does it add up? let's go "outfront." ♪ "outfront" tonight, ben bernanke says no to the addicts. addicts that are desperate for another hit of the fed's drugs. today in hearings on capitol hill, america's top banker, the chief of the federal reserve, got more negative on the state of the u.s. economy. >> given that growth is projected to be not much above the rate needed to absorb new entrance into the labor force, the reduction in the unemployment rate seems likely to be frustratingly slow. >> so what's the solution? well, in note after note from wall street economists and traders today, i read something along the lines of this. bernanke will launch another round of easy money to help the economy. it will bring interest rates even lower. it's just a matter of time, he'll do it, he'll do it, don't worry. that's the kind of talk the addicts use. yearning for more of his powerful drug, which is essentially just cheap, easy money. so many were hoping for another shot of the goods today, but while the fed chairman painted a darker picture of the economy, he also made it clear he is not ready -- not ready to hit us with another round of easy money, at least not yet. >> we are looking for ways to address the weakness in the economy, should more action be needed. >> now ben bernanke also said, quote, congress is in charge here. not the federal reserve. and that congress needs to reach an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff. well, of course, we've joined that chorus until we've been blue in the face over the past year. but the problem, of course, is that congress does not seem to have any intention of dealing with the tax cuts, debt ceiling, sequestration cuts, the things that comprise the fiscal cliff. congress seems to be incapable of doing its job, something that chuck schumer admitted at the hearing today. >> so given that the political realities, mr. chairman, particularly in this election year, i'm afraid the fed is the only game in town. and i would urge you to take whatever actions you think would be most helpful in supporting a stronger economic recovery. >> i like watching ben bernanke's face. he looks down as if his heart has been broken. he could cave. he could give us more easy money, drugs, he could do it in august, he could do it in september. but you know what, it isn't something to just root for, plain and simple. because you know what, the fed's cheap money drugs are not cheap. congress is the one that needs to act. we've already had three rounds of ben's version of stimulus. and it came with a price tag of $3 trillion. so we actually did the math. we're the highs that we got worth the price? take a look. when the financial crisis first hit, the fed stepped in with an unprecedented plan to lower interest rates, and stimulate borrowing and economic activity. they call it qe-1 or quantitative easing 1. so it went from november of 2008 all the way to march of 2010. and during that time, we did see effectiveness. borrowing rates dropped, according to bankrate.com. 30-year fixed rate mortgages fell from 6.33% to 5.23%, pretty good for the addicts. the cost was $1.7 trillion. and the economy still was dragging along. so ben served up another shot. qe-2 went from november 2010 until june of the following year. it was like a bad trip. a 30-year mortgage rate actually went up by the end of qe-2 and we spent $600 billion. the economy still did not get better. so ben tried again. he gave us a little bit more. a more creative cocktail, sort of a methamphetamine special. called operation twist. maybe bath salts. it launched in september, 2011. goes through the end of this year. and mortgage rates have fallen a little. 4.22%, down into the 3s. but nowhere near the buzz of the first hit. and frankly, the reason the rates have gone down so much, have had a whole lot to do with europe's problems and pushing into the united states out of desperation and the feds printing another $400 billion. so the bottom line, every time we got another injection from ben bernanke, the highs, the benefits got a little bit lower. the $2.7 trillion cost of the total fed stimulus, how about this, another way to see whether it was worth it is to see whether it succeeded in the ultimate goal here, to create jobs. and look at this. it does not add up. for every job created from the beginning of ben's stimulus, quantitative easing until today, the fed's money would be $807,205 per job. that's a lot of money. so ben bernanke knows the bad side of his drugs. he could have done what everybody wanted today and launched another qe. qe-4. but he had the guts to say, sure, the economy is slowing more than i thought. that does not mean i will go print another hundreds of billions of dollars of money. "outfront" tonight, steven moore from the wall street journal editorial board and christian weller from the center for american progress. what do you think, steven moore? did he do the right thing by holding out and saying, look, i'm just not going to do it yet, even though you have people like chuck schumer, you know, i've got to give him credit, throwing in the towel and saying, look, we're not going to do it, buddy. it's you or nobody. >> you used the right term, gutsy. i thought this was a gutsy speech by the fed chairman, ben bernanke. the members of congress, you were right, they were like crack cocaine addicts, begging ben bernanke for just one more fix. and he said no to that. and i thought that was an important point in that speech. he was quite discouraging about the economy. anybody who thought that ben bernanke was going to give congress a pat on the back and say everything is going to be okay and full speed ahead, that was not the presentation that he gave today. he said, look, we're in some really tough times. he didn't project that the unemployment rate would fall. he basically said we're going to be at 8% or more for a while to come. and i just found it very discouraging. >> mine, that part, christian, was depressing. the question is, should ben bernanke do anything more? i mean, after all, when you look at the amount of money and that he's tried to pump into this economy, it has worked less and less every single time. and certainly per job, that number is pretty frightening. >> well, i mean, let's be clear. that's just the balance sheet of the federal reserve. it's not really money ent, it's just shoveling money from long-term into short-term and bringing more cash into the economy. but i think the fed should do more. what i'm missing, really, from bernanke is a sense of urgency. i mean, we're acting as if qe-3 is the only thing we could do. operation twist would be another way to go. the fed could change its targets. for instance, could target unemployment rates as some have suggested, it could target growth rates, which ultimately -- >> christian, they've been targeting -- let's be honest. he's been trying to get -- >> that's the problem. the federal reserve -- >> but it was an explicit mandate to do so. i find it hard to believe he would have suddenly had a magic tool -- bullet he didn't already try to use. >> we do know that these explicit targets matter. that they do create certainty that they create self fulfilling expectations. that they will bring in more spending, because then it says, okay, well, the federal reserve says unemployment rates should be there and the unemployment rate will use all of its tools, a variety of its tools, interest rates, quantitative easing, whatever you want, in order to get there. and i think that's sort of what we're missing. it's sort of like, yeah, it's not as good as we had hoped. >> this whole issue with the fed target -- hold on. i don't want to get into a debate. hold on. hold on, christian. i don't want to get into a debate over what the fed should target, although i recognize it's a very important one. but steven, what about his point? >> the point is that qe-3 is not the only tool that the federal reserve has. >> here's the problem. the federal reserve should -- >> christian, let steve respond. >> with a sense of urgency and try to do something. >> here's the problem. if just printing money, erin, were the solution to our problems, boy, would this be an easy crisis to get out of. as you showed eloquently, that's what the fed has been doing the last four years. we have had had the lowest -- look, push interest rates lower? you saw, erin, what happened today. 1.44% interest rates on the 10-year treasury bill, the lowest they have been any time in my lifetime, and probably since the great depression. so, look, i just don't think prohibiting money is the solution to this crisis. i do think one of the important things bernanke said today, don't jump off that fiscal cliff. you know me, erin, i'm a big believer, we should get rid of that tax time bomb. chuck schumer was wrong. the one thing congress could do right now, tomorrow, to make the economy better, would be to take the tax off the table that i think is having a very unsettling effect on businesses right now. >> all right. we're going to hit pause on that. obviously, that tax thing is much more complicated than just doing it tomorrow. although i know everybody would like to. they just have different ways they want to deal with it. all right, still "outfront," mitt romney gave an interview to a local station in pittsburgh talking about why he will not release more than two years of tax returns. and we have that for you next. and victor boot, remember him, the merchant of death? he is in prison for dealing arms around the world. but others have picked up where he left off. and the woman leading the charge to track them down is "outfront" tonight. new developments in the search for those two little girls who disappeared in iowa on their bikes. fbi dogs were searching today. we spoke to the fbi. that's "outfront." this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. [ male announcer ] ok, so you're no marathon man. but thanks to the htc one x from at&t, with its built in beats audio, every note sounds amazingly clear. ...making it easy to get lost in the music... and, well... rio vista?!! [ male announcer ] ...lost. introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. rethink possible. introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. ♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream solutionism. the new optimism.™ homicide of young people in america has an impact on all of us. how can we save these young people's lives? as a police chief, i have an opportunity to affect what happens in a major city. if you want to make a difference, you have to have the right education. university of phoenix opened the door. my name is james craig, i am committed to making difference, and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. hey america, even though slisa rinna is wearing the new depend silhouette briefs for charity to prove how great the fit is even under a fantastic dress. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. we invite you to get a free sample and try one on too. welcome to hotels.com. summer road trip, huh? as the hotel experts, finding you the perfect place is all we do. this summer, save up to 30%, plus get up to $100 on us. welcome to hotels.com. our second story "outfront," mitt romney doubles down, refusing again to release more of his tax returns and claiming the obama campaign only wants them for run reason. here's what he said, just moments ago in an interview with our pittsburgh affiliate, wpxi. >> my experience is that the democratic party these days has approached taxes in a very different way than in the past. their opposition people look for anything they can find to distort, twist and try and make negative. and i want to make this a campaign about the economy, and creating jobs. and they want to make this a campaign about attacking people and diverting attention from our job fixture in this country. >> john avalon, jonathan prince join me. a democratic strategist and veteran of the obama and clinton white houses, both of which, of course, it's only fair to say, do have a long and storied tradition of tax return disclosure. so do many republicans, wry han, who have run. it's interesting romney is making this about democrats who have been critical. so have many republicans and strategistists. today they said mitt romney give it up. >> indeed. >> i like how ryan is like, indeed. that is true. >> a lot of folks -- haley barbour, a large number of leading republicans saying it's time to release tax returns. the theory that i find interesting was advanced by josh green of bloomberg business week. of his theory is, in 2009, a large number of high net worth individuals experienced big post crisis losses, and as a result of that, many of them paid unusually low shares of their income in taxes. so one possibility -- >>y theory. there is going to be one year where the rate is -- >> one possibility is in that year the rate is bizarrely low and that's tough to explain despite the fact that it kind of makes sense when you take really big losses in any given year you're not going to pay high taxes. but i think that might be what's at issue here. >> but we're going to sit here and discuss it. people are going to talk about it. he can come out and explain it and it would be done. he was vetted for vice president -- just put him out there. >> four years ago, ran for president. he has been governor since 2002. so we're left to assume rationally what he just said. look, it's not worth it. and it's not credible for mitt romney to say it's the democrats who want to see his returns when you look at the litany of conservatives who now have said this. look, national review, haley barbour, ron paul, bill crystal, the governor of alabama. probably nothing has united the disparate wings of the conservative movement as much during mitt romney's candidacy as this call to release his tax returns. >> so all right. let me make thispoint, jonathan, this is a bipartisan tradition. john mccain did only give two years, which is fair to say. but george w. bush gave eight years of tax returns. john kerry gave 20. my god, i can't even believe he saved 20 years. president obama gave 12 years. jonathan, that's the point. i -- how do you graciously, if you're mitt romney, give in here? >> well, there's no gracious way to give in anymore, because he's had his back up against the wall for so long. but there still is the opportunity to give in, get it out there and move on for him. i mean, you know, those of us who have, you know, gone to kind of crisis communications 101 have taken those -- 101 course of crisis communications understand that you've got something that you don't think people are going to like, the best thing you can do is get it out there and get it over with. meanwhile, mitt romney, you notice, continues to dance around the subject and dance around the subject, giving us lots to talk about on cable tv, speculating what's in it, speculating what might be in it. it's fun for us. >> one night of aggressive hits on the low tax rate in 2009 or whatever it might be and then you move on. >> look, it's got to be -- it's definitely going to be more than one night. here's the issue erin. he is right to say that this is a distraction. but the problem is that that's the dynamic. that's been unleashed. and, you know, i think that you eventually have to deal with that. i think that's a reasonable point jonathan raises. >> okay. >> distraction of his own making. and, you know, there is fundamental dissonance, he can't demand apologies for negative campaigns when he is campaigning on no apology. he can take control of the cycle. it's communications 101. you have to put it out. >> put it out there and then say here's what i'm going to do about jobs. i didn't want to do it, you guys are jerks, but i did it. "outfront" investigation into drilling for oil in the arctic. shell is ready for a potential disaster like the deepwater horizon. and an update on the recovery of aimee copeland, the young woman making a miraculous recovery after she was attacked by flesh-eating bacteria. her father, "outfront" tonight. there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or, signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. men with breast cancer or who have or might have prostate cancer, and women who are, or may become pregnant or are breast feeding should not use androgel. serious side effects include worsening of an enlarged prostate, possible increased risk of prostate cancer, lower sperm count, swelling of ankles, feet, or body, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing during sleep, and blood clots in the legs. tell your doctor about your medical conditions and medications, especially insulin, corticosteroids, or medicines to decrease blood clotting. talk to your doctor today about androgel 1.62% so you can use less gel. log on now to androgeloffer.com and you could pay as little as ten dollars a month for androgel 1.62%. what are you waiting for? this is big news. for their "destination wedding." double miles you can "actually" use. but with those single mile travel cards... [ bridesmaid ] blacked out... but i'm a bridesmaid. oh! "x" marks the spot she'll never sit. but i bought a dress! a toast... ...to the capital one venture card. fly any airline, any flight, anytime. double miles you can actually use. what a coincidence? what's in your wallet? [ all screaming ] watch the elbows ladies. starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news. our third story "outfront." it's full speed ahead for shell oil and its plan to drill wells in the arctic. today the man who has to give final approval before drilling it start said his agency, the department of the interior will make the final call on august the 15th or by august 15th. secretary ken salazar wouldn't say whether drilling would occur this summer. he told the "new york times" we have not given the final permits to shell, and if it does occur it will be done under the most watche