still ahead, we go beyond the scoreboard with an unlikely winner in the fiscal cliff debate: nascar racetrack owners. >> tom: today, it was concerns about earnings. last month, it was the fiscal cliff. a year ago, it was europe. the long list of concerns have scared small investors away from the stock market. as a result, many missed out on last year's 13% gain in the s&p 500. suzanne pratt looks tonight at what it might take to turn retail investors into stock shareholders again. >> reporter: where is everybody? we're not talking about the growth in electronic trading that has made the big board's floor seem so lonely. we're talking retail investors, so many of whom have exited the stock market in the last several years. t.d. ameritrade and its c.e.o. fred tomczyk keep close tabs on the psyche of american investors and have a theory. >> i think it's definitely uncertainty and all the events that have happened over the last couple of years. i think, if there's one thing to turn it around, it would be seeing more indications that the u.s. economy is on the right track. >> reporter: to better g

nascar racetrack owners, $78 million. puerto rican rummakers, $220 million. and algae growers, $59 million. >> to use vehicles that are must-pass, which are the lobbyists' ticket on board the gravy train is sad and cynical commentary on the way washington does business. >> reporter: nascar says its write-off increases investment in construction, which results in desperately needed jobs. supporters of other breaks also say they foster research, create jobs and help companies compete. still, experts say over two years, the special tax breaks for business largely wipe out the $86 billion raised by increasing taxes on the wealthy. >> so where did all that money from letting the tax cuts expire for the rich go? they gave it right back to big business. >> reporter: so, despite all the rhetoric about cutting the deficit, washington still seems to be engaging in business as usual, doling out money through tax breaks and special projects. take that $60 billion emergency bill passed by the senate to help victims of superstorm sandy. much of that money is desperately ne

a tax break for building nascar racetracks or another year of tax exempt fund-raising near ground zeroally intended to rebuild lower manhattan. now the bonds have been used to construct, among other things, a new goldman sachs headquarters. if you take the cost of extending all these tax breaks for corporations and individuals and the 2009 stimulus tax breaks, you get about $210 billion aggregate. now compared to new revenues projected from higher taxes, special interests represent about a third of all new money raised. that is a staggering figure for those concerned with deficit reduction. sam brock, nbc bay area news. back to you. >> okay, thank you, sam. very revealing. this new year brings a change to immigration laws beginning march 4 immigrant families won't have to be separated for months while members apply for permanent u.s. residency. previously those applications had to be made from their native countries resulting in a long wait. oftentimes while the request was under consideration. immigration attorneys say many clients never even sought pe permanent residency out of fear

breaks, other arcane provisions come into the final bill, everything from electric scooters, nascar racetracks." what did we see that was a carryover? guest: most of them are around for a long time. the american opportunities tax credit, dealing with college tuition. the earned income tax credit was also extended. $134 billion just in those three provisions. host: citizens against government waste, thomas schatz is their president. if you want to get in on the discussion, here are the numbers to call. democrats, 202-585-3880. republicans, 202-585-3881. an independent scholars, 202- 585-3882. guest: something that had been around for some time affect the overall corporate tax rate. the u.s. has the highest of all the industrial countries in their tax rates. 35%. there is the discussion about lowering its. those kinds of tax rates, and this bill has made it more complicated. host: another is a run tax from puerto rico. guest: that one has a history. it goes back to 1917 for puerto rico, 1934 for the virgin islands. the money goes to the territories for whatever purpose they wish. it is almost a

and it took 72% of those savings and turned around and gave them a way to, among other nascar to subsidize racetracks, hollywood to subsidize film production and wall street which maintained a $9.4 billion loophole called the active financing reception. all the back and forth over the fiscal cliff and top marge anal rate and chain cpis these deals were never discussed or negotiated over. there's always a foregone conclusion, wage earns were going to pay more in taxes while nascar and goldman sachs were going to get their tax breaks. some washington, it's always the things not debated that are the most dangerous. do you want to find out what my panel thinks about my lesson of the so-called fiscal cliff, right after this. is a better car than camry. to argue would be rude. nissan altima. with moving-object detection. lease now. just $199 per month. visit choosenissan.com. road and track called sentra an economy car minus the look and feel of an economy car. wonder how civic and corolla look and feel about that. the all-new nissan sentra, with best-in-class mpg. lease for $169 per month. visit choosenis

. $22 million for puerto rico and the virgin islands for rum and $70 million for nascar to allow certain racetracksecover their costs. anthony, when people hear that, they're going to be outraged. >> no kidding. but the house decidet not to vote on a relief bill for victims of superstorm sandy. on friday they voted for $60 billion for those in new york and new jersey. the leaders called off the vote because of the fiscal cliff deadline. new york lawmakers are steaming. >> hurricane sandy struck on october 29th. eight, nine weeks ago. it's unprecedented that it should take so long. and yet we are now told that this house is going to adjourn, that even though the senate voted for the aid, we're going to do nothing, it's unprecedented. it's disgusting. >> there's no way to sugar coat this. a new study finds eating fructose may trigger brain activity that make use overeat. fructose is added to drinks and foods. they found the brain fails to react to feeling full the way it does when people eat regular sugar. the researchers say this leads to more'ding and potentially to obesity. >>> and there's one stu

nascar, another big winner, a program that allows racetracks to deduct over $40 billion in operational cost also extended, and the president's hollywood friends rewarded. television and movie makers still eligible for over 400 million in tax breaks for doing business n this country. meanwhile, stocks soared on wall street as a result of that terrific deal that was struck. a major mrket rally despite the details, those pesky details in the fiscal cliff deal. the dow jones industrials gaining more than 300 points on the date. the biggest gain on the first trading day of the new year in american history. the nearly 500-point increase over the past two days contributing t the highest close since october 18th. the s&p following suit, picking up 36 points, nasdaq up 96 points on the first trading day of 2013. and grover norquist saying no republican voted for a tax increase. really? he joins us here to talk about that and a great deal more. republican congressman has been highly critical of the speaker. he is among our guest to talk about the future of the party and the budget. moody's chief

i'm a nascar fan from several years back but to subsidize nascar for improvement to their racetracks. give me a break. this is the kind of pork that we certainly do not need. these people make so much money, they don't know what to do with it half the time. host: thanks for the call. also related twitter comment from our viewer are you going to reject the pork in the sandy bill that's voted in the house today. guest: she made a couple points. first the payroll tax that you pay, that's the funding of social security so people pay into social security system which is retirement system and then they have social security when they retire. what happened was, several years ago, as part of the negotiations going back to 2010, that was reduced to 4.2% as part of the effort to stimulate the economy. it's just reverting to the 6.2% that historically has been at and again, that is funding for social security, which obviously we need to keep sound and make sure it's there for the long term. that's not an increase, that's what the rate always been and it just reverted after the two year tax holida

i'm a nascar fan from several years back but to subsidize nascar for improvement to their racetracks. give me a break. this is the kind of pork that we certainly do not need. these people make so much money, they don't know what to do with it half the time. host: thanks for the call. also related twitter comment from our viewer are you going to reject the pork in the sandy bill that's voted in the house today. guest: she made a couple points. first the payroll tax that you pay, that's the funding of social security so people pay into social security system which is retirement system and then they have social security when they retire. what happened was, several years ago, as part of the negotiations going back to 2010, that was reduced to 4.2% as part of the effort to stimulate the economy. it's just reverting to the 6.2% that historically has been at and again, that is funding for social security, which obviously we need to keep sound and make sure it's there for the long term. that's not an increase, that's what the rate always been and it just reverted after the two year tax holida

i'm a nascar fan from several years back but to subsidize nascar for improvement to their racetracks. give me a break. this is the kind of pork that we certainly do not need. these people make so much money, they don't know what to do with it half the time. host: thanks for the call. also related twitter comment from our viewer are you going to reject the pork in the sandy bill that's voted in the house today. guest: she made a couple points. first the payroll tax that you pay, that's the funding of social security so people pay into social security system which is retirement system and then they have social security when they retire. what happened was, several years ago, as part of the negotiations going back to 2010, that was reduced to 4.2% as part of the effort to stimulate the economy. it's just reverting to the 6.2% that historically has been at and again, that is funding for social security, which obviously we need to keep sound and make sure it's there for the long term. that's not an increase, that's what the rate always been and it just reverted after the two year tax holida

sponsor and they are a part of expanding the acceptance of the nascar racing well beyond the, the day's activities on a sunday at the racetrack. and so this is an opportunity for us to have an outreach that goes to people who actually then have some skin in the game. and i think it could be an extremely important way of bringing resources into an agency that is badly in need of significant resources for the future. >> i want to make it clear, i wasn't picking a fight with nascar. i'm from north carolina. >> i didn't think you would. >> i didn't run for re-election but i want to be able to go out in public. there's been a lot of discussion of, public/private partnerships. obviously we do need to think about commercial applications of our space technology and our capabilities. but i worry. we have had probofls, discussions in this committee, privatizing the national weather service, which is entirely built with taxpayer-funded research. it is a capability that has been entirely provided as a public service, built by taxpayer funding, and the proposals seem to becoming from a company that wanted to buy the national weather servi