s. >> brenda: hold on now, wait. >> it's not stronger than it was in the 50's, when he had the-- >> you don't think our economy is stronger now than it was in the 50's. >> brenda: wait, let me just aed to jonas' point, please. >> just for the record. the industrial revolution wasn't in the depression. >> brenda: we have to wait for that note. >> benny goodman is on the other line. >> brenda: all right. you want to know why voters number one worry is still the economy. neil's gang says it's not because of the job market. it's the supermarket. i'll explain at the bottom of the hour. first, here, need a job? how about a pay raise? then give your uncle sam a call. yep, the new white house pay hike plan that will cost all of us. most powerful trading app ? total access - to everything. from idea to research to trade. including financials, indicators and real-time streaming quotes. whether you check your investments every day or every minute, our app can take them from thought to trade. at scottrade, seven-dollar trades are just the start. try our powerful mobile app. it's another reason more

brenda: the tax attack is back. president obama hitting the campaign trail calling for tax cuts ott millionaires and taking aim at mitt romney, paying 15% capital gains rate and s dnc deputy finance director, david mercer, welcome to everybody. >> okay. john, a 15% flat tax for everyone, is that how to get everyone working again? >> i mean, i think that there's some sense in that. i think that americans should stand up and cheer for the presidential candidate who says i'm going to give you a big, fat flat tax. and give you the same tax rate basically, that mitt romney has. and people are villainizing mitt romney for paying 15% on the investment that he made in the past, but i think that americans should be looking for that and presidents from kennedy to reagan, to bill clinton, to george bush cut taxes and stimulation to employment and lowering of unemployment and one of these candidates should take hold of that. >> brenda: david, you say it doesn't necessarily bring jobs? >> well, it's a conceptual frame work and would be phil graham who ran for president or steve forbes and we know where they went and to refer to romney, which i'm glad was, he in fact, has sa

brenda, i really wanted to ask you if we will start the new off right. happy new year. >> happy new year to you. it is very interesting. if you look at where the sere it ended the end of last year, it was flat. but you would never know that from what happened during last year which was an incredibly volatile year. and what is most interesting is the professional money, the smart money was the dumb money, hedge fund managers lost 5%. real people like you and me, we ended up making some money because we didn't listen to them all the time. next year is going to be a very volatile year. last year started out pretty good, but i think that we don't have much say over what is going to happen. wall street doesn't have much say. the problem is that a lot is not what is happening here, even though there is gridlock in congress over red ink and the deficit. that alone would be enough to make a wild rollercoaster ride for wall street. but it is what is happening overseas. >> how can we follow though? we watch the news and watch fox business and everything that is happening, but if you are the individual investor and you paid attention all of this time. it w