Many of them dying because Ocean Temperatures are rising and the waters are more acidic. I remember seeing fields of elk horn coral that you couldnt see through it and you couldnt see beyond it and those same areas are dead you know 99 dead. Ifill and we close with a remembrance of jazz great dave brubeck who died today, one day shy of his 92nd birthday. Woodruff thats all ahead on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the nations Third Largest bank, citigroup, announced big job cuts as it continues to scale back in the wake of the financial crisis. The 11,000 employees to be laid off worldwide, make up about 4 of the companys workforce. More than 6,000 of those jobs are in consumer banking. The move comes less than two months since a shakeup at citi ousting former c. E. O. , vikram pandit. He was succeeded by michael corbat. The bank nearly collapsed during the crisis and ultimately received bailouts totaling 45 billion, money that citi has since repaid. Roben farzhad has long watched the changes at citi for Bloomberg Businessweek and joins us again tonight. Roben, welcome. Today we heard that stocks soared on the news of these layoffs. What does that tell us about what was going on at citi . Its sad, actually. Citigroup is know you could say the financial crisis is over but in the throes of an existential crisis. It doesnt know what it wants to be. Investors have been clamoring for a while for citigroup to simplify, to shed payrolls, to be good at something. It does everything, but it isnt market leading, necessarily, in any one category. And by and large, they got the layoffs, at least the beginning round of layoffs that they wanted today. Ifill we know many of these layoffs are noin the u. S. , but i assume part of the relationship the stocks went up is people thought citigroup was too fat and needed this cutting. Yes. Citigroup it peaked in size at about 375,000 employees at the beginning of 2008. And its now closer to 260,000 employees. So it has it has let go of a lot of people to be sure. But its still a massive, hulking institution, and its the product of, really, a strategy of the past 15 years of rolling up banks, buying up assets in the ground, in farflung emerging markets. Its all over the world. Its in colombia. Its in pakistan. 7 and that really was the imprimatture that the recent c. E. O. , vikram pandit, inherited and he thought it was the strongest part of the bank. The new c. E. O. , michael corbat, came in and said were too big. Were too sprawling for any focus and were going to have to pull back in places like pakistan and romania. Ifill so the new schettino ic. E. O. Ismaking this step as as much as a recalbraigz from the bank . You can only expect that from a new c. E. O. Ptz who comes in at the boards behest way new pair of cold eyes and what citigroup is in its current iteration, is not working, not for the bank. Its not efficiently turning out profits the way its competitors like wells fargo, and w. J. Morgan who have eclipsed it after the great bailout of 2008. You sea the c. E. O. Pushed out by the board and the new c. E. O. Come this and given a mandate to effectively turn this massive super tanker arndt. Ifill it makes thee think this is a first step. Are there more layoffs to come . This has been going on across wall street actually since 2011. There have been north of 300,000 layoffs. You have seen it at u. B. S. , bank of america, which is strug ling with the own acquisitions. You have even seen it at goldman sacs, one of the winners after the financial crisis. Its actually, if you talk to these bank c. E. O. S they will tell you its a difficult time to run a multinational bank. Even with the bailout, and Interest Rates of 0 for four years, even when they offer you and me nothing on our savings and checking accounts they say in their own defense, were dealing with unprecedented regulation. We have to curb proprietary trading. We have regulators breathing down our neck and its hard to earn an extra buck in that environment. Youre seeing citi, in fact, address those concerns in the layoff announcement today. Ifill what does that tell bus the health of the Banking Sector and whether other big Banking Institution might be following suit . Citigroup is not as mump an indicator species as i think people would want it to be. 15 years ago, it was the financial supermarket. It rolled everything together. Its onestop shopping, and that mold has been called into question, not least by the architect of this model, sandy wiel, saying we should break up the big banks. Gwen, i think it tells us more about the end of the era of kind of this force conglomeration of bank wheres bigger is naturally better. You have seen, obviously, too big to fail banks become too bigger to fail, such as j. P. Morgan, or wells fargo which bought wachovia. But there are others who find they cant hit their stride with the asset they say accummed a decade ago. Ifill what were watching happening at citigroup. Does that make them an outlier or a sign of things to come . I think its a little bit of both. Citigroup, lets not forget, had to go in for two rounds of bailout money. There was even scuttlebut that the white house suggested this was a bank that should fail, that it was beyond rescue. It still has 1 fent billion of bad seeftz its sheets its looking to get rid of. There are no easy answers for it. There is no overnight turnaround. And at the same time, its a Public Company and shareholders are saying, show me the progress. Ifill roben farzhad of Bloomberg Business week, thank you very much. Thank you, gwen, have a good night. Woodruff still to come on the newshour senator bob corker on the fiscal crisis; the threat of chemical weapons in syria; floridas endangered coral reefs and the life and music of jazz pianist dave brubeck. But first, the other news of the day. Heres hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan the people of the southern philippines struggled to recover today from a deadly typhoon. Nearly 300 were dead, and officials warned the number could go higher. More than half the victims were in the Compostela Valley province. The storm made landfall there, early on tuesday. We have a report narrated by Richard Pallot of independent Television News. Reporter a mother cradles her terrified daughter, but at reist they have found shelter. So many didnt at the cost of many hundreds of lives. Gustes of nearly 100 Miles Per Hour ripping through the southern philippines, triggering landslides and floods. Authorities describe how entire families were just washed away. Much of the initial rescue operation was in the dark with electricity and communications cut off. Entire villages waiting for the lights to see what was left and who survived, many already hearing the worst. Typhoons are common here with approximately 20 striking a year, but warnings from the president about the severity of this particular storm, so many philippineoze move out in advance. The death toll in the hundreds, rather than, perhaps, the thousands. This typhoon was much strong scer people were worried about the impact, so they heeded early evacuation calls. They moved to higher ground. They went to evacuation centers. And although current casualties are highly regrettable, it could have been much worse. Reporter the immediate issue is to get food to those most in need, those whose livelihoods have been destroyed. With agculture and infrastructure badly ruined, any further tycoons will have more farreaching consequences. Sreenivasan a massive storm pounded the southern philippines last december as well, killing more than 1,200 people. In egypt, a political crisis deepened today as supporters and opponents of president Mohammed Morsi faced off in cairo. The two sides threw rocks, sticks and firebombs as night fell outside the president ial palace. At least 126 people were hurt. And there were reports that masked men set fire to morsis Political Party headquarters. Protests erupted last week after the president assumed sweeping powers and a committee dominated by islamists rushed through a new constitution. The nations busiest port complex is back in business after an eightday strike halted operations. The ports of los angeles and long beach, california reopened today after port operators and the Workers Union reached an agreement late tuesday. The union said it won new protections against job outsourcing. Port officials said during the walkout, they were unable to move some 760 million worth of cargo a day. Wall street had a day of ups and downs and investors watched economic reports and weighed chances for a fiscal cliff deal in washington. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained more than 82 points to close at 13,034. But the nasdaq fell nearly 23 points to close at 2,973. The days big loser was apple, down more than 6 over concerns that smart phone sales are lagging. Former texas congressman jack brooks has died. He served 42 years in the house, and was in the dallas motorcade on november 22nd, 1963 when president kennedy was assassinated. Hours later, brooks was on hand as Vice President and fellow Texan Lyndon Johnson was sworn in to the presidency. Later, brooks helped author the 1964 civil rights act, and he drafted the articles of impeachment against president nixon. Jack brooks was 89 years old. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to gwen. Ifill lawmakers stepped up the rhetoric, but grew no closer today to agreement on how to avoid slipping over the so called fiscal cliff. But each side demanded the other compromise. Newshour Congressional Correspondent kwame holman begins our coverage. I have to just tell you that is a. That is a bad strategy for america, its a bad strategy for your businesses, and it is not a game that i will play. Reporter president obama today, in washington, assured Business Executives hell reject attempts to link the fiscal cliff budget negotiations to future increases in the nations debt ceiling. The New York Times reported republicans might accept higher tax rates on wealthier americans to avoid triggering tax hikes for everyone. In return, theyd demand greater spending cuts next year before raising the federal borrowing limit. If congress in any way suggests that theyre going to tie negotiations to debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again as part of a budget negotiation, which, by the way, we have never done in our history until we did it last year, i will not play that game because weve got to. Weve got to break that habit before it starts. Reporter the 2011 standoff between the president and republicans led the nation to the brink of national default. Standard and poors even lowered its rating on u. S. Government bonds. Now, the president has proposed he be given authority to raise the debt ceiling without congressional action. House republicans reject that idea. And theyve called for raising revenue without rate hikes, plus major savings in entitlement programs. The president argued today a partial deal is possible on taxes, if the g. O. P. Will agree to raise rates on the top 2 . And if we can get the leadership on the republican side to take that framework, to acknowledge that reality, then the numbers actually arent that far apart. Another way of putting this is, we can probably solve this in about a week. Reporter despite issuing a warning to Congressional Republicans, the president also expressed optimism that some gop lawmakers may be warming to the idea of allowing taxes on the wealthy to rise. But here at the capitol today, Congressional Republican leaders said the president should focus less on tax increases and more on spending cuts we put an offer on the table. Now he has out of hand rejected that. Where are the specifics . Where are the discussions . Nothing is going on. Meanwhile the people of this country are the ones that suffer. Reporter House Majority leader eric cantor claimed negotiations are deadlocked and the president isnt engaged. We have not had any discussion on any specifics with this president about the real problem, which is spending. We have got to do something about the spending. An obsession to raise taxes is not going to solve the problem. What will solve the problem is doing something about the entitlements, taking on the wasteful spending in washington. Reporter and House Speaker reporter still, republican senator tom coburn of oklahoma said the emphasis on the short Term Solution ignores the countrys larger financial problems. Personally, i know we have to raise revenue i dont really care which way we do it. Actually, i would rather see the rates go up than do it the other way because it gives us a greater chance to reform the tax code and broaden the base in the future. Reporter and in a web video, former republican senator alan simpson made a lighthearted attempt to get younger americans interested in lowering the national debt. Take part or get taken apart these old coots will clean out the treasury before you get there. Reporter for now, though, official washington enters another weekend in stalemate with acrosstheboard tax hikes and huge spending cuts looming at years end. White house officials said today the office of management and budget has asked federal agencies for contingency plans in case theres no deal, and the spending cuts start to take effect come january. Woodruff we continue our series of conversations on this hotly debated topic. Earlier this week we heard from Erskine Bowles and paul krugman. Tonight, we hear from a Senate Republican who has proposed his own plan to dodge the fiscal cliff. It includes limiting tax deductions, but no increase in marginal tax rates. And it would change eligibility for medicare and Social Security over the longer term. Bob corker is from tennessee and joins us now from capitol hill. Senator, welcome, and first of all, we heard late today that there was a phone conversation between the president and speaker boehner. Have you heard anything about that . No, i havent. Ive been in multiple conversations today about this. But ive been in a meeting until right now for the last two hours. So i have not been aware of the phone conversation. Sphwhrood well, we not hearing any reports other than the fact the call took place, but the fact that it took place, is that good news . Oh, i dont know, judy. I think there are a the love discussions about what is the best way to get the type of entitlement reforms that everyone knows needs to take place, both republicans and democrats. Judy, i have been in i dont know how many meetings in the last two years where there is a lot of commonality around the issue. As you know, the president has been, you know, sort of a not to be pejorative, but sort of a onetrick pony on this tax rate increase issue. What thats doing is putting all the focus on revenues, and no doubt, the American People are concerned about maybe being hostages, if you will, with tax increase at the end of the year. So there are a lot of discussions about the real and best ways to actually cause these reforms to take place again, reforms that both democrats and republicans acknowledge. But the president has not yet put on the table. So well see. I dont think, for what its worth, for those of you, for those people who listen in to your program, i do not think well get to a situation at year end where, you know, armageddon occurs. I do think the debt ceiling in an important date go ahead ill let you talk. Woodruff i want to ask you about entitlements but you were quotequoted on reuters saying yu were hearing whispers on the house side of the capitol, maybe some movement on tax rates. Do you think there is some movement in that direction among republicans in the house . Well i just think theres a discussion trade center a discussion about what is the west best way to get the outcome. An outcome where we save our nation. Where we come up with at least 4. 5 trillion in savings and we know it will be revenues i laid out a bill most people dont tho, judy that raid out specifics, that really moved our country towards solvency. There was a discussion. Does it make sense to continue on the rate issue or is it better to turn the phoenix some other place . There is a lot of discussions, and i think by the way, this haebt healthiest day i can remember regarding moving towards a place i think gets us the right kind of outcome that the nation needs at this point. Woodruff i hear you saying that theres more movement in the direction of what the president wants on raising tax rates for that income over 250,000 a year than what is being said publicly . Well, let me just let me make it slightly broader. Theres movement in a lot of directions, and i do think that republicans are beginning to be aware that the president and again im not trying to be pejorative but the president is really not laying out anything specific on entitlements, so i do think republicans are looking at, look, wed like to solve our nations problem. What is the best way to get us in a place where we actually have the leverage which, unfortunately, it takes the leverage to get us where we need to go as a country. Look, there are a lot of healthy discussions that are taking place, and i do think again, from my standpoint, someone who really cares about this issue, cares about its Economic Growth that would ensue january 1 or whenever we put this in the rearview mirror, the country would just take off economically. And i think today from my standpoint has been the very best day since weve returned from recess. Woodruff so, again, what im hearing you saying is if theres movement in that direction, it sowns like youre staying at least theres conversation about it, then that would open the door to some work on entitlement. Now, the white house would sa