watch tomorrow will be the durable-goods number for july. the things folks by to last a long time. key economic indicator. like aircraft and washing machines. economists are expecting a rise of 2.4% month over month. liz: money with melissa frances is next. sandra: i am sandra smith. texas judge and the major victory to the keystone expel pipeline giving a critical green light. the landowners and environmentalists furious. one of the leaders fighting against the pipeline is far from over. she is here to explain her next step to stop keystone dead in its tracks. is privatization ruining america? professor cole's american private business the grand delusion. here to make his controversial case.

extortion team targeting powerful business and hollywood moguls. fretting to murder of the wine scene and others. bizarre details. when they say it is not it is all about money. let's take a look at the day's market. headline stocks suffered their biggest slide of the month as a new round of stimulus from the fit group following cautious remarks from president james bullard. bill haas 115 points. hewlett-packard tank following the company's third quarter earnings report yesterday.

a brutal battle ahead for markets. 8% died making this the worst dow performer. there was one bright spot in the market today. new home sales soaring 26% from the same period last year solidly beating expectations. no hmmm -- new-home inventories dropping to the lowest level since 1963 giving a robust sign of rising demand. >> the resources we can get from canada and mexico and biofuels, onshore energy and offshore gets north america the energy independence within eight years. something people have been talking about for a long time and something i am committed to doing. sandra: mitt romney made out his plan for energy independence on fox business. he wants to see america energy independence by 2020. i will bring in energy analyst

stephen, thanks for joining us tonight. >> great to be here. sandra: is this a realistic goal? >> the fact the we even talk about energy independence is quite remarkable. we have to remember not even ten years ago, north america was running out of energy resources. with the romney plan we are getting the decision whether we want to stay with the current top-down demand driven economy with regard to energy policy where ever increasing amount of our source of energy is dictated by government fiat or do we want to go the other method and allow market forces and price to dictate where we get our sources. what we have seen here, how do you go from natural gas where canada and the united states was running out ten years ago to the point where we might have enough gas in this country and canada to last the next 100 years and

even talking about potential energy independence. this is the decision we have. do we want to stay on the current path or do we want to go demand driven? sandra: we have an outline of the plan but tycoon boone pickens said he supports the plan, but was concerned about the lack of mention of natural gas. >> given the way he has been touting his plan -- sandra: always talking. >> we all talked our bucks but the general outline first and foremost is romney according to the plan latest on day 1 fast-track the keystone pipeline and this is a decision that made absolutely no sense. was a no-brainer to approve it. tremendous amount of oil in north dakota, montana threw alberta. get the oil to the market.

the fact the we missed the plan based purely on political lines absolutely makes no market sense. that is first and foremost. the second key point coming out was to hand more power, take it from the federal system and land it back to the states. the states are in the best possible position to make the decisions with regard to accessing the resources given the specific theology in each individual state. we have to look at north dakota to see how successful this can be at a time when we cannot federal get unemployment below 8% north dakota has it just over 3%. the state is producing more oil than ecuador producing so much oil it qualifies as an opec member. give the states more power to access the resources they have. the more access they have the more it gets to market and goes hand in hand.

high prices, it worked for natural gas. let it work for oil. sandra: you don't have to teach me that. jobs are crucial aspect of this. romney says the key skilled pipeline will create three million jobs but approval of the keystone pipeline is one aspect of the new energy plan. more drilling and fewer federal regulations. i am curious if there was anything in the plan you didn't like. >> i would like to have seen more renewables. my biggest knock on the current administration is they play a zero game where regardless of price dictating how supplies get into the market. all options should be on the table at this point. i did not see anything detailed in the romney plan. i would like to see more investment, more research into the feasibility of renewable deciding which renewables work but at the same time not to the detriment of other resources of

the hydrocarbons. i would like to see more detail on what they plan to do with investing in renewable sector. sandra: you are a quick forecasts, do you believe if the plan was implemented we would see lower oil and gasoline prices? >> indeed. oil trapped in north dakota and canada which is $30 below the price of oil. get that oil to the market and out to the market. sandra: thanks for joining us tonight. texas judge just ruled in favor of trans canada fighting eminent domain to seize property on the keystone pipeline. construction on the southern leg begins. landowners are fighting back and with me is gene from nebraska. do you see why the judge in support of this pipeline believe it is for the greater good and

could potentially reduce dependence on foreign oil? >> no and mitt romney needs a lesson in geography. not just sarah palin. last, checked canada was not part of the united states so that is foreign oil when this pipeline is coming through america. not to america so this oil is going to refinery half owned by saudi arabia and marketed for the export market. this has nothing to do with energy independence and nothing to do with north dakota and montana. we should be building pipelines to make sure the oil gets to the market. we should not provide up half way taking land and property rights for canadian private companies. sandra: we have to start by saying canada is our number one source of oil in this country but we do get a number of middle eastern countries. the idea would be to cut down our dependencies. i find it hard to believe you

don't at least understand where the judge and supporters of the pipeline are coming from. >> i understand where the judge is coming from because i understand essentially it was a lopsided case to begin with but since canada -- i was in the hearing room and listened to both sides. trans canada did not prove they were a common character -- carrier. the supreme court case in the making. in the essentially saying a foreign corporation can take american land for their private gain. now we are saying eminent domain can be for private gain. it fundamentally goes against everything americans believe about eminent domain. we already don't like eminent domain when the government takes our land but now you are talking about a foreign private company taking our land. tomorrow it could be china or iraq. it is a slippery slope i don't think any of us want to go down. for a project that -- too risky for land and water. sandra: let's talk about the

common carrier for the oil company. is there any way for tx to get companies to say they are common carriers before the company is given the legal right to that property? >> there are some ways. legal experts have been weighing in on this. david domino in nebraska has done a long paper on this. companies should have to very clearly laid out how much oil as american oil and how much is from texas. their own state oil. how much is from north dakota or montana. they are not even willing to tell us what in is in the context of their pipeline so we know is tar sands but don't know the chemicals mixed with tar sands in order to make it liquid enough to pump for the pipeline. lots of open questions. sandra: they use eminent domain only as, quote, and absolute last resort and estimated 19 out

of 1450 to land contracts in texas. do you actually think they did everything they could before resorting to this? do you believe that? >> no. i know they didn't. i sat across the table with plenty of landowners. reorganize landowners in nebraska and all the other states in the pipeline route. as soon as transcanada knocks on their door the first thing they tell landowners is they can take their land through eminent domain if they don't go through negotiation. that is not what a good neighbor does or what a good business does and transcanada and mitt romney and every republican who supports this project should be ashamed of themselves. it is hypocritical to say you are against -- but not against a foreign company taking private american land. there's something fundamentally wrong about that that republicans have to answer. sandra: mitt romney gave us his angle today. have they started digging in the land gets? >> they haven't and when they do

you will see a lot -- making sure they know we do not support this project. sandra: we gave your side of the story. thanks for joining us. the head of germany and france ahead of a critical summit to keep the e.u. and former u.s. ambassador john bolton says they may have left the bar and he is there to explain. why u.s. intelligence agencies are betting o crowd sourcing with the upcoming wars and economic calamities. more money coming up.

sandra: bubbling of the euro zone. high level meetings taking place today and over the weekend over greece's future. the word is greece -- spain is in talks to take a massive sovereign bailout. to make sense of this is john bolton, former u.s. ambassador and fox news contributor. thanks for joining us.

>> glad to be with you. sandra: the latest news we have is citigroup analysts michael saunders recently put out a note that he believes there's a 90% chance that greece is going to exit the euro in the last 12 to 18 months. it could happen by september or october. what say you on that? >> that is a very realistic prediction. they are at the point where temporizing and equivocation don't cut it anymore. the best solution for greece at this point is to exit devaluing so that it can get on a realistic economic footing. the reason this has gone on so long is the theology in the european union that you always have to keep writing a bicycle for word and they are just paralyzed with fear that a greek exit will compromise their other political unification objectives. i would say if i were greece so be it. we have our people to worry about.

sandra: is that the future for greece? we saw the greek prime minister met with the euro zone leader, no leniency indicated from brussels for greece. where are we today? >> greek prime minister is the unfortunate recipient of the bad news from of a previous government's wretched economic policies and they have to make a hard choice but i think it is better for greece to face of the fact of an exit. they won't be leaving the european union. simply the common currency. britain and sweden and denmark in the e.u. without the euro and from the e.u.'s perspective it would strengthen their hand in deciding how to handle the larger economy like spain and italy. sandra: german chancellor angela merkel will be meeting tomorrow, urging him to continue on with the reform tax in greece. you wants to wait to see what is in the fourth cut report.

what exactly is angela merkel saying here? >> she is at -- out of political room to maneuver. won't open the checkbook again would be my judgment. she has taken too much domestic political risk and at this point she and germany are at the stage where there is no more relief coming for the troubled economy. that is her message. 4 greece to meet the current plan requires a lot more economic growth than it has got. facing the to reality points to greek accent and sooner rather than later. sandra: obviously watching yield on the spanish tenure. what is going to happen with spain? negotiating with euro zone partners for money. what is the future there? >> spain doesn't want to admit they are in the bad shape therein so there are a lot of routine is going on here.

it is inevitable spain is going to require assistance and the question is down to whether germany is prepared to see if previous red lines cross and had a massive sovereign debt bailout. that is not what the pcb was setup to do. angela merkel will have trouble domestically. sandra: thank you for joining us. areas the government program to let you say what the major news will be. it is calls crowd surfing predictions. it was a weird slip up. how accurate is it? one of these production projects, raja charles is a research professor at george mason university. thank you for joining us. so how exactly did these work? >> two parts to crowd sourcing. one with a lot of people have

heard of thanks to a popular book is the wisdom of the crowds where if you have to forecast something in the future or estimates the wake of an office, if you average the estimates from a large number of people that average is likely to be as good or better than the best single estimate. the second part which we are looking into at george mason is if you don't take a simple average but you ask the mathematics of markets to it then you give people an incentive to make a stronger estimate when they really do no more or are more confident and leave the question alone when they don't have any extra information. sandra: they have to be over the age of 18 and be as diverse as possible. all shapes and sizes. what sort of questions are you asking these folks right now?

>> 80 to 100 questions. the serious ones are things like for the european union we do have a question on the greek exit and -- sandra: let's look at some of them. will greece exit the european union? we spoke about that in the last segment. what you finding with your results? >> our question has an end time of the first of april and our forecasters are giving that a 16% probability. sandra: so you have also asked will germany proposed greece be ejected as a member of the e.u. by april 1st? >> that is right. they're giving nevada 9% or 10% right now. the other avenue people have estimated for how will it leave is greece proposes an exit. sandra: how accurate do you think they are? with the track record? >> our forecast in year 1, just

under 80% of the time. when you measure on the technical measure that we use for our internal scoring we did between 20% to 40% better than the baseline. we are quite happy with that. sandra: thanks for joining us. >> thank you very much. sandra: the middle class is evaporation but there may be a bright side. is the private sector ruining america? a professor's controversial work finds public sector may be more eat fish and than private business. he will join me to explain that. can you ever have too much money? copd makes it hard to breathe,

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sandra: a new study from the pew research center finds that the middle-class in america is shrinking from 51% of the population to just 51% in 2011. are the numbers as bad as they seem? i want to bring in liz macdonald, who has been covering this all day on the fox business network. we are all joined by paul taylor, co-author of the study. let's start with you first read what. what was the methodology behind the study come and how are you defining middle-class? >> we used a statistical definition. we looked at the boundary of two thirds of the median, and let's find out how many adults live within that boundary. a little under $40,000 a year at the bottom end and $150,000 at

the top end. i did to 50% of the public. if you use those same statistical boundaries 40 years ago, it would get you 61%. sandra: macdonald, let's bring you in on the spread it is not that more people are going to the poor category. it is a mix. >> yes, it is a mixed picture when you look at the long trend. this is terrific research fred adding to the national conversation about income inequality, i have read the study and i covered the irs and taxes for a very long time. i testified about the irs before congress them actually. i've been going through a lot of treasury data as well. it would basically be the lower quintile. the number of people, the percentage that went up, it went up 4%. in other words, the lower 25% are lower, and now 29%. the percentage of people who moved into the upper quintile,

that went from 14% to 20%. that is a bigger spread. i'm not saying it's great, i am saying that the middle-class is getting hurt. there is no lifetime membership in the rich or poor club. when you look at treasury data based on irs income tax returns, you will find between 1996 and 2005, 58% of the lower quintile of people rose to the upper income. of the 1% from 57% drop. people don't stay in the richer poverty club or poor club for life. there is a lot of mobility between income brackets be one paul, your study also shows it is very specific what the core and middle income classes savored politically. >> well, in terms of the politics, the country doesn't believe that either of the

presidential candidates is going to be good for the middle-class. there is a lot of skepticism for politicians of both parties. in our survey, president obama did a little bit better than candidate romney in terms of being the champion of the middle class. congress does very badly in our survey. we asked people who or what is most responsible for the middle-class we be hard times, we give them a them a lot of options. it makes them a big corporations, foreign competition, the obama administration, the bush administration, the number one finger to blame was at congress. followed by banking institutions. people feel hard done by some of the largest institutions. >> i will tell you something, the pew research questions are always fair. they are not bias. for 62% to blame congress, that is pretty heavy. the other issue about the income inequality debate is that out of the debate is all the middle

income people get health benefits if they weren't. work. they tend to get from their jobs. retirement benefits, life insurance benefits, the fact that their income may be deteriorating or staying flat is perhaps maybe because health costs are rising so they have to go toward that. in the lower income brackets, those people who get food stamps, medicaid and medicare -- i'm not saying -- yeah, i'm saying that that needs to be properly assessed. this country does a great job and needs to do more to help the poor. sandra: paul, what i've thought was interesting is that the median household income is up for some poor americans. looking at the middle-class, $59,000 approximately a year. it hasn't really changed that much, although it has shrunk. >> you know, that is actually the most striking finding. we looked at family income data post-world war ii going back to

the 1950s. this is the first update since then that all american families, have less income at the end of the decade than they had at the beginning of the decade. when we talk about the hard times, there is a tendency to focus on the deep recession for five years ago and the sluggish recovery sense. what this study suggests is that this stagnation in terms of household income is 10 or 11 years old now. we haven't returned to the peak that we did in 1999. once we address the changes and adjust it for household income size, we adjust for all the rest. america has always been a place where one generation is better than the next. where there is a notion that things are going to get better, and that, frankly, has always been true until this decade. it helps explain why the country is in such a sour mood, disapproval ratings and all the rest. it is what the two candidates and parties have to talk about. sandra: that is what's going to make this upcoming election so

important. paul taylor and liz macdonald, thank you so much for coming on. the economic folly of one professor says they are just one example of why the private sector is destroying america. he joins me to explain and asked. and a top celebrity in trouble for a major extortion scheme. his plans to take tens of millions of dollars from some of the biggest names in vegas. ♪

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sandra: according to a professor professor at depaul university, paul buckeye argues that private companies produce mediocre results while providing lower wages. paul is joining me now from chicago. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me, sandra. sandra: i will challenge you off the bat and say, it is well-known that private businesses often bring up price down. whereas if the government is in charge of something, we are stuck with it and prices can go up. >> well, i believe that there is the sense in our country that privatization is always going to be cost effective. but more and more studies are revealing but that is not true. privatization makes for profits and makes for investment opportunities. but it doesn't necessarily -- sandra: okay, so let's talk about some of these things that

you say why privatization is ruining america. we spend lifetimes developing community assets and give them away to a corporation. one example would be this skyway that was built in chicago and taken private. i have to challenge you on that. i am a chicago when. it was horrible. there were puddles everywhere. it was sold to a private company and became a beautiful area the people were willing to pay for it. >> well, sandra, there is a very good quote that i heard were a hedge fund manager said desperate government is our best customer. that is the situation with so little funding going to the state and local governments. they are desperate. so they turned to privatization. look at the deal in chicago and in indiana and california. seventy-five out of 95 years. these are public assets and

these want all of us. we spend lifetimes building them, now they are gone. sandra: what i have to tell you is that one private business is in the picture, it is likely to be taken care of better, it's private money, it is not taxpayer money. the money that the government is asking us for every year goes up. the second reason you say that every physician is ruining america is repeating the same mistake over and over and getting the same results? >> well, all right, consider health care where the council on affordable health insurance says that administrative costs in the private industry are three times higher. or consider education were more studies -- the famous studies from stanford. sandra: paul, everybody comes to america to get their health care. if they have to have a major surgery, they come to the united states because of the competitive atmosphere in our health health care system has made it great. our competitive education system

has made it great. people come from all over the world to get educated in the u.s. >> just as many people are going to other countries to get medical care right now because it is expensive. millions of americans that are postponing or giving up on needed operations because it's just too expensive. sandra: i will challenge you on one last one. back to privatization. it is a private company, they don't have to reveal what they're doing to the public to well, a lot of studies have shown that privatization will work if there is accountability. if there is monitoring, management, reasonable regulation. all kinds of studies show that. private industry is very unequal. the public sector -- it draws the best people because of the benefits. it is a private industry, so is

accountability and transparency. there is a possibility a can were. sandra: there are a lot of folks who are asking for a little bit of transparency right now. thank you so much for joining us. it was a polite talk. aspiring actor and his alleged plot to murder. some of the best players in hollywood unless they take tens of millions of dollars. that's where he is coming up next. at the end of the day, it is all about "money." we have big dreams.

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the. sandra: it may be nearly impossible to break into hollywood, but i am pretty sure extorting people is a way to do it. the aspiring actor, vivek shah, threatened to kill harvey weinstein and at least five other tycoons that they didn't agree to pay millions of dollars he was trying to bribe from them. being the nice guy that he is, as part of the extortion, vivek

shah offered to pay the money back with interest. joining me now is criminal defense attorney arthur et -- aidala. >> i have been there. you can't appreciate what they have been through until you have walked in their shoes. it is crazy. people like harvey weinstein, it's not a nice way to go to bed with somebody telling you that i'm going to kill your family. sandra: yeah, it is not just harvey weinstein. it is eric lacoste lee, cofounder of groupon. big names. is there ever a time when a client comes to you when you say i will ignore it?

>> never, ever, ever. in a weird way, especially with social media and the internet. it is a way with domestic terrorism. what often happens -- this is an extreme case -- what usually happens is harvey weinstein, if you don't give me a million dollars, i will go on the internet and make it seem like he made a sexual advance. you tried to molest me and etc. you know how difficult it is to reverse the headlines of the "new york post." that happens all the time. sandra: i am wondering what his intent was. was that the money or him trying to get his name back in the spotlight and back into hollywood? >> if you look at his website, it's all about him. sandra: he is all about the pictures. >> he wants to be a player in the main guy and he is obviously one with mental problems. sandra: did people actually get the money? >> we do not know the. sandra: we would not nonactive. >> my educated answer is yes,

they did. nothing like this where i'm going to kill you and here is the money -- but something like, i know a personal thing about you and i know you don't want to be in trouble illegally, but you are a public person and unless you give me dollars, i will say something. sometimes, it is good to cut a check and a confidentiality agreement in return. sandra: will have interim. >> he will go to jail for a long time. and he should. because we cannot tolerate this kind of behavior. sandra: the maximum sentence is 40 years for this gentleman. thank you so much for joining us. the city of angels leading pet lovers growling while los angeles is banning commercially bred animals. you can never have too much "money".

sandra: time for a little fun with "spare change." today we are joined by camera holder. first up, the los angeles city council only once people buying rescued pets. they want to ban all

commercially bred cats, dogs, and rabbits. every pet in a pet store must come from a shelter or humane society instead of a breeder. is this the best way to cut down on the number of euthanized animals? >> way too much control. first of all, rabbits? this does remind me of mexico. rabbits and cats running around the street. that is what they are trying to do. they are saying that you have to go to the humane society. >> this is a great idea. it's a wonderful idea. you have these pets and you go get them at the humane society. i mean, i think it's beautiful. sandra: but i want the freedom to decide if i want to go to a commercial breeder what i want to go to the humane society. >> man's best friend. then, you have to help man's best friend.

why do i want to be stuck with some stray animal. what if i want to buy a nice, new to allah. >> you can find it in the shelter. >> we all love dogs and we all agree on that. sandra: there is a new study out that says marriage drives women to drink. married women drink more, but not necessarily because they are miserable. but because they are influenced by their husbands drinking. men drink more on average. i knew the man was to blame here. >> don't go to me first. [laughter] [talking over each other] >> i am not an expert in marriage. sandra: that is funny. >> it is a conspiracy against the man in the universe. men like to drink from time to time. and why? we drink because we are married, women are going to drink more based on our influence on them?

that is hogwash. in divorce, men drink more, women drink less. sandra: it kind of makes sense. men are bigger in size. camera come you don't have to be married to understand that. >> i understand drinking aspect. i've been known to drink. but i have also been known to have problems. sandra: copy that. all right, next up, an elderly woman attempting to destroy a painting of jesus that was hanging in her church. you can see her motivation didn't turn out so well. the discovery was made after officials from the archives of religious paintings came to examine it. the center and the church are working to restore the painting. what do you guys think about this? >> i think her heart was in the right place. she's an older woman trying to do the right thing. she tries, but maybe, you know, she was a little misguided and

as a result, she did a little bit of a boo-boo on the restoration. >> i think it is really bad. there is not much really to say other then i don't know how they will be able to restore this. but maybe these renovations societies should have come out earlier than when it was too late and now jesus looks like a subway poster or something. >> there you go. sandra: i think her heart was in the right place. one more. whatever hopman have been to the post office and we will get you may also matter what. a person in new jersey, the post office couldn't find the key for the 60-year-old apartment building. so the carrier couldn't get into the building. residents could only get their mail after the superintendent property to the post office itself. couldn't they have just asked

for the key in the first place? >> this is pretty bad. you know, somebody goes on vacation -- they can get answers, because the person who is supposed was supposed to deliver the mail is on vacation. >> all of a sudden, the post office is our friend, everybody's trying to cut the post office. [talking over each other] sandra: and have a legal obligation. what if there is a jury duty notice in her. >> exactly. a subpoena? we want our legal documents delivered and properly. bills have to be paid. things have to be delivered. and i can't get it because the postman is on vacation. sandra: united airlines is adding fees. a lot of airplanes are doing this. >> we live in new york city. we are used to living lean. you can barely eat your food at a restaurant. sandra: going back to private business, they can do whatever they