raising the retirement age or changes. the less we hear, the better, in the next few days on the negotiations. as soon as you hear leaks saying these guys are too far apart, that's the problem. if we hear nothing, that's actually pretty good. >> are we starting to see the beginning of the gop move into the center with the comments over the weekend from senator corker and this morning, letting the tax rates go higher so the shift can be, the time shift can be spent on entitlements. >> the republicans some how want democrats to say what they want to cut on entitlements first, t

pacific joined by ben white, joan walsh, ben smith and msnbc's very own chris heys.ollow us on twitter -- wow, having a hard time with the teleprompter. "andrea mitchell reports" next. chris cillizza is filling in for her. good afternoon, mr. cillizza. >> i don't know what those words mean but assume they're compliments. >> $5 compliments. >> i'll take them. >> coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports," jim demint is out. the tea party leader announces his departure from congress. what does it mean for the senate and the future of the republican party? chuck todd, gop senator leader john barrasso and more. congressman john larson on what role house democrats can play in the budget negotiations. and the latest on the showdown in syria and defense secretary leon panetta's warning for president assad with former ambassador nick burns. male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about. so i introduced jill to crest pro-health for life. selected for people over 50. pro-health for life is a toothpaste that d

. >> eliot: and it's not going to push up family income, ben white, for politico, thank you as always for stopping by. that's "viewpoint"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t"t" [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good mornings! here we go on the "full court press." welcome to the program this morning. tuesday morning, december 18. good to see you today. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital where we're poised here, ready to bring you the news of the day and engage you in a good, serious debate over the issues of the day. you can join the debate any time by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. we lost one united states senator yesterday. senator dan inouye from hawaii. we got a new united states senator, senator tim scott. he will be congressman now from south carolina. the first black in the united states senate and will be the only african-american in the united states senate. the first black from the south since 1901. that's the good news. bad news is he has every bit as tea party crazy as jim demint whose place he takes in the senate. we'll bring you more about th

ben white of morning money, dennis, said an excuse to get a bic can keeney on the cover. >> relatively slow news day. what geithner did yesterday is almost as if he is strapping a damsel in distress to the tracks and saying the stakes are rising higher. the markets are taking all this tension, all this sort of -- these things at stake to really make the point perhaps that you have to have those stakes really high for people actually to get a deal. >> on "fast" last night when that letter crossed in the green rooms, we were chatting, we said this sounds like a ploy on the part of the treasury to actually get people to start moving. obviously, there wasn't a market selloff, did have the stumbling blocks and traders on friday said almost better if we did see the markets pull back more to crystallize what this could mean for the u.s. economy to members of congress. we didn't see that. it is a numbers game though in terms of what will happen. we know need 60 votes to clear a fill buster in the senate. seven republicans need to go along a lot of jockeying that needs to be done, even if we ha

wall street and favored companies by whatever administration is in the white house, that number is it going to be huge. >> neil: ben. >> it was not to make money. the government is in the speculating or a hedge fund, the plan was to keep a viable auto industry and keep people employed and worked beautifully, and a defense contractor. it's a miracle that we made money on some of them. >> we really didn't make money on them. i know they have the announcements out, you know, citigroup paid back and goldman paid back and remember how they made money? they rigged the system. they took interest rates to zero, and qe1, 2, 3 and 4, but that comes out-- that's like saying, i can make money if you just give me money and i can borrow t zero. absolutely rigged system. >> agree charlie and make money, and still made money. charlie, they still made money and we were not expect-- >> that's all-- >> and you're both right in your respective position, but gerri willis, to echo something charles said at the outside, we went from too big to fail to too many not to help and precedent is we'll do it again and again and again. >> they ow

. >> ben-gurion came to the white house more than once and looked into the eyes of american presidents and said, no, that's for -- that's a plant that's going to do some water deal anyization and medical isotopes. you don't have to worry about us. so so it's very hard to say. we have a fatwa from ayatollah khamenei, that's a very important fact that the decision has been made. the revolutionary guard structure which has its own power senders, it's hard to say whether they're in complete ideological alignment on that question. it's hard to understand to what extent they have the authority to push the technology farther as a way of contingency preparation for the day when the ayatollah may change his mind. >> yeah. and i've heard gary sick refer to a option where you're six months away, but you're not actually at the point where you have a weapon, that you're very close. >> sure. and i think that obama, be you read what -- if you read what is coming out of the white house over the last two years, would not like to get that far advanced with iran. >> right. >> but would like to acknowledg

>> i think relative to santa claus i think ben bernanke is coming tomorrow -- >> they both have white beards beards. >> that environment in essence, why be in cash? why be in treasuries? they're forcing you to go out and acquire risk -- whether you believe it's artificial or not. i think there is credibility in the belief that the lot of it is artificial stimulation. >> doesn't matter. >> it doesn't matter. >> market's going up. you want to be a part of it. >> the market, you are being forced into risk assets. it looks like europe is improving. looks like i merging markets are improving. there's other places for the flows of capital to go. not just the u.s. >> i think boehner sounded like today he was overplaying his hand a little bit. if you step back from the rhetoric, the back and forth posturing in washington, i think you have a market that if you look back in october, the s&p was trading 1470. it pulled all the way back after the election. now we took right out the 1425 level which was major support on the way down. we cut right through it this morning. the s&p is trading up over

who made it possible from officials working on the white river national forest to our native american friends and congressman tipton mentioned, to bene campbell, who drove this truck across the country in a mack truck. those who are familiar or not familiar with a mack truck don't think it will fit, but he made it happen. when it came to denver, my kids' first question was, dad, why can't you drive that truck? so thank you for that, senator campbell. and i want to say a profound thank you to speaker boehner and for the architect of the capitol who organized this event. this was a ton of work for a lot of people in our state. we are very proud of this tree being here and on behalf of the state of colorado, let me make the offer that we would like to do this every single year. finally, it's a great honor for me and it is and this isn't political talk, to introduce my senior senator, my friend, somebody -- there is no greater champion for forest health, special places in our state than mark udall. but he outdid himself when he went on a survey to find not particularly this tree, but a suitable tree, to stand here in front of the capito

much watching and so many people watching what happens in tonight's white house meeting, no one will be watching more colorly than ben bar unanimous key. before we go, take a look at the day on wall street. a downer of a day, but off of the worst levels of the session. things did worsen after coming back on the lows of that announcement. 13,170 on the dow. volume on the light side. nasdaq down 21.65. and s&p 500 gave up 900 points together. that do will do it for us. i'll see you tomorrow. "fast money" begins right now. >>> press conference ping-pong. stocks higher, then lower. >> republicans want to solve this problem by getting the spending line down. the president wants to pretend the spending isn't the problem. that's why we don't have an agreement. >> stocks recover, then fall again. >> speaker boehner can't ignore the american people forever. at some point, reality should set in. the only question is how much financial stress middle class families and our entire economy will have to endure during this process. >> is this any way to solve the biggest threat to the economy since lehman brothers? "fast money" star

who made it possible from officials working on the white river national forest to our native american friends and congressman tipton mentioned, to ben nighthorse campbell, who drove this truck across the country in a mack truck. those who are familiar or not familiar with a mack truck don't think it will fit, but he made it happen. when it came to denver, my kid'' first question was, dad, why can't you drive that truck? so thank you for that, senator campbell. and i want to say a profound thank you to speaker boehner and for the architect of the capitol who organized this event. this was a ton of work for a lot of people in our state. we are very proud of this tree being here and on behalf of the state of colorado, let me make the offer that we would like to do this every single year. finally, it's a great honor for me and it is and this isn't political talk, to introduce my senior senator, my friend, somebody -- there is no greater champion for forest health, special places in our state than mark udall. but he outdid himself when he went on a survey to find not particularly this tree, but a suitable tree, to stand here in front of

ben bernanke talked a lot about that today. we discussing that with darren about all of the risks. there is a lot of back and forthwith lawmakers in the white house. what is the best possible outcome you're expecting and hoping for? >> so it is different things. so what we hope for is that our politicians come together and agree on a grand bargain that combines the following: medium term fiscal reform on both the revenue and experexpenditure side. a small upfront stimulus, and a set of other policies that help our economy grow. that's what we hope for. that's what should happen. what is likely to happen is a mini bargain, at best. >> susie: we're going to have to leave it there, mohammed. hopefully you'll come back to us again. we really appreciate your time. mohamed el-erian, c.e.o. and coach investment officers at pimco. >> tom: still ahead, the hurricane sandy relief concert tonight that's expected to raise tens of millions of dollars. how safe is your money when you give it away to a charity? >> tom: the federal reserve continuing to pump money in the economy, always brings up concerns about inflation, but many commodity prices remain b

. >> when you look at what ben bernanke did ntoday -- the republicans themselves refuse to get specific on spending until they see something from the white house. the elected portion of our government is not helping this economy at all. their failure to rise above politics to reach a compromise is now really starting to hurt u.s. economy. in this vacuum, the fed has decided to keep rates low. they stepped in saying listen, business. we are not going to get in your way. we're not going to allow interest rate to go higher until we get many hundreds of thousands of people hired! [ applause ] . ben bernanke has become the jobs commander in chief. we've heard nothing but carping on air in the blog sphere as you the fed's latest actions today. i ska give me a break. bernanke said my legacy will be that i helped people get a job. and i care more about the unemployed than i do about taxing or not taxing the wealthiest 2%. further, bernanke's implied with this action to keep buying bonds. buy buy buy buy buy buy! to force interest rates to stay low until we get to a 6.5% unemployment? well, he's saying he's very worried about our country going ov

come down and we know that that is in the latest sort of proposal from the white house that they will consider corporate tax. so bennt and that will drive things. can i tell you since election day, the s&p is up since election day. remember that big dip right after the election, concerns about fiscal cliff. what you're seeing is that market participants are putting money on the line that they think the fiscal cliff will get solved. >> so you come in here every day rightfully so very concerned about this fiscal cliff. and we just have 20 days left. no reason to believe this is going to happen today or tomorrow or the next day. wall street seems to have priced in a deal already. so what happens if it doesn't? >> huge selloff. and that is a big risk. if washington doesn't follow through with what the betting money thinks, that they'll be fighting over the top rate, that they will be lowering the tax rate -- do you remember the b k bailout and it didn't pass? all of a sudden it was down 700 points and suddenly washington passed the bank bailout. a lot of people are saying the worst case a their dwro is another thing li

white. going to war shouldn't be something that is just taken so lightly. you know. >> during their time in afghanistan, van, benl each sustained significant physical injuries including concussions, ruptured ear drums and broken bones. they earned five purple hearts among them. all three men finish their tours and all of them struggle with memories of the war. but they agree what got them through is their brotherhood. >> i would do it all over again only if i had them. >> as often as we can, we try to get together. we're trying to make new memories so the old memories aren't the same old war stories. we're trying to make new stories. whenever we can get together with these guys, i try and do it. they're the best guys in the world i know. >>> coming up -- >> line them all up. >> a u.s. helicopter assault in iraq sparks controversy. hey sis, it's so great to see you. you, too! oh, cloudy glasses. you didn't have to come over! actually, honey, i think i did... oh? you did? whoa, ladies, easy. hi. cascade kitchen counselor. we can help avoid this with cascade complete pacs. see, over time, cascade complete pacs figh

. >> federal reserve chairman ben bernanke continued to warn congress on the white house of the dangers of going over the so-called fiscal cliff. >> the white house was very controversial as most americans were. there was competition and he submitted a design for a palace. it was not particularly awe-inspiring and in fact in 1821 a european diplomat told the congress that it was neither large nor awe-inspiring but the answer the congressman gave said, the building served its purpose. if it were larger and more elegant perhaps some current president would become its permanent resident. said chairman ben bernanke announced monetary actions that the federal reserve will try to take to sustain the economic recovery, including keeping interest rates low. mr. bernanke spoke to reporters after the fed's open market committee meeting. this is an hour and 15 minutes. >> it's been three and half years since the economic recovery began. unfortunately however unemployment is remaining high. about 5 million people, more than 40% of the unemployed for six months or more -- and millions more have been

white house. major, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, charlie and gayle. bennanke, the chairman of the federal reserve, said anxiety over the fiscal cliff is already hurting the u.s. economy, undermining consumer confidence and delaying job-creating business investment. and he said there's nothing the fed can do to prevent a recession if there's not a deal here in washington. but this morning, like so many mornings before it, has not provoked either side to come closer to a deal. days of strategic silence descended wednesday into partisan frustration over the seemingly end its stalemate. house speaker john boehner on president obama. >> his plan does not fulfill his promise to bring a balanced approach to solving this problem. it's mainly tax hikes. and his plan does not begin to solve our debt crisis. it actually increases spending. >> and here's white house spokesman jay carney's dismiss i've assessment of boehner's proposal to permanently extend all income tax rates until they're replaced next year under a redrawn tax code with fewer loopholes and deduction

also, ben bernanke holds a news conference and he will give an update on the federal open market committee with live coverage at 2:15 p.m. also on cspan 3. >> the white house was very controversial. who designed washington city, submitted a design for a palace but americans did not want a palace. it was not all inspiring. in fact, in 1821, a european diplomat told congress it was neither of some or all of inspiring. the answer the congressman gave said the building serves its purpose. if it were larger and more elegant, but perhaps some president would be inclined to become a person -- permanent resident. >> vicki goldberg has gathered a few of her favorite white house photographs. watch sunday evening at 7:30 eastern and pacific on american history tv. >> up next, your phone calls on "washington journal." in 45 minutes, the house democratic caucus chairman talks about negotiations on the so- called fiscal cliff. at 8:30

white house for a meeting, according to wire reports. the airline industry has become infamous for losing money, but spirit airlines created a flight pattern to consistent profits. benspirit airlines ceo joining me now in a fox business exclusive going into the holiday travel season, and following the story now for a better part of a couple years, finding it absolutely fascinating, and airline able to do this embracing nickel and diming. tell me first how is the airline situation looking going into the christmas two weeks before? >> well, great to see you again, liz, and merry christmas, and, you know, christmas, the christmas hanukkah season is traditionally a strong volume period for the airline industry, and this year seems to be no different. people love santa claus, and we're seeing a very strong volume heading into christmas. liz: people in freezing temperatures love to see santa in florida. that's helping your bot time line. november traffic, then, up 28%. to what do you attribute that move? can you vest that number in the month of december? >> well, it would have been better if not for the thing that the hit the northeast, but generally, the model is great b

whites of their eyes. it doesn't work. you have to nip inflation beforehand. and i'm afraid that when ben bernanke says, well, there's no other game in town because fiscal stimulus is not there, i'm going to push out the money supply. don't worry, we'll take care of it later. i say, again, that's easy to say and very, very hard to do. it's going to be very difficult for ben bernanke or whoever is the fed chairman if it's a problem. it's not a problem right now. twelve months from now or 18 months from you you get a recovery going with the kind of deficit that we have outstanding and with the kind of liquidity that's sitting in the banking system, i want to see a fed chairman then raise interest rates. and i'm not talking about, yeah, we'll go from 1.6 on a long-term bond to 2.1. how about from 1.6 to 4. because you're not going to get anybody's attention in any other way. and that is really, it's a political problem. this is not an economic problem. this is a political problem. and the two issues -- monetary policy and fiscal policy -- can't be separated. tsa what he told -- that's what h

white house wanted all along? >> well, it is. it's president's obama's way of sayi ining vote on his basic proposal. it would extend in employment insurance ben filt fits and deal with unemployment insurance cuts. >> so the question is, could they actually get that many republicans to vote for this package that the president is calling for? >> but politically, what he is doing is essentially saying this is the plan that i'm putting forth. let's get it through the senate and if it fails, it will fail in the republican-led house. essentially having rely cans having owned that failure. >> i didn't hear also about the debt ceiling that the treasury secretary was just saying we need to raise pretty much any day now. is this going to be the next couple of months in terms of this debate? does the white house have a strategy for dealing with both in the next phase? >> well, they're quite clear that there's probably just too much at this point to put that in this initial package, specifically the debt ceiling. that they're saying there's probably no way that they're going to be able to address that right now. they know that that's sort of the next big

white house and wall street and the business community is. and harold meyerson has a great op-ed in "the washington post" that ran yesterday, ben.to you. it says -- zing. harold outlines the top contributors to mitt romney, goldman sachs, bank of america, morgan stanley, jpmorgan chase and credit suisse. if you look at who donated to the president, university of california, microsoft, google, u.s. government and harvard university. if you talk about where ideas are coming from, and where sort of american innovation is headquartered, obama won it handily by 43% he won santa clara county where the high-tech companies are centered. >> sometimes stereotypes hold true, right? one of the things that's interesting in the context of the fiscal cliff also is where not only financial companies not just the takers, but where ceos around the country cast their lot. one of the things that's interesting as january 1st approaches is to see, you know, the hysteria on cnbc and how that's adjusted. >> we're not saying anything bad about cnbc but go ahead. >> but do ceos continue to push a kind of, you know, low taxes mantra, kind of traditional f

white house bid is one of several members of congress who will retire this year. representative barney frank, david dryer and dan burton from the house, joe lieberman, olympia snow and bennelson will join 21 members of the house and five other members of the senate in hanging up their congressional careers. 2012 also marked a milestone in implementation of president obama's health care law. in a 5-4 decision back in june, the u.s. supreme court ruled the major crux of obama care the individual mandate is indeed criminal constitutional. >> happy and pleased. >> the decision was the result of lawsuits brought by 26 state attorneys general against the federal government who claimed mandated participation was violation of american's freedom. >> republicans won't let up whatsoever in our determination to repeal this terrible law. >> the justices heard arguments from both sides in a record setting three-day hearing back in march. at the time it was unclear which way the justices were leaning as both conservative and liberal justices seemed to question its validity. >> do you not have a heavy burden of justification to show authorization under the constitution? >> purchase ins

increase and the republicans saying no and accusing the white house of not being specific on spending cuts and entitlement reforms. >> fed chief bening we are already seeing the effects of the fiscal cliff. should we be alarmed by the tone right now? and there is an absolute drop-dead time to get a deal done? >> reporter: we're not there yet. in fact we have several days. i think really you're looking at christmas as a really important time for the president and the speaker to be coming to a deal that they can have buy-in from some house republicans and some house democrats on. that's really the issue. because it takes several days to take the parameters of a deal and put it into legislative language and put it through congress. the thing is it's hard to tell just how alarmed we should be. we should be because of what ben bernanke said, that is alarming, that the economy is already suffering. but you'll never eknow for at least another week whether this is political posturing or really an impasse. >> thank you. >>> other news this morning, that satellite that north korea launched may be tumbling out of control. that word comes to

who made it possible from officials working on the white river national forest to our native american friends and congressman tipton mentioned, to bene campbell, who drove this truck across the country in a mack truck. those who are familiar or not familiar with a mack truck don't think it will fit, but he made it happen. when it came to denver, my kids' first question was, dad, why can't you drive that truck? so thank you for that, senator campbell. and i want to say a profound thank you to speaker boehner and for the architect of the capitol who organized this event. this was a ton of work for a lot of people in our state. we are very proud of this tree being here and on behalf of the state of colorado, let me make the offer that we would like to do this every single year. finally, it's a great honor for me and it is and this isn't political talk, to introduce my senior senator, my friend, somebody -- there is no greater champion for forest health, special places in our state than mark udall. but he outdid himself when he went on a survey to find not particularly this tree, but a suitable tree, to stand here in front of the capito

lou: ben bernanke has been the essential actor of the last four years because we have had such inadequate leadership from the whitech inadequate imagination and public policy direction, principal or otherwise partisan or otherwise creative or otherwise, that without him not much would have happened and that would have been absolutely disastrous. i know there are those naysayers -- [talking over each other] melissa: we have had that one before. you can see lou any time. 7:00, 10:00 p.m. eastern you can catch congressman dana rocker. look forward to that. lou: egypt and iran and syria and the obama middle east policy whenever it may be. lori: you're looking at costco. >> the largest u.s. wholesale retailer. you get everything in bulk and they obviously have a variety of different items but they came out with some numbers and you will see this stock is not taking off. however not far from the unchanged line, truth is there quarterly profit was up 30%. , sales rose 7% and membership revenue, up to the costco member, that rose 14% to $511 million. it seems when you look at the statistics and what the analysts have been

reports that have come out about what happened in ben zazie support a theory that there was some collusion or some kind of blocking of information from the whiteainly all the information didn't come out and i believe it was contrived to go with the election. the fact is everything that was said publicly was very different from what was being said privately, what was known privately and seemed to fit into the president's narrative that the war against terrorism is over, al qaeda had been decimated and al qaeda has a stronghold in eastern libya. i think that we still have not heard what happened as to why the administration put together the story it did, why they continued for ten days two weeks afterwards to say it was not a terrorist attack when it was clear from the start it was. >> the report that is fascinating i think and clearly spells out a ton of mistakes and it's a riveting read. the takeaway is this, no one engaged in misconduct or willingly ignored his or her duty. what do you make of that takeaway from this independent report? >> i think we have to look into that more. i'm not trying to blame people what happened before. i think mis

white house in two hours. we will bring brink that to you live t did the mark it's job to deal of what happened with ben bernanke's comments and now the target in terms of tying interest rates to unemployment, which is a very new and big development for the fed. >> cnbc is talking over and over again, 2 million jobs to be lost, not if but when we go over the cliff. ben bernanke is listening to what this network is saying, recognizing there is going to be a dram mat hillsborough county job loss if we go over the cliff that is force austerity, that is firing people. look at spain when they got serious. italy. it meant a lot of firings. he says i see what we are going to do follow these countries that have fiscal responsibility a lot of people are going to be fired. don't worry, i'm going to do my best. what what are you going to do to keep people employed? >> keeping the heat on congress, came up a number of times, of course energy the press conference that followed the fed announcement but unclear what impact it will have. >> and as far as ben bernanke can do only so much he can do we all know the market's addition

ben stein. steve cornaki is joining us, as well. president obama returned to washington moments ago, cutting short his christmas vacation. the president has now spoken with all four congressional leaders, according to the white house communications director he. the house remains on vacation, but there are a few signs of life in the capital. gop leaders have released a new statement with an old message to the senate. the ball is in your court. the statement says the house will take action on whatever the senate can pass, but the senate first must act. well, this morning, senate majority leader reid slammed the house republicans not not even showing up. >> if we go over the cliff, and it looks like that's where we are headed, the house of representatives as we speak with four days left after today before the first of the year aren't here with the speaker having told them they will give them 48 hours inside. i can't imagine their conscious. >> well, senator reid is expected to hold a news conference about the talks this afternoon. so here is where we stand. reid wants to get a vote on at least a basic bill to delay the automatic spending cuts, provide the unemployment benefits and still cut taxes for most ameri

federal reserve chairman ben bernanke holds a news conference following a meeting of the federal open market committee. you can watch that live beginning at 2:00 p.m. eastern. >> the white house national economic council director discusses the fiscal cliff on monday and emphasizes the administration's position on higher taxes for the wealthy. he spoke at a center for american progress forum titled investing in the future, higher education, innovation and american competitiveness. this is 40 minutes. >> it is my great privilege to introduce gene sperling, director of the white house national economic council and assistant the president for economic policy. gene sperling also is a former senior fellow at the center for american progress, pro-growth progressive. and the connection between innovation, education, ensuring we have an economy that works for everyone. i want to say having served in the administration, there is no one in the administration who is more focused on america's long-term competitiveness, short term competitiveness, midterm competitiveness, when the president is talking about issues which are critical to him, america maintains its edges in the global e

host: when you say chatter, is this the white house getting that out to reporters? guest: like wall street, people talk. if bennanke were to leave the fed, tim geithner would be a natural candidate. it would be natural he would be considered. whether he would be interested in obama would be interested, we would have to cross that bridge when we come to it. host: john kerry is the official nominee. what challenges does he face? guest: susan rice opted out and sent a letter to obamas saying she did not want to be considered because her nomination might become divisive in the senate. president obama turned to senator john kerry. he was the 2004 presidential democratic nominee. he has extensive experience. i do not think he faces any difficulties in senate confirmation. he is highly respected by republicans. he was chairman of the foreign relations committee. he gets along well with minority members. i would be shocked if you were rejected. host: is it easier for a sitting senator to go through this process because they know their colleagues? guest: it is a club. that has not worked for chuck hagel, but i think it

news your charts last time if the white house and congress fail to make a deal. >> i think business is clearly not hiring as many people, holding back on investment. benwas beginning to fact the economy. i want to make two other points. one, this republican rift that the president hasn't spelled out in spending cuts is simply not true. you may not agree with him -- >> where is he cutting and how much -- >> in his february budget he went through all the components of his $3.6 trillion plan. they come from $350 from the entitlement program, $250 billion from other programs, $1.6 trillion of tax increases and so on. so he has actually spelled it out. >> you say that adds up to -- again, i'm not cross-examining you here. i'm trying to engage in simple math. >> 1.6 trillion. >> this looks like $600 billion in spending cuts from discretionary and mandatory. >> 350 from entitlement and 300 from other stuff. >> that gets us to 1.2. >> it gets to 2.2. >> you've got about $1.2 trillion already enacted in the budget control act of 2011 that everybody agrees should be counted. this is not phony math. you can add those in. >> should you really? if you're running a