. >> eamon, thank you very much. is president obama's plan good or bad for business anded economy? joining me now seth and chris edwards, director of tax policy studies at the kato institute.

and i think eamon is right. a lot of details to come later, particularly vis-a-vie, the base broad broadeners. one of the things we have to talk about is deferral. overseas corporations can just keep their taxes, shelter them from the americans forever through deferral. >> but jared -- jared. >> art, larry, i want to ask you guys a question. i think we may have a fundamental difference here. where would you rather see an american firm build a factory? in detroit or shanghai? answer my question. >> no question, you're right on that, jared. much rather see it in detroit. >> then we have to change the incentives. >> but by penalizing those who are abroad, by attracting them back. not by penalizing them for staying there. this is one of attraction, not whacking them on the head with a stick. >> i don't disagree with you, art. but here is the thing. the way the thing is set up now, we have incentives that absolutely, unequivocally, make it cheaper for to set that factory up in china than in ohio. >> but don't raise t

let me send it now to my great colleague, eamon javers.s in tampa with the cnbc special report. >> thank you, larry. good evening, everybody. we have seen a hard fought and bitter campaign here in the republican presidential primary in the state of florida. we are now down to the last seconds here before polls close across the state of fla.

but let's bring in eamon javers. he has more on who the real winner is. eamon?ng, guys. well, the big question after last night is was the real winner of last night's caucuses here at 1600 pennsylvania avenue, barack obama? heading into a general election against a republican opponent, perhaps mitt romney if he emerges from this gop field, who doesn't have the kind of support that we thought earlier in the year he might have. the big winner, of course, last night on the republican side was rick santorum, sweeping minnesota and also two other states across the board. that's something that we did not expect to see from rick santorum. but does it indicate that, in fact, mitt romney has kind of a tepid support among the republican party faithful that might lead to an enthusiasm gap going into the general election? guys, that's what the obama machine in chicago and here in washington is really hoping right now. >> all right. eamon, we've got super tuesday coming up pretty soon, right? >> reporter: yeah. super tuesday coming up in early march. the romney campaign is p

it's not the taxpayers eamon any at stake. it's the stockholders eamon any at stake with the winners and losers. i think personally that's the way it ought to be. secondly, the historical comparison made might not work now because we weren't drowning in debt when those loans were made. today we're drowning in debt and we just can't keep going in having headlines that half a billion or a billion dollars are lost again to the taxpayer. my time has more than expired, mr. chairman. thank you. >> senator staph know. >> thank you, chairman. welcome secretary chu. let me indicate first that i appreciate the efforts in working with us on a clean energy manufacturing strategy. it's clearly leading the recovery for the country. our efforts, the chairman and i championing the 48c and the loan program you mentioned where ford is actually now bringing jobs back from mexico because of their efforts around advanced batteries and retooling. we're seeing jobs come back from a number of countries because we're focused there. i would encourage y

first up tonight, cnbc's eamon javers joins me with the details. >> good evening, larry. the obama administration is saying now is not the time for austerity as the president unveiled his $3. billion budget for the fiscal year of 2013. take a look at some of the details of what's in that and you get a sense of where the president's coming from as he goes into this very delicate campaign starting with a 2013 estimated budget deficit of $901 billion. revenues will be up $1.5 trillion over ten years and the bush tax cuts, as you just said larry, those are set to expeer under the president's plan at the end of 2012 and the buffett rule, a 30% tax on income of $1 million or over is also included in this proposal today and of course, the president has been invoking warren buffett a lot on the campaign trail and he did it again today as he unveiled this budget. >> you've heard me say it. warren buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. >> that's not fair. it doesn't make sense at a time when we've got to pull together to get the country moving. >> larry, the key here in

i'm eamon javers in washington. the fed's beige book report on current economic conditions finds that overall economic activity continued to increase at a modest to moderate pace in january and early february. when asked to describe the level of economic growth, new york was the only federal reserve district to characterize it as slower. most federal reserve districts reported a slight increase in hiring, the fed said, echoing chairman ben bernanke's comments on capitol hill this morning, six of the federal reserve's districts reported increasing hiring in manufacturing. and some reported difficulty in finding skilled or specialized workers. looking sector by sector, manufacturing continued to expand at a steady pace across the country, the fed said, with increased capital spending in seven of the fed's 12 districts. retail sales were higher than a year ago in the mid-atlantic and midwest and gains in auto sales reported in four districts. residential real estate activity increased modestly in most districts, the fe

eamon javers is in tampa with some names. hey, eamon. >> reporter: hey, tyler. makes me wonder why i'm not wearing short sleeves in tampa. it's about 80 degrees here. you're right, mitt romney had a big night last night. but right after that we got our first chance to take a look at some of the boldfaced names of the financial universe supporting romney's super pac. that's the unconnected to the political action committee run by outsiders financing a lot of television ads and campaign activity on behalf of mitt romney. take a look at some of these names. gives you a sense of who's behind the romney effort. starting with a couple of folks from bain capital partners together they gave $750,000. and phil singer, hedge fund $1 million from him. also $1 million from julian robertson. another $1 million from robert mercer. and more boldfaced names as you dive into this financial disclosure report, you see mark an dreeson, the founder of net skap posting up $50,000. the outspoken real estate investor from chicago also po ponied up $50,000. the miami dolphins owner. and

we have to go to eamon javers with breaking news from washington, d.c. eamon, what do you got?st within the past couple of minutes google is confirming for me a report that was in politico a few minutes ago that they have hired the former republican congresswoman from new york as their new representative in the washington office here. it's a big move for google. she will replace alan davidson, a long-time figure at google who left there earlier last year. but susan molinari is a well-known washington insider. a veteran of the united states congress. she will now head up google's washington office in addition to other duties with the company. and the company gave us a statement here from david drum saying i'm excited about susan joining google. her enthusiasm will be a real asset to our team in the americas. and, guys, this is really a sign of google beefing up its lobbying operations here. they have spent more money in recent months than they have spent in the past. and, of course, they're one of the first issues that molinari will have to address is this issue of privacy which

threats and oil embargo threats, we have our own threats to make, me, if dee >> he's the holiest of the eamons> do you think that's worrisome? 72 it's anticipated. there's nothing surprising about that. i don't think he has quite the backup to support what he is saying. >> why? >> why? because there's no doubt they have to be aware and that they are taking a very, very big gamble with going ahead with nuclear weaponry and this is -- there's no mystery. this is being predictable for a long time. >> this is a much higher level of escalation on iran's part, his saying that. >> they've been saying that in different forms for quite a while. >> not at that level. not at the level of the imam. >> but whoever said, it everybody knows it reflects the values, the policies, of the imams and the leader so there's no doubt about that. something to not be said casually. he's just raising it in verbal terps to a different level. >> we've been discussing the war over there, with >>> we know iran has been one of targets of the yankee empire for a long time. it's one of reasons for our solidarity with you. >> i

nbc's eamon modin has the latest from cairo. eamon. >> reporter: good morning, thomas. two american tourists have been released after being kidnapped on friday morning according to security officials. there was a group of tourists. it was there that armed bedouins intercepted this group of americans. two were kidnapped. they began intense negotiations with the local bedouin tribes to try to secure their release. we don't believe it was politically motivated for any reason. so we understand that they have now been released. all of this coming against the backup of a lot of political upheaval in the country for a third day in a row. protesters are clashing with security forces in cairo and other places across the country. police have been trying to disperse the crowds using tear gas and in some cases live am nice. >> ayman, thank you so much. >>> we want to go back to developing news. susan g. komen foundation now apologizing for pulling funds from planned parenthood and will restore full funding. the group's ceo nancy brinker was concerned. some 6,000 people have given $

let's go to eamon javers standing by with the political angle on this story. >> republicans definitelyhey have the home field advantage on the issue of higher gas prices going into election year for president barack obama. listen to newt gingrich earlier today he's promised dramatically lower gas prices if he is elected president. >> all i'm trying to do is get us back to a plea obama world, plenty of resources at low cost instead of scarce resources at high cost. part of my campaign this fall will be real simple. you want $2.50 a gallon with newt or you want $9 a gallon with obama? >> as for that obama administration, their options are kind of constrained here. one thing they have said or signalled that they are open to is going back to the strategic petroleum reserve, something they did last year but that carries some political risk and no guarantee it would do anything to keep prices down going into november and going into that crucial election month. now let's go over to courtney reagan for the rest of the story. >> the last two weeks, the average price for regular unleaded gasolin

and eamon javers is on that trail. hey, eamon. >> hey, tyler.you're the president of the united states, high gas prices are a political problem heading into an election year. the president was talking about that in a speech last week. and he invoked the specter. >> just like last year, the single biggest thing causing oil to spike right now is instability in the middle east. this time around iran. when uncertainty increases, speculative trading on wall street increases. and that drives prices up even more. >> now, the problem with blaming excessive speculation in the oil market for high gas prices though can be a very difficult thi thing to prove. the last time it was in 2008 the government conducted this report looking to see whether they could find excessive speculation was driving up prices. they found that, no, it was basically the fundamentals of the oil market that were to blame. so what else does the obama administration have up its sleeve? on friday treasury secretary tim geithner suggested the administration's open to using this strateg

tyler. >> eamon, thank you very much. is president obama's plan good or bad for business anded economy? joining me now seth and chris edwards, director of tax policy studies at the kato institute. seth, let me begin with you. does this plan do enough for the economy? is it good for business? >> i think it is. i think it's a really well-balanced and well-thought out proposal. and it's a serious first step towards reforming a tax code, specifically a corporate tax code, that's really broken. i think the most important thing about it is it reorients the incentives towards investment in the united states as opposed to investments abroad. and it does so while being fiscally responsible. so that we can meet our national needs while not shifting the tax burden on to the middle class. >> chris, the rate comes down from a top rate of 35% to a top rate of 28%. a lot of preference items, a lot of subsidies, a lot of writeoffs seemingly go away. so it's not a zero sum game depending on what industry you're in. but the other side of t

eamon javers is live at the white house. good morning. >> good morning.ficial unveiling of the president's new tax plan. we don't know everything that's going to be in there. but let's take a look at shop of the details we do have. starting with the headlines, and a big one of lowering the corporate tax rate to 28%. an effective rate, the obama administration says of just about 25% for manufacturing firms. the plan would eliminate dozens and dozens of tax loop holes in order to do that, it would establish a new minimum tax on foreign earnings and it would make tax filing simpler for small businesses who struggle with the complexity of the tax code. this plan would reportedly raise about $250 billion in new revenue over ten years. but exactly whose ox is getting gored here isn't exactly clear until we see the details of which loop holes they're going to close. we're expecting that news or some piece of it from trishry secretary tim geithner who is going to be briefing reporters in about half an hour. >> and eamon, the treasury secretary has also said that

. >> eamon, the russian foreign minister is get something sort of welcome? did i see that in your writing? >> that's correct. tens of thousands syrians welcomed him in the streets of damascus. i don't think he would have gotten that same kind of welcome about if he visited other parts of the country. but many people welcomed the russian veto on saturday because it protected help or shielded them from what they perceive to be western and foreign interference in their domestic affairs. so he was arriving in damascus against the backdrop of more violence across the country. the message that everyone wants to know, what did the russian foreign minister deliver to the syrian president. there's some speculation that he's trying to hammer out a time line for a transition to democracy, new constitutional reform, but no indication as to whether will is an agreement on this time table. this against the back crop of more violence as we were saying in the city that has become the epicenter of the uprising. tens were killed overnight in more raids. eyewitnesses reporting

and eamon, what's the case against these 19 americans? >> reporter: good morning, richard. well, you know, the general prosecutor is expected to indict them on wednesday here in the country. referring to a criminal court. a crime under egyptian law and channelling that money to political activity in the country, particularly to anti-government protests. they believe a lot of the protests that are taking place in the country are fueled by organizations and groups that are working against the egyptian government, but more importantly, they are receiving these funds from outside. we know among the 43 people charged, 19 americans, 6 of them in the country, 13 of them believed to have left at some point prior to the investigation or the travel ban. that case is expected to begin underway on wednesday when the criminal indictment is presented to a judge. >> also in the region, syria, what are you hearing about that? >> the situation there remains very precarious. and as you mentioned, the u.s. embassy has shut down -- or the u.s. state department has shut down, the embassy has ev

our eamon jabbevers is live in tampa. >> we're here in tampa.he republican convention in august. it's going to be a little hotter here in august than it is today. but a big night here for mitt romney last night. a 14-point win over newt gingrich, fending off that insurgent campaign and making the case romney hopes that he's got the staying power and fighting instinct to stay in the race, win the nomination and go on and take it to barack obama. last night we learned a little more about exactly what's fueling romney's success as we got the first look into the super pac fund raising numbers. take a look at who some of the big givers for mitt romney have been. starting with bain capital. three different folks contributing a total of $750,000. phil singer of elliott management, big hedge fund, $1 million contributor. julian robertson of tiger management another hedge fund superstar. $1 million from him. robert mercer of renaissance technologies rounding out the million dollar club for mitt romney. newt gingrich on the campaign trail has been hitting

eamon is the littlest one. >> reporter: if you think that you know what long-term unemployment can looksd it until you lived it. >> reporter: he brought in $100,000 two years ago and by all measures middle-class until they were both laid off. frightening new numbers show that 50% of the unemployed in new jersey have been out of work for more than six months and similar story elsewhere. >> i was a technician for comcast. >> reporter: you had it made? >> yes, i had it made. >> i was a customer service representative for comcast. >> and what is something that people might not know? >> it is definitely not financial, but emotional. if you are not strong people, it can buckle you. >> break you, yes. >> reporter: the unemployment checks have run out, and they have exhausted the savings. >> the only benefits from the state right now that we get are assistance with the food. >> reporter: human services of morris county, new jersey, where the mobley's live have seen the caseload surge 57% since 2007. >> seeing the dual-unemployed families is unusual for us. >> reporter: so the bottom is falling o