. >> reporter: is that making you wonk... damn. this is really hard. lin is a much easier name.zingly while we were taping this story, a miracle occurred. >> the "new york times" at least is reporting that there is a deal. they have resolved the dispute and they will hear about it at some point today. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: awesome. the conflict was resolved. but the victims of this abuse will never forget the pain and indignity they've been forced to live through. he chose to express his sentiments about time warner with a poem in his native time. >> time warner. >> reporter: that was beautiful. what does that mean? >> (beep), (beep). ( cheers and applause ) >> j ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: welcome back. my guests tonight are former newspaper reporters. they currently work as political opposition researchers. their new book is called two insiders who see the dark side of american politics. please welcome them to the show. ( cheers and applause ) hello, alan and michael. come and sit. thank you for joining us. my first question is, who are you working for? now, even the

i couldn't be married to a total wonk. he loved every aspect of human experience. really, there was no place on the plan at where richard holbrooke was merely a tourist because whether we landed in moly or zimbabwe he would always find something about the local culture to zero in on a problem that he could give advice, he was a problem solver, she was in his -- he was most engaging and most comfortable when he was gone knotting a problem that others had dismissed as indissoluble is that the word, in soluble, and thus it was fitting that his final mission would be the most intractable problem of the mall, afghanistan and pakistan. but even there as you will read, in the unquiet american he made surprising headway, and of course he left too soon. i would like to recognize samantha power who had so much to do with this book from its inception to its beautiful dearth. ruslan the deacons -- samantha, you have been an amazing trend to richard and now to me. i can see that strobe is ready to grab the microphone but i just can't tell you that since samantha's of rival has

of course, i'm a wonking political nerd. i can get into the policy issues. if you are standing in a room and are you not sure how to separate the tea partiers from the occupiers, raise an american flag. the tea partiers will stand and put their hands over their heart and the occupiers will defecate on it. you tell me. there's the difference. [ applause ] >> the tea party movement came about. i was a stay at home mother and homemaker and wife. i'm a practitioner of the domestic arts. terrible singer, dustin, but wonderful cook. here's the deal. we are standing arm in arm today on our children do not have to pick up arms in the future to defend the government. we need to proclaim that every day of our lives. [ applause ] >> one more thing i'll say. i was an unpaid housewife and wearing a shirt and waving a flag. now i'm a paid representative. they always bring up the coke brothers. if the americans or anyone would like to cut me a check to go out and defend the cause of liberty, i will do two things. i'll cash it and i'll kiss them. [ applause ] >> and in that

. >> reporter: most budget wonks agree we should keep growing the economy now, but make cuts in the medium to long run, a policy that sounds good on paper, but has been hard to put into action politically. darren gersh, "nightly business report," washington. >> tom: the market ended with a bit of a whimper for socks. it was a strong month overall for shareholders. let's get to it with tonight's market focus. january ended with a whimper in the stock market, but it was a strong month for shareholders. here's how the day played out for the s&p 500. after some opening bell buying, stock prices fell after the disappointing drop in consumer confidence. the index was able to repair itself somewhat, closing with a small loss. but the s&p 500 is more than 4% higher tonight than it was at the beginning of the month. it's the best january since 1997. and of course, that kind of rally brings to mind the january barometer, which is the idea that the direction of stock prices in the first month of the year sets the pattern for the entire year. and it has been a strong start. the dow industrial index is

going to have an on background discussion in greater detail if any of you need to indulge your inner wonk on some of these issues. without further ado. >> thank you all very much. good morning. let me start by welcoming you today to the rollout of the 2013 budget request from the state department and usaid. i know tomorrow is valentine's day. i was going to actually give some of you flowers, others chocolate, but because of budget constraints what i've done is given you this very, very pretty book. you can take it home with you and enjoy it. it's just considered a very nice prevalentine's day present. i thought it was funnier earlier, but wasn't funny for you guys. steve is laughing hilariously. i'm also u.s. aid raj shaw discuss in details programs for all of you. this budget follows a perforational change in the world as you know. new powers emerging, america is strengthening relationships in asia pacific region while keeping commitments around the world. in iraq we completed the largest military to civilian transition since the marshall plans. the budget reflects the beginning of the n

this panel, i decided or it was mutually agreed, that i would hold down what i would call the policy wonk of the spectrum for this discussion of the syrian uprising. which is something of a departure for me. i decided that i would focus on u.s. policy responses to the syrian uprising. focusing on where we might be and where we might be headed. as depressing as where it might be as a starting point. there's the case that the only reasonable way to frame a discussion of u.s. policy in response to the syrian uprising is simply to acknowledge that the u.s. along with many of the other governments that support a process of political transition in syria, find themselves today in an exceptionally difficult position. they're really struggling, all of them, to find way forward with no clear sense of what that path way might be. and this meeting of friends of syria group that will begin later this week in tunis, is i think a reflection of both the challenges confronting the united states and it's allies in thinking about what the next kind of frameworks might be for sustaining diplomatic and econom

is it fair to call you a super wonk, as well?last night. for the average guy out there, they're probably like, ear what? voting records on who? why aren't these guys telling me like it is? >> i think it was a real missed opportunity. first, there was no love loss between romney and santorum and really on voting and how many votes it takes to get a supreme court, you know, nominee. those things aren't going to win voters at the polls next week. >> let me play this other little moment. this might be more of what some of the average guys respond to. it's when the audience responds. sometimes cheering, sometimes booing. this is a moment when rick santorum was trying to fend off the attacks of support at one point for title x and have a listen to how he tried to sort of push back against mitt romney. >> i think i was making it clear why i have a personal objection to it even though i don't support it i voted for bills that included it and i made it clear in subsequent interviews that i don't support that. i never supported it. and on

most innovative and daring ideas have actually come from advisors and economists and other policy wonks who traditionally advise republicans. so the ideas are there. it's just that current politics make it hard for the sgochlt to spend money and have to deal with this question of separating the deserving from the undeserving homeowners and makes it very hard for the republican candidates to talk about these policies in the campaign. >> brown: arian campo-flores, bringing it back to florida, i wonder if you see any bright spots there. florida still being a very desirable destination for so many people around the country. is there some hope of morning people coming in, picking up some of these houses? are there some signs that people point to? >> there are some. i mean, you know, in the miami area, for instance, there's been a lot of international buyers that have come in that are scooping up properties that were and all these condominiums that were overbuilt during the boom period and paying all cash. they're starting to eat up some of that inventory. in the county where i spent time rep

finally tonight, hashtag fed valentines has become a viral hit among the wonks who want to display theirove for the federal reserve. economist justin wolfers at u penn started it. among some of the tweets, you had me at qe-1. and the folks at npr. here's a racy one from economist mark thomma. "the non-traditional stimulus was way better than i thought it would be." and even the san francisco federal reserve chimed in. "my love is elastic. my commitment too big to fail." i tell you, they're just thought. and larry, i do know that you're probably not one to give the fed a valentine. >> scott, they are so hot. and i just love it when you talk that way to me. kntv's scott budman. thank you very much. coming up, conservatives from across the country met in washington today at the cpac convention. the three leading republican candidates spoke. so who won cpac? that's next. but coming up later in the show, is the congressman who oversees the nation's banking and financial services guilty of insider trading? the ethics office is investigating. listen to what representative spencer bachus had to

and the health wonks were talking about moral hazard and adverse selection.t those of us thinking about macroeconomics might be as least as funny. and the fed is really a great target for laughs. >> what's your next planned hashtag? it sounds like you can put anything sort of mildly geeky and create a stir. would it be #euro debt valentine's? >> we've the political science valentines the development economists got jealous, they've got their development valentine's running as well. >> #merkel. >> merkel for sarkozy? >> why do you think central banks are an obvious target for this. would you have done it if in greenspan's day? >> chairman bernanke, to his great credit tries to be clear and straightforward and transparent. but the truth is that central banks the world over speak in a a sort of odd sort of double-speak. and if there's a way to make double-speak be either clear or romantic, i'm in favor of it. >> the language of love. >> double-speak. >> justin, thanks, we look forward to your future efforts. thank you. >> okay. >> justin wolfers from the universi

kind of game inc.,y zero tax on manufacturing, which has already been criticized by a lot of policy wonksnd so forth. so on the issues, fiscal issue, i think santorum's pretty darn good. then took mitt romney, you said some parts of his plans are ryanesque, pretty good. >> yep. >> what parts of his plans are they and do they match his history as governor of massachusetts? does -- do they have credibility to them? >> what i want to get out is i was told yesterday by team romney that today, they are going to unveil a supply side tax cutting plan. a lot of copper is vat it was, including myself, have said that you need a bold plan. you need to tell people how you're going to create jobs and how you're growing the economy faster than barack obama. that's what you need to do you haven't done that sort of defended george w. bush's tax plan. so, they are gonna have an across-the-board 20% across-the-board, very reaganesque, 20% across-the-board reduction in marginal tax rates. that is going to be their pro-growth plan. i think it is pretty good. i think it is an improvement. and that should come

lots of of entrepreneurs -- on a trip and doors are not policy wonks. they do not like paperworks. they do not like getting registered, how long it takes. it is a different kind of pressure starting up a company and a streamlining the process or trying to make it a lot easier for people is something that leaders across states could be getting together to do. i like to think of it like the turbo tax. if everyone can do their own taxes, why is it so hard to register a business? it really does not need to be that hard. it seems like you could call and get a solution and tweak it or individual states and make it a website where people can come and quickly register not only for some of the business -- they could have an add-on legal services we should be trying to make it as easy as possible. an example is portugal. portugal does have an online program. i do not necessarily think of portugal as being massively efficient. but in this way, they have done an amazing thing for registering small businesses. the results are very visible. 60,000 new portuguese companies have registered in less

more ideologically and i really carvin to the mechanics of the great detail which if you are a policy wonk is good choice. >> host: we are talking about politics. if you haven't seen it yet, roseanne barr, just a comedian and the political story has announced her candidacy for president in the green party. the green party nominee will be selected at the convention in baltimore in july. next up is -- [laughter] >> guest: you've got to admit you have to love american politics because if anything it is entertaining. >> host: los angeles, tom independent for david. >> caller: good morning. representative, a realtor and in addition to that i've been able reader for the california association of realtors. i'm also an expert witness certified by the superior court. one of the things the people in washington don't seem to tell people is when a bank and gives a loan, that loan is structured to be resold. structured to to be resold to fannie mae or freddie mac. they are the ones that set the criteria. if there is a deficiency that is where it lies. it's not the bank. number two, we have a mortgage b