. >> michael farr has made his way through d.c. traffic. are you guys down there, are we going to get a deal at all or what's the mood down there right now? >> the mood down here, bill, is kind of plummy. and, you know, on the naughty and nice list, i can't believe these guys would be optimistic. you can't imagine such a petulant group going back and forth. we were expecting, really, some sort of at least accord, a framework for getting a deal done and getting into the first part of the new year. but it doesn't look like we're going to get there at this point. so -- >> you think we go over the cliff? >> i think the chances are increasing that yes, indeed, we will go over the cliff. i think the time is just running short for the very slow grinding wheels of washington to actually get it to any kind of conclusion. >> rob, what do you think? how do you invest in growth in an environment where we're not growing up and we have this bashier in washington? >> well, i think the opportunity for investors are in companies that have robust business mo

joining us now, michael farr in washington, and also peter schear. great to have you both with us. thanks for coming back from various holidays. michael, this is not an economic crisis. this is not a market crisis. this feels like a political crisis. do you blame our leaders for failing to get their act together over this? >> mandy, it is a profound failure of leadership once again from washington. i mean, we have been facing this profligate spending for a long time. over the last four years it's been $5 trillion more than we've brought in in receipts. just think about that in terms of your own household if you spent 11%, 12% more than you brought in in your annual receipts. it doesn't work long term. so we keep that up and we knew it was coming, and we don't really have the receipts so we do have to find balance somewhere, yet these guys go right up to the wire. john harwood has been reporting all day that they have to issue congress a 48-hour notice to return to washington. hasn't gone out yet. so while we're having a five-day countdown, it's probably closer to three days because

michael guyette from pension partners and michael farr from farr miller in washington and our very own rick santelli. michael, i'll get to you in a minute. the markets moved up and closed marginally in the red on the news the house will reconvene on sunday night. i get the feeling that all of that back and forth between senators reid and mcconnell, had that come out during market hours, the market would have reacted very differently. so far apart. i didn't hear anything in the way of compromise there. >> even before of the house meeting, marks were down 1.2%. that's noise but not really a panic. the result of the fiscal cliff here is not risk off. it's risk protation into those areas of the investable landscape. look at emerging markets, lock at europe. they are decoupling. if anything, price is still very bull ir. i would rather listen to price. >> why do you say it's still very bullish? >> they recovered almost completely the loss which means the markets thinks tax puts will still be in play. the market is saying it's okay, you know, we've had an increase in market cap this year in t

cnbc contributor michael farr. good to see you. great to have you here. >> thanks, michelle.derful to be with you. >> have you heard about what timothy geithner said tonight? >> you are way better looking than kudlow. i know you heard that. this is a much better screen to look at from our glide flattery will get you everywhere. did you hear secretary geithner sent out a note saying that -- letter, official letter saying we are going to hit the debt ceiling monday. lee business days notice. >> perfect. >> what will that do to the markets tomorrow? >> you and i talked about this is a couple of years ago when we hit hit it in july and i was dead wrong. i was entirely dead wrong. i thought congress would make sure we wouldn't lose our aaa debt rate. >> and we did. >> and -- yeah. i figured certainly logically that yields would go up on bonds. and that the stock market would fall and just the opposite happening. what happen this time to the markets still have patience. you know, rinehart talk about that bang moment when countries are able to continue to issue really cheap debt for