tracy: i think their motto was don't rush before you flush. >> i think you are giving us a bum rush. this is just capitalism. you knew it was just a matter of time. if it works for the brand, it works for their brand. tracy: adam and monica, thank you for joining us. that is all we got. gerri: hello, everybody. i am gerri willis. another blow coming to taxpayers. taxmageddon is just six months away. it is becoming increasingly doubtful congress will get its work done on time to prevent a late start to next year's tax season. that could delay refunds for everybody. joining me now to discuss this important issue is the cbo director doug holds eakin from another president of the

americas action reform. always great to see you. it doesn't look like anything is getting done. let's look. they are going to do anything until after the election. that means they would have 26 days in the senate and 15 days in the house. what is the likelihood that they will get anything done? >> i think it will absolutely get something done. the question is, how soon. as he pointed out, there are problems with delaying it. the irs does meantime. it needs to send withholding tables to employers. the software companies need to know what the tax code really will be for taxpayers in 2013. people don't get the amt fix, we will see there 3000-dollar refunds go away. gerri: it is personal income tax

from the marriage penalty come the child tax credit, capital gains tax, dividend tax, payroll tax, amt appreciation. so think about it. what is the impact of that? imagine that congress isn't able to get anything done, so it is logical to expect it might happen again. all of these taxes change. they go up. i think the average increase is something along the order of $4000. that is according to the heritage foundation. what happens to the economy, and does the american public on the get fed up with this? >> certainly they should. this is allowed to happen. if we really do run over the so-called fiscal cliff, we will have a recession in the united states. i believe we are already seeing the impact of this looming tax increase affecting the economy. we are seeing uncertainty on the part of contractors because of ballooning spending cuts. as we go through the fall, a

weak economy is going to be heard by those more, and if they fail to fix it, it will not be possible to go back in january and somehow undo the damage. i think it will be a severe shock to the economy, and if you take at face are you, we are looking at a serious recession. gerri: the economy is already going going very slowly. we have 6 million tax filings. that is because again, congress was late, late in doing their work that they need to get done. i think the american public has had their fill of the spread when you look at the ratings up there and how well the public like this -- not one bit. is there anything we can do to actually get them do their job? >> i think the key lies in the senate and the white house. the house has passed legislation , which extends the tax cuts, avoiding the

taxmageddon. it replaces the sequester with long-run cuts. it has done its work on the looming fiscal cliff at the end of the year. the senate has done nothing. one would oust the president may be due something. so they do their job, they cannot reconcile the differences in the way the fiscal cliff. i really think it is time for the president to win on his party that controls the senate to get something done. because americans are already paying for this. if we go over this, we will pay in a deep and lasting might. gerri: do you think any leadership will emerge on this issue? any backroom negotiations or conversation between the aisles about getting this done? >> sure, there are those who have pieces of the various tax components. they are talking about how they can get it done. in the end, we have seen patty murray, saying that we should just run over the fiscal cliff, it will teach republicans what's

in. if you have that kind of brinksmanship going on come you're from your not going to get central policies up front. gerri: we haven't had sensible policies in a long time. that would be a breakthrough. doug holtz-eakin, thank you for coming on. gerri: you're welcome. gerri: should congress give back back to work? benazir question of the day. log onto gerriwillis.com and i will share the results at the end of the show. there is one lawmaker nobody wants to see get back to work on and that is todd akin. he refuses to bow out of the race amid pressure from gop heavyweights, including mitt romney. he had a 6:00 p.m. deadline to withdraw without a court order. with moral honest, bill kristol. you know, this is shocking to me. what is your reaction?

>> i'm not surprised. he said something stupid and offensive. but he won the republican nomination for the senate. and they are supposed to pull the ballot unless there is an actual crime committed or a tragedy in your family or something like that. so it is a case that will be taken to the voters. he will probably be punished by voters for what he said, but that is not the only issue people will vote on. they may decide that they still would prefer him to clair mccaskill. i am a little bit surprised. as a republican, republicans in the senate would've preferred that he chose to drop out. but it really is a choice. gerri: john cornyn, roy blunt, mitch mcconnell, scott brand, kelly ayotte, this isn't a totalist. the national republican committee says we will give you no go. this is a big fat no. what is this does this say to

you about the power of the republican party when they can't really even control one of their own? >> this is a democracy and he won the primary. he can choose to withdraw, maybe he should. if i were sitting in missouri, i might call him up and say please withdraw. i think it's bad that you are you're going to be on the ballot this year. but he was nominated. he doesn't work for john cornyn and the other senators can have their opinion. some of the other members of the united states senate have said some pretty stupid things or done some stupid things. they have done some pretty offensive things. i won't mention names. everyone can think of things that have been done. they did not withdraw and if they were committed to making crimes, then they did -- i, myself, if you told me that that is his choice -- i would say

withdraw. i am sick of everybody piling up on us. gerri: it is clear that everyone is asking them to withdraw. rush limbaugh and ann coulter, they think that todd akin's comments are going to dog or mitt romney. do you agree? >> no. no, are you kidding? all the idiotic comments by various democrats, barack obama, etc. voters are not idiots. they know that mitt romney has never said anything like that. they know that mitt romney and paul ryan has announced what paul akin said. there is no chance that it will have any effect on the residential rates. it may cost him a seat in missouri. that would be unfortunate if that is the case. todd akin is a stubborn term member of congress.

i've been in congress. i want to senate primary. you know, i have attempted to make my case with my constituents. it doesn't reflect the way i have lived my life and the way i acted as a senator. gerri: he apparently is still leading clair mccaskill in the polls. maybe what you see is absolutely on target. >> let him run his race. if i were privately counseling him, i would tell them to withdraw. and i might have said it if someone asked me. thank god i didn't have to talk about for the last 36 hours. but i say let him be. gerri: quick reaction to the finances when it comes to the two campaigns. obama is spendg more than he is raising right now. mitt romney is now ahead in fundraising. what do you make of that? >> i think it is a good time for mitt romney. democrats and president obama spent a ton of money doing

damage to the romney campaign. they did some damage, i think, but i think that is average. i think the paul ryan ticket has reversed the momentum. i think the romney and ryan campaign looks pretty good right now. they can really have a strong convention, if mitt romney can make a speech where he reintroduces himself to the american people and lays out his positive agenda and introduces himself personally to the american public and present his case -- i think they could be ahead by quite a few points by the end of the republican convention the one bill, we hope to hear from you at the convention. giving us a distinct analysis as always. thank you for coming on tonight. >> thank you, gerri. gerri: we know that many are rolling in dough. but the wealthiest in the house and senate have someone in particular to thank for their britches. it is their wives. the old ball and change. and dry conditions have reduced water levels so much that barges are becoming beached.

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gerri: we have a serious economic situation in mississippi tonight. low water levels are preventing over 100 barges from moving. a hundred mile stretch of the mississippi, the barges are sitting still and they are massive. the size of football fields. the river is a critical gateway for the transporting of food and energy products like oil and coal to new orleans. we are joined from new orleans by united states coast guard captain. he is the chief of the eight coast guard district. it is great to have you here, captain, give us the latest two good evening, gerri, it is great

to be here. as you know, there is extremely low water on the mississippi river basin. it is caused by low water and very little rainfall this summer. we have had working with great partnerships with the corps of engineers. the national weather service. as well as the navigation industry. trying to make sure and prevent groundings from occurring. unfortunately, with the low water, there are new spots this year that haven't been in existence before. sometimes, the ships run aground as they come down the mississippi river. and the coast guard and industry, it reacts to this and opens up the waterways. we realize how vital the mississippi river is for the economic vitality of the nation. as all the goods come through. the mississippi river and overseas. gerri: captain, we are looking at pictures of this right now.

people are getting a sense of what these barges look like. they are so critical to our economy. they are transporting goods that you buy at the grocery store or a company is going to buy to fuel their factory. you were talking earlier about the water levels. according to our information, and please tell me if this is up-to-date, the water is 7.76 feet deep. that is nothing. how can these barges, these massive, huge and heavy barges, float on a river that is only that deep? >> gerri, most of those gauge readings that they have throughout the system, they are maintained. those are not actual water depths. a lot of times those are water levels. for example, in memphis, there is a minus 8 feet on the gauge reading. that doesn't mean it is bone dry, but it is from a baseline level. what we are seeing right now is between nine and 9.5 feet of water in most of the mississippi river.

there are spots where the barges run into slower water and all of a sudden you will find a small shoal, similar to what you find along the edge of the beach. the first part that happens to be coming down through the toe, runs aground. gerri: barges are fascinating because they have a shallow draft. they are massive, but the artist don't go deep into the river. i have to tell you, i have never seen anything like this. are we going to to break some records here with this? >> we are not sure what the records. most of those are kept by the army corps of engineers. through the national weather service as well. the predictions look like the existing rainfall is maintaining the river levels. it is going down slightly. the records are back in 1988. what we have in a difference

from this year compared to 1988, the river is completely different through the interventions by the corps of engineers. the maritime industry and the coast guard on how we manage the river. we have gotten together and learned a lot over the years on how to communicate and how to best pass information back and forth on where these spots and where everybody needs to pay close attention to. gerri: so the barges nor the problem spots. i also hear that the army corps of engineers is dredging. is that successful to yes, they are. you can only dredge so far. they find these high spots off of the bottom. that is where they dredge, it is extremely effective, and they just finished up some south of greenville. we have reopened the river. occasionally we will have to take some other restrictions in this 10-mile stretch of the river south of greenville, mississippi. we are only allowing one-way traffic at a time. we will be running northbound

traffic at nighttime and southbound traffic the other 12 hours during the daylight. gerri: that's interesting. >> it's amazing. the big point is that industry has also been cooperating in this. they realize that traditionally they 135 to 45 barges and they are pushing about 25 barges on most of these. they chose themselves, even though they are drafted similar, which is still considerable around my feet, they are not being able to put as much product on each individual tow. gerri: thank you for coming on tonight, captain. it is a fascinating story and i hope you are able to get everybody up and running sometime soon and yes, ma'am, we have it opens up the mississippi the one that is good news. thank you for that. if you are fired up about this or any other issues on the program, drop me an e-mail at jerry outbox business.com. >> do you know which party

dominates the top lawmakers? the list is out and gerri is taking you through the financial disclosures of the nation's most powerful political players coming up next. one california business owner blasted the president in an eye-catching ad. he joins us and shares why obama's plan will send him over the cliff. and most students have no clue about real world money problems. our guests explains how to apply financial literacy in the classrooms. we are on the case next on "the willis report."

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and they're backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. it's law that just makes sense. gerri: it is not john kerry or darrell issa. find out who the richest man on the hill is

gerri: when they talk about the 1%, the folks in congress must get twitchy. that is because lawmakers have a stunning amount of wealth. according to the hill's annual ranking of legislature legislators that are loaded. some of them do it the old-fashioned way. inherited from daddy while others actually earn it. the sources of wealth are many. the numbers are stunning. congressman michael mccaul is worth some $290 million. that is at the low end. that is the way these numbers are put together. where does his money come from? his father-in-law is founder of clear channel communications. i bet you have heard of that company. talk about a silver spoon. he definitely has that. and then there is john kerry. you were expecting him, right? the senator is worth almost $200 million. the democrat from massachusetts and his wife. that is right come he married

into it. teresa heinz kerry. the heinz ketchup fortune. john kerry often tops the list as the richest democrat. congressman darrell issa is at number three. $143 million, down from last year. he made his fortune in car security systems, directed electronics. the republican heads the oversight committee on government reform. number four is congressman from colorado, tran-fours jared polis. thirty-one of these big winners are in the house of representatives. number five is senator mark warner. now you have heard my analysis of the richest.

bob, why did you put this list together? what is the benefit? >> people love reading about money. how much lawmakers have come whether they only on their credit cards, what kind of assets they have. they are fascinated by what they are worth and what stocks they are holding, that can be a subject of interest as well. people love reading this stuff. gerri: we love it, that is for sure. we pick out the winners, the people that have a lot of dell. one of the people -- the people that have problems? >> they put in the range to say how much they have. 500,000 to 1 million. we do look at the lower numbers.

in the top 50 list, nancy pelosi is always on her. she lost $2 million. losing a million or 2 million -- it is nothing for a lot of these members. it is just interesting because we are talking about so much wealth. mitt romney and the presidential election race. a lot of these members, too, are rich. gerri: bob, have to ask you, it begs the question, how well can they feel our pain? if they are so wealthy, doesn't make it difficult for them to understand average americans? >> i think that it is. obviously, just because you are rich doesn't mean you are out of touch. but when you own houses in hawaii where you have 10 cards. it is tough too, i think, relate to the average guy on the street. that is the challenge that i think both parties have. as you mentioned, there are democrats and republicans. gerri: thank you for coming on,

bob. i hope you come on soon. coming up, the man who took out a three page ad in "the new york times" taking on president obama. when it comes to paying fair share, find out which states residents give the most to charity. our top five list is coming up next [ male announcer ] this is the age of knowing what you're made of.

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gerri: now we want to renew a follow-up to a story that we have been covering sometime. two more states are calling for washington to suspend the ethanol mandate. georgette, the center of u.s. poultry production and new mexico with its large cattle industry. they were fed to suspend the program requiring ethanol production. not all of the states are formally petitioning the agency. as we told you yesterday, the

epa has reviewed the request on waivers and we have until november to rule on them. also today, an appeals court has overturned an obama decision. the epa says they overstepped authority when they limited sulfur dioxide emissions in 2008. these plans argue that they cannot meet the timeframe for requirements to abide by the new rules. president obama, when he ran for office in 2008, i guess you will have to type a little harder. we have a great segment here. a dear john letter to president obama. one private business owner threatening to close its highly successful business if the president's tax plan happened. here to explain is founder and president of la jolla cove investors. it is called why this fat cat

rightfield mama tax plan. i thought this was fascinating. this caught my eye. >> there is a point of truth to it. i am a compulsive individual. i have been trained and highly trained in the investment area. i try to do my best and doing it. and it is very hard for me to break away. i really do need an outside excuse to do it. he has provided it. gerri: how so? >> by running on a platform of not only eliminating george bushes tax cuts, but a 3.8% tax to cover a very small pot of

obamacare. that is going to be on all investment income, as you know, and in addition to that, there is going to be phased out deductions, and in addition to that, jerry brown has seen fit to raise the california raycom i believe to 12% or higher. i will be at 867% marginal rate of taxation. furthermore, gerri, when i am asked to pay 57% after -- i'm going to have it listed in the year, and don't forget, you didn't build this, we are responsible. gerri: well, that is a long list. and a lot of people out there say that the business community is upset now because they don't know what is going to happen now and they are fearful of everything you've outlined. taxmageddon. your effective tax rate, almost

60%. can we do business that way as a practical matter? >> you can. and the number of people feel that the top tier will remain the same and it will effect the bottom line. there comes a point, gerri, especially in my life, where you must slap your head and say, is this worth it anymore? i have worked very hard for most of my life. as ms. rachel says, it is time to smell the roses and do what we love to do, which is travel. gerri: i am wondering what kind of reaction you got from your friends when they saw this. are people calling you up and saying we agree with you? >> well, my friends are saying that. but i did run this advertisement in "the new york times." my natural home, so to speak, is "the wall street journal."

as a result, out of the 100 or so e-mails that i've gone, a good portion of them are against what i have to say. i mean, people just can't fathom that somebody in my position would turn off the spigot and not make whatever you could make, even if it is a lower amount of money and just keep raking it in. gerri: you also make the point, which i think is critical, that the chernobyl donation stops, too, if you shutdown your business. >> i didn't say they would stop, gerri. they will be at an amount that is perhaps have as much as they could have been if i kept going. that means a lot to me. part of the reason that i ran the edge is not just to demonstrate that high tax rates turn off the wealthy. but that the amount of class warfare that is going on by the folks in washington against mitt

romney and a lot of the wealthy is just very frightening to me, and i think it has to stop. and i try to demonstrate the lot of the wealthy, and i would include mitt romney in this as well, do very commendable things with their money. these people should not be held down. gerri: provide them with health insurance, pay their taxes, give money to charity, they hire people -- there is a long list out there. especially the charities. >> especially the charity's. gerri: absolutely. it is a great pleasure to talk to you. a fascinating ad. thank you for bringing it to our attention. >> gerri, thank you for having me. gerri: also today a new study shows those states with the least religious residents are the least generous. religious participation is

crucial. number five south carolina. residents pay 6.5% of their income to charity. number four is tennessee. these residents pay more than 6.5%. number three is alabama. and alabama's mississippi neighbor comes in at number two. the most terrible state is utah. the residents did more than 10.5% of their discretionary income to charity. the six new england states still the last six slots among the 50 states with new hampshire coming in last. interesting. coming up, helping teach your kids about money and ben bernanke needing some help with his own. a look at the pressure he is under the struggling economy coming up next

gerri: fed up with the federal reserve say no, no, no to stimulus. investors are looking at any signs of what the federal reserve will do next. one big clue is the president of the atlanta fed bank. dennis lockhart. the monetary policy may not be to fix we are all hoping for. with more we have jeffrey miron. it is always good to see you,

jeffrey. does that make other than the president have it right? do we need more or less at this point? >> my guess is that we might need more easing, but for monetary easing isn't going to do very much. i think a lot of the fed recognizes that. ben bernanke and others have said don't rely on the fed to do everything. the fiscal situation is a big problem and we have urged congress to do something about that. gerri: it has been said that we could ease too much. what are the negative consequences? >> well, first of all, one standard concern is if you eat too much time you end up generating inflation. the response right now for most economists is there is so much slack in the economy. we are not going very fast and there is no pressure for inflation.

i think that is right as far as it goes. but sooner or later, that is going to be an issue. and if you put a ton of money into the economy and try to take it back out, it might be difficult. we haven't had too much experience at doing that. and it is the political constraint. the fact that if we start to see inflation go up to the economy slows, but that is going to be under huge pressure to do more stimulus, but that would cause cost more inflation. at the same come, they are worried about the economy falling. it could be very tricky. that's one thing that ben bernanke worries about. gerri: there is something else that i can do. we talk about qe-3, the crazy bond buying programs. is there any other arrow in your quiver that you can pull at this point? >> all of those amount to more or less the same thing of putting more money into the economy. if what you are doing is trying to make promises about what he will do in the future, two or

three or five years away -- it's really tricky. ben bernanke is not going to be chairman after another year and a half. who knows what other factors will be going on. convincing the market. gerri: will this be interesting in any way? >> we will see a lot of people having concerns who are more cautious about more stimulus. everybody is looking at the same data. and the data is not super clear cut. we are going, things are getting somewhat better. they are not getting better fast, so that makes people worry. it is hard to acquaint anything that makes a clear case for or against additional stimulus. i don't think it will be a big surprise. gerri: we have a speech from ben bernanke. were you expecting?

>> you know, i think we will expect a fairly dry and fairly subtle, a fairly nuanced central-bank speech. on one hand come on the other hand we are worried about this and we are paying attention to that, we are being careful. we are going to be ready to do whatever we need to do. at the end of the day, we are not going to say very much. that makes sense because it's hard to know what to do. the fed has done a ton. there is not much more that we can do. gerri: don't you think we should take some kind of action in september. there are a lot of people who believe the election is approaching and there has to be heavy pressure to do something. we are still at a point to% unemployment. this is key to the federal reserve. don't you feel that they have to do something?

>> i think you would worry about that and the republicans would go ballistic. it would be perceived as helping obama win the election. rightly or wrongly. i kind of expect nothing. nothing major. gerri: i figured that wall street and washington -- that unholy alliance -- they won't do anything. we really appreciate your time, jeffrey miron. good to see you. still to come is my "two cents more". and yes, kids aren't learning enough about managing money in school. what, if anything, is being done about that with all the opinions about stocks out there, how do you know which ones to follow? the equity summary score consolidates the ratings of up to 10 independent research providers into a single score that's weighted based on how accurate they've been in the past. i'm howard spielberg of fidelity investments. the equity summary score is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity.

get 200 free trades today and explore your next investing idea. gerri: a new survey says 75% of americans get no financial education. it is time to start teaching our kids in school about money. details are coming up next

gerri: in focus tonight, teaching kids about money. it turns out most schools are not teaching the very basic ideas when it comes to the real world financial matters. 75% of americans get no financial education before they get to college. we have everything you need to know about raising a money smart kid and brushing up yourself. joining me now is the president and ceo of the national endowment for financial education. and the member of the president's advisory council. welcome to the show, ted. this is one of my favorite topics. why can't home economics in school actually be about home economics? >> well, there has been a lot of positive developments. one of the things that the recession has brought out if there is a lot more interesting financial education and trying to develop people who are financially capable as they go into adult life.

we are very encouraged by that. there's a lot of research that helps us director of education should look like and what is affected. he won only 13 states across the country require some kind of personal finance course to be taught. it seems to me that the world would be a better place if people who would just balance their checkbooks, we have so far to go. what is it going to take to really get a movement going where people learn about the basics of money? >> well, there is a pretty strong movement. you are right. we could do much better in the schools. the 13 states you are talking about, it boils down to four states actually test for financial education as a graduation requirement. we can improve that. one of the goals of the president's council is to get a great deal youth education in the schools and to make sure that we are testing to see that it is effective. there is another aspect that is even more important. a lot of research we have done has actually shown that if you

look at the young adults that are showing positive behavior, there are three factors that that comes from. one of it is parents. parents have taught them about money and engage them in financial decisions. they have helped them understand what they're they are doing. the second one is education. we understand some of the basics. third, it is actually having a part-time job as a teenager. they have seen a paycheck. they understand how many hours it takes to turn something in the cache. gerri: we have a full-screen output shows the interesting result of the survey. what did you learn the most about personal finance? 44% of people said they learned about home. the example your mom and dad set for you. that is where you learn how to handle money. if mom is spending money, if that is squandering the family finances -- those are the lessons that we really take home. do you think a the program in school can actually impact people's practices? >> yes, because it teaches them some of the basics. and it reinforces what they heard at home.

both the pluses and minuses. if somebody asks me, what is the simplest thing you can do, talk to your kids about money. this is not a lecture or an argument, but it is explained to them how do they manage money and the mistakes and positive things you've done. they really do listen. they are at an important age where they will take out and build it into their own lives. gerri: i wonder if there was this kind of educational effort at the secondary level and in high school. that we get people into college, maybe they watch their nickels and pennies more carefully. maybe we would have lower than among college students. what you said? >> everything we have done on the research side agrees with what you just said. if we have more emphasis on this, maybe kids won't get into trouble, especially as young adults. what are the things we learned is that financial education is akin to the process that goes throughout your life. it would be great if we can

figure is a book in the class and now you're done. but this is something you really have to continually learn throughout your life, even when your child. gerri: if you have one thing to say to parents, what would it be? >> talk to your kids about money. if you don't want to say, there are some great resources out there to help build the discussion. go to our website, smart about money.org. the federal reserve, you were just talking about the fed. they have a very good website called federal reserve education. also, the jumpstart coalition has great clearinghouse with noncommercial, unbiased information you can use to start the discussion with your kids. basic messages, talk to your children about money. gerri: talk to your children about everything. ted, thank you for coming on and we appreciate your time. we will be right back with more coming up. [ male announcer ] at scottrade, we believe the more you know, the better you trade.

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gerri: earlier tonight, we talked about taxmegoddon and your wallet. you may not get a tax refund because congress can't see its way to get anything done. we asked you, should congress get back to work? 91 mcof you say yes. 9% of you said no. interesting conclusion. of course, we follow this for some time now. threatening every american with some $4,000, an additional taxes, a very painful january if congress doesn't get back to work. so here's e-mails you're sending me. gilbert says i've been managing investments in the stock market for over 35 years. current problems are concerning, but not that different from what we've seen over the decades. if investors leave equities now because of the problems, they were not working hard enough to