They were last time a tax increase of 77 of americans. We gave you a pound of flesh. The last budget was clinton was 1. 8 from obama is three point 6 trillion. Do some math to figure out we have a spending problem. If we kept spending at rates of inflation plus population we would talk about surplus buwere not unless u have a gun melissa im melissa francis. Heres whats money tonight. Is wind energy really worth it . One town spent millions putting up turbines to go green but some locals are seeing red. They say theyre getting sick. And now residents could be looking at a tax increase just to pay it take them down. Do you believe that . Youve to hear the story. Is this the future of wind power in america. Two days to the sequester deadline but we have the money fix for the steep cuts. There are three cuts to the military that could stop the math and keep america safe. We have the details. We solve problems here. Parents filed suit against apple claiming it is o easy for kids to rack up massive charges for free games. Now apple will pay out a truckload of cash to settle. But will it actually child proof apple devices . Hmmm. Even when they say its not, it is always about money. Melissa so we are starting tonight with a small town of massachusetts that is making big waves over wind energy. After years of locals complaining the Wind Turbines are making them sick, the town may now take them down at a cost to taxpayers. Believe it or not, these residents may be willing to pick up the multimilliondollar tab. Fox newss molly line is in falmouth, massachusetts, with all the details. Molly . Melissa, these two turbines were put up by the town of falmouth in an effort to create green energy and savings of the situation create ad sense of Division Within the community. Some neighbors complained about noise and illness. It gets to be jet engine loud. Reporter Neil Anderson and his wife a quarter mile from the t turbines. They say the impact on their health is devastating. Headaches, dizziness, sleep deprivation. Every time the blade is downward motion it gives up a tremendous force of energy as a pulse, boom, boom. Reporter the first turbine went up in 2010. By the time both were in place on the industrial side the towns Water Treatment facility the price was ten million. The town Officials Say taking them down will cost submitted five to 15 million including Energy Savings. That is what the firms decided to do. We think it is the right thing to do, absolutely. Reporter meantime the turbines are run or curtailment only operated during the day as the select men respond to the concerns of neighbors which means theyre operating at a loss. It has been a biter threeyear battle in the seaside town where the Officials Say the project was properly vetted research and put to a vote several times. If we end up take the turbines down it will be a shame. It will be an embarassment for the town of falmouth. Reporter ultimately this will be an issue that the people will decide. This goes to a town meeting vote in april and could possibly be on the ballot as of may. So this all goes back to what the people of falmouth ultimately decide to do. Melissa . Melissa molly, wow, thanks so much. We have reported on wind energy of course on the show here a number of times. A few quick snaps on the industry. Wind accounts for less than 3 of the nations Electricity Generation and there are about 45,000 Wind Turbines in the u. S. Right now. But in all the studies that we have covered, all the stories we have covered we havent come across the story where the outcome could mean town locals may end up with a tax increase in order to cover up to 15 million of costs of removing the Wind Turbines. This is shocking. They paid to 10 to 15 million in order to install the things to put them up with the idea they would be saving money over time as they ranch as you heard because of the curtailment right now theyre operating at a loss. If they get rid of the turbines as the town wants, they will get taxed another 15 million in order to pay for that. Joining us for a firsthand account, okay. Wer going back to that story in just a moment. Lets move onto the sequester cuts for a moment here and how to fix them. President obama was in virginia today, warning of the dire consequences of defense cuts andwhat they will have on our military and our economy. You heard about all this, in 2012 of course we spent 65 billion on the military. Today were helping to solve that problem here money. We have a fix. We dont just complain. We fix things. Well rein in spending without affecting u. S. Security. Chris harmer is the senior naval analyst at the institute for study of war. Chris, im very excited because youre here to solve the problem. Everybody is out there trying to scare people or trying to do nothing. I want to fix it. Give me the first step. Where do you see places we could cut . There is a couple of easy fixes, melissa, if we had, if i had unilateral control over the budget i could fix this problem immediately. Unfortunately congress has set up the budget in a very complex matter in order to benefit itself. Most of the problems we have in terms of the pentagon budget are not a problem of mismanagement at the pentagon or at the department of defense. It is a problem of misallocation of resources from the front end. Let me give you one example of that. Soviets during the cold war had a saying better is the enemy of good enough. They would look at the military equipment, if what they had was good enough to do the job they would not overpay for something better. Here in the states we have serious problem overpaying for equipment that is more than adequate for the job that is required. A perfect example of that is the f35. You i am a retired naval aviator. I spent 20 years fly for the United States navy, 3500 flight hours. If the navy would capable or run its own Purchase Program the navy wouldnt go anywhere near the f35 because it cost 2 1 2 times as much f18 for only marginal increase in capability. Melissa let me start you there. Im all in favor of cutting spending. Gotcha. Melissa one. My favorite things in the world except when were talking about handbags. Setting that aside, if you dont do incremental improvements in this type of technology, dont you fall behind . You say this one is only a little bit better, but three little bit betters youre heck of a lot better. The difference, revolutionary approaches in technology or revolutionary advances in Technology Cost a tremendous amount of money. Incremental advances do cot cost as much at all. Example, f hornet was the got operational capility 30 years ago. The f18s built today, there is no comparison between that and what we built 30 years ago because we invested over 30 years incremental and safe approaches to technology advancement. The f35 was a revolutionary advance in technology at im not saying it is not a good plane, it is a good plane but far more plane than we need. You wouldnt buy a rollsroyce to go Grocery Shopping unless you have obscene amount of money. This is what were doing, buying rollsroyces. Melissa we have pretty big number. What would this save . There is two different ways to look at it, flyaway cost the cost of buying aircraft today. Fifth of f35 today will cost 105 million as fly away cost. F18 will cost 48 million to the fly away cost. That hides the true program cost. Melissa i dont mean to hurry you along. We he only a minute left. 400 billion is great savings there. Yeah. Melissa total cost, of since 2001. So that is what we might save there. Yeah. Melissa you alk about cutting out the redundancy in the joint chiefs of staff. I love that idea. How much money would that possibly save . It would save tens of billions of dollars not per year. Would save 2 do 4 billion a year for the foreseeable future. What we have got secretary of defense and joint chiefs of staff have staffs set up to do exactly the same thing. You have competing staffs working on exact same projects in the pentagon. It is complete waste of manpower. Melissa that sounds about right. You talk about cutting down overseas military bases in countries where were shouldering all of the financial burden. We spend loot on japan and south korea and you think maybe we dont need that . Not so much that we dont need a overseas military presence but we need to be rational approach to pay their fair share. It would cost them less to subsidize our military presence. We need allies to carry more of the cost because were spending our money defending their freedoms. Melissa chris, i thank you. I like to have solutions on the show. Were not just complaining out here. We have got ideas. Thanks for coming on. Thanks. Have a good evening. Lets get back to the story we had before. You know how i love wind energy. Wead a technical glitch. A massachusetts town is considering removing Wind Turbines at a cost to residents. With a firsthand account, heather harper, assistant town manager of falmouth, massachusetts. First of all, tell me how is opinion trending in your town right now . How many people are complalaining of healths hazards like the couple we saw in the story . There are several neighbors, particularly neighbors abutting wind 1 and wind 2 along the adjacent property to falmouth Wind Turbines. The town of falmth owns two Wind Turbines, two three located at our wasteWater Treatment facility and our industrial zone. Melissa and how much energy have they actually produced . Because, you know, during mollys story i heard the lost Energy Savings. I got to wonder if it costs 15 million to put these two thingsp and i stood out and Wind Turbines when theyre static and not turning at all, how much wind Energy Savings is actually going on as a result of these turbines . Well, if the turbines are running at full capacity they would be supporting about 60 of our Municipal Energy needs, which includes our wastewater, water, zoo school, municipal, library recreation, all the demand of ourlocal government would be supplied, 60 . That demand would be supplied by Wind Turbines. Melissa all the time . You can, hang on. You can count on them to be working all the time . Hard for me to believe around the clock theyre supporting 60 of the your energy needs . It is over the course, based on annual production, over the course of a year, you can estimate they would support about 60 of the municipal demand. Melissa okay. So how much of is that a savings to you if you factor in what it costs to get them there and put them up and the cost of that compared to what would your other Energy Source be, natural gas . Or what do you use on your grid . Well, we are supplied with energy through mstar which is the local energy supplier. The Wind Turbines provide alternative, renewable alternative to that conventional supply. And the town of falmouth made active choices going back to the early part of this decade to install wind generators to offset demand from our highest Energy Consumer which is our wasteWater Treatment facility. Melissa okay. So heather, how would you feel bit if you went ahead and everyone voted to take them down and you had to spend ten or 15 million to get them down and tax the town for it . Someone in the story said it is embarrassing. Is it embarrassing . Well, the project is a Community Project that was before our town with more than six town meeting votes. It is now placed before the town to make a decision to determine whether it makes sense for our community following a very long and Robust Community process to develop consensus around what the right choices may be for our community. And if the town determines that thats the right choice for our community, it will be making the choice to tax itself. Melissa okay. So are people pretty mad they paid to put the things up and now they will pay to put take them down . That is really good question. There is a variety of viewpoints and that theyre really are mixed and i dont think you could give a trend on that. There are those that believe that it is in the best interest of the community, Bring Community harl mone back to our town, the town of falmouth that we should take them down. And, eliminate the Wind Turbines. There are others that believe that Renewable Energy and wind energy is e future of this town and our nation and believe that it is worth continued investment in that project. It really is going to be a decision that will be before our town meeting as well as on the ballot in may. Melissa heather, thank you so much for coming out here to face the music. I really feel for you out here. I think probably the answer is there will be mad people on every side no matter how it comes out. Thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Youre welcome. Melissa now turn to todays market moment. Stocks swung back after the worst day of the year. In testimony before Congress Earlier today, ben bernanke promised the fed would continue stimulus measures to help the economy. Strong eonomic data also helped fuel the comeback. February Consumer Sentiment rallied after a sharp drop in january. U. S. Home prices and new home sales hit their highest level in years. Next on money, sequester tensions hit a boiling point between president obama and gop leaders. A lastditch solution. It is starting to look out of reach, isnt it . The economy may be Strong Enough to withstand the bro. Well explain that. Yahoo cuts the cord on telecommuting. People are up in arms. Should more ceos follow merry a meyers lead . Well debate. More money ahead. We have moved the bill in the house twice. We should not have to move a third bill before the senate gets off their ass and begins to do something. Melissa what was that . Oh, my goodness. Some choice words from House Speaker john boehner. He is echoing the frustration of lawmakers hoping for a last minute agreement to avoid fridays deep cuts. The president shut down the republican as offer to give the white house more flexibility to make the cu. Now we see the president taking his message to the masses. He is back on the road. I dont know. I feel like he should make calls to congress for a grand deal. What do i know . Im just a tv news anchor. Todays money power panel is here with the lowdown what were going to see and feel. You might want to sit down for is one, i dont know. Nair man Nariman Behravesh with ihs. Chief economist. And Christian Dorsey from the Economic Policy institute. I feel like well solve the problem, guys. We are. Melissa gretchen, i will go to you right there. It is kind of a genius strategy, maybe for once on the part of the gop to say listen, well give you more flexibility when what you can cut because the president is out there talking about the little children who arent going to get measles shots. You know what . You cagive them the measel shots but have to find it somewhere else. It is a good idea, right or no . It is a great idea. I think Speaker Boehner was saying what every american is thinking when they hear every single week that were about to hit another fiscal crisis. I think he was just telling everyone, he was saying what everyone is already thinking. What it comesto what they were proposing for the white house, they were going to give them the flexibility. They have the flexibility to make thehoices. Only 30 cents on the dollar. You can choose whatever three cents you want to cut. What the white house is saying, oh, no, no. We want to continue to play victim. We want to show how these cuts will hurt and they will hurt bad. Instead of actually picking some of the waste and getting rid of some of the waste. Melissa christian what about tha they could choose defense. If the white house wanted they could choose whatever they want or little bit from everywhere . They could safeguard, to be fair, they could safe far things that are real i important that scare people. Thats right. Preserve vaccines for kids but you, you ke away Housing Support for the homeless. Melissa you dont have. You dont have to. That is the whole point. Those are not the choice. Melissa, at some point does not become part of the choice. Not three cents on the dollar it. Is not three cents on the dollar. They were not opening up higher federal budget spending. Still within the limited confines what sequestration was all about, that was the problem with it. It was a ridiculously false choice of cutting things that are not necessarily worthy of being cut. That is the problem. Melissa you know, nariman, christian brings up a great point. One of the things that is listed that is on the side that cant be part of the sequestration cuts is president obamas salary and his paycheck. That is it one of the things that has been set aside as being safe. He is right, not everything is open. Maybe we should open everything like the president s paycheck. Well, i think that is a bit of distraction, frankly, melissa. I would put it a little differently. I think the damage, even if we go off, if we go into the sequester and stay there whole year, the cuts 85 billion for the whe year, the good news is the economy is Strong Enough that we can absorb this. Melissa you think . It is not going to kill the economy. Melissa absolutely. Melissa what are the signs that make you think we can afford this and deal with it . Mentioned a couple of themselves. Housing is improving. Prices are up. Sales up. Confidence up. Despite all this stuff about, you know, the cliff and the sequester. So, the underlying dynamics in the economy is strong. We need to cut the deficit. We all agree on that. Weve go