DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING "Cost of Freedom Recap" CONTAINS STRONG OPINIONS WHICH ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF FOX NEWS AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS INVESTMENT ADVICE WHEN MAKING PERSONAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS. IT IS FOX NEWS' POLICY THAT CONTRIBUTORS DISCLOSE POSITIONS THEY HOLD IN STOCKS THEY DISCUSS, THOUGH POSITIONS MAY CHANGE. READERS OF "Cost of Freedom Recap" MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN INVESTMENT DECISIONS.
EU OFFICIAL BLAMES AMERICA FOR EUROPE'S DEBT CRISIS
Charles Payne: Incredible! President Obama should have reached over and smacked him to be quite frank with you. Listen, he wasn't the first one. A few months ago the Mexican guy was at the White House in the rose garden and he started dissing America on the war on drugs. Are you kidding me? If you had jobs in Mexico it wouldn't be an issue. This is amazing! All these gutless..Look Europe's problems are their own for decades. Look, you know what it is? Distribution of wealth, They have stolen the wealth from the private industries, they have given it to the public sector. All the rich smart people left and now they have debt out of this world and they can't control it. They can't keep it going and they still want someone like Angela Merkel to pony up some cash. It still is not gonna happen and it shouldn't happen.
Gerri Willis: Well, this is what Europe's high court had to say this week if you are wondering if Europe can cut their costs. They said that 6 week vacation that European workers get is not only sacrosanct if you get sick your employer needs to give you more vacation. So, if you think they are actually going to cut costs forget about it!
Charlie Gasparino: As my grandmother who left Italy would say "Stupido!" Look, all you have to do is go to Europe to see that their problem is that they don't have an entrepreneurial class. They chased them out of the country. You have to ask why the most productive citizens leave Europe and the people that want to stay on the welfare remain. It is there fault, if they think it is our fault that they have welfare states that are draining the economy and no entrepreneurs they are never going to get out of this. I think it is actually scary that he said that. It means they have no way out!
Adam Lashinsky: I don't disagree with that and I don't disagree with much of what has been said so far Neil. We should put things in two different buckets. There is politics here and reality somewhere else. It doesn't shock me that you have a politician blaming the United States. It doesn't surprise me that you have a European politician criticizing or blaming the United States because you have to blame somebody, right? Our politicians do that too, we are going to talk about that later. You blame whoever you can. I agree completely that it is nonsense to criticize the Germans to get them to carry their load. The question becomes what should they do next? I'm not sure that bleeding Greece dry is the way to solve the problem.
UNCERTAINTY OVER STUDENT LOANS HURTING FAMILIES
Charles Payne: Listen, this program started out at 7 percent and a lot of people watching this show are probably saying golly to your point. At one point it was 14 percent. Listen, Nancy Pelosi only knows one thing to sell and that is fear. Nancy Pelosi and fear is like peanut butter and jelly or Frankenstein on Halloween-they just go together. They can't help it, it is the only card she plays.
Charlie Gasparino: It's such an idiotic statement that people are not going to go to college because of this. Maybe it's about time that, when factoring in their costs of college, kids may say the cheaper state school might be better because I'm going to have pay this money back. Maybe I should pay less money back.
Gerri Willis: It's not just low interest rates, it's debt forgiveness. It's programs you never hear about. If you don't pay it back, you don't have to pay it back. Kids have a trillion dollars worth of debt out there. You've got to get them off of this. The colleges themselves take advantage of this. It's an arms race. We're talking about 24-hour gyms, sushi bars, etc. This is ridiculous spending. We have to put an end to it.
Adam Lashinsky: I think that college expenses have gotten completely out of control. They're just way too high. I think we have too many people going to college, actually. They don't need to go to college. I think slightly higher rates will force students to decide if they really need or want a college education, as opposed to getting some practical training and getting a job. A state school was good enough for Charlie and me. I think it should be good enough for a lot of students.
IOWA GOVERNOR URGING MITT ROMNEY TO CELEBRATE HIS STATE'S SUCCESS
Charles Payne: It's crazy to run away with this. This is individual success by republican governors. Mitt Romney is out of his mind. He should be promoting how they did this in these individual states. They're doing this by pulling back on public sector. These governors have done fantastic jobs and if you give me the job as president I'll do the same for the nation.
Charlie Gasparino: I think it's hard for President Obama to take credit for anything that's going on in Wisconsin, in particular. That is the one place where they can say this is a president whose allies have opposed everything we've done, every economic measure that Governor Walker has done. So, it's a clear opening for Mitt Romney to use what's going on in Wisconsin-budget surpluses, etc. It's a clear opportunity. I'm surprised he hasn't done it yet.
Gerri Willis: There's exciting stuff going on out there in some of these states where you see growth off the charts. It's really exciting. We should stand up and tell the story of how that happened because it has nothing to do with Washington, as per usual. Look at Iowa and Virigina-they're doing it on their own. That's really exciting.
Adam Lashinsky: Presidents and governors get too much credit for the good economy and too much blame for the bad economy. Romney is doing what he has to do. The President will get the credit in those states. So, politically, he's playing it correctly.
EURO-PROOF STOCKS
Charles Payne: Zumiez (ZUMZ)
Adam Lashinsky: Owens and Minor (OMI)
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