now with less than two weeks to go until the debt ceiling deadline on october 17th, is there time for republicans and democrats to find a middle ground before the u.s. possibly defaults? joining us to talk more about this is former reagan economist art laffer who joins us today. so great to have you here on our program. >> thank you, uma. love being here with you again. >> thank you so much. >> sure. >> is the white house creating a panic where there doesn't need to be one regarding the concerns over that october 17th deadline. are we going to run out of money to pay our bills? >> well, you know, the white house, the president obama is much like the head of a household where the family members are squabbling. his job is to ameliorate the conflicts and to reach a common ground. i don't think he's doing that very well. i wish he would. when you want to see what the consequences of this can be over a long time, i was just in europe this past week and if you