it happened to ronald reagan and it happened to george h.w. bushicans are skiddish particularly the republicans who were elected last november. >> mary jo, if we think of america as a business, they want to be making money to pay off the debts burk when we see what is going on in washington, d.c., why can't they come to a business consensus, because if any one of these people were working in a privatized business right now, and lagged and dragged andkreand screamed all of the way to getting something done, they'd be fired? >> well, businesses don't have the ability to go out the raise prices in an unlimited way any time they choose. and what is being asked, we have raised the debt limit last year and talked about raising it again, and possibly two stages that the house republicans want to do and one stage as the senate democrats want to do, and you know, you have to consider what you take in and how you spend it. and spend according to your means. and for the last very long time, ten years, the united states government has within spending far beyon

president bush george h.w. bush-- lked about buing the ghost of vietnam in the sands of arabia. >> rose: yes. >> that was george h.w. bush. >> ros bush 41. >> yes, we have burned the legacy of etnam... >> in theands of arabia. >> rose: and he meant to say at that time? >> yeah, i mean at the time... and bu w 1as the president who you could say he did learn the lessons of vietnam in a lot of ways in the gulf war, the first gulf war. he did not pursue saddam hussein to try to get rid of him. he stopped in terms of getting saddam hussein out of kuwait, he succeeded in that. he sent a massive buildup of troops to do that, about a half million troops when he did not need that many but he wanted to go in, get it done, do it quickly and then pull out and that was that. and at the time, the idea was, well, we're done with vietnam. we've buried vietnam, we are through with it. and, of course, that was not true. >> rose: here's a man who probably had as much foreign policy experience as anye, having been ambassador, having be

she became the public face of the george h.w. bush administration with connecticut travel and participation in ceremonial events and speeches. she used the white house podium effectively to articulate her views and concern. she was a perceptive politician who knew how to work a crowd or bend an arm if necessary. during her busy public life, she made a number of comments that might have tarnished her image but her good works have more than restored the sheen. barbara bush who lived a busy life in service to george h.w. bush and her family, her friends and her country. while there has been an ebb and flow to events, hers has been a life well lived, benefiting many and i thank you very much. [applause] >> if you have any questions, i would be more than happy to answer them. yes, ma'am. >> at the wellesley commencement speech was the time she had the raisa gorbachev. >> yes. raisa gorbachev at wellesley. and mrs. gorbachev spoke to the graduates and that too offered an interesting counter-point to nancy reagan, because nancy reagan and ra

not one -- not once under president george h.w. bush. not once under president george bush did a single republican say it's so important that we have a 60-vote margin. and yet all of a sudden with president obama, the whole -- the whole criteria changes. suddenly, the rules that were good enough for republicans with a republican president are suddenly to be changed with this president. mr. president, the american public, republican or democratic, can see through that. this is a different standard. we are saying that this president must follow different rules than every president before him, republican or democratic. that just -- there is no way that can be considered fair. in no way that can be considered anything but a gimmick. as unfortunately the partisan faction first manufactured this debt limit crisis, and now they continue to prevent a bipartisan solution, an unwillingness to compromise and find a bipartisan solution has led us to the break. the united states of america is now just three days away from defaulting on its obligation,

and we ask though he went on to win the presidency in 1988, george h.w. bushn the iowa caucus. which two republicans finished ahead of him that year? bob dole came in first but the winner was pat robertson who came in second and forever changed the game of the republican side of the iowa caucuses. up next as we tease more 2012 but a little talk about the new jersey smackdown. this politics or jersey shore? we'll explain next. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. at bayer, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles, enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief to the site of pain. it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. inside all of us is a compass and it always points true north. toward mountains of sand. toward new sights and sensations. toward the true bounty of nature so let's set our compass for traverse city and find ourselves. in the magic, and the moments of pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. >>> all right. let

last week they had one of george h.w. bush'sconomic advisors come in and address the conference to try to convince them of the seriousness of the issue and consequences of it, and members leaving that said they didn't believe him partly because george h.w. bush wastes taxes, but simply this is something the obama administration and economists on the left are pushing, and the number is growing. i think leadership thought that number was going to come down as we got closer to august 2, that more people would feel the sense of urgency and need to do something. it's been the opposite of it, which is complicating things more than they expected. john stanton, thanks a lot, john, we appreciate it. >> any time. >>> finding out the number of default denialists in the republican party is increasing, it's like you always knew somebody was an end timer, only a few days left. it's one thing to know somebody has an apocalyptic mindset, another thing to find out that person has been in charge of your retirement account or your savings account.

george h.w. bush was two-thirds spending cuts. clinton was a little less than two spending cuts to one in taxes. what obama already put on the table is more like 5 to 1. if you look at the numbers, this is more skewed. because of bush tax cuts, we are starting at a lower tax level than clinton or bush. this is very, very far to the right compared to the '90s. >> if you look at the '90s, this is a good mesh. there was not controversy. there was trover by george herbert walker bush's going back on the read my lips. there was no party or complete consistency that we can never discuss revenues in 1990 or 1995, 1996. >> bill clinton weighed in on this debate, once again. he's calling republicans hypocrites. he was speaking to college students yesterday. he says something has to get done on the debt now. >> nobody is talking about one of the central points that everyone who analyzed the situation makes including the bipartisan simpson-bowles commission that says you shouldn't do any of this until the econom

in 1969 george h.w. bush, then 45 years old, writes to a white house aide. when i grow up, i want to be president, i think. and then you can even see the end coming for the entire outfit, when david gergen writes ominously that he received an urgent call from reporter bob woodward that "the post" was agonizing over a story that would implicate richard nixon in a cover-up. richard nixon was gone 469 days later. we have placed all of these documents and the new recordings on our website, nightly.msnbc.com. they make for some fascinating reading and listening. >>> and when we come back here tonight, the space shuttle program rolls into the history books, but what next? >>> a major chapter in america's space program came to a close early this morning as the space shuttle "atlantis" touched down for the last time. this means for american astronauts, for now the russians are now our ride into space. as you might imagine, this was a bittersweet day for the men and women who have made it all happen. nbc's tom costello reports tonight from the nbc space center. >> re

republican -- ronald reagan raised taxes six different times, but he would never know it from -- >> george h.w. bush did it, too, and he lost the elections. >> you are missing the point, what are democrats offering on entitlements? >> they haven't. >> what is the plan, what is the policy? >> the president has publicly stated they will have to cut entitlements. >> oh, that is tough. >> you guys seem to think that the president of the united states should get up and act like a professor and say, "we have a problem here and we need to negotiate in private and here are the reasons it is so bad." presidents are politicians, that is why they get elected. they don't do that. >> franklin roosevelt said, "we have a problem, he is called world war ii." he did play a role. >> michele bachmann getting a lot of attention this week. >> you cannot get life wrong. i am committed to life. [applause] >> congresswoman michele bachmann at a campaign appearance in south carolina. she was talking about the time she suffered a miscarriage and her renewed reverence for life after that. she makes mistakes, but nobody's ridi

republican -- ronald reagan raised taxes six different times, but he would never know it from -- >> george h.w. bush did it, too, and he lost the elections. >> you are missing the point, what are democrats offering on entitlements? >> they haven't. >> what is the plan, what is the policy? >> the president has publicly stated they will have to cut entitlements. >> oh, that is tough. >> you guys seem to think that the president of the united states should get up and act like a professor and say, "we have a problem here and we need to negotiate in private and here are the reasons it is so bad." presidents are politicians, that is why they get elected. they don't do that. >> franklin roosevelt said, "we have a problem, he is called world war ii." he did play a role. >> michele bachmann getting a lot of attention this week. >> you cannot get life wrong. i am committed to life. [applause] >> congresswoman michele bachmann at a campaign appearance in south carolina. she was talking about the time she suffered a miscarriage and her renewed reverence for life after that. she makes mistakes, but nobody's ridi

then president george h.w. bush signed the americans with disabilities act back in 1990.oday in san jose members and supporters of the silicon valley independent living center marched along first street to celebrate their independence ending at the office where there was an afternoon festival with entertainers, art activity and fun for the kids. >>> the as made a statement. >> they got a chance to change things. for a while it's been a constant in baseball. the as and yankees played, the yankees win like for 11 straight games. sweltering conditions at yankee stadium today right around 108 degrees as the as tried to do something about that streak. oakland trailed 1-0 until the 3rd, then josh willingham put the as ahead against aj burnett. willingham gets it with hideki matsui aboard, it was 2-1. rich harden took a 3-1 light to the 6th in pursuit of his second win of the year. nick swisher made it a one run game with his second home run in as many days. that was the end of the day for hardin but matsui made sure hardin would be april winner. off boon logan in the 7th number

my radio show earlier today because he just obtained some of the explosive documents from the george h.w. bush library pretty clearly show that ronald reagan's campaign did the same thing that richard nixon's did commit treason. when the white house has a robert perry had to say today about these two crimes. it was nixon's dealings with these with saigon to get them to sabotage the peace talks in paris that they had heard the way for nixon to eke out a victory but also continued the war for four more years and from twenty from an american soldiers died now this is essentially repeated in one thousand eighty it now appears with the with some of the same characters working for the republicans who felt well we got away with in sixty eight we can do something similar in one nine hundred eighty we can sabotage that sitting democratic president and that seems to have worked and reagan's treason just like nixon's treason worked perfectly the iran hostage crisis continued and torpedoed jimmy carter's reelection hopes and the same day reagan took the oath of office almost to the minute the american hos

believe it or not the details are emerging from our cars belonging to both presidents nixon and george h.w. bush the roger ailes started his reign of terror as a media consultant for these two former presidents and the concept of fox news emerged that while he was working for the nixon administration it was in his peers wanted to create programming that was pro administration and then offer that up as an option to what he viewed as of course the liberal slanted media that was already all over the airwaves now this original concept was supposed to be filmed and aired out of the white house and written and produced to be news the documents are over three hundred pages long here but i think this paragraph or one of the first pages of the treasure trove really gives you the gist of what ailes was looking for and it's actually titled a plan for putting the g.o.p. on t.v. news else wrote the following today television news is watched more often than people read newspapers than people listen to radio than people read or gather any other form of communication the reason people are lazy or television you

it goes way back 1980, ronald reagan lost to george h.w. bush iowa because he and his family went to virtually every county. and john sears was running reagan's campaign. they thought they could do it with one rally per congressional district. sears wouldn't return my phone calls. i was trying to tell him it was a bad strategy. of course what they did is they went to new hampshire dean what they should have done in iowa, and they announced that sears was out. that's when i knew that ronald reagan hadn't lost the touch. he knew what he was doing. he just blew it in iowa, and sears was out after that. >> i wanted to talk with you a little about the impact of ron paul. four years ago he was seen by many in iowa and elsewhere as -- talking about issues that people weren't necessarily focused on. but this time with the economy and the debt ceiling and such, what's his level of strength there? have you been able to gauge what his level of impact would be? he said he's able to win the straw poll. can he? can he win the caucuses? >> that's a good questi

pass a clean debt ceiling increase and i'll say i actually brought one that was passed when george h.w. bush was president you'll notice it's looks like it's going to it's one sets i mean this is here they claim they cry about thousand page bills it's what literally one sentence is all they have to pass to basically their basic duty but they already introduced this and every republican in the house voted against it yes half the democrats is and i'll tell you you know i went look back at the when the bush presidency seven different seven different times the republicans controlling congress pass a debt ceiling increases for president bush since obama's been present there have been three that still increases not a single. republican has voted to increase the debt ceiling since opposing president what it shows you is just it's political and nothing else and what their agenda is is to essentially have obama. and the economy crash on the rocks so that they can yes we can it's only twelve the same thing we saw in the ninety's with your console project and you know which is going to well documented

compassionate investigational new drug program as a result the program was discontinued under president george h.w. bush but four patients have been grandfathered in a way and today there are four living federal medical cannabis patients one of whom is my next guest mr rosenfeld of fort lauderdale florida is a board member of patients out of time an international patient advocacy nonprofit organization he's been receiving medical cannabis from the government for almost thirty years and is the author of my medicine in which he explains how medical cannabis saved his life and how the current prohibitions on home cultivation harm people more than they help and you can see the canister there that the feds use instead of little plastic baggies i'm very excited to have irvin here with me in studio tonight urban thank you so much for joining us molly appreciate it my pleasure all the way here in fort lauderdale florida listen and you have the canister oh my god this is this is the best prop we've ever had for the show this is how if you're going to buy drugs from the feds this is how you would go you only the

remember back in 1992 -- >> i hope it's not. >> -- i was sure bill clinton was going to beat george h.w. bushe "i was there when the berlin wall fell," and, wham! that's it, he got re-elected. i see people in america still remember. jobs, jobs, jobs, mike. >> romney, romney, romney. that's romney's issue. >> by the way, let's speak about mitt romney. take a look at this ad from mitt romney and they're putting up these amazing web ads. and this ad, of course, playing off of some of the obama people, saying the unemployment rate doesn't matter. take a listen. >> unernt is is probably the one thing. >> am i going to have my job next week? is my company going to be here? >> things have to change. they have to change. >> wow. you know, that's something. >> yeah. >> pat buchanan, mitt romney is really focusing on jobs. at the end of the day, that will be what this election is all about, huh? >> that's the general election strategy. that's exactly right, joe. and i think romney's doing that very well. he's running a general election strategy. all i'm saying is, when you get out to iowa and some of t

not one senator, president george h.w. bush, is not once under president george w. bush did a single republican say it is so important, we must have a 60-vote margin. and yet all of a sudden with president obama the whole -- the whole criteria changes. suddenly the rules that were good enough for republicans with a republican president are suddenly to be changed with this president. >> reporter: this is one message that democrats have been stressing again and again and again and that is that out of all of the times the united states has increased the debt limit, it is pretty much has been noncontroversial on both sides. but now, because we have an addition of new members who are very concerned about government spending, it becomes a huge issue and we have a deadline of august 2nd. fred, back to you. >> so, then, joe, will there be any revising of the senate plan, the reid plan, or will there be any reworkings of boehner's plan so that at some point as the clock keeps ticking, this weekend, there will be one plan that both sides can assure a vote and that would go to

i could have again on a couch and said he would is me i'll be a quarter of the man that george h.w. bushuld aspire to s

. >>> in 1992, bill clinton beat george h.w. bush in the presidential election. bush became a one-term president. clinton got 43% of the vote. those numbers don't add up to 100%. somebody else ran and took 19% of the vote, a texas billionaire named ross perot. >> pretty simple, if you're paid $12, $13 an hour as a factory worker and you can move your business to below the border, pay $1 for labor, have no health care, have no environmental controls, no pollution controls, and no retirement and you don't care about anything but making money, there will be a giant sucking sound going south. we've got to clean this mess up, leave this country in good shape, and pass on the american dream to them. we've got to collect the taxes to do it. if there's a fair way, i'm all ears. >> ross perot got nearly 20% of the vote in a presidential election. for awhile he was first, ranked first in polls in california and in his home state of texas. ross perot was popular in texas because frankly he was a great character. even though he was quite pint sized and had a funny voice, he

>> well, in the case of president george h.w. bushsn't paying attention to the economy. if you remember, the man who defeated him, bill clinton, ran basically with the line, it's the economy, stupid. pay attention to the economy. less to world affairs and everything else. pay attention to the fact that americans had great discontent over the economy and were desiring jobs. i don't think that claim can be made against president obama but again, what it does indicate, alisyn, is that the american people can separate things out. if they see a candidate coming along who demonstrates economic acumen and the ability to manage the government and economy in specific is clearly more intent on jobs, they're willing to go that way but i don't think just to respond to andrea tantaros' point, i don't think the american people are stupid. i think that no media can distract from what people see the president doing or not doing and i think they're making a judgment when they give him those pretty high approval numbers. >> and andrea, that's a caution

go back -- george h.w. bush, read my lips. no new taxes. we know how that turned out. even governors, i'll throw in, worry falling victim to that same thing, and that's why grover norquist retains the amount of power he does over the house republican party. >> reading the tea leaves from a distance, seems to me boehner is more inclined to strike a deal than eric cantor. what's the dynamic as you see it now between the two of them? >> they insist publicly and their aides generally insist privately there is no space. but, michael, you and i both get paid to pay attention to this stuff, on a minute grain or basis, if you look at it, it certainly seems like john bane boehner wants to do something big. whether he thinks it's important for the country, whether he thinks it's important for his speakership, or just the right thing to do. he seems more incline dod do that. eric cantor has more held back tea party line that there cannot be tax revenue increases. it's just going to be hard. it doesn't mean a deal can't happen if there are no revenue tax increases but i will tell

in 1979 george h.w. bush won. not go on to win the party's nomination.t robertson won he didn't win his party's nomination. if you are a political junkie, you love this stuff. if you are a student of history, you can see this stuff doesn't mean a whole lot. >> but it does tell you how they are going to do later in the caucuses. both those candidates you mentioned did well. i think you can't discount what is going to happen in the straw poll. there are some side stories. will the conservatives step up and do well? is this a place where rick santorum can get momentum? there's been talk about rand paul and michelle bachmann. what does that mean to those in the party who admire someone like michelle bachmann's conservatism, but may worry she is not ready to take on president obama for the presidency. do they start to coalesce behind romney who is not playing in the straw poll, because they feel like it is time to get serious and find the most experienced candidate? these are the questions that i think are going to be interesting. >> the key is what is going

george h.w. bush was or maybe i should aspire to something lower in life, because that guy is the best. >> sean: governor thank you for being with us. and thank you. that is all the time we have left this evening. hope you have a great night. [ applause ] growth -- >>> this is a fox news alert. we are live with the latest on the debt talk break down. it is hot on this summer friday night in washington, d.c.. we are not talking about outside. in a dramatic moment, house speaker john boehner says after weeks of personal talks with the white house, he is done. there is no deal. right now all bets are off. >> i just got a call half hour ago from speaker boehner. who indicated that he was going to be walking away from the negotiations. >> there was an agreement with the white house at 800 billion dollars in revenue. it is the president, who walked away from his agreement and demanded more money. >> the president: here's the one thing at minimum we got to increase the debt ceiling at minimum. i think we nee

. >> andrea: look at george h.w. bush.ement when he liberated kuwaitis up to 90% approval rating. barack obama came in overwhelmingly popular and blew his mandate when he went after obamacare and didn't go after jobs. i really think that the economy when you look at the job approval number and look at george bush at the time, it sunk to 32%. i think obama keeps ticking downward. it's still in high 30s or low 40s in some polls but if we are not creating jobs that number will be the exact same thing that i think -- >> kimberly: that is what did in mccain when he ran against him. the bottom line the economy is not doing well. he didn't come up with a debt plan and hurt us with obamacare and waimed war against small businesses, entrepreneurship. taxing us to death. >> juan: i'm all for holding people, politicians accountable. but the obama hating that is going on here -- >> kimberly: there is no hating. >> greg: i like obama. i like america. >> juan: i love america. let me ask you a question. are you hearing good ideas? better

and this from the 41st president, george h.w. bush.bara and i loved betty ford very much, she was a wonderful wife and mother, and a courageous you first late. no one confronted life's struggles with more fortitude or honesty and we all know the challenges she faced. >>> one of the world's most popular tabloids is printing its last issue today. it was undone over revelations that reporters had possibly hacked into the voicemail boxes of thousands of people. we're going to speak with our international correspondent dan rivers in just a moment. as a matter of fact why don't we go to him now. at the tabloid offices in london is where he's standing now where former employees have been leaving all day, dan what do you know? >> reporter: it's been a very emotional evening for the 160 or so employees who just came down. just in the last 15 or 20 minutes, a whole load of them were behind me here, cheering and three cheers for the editor, collin mira who held up the first page that said thanks and goodbye. the entire newsroom has now camped out

george h.w. bush was or maybe i should aspire to something lower in life, because that guy is the best. >> sean: governor thank you for being with us. and thank you. that is all the time we have left this evening. >>> this is a fox news alert from new york. at least 87 people are dead following the twin attacks in norway. police say the dental toll will climb. video shows some of the horror playing out during a mass shooting on a political youth carp camp. at least 80 teenagers and young adults died after a gunman opened fire on a crowd following a deadly bombing in a government building in the capitol. that blast killed at least seven people. this is europe's deadliest terrorist attack since 2004 madrid attacks. norway's national broadcaster identifying him as a 32-year-old. police say it appears he act add lone and that he's a right winger with antimuslim views. the death toll climbed sharply following friday's terrorist attacks in norway. at least 87 people are now said to be dead with a mass shoot

want to read a statement we just received from former president george h.w. bush: barbara and i betty ford very much she was a wonderful wife, mother, great friend and courageous first lady. no one confronted lives struggles with more fortitude and honesty. as a result we all learned from the challenges she faced. the betzy ford center which changed the lives of thousands -- will be her lasting leggy of care and concern. we were proud to know her. proud to call her a friend. we will miss her very much. more about her life. in 1973 the fords were planning retirement from congress. of course, there was a turn of political events which shook the nation. and reshaped their own future. they ended up in the white house. she did a lot for women's rights and a lot of other things in this country. we'll have more, after this break. ♪ that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing mio. a revolutionary water enhancer. add a little...add a lot. for a drink that's just the way you like it. make it yours. make it mio. for a drinkso i takeust the way one a day m

george h.w. bush did it 20 years ago and never got the cuts. that is why they are doing it together now. >> the poll that i will show you is really telling. 83% of the american people are concerned about default. 56% want the combination. spending cuts and tax hikes. now the wall street journal says they are worried about a default. would this stop a business owner from hiring or investing in new equipment? >> the short-term debt crisis? no. what is hurting us now is the monetary policy, the weak dollar. it has sent capital fleeing. concerned about the tax code at the end of 2012. the small companies coming from the health care bill and the uncertainty is on banks, especially community banks. massive new regulations coming which creates uncertainty. >> steve forbes, thank you for the time. what happens if the debt ceiling is not raised by august 2nd? it is complicated, but we crunched the numbers. wednesday, august 3rd, $12 billion comes into the treasury. look what goes out. $32 billion. including the money for social security, medicare and me

, propelled the evangelical pastor to a surprise second place finish ahead of vice president george h.w. bushst stunning story of the evening so far is the strong second place showing on the republican side of pat robertson. >> reporter: showing how much things have changed since bush's 1980 iowa victory. >> i'm overjoyed at this expression of love and support from people here in iowa. >> reporter: but bush's son, george w., a born-again christian, proved a champion of religious conservatives especially in moments like this iowa debate when asked to name his most influential philosopher or thinker. >> governor bush, philosopher-thinker, and why? >> christ. because he changed my heart. >> bachmann, a favorite of the tea party and evangelicals. is what some call the teavangelical, putting her in a strong position to win iowa. >> that's the real goal. that's the real treasure. >> reporter: that is, unless someone like texas governor rick perry enters the race, another tea didn't vange lchlical, leada prayer service at reliant stadium on august 6th, just a week before the iowa straw poll but the

you get in the territory that my old boss jimmy carter or the george h.w. bush was in. you have got trouble it tends to feed on itself. he has very strong support from democrats. very partisan society. he has extraordinary ratings particularly from african-americans and until recently from hispanics. these are not good numbers for the white house. they are reacting with what i normally look at is confusion and chaos. i know what's going on there. one thing one day and another thing the next. >> laura: yeah. they're throwing everything at it tried the stimulus, health care. they got bin laden, all of that that was all in their favor. but now, larry, you are looking at this field. the right track wrong track poll which is also very significant also devastating for this president. 37% say they approve of his handling of the economy. and, yet, yesterday at this press conference, it was pointing fingers at the republicans. you are failing to lead. you have got to get going. you have got to get the job done. you are the one spending all this money. it was kind of like when i

if someone think answer breaking the pledge he likes to remind them of president george h.w. bush. >> read my lips. no new taxes. >> a lot of people were angry he broke his promise. >> reporter: in the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations one point of debate is whether toaise taxes in tandem with government cuts. norquist is quick to remind republican lawmakers of their promises. here is a wall of republicans who went astray. >> people who voted for tax increases. down below, points which were defeated in the next election. >> reporter: his position, power and ego sparked outrage by some on the other side of the political aisle. michael etlinger with the center for american progress says it makes it harder for congressional leaders to legislate. >> grover norquist is a big problem, but i think the people whose feet he's holding to the fire are gerting tired of it. you know, we're getting to the point where we need serious people to sit down and make serious decisions, and drawing really hard lines in the sand the way grover does is hurting the country. and i think people who signed t

discuss that report is jay powell, who served as undersecretary of treasury under president george h.w. bush, and is now a visiting scholar at the bipartisan policy center. >> thank you, good to be here. >> the president said today that on august 3rd, social security checks might not go out. is it that dire? >> well, if we don't raise the debt ceiling by august 2nd, then on august 3rd, the federal government will come to work and will be short $.44 on the dollar for the rest of august and will not be able to make a great number of very important payments. so the president's statement is important on its face. >> there are public opinions because people first of all said hey we should pay our debts and now they're saying maybe we shouldn't default. what is the distinction between what we're seeing here? is government default really an option? >> well, there's sort of a laboring game going on here. let me divide it. the first is an actual debt default and my work in the background says that's an unlikely event. there's always enough money to pay interest on the debt and it's probably very unli