. >> itm essentially tells us when there are high levels of uncertainty in the ecomy, the option to wait increases. where you have ir reversal investment, it makes sense to wait. >> tom: this will sound like a silly question, luke, but uncertainty is a fact of life. all c.e.o.s and investors have to deal with uncertainty. what makes this uncertainty any different from periods past? >> i don't think one is any different, in my mind, at least. when people study the impact of uncertainty on people's behavior. this is, you know -- the difficulty is people don't learn as m ych from previous instances of uncertainty. they are likely to make single mistakes and repeat those mistakes, as a result of which every new instance is like a new one. >> tom: we'll leave it there, professors. jawad addoumand luke kuom with the university of. >> susie: tomorrow on "n.b.r." a check on the housing market, with quarterly results from k.b. >> susie: as you look at your gift giving list this year, you probably have toys and clothing high up. but beauty products ligs fragrances and skincare are selling even bet

think they need to feel some ain, i think they need to see he the implication in the markets, in the ecomy, so, yes, i think no deal right now is better than a bad deal. >> okay, gary b, jim mentioned the market, let me play wall street on tv. basically i'm sick of this. 'm going to keep heading south because the uncertainty, the anxiety is killing me. if we had any kind of deal, at least we might see stocks move up a bit. that wld be good for our 401(k)'s, wouldn't it? >> that's exactly my perspective, brenda. this was a really rough week on the market and it's all related to, n the-- not the fiscal cliff, it's the psychology of the fisl cliff, and the sad truth is whether they do a deal now or they thoughtfully do a deal six months from now, really, nothing will be accomplished. the fact is, public debt is consuming our economy. it's about 73%, regardles o what deal gets done. it will be about 73, 74% ten years from now. we've done nothing and nothing will be done to address social security, which is now officially running adeficit, medicare, medicaid costs are growing ast nomically. at

high unemployment, and yet stock market is more tan doubled, suite have to recognize the ecomy and theock market are two different things and investors do not necessarily have to fear a recession. not that we shouldn't be unhappy about it or try to avoid it but don't think it is armageddon if it occurs. gerri: people are worried about the fiscal cliff and don't know what to do, trying to figure out how to even taught my financial advisor about this. how much concentration in my portfolio, what do you mean by that? >> we have to make sure we don't have too much of ouroney in a bad place. how much of your money are in stocks as opposed to bonds or real estate or gold or foreign utilities, diversification is the best way to protect yourself in this economic uncertaiy. gerri: what is the risk here? >> as interest rates begin rise, and eventually they will, bonds will fall in value, suite have to make sure you don't own long-term bonds. it should have maturity dates of five to seven years or ss, three years would be great. if interest rates rise come he won't lose a lot of money due to risi

weemight be able to impact the ecomy here. know but, you know, there is so much of the country, there are so many environmentalists so many people on the left who hate generating energy. they barely wt us t generate enough energy to el our own economy and much less more and to actually go make money. i'm worried about getting over that hurdle. >> there are two theories. one theory is we'll never be able to export unlimited amounts of natural gas. if we do export it will be capped or it will be taxed so heavily the premium once pe liquify it, rigas it, go into europe or asia there may not be enough premium to make us competitive against australia lng or qatar l we compete with. we'll see. if you do look at where the america is going onil side bigger than saudi arabia d russia, natural gas will be there right beside us. we found 200 years of natural gas is up price already. if natural gas is up price increase we can go back to drilling natural gas. we did analysis. if we export 6 billion cubic feet natural gas a day that will on

h&r block loves it but it is a news around the neck of the american ecomy. every page has something in it that sounds good but look what it adds up to 27 spending. the welfare state. people say take care of people. unintended consequence? >> you heard those most vulnerable. the welfare state is like flypaper. there are shocking figures showing as the income rises to live the american dream, you start to get taxed on one end the government takes away benefits on the other end those who lose a living standard with $10,000 more in salaries. >> they play more in taxes and lose government benefits. >> earned income credit, of welfare benefits, medicaid, food stamps, housing assistance, you're on a treadmill. you are running harder and it goes backwards. think of the mmssage that since. they think i will not work as hard or get disability. john: in pennsylvania with $29,000 of income you are better to stay there than earning 55,000. >> i hope that is the exception. don't earn more because you lose the safety net. maybe that did not have disincentive we would not ha

seven or eight major sectors, plans that include cooperation with allies in working to restore the syrian ecomyelp syrians get back on their feet. this has been a very, very serious effort. not much noted in the press but it's ongoing. >> brown: and it is widespread and looking at all facets of syria? >> it's looking at all facets of syria. >> brown: give us an example of what kinds of things we might have learned from past that you think we might apply in syria? >> i think one of the things we certainly learn from past experiences is that it's going to be very important to the extent possible to preserve as much of the state and the existing government as we can. now, when i say "existing government" i'm not talking about ret regime. >> brown: you're not talking about assad and those people. >> the regime we're talking about assad, his extended family and the circle of enablers around him. i think it's inevitable that they're going to have to leave in order for a stable settlement to take place. >> brown: do you think if and when assad falls, how prepared is the opposition from what you see no

. >> charles, this raises the issue-- >> i want to go to charles, th raises the issue of how much can thisountry a this ecomy bear? because it then said, tax increasesre the new way of life for us and you see what's going on in washington to avoid the tax increases, these are built in this. i don't believe that everybody understands what the overall impact wil be. >> i don't think everyone understands and ben is right with respect to the idea that right now, that's the direction we're headed io. no one is talking about spending cuts. no one is talking about how do we, y know, truly bring down the 16 trillion dollar deficit. instead of loaning us marks toward 20 plus. there are things that are ultimately up for play. mortgage interest deduction is up for play and the health care that provides for you, that's taxed at some point. at the least, it'seans tested and some peopleren't gointo get it, but ultimately, this government has a ferocious appetite for spending and all of these cuts that we're talking about, even though they will hurt everyone, they're just a drop in the buct for where we're going. >> i just

we dramatically cut the capital gains tax rate from 40% to 20% before, so wt we are going to do is kill america's entrepreneurial ecomy. gerri: let's get into the details of this. why you would want to keep these capital gains taxes low. you say it is an issue of double taxation. >> that's right. corporate profits are taxed at the corporate level. and they are taxed again at the individual level. with the dividend and capital gains taxes. george bush, to his credit, tried to do something about that and he chopped the dividend and capital gains tax down to 15%. the effect of that was to reduce the incentive for corporations to take on too much debt. if you tax equity too much, corporations take on too much debt. then it's more likely that they become bankrupt and to destabilize the whole system. gerri: you talk a little bit about competitiveness. let's detail that. low capital gains is important to our nation's competitiveness. but also, to the competitiveness of these companies that we are talking about. >> absolutely. let's say that you are a young indian or chinese entrepreneur with a science degree or engineering d

the 10 are checking their work phones. any time to rejuvenate and come back ragged. >> we need that vacation time to work better. >> when you say ecomy you are talking about gdp. good or ill it is major transaction. have everyone never talk a day off and work 60 hours a week. steve is protesting that. >> there is it a correlation between vacation time and increased productivity. a 2010 study show that americans felt refreshed and better about their jobs coming backt is important to take breaks throughout the work die. >> i center t tell you, i don't think i had aear where i used up all of my vacation. most of us love our jobs enough thate are working into our vacation time all of the time. >> absolutely . that's what makings the united states so great. we like to work. tom brady and payton man aaron rodgers don't want to leave the field or lose their jobs. why would we mess with something that makes us the envee of the world. >> the you got to have family relationships. >> and rick who is peyton manning of journalism. >> i am not a big vacationer, i enjoy working which is why lizy is reading my e-mails whilehe is on vacation. >> it i

the position we do. to try and arrest that, to get our ecomy back on an even keel so we can heal that economy. i yield back. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman, i don't think he answered my question about the debt limit, therefore my presumption is that unfortunately it will continue to be an item used as leverage, holding hostage the credit worthiness of the united states. mr. cantor: at's a mischaracterization of my remarks. all i said was, we feel that this white house has a tin ear in terms of the spending problem. what we're saying is we need some balance. just as the rhetoric comes from the white house, that we need a banced approach, we need a balanced approach on both sides. spending and revenue. that's what the whole discussion is about on the debt ceiling issue. because it is accessing additional funds for the federal government instead of through taxation, but borrowing. but equally if we're gong to increase that, we better be decreasing the other side of the ledge sore we don't continue to increase and mount that debt. mr. hoyer: i hear the gentleman and the gentleman says spending is