Transcripts For CNNW State Of The Union 20120805

months. >> it's another hammer blow to the struggling middle class families in america. >> what the numbers say about business with bet founder bob johnson and former hewlett-packard ceo carly fiorina. i'm candy crowley, and this is "state of the union." first today, mitt romney. gloria borger caught up with the nominee yesterday in indiana and he hit back on president obama's proposal to raise tax rates for people making over $250,000 a year. >> i think it would be an enormous mistake for us to raise taxes on anyone right now with the economy in the trouble it's in. i also hope people understand that when they talk about raising taxes on the wealthy, as the president does, he's also talking about the same tax rate that applies to small business. >> more of that romney interview in just a few minutes. but i wanted to bring in republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina. thank you for joining us, senator. >> glad to be with you. >> let me ask you first about the president's plan or his wish to raise taxes essentially on those making $250,000 and above. we now have some democrats saying, you know what? if republicans are going to dig in, let all these taxes expire on the middle class, on everybody. are you willing to go that far? >> well, i think you've got a lot of the democrats saying it would be a bad idea to raise taxes on a million small businesses. here's the point. two years ago, president obama said now is not the time to raise tax rates because the economy is weak. 40 democrats, less than two years ago, voted to extend the tax cuts. i'm dying to hear how our economy is better today than it was two years ago. how it's better policy today right before this election given the 42 months of 8% unemployment, 316,000 people have left the job force since the stimulus passed. this is all politics. this is not economics. this is all politics, good for governor romney not buying into this construct. >> it is true that since that time when the president agreed to go ahead and let all of the tax cuts stay in place that we have had many, many months of job creation. not enough job creation, the president would say, but nonetheless the recession has ended. >> no. >> and we're now looking at a huge debt as you know. >> so the democratic party has said our economy is in good shape enough to raise taxes on job creators? everything is worse since he's taken office. the debt has gone up by 49%. the unemployment rate has gone up by over 6%. gas prices are 50% higher. your home values are going down. the stimulus promised a 6% unemployment. but now it's at 8.3%. none of his policies are working. obama care. you were not supposed to lose your health care. millions of people are losing their health care because it costs too much. premiums were supposed to go down. they're going up. so the idea that now the economy is better than two years ago when president obama said don't raise taxes, it would be bad for the economy, is all politics. it's not based on economics. >> so just quickly, yes or no, if the democrats stay where they are and if the president stays where he is, would you be willing to say, fine, if we can't reach a deal, taxes go up on anyone? >> i'm willing to do the bowles-simpson plan. not one person who has looked at this in a bipartisan way says raise the taxes. bowles-simpson is let's fix the tax code, take the money to pay down rates, and pay off debt. >> but long-term. that's sort of a long-term thing. these cuts will expire on the 31st. >> i'm not going to do a short-term thing that's stupid. it would be stupid in an economy this weak to raise tax rates on a million small businesses at a time they can't hire people now. if you're looking for a job, this election is not about romney's tax returns. it's about your tareturns. look how many millions of people are underemployed or have lost their jobs. the last thing i'm going to do is play politics with their future. what we should all be doing is fixing sequestration in a bipartisan manner. both candidates should pledge, if i get to be president of the united states, we're going to do bowles-simpson. that's what america is yearning for. and i want both candidates to step up to the plate and lead here and stop this political stuff. >> and neither one of them has to your satisfaction. >> i think governor romney has said he would embrace bowles-simpson. and the fact that he rejecting raising taxes at a time that our economy is so weak is a good sign of leadership. what president obama is doing is 180 degrees from what he did two years ago when they had large democratic majorities. >> let me talk to you about sequestration, which is basically come the end of this year, automatic spending cuts will get into place that will cut over 10 years more than $1 trillion out of the economy. >> right. >> you have raised the red flag about that. you have been talking with some democrats. can you tell me if there's any hope out of the group you're talking with that you can keep this from happening? because everyone sort thinks this would be disastrous. >> here's what secretary panetta said. the failure is to take $600 billion out of the defense budget on top of the $478 we're already cutting. it also hurts special education. it hurts a lot of nondefense programs like the national cancer institute. here's what it would be for the defense department. the smallest navy since 1914. you'd go from 285 ships to 232. the smallest army since 1940. the smallest air force in history. we're working with carl levyn and some other democrats to find a way to avoid this for four months from january to may, using the bowles-simpson formula. no one is talking about -- >> bowles-simpson for those who don't know was a deficit reduction plan. >> that's right. it rejects raising tax rates. but what we'd do is go into the tax code and generate revenue taking whaling deductions away from whaling captains, suspend a corporate jet deduction for a time to buy fighter jets. we'd have other cuts in the budget, mandatory spending cuts, a balanced approach to offset sequestration for four months. here's what sequestration -- >> are there enough -- can i just ask you, are there enough of those loophole -- whatever you want to call them, these tax increases or tax loopholes that you want to -- >> special deals. >> special deals for people. are there enough of those to balance out the cuts that would have to take place to bring democrats on board? >> in four months, there are plenty of them. there's $1.2 trillion we give away in reductions. but if politicians fail to do their job in the supercommittee, the penalty was to destroy the military. we got this wrong. we should fire the politicians, keep the soldiers. so i believe the american people are going to be outraged when they hear what comes the military's way because we couldn't get our act together in cutting $1.2 trillion in over a decade. >> so you're talking about a four-month deal. do you have any reason to believe that the white house would be onboard with it? i know you've talked about the vice president recently. >> if they watch cnn, and i'm sure they do, join us. send a representative from the president's office to engage the senators who are trying to find a way forward. i'm willing to put revenue on the table. but not by raising tax rates. carl levyn is willing to cut mandatory spending in a responsible way. i cannot tell you how important it is for our economy. if we let sequestration go forward, we destroy the military. 1.1 million jobs lost in the industrial complex on the civilian side. 4% gdp affected if sequestration goes forward. we do dumb things in congress. this sequestration idea was the dumbest thing. >> what is the reality in tax on the revenue side you think you could get this four-month deal? >> i think about $22 billion. 1/3 from revenue, no tax increases, close the loopholes, and we can find them, 1/3 spending cuts to other parts of the government, 1/3 mandatory. get it done. mr. president, we need your help. you're the commander in chief. your secretary of defense says this is a navy without ships. a brigade without bullets. an air force without trained pilots. don't send a signal to iran and syria and the rest of the world that we're going to disarm. don't use the tax cuts. here's what omb director ziesz said. the only reason we don't have a deal so sequestration is because republicans won't ask the 2% to give their fair share. this idea of holding the defense department hostage to the tax debate makes me sick to my stomach. knock it off. find a way to avoid sequestration. let the next congress and the new president fix this, give them a little breathing room. >> i need a two-word answer from you, and that is what vice presidential pick would best help mitt romney? >> you know, i think pawlenty and portman are in the hunt. one last thing. you didn't ask me about harry reid. i've been around this town for a while. i actually like harry. but what he did on the floor of the senate is so out of bounds. i think he's lying about his statement of knowing something about romney. this is what's wrong with -- >> that's pretty stiff. you think the leader of the senate is lying? >> i really do. i think he has created an issue here. i think he's making things up. and at a time when the country is just about to fall apart. cyber security. there's a bipartisan desire to do this. there's plenty of blame to go around. but, candy, we're running out of time as a nation. let's start talking about the real issues that matter to real people and i just can't let that pass. i just cannot believe that the majority leader of the united states senate would take the floor twice, make accusations that are absolutely unfounded, in my view, and quite frankly making things up to divert the ca campaign away from the real issues. >> lindsey graham, thank you so much. mitt romney says that president obama's jobs plan is all wrong. >> the idea of doing the same thing again and expecting a different result is famously said the definition of insanity. >> more of the interview with mitt romney. and later, we'll get reaction from obama campaign senior adviser robert gibbs. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank. 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i mean, that's 250,000 jobs a month. >> yeah, yeah. >> that's a lot of jobs. >> that's what happens in a normal process. when you come out of a kind of recession we've had, you should see this kind of job creation. we should be seeing 200, 3,000, 40,000 jobs a month to regain what's lost. that's what normally happens after a recession. but under this president, we have not seen that pattern. we have been bumping along with barely enough jobs to hold the upemployment rate about the same, 42 months like that. giving more money to government will not get our economy going. you have to have the steve jobs of the world. beginning businesses, making products that want to be purchased around the world. that gets americans back to work. it allows to us create more jobs. more jobs creates demand for workers. that raises wages. good things happen when you have a private sector that's thriving. >> well, polls show that a majority of the public believes right now that you should not allow for the extension of the tax cuts for the wealthy. and today's "wall street journal" said that not extending the tax cuts for the wealthy would be reckless. in this economy. that -- and they say that the economy is in a desperate state. so therefore, you cannot take away the tax cuts for people at the top end of the scale. do you agree with the characterization that it would be reckless to remove those tax cuts? >> the great majority of small businesses pay taxes at the individual rate. so it raises these taxes, quote, on the wealthy, he's raising taxes on small business. that kills jobs. if your priority in this country is to punish success, vote for president obama. if your priority is to create more success and more jobs, vote for me. look, i know the very wealthy are going to do just fine, whoever is elected. the middle class is the people -- that's the group of people that i'm most concerned about. they need our help. and the poor. they need our help. they need our help with good jobs. that's going to only come if we encourage this economy by keeping the burdens on small business down. >> well, but the president said if the republicans in congress had gone along with passed his jobs bill, that there would be more jobs in the pipeline right now. than there are. how do you respond to that? >> well, the republicans in congress watched the democrats in congress four years ago pass the president's jobs bill. his stimulus bill. $787 billion of new borrowing. and they saw the results. they were told unemployment would stay below 8%. that's not been below 8% since. his approach, just spending money on government programs, did not create the jobs that america was looking for. so the idea of doing the same thing again, and expecting a different result, is famously said, the definition of insanity. >> should the fed intervene at some point? >> well, i think the feds' first action in quantitative easing was effective to a certain degree. but i believe that the qe 2, the second round of easing, i don't think it had the impact they were hoping for. and i'm sure the fed is watching. will try and encourage the economy. but i don't think a massive new qe3 is going to help this economy. i have laid out what my course is. there are five things you have to do to get this economy going. take advantage of our resource energies, fix our schools and training programs, make sure we open up trade with foreign nations and latin america, and crack down on china when they cheat. number four, finally get ourselves on track to have a balanced budget. and finally, champion small business. we've got to help small business. keep their taxes competitive. get regulators to encourage them. keep health care costs from driving them out of business. >> ok, governor. i know you're not going to tell me who your running mate is. but can you tell me if you've decided or not? >> i have nothing for you on the vice presidential front. >> nothing? >> i give you nothing on that. but i can assure you that by the third day of the republican convention we will nominate a republican vp. senate majority leader harry reid's barrage at mitt romney. >> the word's out that he hasn't paid any taxes for 10 years. >> team romney says that obama's team is behind the attack. robert gibbs is here when we come back. it took a mighty machine, and plain old ingenuity to go where no fifth grader had gone before. ♪ and she flew and she flew, into the sky and beyond. my name is annie and i'm the girl who dreamed she could fly. powered by intel core processors. ♪ spending the day with my niece. i don't use super poligrip for hold because my dentures fit well. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. so it's not about keeping my dentures in, it's about keeping the food particles out. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. by what's getting done. measure commitment the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. joining me now, obama senior campaign adviser robert gibbs. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> you heard senator lindsey graham saying that he thinks harry reid is lying, that he is making this up when he gets on the senate floor, and senator reid says, i've been told that mitt romney has not paid taxes for 10 years. i spoke to a democrat yesterday who's in touch with the obama re-elect in chicago who said, if chicago wanted reid to stop, he would stop. but chicago doesn't want him to. are you just as happy to have him out here saying these things? >> look, i think it's important that we know the financial backgrounds of candidates. you say lindsey graham. i think appropriately talking about the role that tax loopholes play in our tax code and how much it costs average taxpayers. we're going to have a pretty big debate about tax reform in the next coming months. and we have to know what's in people's tax returns and what they are getting the benefit for. >> but mitt romney didn't make the loopholes. and no one is saying he did anything wrong. >> well, we don't know that, candy. >> you know that -- let's go back to the question first. do you think that harry reid -- >> we do know the one tax return he put out, we found out he had a swiss bank account that wasn't on his financial disclosure ---ing? so we do know that he has used not releasing his tax returns to hide where his money is. but let's be honest. >> but it wasn't illegal. he wasn't hiding it. he put it out, right? >> again, after the tax return came out, he updated his financial disclosure to let the world know he had a bank account in switzerland. >> you know where i'm going with this, because you want to couch it as he's hiding something really terrible. he probably cheated on his taxes. he didn't pay taxes. you pay too many taxes. but you have the leader of the democratic party in the senate saying that mitt romney didn't pay any taxes. and you have mitt romney saying, yes, i did. >> it's a time honored tradition that presidential candidates release their tax returns, all right? and the standard was set by mitt romney's own father, who said don't put out one or two years because those could be an anomaly. he put out i think 12 years. >> most people don't put out 12 years. >> but mitt romney gave john mccain 23 years of tax returns in order to be the tryout for vice president where john mccain picked sarah palin. if 23 years is good enough to show john mccain, so mitt romney can be vice president of the united states, how come only two years is appropriate for voters when you want to be the approximate of the united states? -- you want to be the president of the united states? we could put this to rest tomorrow. mitt romney can go to kinko's, photocopy his tax returns. there are several hundred pages. he could hand them out to people like cnn and to reporters all over the country, and we wouldn't talk about this tomorrow. we wouldn't say is he paying taxes, what's he paying, the whole world would know what loopholes he's taking advantage of. >> to the propriety of the leader of the democrats in the senate, accusing based on a source the republican -- presumed republican nominee of not paying any taxes for 10 years, is that something that chicago has encouraged? do you want him to stop? >> look, let's be clear. i don't think anybody controls harry reid. >> but if you asked him to stop, he would. >> you know, again, put the tax returns out. put this whole thing to rest. candy, have you ever seen anybody go to such great lengths to not put something out? and when you generally don't put something out, isn't it because you're generally hiding something? again -- >> well, generally, you might think it's private. but in the end, the visual of mitt romney doing his tax returns at kinko's is sort of throwing me. >> i'm send him some nickels. >> you would not tell harry reid to stop? >> harry reid isn't the one who's made this debate. mitt romney has brought this to the fore. this has been something that has been talked about well back into the republican primaries. we did an interview on the foreign trip where abc said, have you paid -- what's the tax rate? have you paid a lower tax rate than what you released? and do you know what mitt romney's answer was? i'll go back and check. he is not at kinko's making photocopies. he doesn't have any intention of checking. he has gone through -- i've never seen anybody jump through more hoops to say, a, that somebody is lying but also not put out a document that would prove what the real truth is. >> so chicago is not going to tell harry reid to stop. let me move you on -- actually, take you back four years ago. barack obama, running for president, at a rally in leesberg, virginia. >> anytime you want to bring about change, it's not enough just to change political parties in the white house. we've got to change out business is done in washington. >> has he changed how business is done in washington? >> i think he has. i think it's been very difficult. i think the interest in this town are decidedly entrenched. it is hard to get special interests to give up their tax breaks. it is hard to get millionaires and billionaires to get rid of their tax breaks. mitt romney did have one thing right in that interview. he said if he was president, the rich would do just fine. i can assure you that if mitt romney is elected president, the rich are going to do just fine. the problem is in order to give the rich a tax cut, he's going to raise taxes on middle class families. that's not me saying that. that's the tax policies center saying that just this week. and i think the debate is whether or not we'll have an economy tilted towards special rules and special tax cuts for the wealthy or whether we're going to invest in and support middle class families. >> do you think president obama has changed the tone of washington? remember he was going to be a different kind of politician. hillary clinton was old style. he was going to come in, and he was going to get consensus. he has not gotten consensus. >> well, he's not gotten consensus because it is hard to get consensus when the other side of the aisle has no desire to build consensus. mitch mcconnell famously said that his number one priority was to prevent barack obama from being a two-term president. that is not exactly engendering the type of atmosphere that one needs to get political compromise. and let's -- your last guest, i probably can't let this pass. you have a pretty broad discussion about raising taxes on millionaires. and yet bemoaning possible cuts that could have been avoided had we made some tough decisions to the military. let's do this, candy. let's preserve the size of the navy and the air force by giving up tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. >> in the end, more democrats voted for sequestration than republicans did. but i want to move you on to something else that the president said during the campaign. again, this was the one from leesburg, virginia, where he was asking that age old question, you better off. >> wages are lower than they were in the past decade. and costs for college have never been higher. it's getting harder and harder to make the mortgage or fill up your gas tank or even keep your electricity on at the end of the month. at this rate, the question isn't are you better off than you were four years ago. it's are you better off than you were four weeks ago. >> ok. so we are now at a place where the economy is creating jobs, which he also talked about there. >> a place we've been for 29 months, 4.5 million new jobs. yes. >> but wages are lower than they were when he took office. cost of health care is higher. the cost of college is higher. we all know what has happened to the housing market. so the question is, why should americans look at this and say to themselves, am i better off than i was four years ago, since all of those mile markers that he put up there have gone south? >> well, let's be clear, candy. the president has taken dramatic steps that will help lower our health care costs. the president has countless number of times passed legislation and ideas to reduce the burden that students have and middle class families have to borrow money to go to college. >> still up. >> well, i think you -- i'm happy for to you interview some college presidents and universities and ask why we keep raising tuition tax rates. but i think the most important thing is, there's no doubt we are better off than we were four years ago. are we where we need to be? absolutely not. nobody thinks that. we have worked hard to move this economy forward. and we can't go backwards and try the ideas that mitt romney wants, which is more tax cuts for rich people, and let wall street write its own rules. up next, spinning the latest jobs numbers. plus, has president obama been bad for business? no. the eassist is working. right now. that's spandau ballet, man. you did this all the way to the restaurant. yeah. we were going up a hill. getting extra horsepower. from a battery-powered generator. ♪ ah, ah ah, ah, ah ♪ it's helping us conserve fuel. this is important. 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>> well, i think he is beginning to lay out the framework for that. and i would encourage him to do more. i think there is an argument that the business community would like to see the president talk more about simpson-bowles as a sort of blueprint for where he might go with the economy in the next election. i think the business community is not so much concerned about taxes as they are about a tax reform, progressive tax system. they'll accept that. but also entitlement reform and a focus on reducing the growing deficit and serving that part of the fiscal problem. >> republicans say, and you are one, and are helping to try to elect a republican senate among others, but that this is about uncertainty, that businesses are sitting on so much cash, that they don't want to hire because they don't know what's going to happen with health care and they don't know what's going to happen with regulation. isn't that sort of the price of doing business? isn't business with the government always a bit of a risk? >> actually, no. i think there is more uncertainty right now than there has been in a long time, and i think that is a big reason that you see a lot of businesses sitting on cash. but i think the real question to ask about the economy really focuses on small business, because small business has created the net new jobs in this country over the last 40 years. we now have fewer small businesses starting. more failing than at any time in the last 40 years. and that's because if you talk to small business owners, they will talk to you about uncertainty, although now that the health care law has come into more focus, most small business owners are saying, this is bad for me. they listened to a discussion about tax policy, and they say, gee, i don't see my taxes going down. i see them probably going up. they look at the regulatory thicket that they are trying to get through. all of that puts a depressing blanket of uncertainty on top of them. and then sadly, you have a president of the united states in obama who apparently doesn't understand the critical role that small businesses play in the economy, and who says things like you could build your business because they're roads and bridges and teachers. no one denies that roads and bridges and teachers are important to creating an economic climate. but a small business owner creates a business because they are willing to take a risk, a lot of risk. >> do you agree with that summation of what is keeping small businesses and obviously large businesses are sitting on the most money, but small businesses from thriving, hiring more people? >> well, regulation as you said is always part of a free market economy, where the government has a role in protecting public interests. so that's always going to be there. and i think businesses account for that. and i think on the issue of president obama understanding small business, i think he absolutely does. this whole question of you didn't build it, somebody else built it, is taken out of context. all the president is saying is someone built a super highway system, the railroads, and businesses take advantage of that. and good businesses succeed at that. and some businesses don't. and i don't think the president was trying to in any way demean small businesses who use whatever government infrastructure is there to say, you didn't do it. i think he was saying, it's all part of an ecosystem of the government stimulating private sector growth, the government providing the stimulus or the forum for companies to grow. and some of that includes as carly mentioned regulatory reform. but the fundamental issue, the president does understand small business. you know, i'm in the automobile dealership business. we are the largest minority owned automobile dealership group in the country. and that's a direct result of the president making a determined decision to save the auto manufacturers and creating small business opportunities. >> i want to get you two to halt here for just a second. when we come back, more with bob johnson and carly fiorina. that cloud is in the network, so it can deliver all the power of the network itself. bringing people together to develop the best ideas -- and providing the apps and computing power to make new ideas real. it's the cloud from at&t. with new ways to work together, business works better. ♪ his morning starts with arthritis pain. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. ♪ and it feels like your lifeate revolves around your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira adalimumab. humira has been proven to work for adults who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief, and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. get headed in a new direction. with humira, remission is possible. we are back with former hewlett-packard ceo carly fiorina and bet founder bob johnson. i want to ask you first about something you said about a year ago. you were talk about president obama. because i want to ask you on the other side of it about these looming tax breaks. and here's what you told fox news. the president has to re calibrate his message. you don't get people to like you by attacking them or demeaning their success. i have earned my success. i have earned my right to fly private if i choose to do so. it doesn't mean that i'm a bad guy. do you think the president has recalibrated his message sufficiently enough for business? >> yeah, i think so. i think the business community is prepared to give the president a second chance at re-election on the basis of that the president focusing more on what he's going to do in the future. he's established his credentials in the past, the job growth. you know, halting the country in a tailspin. health care, and all the things he's done on the war on terrorism. so he has established those credentials. what he needs to do now is talk about the future. and i think what the business community is saying, mr. president, talk about the future based on tax reform, based on restraint in entitlement growth, paying down the debt, and focusing on creating the environment for job growth. and i think the president is going to start delivering that message. >> but has not to your satisfaction at this moment? >> well, to my satisfaction, he has. i just don't think the translation has come through in some of the campaign stops. and i think that's where we're getting a little bit of a disconnect, that we need to focus on that a little bit more as part of the overall campaign messaging. >> we did an earlier piece about the jobs figures that came out and the private sector created over 160,000 jobs which is pretty good. and then unemployment went up. >> right. 190-something people lost jobs. >> right. so describe for me -- i want to ask both of you this. describe for me what you think the state of the economic recovery is. >> okay. first may i just say that what bob said the president needs to focus on tax reform and regulatory reform and job creation, all that's right. and the president isn't focusing on those things. what he's focusing on is punitive tax increases for a lot of small business owners. we have structural problems in our economy that are holding back this recovery. the first structural problem we have surrounds entrepreneurship. too many small businesses are failing. not enough small businesses are starting. we have a structural problem in terms of education. we have a structural problem in terms of the regulatory -- those things have to be fixed, and we need tax reform, absolutely. >> do you think the economy is -- the recovery is moving along but slowly -- >> no, i don't. >> what do you think of the state of the economy? >> i think we are bumping along at a very bad place. and by the way, the level of uncertainty is increasing, and now what we are facing, which we were not facing six months ago, is a simultaneous global economic slowdown. europe is in recession. asia is slowing. our economy is losing steam by every measure. that's a bad place to be. >> mr. johnson, you're out about their with a business you want to have keep succeeding. what do you think the business environment is? how would you describe the economy and what does it need? >> i think prident obama has sort of laid the foundation for an economic recovery. now it's going to be slow because there's, as carly mentioned, there are a lot of headwinds against. obviously something of the european debt crisis. we're beginning to see housing come back slowly both in new homes and the price of existing, old homes. and we're seeing manufacturing grow. manufacturing growth has been sort of a star in this whole process. and i think the president has laid that foundation. so i think the business community is waiting on that second message. so that's where i think we need to start pivoting in the campaign. what is that message about what the world will look like after the inauguration. and when the president starts talking about that against a -- governor romney who has yet to articulate a real clear, specific platform of how he would do it, the 12 million jobs or so, i think the president has an opening to lay out a foundation, look what i've done to stem a sort of a government that was in sort of free fall. now this is what i'm going to do when i'm re-elected. >> let me do a 180 here with the time i have left. that is to ask both of you if you were on mitt romney's team, just imagine here for a moment, who do you think would most help him on the ticket as vice president? >> oh, you know, here's the truth -- i think you could make a strong argument obviously for a marco rubio. i think you can make a strong argument for a tim pawlenty, rob portman. each bring something wonderful to the ticket. having said that, i think the most important thing about this election is not the v.p. i think the most important thing is how people view the state of the economy and the fundamentally different approaches to economic recovery that governor romney and the president have. governor romney has laid out a very specific five-point plan to get the economy going and growing again. >> i've got 15 seconds. if you were advising him, what would make you take a look at the republican ticket? >> nothing would make me look at the ticket, particularly when i'm wearing an obama 44 tie. rubio. >> think that might help him? >> it's the only thing i think could help him with the one constituency that's totally not supportive of him. >> like those one-word answers. thank you very much, bob, carly, thank you for being here. next, what else we could buy with all that's being spent to get your vote. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank. who dreamed she could fly. like others who braved the sky before her, it took a mighty machine, and plain old ingenuity to go where no fifth grader had gone before. ♪ and she flew and she flew, into the sky and beyond. my name is annie and i'm the girl who dreamed she could fly. powered by intel core processors. ♪ powered by intel core processors. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs g of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to discover. when they taste the food that you cooked, it does something to your heart. i think what people like most about the grilled food is the taste. the flavor comes from that oak wood. the shrimp, the fresh fish, the steaks. it locks in the flavor, it seals in the juices so that when you put the fork in it, it just goes through it like butter. it's beautiful. [ laughs ] i'm proud to be a grill master. i love food. my name is charles himple. i'm a red lobster grill master and i sea food differently. the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. thaby what's getting done.mends measure commitmentum. the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. finally this sunday, money in politics. >> we've got folks writing $10 million checks. >> he's raising roughly a billion dollars. >> don't cry for them, argentina. mitt romney and barack obama are flush with cash and friends with cash. according to the nonpartisan center for responsive politics, the cost of the 2012 federal elections, that's the white house, the senate, and the house, could reach almost $6 billion. that is up 7% from four years ago. much of it consumed putting ads on tv. it is a mind-boggling bunch of money. think about what you could do with that. think about what we do do with that. less than a week before election day this year, halloween. a fun fall holiday replete with costumes, decorations, and candy. last year, americans spent $6.8 billion on halloween. it is expected to hit $7 billion this year. you heard that right. more money is spent in this country on halloween than on elections. and flashback to the primary season with all those candidates trying to raise all that money. and in the midst of it, february 14. americans spent more on valentine's day this year than in any of the last ten. 17.6 billion dollars on candlelit dinners, heart-shaped candies, flowers, et cetera. you could buy three rounds of federal elections with that kind of dough. >> billionaires writing $10 million checks, just pouring -- raining down on my head. >> there's no question but that the president will have massive funds. >> summing up, in the 18 months before election day, almost $6 billion will be spent to influence your vote. and in the month before valentine's day, almost $18 billion will be spent to influence your heart. so if everyone sent their favorite candidate 1/3 of at

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