forms are heavily investing in puerto rico commercial paper. so if puerto rico doesn't pay its debt you'll end up having consequences in the mainland. folks in pensioners in california, a new jersey come across the country will feel it. somehow that means first political actors in congress will actually act press any more responsible way than they have done so far. as regards to max questions, legitimacy, yes, i guess the answer to question is that perhaps we could have engineered a process whereby puerto rican actors and actress in congress would have actually engineered a consent mechanism or by folks in puerto rico could -- [inaudible] the whole board mechanism perhaps by having a local vote on it.

80% of folks in puerto rico support the board can what's the problem of actually putting it to the people for a vote? the most recent poll i saw on the board suggests that perhaps it's 49-51, or 50/50 folks opposing. if that's the case in which the problem of actually putting it to the people on a vote? like congress did in 1951? that would render something illegitimate perhaps. as regards to your proportion of economic development, before we get to that conversation we need to make sure that energy costs go down in puerto rico. we need to make sure the board is credible. it's incredible the local government right now came up

with a 9.1 billion budget, okay, in the face of this crisis. in other words, that are suspending payments on the debt that they our still spending like crazy. that's something that is unjustifiable. it really takes away credibility or whatever credibility was left from the puerto rican government. that's something that has to be dealt with in a meaningful way moving forward. >> thank you. barry, final word. >> well, we differ a little bit, for perspective on what this control board is intended to do. i have thought and i think the intention of the current legislation and it's a short-term and at resolving a financial problem. it is not aimed at solving puerto rico's economic problems and competitiveness going forward. in fact, i think it's a terrible for him to try to resolve those

sort of issues. so it's temporary. is going to be painful on both sides. efficacy of bondholders screaming. one of the things that make civilly obligated is that we are not sure who actually holds the debt anymore and what they paid to get it. so it's important you pay back. that's a powerful system. i think comic seems to be the actual value of the debt has already declined to near 50% of the $75 billion number that was given. when i do a rough calculation, i think puerto rico has enough money in current taxes in the general fund to pay current

expenditures. it could have an economic term a primary budget balance. it can't afford to pay anything on the debt at the present time and has no money for any new investment, which is a big problem. so when you think about the investment problem and you think about future debt payments, they are probably going to have to come out of some met increase in taxes to put them on a board. i think also realistically that the id of economic programs to get puerto rico growing again can only be sensibly designed wants is a damn bit issue is put behind you. and what is the lesson from greece which they've been pounded eu on now for the last six months? you have to resulted. you have to wrap it up. they are telling the eu you've got to write down some of this debt.

so that puerto rico is back. you can't just keep postponing. what is done with greece so far as they don't make any payment. they just work without maturity of the debt, and they give the very concessionary short-term interest rates. but there's no end to that process. and without an end idle see how you're going to get an answer. so i think the focus of the control board should be to make the hard decisions to bite down the debt to a sustainable level as quickly as possible and they need a lot of expertise to determine what in fact puerto rico can afford to pay. when you talk about restructuring, in 2006 our idea was business services. we thought puerto rico is sort of the ideally placed geographically between europe, latin america and the u.s., and it was a bilingual country. it could've been a good job of

promoting business service type connections among the three continents. some people thought that was a good idea. i think time has shown it no longer would work because miami thought it was a great idea. and miami has basically opted in faster than san juan. i'm also amazed to learn that order rico is now no more bilingual on the mainland of the united states. the people who speak the language in addition to english is about the same. i don't think they have a big advantage there anymore. i do think they have demonstrated a very strong higher education program in engineering, particularly the aerospace industry. they have an excellent reputation there. i think it could do something education and a medical.

another one other thing that we put together soda to look at solar energy. why didn't they take more advantage of the obama administration's extraordinary magnitude of subsidies that it offered for research developing in alternative fuels? so i think that basic message is puerto rico has to diversify their economy. i'm still kind of puzzled, i must admit, i'm actually working on now that i don't understand, is why, hawaii is about as far away from the mainland as puerto rico. it's an island. it's one of the richest states in the union. puerto rico in my view, is so poor it couldn't possibly support itself as a state. it's 30% of the u.s. average. it's half the income of the poor state in the union. i don't understand of people

think it could become a state and finance its activities. why such a big difference? why does puerto rico do so badly as hawaii does so well? if i understood that i might try to think about some sort of economic policies about how they could do. i don't. >> i think we have another topic that, hawaii, puerto rico comparison. this up in a very rich and substantive discussion on obviously a very, very series issue. i want to go back to raphael's comment that this deserves a place on hemispheric agenda. and want to thank again kevin and dan for prodding the dialogue, to take this on. and i think certainly i come away with a sense that we need to continue to focus on this. a lot of issues have been raised that deserve a lot more

attention and engaging more people in this discussion. plus there's a lot at stake and it's a very critical. i want to thank vigor i want to thank all of you for your great comments and questions and coming here today. and a special thanks for a superb speakers, thank you. thank you so much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> today the independent women's forum post a policy summit with conservative opinion leaders, journalists and policy analyst on issues affecting women in the workplace. live cerage begins at 9:30 a.m. eastern. >> booktv has 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors every weekend. your awesome programs to watch for.

all majorities are fleeting. and depending upon what the american people decide this november, i could be the minority leader next year and the minority -- majority leader position does present a real opportunity, even in the body like this in which is very difficult to make function. to our advantages to setting the agenda and what we call the right of first recognition to move the country in the direction it would like to go.

>> go to booktv.org for complete weekend schedule. >> indiana governor mike pence delivered this year's commencement address at indiana wesleyan university. he discussed his christian faith and being a husband and father. this is about 20 minutes. >> governor mike pence, lifetime

hoosier was born and raised in columbus, indiana, graduated from columbus north high school come what on to graduate from hanover college in 1981 and earned his jurisprudence degree from indiana university school of law in 1986. following graduation from law school, government has worked as an attorney in private practice. he ran for congress in 1988 and 1990 in 1991, governor pence was named president of the conservative state think tank based in fort wayne vanessa the indiana policy review foundation. in 1992 governor pence started a career in radio broadcasting and two years later network indiana syndicated his show statewide. mike pence show aired weekdays on 18 radio stations. he also hosted a sunday morning political television show in indianapolis from 1995-1999.

first elected in 2000 burning his sixth term in 2010, governor pence represent the sixth congressional district encompassing much of the eastern half of indiana. he was elected unanimously by his colleagues to serve as house republican conference chairman and chairman of the house republican study committee. a strong supporter of the military, governor pence made a priority of reducing that in an opponent and one in congress he visited the soldiers in iraq and/or afghanistan every year since hostilities began. governor pence was elected as a 50th governor of indiana in 2012. and inaugurated january 14, 2013. governor pence has dedicated to continuing india on a pathway to success through fiscal responsibility of economic development and educational opportunity. since taking office in 2013 governor pence has lowered the

business and personal tax and corporate income tax, ma passed the largest state tax cut in indian history, expanded school choice, made career and technical education a priority in every indiana high school and invested more than $800 million in new money for roads and bridges in indiana. governor pence manages a state employed workforce of approximately 28,000, and a state budget of 30.6 billion to get russia to the duties of executive branch as the state's chief executive officer. he recommends and reviews legislation with members of the indiana general assembly and also serves as the commander in chief of the indiana national guard. governor, we recognize your achievements but the reason we invited you here today, governor pence often describes himself publicly as a christian. i conservative and a republican in that order. governor pence and first lady have been married since 1985 and

have three adult children. we've asked governor pence to talk to us today about what it means for him as a believer to serve in the public sphere. now we use join me in please gettingive a warm indiana weslen university welcome to our governor, mike pence. [applause] >> dr. wright, and the board of trustees at indiana wesleyan university, to the outstanding faculty, to the parents and proud and relieved family

members who are gathered here today, and to the outstanding men and women of the class of 2016. i bring greetings. [applause] >> i am truly honored to address the 2016 graduating class of indiana wesleyan university. and humbled by. a class of 514 truly exemplary young men and women, students have achieved recognition in research, academic achievement in athletics, men's and women's national basketball champs are among us. coral members we just heard from, musicians up toward the united states in europe, students who have served, serve in classrooms and churches and hospitals, studied abroad and served abroad. we have among us a governors a fellow, a princess of the india

500 festivals, and a graduate who submitted a photo that will soon adorn our bicentennial stamp. this is a class of extraordinary accomplishments. and i believe that 2016 graduating class of indiana wesleyan university represents a generation of promise and i congratulate you all. [applause] >> today is all about you, and it should be fun. you are all winners, and the prize is waiting right up here. and winners have fun. you know, i think, i'm here at your governor but it's not the highest office i hold. the highest office i hold is

actually d-a-d. it is and always will be. [applause] >> moms and dads, we have sat in those chairscome and we're hoping to see it a few more times. we understand the sacrifices your families have made, to see you through, the way they encouraged you to reach for this education. they encouraged you through those anxious days throughout your college career. they probably wrote a few checks along the way. ..

i remembered this day like was. it was a day died to some of the best friends that i've was filled with hopes but i was also anxious and afraid of whether those folks would never come around. i had grown up with a heart for public service. i went to a college not dissimilar from this one in southern indiana, a solid,

christian liberal arts education i studied american history and try to prepare my mind for what i hoped was before me. but i wasn't sure. but i can tell you i changed in college. and in fact, for most, college changes us. i'll never forget the first time i saw our side who graduated a little bit ago and is now in the service. the first time he came home from school, we were adamant that you've changed. change happens and it's good. you moms and dads in the rooms know what i'm talking about. i wanted to talk to you today about ways in which i have changed and the ways that i hope in the course of your life you stay changed a new tape from this place the best of what she'd cleaned. one of the ways i changed as i

learned the value of hard work and perseverance and persistence in pursuing my goals. true confessions. i was not like a totally great student in high school. i mean, really and truly. i'll never forget the day. i was senior class president and the day they posted the top 10 students in the class, a friend of mine came up because i was so active on the school campus and said did you just miss it? [laughter] i said not really. [laughter] the college changed that for me. mostly because of people back here, professors who sought in me something in a classroom more than i saw it in myself.

a professor who is now about 90 years young and is still a mentor to me, dr. curtis. i will never forget come never forget coming from a paperback and and said that is a sea. i said well it is in a different than his and he got a beat. for him that is a beat. for you that is a seed. i know the debt of gratitude that all of you feel for the faculty and professors who impact of your lives, who poured themselves into your lives. people like professor williams and others. would you join me and think in all the and all the faculty who changed your life. [applause] another way i was changed as i

learned the value of true friendship, real friendship through thick and thin. there is something about when you go away from home and how quickly you huddled with just a few people. i bet you were talking this morning, putting on the cap on the cap in congress and people united just met on that very first day. it was a bond. use each other through the challenges. i know while today is hello to your future for many of you coming you are worried it is goodbye to your very best friends. well, i promise you it is not. karen and i were just at a wedding a couple short weeks ago. a college friend of mine that was surrounded by all of the crazy friend that i made in college. were all a little high mileage right now, but we turned on the earth wind and fire and let it

loose at this wedding. [laughter] you can hold on to these friends. make no mistake about it. i also learned, and i changed in college because i learned the importance of having the courage of your convictions. colleges that very first time when you step out in you are no longer your mother's daughter or your father's daughter, your parents child. you are no longer the younger brother or sister on a high school campus or in the neighborhood. you are just you. this is the place where you've learned to be you, to stand up and to speak about what you believed the defendant in the classroom and lunchrooms and maybe in late night conversations and comfortable settings with friends. i love a john f. kennedy quote

about her age. it was a quality that president kennedy looked for more and people than anything else. the sad, and i quote, without belittling the courage with which men have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which men have lived. and man does what he must in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressure is then that is the basis of all human morality. cs lewis probably put it even better when he said courage is not simply one of the virtues. and as the form of every virtue at the testing point. i want to submit to you that the foundation and education you have learned here at indiana wesleyan, this extraordinary place that is your academic

career on a foundation of christ centered character, scholarship and servant leadership. i want to submit to you to be a leader of that type, you must be prepared to face opposition and even criticism. it comes with the territory. as the old book says in this world, you will have trouble. but take heart and overcome the world. to be strong and to be courageous and to learn to stand for who you are and what you believe is the way that you have changed here and will carry into the balance of your life. lastly, in college i changed in one other way. you see, i was raised in a church home on my parents suited

us up every sunday morning and got us out to church and i will always be grateful for the religious foundation of my app ringing. but by the time i got to high school, i had a different. i kind of one of my own way, decided to set aside those old-fashioned ideas about religion and think for myself. i kept going to church, but i was probably one of those people who held a form of christianity but tonight it's power. i went off to college and set it all aside. but then i began to meet some people at college. they were confident, yes. they were competent, yes, that they had something that i lacked in my life. i knew in my heart of hearts that they had some pain to call

julie -- something to call joy. there seemed to be something in their life that was beyond them and i felt they needed my life to embrace it. i will never forget one of the fellows who is now a pastor up in indianapolis and still a close friend of mine who was talking me about matters of faith and my resistance to that. i went up to him and said i've decided to go ahead and say i am a christian into the christian thing. so i told him i want to get one of those crosses you wear. those look good. i started bothering him about it. he said he had done before you are all doing some catalog you could call and order a cross. i pestered him about it or them once and i'll never forget the day. hey, man, i am going with the christian thing now.

give me that number. i want to call and get that across like yours. he turned to me and said words that impacted my life took a meteor strike. and he doesn't even remember saying it to this day. he turned to me and said remember, you've got to wear it in your heart before you wear it around your neck. you've got to wear it in your heart before you wear it around your neck. and he walked away. i wrestled with those words for days that followed. i didn't know what he meant, but i knew there was truth in it. i found myself a few months later and not spraying, -- and not spraying 1978. heard a sermon or two at a youth christian concert. i'd always heard those words that god so loved the world that he gave his only son.

but it hit me that night and that also meant god so loved me that he gave his only son and overwhelmed with a heart of gratitude, that night i gave my life to jesus christ and it's made all the difference. you know, i said to karen this morning, it is always wonderful to say to god i love you, but it is probably more accurate when we realize how we can ever say to god if i love you, too because he said it first. that was the biggest way my life changed. in those days in college. i want to say to the class of 2016, in whatever ways you have changed, as this wonderful faculty has poured their lives

into you in this wonderful christian university, the ways that you have learned here, what you have learned, hold onto all of those things in the days ahead. hold onto those you you love with both hands. the people next to you and the people in the gallery, hold onto these precious mentors who i promise you will love to get that e-mail from you in a month or six months or year or five years. keep striving, keep learning, keep persevering. one of my other favorite quotes of all time comes from president calvin coolidge, who spoke about the importance of persistence and perseverance. he said nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

genius will not. unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. education is not. the world is full of educated derelicts. persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. what you have learned here in your striving, and your accomplishments continue to put into practice in your life. embrace the courage that you have learned here and build on it to be men and women of integrity and large ways and molly throughout your life. stay changed. stay changed in every good way that gerhard and mind have been transformed during your time here at indiana wesleyan university. so i say today, congratulations. congratulations to the graduating class of 2016 at

indiana trade for university. this is the last day at your university, but the first day of the rest of your life. the future beckons. your dreams away. but now i see go that he who saw you through these days of challenge is waiting for you on the other side of the door of this auditorium to see you through the next great challenges of your life. that he has a plan for you, a plan to prosper you and not to harm you. it plans to give you hope and a future. god bless you and go grab that future with faith. thank you. [applause]

[applause] >> thank you very much, governor pence for those stirring words and what matters most and how it changed us in university. 16 years of public service to the state of indiana, for your personal life that tomorrow's high ethical standards, for the example of your student leaders are his servant leadership and for your personal christian character that is evidence to while those who interact with you personally. by the authority vested in me by the indiana transfer board of trustees and the state of indiana, i defer upon you the degree of dr. of public leadership i'm a token which we have vested with governor pence with an academic could and i had this parchment of recognition. thank you.

[applause] >> pepperdine university invited national cable and telecommunication michael powell to deliver the 2016 commencement address. his speech is 15 minutes. >> good glorious morning. it's a pleasure to be here and i want to start off by thanking the provost and the faculty and the president or the administration and the students were bestowing on me the exceptional honor of joining the pepperdine community. this'll be a day i will long cherished and i'm really thrilled to be here. as i look out on this crowd, i see a lot of joy from all of you

as your cladding caps and gowns are set to enter the working world. from my church, there seems to be some cause for concern. why? because the robots are rising. the cars are driving themselves and computers are humiliating human beings in contest of what the most recent example is google's computer that annihilated the reigning champion and a game called go, a 2500 euro game so complicated there are more moves than there are atoms in the universe. machines frighteningly seemed poised to replace humans as tomorrow's skilled workers. so it might be understandable if you sit there questioning whether your years of liberal arts study have done much to make you valuable in this as my

miata utopia that is unfolding in front of you. are you just destined for a life as r2-d2's nursemaid, keeping him cool, changing his batteries, and maybe reading plato or shakespeare to pass the time. i know that millennial's cherished their digital ways, but i wonder if you are being lured to your own demise. could it be that while you are too vigorously tweeting and retreating, posting and reposting, snap in and chat and the machines are modeling your behavior, learning your skills so they can cast you in a corner and leave you and your iphone while making command of the work that drives our economy. death of liberal arts student have a chance these days? they're certainly a chorus of critics to say no to the minds

of these naysayers, the liberal arts college and expensive system that produces well bred students with no part at all scales. japan, the arts and humanities should be pushed aside and replaced with science, technology, engineering, math end quote and everybody has got a code. this academy behaviors are wrong. the value of a liberal arts education to the contrary i believe is the greatest task you accomplished in the modern digital age required then and then with broad knowledge, creative minds in the deep intellectual curiosity and above all a strong moral sense. this is exactly what liberal arts colleges produce and what the world sorely needs. the world needs you.

while creative destruction and disruption that the narrative of tech glory, they are deconstructing and eroding traditional institution, changing societal values, convulsing political and economic systems and changing the nature of human relationship making sense of it all requires more than coders and technocrat. it requires the perspective of the historian, the insides of the sociologist and the reflection of the philosopher. weapons are now the spread of terrorism and religious extremism. what will people who comprehend the fundamentals of religion understand its true purpose and find a path to restore the true meaning of faith, forgiveness and peace. and the digital age, the only constant is change itself. a large number of jobs today did not even exist five years ago.

the serious explosion of technology makes it impossible to predict the world in five years, let alone 50. in this ever-changing world world, the future will belong to those who are adaptable, those who can change direction, rain and themselves, spot new opportunity and continuously innovate. liberal arts study has molded you into that type of a person. above all, the most valuable thing you have been taught is how to teach yourself. you are capable of lifelong learning and that will be your kind added advantage in verdict of the world. but making a meaningful life goes well beyond adapting to whatever vocation awaits you in a world where many tasks will be mastered by machines, you will have to rely on the one thing

that most distinguishes you from circuit in silicon and that is your humanity. to cultivate your humanity, if you must consciously move beyond a career centered work of collecting data, accumulating information and acquiring knowledge. a purposeful life in bad is found in this study and graceful and humble pursuit of wisdom. i was there special admiration for the unclenching commitment to encourage you to that path. its mission is to prepare persons to become moral and intellectual leaders and the challenge to value surveys above material success. wisdom seekers must define their work beyond external measures and societal achievement. wisdom at its core is discovered internally. it begins with understanding your weaknesses and shortcomings

and quietly attending every day to be in a better person when the sun that they knew where winter burrows that morning. the search for wisdom has never been easy. but today that path is it scared in the wave of a culture of fame, money and celebrities. personality has a calm more celebrated than character, a lab to be more revered than the quiet nsa technology is part of a responsible. yes, it can be true of technology, while delicious are siphoning many into society at the shallows. young people today risk being turned into a nonstandard personal brand managers obsessed with managing their image on social network, spending their energies collecting mics and followers in curating their highlight reels for friends on

facebook. ensured i feel like a nation of people chasing attention more than achievement. one obsessed with 140 character bits of information rather than words and meaning in such a. youtube seems to be the new andy warhol canvas where you find your 15 minutes of fame. but if you want to find a higher purpose, and you must resist becoming a celebrity is. running around collecting trophies, trinkets and certificates with big bonuses. you have to find the road to character. new york times columnist david brooks authored a brilliant book of that name and in that he says there are two sets of human virtues. the resume virtues and the eulogy virtues. the resume virtues are the skills that contribute to your eternal success in the job or get. the eulogy virtues are deeper.

as he says, they are the features that get talked about at your funeral, the one that exists at the core of your being, whether you are kind, brave, honest or faithful, what kind of relationships you form to my come of this person wants to have a serene inner character of quiet the solid sense of right and wrong, not only to do good, but to be good. he wants to love intimately to sacrifice self in the service of others coming to live in obedience to some transcendent trust, to have a cohesive and are so that honors creation and one's own possibilities. a wise person cultivates eulogy virtues throughout their lives. a sage is forged in the tone of time from decades of experience is that none of you have yet to have, but if you set your compass to that destination now, as you take your first step, you will surely get there.

to help you start your journey, i offer just a few lessons for my own crucible and and a wise person who's always confident, that number stood, a wise person understands certitude and the doubt rather than weakness can be a virtue. if you appreciate the vast complexity of our universe, you know that our senses limit our perceptions to molding a tiny fraction of reality. much more is unknown to us than is known. avoiding certitude leads your mind open to see that you might be wrong and needs you prepared to revise your opinion based on new facts, new tab or the weight of a better argument. certitude is blinding and leads to eric ends and closes the mind.

avoiding certitude however does not mean a life without conviction. in a world of ambiguity, you need a moral compass. you must develop principles that you compromise for no one.

-- be able to be a lovely tour of god. a wise person practices gratitude, compassion, acceptance, forgiveness and a higher purpose in life. gratitude is acknowledging and appreciating your class income of the outer expression of humility. compassion is into the inner state of another to ease suffering and sheer joy. a well-known quote says be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. acceptance means appreciating what is not in your control. god, grant me the serenity to

accept the things i cannot change, the cursor to change the things i can and the wisdom to know the difference. forgiveness is a choice to give up anger and resentment. you get to give to others, even those who don't deserve your kindness. higher meaning gives your life and work a purpose. it makes you happier, more focused in moore's actually connected. finally, a wise person knows she is mortal. when i sat where you are now, i gave no thought to the fact that the light before me with them may have been an. often people first confront their mortality when they reach middle age and their knees hurt and their cholesterol is bad in their blood pressure is up. and appreciating might decide that why you are young will give

you the proper do for a living meaning only. as emily dickinson wrote that it will never come again to what makes life is sweet. i learned this lesson the hard way when i was just a few years from where you are sitting now. i was an army officer in germany living my dream and one day with no warning i was thrown from an armored vehicle and land highway with a broken spine and a shattered paul vick cretul. at that moment i didn't know that i had hours or years remaining. i spent an entire year in the hospital relying on the skilled hands of others command to love in support of my family and ran, my own faith in my own spirit to live in my determination to find a meaningful life.

it may sound odd, but it's the best thing that ever happened to me for it taught me that life is precious. it taught me nothing is more important than relationships. it taught me to move towards those who are above a mankind to move rapidly away from those wallowing in negativity and lightness by self-promotion and ambition. atomic majesty of the universe and how small i yam and it can taught me the true importance of perseverance and the importance of bruce wayne wisdom. if i can impart the same lesson to you now, without having it fall on you, then you will have a life rich with meaning and you will have not interfered from the robots. thank you very much. [applause] >> today we affect sort of catch it to the 20th century.

within the invisible half of the congress passed seven years. we've watched our house colleagues with interest and the tv coverage members of our colleagues in the house. today is the u.s. senate comes out as a communications dark ages, we create another historic moment in the relationship between congress and tech the logical advancements in communications through radio and television. >> 50 years ago our executive ranch began appearing on television. today marks the first time in our legislative ranch in its entirety will appear on that tedium of communication through which most americans get their information about what our government and country does. >> televising the senate chamber proceedings also represents a wise and warranted policy. broadcast media coverage

recognizes the citizens of our nation to know that business that their government. >> and i would show to you the body of evidence from this question. do you trust william jefferson clinton. >> and we have just witnessed something that has never before happened in all of senate history. the change of power during a session of congress. >> what the american people still don't understand in this bill is there are three areas in this bill but in the next five years to put the government charge of everybody's health care. >> i'm sure i've made a number of mistakes in my political career. voting against having c-span

televised senate was one of them. >> we are live this morning at this morning as the independent women's forum is hosting panel discussions focusing on the economy, political leadership, women voters in the future the supreme court and college campus culture. this is part of the group's annual policy conference taking here in washington. this is live on c-span2. should start in just a moment. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> can everybody hear me? i'm charlotte hays on behalf of the independent women's forum, welcome to the second annual women leg segment. what you are going to hear today is going to be very different from what you would here at the white house conference on women next week. now our last i met, the first summit last year hasn't been a huge success. we got leading conservative women groups together for a substitute discussion. this year we arguably have a lot more to talk about. just so that there won't be an elephant in the room, i would like to acknowledge right now this is a weird year whose lives

are committed to policy and ideas. it had to be said. this makes all of our jobs are that more important. we need more than other as many people as possible, to express a genuine conservative vision. it's imperative this year and i've got to look at the list to make sure i get everything in. if remake a case and a strong thriving civil society. more fulfilling for more people. you will hear it here today. it is very important that we get together and talk about to make our argument in a compelling way. a lot of our friends on the other side of the aisle just want talking points.

now, we don't want that. there's nothing wrong with the great soundbite. we are all for that. we are here to talk about really important subsidies aimed. we are here to figure out a loud. we are here so we can go forth and make our point in a more compelling manner and even anytime in the past because it's very important. with that in mind so many conservative groups today. as you all know, iws goes back to the period of a clarence thomas hearings and the left cannot forgive us for our survival and enormous success. our sister organization are going strong. we fight the good fight with wisdom, wit and here. we still do a lot of great

research to the entire movement and speaking to our wisdom, i want to find sabrina schaeffer, our leader. without sabrina's vision, this wouldn't happen today and without the hard work of sabrina and the other women at the independent women's forum. please avail yourselves of our dynamic speaker and dynamic channel and also stick around at the end of the day. we believe in good cheer. it is our high honor to introduce to you karen merritt. she's an oscar, an angel investor and she is also a serial mentor. if you have not availed yourself of pocket mentor, i urge you to do so. karen is the founder and ceo of pocket mentor, a great resource for women. before founding pocket mentor, she was cofounder and ceo and i

want to get this right, cofounder authority executive vice president of the software company called web method. it started in the proverbial base and now it has announced a global company that is $200 million in business every year and has more than a thousand employees worldwide. she's a female entrepreneur and yes, president obama, she did it herself. without further ado, i want to present caring. she is here to mentor assault today. thank you so much for being here. [applause] >> i want to ask a question to start out with you at how many people in the audience today has seen the musical called hamilton? anyone seen it? are you listening to the soundtrack? have you got the t-shirt that says benedict did to the

soundtrack. i was fortunate enough because my husband next month ago but is tickets to a map may. i recently saw hamilton and i can't get it out of my mind. i keep singing the songs. it's inspiring, uplifting. get the soundtrack. get the tickets when you can. but the reason i love this story is that an american story. alexander hamilton was born in the caribbean. he became an orphan. he got his first job at the age of 13. he worked as a clerk and worked his way out. he came to america because he wanted to be a new man. he worked his way up and out and it became a vital part of the community of sounding fathers and mothers. another reason that the story resonates with me and i know business with all of us is because i left home when i was 17 to get a job. our close-knit family was torn apart because of my parents

divorced. my parents are good, hard-working people from the working class and they were not going to be able to support me and put me through college because of divorce. so i got a job as a receptionist, gotten a part that, worked my way up in the administration profession. i became the executive secretary to the partner in charge of an accounting firm. but my dream was to go to college. i was scared. i lacked the confidence. i didn't know how i was going to put myself through school. finally at the age of 25 i enrolled at ucla. i took a chance. i quit my day job. i got a job at ucla at the placement and career planning center. i worked 25 hours a week. i did an accelerated program and graduated in three years. on graduation day, i thought if i can do this, i can do anything.

but i also thought i could've done this before. why did i doubt myself? there were opportunities for me to do this. i could've done it. in five years of graduating from ucla, and a tear to the washington d.c. area and started my first business. within a year or so i met my husband and after that we started to come to me in our basement, the one that charlotte just mentioned. like most entrepreneurs, we maxed out her credit cards, used up all of our savings and went to friends and family to get investment in our company. we also got in last night from a number of angel investors and with that money we grew the company to 10 people. we had a shipping product. we have customers. the one thing we didn't have was financing from a venture fund. we got rejected by every major find across this country. new york, silicon valley, boston, texas. no one wanted to invest. they got down to the last $33 in

our bank account. we thought we were going to have to close the doors when a venture fund from her there and virginia placed a bet. they invested $2 million in our company. we were able to grow our product line. we hire developers in customer service and marketing. our products got better and better. we won global customers. we were getting a lot of media attention. within a few years we took our company public on the nasdaq. it was the most successful software ipo in history. only in america. only in america. that year that we took it public, my husband and i set aside 10% equity in the company to start a foundation to help nonprofits that help low-income families get an education. my husband and i were from hard-working working-class families and solve an education to do for us and we wanted to help other people.

by that time we had one son and he was about two and a half years old, running global marketing for publicly traded company with a lot of hard work. i knew that my son wanted more time with me and i wanted my time with him. i cannot figure out how to make that happen and stay in a senior role in this come to me. so i made one of the hardest decisions i've ever had to make. i left the company i cofounded and grew were 1100 employees worldwide, global customers, groundbreaking pioneer technology that makes business-to-business commerce possible. we have patents. i had to leave that company because i needed some flexibility. i needed more control over my day. i became president and chairman of our family foundation renamed after the cub made and we have

involved grants to nonprofits. i love the work they are, the flexibility. i deeply miss my career. i'm going to cause my story right now because there have been many, many factors. but the reason that i told you might worry is because i believe that we as women all share similar stories. rtp is maybe different, but we all want the same things. we all want to discover our strength and purpose. we all want to step back and use those to make a significant impact in the world. but what we really need to do that, we need flexibility at every stage of our careers whether just out of college, whether we want to start a company, we need flexibility, opportunity and financing.

if we need to take time out of our careers and spend time with family, we need flexibility and more control. we might need to take time out to help an aging parent. i've been confronting not the last couple years. those things are hard enough on their own. with internal obstacles to overcome, lack of confidence, family backgrounds, the economy. unfortunately we also have a government that makes it awfully hard for us to have the flexibility we need and the opportunity we want. president obama's administration has made history. it was the first to past 80,000 new roles in one year. it's done that three different years and we all feel the weight of a. some of these policies are well-intentioned, but they backfire. it makes it harder for us to have the freedom to choose in the flexibility we need.

fortunately we have the independent women's forum who have come out with this amazing report, working women, modern agenda for improving women's life. i believe you have a website. i want everyone to go to this website and share the url on your social media. it is working report for women -- working for women report.com. thank you. share that on all of your social media. it's a wonderful agenda. the independent women's forum is fighting for us to pass this agenda. while we wait for these changes in the regulatory system, they were opportunities. there are glimmers of hope in our economy had been unleashed by entrepreneurs. we as women need to recognize and seize these opportunities. they provide for us flexibility

and freedom of choice and i want to review a couple developments today so we can see how this will help you in your unique situation. 20% of -- 7.9 million jobs, $1.4 trillion of revenue. government only received 9% of venture funding available and in spite of the fact that women are 20% more likely to generate revenue in a startup company and women by companies 35% greater investment. entrepreneurs and making a new way to help women. in 2009, a group of entrepreneurs start a kick starter. he possibly heard of it. a crowd funding platform. this is where you submit an idea

and a variety of investors can invest in your idea of our company. not every idea gets funded. it turns out that kickstart her favor is that a bad businesses. 65% of the technology companies founded by women get funding on kick starter and across all industries, 37% of businesses founded by women get funded on kick starter and only 32% of men, of companies founded by men get funded they are. this is just scratching the surface. entrepreneurs creating a way for women to get access to capital. another way is through angel funds. when an angel funds have always existed, but now they are bigger and better. by women on jupiter is for women on chipper nurse. i am member of one. just last week i was on a panel judging pitches from women much but yours and the women get a

big check and get access to networks. that is one way. there is another major development with the big economy. are you paying attention? you cannot than a professional role. you can do any kind of work and get a short-term job. you have the power to negotiate. name what you're willing to work on. you can be a ceo or cfo. you can be a writer, publisher, project manager, nurse. you can do anything and get work in the economy. if you're a small business owner like diane, you don't have to staff up before you're ready. you can get talent you need when you need it. i use organizations like upward for my editing support.

there are extraordinary comebacks when editors. many of them women who do these jobs for me. the economy is a woman who wants to take time out and do other things. perhaps she's a lawyer or an accountant. she spent all that time investing in her scales. she doesn't want to leave them wholesale. into it as a study on the economy and they are predicting by the year 2020, 40% of the american workforce will be involved in the economy. the big economy is also perfect for women thinking about starting a practice. you can sort of test the waters with a couple clients before deciding whether or not this is for you. the economy is really important for us flexibility and gives you the power to negotiate your own terms. the government is starting to

look at the economy, sunni groups like independent women's forum's to make sure they don't come in and take away the very thing we want and that we benefit from with the economy. thirdly, and entrepreneurs have also created a whole new way for you to achieve your goals. at every age and state of your life, these goals change. let's say you want to start a business where you want to grow your current career. their online communities with mentors, experts advise that you can access anytime, anywhere. if you want to start a business, there's a website right here in our region and it's a group of other women business owners and they meet together online, share business plans and advice on how to solve problems and generate revenue and customers, but they also meet a few times a month. these types of opportunities

have never been greater for women. it is in fact one of the reasons why i didn't start my mobile app company. this is for readers who want to grow themselves and grow their businesses. they can access mentoring of ice any time anywhere, right from your smartphone. regardless of what your goals are, you're going to have internal obstacles. might be confidence, product committee, fear and those are things still need to overcome. his online communities can help you. also, we have on my networks and social media. we have unprecedented ways that connect team with and engaging with like-minded people, customers, partners and influencers. the economy, maybe our family circumstances and our government

i believe that if you recognize and seize some of these opportunities and see how they work in your own unique situation, you will see in spite of the obstacles, entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial as. are paving the way for women, the way up, a way out and a way forward. thank you. [applause] >> thanks, ashley. thank you, karen. that was a really wonderful talk. very much appreciated. i want to thank the iw attacks staff as well who have put so much effort into making not only the report on which the

conference's base, the pulling together the accident speakers who are going to be speaking to us as the day rolls forward on a range of interesting and relevant topics. and heather higgins, proud to be the chairman of independent women's forum as well as the president of independent women's voice 501(c)(4) advocacy organizations. the reason i'm here is to talk for us a little bit about philanthropy because these are nonprofit organizations and they don't exist without contribution and if you think about it, contributions by people who are particularly thoughtful because it is not first and not be a thing that comes to mind when people think about charitable dollars. normally people think about hoping the homeless are solving an immediate problem in their neighborhood. some philanthropy goes beyond the things that are the obvious and immediate needs and instead go to trying to affect the larger policies that affect the

quality of life for all of us, to work to have an excellent and their grantees to achieve these actual outcomes, who look at their grantmaking as an investment in making this country a better and stronger plays. they are looking for stewards of their dollars are going to advance the mission of liberty and freedom and a better life for all americans and to leverage those dollars by sharing that information is broadly and effectively as they can. one of the paragons of this sort of philanthropy is the bradley foundation and particularly dan schmidt, who is the titan of the philanthropic community and of our conservative movement. dan is the vice president for programs that the linde and harry bradley foundation and has been doing that since i believe 1985, which i mean -- which means he's been a force for good, quietly behind the scenes making an enormous difference in

terms of building the group of organizations of thinkers and doers who helped try to make the world in particular a better, freer, more prosperous, more just place. bradley is highly regarded for good reason. they are focused on helping people improve their lives and understand you not only do that directly by giving people a fish are teaching people to fish. they are actually interested in the world world outcomes that they achieve. the policy choices including the ones that may sound like a good idea but are lousy and are actual impact in the real world. they are not just interested in the academics of the policy

paper, but they are interested in its intersection with coulter and the conversation which ensues, which leads to the changes that affect all of our lives. dan gets it. dan is here in this room that is full of women for good reason. he understands how important women are increasingly to this public policy discussion we have. .. in their capacity to really improve their lives and find themselves.

dan is here because he wants to help us create the definitive alternative, and shares with us that goal. it is bradley's support that is help make today possible. it's bradley's support that helps us work with a team of academic advisors to produce the working for women report and to then share that with you today and to share it beyond today with the policy community, legislators, the media and the lay public. we are now engaged in the process of turning this into messaging kids to help others further disseminate this work. and actually moving to the point in the conversation where we can hopefully start to see some of it implemented. i have the honor today a thanking dan and the bradley foundation for thei for the wore support from making life better for women and families

everywhere. so if you will, of. [applause] -- come up. >> just quickly. we've got a long they had but i want to thank all of you and all the you've been doing on a very vital issue. so thanks on behalf of the bradley foundation directors and staff, and most importantly organizations like this that make philanthropy easy, worthwhile and rewarding. so thanks very much, heather. [applause] >> at this time we're going to take a quick coffee break and

let our moderator, she just arrived for the next thing. so if anyone like to grab a coffee or more breakfast out in the reception room, please feel free and we will return momentarily. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> a brief break and our coverage of the independent women's forum annual conference. panel discussion state on the economy, political leadership, the future of the supreme court and college campus culture. that will happen later this afternoon. right now a short break t the nt panel will be working for women called "a modern agenda for improving women's lives" and among those who hear from is victoria lipnic, equal employment opportunity commission. also diana furchgott-roth senior fellow at the manhattan institute. this should get underway in just a moment.

this is live on c-span2. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> everyone, we are going to go ahead and get started shortly so if anyone wants to start taking their seats. we will get started in about one minute. even sooner because you all were so good about that. that's so nice. thank you. good morning. i am genevieve wood, senior communications fellow at -- it's a delight, thank you for the invitation. i'm excited about our panel because so much of what we hear about in political discussion these days are women's issues and policies that will address them by the independent women's forum has been more than just talk about a. it's put together a report. if you hav haven't seen it you download it, it's called working for women, a modern agenda for improving women's lives.

i want to read just outline of the goal from the preface of the report. it's of all the way to succeed in living out their dreams. whether the dreams are become the ceo of a major corporation, president of the united states, a home-based entrepreneur or state a mother raising strong children and building a healthy community. this report includes policy reforms that advance this cause. when we talk about economic opportunity and job creation or how to get more workplace flexibility whether we're talking about equity or equal pay us a call and how to combat discrimination, this report lays out the vision, the obstacles and the solution for all of those different areas and that's what we want to talk about today. we've got a great panel to do just that. let me introduce them. first executive director of the independent women's for. the we have commissioner victoria lipnic u.s. equal opportunity commission.

professor brian brenberg who is chair of business and finance, ththe king's college and last ad certainly not least on this issue is diana furchgott-roth the directive economic at the manhattan institute. thank you all for being you. sabrina, let me begin with you. we'll take questions an audience after we get through my questions for the panel. we will become acute asthma but let me begin with you first. why did you decide who is so important to put this report together at this time? >> that's a good question. thank you to the bradley foundation and to our advisory committee. we have a few other members on the advisory committee who are really critical in helping us think through some of these challenges that i like to call him challenges rather than problems, and, of course, to carrie lukas was not here but it was the primary author of the report and has worked tirelessly on it for the better of you. we're looking forward to a return this summer. our goal was to great a positive

economic agenda to present as an alternative a suite of workplace policies that progressives have presented women with in the last five or so years. everything from equal pay and discrimination, workplace flexibility, retirement, child care. these are things we think women to think about more than and perhaps but they are deeply economic issues and especially the solutions that are often presented could have dire economic problems for men and women. it was our goal to put out an alternative so we can say maybe you are some ways that government and washington can do more to help women who fall through the cracks. i do hope we can talk about some of those policies today. >> let's get started first. since we have a gentleman with us on the panel we will go -- gentlemen first. professor, this is interesting to a lot of young women in the audience ending the fact you're a college professor you work with a lot of young women, you said you found the women that

you talk a special young women, they are not really concerned about some of the things you so much time at the political rhetoric in terms of opportunity but there's other charges. >> first of all thank you for the opportunity to be here. it is a thrill and thank you for this question. i do as a java business and finance department of the king's college i have a chance to work with many young women in the program who were think about careers in the marketplace in some way, shape, or form. one of the things that interest me just able to ask them how do you think about some of these issues that we see in the news. how do you think about some of these issues around women in the workplace and gender pay equality sorts of things? what i am struck by most often is how really uninterested they are in conversations about things like the gender pay gap, for example. is not that they don't know about it. in fact, the root user

understand issue quite well but it just doesn't energize them. they are not interested in talking about how women are victimized in the workplace or how women are oppressed in the workplace but it's not that they don't care about issues where that's happening here what they want to talk about is how do i put myself in a position to achieve the things that i would like to achieve in my career and my family and in the work that i do? they may be not as interested in the gender pay gap. they're very interested in understanding how do i want into the workplace and communicate that value do i add to buy employers? how do i walked into the workplace and negotiate so that people can see what i can do and will reward before. to want to understand what kind of skills can i acquire to become the kind of worker that i can become? that's what i love about this idea of the report. the tone really is how do we put power in the hands of young women and women in the workplace to achieve the kind of things

they want to achieve given the skill sets of the dividers that they have. the tone is positive. the posture is empowerment and i think that's exactly the kind of angle that we need to be taking more of in this kind of conversation. >> commissioner lipnic, there is no doubt the debate has been going on for some time. it's going down the state level as well. connect the recommendations with what's happening with the state and federal level. >> sure. and thank you for small to ifw for inviting me and congratulations on this terrific report that you put out. i'm really a someone who has worked in this area, in particular labor and employment in my background, and civil rights for 20 years, i'm so happy to see a group like ifw really engaged on these issues and talking about them and coming up with and recommendations and solutions. so in particular on the florida

equal pay, they get equal under no diane has spent years on this issue as well, just to give you some sense, as the equal employment opportunity commission we enforce the federal discrimination laws. and so those include both title vii of the civil rights act of 1964 which includes discrimination based on sex, that also includes the equal pay act which is a law that was passed in 1963. we enforce that law. much of what you hear about recommendations, about how can you change the laws that are on the books to narrow the wage gap, and i'm sure diana might want to comment about what the wage gap actually is, there's a lot of myths about what the wage gap action is and what it isn't. nevertheless, a lot of the recommendations about how you

would change some of the federal laws are included in the report from ifw. and that would include making a change to the equal pay act that would essentially strengthen the enforcement of the equal pay act, and you would create some consistency across the federal courts around the country who have had some inconsistent positions. and that we as enforcement matter for federal enforcement agency give more tools, give individuals more tools to be able to more successfully prosecute equal pay act claims. want i like about the recommendations -- what i like about the recommendations of this report is it's not, it recognizes the issues of equal pay, recognizes that people are concerned about it.

it's not in terms of legislative solution in the extreme by any means. i think it's a pretty reasonable approach. it takes a good look at what the law is currently and how it is being handled and cases around the country. the other thing i would mention in your question, there is a tremendous amount of activity at the state level now on this issue. if any of you live in maryland, governor hogan just signed a law in maryland that would strengthen their state level equal pay act. so some of the ideas and solutions that have been proposed for many years, in particular under the paycheck fairness act which is a bill sponsored by pretty much the entire democratic caucus, a lot of this stuff is being overtaken by events at the state level because there's so much activity in state legislatures. they are tired of tripping over themselves to come up with what's the next best idea to

deal with equal pay and quote narrow the pay gap. and having said that let me just become one last thought. narrowing the pay gap, whether you have stronger enforcement of the equal pay act an at a federl level or you change state laws, enforcement of the law is only one real way to narrow the paycheck. there are lots of other ideas that i think can be advanced in terms of the public policy discussion, but over all really the empowerment of women as the professor said to really understand their abilities to negotiate with ask for in their jobs come in their careers, but the demand, that will make a contribution. it's not all going to happen just by changing the law either of the federal level or at the state level.

>> would like to add to that? >> no. i think she has stated it very, very well. she has done a terrific job of eeoc tried to combat some of these. believe it or not, the eeoc wants to change the form that employers have to fill in from 140 blocks on an excellent spreadsheet to 3360. they are doing this under the paperwork reduction act. there's even more than 3360, because now they have to fill in one form per company. the eeoc wants them to fill in one form per establishment. so if a company has 10 branches, then that's 10 forms. so which really absurd is not just that they're doing it but they are using the paperwork reduction act as a vehicle to do that. >> to add on that point, not to belabor the point, but that

regulation that is being proposed at the end of the obama administration to a joint proposal by the eeoc and the department of labor, that is also an idea that has been around for 20 some years. and it had originally a version of it being finalized at the end of the clinton administration when i came into the labor department in the bush administration. we took a look at it. it was not going to be successful in allowing for better enforcement of the part of equal pay at the department of labor deals with. we actually did a very extensive study about it, to see what it could be validated. they could die. we resent it. it we are at the end of another administration and here we go again. but it's, i think it is another example of sort of these issues

about equal pay event around for so long, and begin some of the ideas are sort of how people locked into a policy solution and they stick with that for 20 years. things have changed. so i'm not sure that i can tell you chapter and verse what i'm opposed to it. but also just generally skeptical of whether this is a good idea and whether it events have already not sort of passed this idea by. >> is just a terrible idea because the idea is to make firms disclose the hours worked as well as the earnings as well as the rates and sex that simply so they can do hits on firms that don't make the right campaign contributions probably and see if they are paying their men and women equally. but the occupational bans are so large that you can include doctors and nurses, lawyers and paralegals in one occupational category.

there's no need a reason for them to be paid the same. second, the wage bans are so large, they are about eight-$10,000 to everyone if they 25,000, and in it is paid about 32000, there could still be discrimination against the woman but there in the same pay band so the employee -- duplicative this i aside, i dont have to worry about that. this would not fulfill the purpose that our government says it wants. meanwhile, the doc has a backlog of 74,000 cases. instead of investigating that backlog of people who are really complaining and people who have been discriminated against, they are trying to put in place this very laborious form that's going to be burdensome for people to fill out, that's going to cut employment. >> sabrina, there are so many government policies that may have been well-intentioned at

the time they were put in place or even people argue for today. certainly when you go to the families area, another area where that occurs, i think when everybody wants to take off back to take of themselves can take of the families, they have a newborn child. but what was great about the report, it looked at how to use compressed other countries which is a myth times of how we stack up with europe and other places. talk about that and also what the recommendations are for true family policies that will benefit both business and families. >> a belief isn't any that especially not in sort of conjunction with the issue of pay equity has really been in the news. i should note i come at this from a very personal position to i of three little children. i have parents live on the other side of the country who require additional care. i think many of us in this room can certainly relate to the need for time off. one thing we try to point out in the report is that very often when we hear people talking about paid leave, the impression

is with all work in sweatshops, we don't like lunches communities like to step out of the building for fresh pair. when the rails is about 80% of full-time workers have access to some form of paid leave at about a third of part-time workers. that puts into perspective should like the wage gap. we have a challenge perhaps but there are people have the sort of nontraditional work arrangement, maybe people who don't have as many skills and/or piecing together jobs and they do fall through the cracks and there may be ways we can help those people more year i think it's important to keep it in context and perspective so we don't get to all our best about it. some of the proposals, back on the comparison to other countries, this is hundred often edited one thing we point out in the report and generally ifw is the are a lot of unintended consequences of these universal paid leave programs defined in scandinavia and other countries

in europe. one of the biggest being that women simply did not return to the workplace. when you offer a year off and it's a full pay, why would you go back? i really do enjoy taking my children to the park on field trips and everything else. after a while it is a little nicer and even with the sort of day to day flog through work sometimes. went unintended consequence is that women simply are not participating in the workforce as much as they are here independent and that's something i think we do not want to necessarily encourage, especially people have bills to pay and we went to be active participants in the economy. we came about this sort of solution to this twofold. the first was wanted to give individuals more opportunity to save for time that they may take off to care for a sick child. so we promote the idea of a personal-care account that we allow people to save tax-free for education, for a little longer, hopefully for health

care and for retirement. we said why not expand this? people, a young woman when she starts her job may be able to get you a small amount of her income to the idea that maybe in five, 10 years i might be taken some time out of the workforce. this'll be an account that employer but also match and contribute to. so that they feel, it's a two-person are both people have a responsibility. it's also an opportunity sort of in the same vein as education tax credits to have a nonprofit set of where individuals or corporations could contribute. so those who don't have the luxury of sitting could have access to resources when they do need to take time off. that was one proposal we recommend and are, there is a bill being discussed by representative katko from new york that's very similar. and i would encourage people to take a look at that.

the other thing we recommend as a tax credit for businesses. left out of the conversation i'm sure diane and others would agree is that very often we think about these issues from the perspective of the worker and not from the employer. or the other workers. when someone does take time off out of the workplace it means that it is a cost associated with that and the cost is sometimes the commission is to pick up the extra work for brian has to pick up the extra work. we want to make it a little easier for businesses to cover that gap. we offer, we suggest small business tax credit for true small businesses. not for wal-mart can push the small hardware store out of business. those are the two primary recommendations. >> brian, we talk a lot about flex build in the workplace as well and one of the things you pointed out at the top in the report is this new thing called a geek economy. you said that it could open up opportunistic it's opening up opportunities for flexible for both women and men but we could

look at some public policies that hurt its growth. it could help us as well. personify what it is. >> i think kerry did a fine job of introducing that in her talk. really it's just we use terms like shared economy or a gig economy. does okay but i think the best of icing for is a the hidden asset economy. if you think about it our world is full of people who may be engaged primarily in one set of activities but they have skill sets in a very different every. i think about my wife happened to spend most of her time at a with our children home schooling. we have three young children but she is a food scientist by trade. she's a professional taste tester. she did have a lot of wisdom other than making sure the macro and cheese tastes okay for lunch, we never feed the macaroni and cheese. she doesn't have a lot of ways to activate that skill set or lease she didn't. but in an economy we have web platforms that allow people to

offer their services, things they do that they might not be able to offer normally, all of a sudden upgrades opportunities. that doesn't mean she'll go back to working full-time as a taste tester but it means just opportunities on the margin, given its and crannies of space that she does have to provide that service. that's an amazing opportunity. it's an amazing way for women's to manage the complexity of their lives as workers and caregivers. it also allows them to keep their skill set sharp if george returned to the workforce she gets a i've been doing this on a consulting basis for several years with several companies, and i think a lot of organizations that could benefit. think about local restaurants or local food production companies that want to look outside. i love the idea of the hidden asset economy. what we have to be careful about is constraining its growth in its infancy. we have no idea what this

workplace is going to look like 20 years from the. i think could be great if a lot of people, very good for women. but if we start putting hard restrictions not i have a categorized workers, forcing the organizers of these platforms to indicate that employees or contributors our employees, that could constrain opportunity for new platforms to arise ever people to participate in them. look, these hidden assets is a system the airbnb, goober, the app works, think about this. is one of them gone up in the economic environment of 2% annual growth and that's it. they were born at the beginning of this current recession period to the governor anything but 2% growth. we complain about workers that have enough power in this industry are needing to have stronger ability to negotiate.

if the economy starts going faster, that's what happens. let's see what discoveries can do when you have a strong growth economy. that's what we're missing in this conversation and we don't want to put the shackles on this underfunding. let's see where it can grow. >> speaking to that how would you see us using this report to encourage growth and other for economic opportunities for people beyond what about i just spoke to? >> i think that we should look at it from this we. we have a beautiful baby over here, and i like to invite daphne at a modicum up so everyone can see the beautiful baby. why don't you come up and show us. now look at it this way. in about 15 years or so she will want to out and have a summer job with a $15 minimum wage would probably grow under some

presidential candidate to 16, 17 to 18. she would not be able to a summer job. if we look at europe and the direction europe is going up her talk about that in our report, there's 40% on a plan and young people in your. this is not what we want from america. our report has all kind of solutions that's going to prevent of that. we have tax reform. we show how to have more employment opportunities year we shot reform licensing so young people will be able to get into the workforce. as we mentioned we have personal savings accounts. we need to think about what presidential candidates are going to sign a recommendations into law when congress passes of those. i can tell you want to thank him it's not going to be hillary clinton even though she is a woman. it's going to be called trump because what he is that is is already supported tax cuts, family flexibility, some minimum wage so that daffy will be will

have a job if not when she's 15, even 14 or 13 with a sub minimum wage, so we need to take this report and think who is going to sign it into law on the presidential level, on the congressional level. who's going to support this office day a local level? we need to be marketing it to the presidential candidates, to congressional candidates come to state and local candidates. the only way our reforms are going to result in economic growth is if they're signed into law. we need to make a big focus on that. not just for ourselves but for daphne and her cohorts. >> thank you. i loved having her up here. our sixth handled as. commissioner, let me ask you, beyond our elected officials doing what they need to be doing, the courts also get involved in these issues as well. the supreme court took up the case what made him willing to do th