concessions. there were very many -- there were painful sacrifices involved in keeping the company going. the simple fact was that these were not viable entities if we did nothing. so the packages and the arrangements that the president put in place call for shared sacrifice, called for a very significant and painful sacrifices by all of the involved parties, and then there was an investment of the company to keep it going. if the president had not made that investment, basically these companies would have been insolvent. . host: this is mike on our line for independents. caller: thank you for your forum. as always, i watch it quite often. does he have any comparisons with the other companies? they seem to be regrouping and going back to the old days,

building a product that we can trust. trust. i have grandparents and uncles who have all worked in the industry in one form or another. are you lobbying to help people get out of their destituted -- looking into 401ks. maybe they can start some small businesses. just some comments on that. i think that would be a good question. guest: there is lots of evidence from j.d. power associates that look at the quality of the american automobile. it all seems to point very significantly toward dramatic improvements in terms of the quality of the cars, the productivity in terms of the

company's being able to produce them, over the course of the past half-dozen years. we may have been in a situation where perhaps when i was young and first learned to drive in the 70's, american automobile companies were living on their reputation. they were not necessarily making as good cars as the reputation was. now it is a flip. in that sense, i am optimistic that expectations and realizations that they are making progress will catch up to the reality of the improvements. all of the companies have made massive investments in improving quality. that is the key to staying in business. host: we're talking to edward

montgomery. the next call is from texas. republican line. good morning, thomas. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to point out no matter what the administration is in office, unless we get out of the wto and in a timely basis -- that is when we became an official member of a wto. this has caused companies to leave in massive numbers to foreign lands, reestablishing their product line. those are huge numbers against next to nothing going back over that way in their direction. therefore, getting out of the wto and put a stop to the

drainage of jobs is paramount to anything else. by the way, cap-and-trade will never work. there is no way possible, as long as tthe wto. do you have any answers to that? guest: i would say two things. on the question of the wto and trade, if you look at the data, what we have seen is that the united states has been able to expand its exports, has been able to expand the product that it sells abroad over the course of the last 15 years. there has been a dramatic expansion in the ability of americans to compete. clearly, we want to have a trade policy that works for us that brings benefits to americans and

helps to raise our income and open new opportunities. i think the way to do that is to make sure that we have fair access abroad and that we can sell our products abroad. i guess i am optimistic and believe that we can compete very successfully with any country in the world. host: the wto just released a report. they are reporting that over the past three months, the recorded 83 trade restriction measures taken by 24 countries in the european union. the paper says the report is likely to be seized on by proponents of the doha round to restart negotiations on a broad treaty that would do away with many of these exceptions.

guest: i think one of the lessons of the great depression is that countries and the worldwide economic system need to be very sensitive to the dangers of excessive protectionism. if every country puts up barriers, we end up turning an economic crisis into a very prolonged depression. to the maximum degree possible, people need to resist that. in terms of going forward, the key is to position ourselves so that we can compete effectively. host: our next telephone call comes from flint, michigan. caller: i have been a lifelong

resident of the flint, michigan area. i'm calling in defense of our city. we have a wonderful city. we have fallen on hard times. all of my family were factory workers and union members. this country seems to want to trash the unions. we make good money, yes. we spend it. we always thought a new car. we put our kids through college. we saved money. when we went on vacation, we spend money here and in other places. i do not know how they think that people are going to live like that on $10 an hour. the whole thing is in the name of greed. the cars come back and the foreign cars do not sell any cheaper than ours do.

their insurance is paid by their country. we are still alive here. we are trying hard to keep our heads above water. i am so tired of people bashing autoworkers. we put 45 years in there when other people did not want to spend their time standing in a hot, sweaty place in the summer. i'm just tired of people bashing the unions and bashing the car industry. it is not our fault that they shipped everything overseas. you talk about exports. guest: i agree with arlene that

the autoworkers in the automobile industry was very important in terms of creating the middle class in this country. they played a leadership role in expanding health-care benefits and getting retirement benefits out. my brother-in-law is a uaw retirees. he worked really hard for everything that he and his family had. this situation was not caused by the autoworkers. they can play a very productive role. they have dramatically changed how they make the cars. they are making much better cars. when i go to the plans and you see guys -- we have just changed. there is a real pride in how they are operating.

i think she is right. they feel very proud of what they have done. the times are hard right now. people across the auto belts are hurting. there are proud people. i think there is lot of reason to be optimistic about the future. host: next telephone call is from michigan. good morning to jerry on the line for independents. caller: what i would like to say is i am enjoying this conversation, however, i would like to know why the gentleman is continually referring to things being done by the president. as far as i know, we still have a complete government. i just want to know why -- he needs to correct that, i think.

guest: i apologize. clearly, members of congress passed a budget that gave us the resources to make the investments both in terms of the overall recovery act -- they played a very vital role in helping us to craft the strategies of new market opportunities reform i work for the president. clearly, it takes both congress, the administration, and it takes the taxpayers, the united states public. host: this is a story with this headline. u.s. cities might have to be bulldozed in order to survive. it talks about a radical experiment that is the brainchild of the treasury of genesee county. his strategy is to help cities raised sections of them where

the population has shrunk so that they can afford to send city services to more concentrated areas. suggestion here that he will concentrate on 50 cities that were identified in a recent study by the brookings institution has potentially needing to shrink substantially to cope with their declining fortunes. this would be a challenging thing for people to deal with in their communities. guest: i spoke with him earlier this week. he is dealing with a situation where you have large tracts of abandoned homes. that is both a nonproductive resource, but in as and negative affect on the surrounding community. the people who are in occupied houses, their property values are driven down. i think the strategy is, by raising those properties, turning that area into green areas, it has the possibility of raising the house prices for

people who are left. it is a different strategy. some communities are doing it. i think youngstown is doing this. i have heard about it in other areas. it does not necessarily fit for everybody. it is something that they are trying to do. host: there are already plans to split detroit into a collection of smaller been centers separated from each other by countryside. our last call for edward montgomery is from illinois. this is tom watching us. he is on the republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for letting me talk on c-span. i think toyota and kia and saturn -- a lot of the smaller car companies that moved down south and do not have union workers. the problem with unions are -- this has happened always in the

past. the end up getting too much power in the company. they strangle companies. this is what is going on with the car company right now. if they would have had stock options to own more of the company instead of having negotiated wages. negotiated wages. it is all the other thing i would like to add, too, is your job. you know, you answered it a little bit ago that you work for the president. so is a politically appointed job. i am a board member in hancock county, where a live here, and when the three economic developments people. and we are in a depressed area. and it to tell the truth, i cannot figure out what you people do other than collect money. i do not mean that in a derogatory sense.

i mean it in this is part of the problem. thank you. guest: well, i do not know what to say about the comment on the local economic development people. in general, many communities and many states have economic development staffs whose job it is both to help people plan and think about and strategizing about the areas in the how to think about assets and what we do well in the community into what our strengths are. this in times of institutions which could be everything from a local college to a hospital. and it to think about how they move forward, they often play a role in attracting new business. part of what my job is not to substitute for state and local effort but to work with state and local government. different communities may work best for indiana or st. louis, missouri, or wisconsin is not necessarily the right way

forward for flint, mich., so we want a bottom-up to work with local officials, work with the mayors, county exiguous the work with the economic development people to figure what the strategy is and make sure that have access to the resources of federal government to provide to support it. federal government is just providing an overall framework, but the particular course for it is going to be picked community by community. host: how will you know if you are a success? guest: communities in this area start to return and grow. >> later today, a look back at 30 years of close of programming with students visiting the nation's capital, learning about the federal government.

at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on c- span. this holiday weekend, discussions with presidential advisers from richard nixon to george w. bush, friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. saturday morning at 10:00 a.m., congressional and public support for presidential agendas. then lessons learned from serving the president. that is sunday at 4:25 p.m., all here on c-span. over the july 4 weekend, notable americans, on c-span. stories from inside the white house. domestic policy advisor on the president's for richard nixon to george w. bush. honoring president ronald reagan, ken burns on his career and upcoming series on america's national parks, a tribute to the late writer john update the did john updike. and a reunion of the apollo 8 astronauts. they're more books and authors this holiday weekend starting friday morning on c-span2

." find out what is on any time at c-span.org. topics include the military offensive in afghanistan, a new missile tests by north korea, and the situation in honduras. the spokesman speaks with reporters for about half an hour. >> afternoon. i do apologize for delaying the briefing on the afternoon before a three-day holiday. at any rate, let me give you a quick update on some schedules. i think you sell the secretary did not have any public appointments, but she did work from home this morning. ambassador goldberg concluded his meetings in beijing today with representatives of the ministry of foreign affairs and

other ministries involving the implementation of u.n. security council 1874. in beijing over the weekend, and he will have meetings with malaysian officials monday, july 6. as we look to the fourth of july, our national holiday, i am reconnaissance of the fact that my counterparts -- my colleagues and fellow citizens are now in harm's way in afghanistan and the helmont region. my thoughts and prayers go out to them and their families. i want to give you a little bit of some information about the involvement of the state department there. we're well positioned for the immediate assistance effort that will follow clearing operations

were launched by the marines on the last 24 hours. the state and the u.s. agency for international development currently has two offices directly linked with the marines and the operation there. they have been there for over two years. we understand that their highly regarded by their marine colleagues and are some of the most experienced civilian experts we have in afghanistan. in additional, u.s. aid officer will arrive this weekend. three more to follow in the next couple of weeks. when the stabilization experts from our office of transmission as's new development advisers working directly with the marines to assist them with holding. they're going to work alongside

our military personnel. the deployments have been and will continue to be closely coordinated in a couple with u.s. forces and afghanistan. with that, i will be happy to take your questions. >> are you planning on sending more to supplement those? do expected to increase? >> as i said, we have two there now, and we have another one who is planning to arrive this weekend. but then, we also have this larger civilian effort over the next few months. >> so there will be something? >> the largest civilian effort is, and this is part of our plan to help afghanistan in general, i am not aware of where they will be positioned. >> the know how many civilians

in afghanistan by the end of the year? >> i am not sure of the exact time line. the number is 450, but not sure exactly what the time line is. it could be a rolling thing. the could be according to transfers and redeployments. >> if i can go back to what you said that the secretary staying at home. when will she resume a normal schedule of the state department? what will the doctors say? can you confirm what she is not traveling, is it because of the elbow injury or another reason? >> you all saw her on monday. she is very actively involved in the operation of the department and in advocating u.s. policy. she had a very full day

yesterday. and she attended a number of meetings including a few public meetings. but as far as her medical prognosis, those are not the kind of details i am prepared to share. i know she is looking forward to resuming a full schedule. i mean, i think she is a pretty full schedule anyway. she looks forward to going to india and southeast asia in a couple weeks. >> i mean, she has just been busy, so she's not going to moscow? >> well, you know, there were never any firm plans necessarily for her to go to moscow. she called the foreign minister there yesterday to tell him the issue is not going to go and

then she looked forward to seeing him soon. but in terms of what is going to happen in the next few weeks, as i said, she does plan to go on this trip to asia in a couple weeks. we hope to have an announcement soon about that. >> you're still not saying why the decision was made for her not to go. >> well, she broke her elbow. she is getting therapy. quite naturally, she is focused on that. >> that makes sense. >> yes, thanks. >> the white house came out and said it was because of physical therapy, intense physical therapy that would be impossible to maintain with the trip. first, what will she not reveal more of that? >> did i not just say that, said that she needs to pay attention

to her elbow and needs to heal? >> is a doctor recommended? >> they do not know. >> is there a possibility of an additional operation? >> i doubt it, but i just do not know. >> is it daily, supervised, does she go someplace to have it? >> i am just not aware of that. >> providing the state department services provided in iraq and afghanistan, so will you need to increase the blog water services due to a possible increase in personnel there. >> well, of course, were ever foreign service personnel are deployed around the world, there is security which is very important. we do this as the situation on the ground and make a determination based on the

situation on the ground. the situation in afghanistan is a very dangerous environment. i am not aware the exact details of what kind of security arrangements we will have for any kind of increased foreign service personnel in afghanistan. frankly, i am not sure we would want to share that kind of information. but if you do have that kind of information, i will be happy to provide it. >> will there be an increase in blackwater personnel or decrease? >> first of all, i am not aware whether or not that will be required. i expect we will need to increase security personnel there, but not aware. quick last question on this. there is apparently the shooting between some black water security guards and the civilian ins afghanistan. >> had not seen those reports.

>> al jazeera, in english. on afghanistan, the president's strategy is calling for increased diplomacy in humanitarian assistance. what factored into the decision to only of those two civilians they mentioned there right now and not more? >> what we have going on right now, and will have to refer you to the pentagon for the exact details of the combat operation going on in, but what we are preparing to do, of course is -- first of all, we have these two advisers on the ground that have been there for more than two years they're very familiar with the local situation, very familiar with the local government. they have been working with them for two years. but in terms of other factors, i

am not sure. repeat your question. >> why are there not more than two diplomats? >> so we're starting out with the combat operation now. we're positioning ourselves to go in behind this combat operation and be part of the build part of holding the bill. >> is there a plan set up for how many diplomats will go, is an increment of time? >> yes, i just do not have the exact details of who will go into how many will go and to what exact areas. part of it will be dictated by the circumstances. >> on north korea, the missile

launches, do you have any details of the missile launches, would you take from the provocative act? did they give you any warning they were going to do this? >> you know, a lot of what you are asking is intelligence information. i will tell you though that we have seen the report said. we have seen the reports that they have launched i think four missiles. these kinds of reports are not new. north korean knows exactly what it has to do. these kinds of actions, of course, are not helpful, are dangerous. the international community has spoken loudly, and north korea, as i say, knows exactly what it has to do. it has to cut out these kinds of provocative actions and a return to denuclearization talks.