want to thank our guest hosts this morning for sharing their morning with us, jeremy siegel and steve forbesll welcome steve case, by the way thank you, thank you, guys. steve case member of the president's jobs and competitiveness council and co-founder and former ceo of aol. we'll talk about dplphilanthrop jobs, economic recovery. lot to talk about. before we go look at futures setting up nicely this week, dow jones looks like it would open up 82 points higher, s&p 500 up about 1e7b points. if markets stay like this, that's what it will look like around 9:30 this morning. "squawk box" is back in a bit with a huge hour at 8:00. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. or that printing i

steve forbes, chairman, editor-in-chief of forbes media with me now. how are you doing, steve.d morning to you. >> how are you, bill? bill: i'm doing fine. hope you had a good thanksgiving too. this is a sad reality for so many millions of americans. if unemployment benefits are scaled back or lost to many of them, do you believe that others believe it could have a significant impact on our economy? >> well, it is not so much the impact on the economy, it is on those particular individuals and in terms of enabling them to get new schools or to take jobs. one of the things that a lot of people are coming to grips with, they're not going to get the kind of job they had before this economic crisis and will have to lower their expectations but on this whole thing on the unemployment benefits, i, that is going to have to be dealt with, obviously as part of the fiscal cliff. i think given all that has to be done, bill, i think the most realistic thing, take everything, extend it for 90 days or 180 days so we don't have the idea we can reform social security, medicare, medicaid, the t

first our company for the for the hour, former presidential candidate steve forbes and radio host and best-selling author, monica crowley. to you first, you're both conservatives. monica, who is going to win. >> governor romney will win the presidency by three percentage points and over 300 votes. stuart: are you being objective? >> i hope not my wishful thinking. over last month and a half i have been to most of the swing states. the energy is palpable. not something easily to discount. we have momentum on our side. between the economy and mitt romney's message and the fact that people are proactively voting for mitt romney, rather than just against barack obama me as huge deal. stuart: steve forbes, who wins? >> the last election i predicted obama would win by sizable margin. this time it is going to be romney, 3 to 5 points. that means an electoral college landslide. i even did it state by state. 321 to 217. stuart: wait a minute. two conservatives here, both of whom obviously want mitt romney it win. both you said -- objectively, point to, tell me the reason why you're so confiden

in this situation, what would steve forbes do? pill * these are big, big issues and negotiations will go late into the night. we'll get steve's take coming up on that. martha: an investigation is underway after a small plane carrying three pilots crashed into a neighborhood. what witnesses heard and saw there. bill: there were serious questions about eric holder and the petraeus affair. why didn't he tell the white house any sooner? >> lawmakers want to know in terms of when petraeus found out. he was under investigation. has it had any impact on the comments he made to senators about benghazi and what he knew? we just learned general petraeus says he does want to testify about benghazi. more in a moment. >> you can't get to the bottom of benghazi without him testifying. i want to hear from him what he knew before, during and after the attack. there is nyoo substitute for his testimony in my view. structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. is what drives us to b

steve forbes sid we should just fall off the fiscal cliff and let the cards fall where they may and letpresident take the blame for it, t i do believe, you guys, they're going to work a deal. as for benghazi and susan rice, i think that this is worse than watergate. if the president does double down it will backfire on him. lou: the last word. >> the only has so much political capital to spend. he spends it all once is a rise, which i think is a fool's errand because we don't know where this is going. we do know that their have to be other hearings. could not end today please today was a very bad day for him on this. lou: as we watch all this one can begin to understand his error in senate. he, david axelrod, his reelection campaign, his administration, they have successfully fended off an inquiry from the republicans, the national media, won reelection, and they look like they are one heck of a lot smarter than the republicans. thank you very much. appreciated. good to see you. lou: that petraeus sex scandal. without it would we have never learned more about a dozen? and paul was going

steve forbes elizabeth and rick and mike. steve, is this the america you know and love? >> no, david, it is not just immigrants of the country. people here now they are trying to mke dependent on the government. that means more votes for them and you center the hidous cartoon. birth to death. corrupting us and the immigrants and got to stop it >> rick, it is it a land of opportunity and hand outs. >> no one is handing it out. >> yes, they are. nit is just information that is available. same example -- information that shows up. anybody here in the table mitt romney, his father when he came here from mexico. he got that exact kind of government aid and he turned out to be predent of one of the nation's biggest autocompanis and became governor of the state of the michigan. >> my dear friend rick unger has to be brought up to date. he didn't get them. it is supplement security income and that is it free money from the government. this is in addition to medicaid and to food stamps it is a $1,000 a month you get. it is it a lot of new stuff. this by the way w started under ri

we'll crunch the numbers and steve forbes rejoins us and the fiscal cliff looms large and country starkags. stay with us. . >> just as we are getting signs that housing is turning around. another nation showing us how t. spain offering foreigners permanent citizenship. will this help america's housing market do you think? >> it should be residency and not citizenship. we had seven million immigrants coming to this country and buying homes and shopping in target and we have a hugely beneficial imact on the economy and attract the right kind of immigrants and want to work here and every immigrant has a right to come here. it is free to buy home as well. >> oh, my god. mexican drug lords with gobs of cash can buy and we give them citizenship. it is crazy. it is totally crazy it takes more than money to be citizen of the united states of america. it is it a privilege and not just something for people with cash. >> i didn't see that one coming. >> fox news alert. i agree with johnathon. i am not sure this ever. trust me, it is really, really hard to be here in the greatest country in the wo

let's go in focus with steve forbes, elizabeth mcdonnel, victoria, john and morgan. good to have you all here. steve, unions putting their self interest ahead of shoppers and our economy? >> absolutely. they're still angry they haven't organized wal-mart yet. they're responding to competition and the needs of customers. that's what you're supposed to do in a free market. no one forces people to work at wal-mart. unions don't like the facthey haven't organized wal-mart. >> rick, these folks are getting paid overtime for working on thursday, right? >> yeah. let's keep in mind what this is about. it's really a one had day convenient. it's probably fair tore characterize it as a row test, a little bit more than a strike. not about wages or benefits. about work conditions, mostly in inland california area where they've had big problems with people working in way overheated warehouses, equipment that's not safe. this is what this is about. they've got a problem there. >> what the unions are doing, and again, wal-mart is not unionized, but the unions want the workers to wal

steve forbes believes that we should not have anybody pay income on capital gains. correct? >> on money that you've already earned, on-- >> on capital gains. >> money you've earned. >> you're making money and money that-- >> hold on almost out of time and have a last question. if you want people like me to pay higher taxes, okay, or people like yourself to pay higher taxes, did you bring your checkbook today? >> i don't have my checkbook. stuart: will you write a check to the government and pay the taxes voluntarily that you want others to pay. >> taxes are not a voluntary process. taxes the price-- >> you want other people to pay, you're a millionaire and you want other people to pay higher taxes, why don't you get right out in front. >> i want all of us to pay higher taxes. stuart: i challenge you to do it. >> this is entirely beside the appointment. stuart: you make millions, but won't do it yourself. >> i'm trying to make us all. stuart: you inherited your wealth. >> you and i should pay equally. and you're now asking why should you be able to free ride. >> free

lou: the president himself may have been talking to you or steve forbes. >> this is a great time. not only that, let's not forget that the last time that the senate had a budget is when harry reid worked with his friend, and nobody in the 2008 budget complained that they weren't spending enough money. that cuts out a trillion in spending right there. are you concerned about the time that they had taken have taken on this first day of the discussion? >> i was not hopeful that the president's tone. [talking over each other] [talking over each other] lou: are you being partisan here? >> i am not being partisan. i am being objective when i say that the president pays 1.6 trillion in new revenues. he wants to destroy the economy. no one in their right mind is going to allow that kind of increase to devastate the economy. lou: that's a good point. it's interesting that no one is talking about the fact that individual tax payment, 26% of the bush tax cuts over the past two years, the answer here is this. i just want to see everybody be happy. let me turn to benghazi. there is a palpable

steve forbes was on earlier.o give them more time and maybe come up with something better. it seems as if we are leaning towards trying to get a deal done. don't you think? even if you listen to boehner and harry reid, pelosi and the president, they are leaning towards getting something done. >> absolutely. i think something must be done. next quarter, we will be faced with the same old fable once again. it is one crisis after another. this was a self created crisis by republicans and autocrats. be careful what you wish for. the day of reckoning is here. connell: let's just take, as the premise of it, let's just say they have too given for whatever whatever reason and say the taxes on the top 2%, the families making $250,000 above, that those are going up. what can they demand in return that they can get from the democrats? >> we need drastic spending reductions. we have to tackle the root cause of our problems which is entitlements. once and for all, we have to tackle entitlements. we can increase taxes without

steve forbes said go ahead and get a 90-day extension, take it into 2013. >> can you put together a complex agreement dealing with tax, spending cuts, debt ceiling, can you do all of that in a mere 30 days or do you take the steve forbes route, kick the can down the road. i'm not sure the vote terse would tolerate kicking the can and not dealing with it again. thank you, stuart. martha: you have got senate majority leader harry reid saying there isn't much to talk about, that the election shows the american people have given the lawmakers the go ahead to raise taxes. >> americans when they voted raised their voices and supported our pledge. congress is acting in accordance with the will of the american people. martha: reid says any agreement must have the wealthy to pay a little bit more to reduce the deficit. bill: what happens if they don't see a deal? 90% of americans will see a tax hike in 2013. and families that make between $40,000 and $65,000 will have to pay an extra $2,000 to washington, d.c. in taxes. martha: concerns over america's fiscal cliff have sent the markets lower in prem

steve forbes joins us. and the miracle on worthington street. and a massive explosion rocks a massachusetts. and all on america's news head quarters, don't go away. with verizon. hurry in this saturday and sunday for great deals. likehe lucid by lg, free. or the galaxy nexus by samsung, free. this weekend, get the best deals on the best devices on the best network. exclusively at verizon. >> welcome back. later today investigators are assessing the damage done to buildings near a strip club that exploded yesterday. a national gas explosion leveled the building. 18 people were injured there and first responders had evacuated the building when it exploded. listen up. there is a way law makers can avoid the fiscal cliff. the answer is going to require compromise and may include three tread words. some tax indreeses. if president obama want to go back to the clinton era. he needs to follow president obama's lead that included deregulation and death to obama care. and they are joining us now to explain. welcome to have you you here today. >> if presi

believe the speaker boehner, perhaps the president himself may have been talking to you, talking to steve forbes and others who talked about theossibility of reforming the entire tax code. that could -- >> this is a great time. you know, the kind of time... and, not only that, let's don't forget the last time that the senate had a budget, it was when harry reid worked with his friend, speaker pelosi and nobody in the 2008 budget complained that it wasn't spending enough money. let's go back to 2008. $2.5 trillion, and cuts off a trillion in spending, right there. >> lou: there are all sorts of ways to get there, as you suggest here tonight, and, as suggested in other forums as well, but the idea that this president an boehner are coming together to have at least a civil discourse over what in the world we're going to do about the fiscal cliff, six weeks remain, are you any more hopeful as a result of the tone they've taken on the first day o discussion? >> well, i wasn't hopeful with the president's tone, when he said -- >> are you being partisan he? >> i'm not being partisan, i am being objecti

i like what steve forbes talked about in anybody 96 -- in 1996, a flat tax. there would be so much growth, you would not believe it. you want jobs, have a flat tax. >>neil: i am a hugger, not a hater. the president, today, meeting with labor leaders, the first round of fiscal cliff talks and my guest is one of them, and he heads up the national education association. good do have you. how did it go? >>guest: good meeting. we had an opportunity to talk about what we believe is important and as you mentioned this is the first of three meeting, and he went with labor leaders is groups today and talk with business tomorrow and friday talk with members of congress. >>neil: how did moveon.org get on that meeting that is like me at a weight watcher convention? >>guest: they are part of group instrument am and active in the election. what is important in the election, it is not just who was elected but the values and ideas the american public votes for. they rejected medicare as a voucher they had choices of more and more tax cuts to the wealthy. they rejected it. >>

why wouldn't the elimination of tax loopholes and a flat tax rate, proposed by steve forbes, work with the more you earn, the more you pay? guest: i am not an economist. i am not an expert on this. we need tax reform. we have a complicated tax system. specifically, what kind of tax reform, i am not sure. we definitely need tax reform. host: otis is calling from prosperity, south carolina on our line for independents. calm first, i would like to say the my representative, -- caller: first, i would like to say that my representative, lindsey graham, has rescinded his pledge for the norquist pledge. we have some republicans finally realizing we have to get this deficit under control. if the deficit is doubled, that means george bush's part of the deficit is half. republicans have never wanted to pay their share of the debt he has created. we have to get somebody in there that is going to help pay the deficit. i am middle income. the last payroll deduction i got, i saw $6 more a week on my check. i would rather you take that $6 back and help pay the deficit off. i am tired of this war. bil

steve forbes. monica crowley. mike reagan. tonight 5:00 p.m. eastern. my colleague will be on another channel. >> there is another tv show on at 5:00 p.m. doing well. [laughter] >> you will have the final word of the day. the last word. >> i will say mitt romney. 295 electoral count. stuart: i think mitt romney wins the popular vote. >> i say five points. >> looking at the electorate that 10 point* swing, led the turnout, the enthusiasm. >> president obama wins with over 300 electrode college votes and wins the popular vote by two percentage points to seven thank you. is the election day

maybe a little more steve forbes if you want to talk about that. >> that will be fine too.: really good to see you. take care. head of the weekly standard. air raid sirens wailing in jerusalem as israel's army radio said a rocket has landed in the jerusalem area. fox news's leland vedder has been doing incredible reported along the israel/gaza border and has the latest on the ground for you. >> good evening from the gaza border. we are seeing rockets fly out of here hitting televisa and in one or two rockets falling to jerusalem certainly a major escalation and through the night you see these big flashes behind me, they are hard to time but the israeli air force pounding at targets inside the gaza strip. today also hundreds of rockets flying out of gaza towards a number of areas in southern israel. with so much talk of the iron dome intercepting missiles it is not perfect and doesn't work this close to gaza where homemade rockets fly out, there's not time, impacted right here a couple yards from a house. you see what it did to the barbecue area. people adhere have started c

also-- >> stephanie: you're talking about the steve forbes, he's the one who brings that up every yearsarily the best idea. >> it would be well, it would take away all deductions. like owning homes and stuff like that. and it would be really, really unfair to poorer people who can't afford to pay 10% or whatever of their income. >> stephanie: let'slet's go to dana in maryland. >> caller: good morning, guys, how are you doing? >> stephanie: good. >> caller: just a couple of things. the warner, my girlfriend was texting me. i was in the car. i remember i went to my reunion i shouldn't have and she wasn'ted to take me to the l.a. show. ironically she's going to be here with her mom for the inauguration weekend. and we're going to go to the show. i'm looking at my meet and group ticket right now. we're trying to coordinate. thank you for coming here. i can't be more excited. >> stephanie: i'll throw in a free grope from chris and jim. feel free to manhandle them like i do. >> i want to group everybody but i can't wait to get my hands on hal. the salvation army saying that they opened a dif

steve forbes, ross perot, i'm sure there are others who spent large fortunes of their personal money, using the message i know how to run a business, i'm confident, smart and know how to get things done. all of which are true, but we did a survey on public attitudes on business and government and one of the questions we asked about the impression of ethics and honesty -- ceos did not do terribly well. only 8% of the public was willing to say that ceos at high levels of ethics and honesty. so you are met romney, extremely competent and capable. before the campaign is started, you are starting at a deficit and you have to prove your worthy of trust. second, ceos are used to making decisions, barking out orders, having with tenants who are capable and being a results- oriented. that is not what politics is. politics is trying to cajole people who are low or racking than you, -- lower ranking ban you, it's a very different skills that. it makes you think about whether ceos should be presidential candidates. finally, a point that is often made on conservative talk radio is that america is

steve forbes, pete king, jack keane on all those stories.e years since susan boyle brought the house down on the show and became an unlikely singing sensation. >> brian: today with over 1 million records sold and number one hits in more than 30 countries, susan is embracing her love of music with her latest release. >> steve: it's called "standing ovation,," we're joined by susan boyle. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> steve: in a few minutes you'll sing a song from the wizard of oz. is this the way you've always sung it? >> yes. >> steve: because it's unusual. >> it's from the heart. >> steve: it is. >> gretchen: which is what being a musician is all about, coming from the inside. what i love about this latest album that you have is that you're singing duets with some of your favorite men. donny oz mopped? you loved -- osmond? you loved him growing up? >> i loved him since i was 13. >> gretchen: what did you learn from donny when you sang two hits with him? >> to stay calm and focused. >> brian: why is he always so happy? doesn't do

why wouldn't the elimination of tax loopholes and a flat tax rate, proposed by steve forbes, work with the more you earn, the more you pay? guest: i am not an economist. i am not an expert on this. we need tax reform. we have a complicated tax system. specifically, what kind of tax reform, i am not sure. we definitely need tax reform. host: otis is calling from prosperity, south carolina on our line for independents. calm first, i would like to say the my representative, -- caller: first, i would like to say that my representative, lindsey graham, has rescinded his pledge for the norquist pledge. we have some republicans finally realizing we have to get this deficit under control. if the deficit is doubled, that means george bush's part of the deficit is half. republicans have never wanted to pay their share of the debt he has created. we have to get somebody in there that is going to help pay the deficit. i am middle income. the last payroll deduction i got, i saw $6 more a week on my check. i would rather you take that $6 back and help pay the deficit off. i am tired of this war. bil

let's see, steve forbes, ross perot, made a wittman and now linda mcmahon and i'm sure there are others who have spent large fortunes of their personal money to use the message that i know how to run a business and incompetent, smart and i know how to get things done all of which are true. very strong business people, but in the public affairs council we did a survey earlier this year on public attitudes on business and government and one of the questions we asked about honesty of small-business owners and the government and ceos, they didn't do terribly well. only 8% of the public were willing to say that ceos have high levels of ethics and honesty. so your mitt romney, you're extremely competent, capable ceo and top business executives before the campaign gets started you get started at a deficit to prove that you are worthy of trust. not everyone is in that same position and second, ceos are used to making decisions of barking out orders and having would consider capable of getting things done and being very weisel oriented. that isn't what politics is. politics is trying to cajole p

ten billion dollars and run thirtieth on forbes list he's given four million dollars to super pac supporting president obama and the democrats and then there's steve most in a texas trial lawyers given more than three million dollars to probe democratic super pacs and let's not forget about fred bindiya mogul based out of chicago which is president obama's home city and he's given more than three million dollars as well as help to president obama and other democrats to help them win tonight but here's the big picture of all of this more money will be spent on this election than any election in our history this is a freak show election with freak show amounts of money pouring into it so the question is what effect will all this money have on our democracy and more on that let's talk to journalists a contributor to the nation lee fall an activist and spokesperson for move to him and david cobb thank you both for joining us. thanks for having me i want to start with you. what did citizens the person who hasn't been following and is just now tuning in on election night what does citizens united really do while the citizens united supreme court decisio

according to the "forbes" list with $9 billion in wealth and as you know, a significant chunk of that is in sac capital. 16% of the $14 billion that the firm manages belongs to either steve or other insiders, employees and the like. that's something that could be a source of stability for them if investors get concerned about what's going on and start to redeem capital in any major way. i spoke just recently to a funds manager who decided to redeem yesterday, not based on any personal concerns but because he in turn had some investors who were concerned themselves, saying we don't know what the outcome is going to be but we just don't like the way this chapter of this investigation. that chapter as you mentioned deals with a former sac trader who sold some pharmaceuticals. we don't know what cohen knew about the origin of martoma's information but according to the feds in the complaint yesterday, it was based on illegal knowledge. >> that is the key. of course we should point out while there may be some redemptions, the bulk of the money at sac is mr. cohen's. $9 billion of the close to $14 billion that he mansions. my understanding is he's committed to all of his limite