>> live with answers for you and our studio audience. >> help me decide where to go to college. >> how much should we invest. far are should we buy a house in this economy? >> only in america. a live edition from the studio audience. we will be taking the questions. facebook.com/piers tonight. suze orman with dollars and common sense on america's economy. president obama had his say. >> banks and lenders must be held accountable for the practices that caused this crisis in the first place and all of us have to take responsibility for actions and lack of actions. >> controversial comments from mitt romney saying he is not concerned with the poor and will focus on middle class americans. >> i am in this race because i care about americans. i am not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there. if it needs repair, i will fix it. >> i want to get suze orman's take on this. she is the number one finance guru. she joins me now. welcome, suze. let's start with mitt romney. that was an extraordinary comment for someone who wants to be president of the united states. i am not concerned about the poor. whatever came afterwards and it sounded bad. >> it sounded bad and very naive. for so long have i not been saying the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and middle class is disappearing. he is concerned about the middle class. what middle class are we talking about? there about 50 million people in poverty. what does it mean? a family of four making $22,000 a year or less. there is almost 150 million people that are in poverty, near poverty or that close to it. one out of two, one out of three people in the united states of america are edging in poverty isy and he's saying he is not concerned? he should have fought it. he never should have said it, but it's a ridiculous thought. >> doesn't it sum up the problem? it's the sense that people have about him that he has a disconnect. the money he declares and all of this t adds up to a picture of a wealthy guy slightly out of touch with real americans many of whom hundreds of millions are suffering right now. >> i don't understand the safety net that he said that's there. if it's broken, he will fix it. like it's that easy. for him to get the economy back online, the first programs he will change are the programs that affect the poor. very, very silly thing for that man to have said. >> for president obama laying out again criticism of the system that americans miss strongly. quite interestingly in britain, the banking community in the last week alone. one big banker was denied a million pound bonus. 1.5 million pounds at least. it was removed by arng. secondly another famous bangb banker was united by the queen. they stripped him of his knight hood, normally reserved for spies. you are seeing a series of big blows to bankers in britain. would you like to see that in america? do you think the bankers have got away with it in many ways? >> many of them have gotten away with it, but many of the executives on wall street have gotten away with it as well. that's why the consumer financial protection bureau that president obama put into place, he went over and he did this because they didn't want to provide funding. it is so important that they are in power now because the banks have to report to them. the banks have to be held responsible. # responsible. one of the best ways to do it is with the csdc. >> in the moment lots of people are cueing up to say things are improving. the jobless figures are getting better. they are saying the economy is slowly improving. do you think america is now coming out of recession? >> no. i think people constantly get the economy and the stock market confused. when the stock market is going up and everything people tend to feel more hopeful because they are seeing 401 k statements go up and ira statements going up. is the economy getting better? i don't see jobs coming back. i see jobs won't come back because of productivity. they don't need them anymore. half of the world is functioning as great without the workers as they were when they had the workers so why get them back? >> to me it is very worrying when your iconic airline, american airlines. >> it is serious but it has been serious. i think people get to feel hopeful when they are watching tv and they are seeing good earnings and seeing these things. real estate is not coming back. jobs aren't coming back. people don't have more money to do things with. so i think they're going to get a little bit sadder again as this year goes on. >> what is the answer to the broken problem at the moment of america incorporated, the country as a business. >> the country as a business isn't running as a good business. if you were going to give them a grade you would have to give them an f. these people will tell you that constantly when you say we saw denied, when you can't afford it you don't buy it. if you spent so much more money than you were taking in you would be financially bankrupt. >> very hard for the average american to understand this message of spend within your means when you have a country debt of approaching $14 trillion. that's the wrong message. that says borrow whatever you like. it doesn't matter. >> it says they don't have a solution to this problem except to borrow. it's not like they want to borrow and keep getting into debt. they don't know how to fix a system that is seriously broken. the medicare system is broken. social security is broken. so many things are broken and they don't know how to fix it. >> do you think as many do that america needs to go back to building things rather than consuming? >> i think they do need to go back to building. however, do i think that is a reality? roads, cars butd not to the degree of the industrial revolution when everything was happening here. i think people are going to have to become entrepreneurial. they are going to have to become their own bosses. the day of working for a corporation and get a pension, gone. if you really want to be secure you are going to have to be your own boss. >> it's fine for you because you are a very bright cookie. you started as a waitress at a restaurant and built this empire. most average americans aren't natural entrepreneurs. i don't think i agree with that. i think america needs to build. the huge demand in china for big heavy machinery and they would buy it from the americans if the americans were producing it at the volume that they needed but they are not. the old style industrialization in america isn't happening anymore. >> i don't think that is going to happen. we have entered a new period with new technology and things that never have been developed before that i think we can do here. i still think we have a problem with how you get the people back now to work. we can't wait until all of that happens. they need to go back to work now. since the jobs aren't here they have to create a job for themselves. >> donald trump says one of the problems you look like someone like china swallowing up debt and china is mass producing very cheaply with very cheap labor a lot of the stuff the world is consuming. is it time to have a formal trade war with china? is it time america got -- the example is apple. the most successful company in the world right now but apple employed more people in china than america. that is wrong. >> it may be wrong but it is the way. >> why is it the way? >> because it got so expensive to higher a laborer here with the insurance and everything. we couldn't afford it because things kept getting more and more expensive. you have wal-mart come in. >> does americaver to work at a way of affording it? shouldn't companies like apple, i fundamentally disagree with an american company having more people employed in china than their own country. they should be looking after their own country. >> if they had hired the people here to produce the ipods, ipads we would have to probably charge four to five times the amount of money that they are being charged now and people wouldn't buy it. >> or apple reduces its massive profits slightly. >> possibly but that isn't the american way. it's not unthinkable. i just don't think they are going to do it. >> let's take a break and come back and get questions from ms. already fired up orman. i can see it. 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>> that is a brilliant question because it cuts to the heart of america's education problem. to be in the top tier and really realize his potential is going to cost him money that perhaps the family can't afford pricing him out of the best education that he should be able to get and which other countries led by china and others are beginning to offer their students. >> welcome to america. here is what i would have to ask you. when you graduate college, if you had 20, 30 or $40,000 in student loan debt how would that make you feel? >> it would make me feel awful. i don't know how i would pay that back. >> then that is the answer to the question. you never do something with money that after you have done it makes you feel horrible or afraid. you want to graduate and you want to feel free. if you walk into a job and you have $40,000 of student loan debt on your shoulder youz start to feel the burden of debt. and then you go i have to get a job. >> what do you do then? >> he should go to the college that gives him 100% scholarships because i refuse to believe that what gets you a great job and a great career is the school that you went to. the school does not make you. you make the school. you make yourself. you make your career. boyfriend stay out of debt and take the 100% scholarship. >> here is where we are going to start to fall out. i don't agree with it. i dhoingt we should be in this position. we have the exact same crisis in the british education system. bright students should not be priced out of the kind of education opportunity. it shouldn't be happening. the government of this country should be looking at this specific kind of case and fixing it so these opportunities are not laden with debt. >> the problem goes so much deeper. it is not just college. what is it that kids have to go to a private school for grammar school? you have so many people sending $30,000 a year to send their kids to high school. it's wrong. i think no private school should be out there. i think everything should be public. we don't honor our teachers. we don't pay them enough. they are the first people we cut. they start spending money to go to private schools. it is ludicrous. >> the problem is in that specific comparison people will get a better education at a private school right now than from a nonfee school in america. >> you are looking at somebody who grew up on the south side of chicago, 81st. went to south shore high school. every single glass is smashed out. you had to be frisked before you went in. the education was not good. look at me today. so anything you want you can get. i don't believe your education makes you. >> you got an amazing story and it is incredibly inspiring fmpt i sold the jewelry on your body i could retire. >> $200 for a watch. $75 for this ring and maybe $1,000 total. got it, people? >> is that true? >> michael kors. >> this little trinket. that's a very good answer. >> you wear things and because you wear it everybody thinks it is expensive. i make my jewelry. my jewelry doesn't make me. >> i like this thing. a second question. >> thanks for taking my question. i wonder what kind of advice you give 20 to 30 year olds today on making the decision between buying a home or renting. you think given the depressed housing prices the large inventory of homes that are available and the unprecedented low interest rates now would be buy, buy, buy. a lot of young people in their 20s and early 30s are real nervous about that kind of commitment. what kind of advice do you give them? >> they are nervous because they don't have the 20% down. they don't have the security of knowing that if they get a job they are going to get to keep their job. they don't have the security of knowing that a how will appreciate in value so if they need to sell it they can get their closing costs and moving costs and everything like that. there is good reason for them to be nervous. there is also good reason that they can wait until they are not nervous anymore. it's a fallacy to think that the interest rates are going higher. fallacy to think that real estate is going to start to sky rocket. it is not going anywhere for a long time. >> there has been a break down in trust. when i grew up and i'm sure the same for you. bricks and mortar was the investment. you never go wrong if you invest in bricks and mortar. now you can go badly wrong. look at florida with the worst record of foreclosures in the whole of america. these people are desperate. they invested in this old american dream. you save enough money. you buy a house. you have a lovely home and you will make money when you resell it. that's gone. >> that's gone for now. however, if they did have 20% to put down, if you were to get a real steal of a deal and you understood money and you had enough of a cushion they would probably do it. when you see these kids not wanting to do it it is because they are not secure in their jobs. if you don't have enough money you rent until you do. by the way, there is nothing wrong with renting for the rest of your life. nothing wrong with it if that is what makes you feel secure. >> that is not the american dream. >> it is now. it most certainly is now. >> the american dream has been tarnished in recent years. isn't it important rather than america is broken that america remains a great country. it just has to be brought back up again? isn't that a better way to look at this? >> america is a great country but its people are broken. its people are broken because they can't feed themselves. they can't get a job. they can't take care of their kids. they can't do anything. so our spirits are broken. >> a lot of people -- when i grew up you could buy a house with a 5% deposit. you assume a 20%. i bought a house in america and i had to put down a 35% deposit. the banks are no longer lending the money they used to. the same wall street institutions you could argue brought the country to the financial needs now awarding the same bonuses but not lending people who are desperate for their homes. >> these people could if they wanted to buy a home with 3.5% down by going to the fha. if they have been listening to suze orman they know don't buy a home unless you president 20% down because you don't want to find yourself in a negative equity position because the tax laws that are in effect that says you bought a home for 200,000 it is now worth 100,000 you do a short sale and you do not have to owe income taxes between the 100,000 and the 200,000. starting in the year 2013 you will. >> let's take a break after that bomb shell. let's talk about how to keep america great. you can send tweets to@piers morgan. 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[ male announcer ] be a winner with the all-new prius c from toyota. ♪ going to love me when i give you this answer. you have been bucked off that horse. you are deniiedenied. leave it where it is trust me. >> with a word every suze fan fears. lots of tweets pouring in here. it is not the people who are broken. the people are why this is still a great country. we will rebound. i agree with that. i don't think the people are broken. the people are angry and frustrated and hurting but they are not broken. >> their spirit is broken. >> do you think so? >> well, audience, is your spirits broken? some yes, some no. >> i think they are angry. and i think they frustrate skpd you want the economy sorted out. i don't think you are broken. americans need to come back and keep this country getting better every day rather than being negative. >> let me tell you whose spirits are broken. some of the 50 million people out there and none of you are those people or you would not be sitting here, but the people who have lost their homes, their cars and everything. two weeks after they get their disability check or they get