let's go "outfront." i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, the market slid nearly 200 points today. the reason, fear and uncertainty. fear of europe and fear of the super committee. we are counting down to a huge moment for america on a day our commander in chief was warned china's military is building up with one main goal, taking on america. i'll get to that in a moment. first, the super committee is exactly one week away from its deadline to cut a minimum of $1.2 trillion from america's deficit. today was a day called critical by some lawmakers. the meetings have ended. there is no word on a possible deal. now, nearly 80% of americans don't expect the super committee to do its job. but no deal isn't just a chance to roll our eyes and say, hey, we knew it all along. no deal is bad for america. no deal means rising interest rates down the road and a halt in job creation now. we need a deal, and a deal is not hard to strike. we've shown one way repeatedly on this show. that's to roll back the bush tax cuts for everyone, raising 2.8 trillion, and then cut 2.8 trillion in spending. yes, that is pain for everyone. but nothing like the pain if we do nothing. and that size of a deal would make a big difference. world markets would celebrate. the one-for-one bush tax cuts for spending cuts is just one option. there are a lot of ways to get a deal done. while congress dithers and plays politics, our commander in chief is getting whack a moled by china. you're looking at a live picture of the president addressing the australian parliament. he's talking a lot about the role of china and the role in america. you can see they're listening, very closely. today he said he would station more u.s. marines down under. the unspoken goal, to scare china. the problem is china calls the shots in australia now a. congressional advisory committee to say says the white house and congress must focus on china's military buildup as their defense spending has tripled. china is rising. china is actually now australia's number one trading partner. china wants to take over america's role as ruler of the pacific. the pafrk is where the future is because it's where the people are. the president's trip through asia is an effort to remind asia that america is still the world's superpower. the one way to help it stay that way is not by speeches to the australian parliament. that might help. it's for the super committee to do its job. peter know var rah is an author of "death by china" and professor at uc berkeley. the president is speaking live in khan burr rah. you think the super committee's inaction could speed china's rise, right? >> absolutely, erin. we've got gridlock in washington, d.c. we don't know how to deal with the economy. my view is the super committee, if it said the best jobs program was trade reform with china, they'd get it right. the fact of the matter is, erin, china is already a stronger industrial power than we are in terms of nults and bolteds and weapons systems. over times, within five to ten years they'll have the weapons system to push us right out of the pacific. there's one missile that's really interesting called the bammer. it has one sole purpose. it's aimed at killing the american aircraft carriers in the pacific. they want us back to hawaii, erin. >> pretty amazing. for those who say, who cares? here is why we care. 90-plus percent of the trade around the world goes by sea. whoever controls the seas controls the world economy. that's still the united states at this moment. do you think, peter, their military is a real and present danger to the united states right now? >> without question. the reason why obama is in australia right now is there's a vacuum there in terms of american leadership. it's not just australia that wants him there, it's japan. it's south korea. it's vietnam is totally freaked out about what china is doing. it's all about what john king said in the previous hour about petroleum in the south china seas. china wants us out. they would like to also at some point take taiwan. it's been a long-term goal. and you're absolutely right. the straight of mill lack ka is where 70% to 80% of china's oil comes through. they fear at some point if we get into problems with them, our aircraft carriers could shut that down. so they want us out. they're developing the weapons systems. guess what erin? they get their weapon systems from stealing them from the pentagon, whether it's their airplanes, missiles or aircraft carriers. that's what they do, they steal from us. >> apparently when the helicopter went down the night of osama bin laden died, some say the pakistanis let them look at our technology there. >> it's amazing what we put up with. >> thank you very much. it is something that gives you a food for thought. it makes you wonder if congress is really going to step up to the plate and deal with this problem. let's turn to representative christie noems, republican congresswoman from zk. thank you for being with us. the president speaking now in australia at this very moment. congress warned today about the rise of china's military power which can only get stronger so far as their economy is growing and lending and ours is not growing and borrowing. is the super commit see going to do its job. >> the more debt we continue to accumulate, that's who has been borrowing our bonds. this super committee needs to come for ward. it's time to do our job in washington, d.c. and do something that offers solutions. >> you are a member who has been staunch in your belief that we don't need tax increases. mr. toomey came on this show, member of the super committee and said he had come around to the idea that the wealthiest americans would when they got through the loopholes and lowered the tax rate end up paying more after the super committee did its deal. >> i always said i'm not in favor of raising tax rates, but certainly in favor of a system which could mean eliminating loopholes that have been around for decades. if we can make sure we have a more fair system, absolutely, i would support that. the only thing i'm not in favor of is increasing tax rates that will drive companies to look overseas. we need jobs in this country. >> it sounds like you're saying something that is significant and perhaps conciliatory which is, all right, you'd rather have a lower rate. if you got rid of loopholes and that ended up some people ended up paying more all in, that's all okay, so you could get new revenue? >> i said from the beginning when i started running for congress and when i served in the south dakota state legislature, i'm coming here to reform taxes. we shouldn't be picking winners and losers with the government. that's what we're doing with our tax code. >> in direct answer to the question, you would be okay with some people paying more after. >> absolutely there will be more people paying more dollars in taxes. >> what are you doing to get the super committee to get a deal done? we're hearing every day, they say they're going to do a deal and we're getting really close to the deadline and there's a lot of finger pointing going on. there's got to be a deal. so what are you going to do to get them to get it done? >> we've got the pressure on. i'm the freshman liaison to the leadership team. the leadership team knows how the freshman class feels. we want them to offer something that's a real solution, something that really will fix our problems in this country. we've been very vocal about that. we're expecting them to bring forward results. if they don't, lit be very disappointing for us and we'll have to deal with sequestration at that point. >> i'm curious before we go, there was a letter put up that 100 congressmen and women signed, 60 democrats, 40 republicans, it said put everything on the table, whether that be new revenue in the form of taxes or spending cuts. but you didn't sign that, did you? >> no, i don't believe i did. there are hundreds of letters circulated around here every day. that doesn't sound familiar to me. >> thank you very much. appreciate you taking the time to join us tonight. >> i appreciate it, too. let's bring in john avlon, cnn director. john, are we going to get a deal done? >> look, we better. the reality is there's increased pessimism on capitol hill. i can't believe given the stakes of this that congressman noem didn't know whether or not she signed the letter. we've got 150 congressmen and women saying go big, we've got your back. that's the urgency we need. time is ticking. that $4 trillion remark seems like a distant probability, more like they'll barely get through with 1.2 if we're lucky. >> and that just doesn't do much for you at all. you come right back to the table. >> no. >> i'm just curious. that letter was an important letter, the one she didn't recall signing. you had all those people sign it. i'm curious what you think about the significance of that. she did just say she was for some people paying more in taxes to do a deal. >> she did. and that is where -- that is where the give and take can occur. if we can agree on closing loopholes to raise revenue without raising taxes, that's a way for us to get some revenue on the table and offset it with spending cuts and entitlement reform as well. look, democrats on the far left don't like the entitlement reform. republicans don't want to see loopholes closed unless they're offset. as we know the path that you've discussed, you can overlay bowles-simpson and the gang of six, we know the path. what we need them to do is go big now. right now what's troubling is you're starting to hear voices for both parties say let's do the minimum and kick the big deal until after the election. china would be laughing at us all the way. we're self sabotaging when it comes to dealing with really difficult problems. >> they would be laughing if we don't get it done. john avlon, thank you. still "outfront" newt gingrich surging in the polls. will new revelations about his dealings with freddie mac stop the momentum in his track. we have a new number for how much he was paid. bizarre details about a mother whose child is missing in washington state. the website she might have signed up for just before he disappeared. the man who allegedly fired two shots at the white house arrested in pennsylvania today. confidence, with depend in color. now available in gray. looks and fits like underwear. same great protection. depend. good morning. great day. of course, neither do i. solution? 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[ chorus ] ♪ we are farmers bum-ba-dum, ba-bum-bum-bum ♪ that's the age 25% middle class americans say they'll have to work to until they're able to retire. a headline from a new survey conducted by wells fargo. the problem is the average life expectancy in the united states is just over 78 years. that basically means people are expected to work until they die. now to politics. newt gingrich is the latest republican to surge into the polls. you know what happens when that happens. well, the snipers come out. they are out in full force. he's under intense scrutiny for his dealings in particular with the government-backed mortgage giant frede mac. grinning rich was paid at least $1.6 million according to a report today by bloomberg news. that's way more than previously reported which was about $300,000. what did he do for that $1.6 million? that's what the scrutiny is all about. >> mr. speaker, bloomberg is reporting today you earned $1.6 million from freddie mac. what did you do actually -- >> offered strategic advice over a long period of time. >> how much did you spend on a monthly basis for doing that kind of work? sounds like a lot of money. >> first of all, it wasn't paid to me. gingrich group was a consulting firm that had lots of people doing things. we offered strategic advice. >> you didn't -- >> sure, but i don't know the amounts. >> is the $1.6 million figure correct? >> i don't know. we're going back to check. >> it's a big number to not remember. a good number for strategic advice, isn't it? it's a sensitive subject for conserving who blame much of the financial crisis on poor lending by freddie and its little friend fannie. grinning rich has harshly criticized it. stephen mcmahon is a democratic strategist. sherry gentleman koebist is a republican strategist in d.c. we have our own david gergen with us at all. steve, let's be clear. no one is saying anything about this is illegal. but is it routine to get that kind of money, $1.6 million for consulting, strategic advice, a little bit of that and a little bit of this? >> it's actually more routine than most americans know. members of congress all the time go through the resolving door. on the other side they're greeted by contracts for strategic advice which means using your access and power to try to get somebody a better deal than a regular american can get. that's the challenge for the former speaker, is to explain why it is he took all this money, what it is he did for it and how it is that fits with his notion of radical transformational change. frankly it looks just like business as urinal. >> sherry, how big of a problem are the freddie mac payments are they? >> i think it's a bit of a paper tiger. when you stretch the years, it's actually less than what a lot of firms here in town make quite frankly. it didn't go to him, as he said. the reason he's unfamiliar with some of the details of it, erin, he does have employees, and i know this. this was just one of many of their clients. he also said the advice he gave them they didn't listen to. he said he warned them about the bubble and basically said you have bad lending practices. we know a lot of people were warning them. maybe they thought perhaps if they were paying him he would give a different response. i don't see this as a problem. i see this as making something out of nothing. >> hmm. what do you think, david gergen? >> a couple of things. first of all, what we're seeing is when you're a candidate who is down fifth, sixth or seventh, people don't pay a lot of attention to you. when you come up and you're a challenger as he is now, you get this kind of scrutiny. this is only the beginning of the scrutiny. there will be a lot about his personal life before it's over. on the facts amz we know them about this situation, i happen to agree that it does not seem to me he's done anything that is improper, much less illegal. he was hired -- i think it's objection able that these government agencies were paying people so much. he was one of many people. i think congress is going to try to put a stop to that. i think his only danger is if he mischaracterizes what he did or misleading people and he's found out. as to taking that much money over a long period of time, it doesn't rise to the level of something that usually causes a bunch of political trouble. >> it is amazing how we're the only country with a fannie and freddie and our homeowner ship isn't as high as other countries that don't have these generous mortgage deductions and we can't seem to get rid of them. let me throw this poll up and get each of you to respond. take a look at newt gingrich in a runoff against obama. mcclatchy maris poll, dead heat. steve? >> it demonstrates what we all know. 2012 will be a lot different than 2008. in new hampshire, president obama won new hampshire in 2008 by nine points over senator mccain. it's a classic swing state. what you're seeing really in this poll is two things. number one, mitt romney has been campaigning in newspaper newspaper f new hampshire for quite a long time. this is barack obama versus another candidate. whether the other candidate is mitt romney or newt gingrich even, it's going to be a close race because it's a close state. i think that's all we're seeing here. >> david gergen, any chance for someone else to rise? someone pointed out the other day it's not just been rick perry, herman cain, michele bachmann and now gingrich. earlier there was sarah palin and also donald trump. is there anybody else to come to the top? >> i don't think so because i think we've run out of alternatives. isn't this sort of the last one standing in terms of the alternatives? maybe i missed someone like san torm, maybe huntsman can catch fire in new hampshire. i think newt gingrich has acquitted himself in these debates as well as anybody else. probably second only to mitt romney. very strong in the debates and very steady. he'll come under this additional scrutiny. there are a lot of reporters out there who are laying for him. think think he's going to face some tough stories. we'll see where it goes. >> thanks so much to all. still "outfront," the latest developments in the penn state child rape case. is the case against jerry sandusky as open and shut as we first thought? we looked into it and we have the bottom line answer for that. the tsa says the body scanners you go into don't cause cancer but they refuse to theft them. how safe are they? it's the weekly tradition on this show. that means the camel report is next. i habe a cohd. yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. 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[ john ] i'm grill master john mazany. i'm grill master adrianna hollis. and we sea food differently. so would it be hump day without the camel report? this week corinth, mississippi, held its annual civil war reenactment. the festivities included the usual, artillery displays, music and camels. that's right. it turns out in the 1850s the department of war brought a bunch of camels from the middle east to the american southwest. now, the reason is, unlike horses, camels can go days without water. in the american desert that was hellal ful. they were perfect. what happened? why don't we have camels running around america. it turns out the cam pells were champions by jefferson davis. at the end of the civil war things with davis's name attached to them got shu