politics, elections personal controversy and all other external factors aside.

>> we are in prospect garden here in princeton new jersey. this is the card and allen wilson designed when she was a resident of prospect house when wilson was in the white house. she brings a white house gardener back here to this garden at prospect house. she says to the white house gardener lets re-create the section of this garden at the white house and of course this

is the famous rose garden at the white house. allen tragically doesn't live to see the rose garden completed however. she is dying in the summer of 1914. she is wheeled out into the space in a wheelchair and she watches as the gardener works. she doesn't live to see the completion of this vision she had for the roses blooming the white house. president obama traveled to liberty missouri today to to spk to locals at a ford automobile stamping plant. in his remarks he talked about the state of the auto industry and the u.s. economy. he also spoke about the potential threat of a government shutdown at the end of the month should both chambers of congress not agree on a continuing resolution that would continue to fund the government through december. this is 40 minutes.

[applause] >> i just want to say about jordan, third-generation ford employee. she is going to school during the week. works at the plant on the weekends getting a degree in business management and will be taking allen's place running the company. and about i don't know -- it may take a few years but we are so proud of her and congratulations to everything that she represents. when you see young people like that who are working so hard making something of themselves and they are rooted in the community like this it really makes one proud. before it started there a couple of folks that want to introduce that are working for you day in and day out. first of all your outstanding governor jako nixon and his wife georgeanne.

[applause] the plant my nontenure had it not been for the great work of jako. [applause] we have my outstanding secretary of health and human services former governor of kansas kathleen sibelius is in the house. [applause] she basically just came because her son and his fiancée are here. [laughter] but we are glad she is here. one of my greatest friends and just a tough, smart dedicated public servant senator claire mccaskill is here. [applause] your former mayor, preacher can

do everything. emanuel cleaver is in the house. [applause] current mayor of kansas city slide james is here. [applause] the mayor of kansas city kansas mark holland is here. [applause] and the mayor right here in liberty compact lendale brenton and his lovely wife roxanne are here. where are they? there they are. now when i said i was flying into kansas city to see an incredible success story in action i did not think i was going to be talking about the chiefs.

[applause] before you get carried if i had just want to point out that the bears are 2-0. i'm just saying. and we are actually able to pass more than 10 yards. [laughter] just a little trash talking. we will see how we are looking at the end of the season. i want to give special thanks to ford's ceo. this is one of our outstanding business leaders, has helped to lead forward to be the number one automaker in the united states of america.

allen moe lately is here. we are very proud of him. [applause] it doesn't matter if you've got an outstanding ceo if you don't have outstanding workers and the president of local 249 jeff writeback is here. [applause] your launch manager. todd i really like because he is a bears and a sox fan. give todd a big round of applause. [applause] and i very much appreciate him and some of the other folks joining me around this new stamping plant right here. you may not be aware of this but you and i have a little history together.

i am a brawl in a cadillac these days. but it's not my car. i am renting just like my house. [laughter] the lease runs out and in about three and a half years. but before that i was driving around in a 2008 ford escape. [applause] it came right off of these assembly lines. some of you might have been involved in building it. it was a great car. the problem is i got secret service about a month after i bought the car so i only got 2000 miles on it. it is in mint condition. so i want to say thank you for building my car. but i also came here to talk about what has got to be the

number one priority in this country and that is growing our economy, creating new jobs in making sure that everyone who works hard in america has a chance to get ahead. [applause] it's our number one priority. [applause] some of you remember five years ago the financial crisis hit wall street. it then turned into a devastating recession on main street and he came close to being another great depression. by the time i took office the economy was shrinking at a rate of 8% a year. unprecedented. our businesses were shedding 800,000 jobs a month and you have this perfect storm and millions of americans lost their jobs, to their homes in their savings that they had been working a lifetime to get. but the recession also showed was the fact that for decades

middle-class families have been working harder and harder just to get by and hadn't seen their incomes go up and haven't seen their wages go up. manufacturing is moving overseas and so what builds our middle-class had been buckled. it had been weakening. i think they might not -- to lehman brothers collapsing. they talk to about when they got a pink slip that they didn't expect were the bank took away their home or they didn't have health insurance or maybe they were told the plant were shutting down in the assembly line was going quiet. those are tough times. five years ago plans like this one were closing their doors and the doors and that they stepped into the oval office the american auto which is the heartbeat of manufacturing --

the auto industry was flat-lining. ford was standing on its own 2 feet and made some smart decisions but palatable till you if gm and chrysler had gone down suppliers would go down. dealers would have gone down and all of that would have would have had a profound impact on ford. i refuse to let that happen so we worked with labor and they worked with management and everyone had to make sector faces. everyone put some skin in the game. we bet on the american worker. we bet on u.n. today that has paid off because today the american auto industry has come roaring back. [applause] the big three are all profitable , hiring new workers. not just building more cars -- you are building better cars and

better tracks. look at what's going on right here at the plant. the new f-150 is built tougher than ever and more fuel-efficient than ever. [applause] you have got trouble making them fast enough. you have to bring on a third shift of 900 workers just to keep up with demand. [applause] and because ford invested $1.1 billion in this plant pretty soon 1100 more new workers will be joining you on these assembly lines in good union jobs building ford transit. [applause] so more jobs building cars -- that means more jobs for suppliers. it means more jobs for distributors. it means more jobs for the folks

who own the restaurants here in town or the bar depending on -- [laughter] it has an impact on your tax base. it has an impact on the teacher who teaches your kids. the first responder who keeps you safe. all those people are impacted by your success. fundamental idea and when some of us are doing doing well its okay but when everybody has got a steak that's when things really start rolling. that's at the heart of every decision i've made as president. because when the middle-class does better we all do better. shareholders do better. ceos do better. workers do better. everybody does better. [applause]

so in the depth of the crisis we passed a recovery acts to make sure that we put a floor below which this country couldn't fall. we put money in folks pockets with tax breaks. we made sure that people were rebuilding roads and bridges in keeping things going helping to keep teachers and firefighters and cops on the job. today three and a half years later our businesses have added 7.5 million new jobs. 7.5 million new jobs. [applause] we helped to responsible homeowners stay in their homes. we won one of the biggest settlement in history on behalf of people who were wrongfully lost their homes because banks hadn't done things right in today or housing market is healing. we took on a tax code that was too skewed towards the wealthy. we gave tax cuts and lock them in for 90% of families and we asked those at the top 2% to pay a little bit more. today middle-class tax rates are

at an all-time on the deficits deficits are calling it the fastest rate since world war ii. that is what we did. [applause] we invested new american technologies to end our addiction to foreign oil. today we are generating more renewable energy than ever before producing more natural gas than anybody in the world. we are about to produce more of our own oil than we buy from overseas for the first time in nearly 20 years. [applause] and we took on a broken health care system. and in less than two weeks millions of americans who have been locked out of the insurance market are finally going to be able to get quality health care. [applause]

out of every 10 americans who are currently uninsured, six out of those 10 are going to be able to get covered for less than $100 a month, less than your cell phone bill. [applause] so we have been working. just like you have been working over these last four and a half years. we have cleared away the rubble from the crisis. we started to lay any foundation for economic growth, a new foundation for prosperity. everybody here, do do we all have to make some adjustments. i'm assuming some folks had to tighten their belts and get rid of some debt and focus on things that really matter and cut out something she didn't really need. we have shown the world that the american people are tough and they are resilient. the only thing built tougher than ford trucks are american workers, of the american people. that's what we have shown. [applause]

so that is the good news. but, any working person and a middle-class family will tell you we are not yet where we need to be. the economy is growing but it needs to grow faster. we are producing jobs that we need to create more jobs and more good-paying jobs. we have got to make sure that we are rebuilding an economy that doesn't work from the top down but works from the middle out. that gives opportunity to folks who still don't have a job. [applause] we have got to make sure that workers are sharing in growth and productivity. right now even though businesses are creating jobs the top 1% took home 20% of the nation's income last year. the average worker barely sought a raise.

it ain't fair. it ain't right. in many plays the trends that have taken hold over the past few years a winner-take-all economy if you folks at the top doing better and better and everybody else treading water or losing ground, that's not a model that we want and it's been made worse by this recession. so what i have been doing -- been doing over the last couple of months i've been visiting towns like liberty traveling all across the country talking about what we need to do to reverse those trends to make sure we have got a better bargain for middle-class america. good jobs that pay good wages and an education that prepares our kids for a global economy it home that is secure,, affordable health care that it's there when you get sick a secure retirement even if you are not rich. all those things that make for a secure life so you can raise your kids and have confidence that they are going to do better

than you did. that is what i'm focused on. that is what you are focused on. that is what congress should be focused on. [applause] [applause] which brings me to the current situation. let me talk a little bit about what's going on back in washington. right now congress is in the middle of a budget debate. now there is nothing new about that. every year congress has to pass a budget. it's always a contentious process. but right now our recovery still needs to build more strength so it's important that we get it right in washington because even though our success as a country is ultimately going to depend on great businesses like ford and

hard workers like you government has to do some things. congress has to pass a budget to make sure our education system works and prepares our kids and our workers or the global economy. if we are going to rebuild our roads bridges airports and airports government has to be involved in that. if we are going to have scientific research and development -- i was looking at these newfangled pieces of equipment here. some of the things that allowed the efficiencies of this plant originated in laboratories and scientists doing work on the government's dime. that is all we -- how we maintain our cutting-edge. these are things that help us grow. these are things that help the private sector succeed. so when people tell you somehow government isn't relevant -- is irrelevant no, everything we

do have some dimension to making sure that we collectively as a democracy or making smart investments in the future. [applause] that is how it has always been. [applause] so what congress is doing right now is important. unfortunately right now the debate that is going on in congress is not meeting the test of helping middle-class families. they are not focused on you. they are focused on politics. they are focused on trying to mess with me. [applause] they are not focused on you. they are not focused on you. [applause]

so there are two deadlines coming up that congress has to meet. and i want folks to pay attention to this. congress has to meet two deadlines and they are coming up pretty quickly. the first deadline -- the most basic constitutional duty congress has is to pass the budget. that's congress 101. if they don't pass a budget by september 30 -- what's the date today? the 20th. so if congress doesn't pass the budget in 10 days a week from monday the government will shut down. a government shutdown shuts down many services that the american people rely on. this is not abstract. hundreds of thousands of americans will not be allowed to go to work. our men and women in uniform even those deployed overseas won't get their paychecks on

time. small businesses, they won't get their loans processed. now none of that has to happen as long as congress passes a budget. number one, pass the budget. number two, in the next few weeks congress must vote to allow the department of the treasury to pay america's bills. our treasury department, that is where we take in money and we pay it, bright? real simple. this is usually done with a simple routine vote to raise what is called the debt ceiling. if you don't raise the debt ceiling america can't pay its bills. since the 1950s congress has always passed it.

every president has signed it. democrats, republicans, ronald reagan. lyndon johnson. it doesn't matter. this is just a routine thing that you've got to do so treasury can pay the bills. if congress doesn't pass this debt ceiling in the next few weeks, to the united states will default on its obligations. that has never happened in american history. basically america becomes a deadbeat. if the world sees america not paying its bills, then they will not buy debt combat treasury bills bills from the united states or if they do they won't do it at much higher interest rates. that means somebody wants to buy an f-150 will have to pay much

higher interest rates eventually which means that you will sell less cars. that's just one example of how profoundly destructive this could be. this is not some abstract thing. this is important. raising the debt ceiling is not the same as approving more spending. anymore than making your monthly payments adds to the total cost of your truck. you don't say well i'm not going to pay my bill, my notes for my truck because i'm going to save money. you are not saving money. you have already bought the truck. you have to pay the bills. you are not saving money. you might have decided at the front and not to buy the truck but once you bought the truck you can't say you are saving money just by paying the bills. does that make sense? [applause]

so raising the debt ceiling doesn't cost a dime and it does not add a penny to our deficits. all it says is you have to pay for what congress already said we are spending money on. if you don't do it because have another financial crisis. and the fact is i know a lot of people are concerned about deficits. our deficits are now coming down so quickly that by the end of this year we will have cut them in more than half since i took office. [applause] [applause] so i just want to break this down one more time. i go into a ford dealership and drive off with a new f1 50. msi pay cash i still have to pay for it each month. i can't just say you know i'm not going to make my car payment

this month. that is what congress is threatening to do. just saying i'm not going to pay the bills. there are consequences to that. the bill collector starts calling. your credit goes south and you have got all kinds of problems. the same is true for our country. so if we don't raise the debt ceiling we are deadbeats. if we fail to increase the debt limit we would send our economy into a tailspin. that's a quote by the way would have just said. do you know who said that? the republican speaker of the house john. the republican speaker has said if we don't pay our bills we will have an economic tailspin. this is not just my opinion. this is everybody's opinion. all right now why haven't we are to gotten it done at that such a simple think lex everybody is

nodding. why didn't we are to get this done? democrats and some reasonable republicans in congress are willing to raise the debt ceiling and pass a sensible budget. i want to work with democrats and republicans to do just that. claire mccaskill is ready to do it. [applause] congressman cleaver, he's ready to do it. [applause] and if we just passed the budget and raise the debt ceiling we can get back to focusing on growing this economy and creating jobs come to educating our kids. all the things we have got to do. unfortunately there's a faction on the far right of the republican party right now. it's not everybody but it's a pretty big faction to condense their leadership to threaten a government shutdown and potentially threaten to not raise the debt ceiling if they

can't shut off the affordable care act also known as obamacare. think about this. they are not talking now about spending cuts. they are not talking about in title and reform. now they are talking about something that has nothing to do with the budget. they are actually willing to plunge america into default if we can't define the affordable care act. let's put this in perspective. the affordable care act has been in law for three and a half years. it passed both houses of congress ruled constitutional. it was an issue in last year's elections. the guy who is is running again as we said he was going to repeal it. we won. [applause]

so the voters are pretty clear on this. republicans in congress tried to repeal or sabotage this more than 40 times. they have had these repeal votes. every time they fail. this law that is in place has already provided people benefits. it's not holding back economic growth. it's helping millions of americans including some of you or your family members that you may not be aware of. you can keep your kid on your own health insurance plan. somebody is raising their hand right here -- until they are 26 because of the affordable care act. [applause] which is one of the main reasons why the number of uninsured among young people has gone down over the last three years. seniors, that they are benefiting right now from discounted prescription drug costs because of the law.

[applause] if you've got health insurance, and insurance companies can impose lifetime limits on you. they can't use the fine print not to pay if you get sick. insurance companies have to spend 80% of your premiums on your health care, and not on administrative costs and ceo bonuses. those are happening right now. [applause] and health care costs have actually increased at the slowest rate in 50 years. so this is helping to reduce health care costs across the economy. [applause] finally, starting on october 1 it's going to help millions of poor people. people who don't have health insurance right now what is going to do is we are going to

set up rules so just like a worker at ford can benefit from good insurance rates because you have a lot of workers in one big pool now people who don't have the good fortune to work at a big company like ford can also get a good deal. [applause] that is what they are fighting for. they want to repeal all of that and they are saying we are going to hold our breath and if you don't repeal it which i've already seven not going to do we are going to send the economy into default. they will send our economy into a tailspin just like speaker said. they want to threaten default just to make sure that tens of the mayor -- tens of millions of americans continue not to have health care. defunding affordable health care would rob 25 million americans of a chance to get health care coverage. it would cut basic health care services for tens of millions of seniors on medicare already. that is what house republicans are fighting for.

now they have gone beyond holding congress hostage. they are holding the whole country hostage. one republican senator called shutting down the government over the affordable care at the dumbest idea i have ever heard. i agree with him. [applause] but that is the strategy they are pursuing. the house of representatives voted on it today. i will tell you what misery, the american people have worked too hard for too long digging out of a real crisis just to let politicians in washington caused another crisis. [applause] this is the united states of america. we are not some banana republic. this is not a deadbeat nation. we don't run out on our tab. we are the world's bedrock investment. the entire world looks to us to

make sure the world economy is stable. we can't just not pay our bills. and even threatening something like that is the height of irresponsibility. so what i have said is i will not negotiate over the full faith and credit of the united states. [applause] i am not going to allow anyone to harm this country is reputation. i'm not going to allow them to inflict economic pain on millions of our people just so they can make an ideological point. but i need your help. i need you to help tell congress to pay our bills on time. pass a budget on time. stop governing from crisis to crisis. put our focus back on where it should be on view the american people on creating new jobs on growing our economy and on

restoring security for middle-class families. that's what you deserve. [applause] i mean, i don't know -- it's like they do this every six months combat isn't it? i mean i don't mind them disagreeing with me. if they don't like the affordable care act and they'd rather people not have health insurance i'm happy to have that debate with them. but you don't have to threaten to blow the whole thing up just because you don't get your way. right? [applause] i think about something that jordan said. her grandfather worked in this plant uncle, stepmom worked in this plant. now she and her brother worked in this plant punching and is part of the next generation of american workers at a great iconic americom can he. our economy is coming back

because of the reselling san determination of american workers like jordan and her family. every day all over this country there are men and women just like jordan, just like her brother. they wake up and maybe pack a lunch for their kid's, kiss them goodbye go to work with up to their responsibilities do their jobs, pay their bills. shouldn't you expect the same thing from people in washington? [applause] shouldn't you expect the same thing from members of congress? [applause] just do your job. don't be the other guy. be the guy who is doing your job. no obstruction. no games. no holding the economy hostage

if you don't get 100% of what you want. nobody gets 100% of what you want. you guys know that in your own lives. i don't know how many people are married here but u. know u. better not expect 100% of what you want. otherwise you will be divorced real quick. especially human, i'm telling you. [laughter] you should expect the same common sense out of congress. you should expect some compassion and you should expect some compromise. you should expect the conviction of leaders who wake up and go to work every day not to tear something down but to build something better. not just for today but for the world we want to leave our kids. that is my conviction and that's my commitment to you. that we start thinking about you and said that politics and how you can get your base stirred up and we are going to be able to

get back to the point where this country is where we want it to be. if washington will act with the same decency and common purpose than you and americans all across the country do every single day the economy will be stronger.just a year from now or five years from now or 10 years from now but 20 and 30 and 50 years from now. and as long as i have the privilege of serving you as president, that's what i'm going to be focused on. thank you very much everybody. god bless. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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[applause] ♪ seen many have said that our report would be their advocate near enforcement of fortress embassies are closing down our prisons. no conclusion like that could be further from the truth. we recognize that protection and protection is not possible and that's fine and good men and women will still come forward to serve their country and risked their lives on the front lines of danger. we should continue to do all that we can to protect them as they go about such challenging tasks. that was the sole purpose of our report and it was produced with a deep sense that we had to get it right. politics, elections and personal controversy and all other external factors aside.

next a conversation with berkshire hathaway ceo and investor warren buffett. he set down with america ceo bryant moynahan to talk about philanthropy in the u.s. economy. posted by georgetown university, this is 15 minutes.

[applause] [applause] >> good evening georgetown. it's a pleasure to be here. for those of you that were here last year we know we had -- and he helped us arrange that in all the hard work she does for our company. this year is thinking we should bring in -- i actually talked to bob and he said if you want to bring in a real rock real rock star bringig warren buffett in. here's a guy who has done more for philanthropy than i could ever do in a century so last year we brought you a rock star but this year we brought you a real rock star. [applause] so what we are going to do them i'm going to ask a series of questions over 25 or 30 minutes and then we will take your

questions in the crowd and let the students ask one about his experiences. this is your hometown. this is part of your hometown so what are your best memories about being around georgetown? b. i delivered papers at georgetown hospital 66 years ago and i developed this affinity because in the hospital people tipped. my regular customers the one that knew me never tips but i would go to the hospital and one of the things they would do, that they would leave me cash tips but they also would tell me if a woman had given birth to a baby that was eight pounds 11 ounces they would whisper the number to me. they thought they were giving me this terribly valuable information. i have a lot of memories of georgetown and i was here during

world war ii which was really a fascinating time in washington. my dad being in congress, it was really a window on extraordinary time in america and of course at that time we were pop up in more united than at any time in my lifetime about a common goal. that was a time when people like bobby feller and all the athletes enlisted and people really did voluntarily and a high percentage play by the rules in terms of gasoline rationing and sugar rationing and meat rationing about that. we all bought savings bonds at school to help out the troops so it was quite a period. >> summerlong then he started investing. >> you bet. >> i have read stories and he

started investing at 13. whether that's true or not. >> it was 11. >> what created the fascination for investing? b. i a disabling hundred -- five dollars to buy stock three shares of cities service when i was 11. my dad was in the investment business. he wasn't really interested in it but i would go down on saturday morning and he had these books they are in the office. i read those and went to the public library and read every book on investments by the time we move to washington. then when we got here at the library of congress -- i read everything. i just found it fascinating and incidentally i find it fascinating today. i think it's an activity -- you know if you are at baseball player your legs may go. my legs have long gone so it doesn't make any difference in

what i do. i'd literally -- i have always had fun working. i have this much fun now as i have ever had in my life. i work with people who love doing what i love. >> you tap dance to work every day. what makes you do that? b. don't ask me to demonstrate. it's nice to get that round of applause at the start. i am 83 and not sure i will be around at the end. [laughter] >> i have shared enough dinners with you to know that you have more than enough energy than anybody. you talked about the giving pledge. how did you come up with the idea with bill and how are you doing on that? >> we are doing great. three or four years ago we were out in california talking and i'm not exactly sure how it came up at we decided to call david rockefeller and ask if he would post a dinner in new york for 16

or 18 people just to talk about philanthropy and oprah winfrey came and mayor bloomberg was there. i started having these people talk around the table as to how they develop their philosophy of philanthropy. it must have taken us two and a half hours. people were really interested in it so bill and i led that and we decided maybe there would be a possibility of taking this passion that these people had shown and going to other people that had a great deal of money and see if we could develop something where people would pledge at least half their net worth. we now have about 115 people. i have been dieting for dollars. i call these billionaires up and sometimes they tell me how they can't do it. i tell them i'm going to write a book on how to live on $500 million because apparently

there's this great need. [laughter] they just can't seem to figure out how to do it and they need help. it's been very reporting. i received a letter from one woman. she sent me to ties and said they hadn't really faced it. it's like facing your own mortality and that's tough for people sometimes. she and her husband had change things and over half of that $10 billion was going to go to philanthropy. they do tend to postpone the decision so i tell these people -- i call. the last will will is what counts but i tell them i'm talking to some 70-year-old. you really think your decision of making ability is going to be better when you are 95? let's get on board fellows. [laughter] >> i assume that convinces them that a 70-year-old decision is

better at that point. >> bill has gotten people around the world because he travels. what we are hoping is people do pick up on norms. we'll you to pick up behavior from those who come before and we have collected letters from every one of these people. they are up on our web site. i think they are pretty remarkable and of course what we really want to do is get the younger people like mark soderberg has joined us for example. he obviously is going to appeal to a much wider group than i would, so we hope it becomes this gospel of wealth. andrew carnegie came up with a 100 years ago or so. what we have this better stories than that on these letters. i just hope it moves. i want to emphasize one thing.

nobody in our group has given out by a dollar that in any way affects how they live. i have a much greater admiration frankly for the person who drops $5 or 1 dollar a collection plate on sunday whether makes a difference if they are giving up something that has utility. i am giving up nothing that has utility to me. i have everything in the world that i want that can be bought by money. so i have a whole bunch of stocks that have no utility to me and could possibly have used enormous utility to other people in education are all kinds of things. people do give us something that actually can have utility to their family and give that to some other person so it has utility those are the people i really think deserve the kudos. but it's so nice to know where the money is. so if we can work on polio or

something like that than we want to go after it. >> a unique part of what you have done is with the foundation and on the one hand how you are doing it and secondly whatever the number will be but almost all of your wealth. >> all of my virtue. >> talk about the gates relationship and why you chose them as opposed to creating your own foundation. >> are wrestling my wife and i planted in her 20s when we had everything we needed we would give the rest to society. i thought she would outlive me. she was younger and women live longer but she died in 2004 so i had to come up with a different plan. if you read adam smith and the specialization of labor you know if you are good at one thing you are not necessarily good at another. you have to use your talents where they are the most useful and get other people to use their talents.

my wife -- i went to an obstetrician. if i have a toothache i go to the dentist so i want to go to people who are good at giving away money and who are younger energetics smart and have the same objectives in philanthropy that i did. the basic principle of the foundation is that every human life has equal value. if you started that is your basic assumption then a lot of things flow from that. bill and poland as well as my children -- i have foundations for each one of my three children that are of significant side. you can read my letters on the berkshire hathaway web site. i tell them if they succeed at everything -- they are doing the wrong thing. you are going to fail at some of those that i had gotten much younger people very energetic people common objectives and they work for nothing. that is not a bad deal.

>> that stretches the money a long way. >> absolutely. >> the way way of credit is he required them to move the money out. >> they have have got to spend it i die all of the money has to be spent within 10 years. i do not think i can pick out something that a great grandchild will get to be born just because they have the right name. there will be plenty of philanthropists 50 years after i died to take care of the problems that i want the money to be spent properly and i don't believe in trying to control things from the grave. i like to think i can think outside the box for thinking outside of that particular box -- [laughter] >> that may take a lot of philanthropy to figure out. recently i read an article about east lake and tom cousins so this week as many people know east lake golf course in atlanta

and the story i read about the development is that you have now helped tom cousins in the development work he does with the community. talk about that because this is a little different. >> is the same theory of loving the people who are putting the time and energy into it. tom cousins is a remarkable man who lives in atlanta just extraordinary. he took this terrible terrible terrible -- called east lake in atlanta against a lot of community opposition. it was crime-ridden and he decided you had to apply a holistic approach and you could just attach this thing or that thing. he worked for probably 10 years to develop this entirely new community out of this total disaster. tom and i talked about it and i

said tom everybody's going to say that is -- it can only be done because you are tom cousins. he and i but primarily tom decided to see if we could replicate this in other communities. it seemed to me that and tom, new orleans was a great one to do it in. they had katrina and everything so we have taken it to new orleans where we have hundreds of people. it is mixed income type community. we do not want to have it with everybody being subsidized. we want to create a new kind of community where people of different races and economic divisions work together and play together. it's been successful in new orleans and we went to indianapolis and it's been successful they are.

tom cousins has really come up with something. he had an op-ed in "the wall street journal" about a week ago describing this but he is a fantastic human being. ..

i don't know how many much you comparative advantage, and '00 they talk about animal -- president bush really came out with a great economic insight of all times. he did it in ten words in september of 2008. he went there from the white house and said, if money didn't loosen up, this sucker could go down. it goes up there. [laughter] he backed up those. and so, we come back from it, but businesses come back, you know. a lot of companies are getting record profits including many of ours. and the american pop leadership in syria as a whole has not come back.

if you read the paper today the medium income and the same place it was in real purchasing power. the rich are doing extremely well, extraordinarily women. business is doing well. business profit margins are terrific compared to the record historically. business returns untangible equity are terrific, but most, you know, great many people tsh if you take the bottom 20% of house hold that's $24 million house olds or something like that. about 60 million people, the top level is 22,000. i don't want to try to --

we have an economy that is delivering $50,000 of gdp per capita, and we have an awful lot of people that aren't living well. we have to learn how to -- we haven't learned as well how to have everybody share in the valley we have. how do you think that we have to grow out of it -- >> we're growing. if you take even 2% a year, if you think about it. this system works. in my lifetime, i was worn in 1930, i was conceived in 1929. my dad was a stock salesman. after the crash, he didn't have anything to do.

[laughter] so i look back with great fondness on the 1929 crash. since -- [laughter] since i was born real increase capita increased six for one. it went centuries nothing happened. this country works. i consider the luckiest person on a probable listic basis that ever lived is the baby that is born today in the united states. it is a fabulous country. the market system works, all kinds of things. we have, in my view, we have to make sure that everybody participates to a reasonable degree. we don't equality results. we want a base level that is satisfactory for our people. >> you talk about the george bush economic statement it could go down. what do you think the lessons are over the last couple of cycle you have seen from an

investor standpoint. we have a lot of -- plus do you it with 70 years. >> yeah. >> what are the lessons and, you know, these are young people. what should they take away? >> the lessons are people will don't make the same mistakes they make. i mean, humans -- it doesn't correlate the iq particularly. when they get greedy, and we have this a huge bubble. you have a huge bubble. something you can borrow heavily against. run a margin, in account, on stocks, and the conditions got lax. people came to the crash. when they get fearful, it happens all at once. everybody wants -- when people get scared they want to leave at one time. we want to leave at one time nap will happen again.

after pearl harbor. we were getting clobbered. the european theater. and the dow was about 100.

just look where we are now. the country really works. the trick is how america is a society of dreams and accomplish here. it's one of the best speech of optimism by a person who is not american by birth. i know, you carry the optimism. after this, how do you -- what makes you most optimistic about america? >> just imagine 1789. go back a few hundred years, there wasn't anything here. in this country, and sir christopher, you know, -- and there's a little plaque there that said if you seek my monument, look about you. in america if you seek america's

monument, look about you. this country has come about in a few hundred years. we have less than 4 million people when we became a country. china had 300 billion. europe had about 75 million. they were just as smart as we were. they worked as hard as we did. they had natural resources. we ended up with a quarter of the world gdp a few hundred years later. we have something that works. we don't want to miss it up. we want to figure out what we do as we go along. you don't have to worry about the system working. you will have periodic recessions. and you will have an occasional panic brought on by something that who knows where it comes from. and the thing to remember, i wrote a piece in the "new york times," and in the fall of 2008. and i said, you know, the country will come back. don't ever worry about america.

you're in the right place. [laughter] so you have been famous for your investment strategy basically the principle investment. the chips are down. that served you women. what is your favorite time you were able to accomplish that when you got somebody down? >> i was -- my favorite would be tomorrow. [laughter] but i it's always been fun, and there's a company here in washington -- i first got exposed in 1950. i was 19 years up there. i was 51, i'm sorry. i was 20 years old. i came down here and on a saturday because i learned that my professor at columbia was the chairman. i got down there and the door was locked. i went to the building, it was saturday. i pounded on the door and the janitor let me in. a marvelous fellow spent four

hours teaching me about insurance. helped me. you're going get help by wonderful life. it's a great thing to look back on when you get to be my age. nobody does it alone. obama got in trouble when he said it on the campaign that nobody does it by themselves. nobody does do it by themselves. we all sit in the shade of -- it's ban great ride. it's not over. >> when did you actually buy geico? when did you invest in geico the first ?iem. ? i met davidson when i was finishing up at columbia, then i started selling securities when i got out. i went to my aunt alice, my aunt alice would have bought anything from me. she bought 100 shares.

the first stock i ever sold. a lot of years past and mr. davidson was kind to me in a variety ways. i went in different directions. in 1976, the company got in trouble. they miscalculated the reserve. they were going broke. i came back here and bought a quarter of the company in in a short period of time. in 1995, by now -- he had a bunch of stock in geico with no cost basis. had had known them forever. if i make an offer for the company for cash you're going pay a tax. you don't -- i'm not going to make the offer unless it's already -- all right with you. he said, warren, i've hoped for

this all of my life. i bought the rest of the company. we'll put a microphone and let you have questions for warren. let's stake the first question. tell us who you are and ask away. >> hi i'm -- [inaudible] i was wondering for you have any tip for the students who are trying to -- [laughter] make a little living. >> i don't think they taught that at georgetown. [laughter] they --

the best investment i -- well, i bought a book in 1949, called quality intelligent investor" i don't remember what i paid. aside for what i paid for the two marriage licenses, that was the best investment i ever made. and it's very important to have the right framework. you need to have an approach investing that is sound. and graham's approach is simple. but some people adopt -- and which i did immediately, and most people don't. but if you have the right philosophy, you will find opportunities as you go through the next twenty, 30, 40, 50 years. frankly, you're most likely to find them when -- in periods like five years ago when we were having a panic.

stocks sell at silly prices from time to time. most stocks will at one time or another sell at silly prices, and it doesn't take a high iq to figure it out they're cheap. but it does take a temperament that is willing to step up and actually act. i tell people, if they're going in the investment business, if you have 160iq sell 30 to somebody else. you won't need it. [laughter] i figured out early you don't have to be that smart in this business, which is fortune. so you to have the right temperament. you have to be able to ignore what other people are saying, and simply look at the facts and decide is this stock, which is selling at x worth two x. occasionally you'll find things like that. whether you don't find you don't do anything. that's my generalized stock tip. no name. >> i'll make it simple buy bank of america, you'll be safe.

[laughter] yeah. >> it worked all right for him. >> that's right. [laughter] next question. >> good afternoon my name is nicholas walker. i'm a soft more. mr. buffet, in the past you invested in china, south korea, and israel. recently you -- [inaudible] from brazil. does this mean you're tempted to -- i didn't hear the question. >> are you going invest in brazil next? >> i don't know where i'm going invest next. that is a what makes my job interesting. i'm not kidding. if you went out and played golf and every drive went in the hole, you would give up. the game wouldn't be interested. what is interesting you get in the rough and you have to come out and a few things like that. i love the fact i don't know what i'm doing next. you mentioned israel investment,

in 2006, in the fall, i got a letter from a fellow, and i never heard of him. and i never heard of company i was talking about. he said my name is -- [inaudible] and i want to tell a little about my company. the letter was a page and a half long. he said if he sold the company -- the family sold the company, the only company they wanted to sell it to was berk shire hathaway. they would be willing to come over and explain it to me. it jumped off the page it was an interesting idea. i e-mailed them and they came over shortly. we bought the business. we handed them $4 billion for 80% of the company where i had never seen it or anything. they kept saying, so you to come to israel and see the plant and everything. you won't believe how wonderful they are. i said, i don't go to council bluffs, iowa. i am doing fine in omaha. he said, no, you have to see it. i said, we can make a deal

without seeing it. if you buy the company, will you see it? i said if we buy the company, i'll come. we bought the company, and i went over there. it's true. i have never seen sights like it. it was the greatest operation i've ever seen. he said, i want you to see these. if i seen them i would have paid more money. [laughter] we have a wonderful partnership with the anemia israel. i don't know tomorrow -- our partnership with the people in brazil they are sensational people. i got the to know him when i was on the board with him. the opportunity to buy to a wonderful business like that and be partners. they'll do all the list there. they'll run the place. it's just -- it's a great opportunity for us. and i don't know what the opportunity will be tomorrow. last december, i was going out

to bolder, colorado, he a group that met and said i think i have an interest that might interest you. i went out there. as we came back on the plane he explained what he was thinking about. i said count me in. i'll tell you one other thing which is impressive about him. after i said that, he sent me a one-page govern innocence description how it worked. he sent me a brief description what he thought would be a fair deal. i didn't have to change a deal. those are the people you like to associate with. >> next question? >> hi. you mentioned that people who make the same mistakes in term of the boom-bust cycle. there have been recent financial developments such as the creation of derivatives, which since exploded recently. you once called derivative weapons of mass destruction. now the derivatives are $700

trillion industry. do you see it as setting the stage for the next financial crisis? >> it's very hard to tell. we have enacted dodd-frank, and if you look at the what happened in september and october of 2008, there was some extraordinary things done. the federal reserve poured $85 tbol tbol aig. 30 million american were panicking. and $300 billion and three days gone out of the nongovernment money market funds. 125 gone back to the government. $300 billion that was almost equal to the deposit of wells fargo both of those authorities

have essentially been -- i don't think they can do that under dodd-frank. i don't think that bernanke could do it. they're not going to think that paulson can go what he did. somebody with the ability and the will say i can do whatever it takes. congress in the reduck assistant way said to the american public. you can believe it. bernanke said i'm going do whatever it takes. nobody knows what section 133 or whatever the reserve act. he did it. the same way, they call it exchange stablization fund of the treasury. nobody -- it was enacted in 1934. nobody -- take care of money market fund. you have strong characters who have the ability to print money

in the indication of bernanke. they said we're going to do whatever it takes. the president was behind them. that is the way a real panic, and i worry, actually, that, you know, congress doesn't like to give anybody that much authority. if bothers them that the fed has the authority and he acted as he did. i tip my hat to them. i'm not sure -- there will be another panic. where it comes from, who knows. when the time come, the question will be are the people who panicked and frozen and cause the economic engine to stop, you know, will they believe and come back and do something. i'm not sure whether the what has been enacted is -- we -- it's very hard to write --

it's just the way it works. there is no clocks on the wall. they're still dancing. it will happen again. but buy when it happens! [laughter] next question. >> i'll be buying! >> my name is john. i'm from georgia, so i'm familiar with the work -- [inaudible] >> that's great. >> you talk about income inequality.

i was worlding if you had any more thoughts how the rising tide can lift those and not just the odds. >> john kennedy talk about a rising tide. and the odds have been listed like i say for the top 400 from $300 billion to $2 trillion just had in the last twenty years. the -- there is a very -- i think, structure problem as a market system get more and more specialized. most people felt that most job requirements, i mean, that was -- as the world become more and more specialized, i think we keep moving away from that. so a market system will not pay well for a significant percentage of society. they aren't needed to keep gdp itself going up and people --

[inaudible] and i think government has to address that. i sometimes phos to students this proposition. imagine that it's 24-hours before you're born, and you're sitting there, johnny or johnny. we don't know yet. you are in the womb and a jeanne comes and said you strike me as a remarkable potential human being. and i'm going give you an enormous responsibility. i'm going let you decide the world how the world was going work and which you're going emerge. you can decide on the economic system, the social system, the prelim system. you design it. and whatever you design, that's going to be the system in which you live, your children live,

grandchildren live and being wise beyond your minus 24 hours of age say, i don't know about you jeanne, what is the catch. just before you emerge having designed a system put in cement, you're going to go over to the barrel over there that has 7 billion slips in it. one for every human being in the world and spul pull out a slip. it may say white, black, male, female, strong, weak, strong, below average. it may say united states, it may say bangladesh. not knowing which ticket you're going pull out, what kind of world you want to design. well, you certainly want to design a world that produces lots of business services and keeps producing more and more. you want a lot of stuff around. it could be the the world's fairest society.

you want something that works in term of output. once you have something that works in term of output, you know, you certainly want something that eliminates fear from everybody's life. that doesn't just mean cop, old age, he'll, all of those problem. you'll certainly want a system not knowing what ticket you get that takes care of the people that don't survive. the market system which maximizes the amount of output; your first goal. i think we have done a wonderful job at the first stage. we have turned out lots of stuff. we have not thought -- social security came in and that. this country is developed in term thinking about how a rich family should behave. we have not -- i think we're in the stage where we need to focus more on making sure that the people who get to the tickets -- you know, we said that blacks

were -- back when we started. we said all men are created in 1776 and in we said -- we said all men are created equal. in the getties berg clinton repeated it. it was 1920 before we pass the 19th amendment for women. we just treated women as a essentially different class for the years. i think we have got -- i think we have gone significantly in the right direction in term of behaving better as a society. i think we have gone terrifically in the right direction in term of turning out lot of stuff. i think we have to address the question of how do you treat the people left behind in a system that maximizes the output of goods and services? that can only come from government. >> [inaudible] it's no doubt you're an outspoken family of ben bernanke. he's stepping down in japan of

next year. whoever takes over the position do you think they should continue the controversial buy back program? if so, how long. >> i think they should take bernanke's approach. he's going keep doing it until he sees more improvement in the economy. i think he's been mildly disappointed -- not hugely, we mildly pointed in the rate of improvement in the economy in the last few years; therefore, the other day he said he's going extend it further until he sees it. he's not prejudging exactly what is going to happen, he's telling the conditions which under you'll change. the economy is getting better. we will in an experiment that hasn't been tried before, you k hasn't been tried before, you

times people find out, question don't know how if game played out. and just the announcement a few months ago that it was going occur. you know, that's some significant market reaction. probably 100 way sis points or so in the tenure. what will happen when it they actually -- if they actually try to deleverage the fed, what has happened the american public deleveraged and the government leveraged up through the fed. when the fed if the fed dplernlg -- deleverages in a big way, that will be a new experiment. >> we were talking earlier. the question is when they do that, the economy has to grow -- >> the economy has -- >> and the piece people don't take in to account. they declare they stay until the economy grows. >> no pressure on it. in fact, the fed is the greatest

hedge fund in history. you have currency and circulation which doesn't cost anything. you have banks for 25 basis points. the fed is going to make $80 billion or something. the fed is the fourth largest contributor to the united states revenue there is now. there with wasn't the case. it's 80 or 90 brake light a year. it's under no pressure not whatsoever to have to deleverage. it can pick the time. if you have somebody wise there, i think bernanke is wise, i certainly expect his successor to be. it could be handled, but it isn't. it is something never quite done on the scale. it's interesting to catch. it will be based on the last third days. i think we'll take one more question and the next student --

>> [inaudible] i'm from china. i'm currently a graduate student in georgetown. my friend and i are both a big fan of you and your friend charlie. we -- [inaudible] interesting whole system of criteria how to evaluate a company. it's all confusing. he said that warren and i are always staying away from the industries we don't know. we have the railway and coca-cola. now the word is changes, and we are leaving the new era. the business models are changing. the platforms, everybody, the shopping online. maybe in awe -- in a few years american will pay with the iphone and americans no longer issue credit card. [inaudible] >> there are so many thing you don't know about. let's take out a flip phone and show you. this is my new one! [laughter] i just turned in the one al

sander graham bell gave me. [laughter] [applause] [laughter] >> okay. [inaudible] the new technologies are changing everything. there's no way you could say -- [inaudible] [inaudible] >> well, -- [inaudible] [laughter] the most important thing is to be ability to find which ones you can tell us in decision and which ones are beyond your capacity to evaluate. you don't have to be right about thousands and thousands and thousands of companies. you only have to be right about couple

i met bill gates on july 5th, 1991. bill said you have to have a computer. i said why? he said, well, you can do your income tax on it. i don't have any income. we don't pay a dividend. you can keep track of your portfolio. i said i only have one stock. [laughter] he said it's going change everything. i said, will it change whether people chew gum? he said, well, probably not. and i said, will it change what kind of gum they chew? i'll stick to chewing gum and you stick to computers. i don't have to understand all kinds of it. there are all kinds of business i don't understand. there are thousands of opportunities there. i did understand the bank of america. and i'll be -- i'm able to do that. i'm to be understand some given percentage. ted williams wrote a book called

"size of hitting." he has a diagram. showing him at the plate. he has in the strike zone dieded in the 77 squares. each the size of a baseball. he said, if i only swing it -- he guessed what the batting average which is.400. if he to swing it low outside pitches still in the strike zone his average would be .230. he said the most thing in hitting is waiting for the right pitch. he was at the disadvantage because if the count was o- 2. he had to swing tat. in investing, there's no called strikes. people can throw microsoft at me and, you know, you name it. any stock, general motors, i don't have to swing. nobody is going call me out. i only get a strike called if i swing and miss. i can look at thousands of companies day after day, and

only when i see something i understand and when i like the price of which it's selling if i swing if i hit it, fine, if i miss it, it's a strike. it's an normallied a venn teenage use -- you have to have an opinion on everything. in the entire life. they get very rich. i don't worry too much about the things i don't understand. if you understand some of the businesses that are coming along and spot things. if you spot on amazon, for example, a tremendous accomplishment. and i tip my hat. he's a wonderful businessman and

a good guy too. i have anticipated he would be the success and ten others wouldn't be. i'm not good enough to do that. i don't fortunately have to do that. i don't have to form an amazon. i'm coca-cola. coca-cola has been around since 18 eu678. there's $1.8 billion eight ounce servings of coca-cola products sold every day. if you take one penny and get one penny extra. that's $18 million a day. $18 million times 365 is $7 30 billion or $6,570,000,000. do you think it's worth more? i think so. i have 127 years of history that

indicate it. those are the kind of decisions i like that make. and you may have an entirely different field of expertise than i would have. probably much more up to date in term of the kind of businesses we're seeing evolve. and can get very rich if you understand a few of them and understand their future. fortunately i don't have to. i like at people pouring ketchup on hamburgers. i don't think it's going it change. the nice thing about it, some products travel. some don't travel. candy bars don't travel well. if you look at the cad bury bars in i think listened they don't sell as well. soft drinks travel and ketchup travels. i like products that travel. >> thank you, warren. [laughter] [applause]

>> warren, i want to thank you for taking your time today. for all the students out there. think about this, this is a person with a passion. he hassed at 83 to make the right investment decision. the ability to try do something with the wealth that will help a pretty-near term set of goal in society. i think you will find very few people in the swrorld been able to do things so well as warren buffett has. there's a lesson to be learned. thank you. [applause] [applause] on this weekend louisiana congressman is our guest.

c-span student video cam competition is underway. it's open to all middle and high school student. we're doubling the number of winners and prize money. create a five to seven minute documentary on the most important thing you think congress should consider. need more information? visit studentcam.org. up next a look how american house hold are handling their finances and health insurance coverage. from washington journal, this is forty minutes.

america by the numbers we want to introduce you to ron who is the senior fellow of economic studies at brookings here in washington, d.c. and the codirector of the senator on children and families also in brookings institution. good morning, thank you football being with us. the u.s. sense us is bureau. a number new on income equality, and insurance rates. let's begin with the north carolina numbers. >> this is a big week national number were -- [inaudible] so we found there's not much change on nationally between 2011 and 2012. so income, medium house of income is about $51 ,000 this compared to last year. and poverty rates 15%. inequality didn't change last year to this year. and health insurance actually took down from 15.7% uninsured to 15.4% uninsured. >> host: does that prize you? >> guest: no. it's about what people expect.

it might even go up a little bit. the economy is recovering slowly. jobs are a huge problem. worse than any previous problem in recession. they are still quite distressing. let look at the chart that puts in perspective over the last nearly 50 years from 2007 to 2012. the real medium household income was under $43 ,000 a year. now it's $51 ,000 a year. and the poverty rate has essentially stayed about the same from 14.2% now at 15%. >> >> guest: let me say something about the poverty numbers that i think americans want to know. that is we spend about a trillion dollars a year between the federal government and the states on programs that give additional money either cash for low-income families. without that money, our poverty

rates would be much worse. in the official numbers that david publishes, much of that money is completely ignored. so even though our taxpayers are coming forth with a lot of benefit they're not reflected. if you reflect in the poverty numbers, i think we'll see the chart later. it's better and lower than under the official measure. >> host: i refer to the headline from the business section of thursday's "new york times." based on the latest numbers. america's thinking middle class. >> guest: we don't really have a definition for the middle class in a number of different looks at distribution. people usually view middle class what is happening economic inequality. look over time there's an increase in inqea toll i over time. the key thing we showed in the roar. there are no change in -- blank blng

if you look at the numbers. it's broken down according to ethnic lines. asian-americans are doing better than nonhispanic whites. you look at the hispanic figures and that african-american the bottom of the list >> guest: yeah. you can see -- [inaudible] over time picture. again, there was no change in any of the north carolina between 2011 and 2012. if you go back to 2007, the year before the latest recession, all of that experience fall and medium medium income. had had fallen to 11.3% or nonhispanic whites fell 6.3%. that gap actually increased. >> host: i want to go back to middle class for a minute. this is an accusation that everybody makes about the economy. the president has been given speeches about it. it's getting attention to the president's pots --

policies. under definition of full income that the congressional budget office. i'm talking about the nonpartisan congressional budget office for middle class is not disappeared if. it you look from 1979 supposedly everything went wrong to 2007 before the recession, the middle class redefined as middle 20% or even if we define it as middle 60% of americans, actually has more income than they did previously. it goes up in most years. at the end of the period it's gone up. that's the reason that the president can make the argument that the middle class is disappeared and the reason for the headline they're ignoring a lot of income. spes literal government income. government has a huge impact in improving the financial condition from americas roughly speaking from middle down. they take money from the rich and give to the poor. everybody is better off. >> host: looking at poverty and also insurance rates around the country.

we're going get to your calls and comments in a moment. we're dividing the phone lines a little bit differently for the segment. for those earning $50,000. for those making more than $100,000 a year. ..

so the biggest since 1999-two dozen 12 is the falling out. we break it out because of changes in the law that allows people under 19 to get access to medicaid programs and allows 19-25 year olds to have an insured rate group. so you can see a lot of changes. the middle adult group and there is actually increasing. whereas kids are falling. since 1999, a big fall any ensure rates. >> the big story is insurance, another since the sparrow data. at least 30 years. a very long term trend. there income to tie their insurance coverage by government

and less by the private sector. and with obamacare, if republicans fail to repeal it, which is certainly will, that story is going to intensify. no more people dependent upon government benefits and not the private sector. >> host: by your work in the book that you wrote, the story of the welfare reform law, that has been in place for generation. society, welfare rates overall and also poverty. >> the objective data, if you look at the employment rates from the bureau of labor statistics, in the mid-90s after welfare past employment, most likely on welfare. least likely to be employed skyrocketed. a 40% increase. this is exactly what the american public wanted. they went to work in droves. and guess what the result was the, the poverty rate declined

financially. children who are disproportionately. those level ever. so that part of the story is a success. i think that the cultural impact could be greater success. the word is out. you have to work. in the united states you literally cannot escape if you're on social security. republicans and democrats work together.

the lower to 1%, to between 2

under the former%. over this. a decrease in their share. a big increase at the high-end and low-end. under 50 percent of poverty and under 100 percent of poverty. >> from iowa, louisiana. this is what i am curious about, when i first that of the military and 05, the economy was great. was making great money. at just regular photographer. now it seems no more than eight years after that i went from making above that $50,000 mark. i am way below the 50,000 down to about 30 year. ended is crazy seeing all of these people that are just absolutely broke. why did we justic with some of

the ideas and plans to deal reaganomics and planned administration set forth. where the system go wrong. people are getting screwed. screwed. and it is horrible. >> host: thank you for calling. let me put is call into perspective. shows where the median household income is. you can see the target areas, green areas, 50,000 or more. the lighter areas such as ohio, 40 to $49,000 per year. mississippi, less than $40,000 a year. >> guest: this chart uses the data we used yesterday. the american community surveys on tuesday that allows us to look at income, poverty. over 40 other topics across the country. you see here as much ever city across the country as we were talking about.

and the median income goes in mississippi from 37,000 time maryland that has mean household income of $71,000. you see a big difference across. >> i will move from that to an even more microscopic look. this is broken down in terms of metropolitan areas, and you can see obviously new york, new jersey, baltimore, d.c. corridor, heavier the same as southern california and the larger cities of texas and south florida and then it is broken down in terms of income levels which become significantly less as you move down south and west. >> we can then take this day and go down. every single metro area. even though there are some states that have higher median incomes, there are some places

that have very, very low median household incomes. >> that is the area that is why it. >> host: let's go to the bryan from maryland. fifty to 100,000. >> caller: okay. one of the interesting things i want to point out is that a bond can pretty much access that. you can actually create. you can look at those figures if you're curious about where the money is. one thing i don't hear people talking about, the relative purchasing power. we hear but the poverty line and median income, but not the actual purchasing power that americans hold while the purchasing power has increased relative to income. the price of fuel has more than doubled.

it hasn't really changed. >> we have a data set. that is based on what people buy. if you think about it you could argue, it tells you what they actually will buy. if he let the consumer survey above the rate is much lower than it is under the census pyrrho data. they're able to have more goods and services than you would think looking just at the income that they get in the census bureau numbers. their chosen much more than just the income numbers. >> inflationary adjusted numbers.

real income adjusted for the price. the key thing across the country are obviously. >> host: i will go back to your figures and look at poverty rates by aids. you can see a valid charge. eighteen to 24. and 65 and older. is the only group that did not increase since the last recession, 2007. >> host: headline related to what you said earlier about the

economy and jobs and out apple's people out of poverty. more jobless recovery. what does this mean for those either out of work, and the process of being laid off, and trying to get back into the workforce? >> the message is accurate. people call this a jobless recovery. it will be 2018 before we even get to the employment level in terms of the number of jobs and we have before the recession. most people realize, this is the slowest recovery. no question about it. another reason why government benefits as are important. several studies that have shown based on date, census bureau data. it's only consider government benefits, 2009, the peak of the recession, poverty rates actually did not go up.

they did not go up because of government safety net. the employment as a bad story. in the meantime government is helping people. >> broken down state-by-state. community by community. >> we can take the data. what you can see, this target, similar to the chart. a lot of that in the south. we can take it further and breakdown. a state like california the poverty rate is fairly high. a lot of places in that that have low poverty. says san francisco, you can certainly see a light area.

the poverty rate is about 9%. in the middle of the area, their poverty rate is hitting 25 percent. again, up a dispersion. even within the states of poverty. >> of the follow-up. if you look at this map, travel to central ohio, more rural area of the state or west virginia moving down to kentucky and tennessee, there seems to be a pretty significant poverty level in these rural, small town communities which have been struggling. >> some of the metropolitan or rural areas are in the great. 84 percent of the population lives in the 300 to 400 metropolitan area. >> joining as from los angeles and more than $100,000 per year. good morning. >> thank you. >> certainly. >> just basically kind of like what stewart said about

pornography. you know we when you see it. i think the recovery is not really happening. a lot of job elimination. and sadly it will only reduce drastically these pieces, a lot of people out there are starving. thank you. >> thank you for the call. >> can i go back to that point about age. at think we passed over that too quickly. one of the most important things. so as a society primarily because of social security being so generous we have an extremely low poverty rate. basically poverty rate is 9%. by contrast, 23%, 23%.

this is a huge difference in poverty between elderly and the kids. if you are thinking about the future of american society which group you want to have the lowest poverty rate? i know we have people saying he should not do it. don't take benefits away. the fact is we have a fixed amount of money. that increases spending year after year after year without any question or action. by contrast the programs for children are being cut. so we are going exactly in the wrong direction. we should mourn our children, just spending and the elderly and use that money. >> from the brookings institution. david johnson from the u.s. census bureau. social, economic, and housing statistics. more of your calls and comments in just a moment. the uninsured rates broken down by age.

nineteen and 25. sixty-five and over. clearly the older you get the more you have. >> again, the big key in the overall insured rate. private coverage has remained flat. it has continued to go up for six consecutive years. that has kept the uninsured rate down, kind of a falling rate. you can see that blue line. the red line is flat. >> explain that. >> so you did coverage from your employer something. along since 1999, but has remained flat. government coverage, continuing to go up. that is the increase for six years. that increase helped with the

flat coverage, the uninsured rate. that bottom line actually fell. >> and in government coverage, about to go up big time. we did not have a hard percentage of our population that were elderly. it continued to go up. obamacare would have a major impact. a lot more people will be covered by government care. >> looking at poverty. your household income, insurance rates. new information from the u.s. census bureau. cheryl is joining us from virginia. morning. how much to you make a year? >> caller: good morning, 82,000 per year. what i would like to ask is why do you guys put just the income that a person makes to determine whether they are living in poverty? i think a better indicator would be what their total net worth this. i can't think of his name.

he made a statement earlier that the middle-class should not actually -- it is not going anywhere. i think that is a little misleading. this housing crisis, a lot of people in the middle class lost their homes and things like that. so they lost a lot of their net worth. a lot of these people may be borrowing, to go home equity loan to send their children to college. they cannot do that now. so while the end, maybe relatively the same amount, the net worth has gone down. i think that is a big problem. >> host: thank you for making that point. >> guest: her examples are certainly correct. all of the numbers that you have just shown here, it differs by race.

especially. but in come has recovered. and now wealth is gradually going to recover. it will take a while, but the stories she tells of people lost a lot. they can now afford to send there kid to college is certainly true. there are examples. in the economy. employment has gradually gone up and people will gradually make wealth. the future is bright. >> this is from your organization, the impact on child poverty of alternative resources. what does it tell you? >> a very important measure. it shows that if you begin with people's homes, how much they make in an and the government benefits, primarily in the bottom 30 percent verso of the distribution except for the elderly programs. poverty goes down and income goes up.

government is an important factor. you have to consider government benefits. that is a flaw because we don't consider the government benefits. make it available. you can analyze it and do charts right there. so that is a very important part of the story, how essential government benefits are buried and mentioned a few minutes ago the food stamp program. depending upon how they are implemented, but if it takes place the party will go up because people at dependent upon food stamps. >> guest: one thing you have to remember about the statistics , these are the official poverty rates which include income. the government created food stamps. and those are important components. that is how we do the chart. the number, if food stamps or included in the poverty measure we would lose 4 million people from the poverty number.

that is the key. the we do is base it on all the numbers available for everybody. people in the media can do the analysis. think that's an important thing. the service to the entire population. >> host: we will listen to dorothy from pittsburg. more than 100,000 per year. show you one of the charts that we have been looking at, the income levels. the darker the color, the darker the green, the higher the income . good morning. >> caller: good morning. >> host: bobblehead. >> caller: i wanted to call mainly to say that the statistics generated by the census department have been a big part of my life as a librarian in the university. the statistical abstract every year. i think that you cannot possibly

make positive or negative statements about the u.s. government without real data. i do applaud our wonderful senses and the statistics generated. i am 85 years old. i am one of those people, i guess, who is living on the savings from their retirement that my husband and i generated. so we have always donated to our children the amount that we are permitted by the government. so we are helping our children, all very much over educated, but any that. and for those people out there who want to show their resentment at poor people, one

of the good programs that i think is that for years the social security and i guess medicare have taken money from my -- the social security is that i receive and the medicare. i hate to be that nice. okay. yes. every year. i am over cell level. they take a certain amount. why should we -- why should we throw away this grossly under educated population of this country which has not been able to keep up with the development of high-tech. >> host: i will thank you for the call.

>> guest: one of the issues. again, the income. if you are taking money out of your retirement or savings, that is not treated as income, that is depleting your assets as opposed to the earlier caller said there were moving their assets. that is why if you move multiple assets to see what is going out across the population. >> guest: it bears emphasis. what you were saying, the elderly, as a group, very well-off in our society. is because many of them tend to save. but even if you do save, it is usually not to keep you out of poverty. so we have provided very well for the elderly. we have not done the same thing for children. that is what i am saying, one of the biggest issues of forest. so clearly shown in the census bureau numbers.

the child poverty rates are almost three times with the elderly poverty rate is. >> host: on our website. want to show it to our audience with a question from one of our viewers. what is the metropolitan area, i'm sure there's a lot more outside living in more rural parts of the country. >> guest: released yesterday, the annual data. the next sample to get estimates so all metropolitan areas. so show the poverty rate for all counties, 3,000 counties, you would need a bigger sample. we produce that. five years of data. in december, the estimates for every single county in the country looking at the poverty income, education, house price, rent, everything, covering the gray areas that you don't see. >> host: you look at poverty

bout inflation. is that non existent? >> it is a factor. everything that we have talked about here, income numbers and poverty numbers. inflation is taken into account. if inflation is high that certainly is a major factor. fortunately we have not had much inflation. 3 percent. most uses less than that. it is always threatening. if we have high and inflation that makes a difference. >> host: did morning. you make less than $50,000 a year. >> my husband and i do. >> thank you. i am just curious. six years ago we were making 71, 72,000 per year. we have seen our income dropped drastically. we survive the recession, have managed to keep our house, managed to do everything properly.

save a little bit, lost their savings drop. i worked in retail for the first time in my life. one of the things that i find disturbing is the program. i see people on food stamps come in and buy candy, cookies, potato chips, pop. i thought this was a nutritional a program where they should be biting nutritional food. they give returning in. >> a common complaint. they complain about other americans to use food stamps. what they regard as for those candy. a lot of rules to try to restrict this. most is done by electronic card. they cannot buy alcohol, for example. the card will not process it. of course there is always fraud.

she is raising a real issue. than of law to fight it. they are we better off than we bore in the past and a sense that people to abuse food stamps. the percentage of food stamps used for what i think all americans would consider reasonable purchases is higher than in the past, but i'm glad she raised the issue. >> host: a map courtesy of national journal. the politics of food stamps breaking down in terms of congressional districts. who is getting food stamps. you can see, nearly one in five and a second congressional district receive food stamps. you can see higher rates in west virginia, said in a jury, louisiana. >> you can look at this map and compare it to the poverty map. some of the areas, but the bottom part of texas, the poverty rate in some of those

areas is sitting atop your 30%. mississippi has highest poverty rate in the country. there is obviously something that does not, but that is why we make this data available. see where the income is. >> go online. >> you can get all of this state it. have the percentage of people getting food stamps. >> it is important to of point out. more americans get food stamps now than ever before. it is primarily because the economy and jobs. less income. that is the main criterion. so as the economy recovers it will go down. this will happen without any further action. it will cut food stamps dramatically. without that the congressional budget office shows that food

stamps will decline quite substantially of the next three to five years as the economy recovers. >> joining us from oceanside, california. more than a hundred thousand dollars a year. morning. >> listen, i make more than 100,000 per year. southern california where it costs three times as much to lift. i am well over 55, born in los angeles, and a surveillance company, so i see everything that happens because i work with every part that you can think of. i have watched my city over the years because the last 35 years i have been driving around southern california and nevada servicing security systems. i have watched my areas go into the dumpsters. i am not seeing anyone getting better off. a really cool cities they used to be around southern california are turning into dumps. what i want to ask is this, what

i see is happening is that more immigrants we bring in here the worse things get. >> we are short on time, but we will get a response. it might be helpful for people to think we have a lot. here illegally. but they have very high work rates. people should never forget that we have lots of and rents to have higher education, very skilled, and contribute greatly to the american economy, innovators to start their own car. it is just not correct. immigration on average is a boon for the american economy. >> we have a caller earlier this morning. i want to refer to the sideline. shifting its health care plan, basically giving them vouchers.

as you look at insurance numbers , what impact will something like this have? >> we provide data. we have released all the data across the country. it drove down into some of these areas where you might know that there are employees. ask people who have occupational degrees. retail stores. the advantage is people, businesses, companies, use the data to evaluate the impact. >> it's a great thing because the problems, people who use it did not pay for it. we have a case where people get a fixed amount of money, go into the market, have to buy insurance or pay for health care there will be a lot more careful shop carefully, make sure they

get a doctor that was not overcharge them, pay attention. it is a good thing. >> let me conclude with this point. as you look at that percentage of people on poverty, the previous caller, do you take that into account? >> about 24,000. it is the same whether you're in california overall west virginia. the vantage is we try to take account of these geographic differences. poverty rates going a. >> david johnson and ron haskins . thank you both for being with us. it. >> on that next washington journal commencing in national security correspondent discussing u.s. military facilities. a look at the backlog of claims at the veterans affairs

department and their effect on veterans with retired marine, a member of the concerned veterans for american organizing committee. national journal contributing editor talks about the future of the farm bill, food stamps, and legislation in congress. washington channel live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> next, technical educators and business leaders testify and the house education and work for subcommittee hearing. it talk about ways to improve technical education which relates to subjects in science and math. currently funding for technical education programs is set to expire at the end of the mount without reauthorization from congress. this is 50 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning. a quorum being present, the subcommittee will come to work. thank you for joining us for

committee. the karl d. perkins technical education and collective. warm welcome to our witnesses whose testimony will be invaluable to reauthorize and strengthen the law. the act provides federal funding to states to support career and technical education for what we call this ct e programs which offer high school and community colleges the opportunity to gain skills and experience necessary to compete for jobs in a broad range including health care, transportation, construction, hospitality just to name a few. north state school districts and post secondary institutions have implemented truly exceptional c t e programs. massachusetts, were chester -- i am sure i am mispronouncing that -- technical high school has partnered to provide affordable animal care for low-income families. the university finds our resident that marion to operate on an on-site clinic at the high-school and the students get to work at the clinic and obtain

hands-on experience. you're fortunate to have with us today the principal who was chair more information about this initiative during her testimony. ivy institute technology offers automotive manufacturing, welding, and other manufacturing programs that allow students to learn skills and 40 weeks. in wisconsin v wade technical college offers more than 60 programs including a medical assistant degree program that provides students with real world clinical administrative and laboratory training. however despite the shining examples the bureau of labor statistics recently reported more than a million americans between the ages 16 and 24 still looking for jobs by strengthening their career and technical education programs funded we can help. we can help more of these same people game -- gain an edge in the work force. as we begin our discussions, we must first assess the federal role in career and technical

education. to receive funding through the act states with programs must comply with a series of their reporting requirements, which i similar. secondary education. we cannot allow redundant federal mandates to make it harder for states to offer the career training a virginities they and people need. we must also discuss ways to ensure programs are actually affected. they must develop and implement students. additionally coursework should provide students with opportunities to obtain relevant certificates, credit and hands-on experience that will allow them to more seamlessly integrated to the work force. recognizing the success depends upon effective features. hermosa examine the ways to help states recruit or retain

educators the value will technical knowledge and experience. health sciences, manufacturing, agriculture and the rapidly growing stem fields. as we work, strengthening career in education program shall of put more americans on the path to a prosperous future. we will discuss a range of proposals to improve the act including those offered in the blueprint to transform career in technical education and afford to beginning a position right now. i would like to thank our panel of witnesses for joining us and i now yield to my distinguished colleague from arizona. >> thank you very much and thank you for the hearing. i agree with this is important to initiate discussion about this very important component of education in our country career

in technical education programs. career technical education programs, prepare americans to exceed in college and a career. this act as support the development of academic and career in technical skills among secondary and post secondary education is of all backgrounds. helping to prepare them for in demand and high paying jobs is the goal. high-quality, relevant and rigorous ct is imperative for nations as a competitive by ensuring students graduate from high school, college and career ready but also of succeeding in college and a global economy

about two-thirds required post secondary education and training . projected to grow over the next years. in the state of arizona there are currently 70 programs with over 229,000 students enrolled of which 30 percent are latino and over 40 percent of the students are of color. in arizona the programs have diminished. as for the harmful sequestration cuts, funding is at a historic low. despite our state consistently performing well and indicators of students' success. we should not cut funding for programs that mean the difference between getting ahead in falling behind for workers all over the station. we should support quality programs allow students to explore different career interests and the learning opportunities that help prepare them for both the work force and further post secondary education. when no there is a skill gap, career technical education is

entered go to closing that gap. they have demonstrated that all students academically rigorous curriculum reduce sizable drop out rates and repairs to his firing. the non career academy counterparts. one in four. a 4-year college degree. increasing consumer spending and strengthening and growing in a middle-class. i welcome our distinguished panel of witnesses as they have some of the most extensive insights into these programs. we are grateful they're sharing knowledge and look forward to continued collaboration with the majority to address of this very vital and important program.

>> written statements. without objection it will remain open if and when we adjourned early as usual they may submit questions for the record. i say that because we are not sure when votes will come today and they may come as early as 1030 your so. if that is the case he will have to adjourn and the hearing will not be returning. witnesses are nodding yes like they have heard this story before. i appreciate you coming again. it is now my pleasure to introduce our distinguished panel of witnesses. had president. first as a volunteer member.

a member of the chapter of national board of directors. the principal technical high school. and teachable. the largest of seven in the city . she was most recently cited as the massachusetts principle of the year for 2014 and as the national association of secondary school principals 2014 national principal of the year. next we have mr. john fisher is the deputy commissioner for transformation and innovation at the vermont agency of education. previously held positions at plymouth state university and the new hampshire community college system. currently serving as president of the national association of state directors. welcome. and chief executive officer at penn foster incorporated also currently serving as the operating adviser at bank capital ventures with over 20

years of experience focused on helping to helping companies including a variety of senior level positions at ibm. welcome. before i recognize each of you to provide testimony, let me briefly explain our system. that is sometimes more for us the new. but you will each have five minutes to present testimony. when you began the light in front of you will turn green, one minute left, yellow, expired , right. at that point as you get wrapped up as best table. after everyone has testified members here will each have five minutes to ask questions. with that i would now like to recognize mr. vargas for five minutes. >> thank you. members of the subcommittee. secondary education. i serve as president of associated builders and contractors. volunteer leaders are committed to training and highly skilled

construction workforce. currently more than 1,900 students. since 1983 and is related partners that funded more than $43 million in training costs. partnership agreements which include 76 pluses of more than 1,100 students per year and a manned craft such as welding and pipe fitting. we also engage high-school students aircraft competitions. in addition to finding members alone donate more than 50,000 per year in materials and equipment and volunteer 1,600 hours plus in annual classrooms. louisiana construction industry now faces a work force challenge progress top project announcements in excess of $60 billion in new construction plus the expansion of existing facilities is driving the need

for skilled workers. retirements, career changes, except for, drive demand for additional 51,003 and workers. even with an exploding were forced demand for skilled construction work force, public high schools continue to focus on 4-year college prep curriculum spirit while this pathway is important, students should be offered opportunities to learn skills that prepare them for high-paying in demand careers that to not require a master's degree. that said, this expansion of career and technical education option should never come at the expense of academic rigor or quality instruction and must clearly aligned with industry needs and post secondary credentials. leading the charge to align our education system with future work force demands. construction industry and stakeholders develop a task force which created a strategic road map.

the task force has insured that industry recognizes and academically rigorous construction will be consistently delivered across louisiana's straying providers. the community and technical college system and the louisiana department of education adopted a curriculum which plans classroom instruction with hands-on training and matriculate says. the training providers have focused on revenue and capacity as cool as well as leveraging assets such as facilities and bonding with private providers. including compressed schedules for industry based education and weekend alternatives. louisiana state government has also enacted innovative education reforms such as course choice which gives high-school students the option to choose a more diverse range of courses including core academic stock college preparation, and career training.

through course choice students can customize their learning passed by getting industry base certifications in addition to area high-school and college credit. the program provides all louisiana's to is equal access to career training and head start of the post secondary credential and ultimately a career. it can serve as a catalyst to recruit and train capable young people the step in dire which construction jobs and continue on to complete the secondary courses. it requires collaboration to make sure students are registering for coor's is appropriate for age, interest, and it capabilities. offering electrical piping and welding. i challenge to focus our current resources to support programs for in demand industries that provide students with innovative and flexible training options that stretch from high-school to advanced posted in their credentials. this includes promoting new and

existing partnerships between industry, government, and education providers while establishing clear accountability indicators and easily understood measures of success on behalf of the seceded building contractors chapter i would like to thank the committee for holding today's hearing on this very important subject and thank you. >> excellent. thank you. good morning. you're recognized for five minutes. >> chairman, congressman, members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss career in technical education. i am the proud principal of were just a technical high school. i also just received a huge honor of being selected in the 2014 national high school principal of the year. the second largest city in the wind and the largest of 79 schools in the city. 1400 students in 24 different technical programs within four small mining communities.

63 percent of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch, 19 percent of special lead command the ethnic backgrounds reflect the city's demographics. previous lillo's performing has climbed one of the poorest performing vocational schools in the state. presently we have a 92% 1st time passing grade in english-language arts, 84 percent in math, 96 percent in science, and last year 96 and a half percent of our students graduate in four years. the achievement gap has increased significantly. students are prepared for excess with the regular -- rigorous curriculum which combines academic with hands-on experience in school and the workplace. your and cooperative education opportunity. a graduate with all the academic requirements and industry recognize national certification our students are graduating college and career ready. 82 percent went on to higher education, 32 percentage of the

world of work into% joined the military. over 350 business industry advisers that contribute to the direction of the school and its students. consist of representatives of local business and industry related to programs, organize labour command post secondary indications, parents, guardians, students for registered partnership programs. enteral partners to our program providing direction on training, equipment, certification, licensure, education, and career opportunities. each programmer to provide industry recognize credentials as well as college credits to expand opportunities for post secondary success. our ally yeltsin's graduate with i school diploma and seven college credits, a certificate and allied health, certification and cpr, first-aid, certified nursing assistant, home health aide, and tnt. our i t programs treasurer with up to 18 college credits from northeastern university as well as being certified in fiscal now

working associations. with the assistance of business and higher education partners, new equipment at no war reduced cost by having students train no latest equipment. an asian has allowed us to create a service center furnishing and equipping the state of the our automotive technology service in over 250 vehicles per month. we are committed to building partnerships at local two and four year colleges and universities. tech animal clinic was created by a school partnership. providing affordable care for low-income families, the university funds of that marion to run a clinic and their students' work alongside the dr. providing animal care. two years ago became the stem career and college innovations coolidge created a pipeline for our students to obtain jobs upon graduation or study stan-related surge fields. with this focus we are training

stews to meet employment demands . these partnerships will keep jobs for another hundred years and keep our cities strong and viable. through the efforts of our manufacturing, construction and structures our students work alongside in the students from the technical as to to develop and build a zero energy home that competed in the u.s. department of energy solar decathlon on which was held. this project up the home their skills on the latest technology and represented the fields. charlie once-in-a-lifetime global cultural experience. successful technical schools require strong links to the community and academic institutions. our schools success and the students success are intertwined part of an economic engine coordinating the needs and desires of industries for our highly trained and adaptable workforce for the needs of our students and the feel of their

choice this concludes my prepared testimony, but i am happy to answer any questions you or other committee members may have. thank you. >> thank you. mr. fisher, you are recognized for five minutes. >> chairman, congressman, members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me here today. as deputy commissioner of education and vermont i am responsible for innovation and transformation agenda with particular focus on career and technical education. this year i also have the honor of serving as president of the national association of state directors of career and technical education consortium. as you take up the important work every authorizing the federal investment in ct at appreciate this up originated share insights based on my experiences as well as those of my colleagues across the country. let me start by saying the federal investment is vitally important and has been and continues to be a major driver of innovation. 12 million students of all ages

across the country participate in programs in every type of community setting, urban, suburban, and girl. and programs delivered at numerous types of educational settings at the secondary and post secondary levels. this diversity is a strength and a reflection of the responsiveness to the community, employers, and students and is also makes us why unity behind a common vision for the future so unique. in 2010 the state directors and across the country agree to a common vision touting a progressive agenda that has opportunities presented. this vision which has been provided as a supplement to my testimony seeks to break down the silence between academic and technical education. it calls for a strengthened partnerships with employers and the men stated driven decision making and our commitment to a

delivery system with programs of study organized around the national career clusters which are 16 at this point. this vision guides our, federal policy priorities and my remarks today. leading educational innovation and at the nexus economic and work-force development. because of the promise of its work force will what it means today and tomorrow. in my state that is -- as is the case, helping to restore and grow our economy. updating existing programs. all of these to reflect the changing workplace and technologies and introduce a new program by biomedical, computer science, make a trump's, nanotechnology, and the like to support emerging demands.

these programs prepare students with adaptable skills and knowledge, exactly what employers want. serving a vital role in keeping states and the u.s. economy growing and innovative. the partnership with employers is one of the most treasured aspects of our history. from local mom-and-pop, small businesses, industry giants like ibm, mary, i union pacific, see ante, toyota, companies are investing in the future by building robust partnerships with education. equipment donation to building curriculum, creating new schools offering teachers and faculty externships and providing students with internships is business education partnerships are essential to study essential to ensuring programs meet the needs of 21st century economist. today's economy require students to be prepared for options which means being prepared for both the secondary education and careers.

allowing students to explore careers and be challenged by a real world authentic experiences . then i had become members of teams, focus, motivation, and confidence. often learning and ending at the same time gaining industry and post secondary credentials along the way. dual income current involvement has been a successful policy in vermont and across the country. researchers at about the dual and romans used for more likely to earn high school diploma, go on the college, persist at that level, and have a higher post secondary grade point average than their peers. not only did these a opportunities gives to say headstart in post secondary education, but lessons the cause debt load. for example, in kentucky students have the opportunity to graduate from high school and earned an associate's degree. this is college and career readiness and today's ct.

with perkins funding and requirements as a national catalyst we are transitioning delivery models to programs of study organized around the 16 career clusters driven by high-quality college and career british standards today, and career technical corps, there is strong evidence they're producing positive outcomes including better test results, better secondary cpas, and improved progress was graduation in my state programs of study of language transracial role in ensuring our most rural communities have access to high-quality. transforming has schools. this is a matter of equity. no matter your zip code, gender, socioeconomic status, race, all students should have access to programs that prepare them to be both college and career ready. and finally none of this matters unless the evidence of outcomes. the graduation rate has been

93 percent compared to our overall graduation rate. and this is not unique to vermont. >> thank you, mr. fisher. >> thank you very much. >> you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you and good morning. i am this deal up in foster, of the nation's largest and most experienced providers of online and highly education in the current technical field. i come to you today as a practitioner, and active observer and my perspective starts the several important functions. a first of which, it has worked and improve the lives of millions of people do to dedicated faculty and administrators and strong state and federal policies. secondly, given a strong track record there is a lot there should be embraced going forward. this is not a part of the

economy as broken one that is driving and can continue. thirdly, society is changing, education is changing. workers are changing, and the reality is the learning tactics of students are evolving in a digital world perry is in this context that think there is a significant opportunity to build . i think we need to continue to lay of a row matt that will further establish it in a contemporary context. that should be formulated by the practitioners in the industry as well as administrators but nelson is to include people from outside the industry to help shape the next generation of students and lifelong learners. we have six recommendations. i wanted to highlight just three. what they share in common, all of them have been implemented in other parts of the education economy and other sectors of the

corporate economy which is an important point to note. our objective is to encourage the melding of proven best practices with the best practices and then said to be a gain from other industries so that we can optimize system experience as well as the return on investment. we have three recommendations. the best of traditional practices to better personalizes to experience. combined with the way traditional ground-based efforts work. number two, we want to embrace is a learning. faculty members of all is needed to embrace new technologies given the disciplines that they teach, the technology and software are essential to countless vocational fields already, and bedding for the digital tools in the learning context as a natural extension to what happens in a class for managers should happen at of us from going forward. that there is a change in perception extraordinarily

respectable applications in drive stable life styles which in many cases allow people to advance in mill management and senior management positions. as we know, often misunderstood and under appreciated. the reality is that the alternative education career path weight is accounting for the millions of traditional learners and adults and is to being raised by people and organizations of influence. a significant opportunity to make ct ea new weighted think of the economy for millions of people. we think that the perception and branding needs to be involved, become a mainstream solution that is embraced in the same way that the traditional 4-year colleges are embraced. we all know it may not be desirable or practical for a restaurant or in some cases it may be should not be the first up, but the reality is there is a trillion dollars in student loan debt. stevens and adults alike should be encouraged to understand this

alternative to help themselves and their families build a more productive life is a moment to lean in on affirming the power and promise of ct enable carriers. in summary, we are supporters. we know it can play a vital role in helping address the key skills which is likely to worsen with the resurgence of manufacturing. 123 year history including a 100,000 students today to participate in all aspects of high school, college, as well as a vocational and career programs. imperative an opportunity and we think it is an exciting one that can improve everyone's lives. we appreciate the opportunity. >> thank you. out of respect i am going to hold on my questions and go right to a member's questions. first will be mr. thompson. you are recognized for finance. >> chairman, thank you. ranking member, thank you.

and thanks to the panel for your testimony, your experience today, this subject is obviously something i am passionate about. today we are not just talking about the opportunities for individuals and families, with the big picture is america's competitiveness. and the programs that you law and the students and types of programs you touch and the topic we are talking about all surf for america's competitiveness. it is not a field of dreams that jobs. helping fill the skills gap and make the connection. first of all, mr. chairman, i want to ask unanimous consent to submit a statement. focusing on programs of study

that span secondary and post secondary education. since the 2006 act was passed. anyone that would like to feel that, please do. >> i can address that first. >> it has been a lever for change, particularly with getting higher education to come to the table and secondary it to come to the table, not that they were reluctant partners, but we never had a common vision around that. that provided a common vision. perkins requires that post secondary elements of learning must begin in the secondary field. ..

for your charge. in addition with partner and poly technical institute where our students assisted their engineer students. they actually asked six of our students and two of our instructors to go with them to china for three weeks to rebuild the home and be part of the competition. so that is been incredible.

the university is just about fifteen minute away. they approached us. our construction students built the veterinary clinic at the school that has surgical lab and x-ray machine. we service with the veterinarian 250 animals to low-income families that couldn't afford proper animal care. >> they are -- coming back to the business industry, that interfaces is important, i believe. we pry pair people for jobs there urging industry are recovering or just in a transitional phase in term of the work force. in experience what role has business industry play in development delivery. how can we strengthen that role? >> yes, sir.

business industry is critical component in the development of cte. and -- excuse me. we spend a lot of time developing occupational demand, statistics, and forecast and we can track our technical education programs based upon the demand of the work force. and technical college system and high school system and work force commission are intimately involved with this, and now providing the path forward to put meaningful ct programs in place in the state to track the occupational demand. >> all right. i think probably just about out of time. if i can ask my remaining questions, i'll submit those for the withins to be able to respond back in writing. that would be wonderful. i appreciate it. thank you. without objection. the gentleman yields back. >> recognized for five minute. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me --

if i may, submit for the record if there's no objection statement from the ranking member ms. mccarthy and a statement from the association for career technical education. >> without objection. >> and at this point, if i would yield my time to miss davis for my questions she might have. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you have teached on so many important areas and thank you so much. i think we often worry about how question bring things to scale. how we can, you know, take the great expertise that comes with principles and with educators in our system and try expand those and make sure they reach all children with equality we're looking for here. when we think about those partnership and know we're obviously dealing with what i have found to be passionate teachers in the field. yet what is it that you believe --

can do to drive the best in professional education in this area as well as expanding those partnerships? how would you like to see that?

roirmt for the minute in regard to having more flexibility. a lot of money spent on professional development which is essential for our special technical -- [inaudible] and this is an industry expectations. but the ability to use the money in various ways would be helpful. >> i would add i think it does so many important things. i think there's an opportunity to stimulation innovation by yiewt lazing nontraditional practices like innovation grant and prizes that would attract not just cte to the table but people from outside the industry. i think one of the lessons learned about across all sector harness the best. we live in a world more connected and global. there has to be opportunity for

the rest of the noncte education world to be part of the conversation. i think that there ares a pets could be directed to innovation. and, i think, create complimentary perspective to those that the very seasoned and administrator and faculty bring today. >> i would agree weferg sainted. we use it for innovation grand opportunity. i would hate to lose that. but i would add that what we need to do is build more robust status system and find what data point we're looking at and what define success. when we can do that it a more common way across the state. we can look at informing structure improvement, providing better professional development and engaging with business and industry to say what is the emerging career to develop program for?

>> i think that pretty well covered the topic in term of our partnership we have with public education as well as well. i think it covers the need of the discussion. >> i believe you. we have to collect the data and representativive what we're trying to measure. and how we do that we would certainly welcome insight about that. that is -- [inaudible] critical and we're never going get where we want to go without that. you mention if louisiana the core choice have. and i'm thinking how is all of that managed? in order to have industries using their equipment or more engaging student at their sight, which is really the opt muslim, i think we can do that takes resources. that takes transportation dollars.

that takes -- how is it that we get there i see my time is up. >> gentleman's time is expired. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i actually think i know where congressman davis was going. i'm curious with respect to the location issues -- i -- as we're looking at reauthorization of perkins act, i'm curious what you think the most important thing the federal government can to do to make sure they have access to the cte program. as mother of a son who graduated high school a couple of years ago, i wished he had done more cte programs. as you mentioned, and then i went -- what i have also been employed at the community college system. my point is going back to more with respect my son, large public high school, and but yet