it's going to be interesting to see what jack lew has to say.doesn't mention warren buffett, and i really do wonder whether they back off their plans for regulation. that's another thing that a lot of people in the market are talking about. are they really going to come out with a plan to penalize companies that move overseas when you have their biggest democratic, their biggest wall street supporter or biggest -- biggest supporter of corporate america is warren buffett coming out and doing within of these deals. adam: i know you talked in depths about this issue, i was curious about the fact that several large companies that stay -- >> analyst ken underwood? adam: i'm kidding you. i know that you're heart broken about ken moving on. >> ken underwood is one of the great american journalists of our time. adam: he is. he's moving on, but i want to get to a -- >> [inaudible] >> don't want to go there. i want to go here. google, microsoft, apple, they've got billions of dollars parked overseas. >> right. adam: they don't do a tax inversion, and yet

. >> here's the interesting thing, the president and jack lew the treasury secretary do a huge push on companies that do the corporate inversions, they merge with a foreign company and go set up headquarters at u.s. companies set up headquarters in the foreign country and avoid the u.s. taxes or get a significant tax break because of that. my guess is in the old days that mr. buffett would be the poster child, the wall street poster child for president obama in this push as you natural 2012 before the presidential election, buffett was sitting at the state of the union address and called for a new tax. adam: yes, on the rich. >> something called the buffett tax to equalize the fact that billionaires like himself basically pay capital gains tax instead of regular income tax, they get paid mostly through stock as opposed to regular income. just let me make that point. because of this thing he ain't going to be trotted out there. i wonder how much this hurts the president's efforts, he was going to do it through executive order with jack lew to penalize companies from moving overseas when

but the fact that warren buffett is involved is going to make it that much more harder for jack lew andident obama to do that. >> thank you so much for the weighing in. >>> come up, our fox news focus groups deliver a verdict on media credibility and it isn't pretty. >>> and later, we'll call foul on espn's reporting on the showering habits of the nfl's first openly gay draft pick. dentures are very different than real teeth. they're about ten times softer and have surface pores where bacteria can multiply. polident kills 99.99% of odor-causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains. for a cleaner, fresher, brighter denture everyday. oh boy, this always happeyou're clean.ther. you got that right! bam! just gotta check your bag. huh, charmin ultra strong. you're cleaner than i thought. charmin ultra strong cleans so much better it meets even his highest standards of clean. with a soft duraclean texture, charmin ultra strong is 4 times stronger. and you can use up to 4x less. are you good to go hun? cleaner than ever. rotorooter approved. charmin is clog-free or it's free. who gets the allsta

but the fact that warren buffett is involved is going to make it that much more harder for jack lew andobama to do that. >> thank you so much for the weighing in. >>> come up, our fox news focus groups deliver a verdict on media credibility and it isn't pretty. >>> and later, we'll call foul on espn's reporting on the showering habits of the nfl's first openly gay draft pick. ♪searching with devotion ♪for a snack that isn't lame ♪but this... ♪takes my breath away ♪ until the sun went down ♪ and many fantasies were learned ♪ ♪ on that day ♪ keep feeling fascination ♪ . . . . people. what about excess? i think about the coverage of ferguson as the latest example. it seems to me that cable tv in part turns it into a nightly reality show and may have exacerbated racial tensions there. and i don't think that that helps the media's reputation, either. >> absolutely, howie. it's supersonic social media. david brought it up before. that -- and i've used this analogy before, it's like a blitzing linebacker, releasing the ball too soon because they're afried they're going to get beat to the punch

treasury official telling us on this issue that treasury secretary jack lew is still asking his staff up with ways to possibly curb tax inversions. they want congress to go first here. adam: rich, let's get right to what you just said about the u.s. having the highest corporate rate. who pays it? even burger king said the continue tax rate is really around 26, 27%. has anyone addressed the real issue in regards to that? >> reporter: well, they will get a tax break on their future overseas income. they may be paying about the same right now on their u.s.-based income, but they have a lot of cash trapped overseas, and this is the problem for a number of different u.s. corporations. if they become a canadian company, they can invest within the united states, and that's what's called repatriation. you pay that higher u.s. tax rate. so that's the issue there. of course, yes, 35% if you're one of the few businesses paying that top corporate tax rate, there are a few businesses, especially oil and gas, mostly subjected to that. most u.s. companies probably don't pay that very top rate. but y

along the lines of executive authority, secretary jack lew has previously said the executive branch of government doesn't have the authority to slow or stop corporate inversions. the practice you have called distasteful or unpatriotic. now he is reviewing options to do so, and this is an issue that a lot of businesses including probably some of the ones paying a lot of attention to this summit are interested in. what prompted this apparent reversal. what actions are now under consideration? will you consider an executive order that would limit or ban such companies from getting federal contracts? and how soon would you like to see treasury act given congress' schedule? >> just to review why we're concerned here, you have accountants going to some big corporations, multinational corporations, but that are clearly u.s. based and have the bulk of their operations in the united states and these accounts are saying, you know, we found a great loophole. if you flip your citizenship to another country, even though it's just a paper transaction, we think we can get you out of paying a whole bu

along the lines of executive authority, jack lew has previously said that the executive branch of government doesn't have the authority to slow or stop corporate inversions. the practice that called distasteful, et cetera. now he's reviewing options to do so, and this is an issue that a lot of businesses probably including some of the ones paying a lot of attention to this summit were interested in. what i wanted to ask you was, what prompted this apparent reversal? what actions are now under consideration? will you consider an executive order to limit or ban such companies from getting federal contracts? and how soon would you like to see treasury act given congress's schedule? >> just to review why we're concerned here. you have accountants going to some big corporations that are clearly u.s.-based and have the bulk of their operations in the united states and these accountants are say iing we fou a great loophole. if you flip your citizenship to another country, even though it's just a paper transaction, we think we can get you out of paying a whole bunch of taxes. well, it's not fair. it

along the lines of executive authority, treasury secretary jack lew has previously said that the executive branch of government doesn't have the authority to slow or stop corporate inversion, the practice that you have called distasteful, unpatriotic, et cetera. now he is reviewing options to do so and this is an issue that a lot of businesses, probably including some of the ones who were paying a lot of attention to this summit, are interested in. what i want to ask you is what prompted this apparent reversal? what actions are now under consideration? will you consider an executive order that would limit or ban such companies from getting federal contracts? and how soon would you like to see treasury act, given congress' schedule? >> just to review why we're concerned here, you have accountants going to some big corporations, multi national corporations that are clearly u.s. based and have the bulk of their operations in the united states and these accountants are saying we found a great loophole. if you just flip your citizenship to another country, even though it's just a paper transact

walgreens staying in the united states, treasury secretary, jack lew, has called these deals unpatrioticpresident obama has called the companies corporate deserters. if the deal does go through, it could add further urgency and speed up reform on capitol hill. i'm sara eisen. >>> here's another big deal today to tell you about. roche, the swiss drug company, is paying nearly $8.5 billion in cash for u.s. biotech company, intermune, helping the world leading maker of cancer drugs expand into lucrative rare disease treatments. intermune has a promising new drug to treat a lung condition. shares surged 35% today. meg terrell has more on what's driving this merger. >> reporter: health care companies have been on a buying spree. from pfizer's attempted deal to buy astrazeneca for almost $120 billion to the successful purchase of shire. mergers and acquisitions in the industry are at a record high. traditional targets, biotech companies, haven't been the main event this year. as companies pursue m & a for tax reasons. >> there has been an increased number of these transactions that are tax inv

. >> just last month, however, treasury secretary jack lew suggested the administration would have tothrough congress to address this issue. >> we have looked at the tax code. there are a lot of obscure provisions in the tax code. we do not believe we have the authority to address this inversion question through administrative action. if we did, we would be doing more. that's why legislation is needed, that's why we've proposed it in our budget. >> dozens of u.s. companies have incorporated overseas in the last decade, including tim hortons, sara lee, chiquita brands and medtronic. there is speculation that wa walgreen would move overseas, but they say the best decision for shareholders is to stay in the u.s. a report from the joint committee on taxation estimates that the u.s. will lose at least $20 billion over the next decade if the inversion trend continues. so, this brings us to our twitter question for you this morning -- how do you feel? is it right for american companies to move their headquarters overseas to lower their taxes? tweet us your answers using #waytooearly. we'll p

along the lines of executive authority, treasury secretary jack lew has previously said that the executiveve the authority to slow or stop corporate inversion, the practice that you have called distasteful, unpatriotic, et cetera. now he is reviewing options to do so and this is an issue that a lot of businesses, probably including some of the ones who were paying a lot of attention to this summit, are interested in. what i want to ask you is what

turning things how regulators react and we saw senator joe manchin sent a letter to treasury secretary jack lew as first straight out ban on big oil and there's been several hearings in congress i mean this is caused a little bit of a stir in washington so we are serving as a resource to public policy. makers something goes on with digital assets. digital currency will go will speak with that will explain to them what's going on because there's not really a good resource to turn to if you have a question for big point nobody owns big point decentralize so member of congress has a question here it's called headquarters right so that's kind of what we're looking to do and hopefully we can set up some basic guardrails for the industry to do to appease congressional concerns a lot of concerns over the strength of it being decentralized the technology is great but you centralization in washington is not great because then you don't have somebody actually lobbying on behalf of this a big point let's go back a few years because as you mentioned you were pulled into the vortex that has been going you w

jack lew, the treasury secretary, will be speaking shortly. >> good morning and welcome. michael bloomberg, our host, honorable penny pritzker, secretary of commerce of the united states, excellence eleven says -- excellencies, heads of state in government, chief executive officers of u.s. and african companies, leaders of delegations and ministers, ladies and gentlemen, i'm delighted to address this business forum on the occasion of the historic u.s./africa leaders summit. this engagement between government and business is an important steppingstone towards evaluating and strengthening the relationship between africa and the united states which is the purpose of our endeavors this week. this engagement coming at an important moment in the continent when many economic, social and political indicators are moving in the right direction. and there's general consensus amongst the leadership and citizens of africa that africa is taking charge of its destiny to navigate a different course towards prosperity. the consensus is reflected in the agenda 2063, and in the sectoral str

what would you say to jack lew, sitting next to you with regard to the comments you're not patrioticrade. what is your final thought on that comment? >> i would just tell all the n congressmen to get patriotic so they don't screw the corporations that give people jobs. they are chicken. they pander to the pace. either you a patriot or a panderer. if you're not a patriot. get out of the race. >> senator, you're a great american, thank you for the time and want you back closer to the election to see how it's squared with the electorat. back to you. >> you bet. >> a tough talk there on taxes from alan simpson. thank you, rick. >>> coming up, the mayor on the town where elan musk is building a launch pad in texas. we'll be right back. ♪ during the cadillac summer's best event, lease this all new 2014 cts for around $459 a month or purchase with 0% apr and make this the summer of style. that's why i always choose the fastest intern.r slow. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office pla

that's where jack lew is from and david faber is from. we're queens all over the place. >> reporter: achn pharmaceuticals. should i exercise and take more stock or should i sell what i have? >> no one ever got hurt taking a profit but there's something going on. you can't say there's something going on. i don't know. but there's been so much takeover activity in this particular segment, i'm not going to go against that. take a little profit. it's up 50%. yeah. and then let the rest run. today is a day where good things just shouldn't have happened. they shouldn't. but they d. that's okay. in a bull market sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. "mad money" tonight, can we get out of the he had and starting chipping green? i'm unwrapping u.p.s. and see if we can get back to profits and taco bell to chipotle? one of the most kayen themes on wall street. spicy stocks, mild to hot. plus, the ceos of twitter, linked in called me out for. a.l.s. ice challenge. stick on cramer. >>> follow @jimcramer. have a question? tweet me @madtweets. e

. >> treasury secretary jack lew talking a lot about cyber security at a conference last month. >> lookt how much of our life we conduct through our ipad, our iphone, our smart device or our computer. it is our banking, it is our basic utilities. it's a lot of our personal information, our health records. there is a very high level of concern that we should all have that cyber security -- cyber hygiene is taken seriously by all of the providers that we do business with. >> you can see the entire interview with deliveri deliveringalpha.com after the show if you'd like. eric, i have so many passwords that require regular changing that i've taken to writing them down. it is not exactly secure but i'm certainly not the only one out there. >> don't do that. >> i can't remember them all! why is it that we still are so addicted to passwords? >> because it's a difficult thing to change. you have to change up a lot of systems and install new infrastructure and reprogram a lot of products that we're used to using. the fundamental fact about security is, the more things are secure, the more diffic

along lines of econom executive authority treasury secretary jack lew said that the executive branch of government does not have authority to stop corporate -- what you call unpatriotic, but now he is raising options to do so. a lot of businesses are interested in, what prompted this reversal? what actions are now under considering? will you consider an executive order to limit orban such orbaor -- bancompanies from geth contracts. >> just to review why we're concerned. you have ark count ants going to -- accountants going to big corporations, but that are clearly u.s.-based. and have the bulk of their operations in united states, these saying we found a great looloophole, if you flip yours e citizenship to another country, we think we can get you out of paying a whole bunch of taxes. that is not fair. that lost revenue to treasury means it is made up somewhere that is a bank of hard working -- a bunch of hard working americans who either pay 3 highe3throughhigher taxes or red services. so there is legislation working its way through congress that would eliminate some of the tax loop

jack lew talked about that at delivering alpha, but palo alto has solutions, and that company's goinghare. >> wow. >> what's on "mad" tonight? >> i have to figure out housing because housing, you got affordability getting better, mortgage rates coming down, price of houses going up slowly, and tripoint, i think, is really the guy, doug bauer, informed guy on the housing market. i have to figure it out because housing stocks should be going higher, not lower given the data we're seeing. confusion out there. >> yes. >> look at the stock -- well, people realize we want to know what's on the trucks. if they are filled with plasma opposed to machine guns, this, of course -- >> the aid delivered into ukraine so to speak. >> that's what we have to find out. could be the beginning of peace talks. sanctions are killing the russians, $3 million of chicken not coming at you, food lines, bread lines, coming in russia. ukraine is the bread basket. where is the food going to come from for the russians? >> good question. >> last thing he did may not have been bright. >> yeah. making a lot of mistake

jack lew has previously said the executive branch of government doesn't have the right to -- but -- the authority to stop slow and corporate inversions. -- but now he is reviewing options to do so, an issue that a lot of businesses, including some of the ones paying attention to this summit, are interested in. what prompted this apparent reversal, what actions are now under consideration? will you consider an executive order that would limit or ban such companies from getting federal contracts and how soon would you like to see treasure -- treasury act given congress's schedule? >> just to review why we're concerned here. you have accountants going to some big corporations. multinational corporations that are clearly u.s. based and have the bulk of their operations in the united states, and these accounts are saying you know what, we found a great loophole. if you just flip your citizenship to another country, even though it's just a paper transaction, we think we can get you out of paying a whole bunch of taxes. well, it's not fair, it's not right. the lost revenue to treasury means it

why isn't president obama right now using warren buffett to push through this dopey thing that jack lew wants to do with the penalties for these corporate tax aversions. why isn't he? guess what, warren buffett is part and parcel of the issue. >> i think we'll learn the tax part of deal is less of an issue than you think. >> tell that to the president. don't tell it to me. tell it to the president. >> it may not happen. walgreens mooted point in public. the backlash was so severe they decided not to do it. i suspect burger king -- dierdre: this topic won't go away. another topic, burger king's competition. they're not saying quiet. we'll have later on the show ohio based white castle responding as sherrod brown urges americans to eat at white castle. that is exclusive interview on fox business. >>> the lone star state is pulling its enemployment rate. bls reports that the texas added same number of jobs the other 49 states are missing since the recession. rick perry, maybe he is doing something right after all. >> he has very nice glasses. i will give him that. reality is this, texas ec

along the lines of executive authority, secretary jack lew said that they don't have the authority to slow or stop practical conversions you but now he's reviewing options to do so, and this is an issue that a lot of businesses probably those who were paying interest to the summit are interested in. what actions are now under consideration will you consider an executive order that would limit or ban such companies from getting federal accounts, and how soon would you like to see treasury react given congress schedule. >> just to review why we're concerned here. you have accountants going to big options, multi national corporations but that are clearly u.s. based and have the bulk of their operations in the united states, and these accountants are saying we found a great loophole. if you flip your citizenship to another country even though it's just a paper transaction, we think we can get you out of paying a whole lot of taxes. well, that's not fair. it's not right. the lost revenue to treasury means it needs to be made up somewhere where, and that's typically going to be a bunch of h

we just learned today that treasury secretary jack lew is looking at serious options on how to stop thosesions without getting congressional approval first. joining us from the economic policy institute, josh smith, senior policy analyst, and from aei, cnbc contributor. tax inversions are unseemly. and no one will argue that $2 billion a year isn't a lot of money, even today, but when you consider that the defense department spends nearly that per day or medicare fraud runs at least $60 billion a year, why do you think tax inversions are getting so much attention? >> sure, i think it's just because it feels wrong. i mean, if shoplifting were somehow legal, you as a bodega owner still wouldn't be happy about somebody stealing candy bars from you, even though they're only 99 cents each time. there's something wrong about it that corporations are taking advantage of things normal people can't and it's revenue that should be going to the treasury. >> but still, josh, it feels wrong doesn't seem like a good argument. there are a lot of things that feel wrong and are unfair out there, but shoul

along the lines of executive authority treasury secretary jack lew has previously said the executive branch of government doesn't have the authority to stop or slow company inversion. what you've called distasteful and unpatriotic. but now he's reviewing options to do so and a lot of businesses including some of the ones who are paying attention to this summit are inned in. what i i wanted to ask you what prompted this apparent reversal, what actions are under consideration. will you consider an executive order that would limit or ban such companies from getting federal contracts and how soon would you like to see treasury act given congress's schedule? >> just to review why we're concerned here. you have accountants going to some big corporations, multinational corporations but that are clearly u.s. based and have the bulk of their operations in the united states and these accountants are saying we found a great loophole. if you just flip your citizenship to another country, even though it's just a paper transaction, we think we can get you out of paying a whole bunch of taxes. well

>> what i find very frustrating, and you spoke to the president about this and jack lew, they seem to think that politicians can waef wave a magic wand and go to where the agreement should go. i know jack lew knows better. >> i don't know if we have this in one of our readerships, the announcement yesterday the treasury after saying it did not have the tools to stop this said it's looking into things it can do to stop tax inversion. so that's a new thing that's out there. >> even after walgreens say they wouldn't do it. >> they're looking into it. but hey, it just strikes me that the president has an ability to raise the cost to companies that are doing this. it won't stop it, but it will raise the cost in terms of investment. and when i did a background call with the senior treasury official, they said they were concern about was that something that has stopped this from happening before is reputational risk. people were afraid about the publicity around this. they were concerned if one company does it and another company and a third company, what held it back would go away and all o

from the treasury department, officials put together a list of administrative options for secretary jack lewor ways to stop u.s. companies reorganizing overseas to avoid high taxes here. note, administrative options. can't go to congress to get a vote on it. no, it is pen and phone. the president will do it administratively. is that right, liz? >> that is what we reported three weeks ago on the show, stuart. the president, administration would likely make this move, meaning through regulations and tax code moves. they won't do it during the august recess. it will take much longer. in other words, the president is not going to use the pen and phone while everybody is out of town. it will take some time to make these moves to stop companies merging with foreign companies and moving their headquarters overseas. stuart: we hear you. thanks, liz. >> sure. stuart: march varney next. my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzo

jack lew has been making a lot of noise about tax inversions. the president has said some things.ratic senators and congressmen have had some things to say. if the public paying attention as nebulous as a tax inversion? >> it depends. it is not just isolated to consumers seeing the news and then maybe thinking about going elsewhere. there are unions that were pushing the company not to do this. there were democratic senators urging the company not to do this. whereuld see a situation those forces, not just the mere fact of walgreens being based thosee the u.s. from of political forces coming to bear on consumers and urging them not to shop there were making them question. >> what part of walgreens' decision might be fear that any action taking in washington might be retroactive? >> that is certainly out there. potential for retroactive legislation. congress is talking about that. republicans have resisted that. then you have this potential for treasury to come in on its own and make regulations. even though those would not be retroactive, they might apply to the debt companies out

could jack lew call warren buffett unpatriotic? >> like you said, they didn't watch you yesterday? >> it is an inversion, but it's not done for tax reasons. >> this particular transaction is done in a different way. >> you ruined it. >> my question is how much do you think -- and we will find out later today, i would imagine, burger king is going to have to pay to use warren buffett's name in this transaction? that's effectively i what happens. this is fansing deal. he paid 9%. >> wind that. >> what did he get from ge? >> that was -- >> i know what it was. when a did you get for goldman sachs? >> 10%. >> but in this environment -- i would think you could get money from anybody and their brother -- >> for less. >> for a lot less. then the question comes what is the value of a buffett name, specifically in a trng like this. >> let me go on because -- >> this is so not -- they're paying out extra so jack lew doesn't call the b-- un-america. i'm just suggesting -- >> it was not as we know an inversion. >> that's it. >> no. i was trying to be -- i know, i know, i know. futures this morn

policy issue and that's something in congress' authority and now we're seeing the president and jack lewthings we can do. sounds like what they can do is basically provide incentives that would make it more likely that companies would want to stay in the u.s. and would make it more unlikely that they would want to leave. you're not going to see them be able to go nearly as far as congress could go but that goes to the president's point. i can only do so much here but i'm going to do what i can. >> to that point, peter, whether it's immigration issue, republicans have criticized environmental actions, more immigration actions, and as the president talks about this politically, i'll do as much as i k.on the one hand it shows he's frustrated and wants to get something done and on the other hand it shows how limited he is in his abilities. >> he's said this going back to his, you know, earlier this year he was going to do this and following through and telegraphing pretty clearly what he's going to do. i'm interested to see how it plays politically. kind of a jump ball. cnn showed half the c

. >> just last month, however, treasury secretary jack lew suggested the administration may have to go through congress to address the issue. >> we have looked at the tax code. there are a lot of obscure provisions in the tax code. we do not believe we have the authority to address this inversion question through administrative action. if we did, we would be doing more. that's why legislation is needed. that's why we proposed it in our budget. >> so that's the focus of "the wall street journal" editorial this morning saying the president sounds like he's going to be writing the tax code by executive fiat which violates the constitution separation of powers. i guess, harold, come on. okay, so we've got harold ford jr., you're a professor. you work on wall street. so you understand this stuff. and we have brian sullivan. you work at cnbc. that's all i can say for you. you guys need to explain -- no, i love you. you guys need to explain to me why is it that americans with american corporations with their families living in america, being educated in america, using public school systems, g

. >> if you had a cup of coffee with the treasury secretary jack lew, with your public service and yourorking on wall street as well, what is your number one to do list for the secretary to help the american people? itfor all people, i will say is global coordination in regulation, it is u.s. quarter nation on regulation, just making sure that all regulators, whether it is with the cftc, the sec, the fed, and their counterparts overseas are all approaching things -- macro -- veryf quickly, macro prudential, are we anywhere near that? >> i'm not sure what they mean by that. -- iey fischer, others mean, i think that is going to be how the fed will manage the economy going forward, and that is what it is currently debating. >> tim bitsberger with bnp paribas. overet, we need to wonder to you for a data check. >> before we get to the data check, just an update on the news we had run you earlier -- burger king and tim hortons to merge. this is a headline. they are in a packed with 3g, the brazilian private equity company, will own 51% of this new company. they will keep two iconic and indepe

treasury department is putting together a list of options for secretary jack lew to consider ways to prevent u.s. companies from reloengting overseas, primarily to avoid higher tax rates. inversion deals have become increasingly popular. more than 50 have been struck over the past decade. lew, the treasury secretary, is expected to pick one or more on the options pb but recommendations are limited as far as what he'll recommend to the president. officials say it could range from specific rules to a round of changes. that strig triggered the white house to take steps to prevent companies from taking such deals and hint it could act on its own. u.s. lawmakers agree the tax inversion should be curbed, but they can't agree on exactly how to proceed. some democrats say passing a stopgap measure while some republicans say the best way to stop inversion is an overhaul of the entire u.s. tax code. president obama's powers are relatively limited. others believe the white house can take steps including how to address the treatment of a company's debt and equity under current u.s. tax laws. so

along the lines of executive authority, jack lew has previously said that the executive branch of governmentave the authority to slow or stop corporate inversions. the practice that called distasteful, et cetera. now he's reviewing options to do so, and this is an issue that a lot of businesses probably including some of the ones paying a lot of attention to this summit were interested in. what i wanted to ask you was, what prompted this apparent reversal? what actions are now under consideration?

president obama and treasury second jack lew have publicly criticized companies for seeking such transactions. on tuesday, the treasury department say it was exploring ways to bypass congress using the president's executive powers to reign in inversion. drugmakers have been most active on this -- u.s. drug measures have been most active on this front recently with buying part of european rivals in order to escape u.s. taxes. pfizer failed in its attempt to buy astrazeneca which would have allowed it to move its headquarters overseas. we check on shares in walgreens to see how it's performing in europe. shares are lower by 4% at this point. more news to come regarding inversions. >> thank you so much for that, courtney. >>> finally put a number on that, 50 deals in terms of tax inversions happening since 2008. let's take a look at today's other top stories. disney's third quarter profits rose 22% and revenue nearly 22%. the results in tv operations were unchange as higher costs for espn offset the broadcast division despite strong waiting for the world cup. >> we had great results, profitabili

his official schedule but he will be getting a daily briefing and meeting with treasury secretary jack lew. the president celebrated his birthday on the carl -- and the golf course with childhood friends from hawaii. members of congress just starting their recess, many in their home districts, others traveling. rick crawford treating -- tweeting he's going to deliver with ups in the first district. the trucks passed inspection and they are on the road. angus king says he will be interest in to congratulate the owner of a farm for being a small business administration award recipient. and corker is in vietnam with reports theirho visiting the hanoi hilton prison where john mccain from arizona and u.s. pows where had -- were held during the vietnam war. messagesheck out other if you go to our twitter page. there are still plenty happening in washington d c. leaders are meeting for a u.s. african summit -- the first of its kind aimed at increasing business relationship. we will have comments from south african president jacob zuma at 2:00 eastern time right here on c-span. >> tonight on "the

i want to thank the secretary of state jack lew for welcoming us here.he easiest subject which is financed, of course. we have a panel here and today we will talk about what does it take to get more financial flows into the african continent? money is not the issue in this morning africa is the place to be. i want to begin. i recall meeting you in my office when they were launching the fund in africa. you and i had a conversation and use it may look i will give you south africa and nigeria. the rest we will see. how is it going? >> first i want to thank you for your support. when i was in your office and i was starting to raise our funds and it was not easy to convince people to give money to a firm like ours to invest in africa because we didn't have any road track record there. whenever you are trying to raise a country fund or a consonant fund like africa people outside of the continent will say well if you are so good how come nobody in the continent will give you money? uis want to get money initially from people there and the african development ba

but we talk about it because you have a view on taxes, and the president might get involved, and jack lew has a view, and taxes are interesting because we pay them. i'm interested about the fundamentals of the combined company and the idea that you blow out tim horton's worldwide, why not blown out already? starbucks figured out how to blow it out, dunkin has nol, and krispy kreme tried. they are concepts. hedge funds trying to make profit. burger king stock is okay, under priced from the beginning because people didn't understand the deal, but i want growth. i want growth. now, cellgene gives me growth. i do not get growth from burger king. >> if you're mcdonalds, you're not shaking? >> everyone waits for a transaction, a financial engineering to get out of the rut. >> that's what people called burger king, financial engineering story, nothing more. >> if it had 8% growth, that would interest me. starbucks has 8 % growth, and it's done nothing. i mean i want growth. the market wants growth. all we care about is growth. this transaction creates excitement, get a great tuchlt to sell horto

he has several closed door meetings on his schedule, including one with jack lew. president played a couple of rounds of golf with some friends as part of a quiet birthday celebration, i would assume. >>> 8:47 is the time. let's check in with tara who is in for sal. not a great commute. >> no, had a lot of accidents, haven't we? northbound, 880 at the montague expressway. there's a car blacking two lanes of traffic. at the san mateo bridge, horrible congestion from the toll plaza to hayward to foster city. there are no incidents popping up on the website. we're not sure what this backup is due to but it's bad. gibb yourself extra time. >>> at the bay bridge it is still bullpen -- bumper to bumper as you head into san francisco. it's stop and go through treasure island and clears up at the tunnel. at the golden gate bridge, no delays. just wanted to show you a picture of something with no traffic in it. this is a good commute into san francisco. 8:48. let's check in with steve. >>> a lot eflow clouds around, driz -- a lot of low clouds around. drizzle. sausalito. in

keep others out and figure out which ones should be in what jobs, we have a thing here about how jack leweputy treasury secretary until rahm emanuel decided it wasn't the idea to bring somebody in from citigroup in the middle of a financial crisis to be that the treasury secretary which is how he was at the state department so that is true of rahm emanuel and i pose an open question, is it better to be calculated or have no strategy. you get criticized for either of those things. with president obama obviously you intend that to come out differently than it did. i think that is one of those double edged trades and a fun thing about a book like this from a riding perspective and this is true, journalists who do any sort of long-term journalism is the same traits are good and bad. she is a calculator and not as natural and she works hard but not necessarily the most creative person in the room but picking up other people's ideas, all these things are true and people like her and don't like her and see the same things and like -- half of like the trade and half of them don't like it. it is a

i want to thank ec tear of -- secretary of state jack lew for the kind words and for welcoming us herethe easiest subject which is finance, of course. [laughter] i do have a panel of extraordinary men here. and today we will talk about what does it take to get more financial flows into the african continent. two days ago here they were saying money's not the issue. the issue is what invests the money. and this morning everyone says africa is the place to be. so i want to begin with you, david. i recall a meeting in my office when you were launching the fund in africa. you and i had a conversation, and you said to me, look, i'll begin with south africa and nigeria. the rest i will see. how has it gone for you? >> well, first, i want to thank you for your support. when i was in your office, you know, i i was starting to raise our fund, and it was not easy to convince people to give money to a firm like ours to invest in africa because we didn't have any real track record there. whenever you're trying to raise a country fund or a continent fund like africa, people outside of the continent

treasury secretary jack lew and the members of the social security and m board of trustees outlined the findings of a new report this week in washington. this is about 40 minutes.board outlined the findings of a new report this week in washington. this is about 40 minutes. >> good afternoon and welcome. every year the social security and medicare boards of trustees provide a report to congress on the strength of our indispensable social insurance purposes and this morning the trustees met to complete the annual financial review. i'd like to thank my fellow trustees, the chief actuaries, steven goss and paul spilanik and their staffs for their hard work. social security and medicare are without a doubt the most successful social programs in our country's history, and millions of americans rely on them for health care and income security. together these programs have helped to drive vast improvements in the quality of american life with social security helping to cut elderly poverty by two-thirds over the last four decades and medicare improving mortality rates for the severely ill by ove

treasury secretary jack lew said that would not be the, the economic patriotism card would not be played. at the same time, remember, if the irs started doing some rule-making, as much as anyone thinks that wouldn't matter, there isn't a general counsel in this country who wouldn't say, wait a second, we've got to be careful, because right now the irs just said we're looking into it. we're looking into your dibblin headquarters. the irs doesn't work the way the rest of the government does. you're guilty until proven innocent if you're in irs court. >> yep. let me ask you about the markets today. a lot of chatter on the floor today about whether this is just a technical sell-off or a reflection of the tensions between russia and ukraine. you actually think that we've underestimated the impact of the downing of the malaysia flight 17 a couple of weeks ago, right? >> yeah, it was a game-changer. plus, i watched the coverage, and here's what i think. i think putin -- look, people are going to say, jim, stick to stocks. okay, actually, i was a historian before i went into this game, but here'

jack lew said it was unpatriotic. clearly, they're feeling the pressure.pening as evidenced by burger king. >> several times a month. quickly, s&p closes on another record? >> 29th record of the year. >> wow! >> unbelievable. we briefly shot over the 2,000 mark, key psychological level. weren't able to close above it. thomas, you're saying that we could. and it is a big deal. last time we saw a big level like that was 1998. this bull rally just continues. >> enthusiastic market. it really is. >> not a bubble? sara eisen, thank you very much. >>> coming up, not even a rare neurological condition can come between these two brothers. their story is next on "morning joe." ♪ ♪ start a team. join a team. walk to end alzheimer's. visit alz.org/walk today. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters shopping online is as easy as it gets. and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list, now it is. we've made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. buy their services directly at angieslist.com no more callin

. >> mario, this sounds like a loophole that jack lew ought to just, you know, get rid of as soon asnot fair. this is now other you know now we have fewer services because -- hello! >> you're doing a great job. continue on. continue -- >> i mean, is your point that if you're going you're going to penalize and make sinners of companies that do inversions then you got to make sinners of the mlps? it can get ridiculous is the point. >> the word i use is deserters. >> deserters. >> look, the point is that you don't want to politicize it subpoena 24r is no question you need tax reform. you have to look at all the loopholes the lobbyists have been able to get. will it be done in 2015? will you be able to have a comprehensive tax structure? >> the tax laws have been perverted since 1986. the last time we touched this stuff. >> so i don't want to beat that to death. the point is, is there a consistency with regards to integrating the individual tax rate with the corporate tax rate for a sense of fairness. should be there sub ss. this is a different issue. how does it impact economic values i