having to work two or three jobs in order to make ends meet. and now seeing their health insurance costs spike. i think there s a lot of problem with what he s proposing. what do you think of that so-called buffett rule? that individuals making more than $1 million a year are required to pay at least 30% income tax? well, again, he had the opportunity to put that into law before, the opportunity to do it in the fiscal cliff discussions. and i just don t see that catching traction here. it didn t catch traction in the senate, i don t believe. and so i m not sure that s even a starter. you opposed that. you would vote against that so-called buffett rule? yeah, again. look, what we ve got to do is get back to have a meaningful discussion about overall tax reform, not just, you know, split one group of americans against the others to the benefit of the growth of the federal government and the deficit. this does not put us on a path toward reducing americans deficit in a meaningful
the budget? well, look. i think with tax reform, i know most republicans do not want to use tax reform to raise revenues. and i understand that. they feel like they gave a lot with the fiscal cliff discussions. but you can through tax reform you can both produce enough revenue to lower rates and produce revenue for deficit reductions. i would take that approach. i think just doing tax reform by itself even if it s revenue neutral will get this economy going in a way we ve not seen so far. it s really flat on its back. one of the problems is we have a lot of inefficiencies and frictions because of this tax code that s encouraging investment dollars to go places where they re really not needed. sheila bair, thank you very much for the conversation. makes great sense. new word today from dennis rodman about his unpres tented visit to north kor ya. the first known american to meet with kim jong-un. he said he had a message from the north american leader for president obama. and o
there is not a lot of signs of it on capitol hill right now. democrats and republicans are unable to make a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. let s get political insight on the recent setback on the fiscal cliff discussions. i m joined by richard good stein and robert trainm. a former communications director for rick santorum. talks have broken down for the moment. what do you think is going on behind closed doors right now on capitol hill? i think a lot more is going on than we know. i think the staff as well as perhaps maybe leader mcconnell and vice president biden and the administration are probably trying to hammer out some type of a deal here. i know there is consternation about the chain cpi. the president said even though this is unpopular i am willing
it is true congressional republicans are faring a little worse than the president. but people are pretty fed up with the entire process. gregg: the president keeps saying he wants to raise taxes on the rich. but how do folks in the middle class feel about whether their taxes are going to go up? are they pessimistic? 49% of all voters he expect middle class taxes will go up as part of any deal to avert the fiscal cliff. there is a general expectation that over the next couple of years, middle class taxes are heading up. bun of the dirty little secrets of these fiscal cliff discussions, they keep talking about extending the bush tax cuts, but there is payroll taxes that are going up on the first of the year. i think there is potential for a very ugly situation if political leaders say we stop all the tax hikes on the middle class, we reached this deal, and then someone looks at their paycheck and see their payroll taxes have gone up, they re not going to appreciate that. gregg: tha
december 31st, 650 billion in cuts to the pentagon and domestic programs and tax increases automatically go into effect. after the meeting, the finger-pointing came quickly. republicans say democrats aren t bringing to the table a plan that include significant cuts to medicare and entitlement programs. revenue was only on the table. if they were serious. spending cuts. the white house drew its own line in the sand and said tax rates must go up on the top earners, but the middle-class tax cut should be made permanent. president obama stayed out of the fiscal cliff discussions and sat down for lunch with former rival mitt romney. i am sure they will or have already compared experiences on the campaign trail. today president obama hits the road to push for his plan to avoid the fiscal cliff. but republicans have slammed him