and i don't think i ever approached being a woman, but this-- in luxembourg, 99% of the people doing this were women, and i was a lone man in this world surround by women. >> schieffer: my daughter said you did the best job and had the most insight into what a mom does while dad is off doing whatever it is he does. and i think that's part of the success of your book. but we'll get back to that. it was also-- it was very suspenseful. and it was quite a thriller. now, dan bal david baldacci, this is your-- >> my 25th. somebody told me the other day. i had not counted the books. when they said it i was surprised. >> schieffer: 25 books you have done. and i'm old enough to remember when you were a lawyer here in washington, and one of my best friends was your law partner in that old law firm. how did you get into this? i mean, what-- >> i had been writing since i was a kid. i was trying to sell short stories to the "new yorker" when i was 14 and realized if i changed my name to j.d. salinger my odds would be considerably improved. i spent 10 years writing short stories, that's what i rea

on saturday, the head of the euro group and prime minister of luxembourg have a long talk with angela merkel and came out suggesting they cleared away most of the difficulties to an agreement. we have no clue as to what that involved and whether there is a clearance. the same problem is the same problem -- unsustainable that. greece should now say it is 45 billion with every passing week they need more money. >> how does the imf figure in? >> the head of the imf had a bit of a row with him last time they met. she once the interest rate deductions for greece. she wants governments to take a debt write-off and germany will not tolerate that. she wants to greece to reach 120% of g.d.p. debt by 2020. the eurozone system make about 2022. >> just following the debt talks in brussels, thank you. a completely different story on the consumer front with the german export still going strong worldwide. people are entering the christmas buying season ready to spend. >> that according to the latest research showing retail sales could top those of the last few years. >> it's official. the christmas

motto, " whatever happens to me, it is god's decision pecan >> a small wine-growing village in luxembourg with not even 1500 inhabitants. it is also the name of an eu agreement with far-reaching consequences for the lives of many e citizens. it means free travel. -- many eu citizens. private individuals and companies can save time at the borders because there's no need to show your passport or fill out complicated customs forms anymore. it also means that police on both sides of the border could intensify their cooperation. for german and polish forces, this proves to be crucial. >> at first glance, the district looks idyllic, boasting unspoiled nature, small villages, and wide-open spaces. it borders on poland, but since the country -- since five years ago, the border has been open. traffic jams and lineups are a thing of the past. and yet, something is not quite right here. our camera team immediately met with mistrust whenever we approached local farmers. some are angry and aggressive. others just careful. >> we live in fear. when you hear a sound at night you wonder if it is just a ca

. >> the european parliament has rejected luxembourg's top central banker for a job at the european central bank, an unprecedented move taken to protest the lack of women within the organization's leadership. parliament members want european union leaders to recruit more women candidates. there are no women in any of the top leadership posts at the bank. the parliament cannot require women to be considered and governments could still approve the nominee to the post. but they hope they're sending a message. >> so what are your thoughts and could or should this ever happen here? wrote, don't we wish. >> we are seeing trends of companies addressing the matter. arehe they willing to put their words into actions? it is become apparent -- the companies and organizations and countries make more money when there's parity on board. the suisse research found that 13% more is what they make when they have parity on board. we talk about binders a issues related to, there are qualified women who can fill these posts. there's a natural gaffetation to hire women like them. we love to see these things happ

loads younger the president of the year is in finance ministers group and also prime minister of luxembourg and i bumped into him in the building we were having the summit at and he said he was very calm. didn't that there would be a solution for greece on monday greece on the other hand for the first time says you know it's not our folds this is our creditors they have to figure it out for the first time in the two years two naf years that greece has been the bailout program is not greece that's causing the trouble. you heard or just a few billion dollars left we'll see if they can resolve that on their conference call tomorrow davis with dow jones in the wall street journal. before we go this friday let's wrap up with viewer feedback because we got overwhelmingly interesting feedback on a topic we discussed on wednesday we contrasted wal-mart reportedly paying workers very little scrimping on benefits and as you know they protested today we compare that to costco which is another big box retailer which is known to treat employees pretty well and here is what you had to say on facebook jos

that's where they sell their advertising space from starbucks abased in holland and amazon based in luxembourg so they manage to pay very little taxes through channeling their revenue through these countries are part of public reaction sure surely surely there must be a people of the public or even m.p.'s who are outspoken about this unfortunately rori for much of the ordinary public here in the u.k. it's just not funny anymore they say that you know austerity measures are taking hold in the public spending cuts in the public sent a really making life difficult for people and we spoke to a few people out on the streets and this is what they told us if we're paying tax on things like. that we have to foot the bill for that i guess we're paying tax on coffee as well why should they not pay the tax that we. took i guess is up to something close. like you tend to take is that i think it's fair that you still buy starbucks coffee it's not this is some activists have already suggested a plan to highlight what they're calling this a moral behavior so if you have at least one of the companies what exa

where they sell their advertising space from starbucks are based in holland and amazon based in luxembourg for much of the ordinary public here in the u.k. it's just not funny anymore they say that you know austerity measures are taking hold in the public spending cuts in the public sent sector are really making life difficult for people and we spoke to a few people out on the streets and this is what they told us if we're paying tax on things like that we have to foot the bill for that i guess we're paying tax on coffee as well why should you not pay the tax that we. took i guess it's up to sold . like you tend to take for things like this. group of these campaigners against austerity measures here in the u.k. they say that in december they're going to launch a national day of action against starbucks what they're going to do is they're going to occupy the multitude of starbucks coffee houses that we have here in london you walk down the street you see them everywhere and they're going to make them into the homeless shelter they're going to make them into refuges into creches because that

that's where they sell their advertising space from starbucks abased in holland and amazon based in luxembourg so they manage to pay very little taxes through channeling their revenue through these countries or you talk about people saying these are immoral to do so i suppose it can in some way or another be familiar with the idea of offshore accounts for example many people have offshore accounts in the cayman islands and that's as you say the tricky one one of the methods of trickery the companies could be using what parts of public reaction sure surely surely there must be a people the public or even m.p.'s who outspoken about this unfortunately worry for much of the ordinary public here in the u.k. it's just not funny anymore they say that you know austerity measures are taking hold public spending cuts in the public sent really making life difficult for people and we spoke to a few people out on. streets and this is what they told us if we're paying taxes things like. we have to foot the bill for that i guess we're paying tax on coffee as well why should they not pay the tax that we pay t

he was due to announce his squad for a friendly against luxembourg tomorrow. be put back until wednesday, and billy stark will have that responsibility, we understand. will that the sfa be criticised for the length of time they have taken to come to this decision good stead i think so. remember, it is just over three weeks since scotland lost to belgium in brussels. many thought the writing was on the wall then. the sfa have been conducting what they call a campaign review. we we re they call a campaign review. we were expecting to hear something on thursday or friday of last week. the sfa board then said they wanted time to deliberate and to look further. many believe craig levein has been left in limbo over the weekend. questions will indeed, i think, be asked of the sfa at this media conference shortly, and undoubtedly they will be in for criticism in terms of their handling of the situation. earlier, i spoke to the former scotland international kevin gallacher, who gave us his reaction. well, the results have not gone so well for him, and people look at th

where they sell their advertising space from starbucks are based in holland and amazon based in luxembourg so they managed to pay very little taxes through channeling their revenue through these countries and of course they also say that they make very little money in the u.k. which m.p.'s find very suspect they say that they've been operating at a loss for example starbucks said they've been operating as a loss for the last fourteen years in the u.k. is a very tough market but governments are getting increasingly wary about these tactics and indeed these loopholes that need to be solved because they're losing a lot of money in tax revenue through these very clever schemes of financial trickery. as you say some of these companies say that they're not necessarily in the hole but they're not making the profits of the used to be making you talk about people saying these are immoral tactics i suppose it can in some way or another be familiar with the idea of offshore accounts for example many people have offshore accounts in the cayman islands and that's as you say the tricky one one of the me

artists drew inspiration from the city's magnificent luxembourg gardens, irresistible to anyone withn for art, including our tour guide. you got it. 133 years ago, at nearly the same spot, the young american john singer sargent painted the gardens in one of his early masterpieces, a couple out for a stroll at twilight. >> mccullough: there's something magical about this place. i think it's the bridges. i do. there's something about... >> safer: you and your bridges. >> mccullough: ...my bridges. but truly, isn't it wonderful? >> safer: this bridge figures in the story of another american in paris, augustus saint gaudens, a street kid from new york. he was determined to be a sculptor, and scraped together the money to study here. >> mccullough: he got by, barely, almost starving. but he got by and he studied, and he progressed rapidly. >> safer: his greatest works are part of the american landscape: abraham lincoln, in chicago... in boston, a memorial to the black soldiers who fought in the union army... and in new york's central park, the famous statue of civil war general william sh

. >> why don't you move to luxembourg? >> i'm actually thinking about that. >> that would be awesome. >> yeah. >> you don't agree with the first point heilmann said? >> he's going to have to deal with the drug companies. they were critical allies. >> the hospitals, all the people that they struck the behind-the-scenes deals with. and at some point he's going to have to handle medicare and medicaid and not just say oh, it's the doctors' fault. you're not going to just go after providers. and durbin yesterday, senator durbin, yesterday said we're not going to raise the retirement age for medicare. i don't know. so willie, can i ask you something? because we're talking about health care. >> anything. >> and the democrats, they're going, this is the greatest thing ever, and they're crying, this historic cause. >> it's pretty great. >> it happened at my house. you remember right after health care passed and all the republicans on the floor and said, freedom died tonight. >> i remember shortly after it passed, your son signed up

germany, luxembourg and the netherlands. now markets are worried about what's happening in europe.feeling in your money in the housing market hasn't been good. we're going to get more housing data at 8:30 and looking very closely to see if yesterday's optimism in existing home sales is repeated again today. home prices are up 11% over the past year. home prices are up more than 11%. and that's for existing home sales. that's the bulk of the housing market. that's what, when you buy a house and i buy a house, it's most likely an existing home. those home prices are up. we're going to get more home data at 8:30 today. >> you were saying more people are paying cash? >> more cash for homes. >> almost a third of these are cash. >> i have no idea. >> i know. >> imagine being one of those people. >> are you one of those people? >> that is all for "early start" everyone. i'm john berman. >> and i'm brooke baldwin. "starting point" begins right now. >>> welcome everybody, our starting point this morning, holding its truce. israel stopping its military ground offensive hoping for a diplomati

the european parliament, which was visible just recently in the case of the appointment of the luxembourg representative, reduced by the european parliament because it was not a gender equality respecting proposal. >> you see all the skills that martin schulz brings. please join me in thanking him for being here with us. >> in a few moments, senators talk about their meeting tuesday with un ambassador susan rice. senate majority whip david gergen on negotiations to work an appeal on the so-called fiscal cliff. after that, more from senate leaders who spoke with reporters after party lunches today at the capitol. later a discussion on how wall street investors are preparing for the possible tax hikes and budget cuts. now, republican senators on their meeting with you in ambassador susan rice on the attacks in libya that killed four americans. >> a very candid discussion with the director of the cia. we are significantly troubled by many the answers we got. the evidence was overwhelming leading up to the attack on our consulates. whether ambassador rice was informed sufficiently is a correc