Total deadlock in the fiscal cliff negotiations. President obama is expected to make a statement on where things stand at any moment here. And with a preview we have fox businesses peter barnes. He is at the white house. Peter what do we expect to hear . Well, melissa, right now the president is finishing up on meeting with Senate Democratic leader harry reid who came down here to try to talk with the president with some strategy moving forward to avert the fiscal cliff. We expect the president to say that he still wants to get a deal with republicans to do that. That is still going to be time. However, that they will have to do it after the christmass3 holiday. The president plans, is planning to go to hawaii for christmas with his family. Speaker boehner has left town. Gone back to ohio. For the holiday. The senate is expected to come back on, on december 27th, the thursday next week, which is the earliest that they would be expected to get back to work on this. Melissa . Melissa peter, whos left . Sounds like it is a ghost town there. Sounds basically two guys that are still left working. Yeah, i dont know if they will be here very much longer. But listen, realistically, its the holiday season. A lot of members, the president , they all made plans, and after last night with Speaker Boehner, pulling his plan b, it doesnt look like, there are no signs of any negotiations or any plans for any negotiations. It looks like everyone just wants to go, be with their families and spend the holiday time together before they try to hammer out a last minute deal on all of this. Melissa yeah, no kidding. Of course everybody wants to go home for the holidays but what you havent done your work you havent done your work. Oh, well. What do we expect to hear from the president now . Sort of throwing up of his hands or no, no. Listen, he can not say that he is giving up. Neither side can say theyre giving up. Melissa but theyre giving up for christmas. Right. Im sure there will still be staff to staff discussions and the key leaders will still be all in the loop on the progress thats made on that but i do know that republican staffers with the leadership on the hill were told that they didnt have to work monday and tuesday but, be prepared to get back to work on wednesday. So. Melissa peter, dont blow away there. Thanks so much. I wont. Melissa well keep an eye on the podium there. Meantime we have a money power panel to break it all down. Well get back to peter in just a second. No goodwill on capitol hill as you heard. Today the never ending fiscal cliff fingerpointing landing with a thud on the markets. Stocks hit hard across the board, ending the day down 120 points. President obama about to speak as we mentioned. Thats why youre looking at the podium. Can he get a deal done . Todays money power panel. Kimberly fox, i am peer july wealth management. Scott martin, united advisors and steve hayes from the weekly standard. You guys are still at work. Everybody in washington gave up and went home. Were all here. I dont know, kimberly, what do you make of what happened today . You know, i dont know. They cant play fair and they cant play nicely in the sand backs, make them go home and rethink it and come back and be willing to work. Life is about a plan b. If plan b doesnt work you better have a planc or plan d. Melissa scott, im surprised the markets didnt fall more. Are they Still Holding out hope that these chuckle heads as called earlier today by Something Else will get something done . Now it seems were should be preparing the swan dive to go over the news call cliff . Chuckle heads is putting it nicely, melissa. It was a thin trade. There wasnt a lot of people participating in the market move. It is not surprising when everybody sold yet. That probably comes next week. Here is the interesting thing. Im kind of surprise that were surprised nothing got done. Yearandahalf, debt ceiling talks, gang of six, nobody got the work done. Nobody did business they set out to do. This is another line of the practice in washington. Melissa steve. How does your employer feel when you show up work and dont do anything youre supposed do and go on vacation of the, how does that work . Never actually done that i could make argument washington is better place with all these people gone. They havent done any good for at that long time. We might be better off that theyre not here. Melissa i would agree with you on that if the spending would cease while theyre gone. While they are not there theyre still spending 2. 06 for every dollar they take in. Theyre still taking in 5 billion a day in taxes and somehow spending 11 billion. So we have a huge problem that is not going to be solved, it seems like anytime soon. Kimberly, does that make you nervous Going Forward about our economy, about stocks, about our future . Well, yeah, i think it makes everybody nervous. All my clients and ill sure various investors saying what do we do, what do we do . Only two things in life are certain, which is death and taxes. We just dont know where theyre going to be. I tried to do my homework first before i go out to play because thats way my folks taught me, melissa, like they taught you. Im creating a fiscal bridge for my clients. Melissa what does that include. Sorry . Melissa what does that include . That includes basically, you know, assuming that we go over the cliff, stock market goes down, well buy on the dips because we already harvested gains and paid 15 now. I have money to go back in the market on monday or january 1 and keeping duration of their bonds very short for inflation. Keep putting tips into the portfolio and third, wrapping a third of their portfolio with a guaranty like variable annuity, guaranteed life rider. Melissa yeah. Ore a cda so we insure the income. My clients are prepared. Melissa scott, i feel like these guys are disappointed that the mayan apocalypse didnt happen. They would hope that would come in. Like the dog ate your homework. If only the world had ended no one would notice they didnt do any of their work. What would you do . You cant count on these guys. What would you do to protect yourself right now . Seems to me you have to get in hard assets, gold, real estate. I dont think stocks are attractive at this point. No, i dont think theyre attractive. Last couple days people are kind of getting ahead of that trade. I would be wary getting out say, after january. I think by then the selling might be in. Look what happened after the election. Market fell a quick 7 to 10 and bounced right back. I think economy here is tad stronger than people give it credit for. I would stay in stocks if youre still in them at this point. Gold i like, melissa, but if you look at gold versus stocks over last couple months hasnt been that great. Sew i dont know if that is place to chase positive returns. Melissa it hasnt been that great because people were thinking these guys in washington would get their act together and get something done. Obviously theyre not going to do that. I dont know, steve, am i being too harsh, too pessimistic . Is there a chance they will get together and kumbayah come up with solution . My view from the very beginning of all they would come, slap together some last minute solution that basically nobody likes. And certainly people who are in favor of smaller government, lower taxes are not going to like because the president and Senate Democrats i think are running the show now. So theyre going to put together a smaller fiscal cliff package, hope that they can win, you know the couple dozen Republican House votes that they need and get this through. Theres a bright side for politically bright side for republicans if that happens because they, further drive the contrast from the president. But it is typical the way weve seen them do business here in washington, you know, for past couple years and past couple decades really. Melissa steve what does that mean, a cobbled together solution look like . They raise taxes on everybody more than 250,000 and put Everything Else indefinitely into the future. Yes. I think they pause, they probably pause the sequester. They extend unemployment. I think there are things that the president has signaled are important to him, that he wants to gee done that will allow him to say, if he chooses to, if he wants to, to say, look, i drove the bus that helped avert this fiscal cliff. This is something that i, where i took leadership. I dont know if he will keep it at 250. Might go a little bit above to look like he had some give and maybe to attract some of those House Republicans he would need to get this through. It looks like it women be a slap dash product if there is in fact a product and it wont be pretty. Melissa kimberly, im so hung up on the fact that were spending ourselves into oblivion t seems immoral to me that were passing this debt on to our children. Like racking up crazy credit card bills. And saying my 2yearold one day will be old enough to pay this for me. Am i wrong being upset about this. No, youre absolutely right. We both have kids, very young kids and all my clients have kids and grandkids. They dont want to rack this debt on to their generation. Reality is, look it, theyre not playing fair in the sandbox. Think really havent done their homework before they gone out to play. It is setting a bad example for the whole country as a tone for future generations. Lets just stop. Lets rip the bandaid off. Let the wound heal. I know it is going to hurt. Gosh, you know what . When we heal we grow. Small businesses will grow and there will be opportunities for our kids again. Melissa scott, what does it mean if we dont reform spending Going Forward and dont reform entitlement spending and crazy growth of government . Maybe im overreacting and i shouldnt be that worried about it . I would love to calm you down. Listen, melissa, debt is not a bad word. There are a lot worse fourletter words than debt if you grow. The real key is growth. Melissa thats a great point. I dont mine debt if we get gdp growing. The problem businesses are so scared ever this administration the institution is washington they dont want to grow anymore. Businesses dont want to spend. To your question, if the debt grows bigger and businesses dont grow and dont spend on r d, capital investment, that is issue we should be scared about. Absolutely. Melissa steve, that is really true. God forbid you make a dollar in this country. The government will come along and take it away from you. Steve, in spite of all that were still americans. Were still hopeful. Well still go out there and try to make money for our families, for our kids, for our futures. How is this economy going to get growing again . What do you think will happen to spur it along because you have got to believe it is out there, come on . You could look to the gas revolution. Look at shale. Melissa yeah. Look to other things where you can see some potential for brooder Economic Growth but i think theres a lot thats happening based here in washington that gives people perverse incentives. Not the kinds of policies one would pursue if you want to encourage, not only broader Economic Growth but encourage businesses to reinvest, to reinvest in the workforce and reinvest in r d as well. Melissa to my fabulous power panel. Thanks so much. Stick around. Well come back. Were waiting for the president to come out. Although maybe like his friends on capitol hill, he went on vacation for the holiday. Were waiting for him to speak. Were expecting it a few moments ago. Well slide in a quick break here and well be right back. Dont go away. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. Executor of efficiency. You can spot an amateur from a mile away. While going shoeless and metalfree in seconds. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choo any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above, and still pay the midsize price. Now this. Will work. [ ale announcer ] just like you, business pro. Just like you. Go naonal. Go le a pr can i still ship a gi in time r christmas . Yeah, sure you can. Great. Wheres your gift . Uh. Whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Ship Fedex Express by december nd for christmas delivery. Melissa so president obama there is set to take to the podium at any moment to address the standoff on the fiscal cliff. Lets go back to peter barnes at the white house. Peter, everyone else has snuck out the back door and started their christmas vacation already. Are you sure the president didnt get away without you seeing him . Im 100 sure, melissa. I know this because whenever the president is working in the west wing and it is cold out here so my lips are frozen, there is always a marine standing guard at the front door of the west wing over here and the marine is still there. So i can tell you that the president is still in the west wing. He hasnt snuck out. Melissa i like that. That is value having someone there all the time. You know all the gory details. Youre sure he is there. Maybe he worked on something. Maybe he whipped something out and come here at last moment when everyone else left town and have a big solution and well have it live and people cant change their channels because the whole thing is about to be solved. What do you think . I would advise our viewers not to miss a moment of money with you but the president will not announce a deal. Melissa oh. What do you think he will have here . Again i think he is going to say he wants to get a deal and that he wants to, he still thinks theres time to do it. Its not december 31st. But, that again, theyre going to get to it after they all come back from their holiday. Melissa he is on his way to hawaii. Keep an eye on that marine. Thanks so much, peter. We appreciate it. Lets bring in our morn any power upon male. Kimberly foss. Scott martin with united advisors and steve hayes from the weekly standard. See, were still all at work. Roger ailes expects me to do my job until it is done unlike those guys in washington. I dont know. Steve, let me go back to you. Lets assume all they can cobble together is a deal. They will raise taxes on anybody making more than a quarter Million Dollars. Will not do anything else whatsoever, thats where we are. Where does that leave the rest of us . What are the implications of that Going Forward . Does that mean, say, for example, you know, money will be cheap for a long time because they have to try to flood the economy to keep it stimulated . So maybe real estate is good investment . I dont know, how does it change the picture Going Forward . Steve . Are you asking me . Melissa yeah. What do you see for the future . Im not optimistic. I just think if you look at the kinds of things that the president said he wants o do, and he said repeatly wants to do over the course of the campaign and first term these are not things that make me optimistic about the broad state of the u. S. Economy. Where one would invest, im probably the last person in the world to ask that question. I talk to smart people like my fellow panelists about that. Melissa scott, where do you see glimmers of hope out there . If were going to stay on the path and this is the road were going down, money from the fed will be cheap for a long period of time. What does that make interesting to you . Well, i mean, cheap money, melissa, tend to be good for stocks. Look no further than the last couple years and see what low Interest Rates a done. I think to a point kim made in the first segment, you still have to look at bonds and look at some sort of antiinflation or say guaranteed income stream because thats where i think a lot of the advantage is to the investor. If you look around, look at high yield bonds, melissa, at low historical default rates, high grade corporate bonds, bonds from ge, google, apple, those are bonds that pay way more than the u. S. Government debt and frankly in my opinion have a better credit rating. Those are places i would look if youre scared of stocks here. Melissa but, scott, i am a little nervous about stocks because i think the economy, you dont think it will be horribled by debt, by regulation, by, you know, uncertainty. Every ceo says they dont know what is coming down the pike. For whatever excuse theyre using this week, theyre not hiring theyre not expanding. I think stocks look kind of scary here. Well thats a good thing usually. If stocks look great, that is ush looly time to sell them. You made a great point, melissa. We heard the same song and dance from ceos for three years since president obama got in the white house. Guess what happened . We had pretty good bull market in he can equities. Those scenarios stocks could definitely get volatile here and go down in january and i would definitely buy the dips. Melissa kimberly, what do pou think . I agree with scott, 100 . My crystal ball broke in 1988. Mine has been on backward, and i dont know what the future is. I do know optimism, capitalism and americanism goes hand in hand. Reality is it might be volatile but buy on those dips and have diversified portfolio. Have the allocation according to where you can tolerate volatility in the market and its a long term, a longterm investment. It is not shortterm speculation but i think you cannget very Good Discount counted good stocks with dividend, interest for the long term and that may be in january when we get some volatility there. Melissa okay. Dont be afraid. Melissa dont be afraid. Im going to try not to be afraid. I am afraid but i will try not to be. Guys, thanks so much. Well take another quick break. Were waiting for the president to come out and talk about the fiscal cliff. Peter barnes assured us he did not sneak out of the white house to go to hawaii. Everyone else is on vacation but the president is still there working we hear. Were waiting for him to speak. Keep it right here. More money coming up. You know how painful heartburn can be. For fast, long lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. Only gaviscon® forms a protective barrier that helps block stomach acid from splashing up relieving the pain quickly. Try fast, long lasting gaviscon®. Relieving the pain quickly. 7,000 students drop out every school day. Thats a line of desks more than 4 miles long. Keep students in school. Visit boostup. Org and take the first step. Melissa all right. You guessed it. Were Still Standing by waiting for president to think, i think he is in the west wing watching this and laughing as we all wait for him to come out. Either way while we wait lets take a little turn here. Reminisce with me for a second. Remember back in the day before the automatic car window, use arm muscle to actual roll them down yourself. Well, there is even more change coming. One of the coolest soon to be standards, is Wireless Phone charging for your car. Toyota is rolling out the firstever Wireless Phone charger in the 2013 Avalon Limited edition model. Here with all the details of this break through, car coach, lauren fix. Lauren, thanks so much for coming on. Were trying to cheer people up here as were waiting to hear the bad news that everyone is going away for christmas break and nothings gotten done. Help me out with that, a little look into the future. This is actually incredibly cool. Tell me all about it. Consumer Electronics Show a few years ago said we get Wireless Connect activity in our cars, it finally arrived. Not avalon for 2013 but the dodge dart will have a Wireless Connection for your car so you can charge your phone. How many times have you left the house and left the charger on my desk or computer or left it in someone elses car or rental car . Now you can place your phone at least with the toyota on a pad and charge it while youre driving. You will always get a charge and wonderful for all of us with blackberries and iphones and an droids that never have enough power. Melissa that is great. You come in the car and buy these when youre traveling, but this is one that live in your car all the time. You turn it on and set it down. This reminds me of the first cars with gps in them and seemed so magical and futuristic. All of sudden pretty much every car feature you pay a little more for them. We had revolutionary things. Even the dvd player in the back seat is another one of luxury addons you have in a lot of cars. Has this reached that level, do you think. Absolutely. This will be something everyone will add on just like you see wifi in cars. That is becoming pretty much a standard you have can connect activity that dont have 3g connections on ipads. This will save people with frustration. A little extra edge the dodge dart and Toyota Avalon are adding enough to close a sale between that and one of competitor cars. I wouldnt mind a Wireless Connectivity for my iphone. It is always out of juice. Melissa im surprised toyota is the one you hear coming out first. I would expect this to be bmw thing, a mercedes thing or something more highend than middle of the road car like a toyota being first. What do you make of that . I agree with you. Like youre saying all the brands, audi, mercedes are the germans are first one usually to come out with that. This is really why the toyota jumped on the bandwagon as well, chrysler, we cant forget them. Theyre doing this because they need to grab the market share back especially toyota they lost some of it with all the excitement of the past history. They want to recapture customers and keep them coming back. It is all about customer retention. If they are the first to add that little extra goodie or gadget or wifi in the car that will make you buy that brand again. I think that is really wise. Melissa cron how many details we have yet but does it work with every phone or iphones or android . You can tell you know nothing about this. I do know some of this because i go to the consumer Electronics Show. Im a techie. Melissa good, tell me. I do know there is connectivity with your phones like a power mat, you put the connection on the back of your phone and has a collective device . Theyre offering this down the road. You will see this for cars. If you have ev car or plugin car instead of plug into the wall it will be a mat you have like a big power mat. All that is coming down the road. That is announced for 2014 for a lot of cars. The Technology Capturing that power, that will be like the way of the future. You wont have to plug anything into the wall anymore. I love that stuff. Melissa absolutely. Lauren, thanks so much. Thank you. Melissa as we said were waiting for president obama to come out and talk about the fiscal cliff. Stick around well bring it to you. Live, more money on the other side of this break [ engine revs ] [ male announcer ] oh what fun it is to ride. Get the mercedesbenz on your wish list atthe winter event going on now roug december 31st. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho [ male announcer ] lease a 2013 e350 for 579 a month at your local mercedesbenzealer. Melissa so we are still awaiting president obamas remarks on the fiscal cliff. Millions of jobs could be impacted if we go over it and almost everyone that has a job has paid their dues with an internship at some point. A lot of us had more than one actually. It is a crucial part of learning about the field you may want to pursue. It offers obvious benefits to the intern and the company theyre inturning for. In a move that could have big implications on internships everywhere, charlie roses Production Company agreed to pay 250,000 to settle a classaction suit in which a former intern sued for suffering minimum wage violations. Now, i dont know. I see there is legitimate pvalue in opportunity to unpaid internships but Christian Dorsey said they cheat workers. He is here to, you guessed it, disagree with me. In the interest of full disclosure, before we get started fox entertainment, parent of news corp, fox business, undergoing a similar lawsuit. Christian, unpaid internship is a right of passage, no good . Well, you know, its been against the law for about 70 years, melissa. It is no good because it is illegal and clearly some it amounts really in many cases to worker exploitation, unless the internship is providing Educational Value primarily to the intern as opposed to economic benefit for the employer. Melissa when you look around at interns here in the fox building, theyre getting credit at school for doing this theyre mostly learning about whats going on in this building. It is very hard to get into television if youre not an intern. It is totally competitive. You know if there were no unpaid internship as lot of people that would never get into television. You know i can see properly constructed unpaid internship where someone is truly learning and someone is truly sort of gaming those awareness skills but what we see all tto often, melissa, that these interns are actually substitutes for other employees. Theyre doing the work that other employees are currently doing or have done in the past and that is against the law. And its important because employers are not only cheating those employees out of their wages, theyre also defiving depriving government of taxes that are paid. Melissa oh, no. You had me for a second there. I was coming along with you. Then you talked about depriving the beast of more, we have to go. The president is about to speak. Lets listen in. Well be back in a second. Proposal to get our deficit uncontrol, avoid tax cuts, or avoid tax hikes on the middle class, and to make sure we can spur jobs and Economic Growth. A balanced proposal that cuts spending but also asks the wealthiest americans to pay more, proposal that will strengthen the middle class over the long haul and grow our economy over the long haul. During the course of these negotiations i offered to compromise with republicans in congress. I met them halfway on taxes, and i met them more than halfway on spending. In terms of actual dollar amounts were not that far apart. As of today i am still ready and willing to get a comprehensive package done. I still believe that reducing our deficit is the right thing to do for the longterm health of our economy and the confidence of our businesses. I remain committed to working towards that goal, whether it happens all at once or whether it happens in several different steps. But, in 10 days we face a deadline. In 10 days under current law tax rates are ked scud you would to scheduled to rise on most americans. Even though democrats and republicans are arguing about whether those rates should go up for the wealthiest individuals, all of us, every single one of us, agrees that tax rates shouldnt go up for the other 98 of the americans, which includes 97 of small businesses. Every member of congress believes that. Every democrat. Every republican. So there is absolutely no reason, none, not to protect these americans from a tax hike. At the very least, lets agree, right now, on what we already agree on. Lets get that done. I just spoke to Speaker Boehner and i also met with senator reid. In the next few days ive asked leaders of congress to work towards a package that prevents a tax hike on middle class americans, protects Unemployment Insurance for two million americans, and lays the groundwork for further work on both growth and deficit reduction. Thats an achievable goal. That can get done in 10 days. Once this legislation is agreed to, i expect democrats and republicans to get back to washington and have it pass both chambers. I will immediately sign that legislation into law before january 1st of next year. Its that simple. Averting this middle class tax hike is not a democratic responsibility or a republican responsibility. With their votes the American People have determined that governing is a shared responsibility between both parties. In this Congress Laws can only pass with support from democrats and republicans and that means nobody gets 100 of what they want. Everybodys got to give a little bit, in a sensible way. We move forward together, or we dont move forward at all. So, as we leave town for a few days to be with our families for the holidays, i hope it gives everybody some perspective. Everybody can cool off. Everybody can drink some eggnog, have some christmas cookies, sing some christmas carols, enjoy the company of loved ones. Then i would ask every member of congress while theyre back home to think about that. Think about the obligations we have to the people who sent us here. Think about the hardship that so Many Americans will endure if congress does nothing at all. Just as our economy is really starting to recover and were starting to see optimistic signs, and weve seen actually some upside statistics from a whole range of areas including housing, now is not the time for more selfinflicted wounds. Certainly not those coming from washington. And there is so much more work to be done in this country on jobs an on incomes, education, and energy. Were a week away from one of the worst tragedies in memory. So weve got work to do on gun safety. A host of the other issues. These are all challenges that we can meet. Theyre all challenges that we have to meet if we want our kids to grow up in an america that is full of opportunity and possibility, as much opportunity and possibility as the america that our parents and our grandparents left for us. But were only going to be able to do it together. Were going to have to find some Common Ground and the challenge that weve got right now is that the American People are a lot more sensible and a lot more thoughtful and much more willing to compromise and give and sacrifice and act responsibly than their elected representatives are. Thats a problem. There is a mismatch right now between how everybody else is thinking about these problems. Democrats and republicans. Outside of this town and how folks are operating here and weve just got to get that aligned. We have only got 10 days to do it. So, i hope that every member of congress is thinking about that. Nobody can get 100 of what they want, and this is not simply a contest between parties in terms of who looks good and who doesnt. There are real world consequences to what we do here and i want next year to be a year of strong Economic Growth. I want next year to be a year in which more jobs are created. And more businesses are started and, were making progress on all the challenges that we have out there. Some of which, by the way, we dont have as much control over as we have in terms of just shaping a sensible budget. This is something within our capacity to solve. It doesnt take that much work. We just have to do the right thing. So call me a hopeless optimist, but i actually still think we can get it done. And with that i want to wish every american a merry christmas, and, you know, because we didnt get this done i will see you next week. All right . [shouting] melissa all right. That was president obama saying that he thinks a deal will still get done before we go flying off the fiscal cliff. Lets go to peter barnes who is at the white house now and has been standing outside in the cold waiting for all of this to go by. What did you hear there . Well, he said it as well as anybody could. There needs to be a time to cool off, no pun intended. Were cooling off here with a big coldsnap here in washington but the president saying, listen, after last night when Speaker Boehners plan b, when he pulled that and now, theres no deal in the works and everybody is going home for the holiday, fine. Take this time to think about that. Listen to constituents while youre back home. He was talking about the constituents and how theyre perhaps more sensible than the politicians here. And he did, but he did keep the pressure on republicans to at least extend the middle class tax cuts to avoid the fiscal cliff. Those folks, families making under 250,000 a year, kept up the pressure on republicans to at least do that and that, we may see that happen, melissa because, listen, there are some republicans on the hill who think, we heard it from senator corker, who said, hey, lets just do that but lets get to entitlement reform and real spending cuts when we get to the debt ceiling in february and march. We might, i cant rule out that might happen but right now, there is no deal. Melissa all right. Peter. Thank you so much for that, thanks for sticking around. For more analysis of president thes remarks lets bring back our money power panel. Kimberly foss, scott martin and steve hayes. Steve, as i was listening to that i felt taxes go up, didnt you . I just, you can feel it in your bones. It is acome inch. This is what the profit wants. You heard him about Unemployment Insurance, extending that. You heard about the taxes above 250, going up. This is basically sort of the bare bones of president obamas wishlist. I think he would like to do other things in sort of an ideal world, including more spending but this is sort of the basic package that the president will push republicans to accept. Be very interesting to see how john boehner responds to this, whether he frees up some House Republicans. They would need 26 if the president had all House Democrats voting in favor of this package he is now pushing. They need 26 House Republicans to go with those democrats in order to pass this. If john boehner frees up the republicans in his conference, allows them to vote with the president , very interesting political dynamics i think down the road. Melissa yeah. Kim perly, did you feel taxes of all your clients go up during that speech there . Yeah. I felt that go up and my Blood Pressure go up at the same time. The realty is, you have to plan for both a and b. If we get a deal and it helps thats great. If it is not and taxes go up, then i have plan b set in order for my clients and investors out there. I mean, but the reality is, i think everybody should plan that. Taxes are going to go up. For some cases i dont think that is so bad. Capitalgains tax going to 24 . I dont think were too worried about that im happy with that. My clients are, some of my clients are happy with that we have to give a little bit too. About the greatest good for the greatest number in my opinion. Congress has to get together and as he said we have to come to some kind of conclusion because growth of this country is capitalism and small business. Melissa right. We cant get people back to work. We cant grow, our investors will not get any kind of return unless we do this. So lets get moving on and get it done. Melissa yeah. I mean the one thing he said, scott, there at the end was, he is hopeful about a stronger economy for next year. I hope thats not incompatable with a bigger government because, thats the direction were moving in. Do you feel confident that we could have a stronger economy next year in spite of a bigger government . No. I think we all could agree we needless government. The government is totally inefficient. If it were a business it would be bankrupt. Listen, certainly businesses alone want to see smaller government. I hate to spike the party eggnog that the president referenced but ill tell you what, this isnt a tax issue. If you raise taxes on the 250 and above, that will run the government for what, 25, 30 days. The problem is entitlement spending. He doesnt bring it up. He doesnt want to talk about it. There is no way this will pass the house anyway. Melissa scott, i mean, so what does that mean you . Raise taxes. Were still going to move on in america. Were still going to get out there and try to make money. Were still going to do our thing. Well still try to make a Better Future for our kids in spite of what is going on, even if we dont believe in bigger government. What do you do first . First thing for the new year looking out into the horizon the way things stand . Probably have extra drink. Melissa, youre right. Things dont stop on january 2nd. You make a really good point. Factories just dont close down. They dont fire everybody. I think people do move on. Dont forget the government has done this before. Weve come to points in january with the estate tax, amt, where they have done a retroactive application. Dont be surprised if we go into january, things look terrible and they put a quick fix on it. Melissa steven, what about that . They never do anything anyway. Raise some taxes. Wont do anything else. Well just horrible along. Its not that terrible . Well, look i think there is case to be made for that but look, i would disagree with scott. This is something that could pass the house of representatives. You need 26 republicans to do it. All the democrats to go along. Democrats arent pushing for entitlement reform, they dont want it in there. That would be one way for the president to keep democrats on board with this plan would be to avoid all the big issues and get a bunch republicans nervous about going over the cliff. Melissa go ahead, scott. Those republicans wouldnt pass the Million Dollar tax. How are they going to pass the 250 . He doesnt need all the republicans. He needs 26. You have republicans on record who said they would favor, vote in favor of the 250 and above, exactly what the president is proposing. Youve got a number of republicans steven latourette. Tom colatosti plan. I agree. Theyre republicans who are voting what the president is propose are there 26. I dont think that 26. Probably 15 to 20. Melissa well see. Guys, thank you so much youve been great ports. We appreciate you sticking around through all of this and breaking it down for us. 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Can i still ship a gift in time r christmas . Yeah, sure yocan. Great. Wheres your gift . Uh. Whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday strs. Ship Fedex Express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. Melissa we couldnt finish the week without a little spair change. We had to squeeze it in there. Were joined by attorneys remi spencer and frred tecce. Thanks for sticking around through all that and hanging with us. Lets get started. Since our lawmakers obviously have Nothing Better to do right now, four senators introduced legislation this week to make washington, d. C. The 51st state. Here is what they want to call it. New columbia. If Congress Passes a law, then d. C. Residents will vote on the decision. There is kind of two issues here. There is the d. C. Becoming a state and then theres a new columbia . You know, i was looking into this before i came on today. I was stunned at the outcry. People hate this name. Forget about the federal authority and the states powers and the name seems to really be bothering most people. Melissa new columbia. Where did they come up with that . New york, new jersey. Melissa i could see that. Fred, what do you think . I dont like it. A new democrats to spend money. There will be democratic congressman and democratic senators. All they do will spend money. If deal was split it evenly between democrats and republicans that bill would die in committee farcer than a bill requiring congress to get obamacare. If im democrats and i would love new columbia and new people to help vote and spend. Melissa sounds expensive. What will this cost me. More money. Melissa up next a british woman was fired from mcdonalds making a mack flurry with coworkers get this, too many sprinkles. She took mcdonalds to court but mcdonalds decided to settle. Theyre paying her five grand. What do you think about that. She put too many sprinkles on the mack flurry. Dangerous employee. Melissa couldnt be first offense. I got to figure. I dont know. Im not qualified to testify about the black market in sprinkles. Melissa yeah. Looks like, only, personal use. No intent to distribute. [laughter] i think mcdonalds wanted to fire her because i think the position must have been she was stealing because she gave another employee extra sprinkles. Melissa i dont know. Less money than bob cratchet took from scrooge. Melissa maybe she was repeat offender. I got to think there is more to the story than the sprinkles. You would think so but that is not the case. She was written up an excellent employee. She was exceptional at her job. That is why i think she decided to file a lawsuit. What i think happened mcdonalds lawyers said it will cost more to read the complaint than to giver her a little it about money. Melissa 5,000, that is nothing. She has to pay her lawyer. Do you have to pay tax on settlements . She will end up with nothing. Well come to the legal profession. If legal system, loser pays. I realize mcdonald shouldnt have canned her for extra sprinkles. Melissa this one got festive spirit. Check out house in florida. There are more than 180 to you lights here. Even 20 foot ferris wheel. They have miniature horse dressed as reindeer. Surprisingly neighbors are not so happy about the extra car and foot traffic in the neighborrood. What do you think, reasonable way to show holiday cheer, real quick . Absolutely not. This is why the local governments have the right to create zoning laws and ordinances. Melissa i love. Were out of here. You love it. Were all good. That is all the money weve got today. Have a great weekend, everyone. Stay tuned for the willis report. Excuse me, sir im gonna have to ask you to power down your little word game. I think your friends will understand. Oh no, its actually my geico app. See . I just upaid my bill. Did you really . From the plane . Yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24 7. Unds a little too good to true sir. Ill believe that when pigs fly. Ok, did she seriously just say that . Geico. Just click away with our free mobile app