we could tax capital gains at the same rates as personal income. we can stop letting companies defer taxes on offshore profits. and we could refuse to give tax cuts to the wealthiest traders on worthless assets. those three tax reforms alone would give us more than $1.6 trillion over ten years. now, of course the republicans are going to say holy smokes, we can t do that. it s going to kill the economy. but republican leadership has taken all of these tax reforms off the table. now, if you follow the money, it s easy to see why. the biggest companies in america got $223 billion in tax breaks. in turn, those companies donated $216 million to congressional campaigns over the last four elections. you be the judge. let s turn tonight to david cay johnston, pulitzer prize winning journalist and author of the fine print. david cay, great to have you with us tonight as always. good to be here. there is a lot of different places we could go.
if the republicans were really serious about the budget, there is an even quicker way to free up more than a trillion dollars. we could tax capital gains at the same rates as personal income. we can stop letting companies defer taxes on offshore profits. and we could refuse to give tax cuts to the wealthiest traders on worthless assets. those three tax reforms alone would give us more than $1.6 trillion over ten years. now, of course the republicans are going to say holy smokes, we can t do that. it s going to kill the economy. but republican leadership has taken all of these tax reforms off the table. now, if you follow the money, it s easy to see why. the biggest companies in america got $223 billion in tax breaks. in turn, those companies donated $216 million to congressional campaigns over the last four elections. you be the judge. let s turn tonight to david cay johnston, pulitzer prize winning
the critics are asking whether or not the rebuilding price is worth it john roberts, back live on hatteras island in north carolina. john, where s the controversy coming from here? reporter: oh, good morning to you bill. the controversy is coming from this, that water you see. that s all that s left of north carolina highway 12, the lifeline between hatteras village, frisco, bucston, places like that, the mainland, and it s been that way since hurricane irene. let s roll pictures of after the hurricane. you can see the enormous damage. they ve been trying to put it back together since then. this is a $10 million project which includes a temporary bridge, on top of $35 million that s been spent to repeatedly repair this road since the year 2000, and then another $216 million that will be spent to build another bridge to this area. it s got some people saying, bill, because these shifting sands are always washing out this highway, always causing tens of millions of dollars to be spent
that s a temporary bridge behind me that they are putting in to bridge the gap here that irene cut. if we walk over here they have a big crane here. driving in some spoils. this piles. this is the second to last footing they will put in before he they connect it up with the other side. this repair is going to cost $10 million of federal tax money. that s many on top of $35 million they have spent in the last decade to repair this road and the bridge that connects it to hatteras island. they are also planning on spending another $216 million to build a new bridge over here. a lot of people are saying if this thing keeps washing out. why do you keep repairing it? why not go with something else? shepard: that s a fair question. any word on a compromise where the taxpayers would not have to pay so much. at the moment there is no compromise. with all the pressure on fema funding, it s likely that somebody in congress one day will say why do we keep throwing money on this highway? othe
i m nina dos santos. good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i m andrew streechbs. you re watching cnn s coverage of the battle for libya s future. opposition leaders claim rebel forces now control 90% of libya. they also say think ooer planning to move some of their power base today from the eastern city of benghazi to the capital tripoli. meantime, the last vestiges of moammar gadhafi s power base appear to be crumbling. after hours of fighting, rebels finally over ran his heavily fortified compound on tuesday, carting out weapons, knocking over statues and raising their flag. there s no sign of colonel gadhafi at the compound nor anywhere else. but libya reportedly heard from its embattled leader in an audio broadcast directed to his supporters. his exact whereabouts remain unknown. residents turned out on tuesday to celebrate the rebel takeover of the gadhafi compound. the gadhafi loyalists still control libya s rixist hotel. they re preventing people from leaving it, incl