ultimately going to do and are they going to abide by the agreements reached in the austerity programs put in place. so there are lots of reasons why. we say it s spying but it s really about understanding what s happening in other countries that affects your national interests. now, so you proposed a flipside. let me do that, as well. how do you think the white house would reracket if they found out 35 foreign intelligence agencies were spying on our president s phone calls? you know, i would expect other countries to make that attempt. whether they are successful or not depends on you know, not only our intelligence assets but our counter intelligence assets. i think we anticipate that there are intelligence activities operating here in the united states. obviously, and this is where you get back to the political angst in europe. it s one thing to say that countries spy on other countries and they do. obviously it creates a political problem when those operations are exposed eith
read most of the papers, reporting of this, they say the united states is doing better than most european countries that have been hurt by three or four years of austerity programs. how is the president standing with the group now compared to how it was three or four years ago when he was getting lectured by the french and germans? on the economy it s pretty good. but there s a whole other part of discomfort, if you will, with some european leaders and it more has to do their reaction to president obama is just like any other politician s reaction to a politician that may not be as popular as they once were. president obama, the nsa things do not play well over here. there has been a frustration by some on the left in europe that president obama hasn t addressed the issue of climate change more aggressively. that s always been a much more important issue to europeans than it ever has been in the
pieces of the puzzle. it can loan interest rates and help in other ways and somehow that s supposed to step through in five different steps to the consumer. in ordinary times thattic mas a big difference, but at a time when the federal government and the state and local governments are cutting jobs by hundred of thousand which is is what we ve seen in the last few years and companies are basically hoarding cash. companies like microsoft, ibm, they re able to borrow for close to nothing, but what they re doing with that cash is returning it to shareholders, people who already had money in the form of dividends and buybacks, they re not raising wages. and then these guys wonder why nobody has any money to spend at their stores. you pointed out some of the federal government cutbacks and you have austerity programs that are impacting the poor and the middle class in particular. dan gross, thank you so much. any time. the death of longtime senator frank lautenberg has left a key poli
than the total size of its economy. that s why prime minister abe has been very clear that for japan to sustain its current revival, it must enact the changes that the country was unwilling to make in the last decade. it is true that many of the people urging austerity programs were also urging countries to engage in reforms, but the two are not connected. it is possible to be in favor of investment and reform. in fact, that s what europe and america need to ensure the next generation of growth. for more on this, read my washington post column this week. you will find a link to it on cnn.com/fareed. up next, is the cold war back on? inside the story of an alleged u.s. spy who tried to recruit a russian intelligence officer. right back. [ male announcer ] this is kevin.
japan s failure to get sustained growth was that it never engaged in reforms of agricultural, retail, and other protected industries. keep in mind that between 1991 and 2008, the japanese government spent $6.3 trillion on construction alone, larger than the total size of its economy. that s why prime minister abe has been very clear that for japan to sustain its current revival, it must enact the changes that the country was unwilling to make in the last decade. it is true that many of the people urging austerity programs were also urging countries to engage in reforms, but the two are not connected. it is possible to be in favor of investment and reform. in fact, that s what europe and america need to ensure the next generation of growth. for more on this, read my washington post column this week. you will find a link to it on cnn.com/fareed. up next, is the cold war back