. >> reporter: mark calabria is a economist of the kato institute. >> not only were we in favor of this, we were in favor of more and a lot of this is election year posturing for who is for more kev set reduction. >> reporter: mis -- deficit reduction. >> reporter: missing the deadline would trigger large automatic domestic and defense cut. there was little appetite especially in an election year. if there was any question this problem is not going away any time soon, the treasury department announced just a short time ago that for the first time in history, the u.s. debt today topped a $15 trillion mark, brian. >> tom fitzgerald tonight. >>> following a developing story out of pennsylvania avenue. the officers arrested a man suspected of using an assault rifle. the authorities striked -- struck him down near pittsburgh. fox 5s paul wagner is live at the white house with details on the arrest. paul. >> reporter: brian, this is what we know about the arrest and how it happened. law enforcement sources say that there were receipts found inside oscar ortega hernandez's vehicle, the abandon

. >> reporter: mark calabria of the conservative cato institute says the pew study raises concerns about how government policy shifts income across generations. >> the fact that the elderly have performed so much better relative to everyone else, you know, certainly raises questions in my mind of how we deal with entitlements. you know, should we be means testing social security and medicare?iñ because ultimately, these programs have to be paid for by somebody. >> reporter: while older americans have expanded the wealth gap with younger americans, many are still struggling. using an alternative poverty measure that includes out-of- pocket medical expenses, new figures released today show almost one in six of those 65 and older are poor. that's far higher than the official rate of one in ten. darren gersh, "nightly business report," washington. >> susie: credit unions and small independent banks across the nation continue to crunch the numbers on how many new customers they have gained thanks to bank transfer day. the official day was on saturday, but the grassroots movement has been unde