taxes and deficits when she should be focused on how to create the best environment for job creation, job creation is the single most important matter facing america right now. not taxes, not deficits, not debt, and not health care. in july the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3%. don't worry too much about. that look at the right side of your screen. 163,000 jobs were added to the economy. but 12.8 million americans are still without a job and looking for work and close to a third of those who are employed hold lower paying jobs with little hope of wage increases any time soon. now in a real storm the worst thing that can happen is you lose your home. in an economic storm, the worst thing that can happen is you lose your job. lose your job and you lose the tool that helps you prosper. if others lose their job, that keeps your wages low. without real job creation, america cannot prosper. here's why jobs are more important than debt and deficit and tax reform. when you have a job, you spend money. when you spend money, you create dema. when demand increases, more jobs are created to meet that demand. more workers means more people paying taxes that pay for the services that we all use. in short, if you boost job creation economic growth will follow. it always works that way. it doesn't always work that way when you lower taxes or cut debt. joining me now are stephen moore, editorial writer at the bau "wall street journal" who thinks cutting taxes cures all ills, mohammed arian. steve, three jobs reports to go. president obama needs to add an average of 105,000 jobs per month in order to say that he won back all the jobs lost during his presidency despite inheriting the worst recession since the great depression. that is very doable. i'm reading a lot of reaction to friday's 163,000 jobs added from republicans that is negative and flat out wrong. more jobs are needed. this is a positive report any way you slice it. you agree with me, right? >> i agree partially. this is the tale of two surveys. i don't want to get too much into the weeds. the survey that showed the increase in unemployment rate that, is a survey of households. that found that employment fell. so all i'm saying is that we're not out of the weeds yet at all. the only thing i agree with almost everything that you said. look, i'm a growth guy. i agree with you that growth solves almost all problems. it brings the deficit down. it puts people back to work. hopefully leads to higher wages. but when you went through that -- how the chain of how jobs help the economy, you left out an important part, ali. it starts with the employer. and my problem is that what we've done under obama over the last 3 1/2 years is really punished employers with taxes, regulations, and if you don't have an employer, you don't have the job that gets the chain started in the first place. >> all right. i want to bring in christine romans. tell us what we're talking b break down friday's jobs numbers for us starting with private sector hiring, the thing we count on, the thing that stephen is talking about, we need employers to hire people. >> if you didn't have the government holding you back, you would have done better in that jobs report on friday. 9,000 public sector jobs lost. but 172,000 private sector jobs created. you've had private sector job growth now for more than two years. something the white house keeps pointing out and millions of jobs created in the private sector the last couple years. this is the trend that people are fighting about. how we've come out of this horrible period of job loss and how robust or how not robust this recovery has been. here is the last month. you showed that earlier in the program. it's a lot better than what we've seen in the past three months. one of the things that was interesting also in this report, manufacturing. manufacturing jobs up 25,000. caught some people by surprise because of the headwinds from europe and there's been a lot of talk about manufacturing recovery in this country, at least in the last month. manufacturing jobs held in there. >> that's interesting. if you look back in the last 75 or 80 years, there are a number of things that have driven this economy, manufacturing, cheap credit, housing, technology. let's bring mohammed in. i think we all agree and everybody across the political spectrum agreed we need growth and job creation would create growth in america. what is the things that going to do that? let me put this in context. mitt romney claims that under his presidency, he can gain 250,000 jobs a month for four years straight. you need a driver to do that. that's not just general growth. >> correct. ali, the important thing to realize there is no killer act. there is no single thing that will create these jobs. what we need is simultaneous movement on a number of fronts, the functioning of the labor market, the functioning of the housing market, the credit market, infrastructure, fiscal reform. so it's a long list and there are two realities. the realities are as true for president obama as they would be for anybody else in the oval house -- in the oval office. first and foremost, a political system is not allowing us to converge to a common analysis let alone a solution. and secondly, the international environment is tough. europe is having a major crisis. so unfortunately, it's going to be rough going to create the source of jobs that mr. romney is indicating. >> let me ask you this, stephen. this is part that us from straits us from straifrustrates me. from 1996 to 1999, it is largely an impossibility -- you hear people saying we need 200,000 jobs a month to get back to where we were. that is not somethi that typically happens in our economy. it's not something that most economists are predicting will happen in our economy. it strikes me this takes this discussion to a strangely political and misleading place. >> yeah. i disagree. look, i think we can accomplish 250,000, even 400,000 jbz a monjobs a month. we're something like 12 million unemployed and 4.5 million jobs short of where we were in 2007. this is the pickup period where we should be seeing this really robust increase in job creation. we saw the levels of job creation in the reagan years. one of the things that you said about me was that i think tax cuts solve all ills. i don't believe that. but i do think that we have a tax system, the way that we're taxing is very contrary to growth. we reward debt over equity. we reward consumption over investment. and those kinds of things -- i think the rates are too high. we depend too much on the top 2% or 3% to pay too big a percentage of the taxes. so what i'm saying is if we restructured our system that i think democrats and republicans could agree on, you get more growth in the economy and get the jobs you and i want to see. >> again, no disagreement there. the issue is we see how long it takes to get anything done restructure the economy so we get four years of growth at 250,000, i think it's impractical. coming up, here come the storm. congress is not doing enough. here's a congress which could help and it's becoming part of the problem. if they don't act, is there anyone else, anyone else who can save from you the storm? 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>> no, you're right. you're absolutely right. not only is congress not able to take the measures that we need, but as you just pointed out, it actually pulls back the economy. if this fiscal cliff that you're talking about, let's remember, it's not just on the expenditure side, it's on the tax side if, this physical cliff materializes, we'll go into recession. >> yes. and this is -- you said this before. increasingly people are saying. this stephen, let me ask you about this. i want to go back to this graph where i indicated one of the best ways to get economic growthen that is get people working. they pay taxes. they create demand. demand creates jobs. you know, all of that kind of stuff. why don't we skip to that stage? let's agree that we think that a better tax system will benefit employers and employees in this country. we believe that, you know, lowering our debt and deficit is important. why don't we put all our energies into solving the job crisis. they had ceremonial votes on things that are never going to happen which wastes american's time. >> there is a big difference on the big disagreement about how you create those jobs. look, you know this is the one year anniversary of the debt ceiling debacle. it is also another important anniversary, the 100th anniversary of milton freedman's death, one of the great economists and supply side free market hero of people like me. and what milton freeman is famous for saying there is no such thing as a free lunch. if government spends a dollar, it has to come out of the private sector. i think government spending cuts right now are positive for the economy because it takes resources out of the government and gives it to the private sector and that's what milton freedman was famous for. >> but what if they don't spend it in a way that generates growth? here's our problem. let's say you're right. and there is some chance you are right. if you're right -- >> a good chance. >> -- if you're wrong we then go into a recession. >> look, we've been in a lousy economy for four years. and i would say we've tried it your way for -- and president obama's way for four years with this day luspending and debt in government. so i guess what i'm saying and what mitt romney and the republicans are saying is let's try something different. let's not, you know, what i love about the show is consumer finance oriented, oriented to the individual in the household. a household that has a massive amount of debt doesn't say you know what we should do is go out and incur more debt and spend more money. that's what the federal government does. >> he makes a brilliant point. we look at the ways in which we can increase demand and consumption and growth. yet guys like you watch countries that do that and say that is kind of what got us into this pickle in the first place. >> yeah. i think that this discussion risks going into corner solutions. that people can push into extremes. i suspect the three of us sat together and if the issue was only about economic measures, there wouldn't be much difference. yes, we need to have a better spending and entitlement process. yes, we need tax reform. yes, we need to reform the labor market. yes, yes, yes. the problem is a set of social judgment that's come along with this. what's our obligation towards the most vulnerable segments of society? what is the right contribution the way we should make that to society? this is where we get stuck. then we end up suggesting that the economics is really different. i don't think it s i think it's a social judgment that are different. >> and actually that takes a full circle to where i started where i said if i were somebody looking to hire somebody and mitt romney and barack obama were applying for the job, i'd want them both in because i think they're smart, creative guys. it is the politics that's different. it's also the politics that's ruining things and could send us into a recession. what is the solution from your side? i think we need solutions from both sides to say let's get out of our corners and come to the middle and find the thing that can allow us to move forward and create jobs and create growth? >> i agree with you. i think right now that i have been in washington for 25 years. i've never seen the differences between the two parties. it's like a grand canyon right now and something that frustr e frustrates you and me that they can't get together and reach an agreement about these big problems that we've known about for years and years. now, look, i fall on the side of i think some of the top priorities are tax reform and getting these entitlements under control so we don't have this long-term debt. i do think, i've said this before on your show, i think the economy is really prepped for a big expansion. there is a lot of money on the sidelines. we have low interest rates. the u.s. is still the hub of the world economy. i just think that a recovery is possible. but politics is ruining things right now. >> yep. you're right on that. i think that's the irony of this economy that there's a chance we can be in recession in six months. and there's a chance we can be growing faster and a lot of it, some of it lies with europe but a lot of it lies with congress and politics. stay where you are. stephen, always good to talk you to. thanks very much. stephen moorehead with the "wall street journal." by the way, you heard from these two guys. you heard from me. i want to hear from you. i say economic growth comes down to creating jobs. so let's table the talks and talk tax cuts and debt reduction for the time being and handle it laterment you want to debate me? tweet me. as you know, be ready. i'm reading every last one of them and i'm ready to do battle with you. next, your congress refuses to act to protect you from the coming storm. but there are other options. the federal reserve is one of your best hopes to avert the storm. but they're not quite convinced that you need the help. i'll ask our guest what they're waiting for next on "your money." this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. in here, every powerful collaboration is backed by an equally powerful and secure cloud. that cloud is in the network, so it can deliver all the power of the network itself. bringing people together to develop the best ideas -- and providing the apps and computing power to make new ideas real. it's the cloud from at&t. with new ways to work together, business works better. ♪ ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] . probably think i'm a broken record with this economic storm warning. economic storm coming to our shores. i think i'm right. i could be wrong. you know what? if i'm wrong, nobody gets hurt f i'm right, you get a chance to protect yourself it from. congress which has to help you isn't doing it. but they're about to take a summer vacation. don't hold your breath for help from congress in averting a possible recession. there are other entities that can shelter us from the storm. one of them is the u.s. federal reserve, the central bank of the united states. i'll explain how. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke and company can act independently of congress and the president but this week they said they might not be willing or ready to do anything more until they are more certain that the storm is upon us. however, this group is making big moves over the past years and that is helped the recovery. they lowered interest rates. that's been the fed's traditional method of boosting the economy. when you lower interest rates, it makes money cheaper. it attracts people to borrowing that money. they build factories, employee people or borrow it and spend it, that creates demand. that creates jobs. but after dropping interest rates to historic lows, near 0% in 2008, well then the fed doesn't have any more tools. it has to get more creative. they started an unconventional program known as quantitative easing. the point is to put cash into the economy without just printing more money. and to keep interest rates very low to encourage lending and eventually as i explained spending. so the fed bought hundreds of billions of dollars worth of risky mortgage bundles from banks and treasury bills. the economic recovery eventually lost some steam. that's when so-called quantitative easing 2, qe-2 began. it was another huge round of buying with the hopes of putting more money into the economy which consumers and businesses would then spend. well, invstoesinvestors like th. it didn't have the desired impact on the economy. so september last year the fed unveiled a new plan called operation twist. by the way, operation twist got the name in the 1960s when the fed did something different and the twist was a popular dance. same idea here but a different execution. the fed, stay with me here, would sell short term bonds and buy long term ones. the idea is that while short term interest rates were very low, this would make long term interest rates low. that operation twist is still going on. mohammed el 5 lchlel-e rian is . does the fed have anything left to help shelter us from this impending economic storm? >> the best the fed can do, ali, is postpone the storm a little. it doesn't have the tools to o promote growth. it is hesitant to move too early. you saw that in the last meeting. they have every reason to move. but they didn't. why are they hesitant? because they're worried about what is happening away from us. in europe in particular. third, every time the fed does what you said they have done, they create a problem somewhere else. that's why the fed is hesitant because the best kit do is delay the storm. but it can't completely avert the storm for us. >> talk to me about the collateral damage. other than the fact if you're a saver this is a horrible environment for you. what is the collateral damage that fed can impose by creating more liquidity and more liquidity, i mean somehow putting more money into circulation, giving that to banks so that they are able to lend it out more easily? >> the fed is trying to take safe assets as low as possible in order to push all of us into taking on more risk. and if we take on more risk, confidence goes up, guess what? you could get a good outcome. it doesn't work. when you take interest to artificially low levels, you start breaking things. the pension industry, the insurance industry, these provide services to people like you and me and they're having tremendous difficulty. also, the fed siis intervening markets directly and chafrging t changing the functions of markets. chairman bernanke is honest about this. back in august 2010, he first introduced this and is repeating it nonstop. he said with we intervene unconventionally, there are benefits but there are costs and risks. what everybody is recognizing is the benefits are coming down and the costs and risks are going up. >> okay. so two things you pointed out which are very interesting. insurance companies and pensions depend on investing in order to be able to provide the money that they promise their beneficiaries. some of that investing has to be very secure. and this affects their ability to do things. and if the fed keeps rates unnaturally low, it could mean that assets are not priced in a way that they would be priced if it was just -- if they were just market prices. it puts things out of whack. explain this to me. the fed said this week after they met, "we will provide additional accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in labor market conditions." what does that mean to somebody like you? they said we will provide additional accommodation. doesn't mean they're providing hotel rooms. what is it that they might do if they feel they need to act? >> they will continue to experiment. that's what they're going to do. so they have a range of measur, four in particular, that they can take. and it becomes very detailed. but what they want to do is try to assure people that things are going to be okay so that we spend more, so that we take more risk. so they're trying to assure this by either keeping interest rates artificially low or by telling us that rates will stay low for a very long time which they've done that already. so what they're trying to do is basically encourage us to spend. but americans aren't stupid. they know our political system is dysfunctional. they know our labor market is having problems. they know europe is in crisis. so people aren't spending. there is a certain segment of the population that has the wallet to spend but the not the wealth. >> yeah, and they got caught. a lot of americans got caught in the last recession without any savings. i think they're a little bit more cautious than they were then. always a pleasure to talk you to. thanks so much for joining us. all right, you heard it. the economic storm headed our way. but i want to be fair. there are rays of hope. the market is up for the year. way up. what does that mean? how do you invest your way to personal protection from the storm? i'll tell you on the other side. 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[ feedback ] attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days. just plug this into your car, and your good driving can save you up to 30%. you could even try it without switching your insurance. why not give it a shot? carry on. now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. all right. you've been listening to me rail on and on about this coming economic storm and the fact that your elected officials are doing nothing to protect you from it. you heard me talk about political partisanship blocking your past to prosperity and affecting everything from your job to your mortgage and your investment. let's face it, the u.s. economy is barely crawling along right now. but even i can't ignore what has been going on in the stock market. could the market protect you from the storm? i know, i know it's pretty tough week for stocks out side of friday. investors were clearly disappointed by the central banks of the united states and the euro zone not doing what they hoped they would do. but take a few steps back and realize that the s & p 500, the broad market is up nearly 7%. this is all happening in the midst of a pretty pronounced economic slowdown in this country, not to mention the crisis happening across the atlantic. one thing is pretty clear. the economy and the stock market are heading in opposite directions or at least not heading together in the same way. recent data, economic data from this week tells us this -- your income has finally started to rise. but as mohammed said, you're filled with uncertainty about your job and the global economy. you're not stupid. so you're not spending. you are saving more. that's not bad. not fantastic for the economy. and basically, if you're saving, you're barely earning anything on your money anyway. the more you save, the less you spend. nearly 13 million of you are out of work and that is not likely to change much no matter who is elected president at least not in the immediate future. economic growth continues to slow which means companies are going to be less likely to expand, to hire and open new plants. so, yes, the market, the stock market is rising. but it's not retail investors like you who are driving it. instead, the market is being driven by hedge funds and big institutional investors who are loading up on big blue chip dividend paying stocks because that is the only place they can generate yield. you heard mohammed talking about this. insurance companies, pension funds. they have to get a return. corporate earnings have been lukewarm at best. companies like caterpillar which are tied to global construction and manufacturing are showing some signs of life. but those businesses that are tied to consumer spending around the world are feeling the pain. look at starbucks, mcdonald's, and procter & gamble. all of them reporting lower sales, lower demand, lower stock prices. but there is money to be made in the market. i want to talk to two men who make their living making money for investors. david kelly is the chief global strategist for jp morgan funds and josh "downtown" brown worgss f works for fusion an lit ikz. you compare the economy to your recent experience sitting on a plane on the tarmac waiting for takeoff with 35 other planes in front of you. in other words, economic growth is taking a long time. you expect it to happen. but it's taking a long time. so should my viewer be investing in this weird, hard to calibrate sluggish environment? >> yes, your investors should. the analogy about a plane on a taxi way works two-ways. we're moving forward slowly but we're not in any danger of stalling out and crashing. if you look at the cyclical sectors of the economy, orders, home building, equipment spending, inventories, they're all so low that they're under very little risk of collapsing. they're much more likely to build slowly. if the sectors build, i don't think we'll see another recession. i think that's what institutional investors realize that economy is going to grow slowly. if you look at the relative pricing of stocks and bonds, stocks are cheap. and also on earnings, actually companies are earning pretty good money. this quarter, the second quarter will see the strongest operating earnings of the s & p in history. i think earnings are doing pretty well in this relatively sluggish economy. people think we'll muddle through it. i think that's why institutional investors are putting money in equities. >> okay. so mud willing forward. it could be a bit of a -- i don't disagree on the housing start. i identify housing and for that mat are autos much chf is tied to housing, particularly on the sale of light trucks as this bright spot in our otherwise sluggish economy. we may not be in disagreement. let me bring josh in for a second. you have an interesting analogy about why the market is -- parts of the market are performing well and the economy feels sluggish. you say they're like second cousins who may be related but don't particularly get along and they see each other at family reunions every once in a while. i think to extrapolate. i wish it were unfortunately, the fed is operating on. this the wealth of the stock market is overrated. it's the thing that allen greenspan got wrong consistently and being continued by bernanke. the wealth infect from housing is significantly more important. and i think the way to think about this, any kind of short term stimulus that the fed tries to hit us with, it is temporary help. they only spend when things appear to have permanently improved. we have not been able to manufacture that mindset. i think it makes perfect sense. most of that strength is apple in the first quarter and then you've got leadership that you don't want. you don't want the utilities at a premium multiple to the market 15 1/2 times earnings. >> okay. so david and josh, when my viewers are looking at their -- if they have a well diversified portfolio, they'll see some going up and some of it really struggling. i need to explain to viewers how it is that you use the market to protect you if your congress won't protect you, if there is coming storm, how do you use the market? 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[ male announcer ] tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. . it is a fact that many of you watching me right now are not willing investors in the stock market. many of you might be. you have a 401(k) or ira or pension fund or insurance policy that depends on the stock market for return. many of you don't choose to invest in the stock market. for every reason i give you to invest you probably have nine reasons why not to including the fact that the deck is stacked against you, and the house holds all the cards. i want to bring in christine romans. we spent three chapters of our book talking about diverse fiction of your portfolio with an aim of getting people into the stock market. it is hard to create wealth without it. in this uncertain economy, mom and pop investors are bailing out of stocks. they are losing. they are losing money on this. i'm worried that they're losing their long-term perspective. tell me about this. >> some might be losing the long pe term perspective. remember, the market isn't just stocks, right? you know this. it's the stock market. it is a much bigger market, the credit market, bond market. there is cash and alternative invest ams. the important thing for individual investors who watch all of the data, an election year, everything you're hearing about what's going on in the economy and the rest of the world better know what your risk tolerance is, what your objectives are for your money and be calm and rational. i know that sounds counterintuitive. but if you know how you're supposed to be diversified and you continue to allocate your money properly and to rebalance, you should be fine. >> david, i've been warning view berz t ers about the disastrous consequences if congress doesn't steer us away from the fiscal cliff. we could -- i don't really hope this happens. we could be pushed into a recession. do you think i'm wrong? do you think your investment strategy should change if that's the case? >> i don't think we're pushing into a recession. what we need is a fiscal ladder, not a fiscal cliff. we need to bring the deficit down by 1% gdp per year for the next few years. i wish both candidates would agree on that. this is something that both sides can agree on. i'd like to hear them say that, something that -- a huge gift that both candidates can give to the american people and tell people they'll gradually bring the deficit down in a rational adult way. i think we're not going to fall off the fiscal cliff because lawmakers will not impose the biggest tax increase in modern history upon the american population in early january. i don't think that's going to happen. whether we're leddiheading for storm or not, i agree we should be diversified. don't overweight the sectors that have done well so far. when we look at the cheapest thing in markets is generally the things that people have been scared of, things like automakers. auto sales right now -- we haven't seen an average month of auto sales in four years. from this point, i think sales will go up and automakers will do well on that. >> the cheapest sectors right now are those that people are scared of. the bottom line is isn't some of this an opportunity? >> you could have said the same thing six months ago. they've gotten cheaper, coal, heavy industrials. they're not working. there's a reason why they're not working. two reasons, in fact. number one, earnings growth is not there. in fact, last quarter was horrendous for economically sensitive sectors. number two, there's pe multiple compression. what does that mean in english? pe multiple compression is even if earnings stay the same, or grow, if people are willing to pay less because they're uncertain about the future potential of those earnings, those stocks are not going higher. i'll give you a fantastic case in point. walmart tripled earnings over the last ten years but just now broke out of the 10 point range it's been trapped in. so truthfully, when you have pe multiple compression, to be in coal and automakers because they're cheap, really if the earnings keep going down and the multiple keeps compressing, you're going to lose money. being selective makes more sense. >> let me ask you. >> let me respond to. that some of these things may be cheap. what do you do if josh's scenario is correct, cheap but still nobody wants to buy it? >> we don't have enough secular bear markets in history to be able to make any concrete statement about the -- what the low point for pe ratios ought to be. that's the first point. second poin poit is if you have interest rate and inflation environment, you should have a loer lower pe ratio. that tells me that you can't use what -- where we were, for example, it at the end of the 1970s & early 1980s as the target for the pe ratio. look at the overall economy, gradual movement forward in the earnings. look that relative evaluations in stocks and bonds are so far apart, i'd rather not make a bet on how low pe ratios will go. i'd rather bet that the global economy will move forward and diversifi diversified, i'll be able to benefit by that rather than being victimized by it. >> well, my viewers win. two of you have entirely different opinions about what's going on with the economy and the stock market. so you guys get to choose and all this explanation, particularly the valuation of a stock, pe and whether cheapive u to the book. we spent guy deal of time explaining that in english. it's central to your decision to invest in the stock market. david kelly from j.p. morgan funds, josh brown is the vice president at fusion analytics. excellent discussion, gentlemen. we'll do this again soon. all right, lolts of talk frm the central banks. where is the action? will either of these guys step up before the economic storm is upon us? i'll tell you on the other side. has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. so how much do we owe you? that'll be $973.42. ya know, your rates and fees aren't exactly competitive. who do you think i am, quicken loans? [ spokesman ] when you refinance your mortgage with quicken loans, you'll find that our rates and fees are extremely competitive. because the last thing you want is to spend too much on your mortgage. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. ♪ jonathan horton climbed all the way to the ceiling... in the middle of a department store. some parents might have scolded him. ♪ jonathan's parents gave him... gymnastics lessons. ♪ it's amazing how far you can go with a little help along the way. ♪ td ameritrade. proud sponsor of the 2012 u.s. olympic team. clouds threatening your prosperity. europe's debt crisis and fiscal cliff that we're headed over if congress doesn't act. last week central bankers in the united states and europe held separate meetings. the guy on the right is the european one. the guy on the left is the american one. neither announced new monetary action to confront the storm that is upon us, those headwinds. not yet, anyway. so did the u.s. federal reserve and the european central bank meet for more idle talk or might they be preparing to take new, concrete, decisive action to address the economic storms? joining me now for cross-atlantic debate from london is richard quest, the host of "quest means business" on cnn international. the question is did the central banks fail us last week by giving us more idle talk, and i'll answer first, richard. why don't you start by giving me 60 seconds on the clock. >> you have 60 seconds starting -- now! >> all right. the fed did exactly what i expected them to do -- nothing! they could have decided to print more money, to inject it into the economy by buying back bonds. qe-3, the third round of quantitative easing will have to wait. how long? the my guess is the fed may decide to take stronger action in september if the u.s. economy hasn't improved by then. july's job numbers show there are signs of life in the u.s. economy and central bank intervention might not be necessary. i'll withhold my judgment on the fed for now, but richard, the european central bank is acting like the u.s. congress. they're being time wasters. the u.s. recession and the u.s. may go into recession, but europe's already there, and the two-year long series of missteps and half measures have not helped. last month the european central bank's president mario draghi said the ecb was ready to preserve the euro, with the storm's destruction threading across the continent and making its way to these shores now is the time to ak, richard! >> whoa! a lot of hot air from th city of dreams of las vegas! give me one minute on the clock starting now! two central banks, so little action especially from the ecb and the european central bank, how could mario draghi have said only last week he would do whatever it takes and then, if you please, tell us it will be enough. then, of course, at the meeting, nothing, the phrase they use again and again, they say over coming weeks we will put together plans that are appropriate. coming weeks! as for the fed, they're talking about providing accommodation as needed. the ship is sinking. they're a hull beneath the water line. the markets are looking for confidence and on both sides of the atlantic, the central banks still have their heads in the sand or perhaps somewhere more appropriate. it's time for action. >> all right. we are joined on that, richard. richard quest, host of "quest means business" on cnn international. all right. q and a and you. you heard richard and me and now it's your turn and let us know if it's time for the fed to step up and protect us before it's too late @alivelshi. i read them all and i'm ready for you. it's time for the boss to step in and handle the situation. i'll tell you what congress was busy with this week when they should have been protecting you and i'll reveal whoi expect to do something about it. the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. to save you from the potential economic storm that may be headed your way. instead, house republicans spent the week voting to extend the bush tax cuts for all while senate minority leader mitch mcconnell pushed to attach an amendment to repeal obama care to a bill about cyber security. congressional democrats are at fault here as well, at a time when we needed our leaders to think big about creating jobs, they instead resort to sending cheap, political messages to each other at your expense. if i told my boss i was going to send them a message instead of doing my job. he'd send me a message, too. he'd probably fire me, and he should. that's something for you, the voter, to consider because you are the boss. so as the boss of a congress who