, people like you guys >> gary cohn does not care about the estate, i can guarantee you. >> you are the one that says only morons can may the estate tax? >> when you look at the actual number of real farms that's paying these tax, it is tiny >> i think people have managed to keep themselves below the estate tax this is the whole issue. many people are smart enough to know how to manage themselves out of the estate tax. if you have a family farm that's big enough that's going to hit the estate tax, you start paying lawyers and break up your land and farm and giving it i to the kids we are forcing people into irrational behavior and run the farm as one big farm are you saying it is not about wealthy families >> it benefits farms and small businesses and a lot of different people >> we do not believe the tax and that should be a taxable event

gary cohn was deeply offended by the president's remarks after charlottesville.he was standing there we he made the remarks and put distance between himself and the president and hope i will explained why he wasn't resigning but made it clear he was considering it so when senator carper told us this story and was so blunt people said hmm, here maybe is gary cohn not so happy with how the president is operating. >> and the white house was quick with that statement as well. >> they are denying it. >> see you later on cnn. which shows are you doing later? >> i'm doing "the lead" at 4:00 p.m. and if that's not enough, wait, there's more, anderson cooper 360. it's a bad day if you don't like me. >> i like you, thank you so much. coming up next on cnn, president trump wakes up on the first morning of vacation, goes on this twitter rant about the father of one of those ucla basketball players, calls the father, among other things, a poor man's don king. now some critics are flat out saying that's a dog whistle, we'll discuss it coming up. it's the ultimate sleep number

what would gary cohn say to that? >> gary cohn would say president trump will not agree to that.t is a short answer. you can't do this to me. i require conversation backwards and forward. you want to expound on this? >> no. look, stuart, as you and i talked many, many times, we have been very flexible on what we're willing to put in the tax reform package. there is really two areas where we have shown no flexibility. number one is a business tax rate. we need a corporate rate 20% or lower. there is a reason for that. the worldwide oecd rate is 22 or 23%. if we want to be competitive with the rest of the world we need to be below that rate and 20% is the number we need to be at or lower. we have another bright line test, we need to deliver middle class, middle income, hard-working families we need to deliver them a tax cut. those are two areas where the president won't budge. everything else we're pretty flexible on. stuart: i'm sure you're working phones with senators from the united states senate. you got to be doing that. what is the sense that you're getting from those convers

gary cohn took the phone off speaker and continued to speak privately for several minutes."g while senator carper encouraged gary cohn to tend call quickly he's not sure if he did end it as abruptly. >> it seems much ado about nothing to hear the different lawmakers' opinions on president trump's presence on the call and how he feels about such a key issue. >> it's interesting because we hear this but we haven't heard the president talk about the tax plan. he's been talking about the nfl, about basketball players, we haven't heard him sell the tax plan like he allegedly did on that phone call. he hasn't given long interviews. i think you tweeted you were thankful for this long interview on cnn, wait, just kidding. it seems that we haven't heard much. >> who we have heard from is his daughter ivanka trump. the president's support of roy moore for the alabama senate has put him at odds with ivanka trump her words against roy moore were used in an ad from roy moore's opponent. here it is. >> on roy moore's disturbing actions ivanka says there is a special place in hell for peop

and that's why it's no wonder that gary cohn -- and i'll read it -- gary cohn said today the most excited group out there being big c.e.o.'s about our tax plan. gary cohn, the most excited group out there are big c.e.o.'s about our tax plan. representative chris collins this week said, my donors are basically saying, get it done or don't ever call me again. senator lindsey graham said -- this is really -- the financial ntributions will stop if the tax scam fails -- he said a tax scam? the g.o.p. tax scam isn't written for the middle class. it's written for the wealthy donors and corporations shipping jobs overseas. and these three -- two -- one advisor to the president, one house member, one senate member spoke truth. people are happiest about this are the c.e.o.'s but the other truth is 38 million households, middle-class households are facing a republican tax cut. 38 million households. so while they say this is for the middle class, it is not. and now we understand that the senate version of the tax plan is reported to have eliminated he -- in other words, they are keeping the full sal

and that's why it's no wonder that gary cohn, and i read it, gary cohn today said the most exciting group, excited group out there being big ceos about our tax plan, gary cohn, the most excited group out there are big ceos about our tax plan. chris collins at this week said my donors are basically saying get it done our don't ever call me again. senator lindsey graham said, this is really, the financial contributions will stop it at tax scam fails. he said tax scam fails. the gop tax scam is a written for the middle class. it's written for the wealthy donors and corporations shipping jobs overseas. and these three, one advisor to the the president, one house member, one senate member spoke truth. people are happiest about this are the ceos. but the other truth is 38 million households, middle-class households are facing a republican tax cut. 38 million households. so while they say this is for the middle class, it is not. and now we understand that the senate version of the tax plan is reported to have eliminated, in other words, they are heaping the full salt deduction elimination in the

. >> are you saying gary cohn faked a bad connection to get the president off the phone? >> i wouldn't -- i don't want to throw him under the bus, but yes. >> well, definitive account there. i believe you were in the meeting, as well. what did you hear? >> well, jim, there were a dozen democratic senators who came in good faith to have a conversation with gary cohn and mark short about how we might find a bipartisan path forward on tax reform. i appreciated that the president took the time to call in to our meeting. and i'll say it's accurate that the president talked a great deal and there were a number of us who had suggestions we wanted to make about ways we could move towards bipartisan path on tax reform. >> i want to turn now if i can to the russia investigation, the attorney for senior white house adviser jared kushner is accused the senate judiciary committee of in his words playing a gotcha game. this even as kushner is accused again of not revealing documents, meetings, et cetera that he's been asked for. you're a member of the judiciary committee. what's your r

>> well, look, the argument from gary cohn and the white house is that if you cut taxes for corporationse going to take that money and invest in new economic activity, hire more people and bid up their wages. if you believe that, then they can make the argument that that is in fact what they're trying to solve for. but much of the economics profession does not believe that and when you look at the actual dollars going directly to middle class taxpayers, it is very small. and in fact significant numbers get a tax increase and it is quite uncertain about the growth that this economic plan will produce, that it might expand the deficit, that it might not result in higher wages. so that's the argument they're making, but it's a difficult one because they're trying to frame it in middle class terms when when you look at the top line of what it's doing in the first instance is giving a lot of money to wealthy people and to corporations. >> all right, john harwood. >> gary cohn said they're counting on trickle down and that will be good for the economy. that is a debatable proposition, to say t

from interview last hour, he claimed that the white house director of national economic counsel, gary cohn, essentially faked a bad connection with the president to get him off the phone during a meeting on tax reform. so here's the senator's story. >> gary gets up and takes the call on his cell phone, comes back into the room and says, we have somebody calling in from asia, and it was the president, which is nice, nice of him to do that. 15 minutes later, the president is still talking. and i said to gary, it was a room where we're all sitting around this big table, and i said, gary, why don't you just take the phone from -- your cell phone back and just say, mr. president, you're brilliant! but we're losing contact and i think we're going to lose you now, so good-bye. and that's what he did and he hung up. and we went back to having the kind of conversation where we needed to, where they ask good questions, looking for consensus and common ground and i think we've identified a little bit. >> are you saying that gary cone faked a bad connection to get the president off the phone? >> i'm s

it doesn't actually end up increasing wages. >> gary cohn also knows better. he was the president of the goldman sachs. welcome to the global economy. america made a decision, we decided to make amazon one of the most powerful companies in the world. we want cheap goods and we want them quickly. those cheap goods are not manufactured in the united states. we should also point out when we talk about the deductions. oh, we're going to get rid of state and local. what they're not getting rid of are things that benefit president trump. still have deductions on golf courses, llcs, which he has over 500 of and specific llcs. you're going to get the cut if you're in real estate. if you own a small store but not if you're a doctor or a lawyer. if you dig into this thing, this thing is written for president trump. >> we talk about the state tax elimination last week and the elimination of the amt. these are all things that affect president trump and the rich. >> gary cohn, steve mnuchin and president trump all said carried interest, it's a giveaway to the rich, giveawa

there's areas where we can agree -- >> all right, gary cohn -- >> -- and be a good listener. >> gary r office right now, because you might be getting a call from florida shortly. lisa murkowski says she supports the repeal of the individual mandate. do you think this puts the republican plan closer to passing in the senate? >> i don't know. what really starts off, tax reform has ended up being in part some more repeal of the affordable care act. one of the keys in the affordable care act is establishing exchanges and every state for people who don't have access to health care through their employer, through medicaid, through medicare. so it's the republican's idea to have the exchanges. one of the keys for success in the exchanges, you have to have a healthy mix of people to ensure. and one of the ways that we do that is through the individual mandate. other ways, as well. but this administration has spent the last eight, nine months trying to destabilize the exchanges. so they're driving ensurers out of the marketplaces. we have to the enough competition in a lot of counties, a lot o

this week, at "the wall street journal's" conference with gary cohn on stage, not anyone ceos -- notny actual ceos agreed. >> do you plan to increase your company's capital investment? just a show of hands. if tax reform goes through. okay. >> why aren't the other hands up? >> why aren't the other hands up? >> why aren't more hands up? that's a big deal because it's one of the key selling points if not the key selling point of their tax plan. so today chief white house economist kevin hassett was asked that question. >> gary cohn said why aren't there more hands going up, can you answer that? >> that's a great question. and i went on a little bit after gary cohn, and when they asked that question, it was kind of hard for me, because like here, there are really bright lights, but even brighter there. when i was there, it looked like maybe half the hands went up. i think if you go back and look, it could be that people had time to think about it. >> well, we did look. kevin hassett's audience estimation skills is thing two in 60 seconds. you nervous? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> when white house chief

claims. >> other questions for gary cohn?i ask you all a quick question? if the tax reform bill goes through, do you plan to increase investment -- your company's investment, capital investment, just a show of hands? the tax reform go through? >> okay. >> why aren't the other hands up? buddy, man, that's gary cohn himself wondering out loud awkwardly, cringe inducingly, why aren't the other hands up? remember, this is a roomful of krchl eos and business leaders who are supposed to execute the gop trickle down master plan. count the hands that go up. >> do you plan to increase investment -- your company's capital investment, just a show of hands, the tax reform goes through? >> why aren't the other hands up? >> why aren't the other hands up? >> five. five hands went up. five out of a roomful of ceos and business leaders. we thought there may have been a sixth hand a. woman who looked like she was going to raise her hand and did a psych head scratch move at the end. now, even though gary cohn had a front row seat for the repudi

let's discuss gary cohn for a second. storyhe fed and the tax with him.hat do we hear about him and his commitment to the future of this administration? kathleen: i don't know what he is thinking specifically, but if you are gary cohn, you are probably thinking there is not a orle lot of reason -- incentive for you to stick around a whole lot longer. he wasn't chosen for the fed pick, he has had a tense relationship with trump in the vanity fair story that came out yesterday about the mueller probe. it talked about how gary cohn leaves the room when they subject of russia comes up, and that is indicative of the level of concern around white house being in snared in this probe. there are a lot of factors to consider, but if i was him, i might be thinking of other options. guy: bloomberg's kathleen hunter, thank you very much. let's carry on the conversation. strategist.ld, mliv see powell asets a continuity candidate. is there any risk in that assumption? in himot too much risk individually, but you have to remember, a vice-chairman still needs to be named

gary cohn, who is the white house point person, along with secretary mnuchin, on taxes. mr. gary cohn, a couple days ago, we all saw it on tv, went to a program with corporate leaders, and he said, look, we're giving you all these big tax cuts, and he wanted a show of hands of how many of the people in the room, the ceos, the leaders of these major multinational companies, would put the money into creating more red, white and blue jobs. and we all watched on tv -- this has been kind of a loop on a lot of the shows, that virtually nobody raised their hands. and the reason why is because the multinationals are awash in cash, and we've been listening to investor calls, and they said that they would be using the tax breaks in order to help shareholders and the like. so it just doesn't seem right to have a bill, given these circumstances, that in effect says that the typical middle class family is going to get short shrift, compared to multinational corporations who, if you just have watched a little tv in the last couple of days, have made it clear they aren't going to put this

gary cohn tried to do so and he told me our biggest supporters are the big ceos and the business roundle, and his argument, much disputed by other economists, is that even if companies take additional profits as dividends or share buybacks, it is ultimately going to get invested in a way that trickles down to workers he said trickle down economics is good for the economy. >> i read that as a whole supply side economics defense my favorite quote from your interview, john, was "the most excited group out there are big ceos about our tax plan. i wonder if that quote is going to come back to bite him >> well, look, our nbc/wall street journal poll showed 25%, only 25% of the american people, begin this debate believing this tax bill is a good idea and they've since been hearing stories about the share of middle class people who will get a tax increase in the bill so it is a big challenge for republicans and after that virginia election the other day you've got conflicting arguments. some saying, whoa, better stand back from this agenda or we're going to get hammered. the other says we bett

it could point in the direction of gary cohn or wilbur ross.ill that impact the way the tech story develops? kathleen: there are a couple things to keep in mind. this is a political problem for the trump administration and for the republicans. nobody is suggesting that anyone has done anything legally wrong. it is strictly a political problem. that being said, it is a political problem in the sense that it gives democrats and opponents of this bill a talking point and another way to connect the dots to make the case that this proposal does not do enough to shift the tax burden to higher income brackets. it is regressive. it does not really help middle-class americans. it's not going to be enough of a help or middle-class americans and it will only help top earners and this feeds into the narrative. from a political standpoint, the timing is not ideal. the ways and means committee begins the markup of the legislation today. it is expected to take most of the week. they weren't really expecting to get democratic support, but this is another talki

gary cohn said why aren't there more hands going up. can you answer that question? why aren't there more hands going up in a room like that? you would assume the ceos would say, yes, in fact, we are going to invest -- . [inaudible] is the administration missing something there? >> that's a great question. i went on a little bit after gary cohn, and it was kind of hard for me because there were really bright lights, so i couldn't quite see how many hands there were, but it looked like maybe about half the hands go up. i think if you to go back and look, it could be that people had time to think about it. but as an economist, if i go back and look at the academic literature, very often people survey cfo tos and say, hey, if we changed the tax code, would you guys do anything, and they tend to always answer no in surveys. but if you look at the hard evidence, imagine if they didn't respond to taxes, then they wouldn't be pursuing their duty to maximize profits for their shareholders, so it would totally irrational for them to do that, and firms that did act rationally

now, i talked to gary cohn, the white house economic policy director about that the other day. and noted that, you know, they make claims. it's not going to increase the deficit. it's going to turbo charge growth and give a pay increase. here's how she responded. >> if you look at the center of gravity of the economics progression, what they will say is the deficit will go up more than you guys say. growth will increase less than you guys say. and that workers will get less than you guys are projecting. >> we vehemently don't agree. when you take a corporate tax rate at 35% and move it to 20% and you see what's happened over the last two decades, businesses migrating out of the united states, migrating profits out of the united states, and hiring workers out of the united states, it's hard for me to imagine they're not going to bring businesses back to the united states. we create wage inflation which means the workers get paid more. the workers spend more. and we see the whole trickle down through the economy. and that's good for the economy. >> so that trickle down, that's an

also gary cohn today is at the national economic club in washington, d.c. he of course the head of the economic council john harwood listening into that john >> scott, gary cohn is just the first major administration person to speak after the rollout of the tax bill and he said this bill does meet the president's requirements for cutting business taxes, also delivering tax breaks to middle class families the president would sign it, though he acknowledges that there's going to be a negotiation with the senate. they are going on a separate track through regular order. gary cohn also said he does not and the administration does not believe that the plan would increase the deficit as much as the budget passed by both the house and the senate calls for, which is $1.5 trillion he said that they believe the growth produced by the plan will be higher than that. that's going to be a key point of argument. in fact jeff flake, the republican senator from arizona who criticized the president last week just came out and said we can't cut cut cut, we've got to pay atten

this is where gary cohn and donald trump say to these members of congress, trust us. we've met with every corporate leader out there. you give them this tax cut, they will hire people. >> they'll make factories. they'll hire more people. then the other day gary cohn is at an event and somebody asked the crowd of ceos, there you spend money. >> you know what's funny? i thought about that. and last night i realized we may have been wrong. here's why. gary cohn was asked at "the wall street journal" ceo conference or the audience, who's going to reinvest. people didn't raise their hand. what we don't know is exactly who was in the audience. remember, there was a "wall street journal" conference. end of the day, do we know if there were actually ceos or stake holders in the audience? given the amount of conferences we've done in our lives, i might say no. but what i wonder is why doesn't the white house help itself and clarify that? >> who were those people? have they got evidence that ceos -- because you and i talk to ceos all the time. one of the things they all acknowl

while they do have great respect for people like gary cohn he said he was a democrat at the economiclub, and secretary steve mnuchin, based on my report the cracks of the tax legislation is being pushed through by republican leadership in the senate and the house. vonnie: a quick word on foreign policy and how it might change in the next couple of weeks. he is starting with the best first, going to japan. by the end of the two weeks will we see anything concrete? marty: it is possible. you talk about a foreign policy. there is a lot of confusion about with the foreign policy is from donald trump. he is has often contradicted his own secretary of state and trade representatives. if there is any clarity, it will be i donald trump actually speaking about what he has accomplished. rex tillerson is going with him. watch what he says for a reality check in with the president says. shery: i can't wait to see what north korea does well president trump is there. kevin: maybe we can wait. [laughter] shery: marty, think is a much and kevin cirilli our chief washington correspondent. vonnie: let

don't take my word for it, gary cohn, what is his title? mr. schumer: director of mistruths. mrs. pelosi: some of the opponents out there are ceos. my donors are saying get it done or don't get elected again. senator lindsey graham said the financial contributions will stop. republicans in congress were ,learly responding to the ceos while the president was overseas cutting several deals. republicans in congress were giving tax breaks to corporations to send jobs overseas. it is not right. the moment of truth is here. there is so much to tell, it can be confusing. i just want to focus on a few key points that are about growing our economy. we say we are happy to sit down, always have been, to work in a bipartisan way to address any reform in the tax code. what the republicans are doing is not reform, it is not even a tax cut, it is a tax. a tax on middle america. with that, i take your questions.

that's our near term economic agenda. >> and tyler, interestingly, though gary cohn wouldn't say so, paul ryan, the house speaker, said today that is precisely our objective, in the long run we're going to go for entitlement form. so the thinking of republicans is they will accept those higher deficits and go after medicare and social security to try to reduce those liabilities later. >> did you ever agree on anything with mr. cohn, john? it didn't seem so. let me turn to a question that was sort of implicit in what you were talking about with him, and that is the idea that by cutting taxes on corpo and businesses, that a lot of the benefit then flows through, the old phrase is trickle down, to the middle class. did you probe that with him at all? or do people believe that that is what's going to happen? >> i did probe that with him. he said first of all, explicitly, trickle down is good for the economy. he also said that foreign cash comi back to american companies will help workers even if it goes to dividends and stock buybacks through that trickle down process. >> john, thank you

in this portion, white house national economic council director gary cohn spoke about the administration's tax reform efforts, while democratic senators mark werner and amy klobuchar discuss the democratic congressional agenda. this is just over an hour. >> so without further ado, why don't we start our first panel. taxes are always at the top of the agenda, you folks are keen on understanding what's happening with policy making in washington. today we have the person from the white house who is going to be the chief guide of the white house's tax plan through the congress that's gary cohn, the director of the national economic council. he'll be interviewed by jerry baker, our editor-in-chief. please welcome them. [ applause ] >> good morning, thank you very much for being here. thank you for joining us. so the topic of this session is taxes, taxes, taxes so we'll start off talking about alabama. >> original, original, original. >> we had a lot of discussion about taxes with your colleague the treasury secretary but i want to get in more detail and ask you some of the more detail. let me s

limit take on one of your colleagues, gary cohn.asked a room full ceo's is, how many of you would invest a bigs -- big task cut and he got virtually no response. he said why are you raising your hands? why are you confident it would go toward equipment? >> fact check, thousand washington and not new york. maybe my question was better post. there is a lot of literature that shows one countries around the world that pursued tax bills like the one we are watching the vote count on now, that they have seen surges in economic growth. we put an economic report out weeks ago where we could expect to have 5% higher gdp years from now because of all of the capital spending because of the corporate tax side of the bill. gary was -- was right to ask the question that if people thought more about it, they would have put their hands up. the evidence is they will go back on this. thes it fair to make comparison with the u.s. and don't you need to look back at u.s. history for that? >> no. there is a massive amount of work in u.s. history and i ha

>> that's gary cohn saying, why aren't the other hands up. there were one or two hands went up in that room. when you listen to corporate earnings calls, you hear these ceos asked again and again. so if you get a corporate tax cut, if you're allowed to bring cuts back, many ceos say it will be share buybacks and dividends for their investors, not necessarily -- it's no guarantee it would go to the middle class. >> recent history shows they've done in the past. >> so that awkward moment there with gary cohn getting a lot of play this morning. >> it is a corporate tax cut that is factual, whether or not it gets passed down to workers, that is theoretical. >> a permanent tax cut in the senate bill, but a temporary middle class tax cut. >> joining us now to discuss, cnn political analyst, ryan lizza, brian fallon and doug heye. doug, to you, we suggested, so crazy it might just work, adding, obamacare repeal, which they couldn't get through before, to a tax reform plan, which is difficult to begin with. but, you know, look, overnight, there seems

white house chief economic adviser gary cohn has argued giving huge permanent tax cuts to corporations americans, arguing that the ceos will use the cash to invest, create jobs and raise wages. this week, at "the wall street journal's" conference with gary contraction cohn on stage, not many ceos agreed. >> do you plan to increase your company's capital investment? just a show of hands. if tax reform goes through. okay. >> why aren't the other hands up? >> why aren't the other hands up? >> why aren't more hands up? that's a big deal because it's one of the key selling points if not the key selling point of their tax plan. so today chief white house economist kevin hassett was asked that question. >> gary cohn said why aren't there more hands going up? can you answer that? >> that's a great question. when they asked me, i couldn't quite see how many hands there were but when i was there, it looked like maybe half the hands went up. i think if you go back and look, it could be that people had time to think about it. >> well, we did look. kevin hassett's audience estimation skills is thin

. >> are you saying gary cohn faked a bad connection to get the president off the phone?> i don't want to throw him under the bus, but yes. >> i think you just did. >> that's the bus. the bust drove past right there. >> the bus is passed. >> high drama if it happened that way. interesting. gary cohn who already has tensions with the president now from the white house spokesman senator carper's claim is false. essentially you have a democratic senator saying look, we wanted to have a conversation with the senior staff. the president wasn't helping things. just get rid of him. >> just showing a sort of lack of respect for the president certainly. doesn't seem like cohn got carper's vote. i think he's going to be a no on the tax bill if he's saying that story. this statement, i mean, it's not fully a denial of exactly -- they're saying it didn't happen but it does cop port with what carper said, he got him to leave the room and not interrupt their meeting anymore. >> it's an example of what you hear privately from members of congress all the time. they don't think the presid

this morning the white house chief economic adviser gary cohn put it this way to cbcs the who trickle down is good for the economy the most excited groups are the big ceos. >> not part of paul ryan's talking points. they need to come up with $200 billion or so, what's that among friends, suzanne malveaux follow this on capitol hill. action on both sides of capitol hill this morning. >> a lot going on here, john and poppy. first on the house side we're seeing the mark up process continue in the house ways and means committee, essentially they are presenting what is their final tax plan before it goes on to the full house and the floor some time next week. the problem they're having here the congressional budget office yesterday saying their plan was going to cost $1.7 trillion in addition to the federal deficit. they have to get that down to $1.5 trillion to allow this bill to go through the special rules process and simply ps pass by a simple majority on the senate side. so that is what they've been working on over the last 12 hours to get it down to the acceptable figure. on the sena

gary cohn said why aren't there more hands going up? can you answer that question? why aren't there more hands? you'd assume the ceos would say yes, we are going to invest more. is the administration missing something there? >> that's a great question. i went on a little bit after gary cohn. when they asked that question, it was hard for me. i couldn't see how many hands there were. when i was there, it looked like half the hands went up. if you go back and look, it could people had time to think about it. people surveyed tend to always answer no in surveys. if you look at the hard evidence, imagine if they didn't respond to taxes, they would be doing their fiduciary duty to maximize profits for shareholders. it would be totally irrational to do that. the hard evidence is people do respond. one of the first papers i wrote out of grad school is where we looked at the 1986 tax act, the changes that it made to the tax code and how it affected investment there were large effects. >> gene sperling who was in your position before said the tax plan could $1.5 trillion and

gary cohn defended cutting the corporate tax rate and advocating for this idea you and i have talked length, trickle down economics. gary said we create wage inflation which means the workers get paid more and workers have more disposable income and the whole trickle down through the economy and that's good for the economy. you and i both have taken economics 101 but welcome to the global economy. companies are flush with cash today and they don't need to pay workers more. because most manufacturing takes place overseas, as the president has underscored just yesterday speaking in china and when we look at the trade deficit, nothing is changing as far as wages going up. it's minimal. how is cutting the corporate tax rate and how does it work in today's environment? i don't see it. >> that's the question. what gary was expressing was the view that's been expressed by the head of the council on economic advisors for president trump that if you cut corporate taxes, there's going to be a big surge in investment employment and wages and gary cohn insisted that that would happen even if tho

. >> eamon, before i let you g.tell us about next change yesterday between some ceos and gary cohn. it's getting a lot of attention, and it's certainly interesting i want our viewers to hear about it. >> reporter: yeah. this was a moment fascinating to watch for what it says about where we are in this moment in tax reform this was at a "wall street journal" event yesterday, gary c ho hn on stage a "wall street journal" editor as the moderator of this event asked the ceosed in audience to raise their hands if they are going to invest more as a result of tax reform, if tax reform does pass. take a look at this moment here, and you'll see what happens. >> can i ask you all a quick question if the tax reform bill goes through, do you plan to increase investment, your company's investment, just a show hands, if the tax reform goes through >> okay. >> why aren't the other hands up >> why aren't the other hands up >> not a lot of hands went up in that root gary gohn says why aren't the other hands up. a bit of an awkward movement just that the ceos there were all checking their phones at t

if you're gary cohn, if you're steve mnuchin out there trying to sell this bill and you've got trumping to get killed, you're turning them into liars. gary cohn when he was asked about the papers, about the tax shelters where his name came up, he said i'm not ashamed of it. this is the way the world works. when we look at the way wilbur ross or gary cohn did their business, we might not like it but at the end of the day, it's going to be legal. president trump is making it so difficult for these guys. >> he is, but is that anything unusual? the president always when the policy details are unveiled, be it health care, be it tax reform, the president always complicates the messaging battle for his people entrusted with selling it. what i think is where we should watch, the senators who are concerned that this isn't going to help the middle class. you've got mike lee, you've got ted cruz, you've got rand paul. they're all saying i'm not sure that this is going to help the middle class, so i'm not going to be in yet. i think that's worth watching. >> steph, you led into this today by say

. >>> economic add viesdser gary cohn says they're excited by tax cuts but one business leader slamming the plan. we're going to tell you who on cnn "money" stream next. [vo] quickbooks introduces rodney. he has a new business teaching lessons. rodney wanted to know how his business was doing... ...so he got quickbooks. it organizes all his accounts, so he can see his bottom line. ahhh...that's a profit. know where you stand instantly. visit quickbooks-dot-com. >>> oh, yes, an early taste of winter for the east coast begins today. meteorologist has the forecast. >> good friday morning. what a difference a day makes. the this will be a big wake-up call for many across the east coast as temperatures plumt nearly 20 degrees from yesterday's daytime highs to today's. check this out. louisville, yesterday topped 60. today's forecast 40 degrees, same for new york city. detroit, 50 yesterday, 30 for the after noon. chilly air. it's all thanks to a series of cold fronts that continue to move in. it's the secondary cold front that's produced some lake enhanced snowfall for upstate michigan. that

gary cohn said why aren't more hands going up? >> can you answer that question? you would assume ceos are going to stay yes we are going to invest morph tax reform passes. is administration missing something? >> that's a great question. and i went on a little after gary cohn, when they asked that question, it's a hard question, there are bright lights, just like here, looked like half the hands went up. >> and i think if you go back and look they had time to think about it. but very often they survey ceo, if we change the tax code would you do anything, and they tend to answer no in surveys. but if you look at the hard evidence, imagine they don't, then they wouldn't do their fiduciary duty. and firms that did act rapidly would put them out of the business. so the point is it the hard evidence is that people do respond. in fact ks one of my very first papers i rote when i got out of the grad school is brook ings papers that we looked at the 1986 effects tax act. very large effects. >> gene sperling saying this tax plan costs $1.5 trillion and it's a deficit hole.

here's gary cohn >> what are you hearing from them right now >> the most excited group out there are big ceos they all tell me how excited they are to get a tax plan that makes the united states competitive, makes it so they can grow their business domestically, makes it so they can actually pay wages here. people have trapped their money offshore you can't pay u.s. workers you can pay non-u.s. workers. >> don't businesses have a ton of domestic cash >> they borrow money at home if they want to expand but their real earnings are trapped offshore if companies were making that money onshore, they'd be paying their labor and workers more money. so our biggest supporters are really the business roundtable they're the most excited about this. >> so i'd like to know if mario agrees with gary cohn that in fact corporate rate cut and the repatriation is going to go directly to wage increases or go to something else. >> let's get down to basics. we as a country spend $4.1 trillion, we take in 3.6, we have a deficit of $500 billion corporate taxes are only $330 billion. the more important ques

delaware senator tom carper says he was in a meeting with gary cohn when it happened.e house says the story is completely false. airlines including american and fromd have settled claims the 9/11 attacks on the world trade center. insurers will pay $95 million to larry silverstein, the developer of the site. silverstein has already collected more than $5 billion from numerous lawsuits against other defendants. and as we sit down for thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, americans seem split on whether to serve up a side dish of politics. a new poll by the associated dread inds that 39% the volatile politics coming up while 35% are eager for the conversation. 23% don't feel strongly either way. they just want to eat turkey. global news 24 hours a day powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm nabila ahmed. this is bloomberg. scarlet: we all just want to eat turkey. let's get a recap of today's market action. you the us stocks falling for the most part and the nasdaq said record high here, but the dow is up isaac points. the -- off by 65 p

we continue our look at the republican tax proposal with remarks by white house economic adviser gary cohn and members of the house proposal.

senators and members of the trump administration, including white house chief economic adviser, gary cohn. >> gary gets up and takes a call on his cell phone, comes back into the room and he says, we have somebody calling in from asia. and it was the president. which was nice. nice of him to do that. 15 minutes later, the president is still talking. and we -- i said to gary, it was a room where we're all sitting around this big square table, and i said, gary, why don't you do this. why don't you just take the phone from, you know, your cell phone back and just say, mr. president, you're brilliant! but we're losing contact and i think we're going to lose you now, so good-bye. and that's what he did and then we went back to having the kind of conversation that we needed to. >> are you saying that gary cohn faked a bad connection to get the president off the phone? >> well, i wouldn't -- i don't want to throw him under the bus, but, yes. >> i don't want to throw him under the bus, but that's exactly what he did. two sources who were in the room tell nbc news that they do not recall cohn faki

shery: three democratic senators met with gary cohn and mark short yesterday.dent trump calling in from seoul. is this about optics or are they really hoping to get some democratic votes here? haley: i'm sure they want to try to get democratic votes, not just on this but other things. of course it is feasible. you look at some of like joe manchin, with whom i served as governor. he is not a left-wing progressive or whatever the socialist party wants to call itself these days. senator sanders called it what he thought it was, socialist. joe manchin does not things like that. he is from a fairly conservative state. once heavily democratic but no more. he is a moderate, middle-of-the-road, somebody that wants to get something done. i don't know the other two but they certainly represent states, indiana and north dakota, that are not left-wing states. they are not like washington, d.c. for that matter. david: give us a dose of realism. the chairman of the house ways and means committee says he intensity this without interference from lobbyists. you are a longtime l

gary cohn, i'm sure that question will be asked.s, another central bank, and next, one and done. kearney delivers. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ --pound person, texas failing to its -- taxes failing to side. do payrolls move markets? u.k., for our cap at this week's film. mcdermott k-smoove. the bank on the back foot. an equity business was hit him hard. watching bloomberg markets. let me sure you of this. chemicals are doing well. that is where money is rotating into. this is the main reason behind that. the -- it looks like the tax credit in the united states could be downgraded by as much as 35 -- 85%. pick forent trump's the federal reserve has spoken about the economy and said he will guard against financial risks. the senate banking committee this --id his goals missing estimates. >> or business that -- has been more impacted on the equities side. online was a global we have this, which was much more oriented of these products, which are more sensitive to low productivity. >> venezuela's president has said it's country will seek to r

i want to share what happened yesterday when gary cohn was talking about this at a wall street journal event. >> if the tax reform bill goes through, do you plan to increase investment of -- your company's investment, just a show of hands if the tax reform goes through. >> why aren't the other hands up? >> ha, ha, ha. do you hear them laughing? but it's not funny. when you actually look at this bill, there are real cut cuts for the rich and for corporations and for everyone else, it's a hope, hope and aspire. how is that funny? >> this is their primary dilemma as they try to speed toward a vote in the coming few days or a week. there is not enough evidence here that this benefits the middle class. there's not enough evidence that it doesn't benefit the rich and corporations and the real estate business, which is why i think we're seeing things like an increase in the proposed child tax credit among other things and even lower personal income tax rates. i think, by the way, to your point, there is kind of a short-term calculus being made regarding these state and local deductions. as yo

gary cohn said why aren't there more hands going up? can you answer that question why aren't there more lands goi hands going up in a room like that is the administration missing something there? >> so that's a great question. i went on a little bit after gary cohn and when they asked that question, it was kind of hard for me, like here, there are really bright lights, even brighter there i couldn't quite see how many hands were there when i was there, it looked like maybe half the hands went up i think if you go back and look, that it could be that people had time to think about it, but as an economist, if i go back and look at the academic literature, very often people survey cfos and say, hey, if we change the tax code, would you guys do dmig they tend to always answer no. in surveys if you look at the hard evidence object what th about what they do, imagine if they didn't respond to taxes, they wouldn't be pursuing their fiduciary duty it would be irrational for them do that. firms that did act rationally would put them out of busin