america's economic future is uncertain. the crisis threatening it is on the other side of the world. welcome to "your $$$$$." i'm ali velshi. concerns in the european crisis threatening the global economy and certainly the economic recovery in the united states. stephen moore, editorial writer "wall street journal," chrystia freelander and assistant managing editor at "time." stephen, let's start with you. we know europe's debt crisis has a very direct impact on the u.s. economy. with europe's future still uncertain, how much influence do americans, does congress and president obama have on what's really happening around the world right now. >> not so much. look, a lot of people probably wondering how can a small country like greece and a bigger country like italy throw the entire globally economy into this turmoil. the answer is it's the first domino to fall. it's a threat where there's a contagion threat. if italy falls we're now seeing their interest rates rise on their bonds. it will affect other countries like portugal and spain and maybe france and germany. that's where the interconnection comes in. the united states, the banking system here is very interconnected with what's happening in europe. >> let's explore the contagion with chrystia. if i get the flu shot and you get the flu i'm not getting it from you. other countries do not have the back stops or ability to prevent what's happening in greece or italy. is that what we're worried about, this could spread? >> yes, it's worse than your flu shot analogy would suggest, ali. the european countries are all living in the same family and eating the same food from the same bowl. that is the euro. >> you're worried if it does get out of hand -- we don't know if we're there yet -- if it did get out of hand it would be substantial worse. >> i interviewed him in europe and he said this could absolutely be worse than lehman. the truth is while we're still suffering the after affects of lehman, the rescue happened, the rescue worked, financial markets were restored of the nightmare scenario we're looking at in europe, what happens if there is a disorderly collapse of the euro, euro currency. the scary thing, that was designed as a roach motel. you can go in but never a system designed for countries to go out. that was on purpose. they didn't create an escape clause. no way to get divorced. now strong countries referred to, france and especially germany, they have to decide now, are they willing to pay up. >> might be interested in a divorce. >> let's bring this into perspective. i still hear it after all the reporting all of us have done on this, i still hear people say how is greece, the 32nd largest economy in the world and not been central to these kind of affairs in over 2,000 years, how is it that important and why is italy -- obviously we get why italy is more important. let's have the argument one more time. >> i think greece was important not economically in the absolute sense but because of underlying these incredible european problems in the european union. greece showed it was not a proper political union but a selfish economic union. when times got tough people weren't willing to come together to back each other up. you saw this between rich and poor countries, hardworking germans and greeks, generalizations but meaningful. italy is an entirely different story. italy is the third largest bond, i spoke to the world's largest bond trader and he agrees italy can be worse than lehman. >> you call it the most dangerous country in the world. >> can i bring this back to the root cause. i read so many stories, what's the big problem in europe. in my opinion they have built up incredibly large overall generous entitlement programs they are incapable of reining back in. >> in a vacuum, that would be fine. we don't live in a vacuum. we here in the united states think we're not competitive with asia. europe is less competitive. >> that's the problem for europe right now. i'm going to get hate mail for saying this, europeans are lazy and asians are eating their lunch. >> i would like to push back against stephen's analysis. germany which has very generous entitlement perhaps is incredibly productive, a much more successful exporter than the u.s. actually much more successful export economy than china. sweden, another country with very generous entitlements is not suffering a crisis. the countries in europe which have slashed their government spending, drastically, countries like ireland, actually have not have the markets say hurrah -- hang on, final point -- the real european crisis is not at the moment a structural one. it is that countries are issuing debt in a currency they don't control. if you control the printing press. >> i don't agree with that. >> you're never going to have a sovereign debt crisis. >> it's the fact they can't control their spending and there's no hope of controlling their spending. >> i think there's a lot of similarity between the problems on both sides of the atlantic. you've got rich countries in debt and they still have to grow. that's pretty impossible. >> however, let's go back to the people coming out of the woodwork now saying ten years ago i warned you or five years ago i warned you about the euro. it's not the problem but you're saying no divorce mechanism, they never built a house. they created common currency, didn't come up with a way -- you get announcements from eu but nobody has power to doening. >> no hank paulson of europe. >> no ben bernanke. in order to have a currency that works, you need to have a central bank which is the creditor of last resort. what we're finding in europe, the ecb is not allowed to do that. that's their big question. this crisis could end tomorrow if the germans and french agreed that the ecb could provide unlimited backstop. >> but they would have to get over -- >> of course they would but that's why i'm saying it's fundamentally -- that's why it is fundamentally a political crisis. >> rana after greece, italy, portugal and spain, keep buzzing around. nobody wants to bail anybody else's bank's out. here in america we don't want to bail our own banks out. >> absolutely not. going back to the point why not let the ecb print money. that goods to deep european fears about hyperinflation. there's deep psychological stuff hindering efforts. >> if you are greek and you've been under this austerity program for sometime already, all these european countries have been cutting back, your economy is already recessionary, if not close to it in many places in europe. you're asked to do more to save investors in another country. this is unappealing for everybody involved. >> you have the greeks running a primary -- greek actually now -- not today. greece today is on the verge of running a primary surplus. that is, if greece defaulted on its debts, were not going to pay, their current budget on the verge of surplus. you're starting to hear some greeks say let's forget about europe. >> italy is at the forefront of the problem with italy partly demographic, huge entitlement programs. the birth rate is 1.2 per married couple. they have all these people retiring and no kids. >> rana, chrystia, stephen say where you are. normally mild mannered tim geithner came out swinging against republicans on cnn. stephen more will have a chance to swing back next on "your $$$$$." stay with us. 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[ male announcer ] trade commission-free for 60 days. plus get up to $600 when you open an account. this was a week in the united states where a lot of the political discourse was focused on anything but economic issues, whether it was rick perry's memory lapse or continued accusations of sexual harassment against herman cain. chrystia, is there a chance, and i'm hoping not despite everything else, is there a chance this election could turn on things that are not economic, even though for three years now the voters of america have said the economy is their number one concern. we are spending a lot of time on things not about the economy. >> yeah, but it's 2011, not 2012. when push comes to shove, people are going to focus on what really matters. i have a lot of faith in american voters. look, i think these other issues, they are easier to think about. they are more fun. they also are less scary, actually, they are about other people making mistakes. >> i said herman cain fascinating though he is and his story can't wreck the world, greece could. >> talking about euro bonds and how the ecb should average, esf. that's not that fun. >> you conservatives take some credit or blame for making this such a big issue, making americans understand the economy and debt are serious. you conservatives of derailing the conversation with everything going on this week. it's your presidential candidates who are diverting the conversation. i mean, as a conservative, who in the republican race is keeping this conversation as focused as they should be? whether you agree with them idea logically or not, huntsman, gingrich, romney we haven't heard a lot from. >> there's no question the last week or two have been bad for republicans because all the talk has been about herman cain's sexual harassment allegations when they want to talk about the economy. this is a celebrity culture. it's amazing to me 90% people know who joe paterno is than better than bernanke. this is part of the problem. turn on tv they are not talking about the economy, herman cain sexual harassment allegations, joe paterno. it's too bad we should be focused -- >> chrystia is right. it's 2011 we have some time to go. in an exclusive interview with cnn's white house correspondent jessica yellen, treasury secretary tim geithner came out swinging. >> unless republicans are willing to do more things for the economy now, unemployment will stay too high, won't come down fast enough, growth will be weaker. that's not a political statement just basic reality. >> stephen, have republicans reached a point where they have more to gain in november 2011 by stalling, by not having this economy improve dramatically in the last year so they win the election. >> certainly a weak economy is going to help republicans win the white house. but i think that's an unfair allegation. what's the big thing going on in washington right now? it's the super committee. guess who is not represented at the table there, who wants the super committee to fail? that's barack obama. the reason he does, he wants this narrative for the election season that the republican congress is -- >> isn't that too dangerous? >> i think it's dangerous. >> you believe the president wants the risk of these automoti automatic cuts that come in that will cripple this economy. >> republicans and some democrats say obama has not been represented. he has no interest in seeing this succeed. >> chrystia, what do you think? >> i don't agree. i think it's very clear what's going on right now. stephen is right, the republicans don't have an interest in the economy getting better. >> i didn't say that. >> right now. right now. we shouldn't blame them for that. politics is an oppositional race. it's perfectly fair and justified to say we don't believe in your policies and we're not going to help you execute them. >> the danger is everybody gets sprayed by the same skunk. the economy gets worse they are going to smell the same. >> i don't think everything happened in a super committee and i don't expect it to happen there. it's all about jobs, the economy. if europe goes into recession, will that push u.s. into a recession. that's why occupy wall street matters. it's about the american dream, feeling you can do better than your parents. >> gridlock is dangerous for both sides. what you could have in november 2012 is throw all the bums out. >> except someone does have to win. ultimately there will be someone who is the president. it's not a case where everybody can lose, one person will be president, either barack obama or -- >> i don't want a partisan judgment, i ask as financial journalist, both of you, because we know where he stands. is there someone that stands out in this race regardless of their politics or the likelihood they might win. >> i truly think it's impossible to give a purely technocratic answer to that. i think in the republican field technocrats will see mitt romney and jon huntsman makes the most sense on the economy. i think barack obama and tim geithner are a strong economic team. >> i agree romney is sounding better than he did four years ago, less like a salesman. that's a good thing for him. we haven't seen a real coherent what are we going to do about jobs plan. obama is trying but keeps getting gridlocked. whoever can do that will win. >> if europe gets worse or fails what are we going to do about jobs plan suffers greatly. >> it affects u.s. economy. we're in a global economy now. look, i do want the economy to get better, i think jobs are number one. i think there's a complete ideological difference. republicans say they don't want to raise tacks. i hope they are right. i hope they get an agreement another super committee. if we can't cut the first trillion dollars, how are we going to get to the next 9 trillion. we'll talk about the super committee. there has been some movement. one guy responsible for some of it. let's see where we're going debt crisis may be america's problem. what it means specifically for your investments and job search. stay with us. 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[ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. great! did i mention no hands in the bundler? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. as i told you before the break, europe's debt crisis has real implications for your job and investments in the united states. our good friend cnn.com poppy harlow joins us with a man from zephyr management. take it away. >> we started looking at greece now about italy. jim, we're going to break down for people why they should care so much about italy. i'm going to pull away countries in europe, all the highlighted countries on the periphery where we're concerned about a debt crisis. take a look at italy. you've got $2.2 trillion economy, seven times bigger than greece. the fear is the lack of confidence and the ability for that country to pull back from a debt to gdp ratio that's clearly unsustainable. first scenario if we have italy implement austerity measures and the market believes it, then what happens to jobs in the united states? what does that money? >> that's good news. that means europe will not pull us down, continue to grow in the united states, not as fast as we want but continue to grow, employers will add jobs and you will have a gradual decline in the unemployment rate from 9% now to 8 1/2% in a year. >> not enough in terms of creating jobs in the country. investments, people with exposure through 401(k) to europe, what should they be doing in terms of the equity market right now, in terms of their bonds? what should they be doing to protect themselves. >> europe is going to have a recession. many would say they are in it. you want to invest where the growth is. the growth is in the united states and select emerging marriages, china, asia. you want to own the biggest, most conservative u.s. corporation with a global footprint, lever to the emerging markets, united states with dividends and select high-quality companies in the emerging markets. >> be very conservative. corporations, they have been able to weather this recession better than consumers. you've got record corporate profits for a number of companies of the question is what would this situation mean for corporate profits? >> corporate profits would grow. the decline in europe would be offset by decline in the united states and see corporate profits grow 5 maybe 10% next year. >> look at this scenario and it's more likely than the next scenario, italy doesn't implement austerity measure, or they do and the market doesn't believe that. in that case, what does it mean for jobs in this country? obviously a worse situation? >> it would be a problem. what would happen financial markets and economy in europe would freeze up. it would blow back to the united states. corporations would have fear, would not add jobs and you would not see an improvement in the unemployment rate. >> what do you do with your investments? how much more conservative should you be if this is the case with italy. >> you should have more bonds in that case, more fixed income, u.s. government debt, corporate debt in the united states. to the extent you had equities, again, you'd want to lever where the growth is, which are the emerging markets. to the extent there is growth the united states would participate. again, you'd want to own big conservative stocks. >> for corporations, obviously the situation gets more perilous for corporations. what do we have flat earnings for corporations or see a decline. >> you can have a decline in corporate profits under that scenario. europe could pull the whole world down and you could have a 4 or 5% decline. >> the reason why we care about corporations, obviously, ali, is we're exposed to them in terms of our long-term investments. >> they are in 401 (k)s, employers. jim, great description of the various scenarios. i want to take your temperature on this. you keep your eye on this closely. what's the scenario you think is most likely. does it get worse in europe or level out or start to get better? >> i think it will level out. i think you have technocrat governments coming in now. they are going to build a bridge for the next year or two. we will not collapse in the next year or two, europe is long-term no growth modestly growth situation. no growth in europe, some in the united states and some in the emerging markets. >> one important jim reiterated, the united states tipped europe into this position, really led europe on its knees to get to this point because of our housing crisis. >> the housing tripped up the whole financial markets worldwide which exposed the problems in europe. ultimately the problems in europe would have been exposed anyway but would have happened more gradually over time so it could have been handled. >> what an excellent explanation. thanks so much for the two of you. now to our debt issues here in the united states. yes, we have some. less than two weeks until a critical deadline for a plan to lower the u.s. debt over time. have u.s. lawmakers learned something from greece and italy? 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a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it. ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. section democrats, six republicans, one committee charged with reducing debt. since nothing gets done in washington until the last minute, no one should be surprised we don't have a deal yet. >> even though time continues to run off the clock, we are not giving up hope reaching an agreement with the democrats until the stroke of midnight on the 23rd. >> until the stroke of midnight on the 23rd of november. the goal is to reduce our nation's deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. jean is a senior writer at cnn money. she knows more about this story than anyone i know. there was once hope, however faint, that something monumental might be done by the thanksgiving deadline. they have to have a deal by then and has to be voted on and passed without change by christmas or something bad happens. i'm not even sure we should hold out hope for anything monumental. do we need to change our expectations. >> the hope was monumental, always a possibility. hearing the plans they seem to be trading back and forth on are closer to minimum target of $1.2 trillion. people will be happy enough if they get to $1.2 trillion. they have proposed more but there's still a lot of disagreement between democrats and republicans on the revenue side of the equation in terms of the magnitude. >> in your opinion, have the two sides, which seems to be in tractably opposed made any measures toward coming together? >> pat tooney, a conservative republican put out a tax plan that sort of was against orthodoxy in that increase tax revenue, didn't increase the tax but tax breaks that would raise revenue. democrats rejected it out of hand, countered with another proposal that raised more revenue. republicans didn't like that. but the fact that republicans put revenue on the table even if you don't like how they did it or how much they did it, it's a step forward. it's a step forward. >> let's hope they get how serious it is. bob bixby, president of the coalition, despite following debt ceiling debacle back in august, the u.s. remarkably is still able to borrow money at remarkably low rates. something you say is part of the problem here because it doesn't get us to underscore the urgency of the situation. do the events in greece and italy, will they scare this super committee into serious action or can they continue to ignore this problem? >> well, i certainly hope they take a look at what's going on over there and see our potential future here if we don't get the act together. there seems to be a great amount of hub reduce, people can look what's going on in italy and greece and say it could never happen here, we're the united states. there's no particular reason why it couldn't happen here. i mean, it's good that we can borrow money cheaply right now. but the fact of the matter is, it is allowing us to take on a huge amount of debt at a low interest cost. when that debt has to be rolled over at a higher interest cost when the economy picks up, it will leave us with an incredible interest burden. >> very much like exactly what happened in the mortgage crisis. low interest mortgages. low rate mortgages. when it came time to refinance, rates had gone up. what's the solution to this? you have interesting ideas. you don't think the process of the closed-door meetings, back door super committee is the way to do this. >> i think the committee made a mistake retreating into the dungeons of the capital and closing the doors. how we solve this unsustainable fiscal problem we have, a matter of great urgency, is something the american people have a great interest in. it's going to affect entitlement programs, revenue. the american people need to be involved in the decisions. so i think the committee should have been much more public, had public hearings, maybe gone around the country, do some things, involve the public more in their deliberations. >> which by the way is what your group has been doing for years trying to draw attention to it. clearly it's been difficult to convince people. jean, just remind us in the worst case scenario they do not come to a deal by thanksgiving. >> i was talking to market strategists, the response isn't going to be that dire. stock may become volatile in the near term because they are going to be disappointed. generally traders are like, yeah, they are going to fail. that's the expectation. >> that's where we've gotten in politics. the expectation is they will fail f they don't we'll be relieved. >> bonds probably won't get hurt mostly because europe is such a problem now that we look better in relation to europe. in addition people are thinking, so super committee fails, in law that means a trigger of spending cuts of go off equal to the amount of super committee was supposed to come up. congress may cancel that trigger but they have to deal with bush tax cuts in 2012, that cost $4 trillion. places like moody's rating agency are looking to see what congress will do before they throw the hammer down and downgrade us again. >> when we look at europe, we say they know what they have to do, why don't they do it. i'm sure people say that about the united states as far as this debt ceiling. they know what to do, just do it. do we know what don't ask, don't tell? in my views, many, many studies, we've studied this thing, it's not just a matter of making political decisions. >> i think they know they do know what they have to do. they know they have to put revenues and health care on the table. those are the two big issues of the reason we haven't come to an agreement democrats and republicans have fundamentally different views on how to reform health care and the tax code. until we make a big deal, grand bargain compromise there, we're not going to be able to really solve this problem. >> bob, you have, we followed you, you're a trooper for this. you've held public meetings you would like congress to be holding. it's been difficult to get this issue to catch fire with average americans, is it not? >> well, i think americans are not as much recently as it has been, three straight years of trillion dollar deficits has caught people's attention in the last four years. i think what the problem is americans are quite willing to face these hard choices. the problem is you've got political imperatives work against substantive accomplishments. it's quite easy to go on the campaign trail and say no, no, no taxes won't go up. no. no. no, capital get medicare. accuse the other side of wanting to do those things. i find when you talk to people they are actually quite rational just inflamed by these political ads. yeah, i think this is why it requires political leadership by the committee, by the president, to go out, make hard choices in cooperation with the public and sell it. i think bowles and simpgs did a great job, they are the model. >> i think people are like i need a job first, i need help first, my house value needs to go up. they are looking for nearer term solutions. they are frustrated, this 20, 30 year outlook, what about next week, next month. there is expectation perhaps if the super committee comes out with a deal. >> sweetener for the long-term. good discussion, let's hope the one in washington is as productive. political imperatives work against substantive. jeane sa hadi, senior writer. you want to read jeane's stuff to stay on top of the cig as it unfolds over a week and a half. for some a pipeline, 20,000 jobs and much needed oil for canada. others consider it a pipe dream, environmentally dangerous plan that should be scrapped. will cain and pete dominick go head to head next on "your $$$$$." y blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. i'm going to talk to you about keystone xl, not a new beer from coors but the most important pipeline project in decade. the $7 billion project would pipe around 700,000 barrels of oil a day from canada's oil sands to refineries on the gulf coast. now, let me just tell you why this is an issue. the united states uses $18.8 million barrels of oil a day. 18.8 million barrels of oil per day, but it produces only 9.1 million barrels of oil per day. bit of a shortfall as you can see. canada is already the largest source of non-u.s. oil into the united states. it accounts for a quarter of total imports. not saudi arabia, but saudi arabia, nigeria, venezuela, then mexico are after them. they are all after canada in terms of the amount of oil the united states gets from other countries. the obama administration faces a political problem whether it approves keystone xl or rules against it. business unions and trade unions support the project, which is estimated to bring 20,000 construction projects and bring $5 billion in tax revenue. but environmentalists oppose the pipeline. it's a route they have a problem with because it goes over a major source of freshwater through nebraska sandhills. now, this past thursday the obama administration said it would delay the decision on the pipeline until 2013 after the elections. the state department will use the extra time to study an alternate route through alaska that avoids the environmentally sensitive regions. the yellow line is the existing pipeline. the dotted orange line is the proposed extension. it's a lot shorter. it goes through aquifer. canada oil sands is dirty, producing oil from the oil sands generates between 5 and 30% more greenhouse gas than conventional production. but stopping the pipeline won't put a dent in global warming, canada will simply export its crude to energy hungry asian markets and will not have an effect on the oil markets in the united states. it may sound like a lot but a drop in the bucket of u.s. consumption. there's my argument. if that pipeline doesn't get built that oil will come out of the ground in canada and someone is going to buy it. that pooip pipeline should get built. >> it's good to know the coke brothers got to you. can we put this up to will cain and i can look at this. listen, here is the problem with this pipeline. okay? the pipeline is going right down there in the gulf of mexico to a port. why going to that port? so all of that oil, most of it, can go to the economic biggest competitor, china. why not build the pipeline that way right to china, because that's whose going to benefit from the oil. you know who is not going to benefit from the oil, maybe over, the north pole. consumers are not going to win. oil company and oil industry will benefit. we shouldn't pay attention to their figures for jobs. cornell did an independent study that said fewer than 5,000 jobs created. who wins? people who invest in and make money off the oil industry. who loses, consumer? >> 401(k) invest in the oil industry. they win either way. >> go up and jobs will be temporary. >> hang on a s.e.c., speaker boehner put out a statement after this delay was announced by the president. he said, quote, more than 20,000 new american jobs have just been sacrificed in the name of political expediency. by punting on this project president made clear campaign politics are driving u.s. policy decisions at the expense of american jobs. >> a complete farce, the reason given it's environmental damage to the aquifer, which we just saw on the map is massive. horrible impact. i'll use visible aids, too. right now 8,000 wells through the aquifer. surely laying a pipeline over the aquifer won't have the impact of drilling through it. the point is that argument makes no sense. it's not true. this is an argument for climate change zell ots worried this new pipeline is game over for climate change. >> we did draw a sign on the side of environment always, draw a line in the sand, tar sand on this issue. it is a huge win for environmentalists that pick this issue that will have momentum. forget environmentalists. they have overexaggerated like petroleum institute overexaggerated. john boehner said 20,000, it's nowhere near that number. we in the media shouldn't quote that number. >> a. >> let's be clear two environment impacts. the first one it's going through an aquifer. there's fear pipelines leak, because actually pipelines do leak. i think that is a valid concern. there may be ways around it but that's a valid concern. the second and probably bigger environmental concern is what happens in the oil sands in canada. you can see it from space. it's denuded forest. hot water, energy intensive way of producing energy. again, a very valid argument. i'm not arguing somebody should like or shouldn't like the way oil is produced in canada. all i'm saying, that oil, every drop of it will still get produced and bought by someone else if the u.s. doesn't buy it. why do we think we're building the oil? it's not even going to us. it's going to china which is why china is buying up the biggest oil companies. we're shipping it to go to china. >> the pipeline will be built directly west and go to china. wouldn't it be nice to have it go through our refineries, manufacturing jobs? >> i'm canadian, you can come back with me when i move back to canada and we don't have oil shortages. a valid and interesting discussion, that pipeline whether or not it's getting built. pipeline, keystone kpchl l. everyone angry at big banks and wall street. one young woman decided to do something about it. find out how her fight may have saved you money coming up next on "your $$$$$." questionable choices i've made? 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[ whooping ] ♪ it was the best day ♪ it was the best day ♪ ♪ it was the best day ♪ 'cause of you we make a great pair. huh? progressive and the great outdoors! we make a great pair. right, totally. that's what i was thinking. all kinds of vehicles, all kinds of savings. multi-policy discounts from progressive. call or click today. as you certainly know by now, bank of america will not be charging customers a $5 a month debit card fee. what you might not know is the woman behind the influential campaign against the fee is a 22-year-old recent college graduate who -- you have maybe seen on tv before. molly, it's good to see you. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> you closed your accounts because of the fee, a lot of people did that. that's not where your stopped. you started an online petition, with more than 300,000 signatures. do you believe you're the reason bank of america agreed to repeal this wildly unpopular fee? >> no, i don't believe i'm the only reason. you know, there were people closing their bank accounts, bank of america lost thousands of customers. there were protests and action across the country, they were getting bad press and then, i think, you know the 300,000 signature petition had some impact certainly. >> nobody ever before this changed their bank. nobody ever closed -- i think the number of people who ever did anything like that was very, very small. were you doing it because you didn't want to pay the $5 fee? or in protest? >> i was doing it in both. i obviously am against paying the $5 fee and i believe there were thousands of other people who were also against it. and you know, i figured if i made a change.org petition and thousands signed on, there would be a chance of them repealing the fee. >> tell me the mechanics of this. i work in tv, i tweet, i don't think i've ever done anything remotely as effective as you who has none of that background. what are the mechanics of that? what went through your mind? you closed your account and said i want to see what other people want to do. >> well, change.org is a platform for a petition online. and i'd signed petitions there before. so i knew it had the potential to be effective. i created the petition, wrote it up, and sent it out on twitter a little bit and also on facebook and it went viral. i mean, you know, over 300,000 people signed it. . it was kind of, i think, a combination of the fact that people are so upset right now with banks to begin with. you know, and just the fact they really like the petition. >> you're a little bit of an activist, though, to start with. it's not like this is the first time you've done anything that's described as activism. >> right, i certainly do consider myself an activist. >> now, did you -- what was the interaction between you and bank of america once you decided to start this activity? >> well, so i launched the petition, and then after about a week and a half, bank of america executive called me up to acknowledge the petition. he said that he knew about it. bank of america knew about the petition, that they were following it, that they were aware of all of the press, and he called me basically to tell me that and to also explain the fee to me. and i haven't heard from bank of america since. >> very interesting. and you're not going back to them? >> no. >> i want to ask you this. are you still -- you earn very little money -- >> right. >> and this has made you one of the most effective campaigners in the country. i've got to imagine somebody wants to hire you at this point. >> yeah, i have gotten a couple of people who are interested in talking to me so that's exciting. >> you are very effective, molly, we always wonder about how people can effect change, and you've done a great job of it. we salute you, molly is an activist who has actually made some things change in this country. thanks, molly. >> thank you so much. you've got to stick around. there's something very important to me that i want to tell you about. it could make a big difference in your life. i'll explain on the other side of the break. i habe a cohd. yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. 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[ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. if you watched me on tv at all this week, you'll know that christine and i have written a new book together. it was published on tuesday, christine and i have worked together for a decade. as financial reporters and anchors. we've covered the same stories but deliver them differently for slightly different audiences on different shows and different parts of the day. but we are both committed to our audiences understanding money. and by money, i don't just mean markets, i mean jobs and global economic trends and effective schooling for your kids and retraining and budgeting. the decision about whether to buy or rent, how to budget, or if you're more than a financial novice, and you might be, how to fine tune your investments so you get the most out of them in volatile times like these. we wrote the book based on the conversations we've had with you over the last few years. your e-mails, calls, facebook posts, and your tweets, working hard to answer the questions you have. but more than that, we've answered some questions in the book that you haven't asked. like how your small business here in the united states can profit from the growth in china, how your kid can best position themselves for a knowledge-based economy, and how you can completely reinvent and reposition yourself out of a dying industry into a burgeoning one. i spent almost my entire life reporting on the economy for you. doing so is a privilege i take seriously and i know you have other things you could be doing right now than listening to me. so whether you're a doctor, trucker, lawyer, or stay-at-home parent or construction worker or a teacher, christine and i have written a book that will help you get fluent in the language of money and be better able to discuss money with your loved ones, co-workers, or other important people in your lives. we live in tough economic times and you can't control the stock market, what the elected officials do in washington, but you can control how you invest your money. you can control how much money you put away for retirement. you can control how you and your family handle daily finances. i can't promise many things, but i can promise you that if you invest a couple of hours into reading the book, you will be equipped to make better financial decisions and as always, we welcome your