And this is real money you are the most important part of our show so join our program for the rest of the half hour. Another down day in u. S. Markets. For many stock mark investors this has been anything but a happy start to 2014. The dow lost another 150 points capping the months losses. The nasdaq lost 1. 7 in january and the s p 500 which may look the most like your investment portfolio lost three and a half this month. English translation of the purported chinese phrase, may you live in Interesting Times for investors these are certainly Interesting Times. As ive explained, investors are pulling money out of emerging markets, including a possible slow down in china and Rising Interest Rates here in the United States. Here is one of the reasons the rest of 2014 just might be more challenging for investors. The january barometer. Expect to hear about it, as january goes, so goes the year. So a january like this when stocks fall mean in theory, that youll end the year with a loss. Sounds a bit silly and an random actually. But persistent as how to market performance. Its been right about 75 of the time. Thats not bad but in 2009 and tren i2010 it was wrong. I dont want you to put too much stock in that idea and that pun was fully intended. That brings me to what i do want you to focus on as you decide on how to invest your 401 k or other money. Economic fund levels. We learned that economic spending rose 4 muc. 10 in december. Consumer spending helped drive strong Economic Growth in the last three months of 2013 but income earned by americas was flat, no growth and their savings rate fell as well. That has some worrying that 2014. It is yet another reason this is going to be an interesting year. Though there is plenty of uncertainty in the World Markets the recent selloff is an opportunity to get into certain asset classes. Usaa investment solutions, bernie leads a team that heads a 16 billion investment. What should i make out of this selloff . It started i think with the extremely cold weather that has really hampered retailers and led to some poor results. That should right itself, obviously. But with some of the concern over the emerging markets caused by the taper i think thats washed over a little bit over the u. S. But i think this correction should probeprobably be short probably be shortlived as this economy is improving. Let me ask you this. You have looked at this as many smart investors do on the opportunity side. You think this turmoil on emerging markets and driving the u. S. Investors is an opportunity for some of my viewers. Yeah, absolutely. First, we invest assets globally. So we look across the world for equity assets, and we measure them on a relative valuation basis. The u. S. Looks a little overvalued to us and as you know has done quite well. Emerging markets on the other hand, although they are having some problems, well documented, they look extremely cheap relative to the rest of the world. And while its difficult to time that bottom we think if you have a time frame of more than a year or so you could really earn some superior returns by starting to invest money in emerging markets today. Are there any markets you are interested in versus those that have real fundamental problems. There are real things in turkey that should be worrisome or argentina, rather than were worried about emerging markets as a whole. Yes, absolutely. You got to look at china, one of the biggest components of emerging markets. Theyll muddle through i think but mexico is struggling politically to open up their oil industry to outside investment. I think that would be very positive for mexico. So there is an example of a country that is going through internal growth. I think its probably better to leave that to a professional money manager within a mutual nature. This is only to give my viewers general ideas what they might want to talk to a Financial Advisor about. Bernie, good to see you. Thank you for joining us. You bet. Bernie williams, chief Investment Officer at usaa investment solutions. Lets speak to a man who spent his career, most recently to undersecretary to former secretary of state hillary clinton. Bob horvath, his career goes back to 1969 when he spent time advising henry kissinger. None of this is new to you, bob. Some of it in domestic markets economic politics that is one of the problems you can see the problems in argentina, theres a lot of uncertainty in argentina, elections in indonesia, and varying differences between one country to the other. And theres tapering which has pulled some money out of emerging markets, ones with current budget deficits, rollover risks higher Interest Rates when they can roll over their debt or whether they can roll it over at attract rates at all. These countries oar little annoyed with the United States which will start with this taper which will result in interests rising in the United States which makes the u. S. A more attractive investment than some of these riskier emerging markets. I think theyre annoyed. On the other hand had the fed not taken bold action and the American Economy deteriorated, they would have had other disagreement. The ones that have maintained relatively strong budget positions and relatively modest current account deficits are less vulnerable than those with much larger embalances. We worry about the economy in general, when something suggested there might be something going on in china. You know a lot about china. Do you think china is slowing . I think its slowing very modestly. In fact one of the goals of the government was to slow down the pace of growth and hold inflation down and rebalance the economy. They want to keep above and i think they will keep above 7 , want to be 7. 5 give or take, but the real goal of china is to rebalance, giving western china a greater share of the pie so to speak, cooling down the very large investment boom, becoming less dependent on exports and more dependent on domestic demands. There are a lot of rebalancing going on and measures to deal with the pollution issue which is a huge political problem in china. Lets bring it back here. Interest rates are anticipated to go back up. It will happen for a more robust rate for my viewer. Mortgages that they take. Do you think the fed is handling this well . Are you worried that as Interest Rates go up it could slow us down here in the United States . I think the fed particularly janet yellen are very, very numbers conscious. Looking at the data, to the extent they see a stronger economy, the economy is strength thing, the job markets are getting better, core Balance Sheets are stronger banks are certainly stronger than they were and are starting to do more lending to small and medium sized enterprise although there is a way to go there. Energy boom, 1970s and 80s the big head winds to the economy were disruptions to the energy market. Now energy is a big tail wind for a lot of companies and for the economy and companies are thinking like fox foxconn about investing. Means manufacturing could even come back. Absolutely. I think the manufacturing that comes back woat be as labor wont be as labor intensive as the manufacturing that went away. The jobs market which i think is much more tepid than the economy, profits will probably do very well. Job rates are growing at a modest clip. One of the strongest economies theyve been involved in and there are many who still feel were in a recession, long term unemployed. We focus a lot on the middle class here. How do we taper thats a wrong word. How do we adjust or mold this recovery in a way that distributes it more evenly . That is the big challenge. I think a lot of people are concerned about two things. One, a lot of people have not participated actively in the labor force. Theyre looking for jobs that cant find them. To the extent they get jobs theyre very modest paying jobs. Up ward mobility has been deteriorating for a lot of people. Lower and middle income people have found it very difficult to get pay increases year after year as they did when the Manufacturing Sector was booming. So what you have to do is training, is very important, mid career training. But also you need to make the Capital Markets work better for small and medium sized enterprises. They are not working for a variety of reasons, part creditworthiness, part because the banks have been reluctant. We are healing from a i have beg wound. Very big wound. Overall are profitability will probably be good but we could have a bifurcated comi whic ecoh is not good for everyone. You want everyone to partnership partnership, and not a boom phase of going sideways. You need more people engage in the productive process in the economy in part you want to use all the Human Capital you can. Always glad to get your input on this. Former undersecretary of state for the growth of the economy. Good to see you ali. You too. If you are a middle class american with mouths to feed, there is not room for error as bob was just saying. Coming up the flight of the paycheck to paycheck worker as we kick off the year long focus on americas middle class, rebuilding the dream. And the Football Player that restarted his business in his grandmothers basement keep it here. While you were asleep news was happening. Here are the stories were following. Find out what happened and what to expect. International outrage. A day of political posturing. Every morning from 5 to 9 am Al Jazeera America brings you more us and global news than any other American News channel. Tell us exactly what is behind this story. From more sources around the world. The situation has intensified here at the border. Start every morning, every day 5am to 9 eastern. With Al Jazeera America. I feel like there are many stories out there that are untold that need to be told. Stories about young people, about minorities or about women or about countries you dont usually hear about. I feel very fortunate as a journalist to have a chance to share those stories. Al jazeera america. President obama is calling on Corporate America to help get the long term unemployed back to work. 23 Business Leaders visited the white house today to address the challenges facing the 4 Million People who have been out of work for more than six months. Heres when the president said earlier. Its a cruel catch 22. The longer youre unemployed the more unemployed you may seem. This is an illusion but its one that unfortunately we know statistically is happening out there. Nearly 300 ceos have signed a pledge of support. The administration will give 150 million in grants to Partnership Programs that assist the long term unemployed. Its the one day that most of you out there literally cant afford to miss. Its payday. A study out there says nearly half of america lives paycheck to paycheck. Many corporation for enterprise development, they call these asset poor, less than 547 dollars in savings for the bank for a family of four. What would one missed paycheck mean to you. Tracy tweets, losing food, transportation, and simon says it would mean several missed bills and i would never be able to catch United States. Tweet me alivelshi. Either in or aspire to be in the middle class. Almost all americans agree that the middle class feels squeezed. After years of job losses rising costs and stagnant wages. Todays middle class is under prer pressure. I feel like im on a treadmill like im sweating an theres nowhere to go. One little setback here and there and youre both going to sink. Only 44 of americans today say they belong to the middle class. Thats down nine points from the 53 of americans who identify themselves as middle class in 2008 when the recession hit. Millions of americans who built their wealth 30 their homes found themselves underwater or facing floa facing foreclosure on their loans. Soaring student debt makes it harder to move up the economic ladder and bolster americas middle class. We called our local bank and they said with how many student loan that we had we wouldnt be able to refinance at a better rate. Americas middle class is made up with households of total incomes of anywhere from 40,000 and 100,000 a year. Based on our analysis the middle class consists of middle income families who have similar dreams and aspirations. A secure job, home, access to health care and a College Education for that irchildren. Add to that time off for vacations and the time to live comfortably in retirement. Becoming harder to achieve. To achieve the American Dream is very difficult. It turned into a nightmare actually. Rebuilding the dream is crucial for all of us because the most important part of a robust economy is its middle class. Spending for middle class families creates consumer demand. Without a strong middle class americas economy will fal ferp join me for miss first hour special, americas middle class, rebuilding the dream. Ill be joined by robert reich and suze orman. Keat ke Keystone Pipeline, oil will be removed from the western canada region with or without the pipeline. The focus was only on the 770 mile northern leg, from hardesty hardesty, alberta to the United States. Pipeline from alberta to the texas gulf coast. Now eight more u. S. Federal agencies have to weigh in on the Keystone Pipeline over the next 90 days. Call it inspiration from perspiration,e a tipping pointn americas history Al Jazeera America. Theres more to it. It is Super Bowl Weekend so lets talk sports and business. The two have a lot in common. For one thing its pretty easy to keep score both on the field and the board room, so who better to run a company than a former college Football Player. Im talking about kevin plank, the ceo of under armour. The companys stock skyrocketed after an Earnings Report that knocked the socks off of investors. Total revenues for the company for 2. 3 billion. Smierlings an inspiration, and perspiration. It begins at the beginning such a personal story for me. I was a Football Player at the university of maryland who didnt like the way my cotton tee shirt felt beneath my uniform. With no more than a good idea i walked out to a fabric store and bought some material, that fit the idea i had. Took it to a local tailor, said, serve me as many tee shirts as upon out of this fabric. I was graduating that year, spring of 96 and the guys tried them and said these things are terrific and i realized that this wasnt just a good product idea, there was a whole category available, nobody had ever dressed what athletes wore other than their shoes or their jerseys but what was happening underneath was a new concept. You had entrepreneurial story behind you. I remember you selling flowers . You cant have a job but nobody says anything about you not being able to start a business. Roses, i sold 100 dozen roses, my senior years we sold nearly 100 dozen flowers. A guy who is eager, gets these shirts made, gets them to the teammates. Somehow you manage to be that same guy. You get big and you get advisors and investors and you got to report to people and you get tough days. What do you do to keep this the same company you started . I get that all the time. Are you the right person to keep this going . We grew 35 last year and the year before that as well. Who do you know whos ready to grow at these numbers . Were constantly changing were constantly growing were constantly evolving. I dont know if you can go to school for that or study for it. I dont know if we do a perfect job but i understand change and know what thats like and understand a lot of lessons. Going towards the next chapter of the company as well. You have professional athletes for the under armour brand. Yes. How do you make sure this is an athletic brand and at the same time a fashion brand . It was made on the field. It is authentic. We are now a fashion company. Without question, we are not afraid to have the words design in our mission statement. Were going to make a great looking product that the consumer wants to wear. Within the United States, demographically, whos the customer, who you want to get more into your clothes . We still target that 12 to 24yearold kid. Youre not going to target 50 to 60 and enough 12 to 24. We realize theres a broader message out there so were going to make sure were maturing with our brand. I got to tell us our Youth Business was 2x the size of mens and womens apparel. Weve had 17 consecutive quarters of apparel, youth is something thats still underpenetrated for us in april area we can attack we are the clear market leaders. Lets talk about shoes, you got into the shoe business, its shown remarkable growth. Why . It was the consumer going can you make me a cleat, i love the under armour brand. The time we came back in addition to the cleats can you make the training shoe can you make us a basketball, baseball shoe . Were taking it to the flex level. Youre outfitting the u. S. Team at sochi, thats a huge market for you. To be on that world staining, people ask why we havent done the olympics in the past, we continue afford to do that before. It was four years ago. U. S. Speed skating as well as canadian snowboard, bobsled, were finding ways to make those bigger Global Investments around things olympic. So more in 2016. Well impress that on the national stage. Who else do you need wearing your instead of in order your stuff . We signed note are dame. Its one of those institutions thats kind of bigger than its big. Great to watch the story over the years. Continued success to you kevin. Good luck to you. Dont forget our question for today. Many middle class americans live paycheck to paycheck. What would one missed paycheck mean to you, tweet me alivelshi or real money. Before i explain what the year of the horse means, the Chinese Zodiac names years in order after 12 animals, together with earth firewood water and metal. Like horses animated energetic, and like so many horses i know exceedingly with ity. Iwithingly witty. You were cleare year of the wooden horse. The year itself has some characteristics. Im no expert but the year of the wooden horse is said to be a mix of adventure and chaos. Some interpret that to be a year of market fluctuations and as i told you at the top of this show this year is starting out with plenty of stock market volatility. So go with the flow and dont try to fight the market. Or, the horse. Again, kung hai fat choy. May you prosper in the new year. Americas middle class, rebuilding the dream. It is start of a year long channelwide focus. Monday this time slot 7 00 p. M. Eastern and 10 00 eastern right here oning Al Jazeera America. Im ali velshi. Thank you for joining us. Ive said yes to a few opportunities that have come my way that could be taken as being rather risky