walmart so do they want to go back to war or any sort of violence so they feel they are acting normally or they are feeling comfortable? >> i think it's more accurate to say they feel more comfortable back in a combat environment so it's not necessarily that they want to be engaged in combat but they feel more at home in that environment oftentimes is what i have heard. >> i know guys who literally feel comfortable in combat. >> i have to say some of the reasons you would like to go back to a combat zone is not to be in combat but it's the people you're within a shared mission which is very hard to find stateside. there is the since when you're overseas whether you are on a news crew or diplomats were soldiers, there is the shared

mission that you need each other for fear of survival. there's almost nothing like that back in the states that i know of. a lot of people really miss that and then they get here where most people go from their jobs to the grocery store, home to the dvr and they don't have much interaction and they miss when you were living with 11 other people and you know their business and they know your same uis that company. that's just. >> it's even more than that. we all know and that is that people in combat units develop a love for each other. i think that's not too strong of a word although they don't use it but this idea that you are responsible for your body no matter what where there's a first day of boot camp or basic training and that becomes a shared moral value.

they are bound to each other and closer to each other in many ways than they are to their wives or parents or children. when they come home and get out of the military bank they lose everyone they loved most in the world. the veterans out there today are walking around with a lot of grief and sorrow and sense of loss and that adds to their difficulties whether it's ptsd or moral injury or something else. >> that's what i know of some folks who have gone back knowing they have pts are ptsd and shouldn't go back but you've got to go back with the team. >> hi i want to thank you for putting this all together. it's so exciting especially your research and i am learning a lot but i want to tell you thank you to all the veterans. my son-in-law was in tikrit in the fourth infantry division

part of the capture of saddam hussein. that is good. he came home. he came well. he has no problems but his wife, my daughter, had problems especially with postpartum depression. in the army war college i had to take her there from missouri. i was in the beginning of the work. i have strong passion for mental wellness and there is an international program that is called mental health first aid. have you heard of it? abductee some papers here because i'm so excited about it. i was one of the first 100 trained in the country and that was in 2008. i couldn't get my daughter help. she had a brand-new baby, a war hero and nobody gave for help. she was probably one of the first ones that use telemedicine at the war college, a

psychiatrist. my question is, you don't know about mental health but i hear you say listening is very important. support when you get home is very important. mental health first aid is international and there is now military members, veterans and their families, mental health first aid module and the whole aspect of it, mental health first aid is with the nonjudgmental is in there. you feel that the people here at home could know how to help someone like you, because you came out in good health to? you have the professionals. >> i think you misunderstand me. i received great help within the hospital when i asked for it and i continue to ask for it. and know what you have is the resource of some of these veterans who have come back and

have 80% have incorporated their post-traumatic stress or their combat experience and they have wisdom to offer all of us. that's a message that needs to get out. i would love to hear what your question is. >> i note you were talking about them having wisdom because they're going to string but to get well you need to have people that are support systems for you. if we don't have them for the people in the families, the husband does not help the wife who might've come home with post-traumatic stress disorder. i'm asking you, do you think that we in our country could do a better job of helping our military veterans or active military service people get well from their issues that they have because they went on and suffered for us for our freedom. is there more that we can do to help them get well or do we just have to let the professionals do their job?

>> yes, we can do more. >> that's a huge subject. that's a huge subject and i don't think we have time to go into it tonight. i would be happy to talk afterwards but i really feel strongly that it's everybody's responsibility to be part of the solution. understand what you were saying about you have great professional help. medical care in the mental health care that are government provides the department defense and veterans affairs is absolutely superb. it's the best that there is but it can't possibly be enough. at some point veterans come back into our communities and we need to be in touch with them. i think you know i'm reluctant to say we can help them because i don't know that we are smart enough to do that but we can certainly welcome them back.

>> i'm so worried. i don't want people leaving this forum thinking about those poor veterans. they have things to share with us. they have wisdom and experience with and the sense of building a team that isn't really so resident in our population back here. so i guess it's great to be willing to help them but i would like people to look at them with the preset notion that they are one of the 80% who is more resigned than the rest of us and they can be leaders as opposed to people we need to pick up off the ground. and also those who are out there who are still struggling if they know that his version of what they can be and to their country thinks they are they are going to reach out to do the hard work in combat.

>> we have time for two more questions. >> thank you. i think ptsd by its nature is a very physical mental illness. i was just curious what you think might be an effective treatment approach for the more physical symptoms. there was some discussion about the adrenaline rush that kicks in automatically. >> i'm not a psychiatrist so i don't have an m.d.. i have a ph.d. but i do know that the army tries not to use benzodiazepine is a way to decrease that hyperarousal and physiological arousal. we try not to use that because there is the possibility and potential to become addicted to it. what we typically do in addition to the therapies that mentioned

earlier would be to teach someone how to do relaxation, deep breathing to regulate their physiological round that if we can do it without medication. >> anyone can download the u.s. army cap on their smartphone and it walks you through guided meditation so you can listen to it as you are walking around campus but not driving. >> not driving. [inaudible] >> i met my wife there when she was a combat nurse. both were diagnosed with ptsd and my wife was the first one in the va system to be diagnosed with ptsd. earlier they said nurses were not exposed to combat.

my wife is one of the most highly decorated nurses has served in vietnam. the question i have is a lot of people in the medical area who did not -- the symptoms for 10 or 15 years. can you explain that? now we have each other. she wanted to go back to vietn vietnam. she volunteered to go back to vietnam. i didn't. [inaudible] the va and facilities throughout the united states you are tested for ptsd. nothing was ever successful in treating her ptsd. we worked with doctors and nurses and other people.

it's something they have the rest of their life. the reason now in iraq and afghanistan they usually go over there is units and come back as units and interact with each other. in vietnam you fly there one day and you fly back. you don't know who's on your writing is on the left. and you are saying dr. porter that 80% of the people with ptsd get better? >> 80% of the people that goes through a complete course of treatment. >> from afghanistan and iraq? i'm talking about world war ii and korea. my wife had been to va hospitals. we didn't have each other at the time. because we have each other we are in a unique situation.

the most important thing i'm looking at recently is ptsd, tbi developing and dementia. in the last two or three years there has been lots lots of literature coming out and there was one study close to 200,000 veterans with ptsd shows there is a twofold chance of developing dementia and i would like for you to address that. is there anything being done about that? >> so you want to know if there's anything being done for veterans who may develop dementia? >> the alzheimer's -- he mentioned a few months ago that was on top of their agenda. ptsd and tbi.

>> i'm hearing to questions from you. one is for the cases of people who weren't diagnosed early on and are still decades later exhibiting post-traumatic stress disorder acute symptoms that are interfering i assume with their daily life. is there something new that you all are trying or recommending or is it those three courses of treatment? >> in the army we wouldn't necessarily be trading a veteran first of all. so the three that i mentioned are what is shown by the evidence to be the most effective. obviously they are not going to be effective for everyone and there could be something else that is more effective for your wife or it could be that she is always going to carry this with her. we have many people still in the army who have ptsd but they are

able to function with that and they are able to get through whether it's with their colleagues were because they know how to manage it, they continue with it but they still have some of the symptoms. so that's another thing i think that goes along with what you were saying kim just because you have ptsd doesn't mean that you are addled with all kinds of disabilities. it could be that something that you may need extra sleep. >> like nightmares or an incident that can keep coming up every couple of months or something like that. >> i think where ptsd and traumatic brain industry overlap a lot of times has to do with the way that somebody gets a traumatic brain injury could be through a traumatic event so they might have ptsd associated with a traumatic brain injury. if traumatic brain injury then develops later on into dementia which we are seeing more and more evidence that that's a possibility i'm optimistic and i

wouldn't be surprised if that weren't the case that the va is going to look at that and take that into consideration. >> sir i think that's another panel. we can answer your questions afterwards. >> this concludes our panel discussion for this evening. please join me in thanking our panelists. [applause] thank you all for coming. [inaudible conversations]

>> we sat and listened to a group of second-graders go through their drill and andy

card came and interviewed the president whispered to him. i was stunned. i wrote in my notebook and he whispers. the president stood and said that he had to go and he went into a side room and then we heard, we discovered that it was two planes down. two plane crashes in new york. our reflection came out to the pool and we are in a park in a sudden school. say you're the president will come talk to the pool. they said no they are live cameras in the cafeteria. a person has to speak there. he didn't want to stir the children but he did go into the cafeteria. he said it's an apparent terrorist attack and i much returned to washington. we raced to the plane and we were pushed to board quickly. the door slammed and then the pentagon was hit. >> up next a conversation on

black friday and cyber monday retail sales and the economy good for "washington journal" this is 45 minutes. >> host: david french the senior vice president for government relations joins us on the cyber monday to talk about americans holiday shopping habits as well as the state of u.s. retailers. mr. french walk us through the numbers from the black friday weekend sales, the total number of shoppers and in the average amount spent by shoppers this year. >> guest: we got the numbers back in the numbers are down a bit from last year. we think mostly that reflects believe it or not a strengthening economy and earlier promotions and in a sense among consumers that they can find their deals throughout the holiday season rather than waiting for black friday. however cyber monday deals are today and they will be pretty good. overall about one and 50% of

american consumers went shopping this weekend. we were projecting 140 million americans. we had 133 million shoppers. the average amount spent was $380. >> we are showing our viewers some of the stats. the total number of those who were shopping down by 5.2% from 2013. explain a little bit more why you think this represents a strengthening economy. >> guest: consumers have become conditioned to look for deals and they know the best deals are over this weekend. they have been very focused on shopping during the thanksgiving weekend. it's a retail super bowl and that is why they are so focused on all of the promotional activity that goes on this weekend. as the economy has gotten better there's more money in everybody's pocket. the labor market improved a little bit. folks are bit more confident that they don't have to rush out and get that deal this weekend. there are money will go a little further next weekend or the weekend after. plus we also saw earlier

promotions that started before thanksgiving. so i think what we really see is a spreading out of black friday spending patterns. huskily talked about the labor market being a key indicator. some of these sales are lower spending. any concern about seasonal employment during the holiday season? >> guest: anecdotally i understand employment is picking up in folks are for example retailers are going to employ 800,000 seasonal employees this year. what we are hearing his demand outstripping supply in certain markets. >> host: talking about cyber monday what are your expressio expression -- expectations for today? >> guest: we are expecting them to be down a little bit from last year again. early promotions but the best deals in cyberland are today and we are optimistic. >> host: david french is

senior vice president of the national retail federation and he's here to take your comments and questions. we are going to the sales numbers. the retail numbers from the black friday weekend expectations for cyber monday -- monday. democrats (202)585-3881 republicans (202)585-3881 independents (202)585-3881 and outside the u.s. as (202)585-3881 e.. before we get to those calls your release yesterday a big part of sales driver is the use of smartphones by shoppers. any concern on the technology side of whether on line shopping and smartphone shopping is up to the task for safety is? >> guest: first of all on the question of safety retailers take the security of their customers security as a paramount concern. retailers worked hard to make sure their information is held

carefully protected. we expect 25 million people will shop using smartphones this cyber monday. that's about 19.3% of shoppers. many retailers are optimizing their web sites in order to make smartphones easier to use for holiday shopping. >> going back to the question of data security what are retailers doing to help the shoppers be confident that we are not going to see more stories like we as seen in recent years of credit card data theft, identity theft? >> that's a very good question. first evolved in stores you are going to see more smart pen pads that are capable of handling chip cards. roughly 20% of u.s. terminals today are capable of handling a smartcard. that's a much larger penetration the number of cards available but more and more retailers are turning those terminals on and

able to handle the next generation of credit card that has a chip inside of it. >> host: when are those credit cards going to be en masse use? how many people have to feel less secure? >> guest: most americans americans have the older less secure cards. the industry is pledged to get newer cards in place this year and 2015 and we expect to see more and more of those cards as expiration date cycle through. however it's important to point out the car technology we are using today is older than i am. the technology dates from the 60s and 70's. it's very fraud prone and that's one of the reasons you have seen hacking incursions. criminals know that the card data is easy to counterfeit and put on another card and they can go and spend it. the important thing is making the cards less fraud prone.

the card industry is chosen a path of a call chip and choice. we are urging the card industry to do away with the signature and replace it with a more secure pen. >> host: on the cards themselves in some of the fraud we have seen in recent years he worked for the national retail federation. can you give us a sense of how badly the retail and she has been hurt by some of these data thefts? i the numbers on back? >> guest: i don't have numbers. >> host: anecdotally? >> guest: that's a great question. again retailers value their customers and takes the question of security that is very important to retailers. we have been urging for more than a decade, we have been urging the card industry to make available more secure cards. these cards have been available in europe for almost 20 years and it is taking a long time in this market for the card

industry to move forward with these cards. >> host: if you have questions for david french as we go through the numbers from the black friday weekend expectations for cyber monday or any shopping issues we have been talking about phone lines are open democrats (202)585-3881 republicans (202)585-3881 independents (202)585-3881. starting on the independence line mark calling from michigan. good morning mark. >> caller: good morning c-span. >> host: go ahead mark. you are on with david french. >> caller: about this cyber monday i am part of the generation that grew up being told to never give up personal information but yet they created a day for people to do just th that. america wake up. we have been set up. they are stealing all of your money. bye-bye.

>> host: david french had the respond to someone as concerned as marcus? >> guest: customers want to shop in many different ways in retailers are willing to find ways to meet the customer wherever the customer wants to be. i mentioned earlier how often people will use smartphones this week. 20% of consumers will use their smartphones to do their shopping. the computer people come 84% of americans are going to use their home computers this week in order to shop on line. the question of whether or not to use their computers is a question most americans are comfortable with more than a decade ago. >> host: let's go to catherine waiting in statin island new york waiting on our line for independents. good morning catherine. you are on with david french. >> caller: good morning both of you. i would like to know where you get your information for the unemployment because i know my

granddaughter, she is working but guess what they hired 10 people for this holiday and they have given them 25 hours every two weeks. how do you connect that with the unemployment and also how are they going to shot. it's so expensive that the food and the bills and everything else. can you explain that to me? host of mr. french of you want to start with holiday seasonal employment numbers and go through how that's calculated and also talk about how you calculated the black friday weekend numbers as well. >> guest: we do a survey of hiring plans and retailers expect to hire 800,000 holiday positions this year. there is no question the economy has grown more slowly than everybody would like including retailers but the employment

numbers have certainly picked up throughout 2014 and we certainly expect as the economy strengthens more and more people will be able to find part-time and full-time jobs. >> host: here's the. >> host: to hear sablan for the marketplace section of "the wall street journal." this morning black friday phase for retail sales. spending fell 11% as discounts kicked in earlier and shoppers felt no rush. that story having a chart that goes with it on the average amount that each shopper spent on line and in total this holiday weekend comparing this weekend then you concede the green bar being the total and the black/is being on line sales for 2014 and compared to 2013, 12, 11 and so on down the line. david french is here to talk about those numbers with you about your questions about retail sales in the holiday season. nancy is up to new hampshire on

our line for independents. good morning nancy. >> caller: hi david, how are you. >> guest: good nancy, how are you? >> caller: would have things i wanted to touch him about this past weekend is nobody touched on how the weather affected sales. we got hammered with our fourth largest power outage ever. the malls were without power over the weekend for a good chunk of the weekend and i have to think that there were some other states that were impacted by some pretty brutal early weather. >> guest: absolutely. up and down the northeast coast there was a serious snowstorm on wednesday and thursday and certainly a lot of shoppers were affected by that. >> host: nancy did you have a follow-up question? >> caller: nau that was it. everyone's talking about sales being down but nobody has mentioned the weather that affected it. >> host: we will go to diana lived it -- in livingston new

jersey livingston new jersey and maryland for democrats. you are on with david french as we show our viewers a more headlines coming out about the black friday numbers. black friday sales fall and cyber monday gears to get on line shoppers hyped. go ahead diana. .. aere is no mention of religious holiday. ands all about profits people and family. if you respect me, you would not make me go out and ruin my holiday. the retail industry is horrendous as they treat their workers. no benefits. you go in the store and there

are not enough people to help you. or it is the opposite here you go into the store and there is no one there. you're looking for help. i just think the retail industry should respect the consumer better and then we would feel like spending our dollars. thank you. guest: there are a lot of different people with a lot of different approaches in the holidays. that is often why shoppers like to thank -- like to shop on thanksgiving. retailers are there to please and serve customers.

the question of retail employment. this is really an interesting subject. there are a lot of myths about retail employment. retailers hire a lot of employees. when the federal government takes those numbers and cranks out income reports based on those numbers, they calculate retail employment based on the entirety of retail employment rather than focusing on full-time salary employees. we ask a university of georgia economist to take a look at the numbers. the reality is retail employment , the benefits and salaries are on par if not better than other industry groups.

we represent retailers both large and small in every different segment. approximately 95% of our members who are single store operators. america'spresent largest members. today is cyber monday. the editorial board of the washington times wrote about the issue of cyber security, which we talk about with david wrench a little bit. of cyberarrival monday, hopes retailers rise on the function of networks crucial for commerce. the potential to deal incomparable harm to the nation. the more urgent the need to insulate the information systems

from destruction. every day must be cyber security day. take french is here to your questions and comments on the issue. we are talking about it in relation to internet sales today. good morning. caller: good morning. my call is based on what the lady from new york stated about seasonal employment. i think it is candy coated. they are making 7:25. they may not get $25 a week. it is hard for people to survive on 720 -- $7.25. i just wanted to comment it is not all it seems. there is a lot of utilities that

plusery high in price, your rent and food. that is my comment and i hope i was not being rude to you. employment is for many a solution to the problem. but it is also a way to transition to full-time employment. it is not necessarily a dead end, one-time job. for many of people, it is an opportunity to kill gaps in their unemployment history, it may be an opportunity to take your job when you are in college or taking a break from school, or maybe you're caring for an elderly relative. there are a lot of reasons why seasonal employment works for people.

the reality is retail is a seasonal business here in order to meet customer needs and be there to serve the customers, it is important that we surge the employment. compare holiday shopping to other countries holiday shopping? guest: other countries are starting to do black friday. countries that don't have thanksgiving? guest: yes. the uk'sticle that starting to see a surge in black friday. it is just another friday, but all of a sudden, it has become a signature shopping holiday in the u.k. host: we are talking to david french and his thoughts and comments about some of the

issues facing the retail industry. an issue that congress may be dealing with in the coming days and weeks is marketplace fairness act, something up for a vote in congress. it is a piece of legislation that would allow states to collect sales taxes due on purchases made by consumers within those states on remote sellers in other states. the process would require states to simplify their sales tax election was. it would remove a constitutional issue related to commerce clause. this all goes back to a 1992 decision where the supreme court -- outsidetates it wasorders, they said

up to congress to solve the problem. some key members of the house and senate are against the marketplace fairness act. ted cruz has come out against it. how does the national retail federation feel on this act? is misconceptions about what the act does and what it means. people react very viscerally to the issue. in reality, the mainstream is mrs., they do not understand why they're all mine competitors are getting up to 10% price break in competing with them outside their borders. because they do not have to collect the sales staff. mainstream businesses, the mom and pops across the country, are

selecting sales taxes from day one. they would very much like to see their online competitors have to deal with the same kind of loss. host: specifically about this marketplace fairness act, he marked -- for the direct cost for simmers, it will cost business owners both time and money. online retailers will have two codesd with the sales tax of 45 states and 9600 local stations. think about the virginia back to tax school holiday. how can small online retailers possibly keep up with the reflection of a should of 10,000 jurisdictions. they just have to do it in their own states.

many states -- sales many states have tax laws that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. there is certainly no reason why an online seller should be preferred or protected when a mainstream retailer is exposed to those burdens. consumers in montana do not have to pay sales tax. aeve is really protecting small percentage of online sellers and exposing mainstream businesses around the country. we mentioned ted cruz and this piece. he called it a burden directed at the little guy.

this legislation to be on the floor of the senate house. guest: 69 senators voted for it and we have very strong bipartisan part. in fact, we have continued to have bipartisan support in the senate. with very little time left, it is difficult to predict if it will come up. if it does not pass in the next couple of weeks, it would have to go back to the senate again in the next congress. david french is here to take your questions and comments for the next 15 minutes or so. north carolina on our line for democrats. good morning. are you with us? go ahead. yes i am.

i would like to know if he knows the history behind black friday. after slavery, people in my grade, they prosper. those in that area got upset and they decided to do something about it. a whole black community was light out. they was murdered. as a massacre. that is where the name black friday comes from. , the, here we are merchants are prospering, but nobody ever asked where did that word come from. guest: that is different from the history i heard. i understand black friday to trace back to philadelphia,

think in the 1960's. , the police officers of that era would often refer to a throng of shoppers coming down on the friday after think giving as black friday, meaning it was a bad day to work. that name ended up sticking. let's go to market in california, on the line for independents. questions. are you a 501(c) four group? the second one is for people to in these stores like kmart and sears and what have you, i heard that you have to work like a wednesday,

and they cutday, ,our hours like the week before so they kind of make it so you don't get the 40 hours or the .vertime i know it is happening. also, it is happening as far as bus drivers like greyhound and stuff like that. on the organization itself and how it is classified? guest: 85016, a trade association. comment on what may go on in any specific retailer, but overall, especially during a holiday weekend like thanksgiving weekend, many to make sure above

they are fully staffed area there are certainly some regulatory issues like implementation of the affordable care act, which has led some retailers,not just to look at their work force and examine whether or not 30 or 40 hours a week makes sense because of the thresholds in the law. but i cannot comment on what is going on individual read ehlers. -- retailers. has there been any recommendations? we are lobbying for a 40 hour work week as opposed to a .0 hour work week to responsibly handle unemployment like full-time unemployment.

david french is with us for about the next 10 minutes or so, taking your questions and comments. pam is up next or washington, maryland, on our line for democrats. i was wondering if they're considering how the ferguson event is a acting things. are askingacks blacks and supporters to not shop on the holiday because of the surrounding and killing of black youth. they will see this as a perfect time to show this thing for how they are being treated nationwide. have they considered any of this? certainly the discordant ferguson is very troubling and we are and send about what is going on there. i think it is a tangential

reaction to look at shopping and say that should somehow be an appropriate response to what is going on in ferguson. a lot of shopkeepers and mom and pops depend on the holiday season in order to survive. folks continue to shop and continue to support their local businesses. businesswas small saturday. people supported their lookers -- local small businesses and we hope that continues and we similarly hope we can address, as a nation, the concerns in ferguson in a constructive way with open dialogue. south carolina on our line for republicans. caller: good morning. great to see you on c-span.

i want to get back to what you're talking about. production, cyber security -- protection, cyber security. goingd stuff about ships in some form in animals. do you know anything more about that? thank you. guest: the card industry is putting small microchips in credit cards. they are very low-power chips that can be read by inserting the card into a chip reader. than thee different slight few are currently used to doing. it has to be inserted in the card and held there for a small modest time while the chip is red. we are encouraging them to move into the next step. they want without a plan called chip enjoys, which would give the ability to sign

a signature. we encourage the card industry to abandon ship and chance and adopt a fully protected standard that would include a personal identification numbers like you would use with your atm card so when you use the chip card, you also have a second level of verification that only you know. relationshipthe between the card industry in the retail industry? guest: they are partners of ours and we work with them. we have our differences from time to time. but we certainly value the partnership. be one of theis differences in terms of how fast we are moving to that knowledge he? technology?at guest: this is one of the differences. not much input from the retailers. we would like to see more of an

even partnership, because we think we can be constructive in setting up practices that will work for us as well as the card companies area -- companies. host: sean is next. caller: i think the shopping will be not as busy this year if you want to go into the stores. most people are actually ordering online this year. my coworkers went in for black those atd they got ridiculous prices. i believe it will be a heavy season for people who work in the shipping industry. thank you. i want to wish you guys a happy -- holiday. guest: shop early is one solution. last year, we saw the shipping industry reach capacity.

there were several retailers that had trouble getting their last-minute sales in the hands of consumers, because of that. retailers have adopted different strategies this year. some retailers, like macy's, are doing same-store delivery. many items, you can pick up in your local macy's on the same day. sorts of other fulfillment options, designed to make it off some of the burden on the shipping industry. host: on twitter -- we use an outside firm to conduct surveys. publicly traded companies disclose sales after the fact and there are other sources of information as well. richard as of next on our

democrat line. good morning. are you with us? put richard on hold and come back to him. in the meantime, debbie is waiting in ohio on our line or republicans. good morning. good morning. a lady called in about ferguson and their dollars not being been. i think justice was done. that little guy should not have been doing what he was doing to the police officer. common sense tells you you have to have respect for authority. working on thanksgiving, i agree with the one caller. emily comes first. you are trying to accommodate customers in the family. that is old. -- bull. no one wants to interrupt their dinner to run after customers

and be insulted. i think we need to get back to the bible. ferguson brought the u.n. -- we will hold off on the ferguson debate. some of the concerns about honoring traditional holidays, how do you balance those? what are you saying to retailers to make sure they take some of those concerns to heart, but also fulfilling the wishes of the customers who do want to shop? customers drive retailers and it is not the other way around very if we did not have shopping onmericans thanksgiving, retailers would not be open. host: tony, independent, you are on the line. caller: good morning, gentlemen. i am calling in reference to the

comment made about walmart and employment. the color walmart employee working for a holiday season. quite a few seasonal employees. those people will not be employed after this. i am part-time employed with full-time hours. as far as seasonal workers, it may help out in the short term, but after a few months, they will not have those jobs. that is my comment. thank you. certainly, the need for seasonal employees goes away butr the holidays here at many retailers do look at seasonal employment as the place where they hire their full-time employees and certainly not just walmart but many retailers across the country will make

decisions filling full-time positions with them. on ours footer page -- you -- on our twitter page -- bringing up the issue of cost of living and efforts to raise the minimum wage, where does the national retail federation stand on some of those efforts? that is a good question. many retailers have different strategies for compensation within their workforce. i mentioned earlier we represent approximately 95% of our members are single store operators and a minimum wage increase is felt to retailer. in a larger another important statistic even 22% of retail employs all teenage workers in the

country. a better way to think about the minimum wage is that it is really a starting wage. when you increase the minimum what the and above value of the job might be, you make the risk of more teenage workers being employed. first time workers will have a harder time finding a job. tot: five states voted increase the minimum wage in midterms. do you have objections on what that would mean for retailers? it reflects individual preferences in those states and individual retailers will -- it may have some consequences in terms of slower job growth, but it is too early to tell. french is a feat -- senior representative. you can go online to see reports

>> spent a problem that is not unique to that area.

and that is a simmering distressed between too many police departments and communities of color. in a country where were the most important things to many individuals especially those of color feel they're not treated fairly. and as i said last week with any part of the american family that it is the problem for all of us not just for some of us. or a particular community or

demographic. its means we're not as strong of a territory as we can be. when applied to the criminal-justice system we're not as effective to fight crime as we are. and what i could do today along with our attorney general eric holder few had to fly to el mantegna to start a conversation down there. that we his service and honest conversation community activists, academics, elected officials. to determine with the problems are. and come up with concrete

solutions to move the ball for word. >> we watched him in and listen to a group of six raiders go through the bill a year and in the card and it interrupts the president even with second graders he stood up and said he had to go and went to the side rooms then rediscovered two plane crashes is a new york. now we were in the parking lot they said stay here the president will come talk to the pool provides said now there are live cameras in the cafeteria but that he did not want to scare the children.

it is a terrorist attack we were pushed aboard the doors slammed then the pentagon was hit. . .