david kotok come back in, please.overnment shutdown and we have a fight over the debt ceiling. has there been any damage to the economy already? >> little bit so far, but we don't have complete data because the government agencies aren't getting-- they're not open for business so we're not getting information. we're getting information from private sources. that picture's deteriorating every single day when we get an anecdote and we have yet to see a real impact which i believe we will see when we start to see retail sales contracting. all the kinds of stuff that the private sector will report over the next few weeks. stuart: okay. let's not forget that the bankers are warning about disruptions in the market and disruptions for the economy. china is warning that's about the debt ceiling. your position, david, is that if we do indeed go past that october 17th debt ceiling deadline, that it really is serious stuff and we really are in trouble. that's your position? >> i think we're in serious trouble now because we have

and right now we want to go back to david kotok before we let you go. david.ps ceo just said that obamacare is adding a burden to his company and he says the health care expenses continue to be a serious challenge. how much chaos can obamacare bring to the economy? >> it's already brought it. it's introduced the 29-hour work week. we used to make fun of the french with a 35-hour work week and now we have a 29-hour work week. so, we see three to four million, five million people in the part-time labor force. instead of the full-time labor force, and now, there's a bipartisan discussion to redefine full-time work at 174 hours a month. 40 hours a week times four and a fraction, to make a month. because of this construction we have. we introduced the 40-hour week to get overtime above 40 hours. that's how the whole thing got defined to start with. so, we have major transition underway. if i can add one quick thing. charles: sure. >> about the gasoline price. every one penny drop in the price of gasoline around the country is a 1.4 billion annualized rate tax cut o

you see the word he uses, so says financial adviser david kotok, are willing to see the u.s.t perspective. peter has the bow tie on. you may see him on many a commercial. he's a prosfeser at the school of business in maryland. nice to see you back on here again. you are an economist, and from what i gather, you are not quite as concerned as some of your colleagues are, other economists, when it comes to the prospect of a default by the u.s. treasury. tell me why not. >> well, we'll only have a default if the president wills it. each month, the federal government takes in $250 billion. the interest on the debt is $23 billion. we clearly can make the payments if the congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling. other stuff will go unpaid and we'll have to set priorities, but that can be done. we don't want to go on that way forever, but the debt does not have to be defaulted. >> peter, here are some folks talking about default, pretty intelligent minds. take a listen if you would. >> america would not be able to meet all of our financial obligations for the first time in 225 years.