Messages, especially when it comes to ending the shutdown. House budget chair paul ryan says he wants compromise on entitlement reform, but theres no mention of obama care. Hmm, i wonder whether hes talked to speaker boehner. Instead of making it easier for people to get health insurance, its going to be a lot tougher. What a train wreck. How can we tax people for not buying a product from a website that doesnt work . And then theres the very influential Heritage Action group, which wants the debt ceiling off the table and for the focus to be on obama care. Okay, so i guess they talked to the speaker. And lets not neglect the always productive stop subsidizing abortion or were going to shut this place down argument. Yeah, good luck with that one. Are you confused yet . So are we. Luke russert, help me out here. What do republicans actually want . Well, im still thrown off. I cant decide. Tell us what you want, luke. Is that scary . Was it posh . Was it ginger . Was it sporty . We dont know. Just like we dont know what the next wave forward is going to be up here on capitol hill. What i can tell you is just before i came over, Heritage Action, that group you mentioned, said they would not score a vote on the sixweek temporary debt limit funding bill that they want to move forward. So the boehner bill presumably could get the support of the gop conference if democrats say they dont want to go along and support it. However, going forward, boehner will have that meeting at the white house coming up with the rest of the gop leadership. Theyre going to see what the president s response is to this latest bill by the gop leadership. Theres one issue within the bill, though, thats not getting a lot of attention. It says within the bill the treasury cannot use extraordinary powers to move the debt limit back past november 22nd. That could upset some folks in the executive branch. Lets look at this in a broad sense. You could have the house vote tomorrow on a sixweek extension of the debt limit. That would avert economic catastrophe. The worlds economy would survive, at least for six more weeks. The United States senate might not like that. But it would open the door for folks to go into a room and have these largescale bipartisan negotiations that the gop said they want so badly. However, while this all happens, the government is still shut down. So everybody whos been affected by this shutdown will continue to be affected most likely in a negative way. So that is something where the house gop now believes they can use as leverage with the president , and they dont want to blend all thesing to. Thats where youre seeing Heritage Action come through. They feel if they can get the debt limit off their plate, they can then refocus this on the health care law, and that can be part of wideranging discussions that could take us up to thanksgiving. Is the government shut down at thanksgiving . Possibility. Probably not. But as far as business as usual going up here in washington, d. C. , we wont likely see it. So a lot of moving parts. Unclear as to how exactly it will come to an end. What we do know know is it looks like theres a real drive in the gop house conference to not default on the United States debt and avert that catastrophe. When theyll reopen the government, we dont necessarily know the answer to that question. Youre starting to see a deal come together, shall we say. All right, luke russert, our spice girls fan on the hill. Thank you, as always. Die hard fan. All right. Lets turn now to our friend josh barro, who wrote a piece that caught my attention, the most irresponsible officials in washington, d. C. Are the moderate republicans, who as you say have had the ability to reopen the government and break the extremist grip on the caucus agenda but chose not too. I, too, have been frustrated with moderate republicans. Help unwrap this. Theyve stayed quiet or not not voted in the ways they needed to. If you remember back to september 30th, you had this back and forth between the house and senate where the house kept passing bills that made demands to keep the government open. The senate would send those bills back as a clean continuing resolution to keep the government open. Around 9 00 p. M. Or so, the House Republicans vote on their last offer. You had peter king, whos a moderate republican from the new york area, saying that this is a bad idea and they should just pass a clean continuing resolution and he has 20 to 25 moderate republicans who will vote against the rule to bring leaderships new proposal to the floor. If theyd done that, that would have left House Republicans with no offer to make to the senate and they might have had to pass a clean continuing resolution. Instead, all who showed up was peter king and one other guy. Everybody else voted yes. These moderates who say they want to reopen the government have been going along with leaderships shifting strategy, whatever that is day to day. Its not reopen the government. I dont know that all of the folks who have said they support a clean cr in the republican caucus, i dont know that theyre all getting push back on this, but i know some of the republican virginia members of congress have been getting push back on fact that do you really support a clean cr when you dont support this. But going back to lukes reporting there, i can see how we could get to a debt ceiling extension. Lets take a listen to what jay carney had to say about this. I think the president said the other day that if they were to send them a clean debt ceiling extension, no partisan strings attached, he would sign it. We dont know thats what were going to get here. Ted cruz has also said hes open to shortterm debt ceiling extensions. So the white house obviously there leaving some room where they could support a shortterm extension. I can see how that could be resolved, at least for now. Is there anything that is going to bring the Government Shutdown piece of this to an end, or is this going to become sort of the new normal in the way the sequester has . I think its not clear. It cant become the new normal in the way the sequester has because the government still works under sequestration. Youve had spending cuts that might be unwise and that are causing problems in a lot of departments, but its not a crisis in the way that the Government Shutdown will become a crisis if it drags on for weeks and weeks and federal employees arent getting paid and programs like the wic program that provides nutrition assistance to pregnant women, those things will start shutting down if we stay shutdown. We cant go on forever, but we could go on for several more weeks. I dont really see what the way out is. When you talk with republicans and democrats in washington, democrats seem convinced that the only out on the shutdown is republicans fold. They figure out sooner or later that this was a misadventure, that its making them very unpopular and they have to give up. Republicans feel like they cant do that because it will be too much of a loss of face and the conservative base will be too angry. So you have Tea Party Conservatives who are completely out of touch with reality and think theyre going to get a big win. You have more republicans in the boehner camp who realize thats a fantasy but still feel like they have to get something for shutting down the government. A sense of pride, yeah. Ari, what do you got . Youre in my seat, josh, but you look better in it than i do. I appreciate that. Any time. The big news today, of course, is this offer thats potentially being floated of the sixweek extension of the debt ceiling. As usual, what sounds good to people in washington doesnt necessarily make sense in the rest of the country. From where im sitting, help me understand it, but this sounds like a terrible idea. Number one, because it doesnt move us at all towards a longterm fiscal plan. Number two, because it clearly normalizes the kind of blackmail thats going on. You could see that in the reporting already. Number one, there are extra requirements here. Luke russert just referring to them. For example, limiting how the treasury can manage a selfinflected default event. I dont know why wed want to do that. Number two, that we should go through the six weeks, kick the can down the road, and have more negotiations again with the specter of the debt ceiling hanging over those negotiations. And my biggest concerns, speak to the normalization of radical behavior here. A shortterm increase makes everyone around the country go, oh, i guess this is just how it works and you cry wolf enough and theres going to be less pressure. I actually disagree with that, ari. I dont think a shortterm increase is great, but i think its better than not having one. I think thats why the stock market is way up today. People are a lot less afraid were about to have a crisis event. I think also think it signals republicans are actually unwilling to allow us to hit the debt ceiling. We saw a signal of this in january. Republicans were saying that they were going to attach big demands to the debt ceiling increase, that they wanted another big round of spending cuts. Then by january, what they actually passed was a debt ceiling increase that was effectively clean. The only thing that they got in return was that Senate Democrats agreed to pass a nonbinding budget that didnt even need to be reconciled with the house budget. I think were seeing again that republicans like making threats around the debt ceiling, but they will get afraid when they get too close to it because they know theyll be blamed for an economic calamity. Not only are we getting an extension now, but i think it signals if we havent got an deal by the end of november, republicans will feel no choice but to raise the debt limit again. It would be nice to have a functional government where we werent sliding from crisis to crisis, but this is at least a positive signal that the crisis wont get to the worst possible scenario. I hope that they know that were leading toward an economic calamity. Now we have all these default deniers who are saying, no, no, no, its not going to be a big deal, we can do that. But let me get you to talk about some of the or one of the key sort of underlying structural reasons why we are here. Weve talked about jergerryman r gerrymandering. We havent talked about money and how Campaign Finance has changed over the last few decades leading to the situation were in now. First read had a bit about this the other day saying, the relationship between lawmakers and parties financially has led to the decentralization were seeing where the far right of the party says, i dont need to listen to you. Gone are the days of earmarks where a speaker could say, hey, were going to put a bridge in your district and go along with this on this other thing that might be hard for you. Gone are the days when the rnc is the biggest financial source of your life. Heritage and club for growth are bigger financial sources for a lot of these representatives. That is a very dangerous trend, isnt it, for the gop and a big reason why the far right is saying, i dont need to listen to the leadership and theyre leading the establishment. I think it is a dangerous trend for republicans. I think theres an irony here where liberals have been so upset about the Citizens United decision and all the money its injected into politics. I think the main outcome is it has caused the Republican Party to tear itself apart because of the way the new money dynamics are influencing the party. But i think the other reason youre seeing that is that business interests that have traditionally been associated with the Republican Party, theyre unhappy about what republicans are doing right now. But theyre not really willing to line up against them for it. Theyre not stepping up to the plate. Theyre speaking out. Theyre speaking out, but im wondering at what point does the Democratic Party become the party of the northeastern Business Establishment . For 160 years as the Republican Party has gone through changes, its always been the party of wealthy northeastern if thats not a wakeup call to republicans, i dont know what is. I dont want to go further down the rabbit hole to find out what else lies ahead in a post Citizens United world and what other changes will come out of that. That sounds frightening. I think whats happening right now is very frightening. I think republicans should be frightened too, not just for the country, but for the future of their own party. They think theyre protected by this electoral map in the house. If they lost the National Popular vote in the house by, say, six points, they would lose the majority. I think thats possible. Its incredibly problematic. This lack of authority is a real problem. Josh barro, great to have you. Youre welcome at the grownups table any time. Ill told you to that. Next up, mr. President f youre watching in the white house, you might want top listen to this. An expert says hes got more cards to play than people may realize. The cycle rolls on for this thursday, october 10th. Asional have constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating . Yes one Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues. With three strains of good bacteria. [ Phillips Lady ] live the regular life. Phillips. A confident retirement. Those dreams, theres just no way were going to let them die. Like they helped millions of others. By listening. Planning. Working one on one. Thats what Ameriprise Financial does. Thats what they can do with you. Thats how ameriprise puts more within reach. Thats how ameriprise puts more within reach. announcer answer the call of the grill with new friskies grillers, full of meaty tenders and crunchy bites. Joining us. My pleasure. So one of the things that weve heard from the right wing, particularly from right wing media, is that the president is intentionally making the shutdown painful just to prove some political point. But this is all governed shutdow so far. But the situation is starting to change. Our precedent goes only so far as the 1995 shutdown when it went to 21 days. Now, that was bad, but the focus in the guidance at that time and what weve inherited as the precedent was on the day of the shutdown start, which for us would have been october 1st. Shutting everything down that isnt needed that day on an emergency basis. Now that we are having our shutdown, which may last a while, and i know you said in the segment before me, you noted it could become the new normal. People dont see any way to get out of it unless the republicans sort of change their position. So as it gets longer, i think that we define the risks and dangers that have to be dealt with as the longterm ones, and the many functions of the federal government that deal with longer term problems, things like the chemical safety board that tries to see whether disasters can be prevented, the health and Human Services scientists who look for cancer drugs. These problems which begin to chafe much more as we go past 21 days. All the while, so many people are hurting. Talk to us about this unexpected card that the Obama Administration can play as this continues to drag on. What are some of the steps they can take to help ease the pain . Well, the mechanics are that the office of management and budget issues governmentwide bulletins. Were operating from the ones that did back in 2011, which are not like our situation. Besides the dangers from health risks that need to be coped with, there are veterans claims where veterans who are disabled, and thats not just veterans from any particular war, that covers all the way from world war ii up to those who are coming back from afghanistan. Their disability claims are not being touched. Women, infant, and Children Food supplementation is soon going to run out. I might say, which people wouldnt consider an emergency, but they sure understand the irs has shut down refunds. The irs is only processing returns that put money into the pressure ri. s not paying out refunds. There are people who take checks in anticipation of these refunds. Not just a few but many. They are going to be hurting. Thats very problematic. Sir, lets look ahead to where this might end up. They say theres a very consistent voter response when you have divided government. Almost always the legislatures get blamed and the executives do not. Is that your understanding of how these things it play out electorally in the long run . Exactly. Im studying the 1995 shutdown, not coming up with surprises, but if you look closely, it was the end of the Gingrich Congress as far as pushing through radical legislation. President clinton came out of what had been a discouraging lowlevel support from the public before it and went up to getting public support. Hey, professor, good to be with you. The shutdown is a bummer for a lot of people. As a shutdown expert, i suppose this is like christmas for you, at least intellectually. What i want to ask you is a little broader, beyond the antideficiency act. People dont know this. This is krystals one of her favorite federal laws. True story. No, its not. She loves that part of the federal code. But beyond all of that, how we manage shutdowns, talk to us about the legitimacy of a shutdown or other threats in the context of inner branch relations. Some scholars, some law professors have argued that at a certain point, this kind of threat, while not technically unconstitutional under precedent, is extra constitutional. Tell us about that. Absolutely. The executive and legislative branches need at least a minimal level of cooperation. Look at what it was at how president obama could not perform his constitutional functions of engaging in diplomacy, and he couldnt go to this very important asian conference and was forfeiting the spotlight to the chinese who are building their empire, so to speak. I would say that theres a specific ground here for the president to exercise more power, specifically more in the debt limit than a shutdown situation, and that is that the 14th amendment, section four, says that the public credit shall not be questioned. So if we reach the point that poses, he would have larger powers to handle emergency situations of calling in money owed to the government and stopping the paying out of money to contractors. Lets hope we dont get to that point. Thanks for helping us make sense of all of this. Thank you. And up next, a turn to somewhat more uplifting matters. The Nobel Committee picks a peace prize winner tomorrow. Should Dennis Rodman get it . Well make sense of all that or try to anyway, when we spin next. [ male announcer ] may your lights always be green. [ tires screech ] [ beeping ] may you never be stuck behind a stinky truck. [ beeping ] may things always go your way. But its good to be prepared. Just in case they dont. Toyota. Lets go places, safely. Is what makes us different. We take the time to get to know you and your unique health needs. Then we help create a personalized Healthcare Experience that works for you. And you. And you. With 50 years of knowhow, and a dedicated network of doctors, health coaches, and wellness experts, were a partner you can rely on today, and tomorrow. Were going beyond insurance to become your partner in health. Humana. At any minute. To become your partner in health. You could be a victim of fraud. Most people dont even know it. Fraud could mean lower credit scores, higher loan rates. And maybe not getting the car you want. Its a problem waiting to happen. Check your credit score, check your credit report, at experian. Com americas number one provider of online credit reports and scores. Dont take chances. Go to experian. Com. His day of coaching begins with knee pain, when. [ man ] hey, brad, want to trade the allday relief of two aleve for six tylenol . Whats the catch . Theres no catch. You want me to give up my two aleve for six tylenol . No. For my knee pain, nothing beats my aleve. Back now in the news cycle with a prominent pilots Union Warning of possible terror dry runs. An internal memo from the Union Representing u. S. Airways pilots and obtained by a local Florida Television station refers specifically to an incident last month on a flight from d. C. To orlando during which four men of middle eastern decescent createa commotion in the cabin. A new book about Lance Armstrong reportedly features a bomb shell revelation from his exwife sheryl crow. According to the new york daily news, armstrong openly doped in front of her and told her it was simply part of the sport. She was among the teammates who testified against him during the investigation. Also, its been announced that Canadian Writer alice monroe has won the nobel prize for literature. Shes 82 years old and a master of the short story. Tomorrow well learn who will receive this years nobel peace prize. Many think that award will go to malala, the 16yearold pakistani activist who survived an assassination attempt by the taliban and became a beloved global icon. I started thinking about that. I used to think the taliban would come and just kill me. But then i said, if he comes, what would you do . You must not treat others that much with cruelty and that much harshly. You must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education. Then i said, ill tell him how important education is and that i even want education for your children as well. Ill tell him, thats what i want to tell you, now do what you want. So lovely. She would be the youngest recipient by far. Some also think the award could go to the gynecologist whos led the fight against rape in congo. Hes also survived assassination and continued to speak out. Other nominees, vladimir putin, ed snowden, and chelsea manning. So clearly deserving the peace prize is in the eye of the beholder, which makes me wonder, who do we think would be a worthy recipient . Who do we think should never get the prize . Thats certainly spin worthy. The Nobel Prize Committee always has a chance to make a statement. I hope this time they make a statement about whats going on in russia and look to the human rights, civil rights, and gay rights abuses there. Maybe give something to the incarcerated women who are paying with their lives, these young woman who have been fighting against repression in russia. Theres all sorts of coalitions of freedom fighters. Ahead of this idea that theres no other country in the world that can stand up to them on these things. The Nobel Committee could make a huge statement in favor of rights for those sort of people. If we could possibly block Dennis Rodman from ever getting a nobel prize, the guy is going to north korea i think thats pretty safe. Hanging out with this repressive dictator coming back to say, hey, hes a nice guy. Hes just like us. Thats fake diplomacy. Thats comforting the despottic and the most horrific people on the planet. Speaking of people who have no chance of getting a nobel peace prize, ari, what you got . Whats that called, a toss . A little bit. I call it a jab. Save that for floyd mayweather, abby. Look, i think i agree with toure about russia and the importance of some of the disdense there. Lyudmila is one. As we know, putin has carried on many of the same antihuman rights and antidemocratic impulses. Malala, of course mentioned in a Washington Post article about each of the names im citing and has done amazing work. Also, beyond fighting the taliban is one of these individuals who in the spirit of prize has made a lot of people think around the world and is sort of international in that respect. The last name i saw was hu jia, a dissident in china who worked as an a. I. D. S. Activist, not in the way we often think about it in the west, but also pointing out how a. I. D. S. Was being spread by transfusions and being covered up by the government there, one of many scandals and problems in a society that doesnt have a lot of free press or democratic oversight. Was also in jail until 2011. Those are some of the names i was reading about. So many incredible people in this world when you look at folks that could make it on this list. Pope francis continues to amaze me. Hes a figure at a time when were most divided in our own nation where violence and unease around the world, hes a calming figure. Hes a peaceful figure. He represents humility, never divisive, never judging. He has this unique ability to make every person, no matter their circumstance, feel important, feel accepted. When i think about of the opposite of that, of the pope, i think of kanye west, who thinks of himself as the modern day jesus. I know he probably thinks he deserves this prize, but he promotes the opposite of peace in my mind, always causing fights on twitter, punching paparazzi. Hes responsible for splitting up the kardashian family. Whoa, whoa. We dont know that. And this guy wears kilts. He should be banned from any list. I think were safe there. On that godly note, i dont know that this individual necessarily deserves the nobel peace prize, but someone who has brought some comfort and peace to my soul in these troubled times in america is Senate Chaplain barry black. Hes been doing an incredible job offering prayers to members of the senate. Lets listen to what he had to say yesterday. In whose presence our souls take delight, to whom in affliction we call. Forgive us for continuing to sew to the wind even when hearing the sounds of the approaching whirlwind. Lord, when our federal shutdown delays payments of death benefits to the families of children dying on faraway battlefields, its time for our lawmakers to say enough is enough. Cover our shame with the robe of your righteousness. Forgive us, reform us, and make us whole. We pray in your merciful name, amen. Amen, indeed. Good choices all around. Up next, the part of the ted cruz shutdown that sparked the most outrage, how we are treating our troops and their families and death benefits is just one part of it. Straight ahead, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist brings us an intimate portrait of life after war. [ male announcer ] old el paso frozen entrees. Now in freezers. Private first class Cody Patterson returned home on wednesday to his final welcome. A dignified transfer at Dover Air Force base. A pfc, patterson is one of the 26 troops killed since the shutdown began. Their families denied military death benefits because the government deems nonessential, a story that has sparked outrage a across the country. This afternoon, the Senate Passed a house bill to reinstate the survivors benefits. The longer the shutdown lasts, veterans disability benefits and pension remain in jeopardy. Hows that for a thank you . Helping families of the fallen transition back to civilian life is the focus of a new book thank you for your service. Its the work of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist david finkel, who joins us now. For this book, you embed with members of the same battalion back home, including a widow who calls the death benefit blood money on her bad day and oops money on good days. Does this speak to a larger problem within society, this lack of appreciation for our troops . Well, i think the phrases she uses, blood money and oops money, sums up a lot of feelings toward what these payments can mean in a very intimate way for the folk ws who are getting the money. These folks not getting their money temporarily, its part of a much larger issue, which has to do with the care a lot of mentally wounded vets are getting at this point. The numbers are astonishing. Weve had 12 years of war. Theres some half million mentally wounded vets from these conflicts. There was one study that said the pentagon spent 1 billion last year on Mental Health treatment, a number expected to go up. I know about you, but for me, the numbers are to astonishing and big they begin blurring together. What i thought i would do since i knew these troops from my time with them in baghdad, i would write a followup about whats happened since they got home and the efforts underneath all the numbers to try to recover from whats happened to them. David, i think youve done a great thing here in a book that gives us more understanding of our troops and veterans and their families in their own voices. Let me read one of them from your work. A veteran named adam who has a 36,000 job now, twothirds of what he earned, and his wife notes that maybe a ptsd program, which he needs, would help, but, quote, it would mean seven weeks of no work and no pay. Thats two missed house payments, car payments, electricity, gas, phone, groceries. She reminds him they have no savings. She imagines the graduation speech from that program. Congratulations for conquering ptsd, and now you are fd. Those are her words. Well, i spent a year with the Army Infantry battalion during the surge. During this, adam was regarded as one of the very best soldiers. He was on his third deployment. He had been in combat for about 1,000 days. The day i met him was the day he was leaving. It was mid tour. The fact is he had cracked open from so many things that had happened to him in so many days of war. He went home. I went with him to the helicopter and watched him leave. This is a guy who had performed so well and yet left the war with the feeling of shame. The new book starts two years later with adam and his wife at home in kansas trying to recover. Shes become someone whos writing in her diary, i feel like my heart is about to explode. Adam is just trying to stay alive at that point. Then the book follows them forward into what they hope will be a Treatment Program, but youre right. When you point out for him to get treatment, it puts so much in jeopardy. Its not necessarily an easy thing for a guy to pick up and go into a Treatment Program for four weeks, seven weeks, or in his case four months. Sometimes the effects last a lot longer than that. Ptsd is something that affects so many of these guys. You write about how its hard for them to share with their significant other how they feel, the nightmares they might be having, military divorce at 3. 5 . I mean, a lot of these marriages arent surviving. Well, it cant be a surprise to anyone that these rough and tough guys come home mentally wounded and have a difficult time acknowledging it to themselves much less asking for help. So many guys would say to me it would be easier if they could look in a mirror and see some physical manifestation of what they have been through, a missing eye, a missing arm, a missing leg, something to certify that the damage was real, rather than interior, which lets face it, a lot of guys have a hard time saying exist. David finkel, thank you for putting this all in perspective. With two brothers in the military, it really hits home. Thank you for joining us. Stick with us. Well be right back. 4 p wlnkn0k thats why theres charmin ultra strong. Ill take that. Go get em, buddy it cleans so well and you can use up to four times less than the leading bargain brand. [ female announcer ] charmin ultra strong has a duraclean texture thats soft and more durable to help your kids get clean while still using less. And its four times stronger than the leading bargain brand. Wow, you cleaned up a lot you did too, pal [ laughs ] [ female announcer ] used by more plumbers than any other brand, charmin is now clogfree or its free. One more time, just for themselves. Before the last grandchild. Before the first grandchild. Smile. Before katie, debbie, kevin and brad. There was a connection that started it all and made the future the wonderful thing it turned out to be. 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Andre agassi used to be a brash, and then agassi fell out of the top 100 and everybody thought his tennis career was over, but he changed his conditioning, left his wife, moved on, and went on to the most successful part of his career. Ted cruz could learn how to upgrade his life from andre agassi and other inspirational folks like governor martin oma oma omalley and others interviewed by our next guest for her book upgrade, welcome rhonna florida. All right. What lessons could ted cruz learn from what you studied perhaps working with others, compromising, assessing risks realistical realistically . What would you say . Andre agassi said it best. Success and failure are almost always about factors outside your control, but the most important thing is to love the work, love the process, and disconnect your ego from the results. I think he needs to check his ego at the door and focus on getting things done. Sounds like theres a few people in washington who could take that advice. Another person you interviewed was someone i had the opportunity to interview, tony shea, ceo of zappos, whos revitalizing downtown las vegas. What were some of the keys to his success . Hes sort of an unlikely tech entrepreneur. Hes been phenomenally successful. Hes amazing. We actually work with him in downtown las vegas on an Economic Development plan. His culture of delivering happiness has fundamentally transformed service organizations. So instead of being the fancy boss with the big corner office, he chooses to sit in a small cubicle in close proximity to all his colleagues. Also, small little things. He doesnt use the word employee. Everyone is an associate or a team member. Its those cultural differences that have a huge effect on an organization. Speaking of, talk to us about meetings. You have mentioned how they can at times be a waste of time. You can swerve from the conversation, and it really can be pointless for many people in the room. Sometimes it can be helpful. That never happens here on the cycle in any of our meetings. Never, ever, ever. Hey, ari, whats happening . How you doing . Why am i on screen for bad meeti ining behavior . Someones a little defensive. But what suggestions do you have for more productive meetings . Heres what i have to say first and foremost. Meetings kill productivity. So we spend about 62 hours a month in meetings. Surveys with Senior Executives say 50 of that time is wasted. Thats 31 hours a month wasted in lost productivity. A lot of senior managers are now starting to say, well, maybe i should do standing meetings to get them going and moving along faster or maybe i should ban meetings one day a week to get employees really working. So i think if youre going to have a i think if youre going have a meeting, keep it below 60 minutes. Anything above 60 minutes is a complete utter waste of time and then you have to have the meeting after the meeting to cuss discuss the meeting. Can i ask a leading question . Go ahead, ari. Does that mean if you have a colleague who is sort of a disrupter in the meeting and helps bring out its absurdity thats thats positive for the efficiency of the entire group and company . The answer is no. No. Dont take the bait. It doesnt help. He does not shorten anything, he will have you know. Speaking of time, one of the things that you talk about is protecting your time, which is something im terrible about. I cant say no to no to anyone about anything. Andre agassi said that too. Protecting and guarding your time fiercely is a trait of highly successful people. And time is one t one resource we cant buy, trade or barter or ever get back. They call it a time famine. Its the u. S. Epidemic going on. Were all too rushed, and the goal in time should be time affluence. So to get rich in time because it brings valuable wealth and wellbeing to your overall happiness. You feel bad. You dont want to say no. Krystal is the nicest person i know. Dont be so nice. Ill work on it. For a lot of americans, failure is the worst possible thing. But its really not. Its goes to success and failure can be the source of success. So dont let that be a pitfall. Keep going. Absolutely. Embracing failure is part of the learning process is key. We were talking earler arier about sarah blakley, the uber successful youngest millionaire who went on to found spanx. She said she learned an important lesson. When she came home from school, her father asked her who did you fail at today . So he made it clear that she tried something new and it was a positive experience. Thats powerful. That seems a hard thing to say to your daughter. What did you fail at today. What age should we start that . I have a 5yearold. Should i be asking her in kindergarten . Rana florida, congratulations on the book. Up next, the tricky tactic behind the ted cruz showdown that no one wants to talk about, no one, except my homie abby huntsman. So here we are as our little countup bug will show you. Well into the second week of a Government Shutdown and 17 days away from hitting the debt ceiling. Go us americans around the country are feeling the pain. Military death benefits have already been cut. Millions of paychecks withheld. Scientific research has come to a halt, sick people turned away, and centers of tourism around National Parks have emptied out. Given all that, presumably at the very least shutting down the government must translate into political suicide for at least one of the parties, right . Well, weve certainly seen Approval Ratings drop for both parties, especially the republicans, who are now down to 28 . The lowest rating for either party since gallup started asking the question 20 years ago. But if you think these low numbers matter a whole lot to many lawmakers in the house, you would be mistaken. In 2010, republican state legislatures across the nation redrew congressional districts to make them a lock for the gop. And in some cases, just to send a message to the democrats. Because that is the beauty, thats the beauty of gerrymandering. Instead of the voters getting to pick their leaders, leaders get to pick their voters. When you look at the competitive nature of various congressional districts, it has only gotten easier for most radical republicans to win another term. Have you ever wondered why so many districts today look like a flying giraffe, or in the case of state district in upstate new york, Abraham Lincoln riding a vacuum . Well, thats because of the g word, gerrymandering. See, every ten years, districts are adjusted so they are roughly the same size. And that sounds fair, right . Nope. Incumbent politicians have hijacked this process. They pad districts with their voters and avoid competitive races. And since republicans swept state houses in 2010, the gop has been in control of those 27 states. In the 2012 house election, democrats won nearly a million and a half more votes than republicans. But these uncompetitive districts help the gop maintain control of the house. And thats exactly why we have massive differences between who wins and who is in charge. Just look at the republican prospects in the 2014 mid terms. 205 of those seats are considered safe in the house. To maintain the majority, the republicans only need to win 13 competitive races. And it means most republicans in the house are in Campaign Mode right now. Not for the general election, but for the primaries. Their election may be a full year away, but their only competitive race is sooner. Primary deadlines for states like kentucky, texas and West Virginia are only four months away. And what do many of those conservative primary voters expect from their leaders . No backing down, no blinking, and never, even if it means shutting down the government, never surrender. 10 what do we do about it . Especially when both Political Parties have gerrymandered to get an edge . Well, we could learn from blue and red states like california, arizona, and montana that set up nonpartisan independent Redistricting Commissions to create new rules of the road. See, that would take the power away from incumbents and give it back to us, the people. We have seven years until the next census. So its not enough to be mad at congress today. We have to change the rules in the years ahead. And speaking of other states, i have a confession of my own. Since its all the rage in the gop, i wanted to get in on the action. You think ari is in seattle on assignment . But little do you know ive gerrymandered him right out of town. No nonpartisan independent Redistricting Commission in new york. At least not yet. So i will see you in 2014, buddy. Yeah. Okay. That does it for the cycle. Now to someone who would stare down jerry mannedering and come out on top. Joy reid is in today for martin bashir. Good afternoon. Im joy reid in for martin bashir. Its thursday, october 10th, and house sp