zandi, thank you for being here. dr. hassett is the director and senior fellow at the american enterprise institute. he holds a phd from the university of pennsylvania. his research includes the u.s. economy, tax policy, and the stock market. he is previously a senior economist at the board of governors at the federal reserve system. he went to that graduate school of business at columbia university. he has worked for both the george w. bush and clinton administrations. both of you went to the same university. i'm sure you can agree on everything today. dr. zandi first. >> thank you for the opportunity. it is an honor to be here with heaven, a good friend of mine. let me say -- kevin, a good friend of mine. let me say that these are my own personal views. lawmakers have to resolve three issues -- first, the fiscal cliff. second, raising the treasury debt ceiling, which as you know is becoming an issue rarely soon. third, achieving long-term fiscal sustainability. that is deficit reduction and tax increases and spending c

zandi, thank you for being here. dr. hassett is the director and senior fellow at the american enterprise institute. he holds a phd from the university of pennsylvania. his research includes the u.s. economy, tax policy, and the stock market. he is previously a senior economist at the board of governors at the federal reserve system. he went to that graduate school of business at columbia university. he has worked for both the george w. bush and clinton administrations. both of you went to the same university. i'm sure you can agree on everything today. dr. zandi first. >> thank you for the opportunity. it is an honor to be here with kevin, a good friend of mine. let me say that these are my own personal views. they don't represent the views of the moody's corporation. lawmakers have to resolve three issues -- first, the fiscal cliff. second, raising the treasury debt ceiling, which as you know is becoming an issue rarely soon. -- an issue fairly soon. third, achieving long-term fiscal sustainability. that is deficit red

mark zandi, mark "superstorm" zandi, and jared bernstein, thanks, guys. >>> coming up we're countinghe jobs report. the final predictions from a panel of experts ahead. >>> and don't forewet the nail of the number sweepstakes, tweet your payroll predictions for your chance to win a cnbc picture frame signed by the "squawk on the street" gang. back in two minutes. >>> coming up, the campaign to rebuild detroit. bringing in labor to fill job openings, incentivizing workers to move downtown, overhauling derelict buildings. investing in local talent. guest host dan gilbert is at the center of it all. how he's revitalizing motor city next. [ male announcer ] this is steve. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the market, he goes with people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing and being ready, no matter what happens, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense, from td ameritrad

what do you make of all of this. >> i thin mk zandy is the wrong guy to wrote. christian this is good stimulus but not how you do stimulus. when you give people $300 that center a family and house to support. they have to spend that money and i disagree that americans are apathetic and lazy. they want jobs. you can find a person who doesn' want a job, you can't say it is it all americans. the 3.3 million people will slip in pover. what they need is jobs that. is it a real stimulus. to argue that this is a stimulus measure i disagree. >> hold on. >> we hav talked to ceo's time and time on the fox business network. we have help wanted signs and peop wl nolt take the jobs because they don't want to work for minimum wage. it is not forever . the notion is to move up and get promoted but people would rather collect 99 weeks of feebie. we a creating the monster and like ham sterse on i wheel and can't get off. hold on >> i just disagree that many americans are lazy. >> we are not saying everyone. but there are enough of them out there that unfortutely put a bad taste

zandi, thank you for being here. dr. hassett is the director and senior fellow at the american enterprise institute. he holds a phd from the university of pennsylvania. his research includes the u.s. economy, tax policy, and the stock market. he is previously a senior economist at the board of governors at the federal reserve system. he went to that graduate school of business at columbia university. he has worked for both the george w. bush and clinton administrations. both of you went to the same university. i'm sure you can agree on everything today. dr. zandi first. >> thank you for the opportunity. it is an honor to be here with kevin, a good friend of mine. let me say that these are my own personal views. lawmakers have to resolve three issues -- first, the fiscal cliff. second, raising the treasury debt ceiling, which as you know is becoming an issue rarely soon. third, achieving long-term fiscal sustainability. that is deficit reduction and tax increases and spending cuts that allow the gdp ratio to stabilize by

zandi? >> my view is they should be done together, that this will not work if we try to break this thing apart. we need to scale back the cliff. we need to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling, and we need to achieve fiscal sustainability. this has to be a package, and it needs to be done very soon. >> and dr. hassett? >> i agree. >> thank you. i want to thank both of you for your testimony and really thank the chairman for his outstanding leadership on the committee. >> representative maloney, thank you very much. we appreciate your good work and leadership as well. dr. zandi and hassett, thank you for your testimony. i think we made is a 90-minute meeting or close to that. that is pretty good. i want to make a couple of final comments. first of all i want to thank both of ow witnesses again for their testimony. by the way, without objection, both the full text of your opening statements will be in the record of this hearing. we are grateful because i think it is clear to most americans we d

zandi, was more of an ideal situation. they get you at roughly at $3 trillion. deficit-reduction over the course of 10 years. you went on to add the $1.20 trillion over last year's negotiations on the debt ceiling. the negotiations over last year's debt ceiling -- the new number would really be 1-1. that is not actually my question. i want to get to now. we have looked at the president's offer. we haven't found any spending reductions at all. we found the $1.6 trillion tax increases. the stimulus spending,we saw the extension of the unemployment insurance, which is an increase in spending. the delay in the spending cuts whatsoever. do you think the president's current offer gives us the 2-1 test? >> no. it is short. he needs to come up with roughly $600 billion more in spending cuts over the next 10 years. i think that there are significant reforms in medicare, medicaid, agricultural subsidies, and other programs in the budget. those are difficult things to implement. it takes a lot of guts to propose those things. i would not discount them. they are important.

we've been speaking with mark zandi, analytic. >> tom: still ahead, slow job growth doesn't discourage tonight's "market monitor." mark luchini of janney montgomery scott tells us why. that upbeat job growth in november didn't lead to consumer cheer as december began. the reuters-university of michigan consumer sentiment survey fell in early december to its lowest level since august. the dow rose 81 points, the nasdaq was down 11 on further losses in apple shares, the s&p up four points. a mixed week for the indices, the dow industrials, which does not include apple, gained 1% for the week. with apple, the nasdaq fell 1.1%. and the s&p 500 eeked out a 0.01% gain since last friday. >> susie: one hundred of the small businesses behind the job growth we're seeing, were honored last night in washington, with inc magazine's "hire power" awards. the businesses span the country, and cross an array of sectors. sylvia hall met with three of the winners to talk about their businesses, and the one thing they have in common: success. >> reporter: they work in different states, and in completely di

joining us now to talk more about that cliff is mark zandi, reief economist at moody's analytics. mark, is that threat credible? i guess we saw hiring last month, the stock market is hanging in there. what's the feeling on the part i thorporate america? bu well, you know, i think businesses feel like we're going deget a deal. they expect the president and house speaker boehner to come together and get this done. if they didn't, they'd be laying off workers, and as we can see by the data they are not doing nhat. eut they are cautious, and appropriately so. washington can botch this so gtey aren't very aggressive with their hiring. ehey pulled back on their pnvestment on their advertising. wey also realize tax rates are going up next year, so what they're doing is announcing special dividends and pulling dividends forward into this year because they realize that tax rates on dividends next year will be higher. so they're trying to give their shareholders a break. >> dubois: so that's what tsinesses are doing. what are you seeing on ma n street? >> well, you know, howls holds also re

mark zandi of "moody's "analytics. and our own john dicker sen. captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: and good morning again. treasurer treasury secretary tim geithner laid out the emotion's opening offer on how to fix the debt. it wasn't what the republicans want to hear. basically geithner said no waw to cut a deal without raising taxes on upper income americans. even though, he said he's optimistic some kind of deal can be reached by the end of the year, and he said 98% of americans will not see a tax rate increase. here's what he told us when we sat down with him. >> i do think we're going to get there because the only thing that stands in the way of an agreement that's good for the economy is if a group of republicans decide they're going to block and increase in tax rates on the wealthiest americans. i think it's unlikely they will choose to do, that of course, because there's so much at stake. >> schieffer: in all seriousness, i'm told mitch mcconnell laughed when you ha

mark zandy and christine romans.congress does not trip us up, we're on the way to an economic renaissance in our country. >>> we are on the road to an economic renaissance. i want to you think about the united states economy like a runner along this road. full economic recovery and prosperity is the destination, the economy right now, that's warming up with a nice jog, getting ready to break into a full sprint. gross domestic product, the broadest measure for the economy grew by an annual rate of 3.1 over the summer, more than double the rate of the previous quarter. spending by americans was the single biggest factor in that growth and more americans are spending their money to buy a home, pushing prices upward across the country. the median price of an existing home shot up 10.1% in november year-over-year. we've seen home values rise six months in a row as more americans get back to work and take advantage of those low mortgage rates. bottom line here -- our runner, the u.s. economy, is just starting to break a sw

mark zandi. we will see if it works out. chigan becomes a 24out state with the right to onrk.i the unions were not happy expressing frustration a tole alienate said governor.for preside wisconsin?re-lec the top fund-raiser forhis president obama and how that affects the mood and tone here in washington. after this. and then treats day afr da.. block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] e pill eachmorning. 24 hours. zero heartbur neil: ichigan en roue to be another wednesday? could be jt as devive and could be the 24 #th right to work state, but that created enormous tensions prompting the president the united states to visit saying he's against this measure that governor rick snyder supports, and both branches of republican legislature have already passed. that is to give workers the choice whether they want to be a union or not. union members say it is not that simple, that this is real a trojan horse for dismantling them. don, the adviser to the president of the united states had a big fundraiser for the president hlping g

. >> the few lawmakers left on capitol hill will get some advice when economist mark zandi testifies, and more fallout according to the treasury secretary. >> his did administration prepared to go after the fiscal cliff? >> absolutely. >> a source tells of president obama and john boehner spoke by phone. >> we cannot negotiate by ourselves. >> the hold up right now is that speaker boehner took a position, i think the day after the campaign, but said we're willing to bring in revenue but not increase rates. >> gridlock, 26 days and counting. >> no word on what the president and speaker boehner discussed, but given the fact that there has not been progress, just the fact they were on the phone represents a small development. >> still to come, he has been through hundreds of deals and no deals, has decided if america has talent, and now he is taking it all. howie mandel joins us about his new holiday game show. >> sunshine. clouds to the northwest. that is what we will watch. watch. is the fastest internet in america. just ask pc mag. [ male announcer #2 ] cable can't touch fios upload s

. >> what happened if nothing happens with mark zandi, jackie calmes. >> politically, the speaker islaying with a weaker hand than the president. the pressure is higher on him, and his critics are louder, too. >> just need boehner to go along with raising the rates and that's it. republican party is finished. >> he is selling out our children right now with these massive tax increases, and that's his starting bid. he is saying here is $800 billion, now will you sit down with, us a obama? >> hashtags with names like fire boehner have become popular. still, where the votes get counting, boehner seems to have more room to maneuver than he did in preelection faceoffs. but it begs the question, even if the republican speaker gets a deal, can he get it passed? joining me now is tom cole of oklahoma, martha blackburn of tennessee, thank you both for joining us, and i think that's really the key question that we keep hearing. they'll get a deal -- they'll get something. but it doesn't matter if the two of them get a deal, it matters if the speaker has the house votes for it. tell me about th

. >>> plus what happens if nothing happens with moody's chief economist mark zandy, jackie comes of the "new york times" and cnn's dana bash. i'm candy crowley and this is "state of the union." >>> politically the speaker is playing with a weaker hand that the president, the pressure is higher on him and his critics are harder too. >> the republican party's finished. >> he is selling out our children right now with these massive tax increases and that's a starting bid. he's saying here $800 billion now will you sit down with us, obama? >> twistill with the votes get counted in his caucus of republicans, boehner seems to have more room to maneuver than he did in preelection face-offs over political matters. even if the republican speaker gets a deal, can he get it passed? joining me now, republican congressman tom cole of oklahoma and marsha blackburn of tennessee, thank you both so much for joining us, that's really the key question, we keep saying they'll get a deal, they'll get something. it doesn't matter whether the two of them get a deal, it matter also the speaker haas the house v

. >>> and mark zandi of moody's joins us.n why he's wrong. >> if you have any comments or questions about anything you see here on "squawk," e-mail us at squa squawk@cnbc.com. >>> markets that are on the move and where you should put your money to work right now. trading block right after this. >>> then a little later, a makeover. we'll have more on that. "squawk" will be right back. having you ship my gifts couldn't be easier. well, having a ton of locations doesn't hurt. and a santa to boot! [ chuckles ] right, baby. oh, sir. that is a customer. oh...sorry about that. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. fedex office. heartburn symptoms causedelieve by acid reflux disease. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. osteoporosis-related bone fractures and low magnesium levels have been seen with nexium. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. other serious stomach conditions may still exist. talk to your doctor about nexium. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter r

mark zandi of moody says better sales, more construction and higher prices. last month, existing home sales rose more than wall street expected, almost 6%, reaching the highest level in three years. >>> more homeowners in trouble may also be getting some help. "the wall street journal" reports the obama administration is thinking about expanding its refinancing program. borrowers whose mortgages aren't backed by the government and who owe more than their homes are worth may be eligible soon. that would be good, not only for them, but also for the economy, as a whole. >>> and rail travel this morning is taking a major step forward in china. that country now has the longest high-speed rail line in the world. more than 1,400 miles. trains between beijing and will travel a top speed of 200 miles per hour. cutting the trip from 20 hours to 8. it may spur domestic airlines to cut their fares. >> impressive. >>> when we come back, a little courtside coziness for a controversial couple. >> the first appearance of rihanna and chris brown. >>> and a little girl's dog s

>> i talked to independent economist, mark zandi, he said if there is no deal on wednesday, expect alow bleed in financial markets, maybe 50 to 100 points lost on the dow per day for a couple of weeks, if in mid-january it becomes clear that even going over the cliff hasn't made a deal more likely, expect a huge selloff, perhaps 800 points rivalling what happened when the first t.a.r.p. bill went down in the fall of 2008 during the financial crisis, kate. >> john harwood, thanks so much. and there will be much more on all of this tight on a live special report on cnbc. it's titled "america's economy held hostage," that's at 8:00 eastern time. >>> overseas, this has been a very deadly weekend in syria, where the civil war has been going on now for 21 months, as fighting raged in a number of cities, activist groups say more than 50 people were killed today and yesterday was far worse, with almost 400 deaths reported. more than 45,000 people have died since the war began. and today, the special u.n. negotiator predicted that 100,000 more syrians could be killed this coming year if the c

biexprs balanced, and we want to help you come to that-- >> schieffer: let me just talk to you, mark zandi. you're our economic forecasters. ent to just go back to the beginning to try to help people understand this. how did this come about? and what happens if they don't reach some kind of deal by the end of the year? >> well, this is almost by design. i mean, policy makers designed the tax cuts to expire. they had spending cuts that were set to kick in. it all came together on january 1, 2013. to a large degree it was by design. the pressure of this generated a desert shield and that's the hooker. >> schieffer: but nobody thought either the white house or congress would be stupid enough to let all of this happen but here we are-- >> no, no, in my view, this is sticking soscript. this is exactly the way i think everybody thought it would go. they come together january 1, 2013 aprosmed, the pressure would begin to mount, wall street would begin to get nervous, presidencies would get nervous. we see groups like maya's group form because they don't want to see us go over the cliff. this is e

>> go ahead and miss the cliff, marx zandi, the economyist with the ear and respect of both parties saysthe end of the world if we're late on what could prove a better deal that we could score early part of next year. what do you mean by that, mark? everyone in this town tells me, boy, oh, boy, i guess we got to move, but we're not, end of the year is coming, and you say, chill, why? >> well, i don't think anything happens january 1 #, and if the treasury freezes withholding schedules, then the omb tells government agencies not to change spending patterns because they think a deal is imminent, then the impact is relatively small. it's a matter of confidence, but it's small, and until we're in mid to late january. it's okay to go into next year if it means we get a more comprehensive deal, a deal that a better deal. neil: could be rushed? >> yeah, you know, exactly. i think we need to come up with an agreement that has enough spending cuts and enough tax revenue that we can feel confident towards the end of the decade we have a debt to gdp ratio that's stable, that would be fiscal stainab

. >> reporter: mark zandy warned a congressional committee they would have just over a month to negotiate in 2013 before the economy falls apart. >> by mid-february, it will be doing a lot of damage. >> reporter: anticipating the fiscal cliff and massive layoffs that could come with it, democrats called on lawmakers to continue an extension to jobless benefits expiring this year. >> now they're at risk of losing their last lifeline. >> reporter: 25 days left, no deal yet. republicans are worried they may be losing ground on the tax hike debate. and a new poll shows the majority of voters trust the president and democrats on the issue. reporting live on capitol hill, danielle lee, news4. >>> polls show many americans want hillary clinton to run for president in 2016, but that doesn't seem to be on top of her to-do list as she steps down as secretary of state. mrs. clinton is in dublin ireland, today on one of one of her last foreign trips. she admitted she's looking forward to the quiet life. >> i'm, frankly, looking forward to returning to living a life that enjoys a lot of simple pleasur

jenna: mark zandi, well-known economist, as you know, steve, was on our program yesterday. what does 2013 really look like to you? he said, you know, not too bad. he had faith we'll get a deal with fiscal cliff. i'm curious our thoughts on the year ahead, steve? >> so hard to predict. think about this, jenna. we are eight, nine, 10 days away from the new year. think about this, no investor in america, no business, no worker, knows what the tax system is going to be. that is very unsettling. it adds all this kind of uncertainty to the economy. and just a rotten way to run a country. and it's a real black eye for congress and the president. i think if we get this beyond us, if we don't have a major tax increase and get serious about cutting spending, look, i think 2013 could be a positive year for the economy with some really decent growth which we haven't had for four years. but you know what? congress left. they're gone, jenna. they're not coming back until after christmas now. that is amazing. jenna: well then, and will they see the light over the next few days? that will

and, mark zandi, suggested that you do $55 billion, which will not have that much of a retardation on economy. he estimates that at about a point-and-a-half. if we do nothing, we lose 3% of gdp. because you withdraw from the economy over $700 billion. >> chris: let me -- >> that is a problem for america. if that should happen. >> chris: i don't want to get too much into the weeds, though, obviously it is a substantive subject, but after the cliff, the next big step, is when we reach the debt ceiling, which we're now told by treasury secretary geithner will be probably around the end of february. two months. assuming that you get this deal, you turn off the bush tax cuts, for -- bush tax cuts for 98% of americans, will they go every the democrats as part of bargaining on -- and the president said, i will not negotiate on that anymore. >> here's what i will do, if you took every penny on the $600 billion and put it on the deficit, it is 6 or 7% and i don't believe all of it will go on the deficit. when we raised the debt ceiling in august of 2011, we borrowed $2.1 billion. we spent that

that's the view of two of the most distinguished economists in this country, mark zandi, who was a key economic advisor to john mccain in his presidential race, and alan blinder, the former deputy chairman of the federal reserve. here's what they say. without that federal response, we would have had eight million fewer jobs and 16% level of unemployment in this country, and we would have been in the second great depression. they call it depression 2.0. so, mr. president, let's remember where we were when president obama came to to office. the nation was facing the worst economic catastrophe since the great depression. in the fourth quarter of 2008, the economy shrunk at a rate of almost 9%. now, after the federal actions, positive economic growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, and we've now had 13 consecutive quarters of economic growth. now, we've come a long way. this is a remarkable turnaround in a very short time, measured against previous financial crises. in fact, there's been an academic study just completed that suggests typically it takes eight to ten years to recover

mark zandy for example has suggestd that you do $55 billion which won't have that much of a retardation on the economy. he estimates that at about a point and a half. if we do nothing we lose 3% of gdp because you wealth draw from the economy over $700 billion. that is a problem for are america if that should happen. >> chris: i don't want to get too much into the weeds here though obviously it is a substantive subject. but after the cliff the next big step is when we reach the debt ceiling which we are now told by treasury secretary geithner probably around the end of february, two months. assuming you get this deal and you turn off the bush tax cuts, the lapsing of the bush tax cuts for 98% of americans. are republicans going to go after the democrats hard on spending as part of bargaining on the debt deal and the president says i'm not going to negotiate on that any more? >> here is what i will do. if you took every penny of the $600 billion and put it on the deficit that is about 6% or 7%. i don't believe all will go on the deficit. when we raised the debt ceiling in august of 2011

mark zandi with moody's. mohamed, when you say we're the cleanest dirty shirt, i wonder when it comes to negotiations where we are because we take unreasonable polarized positions. there are republican who is will not accept taxing the marginal income, you know, income above a million dollars and increasing that tax on the rich, and then you've got some democrat who is won't agree to this idea of chained cpi. bottom line, mohamed, they're going to have to be tough decisions. you cannot win budget concessions without tough decisions. when you're looking at how the united states solves its problems, what are the obvious ways? >> so the obvious way is to get together and recognize that you can only solve a long-term debt issues in the context of high growth. so you approach the fiscal problem in a way that makes sure that you also promote economic growth. so that has two implications. one is you can't do it all on one side. you can't do it all on entitlements, nor can you do it all on revenues. you've got to mov

the real concern with the economy now that you're hearing fl folks like mark zandy is that it's not consumers that are not spending, it's employers who are spending. business investment has been down year over year in the last two quarters as people do not, you know, invest in equipment or buy software because they have no idea what's happening to their tax rates in january. that's where people get nervous about what's going on. >> the uncertainty? >> yeah. >> blake, if there is a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, could these jobs numbers get considerable better? >> i think so, but it's funny. the republicans are in a bit of a box here. their motivation is to say it's not so good. a lot of jobless people out there. we have a real problem. meanwhi meanwhile, we have fiscal cliff negotiations where the president wants stimulus mechanisms including an extension of unemployment insurance. they're like a doctor who diagnosed you with a severe ill sxns won't sign the precipitation to give you the medicine. they emphasize the joblessness problem, and they don't want to give you unemployment

chief economists for moody's analytics mark zandi cautions november may see a downward revision but the numbers are a good sign. >> bottom line, feels like the job market is holding firm in the face of sandy and fiscal cliff concerns, so that's good news. >> surprising exactly no one, the white house and republicans had different spin on the numbers. >> if congress does address the problems that it needs to address, concerning the fiscal cliff, if we have reasonable resolution type of programs that the president has been proposing to support the economy in the short run, get us on a sustainable fiscal path in the long run, protect the middle class we're going to see progress in this economy. >> the risk the president wants us to take increasing tax rates will hit many small businesses that produce 60 to 70% of the new jobs in our country. that's the whole issue here. >> on the fiscal cliff front, no new deals or concessions made public, but "the new york times" reports the dynamic has changed. at the request of speaker boehner, senate leaders and nancy pelosi have been dismissed from th

mark zandi from moody's calculates the number. he says 86,000.t may have been reduced by 86,000 because of hurricane sandy. but there was a good number today which was the ism data when it comes to the services sector. you can see it was up. there's the adp data. but i want to talk about the services sector which was up a bit more than expected. then what you had, business activity was up, new orders were up, employment was the one thing that was down. i don't know if that's a sandy effect. that could be also, by the way, a fiscal cliff effect. zplint vi >> interviewing secretary geithner later today. what's your first question going to be? >> i want to get his response -- we had the president respond to boehner's proposal but i want to get the secretary's response, too, the specific issue of, hey, the republicans looked like they made a step forward, actually got some accolades in some of the press for agreeing to new revenues. where's the administration's response on that side? are they willing to give? i think that's a key question right now i

mark zandi, and many other economists, that we have to keep that in mind. that is to the a reason not to extend but a reason to say how far should the extension go. here's what i think. we should extend and the extension should be tied to some creative way of infusing new skills in people without have particularly the 5.5 million who have been out for that 40 weeks. you know, they are he going to have a hard time getting back in. here is my final point on this, maybe not my final point, of-- . >> brown: we will decide. >> the unemployment rate fell this time by 2/10 of a percent. everybody is happy about that. it fell because we lost 350,000 workers out of the labor force. >> but do you buy the disincentive arguments or do you think things have changed in this economy? >> i any it's different. first of all when you look at those studies it shows a fairly negligentable impact, .4, .5% on unemployment. and a study done by professor rossteen at the university california berkeley last year demonstrated that at least half of that is because unemployment insuranc

in response to hurricane zandi i know you followed reports of the region we heard about that today youheard about the man the injuries and tragic loss of life as well as the structural damage and power ous across the region. with deep roots i

. >> if that happens, if there's no agreement, economist mark zandi told a congressional hearing it wouldbad news. >> if we go over the cliff and there's no change after that, we hit the gdp in 2013 will be 3.5 percentage points. the economy is growing two percentage point. subtract 3 1/2 and that is a severe recession. >> reporter: republicans will be blamed if there is no agreement say the president is acting in bad faith. >> i think it's fair to say that the president is not interested in a balanced agreement, is he not particularly interested in avoiding the fiscal cliff and he's clearly not interested at all in cutting any spending. >> reporter: but behind all the public posturing, there is still contact between the president's office and the speaker's people. and between the two men themselves. but everyone else is out of the loop. and there is some confidence, at least here at the white house, that they can find a solution. norah, charlie? >> bill plante, thanks. >>> november jobs report is out. rebecca jarvis is here. good morning. what do the numbers tell us? >> things are lookin

republican presidents, democratic presidents, mark zandi from moody's it does damage our credibility.e to something like that. i didn't like fiat saying i will handle the debt thing. that would be like letting me run loose in a best buy electronics store. not a good idea. i understand where he is coming from. we do have a find a way we can, you know, not hold our entire government hostage to these debt ceiling issues. but i just don't like what he is doing. i'll take over here. that could be the wolf guarding the henhouse i. lori: i think we're looking at another debt downgrade regardless. not to be a debbie downer. >> i think, no matter what kind of deal comes together here we know it won't be worth the paper it is printed on. lori: spending to your point, you've been on this theme, the spending cuts --. melissa: getting tired of it. >> like she told me she was tired of your book. we all were. but lori, we had to work with it. melissa: i know. you were gracious about it. i appreciate that. >> she sold a lot of books. lori: i bought a lot books. >> washington isn't selling the story.

mark zandi before my committee the other day, and he was very clear that if we can make that work, and wellness type of program, keeping seniors well, it's much cheaper to keep them well than when they are sick, that will save a lot of money and bring down inflationary costs and medicare costs in medicare. we have a number of things we can do. we have to be very careful as senator rockefeller was saying yesterday, we have -- have you medicaid and medicare two very important programs and a lot of people, that's all they have that's medicare and social security, that's it. on the one hand, are you saying people say, okay, let's tax those -- the upper earners, but let's take something away from people who have nothing. so that's not a fair exchange. we have to be very careful when looking at those programs. >> you can't just tax upper earners. you maybe everybody give up something at some point. >> yeah, but it's hard to give up something when you don't have anything, and that's the point. so we've got a -- on the one end, people are trying to survive. say, for example, medicaid, medicare