I think a body that empowers home loss, the saddam government , we were just talking about it. It should not be so interested with the security of the United States of america. Countries we cannot trust right now, and i would love to be able to, but we cannot. We have to take our own security into account, and i agree this is a legitimate threat. Amended earth every day. We have things that we have to worry about. We have the right precautions in place. The right precaution is not address the u. N. We might as well neil i wanted thank you all. This is just something they want to attack and give some thought to. I say have vetted because we dont want to die. Ec we dont want to be destroyedin and obliterated. Y. The willis report is coming up next. Gerri hello, everybody, i am gerri willis. Tonight on the willis report, no urgency in washington as 1 trilliondollar concussion is just around the corner. And one of the biggest tax in obamacare and its about to head. Thousands of dollars more a year for your Health Insurance. And gas prices are now up for 32 days straight. There is plenty of supply, but why are prices soaring . The willis report is on the case. Gerri we will have all of that and more coming up. First, our top story tonight. More and more likely that acrosstheboard spending cuts will happen in washington. Ten days away from the socalled sequester. Our elected officials are working on the problem, actually, they are not, they are taking time off. They left town with no clear idea on how to fix this mess. Even president obama, who spent this weekend working on his golf swing with tiger woods, he even managed the next around today. He is on his way home with no solution. Remember, the sequester was his idea. The effects on the economy is clear. The economic recovery is being held back by washington. Goldman sachs chief u. S. Economist out with a new report, saying that the onomy will ntinue to go well below its potential. Most consumers obably werent aware of the hit to their disposable income until they receive their midjanuary paycheck. One republican pollster in a new report rights that we have entered a new phase for the dysfunction and paralysis in washington is having a Significant Impact on how consumers feel about the overall state of the economy and their personal financial situation. The drop in Consumer Confidence, he says, is directly related to a lack of competence in our current political leaders. Consumer confidence has taken a hit, a big one since postworld war ii history. Already there is evidence of a slowdown in consumer spending. Reports that walmart had its wot start to its month in seven years. The payroll tax hikes may be starting to bite. Gas prices are up 51 cents in the last two months. Prices are up every single day since the middle of january. It is already over 5 in parts of the country. There is a lot to talk about. The stock market hitting new highs, the dow jones a few points awayfom 14,000, but the Federal Reserve free money is driving much of that. Remember, we have barely made e losses back of the past five years. The solution from the white house is more spending. The president in his state of the Union Address called for more spending on construction. The same shovel ready jobs en he admitted did not work. Influential market busted president obamas policy. Saying if we do what the white house wants, we are headed for total economic collapse just like the country of greece. And the u. S. , n 22 years could be in worse shape than greece is today. Hiking taxes wont get us out of the mess either. Washington needs to stop thinking that it is the solution anstart realizing it is a problem. For more on this, i want to bring in my panel. Thank you both for being here. What we are talking about at the end of the day is 1. 2 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years. The administration has been complaining about this for a week now, what it will mean for the middle class. Yes, the president is out playing golf. What do you make of that . One thing about the sequester that we should notice is that its really 2. 4 of federal spending this year, 85 billion and 1. 2 trillion over the next 10 years. 2. 4 is nothing. It will not send the markets down. But the way the sequester to set up, it targets very popular and vital programs, like defense and health safety. Gerri lets turn to stanley for a second. Would he make of these cuts . Yohave described them as two tenths of our spending cuts over the next five years. Yet the president painted as if it were, you know, life and death. Woulhe make of it . Every single spendinggcuts with obama is one too may. [laughter] they are in charge of choosing how this spending will be allocated. As to the congress being out of town for the next few days, as long as they are back on every 28, i think we will be fine. Senator schumer from new york predicted that th gop will join the democrats in closing the loopholes in making spending cuts. I think that democrats have the high ground, especially politically, and i believe just like on the fiscal cliff, republicans will come on board. They have no choice in what you say . Well, senator schumer has a little bit off. 3 hes right that we want to close the loopholes. But we want to bring certainty into the economy, particularly to the private sector. We want tax reform. What hes really talking about is closing loopholes so that our kantian president can spend more. [talking over each other] gei so what hes saying is that the gop will bend over once again and what the democrats want. Do you agree . Will they be forced with president wants . They will be forced to do so if they dont get the story straight and explain to the people while the president is sending us on an uncertain path of outofcontrol spending, weakening the dollar. The gop needs to do is explain in context whites making these moves and connect with the American People and how it affects them on a daily basis. Gerri there is a truncation problem. That is for sure. What has been the cost to the economy of what has gone on in washington are they dont talk to leaders in congress, they dont talk to the president. What is it costing the economy . There is a looming fiscal cliff every other week. I think that Deferred Investment adjusts Consumer Confidence in a bad way. Gerri can you quantify it in some way . Is in their way of saying, oh, the hit has been 1 of gdp, 2 of gdp. Mav one or two. One or two Percentage Points difference. But as long as the president doesnt agree on basically a bunch of tax cuts, this may be the best option. The on the way forward is so hard to see here. It is one fight after another. We will be doing this all year long, and i have to tell you that the American People have precious little patience for it. No, they just dont want to hear it anymore. Where does this all week . It means that the gop really have to exain and get its ducks in a row. I dont think a lot of people really understand what sequestration means, what the fiscal cliff means, and Everything Else and how this will affect them. Right now, the president has the higher ground. The crisis and how it affects them, the gop needs to it explain that it is hurting im. Gerri people dont understand, it hasnt been a lot of talking about it. Okay, head start will be decimated, at the fda inspections, a thing of the past, National Health institute project will be done. What do you think . They are overplaying their hand. We face a sequester situation and these cuts are up to the agency. Trust me, hes trying to make it as bad as possible to make republicans look bad guys. I agree with that. But i do think that that means that politically he will have the upper hand a month from now. Gerri gives him a little power, its a leverage tool. Thank you both for coming on tonight. We really appreciate your help. Reason our commanderinchief is on vacation and it is president s day. It was put on George Washingtons birthday to honor president s. This list of tonights topfive. Number five, George Washington with 10 of the vote. John f. Kennedy is number two, and number three is bill clinton. Number two is abraham lincoln, 14 of america hink that he was the greatest president , which could be reason for the huge success of the Steven Spielberg film. The number one greatest president is ronald reagan. Almost one in five americans think the hero of the Republican Party is ronad reagan. I agree with that. He scores yet again. That man is always popular. A lot more still to come this hour, including the latest on another huge tax from obamacare that you never saw coming. I will break down how out of touch this president has when it comes to our economy. Dont go away. 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[ ding ] oh, thats helpful well, our company does that, too. Actually, we invented that. Its like a sauna in here. Helping you save, even if its not with us now, thats progressive call or click today. No mas pantalones woman what do you mean, Homeowners Insurance doesnt cover floods . [ heart rate increases ] man a few inches of water caused all this . [ heart rate increases ] woman 2 but i dont even live near the water. What you dont know about Flood Insurance may shock you including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as 129 a year. For an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. Its delicious. So now weve turned her toffee into a business. My goal was to take an idea and make it happen. Im janet long and i formed my Toffee Company through legalzoom. Never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. Go to legalzoom. Com today and make your business dream a reality. At legalzoom. Com we put the law on your side. Gerri one of the many problem come the one im thinking of today, the problem with the Mainstream Media is getting tired of stories and more and move on. Take unemployment. This has been the worst recovery jobs on record. The media just cant get all that interested in. Usa today ran a story saying that private Sector Employment topped its prerecession high if Housing Related Industries are taken out exclusively. Thats nice, but you can do that because housing is the big kahuna of job creation. You have to include it. That is why want to talk about jobs today. We cant ignore it. The number of jobs in this country has fallen from 139 million at the peak of the labor market in november 2007, 20,133,000,000 today. A drop of nearly 6. 5 million jobs from the peak. For 2. 5 if you include those that are working parttime because they cant find fulltime jobs. The 10 million who are marginally attached to the workforce. Signs of distress are everywhere. More people are on food stamps. 15 of the total population. Another record that we dont want to talk about. The millions of americans who are collecting Social Security checks to compensate for disability. 11 million people. These are shocking statistics that should have all of our attention. It should have congress up in arms. But instead, we have accepted it. Its like that embarrassing uncle that nobody wants to claim. And its pretty easy to hide the problem. Unlike the great depression, there are no long lines to get the medias attention and lead the nightly news. It goes unremarked. Another ablebodied worker, thats just the way it goes. But it shouldnt be acceptable to the nation that can boast the biggest economy in the world. The president talked about how the growing middle class is essential for a growing economy. But the truth is, it works the other way. We have to have a growing economy to get a rising middle class area that will mean less regulation, lower taxes, and an attitude towards business. Large and small, that is encouraging, not discouraging. That is what i think. Coming up, a double standard for president obama as he continues to reward his friends. We will tell you about the multibilliondollar tax that he passed on to you courtesy of obamacare. We have the details next gerri anot her. Gerri earlier this month we told you how baltimore could be going bust. His major reforms are not enacted, the city could be headed for ruin. What did they do . The mayor had the city spent 585,000 for a consultant from philadelphia to confirm that baltimore is struggling financial. Because apparently they dont know it themselves. The finance Department Apparently lacked manpower to complete a study, and now that it is complete, they are hiring others to implement the findings. Get ready for obamacares most overlooked whopper. As a brandnew tax cost over 100 billion. Liz macdonald is here with more. This really surprised me. Health reform, it seems like taxes keep popping up every day as we read what is in the bill. I found this one really surprising. What is happening is Health Reform has enacted a new excise tax on Health Insurers. For the Health Insurance premiums and Health Insurance having to pay the excise tax back to the us government. Heres what its going to cost. It will get passed on to consumers and businesses. So the average american family, they are going to sue their Health Insurance premiums rise by about 7200 over tha10 year period. Were 720 per year. Its really interesting is for the first time that i have seen, this is a group that ballparks these tax bills, both of these government groups said the Insurance Industry will pass this cost on to consumers and businesses. Premiums could go up as much as 2. 5 per year. And i thought, who will get hit the hardest . If you look at this map, california, new york, minnesota, pennsylvania, ohio, florida on the list, texas on the list. This is where a lot of Small Businesses are, this is where the Health Insurance premiums are sold into these markets, and we do have two congressmen. They have reintroduced the bipartisan bill to repeal the sales tax that Health Insurers will have to pay. Gerri here is what i dont understand. We were promised at a premiums would go up, we would keep our doctor, and thats not true, we may lose our doctor have to be satisfied with the nurse practitioner. Why did we not know about this before . Whei read this bill in this section, we see what is going on, when you listen to Industry Groups and the Health Insurance industry, they have been saying that this is the excise tax that were going to get hit with. And he put it together and you see the cbo and joint committee saying, yes, they are going to pass on us. Then you have to say to yourself, to the Congress Know about it when they wrote the law . Did they know the consequence that would get passed. In my mind, i would have to say yes. Because they have been trying to work on this before the clinton administration. Its the one they have been talking about this forever. After a while, people find out. Let me just be clear. This tax is getting passed along, youre not going to see it as a tax. Youre going to see it in your Health Insurance premiums going up. Gerri liz macdonald, thank you so much for coming on tonight. Very important story and you did a great job. Coming up next, gas prices have risen almost every day this year. Cebook making headlines. This time for what the company didnt do instead of what it did. With the spark cash card from capital one. Boris earns unlimited rewards for his Small Business. Can i get the smith contract, ease . Thank you. Thats three new paper shredders. [ boris ] put em on my spark card. [ garth ] boris Small Business earns 2 cash back on every pchase every day. Great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. Read back the chickens testimony, please. Buk, buk, bukka [ male announcer ] get the spark Business Card from capital one and ea unlimited rewards. Choose 2 cash back or double miles on every purchase every day. Told you id get half. Whats in your walle gerri gas prices rising rapidly for 32 days straight. Jumping 13 and many on the west coast feeling at the worst. Los angeles is seeing gas prices past 5 per gallon. The president and chief analyst at omni Trading Academy joins us now. Oscar, why are these prices so high . The factors that we like to look at the most are the technical factors. Using technical analysis. The grass to look at what has happened in the past engage what could happen in the future. Whats interesting about this gasoline futures market is that if you look back over the past two years, reading into my terminator 2011, gas market shot up from 210 all the way to 348. In 2000 welcome once again th