good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, carte blanche. this man smiling with president obama could save or sink europe's economy. and ours. francois hollande has just won free reign to two whatever he wants. while american headlines today went all in on greece. when all is said and done, is just another delay of the inevitable default. the fate of europe was decided in paris. france is the heart and the wallet of the eu because france isn't greece, or even spain. it is the eu. second only to the almighty germany in size. if either fall, the eu is done. and that's why the vote in paris is the story today. overnight, president francois hollande's socialist party got a voter mandate, winning an absolute majority in parliament. that's like controlling the house, the senate and the presidency. and hollande plans to use it. he has promised french voters the moon. this really isn't, everyone, about taking a side on the spending versus austerity as a national policy debate because the reality of it is is some of hollande's promises are simply extreme. like cutting the country's retirement age from 62 back to 60. that ties for the low nest europe, even though the french live longer than almost all other europeans. things like boosting the minimum wage when it's already an outlier. right now, minimum wage is $1,759 a month. that's compared to about 1,160 in the united states. and they do work fewer hours in france. and the new french president recently said this on tv -- [ speaking foreign language ]. >> translation? i do not like the rich. hollande campaigned on a 5% tax rate on millionaires. some people might say, i want to live in france. who wants to be number one? work fewer hours, get paid more, retire earlier. that's the way a civilized country should be. maybe so. except it doesn't add up. someone has to pay for it. the millionaire's tax when you add up all the 260 millionaires in france doesn't even put you in the ballpark fp and the bean counters see the problem coming like an 18-wheeler. last week, the credit ratings agency eagan jones slashed france's credit rating because, quote, hollande will be under pressure to keep campaign promises. and s&p downgraded france back in january. it's unclear if hollande will break his promises. after all, there is plenty of room to still be on the side of spending without being as extreme. hollande is in a tough spot of his own making. it might make his personal life look like a walk in the park. he does have a -- well, to the american eyes a store yo typical french lifestyle. this weekend, his current partner, the tv journalist lashed out at his former partner and the mother of his four children. royal was running for parliament. t trevallier tweeted against her. as for president obama, he might want to think before he does another smiling photo op with hollande. his fate and reelection could be in this man's big spending hands. "outfront" tonight, a valued member of our strike team, bill gross ceo of pimco. bill, good to see you. i was waiting all day to get my lovely menage a trois example into the broadcast. >> i can't top that. >> you're an investor who's looking at europe. do you think francois hollande will keep the extreme promises he's made on cutting the retirement age? >> well, i think that was vote-getting. you mentioned some of the extreme measures. and that's typical of elections, is it not, in the u.s. as well? but i think, clearly, erin, this was an anti-austerity vote in france. and it elevates the socialist pro-growth, higher deficit agenda as a model for euro land. angela merkel has been snubbed by the french in this election, which i suppose won't be the first or the last time. but it's going to have a consequences for euro land for the fiscal policy in the future. and we're going to see what hollande's agenda is. >> you've talked about being worried about france and its fiscal balance. it's one of the few countries in europe that you do have money. you do still, don't you? >> yes, we have investments in france, typically they're ten-year yields or about 2.5%. they're not what we are in italy, which are 5.5% or in spain, which are 7.5%. but they're at 2.5%. and they could go either way, depending upon whether or not this growth agenda is successful. >> but it's people like you and your investors -- a lot of americans, we always talk about it -- have money with pimco. you're going to make a decision on whether you are going to pay for some of francois hollande's promises. so what's your verdict? if you really see him going in the direction of a few of the things we said, the retirement age, the minimum wage, tax rates of 75%, would that be something that -- forget your own politics as an investor. you'd put money in? >> i think those are extreme. i think what he's trying to do is favor labor as opposed to capital. remember, to the extent he moves only gradually, i think that's a positive. what france needs, what euroland needs is growth. to the extent that they can prevent a continuing recession, the growth is going to be positive. but radical steps probably won't move in that direction. it will take too much towards labor. so moderation is the way forward for france and other countries, i believe. >> bill, if hollande does go full-out, goes for his agenda and everything he promised, what's the risk to the united states? if it becomes clear he's doing that, a break-up of the eu, not speculation about, oh, little greece, will it break apart? but a break-up at the heart of europe. >> i think the example, erin, is in terms of the results. what we've seen in the uk over the past two years with cameron is a very austered budget, the uk is in recession and moving perhaps in the opposite direction at the moment in terms of more fiscal spending. this is an experiment in france. can they take germany with them? can they, in a sense, develop a new model for euroland? we're going to see what investors want, what the u.s. desires in terms of a balance, is a growth agenda that will permit investment, that will permit capitalists to continue on in terms of their investment in france, such as pimco. we're just going to have to see. it's not a grand experiment. but it's certainly an experiment that's different from what we've seen over the past two years. >> thanks very much to bill gross. we have to assume some of those promises may not be kept. but if they are, things could really change. coming into our election, if europe falling apart. still "outfront," who's more out of touch with the american people? the guy who loves to golf or the guy who's never been to wawa? did you know that egypt is the third biggest recipient of american aid? billions of dollars a year. is it time for our country to put its money where its mouth is? and new audio released from george zimmerman's jailhouse calls tonight, we'll play the conversation that some say he was having in code with his wife. this man is about to be the millionth customer. would you mind if i go ahead of you? instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank makes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ our second story out front, something mitt romney said today in pennsylvania caught our attention -- >> where do you get your hoagies here? do you get them at wawas? i went to a place today called wawas today. anybody ever been there? i wanted to order a sandwich. you press the little keypad. you touch this, touch this, pay the cashier, there's your sandwich. it's amazing. >> it is amazing, by the way. anybody who lives in the mid-atlantic knows that wawa is amazing. it's called wawa not the wawas. he's a massachusetts guy. they don't have wawa up there. it's a sad thing for them. but critics were quick to say it shows romney is out of touch. but romney and the president have both proven they are far from average joes. >> the private sector is doing fine. >> i'll till you what, 10,000 bucks? $10,000 bet? >> they get bitter and they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them. >> i drive a mustang and a chevy pickup truck. ann drives a couple cadillacs. >> and the last election, there was the famous arugula salad that mitt romney enjoyed -- yeah, i like looking at ryan and roland with that look on their face. i have to say, i feel bad for the guy that he's deprived of a wawa, singular. but wawa's? >> well, one thing about that video that's worth mentioning is that if you look at the unedited version of the video, what he's describing as amazing is not wawas, the fictional store that doesn't exist, but he's talking about private sector streamlining. that's the amazing thing. it's not actually this -- >> but that's been in wawa for a while? i am a wawa lover. >> but he's talking about -- >> what the hell is a wawa? >> roland, wait a minute! >> i'm from texas. what is a wawa? is that what a baby does when they're crying. excuse me if i'm not feeling the wawa. >> all right. i'm going to preface this with you didn't know. but i believe it's a native american term for some sort of bird. >> have you ever heard of a pompano's? we have them in texas. >> so it's all right. >> okay, the dude's not from there, i got it. but here's the ordeal, fine, who's a regular person? president obama, he lives in public housing, rides in public transportation. manning, he gets it. we go through this all of the time about who's a regular person. guess what? both of these guys have got money. it's not like they're hanging out riding the metro, the subway or a bus every day. of course they're not regular. we don't want a regular president. >> well, there's something to be said for that. >> roland's right to the extent this is something that gets trot out every campaign cycle. the president's out of touch. when you live in the bubble of the presidency, you're going to do the google. and this cycle is complicated by the fact you've got a candidate who's got a horse in the olympics. these are gaffes on the campaign trail. this is something that goes back to george h.w. bush with a scanner at the grocery store. these are innocent mistakes. but the real question is folks feeling they can relate to them. that's what this becomes is proxy war for. are they authentic, can they relate to me? do they seem like real guys? >> i'll defend the premise of politicians being out of touch in this broader way. but it's not so much about romney or obama. whenever you get elected -- whenever you become president, you see a lot of folks abandon positions they'd held before, partly because you're surrounded by the national security state. you have a totally different idea regarding what is and is not appropriate. think about the security you're surrounded by constantly. you don't have the ability to relate to people. >> you can't zip into wawa on a saturday morning like i like to. >> that's what i'm saying. we could get so excited about this. bottom line is, we do not have regular candidates. they are not regular. it drives me crazy in the beltway when everything is about if you didn't go to harvard or yale, somehow you didn't go to a top-quality school. all that plays into this whole nonsense. all i'm saying, it's fine, do this mitt romney, get you some campaign staffers who know about the local joint. give them an f.a.q. run it all down so you don't say, you can press a button and get a sandwich. look, his wife said today, we're not going to take foreign trips because we have several houses here, we can live there. that's not regular, having several houses. but it is what it is. >> that reminds me of john mccain's irregular moment with not knowing how many houses he had. i believe, right? >> that's bad, not knowing how many cribs you have. >> and john kerry who is going to be playing mitt romney in the debates -- we have a bunch of really wealthy guys in the senate who run for president. president obama being a notable exception to that rule. he's become successful but did not start out on third base. but, look, the whole process of running for president is insulated. most folks don't wake up with the security detail. so right from the get-go, you're starting off in a strange place. >> a lot of folks believe that we want these unusual people to have less authority and control over our lives. that's the core of the idea. there's no way that you from washington, d.c., no matter how noble or well intentioned you are, can understand the texture of life for people who are in very different places. you're the president of a sprawling country of over 300 million people. you can't understand your wawa from your pompano's. and if you can't understand that how can you understand on a granular level? >> it's called papado's. i don't know pompano. >> i've got that texas flavor all over. >> you've got the twang, no question about it. >> worked on it all day. >> wawa, wawa, wawa! >> wawa's. >> thanks to all of you. look, we all agreed. you want to have exceptional people run for president. people who champion the best. or what we can become. not people who with champion something else. still "outfront," the ipad has ruled the tablet world. but is an announcement tonight about to change that? and a new heir apparent to the throne of saudi arabia. that could destabilize one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world. 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[ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? mystery solved. microsoft announcing literally just moments ago a tablet to compete with apple called the surface. that's the name of the new tablet, called the surface, like the surface of a table. microsoft which is sort of the khaki pants of the tech world has had geeks the world over foaming at the retainer after issuing an exclusive invitation. they said show up here. literally they didn't tell them until this morning where to go. the mysterious event is getting under way at this very moment and it could be the first step in the company's attempt to transform from geek to chic. a la ronald miller in "can't buy me love." the big question remains is will tonight's unveiling be enough to kill the ipad? that brings me to tonight's number, 3 million. that's how many ipads apple sold in the first three days after its launch which was only in 2010. can you imagine it was 2010? two years ago. the entire world has changed. two years ago. since then, rivals have released dozens of alternatives to try to catch apple. no one has even come close. microsoft, in fact, has been chasing the tablet dream for 12 years now. some say it was bill gates and microsoft that came up with the whole idea of a tablet but apple actually got the execution right. so will microsoft finally deliver with the surface? tweet us, let us know. will you try the surface over an ipad? we really do want to know. it could be a game changer. "outfront" next, the u.s. gives billions in aide to egypt every single year. but is that money being used to buy weapons to keep the people down? and jerry sandusky underwent psychological evaluation. does he have histrionic personality disorder? does that give him a defense? we have the answer. in fact, i'm already seeing your best friend, justin. ♪ i would've appreciated a proactive update on the status of our relationship. who do you think i am, tim? quicken loans? at quicken loans, we provide you with proactive updates on the status of your home loan. and our innovative online tools ensure that you're always in the loop. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. ensure that you're always in the loop. see life in the best light. outdoors, or in. transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. maybe even a little better. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. visit seemoresights.com for your chance to win the ultimate sightseeing dream vacation and more great prizes. brought to you by transitions lenses, the official sponsor of sightseeing. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about that 401(k) you picked up back in the '80s. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like a lot of things, the market has changed, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and your plans probably have too. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so those old investments might not sound so hot today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we'll give you personalized recommendations tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 on how to reinvest that old 401(k) tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and help you handle all of the rollover details. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and bring your old 401(k) into the