Mission critical rise above d. C. Welcome back to our continuing coverage, Mission Critical rise above d. C. Weve been here all morning long. While weve been here on capitol hill, weve been talking to lawmakers about rising above gridlock and reaching a real deal on the fiscal cliff. In the last hour we sat down with Grover Norquist saying no one should strike a bad deal, and that there is no better reason to raise taxes now than there was in the past. He also added he thinks House Speaker boehner has been a good leader during the fiscal cliff negotiations. And then we were joined by bob corker and bob conrad. Corker said we need to focus more on entitlements now, and he will not sign any package that doesnt deal with entitlements at this point. Conrad said more, not less, should be included in some sort of a big deal. By big deal, he means over 4 trillion. We are now just 20 days away from the fiscal cliff deadline. We continue to bring both sides of the aisle to sit down together. Congressman sander levin is a Ranking Member of the house ways and means committee. And a republican from new jersey, the vice chairman of the House Budget Committee and a member of the House Financial Services committee. Gentlemen, thank you both for being here. Thank you. We just sat down with senators conrad and corker. They seem to agree on a lot of areas. One of those areas is they think we need to negotiate up from this point, not down from this point and cut some sort of a deal that is 4 trillion or greater when you add up the tax increases. Congressman levin, would you agree with that, going up not down . No, i think we should go up. The question is, when. My view is, first things first. We have to pass the middle class tax cut. Thats half of the potential impact of the cliff. Half. Then what we need to do is reach a decision and not renew the upper income tax cuts. Thats 1 trillion over ten years. We have to make sure we pass unemployment insurance. I brought a chart here, and it shows the impact middle class tax cut has the most in terms of impact on the financial cliff. Ui is next, unemployment insurance. Because when people receive it, they spend it. And 2 million people, if we dont act january 1, their federal benefits, all of a sudden, its gone. Also, the physician reimbursement has to be handled. And also, the dont forget dont forget a t. If we postpone it and go into next year, its chaos. First steps first. I think we need to do the entitlement issue, but we cant do it all at once. If we try to do it all at once, im afraid we go over the cliff. And we should not do that. Right. Congressman garrett, i know youre committed to an issue that says that spending is a problem, not revenues. There you go. Our state has been hit by a storm that may be worse than hurricane andrew. It requires spending. Do you veto that spending on principle . At this point in time, we just got the president s proposal as to the 60 some odd billion dollars. The governor said theyre looking for more. Thats just coming over to the house and senate to take a look at those numbers. I think in those numbers, i think its appropriate for congress to look at them, to also look for what i was asking for, that we never got with katrina, and that was some degree of accountability. You remember all the stories about the fema trailers, about the credit, debit cards, whatever they were at that time, given out to people across the country, even if they were not in those areas. I think the American Public wants to make sure there is a that level of accountability going into this sort of thing. But you raise a good point, were at 239 billion in deficit, i think the first couple months of this year and theyre talking about adding 60 billion on top of that. Im trying to figure out what kind of spending is good and what kind of spending is bad. Were all spending. We know there are a lot of people in congress who are committed to cutting spending. But when you ask them about it, as we have this morning, theyve got different they pledge their constituency to not increase taxes. They want to cut spending. But if new jersey doesnt get that spend, even if its a little bit wasteful for heavens sakes, were really going to be hurt. One persons stimulus is another persons wasteful spending. The president talked time and time again, aside from the issue of the katrina spending, or sandy spending, the president has spoken time and time again, we need additional stimulus of spending. We saw how well that has worked out the last couple of times, 700 billion, 800 billion spent and not producing any jobs. Thats the problem. When the government spends money, and a lot of these other Infrastructure Investments and stimulus, it takes from the private sector, not creating jobs. If the government is able to spend this money better than a private sector, i have a problem with that. I just came from michigan. Theres been a resurgence of the Auto Industry. There was federal money that went into it. Without federal money, chrysler and gm would have gone bust. The liquidity. Like aig exactly. Let me finish. You talk about its all wasted. Thats not true. Thats not true. Some of it is well spent. And i think you should answer your question. Sandy, not named after me, had a major impact on the east coast. Theres been a request for help from the federal government. Im all in favor of accountability. But did you have accountability with katrina . I dont think so. Its your constituents that are paying for the wasteful money. If youre coming here telling your constituents, you really dont no, look, im saying, im in favor of accountability. The congressman from new jersey needs to speak up for the state. Im in favor of accountability. Let me finish. After accountability is built in, will you vote yes or no . I will be supportive of slaks once we have the accountability in place. Good. Work with me on the accountability, fantastic. Absolutely. Ill make sure the people in new jersey and new york are not left high and drive. Because its a national issue. When theres an emergency, we just dont all say, everybody on their own. Which is often your theory. No, everybody in this country isnt always on their own. We are a national community. And when theres a tragedy, when theres some kind of event in new jersey, new york, we all have a responsibility, accountability. Dont use that as a dodge for saying, lets act. The Auto Industry would have been on its just destroyed. About 1. 5 million jobs, i might add. Absolutely. And we had accountability there. Let me get a word in here. I know you want to dominate the conversation no, i want you to get to the point. We now agree there should be additional language in the legislation to have accountability. That is a great point. So far there wasnt that accountability when you voted in the past on a bailout to states in this area. Its good that we moved that point. I look forward to working with you to provide that accountability. There was accountability in terms of help for gm and chrysler. And aig. There was accountability. And people like you were investing in aig when the government was doing at that time . Aig was saved. That was really important. Were you personally investing in it . Im at a 48 tax rate. No, when the government was bailing out aig, were you personally encourage your viewers to buy aig at that point in time or saying, now is not the time . I was recommending aig. I thought it was a good deal after the stock became public again. No, no there was nothing to trade. If the government does such a great job in these bailouts, maybe we should have the government be involved in all these things, like solyndra and all the rest. A lot of people are in shelters. Do you believe the government does a better job of picking winners and losers in the private sector . When theres a loser, we have, like when theres a storm like sandy, losers, we have to step up to the plate. Lets get back to the main issue. The main issue, that is the cliff. But you said first things first and you want to see the tax increases before you go along with spending cuts, that is a nonstarter with the other side of the aisle. Let me finish. No, you always want to finish. Let me just say this. Are you for the middle class tax cuts . There is no middle class tax cut. No high income tax cut. The tax rates do not go down. We have current tax rates here. If we pass this bill jointly, the tax rates stay here. No one is suggesting that the tax rates for the middle class go up. Lets get the term oh, oh, you dont up or down . No, im saying they go up. Everybody agreed to that. I dont know why. Dont mislead the viewers. You said that you want a middle class tax consult. No one is suggesting that the taxes go down. So youre misleading the viewers when you say theres a possibility of if we dont act, the taxes go up. Thats not what you were saying a moment ago. What were all suggesting is tax rates should not go up on anyone. Im quoting president obama when he was senator obama, bad Economic Times is not the time to raise taxes on anyone. Then why are we raising taxes the people are for it. We should extend the middle class tax cut and not the i dont want to be rude, but congressman garrett from new jersey and congressman from new jersey. Thank you for being here. This mission continues. Weve got much more from capitol hill. This morning, at 10 00, senator mark warner, and 11 00 a. M. Former white house chief of staff, i remember when he was working in the private sector. Now its time for my coanchor to come in. Jim, i cant tell if youre having fun down there or not. You tweeted this morning that you call this fun . Yeah. Ill tell you one thing, guys, listening to that conversation, a few minutes before the opening bell, front page of the Washington Post, investors arent waiting for a deal. Theyre selling stock, theyre trying to sell homes. Theyre setting up shelters, gifts for taxes. This discussion is not academic by any stretch of the imagination. We have to avoid the cliff, period. Yes, we do. We do. To your point, carl, 20 billion in special dividends have been paid out this quarter. Some of the economists said this would be a jump of income in the household, payouts to dividends, acceleration into this year. Becky and jim, who have been doing amazing work on capitol hill, did talk to Grover Norquist, a bit of a rematch after cramers appearance a couple of weeks ago with Grover Norquist. Obama personally moved it out two years, because he didnt want to raise taxes and damage the economy, because he said the economy was weak. The economys not strong now. So the argument to raise taxes now is not any better than it was two years ago. I think theres a real danger we could end up with some damaging tax increases, and nothing to show for it. Jim, Quick Reaction to that exchange between you and grover . There was a lot of positives here. Grover wants to put cameras in the room. When i cover the florida legislature, how many years ago was that, they put cameras in the room. You know what happened, a lot of people started making a lot of sense. So i think that grover makes some good points, because you wouldnt get this kind of rancor. Jim, good to have you down there. We need you down there today. We want to draw your attention to the screen here. David and melissa was halted for news pending. And here is some news. This goes back, of course, if you recall, liberty owned a stake in expedia. Trip adviser was spun off from expedia. But they also still held a stake there. I have to look in a bit more, but there have always been a lot of goings on between mr. Malone and mr. Diller in terms of their various ownership stakes in these companies. In the meantime, futures coming off of a fourday win streak off the dow. Thats not happened since the middle of october or so. S p riding to the upside, just barely. Nfib, big collapse in Small Business optimism in this country. German confidence, positive for the First Time Since may. And the fed meeting begins, a twoday meeting with that press conference tomorrow. When we come back, goldman making a call on retail today with a number of buys. Well tell you whats going on next. Phil lebeau talks about Virgin Atlantic. And well talk aig. Absolutely. One more look at futures. More squawk on the street in a minute. Try running four. Ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately weve got ink. It gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at Office Supply stores. Rewards we put right back into our business. This is the only thing weve ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. Make your mark with ink from chase. Governor of getting it done. You know how to dance. With a deadline. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above, and still pay the midsize price. This is awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is, business pro. Yes, it is. Go national. Go like a pro. The governments now planning to sell the remaining stake in the insurance giant. Theyll be sold at 32. 50 each, representing 16 of outstanding aig shares. The sale expected to total about 7. 6 billion. Treasury and Federal Reserve will exit the bailout with total profits of taxpayers for 22. 7 billion. On 182 billion bailout, that is approximately a 12 return. Not bad. Before the show, we were saying treasury like everyone else, trying to get out before the Capital Gains go up. Thats not really the case. The point is a good one, 22. 7 billion. We have it broken down to a certain extent. Over the last 19 months, the treasury has sold 1. 66 billion shares of aig. Once represented a 92 stake in the insurer. Theyve taken that down, as you see, the average price they got, now selling for 34 million shares. That will wrap it up for them. 1. 66 billion, 31. 18 a share, of course. It ends up being 22. 7 billion. Not for treasury as much as the Federal Reserve realizes a significant profit. Particularly buying the damaged assets that were at aigs Financial Products unit. Namely all the cds for the mortgage securities. Thats where they made a lot of the money. You can see it right there, of course, 22. 7 billion. A lot of shareholders saying were going to get fourplus billion dollars announced yesterday, another 5 billion when we sell the remaining in aia as the lockup there. Why not they could have been in a position to buy the stake back themselves, that being aig. The question for aig will be next year. What do you do with all your excess capital . What will the government, which still has a lot of sway here, allow you to do with your excess capital, amazingly enough people even considering buying Something Else. That will be a key question. Not just for them, but gm also that has a large hold in the treasury. The stock is trading higher, jim, in the free market. This morning bernstein saying the offer was oversubscribed. And the last overhang on the stock is out of here. Yeah, this is amazing. This was not a qualified aig. This is actually by the public. Dave and i talked periodically about how the hedge funds like this stock. Tim is an executive in t. A. R. P. , okay . He was in charge of this sale. He said over and over again he would not break price, that aig would not lose money for the government, but more importantly he was not going to hurt the shareholders. My hat is off to him. Im down in washington, all i ever hear about is the government shouldnt is a bunch of idiots, they dont know what theyre doing. Aig was fabulous. Yeah. And on t. A. R. P. , the government has recovered more than 90 of the 418 billion spent under t. A. R. P. So interesting stats for the tax paks out there. A. Never would have thunk it four years ago. I think anybody, 182 billion sunk in, nobody ever would have expected to get it back, let alone make a profit. Exactly. As you know, cramers in washington, but hes still ready to help you capitalize on the markets. Find out next in his mad dash. Investors would love to get a lump of coal this year. Which five top executives are most likely to be fired in 2013. Were going to answer that question. Well look at the futures as we head into the Tuesday Morning open. Mission critical open. The dow looking to open higher by 45 points. More squawk on the street straight ahead. Igations. Igations. I need to rethink the core of my portfolio. What i really need is sleep. Introducing the ishares core, Building Blocks for the heart of your portfolio. Find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. Ishares by blackrock. Call 1800ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Read and consider it carefully before investing. Risk includes possible loss of principal. I always wait until the last minute. Can i still ship a gift in time for christmas . Yeah, sure you can. Great. Wheres your gift . Uh. Whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Ship Fedex Express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. He may be on the hill today, he may be in the middle of political discourse, but jims eyes are never taken off the market. Youre watching at t this morning, whats up . I think the report that came out this morning is very significant. It says that at t is selling more smartphones than we thought. Smartphones, thats apple 4, which they actually mentioned the 4 is doing well u and iphone 5. Carl, i just confessed, this market is about where we are right here, in the rotunda, and where apple is going. This is a bullish piece about apple. Fast money, other shows that maybe apples not doing that well. You certainly wouldnt feel that way if the look at the at t overweight by jpmorgan. We tried to debunk some of the debt cross thesis, it doesnt always work. No. Remember, though, if you do have a big capital gain, youre stuck with the tax adviser who says, what are you doing worrying about the iphone 5, the iphone 4 . Nail it down. Carl, it is encouraging to see that the actual substance, the Technology May be winning. And this is a report that i did not expect. Because it also means that at t is the margins have to go down because theyre subsidizing more apple phones than they thought. I dont know how youre going to do it. Youre going to do th