bob rubin and jim baker. [applause] >> jim, we're glad to have you. bob, people give you a proper introduction. we'll start with jim and they would turn to bob rubin and then have a few questions. >> wow, this is -- jim, this is exactly why i agreed to work with sam because i knew i would get that one opportunity to introduce my great friend. so you are here today, and we look forward to hearing from you. there should be no doubt in this room that this gentleman who is before us is one of the most distinguished americans that have ever lived, and we are fortunate that he and his associates have both agreed, coming to us with distinguished records, to help us in our mission to make america strong again, and to make our economy strong again. this man has received more honors, including this distinguished medal of honor, than any living human being could fit in their major room when they put up the awards that are so many. and i want to say that i served with him, and i know firsthand what a wonderful leader he

that's bob rubin for you. >> i saw a puck tur online not of bob rubin but of the room.doesn't look like a pool in ground. >> sitting pool? >> in the middle -- >> like a nice little thing in the middle of the living room. >> exactly. that's what it looked like to me. >> yeah. the way i heard it is you walk right in and the pool is right there. pretty much anybody could have just dropped in. it sounds like he handled it pretty well. >> ben, real quick, on morning money a couple of weeks ago you ran a sort of speculative sort of running piece over the week about who could be the next treasury secretary if obama were to win and i think if romney were to win. i was curious if you got any new intel while you've been down there? >> not really. roger altman is still in the mix for obama. even tony james gets a few mentions. he's certainly on the scene. i don't know that obama necessarily goes with a wall street guy. he goes with somebody that can work with a big debt. somebody like irskin bowls would be at the tomorrow of the list. i don't think that list has changed all that m

john -- and to bob rubin.john is a democrat from tennessee. >> thank you. i believe that, with my accent, this may take a while. [laughter] i have been on a lot of panels and i do not think that i have been on one where i have agreed with every word i have heard so far. i hope you do, too. i believe these people have devoted a lot of thought and effort to what we're doing here today and i hope that everyone takes it as seriously as we possibly can. i want to talk a little different. 50 years ago this year, there was a case in united states supreme court from mild congressional district called baker vs. carr. in that case, for the first time in modern political history, the judiciary said that they did -- that the apportionment of seats based on population was a justifiable issue. it involve people protection and all the rest of it. and from that came the system that we have today. that system today is where the state legislatures, politicians, drawing districts for state house, state senate and state represent

but maybe not as much as bob rubin, perhaps. >> bob rubin. >> oh, my gosh. >> there was a party at the sleek, modern hotel, and the glass is not exactly clear in terms of where you are walk through and step next. so bob, former secretary of the treasury, has a lot of people around him, stepped confidently into the party room and deeply into the pool. >> oh, wow. >> wow. >> which proves he no longer walks on water. >> also proves conventions are a lot more exciting. >> but the best part of the story is, just walked out of the pool, sat with drinks and continued talking. >> exactly. >> cool on the outside and cool on the inside. >> and on the inside as well. and lawrence, last night, bill clinton just lit it up. >> he did. they had him slotted for 24 minutes. that's what they originally scheduled it for. he did exactly double that. one calculation, houston chronicle did, 40%, 40% of the speech, was ab libbed. and he was doing it at the beginning and the end of pretty much every paragraph in the speech and that's where the speech really got its momentum, that's where it really got all of

on the international financial crises that come up, my friend, bob rubin, the former secretary of treasury is here, he's a close advisor to me and great friend in all respects. i have had a chance to work with him and alan greenspan and others on the crisis following the collapse of the mexican peso. when the asian financial crisis raised the risk of world-wide recession that could affect our economy, and now, of course, the euro's value has been dropping, but seems to be under control. but it started for me in the last eight years when i had the honor of casting the tie- breaking vote to end the old economic plan here at home and put into place a new economic plan that has helped us to make some progress, 22 million new jobs, the greatest prosperity ever. but it's not good enough. my attitude is you ain't seen nothing yet. we need to do more and better. >> so, governor, would you agree there is no basic difference here on intervening -- on federal government intervening in what might be seen by others to be a private financial crisis? >> no, there's no difference on that. there is a diffe

america forums -- our first witnesses will be former treasury secretaries jim baker, a republican, and bob rubin, a democrat. they will be speaking to our group to contact us if you would like to attend. i don't know if they are going to specifically talk about this, but one of the ideas we are going to talk about is this idea that you can broaden the tax base by getting rid of deductions and credits and loopholes and making the whole thing simpler, bring in more revenue that way. that allows you to lower rates. if all you are doing is raising rates on the current rickety, inefficient system, that is not the best way to raise revenue. but this what the simpson-bowles commission recommended, what the rivlin-diminish th -- rivlin- deomenici commission recommended. there are elements of this in the ryan budget. this basic idea of broadening the tax base and then using that to raise revenue rather than just raising rates is, i think, something that the party might be able to get behind. again, we have to work out the details, but there is a lot of potential. ant: let's hear from tyrone, independent

going to be deferred and answered by -- [inaudible] >> in our first forum last week jim baker and bob rubin made it very clear that america's present fiscal trajectory and debts are very dangerous to our nation and at a u.s. debt crisis with little or no warning is a real possibility. in a few minutes we will hear from former secretary of defense bob gates and former chairman of the joint chiefs admiral mike mullen on their views of the security and foreign-policy vocations of our current fiscal outlook so we look forward to that testimony in just a few minutes. our second panel today we'll hear from former u.s. senator alan simpson former white house chief of staff erskine bowles and budget committee chairman and our forum co-chairman pete domenici and former office of management and budget direct or alice rivlin. these four individuals will present their findings and recommendations of their bipartisan panels which were separate undertakings but which came to broadly similar conclusions as to the steps that must be taken in response to our fiscal challenges. i am confident both of our pan

it just seems to me, jim baker talked about divided government and bob rubin talked about the political system and whether we are capable of doing it, you know, the problems are not rocket science to solve. this is not like finding a cure for cancer and we kind of all know what to do. the question is, will our political system evolved to the point that will allow us to make these difficult and tough decisions. you both have been leaders in the private and public sector. you know what we do ship requires to get things done. and what teamwork requires. i guess my question to you, and maybe it is self-evident and you have marty talked about it is what are the incentives are leaders to act like leaders? when we have a very risk averse political system. you presented the problem is serious and catastrophic if we don't do anything about it. that is what leadership is for. i would say to you that if you were advising the next president of the united states and you kind of alluded to this, i think the president has to really take the lead on this. and set the direction is most ceos do. what we

bob rubin liked the idea behind the 18% rate for assets in five years or longer.triving more towards neutrality and also say something about losses if you're interested. >> mr. verrill? >> 1202 is the right direction. i don't think adding phasing would help us because we don't know the term which we will bohn these equities. 1202 could be made better. holding period could be made less in general from five to two years and it could be logger which is a mortgage transaction. this is a company -- i think 1202 goes to solving that problem. .. the focus should be on the optimal or efficient rate of taxation. which is well below the revenue rate. would you please comment on why the focus should be on the optimal or efficient rate of tax rate and where it should be in the individual tax rates were reduced by 25% or to 25%? >> certainly, sir. i think it's an important point. i'm trying to -- the revenue maximizing rate in english. what it means is the government is getting you for what it can squeeze out of you with regard what it does to your business. so at the revenue

america forums -- our first witnesses will be former treasury secretaries jim baker, a republican, and bob rubinill be speaking to our group to contact us if you would like to attend. i don't know if they are going to specifically talk about this, but one of the ideas we are going to talk about is this idea that you can broaden the tax base by getting rid of deductions and credits and loopholes and making the whole thing simpler, bring in more revenue that way. that allows you to lower rates. if all you are doing is raising rates on the current rickety, inefficient system, that is not the best way to raise revenue. but this what the simpson- bowles commission recommended, what the rivlin-domenici commission recommended. there are elements of this in the ryan budget. this basic idea of broadening the tax base and then using that to raise revenue rather than just raising rates is, i think, something that the party might be able to get behind. again, we have to work out the details, but there is a lot of potential. host: let's hear from tyrone, an independent caller in baton rouge, louisiana. calle

in our first forum last week, jim baker and bob rubin made it very clear that america's present fiscal trajectory and debt are very dangerous to our nation and that a u.s. debt crisis with little or no warning is a real possibility. in a few minutes we'll hear from former secretary of defense bob gates and former chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen, on their views of the security and foreign policy implications of our current fiscal outlook. so we look forward to that testimony in just a few minutes. in our second panel today we well hear from former u.s. senator alan simpson, former white house chief of staffers kin bowles, former senate budget committee chairman and our forum co-chairman, pete domenici and former office of management and budget director alice rivlin. these four individuals will present their findings and recommendations of thereby partisan panels which were separate undertakings which came to broadly similar conclusions as to the steps that must be taken in response to our fiscal challenges. i'm confident that both our panels will address the subject of

to discuss this and former treasury secretary, robert rubin and former treasury secretary of state, jamesa baker the third. people introduce both bobd jim when they join us at precisely 10:30 a.m. jim baker is coming in by satellite. our next forum will take place monday afternoon comes september 17th here is the sis about the visit to panels. the first panel next monday will focus on national security implications of the nation debt. we'll be joined by secretary of defense bob casey former chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen. secretary gates will join us by satellite from washington state. the second panel next monday will look at bipartisan solutions. we'll be joined by alan simpson, white house chief of staff, erskine bowles, both by satellite as well as pete domenici and omb director alice rivlin hearing person. the third forum will be on thursday, september 7 in new york city and will focus on progrowth tax reform and will announce as participants in a couple of panels next week. the fourth and final four and will turn to washington in monday afternoon, october the first at the topic will be health care and entit