Today. Remember whats been driving the markets in the whole month of september. Weve had syria and the lesser chances of a conflict there. Weve had better than expected China Economic data. On some days lower Interest Rates have helped Interest Rate sensitive sectors. Essentially we had none of that today. You could sense the market was kind of floundering. The dow traded in a very narrow range. You see closing right near the end of the lows for the day. In the middle of the day we did get a little bit of a pop. Disney provided some of that. Weve told you a lot about that. Disney buying back 6 billion to 8 billion in an announced buyback. They havent actually done it yet. See the effect. Thats a lot. Disney has got a market cap about 117 billion. Its about 5 of the company. Thats a significant number for a company that size. You can see what it did. That helped the dow industrials here. Elsewhere, things kind of ran out of steam. China, we didnt have any china data today. Anything significant china data. Emerging markets have had a great run. Ten days in a row for that eem. Today ran out of steam. Same with europe. Most of the european markets were down. When china doesnt have a lot of news, commodity stocks tend to languish a little bit. Etfs like copper stocks and steel stocks, coal stocks, all moved up rather dramatically. Didnt do anything today. Ill close with precious metals. Gold moved down throughout the day particularly after the weekly jobs report came out. The gold stocks ended at the lows for the day. Maria, back to you. Thank you so much. Heather hughes, greg ip with me from the economist, jim lowell and our own rick santelli. Greg, your take first. Based on what weve seen in terms of economic data, are you expecting the fed to begin the tapering next week . Yes, i am. Im expecting them to start next week with a small taper on the order of 10 billion going from 85 down to around 75. Theres still a possibility theyll hold off. I think they kind of want to get the process under way. But there are a couple things im looking for very, very carefully. Number one, what do they say in the statement . What does bernanke say in the press conference about the path ahead . Does he basically say this is it for now . Does he give us the impression theyre going to continue to taper . Two, the forecast. Do they give us a weaker Economic Forecast . That would be bullish for risk markets. Or do they actually move up the date when they expect to get unemployment down to 7 . That could be quite negative. Heather hughes, does the market have a big negative reaction if the tapering actually begins next week . What do you think . I think regardless of what happens with the fed a lot of it seems to already be priced in. As we all know its inevitable. They will have to unwind their 3. 5 trillion Balance Sheet. As far as bond markets are concerned in the mutual fund space, advisers still dislike, strongly dislike, the risk free investments. They love that risk on trade. Pending we do get by syria, the fed taper talk and the debt ceiling debate. You can look at those qqqs, better known as the qs. The Exchange Traded fund widely tracking the nasdaq there. Near year to date highs. Perhaps 13year highs were looking at there. You might see a risk on trade in tech and industrials. What about that debt ceiling debate, jim lowell . Once we get knee deep into the spending conversation and the spending te bait in t ining deb couple weeks . Im not as confident about the fellow guests about the fed starting tapering next week. Regardless of whether they do or dont the market is going to be driven by fundamentals. Not just that 10 billion initial refrenchment from their 85 billion a month bond purchase. The reality on the ground, i think this fed continues to wait until the new fed at least gets announced before it can move. Because if we dont know whos going to lead and execute on the tapering plan, i dont think it buys ben bernanke anything other than befuddlement. He tends to like to have a clear market. Yeah. Go ahead. The fed will remain data dependent. I mean, i understand that the unemployment and inflation thresholds are key for their tightening policy and not withdrawing the quantitative easing of the Mortgage Backed securities or treasuries. But with unemployment at 7. 3 right now, the inflation gauge that they look at, which is it doesnt look like its anywhere near their targets that were set from a macroeconomic standpoint. Rick santelli, does it matter . Does it matter if, in fact, we were to see the fed come out next week and say, look, were going to take it from 85 to 75 . You know, i personally dont think it does. Once again, i think that the treasury market has played its hand. I think everybody can see it. Honestly, if its only 10 or 15 billion that they lop off, i think thats a bit depressing. Maybe were all looking at it wrong. Greg ip, maybe he just wants to get his Balance Sheet to 4 trillion to build that cushion. Its more about that. I think were about 3. 6 at this point. What data points are they going to look at, Heather Hughes . The 7. 3 Unemployment Rate which is about as real as, you know, a 60 fur coat at walmart, i dont know. Retail sales. Everybody talks about good data. Retail sales tomorrow. Were expecting every component to be under half of 1 . Last month the highest component was. 5 . I understand surveys and isms. They all look rather fine. Thats somebodys opinion. I like the quantity numbers. The ones everybody wants to forget about like gdp and jobs. Gdp is anemic. Jobs at 7. 3. Again, youre right. Can you trust the data . You have china, computer glitches. We hope we can. You want to have trust and confidence in the system. But it looks like that employment rate may look a little bit healthier, of course, as we all know because of the declining participation rate. 63 , the lowest level since, what, 1978 . I mean, thats absurd. Teen unemployment above 22 . Thats a good point there. Yeah. I want to just jump on that. I think heather makes exactly the right point. In June Bernanke basically said we want to be all done tapering, qe going to zero, around the time the Unemployment Rate falls to 7 . Were at 7. 3. We could get to 7 by december. This process has barely begun. Like heather said, we got to that 7. 3 for bad reasons. Because the people are dropping out of the labor force. I really want to see how bernanke squares that circle. How does he reconcile that view they need to be done at 7 with the fact that the overall feeling of the economy is really not that strong . If he was serious, greg, he would just target total amount of people working. So then you couldnt really fudge the data, right . Well, of course, the total number of people working has to be related to whats the supply of people available to work. Thats exactly why figuring out whether unemployment is dropping because more people are working or because more people are dropping out of the work force is such an important question. All right. We will leave it there, guys. Such an important point you all make. Thanks very much. Something we really need to focus on. Thanks everybody. See you soon. Ceos are making less. Are they still overpaid . Weve got both sides of the debate coming after this break. Later, could Vladimir Putin be the wealthiest person in the world . A lot of people think so. Where did he get all that money . Plus, Donald Trumps take on putins oped in the New York Times. Hes not happy about it to say the least. That and a lot more on closing bell. We asked people, if you could get paid to do something you really love, what would you do . [ woman ] id be a writer. [ man ] id be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] id be an architect. What if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you . When you think about it, isnt that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love . Welcome back. New evidence that ceo pay is more in line with performance. Mary thompson with the story. Ma rhee wra, in a survey done for the wall street journal paid researcher equilar said twothirds ceos met or exceeded goals on performance graded pay from 2008 to 2010. The boards efforts to align payment with performance is improving. Others say not so fast. In large part because of the economys role in a economys performance and the survey lacks data linking a companys performance to past pay. What is in question is performanced based pay is a larger part of the total compensation package now due to boards responding to pressure from say on pay votes and grades given from proxy advisers on pay plans. Link to measures like total shareholder returns and earnings per Share Performance based pay is sought to more closely align a ceos interests with those of the shareholders, largely replacing stock options. The idea being the ceo meets or exceeds certain goals Shareholders Benefit through higher stock prices. Certainly some ceos benefited. Because they exceeded those targets. The performance pay of 133 of them was 527 million more than what was stated in the proxy. Netting them on average an extra 4. 25 million. Even as board link pay closely to performance, some still may think executive pay is out of whack. Last year the average ceo of an s p 500 Company Earned 12. 3 million. A sum the afl cio is 354 times that of the average worker. Back to you, maria. Mary, thank you so much. Is ceo pay now in line with what it should be. Steven learner is an independent labor and kmut organizer. He says the pay scale is still out of whack. Reason magazines katherine majaward says the market sets their pay. Steven, let me kick this off with you. According to the journal Study Companies whose ceo pay is tide to performance are performing better. Isnt this a win win for shareholders . The starting points, they really talked about it in the infro when they said 387 times a regular workers pay is ceos are making too much money no matter whether the company is is doing well or not. Its part of whats happening in this country. A massive redistribution of wealth from regular people at the bottom of the middle to the top. Ceos make too much by driving down wages of people that work for their company. Even if companies are doing well it doesnt mean theyre not paid too much money. You still think theyre being paid too much. Absolutely. Every day a new study comes out that documents we have the greatest inequality in this country since the great depression. That inequality is bad for the economy. Its bad for democracy. And its bad for regular people who are struggling and trying to make a living. Katherine, some say the term is set by boards for a ceo to earn that extra men or set too low. They are citing the example of mckessons ceo. He was given nearly 1 million shares valued at nearly 55 million after the drug wholesaler beat earnings for three years straight. Are boards just finding a way around the rules so they can pay the guy in charge even more . You know, i think its a really hard question how much you should pay ceos. I dont know the answer. All due respect to the other guest, i dont think he knows the answer. The thing that makes me nervous is the idea that somehow theres a magic ratio between what the ceo earns and what the janitor earns and that government or somebody outside the company could dictate it. The labor market is pretty free in this area. I think we got to let the market decide. Youre saying, steven, ceos are paid too much. Whos the judge here . Who said what level should they be paid at . You know, when you look around the world, when you look in this country, and lots of countries you have great ceos. You have inventors. You have entrepreneurs. You have scientists that do great things. Its not based on the notion that they need to get supersized pay and thats the only thing that motivates these guys. You cant look at this in a vacuum. For 30 years weve had a trend in this country thats moving with increasing speed, which is regular people have less. And the people at the top have more. Thats not just a market function in a vacuum. Its because a group of very wealthy and powerful corporations have consciously busted unions to drive down wages. Theyve moved for policies that limit their tax liabilities. Its a conscious strategy that says we should give more to the people with the most and less to regular people. So i dont i agree. I dont know exactly what they should make. But i think if you ask anybody on the street, do human beings at the top of these Companies Need to make an average of 13 but in many case hundreds of millions of dollars, its sort of outrageous and gross. Its outrageous by whose standards is really what im trying to get at. The point is, lets say were talking about an entrepreneur who spent his or her life or many years, you know, spending their own money. Working for no pay. To build a company. Then lets say hypothetical that Company Becomes very successful. That person becomes a rich person as a result of those years of putting their own money, their own sweat and tears into the business. Last time i checked, i thought america was a country where you can come from nothing, work really hard, perhaps get a little luck and achieve great success. Whats wrong with that, steven . What are you saying, steven . Whats so important about what you just said is increasingly its not true. That for the average person you can work hard and have a little more success. That whats happened is the economy has become more and more unbalanced. Its so expensive to go to college. Wages are down. People now 1. 2 trillion in student debt. People cant afford to stay in their homes. In fact, the concentration of wealth in a teeny group of people makes it harder for the majority of people to do better. So im not saying that year after year we have the same trend. Which is fewer people have more. And more people have less. Its undermining basic American Value that everybody should have a chance. The fact that college is expensive is kind of a red herring here. What were talking about is the question of ceo compensation. And youre uncomfortable with the idea that ceos make really, really, really big dollars. I think a lot of people are. And your position, you dont get to be ceo because your uncle is a Party Official in this country. Ceos get fired all the time. It is easy to get canned as a ceo. I know. One of the wonderful things about when ceos get fired they often i think the average golden parachute was 47 million. All part of this gilded lifestyle. Look at the last 25 years. 40 of the highest paid ceos worked for companies that either got bailed out, were involved in malfeasance and were fined by the government youre generalizing. You cant just throw out generalizations. Come on. Give me a break. What this wall street journal study finds is actually the performance is being tied more closely to their pay at this point. Its not a magical gilded lifestyle at all. First of all, we have a twoyear period where corporate profits are high. Where the stock market is booming. Were saying, aha, we set a floor as was described, a fairly low floor in some cases. Oh, these guys are miracle workers. Lets give them more money. The big question. The new york election where di blasio did so well the other day goes to it. Do people think theres a point where inequality is so great that it undermines the fabric of the country . That inequality is so great that it hurts democracy . We have more inequality now than we did at the time of the great depression. I dont think it can stand. Ceo pay is both a symptom and a driver of an attitude that says more and more money goes to fewer and fewer people. We got to jump. Thank you so much to you both. Appreciate it. Very important points on both sides. Thank you so much. Up next, mad man in the house. Up next, advertising legend Jerry Della Femina. Consumers are back to big spending. Also, he launched a Huge Campaign to derail Eliot Spitzers comeback. It may have worked. Also ahead, former senator ted coffman on the same page as the new edition of time magazine. Both warning of another financial crisis in the making. Five years after lehman went belly up. Coffman explains why hes still worried, back in a moment. Unh hey lets go [ male announcer ] you can choose to blend in. Yeah yeah yeah or you can choose to blend out. Oh, yeaheah the allnew 2014 lexus is. Its your move. With fidelitys options platform, weve completely integrated every step of the process, making it easier to try filters and strategies. To get a list of equity options. Evaluate them with our p l calculator. And execute faster with our more intuitive trade ticket. Im greg stevens, and i helped create fidelitys options platform. Its one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. Now get 200 free trades when you open ccount. I love having a free checked bag with my united mileageplus explorer card. Ive saved 75 in checked bag fees. [ delavane ] priority boarding is really important to us. You can just get on the plane and relax. [ julian ] having a card that doesnt charge you foreign transaction fees saves me a ton of money. [ delavane ] we can go to any country and spend money the way we would in the u. S. When i spend money on this card, i can see brazil in my future. [ anthony ] i use the explorer card to earn miles in order to go visit my family, which means a lot to me. Before their gift helped preserve the point. Before a credit solution was used to expand their business. Before trusts were created for their grandkids educations. They chose a partner to help manage their wealth. One whose insights, solutions, and approach have been relied on for over 200 years. Thats the value of trusted connections. Thats u. S. Trust. Welcome back. The s p 500 closing in the red for the first time this month. Lets get to dominic chu. The immediate effect in the gold miners. Barrick gold, newmont, goldcorp. Yamana gold. Another stock on the move really is netflix. Yeah, it hit a record high earlier this week. Now theres profit taking. Netflix shares are down for a second day in a row. Yesterday btig analyst rich greenfield cut his rating on the stock to neutral from buy. Now Morgan Stanley analyst cutting his rating to equal weight from overweight citing valuation concerns. Well inish finish up with an ue mover in the after market. Ulta salon posted beats on profits and sales and reported better Comparable Store sales. Up about 10 in the aftermarket so far. Thank you so much. He is a madison avenue legend who once said, quote, i honestly believe that advertising is the most fun you could have with your clothes on. End quote. From the chirpy cats of meow mix to the laughable lies of joe izuzu Jerry Della Femina is with us now. Good to have you, jerry. Thanks for joining us. Good to be here. Youve worked on huge accounts including the meow mix, isuzu, becks beer. How would you characterize the Advertising Market today . Its changed completely. Its all about digital now. Im still in it. Still working. Still have some very nice accounts. Its a different world. Its a different game. It is all about digital, huh . A lot of digital. Its changed. Its changed. Its just its not as much fun. But its still a great business. Still the most fun you can have with your clothes on . Of course. Even the most fun i could have with my clothes off at this point. Let me ask you about apple. A lot of debate and controversy over the iphones, the announcement yesterday. Particularly the fi5c. Its cheaper than whats on the market now. Did they botch it up . Whats your take on this . They didnt botch it up. You know, when they lost their leader, and when he was gone, apple has gone from being a religion to being a nice company. A good company. There was a religion. He really he really did he was such a great advertising man. I think he was the greatest advertising man ever. And he didnt he wasnt out there a lot. He didnt do interviews a lot. How come he was such a great advertiser . Great vision. Great passion. He knew what he was doing. He introduced products. This new introduction was nothing like he would have done it. Im sure its a great product. It loses that magic. Its the magic that he gave to the company. You dont get it back. When he passed, there had to be a period of time people are just not used to him not being there. Theyre getting pressure from a lot of different places. And youve got so much competition. Nipping at their heels. Android, google taking market share. Yeah. Taking market share. You know, theyve lost that luster, that magic. He looked invincible. He made them invincible. Yeah. When you put together an ad, when you look at companies to try to highlight, whats most important in terms of touching people, in terms of really making that sale . You have to really reach out for something thats important to them. I spent a lot of years selling door to door. I knew how to sell literally, i sold vacuum cleaners. When you look up at a woman whos standing there waiting to hear you, you better Say Something important. Shes going to slam the door in your face. That really is what im still selling vacuum cleaners. Youre appealing to someone, looking in their eyes, making sure youre touching them somehow. And its got to be the truth. Can you do that in the Digital World . Its sufficient tougher. No one really knows. People think it works and works well. Certainly numbers are really good. I can reach 30 mill whereon people instead of 3 million people. The difference is how that message comes out. Theres nothing like a good 30second commercial. Theres nothing like television. Thats still the best way, i think, to sell things. Its good to its important you say that. So many people say, tv is dead. Everybody wants to advertise online. When you look at the actual raw numbers, tv advertising is still the majority. It works. You hear from people saying we reached so many people. Its not costing us as much. In the End Television still works. Commercials still work. Thats why you still see people on there. Thats why im very excited. Just finished a commercial today. Im glad. Thank you for coming on the show right here and helping us out. Something thats been important to you. And you took out an ad. That was the Eliot Spitzer contest. He lost narrowly this week in the new York City Comptroller race. You put an ad in the independent. It was a fullpage ad. You said are you going to let Eliot Spitzer buy your vote the same way he bought young prostitutes bodies . Jerry della femina. I was really feeling no one was taking him on. He was running around saying he was going to be the sheriff of wall street. You know, i think when he was here, he did more harm than good. I thought that he was going to get by with just, you know, that same very slick commercials. He was buying literally buying votes with those commercials. I wanted to do something or Say Something that stopped it. Interestingly enough, i thought that many more people would pick up on it. But i think that they were still a little nervous about him. He lost. Its good for everyone. People are afraid to go up against him. Yeah. Hes tough. You know, a combination of him and also having dibasio now as our next mayor, maybe. Yep. What do you think about dibasio . He frightens me. I think hes going to he told you what hes going to do. Ive never had anyone say in a commercial, im going to tax the rich and give it hes really promising things that, one, he might not be able to deliver. Hes got that audience out there saying, hey, youre going to give me something for nothing . He appears to be the candidate from the Democratic Party and occupy wall street. Hes a frightening figure. I think the city is going to change. We lose stop and frisk, and its going to become a very dangerous city. Youre going for loda it sounds like. Im going for loda. Well leave it there. Good to have you on the program. So appreciate your time. Talking about advertising, the economy and politics as well. Jerry della femina joining us. Up next, russian president putin has the white house and congress seeing red over the New York Times oped piece he wrote. Donald trump angry as well. Putin, brother, can you spare a ruble. Carlos slim may be asking that question. Me may be the richest person in the world. Robert frank has been crunching the numbers. A special report coming up. I a, the more i enjoy them. Tdd 18003452550 so im always looking to take them up a notch or two. Tdd 18003452550 and schwab really helps me step up my trading. Tdd 18003452550 theyve now put their most powerful platform, tdd 18003452550 streetsmart edge, in the cloud. 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Russian president putins New York Times oped column on syria doing something president obama has been unable to do. Uniting democrats and republicans. John harwood maria, its pretty for a foreign head of state to inject himself into a Foreign Policy debate the United States is in the middle of. Vladimir putin did it in the New York Times. A former kgb agent in a country that has a poor human rights record. He lectured americans about sot thinking of themselves as an exceptional country. John boehner, the house speaker, didnt like that one bit. I was insulted. The president does Foreign Policy. Ive always believed by way of opinions, ive probably already said more than i should have said. But you got the truth. Nancy pelosi, the democratic leader in the house of representatives, also took aim at the pius tone of putins editorial in light of the russian legislation recently cracking down on gays and lesbians. What i found interesting was that the closing. He says when we pray to god, he judges us all as i dont know exactly what his words are. But he says that we are all gods children. I think thats great. I hope it applies to gays and lesbians in russia as well. Now, White House Press secretary jay carney said the fact that putin could write that editorial and have it published in the United States is proof that the United States is an exceptional country. President obama did not address the issue when he was before the cameras in a cabinet meeting. Hes trying to work out through secretary of state john kerry a deal to secure syrias chemical weapon stocks. Well see where that goes. Theres still a lot of skepticism, perhaps even more after this putin editorial. Maria . John, thanks so much. Putins politics clearly are known. Putins personal prosperity, a little less known. In fact, better kept secret. Our wealth editor robert frank has been counting all of putins rubles and the results are surprising. Vladimir putin calls himself russias humble servant. His reported income last year was only 187,000. He lists only a few official assets including a small apartment, three cheap cars and a garage. What is putin really worth . Russia has an estimated 100 billionaires. Many of them with ties to putin. One Opposition Leader told reporters that putin is worth more than 40 billion with shares in Russian Energy and commodity firms including gasprom. He says putins stakes are held in secret offshore trusts in likten steen and other tax havens. A 32page report from a former deputy Prime Minister said that putins official perks included 58 planes and helicopters, 20 homes and 4 yacht. They say his wristwatches alone are worth more than 700,000. Putin has long denied claims of wealth. Its a fabrication of western reporters and theres no hard evidence of those billions of dollars. Back to you. I believe it. I think its true. Hes the richest person in the world ive heard as well. Many people say that. Because he takes stakes in all these companies that the oligarchs run. Right . Its hard to pin it down. There are front people. There are shell companies. These are all in offshore tax havens with sort of doctored names. No one can ever find proof that he owns anything. But the suspicion is the money flows up in russia toward putin. Im sure of it. Thanks so much, robert. Lets get more reaction now to putins takedown the takedown of the United States in the oped. Donald trump joining me on the cnbc newsline. First of all, donald, good to talk to you. Nice to talk to you, maria. Thank you for joining us. Off of roberts reporting first, do you think putin is wealthier than you . I dont know. I just heard this for the first time. If he has 40 planes and yachts and all this stuff, i mean, he has more than i do. Thats some impressive list or stable that hes got. I just have no idea. Probably you wont be finding out any time soon. I know. How are we going to find out . What was your initial reaction to the oped, donald . What do you think . I thought it was amazingly well written. I was very surprised by it. Very well written letter if youre from russia in terms of representing russia. I thought he did an amazing job. He brought in so much. And it was tough. And i doubt that president obama knew it was coming. I think this was a sneak attack. And it was a very tough letter. When you read that the second and third time, you see how really tough it was. Whats the point of it . Well, i think he wants to become the world leader. Right now hes doing that. Because hes making hes really embarrassing the United States. Hes embarrassing the president. At the same time, hes throwing a lifeline to the president. So hes got sort of got him on both ways. Hes helping him in one sense. Hes really, really badly embarrassing him. Hes making him look like hes the professor and the president is a school child. But why is the administration falling for it, then . Just a couple of weeks ago he came out and he said, look, if america has military strikes, does military strikes in syria, im going to back syria. Now a week and a half later hes our buddy . I think the administration is falling for it because they were in such a bad position three days ago with nobody, including congress, wanting to attack. We have enough problems in this country as you know just as well as anybody. They didnt want to attack and start another, you know, mess like weve done in iraq and so many other places. And they didnt want to do it. I think this probably helped at least short term helped the president. But it also makes the president look very weak and very, very ineffective. Frankly, it makes him look like he doesnt know what hes doing. So what are the implications of this, donald . Well, long term you never know. I mean, its a bad month for the president. Its a certainly bad few days for the president. Lets see what happens. Hes teflon. He seems to escape from everything. Whether its ben fmbengbenghazi whatever it might be. So many different things. He is truly teflon. Its very amazing to see. This letter was really brilliantly done from the standpoint of russia. And it was a rough one. Yeah. It was really well done. But i also question, well, i mean, look. This is america. You know, weve got freedom of speech. Do you think that a russian newspaper would have printed an oped from president obama or any president unedited . Perhaps not. Perhaps not and perhaps. One of the things he mentions here is, you know, american exceptionalism. We hear that word so often used by the president. He talks about american exceptionalism. But if youre from a foreign country, you dont want to hear about it. If youre from even germany, if youre from which is frankly doing very well as you know. If youre from other places, you dont want to hear about american exceptionalism. Then he goes on to detail all the reasons and all the problems that we have over the last period of time with the wars weve been in. The police you know, the police whatever you want to call it. All of the policing that weve done for the rest of the world and how its inappropriate. And then he goes back to american exceptionalism. I mean, it was really a tough letter. Very well drawn. Very well done from putins standpoint. Not good for this country. Not good for this president. In one swipe putin basically inserted himself in the leadership of the world. He really becomes with this letter almost the world leader. I mean, ive never seen a letter or an editorial covered like this has been covered. But when you read it, its very interesting. He really looks like he wants to take over the world. He wants to take the mantle. Yeah. But, i mean, do people believe him . I mean, thats the thing. I think people do. I think people that have an open mind certainly read this letter. There are many things. He talks about iraq. Iraq is a disaster for our country. Iraq is a war where we spent 1. 5 trillion. Lost thousands of wonderful, wonderful people. Young people. And what do we have . We have nothing. We have nothing. By the way, iraq is a disaster right now. Its falling apart. Its being blown to pieces. Iran will ultimately end up going in and taking over the oil. It used to be for years and years theyd fight each other back, but they were equal. Weve decapitated iraq. Thats one of the many things mentioned in the letter. Whos going to dispute it . Yeah. All right. Donald, good to get your insights and take on this. Thanks very much for calling in. Well see you soon. Donald trump is chairman and president of trump organization. Red alert, up next. Former senator ted coffman warning were setting ourselves up for the next financial meltdown. He says it could be a lot worse than the one we just put behind us. Dont touch that remote. Were back in a moment. 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Im john kaplan and im a member of a synchronized world. This is what membership is. This is what membership does. Sfwlnchts welcome back. It is the five Year Anniversary of Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Despite the passage of tough new regulations and new Government Agencies not everybody thinks the countrys Financial System is sound as evidenced by this weeks time magazine. That was echoed today by massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren earlier today. In the regulators wont end too big to fail, then Congress Must act to protect our economy and prevent future crises. What i want to know is how much longer should Congress Wait for regulators to fix this problem . Do we wait another three months . Another three years . Until the next big bank comes crashing down and threatens the entire economy . So should Congress Just act on its own and create the law that ends too big to fail . Former delaware senator ted kaufmann says yes. Gartman letter editor Dennis Gartman thinks the bias against the banks are not healthy for the economy. Back when we had the debate on dodd frank which was three years ago, everybody agreed. Republicans and democrats. That we had to end too big to fail. That was one thing we agreed on. Didnt afwree on a lot of other things. We agreed on that. I think its pretty clear the banks are still too big to fail. Yeah. Too big to fail, even though the regulations and sort of dodd frank is trying to separate riskier businesses from plain old deposit businesses. Its still you say its still too big to fail. The one that was going to separate risky business, the volcker amendment, which is still not passed, what looks like its going to be very weak. We still have that. The key thing is we have some banks in this country that just about everybody that observes it says theyre still too big to fail. We said we werent going to have banks that are too big to fail. Dennis . The question will be how can these banks fail at this point . We have a Banking System in the United States now as liquid as we have ever seen our banks. They are abundantly so. Theyre sitting on, what, 1. 7 trillion in free reserves . That is the definition of liquidity. Banks are outlooking for loans. They cant even find them. Theyre having to invest in treasury securities. Consumers are as liquid as we have ever seen. Corporations are as liquid as we have ever seen. I think it is irresponsible of the senator to tell us that we have too big to fail and a new crisis facing us when the biggest problem is that our banks are too liquid, not illiqu illiquid. It was the democrats who forced the banks in the past to make loans to go into the problems of mortgages, making mortgages to people who couldnt afford them. Now they want to put the onus on somebody else. Im sorry. I just totally disagree. Yeah. Im just talking about one thing. Are the banks still too big to fail . Theyre much bigger than they were in 2008 when we know they were too big to fail. Because we had to bail them out. If you go and talk to people like tom honig, vice chairman of the fdic, dick fisher from the dallas fed, ben bernanke, terrell low, they all say theyre too big to fail. Mark carney, head of the bank of england, also head of the fanl stability board wrote in the Financial Times on tuesday. He just says we have to do something because our banks are too big to fail. Not just the United States banks are too big to fail. European banks are too big to fail. Theyre not doing anything, right, senator . Theres a lot of talk. But theyre not. Let me ask you this. If europe and asia do not change this too big to fail idea, but the u. S. Does change the too big to fail, and our banks in the u. S. Are smaller, and they compete with these larger behemoths across the world, arent our banks at a disadvantage . Let me tell you the first thing. Do we agree the banks should not be too big to fail . Regardless. Lets just start there. Whats the number that is too big to fail . Right now we know theyre too big to fail. Everybody that does the analysis knows theyre too big to fail. The fed says theyre too big to fail. The problem now is europe is moving ahead. Read what mark carney said. Head of the bank of england. Head of the Financial Stability you didnt answer the question, senator. Im sorry. If the u. S. Banks are too big to fail and we make them smaller, we force splitups, but the rest of the world does not, arent u. S. Banks at a disadvantage . Its not going to happen. What do you mean its not going to happen . Theres no way right now this congress and this president are going to break up the banks. What we have, the one hope we have, is the you still didnt answer the question. Im saying its not whats going on right now realistically looking at it is if you look at whats going on in the United States, the fed is actually increasing capital ratios, leverage ratios, in order to bring down the size of the banks. At the same time, europeans the europeans have really reduced the size of deutsche bank. The problem is is not a europe u. S. Problem when you look at what is today. Listen to what mark carney says. Look at what ben bernanke says. Theyre going to do something about it. Our problem is not a u. S. europe thing. Its a matter of getting behind what theyre doing. Its not just europe. Im talking hsbc. Asia. International banks are going to get the big business if a Company Wants complex lending arrangements done. Theyre going to go to the deutsche banks of the world. Theyre going to go to the hsbcs, the canadian banks. Theyre not going to go to jpmorg jpmorgan. First off, canadian dont have these size banks. Yes, they do. If u. S. And european bankers decide were not going to be too big to fail, were going to do something about it, everybody else will fall in line because theyre going to have to. Fed riequirements are going to require to the asian banks. Im saying one thing. Go down and listen to what was said on the house and senate floor. Basic thing was banks are too big to fail. Banks are still too big to fail. We have to do something about it. Bottom line, thats your point. Dennis, thanks for joining us. Senator, good to talk with you. Breaking news right now from the jersey shore. You. Thank you very much. Just what they didnt need in seaside heights. A massive fire has broken out on the board walk apparently beginning in an ice cream shop there. The fire is a sixalarm blaze. It has spread to additional buildings there. One of the roller coasters was washed into the ocean there. Now this major blaze. We have video there from our sister station across the river. Trying to bring it under control last night. Do we know how it started . We dont know specifically but it did apparently star in coors ice cream. We dont know exactly why this fire got underway. I guess one could say its lucky that this didnt happen in the middle of the tourist season. Obviously most kids are backtoschool and families are done with vacation but im sure there are plenty of people patronizing the board walk on this rather warm day. Do we know if anyone is hurt . No. We do not have a report on injuries. They are having trouble with the wind. Multiple Fire Companies are on the scene. No reports as of yet of injuries to civilians or firefighters. All right. Our sister station will have coverage all night on this fire. We will take a short break and wall street stock pros. Speaking of friday, dont miss my exclusive interview. Part two airing right here on closing bell. Thats tomorrow michael dell, with his victory. Dont tell mom. Dont tell mom dont tell mom. Okay. Dont tell mom. Dont tell mom. Dont tell mom . Yeah. The best stories youll ever tell start with, dont tell. Dont tell dad. Start yours in the new santa fe. From hyundai. How old is the oldest person youve known . We gave people a sticker and had them show us. We learned a lot of us have known someone whos lived well into their 90s. And thats a great thing. But even though were living longer, one thing that hasnt changed much is the official retirement age. The question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. Welcome back. Our next guests will tell you what to watch for tomorrow, men, good to see you. Let me kick it off with you. What do you want to prepare for tomorrow . Tomorrow with Consumer Spending accounting for approximately 2 3 of gdp, we will be watching august. We want to see if that trend will continue with consensus looking for an increase. We will be watch progress deucer price index which measures change in price from the perspective of the seller. But consensus looking for a slight what do you want to work on and prepare for for tomorrow. We have seen some poor housing data recently. Autos are particularly important. All right. We will be watching that. Thanks very much. We will keep watching and we will talk to you soon. More on the six alarm fire raging on the jersey shore boardwalk. My mantra . Always go the extra mile. To treat my low testosterone, i did my research. My doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. Axiron can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. Axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. Women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. Report these symptoms to your doctor. Tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. Serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping; and blood clots in the legs. Common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. Ask your doctor about the only underarm low t treatment, axiron. Whatswithout the thinking capitathat makes it real . . Whats a vision without the expertise to execute it. And the financing to make it grow . Whatever your goal, it can change more than your business. It can change the future. Thats why, at barclays, our ambition is to always realize yours. Before we go, lets look at the day. The market was lower ford. The dough down today. The s p 500 down. A lot of talk about volume on the light side and uncertainty. Keep it here for more on the big fire coming from seaside park, new jersey. Fire blazing. Apparently reported earlier that it started in an ice cream shop. Tune nor to our Sister Network for the latest details. Fast money begins right now. Life ve from new yorks time square, this is fast money. Against the grain. Forget about whats working. A top manager is bringing her three picks to put you and your money ahead of the curve. Tech check. The man who gave you the play book for facebook and microsoft is here. And online reservations. Which company will help you book the biggest profits for your portfolio