and now today's edition of washington journal in its entirety. we started off today's program by asking viewers what they thought the foreign-policy challenges were facing the obama administration. we also look at items in the news. this is about 35 minutes.

>> this is an example from the "washington post." that aside from the story on the president speaking to reporters yesterday taking a look at syria. saying they don't have a strategy yet. if you go to the pages of "the new york times" on the same thing. serious being its lead story story today story in story today on an alice is a story by peter baker this morning. the headline obama urges calm. a little from peter baker this morning as he writes about the two situations that dominated the press conference, but you can see in total he said probably be for the program and you can see it on c-span.org what he writes in both cases mr. obama took a strikingly different tone than his own advisers. the prime military officer at security adviser both talked in sharper terms over the last week at the possibility of striking in theory and what mr. obama's ambassador expressed outrage on thursday at russia's latest

actions in ukraine on both theory and ukraine. the visuals are having separate parallel debates on how aggressive to be with mr. obama seemingly acting as a brake on or robust actions and some advisers seek. administration officials preparing for another round of sanctions with european allies, but they are unsure if the president will take them to the next level. officials are also struggling with how far to go taking on isis in serious. mr. obama has been reluctant to intervene in a bloody civil war. again, those are the thoughts from the papers. we will read a little bit more as far as individual stories on those two areas of the world. but if you want to give us a call and make your comments no (205)585-3001. 202-55-3880 for democrats, and (202)585-3882 for independence. again, social media pages at c-span wj is the twitter address and facebook.com/c-span is how you reach us there and journal@c-span.org is the e-mail. the president speak to reporters

yesterday. so leading to specific things we will show you in the course of the morning. this one dealing with the strategy or the developing strategy when it comes to serious. here is the president from yesterday. >> i don't want to put the cart before the horse. we don't have a strategy yet. i think what i've seen in some of the news reports suggest that folks are getting a little further ahead of where we are at the end we currently are. and i think that's not just my assessment that the assessment of the military as well. we need to make sure that we have plans and we are developing them. at that point i will consult with congress and make sure that their voices are heard. but there is no point in me asking for action on the part of congress before i know exactly what it is that is going to be required to get the job done. >> if you want to see the total conference is on c-span.org.

when it comes to public opinion on military action or foreign-policy action the pew research center conducted a poll taking a look at issues and its findings on the front page today. this is the question they asked. the lead from usa today is obama tough enough. but the question is the approach to foreign-policy and national security and then it gives options. 54% say not enough. about 36% saying about right 7% say they don't know coming into 3% only waiting in saying that he is too tough. again, these challenges when it comes to serious, ukraine and others on the topic for the first half-hour. sheila, you are up first on florida. democrats line, good morning. go ahead. >> caller: okay. obama urges calm in the face of the two crisis because we don't wrestle against flesh and blood

but powers of darkness and no military action is going to help this. i called into the president when the enemy comes in that the standard against him -- >> host: james from atlanta georgia independent line. >> caller: yes. good morning. there is no reason to go to iraq. these people live over there. they are going to fight just like we over here in the united states in the civil war. caucasians cost to keep us enslaved. they killed 750,000 people. as many people have never been -- it's not near that many people. these people are determined. they are not going to their religion. if they are not good to change their religion and faith, they are going to keep on fighting just like in america. americans are not going to change.

a muslim country cannot live under democracy. there must be sharia law. that is what these people are saying. this all started because the united states during the surge. the reason why it was so easy for isis is because of these sunnis. they've been there. they've been disgruntled individual continue. >> host: james, james -- >> caller: -- during the surge actually ran al qaeda out of -- >> host: james can i ask you a question? can i ask you a question? are you concerned about the growth of the islamic state in the middle east? >> caller: those people are allowed to at least establish the state and they would be an easier target. you would have the government establishes and then you tackle. what you are seeing is these people are not separated.

you still have the sunnis into these people are still there. they are not taking over the land. they are joining the sunnis. >> host: next is gene from miami, arizona. democrats line. >> caller: how are you this morning? >> host: well, thank you. go ahead. >> caller: the president got elected twice and said he was going to end the war in afghanistan and iraq. i think that he is [inaudible] soldiers are tired of being deployed. i have a son that is in the military and the air force. and he says that he is doing the right thing. why do we have to be involved all over the world? like we have had democracy all over the world? we need to worry about this country. we think we have to put our way of life into freedom all over

the world when we don't even take care of each other here. >> host: oakley california charles on the independence line. >> caller: yes, good morning. i appreciate allowing me to speak and to just say what i wanted to say and i will take a response from anyone that's going to respond to it. i am a vietnam veteran. i was a sniper in vietnam, and we lost an awful lot of men over there. my point what i really want to say is that, you know, this president has taken more steps than any other nation, any other president in this nation has ever taken. i want to know this and i wonder if anybody can answer this question for a -- >> host: what do you think about the foreign-policy challenges that we are talking about, russia, serious, other areas of the world -- how should the president handled these areas of the world?

>> caller: you have john mccain and other individuals to matter what the president says it does, and he cannot do anything militarily towards russia. i mean, that's a power structure. that is a nuclear weapon individual nation doing what they want to do and we cannot do anything about that. all we can do is try to unite this country. if we do that, then we will be divided but right now the country is so divided there is no way possible that we can stand. and i really think that that is a sad situation. but it comes down to one man in the white house who has put a stick in the white house and has caused it to be deteriorated as it is. so why don't we do one thing that i think would be very important. why don't we call the white house the people's house after all the people formed this country on the backs of slaves and others. why don't we call it the people's house sex >> host: we will leave it there. "the new york times" highlights

the role that it might have to play. this is mark writing about bypassing the congress would be difficult to justify, however, given the fervent call for lawmakers last september after leading up after laying out the moral reasons for a saw that they see that it's on the people, mr. obama said also mindful and president of the world's oldest constitutional democracy. a growing number of voices in congress also demanding a say on wednesday i bipartisan group wrote to john boehner, speaker of the house and urged him to hold the vote saying mr. obama strikes appear to be donned the scope of the mission that he laid out. two democratic senators and chris murphy of connecticut said they do not believe any of the existing existing authorizations give obama the authority to conduct a long-term campaign in iraq and serious. senator bob corker of tennessee the ranking under on the senate foreign relations committee that the congress needed to own any potential military action. on the foreign-policy challenges

for the administration here is nevada on the democrats line. >> caller: good morning. i matter what he says they freak out about it but beyond that they say okay let's go to congress and talk about this. we finally got a bunch of these guys together kind of like more traditional poor when we have at least targets to go through to get at the one target in syria and one target in pakistan. we have some really bad guys and these are the terrorists that we are at war with.

and i think mr. obama should go to congress and go after them. >> host: here is mary on the republican line. hello. >> caller: as a republican i would just like to see that this is the one and only thing that i've ever agreed with obama on. i don't think that we should be jumping the gun and going in anywhere. i think we better be paying attention about our own safety in this country because god only knows how many isis members are in our country right now. and i would also like to say to the caller that called, it has absolutely nothing to do with the color of obama's skin. it's the way that he acts and conduct himself. he just goes against the grain the way that the white house has been handled all these years.

and the suit that he had on yesterday really doesn't make that much difference. >> host: when it comes to foreign-policy, why do you agree and what brought you to that? >> caller: because just like everybody else i think it's ridiculous. i do not believe that we can solve this problem. it is out of our hands. it is over our head. unless the rest of the world unites with us to try to solve this problem, we are not going to be able to do it. we don't have the money to do it. we are borrowing money to try to solve somebody else's problem in our own country is falling apart. .. comments made. this is from the front page, many of the potential partners said they remain in the dark about whether mr. obama has in mind and some expressed impatience that the length of time it's taking to figure it out. there's more attitude to get involved, and last week's

execution of american journalist said one senior official "no one has a conversation with us as to what it means. when these super powers reluctant in developing policy, it's not about the leadership, but having a coherent approach in the s" the ball is u.s. court. caller: i think what's going on is an important reminder that poverty creates instability. development is a key part of our national security strategy and i think our government needs to continue to protect the international affairs budgets >> host: giving more support. o projects across the world would lower this in your opinion? >> caller: yes, i think global poverty is creating instability

and if we focused on this it would decrease. >> host: jim in texas from the independent line. >> caller: good morning. how are you doing? >> host: fine, thanks. >> caller: i feel the inexperience shows when we elected this man twice already. he doesn't have a clue on what to do. it isn't the color of the skin like the lady said. it is just the inexperience. speaking of money, what are we waiting for? these terrorist to come over he

here? when we elect -- >> host: quamia from orlando, florida. >> caller: i wanted to say i believe what in what the president is doing. he is looking at the long term solution of the problems. if bombs were the answer we would not have this problem now. we have to get allies that are doing their part to also make sure the region is secure. >> host: so if airstricks continue into syria is that something you support? >> caller: it depends on other things the president wants to do

like economic development, political structure and making sure in iraq we have an inclusive political structure that included minorities so they are not disinfranchised. >> host: ebola vaccine is going to start testing on humans next week. the co-developer of the vaccine along with the national institute of allergy and infectious disease is going to manufacture ten thousands and make it available for emergency immunization. the vaccine is a preventive one not a treatment for people with the virus.

scientist will enroll patients soon and it will see if the vaccine p vaccine gives an effective result. robert is on the line. >> caller: the president doesn't have people working with him and that is why he has problems with the middle east. i know americans, on the republican side, they have promised if they put them in power and spread christianity. people are not reading the bible correctly because if they were they would realize satan and the lord in the old testament and jesus in the new testament is the same people. >> host: mary from alabama.

independent line. hi, there. >> caller: hello. >> host: you are on. >> caller: i don't believe the callers calling in this morning. they don't know what isis or isil is. they are barbaric. we have to get rid of them. and the ones they have here in the country. i live in alabama and we had the worst terrorist droned who came out of high school over here. we have cells in minnesota. we have young americans being brainwashed into this barbaric style of butchering. and our president called workplace terrorist and slaughtered the soldiers at fort

hood he is coming out and saying he wants to be a member of isis. we have a president that is not recognizing a terror structure in the world and bomb them and get rid of the cockroaches over there. we will have to deal with terrorist in this way and when they are in alabama and minnesota where else are they? we have to do something. we have to get our heads out of the sand. >> host: not only was the topic of isis part of the press conference yesterday but the topic of russia and pro-russian separatist going over there. and putin test the west tension in ukraine and part of the discussion came up about this

yesterday. here is the exchange. >> we are not taking military action to deal with the ukraine issue. we are trying to get the int international community to pressure them as well. but it is important to note a military solution to this situation isn't going to be forthcoming. the fact russia took these actions in violation of the sovereignty of the ukrainians has resulted, i believe, in a weakening of russia not a strengthening. that might not be apparent immediately. but i think it will become increasingly apparent. what it has also done is isolated russia from its trading partners and international

business in ways that i think are difficult to recover from. and we will continue to stand firm with our allies and partners that what is happening is wrong. that there is a solution that allows ukraine and russia to live peacefully but it isn't in the cards for us to see a military confrontation between russia and the united states in this region. >> host: and just to show you the "washington journal" this morning. u.s. officials considered the escollation to amount to a russian invasion. henry from michigan is talking about the challenges of the obama administration. (202) 585-3881 for republicans and (202) 585-3880 and 202-575-3882 for independents.

henry is on the line. >> caller: i would like to see the president bolster our international commitment. the situation in iraq and syria are problems for the arab league and the surrounding nations like jordan, turkey, iran, saudi arabia and those countries need to step up to the plate to solve this issue. this isn't president obama's or the united states problem alone. the problem in ukraine is a nato problem. nato needs to get together and form an international coalition and go to the united nations and vote the ukraine into nato so that nato can go in and set-up bases to betrust the ukrainian

military so they can repel future attacks. this isn't an obama administration or u.s. problem alone. and the simple minded c confederates in the republican party who hate president obama will never be acceptable of what he has done. >> host: the president is going to nato to talk about the issues next week. in the wall street journal report there is an article about it is time for the saudi arabians to stand up saying they have 250 aircraft planes and 20,000 personal.

some strikes wouldn't be military decisive but they would show they are willing to stand up to zelots and it would make it easier for others in the region to stand up. here is frank from arizona. >> caller: i have seen a lot of media on russia and the united states but i have heard little debate on china's involvement in the situation and i would like to know president obama's or anyone's opinion on how congress is playing a role. >> host: what your opinion on congress' role? >> caller: i don't think it has been addressed properly at all in my personal opinion. i think that our focus then is

very myoptic and we are looking at the role the middle east plays in the politics but i don't think the u.s. attorneys are playing their role correctly. and military -- i don't think it has been addressed and i would like to see that addressed more publically. >> host: mike from massachusetts, good morning. democrats like. >> caller: good morning. all i want to say is i don't think isis, ukraine, ebola are not solely u.s. problems. they are international problems and should be addressed by the u.n.and we should not be involved militarily and if we did i would be suspect for other reason. >> host: do you think the united states needs to take a lead in these problems?

>> caller: we should be working the other nations. that is what the u.n. was formed for. the address these international problems. we can be a leading force but diplom diplomatically not militarily. absolutely not. >> host: buffalo, new york, here is charles. independent line. >> caller: i am concerned on two fronts. the role of the president in terms of the international crisis is probably more of one should set policy. the american people are not quite yet ready for another boots on the ground initiative at any place in the world. unless we want to employ the

draft we don't share that opinion across the board. >> host: a look at the status of the benghazi inquiry and the select committee formed. this story says the committee formed in may could take longer and leaders are budgeting for 3.3 million this year alone. trey gowdy said he would spend less than that and set a review to review the security recommendations. other than that there are few signs of progress. republican attention is likely to shift to ms. clinton after the mid-term elections. trey gowdy's approach offered

little for people to seize on as far as when the investigation is closed. he said it should be closed by 2015 assuming cooperation from the committees and the administration. we cannot predict what witnesses say and what documents will be produced. also adds that trey gowdy hired dana chipman has the army's top lawyer to be the chief spokesperson. walter from texas. hello. david from charleston, illinois. independent line. >> caller: i was wanting to make a couple comments. i was upset with the president's speech when he said don't put the cart before the horse. we don't want to put the cart before the horse for the simple

fact this is twice now he has had that attitude. once in syria when hilary clinton wanted to arm the rebels to keep isis out. and the second time was not taking on isis before they came into iraq and we are killing all of the christians and stuff. and i just thought that was a ridiculous comment he would make. the other caller -- it isn't the color of anybody's skin. it is about protecting our country and our kids. that is all i have to say. >> host: cwr from twitter says obama's lack of strategy makes the obama doctrine harm. republican line, bernard. >> caller: i am a long time listener. my comment is the president has

never done anything right that was relating to the foreign policy of america. we went to libya and egypt and everything is troubled. he really has to man up and be a president. he acts like a kid. obama hasn't been any help. everything is about color and color. if you want to elect the president -- i never supported anything this president does. his foreign policy starts wars. he is just messing up. he should man up and be a president. >> host: in the wall street journal this morning side by side stories to tell you.

romney welcoming help leading up the to the midterm. and the governor in pennsylvania reached a deal with the obama administration to extend the medicaid program to include everyone earning up to a third more than the poverty level or around $16,000 for a single adult. it makes him the 9th gop governor to go along with the health care law. he faces a tough reelection battle this year. a pole found him trailing his democratic challenger by 25 points. let's mere from josie in missouri city, texas. >> caller: i think the president's challenge is the media. when the president has to call a press release or press

conference just to tell the media to rein in the comments about going to war that tells you how the president has a way of making up their own story as they go along. i know this is the age of telling all of your intimate secrets. and they would run away from that. why should he tell everyone his strategy? >> host: during the housing cris crisis one person you heard about was fanny may and they are planning to sell their head quarters and consolidate else where. in addition to the 3900 wisconsin head quarters the brick conference is at 4250

connecticut avenue and wisconsin avenue is going on the market. fannie has contracts set to expire in the next 2-3 years and they plan to consolidate staff from five buildings into a single-leased building in downtown washington, d.c. ray from texas, republican line, last call. >> caller: thank you. hello. i am calling to offer my opinion about what is going on. it looks to me like president obama is an amateur that got into the big leagues and doesn't know what he is doing. that part is not about his skin color. and i think a lot of the voters on the democratic side voted for him specifically because of his skin color. they are the same ones calling in now saying it is hateful and racist to disagree.

>> host: what do you think about his current actions he is taking regarding foreign policy? >> caller: i am concerned about what hillary clinton did as secretary of state caused these problems. and the people that voted for obama because he was an african-american, which i am proud of having an african-american elected, but i am afraid the policies used by hilary clinton and you cannot exonerate hilary clinton and blame bush for what he did. she was in power and should have handled some of this stuff before it got to this point. >> join us for an american history tour. we will look at native american historical sights starts at 8 p.m. eastern. and later, a discussion on police and race relations after the ferguson, missouri shootings and protest. civil rights advocates and

representatives of the naacp spoke at an event here in washington. that is starting at 10 p.m. eastern. and we will be live from the national book festival in washington. and cspan will show you the events and science pavilion and authors talking about the make-up of the universe and other topics. this weekend on the c-span networks, tonight native american history. then on sat urday live all day book coverage from the science pavilion. and then a debate on the scottish decision on whether to end their political union with england. and sunday chief justice of the

second court of appeals shares his approach to passing laws in congress. and indepth with former congressman ron paul. and on saturday all day coverage from the history and bioography pavilion. and afterwards with william burrows talking about his boobook the asteroid threat. and then a show about the apollo moon landing. and talking about the sherman campaign. and looking at the election laws in the supreme court case of bush versus gore. let us know what you happeni happening -- you think -- about the programs you are watching.

call us, or on twitter or e-mail us. join the conversation. like us on facebook. follow us on twitter. >> and now to a discussion on the state of the economy, federal reserve policy. from today's "washington journal" this is 40 minutes. >> host: here to talk about the discussion is pedro and good morning. your colleague at the journal is writing about the release of gdp numbers showing a 4.2 upgrade. tell us what that means. >> guest: it sounds like a good number. if we were growing at that rate on a consistent bases we would be zooming along at a faster

clip. the payback does give us a sense it is a marginal revision and the 1st quarter decline was an anomaly and there was a bounce back. but it doesn't tell us how resilient it is likely to remain over the second half of the year. >> host: what factors went into the increased number? >> guest: a boost in investment and inventories but this is mine technical adjustments that the department of commerce receives inbetween indicators. we have ad discussions about each levels indicators but the first reading you get to the last one it is three years until

a final reading. so numbers will get revised rapidly. but we are looking to see if consumption holds up and so far it has. so we can expect growth to remain in the 2.5-3 percent range in the second half. >> host: what does this say about businesses and how they feel about the economy? >> guest: that is one of the spots of the growth pictures that is missing in action. we had a weak recovery and that is in part because businesses who were hit by a deep recession have remained reluctant to invest. we have not seen the sustained picture in that. but we need to see more if we are going to stay consistent. >> host: what was the result of

the previous quarter and the dip it took? >> guest: blame the weather. we had a harsh winter and it took a sharp hit on consumption. so that is primarily -- and on hiring -- so the rebound is a product of a statistical averaging of the two quarters. what people really need to be looking at and will be looking for the next job figures is to see whether the employment gains come. job creation is surpassing what people expected it to be given that level of growth. so people want to see is that sustainable. we have seen the unemployment rate drop to 6.2% and employment growth monthly of 200,000 jobs and up so that is solid and want that continue. >> host: if you have questions about the condition of the

economy and want to talk to our guest here is your chance. (202) 585-3881 for republicans, (202) 585-3880 for democratss and 202-585-3882 for independents. you can send e-mails or tweets as well. pedro, before you came on we were talking about world events. are there parallels between what happens during the world and what happens domestically especially since seeing the 4.2 figu figure? >> guest: i would say economist level of concern is very high and there are a number of question marks. you have serious tension in every corner of the world you look. you have, you know, syria and iraq as a sort of joint problem

now. you have a potential russian innovation into the united states and the impact it might have on europe. europe's economy is already kind of stalling. so that is one of the factors that leads to a low level of confidence in the sustainability of the united states' growth all of the turmoil oversea. >> host: is that on consumer or corporate sector or both? >> guest: i think it begins at the corporate because they make the decisions and it affects banks and lending. but if consumers feel we are entering another military conflict until president obama kind of pushed back a little bit yesterday it looked like we were about to get more involved in syria. if that is the case, you know, we don't know what is is going to happen to consumer

confidence. >> host: here is john from ohio on the democrats line. go ahead, john. >> caller: i was hoping that you guys could understand the two concepts of the economy versus the wars. back when the war originally started we went into iraq, whatever, they setup all of the contractors and they were contracted for different things working and mission work and i believe those guys are isis. they are setup to go to war to bring and make the government broke. go to war, go to war, go to war. we have no money and guess who gets to take over? billionaires. this is what i believe this is

all ability. haliburton and other companies are isis. >> guest: that is a pretty big conspiracy theory. as far as the war and economy there is an important connection that is not often made, right? we entered a period of war starting after 9/11 we went into iraq and then afghanistan. we had a sustained recovery from 2001-2006 and we had a large housing bubble that crash and the financial crisis is a product of that boom and bust. but if we had not spent all of the money we did on the war we would have been in a better position to stimulate growth once the crisis hit. so even though we separate the two issues, there is a connection between war and the economy.

>> host: carol from warren, michigan. republican line. go ahead. >> caller: in regards to the economy, i don't think president obama is doing a very good job. in regards to what you had me listening about the war i would rather be fighting these people over there than have them coming here and having to fight them here. >> host: why specifically don't you think the president is doing a good job when it comes to the economy? >> caller: look at the economy. it is recovering at a slow place. there is more people out of work than there has every been. the democrats and president obama with all their regulations for small businesses no one wants to open up a small business anymore.

they cannot afford to hire people because they cannot pay for their health care. and i think as a president he is totally not competent. >> guest: it is true the president is residing over a weak recovery and how much lays at his feet is a political judgment. we inherited a weak any but the further you get away from the crisis the harder it is to blame the prior administration. the president blames obstruction of congress and that line of argument only goes so far because they see the president as a leader and they would like him to find a way to work with congress to get his measures through. so yeah, it appears to be a weak economic growth. as for regulations stifling growth i would say it isn't the primary factor.

we just have a weak economy and consumers in deep distress. and the previous caller talked about billionaires. inequality is a factor. it is becoming a cliche ster story but the narrative is bearing out in the figures and that led for the economy that relies about 2/3rds of its strength. >> host: what is the expectation for the next unemployment figures coming out? >> guest: most expect to hold steady or dip to 6.1%. there is an expectation of a sharp decline. other policy makers think it isn't normal and there are many

signs of underemployment and people working part time that would like to work full time. folks at the fed say full employment is 5.2 percent but as they get closer to that they have not started discussion about when to raise interest rates. >> host: ed in greenbelt, maryland. democratic line. >> caller: i would like to talk about the fact the country is divided. and it is because you have a white media and clear channel stations all across america. you will notice that. and they are hurting our country. our voters and people calling into your talk show are being misinformed. when you tell the millions of broadcasters -- >> host: we are having a

discussion about the economy. do you have a question about the economy? >> caller: people vote against their own interest when they hear this riffling stuff. and your guest, i agree with your guest when he said what is happening is the president is doing a good job and he has a very good ideas, your guest here, and i think he is a breath of fresh air and we need more guest like that. >> guest: well, i appreciate the compliment. i would say one of encouraging thinks about media is there is a digital divide and a human portion of americans that don't have internet access but the internet does level the playing field especially for young americans. there is a potential for misinformation but if you try to

educate yourself and rely on solid sources you can find the information. you don't have to watch whatever the tv shows you. >> host: your colleague ryan tracy wrote a statement saying banks crank up the loan machine. it says banks loan and lease balances increased 2.3 over the 1st quarter and the largest quarter jump since the end of 0 2007. what does that mean to you? >> guest: it is supposed to mean things are good. in lending, you want credit to boom but you don't want banks to oversight and investigations extend themselves. excessive restraint by the banks and over cautiousness because they got burned so i think an

increase in lending is another positive sign. >> host: confidence. we heard the banks are not lending. >> guest: and they were not lending to people with solid credit scores either so it is a positive sign. >> host: kevin from california. republican line. thanks for holding on. >> caller: good morning. my question is about education. i am a student and taking on a lot of student loans and my question to you if you don't mind touching on ijication and where you see the student loan factors going and how this economics is going to affect the way students are treated in the future. >> guest: as someone still paying off his student loans i can relate to the question. i graduated many, many years ago as well. i think the student loan system is kind of a chicken and egg problem. does education become more expensive because financial is

available? i am not an economist so i don't know how to solve it. europe has more financing for education but you have a lot of students coming from europe to universities heres so there is an attractiveness to the system here. it burdens the economy and the individual student when you get out of school and start your life in the red. so, you know, it would behoove policy makes to come up with a system that at least relieves some of the burden on students because people are coming out with a lot of debt and students are not really that well informed when they are 18-19 and starting school. they have no idea of the burdens they are talking on. it isn't something i have a ready solution for but it is a burden on the economy and there is indication it slowed consumer spending and the rate at which young people buy homes and people are taking longer to get

their life started. they call it household formation and that is getting out of your parent's house and getting married and having children. but that has slowed. >> host: could the term bubble apply to the student loan sector? >> guest: it could. we are coming out of crisis related to one of the most massive bubbles in bank and mortgage lending in particular. there are bubbles and there are bubbles. the thing is the mortgage market is so enormous the popping of the housing bubble had an enormous economic impact. student loans -- the amounts are big and the default rates are rising but does it have as broad impact of the mortgage market?

no. the mortgage market is 14% larger so it is different size and impact. >> host: david is up next from new jersey. democrats line. >> caller: i would like to ask the gentlemen this question. correct me if i can wrong, but historically if a business or bank wanted to borrow money, when the rates were around 6%, they had to pay about $2.50. now they are paying about 25 cents. so to me common sense says now is the time to rebuild roads, bridges, highways, schools and infrastructure with the money is a cents as opposed to ten times more -- 25 -- so i am baffled we have a republican congress and they can do anything they want

and democrats can't stop them. congress controls the money. so republicans are saying i am not going to allow president obama to do anything which means six years ago when he took office, for six years they have held the country back at a cost of 25 cents on the dollar. it is insane no one is bringing that up. it is insane c-span isn't calling republican from their game. and we have someone from the wal street journal that is controlled by roupert murdoch. >> guest: to the point about the fed. there is a case to be made in investing in infustructure when

the funds are low. the president has blamed congress for the inability to get policies through. but at the same time people count on the president to lead and to basically -- if you get enough public support for the measures whatever opposition he has he can get the measures through. where the blame lies i am not sure. but your caller has a point that low interest rates are yet together reason why we should be investing in infrastructure and there is sound economic arguments. >> host: dave from florida. republican line. >> caller: i wanted to ask pedro and get his take on inflation. when the fed artificially

pressing the interest rates and the current national debt we have it is hard to get a feel of the inflation rate going forward. if you could guess what could happen if it ramps up too quickly and what is the best case scenario. >> guest: inflation and my bread and butter. i watch it like some people watch the stock market. inflation -- the picture and bunine in the united states. the fed is happy to see inflation isn't falling below 2% and they don't want to see it falling because that usually means the economy is depressed and wages and consumption are falling as well. so it sounds good but it isn't grit so the feds try to protect. there is no sign inflation is about to take off.

there is no sign that wages are growing. we want to see more growth than we have recently. that is part of the stagnation and people worried about their salary and jobs. i remember speaking to an economist at the american economic conference in 2010. i remember asking him how could this not be inflation? i grew up in brazil and you hear $3 trillion balance sheet. and i remember this economist said we should be so lucky to get inflation. at the time i wasn't sure but 2 and a half years later and we have not been lucky fto get inflation that is reconsistent with job growth.

so it is very benine. >> host: what does thes mean as far as an economic picture? >> guest: the deficit projection is dependent on growth because that turns into jobs. as the outlook for growth improves the budget picture has leveled off from what we thought was catastrophic trajectory. now that spending that went along with kind of patching up the worst of the great recession has receded you really -- the budget picture is starting to

look more safe. >> caller: mason lives in dayton, ohio. democrats line. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. i have a comment and then a question for you. when we look at the economy jove to agree it is based on multiple factors. you cannot blime the status of the -- blame -- economy on just the president of the united states. it falls on the feet of the gop which is controlled -- i am sorry, congress which is controlled by the gop. they have been self-proclaimed destructionist and told right ring folks they would stop anything obama has. with a dysfunctional congress we

cannot get the economy better. and i would say despite the congress issues he has accomplished amazing thingsism he has turned the economy around. the market has seen record highs and record profits in marks right now. businesses have made record profits under obama. i am talking four times what they have in the past. and we have seen numbers that have been increased multiple year over year and that is not happened since clinton. so how can you sit there and blame president obama sfr what is going on and say the market is horrible when all of these factors point the other direction. it doesn't make sound economic sense and i would like you to explain why you ignore the market numbers. >> guest: i don't ignore the

market numbers. i am not saying the economy is in bad shape. if you talk about the market we hit a stock market almost every day lately. it is a highly political judgment as to who you blame economic growth on or lack thereof. you can give the president credit for recover that has been sustained. it is one of the longest recoveries we have had. it started in 2009 with a fiscal cliff and sequestration we sat at the table discussing last year. the economy has managed to grow. the president has gotten help from fed policy and low interest. anybody can have a different model as to how big a role each

factor plays. but the fact is the economy is doing okay. but it isn't doing fantastic. >> host: is there a specific effort by the whitehouse you can point to that would lead to the current economics improving? >> guest: the president should get credit for attempting. and the fed was an ally. they had a republican chairman appointed by bush and here he is making the democratic case and the republicans said look at the debt and the deficit and he would say the deficit might be a problem in the long term butt in the short term don't cut spending too quickly because you will ruin the economy i'm trying to help out.

so as a republican, he gets the credit for the push back. if the democrats are that dissatisfied where is the political rallying cry and the activism and the effort to win the senate in the midterm. >> host: joe in north carolina. independent line. >> caller: i was wondering. i listen to you and you said we have added ten million new jobs. put when the crisis hit you lost 12 million so you are still 2 million behind. as far as the government propping up the economy, a false economy is still a false economy. if you take the propping up away what do you have at the end of it? you still have what you should have to try to work your way out of it. >> host: do you mean propping up

by what? >> caller: where they keep giving money out. your dollar years ago was worth a dollar and now it is worth 50 cents. >> guest: the dollar is staying stable. there is nothing wrong -- the philosophy of no pain no pain doesn't work with economics. if we can make the situation better were peopleism if we cannot allow the bottom to fall out at the depth of a recession most economist believe that is a good thing to do. you don't want government involved in all areas but some support whether it is fiscal or monetary stimulus is important. >> host: didn't obama increase

the debt is asked by a guest on twitter. >> guest: initially he did because it was a recession and he had more people on unemployment benefits so government spending on social programs increased automatically during a recession. but the deficit picture has been improving as i said earlier. >> host: arthur is up next. >> caller: okay. i see everyone is blaming president obama for the situation of the economy and this happened long before obama. this is what he inherited and when he decided that he would

bail the banks out and the american auto companies out everybody wondered why is he doing this and saving these different companies. that was the blame. but after he did that then the companies got better and our economy got better. >> guest: it is true the bank bailouts were very controversial but did step stabilize the economy. whether they were done in the right way is a dispute on whether we should have kept the banks that were the cause of the crisis. so they are controversial. there is a case to be made in the case of bank and the auto

sector that you could not let them go at a time of fertility so the caller is correct. >> host: louis from maryland. >> caller: i want to talk about how the system is rigged. i want to talk about 30-year mortgages specifically. from what i can understand on the faa website when it started in 1934 you came to the table with 50 percent and the bank loaned you 50 percent payable back in 3-5 years which is a great deal. now we are stuck in a grind of a 30-year mortgage. where you are paying 7/10ths of your mortgage which is all escrow taxes and insurances and interest. and you actually don't get your

principle paid down. after 30 years that is a heavy ground. but when you attempt to pay your mortgage down you discover that you know what your hazard insurance is now ten years or forever. if you bought a house between 2001-2009 and it is for ever. i bought a house in 2008 and it was understood it was five years pay this fha mortgage insurance. i attempted to see if this could be taken away because five years passed. i discovered in 2010 congress decided we should be paying for ten years or until we reach 78% of the lowest borrowing cost to the fha. which means if you paid $30,000

down on a house whatever you borr borrowed you go from there to 70% of the house. >> guest: i don't know it the details of the legislation. he is concerned that a 30 year mortgage leaves you with a lot of interest and the longer the loan maturity the longer you will pay. you can still get a 3-5 mortgage if you have enough to get 50 percent down. people think it is beneficial to put less down so you can buy the house and build equitly. >> host: would you the industry recovered? >> guest: mortgage rates are

down and people don't expect the recent and they continue to expect to moderate and that is the part of the fed itself. it isn't not quite on its feet yet. >> host: would you say it is stable in the building or buying or overall of houses? >> guest: construction and lending showed a big jump so you are getting mixed signals depending on home or existing sales. but the general trend is there was a severe and the house drop was more severe than it was in the great depression. that is one of the areas we did worse in. but after a few years of recovery, housing bounced back and now it is kind of

stabilizing and flat lining. >> host: neal from the florida is joining us on the democrat line. are you there? >> caller: yes, i am. i was just wondering everyone predicts on wall street and goes by that for saying the economy is good or bad. it changed toward the labor man so big corporations are going overseas and hiring cheap labor and making it harder for us. and i was wondering if you take that into account when you do your predictions? >> guest: absolutely. i like to say there is built in optimism from wall street forecasters. the economist are even salesman.

we have interest in rising asset and stock prices so you have to take the forecasts with a grain of salt. ... i love coming on c-span because i get to contrast the rose innes of the wall street analyst that i speak with to them much more concerned and worried tone that a lot of americans are feeling. i went to the fed's conference at jackson hole over the weekend bankersot of powerful gather, and a small group of activists -- they actually got to talk to janet yellen and other fed officials about jobs and interest rates, and one thing adc resident told me, -- a d.c. resident told me, it was a compelling and sad story about home and -- unemployment and a waltz -- helessns. here to talk about the economy for the next couple of minutes. from ohio richard up next

independence line. >> caller: how are you doing this morning? i have a comment to make. in november of 2008 apparently the united states according to republicans was just a vast utopia. everything was fine. as soon as barack obama was elected president all of a sudden the united states turned into one giant crap hole i guess you could call it. and here in ohio where i live, that is exactly what the economy has turned into. ever since mitch mcconnell came up with those rules we are going to make sure after one term. the business people in this part of the country have taken these words to heart and they turned they've turned on northwest ohio into a giant for lack of a better word a crap hole. ever since then factories have

been closing, people have been laid off and the ones that haven't closed now we've got the republicans saying no extensions on unemployment. there is plenty of jobs out there. >> guest: the polarization in this country is hard to think of what it would be like to rule the country as a whole under such divisiveness. you have the republican independent democratic lines and it's certainly true that the president came into this vision and promise of trying to unite and it hasn't happened so it is discouraging and hard to bring together views that are so seemingly opposed that i'm not really sure what the solution is other than people just sitting down.

>> host: doctor doug elmendorf was the newsmakers program in which folks can see on sunday on c-span he did talk about wages in the current economy. >> wages can catch up slowly. this particular business cycle has been so deep into the recovery so prolonged that whether the traditional pattern apply it isn't so clear to the analysts and making projections but we tend to recover only when firms find that they are trying to hire more workers and they haven't really come to that point yet. >> host: the story on wages in the united states especially with what mr. elmendorf said. >> guest: we haven't gotten to that point and that's why the fed thinks that they can leave interest rates at zero for another year or so because what they call economics lack would

be productive capacity meaning idle workers but still want to work can find a job and so that gap between the current 6.2% unemployment rate and then maybe 5.2 to 5.3 would be considered normal and healthy. but until you start tightening the gap wages won't pick up because it will continue to be the on employers market. >> guest: the median wages for the average american's have been pretty much for the better part of the last three decades and that is a major problem for the economy. >> host: federal reserve and the economy for "the wall street

journal" thanks for your time. >> when the americans come out west they want the black vote and the crow, they want to turn them into christian farmers and sitting bull isn't about to bend over and scratch and claw at the ground with a whole to try to

make a living. and crazy horse isn't going to surrender his pony and look it up to a plow. they are hunters and lawyers and that is their vision. in the mid-1870s, 1873 there is an economic crisis. the stock market crashes, the banking system rolls over the panic of 1873 people are losing their jobs into their life savings. there is 20% unemployment. does that ring a bell? ulysses s. grant as the president of the united states and has to live up the economy or he's not going to get reelected. he needs an economic stimulus package. and george custer is going to provide it. gold in the black hills. the summer of 74 he leads an expedition into the black hills western south dakota. the rumors that persisted for years but now it is a reality.

there's gold in the black hills. newspaper reports say all you have to do is walk through the grass and pick up the gifts. on jupiter's to the hills overnight deadwood three or 4,000 people real quick. every one of them is an illegal alien because the black hills belong guaranteed by the treaty of 1868 if i can't promise no white people about in the black hills. while shot in the back of the head playing cards in the number ten saloon he's an illegal alien and so is his friend. literal translation hills are black with timber. when president grant sees an opportunity he wants to get up and create jobs, follow money in the treasury said he's going to try to buy the black hills

$7 million that is a lot of money. no, not for sale. now their bones lie beneath and not for sale. it is a short portion of tonight's american history to her of native american sites. you can see the entire program starting at eight eastern on c-span.

>> at a roundtable discussion on the campaign polling industry. he spoke with the democratic and republican pollster this morning on washington journal. this is just under an hour 67 days until campaign 2004 people go to the polls and we've been taking a look at elements and for the segment today we are going to learn about the science and the work of the polling. have you asked questions of them to learn about it is done sherbet of the group purple strategy, political and corporate culture that's his job but if you think for joining us.

>> let me start with this there was a recent piece that takes a look at your industry and what it does. here is a little bit of what it set to start the conversation. but pollsters as one of those jobs like a football lineman that normally people go from one of the specialized professionals messes up. what do you think about that? >> guest: i think that is true. it's becoming a little bit high profile these days especially as 538 huffingtonpost pollster. we really solve this in the era cantor race a few months ago. >> host: what would you add to that? >> guest: i agree and i hope that there is more transparency and accountability but that it goes industrywide. i think that there is greater scrutiny on the so-called partisan pollsters that work for mainly republican candidate and

democratic candidates and frankly there is not enough of the similar scrutiny and transparency with many of these media polls. that was applied )-right-paren right left and center in the mainstream media. sometimes there's these little known colleges and universities that have a poll talking about the iowa caucuses, a thousand miles away 2,000 years before the caucuses and people just trust the polls sight unseen because they are not done by the partisan pollsters. the free market would take any of us out if we were not good at our craft that there is very little accountability and the networks got the polling wrong in the congressional cycles from 2002 and 2004 recalling recalling them wrong and are early exit polls and they still invest money in their own polling and the lack of accountability is because people look at that as news sources. all of these news sources and

that having a horse in the race. the network, the major papers will endorse one of the major candidates. the networks, the cable station certainly show a preference for one party or another in some of their coverage. so i'm for transparency and accountability that industrywide. >> host: also for the consumer then because we have seen those overtime. we talk about them on this program all the time. how could the consumer approach and what should they wait looking at the poll saying i should trust them or not. >> guest: is buyer beware and it's especially true in the products you don't pay money for in this case it is public polling. use the more voters are taking a look at the polls and more newspapers are reporting on it because as they cut their news it is a lot easier to report on the polls as the campaign reporting. there are a few things they usually look into. number one is the pollsters themselves. it's hard to know what kind of a track record they have, but as you start to learn a profession

and start to follow these things come you get a sense of this is good and this is not good. but second and more important, you take a thing like the sample slides into the methodology, the approach they take. and then to be honest you can't trust any single poll. that is the nature of the beast if you will. to be able to look at the multiple polls and sit through the different polls is the smartest thing to do. >> host: if you want to ask the guest or talk about pollster what would you advise people who consume the polls and what are you looking for? >> guest: i came today because i am a huge fan of allowing the public to learn more about polling so that we are all better consumers of the poll. and to the point you just saw people often selecting the polls that agree with their point of view already and touting those

polls and then if there is a poll poll that doesn't agree with their point of view or should the candidate down they are wrong and a problem. there is way too much waiting. waiting much waiting as i see it in the science of polling. i was talking to one of the vendors and the principle of the call center. why is waiting a problem. it's very difficult to reach certain people in the population, people of color, very difficult to reach into the higher income households that want to talk to pollsters and so if you are only getting what to say you get 12 people in that segment and then you are waiting at the 62 to be represented as terrible. i think it is criminal in the

polling and i've actually urge your viewers to start asking not just about the methodology, cell phones have telephones, online verbal calling but also how much has the pollster weighted data because it is a cheap and easy way of mass-producing polls and quicktime. and i think it's i assume some of these particularly on the republican side are erroneous. >> host: 285380 for democrats, too 825-85-3882 for independence. he talked about waiting but maybe the explanation of what leading is. >> guest: when you do the poll you want to ultimately in the perfect world go out of their and get a sample of the population obviously not the whole population, that is too expensive but it is a small and statistically valid plan and your effort is to get it to be

as representative as possible. so if you know know the electorate is going to be 18% latino, 52% women, 54% women and down the line and you want that sample to look like that in the end even in your best efforts those will come in right so one thing that you can do is slightly wait up slightly represented and those that are underrepresented. a metaphor would be it's almost like putting the siding on a house. at the end of the time you've done all of your work, but you need a final finish. and the question is whether you are using cedar or aluminum siding to cover up your mistakes while i disagree with her in terms of never waiting i think that you have to use it -- only with limited -- >> host: >> guest: it is incredibly important and i think we have an

agreement. we wait within the margin of error. in other words if it is plus or minus 3.1% so if you do a nationwide poll of 1,000 voters the margin of error is plus or minus 3.1% at 95% what does that mean? it means basically 19 out of 20 cases have you asked the same questionnaire the likely voters nationwide you would get the same results, 3.1 in either direction in the cases. number two if you have the 3% margin error you will wait a category one way or another. we don't like to wait by party id because people are telling you whether they are republican, democrat or independent these days. so, it's not never waiting. it's avoiding over waiting. and i think that some of these firms that are just way too busy

that have way too many clients are forced to mass produce the polls and then waits them to a degree that is way outside of what has been explained. kody you want to add anything to that? >> guest: she has has a right i will add one thing we are throwing out terms like sampling. and i think we might want to explain quickly what that means. when you do the polling its right about the statistics it is a way to get a look at the electorate in the case of the voters and the case of the consumers we do a lot of work on the consumer how can you tell the population opinion is if you only talk to the 300 million it's a margin of error and 19 out of 20 times depending on the constants that you use, but i use a metaphor when you are trying to figure out what is wrong with you, they take a sample of your blood.

they don't take all of your blood. and i think that we are all pretty confident with the way things work when we go to the hospital. polling is not as scientific as it is with medicine, but i think that is a way for people to get their head around the idea that we take a sample of the population and use that to extrapolate for the whole population thinks. >> host: would start with jerry joining on the democrats line. go ahead. >> caller: i noticed that you never mentioned the fact that when we try to decide whether a poll is accurate or not pays for it lacks don't you be leave the most delete the most important thing for us to look at as consumers is who is paying for this? because it seems to me just my observation that nine out of ten

times that of the republican poll is going to come out very much in favor of republicans. or if the democrats do a poll it's the same thing. and i would like to make a comment. i've noticed about a lot of political stuff coming out is quoted as being this or that. would you make a comment on his remarkable record particularly in the last election. >> host: >> guest: i think the methodology, the science part of the polling is the most important thing because it is often behind the heading screen and you don't have access to it. and again i think that if we can accomplish anything today it is the sort of peel back the scream a little bit for consumers in the polls. it is important to know who paid

for it, guess, but i can tell you and i hope that doug will agree that in a free market competitive system, it is a poster. it's going to constantly introduce results that are only favorable to his o her clients and it is impossible to always have a republican favorable for democratic favorable poll. i do see them sometimes and i think that more and more partisan polls that show results favorable to the clients if they are outlier polls meaning they just seem out of whack with much of the other polling they stand out as such and it does look like somebody has a conclusion in search of edence. the conclusion is they want this republican this republican to win or this over this democrats select go find the evidence. a lot of them have been called on that in the last couple of cycles and i will tell you personally we have had clients that don't like the results when they get upset i may post about a plastic surgeon. i can't guarantee what your nose

will look like after the surgery. i only perform the surgery and you live with the results. let me say one last thing on that. but polls should be looked at for the greatest value is not to tell you whether you were going to win but how to do it. it's the strategic insight that you gather. wear your vulnerabilities, where is the viability, where is the opportunity and the obstacles? and so most of the work that we do well never see the light of day because people are hiring us for private proprietary strategic information. i would argue that you should pay very close attention when media outlets do seem to have a horse in the race. and i think that you saw that in 2012. there were too many people that thought they knew that mitt romney was going to win all 142 votes i say sarcastically and he won one of the nine swing states and most of that was because there was a conclusion in search of evidence. we think that he's going to win.

we don't think that obama will be reelected. so we are just going to find the polls that show that. i think he's brilliant and has a tremendous amount to contradict the political polling is but also the sports polling was. i think what he shows is that there are variables other than the public impression or in some cases the opinion that go into the dynamic. i think the important thing that he shows is you cannot just presume the trends from before. tell what they consume and how they might vote and bought presume that we are static and to know that we are more dynamic thinkers and doers i think sometimes the data i suggest. >> guest: i think it is a value into people like him have brought including the development of the upshot in "the new york times" and other

similar efforts are the power of analytics which is not just putting in the data but everything else you know about the region and what the electorate looks like, but the trends have been and what other variables you can put in and this is true for us in the work that we do for corporations because for the corporate polling which is something you don't see as much about but have a little bit of the political angle as well they have a long-term horizon and a lot more variables at play than just who is going to vote for what. and so they have a daily grind of consumer work that they are doing as well as dealing with critics and the polling helps put together a strategy that gets you for an atv. i would also say that in terms of the partisan polls, here's what i honestly think. i did it for a number of years but now we get some bipartisan and did some bipartisan and nonpartisan working editions in the corporate work. i think for the most part they

do a perfect job for their clients and outlier. the problem for you and other viewers out there is they are released publicly and tend to see see them stop domestic. the issue isn't that the artisan posters only get good results. it's that the only release the results that are good for their clients. >> caller: it's good to talk to you. i want to thank c-span. it's been a while since i've been out of college and i used to be a good public talk or that it takes a while to get back on the program. i had a question on the last election the presidential election and how much the polls influenced the election it seems to me that the democrats took a lot of the electoral votes. it seems like the republicans

were getting a conservative vote but they didn't seem to pick that up or have the knowledge if the polls haven't been up to speed. i just had how much influence the polls play. >> guest: there are polls when it can drive a race. this is true in the primary elections. they would use them not publicly that may be be too released publicly and to clear the field that they can establish lesser opponent or viability. the polling actually can affect the outcome of the race and more important if you you should feel that it doesn't happen in the presidential race or a often but it certainly happens in the congressional races in gubernatorial, what have you. i would say i'm not convinced that the polls affect the outcome in the presidential election because there are so

many resources that play and so many different actors but i don't think that any single poll would do that much to affect the outcome just because the information sources. this is something we have heard already today but i do think republicans and some of the best pollsters on the republican side lost their way at the end of the 2012 race. and i think that it is essential for the pollsters on all sides when they are dealing in private to be completely honest about the prospects and from what i heard again, we heard the word from both sides when we released the poll. what i heard is that republicans were fully confident they were going to win. and i heard them say things like obama is coming out of virginia three weeks before the race and when i heard that it made me think there are people on that site that have frankly awesome their way and have bought into the groupthink. there are times democrats haven't done as well and

republicans very well. i think the 2012 is an example where one side really did their candidates wrong. >> host: we will hear from kelly in a second. (202)585-3001, 5880 for republicans, 585-3882 for independence. go ahead. >> guest: i will say this. i was the only republican pollster that republican president obama and i certainly did whatever i was asked to help the romney campaign. but just because it is what we saw. and i think that doug raises an important point and people should just raise it in 2012 especially now that the 2016 candidates are gearing up for next time. what happened in the campaign in 2012 with respect to the polling was a presumption who the electorate was going to be on the swing states. the idea that african-americans

were not african americans were not going to turn out at the same level in 2012 to reelect president obama as they did elect senator obama to the presidency. while the economy is integrated into the president has been reelected and reelected in a president so poor and the unemployment rate so high that it completely misses the nonpublic opinion dynamics which is that african americans in ohio were of course going to come out and support president obama a second time. maybe in connection to how they solve a economy was good introduction to any number of different factors, so might women and young people and independence groups he was able to rely upon in the first election of 2008 the pollsters shouldn't presume what it is americans know about certain issues. so very quickly, i say that a

list user is an election user because if you're only using the lists of past voters, then you are not allowing for the new voters. you are not allowing for the fact that maybe people have been a reliable voter are mad at the president now and the democrats they will stay home or really upset the performance of the republicans. so they will stay home and reliable voter is no longer reliable because he were she is making a statement. also also, not to presume that of the electorate knows the specifics of an issue that may be new to all of us, so when the polls say do you support or oppose campaign finance reform going back into iraq to try to fight isis. state the facts given the information and then ask for their opinion. i think -- i'm not sure that all of this is being cured by the way going into 2014 and 2016. i think these assessments don't take into account all the different ways voters look at

issues and individuals and images and ideas and really the power of incumbency when you are in the white house is completely missed in 2012 and the republican pollsters. the factor is being very resonant to many americans. they will give you another four year extension on the job unless they are given a reason not to. >> host: bill on the democrats line, go ahead. >> caller: the question that i was going to ask on the red flags in the poll numbers with respect to the romney campaign i'm going to use that last list that is a brilliant statement. since you answered a question about red flags and polling to stand up and say we are going the wrong way how does it come together as you are watching the polling how does it come together when do you start saying we had a recent election and i'm a democrat and it swept

everybody with surprises. how's it is come together? >> guest: i'm sure doug has views on this as well. i think that 2006 should be called for democrats, 2010 republicans and 2014 doesn't look like 2010 anyway. the difference is as follows. if you can't nationalize elections particularly after the congressional level, so every person running for congress or the senate this year into 2010 and 1994, 2006 has to earn their own campaign, so everybody is really focused on some of the same issues. the government is too intrusive, expensive. obamacare is really worried about it or in 2006 the democrats were very much able just two years after he got re-

elected as a national security president they were able to say the issue is not national security and terrorism it is iraq and afghanistan and how long we will stay there so if you are able to galvanize an issue that way and often you can build a wave so that's what happened in knoxville or knox county you can build it when it is anti-incumbent and that people are the people are not performing. they lost touch. they are not competent. we aren't going to send a message we are going to send them packing. i don't see one in 2014 because all of these senate races that have honest polling really show everyone pretty much stuck at 44, 4546% on a good day so what issue in each of the races is going to push somebody republican or democrat to the 50% mark? i think something like immigration more than health care because everybody already knows what obamacare is doing.

when you can nationalize the issue. >> guest: there are three factors you need for there to be a way to look at the last 20 to 25 years. the first is that there needs to be a midterm election. the second is that the party in power, the president's party needs to have serious challenges and the opinion is favorable and i think that we see at least one to two of those factors in play. the third factor is the more structural factor and bad the bad in the house but there are real opportunities. democrats from the southern district that had been devoted republican right for taking over you have the opposite which is the folks in the swing districts

that have gone to republicans that will write the takeover by the democrats in the wake of if you will george w. bush. finally on the senate side you have some opportunities and a lot of democrats up for election and if there is anyway to build them on the senate side on the house side, you don't have that. you have pretty much the republicans maximizing what they can get if you look at the undermining dynamics of the individual seats they can certainly gain a handful but there isn't that much more territory to get so i don't think that you will see the wave on the house side and in terms of kelly and is correct that they are closed but i think that as you watch things over the next couple of months, that is when you will get an indication. you will not see another 40, 50, 60 advance on the republican side. it just isn't possible. >> host: george from kentucky on the republican line. go ahead.

>> caller: thank you for taking my call. i've been here in kentucky for 16 years. just this morning i saw on the news that the governor in pennsylvania is losing by 25 points against a democrat contender. they are going to extend medicare now and i was wondering if that woman proved the popularity in pennsylvania but i'm going to keep my eye on the poll to see if i can find anything. also the polling says that he

favored the democrats and 37% of may favorite republicans and the women voting. >> guest: first of all you're in kentucky. you have a great race to watch )-right-paren. i would just add rather than focusing specifically on that if you look at the whole field there is always a race or two on either side where it looks like it's owing to be a very competitive race early on and it just becomes clear that it's probably not as competitive. i think it indicates in pennsylvania based on the polling and the trends and what you look like it doesn't look like a competitive race. on the other side, if you take a look at ohio and in the senate, you know, the democrats fitzgerald who seemed to be a strong candidate early on has had a lot of personal trouble which makes his race with much more problematic and so, often you figure an incumbent like the

governor in pennsylvania should be strong and you think that in ohio the swing states they should be strong but when you look at the individual candidates and both come out and you realize it is a race that isn't going to be that competitive. >> host: go ahead. >> caller: he is probably one of the vulnerable incumbent governors and two-point bill the governor turned up the expansion of medicaid as of yesterday hoping to win votes and when you do something so close to the election that you are either reluctant to do before hand voters do get a little bit skeptical if not cynical because they believe you're trying to get votes and in this case probably female votes. i also think that the governor has lost his advantage to show contrast with the democrats. and so he may actually press republican turnout by doing this. but he would just need to explain why he's decided to change his mind and expand

medicaid under what the obama administration is expecting for the governors that have agreed to expand medicaid and are more than a few republicans that have. let me just make this point though. the candidates and campaigns matter the most. i can't say that enough. polls were no polls you need quality quality candidates that connect with voters and who don't have the foot and mouth disease. but more importantly not just saying something controversial that the ability to say something compelling to the voters. and i think he mentioned ohio. the governor's race and the strong is going away with it. john kasich, and scott walker ahmadi were all elected in 2010 which was a great republican year and i think that they are in very different positions heading into the election but just because of the different demographics but because the campaigns matter, the competent governors matter and that candidate absolutely matter. there is nothing that matters

more. as important as people think they are the candidates and campaign really matter. >> host: james in new jersey thanks for holding on. independent line. go ahead. >> caller: i have a question about governor christie hugging the president obama after the hurricane. i was wondering if the polling showed that that had any impact. i have another question real quick i just spent a week in britain and there's a lot of talk about the scottish independence and i was wondering if your guest could comment on the accuracy of the polling on the question of the scottish independence. thanks. >> host: do you want to take one of those clicks >> guest: i will leave that to those who know more about it. i would say this, that for governor christie i. think it is clear that at that moment he was doing what was needed for his state.

what effect did it have on the polling the question is for what? it was far ahead of any race he had to worry about. and it was an important moment for new jersey. that is a case where the politician was doing what was expected of them which is to do what they could come up to do what was best for the people of their state. will that affect him in a presidential campaign this time around? frankly there's a lot of other issues governor christie phases that will affect him that are more significant than hugging president obama but i think it is helping his own people into doing the job that he was elected to do. he was both smart and i think it shows the truth which was that governor christie really wanted the federal government health and president obama was delivering it. it's a case where although there wasn't the talk of it more broadly, he was just the two elected officials doing their job. >> host: would you find then the pollsters asking the type that type of question say after

that incident occurred what your opinion change because the president asked >> guest: the only way you would ask that is how it affected in 2014. hurricanes and the happened so close to the election day and how does it look when the commander in chief and leader of the nation and the president himself goes to new jersey to help hurricane victims and show up and be present? the answer is usually it helps very much. and i think part of what james from new jersey was asking is how did that affect mitt romney? because a lot of people blamed governor christie for hugging the president. ring of time and i think i was incredibly unfair. i don't think the governor of new jersey getting the president of the united states into new jersey to help after the hurricane somehow is why tommy lost eight of the nine swing states that were nowhere near new jersey. and so i think that he's

questioned also into that. but there is no question that we as americans expect our president and governors that we expect the presidents, republican or democrat to be present and on the ground when the tragedy such as that strikes. i can't imagine anybody with any type of common sense would accuse president obama of being craven for the votes by going to new jersey to help the victims a couple days before the hurricane. i think that it helps the president here and they are a little bit. probably people who were on the fence about leaning towards the defense about it so what they thought to be some type of leadership that kind of leadership they don't see right now frankly if you look at all the polls. but i thought that governor christie was unfairly blamed for the campaign by the president losing, excuse me the president gaining some of those. >> host: part of the series you're watching how we look at the signs of the polling with the guests you heard the polls joining us from philadelphia and god are sure the political and

corporate pollster for the strategies. columbia missouri hello. >> caller: i'm not a big one for polling but i think what we really need for the elections are the tv voting stations like what we have at c-span. the voting station that we can listen and learn more about the candidates for federal, state and local, one station for all. so you can make intelligent decisions about the candidates and all run by volunteers. just like c-span maybe even a little better so we can get the quality candidates. i would like to hear your opinions on that. >> host: when you are pulling somebody how they are informed about the candidate or issue does that play into her you talk to and what information you get from that person?

>> guest: they have a broad range of people into the most intense partisan along with folks that don't often vote. there are times people will come into the polls that have never voted before and who may not know that much about the candidate. so from the polling perspective i think it's important to know what people know and understand what people don't know. and most important is to use the polling come and use the public opinion research to develop a strategy that gets to 51% by combining those who know know the most and those who are the most intense and/or your support and turning them out. combined with those who may not know that much to give them the kind of information you need to help frame the questions they are asking when they go to the polls so that they answer the question and the answer to the question will be your candidate. >> host: how do you choose the sample when you are polling people on the political issues? >> guest: i think what we try

to do is get a sample of likely voters based on a number of the number of the criteria and in some cases we do despite the ethics and that the idea is to get what we believe to be representative samples using a combination of the past data but leaving a lot of room for flexibility as we actually gather the data. one thing i want to note on the caller said i actually think that there is a lot of information out there. there is a love of nonpartisan information and in fact this is the time there is more information than ever about the candidates. one problem i think that he pointed to that is right is it is hard to know who is providing the most accurate information. there was a time it was just a newspaper would give the voting insert and presumably you've trusted one or two of your local newspapers and you would open it up and take a look at the recommendations and look at the information, but now if you

search online for the election information you are just as likely to get a sponsored party site as you are to get a source of information. so that is a lot of information out there that just isn't such a great filters. >> host: how do you choose the samples for the polls? >> guest: when i said list the users or losers i meant if you only rely upon the list. it sounds like what we do in my company is very similar and i hope it's really similar to what most of the pollsters do involved in the politics because you can start with a list and by the way some states have much better and much more accurate lists than others is just a matter of the data centers or independent list brokers if you will, folks who do this as a business and whose voting and who's not so not every state is created equally and so not every list is created equal but we begin with a list we look at the floor not the ceiling.

then we apply a number of screening questions where we make you the respondent comfortable to tell us maybe you won't vote. maybe we do it in such a way people will say definitely good, probably don't, definitely not, not sure yet and one big flaw in the polling i've seen in 2012 and in the republican side is that if somebody is telling you nine months before an election i'm not sure, they are being honest. they are not sure what they are going to do in nine months. take that as an insight. but instead instead of a lot of the republican pollsters do think and terminate. you probably won't vote? hang up the phone. the democrats keep that personal line for half an hour and all of a sudden they are converting them into a burger or small dollar donor and they are on facebook doing politics now. so, i think that's not presuming that somebody who spends nine months on an election may not vote or they are not sure by taking them out automatically keep going to the screening questions.

find out what they think about politics on a scale of one to ten how interested they are on the issues and then get them comfortable. i may not vote because i don't seem to have the time or i'm busy with work, family or schools. i'm not much interested in the candidates were the issues this year. i may not vote because i don't think my vote counts anyway. so, give people a comfortable out so they can point at the system rather than at themselves. and you get much more information. i will give you a quick example. we were involved in the runoff election in the original primary and he eventually won. but in the last poll that we did for him, there were about 14 questions. five demographics, five screening customs and four substantive questions. most candidates won't pay for that because they will say you were only asking for questions? is because if we didn't ask the high of screening questions about the runoff in the middle of july where people might be

doing all these things and think they already voted for that reason the once before in the original primary, then we are not getting the right people on the phone. you just can't take the list from insert the names and start doing the poll. you have to respect people enough and the dynamism is on each of us to ask them what they intended to do in this election cycle. >> host: link and delaware bob is up next. >> caller: i like c-span. very good show. she answered my question about the following. that's what i was calling about. and so she answered the question. thank you very much. >> host: tallahassee florida. go ahead. >> caller: yes c-span i am delighted to see that you have both sides of the perspective this morning. the sophisticated dynamic that now comes into play with all of the different mediums that give

information on the polling and policies and different perspectives we do have nonpartisan like the 2012 project on the record we have to close the gap project that also creates a dynamic different medium of how it is you can discern information as it relates to the candidates, policies and party politics. i simply here in the local elections with the dc on monday night to did the polling and phone bank calling for three of our local candidates. about 75 on the list and i had a response of about 35 out of the 75. and i was amazed at how it is that as i shared how there is a sophisticated electorate now that it seems we are still somehow talking about an older dynamic of the members and the data mining that we are not

being given as a general public. for florida particularly. we have an incumbent governor and then we have now the primary candidate who was a former republican governor and now the democratic and they kind of marvel florida being third in the nation with the dynamic of demographics and the particulars where we as a stay to talk about ohio, i hear about ohio, pennsylvania. we hear about kentucky but not about florida. >> host: can i ask you a follow-up question? >> guest: >> caller: is here with sutherland and those are going to be two dynamic races -- >> host: >> guest: i think she co i think she brings up an important point which is that there are

lots of things that go into the race beyond the polling. there's phone there is phone banking, outreach to the voters, there's getting people to share on facebook and social media the type of analytics that help you bring that forward and i think unfortunately what ends up happening is that instead of watching the game on the field to use a sports metaphor everyone is looking at the scoreboard and the issue with this scoreboard is no one can agree with what the score is. imagine if you've got football fans, college football fans from ohio and michigan state imagine if they were playing in a stadium and there were four different scoreboard and people were arguing about whether ohio state was winning on michigan was winning that's where we've gotten too and i think it's important that we look not just at the score but also at what's going on in the field, what people are doing, what resources people are bringing to bear on mobilizing voters, what analytics they have in play. those are the parts you need to look at understand especially

when it is a close race. anyone should grab shirley and get her to volunteer or work for the campaign. she laid out what is happening all around the country which is that voters, yes they are sometimes skeptical but they are really much more smart and sophisticated than i think a lot of folks in the political class give them credit for. they are paying attention and some of them decided not to vote at all. they become what i call conscientious objectors. they've been reliable voters that they are upset with president obama and his lack of leadership or they are upset with the republicans for whatever reason. sometimes they think they are acting too much like democrats so they stay home to send them a message but what she's tapping into his incredibly important and it goes to the heart of polling and other pieces of the industry that you can cover this week on c-span so you have to credit the voter, the individual voter for being much more savvy

and sophisticated. that doesn't mean the economic policy and the social security reform. we understand that. but it does mean that they are available themselves of all the multitude of information, the sources of information. and they are applying that to each race individually. now i will just tell you quickly on florida only a fool would ignore florida and not see them in the nuances of the political florida. after florida decided that the presidential elections by the votes in 2000 and has been a bellwether state in many different ways since then, and i think florida, the old saying that the more north you are you are really in the deep south and the more south you are you are in the north because you get so many folks that lived in the northeast but no state income tax mp for the climate. i think florida is a place where the smartest political strategists make sure they understand that the dynamics of florida and you're right you

have some congressional races this year and i think everybody's watching with popcorn and peanuts because governor scott has been down in the polls. do people look at him as as a turn, he turned, do they crave his leadership? it will be fascinating and believe me we are all watching. >> host: we are running short on time so i want to get your response on twitter. this is jim who asked about how you are dealing with much of america cutting the cord and how it affects what you gain your information. >> guest: i will tackle would surely have to say on the complaints of polling and political coverage but i've never heard that there's not enough coverage in florida. i will say that that is a serious issue. the idea of cell phones makes it extremely difficult to have high-quality polls. and i think that what you that's

what you need to understand is that there was a glorious time which is when everybody answered their land line and it got cheap and that was the late '80s through the late '90s than it probably into the mid-2000's. it has gotten harder and it is the sensual to get a proper sample as we discussed earlier of the voters that you need to reach across the medium. in some cases now online as well because there are not the same availability of the respondents by their land line as there used to be. and even when you factor in the telephone itself voice interaction talking to people is going by the wayside for younger voters and i think it is on its way towards making the polling extremely difficult. >> host: do you see the same shifts as well? >> guest: no question. when i started in 1988, a lot of

the pollsters you can buy a ten, 12 numbers and now sometimes you have to buy a close to 40 or 45 because people don't have land lines you have to call the cell phones or they have their phone automatically dedicated to voice mail, they don't pick up, they screen the calls. but i do tell people if you want to participate in democracy, don't say i am not going to talk to the pollsters i don't have any time and then complain about the leadership because i do think there's tremendous benefit to the polls if it is properly done scientifically sound. they still are a major touchstone to what a representative sample of americans or floridians or folks in a certain county think and county think and what they feel, and i assure you that elected officials most of our work is nonpolitical but elected officials and candidates are not looking at the polls to say am i going to win, can i when? they are looking at if to get some information and advice from their constituents, their consumers and voters just like

american consumers. they want to hear from you. your voice matters to them. the fact is if you want to participate in democracy, and so the poll, take 10 minutes because someone is listening to your opinion and it matters. host: democratic line, go ahead. caller: i would like to know why the republicans claim that obama is not a very good leader. i would like to know why they would back a republican party that sabotages everything for of benefit of all mayor america, but they claim he was the problem. host: >> host: we have been talking about specific races but what

about polls that ask about the president's creditability, foreign policy or economy? are those conducted in the same manner as horse race polls so to speak? >> guest: right. if you look at the incentives of the poll results everyone looks at the national polls but individual members of congress and candidates look at the polls of their electorate. if you have a republican elector electorate you will not worry if the president's numbers are down. president obama is in the

mid-40s on approval which isn't great but not a disaster. the problem is when you look at it is tough for a consumer of polling to look at the national polls and understand what incentives are leading democrats and republicans to acting the way they are. >> host: ms. conway? >> guest: on specific issues the president's rating is a disaster. i can understand the caller and others that want to depend to president and blame republicans. the president often can't finish intent statements without staying republicans 8-10 times. they said they don't have a strategy on isis still. but why his disapproval rating is creeping up and if you look at the specific shoes -- it is a

bunch of things, really. dome domestic and foreign policy and economy. forget about what the republicans are saying it is democratic senate candidates that can't get far away from him. you have the senator in alaska saying he needs to stay away. and mark pryor saying he doesn't expect the president to campaign him now and he didn't the last election. you cannot look at polls and dismiss them because you disagree with the result. you should look and say why do people feel that way. is that a conspiracy? or a concensus?

>> host: what polls do you most view and trust? doug usher? >> guest: i look at all of the polls and look at the questions themselves. i trust the larger news organizations and what pugh research does. they have a high quality product. but if i am trying to figure out the real number on the specific questions i start by looking at as many different ways of looking at the question and looking at as many questions as possible. but i would say in the world today pugh sets the highest standards to look at. >> host: ms. conway same question. >> guest: i agree with that. the more polls you look at you see how they are conducted and where you see consistent data and not just in the horse race question but on what americans say it is most important issue and what americans say is

motivating their vote and not just who to vote for but rather to bother at all. i would caution the viewers of becoming too trusting of the robo polls where it is if you believe this press one and if you believe that press two. increasing numbers of states are banning them or restricting them and that means folks doing them on the cheap may have to pay penalties soon. the reason that is not as great -- they are wonderfuling for is this a gun owning household or a pro-choice or fema female headed household. you should prefer live people speaking to live people. it allows people to have a conversation and that is the way they talk about public policy in their every day lives. >> host: taking a look at campaigns this week is the series and we are looking at

polling. kelly ann conway is here and doug usher with purple strategy. he is the pollster for politico and corporate affairs. thank you for your time this morning. >> join us for more "washington journal" with cato institutes ken lynch and later martin sullivan is on the program to talk about tax inversions and when a company moves overseas for tax purposes like burger king did earlier this week. and we will talk about the state workers around the round tape. "washington journal" live tomorrow and every day beginning at 7 a.m. eastern on our companion network c-span. join us later today for an american history tour. tonight we will bring you a look

at native american historical sites including the battle of little bighorn. and later it is a discussion on police and race relations after the ferguson, missouri shooting and protest. civil rights advocates and representatives of the naacp spoke at an event here in washington, d.c. recently. you can see that starts at 10:15 eastern. and we are live from the national book festival this weekend in washington. we will show you the events science pavilion talking about the space program and the make-up of the universe and other projects. coverage starts at 10 p.m. eastern. >> this weekend on the networks. tonight on c-span native american history. then on saturday live all-day coverage from the national book

festival science pavilion and saturday evening a debate on scotland's decision to end their political relationship with england. and then we talk about intrepting laws. and indepth tonight with ron paul. and then we go to the history and biography pavilions. and then sunday at 9 p.m. eastern afterwards with william burrows talking about his book "the asteroid threat" tonight a movie about the apollo landing. and saturday we talk about sherman's campaign. and then we look at the election

laws of bush versus gore on sunday. find our schedule online and let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. call us or on twitter use c123 or e-mail us. join the conversation. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> we will wrap up the rebroadcast of today's "washington journal" with a round table discussion on challenges and opportunities for today's youth. this is just over 35 minutes. >> host: it is our america by the number series. we take a look at data and make it apply to you at home. tom synder with the national center for educational statistics and their staff director and jennifer brown learner with the american youth policy form and she is our deputy director. thank you for joining us.

challenges to young people at a certain age is the topic today. mr. synder, you put together a report looking at the challenges for young adults. before going to the stats what kind of information were you hoping to get? >> guest: we wanted to paint a portrait of young adults in the united states. the report was produced by the child and familystru statistics. today we will focus on the education and labor outcomes. >> host: one thing you found out is the overall college enrollment rate for 18-24 increased from 26% in 1980 to 40path in 2012. looking at the here and now when hunting for a job labor force participation for 248-year-olds declined from 7% in 1980 to 71%

in 2013. fill in the blanks. >> young adults interest declined from 2,000 -- 22,000 to 17,000. >> host: salaries are going lower as well. is that the point? >> guest: that is what the information is pointing us to. i think what this is helping us understand is that we continue

to hear people are having a hard time finding companies and also companies are having issues with time management and communication and skills like this. we are seeing a mismatch between the training we are providing young people and the jobs available. >> host: the new oniances that help you adapt to life are causing issue. >> guest: and how do you present yourself as an employee that will make you palletable to the employers and jobs available. >> host: you break it down by race but 84% of young females and 81% of young males completed

at least a high school education and that is up from 79% and 75% in 1980, mr. synder. >> guest: certainly there is an increase in the number of people that have the high school diploma. young adults in high school are less likely to have job experience in high school compared to years ago so that could be a factor in terms of preparing for their first job after high school. >> host: our >> guesghosuest are here to talk about the challenges for young people. we divided lines by ages. 18-14, (202) 585-3880 and 24-31

is (202) 585-3881. what is helping people stay in school and get a college degree? >> guest: we are seeing a number of communities put a greater emphasis on career opportunities and building opportunities for young people to explore careers and get on the job training and thing about the best path after high school to transition into post-second success. we are seeing on average students are focusing on what it means to be college readying with the academic and technical and soft skills young people need to be successful. and spending time so they can

personalize the solutions for students to gain these types of skills. >> host: and all of this comes at a cost. what is this graph and what are they looking and what are they seeing? >> guest: they are seeing the net costper -- cost pertaining to a college degree is going up. we see overall it is up 24% between 1990-2000 and 2011-2012. up from $16-20,000. there are more grants for low income students than high income but you can see there is an increase in net cost for all groups. >> host: and one of the challenges is paying for the loans after getting the education. >> guest: absolutely. and i think the high cost of college is becoming an access

issue and is it becoming unfordable for all young people. we have seen for low income students lots of support in terms of bringing down cost. but the middle students and that is the bulk of young people it is becoming more and more out of reach and that is not the direction that the labor market statistics are sttelling us we need to go. we need more people with post-secondary training so they are available for the jobs available. >> host: challenges for young adults. looking at college and other things. david is up first from portland, ohio, 35 and over line. >> caller: i am seeing the gap between skills and jobs. the vocational school is still teaching food service and

cosmotology and that is not bad but they need to teach the high skill jobs. and paul ryan said he is going to attack poverty and i am wondering what you know about his plan to go after poverty. >> host: ms. learner? >> guest: the role of career and technical education is important particular in the k-12 space. many of the programs are focused on -- what we see is communities need to take the time to figure out the high need sectors they need to build the schools for. we are seeing businesses partnering up with schools and allowing the students to train in facilities they would use on the job. >> host: mr. synder, anything to add? >> guest: there are large gaps in terms of people with degree

and people might want to consider this when considering college or postsecondary training. >> host: susan from florida. go ahead. >> caller: i was wondering, you mentioned the number of enrollees is up and house education and workforce committee people are graduating and graduating with degrees that are not part of something where you will not be able to get a job like sociology. >> guest: overall 45% of people have the college degrees but it is true people with the less marketable majors have lower incomes but they are higher for those who only have a high school diploma. so while the payoff isn't as high as others but on average they are learning more.

>> guest: there is great information out there. the center for -- i am not naming this right. the center for workforce at georgetown did great work about the information and majors available. i think it is about giving young people the opportunity to think about the knowledge and skills they need. for a lot of skills there is required technical training. the value of a degree in sociology is up for debate but being able to get the degree is critical in the labor mark. >> host: mark, 18-24, from virginia. hello. >> caller: thanks for having me.

i got a stem degree and it is hard for me to find a job and people i know that have a s.t.e.m. degree to find a job. and second, to get the corporate skills, i wish i had the opportunity to show that i have corporate skills or communication skills that would be favorable for the workforce. >> host: do you have a job, mark? >> caller: no, i don't. i am still looking. >> host: what is your educational background? >> caller: just finished by degree. >> host: what is it in? >> caller: science and then computer science minor. >> host: thank you. anything to take away, mr. synder? >> guest: on average people with s.t.e.m. degrees are getting higher salaries but people are unemployed and it takes a while

to find a position. but in the long run they are coming along with good jobs. >> host: anything to add? >> guest: absolutely. the research shows what tom said on average s.t.e.m. recipients have higher wages and we are seeing that this is where we do have high needs but again this is about the opportunity to take the information we have in terms of labor market statistics and what is the type of skills and training you need were the jobs that are available in any region and that information isn't always available and probably isn't as available to young adults or recent graduates and perhaps that is an opportunity we have to think about how we get more information to the finger tips of people that want it most in terms of selection about maiming majors and degrees. the other point about how you

demonstrate you have these employer skills is hard. we don't have ways to say i am a great communicator. the way you present yourself in a job interview is one way. but there is a movement in k-12 where folks are talking about badging and giving young people the opportunity to demonstrate skills that are not academic in nature but all of the other skills like can you earn a badge in teamwork or communication to demonstrate these are the skills you have. and of course, how do you create authentic assessments that allow for you to demonstrate these sets. >> host: if someone was starting a job tomorrow what corporate skill would you emphasis to them most? >> guest: i think communication in written, oral and ability to

work with others is the number one skill employers are looking for across all fields. >> caller: my question is about high my generation has the high student income ratio. i work for the federal government but my job doesn't pay enough for me to pay back my students loans so it affects my credit score and my ability to go further for security clearances dealing with finances and i cannot pursue second education because i cannot get my transcripts because i am in

default on a student loan and yet i have a great job but it doesn't pay enough for the cost of living and the student loans i had to occur. >> host: how much do you have? >> caller: appreciately 80,000. >> host: what is your degree in? >> caller: english. >> guest: in 2000, 66% of students had a loan and up to 68% and the burden is up from 21,000 to 25,000. your experience is higher on the range obviously. another aspect is more parents are taking out plus loans as well. the percentage of parents are a

plus loan was about 12% now. >> guest: there are many issues related to higher education finance and we know that we are doing a disservice to young people, particular those 18-24, in terms of not taking a serious look at the higher education finance. >> caller: i went out looking a job and found out i was overqualified. i am finding people in the mid-30's are finds this issue.

some friends went back to college and had to take on the debt and in with parents. i started by own business, i am struggling and considering going back to school. i am concerned about retirement. i am wondering what the panel has to say about people now burden with debt having to worry about retirement or living off social security and the impab h impablth -- impact on the -- economy later on. >> guest: this is a tough issue and gets to the point where we are talking about the economy and the job skills mismatch and are we training people for what is available.

the younger generation is feeling this mor than the older population and the data is showing that. the entrepreneur spirit is helping and people are starting their own business and to the caller, i wish you the best of luck. >> host: a look at unemployment rates among the youth? >> guest: overall about 14% of people in this age group are unemployed and particular for black males the unemployment rate is very high compared to other groups. so many young people, especially disadvantaged youth, are facing problems finding jobs. >> host: brock in georgia.

>> caller: i agree communication is one of the biggest assets in finding a job. but my question is is education the status go to becoming successful in america today? >> guest: this is a tough question. you have success stories like bill gates who has a high school diploma and shh some college and you have ph stabilities studentss winning the noble prize. i think it is a question of what is successful. you need core skills like read readi reading, writing and matt. you need to be trained to move into the fields you need and the third set of skills talking about the employer traits and the communication and team work and those type of things and our educational system isn't structured around obtainment of

all of those skills and we are credential based and do they allow access to the jobs. we need to think about do we have the right types of credentials for the knowledge, skills and abilities. >> host: does a liberal arts education work in today's economy? >> guest: that is a question for the economy. >> host: you talk about technical skills. >> guest: a journalism degree is liberal arts and training you for a field and enliglish degre as well. i use my own example when i talk about this. i majored in communication and urban studies as an undergrad. i loved it. i was learning and reading and

gained a huge set of skills around critical thinking and ability to organize information and work in teams. i transitioned into being a teacher and i did need technical training around management and things. on average i think everyone is getting a set of technical skills whether oror not it is through formal education or on the job. a liberal arts degree with a broad set of internships is probably preparing you as well as an undergraduate in nursing. >> host: mr. synder? >> guest: you will see people with these degrees will find good jobs and move up. the skills you learn you liberal arts education is useful. if i may use my own example i majored in history and the ability to do writing well was a great controveribution for my

career. i think there is space for moving forward with degrees and using them in your jobs. >> host: we are looking at challen challenges and opportunity for young adults. our lines are divided by age. erin is 25-40 from california. >> caller: it is impossible to get a job if you don't speak spanish and twice as hard if you are black. >> host: anything to add? as far as the language about is that a skill you need? >> guest: the ability to be fluid in another language is great and makes you marketable and let's you communicate with broad range of people. not a necessity to every job out there and could use a harder look from a research perspective.

>> host: roger from miami florida. hello. >> caller: i'm coming at it from a different perspective. i am an academic advisor at one of the largest colleges in the country. i find i agree with ms. learner. a lot of the students don't have the soft skills like communication and teamwork. i have done job interviews with young people and it is hard to get them to develop eye contact. even if they come in with the skill they may not make it into the place of employment because they don't have the soft skills during a job interview. and another thing i want to say is we need to be careful saying what the needs are now because to be properly trained takes upwards of two years and at the end of the two or four years those jobs maybe obsolete

specially computer jobs. i remember a friend of mine lives in a certain region of the united states where nurses were in critical need. went to school and got out and it was inidated because they came from else and he had to leave the region to find work. >> host: roger, how would you have people improve the skills? >> caller: i tell the students to get out there and get involved. community college is hard because they go to school and work. volunteer in your community, do things to sharpen the skills. there is no hard and fast rule that says we can teach you how to thing critically or teach soft skills. you must pick them up becoming

exposed to different organizations and groups. >> host: mr. synder, anything to take away? >> guest: i think the job interviews is something students need to take on board and prepare for. you need to be able to communicate that. that was one of the pieces of information we saw fewer students had the high school employment experience where they had the chance to work with a potential employer. many are approaching the labor market for the first time and they need assistance developing the skills. >> host: ms. learner? >> guest: i want to thank the caller. roger, you do an important job for young people in terms of providing that academic and career council.

thank you for what you do. having ad visors and guiding thm toward the opportunities is importance. we are seeing an increase need for career exploreation and opportunities in k-12 and higher education. here a great opportunity for multiple sectors to work together to create new types of opportunities for students to gain a whole range of skills. a lot of softer skills that we have been talking about are included in that. the opportunities take an investment from a range of investors but the payoff in particular for the most vulnerable youth is worth it. >> host: doug from michigan is up next. >> caller: college is so expenseexpens expensi expensive.

i went to northern michigan university and majored in management. college seems to churn out degrees and don't care if you get a job afterwards. they just want your money. they are like here is your degree but we will not line you up with jobs or show you. and if i am spending that much money shouldn't there be more of here is a list of jobs you can take at a good wage. i graduated five years ago and i live in northern michigan where there is not much going on but it is who you know. >> caller: i think we got the point, doug. mr. synder? >> guest: to help people with the college cost we have a system called college navigate and it provides discounts on individual colleges so you can look for the potential cost for

attending a college. it isn't just the sticker price, if you will, but students in different income ranges get discounts and the website shows the average discounts you are getting. there maybe values else where and we encourage students to take advantage of that. and those that meet needs in terms of college majors and the institution and cost. >> host: what about the thought his college should help him get a job? >> guest: this is an important student support service we hope institutions of higher education are able to invest in. but expensive and costly. it is more challenging. there are many opportunities beyond the higher education to think about those opportunities for job coaching, job support through the workforce and one

stop centers in communities that are very attune to the jobs in their area. >> host: let's hear from diane in michigan. 35 and older. >> caller: i'm addressing both ms. learner and mr. synder and i think the jobs that you are doing to help young people in the country is very important. you doing a great job. however, i think some of the suggestions are a drop in the bucket as far as helping students find colleagues where they might get -- colleges -- discoapt -- discounts -- or help with college. it is a fact if your parent has a decent job and has been working hard all of their life you do not qualify for anything. you may qualify for a few things

if you have a top student but you by and large the working parents in this country cannot afford to send their kids to college and pay the high prices for tuition nor can their children no matter how good of a student get the help they need to finance their college. one is an engineer and one is a teacher with two masters degrees. she is making about $45,000 a year and this is her fifth year. she has over $35,000 in student loans. we are helping her with that because we worked all of our life and have a decent income. my son being an engineer was able to pay luckily, this was several years ago, by working 12 hours a day 7 days a week and

taking graduate corresponden correspondence -- courses and paid off his loans. but not everyone is able to do that. >> host: thank you for telling us your experience. anything you want to add? >> guest: the average is $25,000 but many have larger balances than that. we know the incomes are higher over time but it is a challenge paying the money back. and also now we know the parents are taking on loans as well. i do want to emphasis there is good information out there in terms of finding out which institutions do offer discounts and they are available for students of all income groups but it is important to look and see where you fall in that income spectrum and what types of discount you might get at institutions. >> host: bachelor is 25,000,

16,000 with some college and 14,000 with no high school involved. >> guest: there is a significant income advantage from people who received their bachelor. they are underage at 25 and already is a significant income gap and that gap remains over time and expands. so there is a substantial payoff. but it is still initial shopping can be a damage to individual students. >> host: from connecticut it is marie. hello. >> caller: good morning. my question is why is there such a big piece missing in education like survival skills? not every child is wired for what they are learning in school. so many other things needs to be taught. thank you very much. >> host: survival skills. >> guest: ung i couldn't agree

with you more. i think schools do have a responsibility to focus on a range of skills. how do you train teachers to be able to impart those skills to students and how do you assess them on the skills and it is a lot of question on how we structure the education system. we are starting to have the great questions particularly as we move toward what does it mean to be college and career ready? we look at the soft skills and we are in the process of developing a range of assessments are doing toward

what the skills we define. >> host: from kentucky this is burt. >> caller: i was laid off in '09 and got a two-year associate degree and trying to find a job is hard because they want experience. i am an older person. i turned 50 today. even with my associate's degree you cannot get a job hardly anywhere without experience. i think the employers should offer a strategy like if they need a maintenance person like the field i am in they would want to help somebody go to school and they could fill that spot and taking a debt like a lot of these people have and can't get out of school and find a job. i think the companies ought to put out like we are looking for

maintenance person and give them experience. >> host: what is your associate degree in? >> caller: industrial maintenance. >> host: how much did it cost you? >> caller: i had the dislocated workers act and it didn't cost me anything. >> host: burt, thank you. >> guest: i think this is a great strategy and we are seeing it in communities. partnerships between businesses and instoinstitutions of higher education.

we are seeing incentives to build this but it is something we need to work towards. >> host: anything to add, mr. synder? >> guest: he mentioned the displaced program and i suppose that is state or local? >> guest: federal dollars that allowed people to return for additional training particularly retraining so they could enter into new fields and focus on the older worker that was needing the retraining skills. we should say these are the top of the degrees that make you more available to those people. the opportunity for on the job

training is important and building that into education system is something we need to look at. >> host: you can go to the web site and see the statistics and where can they go online? >> ncs.edu.gov. >> host: thank you to both of you. >> our guest tomorrow will include cato's institute ken lynch. and then martin sullivan is on the program to talk about corporate tax inversions when a company relocates overseas like burger king did. and later a round table discussion on the american

worker. "washington journal" is live tomorrow and beginning at 7 a.m. eastern on our campanion network. >> next, we look at the issue of veteran's health and we will have a talk about companies that move over seas for tax benefits. here is a look at the programming tonight: at 8:00, more booktv and the focus is on a program we did with former republican senator and presidential candidate ron paul. and american history tv features footage on apollo 11, the hoover dam and a conversation with

herbert hoover. and we will look at the little bighorn tonight. here is a quick preview. >> when americans come out west they want to turn the sioux and rapaho and black foot and crow into christian farmers. sitting bull is not about to bend over and scratch and claw at the ground with a hoe to make a living. and he is not going to surrender his pony and hook it up to a plow. they are huntsers and warers. in 1873, there is an economic crisis and the stock market crash and the banking system rolls over and the panic of 1873 and people are loosing jobs and live savings and 20%

unemployment. it is tough times in america. grants is the president of the united states and he is going to have to rev up the economy or he is not going to get reelected. he needs an economic stimulus pack and george custer provides it leading annex -- an expedition into the black hills to look for gold. overnight dead wood and 3-4,000 people real quick and everyone of them is an illegal alien because the black hills belonged to the sioux guaranteed by the treaty. no white people allowed in the

black hills. bill hickock shot was an illegal alien. the siouxs call them sacred land. he wants to put money in the treasure and tries to buy the black hills. $7 million was a lot of money back then. but sitting bull, crazyhorse, ice and lame white man and others said no, not for sale. you don't sell the ground that your ancestors walked on and now their bones lie beneath. not for sale. >> that was just a short portion of tonight's history tour of native american sites. you can see