i'm joined by robert reich, former secretary of labor under president bill clinton. ofessor of public policy at uc berkeley and author of "beyond outrage." i don't know how far beyond outrage you can get than this, mr. reich. can there be little doubt that this will go down as one of the most obstructive congresses ever, including what we're going through right now, which is more than ludicrous, is just ridiculous. >> one has to look very far into history to find a congress that is at least as unproductive, as sort of paralyzed as this congress. i would say, basically, back to the 1940s. harry truman had a congress that he accused as being a do-nothing congress. well, the 112th congress just ending is probably worse. >> and that's searching through history with a keen eye. let's not forget last year's debt ceiling debacle, which president obama has vowed never to repeat. >> if congress in any way suggests that they're going to tie negotiations to debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again as part of a budget negotiation, which, by the way, we ha

robert reich, do you have any problems with all of these things?> well, most of them are steps in the right direction. i think that actually taking the debt ceiling approval away from congress sounds radical but it really isn't. that's a technicality. you don't want the debt ceiling ever to be negated. you are don't want congress to ever say no because that's the full faith and credit of the united states. that's what we went through before. a moderate stimulus in the range of $50 billion, at least until we get jobs back and until the economy gets back on track, that makes a lot of sense, and then you want to do serious deficit reduction. >> robert reich, so nice to see you. thanks for joining us. have a great weekend. >> thanks very much, you, too. >>> if you think our government's debt problem is overwhelming, wait until you hear about how much credit cards and debt this family rocked up. evenmore amazing, unlike the federal government, they were able to dig themselves out of it. >> christmas, that was my biggest downfall. i wanted something nice

robert reich, thank you so very much. and our sincere apologies to amanda turco of "the huffington post," who was unable to join us due to technical difficulties beyond our control. >>> up next, america's murder capital. what makes this city so much more violent than los angeles and new york? we'll talk about the guns and the attitudes. >>> and the country re-elected its first african-american president. yet that hasn't stopped some from engaging in hate speech and racist stunts. we'll talk about this mannequin and much more. >>> please, stop the killering. >> guys see what happened? huh? you didn't see what happened? >> he don't do nothing wrong. >> i can't take this! he didn't do nothing to nobody. >> my grandson belonged to me, not -- not whoever took it upon themselves to kill him. >> thanks for staying with us. chicago marked a grim milestone today. it's officially the murder capital of america, reporting 500 homicides this year. shootings are up 11%. compare that to los angeles. l.a. is four times bigger than chicag

robert reich, thank you so very much.nd our sincere apologies to amanda turco of "the huffington post," who was unable to join us due to technical difficulties beyond our control. >>> up next, america's murder capital. what makes this city so much more violent than los angeles and new york? we'll talk about the guns and the attitudes. >>> and the country re-elected its first african-american president. yet that hasn't stopped some from engaging in hate speech and racist stunts. we'll talk about this mannequin and much more. [ "the odd couple" theme playing ] humans. even when we cross our "t"s and dot our "i"s, we still run into problems -- mainly other humans. at liberty mutual insurance, we understand. that's why our auto policies come with accident forgiveness if you qualify, where your rates won't go up due to your first accident, and new car replacement, where if you total your new car, we give you the money for a new one. call... to talk to an insurance expert about everything else that comes standard with our base

but it comes home to roost, robert reich. thank you so much. >> thank you. up next, drive time. are american cars zooming along? the best news for the auto sector in years. >>> living with lions, theater director julie taymor with me. we take a break and look at the stock market ended the week. back in a moment. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. >>> welcome back. in spite of economic uncertainty, it is on pace to sell more than 15 million new cars this year. mike jackson is the ceo of autonation. good to have you on the program. welcome back. i was surprised what's going on with auto sales, five-year high for auto sales with so much uncertainty about the

we live in the obama era, not the john boehner -- >> joining me now is robert reich, professor at theversity of california, berkeley. professor reich, we know that the fiscal cliff is january 1st. if we went off and stayed off, didn't do any legislative repair to it, where do you think the recession cliff would be? >> lawrence, worst-case scenario, probably by the end of january taxes are clearly going up on the middle class, also major program cuts in discretionary spending are kicking in. there's not too much that the administration can do in terms of front-loading anymore because you've got to -- assuming that there's no deal at all, you've got to make some adjustment with regard to your spending and your spending is going to be cut. that means that you're setting up the economy for a recession maybe by march, maybe by april. we also have very powerful headwinds coming from europe that is in recession because it bought into austerity economics and that's what we would be buying into in a very big way if nothing changed. we also have china that is slowing down. globally and also dom

. >> joining me now, robert reich, and howard dean, dnc chairman. now i think we'll all agree that president obama is a pretty smart guy. but i want you to listen to him trying to figure out the logic of plan b, let's listen to that. >> let's think about the logic for a second. they're thinking about voting for raising taxes, at least on folks over a million, which they say they don't want to do. but they're going to reject spending cuts that they say they do want to do. that defies logic. there is no explanation for that. >> professor reisch, you're very >> let's think about the logic for a second. they're thinking about voting for raising taxes, at least on folks over a million, which they say they don't want to do. but they're going to reject spending cuts that they say they do want to do. that defies logic. there is no explanation for that. >> professor reisch, you're very good with logic, can you please help the president and me figure out the logic of this? >> there is no logic here, there is a tactical approach that will frankly fail, because

robert reich, it's wonderful to see you. casey, thank you for coming back on.appreciate it. >>> now the big stock story of the week is apple. the question is is a steep selloff really justified? do we all have a buying opportunity on our hands? this technical? is this capital gains? is this a fundamental problem with this great company? that's coming next up on "kudlow." if we want to improve our schools... ... what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. it's easy to follow the progress you're making toward all your financial goals. a quick glance, and you can see if you're on track. when the conversation turns to knowing where you stand, turn to us. wells fargo advisors. [ female announcer ] if you care for someone with mild to moderate alzheimer's, you'll also care about our new offer. you get ac

robert reich is next. that's half that's not half! guys, i have more! announcer ] pillsbury crescents. let the making begin the saying easy as pie? i get it now. just unroll it fill, top, bake, and present. that must have taken you forever! it was really tough. [ female announcer ] pillsbury pie crust. let the making begin >> eliot: former labor secretary robert reich talks fiscal negotiations and says hands off social security. he joins me next. bp >> eliot: against the backdrop of the newtown tragedy washington has talked incessantly about children safety but at the same time it is cutting investment in children. with respect to a proposed fiscal cliff compromise and the bush tax cuts, social security and medicare, former labor secretary robert reich tweeted today that president obama is caving on the cliff. professor reich joins me now. his best selling ebook "beyond outrage" is now out in paperback. buy it and read it. welcome to the show, professor. >> good evening. >> eliot: why is the president caving and what issues in particular? explain what h

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here is robert reich the author of "beyond outrage."e is joining us tonight from berkeley, thank you so much bob for joining me today. >> well good evening, jennifer. i'll tell you this is something that only tangentially touches on my normal topics but goes to the heart of the moral understanding and ability of americans to take action. i think we have reached a tipping point here. i think the normal approach we take as a country, because of an at attention deficit disorder that we have in the media is when some horrendous thing like that happens, we talk about gun control and change and then we sort of lose our way. the gun lobbies become more activated, and then when it looks like we are serious, they mount all of their possible cloud. i think this time it is going to be different. there's no way that americans are going to forget 20 six year olds and the way they were gunned down. i think we're going to see a change. >> jennifer: i hope you are right. you were in president clinton's administration. do you think this will be a changi

robert reich and grover norquist.ew word now on the vice president of the united states, joe biden. what will he do if there's a senate vote tonight? stand by. where is flo? anybody know where flo is? are you flo? yes. is this the thing you gave my husband? well, yeah, yes. the "name your price" tool. you tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose from. careful, though -- that kind of power can go to your head. that explains a lot. yo, buddy! i got this. gimme one, gimme one, gimme one! the power of the "name your price" tool. only from progressive. aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u.s. postal service. we'll even drop off boxes if you need them. visit usps.com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. any time of year. ♪ nice sweater. thank you. ♪ we don't let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. so if you're one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get h

for perspective on that, let's bring in robert reich former labor secretary under president clinton,lling book "beyond outrage" is now available in paperback. professor, mr. secretary, what is going on out there? first, explain what is the impact of these right-to-work laws on wages? >> well, very direct, eliot. in fact, right to work is a misnomer. it really should be called an assault on labor unions because those right-to-work laws that have been traditionally confined to anti-labor states make it very, very difficult to form unions. they say essentially there are no union dues. nobody can be required to join a union as a condition of getting a job which means why bother joining a union if you can get all of the benefits of unionization in terms of collective bargaining and everything else that follows without joining. it is a means of undermining unionization. it has been used for years in this country but now it is coming to the heartland. it is comes coming to wisconsin and michigan where unions started out. labor movement began in michigan, the united autoworkers was -- that w

. >> gavin: robert reich said we're not able to compete with cheap laborer, free land and all these othershould focus on retooling our economy and refocus on knowledge of cities. you take him on, it's not personal but you take on that point of view personally. >> you don't under this knowledge of. i think it reflects someone who has not been on the modern factory floor. manufacturing jobs are knowledge jobs. i talk about vita mix where they make all the blenders that produce frap frapachinos. these are jobs that require thinking and skill and it's false to make this distinction that some are knowledge jobs and some aren't. and if you look at manufacturing it's still the pathway to the middle class. i have a lot of respect for robert reich, but in this issue i don't he has it right. >> gavin: you travel around the country, not necessarily around the globe but around the country to see what is working. you mention vita mix. another is globe which has a wonderful history going back to the late 1800s in the united states, and then a profound history around 9/11. >> it was one of the most insp

chief washington correspondent and political writer for the "new york times," and robert reich. he's also the author of "beyond outrage." john, you can tell us all the maneuverings and meetings that have gone on all day between the house administration and their staff. just catch us up on everything, john, all the big news that happened today. >> right here, lawrence. nothing. nothing happened. but i have to say, though, i'm still with bill crystal and that 50% tooth fairy crowd in thinking the republican leadership in the senate and then, as a result of that, in the house are going to decide that they've already taken enough punishment. the punishment will get worse after january 1st and that ultimately they will accept, at least temporarily, perhaps not as a permanent solution, but at least temporarily, the deal that bill crystal says was worse than the one they rejected from a republican point of view that they rejected in the plan b proposal, because the outcome of this at the end of the day is pretty clear, and even people who are stubborn idealogically understand where the

fiscal cliff compromise and the bush tax cuts, social security and medicare, former labor secretary robert reich tweeted today that president obama is caving on the cliff. professor reich joins me now. his best selling ebook "beyond outrage" is now out in paperback. buy it and read it. welcome to the show, professor. >> good evening. >> eliot: why is the president caving and what issues in particular? explain what he should be doing. >> well, as we know, the fiscal cliff is much scarier to republicans than to democrats because it signifies huge cuts in the military and also major tax increases for republicans patrons, the very wealthy. it is not that terrifying to democrats who can easily pass a law on january 2nd that provides a tax cut for the middle class and make it retroactive to january 1st. against that backdrop, you would think the president would not have to compromise very much or would not have to feel he had to compromise very much and yet he has done so. not only is he lifting the threshold for the tax hike up to $400,000. in fact it looks like he might go higher from that from $250

it's alan simpson's 6'7", robert reich, 4'10" and called it the long and the short of it. >> i know you'reing it up. >> comedy and politics, road trips. i watched it! senior in high school. i even attended a taping. >> last question. will you boldly go on the record right now and right here to support a common sense solution. >> everyone has a different deaf situation of common sense. that's too easy. >> neil irwin, thank you for joining us. >>> ahead, washington may be stuck in the neutral but the rest of the country is moving forward. new numbers of pot and gay marriage will have you talking. it's in the spin cycle as we roll on for wednesday, december 5th. questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. now's a good time to think about your options. are you looking for a plan that really meets your needs? and your budget? as you probably know, medicare only covers a

now are richard wolffe, the executive editor of msnbc.com and an msnbc political analyst, and robert reich, former labor secretary and a professor at the university of california berkeley. he is also the author of "beyond outrage." richard, i want to go to you first here. the president talked quite a bit in the election cycle. >> quite a bit. >> he did, period, about the fever breaking amongst republicans in congress . >> yes. >> it's been quite feverish of late, which is to say a lot of back and forth, a lot of hot air blown from the house caucus. i wonder if you think that fever might be breaking with the suggestion john boehner said, even if the president gets his way on tax rates, which would seem to open the door to that possibility. >> it's a bit to latch on to that. they cannot settle on a position. very different from the last time around. and it's true. the white house has said both publicly and privately, look, we're prepared to see all the tax rates go up. what are you going to do about it? that's a very, very different dynamic from what we've seen before. interesting that only

. >> robert reich. >> robert reich. and the chief of staff has always, always, been a white male.ng after, as to your point, the black female potential secretary of state after that -- >> -- after the election we just had. it's impossible -- i think you can't divorce any of these things from any of the other things. >> quick panel, yes or no, does susan rice get the nomination? >> yes. i would say. >> yes. >> i have no idea. i have no idea. i'm out of the prediction game. >> one more. >> no. >> i want to thank you on that note to nicolas, joan, maggie, and rana. that is the end of the show. that's all for now. alex wagner returns tomorrow at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific when she is joined by chris hayes, melissa harris-perry, professor michael eric dyson, and dr. zinc emmanuel. until then, you can find alex on facebook.com/now with alex. andrea mitchell reports is next. good afternoon, andrea. >> good afternoon, joy. great to see you there. thanks so much. coming up here, the country wants a compromise and do the clintons have their eye on the white house again in 2016? a lot o

professor robert reich, thank you, sir. >> thanks very much, martin. bye-bye. >> stay with us. hampton pearson has the cbs market wrap. good afternoon. >> hello, martin. late day comments from harry reid about the lack of progress on the fiscal cliff talks really put the brakes on today's rally. at the close we saw the dow gaining 78 points. the s&p adding 9 points. the nasdaq up 35. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. it's just common sense. social security are just numbers thinkin a budget.d... well, we worked hard for those benefits. we earned them. and

about, the fiscal cliff, jobs numbers, the state of the economy who better to talk about it than robert reich and current economics professor at the berkeley. let's talk about the numbers. on friday the surprisingly strong jobs numbers, 146,000 new jobs created. the unemployment rate 7.7%. we were expecting impact from superstorm sandy and earlier thanksgiving. what do these numbers say about the economy? >> apparently we are still struggling. they are not hugely wonderful numbers. i don't think that anyone should breathe a sigh of relief but we are undoubtedly moving in the right direction. early thanksgiving may have cancelled out negative effects of sandy. the bureau of statistics said sandy didn't have much of an affect in november. >> think we will see revisions next month. >> every month we are seeing reing visions and so far they have been downward. the revisions for october and september were both downward slightly. so i wouldn't be surprised if we see downward revisions coming up. >> the other big story is the fiscal cliff. can you help us read the tea leaves here? this week we heard

my guest next week former secretary of labor robert reich. join us for that.it here where wall street meets main street. have a great week, everybody. i will see you next weekend. bp has paid over twenty-threebp billion dollarsnt to the gulf. to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger.

robert reich. see, i would listen to the guys that were there then in the clinton administration.economy. >> stephanie: okay. lenny in wisconsin. your eaten "the stephanie miller show." >> caller: hi. how you doing, steph? >> stephanie: good. go ahead. >> caller: i have a few things to say. i hope you don't cut me off. >> stephanie: all right. >> caller: i'm a 62-year-old gay man who is on disability and i've got my -- because of scott walker, all of my healthcare removed. all of my food stamps removed. i'm making $700 a month. i have $500 a month in prescriptions which of course, i can't afford. so i had to decide which ones are the best for me to take and i have no money for food. but i'll tell you one thing right now i pay $10.50 a month on my cable bill to see you! >> stephanie: that's very sweet and i think probably not the wisest thing. considering food. i would go with -- >> stephanie miller. >> should we send a cheese basket or something? >> stephanie: something. >> for some nourishment? >> stephanie: i can share my government cheese that i get as a single woman. according

hopefully the president, when he wins this particular scrimmage, will pivot to the issue of jobs. >> robert reich made that last point. thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> thank you very much, lawrence. >>> coming up, republican soul searching continues. a new company has been in job of trying to figure out why republicans lost the last election. someone should tell them that they can find archived versions of this program at thelastword.msnbc.come. >>> and the most influential person in politics in the last 30 years, from reagan until now? the answer is in the rewrite a few minutes from now. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be dif

douglas holtz-ekin, president of the american action forum and robert reich from the university of california and berkeley and former secretary under bill clinton. douglas, does this sound like code for a deal in the works? >> it certainly is good news that they aren't taking things off the table. i would be premature if i was celebrating a deal. there's a long way to go. it's important that they reach an agreement. the fiscal cliff is a very real danger to the united states economy. it's a recipe for a recession. and i certainly would not like to see the rhetoric that we saw from the treasury secretary tim geithner who said he's prepared to go over the fiscal cliff. that is not a good way to talk about what's going on right now. >> mr. reich, let me ask you the same thing. do you think there's code suggesting they are working towards something? because, doug, as you point out, the language was really harsh during this week. but all of a sudden, here we are friday evening and people are saying these kind of soft things that say maybe compromise. what do you think, robert? >> i think doug is r

. >> right, robert reich and howard dean, thank you for joining us tonight. >>> thanks. >>> coming up, it really is different this time. president obama announced today he would propose new legislation to reduce gun violence. and people are standing up around the country to say enough is enough. we'll be joined by the basketball coach who used his post-game press conference to ask president obama and john boehner to do something about this tragic american way of death. mass murder. and later, is president obama really considering a cut in social security benefits? and in the rewrite tonight, what would ronald reagan do? specifically, what would reagan do about the bill senator diane feinstein plans to introduce banning assault weapons? the answer will surprise today's republicans who claim to worship ronald reagan, and know almost nothing about him. a hybrid? most are just no fun to drive. now, here's one that will make you feel alive. meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't you see? cause c-max has lots more horsepower

. >> and other reason is there says robert reich will jam when he fired in the food court. fixed it, people had more time to escape. officials say an early investigation shows roberts had no significant criminal in history. they say roberts shot himself in a mall removing the chance for him and asked how he could do this. most people knew dick roberts seemed to be stunned that he did this. france and extra friends describe him as a person was very loud. a popular outgoing 22 year-old who is planning to move to hawaii. as a page is revealing more tonight. and one pose the rights i may be young but i have lived one crazy life so far. >> before yesterday the only thing remotely by let about deck of tyler roberts reveals he likes shooting. police say roberts recently stole an ar-15 assault rifle from an acquaintance. we may never know what prompted him to use that weapon, terrorizing a crowded mall while shooting i am the shooter! his ex-girlfriend thousand police she cannot understand the situation and cannot believe these suspect was them. he recently sold all his belongings

. >> eliot: robert reich professor at u.c. berkeley. thank you for joining us. >> thanks, eliot. >> eliot: that's "viewpoint" for tonight. have a great [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, hey, hello everybody. it is tuesday. >> >> bill: hey, everybody. wednesday morning, december 19th. good to see you today. welcome to the "full-court press" here on current tv coming to you live from our nation's capitol with all of the big stories of the day all of the big news of the day on the fiscal cliff front and on the gun control front as well as what's happening in syria and other news around the current tree and around the globe. we will take your calls at 866-55-press. the president has made a big compromise, raising the tax cuts to the first $400,000 dropping the payroll tax holiday and, get this cutting social security benefits. wait a minute. i thought social security was not going to be on the table. he promised us that. has the president sold us down the river already? 0, man. lots to talk about. but first, we get the latest. today's current new

. >> we are joined by former labor secretary robert reich, the author of "beyond outrage."you all about how to fix it. but let's focus on this one part, secretary reich. you listened to the president. what did you hear? >> candy, i heard basically washington boilerplate, keep our fingers crossed, this is going to be a hail mary, but i have no idea how this is going to come out. >> when you hear him say, i've asked for an up-or-down vote, do you hear, there's a possibility or do you hear, uh-oh, this is a guy looking to position himself for after we go over the fiscal cliff? >> well, undoubtedly the president wants to be seen as doing everything he possibly can to avoid going over the cliff. but the chances of avoiding, going over right now are very, very small. mitch mcconnell has to basically cooperate on the senate side and not do any kind of procedural maneuvering and john boehner in the house has got to be willing to put the bill on the floor if it comes over from the senate. and even if a majority of republicans are against it -- and that's asking a very great deal of