i read paul krugman like i used to play with a loose tooth. it hurts but i do it anyway. similarly tom friedman. i don't have much use for him but it is worthwhile because other people have used for him. i am thinking he is an odd liberal. will wilkinson who writes the economist is more libertarian but sort of social liberal and a lot of ways. he is a brilliant guy. very worthwhile. >> host: they what keys over men? >> guest: i watch special report. other than that, i don't watch much cable stuff. i live and breeze the stuff during the day. last thing i want to do while relaxing is check in on the carnival stalls on cable. i find overman and matt alan -- i don't care about. so grating if you watch five minute you get it. i am sure liberals feel the same way about o'reilly. >> host: is it important to read things you don't agree with? >> guest: yes. watch different television shows people still not so much. i think special report is a great show. the panel at the end is good as you can get. i said that long before i ever appeared on it. a little goes a long way in terms of

paul krugman said taking away the deduction for home mart, the deduction for health care will end up playing increases that are tax cuts for the wealthy and tax increases for the middle class. your response? >> i think if you'll look at a distribution analysis. you'll see, "a," that's not true. but, "b," what we say is, let's take these out. bring rates down to 8, 14 and 23. then if you want to add about back like the mortgage interest deduction, then tell us how you're going to pay for it. >> so you are willing to have some compromise or tradeoffs going down the line? >> yeah, we say that in the report very clearly. >> so far just you and your co-chair, alan simpson, the republican, have signed on for the proposals. the idea is to get 14 of the 18 commission members to sign on before you can get a vote in the congress. but many of the other commission members have yet signed on. do you think you can get the 14 by the december 1st deadline? >> i'll tell you, i'm hopeful. what we're trying to do is to listen to other people's ideas to see how we can improve this package. the president

overall, i would love to see paul krugman get elected to president of the united states on the economy, because everything he has always said and predicted it seems to come true. he was arguing for even a bigger stimulus. host: do you think you would have the credentials needed when it comes to running the economy? caller: i would love the republicans to send chris christie. that would be classic. you look around, and you look at boehner and palin and a whole other cast of characters, and they are all comics. when you look at that entire group, it is really hard to see anyone who has the product cost and demeanor and so forth or could command the international respect. . . i am confused because it seems like the american people do not have patients anymore and think that president obama can change the economy around and fixed all of our problems in a matter of two years. it is frustrating that they get swept back in power without explaining in full and in detail of how they would bring the economy back and what they would cut, which programs they would cut to shrink the deficit. host:

paul krugman, nobel prize-winning economist says taking away the deduction for home mortgages, the deduction for health care will end up paying increases that are tax cuts for the wealthy and tax increases for the middle class. your response? >> i think if you'll look at a distribution analysis, you'll see, "a," that's not true, but, "b," what we say is, let's take these out. bring rates down to 8, 14 and 23. then if you want to add about back like the mortgage interest deduction, then tell us how you're going to pay for it. >> so you are willing to have some compromise or tradeoffs going down the line? >> yeah, we say that in the report very clearly. >> so far just you and your fellow -- your co-chair, alan simpson, the republican, have signed on to these proposals. the idea is to get 14 of the 18 commission members to sign on before you can get a vote in the congress. but none of the other commission members have yet signed on. do you think you can get the 14 by the december 1st deadline? >> i'll tell you, i'm hopeful. what we're trying to do is to listen to other people's ideas to see how