Fewer people will actually pay tax at that rate. Now, let me tell you what else they want to do. They want to nearly double the standard deduction. 12,000 for individuals. 24,000 for married couples. Thats the justification for raising the lowest tax rate from 10 to 12 that a whole lot of people arent actually going to pay for. The plan also calls for the elimination of the socalled marriage penalty. Raising the tax credit for a child under 17 by a yet to be specified amount. And look for a new 500 tax credit for nonchild dependents. That replaces the idea that you can actually otherwise claim nonchild dependents. In addition, the plan calls for repealing the estate tax. What a lot of republicans call the death tax. This benefits generally speaking the wealthy. It also repeals the Alternative Minimum Tax. At lot of you might say i pay the Alternative Minimum Tax. Heres the problem. It was actually meant to be something for the wealthy. Wasnt indexed to inflation so a
number of people in the middle class have been caught paying it. Make no mistake. Repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax opposed to indexing it to inflation is a boom for the wealthy generally speaking. There are exceptions to this. And i bet you youre going to tweet me about them any second now. On the business side, the plan calls for slashing the corporate rate to 20 from 35 . Donald trump had talked about 15 . Hard to get there. Theyve been trying to do that. But heres the interesting part. It also calls for a socalled pass through rate of 25 . Those of you with small businesses, youll know what this is. You can deduct expenses and pay the remainder of your personal income as i have to interrupt you. Go ahead. You need to walk through what constitutes a small business. Because when you see that you go great, this is for a mom and pop store. A mom and pop store, President Trump has over 500 llcs. Thats law firms and hedge funds. Right. So the average income for one of these pass through businesses in america is over 750,000. Say that again. 750,000 for most pass through businesses. Right . The average household, the Median Household Income in the United States is 59,000. Yes, while there are some legitimate businesses that use this pass through system that will benefit from being able to write off your expenses and then pay 25 opposed to the 35 that the personal tax rate will be or 39. 6 today. Dont be fooled into thinking this is about all small businesses. This still overwhelmingly supports those who are higher earners in this country. Those are the details weve got right now. Some of it has been reported by the Washington Post this morning. The plan aims to cut taxes by more than 5 trillion over ten years. And heres the interesting part. Its going to recoup participant of that. Youll keep the Mortgage Tax Breaks and charitable tax
breaks. But a lot of the tax breaks you have are going to disappear. Might be a good thing. Might be a bad thing. Weve got a lot of tax breaks in this code. We dont see a Border Adjustment Tax we heard about. We dont know about capital gains. Theres still a lot remains to be seen. And in defense of the plan, remember, this is their first swipe at it. Its not the worst plan in the world. The characterization of it as being all about the middle class is a little bit disingenuous. Im going to say its a lot disingenuous. This plan is a win for the rich. Joining us now is john harwood. Whats your take on this . Im going to side with you over ali. Yes you always do. This is a lot disingenuous. In fact, it is not geared toward the middle class. You outlined many of the liabilities of this plan. I should say its also not exactly a plan. Because if you outline a set of races and say we might have another one, were going to pay for tax cuts but arent going to say how, you dont have a plan yet. Theyre beginning a process. This is more detailed than they laid out a couple of months ago, but its still not the entire plan. Among the lieabilities, you mentioned the pass through businesses. Secondly the top rate. Theyre also trimming back on the personal exemptions that families can claim for their dependents. So if you have a large family, if youve got four kids, you might lose more from the loss of those exceptions than you gained from the standard deduction. So theyre going to be Tax Increases at the bottom level of this plan. Can we also point out, i mean, look at history. You can look at the numbers. When the wealthiest people out
there get more money in their pockets, there is not a direct correlation to them going out and spending more. Theres a greater chance that they go out and put more money in the stock market. When people who are living closer to the vest, living paycheck to paycheck actually have more money, they in turn go out and buy a washing machine, go out to dinner, buy clothes. Theyre the ones that change their lifestyle potentially and add inject money into the economy. Stephanie, weve run some recent experiments on this question. Bill clinton raised taxes on the highest earners. The economy boomed after that. Even more than under president reagan. President obama raised taxes on the top earners in the country. Not as much as he wanted to, but some. He grew jobs continuously and the economy improved after that happened. Those arent the only things that happened, but theres not very good evidence to suggest that this is some sort of a magic potion to spur Economic Growth as the administrations been claiming. And it needs to be. Josh earnest is here as well. Josh, let me ask you. It needs to be because if you cut taxes and you dont get the corresponding Economic Growth, then you have what by the way a whole lot of republicans dont like. And that is the point i was going to pick up that john was making. I think its important. We have tested these propositions before. Under bill clinton and barack obama, we cut taxes for the middle class and raised taxes on the highest earners. What was the result . Accelerating in the economy and reduction of deficits. We tested this both ways. When bush tried the opposite thing, we saw the opposite. We know how this plays out. I think the other thing that is really important here, the biggest political story of the day is the political earthquake
in alabama. I dont think anybody was showing up at rallies chanting cut Corporate Taxes. And that is two things. A, they werent looking for that. This just doesnt it has more legitimative appeal than it has appeal to regular people. And evidence indicates that if Corporate America wanted to expand and make more factories right now, theyve got either the cash on hand to do it or the available credit to do it. The idea we repatriate the money no question about that. And to joshs point, if you look at the polling, a majority of people in the country say that taxes should go up on business and should go up on the wealthy. So the republicans are fighting uphill on this question and on that roy moore Victory Last Night despite the endorsement of President Obama for his opponent, steve bannon President Trump john b i think you meant President Trump. I did mean President Trump. Did i say obama . You did. Yeah, i dont think obama endorsed Luther Strange. At that rally last night they warned republicans saying were coming after the fat cats and wall street. Were coming after silicon valley. And so all those republican senators now who are contemplating not only their general election but primary elections have to worry about backing a plan that would cut the top rate. Steve bannon inside the white house talked about raising the rate. John, lets remind the attendees at the rally who put steve bannon on that stage. The mercer family. Cofounder of renaissance, one of the biggest, most complex hedge funds that specializes in Structure Derivatives on the planet. So spare me that nonsense line. And a lot of tax avoidance. Correct. Hold on a second. Lets bring in michael strain. There are a lot of people, fiscal conservatives who have
been working to try and develop a plan that they believe will spur Economic Growth. Michael strain, good to see you. Is your fingerprints on this . And do you believe it achieves the people like you Many American enterprise believe spurs Economic Growth . Well, thank you for having me on. It sounds like you guys are having a lively discussion about this. You know, look. I think this plan reflects ideas that have been around for quite some time. Lower the corporate rate is something that has traditionally had support among both conservatives and liberals, among democrats and republicans. Simplifying the personal side of the code is something that has traditionally had bipartisan support as well. I think, you know, when i look at this plan, the big question for me is how do we pay for this . Thats right. I imagine that will be thats the question. Asked this week as we move forward. So do you believe it pays for itself in the way the president were going to wait for him to say it in indiana. He says it every time. I bet hes going to say it nap this is going to pour such fuel on the economic fire that were going to get 3 he thinks he thinks 6 . Is that true in your opinion . Well, ill take the easy one and say no. This would not increase the Economic Growth rate to 6 . You know lets try 4 or 5 . It will not raise it to 5 either. Look, i mean, i think that you will see Economic Growth effects from increased incentives to work and save and invest. The question again is how does this get paid for. And if we increase the deficit, does that crowd out private investment that restrains growth even if it lower statutory rates
are encouraging growth . Well see what the details of this looks like. From what ive seen so far, i dont think the plan will come close to paying for itself through increases and Economic Growth. But michael i think it will mitigate some of the costs. But youll have to pay in other ways. Pick your industry. Whether its gaming the tax system or regulatory capture. The largest corporations out there always know how to figure out how to game the system. And its smaller business and midsize ones that get squeezed out. Theres nothing here that shows that its tipping the scales for the small guy and not advancing the big guy. Well, i dont know about that. We see a lower corporate rate. We also see a lower rate for pass through businesses. Great. Pass through businesses. Including hedge funds, law firms, the 500 llcs that President Trump has. You are correct that there are some pass through businesses that make a lot of money. There are also pass through businesses that are very new businesses, that are startups, or have been around for some time that dont have huge profit margins. But that are Family Businesses or small shops or businesses that have been around for many, many years. Pointing to the fact that they are often organized as pass through businesses doesnt negate the fact that most businesses are organized as Pass Throughs and that this plan will can i ask quick before we go . We mentioned hedge funds dpop they take carried interest out . I didnt see that in there. Has anybody seen that . No. But ali, could i just ad one thing to what michael was saying . Michael identified that there had been a bipartisan desire to cut the Corporate Tax rate. That is true. President obama, in fact, opened the door to that in his treasury
department talking about a framework for doing that. But they had the condition that it pay for itself. Why . Because the government needs more money, not less. Weve got a huge number tens of millions of baby boomers who are coming onto the Social Security and medicare rolls. We need more government revenue, at least not to lose it. Whats happened with the republican plan so far is they have failed to make the tradeoffs necessary in order to make a Corporate Tax rate paid for by taking away loopholes. If you dont do that, youre just going a cut and expanding the deficit. If i was a corporation, shouldnt i pick the Bernie Sanders single payer option . Because that would be the best for me. That would cost me the least. You know, i dont know about that. Look, there are some pay fors in here. A paid for, for example, of eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes which is a significant deduction. And you get a lot of revenue that way. But i do think the question is, you know, how big is the Deficit Impact going to be. As this plan goes through the process, you know, were not what were getting today is not a detailed plan. Were getting a framework and the question is as that framework gets written into legislative language through the process, are we going to see additional pay fors on the table . I expect we will. But there again, you know, the question is whats the deficit of that going to be . That is the question we all have. We need more detail. It is september 27. We were supposed to have a tax deal passed by the august recess. Now were talking about the end of the year. This is about the most complicated thing people can get their hands around. So i appreciate that you guys are listen. Last point . Last point is just that it wasnt that long ago that donald
trump said i dont think that rich people need a tax cut. Hopefully therell be through the legislative process. That was such an important point, we gave you music. Michael, thanks for joining us at the last minute. And john harwood, thank you. Josh, thank you as well. Next, new details from this morning from the closed door testimony of longtime trump ally roger stone. Were going to speak with the house intel lawmaker that some called Congresswoman Smear. Oh, roger, youre so clever. Also in d. C. , the Washington Post reports the epa spending 25,000 to install a secure soundproof phone booth for administrator scott pruitt. Thats taxpayer money. Hes got to get in there to call tom on the private plane. Velshi rhule continues in a minute. For your heart. Your joints. Or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. For 100 years, heritage and innovation have made gillette the 1 shave in america. Now get gillette quality at lower prices every day. Brought to you by 1200 workers in boston were proud of giving you our best. Gillette. The best a man can get. But he hasoke up wwork to do. In. So he took aleve. If hed taken tylenol, hed be stopping for more pills right now. Only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve. All day strong. Trump campaign or anyone associated with donald trump. Okay. That was longtime trump confidant karz gnattic fellow, right . Thats a nice way to put it. After his grilling by the House Intelligence Committee yesterday. The typically bombastic operative was relatively subdued after answering questions at the hearing. But he did manage to work in a few trumplike digs on democrats including when he decried the fact that the session was closed citing previous trump advisers experience. In the case of michael caputo, he attended the session, answered all questions truthfully and then Congresswoman Smear i mean spear came back and maligned him. Said he had perjured himself. Im going to let ali take it here because i mispronounced the word decreed. Jackie spear of california, thank you for being with us. Great to be with you. Okay. Lets just talk about that swipe at you. Was that some sense of how roger stone acted Behind Closed Doors in the committee . Well, first of all roger stone is the premier showman. He put on his serious blue suit, showed up at the committee and was subject to the interview and did a very good job, was very serious. No pomp and circumstance. No unfurling of invective. And of course he went out afterwards and went back to the roger stone we know and some love and some boent. But let me just say this. Hes writing a book on how a gentleman should dress. He might want to read a book on how a gentleman should act. Hear hear. Well, there you have it. Besides fashion and manners, whatd you get down to in there . What was most interesting to me was the fact he just comes out, flat out says he doesnt
believe russia was interfering in our election. He doesnt believe the Russia Military intelligence. If you take that position even though you have the entire intelligence community, all 17 agencies saying very specifically with high confidence that that was the case and certainly the intelligence that is classified completely supports that, so if he says that no thats not the case, then he can arguably say, no, i wasnt engaged with the russians. Hes not admitting it was a russian interface. So its convenient for him to make those statements. The question for us, though, is was there involvement with the Trump Campaign and russia . And just as importantly and probably more importantly is how deep do the russians go in terms of impacting our elections . And were finding day by day its more and more. Were finding facebook was one of the weapons and im using the terms weapons intelligencely. One of the weapons they used to try and influence the election and probably much more than that. Let me ask about roger stone talking about why these hearings should have been open. Should they be held in the open and why werent they . So all of the interviews have been closed. We have asked the committee to have a number of open hearings. But since were not in the majority, we dont get to make that final call. Literally all of the interviews have been held privately and will continue to be held privately. Well, congresswoman, thank you for joining us. Jackie spear which is really her name not smear, thank you for joining us as always. Ridiculous. All right. Stand by, everyone. This morning an antiestablishment republican is the winner of a hotly contested senate runoff. What this means for republicans
nationwide. Roy moore, the guy who said September 11th was god punishing perverseness. He also showed up yesterday to vote on horseback. Think about what that day was. This guy arrived on horseback while in saudi arabia im not saying that offsets the 9 11 comments, but i do kind of think thats neat. Ali thinks that neat. He arrives in horseback and in saudi arabia women won the right to drive. King salman signed the right. Hoping it will includes the participation in the workforce. It will. It will allow you to get a job. Stay with us. Youre watching velshi rhule live on msnbc. Cold turkey. I tried to quit with the patch; that didnt work. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. For me, chantix worked. It reduced my urge to smoke. Compared to the nicotine patch, chantix helped significantly more people quit smoking. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. Tell your Healthcare Provider if youve had depression or other Mental Health problems. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. The most common side effect is nausea. Im so proud to be a nonsmoker. Ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. Many insurance plans cover chantix for a low or 0 copay. Hi. So i just got off the phone with our allstate agent, and i know that we have accident forgiveness. So the incredibly minor accident that i had tonight. Four weeks without the car. Okay, yep. Good night. With accident forgiveness, your rates wont go up just because of an accident. Switching to allstate is worth it. Your rates wont go up just because of an accident. Hi, im the internet you knoarmless bowling. Lt . You got this, jimmy you know whats easy . Building your website with godaddy. Pick a domain name. Choose a design. You can build a website in under an hour. Now thats a strike get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. Build a better website in under an hour. I love you even if youre trying your best. Be a daily struggle, along with diet and exercise, oncedaily toujeo® may help you control your blood sugar. Get into a daily groove. Lets groove tonight. Share the spice of life. Baby, slice it right. From the makers of lantus®, were gonna groove tonight. Toujeo® provides blood sugarlowering activity for 24 hours and beyond, proven blood sugar control all day and all night, and significant a1c reduction. Toujeo® is used to control High Blood Sugar in adults
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implications looking beyond for other primary challengers. The likes of against jeff flake in arizona. Heller in nevada. And i want to play you a bit of sound here based off of the reaction trying to get a gist from some of these voters. Hes a good christian man. He believes in the bible and whats biblically true. I have voted democrat about 40 years ago. So i might vote democrat this time. I dont quite trust him. But i trust him more than i do that democrat. Been in the news over the last couple of years with samesex marriages. Most of the people in alabama believe that traditional marriage is the right thing to do. Reporter except for that one gentleman, most across the board said were going republican
despite those controversial remarks. Except for the one who said he might vote democrat. Thanks for your great coverage on this. Lets bring in steve kornacki. Put this in perspective for us. What theres the alabama side of this and the roy moore being an unusual character for alabama. But weve seen unusual characters catch the public imagination. What does this mean for the situation for republicans In Washington right now . This means a story that goes back a number of years now. It is still a big story. Maybe bigger than its been. That is that the Republican Base is furious with the republican establishment. The name Mitch Mcconnell. The idea of washington, d. C. , of capitol hill. One of the things roy moore ran against was the idea of Mitch Mcconnell holding sway in the Republican Party. Then indulge me. Allow me to be a Twisted Sister here. Could a true Conspiracy Theorist not make the argument this is all the grand plan. President trump has been kicking
Mitch Mcconnell for months now. A huge failure for this administration is theyve got no legislative wins. All republicancontrolled situation. And trump wants to distance himself from that. So here, yes, in theory in name he was supporting Luther Strange. Could trump not change his tune on that in a heart beat . At the end of the day, trump is far more closely tied to steve bannon than mcconnell or ryan. The message of the Moore Campaign was Donald Trumps already winking at us. He was at the rally with Luther Strange saying i may have the wrong guy. In fact, that became an ad for roy moore at the end of this campaign. The theme here on the republican side, i think back to when Ronald Reagan was president and there were conservatives who were angry. They werent angry at reagan. They were angry with the republicans around him. Their mantra was let reagan be reagan. People say let trump be trump. And a guy like strange is going to get in his way. What about bob corker stepping out . He wants to primary trump . I look at it this way. Steves always far more responsible. His answer always starts with hold your horses. I mean, look at what the mood of the Republican Base right now. If youre bob corker. If youre an establishment republican In Washington, youve got to worry about two things when you look at this. Could this be me . Im up in 2018. Ive got conservative challenges. They dont seem to have traction now. But maybe it wouldnt take much. But also, what is the value for a republican sort of Establishment Figure for bob corker to go through another campaign, to come back to washington, and be in the Republican Party where theres more roy moores serving with him and fewer Luther Stranges . Isnt the question who is the Republican Base . Im pretty sure my mom and dad have voting republican their entire lives. And they dont think homosexuality should be illegal. Look, you heard vaughn
mention this a second ago. Flake in arizona, heller in nevada. Theyve got to worry right now. Ill give you another name. Roger w. I. Icker mississippi. I knew he was going to say that. Look at her face. Steve kornacki you know, stephanie. Oh, of course. Right at the tip of my tongue. Hes got to worry though. Thad cochran almost got knocked off a few years ago. The guy that ran against him looked the result last night saying im looking at 2018. Riding in on a horse was brilliant. Steve kornacki is like encyclopedia brown. We should always have him on our show. He knows things i havent even thought of. I think the viewers would think were smarter because hes so smart. I know one area and im an idiot outside of that. Thank you, steve kornacki. I would like to point out hes never seen the movie grease and i can sing every song. Stand by, everybody. Were going to have a live report from puerto rico. Maria is now still, you know, its damage is still there and its becoming very hard to get the necessary repairs there. Were going to dig into The Jones Act when we come back. A 97yearold Congressional Act preventing relief right now. Wonder who controls it . Those strong lobbies. Kevin, meet your father. Kevin Kevin Kevin KevinKevin Kevin KevinKevin Kevin Kevin trusted advice for life. Kevin, hows your mom . Life well planned. See what a Raymond JamesFinancial Advisor can do for you. We were in a german dance group. I wore lederhosen. So i just started poking around on ancestry. Then, i decided to have my dna tested through
ancestry dna. It turns out im scottish. So, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. Fibromyalgia is thought to be caused by overactive nerves. Lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. Im glad my doctor prescribed lyrica. For some, lyrica delivers effective relief for moderate to even severe fibromyalgia pain. And improves function. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. Common side effects dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, swelling of hands, legs and feet. Dont drink alcohol while taking lyrica. Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those whove had a drug or Alcohol Problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. With less pain, i can do more with my family. Talk to your doctor today. See if lyrica can help. And manned mostly by american crews. But even maritime groups admit that the u. S. Merchant marine industry is shrinking. So what about foreign ships . Theyve got two options. First, dock at a puerto rican port and pay tariffs, fees, and taxes. Or stop at a mainland port like jacksonville, florida, and transfer to an american flagged ship. Costs of goods passed on to the puerto rican customer. It cost the puerto rico economy 537 million in 2010. University of puerto rico economists found that over the proceeding 20 years, the island lost over 17 billion from its economy as a result. In case youre wondering about the areas of texas and florida affected by harvey and irma, The Jones Act was waived in those situations. Like for new orleans after katrina. The department of Homeland Security has not received a formal waiver request and has not decided if it will give puerto rico the waiver. The reasoning, the islands
ports are too damaged to handle the offloading of cargo. Tammy lightner is live in san juan. Tammy, the acting head of the dhs described the Electrical Grid as virtually gone but said there is food, water, and gasoline. When we talk to people on the ground, we spoke to a doctor earlier that said there are doctors who cant even get to the hospital because they dont have gas for their cars. Reporter yeah. Getting around here is really, really tough. Hurricane maria might landfall here a week ago. We are still seeing dramatic rescues from communities that are completely isolated. In puerto rico, an Incredible Rescue Mission under way. This team of new york city firefighters and Police Officers searching for a family of six. Gabriel had not heard from his family since Hurricane Maria chewed up the main bridge trapping his loved ones and their entire community. His town, one of 11 on the island, these Rescue Workers have still not been able to reach. This is going to take over an hour just to get up this hill. Reporter weve been walking for about 15 minutes. Its slow going because its desperation. Then finally after almost two weeks apart an emotional reunion. Everyone together once again. His family surviving the cat 5 with enough supplies to last a few more weeks. But gabriels parents staying behind. For now. Its sad because were going
to be separating. We should still be together. Reporter the goodbyes cut short making it even harder to get across the mountain. Relief, grateful, but facing an unknown future. Weve seen rescue crews from all over the United States, nevada, indiana, california, all over, working with puerto rican rescue crews trying to save some of these people that are trapped. Steph . Thanks so much, Tammy Leitner in puerto rico. I want to point out a tweet we saw earlier from the white house regarding The Jones Act. Im glad you explained this as well as you do. They say the Homeland Security is reviewing a waiver for The Jones Act to help puerto rico, but its unlikely it will be done today. We must remember, its the u. S. Rail lobby that has kept
this act in place for so long. Not even the oil industry. Because the oil industry for years had tried to get this thing dunawone away with, becau for years they wanted to use cheaper and more efficient barges and have been unable to. Buffett controls a lot of the u. S. Railway bridges. It would be great if at a time like this we could get as many goods to puerto rico as possible. Just get rid of these rules that may have value elsewhere, may not, but for now we have to understand puerto rico being as serious and potentially more serious than the issues in texas and florida. But even in good times, places like hawaii, alaska and puerto rico suffer because of this rule, and at a time like this, come on now. Put it aside. Lets take you back, though, to d. C. Where nbcs kasie hunt caught up with senator bock corker of tennessee who explains why hes not running for reelection. Im in a position where with
phone calls i can make things happen and influence outcomes. So i have, like, zero frustration, and i want to talk more fully about this over the next couple weeks. It simply was, really, i came up here to be a citizen legislator. I provided entertainment for all of you because im willing to say things that, you know, our own peoples minds. Im frank. Ive been that way because i never, ever thought about a future election, its always been about trying to make something happen. As we discussed, this is just the latest obstacle for some republicans in their attempts to sort of try and create an agenda of things that can pass that will actually appeal to a broad group of voters and a broad group of republicans. What you are seeing now is the republican, the far right of the Republican Party, gaining a lot of traction, a lot of steam, including with the election now
or with the success last night of roy moore. One of the problems, though, that President Trump continues to face, hes just not a detail guy. Hes a sales guy. And like him or not, trump is a great sales guy. Hes got great sound bites, great slogans and he can sell things. But once it comes time to deliver, and thats when you have to hash out every detail, were not seeing it happen. The one thing weve seen is the appointment of neil gorsuch and he outsourced that. That was Mitch Mcconnell. The company is pushing equifax ceo Richard Smith for his resignation the other day. But he wont get Severance Pay but a Pension Worth 18 million on top of his 1. 5 million salary, health benefits,
and thats not all. He could be granted about 30 million in Stock Options if the company that cant be true. You cant make more money median household average income, Median Income for the American Household is 59,000. You cant tell me, stephanie this must be fake news that when you do something really wrong at the head of an american corporation, youll get more just in Health Care Benefits, almost double in Health Care Benefits. Never mind your Stock Options, never mind your pension. Youll get more in Health Care Benefits than the average family gets in total income. That cant be true. I can tell you thats true and then you can find a dotted line to that forgotten american who is so angry with Corporate America and elites and washington right there. Stories like this are what get people so angry. There is a guy who is working on this, a number of people working on this. This guy swis one of them. I spend half my time is pennsylvania, so this is
Attorney General shapiro. Attorney general, good to see you again. Thank you. The outrage you and i talked so many times about this. It never gets better. There is not a day in which i think, ah, equifax is doing the right thing. Well, first off, ali, its good to be back with you and stephanie. Im glad im a whole alternate general. Im also an Attorney General who is just so offended, offended by the conduct of equifax since the breach. Im offended by this golden parachute that this ceo gets to walk away with after he literally, on his watch, lost the data of 143 million americans, including 5. 5 million pennsylvanians. Heres the question. Its offensive, but is it illegal . I take you back to the financial crisis, the thousands of americans who were so angry with the banking industry, and you
saw executive after Executive Leave with all their dough. Retiring. Well, heres the thing. We have 47 State Attorneys General investigating this data breach, investigating the delay in public notification and Holding Equifax accountable for their conduct since the breach. Im proud here in pennsylvania that were leading that coalition, and look, steph and ali, you guys talk a lot about the partnership that exists In Washington. Our corps of Attorneys General are working together in a bipartisan way. We will get to the bottom of this and we will hold these guys accountable, and we will be unrelenting in our pursuit. We will follow the facts and evidence wherever it leads. We will hold people accountable. Attorney general, tell me really quickly, i know there are a lot of you, 47 of you who are doing various different things. I know massachusetts has filed suit. Do you coordinate on these things . Will some of it become joint lawsuits or will you have independent lawsuits . We are absolutely coordinating in this
investigation. As i said, pennsylvania is leading that investigation. We talked to our colleagues across the country each and every day. Our demands for information, stuff weve subpoenaed, has come as a result of an organized effort amongst the Attorney Generals. We are focused like a laser beam on getting to the bottom of this, Holding Equifax accountable, and most importantly, changing corporate behavior. I dont have a lot of confidence in the other two credit reporting agencies. I dont have a whole lot of confidence in the whole regulatory scheme. This is a situation where ali and i cant believe that people have to pay to get their credit scores. They lost our stuff. We never chose to be part of any of them. They make money on our information and we have to pay. We have told equifax to stop waiving rights. But its true the other two agencies are still requiring you to pay. The one thing well be asking for from equifax is to reimburse
pennsylvanians who were chose to pay 5, 10, 20 bucks to get their credit frozen. They need to up their behavior, strengthen their protection and look out for the american people. You might be a half Attorney General, but you are a whole Attorney General, josh shapiro. Thank you for staying on top of this with your colleagues across the country. Josh shapiro. You may be a half of this show, but you are a whole lot of fun, ali velshi. As we reported, the secretary of health and Human Services tom price has used private jets yep. This is not a corporate story. This is a u. S. Government employee story. Were talking about your tax dollars dollars. During his time in the cabinet, he has taken those planes and they have cost Taxpayers Hundreds Of Thousands of dollars since may. Now politico says those trips