richard ravitch joins us. a former lieutenant governor of new york, he co-chaired the task force issuing today's report with former fed chairman paul volcker. also with us is susan urahn, managing director of the pew center on the states. >> dirk ravitch what jumps out is the situation is much worse than thought, much worse than states are willing to admit and worse than anybody seems to have a grasp on what to do. am i overstating these problems? >> no, you're not. and it's a function arising from things. one, there are basic expenditures like medicaid and retirement expenditures which are growing at a faster rate in state and local revenues. number two, states for a long long time had been using gimmicky to balance their budget and weren't call to account by that. wall street's been willing to aid and abet that process and out of perfectly valid and wonderful motives, people have made a lot of commitments but we've been unwilling to provide the revenues to match the commitments that we've made as a society.

richard ravitch participated in this new report.you like to join the conversation, the numbers are on your screen. you looked at six states specifically. why focus on just these few and what are they? guest: we focused on new york and new jersey, illinois, california, texas, and virginia. we did six because we did not have the time or the resources to do 50. we took the states that we have the most service problems in. we also took states that were located in parts of the country where there was more prosperity at the state level and we believe that there were better managed fiscally. those six states contain over 40% of the population of the united states. our report is focused not just on those six states. the report reflects the statistics on each category we looked into of all 50 states. that enabled us legitimately and honestly to come to some general conclusions about what was happening in the states. obviously, every state has its unique characteristics, you need constitutions, you need laws, unique relationships with the mun

gary ravitch will have more coming up.atherine: a man initially arrested in the beating of bryan stowe and and later cleared is now suing the los angeles police department for defamation. ramirez filed a lawsuit yesterday, he was arrested and never charged. all of his lawyers insisted he had never even been to the stadium. this is him at the stadium in april. for months police argued they had arrested the right suspect. two other men have since been arrested and charged. >> pablo sandoval is not likely to face charges in connection with an elected sexual assault. the sheriff's department investigated that there is insufficient evidence for it local woman claims she was sexually assaulted at a local resort back on june 1st. the case has not been afforded to the district attorney's office. >> enough of police say that this 36 roll was arrested for the murder of evans who died of his injuries at a hospital. four people were shot in airtran today. the first shooting at 9:30 a.m.. a 16 year-old boy into a 18 year-old man or wou

lieutenant governor dick ravitch, thank you as well.ants, wide receiver victor cruz joins us. keep it here. much more ahead on "morning joe." thank you. [ cellphone rings ] the wife. hey, babe. got the jetta. i wiped the floor with the guy! not really. i would've been fine with 0% for 36 months, but i demanded 60. no...i didn't do that. it was like taking candy from a baby. you're a grown man. alright, see you at home. [ male announcer ] the volkswagen autobahn for all event. we good? we're good. [ male announcer ] at 0% apr for 60 months, no one needs to know how easy it was to get your new volkswagen. that's the power of german engineering. to your kids' wet skin. neutrogena® wet skin kids. ordinary sunblock drips and whitens. neutrogena® wet skin cuts through water. forms a broad spectrum barrier for full strength sun protection. wet skin. neutrogena®. >>> breaking news out of syria. senior commander with the free syrian army has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing this morning that killed the nation's defense minister and o

gary ravitch has towards coming up next. of of of sweetie, you have to scrub it first.u don't, honey. yes, you do! don't! i've washed a few cupcake tins in my day... oh, so you're a tin expert now. whoa nelly! hi, kitchen counselor here. he's actually right... with cascade complete. see cascade complete pacs work like thousands of micro-scrubbing brushes to help power away tough foods even in corners and edges. so, i was right, right? i've gotta run. more dishwasher brands in north america recommend cascade. >>stanley: you're looking at possibly the world's most expensive cup of coffee. over $170. back in 2008 i did a story on drivers who cross over a divided highway. this is a divided highway located on san pablo ave. it is one of the oldest roadways in the east bay. four years later drivers are still crossing over the divided highway to either go to teach coffee or to this fedex store. sometimes it is to make illegal u-turn on top of crossing over the double set of double yellow lines. or, crossing from one side of the street to the other ignoring their right turn onl

gary ravitch has the highlights in. " months >>gary: as the 500 for the first time since may 22nd.out! cause me of >> and dec how far that when? >>gary: cris carter has been back and forth between the majors in the minors and have the biggest hit of his career. the oakland a's are now 42- 42. known >>gary: roma had his fifth save of the season. the giants win a final of six-five ending a three game losing streak. the warriors have signed the second of their draft picks. miami bound ray allen, he is leading the boston celtics. he will take $6 million less to play with lebron james in miami. roger fetter will pursue his seventh wimbledon title against in the murray. but the austin was the last brick to make the wimbledon final. in the murray is a winner today, if he beats murray he will retake the number-one ranking. in the murray against robert fetter on sunday. tiger woods and phil nicholson have missed the cut in virginia at the greenbrier classic in white sulphur springs. webster said it is your leader at - 9. bodies are flying at the court of france. the big one came at the 60 m

host: richard ravitch, thank you for joining us. guest: my pleasure. host: that is all for "washington legislative business includes the preserving of america family firms act. a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. july 24, 2012. i hereby appoint the the honorable david rivera, to act as speaker pro tempore on this day, signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 17, 2012, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and minority whip limited to five minutes each. but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, for five minutes. mr. poe: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore