romances and the one that got away. and keeping america great with president obama's power fund-raiser, the man they call the george clooney of hedge funds, knows wall street better than anybody. what does he think of the facebook frenzy, jpmorgan chase and that $2 billion mistake. plus only in america, why you should never, ever come between a man and his fish. >> they refuse to give us any more fish. >> this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. we begin as we do every night with the big story. it's a very real threat of a war between iran and israel, one washington is desperately trying to avoid. no matter who wins the election in november, the president will have to face the reality that this country's closest ally in the middle east may be on the verge of attacking the islamic republic. the consequences could be catastrophic but is it too late to stop? joining me now is defense minister and former prime minister ehud barak. and a friend of the show. thank you for coming back, sir. you're here because tomorrow you go to washington to see defense secretary leon panetta on funding for a missile defense system for israel. this puts the whole atmosphere about israel's security to the central political fore right now and key issue is iran. everyone says it's a tale of two barack obama and ehud barak. you are the key figure who is keenest on taking military action against iran. what do you say to that? >> i say we have a different political system. we have a government. we don't have -- i don't believe the key person, there is prime minister netanyahu, the government, they make decisions collectively. i'm not sure whether we are yet on this decision. we are now face -- i don't like to use a word like catastrophe like you mentioned. it's not about catastrophe, it's about a real challenge to the whole world, not just to israel. i think that nuclear iran will change the middle east. we have to do something to block it from happening, be it sanctions or the negotiations. and i think now we are in the negotiations. and we have to see. i had talked with them in vienna. they seem -- probably they will meet again and then there is baghdad and we talked a few days ago in jerusalem. >> these are high level talks in baghdad, critical talks in many ways. leading countries meeting there to discuss what to do next about iran. you are of the belief that the reason you have to get stuck into iran now rather than too late is because if you leave it too late, you see what happens in north korea, you see what happens in pakistan, countries that are unstable can develop nuclear weapons if people don't take action soon enough. you would point, i guess, israel to iraq and syria as cases where you intervened, you struck and were successful in stopping those programs continuing. do you see iran as being in those categories, that you have to get in now because if you leave it and they can protect themselves from air strikes or whatever, it becomes too late? >> i cannot improve your description, it was so close to perfect. but i think that the real challenge now is these negotiations and what should be done about the negotiations first. we strongly believe and rely upon the united states and the other members of the ap-5 plus one and expect them to set the boundary that becomes clear however long it takes it will block iran from turning military nuclear. it means there is a need to stop enriching uranium to 20% or even to 3.5%. to take all the enrichment out of the country. you can allow them to play with a neglible amount that will never be enough to one single air weapon. and basically there is an installation. so if all these elements are set and the iaea has kind of a inspection, that's it. but if the world community will set the threshold in a way that even is fully accepted, not to mention if partially accepted by the iranians, but if fully accepted it still allows them to keep moving toward nuclear and military program -- >> your concern. >> that's ridiculous. it's a delusion. >> but your main concern is that the iranians may in this time that goes on, they may start to move the uranium enriching process into areas, mountainous areas perhaps, where they cannot be destroyed. is that your primary concern? >> our primary concern is that iran will not be blocked when the time is still to block them. what they are doing, they try to reach such a level of redundancy so they can get into hills, spreading it on many sites or accumulating a lot of enriched uranium for possibly half a dozen weapons or whatever. it's still not fully enriched, but it will come inevitably because the iranians basically are trying to reach nuclear military capability. otherwise there is no need for all these sanctions and diplomatic steps. >> president obama clearly would prefer not to see israel take any action before the election. so there is a time sensitivity here. he would see that as politically dangerous for his presidency and you would be aware of that. how much does that factor into your military planning on israel's behalf, that the president of the united states has an election coming in november? >> you know, first of all, we are trying to avoid letting it slip into anything that carries a certain relationship to internal politics here or in israel. but we basically share the same rhetoric. we say loud and clear, the americans say the same, the president says the same, a nuclear military iran is unacceptable. we are determined to prevent them from turning nuclear. and that no option except for containment, no option should be removed off the table in order to achieve this objective. basically we are on the same page. the rest of it is about our difference is we try to discuss them fairly and honestly and we -- when we say no option should be removed off the table, and when the americans say we assume, and i genuinely assume that the president means it and i can assure you that we mean it. >> you're a military man, and you know that there is always an optimum time to take military action in these cases. are you prepared to act completely unilaterally if you have to? >> i don't want to respond to this question, but i think that it is clear. we say -- the leaders of the world saying including the american president no option should be removed off the table and we basically mean it. and we have said many times that we always listen to america, especially to america, our best allies, the most trusted and trustworthy allies of us. but at the same time we cannot afford delegating the responsibility for the future security of israel even into the hands of our best and most trusted, trustworthy allies. >> you've always been keen to say that the president of the united states and america are friends are israel. but friends can come in many qualities. who do you think -- >> high quality friends. >> okay. what would be a higher quality friend come november, president obama or potentially president mitt romney, do you think? >> oh, i can't say, i'm sorry. i don't think that there's a shortage of energy in this race in america. i just noticed here joe biden speaking. i couldn't hear him, the volume was muted -- >> it was unbelievable. >> there is energy, kind of into this race. i don't think that we have to contribute to it in any way. >> you're not concerned about the outcome either way. you think whoever wins would still be a resolute friend of israel. >> i think it's improper for an israeli political leader to express a public -- publicly any judgment or even to make remarks. it doesn't mean that we -- we just respect the american process and want the american people to make your judgment. it's up to the american people. our tradition is -- american presidents all along the years, from both sides of the political aisle, be it in their first term or second term were always friendly toward israel because it reflects something much deeper that goes to the american society. we're sharing the same values. when we look at the arab spring that turns now green, the kind of environment, it's extremely, extremely disturbing and israel is the only outpost of democracy, of stability of the western way of life in the region. >> how concerned are you of the situation in syria giving that it's getting the world attention as it often does. it's started to move into other areas, but the situation remains unchanged there. it's still very dangerous and very unstable. >> i'm quite frustrated for the slowness of its collapse. i believe that he is doomed anyhow. i believe that there is a need to raise our voices both for moral reasons and practical as much more loudly and to make sure that every possible step is taken by world community, by nato, by the united states, by the russians, turkey could have a special hold to it, to accelerate the whole thing. >> it seems to people there's a different way of dealing with syria than there was to libya, for example, and the main reason is that the russians and the chinese are more concerned about syria, but from a humanitarian point of view, why should that come into it? shouldn't the international community now be driving as hard against syria as they did in the libyan situation? >> i think that they have to push -- i don't want to make comparison because the russians were quite against their judgment dragged into the libyan story. and here in syria, they see the only successful outpost of them in the middle east, they invested political capital and financial resources for two generations almost now in this family and group. i think that a way should be found while pushing harder to change administration in syria, preferably so the yemenite example, namely to let assad and his group go out and try to -- not to repeat their mistakes, not to dismantle the party, the intelligence, the armed forces, to find a way to keep a role for russia, a leading role around the table for russia. because if you try to do it in a way that will deprive them from their only other darling in the middle east, they will resist it and it could be extremely influential. but to mention iran, it will be a major blow to iran when assad falls and they are now supporting him very actively. it will be a weakening blow to the hezbollah and probably islamic jihad. so basically something -- you know, some people contemplate -- i believe it's better to reach a conclusion and try to keep civil society, the presence of power basically in place without the elite, which was kind of extremely intimate and closed to assad. >> thank you very much for coming in. coming up, my primetime exclusive with billy bob thornton. the man angelina jolie says is not a normal person. all multivitamins give me the basics. they claim to be complete. only centrum goes beyond. providing more than just the essential nutrients, so i'm at my best. centrum. always your most complete. it was in my sister's neighborhood. i told you it was perfect for you guys. literally across the street from her sister. 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[ male announcer ] wells fargo. with you when you're ready to move. that is 18. that is a new record. oh! >> billy bob thornton in the hit that changed his life. he was number one anti-hero, 30 films to his credit, groesz of about $1 billion but he's remained as mad as hell throughout it all. he's also a tabloid superstar but he tells all of it in a brilliant new book. this is a fascinating life. >> it's been different. >> it certainly has. what i love about it, i can't think of anybody else who would have had a forward written to their book by one of their ex-wives who just happens to be one of the most famous women in the world. and it is such a brilliant forward, i thought the best way to start this interview is to go through what angelina jolie says about you and get you to respond to in some cases i would even use the word "allegations" because it's fascinating. she says that before she met you, shared friends described you as like the hillbilly orson welles. fantastic phrase. how do you feel about being called the hillbilly oarson welles. >> i guess if she means my mind or my body. but, no, i mean that's pretty cool. actually the person who coined that phrase for me was robert duval. >> was it really? >> yeah. so i think she picked up on that from him. but, sure, i'd rather be called that than a lot of other things. >> she says that she went to a theater alone full of strangers, engrossed in sling blade. i just want to play a clip from that movie and say what she said about it because it was really interesting. >> my mother, she jumped up and hollered what did you kill j.c. for, what did you kill j.c. for? i don't rec on my mother minded what jesse was doing to her. i reckon that made me madder than what jesse made it. some folks call it a sling blade, i call it a kaiser blade. then i hit my mother upside the head with it. killed her. >> utterly compelling performance there. i remember watching it. but she watched it alone, like i say, in a theater full of strangers. she said engrossed in the film. every nuance, every facial gesture. the sound of the chairs on the floor, the characters, each one completely original. you watch as a filmmaker helps you to understand a place in time and people who he knows so well. you're getting to know him, his mind, his humanity. an amazing thing for somebody to be observing about a man she doesn't know, who she then goes on to marry. >> mm-hmm. >> what do you think of that description? >> well, you know, i'm honored any time anyone talented says anything nice about me. but i did find that interesting, and it's happened to me a couple of times also, for someone to see you in some other way before they meet you and feel some connection to you. you know, that's always an interesting thing. >> she said that -- i smile as i write this as my instinct is to say simply he's not a normal person. but he isn't. i've known him for more than a decade. i still haven't quite figured him out. not that i want to. the puzzle is so much fun. do you like being a character of mystique, even to your loved ones? >> well, it's certainly not on purpose. i don't feel that i, you know, purposely sort of shroud myself in mystery or anything like that. i think it's that maybe i don't do enough of the things that people are expected to do when they're in the entertainment business or something. i kind of live sort of -- 50% of the time i'm so normal that i would probably bore anyone to tears if they hung out with me. and that's one of the things -- >> that can't be true. >> well, it's kind of a misconception that i'm such an oddball because -- i mean there are a few things. but this whole idea of exsin tris tees, you could probably walk to up anyone in new york city and talk to them about ten minutes. maybe not des moines, you know. >> you're an agoraphobic. >> a bit, yes. >> angelina said it was a miracle that you'd even get out of the house to make films. if you had your way you'd make them in some underground dungeon inside the house. >> i wasn't always that way. i've been driven inside in the last few years a lot more. >> by tabloid attention? by being that guy that used to be married to angelina as much as everything else? >> well, no, not so much. it's really more about the sort of -- i'm more afraid of people now. not afraid of them physically, but afraid of the -- well, it's like the social network, you know. it's kind of a creepy thing to me. and i think it's doing something to people. and i know that sounds like i get signals through my head or something from mars or whatever, but no, it's really -- i'm just observing people's behavior these days and there's a real lack of privacy now. and i think we're living in a more cynical society. and that's one of the reasons i like to stay home is because, you know, people are really -- it's almost like a witch hunt in some ways and it kind of creeps me out so i stay in the house. >> let's take a short break. i want to come back and talk about brad and angelina getting married. are you going to get an invite. 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>> not much lately. i'm getting older. the old arm is not what it used to be. but, yeah, out on the -- we've got a court out there with basketball goals and everything. i was a pitcher growing up, a pretty decent pitcher so i made a target out there on the wall. i would throw the wall and it hits the wall and bounce back to you so i would play out the action. we did that when we were kids. >> to him i am the number four. that sounds strange but it means a lot to me. >> well, those numbers are assigned to different people in my life about it has to do with my obsessive-compulsive disorder. when you have ocd a lot of it is about -- a lot of abused children have ocd because they don't feel a way to control anything in their world so they use different things like if i count to this before my dad gets home, then everything will be okay or whatever. you start developing things like that. and then it gets worse and worse until suddenly you feel responsible to the entire world. and so the next thing you know, people get numbers assigned to them. but, no, all the people who were friends and loved ones in my life all have a special number and, you know, it is impossible to explain. but it makes complete sense to me. but if i -- once again, not enough time here to tell you exactly how that works. >> that's very nice. chapter 14 is entitled simply angie. she's a golden gypsy lighting up the way for anyone who needs her night or day. they are thunder casts a special in magic turns, her lightning strikes and courses through your bones. her power leaves you spent there where you lay and leaves you trying to find something to say. beautiful is all that comes to mind. you clearly have to this day an incredibly close relationship. is it strange when you see angelina go off, now getting married to brad pitt? probably the most famous female celebrity in the world with arguably the most famous male. do you find it odd, the circus that goes with that? the sheer oddity of having somebody so close to you become such a ridiculously famous person? >> well, i'm not -- i don't really follow, you know, the celebrity news much. >> do you care? >> that's an overstatement, i would say, that i don't follow it. but i only see her occasionally when she comes to town, and i talk to them on the phone sometimes, you know. she's a great friend and would be there if i needed her and vice versa. and brad's a great guy and i love them both. and they're terrific people. but, you know, when you're inside a situation, it's so much smaller, you know, than it is to the public sometimes. in other words, you know, they'll have a big news story. and if you're the person involved in it, you know exactly how it is and so people say to me what do you think about her getting married and all this kind of thing. and it's not like i didn't know this. it's not news to me or anything like that. so it's -- there's not much that shocks me or gets to me. >> will you be at their wedding, do you think? >> i don't know. i mean -- >> would you feel odd about that? would you feel uncomfortable? >> oh, gosh, no, not at all. no, if i were invited to something, i would go for any friend of mine. like i said, they're friends, and they're great people. but if i didn't go, it certainly wouldn't be because of being uncomfortable, it would be because i don't go anywhere. i mean you're lucky to drag me to a funeral, much less a wedding, you know. so any place i don't go, it's simply because i just don't feel like getting out of the house. >> let's take a short break. when we come back, i want to talk to you about connie, the woman you've been with the last ten years who's managed so far to avoid becoming wife number six. i'm a marathon runner, in absolute perfect physical condition and i had a heart attack right out of the clear blue... he was just... 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(female announcer) most life insurance companies look at you and just see a policy. at aviva, we do things differently. we're bringing humanity back to life insurance. that's why only aviva rewards you with savings for getting a check-up. it's our wellness for life program, with online access to mayo clinic. see the difference at avivausa.com. talent from the old man then, i guess. >> that's the only thing that [ bleep ] ever gave that boy was some drawing. don't know how to draw. >> it runs in families. >> yeah. >> he was a good kid, you know. he was a really good kid. he was so good. he was -- he really, he loved me. he really loved me. >> of that the movie that earned halle berry an oscar and billy bob thornton is back with me now. tell me about connie, the woman in your life the last ten years. you've married five times but you haven't married connie, why? >> well, i told her, i i said, look, when you think of it this way, this is my longest relationship and we're not married. it's not real hard to figure out. and plus, you know, if you do that, then you're going to -- the press would get into that. it would be like call her number six or something like that and that's not fun. but we're doing just fine the way we are. we have a beautiful 7-year-old daughter. it's all fine. so i just said let's leave well enough alone, you know. >> great stuff in the book about -- you touched on this earlier, about modern life. you know, you've got this thing about you don't like the whole iphone, ichat, twitter, facebook society that we've become, everyone being led by gadgets. i was very struck by what you said about the nature of stardom, the proper movie stars in the old days. you didn't know much about them. you knew what you saw on screen and became kind of wonderful, mythical figures, steve mcqueen. it's just not possible anymore. we all know way too much about people because of the nature of everybody wanting to be famous, everybody having the ability through social media to become partly famous and chipping away constantly at famous people's lives so they become just like everybody else, killing the mystique. i was very struck by that. tell me about that. >> well, i think it's -- it's really easy to brush it aside because it's so convenient, and it is providing so many people with entertainment and a lot of other things. so i have nothing against as an inanimate object some gadget. it's what they say about guns, guns don't kill people, people kill people. so i see some value in having a cell phone. i have one. if you're away and you need to contact the family, if you have a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, that's a great thing for phone calls and all this. but when it becomes a tool for people's hatred and jealousy and whatever it is, and like you said, and like i talk about in the book, we're losing the magic in life because people are communicating and they're not going through the process of life anymore. i mean part of the joy and the magic of life is the process, is the journey, and there's no journey anymore. i mean america has become one big drug addict and the drug is technology. and the thing is, you can say it, it's not just 19-year-olds or 12-year-olds. i hear guys who are 65 years old an they're saying i just tweeted somebody something. first of all, it doesn't sound like a word an adult should be saying. but it's really interesting to me that when you say this stuff, people always go, yeah, i agree with you. we all look at our phones and all this kind of thing now. but just like a drug addict, you can say that to a drug addict, you know, we've got to stop this cynicism, there's no privacy and people go yeah, yeah, yeah, while they're doing this, you know what i mean? so i think people are in real denial that they're losing the magic in life. the system has always found a way to control people. and i think this time they have done it by selling them things that make them feel accepted, loved and important, you know. and everyone should feel that, but i think you should feel it through natural things, instead of all this other stuff. so they call stuff youtube, iphone, myspace, it's named after people and they sell it and these people make billions of dollars, while the people think they're important. i just think it's a very dangerous thing and they're taking away, like i said, the joy in life. you know, i came up the hard way in the entertainment business. horrible things are said about people like me and all the other people in the entertainment business all the time now. we've become fodder, you know. which is a real shame because we had heroes and idols and it made you feel good to have those. and now it's anti that. >> what do you think of america generally in the sense of where it's gone with the whole financial crisis? a lot of people wanting to blame lots of people. do you think enough americans lead lives of sensible frugality if you like, who take personal responsibility? >> i think we as a country are very happy as long as we're comfortable in our own house and our own backyard, and i think that may be one of the problems, you know. so once that comfort goes away, then all of a sudden we're mad at everybody, you know. i don't -- i'm not a very political guy. i don't know enough about it to talk about this stuff. but it seems like to me that the economy usually is at the center of every political debate these days because it's not doing so well. some years they don't care about that. if that's okay, they're talking about something else, gasoline or whatever it is. i think if people started looking around the world a little bit more and started to see how it's actually our culture that's crumbling, i think if you start there. in other words, if you have a foundation in your culture, if we keep learning and if we start paying attention more to our history, learning lessons from our past and things like that, i think it would help us in these times. i can say one thing and this goes back to the social media thing. i believe one reason that americans aren't getting what they want right now is because we don't have leaders, and i'm not talking about political leaders, i'm talking about leaders among ourselves out there, who step to the forefront and get on a soap box and start talking about this stuff. because during the american revolution and many other times during our history, we've had people who would step out. patrick henry or whoever it would be, benjamin franklin, someone, who would come to the forefront and start talking. we need more people to talk about real things as opposed to, oh, guess what happened to actor x or this, that or the other, you know. i think we've gotten a little shallow. and i think it's our fault in a lot of ways. you can't always blame the system, in other words. the system is appear eating machine. and it's always been an eating machine and always will be an eating machine so you can't blame them. you've got to blame yourselves at some point. people have to come together and start to live meaningful lives again and everything, pause i think if you have that foundation when a financial crisis hits, you're more prepared for it. >> you know the strange thing about you, billy bob thornton, you just sound resolutely normal to me. >> i don't know -- >> i was expecting some weirdo monster and you've just been talking in a way that i've been nodding to everything that you've been saying. you're about as normal a persn oddball i've ever met. >> i'm also the most pessimistic optimist you'll ever meet. >> you've got a current movie with kevin bag on and robert duval. tell me about that film quickly. >> when i was a kid, my dad would bring my brother and i to car accidents. that was where we bonded. he would literally take us to the aftermath of accidents all the time. he was fascinated with them. from the time i was a little kid, i was at these horrific scenes. and i'd always wanted to put it in a movie, but i didn't know how to make that the movie. but i had this idea for a long time about a british family and an american family who are related to each other sort of loosely through a common mother. because i love -- i love british and american culture clash, which at the end of the day you find out is not one, because we come from that, you know, here. and so i sort of put those two things together and the movie, at the end of the day, it's a movie about the -- how generations view war and how it manifests itself in families and how these generations don't always pass the lessons along. >> and when does it come out? >> ft fall. >> good luck with that. it's a great book. i love this book. "the billy bob thornton." i love you on the front. it makes you look completely mad, when you're totally not. it's been a pleasure. come back. >> i'll do it. coming up next, the man they call the george clooney of hedge funds. what he thinks wall street can do to keep america great. man: 1939 -- my parents ran across an ad for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. why you fell in love with her in the first place. and why you still feel the same. but your erectile dysfunction -- that could be a question of blood flow. cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. i want to turn to one of my favorite topics on the show, keeping america great. one man who knows about that is the chairman and ceo and co-founder of avenue capital group. he's also a power fund-raiser for president obama and a man who's been called the george clooney of hedge funds. he's profiled in the new book "the alpha and welcome, mark. >> pleasure. >> you're a billionaire hedge fund george clooney creature. how does that make you feel? >> i guess that would make me feel pretty good. >> being a hedge fund manager, simply a very successful one, now carries with it a sort of dirty connotation of greedy capitalist pigs fleecing the populist. how do you feel about that and how you trying to change the image if you are of hedge funds and hedge fund managers? >> look, i think in what we do, or at least what i try to do, really what we're trying to do is generate a return for our investors. so i think at the end of the day, it's a phenomenal job. i mean, i have the ability to be able to invest money for a pension plans, for investors and try to make them money for, you know, their holders. so i think day in and day out as long as we're generating returns for our investors, we're trying to do our bit to help. >> well, when you see the scandal at jp morgan erupting, you know, in a company led by a very respected man, you know, who has taken a big hit this week because he was one of the few who wanted no regulation coming in above and beyond what's already there and he's caught a big cold and the public is like here we go again. the financial institutions helping themselves, not helping anybody else. squandering, risking billions of dollars. what do you think of what happened to jpmorgan? >> i don't know all the details but i think what happened there is i think jamie or jpmorgan was trying to reduce risk. the problem in all of this is when things don't go the right way, everybody looking at it and says, look, you made a huge mistake. i think the intent there was to try to minimize risk so to try to protect part of the bank's balance sheet, look, it went wrong. part of the problem is i look at what we do, day in and day out, we're making investments. you hope that those investments work out and you hope that you're right and when you're not, everybody looking at that and says, well, how did you not know that? >> let's turn to facebook. happier story, an amazing success story for american capitalism. >> it roo. >> is it worth $100 billion? >> that i don't know. >> is there any way of valuing facebook in any sensible way? >> that i don't know. that's a complicated -- >> how big of a slice of the facebook pie are you hoping to carve out for yourself? >> zero. >> nothing? >> nothing. >> why not? >> i think what we do is we try to invest in companies that are in trouble. so facebook is not one of those companies at all. i think facebook, it's a phenomenal company, it's going to do extremely well. the question is going to be two or three years from now is the valuation today the right valuation. we may fine out it's too low or too high. >> you raise money for president obama. >> yes. >> you make no bones about that. you're probably on both ends of the spectrum. a good democrat to him but you're also in the 1% that he wants to flay and flog, tax to high heaven. are you prepared to be buffetted, to be taxed at a much higher level? >> i personally don't have an issue in paying higher taxes. i mean, i think the law is the law and i'm happy to pay whatever my taxes are. i think personally i'd rather have taxes -- higher taxes be used to reduce the deficit, but that's my own personal view. >> do you think obama is going to win easily or does he have a hell of a fight on his hands? >> i think it will be a difficult election. i think ultimately a lot will be on what's going on with the economy. so if the economy is doing well, i think president obama wins. i think if the economy isn't doing well, i think then it becomes a little bit harder. >> for everyone in america struggling a bit, but they have a little bit of money to invest, what is the kind of thing you would urge them to consider as a relatively safe bet right now? >> i think the safe bets are investing in the u.s. treasuries. i mean, i -- i think today there's a lot of risk in the system. and when you look around the world you look at what's going on in europe. you look at what's going on outside. there's just a lot of risk so the question is are you getting paid for those risks? i think for most normal americans, today i would be trying to take less risk until things calm down a little bit. >> thank you very much. >> a pleasure. coming up next, "only in america" back away from the buffet when all you can eat doesn't mean all you can eat. le throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day women's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day women's 50+ healthy advantage. dude you don't understand, this is my dad's car. look at the car! my dad's gonna kill me dude... 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