In 2013 and 2014, romneys plan, as attractive as it sounds, is in doubt. Kevin hasset is an economic adviser for the Mitt Romney Campaign and author of some of the economic plans. Kevin, romney plans seem to assume that simple act of lowering taxes will generate enough growth to raise the revenue to pay for the steep cost of those cuts. But a lot of economists agree with that notion. Its a classic chicken and egg scenario. I talked to Larry Summers a couple days ago. He cant get the math to work either. Its easy to have an attractive tax plan if your Campaign Staff can make it up. The reality is that every expert whos looked at it found that cutting taxes by 20 costs 5 trillion. Okay. Lets get down to this. We understand there will be certain revenues that will come in. There will be certain revenues lost. You kept people keep some of their money. The issue is how much more growth to you get from that . The issue is how much better is the economy because you have given everybody a discount on the taxes that they pay . And thats what were trying to get to. We can do the math better if we knew exactly what that benefit was going to be. Look, ali, this is something that economists have been studying for a long time. Allen kruger who is the current chairman of the council of economic advisors for president obama, he surveyed economists and they say that Something Like the romney plan, they were talking about the 86 tax act after which the romney plan is modelled to deliver. 5 to 1 higher growth in the medium term. There is a 2006 joint Tax Committee study that is a very Nonpartisan Organization that also gave a 23 across the board rate cut that was balanced by, you know, getting rid of the tax expenditures. A score of 1 a year growth as well. If can you actually move there, i dont that i there is a lot of dispute that we get higher growth. So youre saying, youre assuming they will they make the tough choices . So youre assuming 3 Economic Growth and in could goose it by 1 getting us to 4 which could now start to lend itself to making sense . Yeah. I mean i dont know if the baseline is 3 or 2. 5 right now. Certainly we would kill for 2. 5 growth this year. Relative to baseline, we have to get 1 a year. Thats where the 12 million jobs come from. Simple math. Christine romans is the host of your bottom line. You studied this romney tax plan as much as can you study it. That is the problem. There are assumptions that are missing. And the study studying the study and what we know is kevin knows what im talking about, we know that there is a framework here. Mitt romney is saying and his team is saying, look, i want to lower your taxes. I want to lower everyones taxes. I do not want to raise taxes on the middle class. Look at the Tax Policy Center and how they look at the buckets of deduction thats mitt romney talks about, kevin, if yorepeal all of the itemized deductions, you look at the buckets that mitt romney is proposing he would have the tax plan is 17,000 cap on deductions. That would raise 1. 7 trillion. You get the picture. 50,000, only 763 billion. How do you make its just Economic Growth enough to make it up, make up the rest of it . No. You dont need Economic Growth at all. They took a bunch of stuff off the table. Governor romney is not drawing lines in the sand. Again, there are 2 trillion worth of tax expenditures a year you could potentially draw from. Now governor romney doesnt want to lift taxes on Capital Gains and dividends. That is a chunk of it. There is a lot of stuff left over. And thats why harvey rosen and marty phelps has done analysis that shows before you get to growth can you get really darn close. But lets not forget that what are the things youre talking about . Let me make one last point f you came up short excuse me . Give me the examples. What are the things youre talking about where you can make it up. So, for example, you could just put a cap on all deductions other than the things that affect capital income as governor romney saying maybe 17,000. Then all the things that are in there that narrow the base would then be limited, depending on what you were doing elsewhere. So if you took the mortgage Interest Deduction and filled up your bucket with 17,000 worth of deduction, Everything Else in the tax code is limited. Kevin, i want to bring up i appreciate you continue to come on the show and have the same discussion with me. I want to bring up 12 million jobs promise. Romney and you say that his policies, including his tax plan will help create 250,000 jobs a month for four straight years. Thats a grand total of 12 million jobs. I agree with you, larry sum serz Larry Summers is a democrat. Heres what he had to say about it. Theres a long tradition of campaign arithmetic by challengers that confuses a goal with a forecast. Its a worthy goal much its a good thing to strive for. President obama would rather create four million jobs. Hed rather create five million jobs. Hes rather create six million jobs. But theres a difference between a goal and aspiration and a reasonable forecast. So, kevin, is 12 million jobs a golan aspiration or a reasonable forecast . Is it campaign arithmetic . I think its something that would happen if governor romney were elected. If you look at private sector forecasters and as you know, like moodies and mack crow economic advisors and others are already looking forward to higher growth over the next four years because they think that the recession is finally getting behind us. If you look at the jobs numbers implis it in private sector forecast, theyre finding jobs like 12 million over the fouryear period. The question is just, you know, why would we switch from where we are to the state where we could have an economy that once again would deliver 12 million jobs . The reason they find that is they think were going to return to normal. I would argue that if president obama is reelected we wont. We wont fix our big problems. We wont go back to the normal u. S. Economy. We wont have the jobs. But under governor romneys plan, there is a story that we could go back to that 12 million jobs. The stories are an issue. We can find them to support any studies of studies. No, thats not true, ali. Thats not true. Can you not find any study that says that president obama is going to create jobs by hiking marginal tax rates. There is no study that says that. Were talking a lot about romneys plan. Obama doesnt even have a plan. And so there is no one and out there that one can argue. One of the studies that mitt romney cited in defense of the 12 million jobs is offered one of the studies has come out and said that is a misinterpretation of my words. So, you know what i mean . Id be happy fit happens, kevin. Id be most happy to wear a dress for a week. I think if we create 12 million jobs, that is a really good thing for america. I like big goals. Im just trying to figure out whether you should get peoples votes on the basis of two things, the tax cut proposal and the Jobs Creation proposal you have that depends on greater Economic Growth and its a slightly hard line to completely connect. Thats the issue. If we take your perspective on it though, you would have to concede that you have a choice between a candidate romney that has a proposal that arguably could create 12 million jobs. Its not going to cut the number of jobs created. Then a candidate who photo copied the budget from last year and said thats my plan. The only thing really economically substantive is a big hike on Small Business and wealthy individuals when, you know, maybe you think the redistribution from that is a good thing. The president s jobs plan from last fall, you know, it is somethi something that, again, has not garnered a lot of support. Its the same ole stimulus stuff he gave us. There is an infrastructure backed idea in there. Do you like that part . I dont know if his characterization of an Infrastructure Bank is the one that i would support. Im not speaking for governor romney here. I know that moving towards, you know, publicpartnerships is something once again thats your candidate that were celebrating. Canadians have done a great job of building an Infrastructure Bank that fosters publicprivate partnerships and gets a lot of infrastructure built. Crossice teen, i just like to talk to kevin until he says something nice. Thank you so much, kevin. Senior fellow and director of Economic Policy at aei. Christine romans is host of your bottom line. President obama and mitt romney want to expand domestic oil production. Were going to get a north America Energy independent where we dont have to buy any oil whatsoever from the middle east or from venezuela. In 2010, it was under 50 for the first time in 13 years. Next, Cnns Fareed Zakaria with his own road map to Energy Independence. [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble. Its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. Introducing the allnew cadillac xts. Available with advanced allwheel drive. [ engine revving ] its bringing the future forward. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. While a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. But if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. Prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. Because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. Plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. Celebrex can be taken with or without food. And its not a narcotic. You and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. All prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen, and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. They all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. This chance increases if you have Heart Disease or risk factors such as high Blood Pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. Nsaids, including celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. Patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. Do not take celebrex if youve had an asthma attack, hives, or other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. Get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. Tell your doctor your medical history and find an Arthritis Treatment for you. Visit celebrex. Com and ask your doctor about celebrex. For a body in motion. Both president obama and mitt romney want america to become Energy Independent. Its a bat that will is centered on Domestic Oil Drilling during this weeks president ial debate. President cut in half the number of licenses and permits for drilling on federal lands and in federal waters. Weve opened up public lands. Were actually drilling more on public lands than in the previous administration. The north American Continent is already moving toward a more Energy Independent future. Thanks to natural gas in america and Synthetic Crude Oil from canada. That trend will continue no matter who sits in the white house next year. Lets take a look at oil, for instance. America is about 5 of the worlds population. But it consumes about 1 5 of the worlds daily oil production. 45 of the Oil Americans consume is imported. That is way down from the peak of 60 in 2005. In fact, america is now the Third Largest producer of oil in the world today. U. S. Oil production is jumped 14 in the last three years alone. Deep water drilling in the gulf of mexico is bringing even more oil to market. Mitt romney wants to open up the pacific and Atlantic Coast to drilling. Something president obama opposes. Instead, obama wants to invest in alternative form of energy that will eventually replace oil. Fareed zakaria is focusing on global lessons, the gps road map for powering america airs sunday airs sunday. This may be the one thing that partisan scorched earth politics isnt hurting. In fact, both of these candidates are arguing similar things. Theyre both moving toward Energy Independence for mornlg nesh north america. Absolutely. We were all expecting a technological revolution in energy. But what we meant is wind and solar. Instead, we got a technological revolution in the exploration of oil and gas. The result is that chart we showed by the end of this decade the United States will be the worlds top exporter of oil and liquified natural gas. So we will be ahead of saudi arabia. Thats incredible. The implication, of the natural gas is you can use that not just as a normal fuel but use it to produce electricity which will make the cost of electricity more stable and cheaper in the United States. Which could lead to a resurgence of certain industries. The most important the natural gas piece, youre right, is very important. It lowers the costs of manufacturing. Now when youre thinking about manufacturing, when youre thinking about putting up a plant and bringing workers in america, people think the big problem is the wages of the workers. No. The big thing they worry about is the cost of energy. Right. If energy costs dramatically drop, were producing gas at 2 for a cubic foot. In russia, they sell it to you at 19. So were much cheaper. As a result, dow chemical and places like that are beginning real manufacturing operations in the United States. Theres also an environmental benefit. Natural gas emits half the co 2 emissions of coal. And almost everywhere natural gas are replacing coal. So its sort of a winwin. Though it is still growing. Still a fossil fuel like coal and oil, president obama wants to focus a lot more on nonfossil fuels, wind, solar, hydroelectricity. And thats an area that you look into in your special. Yeah. Look, theres no question that the ultimate future for energy should be that we take advantage of the things we have. Some amazing statistic like in 14 seconds the sun emits enough energy, hits the earth to power the entire earth. So if we could find a way to capture that, there is wind blowing, this is renewable. Its unending and if we can get it to be cheap and on scale, this will be the ultimate solution. This will be the true energy revolution. So what obama wants to do, which i think is a smart idea, is invest whild e we extract oil a gas. But eventually figure out a way to get those costs down for wind and solar. Now you have to design those programs intelligently in terms of investment in technology. But you know, we have done it before. The Defense Department and nafta supported the computer industry. In the 1950s, half of all computer chips produced in the world were bought by the u. S. Defense department. And now we dont think of the computer industry as supported by government. This is going to be a great special. Im looking forward to it. Thank you. Pleasure. The special global lessons and the gps road map for powering america airs on sunday at 8 00 p. M. On cnn. T. Boon pickens rolled out his solution for ending the United States dependence on oil before the last election. Why hes encouraged by what hes hearing ahead of this election. And look at. This this thing can create eight time as much power as the hoover dam. What is it . Ill explain after the break. Tty helps make you a better investor. With our revolutionary etrade 360 dashboard you see exactly where your money is and what its doing live. Our etrade pro platform offers powerful functionality thats still so usable youll actually use it. And our mobile apps are the ultimate in wherever whenever investing. No matter what kind of investor you are, youll find the technology to help you become a better one at etrade. A short word thats a tall order. Up your game. Up the ante. And if you stumble, you get back up. Up isnt easy, and we ought to know. Were in the business of up. Everyday delta flies a quarter of Million People while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. Were raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. On gasoline. I am probably going to the gas station about once a month. Last time i was at a gas station was about. I would say. Two months ago. I very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. I go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and its not just these owners giving the volt high praise. Volt received the j. D. Power and associates appeal award two years in a row. Appeal award two years in a row. Ffor help finding a plan thats right for you, give unitedhealthcare a call today. 2,203 trillion cubic feet, thats how much natural gas were sitting on in this country. That would be enough to last about 92 years at current consumption rates. Production of natural gas is climbing. Up 14 between 2008 and 2011. As Technology Allows us to extract more and more from deeper and deeper beneath the ground. And as the abundant supply increases, it made it cheaper than the price of gasoline. And thats why oil tycoon turned activist t. Boon pickens says its the key in the short term to getting the u. S. Off imported oil. Now youll remember back in 2003 boon released the pickens plan. Its a blueprint for u. S. Energy independence. It had four key pillars. Number one, use americas abundant natural gas to replace imported oil as a transportation fuel. Number two, build a 21st century electrical transmission grid. Number three, develop Renewable Energy sources such as wind and solar. And number four, incentivize homeowners and commercial building owners to upgrade their installation and increase efficiency. Now boone says the first one using natural gas to fuel vehicles is the critical puzzle piece right now. Getting there wont be easy. Most of the natural gas in this country is used to create electricity and just 1 of it, that little pink slice over there, is used for transportation. Joining me now is my friend t. Boone pickens, architect of the pickens plan and the founder of bp capital. Boone, today natural gas in the United States accounts for about 112,000 vehicles. It powers about 112,000 vehicles, mostly commercial vekd vehicles. The transition costs are huge. How do we get there . How much progress, if any, are we making . Just leave it up to private capital. You dont need the government to do one thing for them. Please, please. I heard it so many times. Let the government do the infrastructure. Let me tell you, if we do that, ill be dead and gone by the time the infrastructure is complete. Just let private industry handle it. We have plenty of natural gas just like you said. 92 years, i accept that number. Now 112,000 vehicles, you know how many vehicles there are in the world that are on natural gas . 13 million. Gas problem, the Russian Company announced yesterday this week that sometime they are going to use natural gas for transportation fuel. It will happen. It has to happen. Its 2 a gallon cheaper than it is for diesel. Natural gas is cheaper. But we got a heated discussion going on in energy in the second debate. They didnt come up to any conclusions. Now were going to switch over to our third debate, foreign relations. Foreign relations mideast is built right on top of energy. Thats exactly why were there. Boone we dont dhave to be youre talking about that second debate. Youre happy they discussed energy. President obama certainly understands that natural gas needs to be in the mix. Listen to what he had to say. We continue to make it a priority for us to go after natural gas. Weve got potentially 600,000 jobs and 100 years worth of energy right beneath our feet with natural gas. But, boone, you say mitt romney demonstrated a deeper understanding of energy. Tell me why. Hes got a plan. You see it. You heard what obama said there. He talks about natural gas. Sure. Does he have a plan . Never seen it yet. He never has a plan. Its always just a speech. Its what he has. But you got romney. He has a 21page plan. It is perfect . No, but its pretty darn good plan. And so here what youre going to have on the third debate, you need to get into were in the mideast. What are we in the mideast for . The straits of harmuz, 17 Million Barrels of oil moving out of there today. Moves out every day. We get 13 of that. Two Million Barrels come to the United States. So we have people. We have our navy over there. We have people on the ground. Were spending listen, if you rolled up what the cost of that two million barrel as a day that we get out of the straits of harmuz, it is 300 a barrel. Its insane what were doing over there. These two guys that are running for president need to come up with a plan as to we can get off the two million barrel as a day from the persian gulf, straits of harmuz. We can get off that very easily with our own resources in this country. We have more oil. We have the natural gas that can go to heavy duty. What you need out of this third debate is a plan. T. Boone pickens, always a pleasure. Theres one country doing energy the right way, china. That is one of the reasons everybody is talking about it. All of this borrowing from china change thats were taking place in china. China needs the United States. Some emerging markets like china. Government investment and Energy Infrastructure made china a legitimate world power. How is chinas rise changing your future and how can you capitalize on it right now . Thats next on your money. [ male announcer ] red lobsters hitting the streets to tell real people about our new 15 under 15 menu. Oh my goodness oh my gosh, this looks amazing thats a good deal [ man ] wow it is so good [ male announcer ] our new maine stays 15 entrees under 15, seafood, chicken and more oo the tilapia with roasted vegetables im actually looking at the wood grilled chicken with portobello wine sauce. You so fascinated by the prices, you keep rambling on i know that pork chop was great no more fast food fridays so we gotta go were going to go to red lobster. Yep. [ male announcer ] try our 15 under 15 menu and sea food differently [ male announcer ] its time for medicare open enrollment. Are you ready . Time to compare plans and see whats new. You dont have to make changes, but its good to look. Maybe you can find better coverage, save money, or both. And check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. Medicare open enrollment. Nows the time. Visit medicare. Gov or call 1800medicare. And his new boss told him two things cook what you love, and save your money. Joe doesnt know it yet, but hell work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. Hell start investing early, hell find some good people to help guide him, and hell set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isnt rocket science. Its just common sense. From td ameritrade. Take a walk in shanghai today and youll feel like you walk into a time machine and traveled into the future. I had a chance to visit china in august. I canceled my flight from beijing to shanghai to try out the high speed rail. High speed rail is exactly the kind of smart long term Infrastructure Investment that the u. S. Economy desperately needs. In just two decades, china has seen 350 Million People, more than the entire population of the United States, move from the countryside into the cities. And the massive skyscrapers and super efficient subways are paying off. Its true that chinas growth is slowing. Look at that. It simply cannot sustain the current pace of growth. Shanghais stock market is trading at onethird of the 2007 peak in part because of a lack of transparency, concerns about the pace of political and economic reform, rampant thrivery, theft of intellectual property and questions about how china will deal with the manipulation of its currency. China has been a currency manipulator for years and years and years. This is a regular opportunity to label them as a currency manipulator but refuses to do so. They have gone to 11 since being president. We have pushed them hard. The currency of the u. N. Keeping the currency low, china can sell the products they manufacture for less than their worth. They sell goods at a price high enough to pay wages to their workers. And its a problem. Somewhere in there there are opportunities. The author of red alert, how chinas growing prosperity threatens the american way of life. So thats the threat, right . There are things that change that make it harder for people. Yes. Also, ali, all this Infrastructure Spending that you referred to is using up tremendous amounts of resources. And you referred to 350 million. There is another 350 million and they push into urban areas. And there is over 1 trillion they want to spend on a smart grid. Another major infrastructure project. Probably a trillion dollars on water. When all is told, over the next seven years, china may spend or 4 trillion on spending in a infrastructure. Just to lay the groundwork for the 21st century. Right, which we talk about here. Theyre doing it in very big numbers. What does this mean as an opportunity . How does my viewer take advantage of all this growth in china . Because when you listen to the president ial debates, all you hear about china is its bad and its a threat. Theres got to be a way to make money off this. Sure. Where there is pay dirt, there is always opportunity. I think longer term commodities are going to benefit. They eat more and they need to build more. Right. Exactly. Exactly. And building a smart grid is going to take massive amounts of copper and other materials. And all these people into the cities is going to take massive amounts steel and iron orr. And theyre eating more food and taking in more calories. And recently the most recent gdp report was, you know, in line with target, 7. 4 , i believe. But you saw boosted consumption. I mean the chinese are really managing their economy very well. And 7. 4 compared to 1. 3 in the United States. Lets talk about the stock market. The shanghai stock market is not doing well at all. You have to think about you have to be careful when thinking about investing in china for stocks. Right. I have to use your word, barometer. Its not a barometer. In our country, the stock market is a barometer more or less than the economy. In china, not really at all. I mean the solar industry, for example, theyll support the Solar Companies even though they may be bankrupt. They dont care that theyre bankrupt as long as they learn how to manufacturing as cheap as possible. If youre investing in china, buy commodities. Buy the etfs that underlined by particular commodities like jjc for copper, jld for gold. Thats the best twi go. Ats can be bought just like a stock with the tickers. Thank you for joining us. Coming up, she was the woman in charge of protecting your money during the financial crisis. We participate in the bailouts. And they did have a Short Term Impact in stabilizing the market. But thats not something im proud of. Im aframed of thaashamed of th. Four years later, she is pointing fingers and naming names. Who had your back and who didnt . Thats next on your money. [ man ] in hong kong, on my way to the Board Meeting. Annes tablet called my phone. Annes tablet was chatting with a tablet in sydney. A desktop in zurich. And a telepresence room in brazil. The secure cloud helped us get some numbers from my assistants pc in new york. And before i reached the top, the Board Meeting became a congrats we sold the company party. Wait til my wifes phone hears about this. [ cellphone vibrating ] [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center, working together has never worked so well. America heads to the polls in two weeks. One question you probably asked yourself during the campaigns, are you better off now than you were four years ago . Well, when it comes to the overall u. S. Economy, the answer is absolutely yes. Four years ago america and the world marched to the edge of the economic abyss. Major sectors of americas Financial System are at risk of shutting down. Reporter the financial crisis actually kicked up two weeks earlier with the collapse of lehman brothers. We have a big problem. Reporter by four years ago, it morphed into a global freeze of credit that threatened the world with economic depression. This is credit at the highest level between institutions. Congress was presented with one choice and one choice only. Its important to get credit flowing again. Bail out the banks. The banks that got us into this mess in the first place. Should there even be a bailout . No butsh bailout americans are angry. So are my colleagues. On september 29th, the bill to save the economy went down to defeat in the house of representatives. The legislation has failed. Im very disappointed in todays vote. To the democrats and republicans who oppose this plan yesterday, i say step up to the plate. Investors panicked. The dow dropped 777 points. The biggest single day point loss to date. This is what brought us to the brink of collapse. Wow. All because annie went to get a house she couldnt afford . There is enough blame to go around. 1. 2 trillion in market value dropped in one day. Congress quickly reconvened and four days later on october 3rd, it passed the 700 billion troubled asset relief program. Congress has agreed to a broad deal that authorizes the treasury secretary to start releasing money to free up the credit systems. That may have been the last time that americans witnessed bipartisan compromise on something that really mattered in washington. Four years later, and on the eve of another election, voters are being asked, are you better off than you were then . The answer is yes. Because it was that bad. But how much better could it have been if washington had in the last four years put intense partisanship aside to work for the good of the American People . Sheila bear was at the center of the storm with the Financial System collapsing around all of us. She had her back. Her job was to deal with the failed banks. She was the chairman of the fdic. She has a new book about her experiences during the financial crisis. She holds no punches. It is called bull by the horns fighting to save main street from wall street and wall street from itself. Sheila, good to see you again. Thank you for having me. In your book, its just chalk full of information about the Financial System about, what went wrong, about what went right. But in it you criticize the treasury secretary Timothy Geithner largely for just being too good to the banks, for being too close to the banks. Tell me a bit more about that. We did have a fundamental, philosophical clash of views. Tim was operating with the best of intentions. He viewed the world as stabilizing the big financial ins to yous, making them work and that was going to help the rest of the economy. It just didnt work out that way. Their interests and our interests are very different. What should have happened . In 2008, we were spending out of control. We needed to do something. We did something very dramatic. I think those were overly generous. In 2009 we had a stable Financial System in 2009. Thats when we should have been imposing accountability. I think we should have tried to break up citigroup or force them to sell off the assets, replace their management. We didnt do that. And the other banks were forced to solve the bad assets and clean you up the balance street. We didnt do any restructuring in 2009. We just propped up everybody. This continues to be a drag on Economic Growth. We have a bloated financial sector. A drag on Economic Growth, does that mean its as bad as it was . Can the same things happen again . No. Well, i think it can, yes. I think weve got more capitol into the banks now. That is one of the positives that i point out in the book. But there are a lot of very new and pretty scary risks out there. Europe continues to be a problem of uncertain resolution. Interest rate risks longer term, we dont know what the outcome is going to be this very long period of near zero Interest Rate policies. And there is still a lot of risk taking in the banks. One of the bad course of keeping Interest Rates near zero and very low rates on safe investments is banks and everyone else looks for return and they go to higher risk assets to get that return. One of the things that low Interest Rates did for us for us so long is masked real problems. Thats right. And youre concerned that continues to happen. That is happening again. I absolutely do. I think our problems are structural. Congress needs to deal with our fiscal situation. They need to clean out our tax code. Its very inefficient. Our corporate rates are far too high. Nobody pays them because you have all the special exceptions. We have high rates but so many people get out of them. Better if we had lower rates and make everybody pay the same. Right. That would make us more competitive internationally, too, i think. That i think more than anything would help our domestic economy and exports. This is quantitative easing. The other countries are fighting it. Were getting into a currency war now. I respect that he is trying to solve our problems with monetary policy. He cant. Congress and the president need to deal with this. A lot of things you suggest are not typically suggested by republicans. Right. Part of the reason you wanted this book out now is because it should be part of peoples Decision Making when they go to cast a ballot. It should be. They should be able to know who is out there to protect their interests. Thats right. Who have the president ial conditioned dates is out there to best protect them . Frankly, im disappointed with both sides. I think mr. Obama, hes been talking guy game. If you look at dodd frank inflemei implementation, its been very slow. The rules are highly complicated. A lot of exceptions. Mr. Romney, on the other hand, says he wants to repeal dod frank and replace it. Its not clear what he wants to replace it w and neither one of them are acknowledging that they are trying to promise that theyre going to have improved economy in the next four years. But theyre not relating that to having a stable financial sector. Theyre not going to have a healthy economy if they dont have a stable financial sector. That is key to our economic recovery. Shielda bair this is a great book and important read for everybody. Bull by the horns. Up next, you need more people like sheila bair watching out for your money because the super rich are shutting the door on the middle class. At least according to one influential author. Hell explain next. To look at [ sighs ] oh, hes shaggy and he eats like a hog [ male announcer ] the volkswagen jetta. Available with advanced keyless technology. Control everything from your pocket, purse, or wherever. Thats the power of german engineering. That dirty, old eggsuckin dog america is segmented, broken up, divided. Occupy wall street highlighted the divide between what they term the top 1 and everybody else. Then republican president ial candidate mitt romney was caught on a camera saying 47 of the country backs president obama because theyre dependent on the government and feel like victims. Since then hes reiterated he cares about 100 of the population. But this week mitt romney unveiled a new group, the 5 . I am not going to have people at the high end pay less than theyre paying now. The top 5 of taxpayers will continue to pay 60 of the income tax the nation collects. The Tax Policy Center says the top 5 make at least 181,000 a year. So do you feel confused, not sure where you belong . Well, a new book explains that it doesnt actually matter which group you identify with because its neither the 5 nor the 1 that matters. Its the 0. 01 . Theyre the only ones winning these days and theyre pushing everyone else down the economic ladder. The book is called the rise of the new global super rich and the fall of everyone else. Here is the cliff notes version. Freeland says americas super rich are isolating themselves. They have more to do with the super rich in other countries than they do with fellow americans. Guess what . Just like mitt romneys 47 , the super rich also feel like victims. Theyre ostracized by society, disconnected from the working class who drive their cars and build mansions and pile up yachts and theyre not going to take it anymore. So in the old world, there were always rich and there were always super rich. But they made their money on the backs products, so it was incumbent upon you to want a strong middle class in your country because they buy your stuff. Now, the connection between the super rich and who they need to buy their products or use their services is not national. Thats right. I want to stipulate, i believe in globalization. I think its a great thing for the world overall. Really great for people in emerging markets being raised up, but we also have to be aware of what are the consequences and the impacts. If you think back to the henry ford era, he believed he had to pay his workers well so they could afford to buy his cars. What were seeing in the u. S. Economy is the economy of the people at the very top breaking away from the economy of everybody else. There was a statemefamous citi investor note that said were seeing it divide into the economy at the very top and the economy below. The reality is as you know from people you talk to on your show, when youre at the very, very top, you dont think about your national consumers. You think about the global economy. Whats the consequence for Public Policy . Whats the consequence when the very rich in society are that disconnected from everybody else . Well, i think the consequence is that what is good a couple consequences. One is they are living increasingly separate lives, and what is really crucial, you said, alli that the rich have always been with us. True, but they havent been with us in the way they are today. And it is really important to face the facts that that gap has become a yawning chasm. In the past three decades, it has exponentially grown. Theyre much more distant from the rest of us than they used to be, and two, the kinds of policies they might think are right may not be what suits the middle class today. Thats particularly important in the United States, in the era of super pacs when were seeing the political voice of the rich really, really have a megaphone and we see a lot of people who feel, you know, and we hear this directly from governor romney, that their business expertise translates into policy expertise. Qualifies them to make good decisions. I think that we have to be really thoughtful about that and say, okay. Just because you know whats really good for your business and for this type of business, will that automatically translate into something that is good for the hollowed out middle class. Interesting conversation and great book. Thank you for being with us. Plutocrats, the rise of the super rich and the fall of everyone else. Qualities. What happens when a bunch of cnn crew get on a bus and trek across the country . Youre going to find out. We hit the road next. Americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. How theyll live tomorrow. For more than 116 years, Ameriprise Financial has worked for their clients futures. Helping millions of americans retire on their terms. When they want. Where they want. Doing what they want. Ameriprise. The strength of a leader in retirement planning. The heart of 10,000 advisors working with you onetoone. Together for your future. At meineke i have options. Like oil changes starting at 19. 95. My money. My choice. My meineke. All right, im hitting the road next week. The cnn express bus. Were rolling from florida to ohio, and we want to talk to you. Were hearing Different Things from people wherever were going. Battleground bus state tour. A chance to get on the road and talk to folks on the ground in the state that will decide the next president ial election. Florida, virginia, ohio. The reality is this election is going to be decided by a comparatively small number of voters in a handful of states. Theres a new normal that says things arent as prosperous as they used to be. I want to see if the election changes that. And its tight. This election is tight right now. For all of the economic reports you can have, all of the discussions you can have with economists, you can tell more about the economy by getting out there and understanding how people are making their money and spending their money. Were going to be going through parts of the country that have very, very different and specific economic needs, but each one of those will map on to Something Else across the country. Theres a really important distinction between where people are and where they think theyre going. And being on these trips really gives me a sense of where people think theyre going. Jobs. Unemployment. How many think thats a bigger problem . As much as people would like to say i dont care about this circus, this isnt about me. They kind of have to. Its a right and a responsibility. If folks arent clear on that, they should go read a history book. Were just there to talk to them. Were just there to listen. Most of the time, people think we talk for a living, but were actually going to be listening to people, and theres no greater education than that. And cnn contributor john avalon joins me and hes going to join me on the bus. This election is coming down to a smaller and smaller number of states. And districts, and counties, and were going to go in there and were not going to hear the same thing. You have a real sense of the distinctions between the stories in florida and the carolinas and virginia and ohio. Totally different political top augu topography. It comes down to swing voters and swing states. Florida, foertd persh of the house is still under water on their mortgages. Unemployment a big problem. Diverse state, fast growing. The fact its an aging population, so medicare, health care a real issue. North carolina, a state where the textile issue was decimated. Bible belt, virginia, unemployment, half the National Average because of government workers. Northern virginia, very diverse. They have to take a different view of the government get out of my life situation. Exactly right. The folks in loudon county, that antigovernment rhetoric doesnt work for them. Theyre scared about the sequestration cuts. And ohio is shaping up again to be the big one. This is my mothers home state. I know it well. Heres a state that has gotten terrible Economic News for decades. Steel mills closing, manufacturing moving out. In the eastern part of the state, theres an oil and gas boom going on. Its fascinating how thats changing peoples lifestyles. They have a lot of autoworkers there who like the fact that the Auto Industry was saved. Were going to be in youngstown, toledo, cambden, right before te election. Ill be tweeting, checking my Facebook Page the entire trip. I want to hear from you. My twitter handle is alivelshi. Thank you for joining the conversation on your money this week. Were here every saturday and sunday at 3 00 p. M. Have a great weekend. In just two days, president obama and mitt romney will face off for a third and final time. This weekend, both candidates are working hard preparing behind closed doors in the hopes of winning the last showdown. Theyre running mates, theyre busy campaigning in key states this weekend. Youre looking at live pictures of Vice President biden at a rally in florida. Lets listen in. Instea