i want to go back to john cochrane. john, rather than employer-based system, you write we should have an individual-based system. can you tell us more? >> yeah. on those numbers. i mean, the question is where is the money going to come from to lower everybody's premiums? yes. individual-based system. you can have a free market in health insurance and a free market in health care. and one of the ingredients of that system is that your health insurance should be like your car insurance or your home insurance. you buy it. it sticks with you when you go from job to job so you don't have a pre-existing conditions problem. >> let's see. you have to reform the tax system if you do that. can the tax credit or the tax deduction go to the individual rather than the company? would that hasten? would that help this kind of free market reform? >> yeah, one of the reasons we have this pre-existing conditions problem is we gave a tax deduction for employer-provided group insurance. only group insurance. if your employer contributes to

john cochran, university of chicago school of business professor and hoover institute fellow.nk the next act for obamacare? the president says just glitches in the website are a problem. once we get those fixed everything will be smooth sailing. i doesn't think you agree, do you? >> no. i think we're in another year or two at least entertainment with things going steadily wrong here and there, other places. david: not entertainment for -@those folks going through it. i understand you're being facetious but real people are having real serious troubles here. some folks on republican side, let's sit back and watch obama care fail. you say no, that is not necessary? >> not necessary and not wise. as you said, these are real people with real problems. sitting back and watching it fail is not the right answer. we need to be clear about what the alternative is. there are plenty of people who have written down serious alternatives. the idea there is no alternative is absolutely false. i wrote one down which is why you brought me on and talk about what to do instead. david: you're piec

joining us with his thoughts on korea, john cochran from clsa. very good to see you. thanks so much indeed for joining us. how should we perceive north korea and what it means from here? >> well, north korea is obviously a very difficult place to understand. so overall, what we would say is we just need to be cautious. at the end of the day, they're literally in their own world. they're often referred toss as the hermit kingdom. the execution shows you that anything literally can happen. so really, with north korea, the key thing is to remain vigilant and above all remain calm. >>. >> yeah. you're saying you know china has characterized this as an internal affair and as long ago accusations should remain verbal, little should change. how nervous should they be? if this is an irrational action, rehaven't had irrational actiones from north korea before. >> well, i think that china is well versed in north korea's behavior. and so if we think from a geopolitical perspective, the key issue comes for the chinese, they have the north koreans on their boards. what they want i

john corn in. and mitch mcconnell anded that cochran. from the outside groups at the beginning, that could snowball into the others or work in the opposite direction. >> vehicle quickly, it's a very special race. the cheneys versus enzi. this has nothing to do with ideology. this one is one that is not like the other. >> that was just the point i was going to make. i think it was cheney wanted to create this as she is the true conservative. mike enzi is among the most conservative members. he is not part of a leadership. there is no argument that she made yet that convinces me and i'm sure voters why he needs to be fired. >> the most important thing here and will let you chime? on this. only one of the seven would be problematic in a general election if the incumbent loses. thank you very much. >> thanks, chuck. >> we have election results. that's one of the big things in the data bank. how many women have chaired the senate budget committee? the first person to tweet the correct answer gets an on air shout out. the answer and more is co

john cornyn's texas primary is in early march. thad cochran'sississippi date is penned for early june. and lind b see graham's south carolina primary scheduled for just a few days later. they're all in hot water in those states. david corn and ryan grim. both are msnbc contributors. let's start david and then go to ryan. this is an interesting combination. we think this is going to be a smooth season getting through the holidays. but they're already lining up for the gun fight at the ok corral, if you will. sometimes between march and spring, they can shut down the american economy. and these guys say they don't want to do it. then they say we're going to threaten to do it. mitch mcconnell is worried about being defeated. thad cochran is worried about getting defeated. shutdown which means default. >> it kind of reminds me of "godfather iii" when he says every time i get out, they pull me back in. what's pulling them back in is the gravitational pull of the party. with those states that you went through but throughout the board. so while -- i sa

john cornyn, if you told me he was going to have to defend himself, like bob bennett having to defend himself for not being conservative enough. thad cochranin mississippi. he's now having a challenge in mississippi. are these really big threats, ddo you think? >> there are 12 incumbent senators up for re-election next year. some of them have tea party challengers in their primaries. this is really bad news. you mentioned bob bennett. he lost his senate seat. richard luger, last time around, faced a tea party challenger. the tea party challenger lost in the general election. a lot of concern among establishment republican that this war between the establishment and tea party forces is going to cost them their best chance for some time to come to win back the senate next year. >> if not for this, they would be pretty well set to win back the senate, given the red state challenges and the increased numbers of democratic open seats. >> well, some republican strategists say there are five democrats in the senate now who wouldn't be there if it had not been for tea party challengers who either won the nomination or beat up the republican candid