that he'll announce a new jobs initiative in september. john king is cnn's chief national correspondent. americans need help now. the president apparently is going to offer something next month. >> next month because the president says he wants to talk to his economic advisers. they're reaching out to ceos. the white house says this will not be a repackaging of things the president has put on the table. extending the payroll tax cut, which the administration says hope to create jobs, extending unemployment insurance for people out there frustrated and can't find a job. the question is, what will they be. we know some will involve spending. government spending. house republican leadership have said that's stimulus. the administration says it will off set that spending with cuts elsewhere, so the president believes he will have the high ground politically. the question is, even when the president has a new package after labor day, can he get it through a republican house? >> he's been sort of letting out dribs and drabs of ideas, some of which may work. here's what the white house says the initiative will likely include. some tax cuts. some infrastructure ideas. measures that target the long-term unemployed and struggling sectors. diane swank is the chief economist at mesaro financial. we know this uncertainty about the economy makes businesses hesitant to hire. as an economist, what do you think the president should do and the president and congress should do that would boost business confidence enough to trigger hiring because we know businesses have some money? >> i think actually, at this stage of the game, the best thing that congress and the president can do is lay out the long-term plan for our fiscal solvency in the united states. that may leave some room for additional fiscal stimulus in the near term, but if we know what the long-term cuts are and the changes to the tax code will be over the next 10 to 15 year, we're in unchartered territory. businesses need to know what the path is. as long as they know that even if the path is rocky, they can deal with that. some level of certainty if they're given it. given some level, we'd see that confidence rise a little bit even if it's a tough road ahead. that's where i think we can have a biggest impact. everything else the president's talking about will only act on the margins. an economy only operating on the margin, that's important. >> it makes it easy to take political pot shots. some people want something that feels big and others think that anything big that comes out of washington is another stamp of big government. steven moore is the editorial writer for the "wall street journal." sooec steven, is it realistic to think that if something happens that gives diane what she is suggesting, that businesses might actually start hiring? >> yeah, it is. except the only difference i have with diane a little bit is i think it matters a lot what that path is. one one of the things that happened this week is that warren buffett had that famous piece "the new york times" talking about raising tax on the rich and president obama on his magical tour this week has really picked up on that. i think the more the president talks about things like raising taxes on investment, i think that is kind of holding back the economy a little bit an i wish the president would get off this kind of bearish message of raise taxes on the rich. let's get the entitlements under control. now the is time really fix the tax system once and for all. >> you and i agree on that. we both agree on the idea we need to fix the tax code and not just raising taxes only on the rich, although i'm more sympathetic to that than you are. it has to be a part of a more streamlined, better understanding tax code. a simpler tax code. broaden the tax base. we need to get these behavior distorting things out of the tax code for corporations so they can figure out how to plan going forward. >> there's one other thing the president can do right away. he could just call a time out on regulations. for example, you know, there's probably 100,000 jobs you could create almost overnight by allowing drilling in the gulf right now. this kind of black cloud of uncertainty about regulation is something we don't talk a lot about, but when i talk to businessmen and women, they say that's really -- >> we go back and forth on this. you have to take me out to lunch to explain, but the fact is, ultimately -- >> still haven't gotten together for lunch. >> we're way beyond the thing that regulation is mainly not driving businesses. >> there would be a job. i think it's really sweet that diane and steven agree on these things because nobody in your town does and we need them to agree. is there any likelihood that any of the very smart conversation we're having on this tv show might get replicated in a room somewhere in washington and somebody might say, let's get this done. >> the conversations do happen. taking the plans and moving them into the political environment because everything just mentioned, drilling, bringing entitlement spending under control, taxes on the rich or a broader tax reform, every one has a powerful political constituency. is the president ready to cut medicare and anger his base, are the republicans ready to give -- are the republicans ready to give the president a big deal on tax reform if he gives them lower rates across the board? will they negotiate that in the short-term heading into a presidential election in which this president, look at the data, back on his -- and the republicans know it. >> one thing i can tell you what almost complete certainty the republicans are l not allow is another big stimulus plan. i don't think the republicans believe this works and are saying look, we tried this already. hasn't working well. so the president's going to have to come up with some new idea. >> he might get some tax benefits. it's marichal. >> it's becoming more important in europe. that's part of the -- partly because of the political structure of the euro zone, but here in the united states, we've got rick perry saying that if fed chairman ben bernanke does anything, it will be treasonous. >> the fed is having to bear the burden on holding this economy together and to not understand what role the fed is playing in averting a double depression in the first place. the role that it played in stemming much of what was a worse crisis than the great depression. i think it's a very dangerous road to walk down to cut the fed off entirely and i don't want to go into, as much i don't like a lot of people in washington, i'm not threatening them. there's something very wrong with that. >> i like you all, so the only thing i'm going to threaten with you is that you're going to have to wait there a few minutes. what if the president and congress put the same urgency behind job creation as they did with solving the debt ceiling and what aren't they doing that? we're going to talk about it when we come back. 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>> can he? yes. will he, if you go back world war ii, the data tells you no, but again, the data didn't tell us we'd have our first african-american president or the tea party would come out of nowhere. it's a very, very steep hill for an incumbent president, consumer confidence diving. >> unless, john, unless he doesn't have an opponent who has a better plan. >> sometimes, it comes down to a choice, but often, it comes down to a referendum and people say you promised us something -- and we'll try something new even if it looks a little risky. people say, why can't these precipitations get along? the people bear some reasonability to this. in 2010, they sent in a new republican majority who said the opposite. the government is the problem. this isn't just ugly politics. this is a competition with some big ideas. they're fighting about big things and the american people sent them here. >> which is why later on, fareed zakari is going to make the case that a parliamentary system will work better. diane, you said something to me a week or two weeks ago that has stuck in my mind. particularly clearly when michele bachmann said that if she is elected president, she'll make gas $2 a gallon. you said something, you said if there were these silver bullets, someone who have shot them already. how realistic is it from an economic perspective that the president can have this type of control over growth? >> i guess she must be advocating for some kind of socialized subsidized system -- >> or a big recession. >> or a depression, actually. we have a very weak economy and look at where oil prices still are. they're still very high and nowhere near $2 a gallon on gasoline. i find it, it's just intellectual inconsistency for me, so i can't even comment on it. >> i've never seen diane actually speechless about it. steven, we have, let's just agree -- >> sometimes it's better not to say anything. >> it's clear as john said, we have differences in opinion about how we're going to get there, but actually, i think the american people are going to say, that's too bad for you. you have to get something done. we can't just plant people from different parties in washington to get nothing done, so what's it going to take to break this and come to the agreement that if more people are unemployed, we start to get economic growth and cutting that deficit. >> i think john really nailed it. these are bill, philosophical differences between these two parties and are represented by the conservatives who have totally different views about what to do. i guess what i'm saying is that i'm not so sure that the next 18 months is going the bring big solutions. that's why i think the 2012 election going to be huge because it's going to be a debate about everything we've been debating for months, about whether the government should have a bigger role. i think this, you know, we'll see what the super committee comes up with. i think that's the last sort of hope for a bipartisan agreement. >> these markets doing what they're doing and people's 401(k)s doing what they're doing, they're impatient. >> no question about it. >> they have every reason to be. the one piece of hope is that everybody's talking about the same thing and although we don't agree on it, all of us can have overlap and we have intellectual differences in terms of what we think is right, but we can agree on this show, they can agree when they try behind closed doors. >> you guys are optimistic. thanks for being here. i know from watching tv, you're all very busy, so thanks a lot. diane, chief economist, steven moore, and john king, you can watch him every night at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. coming up next, why rick perry has a problem with ben bernanke and why the king of coffee is taking a direct shot at washington, d.c. politics. i'll explain, next. 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[♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply. welcome back to "your $$$$$." let's talk politics and your money. will kahne and roland martin, both cnn contributors. also with us, mark preston. guys, good to see you. it is not completely clear, but i think the texas governor and republican presidential candidate, rick perry, may have threatened to beat up ben bernanke. listen. >> if this guy prints more money between now and the election, i don't know what y'all would do to him in iowa, but we'd -- we would treat him pretty ugly down in texas. i mean, printing more money. to play politics at this particular time in american history is almost treasonous in my opinion. >> okay, so i got -- mark, you're from massachusetts. right? i wonder if you're going to do this. you just sit this one out. i got two texans here. roland and will. i'd stay out of texas if i were ben bernanke. rick perry's fellow gop hopeful, rick santorum, who's said a few inflammatory things at times, joined president obama and others in calling the comments irresponsible. your thoughts or is that just how you folks in texas talk? >> it is how we talk. i've been saying this for months. we're going through a monetary contraction and we should print money. there is an intelligent opinion that thinks we shouldn't print money. rick perry attempted to here, but didn't have an intelligent conversation. he is putting an issue out front. i think listeners should understand. that's the role of the fed and begin to understand that monetary policy effects our economic environment. certainly, rick perry didn't do that in an artful way, but it's something we should be talking about. >> i know for once, roland is not going to say something bad about a fellow republican. >> actually, that's incorrect. first of all, that wasn't an intelligent conversation and i'm quite sure when rick perry goes to the people he wants to give money to his campaign, those bankers on wall street, those chemicals in texas, i'm sure they will say, no, thank god ben bernanke did what he did. it's also amazing that the policies of ben bernanke, who's frankly following a pillar of conservatism. this is a fundamental problem here. you know, rick perry wants to throw out these crazy kind of comments that sure, gets a reaction, but if you ask these people, what does the federal reserve do, they couldn't even answer the question. we have a financial crisis globally and we don't need people popping off, sounding like an arrogant texas cowboy, who wants to be president. have some sense and talk with common sense, not more cowboy talk, governor perry. >> i have never heard roland speak ill of a fellow aggie. were you a cheerleader? >> we have yell leaders. at your school, youf cheerleaders. but you're a t stamp, so that's what i would expect, will. >> mark, let's have a nontexan conversati conversation. you've been around rick perry this week. he hasn't backed off. >> no, he actually brought it up himself. he said the president was lecturing him. he was speak to business and political leaders. and he wouldn't back down. now, what's interesting that is that this is kind of clouded his whole message this week which was just about the economy. he was talking about the economy in very macro terms and taking a lot of credit for the jobs he's created in texas. you and i spoke this past week several times that has come into question. is rick perry really responsible for all the jobs down in texas. i'll leave that to the three of you to figure that out. >> once you declare these statements, there are some issues about whether the population growth reduces the percentage growth of the jobs he's created, but the bottom line is all of this is an aside to the fact americans are looking for economic leadership. it has not fully surfaced monster the republican presidential nominees because they're fighting each other on other things. where is the clearest plan and is rick perry in your running for that? >> i think that between republicans and democrats, you have an inherent philosophical difference on what an economic plan is. conservatives believe it's like planting a garden. you plant some low taxes. facilitate free trade and grow economic growth. i think liberals go, let's put some irrigation on this thing. false water. i think too often, liberal economists, overwater. i realtltoly tortured that meta. >> it's amazing how he called overwatering on the liberal side, but will could not acknowledge that when you throw out tax cuts, that's going to the extreme. 40% of president obama's stimulus bill was tax cuts. republicans don't want to mention that. the bush tax cuts increased our deficit. liberals want to go to the extreme. you talk about overwatering, will, lbut also, reasopublicanst to go to the extreme. >> we want to keep this conversation going. when we come back, i want to talk about the influence of corporate america on the next election. ♪ smile at me and then you take my hand ♪ [ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, where delicious ingredients like toasted oats, with rich dark chocolate, sweet golden honey, or creamy peanut butter come together in the most perfect combinations. ♪ i was thinking that i hope this never ends ♪ ♪ yeah, i was just thinking ♪ i hope this will never end the markets never stop moving. of course, neither do i. solution: td ameritrade mobile. i can enter trades. on the run. even futures and forex. complex options? 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