but erskin bowles and i were there and we are not guiders or mentors or anything else.e commission so we know who they are and i are good people. so, with that, is there any serious question about figures or percentages of those to erskin. >> thank you both very much. we are glad to be here. we do want to encourage the commissioners to go big, to be bold. i know that and washington it's difficult for the congress to ever do anything big old all at once. as i fought back on our experiences in when we did balance the budget, you know, we didn't do it all but one time. we did it when we had fleabites the apple in 1990, 1993 and 1997. so it's difficult. we did under two different presidents with multiple converses so it's tough. at that point in time we had the luxury of time. we don't have that anymore. we need to act and we need to act now. we need to do this to reassure the markets. all you have to look at is the fluctuation in the market on a day-to-day basis and you can see the problems we have to read and we also need to give it to restore public trust and to restore

you know, when erskine bowles talks about going off a cliff, it's there. this is not trivial. this is going to affect future generations, and as alan simpson said, it's going to affect our generation. that's the key point. the second point is, as dr. rivlin said in the previous panel, there's no escaping the fact that we need a balanced approach. we've got to do the revenue side, we've got to do the entitlement side, we've got to do spending cuts, the whole thing. the public can be made to understand this. the third thing is that in order to do that, everything does have to be on the table. those are message that is we can convey. we did town hall meetings everywhere, and we basically said, we've got problem, we have a long-term problem. here you are wherever it was, wherever it was, and here are five or six or eight ways to increase revenues on social security, and here are ways to really adjust benefits. we want to you figure it out and tell us what you think. people didn't go storming out of the room. they basically engaged. if we can get the public to understand the three

at the end of it, and i thought erskine bowles did a masterful job, they said, here it is.i looked at it, i thought, at the end of the day, there aren't many options. you have basically three things -- spending, general spending, the entitlement programs and revenue or taxes. and if you don't put them all on the table, you're going to take too much out of one or the other. i voted for it. 11 out of 18 of us voted for it. >> jon: this did not make it to congress. >> no. >> jon: they never got a chance to do anything with it because the group that was formed to make it rejected it. >> 11 out of 18 did. and we were supposed to get 14, but the clock had run out on us to be honest. that's how the gang of six came about. >> jon: that's next step. >> saxby chambliss of georgia, mark warner of virginia said, can we take this bold idea and actually turn it into legislation. >> jon: you were on the gang of six, as well. >> i was. >> jon: the gang of six -- simpson bowles sounds like a british wedding announcement. that's not going to be. but "gang of six," this is serious business. n

er ski erskin bowles, saved 400, billion. and his fear for the bond market.erskine bowles, when asked how honk do we have? he said a maximum of two years in january of this year. our calculations are july of 2012. >> mike: that's when we're going to hit the wall. july 12th in the middle of the presidential election. and wouldn't you think that both parties try to avoid this issue? >> yes. >> the bowl from the commission were hated by both parties and made it a good idea if they hate it so much. >> and to bring them back after they have been vilified was for another reason, that they sent notes and this is a real cries cities and they wanted them out front talking about it and we haven't gotten the american people on board. american people didn't understand we're part of the solution and need to join a grass root movements. we'll be part of the this. they've got to understand, this is war time stuff. i think that's so important. all we've done is put the beanies back on the stove and let them cook and at some point we're going to follow that. and for more on t

erskine bowles was the cochairman of the fiscal commission. all of you come out.ou don't have to wait for your introduction. senator mike crapo, senator from idaho also on the fiscal commission. dave cote, ceo of honeywell on the fiscal commission and alice rivlin, former director cbo, omb, vice chair of the fat on the fiscal commission and cochair of the domenici rivlin. we have a group of people who are together putting together bipartisan deals that in fact did go big and could go big and in many ways will inform the work of the super committee. i'm going to be joined now by my co-moderator, peter cook from bloomberg tv. peter, if you are ready, alternate server two for the first question to our group. >> maya, thank you for the participation. and the all-star panel he have to talk to about the issue in washington these days. as a reporter covering the super committee and actions over the next few weeks, this is a list to say a fascinating and important topic for us and our audience have bloomberg and important for not only this unanswered, the audience at home

i am not suggesting we go back to that tax policy but if you look at some erskine bowles compared to current law they provide a $2 trillion tax cut compared to current law. the proposal $1 trillion tax cut compared to current law, approximately. if we are really going to address this challenge, let's recognize it. if we don't deal with the revenue piece as dr. elmendorf said, you are talking about dramatic cuts to health and retirement security for america's seniors. we have to take a balanced approach which is why the bipartisan groups took that approach. >> senator toomey. >> thank you. since my colleagues have raised this issue i want to touch on a couple things that did not make it into the conversation. isn't it true that as recently as 2007 the current tax rate structure yielded revenue that was 18% of gdp? >> that is right. current level is very low because the economy is weak. >> the main reason total revenue as percentage of gdp is so much lower than historical levels is because we have an economy that is in recession. very high unemployment and weak lack of growth. >> that

alan simpson and erskine bowles, who chaired the commission that president obama created to figure out how to cut the deficit are among a growing chorus of voices on both sides pushing for $4 trillion in savings. >> that's the minimum amount of deficit reduction we need in order to stabilize the debt and put it on a downward path. >> reporter: house speaker john boehner agreed with bowles today saying bipartisan support would grow with a larger plan where everyone shares the pain. >> i spent months working with the president trying to do the big deal and i always believed it would be easier to get the votes if, in fact, we got a big deal. >> reporter: douglas elmendorf the director of the nonpartisan congressional budget office warned that budget cuts should be spread out over time to protect the fragile economy. >> the combination of policies that would be most effective according to our analysis would be changes in taxes and spending that would widen the deficit today but narrow it later in the decade. >> reporter: cutting $4 trillion from the debt would almost certainly require new

when erskine bowles talks about going off a cliff, it's there. this isn't some trivial issue. this is something that is going to affect future generations and as alan simpson said it is going to affect our generations of that is a key point. the second point is as dr. rivlin said on the previous panel there is no use kidding the fact that we need a balanced approach. we have to do the revenue side, we have to do the entitlement side, we have to do spending cuts, the whole thing. the public can be made to understand this. the third thing is that in order to do that everything does have to be on the table. those are messages that we can convey. and i use this as an example in my aarp days when we did town hall meetings everywhere on social security we basically said to people we have a problem, we have a long-term problem and we can't run away from it. and sure we are with five or six or eight ways to increase revenue on social security and five or six or eight ways to really adjust benefits so figure it out and tell us what you think. people didn't go storming out of the room.

among those taking part, erskine bowles and former senator alan simpson. that begins live at 2:30 on c- span3. later, democratic national committee chair debbie wasserman schultz will be speaking about the republican presidential candidates' debate in florida. speaking of that debate, we will have live coverage of reaction to the man from what is known as the spin room at 10:00 p.m. eastern on line at c- an hour later, we will air the debate in its entirety on the c- span radio. >> watch more video of the candidates, see what political reporters are saying, and track the latest campaign contributions with the c-span's web site for campaign 2012. easy to use, it helps you navigate the political landscape with twitter feed, facebook updates, candidate bios, the latest polling data, links to c- span media partners. all at c-span.org/campaign2010. again, and look at the u.s. military since the 9/11 attacks, coming up at the bottom of the hour. until then, your phone calls from today's "washington journal." facebook and twitter. here is what this says. the stor

you and your partner erskine bowles say you should do more. >> don't forget the president of george washingtonniversity said we should do more. it's a long-term grotesque deficiency now because of what they did recently. they raised the debt limit to almost $17 trillion. you have to go long-term. you can't just get there with little cuts in the payroll tax which takeses money out of the social security system. i don't know why anybody hasn't figured out when you have a system that goes into the bylaws in 2036 and you do the cuts on the payroll tax it funds it less. >> the counter argument would be right now from the president, but more broadly, certainly from the democratic base that the economy is teetering on a potential double dip, and that stimulus will help. do you disagree with that? >> no you don't but we we said in our report we'll put in the baby in 2013, don't forget what we did. we realize this is a fragile time and economic situation. i agree with you have to be careful but you have to get going. >> what do you think is specific about the president piling another $467 billion on to

>> let me say that i agree with everything my good friend erskine bowles has just said.re all on the fiscal commission together. we did reach the conclusions that he just mentioned. $4 trillion is literally the minimum that we can do. it is not the ideal. i am one of those who was more aggressive. i think we need to do if twice or three times over the next decade to truly get ourselves into a posture we should be in fiscally. your question is, can we go big, does congress have the ability to go big? the short answer is that gridlock is no longer an option. my answer is yes. one of the reasons i say that it's back to the fiscal commission and the gang of cents i worked on. three democrats and republicans were able to come together on a big option. that group represented both sides of the philosophical spectrum in the united states. we were able to come together because the crisis is so real and imminent. we have had these debates in congress forever over whether we should tax the rich or not, who is the rich, how much do they pay in relation to everything else, what progr

all the bipartisan commissions, extremely good work done by allan simpson and erskine bowles and their commission. they say you've got to have spending cuts and economic growth if you want to bring the budget back into balance. you have to have all three. and the least harmful tax increases are the ones that senator mcconnell and people who agree with him hate the most, and that is restoring the tax levels that existed when i was president for those of us in high income group levels. that's the one that does the least harm. i agree we ought to have corporate tax reform. i agree that in this world, where there's a lot more competition for new manufacturing jobs, we've got to lower the rates and broaden the base. i think that i would support senator mcconnell's call for a reform of the individual income tax system. right now we don't need to do what the republicans want to do either, which is to cut a lot of government spending that is keeping the economy going. right now what we need to do is put americans back to work, get growth going, and then bring this debt down. and that's what i

you know, david, that the erske erskine bowles super committee came up with a tax reform proposal in january. the president could have endorsed it in january. he did not do that. i believe that was a mistake. people know what the contours of this has to be. it's not as if they haven't been dealing with it for years, right? >> yeah, but we're -- but we're moving -- we've moved into an election cycle. >> right. right. >> i today was a political play. not a governing play. >> let's see if we are surprised. >> would love to be surprised. >> i would love to be surprised as well. thanks for your help tonight. david, we'll see you in a little bit. >>> dr. sanjay gupta on the health challenge being put front and center by the united nations general assembly, and why propose a deficit plan that you know will be thrown into the trash heap by republicans? the president's budget director explains the plan and the strategy next. ♪ [ doug ] i got to figure this out. i want to focus on innovation. but my data is doubling. my servers are maxed out. i need to think about something else when i run. [

erskine bowles called it the most predictable crisis in the history. it is not a pro-growth or pro- jobs strategy to have a sovereign debt crisis. if the company is decided to relocate in the u.s. and see us headed toward this fiasco -- any doubt that has to be serious about the debt crisis. -- any jobs plan has to be serious about the debt crisis. we need to recognize that this is a national moment of truth. we need to undertake spending reforms. it is all spending, defense, non-defense. and the affordable care act has to be on the table. if you want to talk about revenue coming back to have a better tax base. we have a terrible -- it you want to talk about revenue, you have to have a better tax base. we are driving major successful companies offshore. it makes no sense to do that, particularly at the time when we need jobs. we need to clarify the trajectory of future policy. it does not do any good for the administration to say, we are going to reduce the deductibility of these deductions to be 28% bracket. that is like tax reform. that does not help

alan simpson, the former white have -- white house chief of staff, erskine bowles. >> thank you.noon. good thing we are starting. spending too much time with alan simpson just makes you laugh and laugh. thank you for joining us. i run the committee for the responsible federal budget. we are here to release a letter. we just had over 50 experts in fiscal, budget policy, heads of the treasury and budget office's, signing on to it, all for urging the super committee to work on finding $1.20 trillion to $1.50 trillion in savings over the next couple months, to take this mandate of theirs, not easy on its own, but to make it larger. the thinking is that coming up with at the level of savings they have set up, it is not sufficient to stabilize the debt so that it is growing as a share of the economy. it would not be sufficient on its own to reassure markets or ratings agencies. what we really need to do is bring together a bipartisan plan that would tackle the largest parts of the challenge. really, looking at all parts of the budget to put in place, once and for all, a fix for the sit

if you will recall 1997, we got together with erskine bowles who had just come to the white house and we wanted to finish the balancing effort. we worked together. it succeeded that year because everybody leaned into the problem. there was only one democratic leader who lacked enthusiasm and the rest of us were all leading into the problem and the president supported us fully. every time we met, his team was in the room. this was not some sort of scholastic debate but an actual meeting where decisions are made and in the and we put together something that balance the budget for the first time in 30 years. then we paid top $400 billion in the national debt. >> are you optimistic about the structure of the super committee and its time line? >> there timeframe is tighter than ours, but that is ok as i mentioned a minute ago, these problems are a lot more difficult than they were. this committee has a great opportunity and they can do it, but not without the leadership supporting it. this is just a way of kicking the can down the road. you will only be able to dodge and dock for so long b

erskine bowles and senator alan simpson, erskine bowles was chosen by president obama to head his debt commission, and they gave a statement to the budget committee on which i'm ranking member that this nation has never faced a more predictable economic crisis. based on the size of our debt. all of us know that. the american people are angry with us. theyno

we saw it with joe lockhart,erskin bowls and other names.ect facebook to be a significant presence in washington. >> i assume they'll hire a bunch of republicans as well. good lobbying group in washington, republicans and democrats at a time of divided government like this. thanks very much. good report, lisa. >>> chilling images of michael jackson after his death, as his doctor goes on trial for manslaughter. stand by for a full report. >>> and coca-cola's ceo says washington gridlock is forcing him to do business with china. how might that attitude affect the presidential campaign? stand by. evan, sandy . . . evan .. what pushed you toward the explorer? it was less expensive. better technology inside. there was stuff that we have in our car that i didn't even know existed. how does your music gear fit in there? it fits perfectly. i mean, i got a keyboard, acoustic guitar, merchandise, cds to sell and it all just fits like a nice game of tetris. what would you say to a friend who's skeptical about buying a ford. do you want to borrow my key

it is my privilege and honor to turn this over to alan simpson and erskine bowles, talking about their experience of the fiscal commission and why they are lending their support in this effort to put together a big plan and go big. thank you very much. >> erskine and i are available to meet to this council of 12. if we can help them in any way, that is something we want to do. this is a very difficult task. nothing new to go over. it is all there. everything is available to them. i think it is critical that we realize that it is going to be very, very, very difficult. but we recommend $4 trillion over 10 years, and so did the president. he came up with a $4 trillion figure over 12 years, or it was 10. an interesting thing that people have forgotten. and $1.2 trillion is peanuts as we say. they will have to go for more than that. no question about it. and if they do not, this big chop where half of it comes out of defense and have comes out of non-defense, and everyone is getting an their dictionary out to defend themselves against the shock. i'll leave that over to leon panetta over th

. >> just to close out, i cannot help but give a huge thanks to erskine bowles and thousands and. they really set the gold standard for how to fix the budget. for a decade we have not been talking about realistic changes, and it has completely changed the discussion in washington, and in the country. i never thought it would be possible that two people could hit the road and get standing ovations for budget speeches. at i have given enough budget speech is to know you do not get standing ovations. if you listen to them, it is inspiring how much support there is outside of washington to do the right thing. that work led to the gang of six and there were many colleagues in the house and senate that came together in a bipartisan way to say, let's put everything on the table and put a real fix out there and get ahead of a problem, which is something that we know is unsustainable and changes have to remain. the purpose of releasing this letter is to bring together the voices, all these former members of congress, and the head of the treasury department and office of management budget.

. >> erskine bowles, that's not a conversation that most people are having right now. >> actually it's a conversation that i that any number of times in the last several weeks with almost all of the members of the super committee. i'm actually relatively hopeful. i wouldn't say optimistic, but i am for a couple of reasons. first of all i think we came out with our plan in december of last year, the politics have changed quite a bit. i think most people here in town have actually understood the economics and the need to do 4 trillion over 10 year period. but the politics got in the way because it was tough. it's politically tough for either side to make decisions. but this old debt default fiasco that we just went through, i think for all the pain associated with doing nothing to the forefront of the minds of the american people, and they get educated on what can happen if we do have a default in this country. so i think the politics changed. if you look at the polls, the majority of republicans, majority democrats and majority of independents want to see a sensible deal done. they want

for example, erskine bowles and alan simpson when they came to the senate budget committee, said point that they modeled their recommendations after our bill. senator greg and i -- senator gregg and i had spent week after week working on the legislation. that was of course flattering. we were happy about that. but the fact is going all the way back to some of the studies done by the commission appointed by george w. bush, and then highlighted by the work done for president obama, the volcanoer commission --, volcker commission. there has been an often lot of common ground. for example, mr. president, the tax rates under all of these major proposals involve on the individual side of the tax code taking the country from six major brackets to three major brackets. the bowles-simpson proposal really comes in around 12% for the lowest rate, 22% for the rate in the middle, 29% for the rate at the top. now, the proposal that i've been part of with former senator gregg and senator coats and our colleague and friend mark begich, we are a bit higher than that. that's because we didn't under our

using the $20 trillion base line you need four to get to the point that this can like -- erskine bowlesike were talking about. these assumptions -- and what mr. crapo was talking about. if we do this in $1 trillion bites it is better than nothing but there is a good chance you will have to do it six more times. when you think of the ridiculousness of our situation, if you are trying to explain to a family what we are doing as the government when you start talking trillions it gets difficult to understand but when you tell the family what is happening is we are making $21,000 a year and spending 35 and we will do it for a long time. how long will that go on? most say we will have to declare bankruptcy and that is not a good thing. this problem will get resolved one of two ways. one is weaken do it now, thoughtfully and proactively and we grownups do things and when congress and the president of to do things. the other way is to wait until it gets to the point where the bond market decides they don't trust you anymore. there's a point at which they will say i want more -- i won't give mor

erskine bowles, chairman of the bowles-simpson commission called it the most predictable crisis in history. he's right. it is not a pro-growth, pro-jobs strategy to have a sovereign debt crisis. and it does not engender good economic performance if a company is trying to decide to locate in the u.s. or somewhere else, and they see us heading straightforward this type of fiasco. any jobs plan has to be serious about the debt crisis, and that means you go to the playbook that i think the bowles-simpson commission laid out very clearly. what is politically feasible, and what do we need to do? we need to recognize this is an actual moment of truth, we don't have time to put this off. we need to undertake spending reforms. this is a spending problem. it's all spending. defense, nondefense and in particular into it almosts, that mean -- entitlements all have to be on the table. and if you want to talk about revenues, you have to have a better tax system. without endorsing the specifics of the fact, we have a terrible tax system, and we need an international tax reform in a deep and permanent way