previous -- a gets denied on some technicality, and the previous caller talked about these all the companies not been able to afford insurance and he is talking of government intervention -- what about intervention on some of these trade deals to get these foreign car manufacturers over here, and then the foreign car manufacturers' government subsidizes their health care? i will take my answer off line. guest: there are many things cover there. that somehow the notion we will have the government get involved and reduce administrative costs -- it will be a first. i would be happy to have the examples given where the government has gone in and made things more efficient. the notion that the financial industry was unregulated is

simply not true. you had huge amounts of regulations and economists have said time and time again that the financial problems we had were due to financial regulation. banks were forced to make loans to people they did not want to. there would face large penalties if they did not make loans to individuals not able to put down down payments on mortgages, or to individuals -- those who only had welfare or not regular income. not only that, but you saw large subsidies through freddie and fannie that would create incentives for places like countrywide to make those types of loans. we had huge regulation of the financial industry. the notion that that has not

contributed to these problems i think is wrong. host: your brief response? guest: i will try to be brief. i think that is a distortion of what happened. we have regulations that were poorly enforced and regulators took a walk from their jobs. of the institutions that lettuce into these problems at mortgage institutions were those not under -- the led us into these problems were not subject to regulation that john is referring to. there are many examples of the government having things work more efficiently. we have food safety rules, safety regulations so that the individual consumer does not have to figure out whether each piece of food they buy it meets basic safety standards. we have all sorts of things like

that. we do have regulatory control over some things. host: michael ettlinger of the center for american progress and i john lott, a research scientist, thank you for being on the program. host: political experts were asked to assess the performance of vice president joe biden so far. we will reduce some of their responses. we would also like you to chimed in. we will do the right after this break.

>> today, senate minority whip discusses some of the issues on the senate agenda including health care and preparing for the confirmation hearings for sonya soto. >> there is a lot of reading involves. i was reading some troubling things last night about her views towards international law, in effect saying that you can interpret the constitution by looking to see what public opinion is in europe. welcome a public opinion in europe has nothing whatsoever to do with what our constitution means. if that is really her point of view that is very troubling. i could not vote for a judge who believes that. she has said it on several occasions. i will have to ask her what she means by that.

understand the republicans could probably not filibuster this nomination on our own. there are not enough of us. none of us are speaking about that. it is only in response to questions from the media. we're not proposing a filibuster. it would be difficult to pull off anyway unless democrats joined in. today at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern. "washington journal" continues. host: we will talk about vice- president joe biden's performance so far, based on a sunday opinion on them in this morning's "the washington post." we will read from some political pundits here in washington. for example, donna brazil and an

author and political commentator. she said in foreign affairs he has taken more troops than any other vice-president this early in a term and none have been fluff. in munich he delivered the first major foreign policy address from the administration. he set the stage for president obama's trip to the summit of the americas. he got the peace process back on track in the balkans. domestically obama credits his vice-president with winning the votes needed to pass the american recovery and reinvestment act. then, biden took on a thankless job of implementing it. he has gotten one $50 billion out the door quickly and with no waste. cabinet members tell me that his leadership is making this massive programmer. his task force on middle-class working families is making sure that average families are not forgotten when policy is made. so, what you think about vice- president joe biden's

performance so far? you can send us tweets at cspanwj. cedar falls, go ahead. caller: yes, the constitution says the job is to be president when the president cannot be. so far, president obama has been able to be president every minute of his time. biden has been healthy, so he has done his job perfectly so far. i did have a comment about the previous thing. one of the comments that john lott kept saying is that there is competition right now and there really is not. most of the health care that is

not government like medicare or medicaid or veterans' is through employers. the employers contract competitively with different companies to helfor health insue as long as they're healthy, but now the insurance companies turn people down. the doctors will figure out what to do with a patient when they're sick. and there's that calls for the insurance find out it is not and then they have to redo it. the person cannot change companies. that is not competition. if you are sick and they do not cover it now with the private insurance you cannot change companies because they will turn you down if you have a pre- existing condition. host: will move on to illinois on our line for

independents. caller: i think vice president biden has done a good job overall, however, he should also act as a critic of the president to a certain extent. at least with some of what we have seen from president obama it suggests to me has nohe has t functioned well. cason. with guantanamo. we voted for him with the idea he would have someone experienced in foreign policy foreigncase in point. now we see obama returning to say that we will spread these people across the world because no one in the u.s. wants them. these things need to be planned and thought about. they require the experience of the vice president. host: how be think the vice president can be more effective to help the president the search

for a policy? caller: first of all, planning. before you make public statements to the general public, to the world, plan. look at the fact that you will have to try terrorists in the worst sense of the war. they have been behind some of the worst of persons. host: do you think the president should run these things by the vice-president or the vice president should call up obama and ask to make suggestions? caller: that is exactly right. the vice president has to assist in planning. the american public voted for obama with the understanding that he would have the foreign policy experience of biden.

host:mary has this to say -- she says the biden measures up well on three colthree key politicals -- he has no personal political ambitions to dilute his loyalty to obama is a gem. suddenly, he attracted a first- rate staff. and three, he has his own foxhole buddy history in the senate. rhode island on our line for republicans. what do you think about vice- president joe biden? oops. caller: he stated that he knew about the isi connections and the $100,000 wiring. he knew about this.

he still will not tell the american public what he knows. i think that that is treasonous. he will not tell us. he knew things not released in the press. host: all right, thank you. next up is chicago on our line for democrats. caller: i think joe biden is doing a good job as far s not starting a war. that is one thing we did not need. trying to start a war like the vice president before. i think biden is doing a pretty good job. i think he has a lot more experience. he is -- very, comes out and says what he has to say. sometimes -- we get a good

laugh, but he is doing a good job. thank you. host: hold on? she is gone. this is what stephen hess, a senior fellow emeritus at brookings institution has to say. he recently wrote a book for the president-elect. an outstanding senator was elected vice president, six months later he is the butt of late-night comedic jokes. he says that the vice-president but in speaks the language of crazy. he goes on to say that within days of the inauguration obama began filling biden's dance card including a task force on middle-class working families. he also has to conduct our reach sessions with representatives from several sectors. so the vice president circles the country and world doing things and sometimes the same

things that amuse the comics more than they amused the president. our line for independents, go ahead. caller: thank you, biden has done an extremely good job. it proves as your last statement said that the late-night comics make many comments on what he says, but not many republicans say anything to damn or negate what biden says. you're talking about health care which he is so involved with. i listened to the earlier portion of this. he used statistics from 2006.

they do not apply today. we probably have 9 million more people not on health care. host: hey, cj, still with me? this is what bbkey has to say from this twitter. what do you think about that? caller: i hope not. i think he is doing a good job. i think we would be better off worrying about what we do in 2012 rather than " we will do in 2016. so many things can happen, as we have found, between the start of the campaign and the election. much as it did in the past year. we would never at the beginning

of 2007 or late 2006 anticipated anything like we have today. host: john, on our line of republicans. caller: it is susan. [laughter] i am calling from minnesota. host: where is that town in minnesota? caller: it is south of minneapolis. i will try to be fair to all sides. i am not trying to blame joe biden for anything from the past. host: you are calling on our republican line? caller: yes, i am trying to be fair. let's look at the job of a vice-president -- is heat harry truman, al gore, thomas jefferson? i think not. i think that joe biden needs to

think before he speaks. if he needs to run, what he will say through the president's office, but so he does not have to -- so that president obama does not have to say it oh, my gosh, what did joe biden say? he needs to be that if something were to happen to president obama, he needs to step in immediately. whether we like it or not, he needs to be seen as a credible man -- and he is not. he needs to be seen as a person who is helping the white house when he speaks -- and he is not. i know that during the campaign there was a lot of ridicule of governor sarah palin -- well, having this person as vice president, they should be ready

to become president. when i compare governor sarah palin to vice president joe biden -- i do not think he is a much better -- he is not harry truman or roosevelt. host: let me get you to respond to what this historian, robert writes. "despite his reputation for occasional gaffes, he has been an effective point man on obama's iraq, afghanistan and pakistan policies, the recovery economic plan, the selection of sonya soto, among other things. -- sonya sotomayor. caller: people were looking at a

circle, should the vice president be able to fill the rest of the circle for the presidency? i believe so. joe biden has gotten very-- joen has very good qualities and assets he brings to the administration, but as others have said he needs to speak before me thinks because he is not the president. he is there to help the president be successful and not be a joke for comedians. host: from the associated press an update on the situation in iran. president ahmadinejad says his reelection was real and free and cannot be questioned. he made these comments during a press conference, his first since the government announced that he was reelected to a second term in a landslide victory during the vote on friday. his top opponent accused the government of voter fraud and many of his supporters have clashed with police and theran's streets.

about 1 mile away from the press conference, young iranians set trash bins, banks, and other things on fire as police beat them back. next on our line for democrats. welcome. caller: hello, i think joe biden is doing a fine job. i think he brings an incredible amount of experience. i do not think he is running the show. some people like me think that dick cheney did that in the past. he is not politically correct in his speaking because he is too honest. that is probably why i really like him. other than that, i think obama is one of the smartest politicians to come along and he did pick him. host: next up is destin, fla. on

our independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. joe biden disturbs me. i think he has a foot-in-mouth disease. the only thing that sets him up good is it judge sotomayor who is roman catholic, does not believe in abortion -- i think that will help. as far as health care, social security is going broke. medicare is going broke. where is the money going to come from? i would love for someone to answer that question. as far as taxes go, hold on to your wallet, everybody. host: linda, i wonder response to more of what this historian writes. comparing the vice president to the basketball player who does a bunch of things that do not show up on the stat sheet, obama has

chosen someone who suits the current mold of an activist vice-president more attentive to the administration's need it then to personal plans for future campaigns. what do think about that? caller: [unintelligible] host: louisville, ky on our republican line. caller: good morning. vice president biden has the ability to spend other people's money hand over fist, yet he is not generous with his own. if you look up his last tax return, 2007, on a gross income of $200,000, he made a grand total of $1,855 in charitable contributions.

host: connect the dots for me between his charitable contributions and his performance as caller: vice president his performance is out of my purview. these are democrats so he cannot perform well in my view, but it scares me when a guy is spending my tax dollars hand over fist and gives less than one-half of 1% of his gross income to charity. host: another's tweet comes in from erin who writes -- next up comes allie, from tampa on our it democdemocrats' line.

caller: the vice president we have is doing a very good job. the reason i say so -- he is a realistic person. as we are discussing his history as far as dealing with his family, it touched my heart. most politicians we have today are out of touch with what is going on in the family home. he is doing a very good job. you look at dick cheney dealing with this situation at his home, it seems he could not handle his own home. it does not seem like he had a heart. but if you look at the vice- president we have today it seems like he has a heart and understands what is going on with people. if the politicians begin to pay attention, things will start to change. you look at the republicans, i think they are out of tune with what is going on with people who are hungry, homeless and need

health care. so, i think he is doing a very good job. i want to congratulate him and tell him to keep on doing such good work. host: our independent line? caller: basically, there is no way to judge if he is doing a good job or not. we do not have any way to really know. you know, he is so behind the scenes that you cannot see anything. we are going on what they said one year ago. he has good foreign-policy, everyone agrees on that. but domestically, the republicans say he is not good. the democrats say he is great. but that is only because the democrats are for him and the republicans are against him. they only want to support their own theories. host: here is more from a reporter in "the washington post."

is as biden is often more helpful to the president's opponents then to the president himself. dick cheney was the go-to message magnifier for all big subjects. unfortunately, too often for bad and, when he talks they go. the best of the bush model with the private give and take between the president and vice president. only barack obama can evaluate joe biden in that respect. caller: these are chosen leaders. if the man says something and maybe he slips up and says the wrong name something -- if you called him accountable to that you're just being foolish. it is unnecessary. everyone says something that is a mistake. he should not have to -- maybe he needs to think more before him, but that is no reason to judge the fellow. host: and "the miami herald" the

lead store concern's property taxes. longtime homeowners face a tax hike. those who bought before the housing bubble inflated will almost certainly see their tax bills jump, even as their home values plummet. one county office warns that a longtime homeowner with an average-sized house is looking at a 13% increase in county taxes this year based on preliminary assumptions. this is jeff on our democrats' line. thank you for giving up so early. caller: 0 h. i have been up for a while. i think we have a wonderful vice president. especially in comparison with the last one. the subject matter of making gaffes in the news -- some of

these republicans are trying to throw too many things, a hidden muslim, a communist -- all this kind of thing. the subject matter of gaffes is incredibly funny to me because they say that joe biden makes all these gaffes, but what about michelle bachman -- what about rush limbaugh? what about dick cheney? what about george w. that's what about joe the plumber? what about tom? sarah palin, of quebec? i'm so worried about my country, i'm sorry about it -- but i love the response that was well, i love glen back's mind, but i'm worried about. host: today is flag day which was first observed in 1877 on the 100th anniversary of the continental congress' adoption

of the stars and stripes as our official national flag. all public buildings should fly the flag on july 14 and the idea quickly caught on in many wanted to participate in the waving of the flood. one early supporter was bj, a schoolteacher who wanted june 14 to be known as the day. in 1916 president woodrow wilson proclaimed it as a national celebration, however, the holiday was not officially recognized until 1949 when harry truman signed the national flag day bill. back to the phones. we have one more from miami, on our republican line. caller: i have a comment about the connecting the dots, and you made earlier from the miami herald. you said that long time homers