for more on the potential impact of wall street i'm joined by jim awad chairman of plimsoll. let's talk about the fiscal uncertainity is figuring on wall street. >> it is figuring in an increasingly negative way. the markets are become increasingly concerned that business and consumers will pull back due to the uncertainty about tax and spending. and it's affecting the financial markets and the economy. >> jeff: a slow day tomorrow but how do you think we open? >> i think that if there is any rally it will be a fool's rallyment would you only get a rally if they announce something tonight. but the reality is that anything they announce would be light on fact and long on symbolic-- symbolism it wouldn't have a lot to do with entitlements. it wouldn't address the debt ceiling. so you could get a relief rally but i think the market was see through it and not be enduring. >> jeff: looking back up 5.9% for the year 2012, is a pretty decent number. what are you are forecasting for the first quarter ahead. >> some of it depend how they resolve this the economy in and of itself is to

jim awad, a longtime manager. a thing or two about credit ratings, the founder of an independent rating agency not paid by the corporate issuers that it rates. sean, your firm was quick to downgrade the u.s. credit rating last year. if we go over the cliff or lawmakers reach some sort of watered-down compromise, will you downgrade america again? >> no. our take on it is that it's a very positive sign that the government is wrestling with the immediate problem of the budget deficit. it was $1.4 trillion last year. it's probably going to come in at about $1.2 trillion for the current year. so we view this whole wrangling as a positive, that it's the first step to solving a problem is recognizing it. most people in washington and throughout the country are recognizing the immediate problem of the federal budget deficit. >> that is a remarkably glass-half-full view of the world, sean. i appreciate that. let me take a look at world borrowing costs. this is a gauge of how investors feel about a given country. sovereign

. >>> back with jim awad,managing director of zephyr management, sean egan, founder of egan jones, anndependent ratings agency. sean, i know you deal in ratings. i want to show viewers what the s&p 500 which may look like a lot of their own investments and 401(k)s looked like for five years. here's what it's looked like over the last year. we're up about 12, 13%. that may all change on monday, depending on what happens. the stock market is saying america's okay. what are the bond markets saying? >> the bond markets are also saying the -- that conditions are okay. however, there's a caveat, however. and that is the significant amount of money printing that has taken place not only in the u.s. but in fact, in every developed country from the uk, the european union and japan. >> and just to interrupt you, sean, that's probably why everybody says all of this money printing will lead to inflation. one of the reasons it hasn't really is because everybody's doing it. >> there's that reason and there's the underutilization, both in terms of the employment and also in terms of planned capacity