the inappropriately-named dollar mountain, we're over sun valley and joined by a special guest, warren buffettffett thank you for joining us this morning. >> good to be here. >> we couldn't think of a better time to have you on because there are so many questions about what's been happening with the economy, what's been happening with the jobs picture. why don't you tell us what you're seeing now in your businesses. >> for a couple of years i've been telling you everything except residential housing was improving at a moderate rate, not crawling but not galloping but the last two months it's been sort of the opposite. the general economy in the united states has been more or less flat, and so the growth is tempered down, but the residential housing we're seeing a pickup, and it's noticeable, it's from a very low base and it doesn't amount to a whole lot yet but it's getting better, and so we've got a flip-flop on that. >> what happened? we talked in the past you had said when housing turned that would be when the u.s. economy would turn. what happened? >> it hasn't turned that much yet but it

so before this a lot of we've talked about warren buffett as a political entrepreneur someone who's realized that it doesn't necessarily pay to know the fundamentals of a company in terms of investing in it i mean not in the way that it does these days to be connected with washington so that you get the benefits of crony capitalism and you're not just left to the devices of the market so i'm asking if this is an example of that because congressional filings say that wells fargo is outspending any rival when it comes to its washington d.c. lobbying office so we get that news and now we've learned that berkshire hathaway's annual report reveals warren buffett's been investigating not investigating freddie and less to investing in the banks since two thousand and five making it is second largest investment and one of the only that he's been adding to consistently since that time does this pass a smell test to you coming in here from the outside what do you think i don't know i mean i think that it's always a little bit sketchy right if this is been going on since two thousand and five suddenly

there is a lot of fear of a global slowdown warren buffett is talking about the u.s.omy in the world right now >> he basically has the a lot of things like europe is slipping very fast. >> mark: he has never split his stock is like over $100,000 per share, the like that? >> i do. i used to be tenacious up, and i have slowly but surely learned that warren buffett is the man. >> as far as europe goes, there is something i have heard this morning, we are fed up with europe. but, for lunch and instantly at&t is doing great, costco, merck, the great american companies that are based in america, wal-mart, target, all of them have seen a 52 week high. >> mark: google is releasing their quarterly report. >> they are growing 15 to 20%, this is a great buy. it is not falling apart. they are not taking the market lower. it is preposterous to me because there are a lot of great things that are happening right here right now and investors could be taking advantage of this and i hope they are. >> mark: i am always amazed at google they did all this off of an algorithm. >> it is a s

that as they said that there was a trader who was seeking to avoid showing the full amount so warren buffett told you ten years ago to watch this that the underlying collateral it would there would be incentive for all these bankers to lie about the quality of it as this derivatives bubble grew bigger and bigger following the working group on financial markets established by president reagan and started to intervene and save these guys from all their bad bets on warren buffet is being probed by charlie munger and i want to put him on branson space odyssey plane that goes into outer space like tinker with a gyroscope or something so it just keeps going on the vector to nowhere we don't need live earth warren buffet jamie diamond little solo but the ministry of defense in the u.k. is looking out there for hostile intent when we can look a little bit closer to home to the atmosphere circling our financial system. where we see it back into two thousand and three from this article derivatives have played a key role in almost all of the big scandals and disasters of the past decade from rogue trad

warren buffett is quoted more they and anybody else. i am working on a book called the spirit of 1776. all of the events that took place internationally. thomas paine common sense sense, the wealth of nations , decline and fall of the roman empire, the declaration of independence. books and articles, the first major steam engine engine, david hume, the father philosopher of the amendment died, george washington crossing the delaware. not just washington. fight them working on backed as well as a few other projects. i love books, teaching, and freedomfest. i can see what is happening in the world. >>host: we have been talking with mark skousen at freedomfest his book "the making of modern economics" the lives and ideas of the great thinkers." thank you for being on booktv. >>host: the book currently on your erse screen several weeks on "the new york times" new york best seller list ed klein it is our guest and the title is the amateur. where did you get to the title? >> the president august 2011 invited his wife, daughter chelsea and fri

before bringing in kenny, i want you to listen to what warren buffett said on "squawk box" this morning. >> general economy in the united states has been more or less flat and so the growth is tempered down but the residential housing we are seeing a pickup. it's noticeable. it's from a very low base and doesn't amount to a whole lot yet but it's getting better. >> and that is a bit of a turnaround for warren buffett to be moderately more optimistic of housing of which he's heavily invested. kenny, do you agree with that? >> i don't see it around here. housing is regional. depending on where you live you get a different flavor. in the northeast it doesn't feel like that to me. it feels like pressure on housing. prices haven't come in line to where they should be. >> where do you think the market goes from here? >> i think weaker. right? we bounced off 1322, 25-ish. we found some support and i think the market's going to test a 200-day again based as we move through earnings season and see the story continuing. >> higher or lower by the end of the year? >> a qe3 program, higher by the en

they bring in of major name for the graduation ceremony like warren buffett because his sister is a major supporter. it is incredible. there is no separation of church and state. they hold the bible or the q'uaran or the talmud it is ecumenical always those representing the graduates get the associates zero or bachelor's degree. we'll valedictorian says i started off with family have been great hopes for me but i was in the wrong crowd but then i killed a man. even though they're in there for murder it is a shock. but then he describes the program transformed his life how they feel they are new citizens what is getting the notoriety is 60 of the students have left sing sing. not a single one has returned. national they've the recidivism rate is 60%. it is a great positive story how bad the criminal-justice system is. added is solved privately funded and. >> do stay in touch with the students? >> yes. they do in a new meeting with the donors and the inmates. we can communicate to see what they're doing. in a

>> well you don't want to talk about warren buffett? >> no. for president. i am talking about mitt romney. why doesn't he release his tax returns. >> if that's the best you've got. >> no. tom, we have got a lot more than that, baby. >> get off my phone, you little pen head? >> no, sir a pinhead. >> a little bit. a little bit? >> no. no. he is not a pinhead. >> come on. >> i have to defend him because he is from delaware. he is misguided. tj is calling from toronto. the international full-court press. all right. >> good morning. >> i listen to your show every morning. the thing i want to say, santorum was running for president of the united states. and he said of mitt romney he is the worst g.o.p. to run for president and here is something coming up. if he was to be nominated. this is what came up. i think this is the tip of the iceberg. there is a lot more coming from mitt romney. >> we talked about that santorum on the healthcare thing, we played that clip. he said that mitt romney is the worse possible candidate to run against president obam

warren buffett like it. i sent him a copy and i found out why. he is quoted more than anybody else in the book. but i just finished up, and i am working on a book a little bit like david mccullough, called the spirit of 1776. and it is all of the events that took place internationally in the year 1776. from thomas paine's common sense to the wealth of nations by adam smith, the decline and fall of the roman empire, and of course, the declaration of independence. books, articles, the first major theme steam engine came out in 1776. david herron, who is the father of the philosopher of the enlightenment and died in 1776. george washington, crossing the delaware, there are a lot of things and it's not just george washington. it is david mccullough's point of view. i am working on that as well as a few other projects. but i love writing books, i love teaching, and i love doing freedom fest. it's a great way to meet all of the authors and see what is happening in the world. >> we have been talking with author mark skousen and founder of freedom fest.

said there is class warfare america and as warren buffett pointed out it's his class the billionaires who are winning it's time for the real working class makers to wake up and realize how they're being gamed robbed and lied to by the billionaire takers. as the big picture for tonight be sure to tune in monday for our bigger picture conversation with special guest congressman dennis kucinich more information on the stories we covered visit our web sites tom armin dot com free speech dot org dot com you can also check out our two you tube channels are links over thom hartmann dot com also there you can check out all the different ways you can send us your feedback and don't forget democracy is not a spectator sport you gotta get in the game occupy something show up tag your it and see the truth. is he.

we want to talk a bit about warren buffett this morning.ou saw, of course, if you were tuned in at all in the 8:00 hour, becky quick having a long interview with simpson and bowles and warren buffett, speaking out about the economy. the billionaire investor said growth has slowed in the u.s. in the past six weeks. he would have a good view of that given all of his holdings. >> general economy of the united states has been more or less flat and the growth has tempered down but the residential housing we're seeing a pick up. it's noticeable, from a very low base and it doesn't amount to a whole lot yet, but it's getting better. >> pretty interesting. >> yeah. >> i mean here you got a guy, an optimist talking about the last two months being tough, until believing the housing thesis and hedging back a little and saying housing may not be the engine that we thought it was. look, there's the general belief in america and the problem with that is that america -- it doesn't translate into buying necessarily usg. i mention that because it's a quinte

warren buffett calls the interest rate scandal a big deal. >>> hope you saw warren buffett on squawkhis morning. they talked about the magnitude of the rate fixing scandal for libor. >> it's a terrible position. if you have millions of contracts based on libor, and one side is profiting, the people on the losing side of every trade are going to come after you. we have focused a lot of boar cl -- barclays -- >> financial services industry can't get out of their own way. they're arguing against more regulation, and then we have this happening ben. >> yes, and then the jpmorgan trading loss. just from a business standpoint, record low interest rates that's creating problems in terms of making money. >> you wonder if more regulation would be the answer to solve that problem, right? we already know there are so so many regulations they face. they have too many regulators seeing them, but this is happening, so will they be that effective. >> they have clearly been asleep at the wheel. let's face it. they have regulators living at their banks, we still see these things that have been missed

plus, it's a strategy warren buffett wishes he could get in on. up next, we'll talk to an investor making money by actually doing it. what is it? we'll tell you after this. my volt is the best vehicle i've ever driven. i bought the car because of its efficiency. i bought the car because i could eliminate gas from my budget. i don't spend money on gasoline. it's been 4,000 miles since my last trip to the gas station. it's pretty great. i get a bunch of kids waving at me... giving me the thumbs up. it's always a gratifying experience. it makes me feel good about my car. i absolutely love my chevy volt. ♪ with the fidelity stock screener, you can try strategies from independent experts and see what criteria they use. such as a 5% yield on dividend-paying stocks. then you can customize the strategies and narrow down to exactly those stocks you want to follow. i'm mark allen of fidelity investments. the expert strategies feature is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account. >>>

we talked about them before, warren buffett, alan simpson, and erskine bowles. you don't want to miss it. in the meantime let's bring you up to speed and prepare you for the day ahead with what's going on in the news overnight. spain announcing a $79.9 billion austerity plan, including tax hikes and spending cuts. the spanish government is removing public sector christmas bonus and reviewing retirement pengs as well. in other news, jpmorgan set to report quarterly results friday morning. and the street already buzzing about what we're likely to hear. today's wall street journal reporting millions of dollars of clawbacks from executives who ran the chief investment office could be announced. paper announcing jpmorgan losses will come to $5 billion for q2 and future losses will be less than $1 billion. we told you last week it would be between $4 and $6 billion, so i think we got it right there in the middle. bank executives set to have struck a balance between wrapping up the situation quickly and taking larger losses, moving slower in hopes of cutting those loss

warren buffett is also paying 15% taxes, but warren buffett said, it's wrong, and has only come out with a lot of other billionaires and say it's wrong for him to pay a lower tax than his secretary. i have not heard that statement from romney. he evidently thinks it's right and that's very disturbing to me. disturbing both about the likely policies that they would pursue, and about a sense of moral compass, about what are the right directions for our society? [applause] >>> what are you reading this summer? book tv wants to know. >> the homeland security committee and i sort of now going over my personal reading so i'm reading a number of books about american response to 9/11, what we're doing as far as boys in the afghanistan and iraq. the main book is hard measures. the head of the team that put together the interrogation methods after september 11th. including water boarding, which was criticized. a very well-written book. the art of intelligence by hank compton. he was managing and directing the war in afghanistan after 9/11 and fascinating reading. and a book about the obama adminis

i'm talking about warren buffett.said he bought a couple of thousand homes because he is a believer in housing. owns nearly 16% of the country. i think it is a strong endorseme endorsement. it has been a real dog for much of the period. not only is it a stealth housing play but has domestic security. company gets 96% of the sales from the united states. a teeny bit of exposure to europe. doing the best to find a buyer. these guys are thinking about how to get you a share holder. usg is not whirlpool which reported a serious miss. the stocks got gains because people got too negative about it and has a ton of cash flow. cabinets lost 20%. usg is a solid business that benefitted from the rebound in housing. the company missed the numbers last week. this stock's pain is your gain because it means you can buy the stealth housing play at a significant entry point. i would be pretty upset if i owned it going into the quarter. you get to buy it for expectations. that is ideal. housing i got to tell you housing is definitely t

. >> why would warren buffett pay more taxes?going to reduce the deficit on warren buffett having some kind -- >> rliberals say we can reduce - >> taxation is fundamentally not a voluntary undertaking. you can't say -- >> that's not true. chris, that is not true on the bottom line of your tax form, it says if you want to pay more taxes and reduce the deficit, you can do so. liberals don't do it. >> getting back to mitt -- >> the most incredibly hypocritical things. >> you want to talk about warren buffett. >> warren buffett is not running for president and you want unnamed liberals. tax return for the president for many years and we don't have the tax returns for mitt romney and in the course of compliance, i think there is a moral question here about is it at all unshamable if you lose every strategy, is that just a squarely praise worthy thing? >> you know, i hate the tax code. i'm a flat tax guy. literally, chris, i think we should get rid of every single deduction and loophole and tax carve out in the system. i think incredib

warren buffett was there. you go to this graduation ceremony, and it's incredible. first of all, there is no separation of church and state. they are saying amen, their bible, and what have you, it is fantastic in that respect. they had the valedictorian get up representing the graduates. maybe 20 or 30 students graduating, getting an associates degree or bachelors degree. the valedictorian gets up and says that i started off, my parents had the best hopes for me. i got into drugs and what have you, and then he says, and then i killed a man. even though that you know that they are in there for murder what have you, it is still a shock to everybody. but then he describes how the educational programs transformed his life. and how they feel that they are the new citizens. because of this change. what is getting notoriety, when my son was able to do the movie, 0%, 0% for something like 60 of the students have left sing sing, graduated and let sing sing. those who have left, not a single one has returned. the national rate is over 60%. you know, this is a great, positive

warren buffett said i never had one. i think we have a lot of great banks in america. they basically say the same thing, two reasons, to conceal your wealth and transactions involving your wealth from government scrutiny, number one, or number two, because you happen to think the swiss frank is a stronger currency than the united states dollar, and i might remind you, mitt romney made his decisions on moving money into switzerland when there was a republican president. >> today, romney said the offshore investments are in a blind trust. his comment was, i don't manage them. i don't even know where they are. is this an adequate response? >> no, and let me tell you why. when he was badgered by his fellow republican opponents in the course of the primary, he finally released one year's tax return. that's it, all we have seen. one year, and they were able to trace the san cady, is a private corporation blind trust that his family owns. listen to this, the day before he was sworn in as governor of massachusetts, he transferred the money in this organization into a blind tru

becky is off but joining us from sun valley on thursday morning along with warren buffett, alan simpson and erskine bowles. we're calling it searching for solutio solutions, avoiding fiscal cliff. >> china's surplus jumps. chinese officials are warning exporters face rising risks of trade protectionism abroad. the comments come a week after u.s. filed a trade dispute. from asia to europe, eurozone ministers agree to give spain an extra year to reach its deficit reduction. regulators are not you in the hot seat over the libor scandal. "new york times" reporting american and british lawmakers want to know whether regulators loud those banks to report false rates to the run up to the 2008 financial crisis and afterwards. yesterday the house financial services committee oversight panel sent a letter to the new york fed about it asking for transcripts from at least a dozen phone calls in 2007 and 2008 between central bank officials and executives at barclays. michelle. >> in corporate buzz this morning alcoa reporting better than expected second quarter earnings and revenues after the close.

and to give me another tax break or warren buffett another tax break or to give mitt romney another tax break, that would cost -- that would cost about a trillion dollars and we can't afford it. >> he also called out republicans important holding the tax cuts for the middle class hostage to protect tax cuts for millionaires. >> i want to hold taxes steady for 98% of americans. republicans say they want to do the same thing. we disagree on the other 2%. what do you usually do if you agree on 98% and disagree on 2%? why don't you compromise to help the middle class? go ahead and do the 98 sxerz we can keep arguing about the 2%. let's agree when we can agree. let's not hold the vast majority of americans hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the other 2%. >> the american people are with the president. a new poll shows that 60% say it is very important to extend tax cuts just for families earning less than $250,000. 40% want to extend those breaks for everyone. and including the millionaires who don't need it. of course, republicans and including mitt romney are desperat

you have a wonderful testimony on the back of the book from warren buffett. i think he is a friend of yours. what is the most important secret if there is is a secret that you learned about good business that you would share with us. then it is not going to be a secret but share it anyway. >> based on biblical principles. treat your customers like you like to be treated. you like t be greeted with smiling faces and a serving spirit. and if they say thank you we in return say it is my pleasure and that turns people on. you don't hear that very often in fast food. >> mike: is there any particular challenge that you face in the business world today that makes it harder than it was when you started back in 1946? >> i find people can do anything if they want to. you have to pay a temporary price for seeing something greater in the future. it is being consistent. have goals set for yourself and don't let it stop you. if you have a lot of disappointments and i would always look for a job where i didn't have to do much work and get a lot of pay. but i don't find them

on the top end, people say, well, warren buffett ought to keep quiet. if he wants to pay more taxes, he should just write a check to the irs. i haven't heard anyone say that would be an act of stupidity or disqualification from office. >> it's at contrast with his own father given his father's record on that specific subject, i felt, when i saw that today, i thought, oh, this one is not going to go away for a while. let me ask you one other issue on the foreign policy thing. at the same time vice president cheney and george w. bush are announcing plans to not be there at mr. romney's convention, the democrats today announced a keynote, prime time high-profile speaking spot for their convention for the democrat's last president, for bill clinton. do you see any advantage in one of those two very different approaches to these parties' recent governing past and the republicans pretending they don't have a recent governing past and the democrats so boldly embracing clinton? >> it's a striking contrast, and bill clinton is a big asset for democrats, in part,

he doesn't come off like warren buffett. he comes off as a guy who made a lot of money doing not necessarily illegal but potentially ethically dubious thing in disaster vulture capitalism. this will really hurt romney. >> you had to add disaster. what's interesting is polls are showing that it's working. not just the bain attacks. now "the washington post"/abc poll shows romney's business background is that a major reason to support him, 16% of the public thinks it is. 32% thinks it's a major reason to oppose mitt romney. 49% think it's not a major factor. to me that says they don't know yet. the numbers are not looking particularly good on that front. we'll have more to discuss vis a vis mitt romney and also, tax breaks. coming up, the titanic, the gestapo and the affordable care act. we will talk republican strategy to take down the national health care plan, next. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ea

. >> how about the fact that warren buffett one of the president's advisors, talks about the millionaire taxes and buffet taxes because he gets all of these-- >> all of these are good examples, but ben stein i want to get back to the point we started here, why vilify wealth, and by and large, that's not the case with the well-to-do in this country and i don't know why we rip it and why we're surprised when a poll comes out three out of four people have no issue with it. >> because envy is a huge part of human nature and the democrats are trying to whip up envy, as fast as they can. they're trying to whip up facial fear as fast as they can, with the nonsense about the voter registration. >> do you think it's working, ben? >> is the approach working? >> i think-- and it's working and i think that charlie was exactly right. a private equity is the only real target. >> there's a strong, there's a strong sense in in country that wall street got out of control and doesn't make anything, neil and i partly agree with that and the american people partly agree with that. >> neil: you're lumping wa

some of her fans are bill gates and warren buffett among her friends.l hsing wins the round one match and plays round two about two r two hours from now. amazing day one and drama with natalie coughlin. back to you in the bay area. you have done it with the olympics a couple of times and went out to beijing. we can get the ticket and get you out here in about ten hours. >> you are missing me, aren't you? >> you are my partner in crime. >> all right, thanks, raj. see you soon. to men's swimming and a changing of the guard. lochte won the individual medley beating fellow american michael phelps by more than four seconds she said i know he gave it everything he had. that's all you can ask. >> i'm so happy. i have my family right there cheering for me. it's a dream come true. >> phelps did not medal at all and came in 4th. he said it was frustrating to start on such a bad note, but he has six more chances to win and with two more medals he is the world's most decorated olympian. lochte won the only gold medal today. the u.s. has five today medals. italy in

so when you listen to warren buffett this morning and erskine bowles and john malone saying we're sitting on a lot of cash, if we get this resolved as a psa as guy would say, in washington, this has to get resolved. this isn't a time for posturing. you're going to see the market have a huge move -- >> historically whenever you have the big events that's so horrendous, so dramatic, et cetera, et cetera, what do they turn out to be? >> well, it reminds -- you were around for that. it reminds me of y2k which was talked about for 12 to 15 months ahead of time. wound up being a big nothing. i'm not trying to underestimate the importance of this, but it certainly sets up very similar to the y2k. >> okay, you have two hours left to trade the jpmorgan stock and let's talk about that ahead of the report. >> well, i like jm morgan going into the report. because everybody's expectations are for the multibillion dollar loss from the rest of it. because of that i saw some activity yesterday. it is holding over 34. i took a small chunk yesterday. a call spread yesterday. i would buy more if it was lowe

. >> reporter: early on in her career she of gained a pretty noble fan, warren buffett. >> it was his the with the thick and has a gift one of his friends try to give him a table tennis lesson from a local coach and a local coach, would be funny if a little girl came and also played and of little girl happened to be me. he has been really nice and supportive he has given me a lot of advice. >> reporter: her journey has not been without sacrifice. she is a junior in high school and every day she wakes up at 7:00 a.m. to practice before school after class is that picks her up for lunch and a nap in a car on her way to another round of praxis she has two sessions each two to three hours and finally returning home for that and of course homeowner before bed. >> i try to balance my academics and table tennis. it is really hard to be a professional player. i want to go to georgetown university that has always been my dream. >> reporter: even with all the pressure, aerial still feels like a teenager at heart. >> i really want to meet michael phelps and get a picture with him that would be am

it's because i know i can afford it, and to give me another tax break and to give warren buffett another tax break or to give mitt romney another tax break that would cost -- that would cost about $1 trillion and we can't afford it, not at a time when we're trying to bring down the deficit and not at a time when we're trying to reduce our debt. so this has nothing to do with me wanting to punish success. we love folks getting rich. i hope malia and sasha go out there and if that's what they want to do, that's great, but i do want to make sure that everybody else gets that chance as well, and for us to give a trillion dollars worth of tax breaks to folks who don't need it, to folks who don't need it and aren't even asking for it, that doesn't make sense. now the republicans in congress and mr. romney disagree with me, and that's what democracy is all about. they want more tax cuts for the wealthiest americans on top of the existing bush tax cuts, they want to give $5 trillion more on tax cuts and that fight is a big part of what this election is about. we'll have that debate here in iowa

warren buffett is paying 15% taxes but what warren buffett said is it is wrong. he has come out with a lot of other billionaires' and said it is wrong for him to pay lower taxes and his secretary. i have not heard that from romney. he evidently thinks it is right. that is very disturbing to me both about the likely policies they would pursue and a sense of moral compass about the right direction for our society. [applause] >> is there a nonfiction author or book he would like to see featured on booktv? send an e-mail to booktv@c-span.org or tweak us at twitter.com/booktv. >> we have to be really clear about the very many ways that we own ourselves and we own our history and we make decisions that our history is phenomenal, vital and special. >> former president of bennett college julianne malone writes about politics and african-american history. next sunday your calls, e-mails and wes providing and thriving, 365 fax thin black economic history. for in-depth why that noon eastern on c-span2's booktv. >> we want to introduce you to michele fitzgerald legal associa