we talk with delaware governor jack markell. >> susie: i'm susie gharib. a coalition of the nation's top c.e.o.s is feeling pessimistic about getting a fiscal cliff deal. the group's leader joins us, maya macguinneas. >> tom: and luxury fashion meets the mass market. who wins with target's pairing with neiman marcus? >> susie: that and more tonight on nbr! >> tom: there wasn't much obvious ground given today between president obama and congressional republicans in the effort to avoid the fiscal cliff in january. president obama repeated his pledge he's open to new ideas, but is holding firm on his call for higher taxes on top income earners, something missing from the g.o.p. plan. with just three weeks left, the two sides are still at odds with their opening offers. with time ticking away to reach a deal before tax cuts expire and spending cuts hit, president obama today said he's still optimistic a deal will be done and he's willing to compromise, but negotiations just aren't there yet. >> it's going to require what i talked about in the campaign, which i

governor gary herbert of utah and jack markell of delaware, chair of the national governors associationlcome to you both. interesting day for you because you managed to talk to the president and john boehner, when they can't be bothered to talk to each other. so what did you discover? let me start with you, governor herbert. what was your take on the two meetings? >> well, we were honored to be invited. i think too many times, the states and governors have been overlooked and underappreciated and almost a second thought when it comes to some policies made so i applaud jack's leadership in getting us together in a bipartisan way through the national governors association. i thought we were well received. i think the president and the speaker and majority leader was appreciative of our insight and our concerns about them going over the fiscal cliff. >> right, but i mean, jack markell, that's all very well, i'm glad you all got on so swimmingly but what is actually going to get done here? there are 28 days to go until we fall off this cliff and the american people are frankly sick and tire

we talk with delaware governor jack markell. >> susie: i'm susie gharib. a coalition of the nation's top c.e.o.s is feeling pessimistic about getting a fiscal cliff deal.

we begin with governor jack markell, the democrat from delaware. he was one of six governors meeting with president obama today to talk about how the fiscal cliff impacts their states. i asked him what was his message to the president. >> our message was pretty straightforward. we believe that it is important that governors have a seat at the table as the president and leaders in congress are negotiating issues around the fiscal cliff. we think it is really important that they get something done because, obviously, if tax rates go up on middle-class americans come next month, it will be bad for those middle-class americans, it is will be bad for our states, and we're concerned about both the fiscal side and the economic growth side. >> susie: so talk to us a little bit about what kind of deal you would like to see. what were you proposing to the president? >> let's put it this way, if money is just shifted from the federal government to the states, that's not really saving anything. and the president understands that. we think it is really importan

it was scott walker, gary herbert, mark dayton, jack markell.ll the leadership of the governors associatio what kind of response did you get? we are not passing anything onto you guys. >> the president was very cordial and respectful to the governors. and we believe that we have a stake in this process, and he felt like we could offer some ideas of ways that we could help with savings and efficiencies and state government and federal government also. but he also said that they would have to meet his goals and ideas. leader harry reid, he was more concerned that they were going to be able to reach some kind of an agreement avoid going off the fiscal cliff. gerri: how concerned are you? what would it mea if we read right over the ege? you believe that there will be some agreements by decembee 31? >> it is hard to ell. the house, the senate, the republicans, it's vey tough negotiitions up there. i will tell you that i did meet with my finance officer this morning. my budget director. we talked about comparing my state budget. we have to make our de

governor jack markel. you stl think yore colder thane? nah. don tell me. tell tiny! [ ice crackli ] [ knuckles cracking ] and o are you supposed to be, ck-up? ndle it. what you looking at? ha! cat-like reflexes... whoa! [ male announcer ] t coors light silver bullet pint. it's bge it's resealable it'still the coldest. don't you do it. don't you dot! [ ma announcer ] frt brewed coors lig. the world'most refreshing er! >> we came apart to make sure that voices and issue we face at governors in the states are heard and considered as part of discussions in washington, president was open to that. said we would continue to have a seat at the table. neil: you know, that expression, a seat at table. you got one, so, you know calm down. issue is do you have any influence what you speak from that seat at that table? speaking with the governor, governor do you think we'll avoid this thing? >> i don't know. the president today was very focussed on wants to get to a solution. he did not handicap it for us, but you can tell he wants to get it done, he sees damage in terms of the e

we want to talk with the democratic governor of delaware, jack markell.p in seoul, south korea. first we want to start with the fiscal cliff. how close do you think we are to negotiations? i mean it's getting a little bit ridiculous almost. we start looking at whether people are talking, not making any press statements, how their press releases look and whether they're meeting at all and how the vibe is in the capitol. all of these things are silly to look at but that's kind of what we have at this point. >> good morning, soledad, thanks fo for having me on. obviously it's hard to know. i had a chance last week along with a number of other governors, democrats and republicans, to meet with the president and separately with speaker boehner and separately with leader reid to talk about the fiscal cliff from the perspective of governors. and we were very grateful they gave us an opportunity, they invited us to have a seat at the table as they are considering different options. but one of the things i've seen certainly since i'm in asia as well as back home i

. >> jack markell. >> and this is not a knock on the governor, but did you notice like so many electedicials, they can't bring themselves to publicly say the word, we raised taxes, right? which is what they did and it worked, but we raised revenue. revenue has become the new catch word for taxes. >> right. we are raising stock prices right now. we were down 189. down 107 right now. >> is this decline a preview of what can come next week if we don't see a deal to avoid the cliff? we'll talk about it. >> also, antawn shutz gives us his best banking betts for the year. plus, he'll explain how it could change if we fall off the fiscal cliff. starts with adding a friend... ♪ ...could end with adding a close friend. the lexus december to remember sales event is on. this is the pursuit of perfection. [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat thei

we talk with delaware governor jack markell. >> susie: i'm susie gharib. a coalition of the nation's top c.e.o.s is feeling pessimistic about getting a fiscal cliff deal.

delaware governor jack markel, a democrat, is chairman of the national governors association. >> we came not to embrace one plan or the other. we came to make it very clear, a, why it's so important that something happen both on the economic and on the fiscal issue and, b., to make sure that the president, the white house, the administration and members of congress realize that we are willing partners. >> reporter: republican scott walker of wisconsin and other leaders also urged the burden of medicaid spending for the poor not be shifted to the states. >> we hope there's going to be something that happens here in this nation's capital. in the end we hope it's something that is positive for our states both for our finances but also for our states' economies. >> reporter: according to the governors the president reiterated his commitment to try to get an agreement with republicans here at the capital. but in a statement speaker boehner said the president's plan doesn't have the votes to pass the house. mr. boehner said his plan represents a middle ground. he's ready and eager to talk to t

jack markell, dayton, beebe, gary her bet of utah, mary fallin of oklahoma and wisconsin's goff scottalker who i think a lot of people are familiar with. the question is why are they there, what do they want and why wh -- what do they want to say? >> a lot of reasons. the president wants to make his case to them, and then in turn hopefully that they will go up on capitol hill. of course, some of them will be meeting with house speaker john boehner and senate majority leader harry reid. so the hope is they will put pressure on their lawmakers from their states to get a deal done. but also this is a chance for these governors to talk about the fact that what happens here with this fiscal cliff will have some real consequences, that we're not just talking about sort of these ambiguous numbers but it will impact them and why does it impact them? because according to a pew report, a third of the revenue of states comes from federal grants, and so states -- >> hey, dan, you're not going to believe this. just as you're speaking live, i'm only going to interrupt you for the governors themselv

it includes jack markell, mary fallon, scott walker. the governors will discuss how the fiscal cliff will impact their states and possible solutions. it's also expected to meet with house republicans, as well, this week. >>> and oracle is amongst the latest of speeding up their dividend pay outs to avoid possible tax hikes because of the fiscal cliff. they will pay dividends a total of 18 cents a share for the next three quarters. larry ellison didn't take part in the decision, but he will benefit. he own as 23% stake in the company, so he'll receive around $198 million. yes, you heard it right. oracle stock down 0.8% despite that in frankfurt. still to come, interest rates in australia are moving down. down under. find out what central bank is worried about when we come back. >>> australia central bank held its rate setting meeting. matthew taylor has the details. >> the market had been pricing in a 25 basis point rate cut and the reserve bank delivered with an early christmas present. central bank lowering the cash rate to 3%, this is