Talks on raising the US debt ceiling are heating up in Washington. On this episode, DICK BOVE explains why the Social Security system is inching closer to insolvency unless reforms are introduced to shore up the trust funds supporting the program. Society Security and other programs are at the heart of the debate on the debt ceiling and talks on avoiding a government default. "There is an acceptance of the view that some negotiation is necessary to control the US budget," according to BOVE, chief financial strategist at ODEON CAPITAL GROUP. "Debt is out of control; it must be reined in." On a different note, MAT VAN ALSTYNE, ODEON co-founder and managing partner, explains that coming adjustments in the calculation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) could produce a more positive outcome in the trajectory of the CPI because of significant changes in how some variables that comprise the index are measured.

BOVE steps up his case for reshoring American manufacturing jobs, saying while free trade is positive in theory, in practice it has been a disaster for America. "Economists argue that stimulus to rebuild America's manufacturing sector harms South East Asia, raises the price of goods for consumers and hurts free trade," he says. "Nonetheless it must, and is being done."  VAN ALSTYNE defends the merits of free trade. JOHN AIDAN BYRNE notes how decades of outsourcing has destablised some American communities, helped fuel social chaos and a drug epidemic, as middle-class jobs were shipped overseas. Elsewhere, BOVE explains how the US Fed is now damaging the US banking system by competing with banks for large customer deposits.

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