for the trout -- the top earners and disappearance of the middle class. [applause] senate that was such a wonderful introduction wish you could have kept going and going. i want to thank busboys and poets for hosting this event with all the great work that you do. a and i will talk about myself have all i got to

where i am and i will read the introduction to a the books then 78 hours after that. [laughter] they did not tell you that? then we will take some questions at 4:00 in the morning. i'm a long as serving independence in congressional history into may say why? that i believe most political parties are heavily dominated and making millions of working families don't have the life they should be having with the levels of government and i have chosen to be an independent. the democrats' civil least annette and i begin my political career are running for the united states senate

on a third-party ticket end i received the though back in 1971 iran for the third party with 2% down '01%. [laughter] not the trajectory we were hoping but i may not be very bright but i am persistent came back and ran for the senate again against my now colleague patrick leahy. he wanted and i lost a leg up 4% in the three-way race then two years later iran for governor in elections every two years in vermont and i got 6 percent at that point i took the hint maybe

getting elected is not what my life would be about then i started to work on historical film scripts having a pretty good time. then 1981 people come up and say you should run for office? a number of friends said with looked at the election results if you wanted in burlington which is the largest state you cut actually wind so we put together a wonderful coalition of unions and senior citizens and women advocates and police officers cater on board and on election night we won by 14 votes defeating the incumbent that will probably

go down in history is a major political upset of the vermont history. then we had recanted i ended up winning by 10 votes. the rest of the democrats and republicans who were not supportive of fact they fired by secretary the first day i took office i had to run the city for the first year with a previous mayors administration. white obama running with the bush administration. although difficult but one year later we rallied the people and we want a number of seats to have exciting things from 1987 and 1988 my

liberal friends think they should not run and on election night republicans with 34 percent i have 31 percent democrats got 19 percent. two years later iran for the state seat and i won by 16 points. after 16 years running for the senate in 2006 when you know, the senator chose not to run for reelection and running again as the wealthiest guys in this state up to that point the most anyone had spent was 2.5 million but he spent 7 billion. we raised 5 million but we won by of very strong margin

in 2012 so that is my political history. so now i will take you and tell you a little bit about the book. . . i tried to do everything i could with what i believe it was a very bad tax agreement between brock obama and the republican leadership. at a time when they have a trillion dollar national debt, the most uneven distribution of

doubt from any country it seems to be totally obscure to provide hundreds of millions to millionaires and billionaires. furthermore this is a lame by confirming the democratic president, democratic house the democratic senate, the basic tenet pushes a trickle-down theory, disagreement laying the groundwork for more bad decisions in the future. unfortunately i was absolutely right and with the republican budget of today. second tax breaks to the rich is only one component of an economic and political system which is grotesquely failing the americans. the middle class of america is collapsing, poverty is increasing and the gap between the wealthiest and everyone else is getting wider. how did this happen, why did it

happen, what can we do about it? these are issues that need to be talked about and talked about in a way that is not often hear heard in washington. over the 20 years i've served in the house and senate, i had examined these issues. issues too often ignored by my colleagues in congress, from a wide bridie of perspectives. now with an excellent opportunity to bring them together and make the connection. what does it mean, morally and economically that in 2007 the top 1% earned over 23% of all income in this country, more than the bottom 50%. for the top 1% owns more wealth, than the bottom 90%. given the enormous political power that goes with his concentration of wealth, in terms of law capabilities, campaign contributions and media ownership, is the united states on its way of becoming the

darkest form of society. with almost all power resting in the hands of a tiny few. what does it say about our economy and the political choices we make about it on capitol hill. that today, despite all of the huge increases in productivity and technology that we seen in recent recent decades, a two income family now has less disposable income than a one income family did 30 years ago. why is it americans work the longest hours of any people in the industrial world? what is the correlation between the united states haven't by far the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country while we also have more people in jail. doesn't it make more sense to invest in our kids then in jail and construction. how does it reflect in our

political and legal system with the crooks on wall street who cause this horrendous recession now earn more money than they did before their banks were bailed out by the taxpayers. how come none of them are in jail? what does the financial reform bill mean when three out of the top four too big to fail banks in this country, are now larger than they were before the wall street collapse. with assets over half the gdp of this country. what does it mean to the economic future of our country that over the last ten years we have lost 22000 factories and millions of good paying manufacturing jobs and it is harder, and harder harder to buy products manufactured in america? how does it happen that ceos of large corporations boast about the outsourcing their production and jobs to china but when hard

times hit they come running to u.s. taxpayers for bailout? and on, and on, and on. those were some of the themes i want to talk about in my remarks and i want to tie some of the dots together. what does it feel like to day in and talk for a to have hours when you can't leave the floor and eat, or most and partly the question asked of me time again, especially by the media how commute can go can't go to the bathroom how is that? that is my secret, i'm not not telling. you will never know. [laughter] and you do all this with a national television camera on you. the answer is, my profound answer is, it's hard. try it sometime.

interestingly enough, the aftereffect hit me a few days later when i found myself very, very tired. during the speech itself my legs began to cramp up a bit and my voice also became horse. when i walked onto the floor i had no idea how long i would stay there, none at all. when i was mayor of burlington in the 1980s, i sometimes gave speeches for longer than an hour, and that was it. when i last three hours, five hours, 20 hours, i really didn't know. what i was clear about in my own mind, however was i wasn't going to in my own mind, however was i wasn't going to read from the phone book, or sing songs, and you'll be happy to know i didn't sing any songs just to eat up time. i wanted to speak for as long as i had something relevant to say. while i didn't have a prepared script for this speech, i mostly worked up a previous speeches i have given given or articles i had occasionally written, i would read a few lines and pages and go on from there. twice, collies came from the floor and engaged in a colloquy, i was grateful for the support of my effort.

i also wanted to talk about the book that has contain some repetition, what you want? want? it was a do have hours. this was not an accident, and giving the speech i was more than aware that most people were not going to listening to it in its entirety. i suspected that people would tune in for one hour and then move on with their lives. i made a point to to keep returning to my basic themes. was i surprised about the kind of attention the speech receive question mark are kidding, the phones in both the washington offices never stopped ringing, in vermont all of my staff members took thousands of calls and emails, the senate television whites that crashed because of the huge number of people who wanted to watch the speech live, online and apparently c-span2 had an exceptional day. according to

the new york times my speech was the most tweeted event in the world that day. what do you know, the most tweeted event. someday i will learn what twitter is all about. [laughter] >> they were stories, and newspapers around the country and it was covered widely in national media. the number of people signed up its friends on friends on my facebook page doubled, and the visits on my website went sky high. some people claim that obama had an unscheduled impromptu press conference with former president bill clinton who defended the press deal to divert media attention away from what i was doing on the senate floor. it turns out clint was in the white house,. despite my best efforts and hard work of many other members, we lost the vote on the tax deal that a pres. obama worked out with the republicans, a very bad agreement was signed into law.

did my eight have our speech work? yesterday, if art this country is going to move forward in a new direction, if we're going to save the middle class and save our national priority we have got to cut through the corporate mainstream media and start focusing on the life-and-death issues that working families really care about. the very strong response to my speech tells me there is a hunger all over america for a discussion on economic, the counterattack of the freshest assault that are taking place against working families and for a practical plan on how we can reverse these politics to favor the rich over the middle class and dissemination our nation. if our speech helped educate some about these issues, made them aware they are not alone with their concerns, and pointed the way to the future, it was well worth it. thank you. >> what i would love to do now,

is take any questions or thoughts people may have. >> we do have microphones you do not have to shout. >> yes thank you for everything what is your advice on what congress is going to be doing about. [inaudible] >> perhaps people don't know what the citizens united is about, for many years we have had a disastrous campaign finance system which nearly favors the people who have a lot of money and corporate interests. those of us who do not, a year or so ago the supreme court passed a disastrous called the

citizens united decision. in their wisdom we found five people in the same room, the only five people in america, who actually believe that a corporation is a person. five people in america and they all have to be on the same supreme court at the same time. essentially that decision does is says large corporations, that you be in a person, have first amendment freedom of speech rights, therefore you are able to express your freedom of speech by putting 32nd ads on television, telling the world how horrible bernie sanders is or anybody else. by the way, you can do that in secrecy, you don't even have to reveal who you are. you can come up with a phony name, and affording organization.

this is a disastrous decision which makes a very bad campaign finance situation much worse, we sought in the last election, you will see a lot more of it. essentially what will happen is a handful of billionaires and very wealthy corporate people will sit around the room and say, okay there putting 10 million in vermont, 20 million california, so this is a small sum of money to win a senate seat or house seats. it is a horrendous decision. what decision. what we have tried to do, on the floor of the house and senate is at least passing legislation that would minimize, minimize the impact of citizens united. so with legislation that has been brought forth which did not get republican support, if i put an ad on television attacking mike opponent, which i've not done, i would not run a negative ad, i would have to have my name on tv and take responsibility for this ad.

so we said fine, if you are a ceo of a corporation who is paying for this ad, get your face up there and say you take responsibility for the sad. we thought this we thought this would discourage a lot of corporations from doing that. second of all, we wanted to make sure that a chinese company, company and the united states who is owens significantly by chinese interest that they should not be allowed to participate in american politics. thirdly we wanted to do is say if you utilize that, then your opponent, someone attacked me using that, i would be able to get the cheapest of possible available to respond. anyhow, we lost those votes. we couldn't get republicans, what. your question is should we go forward with a constitutional amendment? in general i have to tell you i am am not a great fan of constitutional amendments. people think everybody who has a problem we need a constitutional

amendment to solve it, that kind of weakens what our constitution is about which is a good document. on this issue i think we can make the exception to that rule, i do believe that certainly constitutional amendment is one of the options we have that a memo should simply say that a corporation, everyone to everyone shock and surprise is not a person. the last point i would say is we had a town meeting, we have a lot of town meetings of vermont, we had one a few months ago, and ben & jerry's, so ben was there and jerry was there and ben was very funny and he said, you know i am ben, i am a person, this is jerry, this is a person, is a person, ben & jerry's, not a person. [laughter] so in a nutshell that is about it. the idea that we give corporations first amendment rights is absurd. >> i am wondering what would you

recommend. [inaudible] >> global warming is a huge issue. it saddens me very much that today in the congress you have a majority of people in the house, almost all republicans, including intelligent people, who are willing to ignore virtually the entire scientific community who tells us of global is were real, it is today causing very serious problems and those problems are only going to get worse in the future. you have the cia telling us in

terms of national security, global warnings which can lead to wars, as people around the world fight for limited resources because of drought, floods, food shortages, you have the cia, the defense department, the agricultural department all over the world and yet the anti- science feeling on capitol hill is such that we certainly, at this particular political moment are not going to move board on global warming. but answer your question, we can, we can talk about education, and healthcare, what are they answers. the main point i want to make is the solution is not going to come inside the beltway, it is going to calm in cities, and towns all over this country where ordinary people begin to stand up and organize, and get out on the street and say enough is enough. i can tell you, without any any fear of contradiction that what goes on in congress is far removed from the reality of the

life of ordinary people. that is true whether it's in economics, or healthcare, what goes on in health in congress is there's an invisible wall infiltrated by corporate interests that shape the discussion and debate, you have a corporate media out there that will talk about everything in the world except issues that are most important to ordinary people. global warming is a huge issue and right now i don't think there's anyone who thinks there were making series advances for that. what we may be able to do is get some investment in energy efficiency and the state of vermont has done a good job in that area. get some investments in sustainable energies like wind,

solar, geothermal, and get some investments in public transportation. as public transportation. as you will notice, for example and just this recent to prevent republicans from shutting down republicans obama obama had to give up on millions of dollars on high-speed rail. so instead of investing in public transportation and rail we had to cut back in that, i see it very much that the debate goes forward on the budget, you will see more these cutbacks. to answer your question, and the other question on your mind, we can mind, we can turn this thing around. i believe that we can area there are very few people in america, not located inside the capital who believe that it makes any sense at all to give $1 trillion in in tax breaks to the wealthiest people in this country, to cut the corporate tax rate at a time when many

corporations making billions of dollars already paid nothing in taxes and then having given huge tax breaks to people who don't need it. cut back on infrastructure, cut back cut back on the needs of our children, cut back to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in medicaid, medicare, very few people believe that makes any sense at all. our job is to cut through a medium which is in many ways discuss this issue and take on big money interests who funds the members of congress, large campaign and educate. if we do that we will win this fight. >> thank you very much senator. your up for reelection has how are you spending money? >> we think there is at least one serious candidate out there, at this point.

>> a question about racial inequality. >> i tell you what we intend to do, on that issue and the areas where i have jurisdiction. there are some very frightening statistics out there that we do not talking up about. having to do, will with poverty in america's many ways a death sentence. what i mean by by that is if you look for example in terms of racial disparities is a a rich white guy who has access to quality healthcare, disease prevention, doesn't live under a lot of stress because he has the income he needs. contrast that with the low income lack person and you will

see a very significant discrepancy and disparity in longevity. i think you will see that, and we will do a hearing and get some studies done on that. the fact of the matter whether you are black, white, hispanic, or whatever, when when you are poor you are going to live a shorter lifespan and the quality of your life will not be as good as somebody else. i think those think those are important issues to look at. [inaudible]

>> i agree with you let me back it up so people know what we're talking about. let's be honest about this, i do a radio show every friday so we speak to a thom hartmann, he does a great job. we talked to a couple of million people in every week somebody raises this issue, the issue they raise is why is it that the republicans are so tough they don't compromise and democrats compromise all the time? that's a question they raise. look at what happened in the last year. in terms of what this book is about, the what the republican says is okay there are several million people whose unemployment compensation is going to expire, but we do not

want to extend unemployment and unless you give us, and by the way this is historical because historically unemployment was above a certain level where we are right now generally there was a bipartisan support for extending unemployment. obama and the democrats would save that's terrible you gotta do it we will do it but this is what we need from you, we need to extend bush's tax breaks for the wealthiest people, we need, we need to lower the tax rates on the estate tax which go to the very, very wealthiest people, and we are delighted that you are going to diverge, this was not the republicans idea they supported it $120 billion hundred $20 billion of the social security fund by doing a tax holiday on the payroll.

that was what they demanded and essentially they got everything they wanted. i thought, and that's why is on the floor for eight and half hours that was a very poor compromise. you have to give but that was a very poor compromise which republicans get 90% of 90% of what they wanted. their threat was, we are not going to expand unemployment but now a few weeks ago what was the black male then? the blackmail was male was if you don't give us the cuts you want we are going to shut down the government. 800,000 federal employees are not going to have a paycheck, government services are not going to be available, you have to give us what we want or we will shut down the government. i voted against that, democrats protected headstart and others and i worked very hard, we have

to increase our investments of that in five years we will have 40 million people be able to get primary health care, dental care, low-cost prescription drugs, mental health, mental health counseling and they started coming back. millions of people will not have access in the future. so there black male there was a we will shut the government down, and government democrats fought back a little bit but not enough. now to your point were part three of the movie. this time unless you make devastating cuts, or lay the groundwork for devastating cuts in the future week on the for the first time in the history of this great country are not going to pay our debt, we are going to default on our debt, we are going to cause an internet national crisis the outcome of which nobody knows.

will it lead to a world depression, will lead to higher interest rates, almost definitely. we'll meet for will meet for the first time in the history of this country people who buy bonds from the united states will have second thoughts about it. republicans will set we are pretty prepared to do that unless you give us what we want. this is like a child having a temper tantrum, i am going to go nuts when companies in the house unless you give me the candy or am going to burn down the place alleged to give me what i want. while it suggested interesting point is that probably the first group of people that are going to be hit hardest by not raising the debt ceiling will be wall street. i agree with you, i happen to think that our friends on wall street who own a good part of the republican party will part probably not allow their employees to do that.]wcpg

it up, the point is that never ends. these guys are very bold, they are, they are very tough, they're very irresponsible. if my suggestion to the president is to say to them and look them in the eye and say if you want to, for the first time in this country default on our deck, if you want to send the world into a financial crisis you go ahead and do it, and the voters will hold you accountable in the next election. but we are not going to keep surrendering on issue after issue. [applause]. >> other questions. >> sayer question again.

>> there is a question on the war on terror. >> it's coming back to washington and i went to the vermont airport and they said bernie this the great thing. you have a guy out there and you don't know how active lee he was involved in terrorist movements because he was kind-slated. to learn more about that i suspect in the next few weeks. this is a guy who not only a 911, but in other killed thousands and thousands of innocent men, women, children, and i think the i think the world is better off without him. and i am asked on capitol hill about the midi media about what does this mean about the war in afghanistan dan, number one if anybody thinks osama is moderate single-handedly ran the war on terrorism and with his demise suddenly everything is going to be fine, that is a naïve point

of view. that is not the correct we have cells all over the world about people who want to do very bad things. i think psychologically taking him out does have a positive impact, i think more importantly the growth of democratic movements in the middle east are very significant. in terms of what it means, i'm asked about afghanistan, my afghanistan, my view it didn't really change the day before he was killed or the day after. we have been there for ten years, and i was in afghanistan a few months ago. it is an enormously complicated and difficult situation. what situation. what you have is a country, which is terribly poor and undeveloped, do you know how much education the average police officer in afghanistan has today? zero. functionally illiterate. in fact i went to a place where the international group, germany, united states, ireland,

and others were training police officers in afghanistan with the hope they would leave with a first grade or maybe a third grade education. i visited a village in the southern part of the country which i suspect did not look a lot different that it did over the last thousand years, the taliban have been strong there, we had a had a walked down the street with a few senators and a half of the marine corps, we walked on the main street there and you see these guys selling vegetables or meat. i do not see one woman. i do not see one woman out on the street in midafternoon. they are all behind closed doors they do not quite in public. the goal here in afghanistan is to make sure the taliban and never again assumes power. that would be very bad for a wide friday of reasons.

on the other hand, after ten long years i believe the time now is to bring our troops home as quickly as we possibly can [applause]. >> there's a question on achieving justice for the palestinian people. >> i think the others really lobby is one of many lobbies in washington. my hope is the president will work with israel and the arab countries and people of all political what i'd think would

be a two state position. it would break my heart i've been to the middle east to see decent people on both sides, and it's never ending progress. i hope the united states will play an active role, it is is very difficult because you have people on both sides trying to tear it apart. i hope we can bring people together so this never-ending violence comes to an end. >> i did not personally but he lived in the vermont. , george sell this was a type of

mentor, intellectually, he was one of these guys, and independent journalists who actually wrote material and ask hard questions, he was a wonderful writer. he lived his left i have never met him. >> one more question.v2vg [inaudible] >> by the way and my office, remember i live, we came here

mike briggs and i and i came here on your subway, but we don't have some boys like this in vermont. to get to work in vermont and all over rule america you drive. what happens, as you you have millions of working people, many of whom i've seen a decline in their wages and now are saying paying $4 or more per gallon of gas, that's coming right out of their paycheck and it's making their very sorry economic situation today even worse. here's what you have with gas prices, let me just back it up a little bit to our friends on wall street, when you talk to people people are very angry. there is a pole today becomes a gallup poll and what the poll showed for the first time is that people now believe there

kids are going to have a lower standard of living that they do. for the very first time. my parents never had money at all, my dad worked his whole life, didn't make a lot of money, lived in a small apartment but their dream was like everybody else's dream. their parents dreamed their parents stream that their kids will do better than you so all over this country people are saying you know what my kid is going to have less education than i did, he's going to earn more wages than i did, and there is a lot of despair and anger all over this country. if you would ask me one issue, one fact that symbolizes that, if people saw the crooks on wall street and i use that word very advisedly. the crooks crooks on wall street whose greed and illegal behavior destroy our economy to millions of people out of their jobs,

people lost their homes, people lost their life savings on wall street. now after they were bailed out by the people of this country, their guys on wall street making more money than they ever did before. not one of these guys, is in jail. some kid there is a brick through a window to jail. these people destroy any tire economy and they make end up making tens of millions of dollars. what all that is about his people beginning to understand that these guys have so much wealth and so much power that they are untouchable. they can commit a crime in midday lake, a terrible crime the whole world is looking at

it, destroying millions of lives and they say there is nothing you can do with me because i own the united states congress. you can't touch me, i'm too powerful you're not going to throw me in jail so what if i've destroyed millions of lives. that is in my view, a real reality. how does that go with your question about gas prices. what you're seeing right now is the theory of oil prices is supply and demand. when supply is limited and demand is high, prices go up, right we all learned that in economics 101. let me be the first to tell you right now, there is more oil supply in america today than there was one year ago. on top of that, there is less demand in america today than there was a year ago. more supply, supply, less demand what should happen. prices should go down not off-the-wall. the reason for that is our friends and exxon mobil and other large corporations, many of which by the way make huge profits and pay nothing at taxes, what they have done is use the excuse of unrest in the middle east as a recent issue.

they are not alone, one of the things taking place now between the oil company and wall street is the oil companies saying yes we are greedy and selfish, that's that's true but were not the only ones. what you're seeing now is speculation from wall street where these wall street firms are bidding up oil future prices. they don't use the product, they are are just making money is prices go up. under the financial reform bill passed one year ago we gave authority for a commission that nobody in the world has ever heard of, called the commodity trading commission to in fact and extreme speculation. that was what their job was, they have not done it.

i have urged the president to take action, if these guys don't want to do it get their resignation, but a whole lot of people, working people, and the economy as a whole are suffering while the oil companies and wall street make a lot of money. this would be a perfect example of the powerlessness of congress to deal with very powerful entities while making huge sums of money. thank you for the question. let me conclude by. >> we have time for a few mark questions.

[inaudible] i'm worried about hyperinflation happening. >> is a good politician let me pick up on the point you may go someplace else. because you reminded me of something. that is there is an interesting coming together of the left and the right and that is the fed in general. i had serious doubts about the financial reform bill the dodd frank bill, because i didn't think it went anywhere near far enough among other things as i

mentioned in the introduction, we bailed out these huge financial institutions because they're too big to fail. like if they went down they would take a big part of the economy with them, i devote to bail amount but my colleagues did. then we find out that after the bailout, 33 out of the four are larger today and a number of economists believe that at some point we are going to see a repetition of what we saw a few years ago. when i got into the bill, working with, this is interesting my friend rand paul and paul and i had worked together while we are the house, this is an interesting coming together of the right and the left. what we wanted to do was an audit of the fed but what i ended up getting was a couple of things i got what i want to but not a lot, that is during the bailout, all of you remember there is a lot of debate about the talk of the bailout which was about seven or $800 billion. i voted against it, it ended up

passing. bottom line is, the american people were outraged by this were bailing out people causes problem, in any case if you want to know who receive that money you go to the u.s. department of treasury, go to their website and you'll find where every nickel when it was pretty transparent. at the same time with very little discussion, our friends at the fed, bembenek and company were lending out $3 trillion at very low interest rates. as a member of the budget committee a few years ago, i came before the committee and i said mr. mackey, my constituents the people of america want to know, which financial institutions got the money, where did it go, how do you get it? that i was very clever and i said you have to be a totally dishonest institution to get the

money or do you have to could you be an honest business person? is there an an 800 number you have to call? he he didn't think it was all that money, he said said no i'm not going to tell you. then he introduced legislation to bring transparency, we managed to get that in the financial reform bill. a few months ago the gao did the work, they did a good job in the revealed where the $3 trillion went. went. needless to say, every major financial institution in this country got huge amounts of very low interest loans, but was also surprising was you'll will be delighted to know that at the same time small businesses over the country are not able to find affordable loans, every virtually essential bank in the world, including arab arab central banks, korean central banks, also got a bailout as well as the wealthy families in this country, as well as large

corporations like general electric. they all got a bailout. that was made public. we also know that one of the arab banks that got a lout was now owned, majority owned. we are also looking, the point about this is the fed is an enormous important agency, and enormously important of which the american people know very little. we are fighting to bring transparency, also you have bankers sitting around the world deciding who got these loans what i believed to be direct conflict of interest and i hope will be implemented in july and its people being part of a process to which they benefit very handsomely. the fed is a huge issue and we need to work much more aggressively on that issue.

the function of the fed in my view should be to protect the middle class, create decent paying jobs in the country and not just a bailout large financial institutions. [applause]. [inaudible] >> you raise the issue about elizabeth i've known her for many years she is one of the smartest people that i have ever known. she came to vermont to do town meetings with me what i love about it she is able to take difficult, economic and

financial concepts and translate them into english so people know what she's talking about. i will tell you, i did more lobbying to get elizabeth appointed than any other issue. i will tell you this also, not long into the obama administration, i can't remember six remounts after he was in, half a dozen senators went to the white house to meet with him and said to him mr. pres. we are concerned that you are surrounding yourself with all of the same old wall street guys, and i was determined that he gave his reasons why, but i was determined that i would do everything i could to do at least anything i could to make sure there's one progressive voice there and elizabeth has that background. there are republicans who were

not happy with that i hope elizabeth will get the permanent up appointment with that which she does not have right now but she is an extremely capable person who is dealing with issues that are of an enormous importance. if you look at the bible or any other religious tract, whether it's the koran, whatever it may be, the charging of high interest rates usually is considered to be immoral. the theory is if you don't have a lot of money and i'm lending you money, it is wrong to get blood from the stone. i shouldn't be charging you such outrageous high interest rates. today in america we get calls on us all

the time. you get working people who are paying 25, 30% interest rates on their 30% interest rates on their credit cards. that is huge. that is no different than loansharking, i don't know that they go around breaking the caps like the gangsters used to do but they punish people if they don't pay. this is an issue, i know elizabeth has been working on in and is certainly something that i hope we can deal with her agency. >> may be a few more questions. >> i'm wondering what would be different if the democrats what is said you're threatening us with a filibuster and were not going to do that what would things look like. >> theirs of many of us in the senate who feel the same way, harry reid is a good enemy, i

like like him very much, his dilemma always is that he believes he has a job, that we have a job to pass legislation to address the problems facing america. that's what this job is about, that's what the leader's job is about. i think we could have and should pick a particular issue, what the gentleman is talking about is that we have seen a level of obstruction is him from republicans from the day after obama was elected they made it clear. if you want to accomplish something you're not going to do it, and the old days it was very rare for people to get the 60 votes. now on almost any significant piece of legislation they have demanded 60 votes which is very difficult to get. one example, during the

healthcare reform debate i introduced legislation which call for a medicare single-payer program. [applause]. by the way, i hope my state of vermont is going to lead the nation and that, were working hard on that. in any case i had no allusion that this is going to win, no way, i thought we would get somewhere between five and ten votes. but i thought it was important to get out there, is, is the first time in history that a single paper program could vote on it. i introduced legislation and every public and colleague, and what you do when you introduce registration as you say i asked that the bill be considered as read, and other words you don't have to read the whole bill. so i got up and said i object, i want the whole bill read. well it would required 16 hours of reading, and it still wasn't

going to win, it's like you to get ten votes but that's called obstructionism. and that's what they have been doing. so i grew through, i think we should have picked an issue that republicans objected and let the american people show them, and let the media and the american people focus on that issue and fix it. whether it takes weeks let's do it, that would've been my preference in the preference of some of the people. [applause]. i think all of you for coming out.

[inaudible] if you will allow me not to answer that specifically only in this sense, anybody can work for any office they want to work for. if at your going to ask me if i'm going to be involved, no i'm

not. here's what i think i speak with some knowledge about this because i am an independent, i have run on third parties, and i'm the longest-serving independent and congressional history. i history. i think you have to be judicious about it. in the real world, i don't give a damn about anything i'm going to run for office and i don't care if we have a right wing republican, i'm i'm running on principle and that's fine i can understand that but i disagree that. all over this country there are opportunities for progressive candidates to want run, if if you want to run outside the democratic party, if the context is right, do it. i did it. i was told not to run because i be a spoiler and it turns out i got more votes than the democrat. so i think you have to be judicious about it and i think also whether you choose to run within the democratic party or outside the democratic party, this i do believe that i think

the republican agenda, tax breaks for alien heirs and savage cuts engage the middle class and working families, these guys really do want to take us back to the 1920s where if you are old and poor you are on your own, no healthcare for you didn't matter workers had no rights, do not underestimate, these are serious people, they are not fooling around. they want to take effect to the 1920s to to a darker part of society for a handful of very wealthy people. i think their views, their ideology is way out of touch with what the american people will be. >> : .

>>

>> but you can give up. we have to raise the progressive agenda to allow a clear organize people around that educate because what we are fighting for is so important is the future of this country. i just want to thank busboys and poets for hosting this. [applause] in

march 2013. his book is "immigration wars" forging an american solution". [applause] >> our beloved president ronald reagan passed away almost 10 years ago but as many know, seems nearly impossible to follow political views without hearing a reference to the president. his memory, his name and fortunately his legacy seemed to be ubiquitous as the country grapples with the challenges of our time. for midyears -- many years after reagan and left office there was a question when there is a problem facing our country.

what would reagan to? it is a good question to ask because while times and technology have changed since president reagan was in office speaking to we are as americans have not but governor jeb bush understands this. and it is one of the reasons just six years ago to remain an extremely important voice in the republican party. as we prepare to welcome the governor let's first take stock that we know against the words and deeds of jeb bush with the same critical topics today. let's begin with taxes you know, ronald reagan spent much of his life for the

average american and is convinced not a man or woman on the street knew how to spend the dollar more wisely when bush was in office he cut taxes by $20 billion. and when ronald reagan was in the white house he reduce the rate of growth in federal spending in the size of the federal government. when it bush was in office he vetoed more then 2.3 billion dollars of earmarks and reduced the size of the government table by 13,000 people. when ronald reagan cut taxes on the national level he did it with a purpose in mind to create opportunity and provide incentive for

businesses to grow. and 20 million new jobs were created. the similar philosophy and economic programs created and ran a economy where new net jobs were added. their other fundamental important issues with the rise of health care with school choice and accountability to address the issues falling immigration. just like reagan years ago to resonate important topics in our lives which governor bush has demonstrated much needed leadership today with these and many others the only republican governor to be reelected to office.

going out of the way for all of us so please extend that to governor jeb bush. [applause] >> very kind. great to see you embassador is then incredible honor to be in this beautiful place. what you have done here it is truly their privileges would start my eighth remarks with the update first things for your thoughts emperors for my dad.

it wasn't time to go he always has a good sense of humor and he was right about that he is out of the hospital be gaining strength little by little purple yesterday he was at his library with prime minister mulroney off and that is the good side he is regaining his strength. the bad news. [applause] the bad news is he will not be pampered like he was in the hospital the new caregiver barbara bush is pretty tough. [laughter] we haven't seen much about him in the last several months but since you asked marvin is doing really well. thanks for asking.

[laughter] my brother george has maintained a tradition that is noble with you leave the stage, you leave the stage a vivid if those that proceed to, my brother in a ben hill looks better during your tie my brother has maintained this tradition to leave the stage the greatest joy in my brother's life and i am proud of him to show the self restraint that i could never have. [laughter] [applause] my son george is proving that it is either genetics or social of bringing

generation after generation running for statewide office is in texas said the now i know what it is like i get emotional when my dad asked what it was like for his son's to read now he compared the complete a sentence for by a man that same stage. i am proud of him and the last thing i have to tell you about but i was a a grandfather for way too long and i'm sure you have that experience. with sinking about pulling on my phone to show you george defilade us walker bush. think about her name. [applause] .org some places not everybody gets it but here

word would she is the of love of never life. with the name of georgia that we brought up our children it is a little bit of the training program to take care of grandchildren but they make you go through another trading process to babysit. [laughter] we have to do it twice and when i am alone her nickname is 41. [laughter] and what relates to the subject matter is she would be a quadra- eight texas

american end of iraqi canadian americans and she has a lot of diversity that is the for ruth the nature of the country and when she pulls out the form to fill out she will say not applicable and that is the way it should be when we take away identity politics. perspective of where we come from. it may be a leading indicator of things to come in our country. [applause] it is an incredible honor to be with you today ronald reagan was in bismarck north dakota at the state party convention in 1980. you may have been there.

and to be second place in the process where there are 4,000 people in bismarck north dakota and this was half the town. half of for dakota at that time and he spoke in such inspirational words that this is exactly the kind of message that got a 27 year-old excited that i realize i am speaking next. that is a little nerve wracking because there was no way i could compare to governor reagan. so he completed his speech and asked for free and i went back to say hello.

he -- it was a fairly heated primary not like now where it is a bloodbath but by definition was up pretty heated primary and he said i just wanted to beat year-end have much respect your dad. -- meet you and how much i respect your dad. from that moment on what in incredibly generous man. of is still pretty nervous but he doesn't it quite a bit. then only 400 stuck around to hear me speak. [laughter] it got back down to the proper level in all was well [laughter] the election is over the president has been reelected the do conkers sworn in and

we have but we had before to have the president be reelected the house remain in the republicans hands and effectively we have good luck with variations like him last week in washington. we had things like the fiscal clef recovery will jump off and it died now it is the inability to find common ground going from crisis to crisis change that because of the direction we should take that is undecided as well and the power of compounding is not our friend. the recovery is the weakest in modern times the entire never programs everybody recognizes to grow in magna to read and regulations are

outdated, complex and costly and creating great too much uncertainty. the education system does not help enough young people to pursue their dreams the debt levels are way too high and the tax policy is way too complicated with savings and success and the mobility for something we have been proud of their respective of where you start and we are among the developed countries of the world we are the least economically mobile. that is not capable to solve this problem what should redo? we need to create a

bipartisan path to sustain economic growth and air respective of our party we should demand respectfully we should demand leadership and public leadership. [applause] the economic growth creates more revenue for more people and for government said in a creative idea. high growth exponentially increases revenue we saw that in the '80s were the early 2000's and it is absolutely curve -- true. low growth that we have had of the great recession increases the demands of government with medicaid or food stamps said is about 32 million of 47 in four years and unemployment

compensation and many other demands of governments not only are we getting back revenue but also dramatically expanding the cost of government. the power of compounding can be your friend or enemy. right now it is our enemy. making ardor for the next generation to be successful. of the other hand economic growth that should aspire chair to put into perspective a 2% increase of real economic growth compounded over 10 years. but in the tenth year it creates $4 trillion of economic activity to create

enough revenue to fund with a current effective tax rates is as $1 trillion of additional be occurring revenue for state local and governments it seems we could go back to the days where 4% growth is what we aspire tarot to make happen that is $4 trillion of activity to lift our spirits. our country is always positive and the reagan more than any other elected official really is believe the next generation will have more opportunity people interacting to create a better day and we could be uplifted again but strangely

if you see the debate today very little is about economic growth handed is about the austerity order that nothing's that have to get done but it is much easier in the context of high a sustained growth rate are a purpose for values i have three suggestions and not necessarily ideological that we could get to the point to have higher sustained growth with an energy policy of american ingenuity and second to to use said towards something of a high growth economic strategy to respect the rule

of law to the 21st century that allows i itchy being people with a great opportunities for all of us and to have baster and transformation so more and more children can gain the power of knowledge to be successful. [applause] >> we're the most energy abundant country in the world. 12 years ago we were about readied not to have a natural gas. so to import liquefied natural -- liquefied natural gas now we have so much we do not know what to do with it because of technology the greek immigrants combining to existing technologies

created the greatest explosion competing with the commercialization of the internet. there should be parades to celebrate that we're on the process to be energy secure but because much of that takes place in west texas and north dakota is not cool. the secret committee to design aids what is cool so it is a celebration but there should be because this opens the door for a tremendous benefit for our country. $300 billion last year. went out to of the coffers of united states about any economic benefit lower those

could quickly learn to hate us after this is not an effective national security policy where we take the testimony of every country to support regimes that don't have the democratic institutions to bring stability but within a short period of time it is something we should put aside to apply with enthusiasm to create a strategy and imagine the benefits with the lowest cost energy source in the world with greenhouse gas emissions and it is saving billions of dollars on utility bills to create hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment with

the infrastructure rather than ship atreus for pavement out like we did last year. but first it is a no-brainer for the keystone pipeline. [applause] but the simple fact is oriole is headed west to go to asia or south to build the infrastructure that allows us to create opportunity for our own national security. to make sure we are doing responsibly but should not be paralyzed but we have a hard time to apply 21st century rules and regulations to apply the 1975 rules to make the industry a permanent part to

use 21st century solutions to make this a viable. we should open up to allow the drilling to take place that has been a serious decline of oil and gas produced on federal land everyone to become energy secure we should use those resources and create incentives for natural gas for transportation adjust cries out for unit of energy is less for diesel and you could save 1.5 million barrels and expand our own energy to have incentives for our homes and businesses to

consume less but the conservation is the policy that we can get that is the best means to create a comprehensive strategy. we should not resort to government venture capital. it is an oxymoron. it does not work. [applause] it has been tried and failed and let's move on with the interaction of people in pursuit of their own dreams with destructive technologies for renewal rather than having people thinking that they know best. that is a path to a brighter future and to get 1% over the next 10 years. soul of incremental activity

to embrace this energy policy but is there for the government to embrace it is happening we just have to eliminate the barriers to wreck celebrate natural gas. 10 years from now you will be 10 years older and everybody wants to be here. the simple fact we're getting older together and fertility rates have dropped dramatically to have a pair of red to entitlements and social security countries have for decades with fertility rates japan and russia to feel the impact of the one child policy for the fertility rate has dropped below break-even so to deal

with the demographic time bomb but to allow for the immigration laws to rebuild that demographic purebred to jump-start our economy to create the uplifting of the pope's and dreams with that immediate impact no country can do it like america the national identity is based on values and it is focused on civic education to remind us native born or not it is essential.

race is not an identifier or exclusionary policy but it sets us apart from the rest of the world and the immigrant heritage that creates more dynamism and innovation than in the other country and at a time when we desperately need to read engaged -- reading stage we cannot put aside this huge powerful catalytic converter for progress after we have done from the last decade. people that want to come to this country energize the native-born americans like myself of learning english to be a contributor to the economic vitality. from 1996 through 2011 the number of business start-ups has grown by 50 percent in

the 1999 to be granted 90,000 patents versus those that were born in other countries' policy 2009, or were granted to foreign-born nurses native-born. both parties take the blame though one democrat sees the political issue thinking they win a general election but my party views this as a primary election for a was the strongest and the politics striving the conversation and i am happy a to tell you because we desperately need reform and continued to increase border security for those to come

illegally then they just overstayed their time. we need to have new technology to track these people when the visa expires. we can make it easier to come legally and illegally. for those to come here for a great reason they come because it wanted better life but they cannot come easily end then illegally and have a chance to come illegally. [applause] move to the economic growth system that should be narrowed back to where a was 50 years ago now to allow

for their brothers and sisters and chain migration to make it harder for economic immigrants to come to the country. and rio may need to look north to find a better way at the same time to share 18% from 13% between 1991 from 18% to 67%. indeed even though canada has one-tenth of the population they have more immigrants because they have a strategy part of their economic growth the united

states could do the exact same thing. it should be expanded in the path of residency should be made. in 2007 there was 1 million h1-b visas but we're training people with high skills to be the next generation of renovators to allow us to be competitive. we trade them to give them hope they can stay then they leave and go to the country that is competing this is madness we need to change the system so it is part of the economic interest. and to make a difference your. to help sustain industries like agriculture. i think we need to expand

dramatically leges im of unbiased but to have the visitors come to spend all their money in disneyland or disney world to create economic activity for the country. [applause] and if you were here illegally there needs to be a path to learn english to not violate the law. it is not the american way. ronald reagan would not approve. because living a life of dignity with the success of the nation. first elevated not just for immigrants although that is

important. [applause] but for all of us. so the foundation of our nation to have shared values the only way is for people to embrace them and understand them that shouldn't just be for immigrants but for all of us. it is maddening to see the polls that show people don't know the three branches of government or the constitution is confused with the declaration of independence because summer schools restorer civic education and that should be part of a strategy. [applause] in economic leave driven

energy strategy to get pretty close to that growth with the rebirth of my country but to be sure that every child gets that kind of education to be successful and sadly today we have more then in a country in the world by the time they complete their journey. but if they go to a community college they will have to redo english and math. and for what they'd didn't learn the first time and

that is not acceptable for a country that wants to aspire to economic opportunity for every but april my we have social mobility to have a permanent group of people that are stuck in poverty. they don't want to be there they don't want their children to be there. we have to figure out a way to transform the education system so for work every to live if it comes to low income it doesn't matter because you get the same quality expectation for every person and every child to be sure we get those learning games to break the cycle that exist today that is the highest fiery for our country. [applause] i am tired i fought the

fight and i continue within the realm but i am tired of hearing people say it is not fair to have high expectations because it isn't fair because of broken homes or children come from poverty or it isn't fair when what's not fair is to have two-thirds of the children of this country not be ready when they get through 12th grade. , that isn't fair. [applause] in florida we graded schools 100% based on student loans the transparency was incredible people knew what the f was and the of f. california should consider

doing this deal with the chief mitt gap that will exist you intervene early to make sure that we focus on early childhood the literacy they don't do a great job on that to embark on the school choice program now emulated by their states. now with low income parents and the results were florida was at the bottom of the pact ended has moved up dramatically but to the extent that low income hispanic kids in florida to better than california. i am proud of the gains in florida has made but a lot needs to be done and.

it is shameful that we allow system to castaway in entire generation removed the needle where we continue to approve of my hope is people realize why this is is that a federal issue but with the tight end energy should be to challenge the system if we do those three things to incentivize frozen government with a tax policy but that would have a greater chance of a sustained economic growth and with that great divide that might begin to narrow. but all this will require

us. id is and osmosis you don't change your path without public leadership changing directions. to follow the polls then to roorback that is not leadership to change the direction it is on. but the mayor cut pretty much gets it when they see it. what does the nation need to do? the politics personal pride, a financial success sometimes leaders to their best work in christ's but we'll see the results. we have seen that time and time again and it is a lot to remember with the

challenges we face in the near future effected leadership comes in many forms president kennedy led us to land a man on the moon johnson quit and forceful leadership with a 25 percent across the board income-tax cut in just six weeks after the assassination president kennedy he hugged and beguin threatened and praised what a hands-on leader does with this jury said johnson grabbing people by the shoulder to make them realize how important it was to get things done was a sign of leadership that we need today but how about my dad managing the fall of the iron curtain? there were significant dangers of epic proportions

united states could have done a victory dance over the soviets particularly when the berlin wall fell i will never forget watching my dad on tv as abundance said he shed over there to celebrate with the german people but rather than be a leader he would have faced greater vulnerability to transfer without bloodshed a dictatorship of the proportions fell without one drop of blood it was an amazing feat things to the fantastic leadership of ronald reagan then the humility of george h. w. bush to do the right thing rather than what would make him look popular. these are the leadership skills necessary to day forever country prepare to be a strong leader to read

here to principles to be accommodating. no better example than that. almost six years ago senator ted kennedy praised the president to call ronald reagan he did now to destroy his opponents he took office with the evil empire in his sights one was a soviet union the other was the federal government he brought down the former and then brought to what might be considered unthinkable people can disagree but efface the n.h. other they

can find the accommodations considered the most bellicose productive working relationship ever between an american president and soviet premier to sign the first treaty for nuclear weapons he promised one day all weapons would be eliminated to swear he was the most optimistic for in the american dream was something he felt in his heart then-president begin antipode deal were opposites they clashed often in the press but what most -- both men deplored more than

anything was their political philosophy with ideology in party politics and he think about in the context of today they talked often and had lunch and shared stories and together there was a pond and a personal relationship about the size and scope of government to pass the greatest overhaul in the generation. reagan had countless sessions with democrats and republicans but it seems a never a beating occurs there is a press conference that somebody beats of the person before the meeting begins which wide i have decided president obama if he

changed course in the last three days i am sincere about this is seems he has invited republicans to dinner for the first time without much comment after words in terms of the aspirations this is the change whether motivated for all sorts of reasons that we don't understand and for the country to be a successful to put aside the vitriol that assist to recognize it does it mean they're not motivated than half to get to read broader consensus based on principles the ronald reagan for me is a

role model but a role model for the political system of today imagine a country with that heritage that we have the ability to solve the problems this country will take off to be the inspiration for the rest of the world we will of the cave or fetching to rebuild that requires the kind of leadership that ronald reagan practices every day and why i am honored to be here. thank you very much. [applause]

>> fate q. governor. we have six minutes. [laughter] to take a couple of questions if you have a question raised your hand and tell us who you are. >> governor bush thank you so much for your wonderful talk. i am curious with your great resolve of education in florida did you do that difficult teachers' union? >> it isn't the pta it is the fda is teachers' union is one of the most powerful political forces in florida.

not as powerful as year but i wish i could tell you we found accommodation but the reality is if you're at of tickets -- advocating reform , people that are organized around the economic interests that is their job to collectively bargain and in the case of florida the represent the teachers and other public school employees that do it well for higher accountability for what we did i did not expect that and i did not get that. there was a fight that required to stay the course and execution of the law it was eight long years to get the results that we have been teachers generally have moved to the benefits of the

new system but the result could not and to this day they are trying to block reforms not just in florida but around the country. sometimes you find common ground but when you don't you have to sort that out politically i got elected to continue to do what i was doing the also to allow us to have enough time now all the states are emulating that around the country. >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> what is the question?

[laughter] i am optimistic there is a growing consensus to push the views of the political system that people are getting free and frustrated that they see the need for a new message to go back to the place to be reform at the heart of what we believe and if you do that part then you will be carried by the american people not just one elected official. [laughter] we cannot wait until 2016 to change the direction of the country.

it has to start now. [applause] >> one more question. >> i am a recent immigrant here. [applause] i am wondering what about the children of illegals? what about the finish there is education? then they stay here or leave? >> right now the law is the president doesn't have the executive power but it is

unchallenged but unilaterally has suspended the period of time for the students you are describing but it doesn't offer a permanent of solution to this with a path to citizenship for those to break the law the children cannot be penalized for that i'm not sure you're talking about anybody that you know, you are under those suggestions that are discussed right now of the

person that you described in that relationship over time to get a ged. does that answer your question? good luck. [laughter] [applause] >> on behalf of