howard buffett is a farmer. and as lesley stahl discovered in december 2011, he devotes a lot of his time and money to helping others learn how to farm better. [rooster crows] >> in places like el salvador, he's funding a training program for 5,000 poor farmers like carla and edwin trujillo. they learn new planting and fertilizing techniques to improve the quality of their corn and red beans. >> carla, i'm howard. >> hola. mucho gusto. >> buenos dias. >> we tagged along as howard inspected their six-acre plot in the tiny village of san juan el espino. >> and she's got an irrigation system. >> no big combines here. and their irrigation? it consists of hoses connected to a barrel of water brought in by a horse. howard wanted to check on the quality of carla's corn. >> does she mind? tell her i won't destroy her corn crop. >> and that meant doing his favorite thing. you're gonna dig it up? >> yeah. >> come on. he didn't just dig up her corn. he was like a doctor doing an invasive exam, pulling up the roots, ripping

reporter: warren buffett is not alone. money-making ideas love company and large investors and private equity types already have hundreds of millions, maybe billions of dollars, on hand to buy up foreclosed homes and rent them out. at carrington mortgage rick sharga says the company is ready to buy 30,000 to 40,000 homes. >> i think we all agree with warren buffet. if we could buy millions of homes, we'd be doing that right now. there is a lot of capital that's very interested in participating in a program like this. >> reporter: like this, meaning a pilot program announced by federal regulators who took charge of the troubled mortgage gian fannie mae and freddie mac when the companies were placed under government control. the federal housing finance agency today announced a test sale of 2,500 homes around the country. focusing on areas from los angeles to nevada and florida where the housing fell hardest. but this is a tiny fraction of the 700,000 or so foreclosed homes now on the books of financial institutions. and here

but buffett said the transfer of responsibility will be seamless when the time comes. buffett reported that berkshire's 4th quarter profits fell 30% and 2011 earnings were down 21%. but the company's cash rose to $37 billion. on housing, buffett said the market remains in a quote "depression of its own" and he was dead wrong predicting it would recover by now. on investing, stocks will outperform gold and bonds. and even though investors believe bonds are safe, buffett says they are quote "among the most dangerous of assets." i turned to glenn tongue for some reaction and analysis. he's managing parter at t-2 partners, where berkshire hathaway is its top holding. we began by talking about buffett's succession plan. >> i think it's likely that he will run the company for another five years. however, if the unexpected happens, and he's not running the business tomorrow, it's comforting know that is there's someone in line to run the business. >> why sdntd warren buffet just name his successor? >> i don't see why naming the individual today is a benefit to the company, to

it's why buffett -- buffett is right. when he keeps buying wells fargo and u.s. bancorp. it's why he'll only be right about his bank of america purchase. he'll do better than you because he has a preferred investment with better yield. you get almost nothing with common stock. we're no longer in an economy based on homes. autos are more important. so is retail sales, so is finance, so is manufacturing. but the notion that your home can increase in value has been absent from the agenda for five years. lately, we presume the moment we buy a home, the moment we sign on the dotted line, the moment we take the keys, that we're already down, we already lost money. a home somehow incredibly became a car, a car that plummets in value the moment it leaves the lot. i lived in my car so i can confuse homes and cars all the time if i want to. what buffett is saying, what i'm saying, what lowe's is saying when it talks about the underpinning psychographics, their word, not mine, of owning a home, is that the value of your house is rebounding at last. that's going to make people spend

that's what buffett is seeing as well.r month by month, and i've seen that since the summer of 2009. the headlines have bounced around. the economists' predictions have bounced around. looking at 70-some businesses leaving out the housing-related business, the quarter by quarter ever since the middle of 2009 regardless of the housing headlines, the businesses kept getting better, and they continue to. >> now, along with those 70 businesses that berkshire owns outright, those 70-plus businesses, they own sizable chunks in a lot of publicly traded companies. some blue chip companies like ibm, coca-cola, american express, and we got the chance to talk with buffett about a lot of stocks he owns in big companies. there's some stocks he says he really likes and continues to buy more of them. wells fargo, for example, he said he buys this year and he continues to buy more of them. what about some of the stocks he's not buying more of? listen in. >> johnson & johnson is messed up in a lot of ways in the last few years. my friend j

now, maybe the same thing will happen on buffett, maybe the same thing will happen on buffett as happened on payroll tax. there will be such public outcry that some of our colleagues will say well, maybe we should go along as they just did even on the payroll tax not being paid for. i think we should debate the issue of surtax on the highest income people this year. we're going to put those on the floor and debate them, and let our colleagues and let the american people see where our colleagues are. and i'm not so sure that nothing happens. so that's one. step two, your budget doesn't provide any specific -- do you agree that it's a good idea to debate these earlier? >> i do. as i said, a lot of people think these debates don't matter because congress isn't going to do anything this year and i think that's not a great approach to take. we have to have this debate. we're not going to be able to lay these choices indefinitely. we have very tough choices at the end of the year in the lame duck session. better debate them now. >> good. i agree. we might be surprised pleasantly about progress

why do you hate warren buffett's secretary. well i don't hate warren buffett's secretary at all but the fact of the matter is your viewing audience and much of america is being hoodwinked this is a nonsensical argument and i feel like warren buffett has really become almost this and feeble the old man who the president has paraded out in like a soviet style show trial is almost a useful idiot for this nonsensical argument the fact of the matter is on earnings income where you go out and work they'll still pay the regular income rate this is the long term capital gains rate that should be a lesser amount and by the way on january first of two thousand and thirteen it's going up a whopping ten percent that will mean we're going to be taxed at twenty five percent why doesn't the president say how he's going to spend this money rather than just trying to kick the investor square in the fanny tom ok so you do you agree with grover norquist that raising taxes on millionaires and billionaires is an impeachable offense. it should be. o

you looking for a buffett bounce? >> for trade -- this is starting to build a position. what i was afraid was going to happen is what happened at ibm. he came in and said he bought it for the fund and the stock took off. i figure worst case it's a trade. it wasn't down with confidence. it was down with the european market. best case i get a good price. i like it. it's eight and a half times and they pick up major share in europe and asia because the banks there are selling assets and other credit lines to fund businesses. >> this is one you've like fod for a while and haven't always been right for it. this is one you had last year and held it for a while and got rid of it? you still like the fundamentals of the business perhaps more than ever. >> i do. i don't like the capital markets business. that's still under pressure and volumes aren't there. it will come back as markets come back. the main reason i sold the stock last year is you were beating the crap out of me every show. i can't take it anymore. >> how about w

they're not headed to a buffett?ikely they're watching "squawk." >> i don't think any twitter people go to buffets, right? >> they're oall in the buffet line tweeting. >> it's trending, a lot of trending going on, woo, right behind "the artist" and meryl streep. >> right. >> first, we'll get -- we have to get this -- a sneak peek at "squawk on the street's" new set. ♪ oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ amen, omen the the new spark cardnth from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing sp

you agree with buffett. think now is a great time to buy a great home. >> i do think it's a very good time to buy a home. it's not absolutely certain buffett wasn't right a year ago if he said within a year because it looks like the housing market started to pick up last fall. a couple numbers we've got in the fourth quarter. of course the weather's been warmer, so that's why we have to wait and see what happens over the next three or four months. but, yeah, i think it's a good time to buy a home. looking for double-digit increases in sales and starts, but, yes, it's just the beginning of coming out of a depression in housing. >> but stewart, where? when we say it's a good time, this is the point i just made. >> i heard. >> where is the right place to buy? do you just buy them anywhere? >> well, it's not just -- it's a place and a type of property. there are a lot of properties out there that have been sitting around for a while. and might not evenbe inhabitable. distressed properties in florida or atlanta.

>> most of us would rather invest like buffett. his takes on his favorite bank stock today. >> and pain at the pump. gasoline prices soaring putting the pinch on consumers. also means opportunity for you the investor. we'll tell you how to make some gain amidst all the pain. >> along with sue herera, i'm tyler mathisen. welcome everybody. "power lunch" begins right now. >>> welcome to "power lunch." take a look at the markets right now. stocks are rebounding from a 1% loss. the dow down triple digits at one point. reversing trading above 13,000 as you can see here we are up 13,014. really close to the key 13,070 level. watch that as trading continues throughout the day. the nasdaq also higher by about .3%. consumer discretionary and tech leading the way here today. here's where we stand right now as we took a look at that. i want to get you quickly to crude. as you can see here we're above $109 a barrel, but lower on the session. rbob gasoline also lower on the session. some think it could be went too far, too fast. the 10-year yie

. >> compared to warren buffett, right? governor christie had kind words about warren buffett this morning enchts we saw that, basically shuts up and go away. >> don't you love that? >> he says that to a lot of people. >> if you want to write the -- >> he should wear a sign around her chest. >> shut up and -- >> i try to get mice kids to say shh or quiet time? >> i'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say. >>> guys, we'll see you in just

and of course, the owner of that railroad is warren buffett. we have not made any effort to call warren buffett to testify in this hearing because even though his company might benefit if the pipeline is not built, with we do not think he has a direct financial interest in it. and i really in my view do not view, warren buffett and the coke brothers any different on this situation. so, i simply wanted to mention that. i would also say that the state department, when it issued the final environmental impact statement in august of 2011 actually made the comment that it would be better to build this this pipeline than to not build the pipeline. if you were looking at the two options, it would be better to build it than to not build it. and so, other pipeline projects requiring a presidential permit usually take 18 to 24 months to approve, keystone is now in the 40th month, when these additional delays appeared to be mounting in 2011, the u.s. house passed bipartisan legislation, that instructs the president to make a final decision one way or the

let's talk now a little bit about warren buffett. and, again, this surprises a lot of people, but buff buffett is very much involved and engaged in this. buffett, also a strong backer of barack obama, very well connected n. the 2008 campaign he had the luxury of having both barack obama and john mccain saying that they'd like him as treasury secretary. buffett didn't prefer that, but he liked the role of being the savior, um, of the american economy. now, if you go back to the financial crisis in 2008, warren buffett when the financial crisis begins immediately becomes involve with the the treasury department in structuring what would eventually become the bailout or the so-called public/private partnership by the treasury department. he advises, first, hank paulson, and then when timothy biter in becomes the treasury secretary, he works with geithner. and literally the public/private partnership which the treasury secretary announces in march of 2009 started and largely resembles a five-page letter that warren buffett had written de

buffett said, in god we trust maybe on our occcurrency. but the hand that prints our money is all too human. bonds though so many with a warning label. mr. buffett is advising investors to shy away investments such as treasury securities. it's interesting to know if you agree. i hope it's not a new buffett rule for investors to not buy treasuries. if investors see thoat advice ad then shies away from that investment and that will be a problem for the country. we need to -- the federal government's massive purchases of securities to help push rates down, unfortunately the administration remains luled in by the siren song and uses the low rates to finance for debt to advance a bloated european government. i look forward to your opinion to budget, i received it late last year after the deadline that was supposed to be honored submission, but i'm really concerned and ai do not see a resolution to the problems that the country is facing. >> i'm pleased to welcome our witness, secretary tim geithner, as you know, mr. secretary, your statement wi

buffett rule bill with two fs and two ts. sign up. let people know. we're keeping count and we want the american people to be heard in this. it's not just about washington insiders. >> buffettrule.com. >> buffettrulebill.com. two fs and two ts. now what common sense argument can the opposition make against this bill? let me show you why i raised this. if you look at the highlights of your paying a fair share act that you introduce, it requires a tax rate of at least 30% for millionaires. it affects 94,500 taxpayers. but it creates $50 billion a year in revenue. they claim that they want to bring down the deficit. they claim they want to stop this spiraling down in terms of the american economy. here's a way where billionaires and millionaires will pay the same percentage their employees do that will bring about $50 billion a year. and you are telling me they oppose this? >> it's a little hard to justify, but the status quo always has its defenders. but if you go back and look at the boom years of the clinton presidency, the high end income earners wer

buffett sold tons of put options when everybody was terrified.ting that that index would go higher when everyone thought it would go lower and it's since turned out to be brilliant. for every 1% increase, berkshire makes $16 million from the puts. timing is everything and right now the timing is perfect for berkshire hathaway. warren buffett isn't just the oracle, he's the wizard, with the insurance renaissance, berkshire hathaway is too good to ignore even as it is ignored by everyone. i think it is a screaming buy at these levels and i thank all of our viewers for these great comments and great questions. please keep them coming. let's go to bill in kentucky, bill? >> caller: cramer, this is bill from kentucky! >> i had a feeling it was you. what's up? >> caller: i enjoy watching your show and i want your thoughts on procter & gamble's stock. it's been in the low to mid-60s for well over a year and should you buy, sell or hold? >> procter, you have to go to the conference call here, bill, because you'll hear the open rebellion from the analysts

, for example -- >> i'm so tired of talking about warren buffett.ing to bring up next, his secretary? this is the old song. don't twist what i said. piers -- >> no, no, no. i haven't asked the question. >> i know the question. >> what's the question? >> you think warren buffett needs as much attention from the government as the vulnerable? >> yes. >> thank you. let's go to break. >> what's the answer? >> since i got the question right, i'm not answering the question, how about that? that's my gift when you think i didn't have it right. >> we're going to go to a break and i'm going to reward you for guessing my question by making you answer. >> good. >> you agree. >> with your point. [ speaking in japanese ] yeah, do you have anything for a headache... like excedrin, ohhh, bayer aspirin... ohh, no no no. i'm not having a heart attack, it's my head. no, bayer advanced aspirin, this is made for pain. [ male announcer ] bayer advanced aspirin has microparticles, enters the bloodstream fast, and safely rushes extra strength relief to the sight of your to

. >>> the buffett bill was introduced in the u.s. senate wednesday. proposed after warren buffett complained his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does, the bill would make anyone earning more than $1 million a year pay at least 30% to the irs. last night on "the ed show" senator bernie sanders, an independent from vermont, talked to ed schultz about poverty, fairness and the buffett bill. >> the reality is that poverty today is at an all-time high. we did a hearing on this in my subcommittee. if you are in the lowest 20% of the american people, you will die 6 1/2 years younger than if you're in the top 20%. so poverty in many ways is a death sentence. romney and his friends want to cut medicaid, throw children off of health insurance. they want to cut medicare, cut social security and they are going to war against the poorest people in this country. i think that is a moral -- just an immoral position to take. i would not want to be a republican defending a position that says not only do we think that the wealthy should not be asked to pay more

warren buffett with $37 billion to spend, nina.s a story worth following. >> it certainly ask. it's going to be keeping some people guessing for some time as to who his successor may well be. >>> coming up on "world business today," we talked to the investment banker who swapped the pressures of finance to the profits from fighting. do stay with us here at cnn. matt's brakes didn't sound right... ...so i brought my car to mike at meineke... ...we inspected his brakes for free. free is good. free is very good. my money. my choice. my meineke. >>> welcome back. live from cnn london and hong kong, this is "world business today." >>> when you're knocked down it's not always to -- not always easy to pick yourself up and change your life. one hong kong investment banker has pulled it off pretty successfully. after being laid off from lehman brothers he left finance and followed his passion. starting a mixed martial arts company. pauline chiou takes us ringside. >> reporter: you could say this championship matchup is really a metaphor for

isn't the man behind berkshire hathaway warren buffett exactly who he was crooning about?re, it's a terrific question. one of hundreds i've received via e-mail at madmoney "cnbc.com and at twitter where you can reach me @jimcramer #tweets and the cnbc twitter. probably blacked out by that yellow thing. what is that yellow thing? let me tell you why i so appreciate this particular set of inquiries and it's because berkshire hathaway is the perfect stock to own in 2012 andy about yond, but nobody realizes it because the company is so hard to analyze. everybody and their mother will praise berkshire ceo and the man who built this company 50 years ago to the diversified multinational powerhouse it is today, making investors a fortune in the process, but lately the adoration for buffett hasn't been translating much into a stock, frankly. isn't that a little ridiculous? the reason for it is pretty simple. berkshire hathaway is really, mri kated. it's an insurance company. it's a railroad. >> all aboard! >> it's a utility and it's a pipeline play and a chemical company, and it se

democrats in the senate are going to vote on president obama's buffett rule where he says if you make more of a million bucks a year than on the million and one dollar and i buy the you make after that you should at least pay thirty percent tax now average working americans if they made a million bucks in payroll they would be thirty five or thirty six percent tax so this isn't even quite the buffett rule that everybody should pay what buffett's secretary makes or pays but it's close and according the tax foundation it would produce an additional thirty six point seven billion dollars a year in revenue which ain't chickenfeed it's not going to solve the deficit problem but it's its but it's really more of an issue of fairness shouldn't people like mitt romney and paris hilton who basically make their living sitting on their butts around the pool waiting for the dividend checks to arrive pay the same tax rate as people as their as their pool cleaners and is the guy digging up the street out in front of a cop was protected. i think a lot of that question to be answered the fact that we

. >> warren buffett and his crew, here's what they did. this is dated as of the end of the fourth quarter. new positions established in new companies. dva and lmca. by the way i've gone through a number of 13fs the last couple hours. liberty's been added by a number of companies. warren buffett added to his positions in coke, directv, cbs care mark, wells fargo, and visa. he cut but not eliminated stakes in johnson & johnson and kraft. then sold completely out of exxonmobil. that was a small stake. still exxon no longer part of the portfolio. i think that name you're showing davita the most interesting. not a typical company that warren buffett would invest in. new positions. i'll be back in a bit with more from david einhorn's green light capital. >> dva an unusual name. no surprise given his new manager he brought in. that was one of the few stocks that was in his portfolio. i believe liberty might have been there. but davita definitely was. >> i remember talking with ted wexler years ago about it. does have a lot of depth. but it was a

then this buffett rule, which is basically a proposal for doubling capital gains rates effectively, at time when even democrats in the senate would be reluctant to that, and we're suffering from not enough business -- >> buffett rule is not targeted to you, rich. he's speaking to -- [everyone talking at once] >> we're going to take the capital gains rate and -- >> even mort would go with that. >> what did you think of the opposition speech? republican speech. >> i thought had it had some very, very good policy stuff in. i agree, i don't think the delivery was exactly inspiring. but it was an intelligent comments. he amongst other things on the economy, the most important thing that he said was we shouldn't get much attention is the complete revision of the tax codes, which is the one thing that we absolutely must have if we're going to revive the economy both consumer and business side. the second thing he said, which again i think was quite interesting, he said the wealthy should start paying for some. things they're getting, like medicare and medicaid. those are things it seems -- [e

buffett is advising investors to shy away from investments such as treasury securities and it will benteresting to know whether you agree with his advice. my hope is his recent musings don't become a new rule for investors not to buy treasuries. if investors heed that advice in large numbers, the spikes in interest rates that i worry about will materialize and the low cost financing of our $15.3 trillion debt that the u.s. temporary enjoys will evaporate in a hurry. we need to resist the siren song of cheap financing partly brought on by the federal reserve's massive purchases of treasury securities to help push rates down. unfortunately, the administration remains lulled in by the siren song and takes current low rates as a reason to spend more and pile up even more debt to finance a bloated europe-size government. secretary geithner, i look forward to your testimony on the president's budget which i only received late yesterday. after the deadline you were supposed to honor for submission. i want to thank you for holding today's hearing, but i'm really concerned. and i don't see any

buffett said there are two backup candidates.uffett continues to stress he's not going anywhere anytime soon. he says he remains opt 0 mystic on the u.s. economy although he admits he was dead wrong on the timing of the recovery and the housing market. buffett says he's still on the prowl for takeover targets. berkshire has $37 billion in cash although fourth quarter profits fell. buffett will be answering your e-mail and twitter questions with our own becky quick on u.s. "squawk box" from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. must-see television. an interesting guy to listen to. >>> a federal judge delaying the civil trial over the bp gulf oil spill by about a week. the trial had been scheduled to start today in new orleans. the judge says bp is making 30 degrees in settlement talks overseeing thousands of lawsuits. the trial is aimed at determining the amount of damages to be paid by bp and other companies involved in the worst offshore oil drill in history. the stock up 1.75%. well, of course the stars always come out to honor their own at the 84

warren buffett.le. >>alisyn: but the c.e.o. may be working on a plan to avoid his own buffett rule by shielding his wealth. our guest says he has never seen a businessman get such a free pass. why don't we see the underbelly of warren buffett? charles gasparino is there at the game. that looks fun, charlie. >> i'm giving it to you today, giving you his underbelly. >>alisyn: how could he avoid the buffett rule? >>guest: listen he shields most of his taxes through -- he benefits, warren buffett earned $40 billion, his net worth, something along those lines through the lower capital gains rate. so, the very thing he is decrying, he actually made his fortune from, and he has thrown his money into the gates foundation where he is shielding the taxes now, and he -- this is a lot of hypocrisy and you look at his record, we should point out warren buffett is a great investor, i am not saying there is anything wrong with that but look how he made his money, the investments in the past, and it ape that much di

warren buffett on cnbc this morning in the early hours, he says he has seen something impressive aboutcaused him to add the stock to his holdings, raisin the stake to ibm to 5.5%. listen to this >> just the tiniest bit. you will see in the first quarter, i bought a few shake i was willing to buy a lot, then it moved up. >> buffett and fellow investors in ibm have been well well reward the last 12ant moss, stock adding 12% the last year is it too late to get in or should you be committing new capital here? joining us with their takes, joseph heresy, rating on ibm, a director for it outsource and processing for jani montgomery sock and san neat gauche ya, who hadding on the stock, senior equity analyst with morning star. good to see you on the program. thanks for joining us. sun neat, kick this off you have a hold on the stock, it has done very well. what is your concern? >> i like the business. i expect revenues and profits to grow from here. they have a debt position. liabilities a little too overvalued for our taste. >> the biggest issue is the val way, you like the business. do you e

of talking about warren buffett.t are you going to bring up next, his secretary? this is the old song. don't twist what i said. piers -- >> no, no, no. i haven't asked the question. >> i know the question. >> what's the question? >> you think warren buffett needs as much attention from the government as the vulnerable? >> yes. >> thank you. let's go to break. >> what's the answer? >> since i got the question right, i'm not answering the question, how about that? that's my gift when you think i didn't have it right. >> we're going to go to a break and i'm going to reward you for guessing my question by making you answer. >> good. >> you agree. >> with your point. what's left behind? [ female announcer ] purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. developed with dermatologists... it's clinically proven to remove 99% of dirt and toxins and purify pores. and with natural willowbark it contains no dyes, parabens or harsh sulfates. dirt and toxins do a vanishing act and my skin feels pure and healthy. [ female ann

and i also spoke a lot about the president's proposed buffett rule that he has named after warren buffettw. somehow he is conflating the maul and medium-sized business people with the likes of warren buffett. i said, we don't need a buffett rule, we need a buffer rule. we have to stop the intrusion of more and more government. washington's got enough money and we have to get the fiscal house in order by aiming at number 1, reducing spending and number 2, trying to increase the economic activity in the private sector. what i said was the back bone of america is our small business people. and so what i propose today is a 20% small business tax cut that goes right to the heart of the economic engine in this country, which are the men and women who are the entrepreneurs willing to go and take a risk if they just get some signal out of washington that washington will get out of the way and stop making it so expensive and so difficult. >> speaking of washington, i'm sure you have been following the controversy right here over this contraception issue. the president is now creating what he calle

you have heard me say it, warren buffett plays a lower tax rate than his secretary. i don't need a tax break, we don't need to provide additional tax cuts for negotiation who are doing real, really well. do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest americans or do we want clean air, education, care for our military. asking a billionaire -- warren buffett's doing fine, i'm doing fine, we don't need to tax breaks, you need them. you're the ones who see your wages stall. the ones who -- we don't begrudge success in america, we aspire to it. i want everybody here to go out in and do great. i want you to make loads of money if you k that's wonderful. ---and given where our deficit is, it's just a matter of math that folks like me are going to have to do a little bit more. because americans understand if i get a tax break i don't need and the country can't afford. one of two things is going to happen, either that means we have to add tour deficit or it means that you've got to pay for it. it means the seniors got to pay for it. in terms of suddenly their medicare b

and i'm so sick of hearing about warren buffett too. if he wants to give the government some money, go right ahead, warren. go right ahead. >> all right, patricia. let's take your two points. >> you know, there is a lot of people in my district who do pay taxes. they would trade places with you, ma'am, in a heartbeat to have a better situation. there are five people, four or five people looking for every one job that is available. the jobs we have lost in ohio that are now being replaced by jobs, you're lucky. you're lucky if they pay half as much as the jobs you lost. there are a lot of americans. i know it's convenient, and i know it's cool to say oh, these people want to live on the dole. i know thousands of people that i have met over my 10 and 12 years in congress and in the state senate. they want a job. they don't want a handout. they don't want to be on the government dole. they want to go to work. and they want a job with health care and benefits and a pension. and i'm sick and tired, quite frankly, of people trying to paint wi

the buffett's tax was 30% on that and carried interest is targeted. oil and gas is targeted, banks are targeted. what is the economic growth logic? i thought there were two ways to balance the budget and move toward bounce. number one, restrain spending and number two, grow the economy so the revenues keep coming in. this looks like it misses on both counts. >> you know what's missing? every commission, the bowl simpson commission, when they looked at tax reform, what they said was simplify the code and broaden the base and lower marginal rates and they've gone off on capital formation and generally, they've acknowledged, and almost everybody gets that and this president is going in the exact opposite direction and now in the base, raising rates and punishing savings and investment. it can't possibly be good for the economy. >> so let me ask you about that. you say there's some consensus about simpson bowles. you yourself had a tax reform plan for the super committee. you had democratic support, as i recall, but let me just ask you, is there any commo