Buying program, but some are expected to hear more debate about the timing of when to pull back and sell off the portfolio. The minutes from the previous meeting revealed some members wanted to end the program early, and that sparked a market selloff. 2 15 on wednesday, david. Have a wonderful weekend. Heres praying for apple stock, everybody. Money is next. Melissa heres whats money tonight. Tim guy near geithner out the door, and president obama said he was one of the best ever. We have his report card and whether jack lew can do better. May be the end of the union as membership plunges to a 97year low. There could be one thing to save the union. We have the former chief here to explain, and theres swatting and mansion swatting. A brazillian man just moved himself into a 7500 square foot palace in florida, and legal loopholes could let him keep it for good. You wont believe the story. Even when they say its not, its always about money. We start by saying goodbye to tim geithner and his reign as treasury secretary, hanging up his hat after four years on the job, people questioning what side he was on, a wall street crony, a washington insider. Did he do right by the banks or the American People . What do we have to look forward to with his successor, jack lew . Money power panel is here to see if he made the grades. Penny, a member of the fix the Debt Committee and a former minnesota congressman. Susan worked under geithner at the treasury department, now a senior fellow with the aspen institute, and steven haste, a writer. A lot of seniors here today. Welcome, everyone. Susan, starting with you, an f; right . You walked by the guy. Trash your boss. Let it rip. An a, he leaves it on the field, stood up so many times in taking courageous stances against political will. You know, i was managing the t. A. R. P. Office for a period of time, and he stuck with us when it was not politically popular. There was a time he could have shut it down, and he said, you know, were not there yet, the American Economy is nos recovered, worried about the credit, and we kept it going, a real testament to him and his moral leadership on this. Melissa steve, are you that gracious . No, i wouldnt be that gracious. I give him a d melissa oh, oh, a d a generous d, and i see what sigh san is saying in that i think the strength was he was more an ideolog, a strength, but he has to answer for the dramatically escalating debt that took place while he was treasury secretary. The fact that the president didnt take it very seriously, and then his comment to paul ryan i thought was a telling one saying to paul ryan we dont have a definitive solution to the problem, but we dont like yours. You got to have solutions if youre the secretary of treasury. Melissa tim, what do you think . Can you cut it in the middle. We have an a and a d, what do you give him . Actually, i feel right in the best place. I give him a cplus, better than average, better than average. He had a tough job over the last four years, and im not sure anybody could have scored an an, even though my colleagues think so. At the start, he didnt start well or end well. The stimulus package at the beginning of the administration was largely untargetted and unproductive, and didnt really help us. Melissa is that really something that he designs . I feel like you give the president a d or f for that. Hes just carrying out the policy. Part of the team, but he was not effective in convincing the administration that they needed, if they were going to deficit spend in order to bridge us through the recession, they should have put a far larger share of that on infrastructure because that would have built us a stronger economy in the future. Instead, they spent a lot of the onetime stuff that didnt build the economy for the longer term. Ended badly by, i think, Insulting Congress and the public with a fiscal cliff offer on the budget that really other than taxing the rich did nothing to give us deficit reduction or offer accommodations or not entitlement spending thats the longer term debt driver. Melissa susan, talk on the stimulus, how much is directed by him, and how much he had control over or warn what was coming down the road in terms of the bills. What do you think . Theres revisionist history going on with my fellow panelists, i think. Part of the negotiations around the stimulus at that time, republicans wanted even more of the stimulus to be in the form of tax cuts. Onethird was tax and twothirds stimulus. They already didnt like the plan. This was a negotiated solution what we had, and so the idea of putting more money into infrastructure, absolutely, all for it, and tim would have been too 6789 whats the political environment you operate in, and it was not going to happen at that time. Unfortunately, that problem persisted, but if you remember, you know, take yourself back to the fall of 2008, beginning of 2009, and you look at the tenure here. We had gdp contracting at, like, 8 . We were hemorrhaging jobs, and the idea that he didnt pull us back from the brink, i mean, we could have easily melissa he gets create for that, and, steve, maybe you can address this. The problem is the housing mess is what got us into the crisis, and he didnt do anything to deal with fannie and freddie, and i dont know, that was a place where i feel like with his insight in his position, he could have had real leadership. Anything at all. Maybe its back to what he did before that that he didnt want to step up and respond to that, and maybe he didnt have the influence that the president that some people hope he might have. On the tax cuts, with respect to the stimulus, we want tax cuttings that would have been stimlative, not cuts tied to ideological projects that the president and democrats in congressmented. I think they would have been open to more Infrastructure Spending or a higher percentage of spending on infrastructure if the tax cuts had been structured the way republicans thought would be more stimlative. They were not stimlative. And the president , himself, said later of the spending on infrastructure that there were not that many shovel ready jobs. Melissa one place to agree where he was good was everybody argues a friend of the banks or of the average guy, and i think we all think he was an enemy of both, and maybe that was a good thing. I mean, i dont know, what do you think . I would say thats why i place him somewhere in the middle with the cplus because i think in there there was a reasonable balance. Ill give him kudos handling the financial industry and the consumers in that process. Melissa yeah, okay, susan, last word. I would never call him an enemy of both, but helped average hoamples, not homeowners, not all the policies worked, but it was not for lack of trying and spurred lending to the Small Businesses that worked. Melissa a great panel. Ill bring you back together. Thank you so much for coming on. We appreciate it. Thank you. Melissa changing gears, end of unions . You know 400,000 members dropped last year . Overall membership fell to 11. 3 of the work force, lowest level since 1933. We wonder why. Peter, a former chairman. National Labor Relations board. Whats the theory . Why such a big decline . Well, divide it between Public Sector and private sector. Melissa sure. In the Public Sector, there was a drastic decline because of the cuts made by state and local governments. They cut roughly 700,000 jobs m i think thats the principle reason why in the Public Sector it declined, but, alsoing i think youll see an increasing understanding by american citizens that collective bargaining doesnt really make a lot of sense in the Public Sector. I mean, here you have unions using their money and power to elect officials, and then they sit down with the state and local officials to negotiate a collective bargaining package. It doesnt work. Melissa why doesnt it work . Because they get too much. They get wages, benefits, and Pension Plans that the state and local governments cant afford. Melissa still, unions, i mean thats not a reason for dropping from the union. You like the idea they get me great benefits that looks good. I dont think a lot of people believe down the road the reality of it is they will not actually receive that money and those benefits because the tax base doesnt support it. Do people realize that and realize unions are not working in their best interests in i dont think so. No, i think thats a god point, but what was really prior to that, there will be a change in state laws. There is a change. You see, in wisconsin where collective bargaining rights are now limited, and i think youll have that throughout the country, and i think people will support that because, again, there are wages and benefits and pensions that the state and local governments cant afford. The point is a good one, but thats the way i see that. Melissa you know, of course, more right to work states where if you were not compelled to join the union, a lot chose not to. Could be because they thought it was not in their best benefit or couldnt afford it. The average membership fee was 85 5 in 20 11. As soon as you didnt have to be part of a union anymore, people might have said, even if they wanted to, you know what, i just need that money. Well, thats true. I think that in 2012, theres about 1. 8 million jobs that were created, most of those jobs are nonunion jobs, the right to work laws, giving them the opportunity to be a member or not, but also, in my view, because some unions can sap the entrepreneurial spirit out of a company. Rigid work rules, seniority without performance, benefits and wage packages if the employer cant afford it. You see the entrepreneurial spirit in Smaller Companies or companies that are notary public yiewn nonunion versus the unions. Melissa how can they come back . For example, more than half a million white members dropped out of the union rolls last year, but statement, 150,000 latinos join unions. I mean maybe focus on a different demographic . Well, unions will always do well with low income, unskilled jobs, and the reality of that is because they are low skilled. They dont pay as well, and youll have a greater percentage of employers apt to take advantage of their workers, but i dont think thats really the way that unions are going to see a resurgence. I dont know if they will see a resurgence, but one of the ways they can do is to try to have a Different Union model. The current model is a combative one. Modern workers want a cooperative relationship with the employer. In addition, most american unions, unlike, for example, japanese unions, do not put a great deal of emphasis on the need to have a profitable employer. You have to have a profitable employer for jobs. Melissa yeah, no, thats true. The folks at hostess learned that the hard way. Thank you for coming on, appreciate the time. Youre very welcome. Melissa the bulls looking unstoppable now, bullserred by another round of strong earns. S p climbed for the 8th straight session, the longest winning streak since 2004. The dow climbed towards 11 session of the past 12. Nasdaq recovered after being dragged down by apple yesterday. If the government couldnt hammer you with more taxes, think again. States across the country look to hike the gas tax. Brace for impacts there. What do you get when you combine 100 private jets at least, thousands of bottles of wine, and derek jeter . Its not world peace, but the davos World Economic forum. The conference tries to change the world, but is everyone there just to have a good time . I dont know. Well explain. More money straight ahead. [ male announcer ] how do you turn an entrepreneurs dream. Into a scooter that talks to the cloud . Or turn 30million artifacts. Into a hightech masterpiece . Whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. [ male announcer ] to hold a patent that has changed the modern world. Would define you as an innovator. To hold more than one patent of this caliber. Would define you as a true leader. To hold over 80,000. Well, that would make you. The creators of the 2013 mercedesbenz eclass. Quite possibly the most advanced luxury sedan ever. See your authorized mercedesbenz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedesbenz financial services. For exceptional offers i have obligations. Cute tobligations, but obligations. G. I need to rethink the core of my portfolio. What i really need is sleep. Introducing the ishares core, Building Blocks for the heart of your portfolio. Find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. Ishares by blackrock. Call 1800ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Read and consider it carefully before investing. Risk includes possible loss of principal. Melissa according to mastercard, were pumping less gas than years. Could be good news for environmentalists, and more than a dozen states are now looking at ways to make up for the cash. You can bet one way or another, youll foot the bill. Sorting it out, Senior Petroleum analysts, patrick, welcome back to the show. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. Absolutely. Melissa this is turning into a real problem. The mastercard data saying, you know, they were, i think, its back up in the last week or so, but we hit, you know, a historic low in terms of the amount of gas were using. Federal fuel efficiency standards passed last year required by 2025, our cars are almost twice as fuel fighter as they are now. States are in a bind saying, oh, no, less gas, less revenue; right . They are freaking out. Obviously, you highlighted the basis here. A lot of state governments are looking at ways to protect their revenue streams, and theyve seen the streams shrinking, and everybodys looking at ideas. There may not just be one simple answer. Virginia is looking at one type of tax, looking at scales back the gas tax and raising sales taxes. Other ideas are proposed, but there seems to be no shortage of ideas, and you can bet that somethings going to happen with the majority of the states searching for more revenue. Melissa no, its faze nateing to see how different the solutions are. You mentioned virginia, and we had the governor on recently talking about getting rid of the gasoline tax all together in the state which i was ready to, you know, hoot and holler, sounded like a great thing, but shifting to a higher sales tax to replace the revenue because that was rising faster. Other states are trying to raise the gas taxiing the revenue go away, trying to grip on to whatever they can there. I dont know, what do you do yok is more effective . Whats the impact of all it . Go ahead. Theres crafty ideas out there, and motorists need to Pay Attention to whats going on because this is going to effect us in the long run. Now, theres a huge debate, is it fair for governments to charge taxes based on whether or not you drive, how much you drive, whats fair here . Some ideas looked at have to do with gps, tracking the miles driven. Obviously, that stings if you transport things or what have you, and its good for the folks that use mass transit and dont drive at all. Theres so many options on the table, so many states. This is a complex issue. Theres not one state right now with the same gasoline taxes, and some states are low, some states have not increased in 40 years, and look at the price of constructing roads. Somethings going to happen. Melissa yeah, and you tax the things you want to discourage. Thats, like, the basic way the economics works out. If you tax gasoline more, youre so close to the data, you watch this all the time. Will people drive any less . I mean, will they get rid of the revenue they get as it is, or are we at the point where its hard to drive less . Would be hard to drive less. Theres potential they can drive less. They can be more first time or car pool more often, but the higher prices go, the more demand there is forcing people eventually to look at different ideas or force americans to become more fuel efficient can brings us to the huge debate here in the first place. Gas taxes have been so low for this amount of time, but now gas prices are the reason americans are cutting back, and now the governments are looking to catch up with the rising gas prices by instituting more sales tax, gasoline tax, or gps based tax. Ideas are on the table, of course, as we said, and the motive is they need the revenue. Melissa absolutely. Oregon, washington, vermont, wanting to to be in the cars wih you. Tax your miles. Thats spooky. Government in the seat next for you. Thank you. A brutal cold snap in full force. I think i lost two toes to frostbite on the way to work this morning. I have to check that out. Futures, and milder temperatures next weir, wahoo lowering the outlook for gas demand, though. Coming up, oil futures saw a slight loss today, and posted their seventh week gain, longest advantage in four years, and chavezs Health Problem taking a toll on Venezuelas Oil industry credit line. Investments from chinese, india, and Russian EnergyCompanies Reportedly drying up. Chavez had the fourth cancer related surgery on september 11th, but has not been seen or heard from since then. Coming up on money, the Economic Forum wrapping up, and surprise, surprise, they didnt solve any of the worlds problems. Maybe because it was more like a billionaires frat party. About the over the top excess; plus, a squatter makes his dreams come true. He is living large in an enormous florida mansion. I mean, this place is really nice, a ridiculous law may allow him to keep it. You definitely want to see this one. I think maybe i can learn something from this. 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