what does it mean to be living with 10% unemployment, but fort we do not have to discuss that. in is interesting, someone mentioned the whole issue of starbucks. i know in interviewing people for stories that i do on unemployment, there was great distress, people feeling that they could not find jobs. one woman i interviewed said i always felt that at the corner drug store chain i could get a job there, i could get a job at starbucks, and even those dried up. but in recent months, it seems that people did not seem as distressed. they feel a little more optimistic because if they have not found jobs, they know other people that have found jobs. people that have found jobs. of loyment rate is based not only on jobless claims but also the current population survey, which the u.s. census bureau does come

and take a survey of 60,000 households. one of the question they ask is are you actively looking for work. i know there has been a debate about when people feel things are turning around and feel they have a chance of finding a job, they will say yes, i am, versus, no, i am not looking. some view and implement rates going up not necessarily -- it may actually be a silver lining in that cloud, and it comes to the debate here. but things in cleveland and ohio are still pretty bleak. we are at 11.1%. that was for june, so we are still higher. we will find out what that means in a couple of weeks in terms of if there has been a reversal of that, if we are slowing down here. you know, there are glimmers of hope. today, a steel mill that has

been offline for a few months is probably going to start rehiring, so i guess the bottom line is there are conflicting figures. host: stimulus money -- how much of that came to cleveland, ohio, and has there been any effect? guest: at this point, ohio is slated to get more than $8 billion of stimulus money, some of which has already been released, but it has been really slowly. so a lot of people are saying it has been some time before we see an immediate impact. it ranges from everything from paying the salaries of cops for three years to extended unemployment benefits to the road projects we have heard about, whether recession and other things. -- weatherization and other things. most say it will be

also, we will have a look at legislation that would give the federal government control over student loans. as a word guest will be william scheffleraffner. washington journal is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. this is c-span, public affairs programming, courtesy of america's cable companies. up next, we have president obama

on a recent unemployment figures and then senator mel martinez announces his resignation. >> yesterday, the full senate confirmed judge sonia is a full supreme court justice. -- judge sonia sotomayor as a full supreme court justice. then, enter the home of the country's highest court. >> and now president obama on the july unemployment numbers will show a decrease for the first time since april of last year. this is about five minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. i would like to see it -- say a few words about the state of our economy and we're doing to put americans back to work and build a new foundation for growth. last week, we received a report

on america's gross domestic product. today, we are pointed in the right direction. we pull the financial system back from the brink and the markets are restoring value to the 401k's. we have reduced the home payments on mortgages, making homes more affordable. we have helped to revive the credit markets and open up loans for families and small

businesses. while we have rescue their economy from catastrophe, but we have also begun to build a new foundation for growth. that is why we passed an condit -- an unprecedented recovery act less than a month after it took office. without any of the earmarks or pork barrel spending that is so, in washington, -- that is so common in washington. the plan is divided into three parts. one-third of the money is for tax relief that is going directly to families and small businesses. it is for americans struggling to pay with their shrinking wages. tax cuts began showing a been paycheck's four months ago. we also cut taxes for small businesses on the investments they make.

another third of the money in the recovery act is for emergency relief that is helping folks who have borne the brunt of the discussiorecession. we are making health insurance 65% cheaper for families that rely on cobra while they looking for work. we have provided assistance to save jobs of tens of thousands of teachers and police officers and other service workers. these two-thirds of the recovery act have helped people whether the worst phase of the recession while saving jobs and stimulating our economy. the last third is dedicated to vital investments that are putting people back to work today to create a stronger economy for tomorrow. part of that is the largest new

investment in america since eisenhower build the interstate highway system back in the 1950's. they are upgrading roads and bridges, renovating schools and hospitals. as we begin to put an end to this recession, we have to consider what comes next. we cannot afford to return to an economy that is based on inflated profits and max that credit cards. -- and max out credit cards, an economy where we are burdened by soaring health costs lesser role special-interest. this will not grow sustainable growth, will not shrink our deficit, and will not create jobs. that is why we have put an end to the status quo that has put us into this recession. we cannot go back to the failed policies of the past, nor can we stand still. now is the time to building a foundation for a stronger and new productive economy that will raise jobs for the future.

this foundation has to be supported by several pillars to our economy. we need to an historic commitment to education. we need health insurance reform that brings down costs and provide more security for folks who have insurance and affordable options for those who do not. we need to provide incentives that will provide new, clean energy sources for our industries. that is where the jobs of the future are. that is the competition that will ship the 21st century. that is the race -- that will shape the 21st century. that is the race that america must win. we will not rest until every american that is looking for work can find a job. i have no doubt that we can make these changes. it will not be easy, though. change is hard, especially in washington. we have a steep mountain to

climb and we started in a very deep valley. but i have faith in the american people. we have seen already the strength of character over the course of this recession. across the country, these people have persevered even as bills have piled up and work has been hard to come by. everywhere i go, i meet americans who have kept their confidence in their country and in our future. that is how we have polled the economy out of the brink. that is how we're turning the economy around. i am convinced that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we will have to move forward with confidence and conviction to reach the promise of a new date. thank you very much. -- of a new day. thank you very much.

>> this is c-span, public affairs programming courtesy of america's cable companies. coming up, florida senator mel martinez announces his resignation to and also, we have remarks from author and columnist ann coulter. we will also have a look at the latest unemployment numbers. tomorrow, we have a look at unemployment numbers with rex nutting. also, we have a look at legislation that will give the federal government control over student loans. our guest will be william shaffner. a little bit later, there will

be a discussion about the resignation of senator mel martinez. washington journal is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. yesterday, the full senate confirmed judge sonia sotomayor. this saturday on c-span, which highlights from the senate floor debate. -- watch highlights from the senate floor debate. this fall, and to the home of america's highest court. the phenomenon of facebook, we have been ms. ben mezrich.

>> hello, everyone. thank you for coming. 12 years ago, i offered myself as a candidate for public office in florida out of a deep sense of appreciation for the people of florida who supported me as a young immigrant. first, i had the privilege of being the mayor of orange county and then i was a member of the president's cabinet. now, i have had the honor of serving as the united states senator. i have gained a great respect for the people of florida and have enjoyed immensely serving their interests. i began my term as senator and promised that i would not simply warm my seat. i promised to take on the difficult issues and work in their interests. [unintelligible] i am especially grateful to the

men and women of our military and their families whom i have had the distinct honor of representing in washington. i have had the platform to speak against the oppression of the cuban regime and my hope for a better future for the people of cuba. i will continue it as my lifelong passion. i will always be grateful to the people of florida for bestowing upon me the singular honor of representing them in the united states senate. at this stage in my life, after nearly 12 years of public service in florida and in washington, it is time to return to florida and my family. today, i am announcing my decision to step down from public office effective upon a successor taking office to fill out the remainder of my term. i have enjoyed my time at the senate immensely. i have a difficult time leaving

the relationships that i have developed in the united states senate. i also want to thank mitch mcconnell for his guidance, for his friendship, and for his insights to me while in the senate. i also want to thank my family. they have made many sacrifices during this time of public life. this will give us an opportunity to reminiscent, share the wonderful memories that we have developed together and the opportunity to move on in our lives, a closer opportunity for family time. i will continue to be an active voice for issues that are important to florida and the united states. i look forward to be a part of the resurgence of the republican party. i will take questions. >> [unintelligible] >> absolutely not. this is a free country.

>> [unintelligible] >> for the reasons i just stated. >> [unintelligible] >> that is the governor's decision. i respect that. i trust him to do a good job on that. i called the governor to tell him what i was doing. we talked about this potential. i think he is prepared to conduct a transparent and good process. i leave that in his hands. >> [unintelligible] >> again, i am going to leave all those questions to the governor. >> [unintelligible] >> no, thank the good lord. i am in good health. >> [unintelligible]

>> the next phase in my life will be in the private sector. as a private sector citizen, i hope that i will have a voice to speak on issues that i consider important. but that is as far as it goes. i have no specific plans for my future other than it will be a private life. [speaking in spanish] >> [unintelligible] >> no. [speaking in spanish] let me say -- excuse me?

>> [unintelligible] >> no, sir. in accordance to kitty's request, there will be a 60-day gap where you'll not see much of me at all. thank you very much. >> this is c-span, public affairs programming courtesy of america's cable companies. up next, we have remarks from author and columnist and culture. ann coulter.

tomorrow, on washington journal, we have a look at the latest unemployment numbers. then there will be a discussion about hillary clinton boaste's o africa. we will also have a guest, william shaffner. then there will be a discussion about the resignation of mel martinez. washington journalists live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. yesterday, the senate confirmed sonya sotomayor. this saturday, on c-span, watch highlights from the senate floor debate at 7:00 p.m. eastern on america and the courts. coming this fall, enter the home to america's highest court, the

supreme court. >> now, author and columnist ann coulter. this is about one hour and 15 minutes. a>> first off, i want to welcome our viewers. my name is lauren, i am an intern with young america's foundation. it is a premier organization that educates students of the principles of limited government, individual liberty, a strong national defense, and traditional values. for more information, call 1800-usa-1776, or visit our web site at www.yaf.org.

what do barack obama and ann coulter have in common? nothing, thank god. what do barack obama and ann coulter have in common? nothing, thank god. ann coulter is now the author of seven new york times best selling books. i am sure there'll be more to come. she is a connecticut native and graduated with honors from cornell university. and no, mr. olbermann, not the same school you attended. she went on to practice law in new york city and worked for the senate judiciary committee. we are intelligent to have at an articulate, intelligent, and extremely good-looking woman to fight alongside of us. she is also a woman who needs no

introduction. that being said, i will turn the microphone over to the person you have all been waiting for, miss ann coulter. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you, your very kind. thank you. thank you. i want to thank you for bringing me here and sending me to many of your colleges. college speeches are a lot of fun. i would also like to thank the pharmaceutical industry for putting together a fake audience for me of such attractive people. very well-dressed only seven -- very well-dressed.

in only seven months, obama has driven the unemployment numbers up to the highest they have been in a quarter-century. because of the way they keep the unemployment numbers, by some measures, unemployment is has it's been since the great depression. or as economists are now calling it, the first great depression. president obama not only wants to be the first black president, he wants to be the only black president. on the bright side, obama has proved that regardless of race, color, national origin, any dollar it can grow up to the white house chief of staff. -- any ballerina can grow up to the white house chief of staff. he has already reduced to gridlock and red tape the diet -- by not requiring members of

congress to read legislation before voting on it. that has release moved things through. obama misspoke when he said there be no lobbyists in his administration. i am fairly certain that he meant to say that there would only be lobbyists in his administration. he cemented his reputation as the first to the president by making its cutting edge joke about the special olympics. you think he would be more sensitive to that with joe biden as his vice president. [applause] he also showed us what he meant by the first post-racial president by racially profiling an irish cop as stupid. you cannot ask for more perfect illustration in my last book. the black president of the united states attacking a powerless white cop for

arresting a black harvard professor in a city with a black mayor, located in a state with a black governor. everybody wants to be a victim. by which i mean perpetrator. liberals have perfected the art of playing victim in order to impress others. because of entomology is all liberal fake out, you can never figure out what the victim is, at what the offense is, unless you know who did what to whom and whose side the most powerful people in america will take. lifetime, tv for women, a movie about the incident. take the middle name. of no particular interest to me. when republicans nominated a vice-presidential candidate with the middle candidatedanforth in

1988, they were accused of being deliberately provocative and obtuse. there was a snippy column at the time saying, bush should have asked him what his middle name is. by nominating a vice presidential candidate named j. danforth quayle, republicans were blind -- as much as it sounded like a pompous rich banker, is he a black sharecropper? as i recall, he is a yale man. only liberals can walk around in their yales letters with names like kelvin marshall and claimed to be offended by the name danforth. bill clinton, whose middle name was jefferson, should have had a

mistress who was black. we know how wrong that was, she was jewish. speaking of middle names, that reinforced negative stereotypes -- when the democrats nominated a candidate with a middle name hussein reiterate house of they are on terror? i think it would. when republicans run a name that that is funny to democrats, it shows the obtuseness and defensiveness of republicans. when democrats run a middle name that is funny to republicans, is a hate crime to mention it. they spout out j. danforth quayle as if it was the unspeakable horrors -- like the time he hit a double bogey. at least when republicans said

hussein, we were laughing. democrats are the victims, republicans are the oppressors. they are either victims of the middle name danforth, are there offended because we find the middle name hussein hilarious. he was offended first wins. liberals are always offended. the marines official model is first to fight. the liberals unofficial model is first to be offended. the media has gone from being offended at bush for breathing to being offended that the tiniest criticism of their darling obama. it is good to see them be transitioning into their aggressive watchdog role cents obama has become president. overnight, they went from being the people's watchdogs to being the government's guard dog. except keith olbermann who is

government's lapdog. time magazine compared obama to jesus christ. they do know who jesuses. -- who jesus is. [applause] [applause] of under obama, they would be the 12 resumption as our 12czars. -- under obama, they would be the 12 resemption czars.

this is time magazine's had to piece on obama's. some princes are born in palaces and some in mangers, but if you were born in the imagination, abstract, and hope, translation, the democrats finally won an election. congratulations to democrats. to be fair, it is something of a miracle. having pulled off their mediocre 53% of the victory over john mccain, they cannot stop boasting about their new baby boy. on thursday, obama took his first step. this morning, during halftime, i thought he used his first word -- and thailand. [laughter]

-- his first board -- entitlement. [laughter] us have a plate with damian? the mainstream media also proclaims that he is the incarnate spirit of abraham lincoln. that was the end of obama's honeymoon with the press, he is no wonder jesus, he is lankan. how many times did lincoln vote present? obama voted present more than 100 times. the only time he wasn't present was when the jeremiah was giving a hate filled sermon. diddling can do blow mostly in high school, or did he wait until college -- did lincoln do blow mostly in high school, or did he wait until college? [applause] they ought to start treating and

the way they treated george bush. that is how the media treated like gen. -- lincoln. his critics compared him to an aide, called him an illiterate baboon, if only al sharpton were around, we would have known he was a victim of racism. our fiercely independent media has produced dozens of news stories on obama's amazing likeness to abraham lincoln. they're both from illinois, geniuses, great dancers, make their own clothes. back in illinois, they're still talking about the fist balled mary todd and lincoln shared the night he wrapped up the nomination -- fist bump mary todd and lincoln share of the night he wrapped up the nomination. lincoln put rivals on his

cabinet. i'm not sure reaching out and buying their entire cabinet at fire sale prices constitutes reaching out to rivals. i guess it has a nicer ring to it then reaching out to backscatter -- backstabbers. obama is the person most likely to have poison put in his coffee by hillary, but only because bill stopped eating and drinking around hillary along time ago. liberal victim ology toward the nation's enemy has gotten tricky now that obama is the commander in chief. since national security became his problem, obama is not in such a rush to shut down guantanamo and pull the troops out of iraq. wasn't guantanamo going to be shut down and troops on the day after the inauguration, or my thinking of a different black president?

democrat's hysteria over guantanamo was a phony fraud just like their hysteria over his middle name. only drama queens on college campuses and msn b.c., the official network of trauma queens are all bent out of shape about guantanamo. you remember that, the all- inclusive tropical resort we built for the terrorists so they have a nice place to live until a democratic president comes in. when newsweek ran a completely false story about a quran being flushed down the toilet by an interrogator, practitioners of their religion of peace, reacted by engaging in murderous violence in afghanistan and elsewhere. by contrast, my first reaction was, do they flush toilets at guantanamo? what happened to to latrines'?

let's hope there are at least those heinous low flow toilets that can't flush anything. because of the false story, we also found out that far from desecrating it, our interrogators are required to wear plastic -- plastic gloves when handling it so as not to upset the little darlings by putting their infidel pause on that -- paws on it. if only barnes and noble had treated my last book with that sort of care. [applause] the savages at guantanamo are entitled to a hours of sleep, sweet -- three square meals a day, and two hours of recreation. the can't be woken 4 interrogations', they can't have their mail opened. i have been treated worse at a holiday inn express. can we at least bang on the door at 6:00 a.m. and shout out, made

service. this is our brutal pow camp? it is like a school that keith olbermann went to. [applause] in other words, ruthless terrorists that would slit your throat are treated better than your if you are flying to kansas to seek granma. back away from the moisturizer. you with the bottled water, hands up were i can see them. they don't even feed us on planes anymore. to get a good meal, you have to go to guantanamo. throughout the bush administration, the media showed us that most of the detainees were harmless little lambs on the basis of zero actual

information. the new york times said, and an editorial, many of them, perhaps the majority committed minor offenses if any. if memory serves, the following week editorial saying minipigs, perhaps a majority, have the ability to fly. this is the same new york times that assuring us that stockholders have nothing to worry about. since obama became president, a flurry of articles about how a lot of the detainees at guantanamo are really dangerous. an article shows that obama advisers are looking for congress to pass legislation so that some of the detainees can be held indefinitely, which presents the problem of where to house them. i know, how about guantanamo? for seven long years, democrats have been hysterical about guantanamo.

they huff and puff about the poor little darlings without consequence. but now it's obama's problem, and he is keeping them there. the only bone he is throwing to his crazy based is to claiming that dunking a terrorist had in water constitutes torture. putting a caterpillar it in a terrorist cell constitute torture. i first had about the caterpillar torture. i assumed they had these big trucks that were chasing the terrorists. but no, they were talking about a little furry worm children play with. i guess they have gone so fat, they can't even now running at caterpillar -- outruna caterpillar. according to msnbc, water boarding was not a war crime for which the japanese were prosecuted after world war one

or two as you hear all the time , they were apparently reading "little women" and not war books. water boarding would have been a good day and a japanese pow camp. one was to fill the prisoner's stomach with water. the stomach was extended, they would take a huge stake, and pound on the stomach until the prisoner threw up. or they would stick a stake in the prisoner's knows, break the nose, pour water into his mouth until he drowned, or to water board the prisoners with salt water, causing the prisoner to die. it was water boarding + killing the prisoner. that was a war crime, not water boarding. [applause]

meanwhile, the alleged torture at guantanamo committed by the bush administration consists of things like failing to put on plastic gloves before handling the quran, for getting top honor a serbian national holiday. obama has not made any changes, or as yet iraq, but he does denounce the same policies, making his policies -- is foreign policy is about the same as his position on gay marriage. denounced bush for having the same policy. even was supposed to be wonderfully knew about obama, his message of hope and change are just the same old political cliches. what most people said is, is it for -- is fresh, its new, but is it substantive? i have been hearing speeches

since i was 9 years old. as he runs for president on hope and change, bringing people together, has anybody ever run a presidential campaign on despair, the status quo, driving people apart? i mean, other than ralph nader. [applause] the big mantra of the obama campaign was change. there were a few campaign quotes. i think the hundred change is so great that people want something new. people are going to vote for change. i think we will win this election if we talk about bringing real change to america. the primary issue in this campaign is the economy and the desire for change. those are all campaign quotes, but not from the obama campaign. those are from the clinton campaign in 1992. his signature line was, i still believe that a place called

hope. i think we all know where clinton goes a place called hope is -- clinton's place called hope is. [applause] any place where hillary isn't. they finally won a presidential election after 12 years after clinton's last election. they are proclaiming the end of the republican party. i would not be hanging out the mission accomplished sign just yet. besides obama having lower public approval ratings that even president carter at this stage in his administration, look at how obama 1. -- obama won. he had the european union and abroad on his side. in a poll in germany, 80% of germans said they supported obama. we all know how infallible the germans are at picking great leaders. [applause]

meanwhile, obama was running against john mccain. it is amazing mccain lost by only seven points and not 75 points. beating john mccain is the equivalent of george foreman, in his prime, beating helen thomas in a twelfth round technical knockout. come to think of it, i would pay good money to see that. i just hope republicans are to this insufferable every time we win an election. i do not think we are, and i think we will be able to test that theory and about 16 months. [applause] the last time the democrats were so cocksure of their eternal dominance was in 1964 when lyndon johnson beat barry

goldwater in a massive landslide. you think 28 states is impressive. lbj 144 states. you remember the success lbj was. let's review his accomplishments. he started the war on poverty 40 years ago, and we're still waiting for an exit strategy on that quagmire. liberals, how exactly would you define victory and war on poverty? i only ask because that was your big showstopper of a question with iraq. president johnson escalated the war in vietnam to prove that democrats could fight. thousands of american men died to prove democrats could be trusted with national security. no wonder the term johnson-esque never caught on except in the adult film industry.

it is interesting that obama's admirers keep comparing him to abraham lincoln and ronald reagan. they apparently can't find a democrat president worthy of being compared to. [applause] the 1964 landslide for johnson was not only the last high water mark of the democrats, it was virtually the last mark they left on history. if you don't count stains. between lbj's alexian and obama's victory ár@ @ @ @ @ @ @á r in 1976, following watergate, when carter beat nixon.

it was after watergate, after nixon resigned, you have an iron-elected -- an un-elected president. carter's reputation has certainly gone up over time. he has become the template for all americans of what a rotten president is. carter's presidency is like a fairy tale, even people who were alive know the horror and tragedy of the carter years. republican presidents always look better in the, if history, and democratic presidents always look worse. to summarize, the last time democrats to get a majority of americans to vote for them was when a green leisure suits ran -- were in.

i do not think you should add nancy pelosi and harry reid's faces on mount rushmore. liberals may see obama's presidency as the second coming, but given his policies, i would not count on a second term coming. [applause] thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. your very well dressed. now the fun starts. we have questions. you are already lined up. >> my name is courtney, and i am from the community college outside of box build tennessee. what is your next book, and as a going to be as good as your last

book? >> they're all my children. i think they are also good. the next book is top-secret for now. i have to observe democrats a little bit longer. >> thank you. >> i go to college in arizona. in light of the recent battle tail light at the white house, if americans dismiss this, you think the current administration has the potential to overthrow our democracy? i am not seeing much difference between our government asking its citizens to report fission material -- fishy material and the nazi party asking people to turn into those who oppose them. >> i would not worry about that with obama's public approval ratings. i thought it would take a year for the president -- for americans to turn against the president. a lot of people did not pay

attention to politics. in reagan's first year, unemployment was high, but he would put policies in place to lead a the economy coming back. americans are naturally optimistic people. i thought it would be one year. the big gm takeover, the bailout, the favors to government insiders and relatives of nancy pelosi and john murtha, these town hall meetings and the tea bag parties, the public approval ratings, it is really great. i am proud and impressed by the wisdom of the american people, that they have figured out this so quickly. i also thought it would be harder to explain to americans the free market in an area where they haven't experienced it up for i upt before, -- it before,

i.e. health care. you have the government controlling -- or rather, creating incentives so that people get health care from their employers. there is no free market either and health insurance or in health care. explaining what to be done to health care to americans, i feel like i'm trying to explain to an old soviet woman right after the fall how she is going to get credit the government doesn't provide it. americans are smarter than elected republicans are. they understand what should be done. and certainly smarter than elected democrats. [applause] >> i am from the university of north carolina. i was wondering how you felt about sarah palin's resignation and where you see her career going? >> her resignation made perfect sense.

she explained it. she can either respond to her admirers norbert detractors, her hand is tied behind her back as a governor. she has these endless ethics complaints being filed against her which is a specialty of the left. every right winger you know is defending themselves against frivolous ethics charges, compliance with government agencies. they can do it endlessly with sarah palin, and she could not go out and write a book to make money so she could at least pay the lawyers to deal with it. she had $500,000 in debt. the lieutenant governor was a total right winger. she left them in good hands. not literally ge tores, but speak and write. she has an innate political talent that i have not seen since reagan.

she obviously needs to do some work. who knows, we will see what happens. i love her. it i wrote it right up for her in "time" magazine as one of the most influential people. i suspect that despite our most ardent desire is, she may not want to run. she may want to take a break for a bit. she is running -- she is young enough, she can run in 20 years. >> thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you so much for being here. i cannot imagine a much better way to wrap up a week like this. >> thank you. >> you have your enemies and those who try to disrupt your appearances and cut down your message whenever you speak. how'd you put that aside and continue to do what you do? >> is a lot of fun. don't make me out to be a martyr. there is not much more fun than

80 liberals on college campuses -- idiot liberals on college campuses. the first part of the book, i describe the college speeches which is something that is contrary to my expectations. at the very good schools, you know, the ivy league's and the equivalent, and the southern schools, even if the audience was against me, they would politely listen to the speech and challenge me during question and answer. the bush leagues schools, and the more bush league they are, the more violent they are. they can formulate a question. they're bright kids, but you're dealing with a lot of people who probably should not be in college at all. [applause] but by professors who probably

shouldn't be in college at all. [applause] as silly as henry louis gates is, he has a lot smarter than churchill. you have the idiots led by the idiots, and when a conservative comes on campus, they can spend weeks thinking of a question, and all they can think of is, you are a fascist. i spoke at columbia a few months ago, and liberals were fantastic. they thanked me for speaking and tried to come up with clever arguments. they're bright kids. that is always lots and lots of fun. will campbell, things are not going to well in afghanistan for our troops. i was wondering if you could touch on that, what you think the current administration should do in afghanistan.

>> i am glad you asked that, because it allows me to make an important point. the problem with obama is not just that he's liberal, is that he has a politically correct president. why are we increasing troops in afghanistan rather than iraq, we are spending -- and not even increasing troops, but keeping the war focus in iraq. iraq is good for us. it is a good terrain for us. the crazies running across the border, but turning iraq into the may actions that is good for america. afghanistan is not such a good battlefield for us. why was it his pledge to pull out of iraq and move into afghanistan? it does not make any sense from a military standpoint, but it does make sense if -- i have to please these crazies in my base your insisting we pull out of iraq and that kind of forgot about afghanistan. i know we have to fight the war someplace. i do not think it is the best

strategy to move from a country that is good for us militarily to a country that is not. god bless the troops, they will do a great job i'm sure. why not give them the better battlefield. it is political correctness dictating. like johnson going to war in vietnam because he didn't want democrats to be seen as weak on national security, that is not a good reason to fight a war. [applause] >> i am from the university of central florida in orlando. i was waiting for my plane and reading your book, the woman next to me says, you know if you're conservative and you are young, you have no heart. i said, as a conservative, i've never promoted chemist -- genocide among all unborn children or promote pulation control. >> are you sure she wasn't a

liberal and wasn't just being sarcastic? >> she had a greenpeace sweater. >> huh. i fly a lot. airports are like book signings for me. he did not get the private planes, bloomberg, all the liberals. i did not run into them, and i did not run into the homeless brigades being brought in by acorn, they are not flying any place. you run into people with jobs and families. >> my question was, as a young conservative, what can we do to maybe become a writer like you that really provokes thought? some of your books are really made me want to be more involved in a conservative movement.

and what is your opinion on law school? >> do not go to law school. encourage the liberals to go to law school. it is a total waste. [applause] unless you're going to be a scumbag trial lawyer like john edwards, you're not going to make that much money because it is all tied to billable hours. the causeway to much trouble. unless you really want to practice wantthey cause -- they cause way too much trouble. unless you really want to practice law. i don't know what else to do -- there are a lot of jobs out there. i asked my successful friends and their '30's and 40's, did you know this is what you're going to be doing? they all said, i did not know this job existed. just because you're afraid and don't know what to do when you

graduate from college, don't make the mistake of going to law school. what was the first one? >> how do i become a writer like you? >> i went to law school. [laughter] we had a failure in the oval office, so little worked out. -- it all worked out. i would encourage you to run for office and make money somehow. get kicked around, find out you're good at, make money. [applause] i was just talking about this with the editors of human events last night. the peculiar thing about the conservatives or conservative movement's in america right now -- we have the talkers, the tv writers, the movement -- a the best conservative organizations.

we are a little shy on our topnotch politicians. i think we could bulk of that area little more. i would not want to@@@@mg@ @ @ r >> i just want to know what your thoughts are on obama and the white house acquisitions of astro turfing. >> first, it truly does fulfill my aphorism that you know what liberals are up to buyer of what they accuse you of. in this particular case, we have a lot of evidence on that. there's one guy who has been written up in the new york post. . who was written up in "the wall

street journal" who slipped after the campaign finance law was signed by bush and after it was upheld by the supreme court -- treglia, he worked for pew, and he said this is a left-wing foundations. foundations. but with john, he is on tape saying it. people are calling for campaign finance reform. and yet, politicians were fooled into believing it. i was just talking earlier at the bush league schools, and by the way, the worst ones that i do not think i was -- some schools are especially bad at turning out little monsters. in this particular case, they weren't even students, because they were standing in the back screaming their heads off with

the most vulgar things i have ever heard. i can't even repeat them to my friends. there were a lot of cops there. there were struggles, and you get the cops out of the room. the cop arrested some of them and later told my bodyguard, which i need on college campuses because they are such little peaceful darlings, he told the cop he wasn't a student because somebody paid him to disrupt an ann coulter speech. i wanted to sue just to find out. who is paying and to disrupt my speech? that is fact no. 2. we know that acorn, and a lot of the crazy things they're pushing are not supported by the public. we will give them a box lunch and say, stand outside and protests.

i believe astroturf, and a favorable way, was a phrase invented by david axelrod. this was a specialty of the left. you can clearly see from the videos that are presented on liberal media sites -- you can see they are obviously -- for one thing, there are a lot of old people. they're concerned with what obama is going to do with health care, and they ought to be concerned with what obama will do with health care. that will be cost savings. and health care, leading us straight in the health care. all we need is a free market. for health insurance, and for doctors. .

capitalism has produced the most amazing goods and services. it was not long ago. you were kids. it was decided that this podium. the jewish restyling. you get -- it was really restyling. everyone has a flat screen tv. do that with health care so that we choose with their own dollars

to buy doctors to pay for their services the way we pay for the genius bar at the apple store. people will spend $200 on a hair cut, 100 got on a manicure and pedicure. they go to see a doctor with eight years of training and schooling and they are indignant if they have more than a $20 cocaine. you have to brush that aside -- $20 copiay. you have to push that away. you cannot buy a program that health insurance company can not sell you insurance if it is going to ensure you against things that heart disease and cancer. it has to ensure you can

possibly having recovered memory better -- that your father rape you and your younger. if you are sure if your father did not reach you, you can skip the plan. you can skip the health care plans of acupuncture and aromatherapy. those health care plans. you can skip the health care plans with acupuncture and aromatherapy. it is almost like having insurance for your house. you have insurance in case of a flood or fire. this is a perfect example where the federal government does have a right under the constitution, under the interstate commerce clause, the states are not allowing insurance companies to sell the insurance that people want, or would want if they pay for it themselves. to have a free market in health insurance and medical care, and you will see costs come down and

more cures being invented. it will be a wonderful thing, and you will not wait so long. [applause] >> there was a summarize asia george bush's foreign policy, to which i agree with every word. what is the correct thing to do with iraq? you have any opinions on the british conservative party? >> i did not think that was a southern accent. [laughter] i know absolutely nothing about your country except that i like tony blair. it's not really like the current die. -- the current die. all i know is that he supported the war in iraq. need to know more about him? as an american, that is all i really cared about, and he was rock-solid on the war in iraq.

i must say, until 9/11, and the invention of the airplane, i tended to agree much more -- with the ron paul, pat buchanan isolationist view. i do not want to be the world's police. i do not think we should be busting up every ball -- every bar room fight. in bosnia, i do not know how else to deal with the threat of international terrorism without giving democracy a foothold in the middle east. these arab countries, a lot of these countries in the middle east, the muslim countries are ruled by dictators and they tell people the reason your living in dirt is because of israel and the great satan. it is hard to say that already right now when you have --

thomas friedman admitted a few weeks ago, he said all the lebanese kept coming up to him and said this never would have happened without iraq. it was american liberals nowhere near 11 on. the same thing for enthusiasm with freedom and iran. -- nowhere near lebanon. in addition to the fact that i do not understand the position that when we are attacked, just strike back at the people who hit us. the people who hit us are sleeping under a camel at night. they are being funded by state sponsors who are hiding their involvement. it is not like japan flying in with planes with the japanese flag on it. taking out the occasional terrorist camp, where as george

bush said, i am not just going to issue of a missile to hit the rear end of a camel. you really do have to remake the middle east in some ways. that does not mean we have to go into country after country, but wow, iraq was a good start. [applause] very aggressive right wingers there, but they are well dressed. it is a well-dressed, of britain's. -- a well-dressed mob of britons. >> i am wondering if you would shed some light on the issue. >> the perfect illustration of my book, where the powerful people are attacking the white working class, and acting like he is oppressing them somehow.

what disturbs me about it, even now, the beer summit, and the media completely forgets about it. they would not have forgotten about it if they had been able to find one black mark against sergeant rally. -- sergeant crowley. he was like the cop chosen by god. how many cops in america have given mouth to mouth resuscitation to a famous black athlete? how many cups have never been accused, falsely or otherwise, of some act of racial profiling or racism? if they had found that in his background, if he had at one blemish, he would be mark fuhrman. the same thing was done to him. just buy a roll of the dice in this case, the race mongers, desperate to create their

imanuel holstein of the month and claim this happens all the time, i am sorry you did not get it in this case, and now we are all supposed to shut up about it. as long as they brought it up, it is worth mentioning that as far as i can remember, almost everyone of these cases of police racism or racial profiling is the act of overt racism in america, they are almost always hoaxes. is it an epidemic? i go on for pages of all the of fake incidents of alleged racism. often they are white liberals who are so desperate to be victims. there was that woman in claremont college who totally, coincidentally taught courses on tolerance. she was not black or jewish or herself. i think she was converting, in

hopes of becoming a victim of anti-semitism some day. she was going to teach a class on the pervasiveness of racism and anti-semitism. she came out in her car had been vandalized. for the next couple of weeks, the campus was an uproar. may daschle news, and you see her in these photos -- it made national news. five minutes of investigation, and the cops find witnesses saying she did it herself. they wondered why this woman was paying this on her car. she admitted. but you get cases like that of lot, so maybe instead of looking at the epidemic of racial profiling, we should be looking at the epidemic of people making false accusations of racism.

like i say, i did not bring up the crowley case, they brought it up. >> i am from hillsdale college. in 2001, you wrote an article warning republicans to be careful not to try to govern an act -- in act conservative principles and policies according to democratic and progressive methods. i believe that is the general import of it. next i am not sure i remember that column. that does not sound like me. that sells like the opposite of me. you remind me why this is the opposite of me. opposite of me. i would wish that republicans would hire homeless people to protest health care. rebels will never will learn by example.

-- liberals love or learn by example. take for example sexual- harassment. how many ceos have had to pay millions of dollars because they call their secretary honey. then we have a president who's not only is sexual harasser he is apparent and suddenly they te the sexual harassment laws have gone too far. then not heard a lot about sex harassment and clinton. >> i've not salish not use facebook -- i did not say we should not use facebook. >> [unintelligible] [applause] i'll give you another one. i think the supreme court for a joe needs to get five justices

to start engaging in judicial activism on the right. the new york times he trying to confuse this issue. judicial activism is when the supreme court overrules congress or state legislator. that is not judicial activism. if congress passes a law saying we banned free speech, then of course the supreme court read the constitution. speech, then of course the supreme court reads the constitution and says oh, there's a provision on free- speech. judicial activism is a hallucinating when you read the constitution. i am thinking we get five supreme court justices to start engaging in some real conservative activism, and that is, they will look at the numbers and the emanations and discover the right to a flat tax. they will discover the real

right to bear arms, and i mean nuclear arms. and just for laughs, i think the right to free champagne for blondes. the liberals was suddenly acknowledge what judicial activism is and they will stop doing it. you got me totally wrong. >> i do not mean political techniques, but progresses and conservatives -- i made a mistake by mentioning democrats. perhaps in the last several years, we have this tendency to save the world according to our own kind of republican ideas, instead of handing out entitlement plans and welfare to write all these past wrongs, we took the laudable, free-market theory and such and fell into

the trap of pushing them with the federal government. we ended up with the fed guaranteeing fannie mae and freddie mac a bailout in october, which bush and administration supported. it has gotten worse since then, and as far as social conservatives go, we move away from the referendum. we got the harriet miers nomination. >> the crowd is getting restless. >> maybe we need to investigate whether we have not kind of lost our allegiance to republicans. >> i got the question. this is why i am pleading with you all to run for office. make money now so you can run

for office when you are old enough, young man. you are very attractive. i think you would make a fine candidate. we are not very happy with republicans. i will be another a prism. there are a lot of bad republicans. there are no good democrats. i do not think we have to worry very much about the obama administration. i have been my usual pollyanna self since the night of obama's election. every time a republican has lost, even with bob dole or whomever, i was always really depressed election night, even when you can see it coming from 100 miles. the night became lost, i did not feel a thing. i just thought, i am sick of apologizing for these republicans.

what has happened historically, it is historically a republican country. 38% will call themselves conservatives. only the 18% will call themselves liberal. the more the republican party is identified as conservative, the more support we will have. what happens is, you will have eight or 12 year dominance by republicans, and then jimmy carter for four years. the americans realized that is why we were voting republicans. the needed 12 years of reagan, reagan, and bush. then you get clinton, and two years later you have the first republican congress in 40 years. clinton could only operate for his first two years.

i think we are seeing the same thing with obama now. if there's a huge republican revolution next year, it could be the best thing that happened to obama. he did the republican congress, and he is completely constrained from covering the way he and his advisor and like him to, he could end up like bill clinton. he could call himself a democrat, but it would basically be republican governors, and then we will have peace and prosperity. [applause] >> we want to thank you for your column this week. i know you are probably not surprised that bill clinton came back from north korea with two women, but i was hoping you could talk about the clintons' involvement in the obama

administration. >> who knows what these democrats? i tend to think that not only do clinton and gore still hate each other's guts, but the clintons paid obama scuds. they are much better at working those things out. mccain could not even though a few short months of the campaign without attacking his own vast presidential candidate, and then immediately after the campaign. if all you want is power, he is here to put personal hatred aside. >> i am really excited to go back to my campus this august, because we are winning. we are winning on cap and trade and on health care. there is one thing i am a little bit concerned about what i've been up -- talking to everyone here at the conference this week, which has been great. it is the obama birthers, and he

nailed with that comment you had. i was hoping that since you are here and you have everyone's attention, if you could just tackle it for us, because there still some people i hear it were still a little bit concerned about the issue. >> for one thing, a lot of the birther business was started by leftwingers like this guy larry johnson. a lot of this, they have more crazy people than we do, so they were the ones behind a lot of where was he born, where was he born? "american spectator" specifically looked into it during the campaign. sweetness and light, which is like the right wing snopes

looked into it and found out this is typical of a live bird was from hawaii. during those announcements and local newspaper -- live a birth was from a white. now they are changing the argument. -- was from hawaii. they are changing the argument, anticipating that will finally get the famed long form of birth certificate. they are saying they believe he was born here, but we think he is hiding something because he will not release the birth certificate. the reasons -- a lot of normal, people are asking why he does not release it. hospitals do not want to release the long for birth certificate, for the same reason we watch a movie on tv, the phone number is always 555. the reason all law and order

addresses are those that would be in the middle of the east river. you do not release private information. that is why you do not get along formed russian ticket. that is the way fanatics are. maybe he was born in hawaii but he has a different father. that is something to brag about. my father left me and went back to kenya. maybe he will release it at some point. if the long for his release, that will not end it. -- if the long form is released. why is this fun for liberals? because they are the ones who are always behind conspiracy theories. this finally gives them a chance

to say right-wingers are conspiracy theorist, too. as i point out, we are not. no conservatives whose name you have heard of is promoting this. if you have not read my column, among the points was, after michael more puts out his conspiracy theory which claims that the bush family, that they secretly spirited bin laden out of the country after 9/11, this is all in his movie. it was a glittering premiere here in washington. there were half a dozen democratic senators attending, the head of the democratic national committee at the time not only attended, but he came

out and set i agree, after seeing that movie. we went to war over oil in afghanistan. that had nothing to do with 9/11. we do not have the crazies that have on their side, which is why i think so many of those people who are hysterical that are not even conservatives to begin with. [applause] >> put those dvd's away if you have them here at the conference. >> one thing that came out of the 2008 campaign is that we know you can make prophesies that no one will listen to, doom and gloom if we nominate the wrong candidate. is there anyone you want to warn us away from nominating this point? >> pretty much anyone i can think of.

that kind of leaves me stuck for who we will run. we have a lot of good congressman, and i hope they will run for governor, because you cannot run a congressman. we have a lot of good ones, but they cannot run from the house. i found that out, to my disappointment, with duncan hunter. the need to be governors or senators, though generally, senators have a tough time of it. the executive experience is considered advantageous. do not run mccain again. i am not really wild about any of them. we will see. we have time. will any of you be 35 in a few years? >> i go to drake university.

my question is, and know you said you would never consider running for office, but i think he would be an awesome candidate. are there any particular women that you foresee stepping up in the next four, a, 12, years and may be running for president and being a good contender? >> like a certain next governor of alaska? why, i hope so. i just told all of you to run for office even though i do not want to run for office, but that is why you need to. i did not really follow politicians that closely. i know that sounds odd, since i write about politics, but i really do not. i love michelle bachman and sarah palin.

who else? kelly in conway, you think of the ones you see on tv. that is why we need more of our %á@ @ @ n r@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you are created -- your critical ends when the most conservative of the. >> i am having a lot of fun. i will can see your point is socialist health care goes through and if cap and trade goes through, but i think with those pharmaceutical companies funding it, i think we can stop them i think real grassroots

feeling is going to stop both cap and trade. i do not see a lot going through on health care. nd trade, but i do not see a lot going through on healthcare. i am impressed and proud of how smart the american people are being on that. >> i attend the university of connecticut. i wanted to get your quick opinion on with such a large federal deficit growing, how congress and the president and the next years will attack medicare and medicaid and more poorly, so security pickett's another big talking point on health care these days is how stupid these republicans are saying they do not want government run health care, but they like medicare. bernard madoff's investors like that to for a while. that is what medicare is.

they have little ious posin. that is why it is silly for someone who is going to spend the way obama is to say don't worry, i will not touch the income of anyone making less than 200 bp thousand dollars a year. you cannot possibly fund the government' from the income of people making more than 200 pp thousand dollars a year. -- 250,000 dollars. that is just a secret way of taxing us without us writing a check to the government. if your money buys half as much as it did yesterday or a year ago, you have taken half of our money.

like i say, you have to grandfather people in, slowly cut it back, raised the age for medicare, but what it means is to go to just the welfare system. three things i think we should do with health care, allowed competition in health care insurance, competition in choosing doctors and pay for doctors the way you pay for a haircut and your computer care, and set up basically it welfare clinics by most hospitals in america, so you do not have illegal immigrants and welfare recipients clogging of our emergency rooms. >> i would just like to thank everyone here for giving us such a wonderful week.

in less than a year's time, we will have a conservative government in the united kingdom. that means will have a government in the united kingdom that is diametrically opposed to the u.s. president. >> it also means we will have a place to flee to, so thank you. [applause] >> i think we should oppose barack obama, and the view that is met in the conservative party is mainly that we do not want to ignore the president of the united states, which makes me think i am in the wrong building. but just wondered if you thought we could maintain this special relationship by becoming closer to america but moving further away from the u.s. presidency.

>> i think that will endear year in the hearts of most americans. seriously, his public approval rating is falling so fast in six months, and they are not slowing down. by the way, he does not acknowledge the special relationship, so those of us who do acknowledge it -- he has totally dissed you guys, which has not been reported in american newspapers. since most of you are americans and reading american news, after 9/11, tony blair was very good on the war on terrorism, and he presented as a gift to george bush a bust of winston churchill. when obama comes in, he said oh,

you can have it back now. and your guy said no, you can keep it, it was a gift. and obama said no thanks. that may be news in england. it was not reported at all here. they are worse also these totally embarrassing gifts they brought for board brown before gordon brown. gordon brown's wife brought lovely gifts for the obama girls. they gave him dvd's of his own speeches. maybe we should try that with kim jong il. here are my greatest hits. he does not acknowledge a special relationship, why should you? it looks like that is it. thank you, young republicans, you are very well dressed. [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> tomorrow wrote a book on the unemployment numbers. then a discussion about sex. -- then a discussion of secretary of state hillary clinton. and the film legislation that we get the federal government control about student loans. our guest will be william shaffner. "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> sunday in a book of british politics from the bbc, including the expense scandal. sunday night, nine eastern and pacific on c-span. up next, and of the latest unemployment figures. -- a look at the latest unemployment figures.

carolyn maloney shares this hour and 20 minute hearing. >> welcome. evidence that the stimulus bill is taking hold a starting to emerge. the economy improved in the second quarter of this year. the pace of jobless has moderated significantly in recent months. the trend is toward recovery. i am optimistic that more americans will be heading back to work as more stimulus projects get under way. well we welcome the signs of improvement, it reminded of the high toll that the recession has head on millions of working americans.

this recession which began december 2007 is now the longest and deepest of the post- world war ii time. the duration of this recession has led to long spells of unemployment for some workers. with six unemployed workers for each job opening, those out of work are finding it increasingly difficult to find a job. more than 1/3 of the unemployed, a staggering 5 million americans, have been without a job for at least six months. it is the highest on record. in both% and sheer numbers. over 2.3 million workers have been unemployed for a year or longer. the national employment law product report estimates that by the end of december, more than five and a thousand workers lost their jobs through no fault of their own will lose their

unemployment benefits before finding a job. by the end of the year, it occurs to 1.5 million. for many, those checks are the thin cushions that allow them to keep up with their utility bills, stay current on credit- card bills, and meet basic needs. congress and the president work quickly to expand and extend the unemployment insurance from for the thousands of workers losing their jobs each month. we funded up to 20 additional weeks of benefit at the state level through the benefit program. the emergency unemployment compensation program also provided an additional 20 weeks of federally funded benefits for workers in all states and an additional 15 weeks for laid-off workers in states with high rates of unemployment. many americans are receiving an additional 25 to $100 each

month. for many of these unemployed workers, it is not just the income that they have lost. for many jobless americans and their families, health insurance benefits have a evaporated or stopped. the joint economic committee released a report yesterday estimating that one where 4 million women and 2.7 million men have lost their employment base health insurance because of job losses during this recession. today's job report makes it clear we are making progress, but it will be a long road to recovery. by extending unemployment benefits, it will give out of four americans across the country some peace of mind as they continue to search for work. but passing health care reform, millions of uninsured americans will have access to affordable health care insurance regardless of their employment status. i look forward to working with

my colleagues in the house and senate. we want to act quickly on behalf of the millions of unemployed americans across the country. i now call on my colleague mr. cummings for five minutes. of unemployed americans across this country. i now call on my colleague, mr. cummings, for five minutes. >> thank you very much, madam chair. as we continue to emerge from the worst recession since the great depression, it is sobering when the loss of 247,000 jobs qualifies as good news. treasury secretary geithner and former federal reserve chairman alan greenspan did suggest on sunday that the united states economy may have turned a corner. both men point to forecasts that portend possible economic growth in the second half of 2009. further, the "new york times" yesterday reported comments by economist christina rohmer and

alan sinai, adding two percentage points to the economic activity. however, as we know, unemployment is a lagging indicator and as white house adviser dr. larry summers, noted, it will be some time before economic growth produces consistent job growth. so i'll resist any impulse to put on rose-colored glasses. one of the reasons why i wanted to be here this morning is because i've consistently heard that, before this administration did the things that it did, people were constantly saying that it would do no good, and i expected to hear, as i heard from former senator fred thompson of tennessee this morning that some folks giving no credit to this administration for their efforts, and i wanted to make sure that we, that the record is clear, that while we may not see the very end to this long tunnel, the fact is, is that the things we are doing are

making a difference. after the loss of 6.7 million jobs since the recession began, the effect on families and communities are now being felt more severely than ever, more and more americans remain unemployed longer, and longer stretches. today's data tells us that the number of long-term unemployed continues to climb. 5 million americans have been unemployed for over six months and of those, 2.3 million for over 12 months. so these individuals and families struggle to put food on the table and pay rent each month. the stateses coffers continue to be empty. long-term unemployed residential state impact local government in the form of reduced tax revenue. now, not only are hard-working americans unable to find employment, but the unemployment safety net has stretched

dangerously thin in some states. and torn all together in others. this congress has previously taken dramatic action in this recession to reduce the burden of unemployment on families. the stimulus bill included funds to extend and increase state ns)hsh@ -g#@@@@@ @ bn the federal unemployment trust fund just to keep benefits available to the unemployed residents. facing a potential exhaustion of this critical office, i was proud to join so many of my colleagues last week in supporting emergency funding for the federal unemployment trust fund. this element our action will ensure that 4.6 million workers have vital unemployment benefits in august and september. however, i hope that when i return from recess we are able

to move another benefit to the house. that upon our return from recess we are able to move another extension of unemployment benefits through the house. while the recession has provided its share of bad actors, the unemployed, our constituents remain our responsibility. i'm proud of what we have accomplished as a congress, but i know we can and will do more and that we will do better. i look forward to the system of the commissioner, and with that, madam chair, i yield back. >> senator klobuchar for five minutes. >> thank you very much, madam chair, and thank you for being here today. it does seem like we have just a little stability going here, and i'm looking forward to asking questions of all of you to see what this means, as i heard representative cummings so well say that, in fact, we know we're not out of this. this isn't going to turn around

overnight, that we still have incredible challenges for the people of the country, but the fact is that i will say, being in minnesota for the last off and on for the last few weeks, there are some signs i've seen. we have a 20% increase in home sales of our state from june of last year to june of this year. i met with the realtors in minnesota and they attribute that to the $8,000 first time home buyers tax credit. nearly half of these home sales were first time home buyer and there's the anecdotes, when i was going to get some coffee and this guy was standing next to me in line and he's overwhelmed by work. i said what do you do? he says i move people. i move people out of apartment buildings because they're buying their first time homes. i think we have seen at least in our state some of the effects of this. the cash for clunkers program, our state, state of minnesota was fourth in the country for the number of people that used that program over that weekend.

up there with california and michigan. so i think you see people starting to believe that there is hope in this economy, with the numbers for consumer confidence and other things that we've seen, but that isn't quite enough, because i can tell you that we're still not where we should be. i have talked to so many people in our state, letters that i've received of people that say that they put their kids to bed and then they go sit at the kitchen table with their heads in their hands, wondering how they're going to make ends meet, while they're telling their kids everything is okay. we just heard from someone the other day, a woman who is unemployed and uses her savings to pay $250 a month for health care that requires a $10,000 deductible. the iron ore miners up in the northern part of my state, which was really actually a part of our state that, until the recession hit, was really going better than it had been for decades, and then suddenly the rug was pulled out from under them, when the worldwide demand for steel and other minerals

declined, and suddenly, they were unemployed and this wasn't the traditional set of unemployed. in the past it tended to be older workers who were laid off. these were younger workers who had had hoped and moved up there and bought houses. as representative cummings has pointed out, the unemployment extension is very meaningful to those people but there are parts of the iron range in minnesota that are seeing a 20% unemployment rate, and that is obviously unacceptable. i'm very much looking forward to see commissioner hall and our other witnesses, just your view of these somewhat hopeful figures that we've seen stability for one month, and what that means as we go forward. thank you very much. >> thank you, senator. now i'd like to introduce commissioner hall. dr. keith hall is the commissioner of labor statistics for the united states department of labor. the bls is an independent, national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes

essential data and disseminates it to the american public, the u.s. congress, and other federal agencies. dr. hall also served as chief economist for the white house council of economic advisers. for two years under president george w. bush, prior to that, he was chief economist for the u.s. department of commerce. dr. hall also spent ten years at the u.s. international trade commission. dr. hall received his ba degree from the university of virginia, his ms and ph degree in economics from perdue university. welcome. >> thank you madam chair, members of the committee. payroll and unemployment decreased by 147,000 in july and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.4%. payroll job losses over the past three months have now averaged 331,000, compared with an average of 645,000 over the

prior six months. employment has fallen by 6.7 million since the start of the recession in december, 2007. in july, employment declines continue in many of the major industry sectors. construction employment fell by 76,000 over the month, with losses throughout component industries. over the past three months, job losses have averaged 73,000, compared with 117,000 over the prior seven -- six months. employment construction has fallen by 1.4 million since december of 2007. manufacturing unemployment continued to decline with the loss of 52,000 in july. tractor employment fallen by 2 million since the start of the recession. the seasonally adjusted employment estimate for motor vehicles and parts rose over the month by 28,000. because layoffs in auto manufacturing already had been so large, fewer workers than usual were laid off for seasonal shutdowns in july, thus the

seasonally adjusted gain does not necessarily indicate improvement in the industry. employment and motor vehicles and parts manufacturing has been on a long-term decline. the number of jobs in the industry, 661,000, is now half of what it was in early 2000. in july, job losses continued in wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing and financial activities. however, these industries have lost fewer jobs on average since may than during the prior six months. similarly, job losses have less than substantially in temporary health services. employment and leisure hospitality has been little changed over the past three months, and health care employment grew about in line with the trend thus far in 2009. average hourly earning for production and nonsupervisor workers were up in july to $18.56, the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5%. from june, 2008, to june 2009

the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers continued to decline by 1.7%. turning now to measures from our household survey the unemployment rate in july was 9.4%, little change for the second consecutive month. the rate it had been 4.9% when the recession began. there are now 14.5 million unemployed persons in the country. the number of long-term unemployed continue to rise. in july, 5 million people had been unemployed for more than six months accounting for one in three unemployed persons. the employment-to-population ratio was 459.4% in july. among the employed, there are 8.8 million persons working part-time in july who would have preferred full time work. after rising sharply last fall and winter, the number of such workers has been little changed for four consecutive months. in summary, nonforeign payroll employment fell by 247,000 in

july and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.4%. my colleagues and i would now be happy to answer your questions. >> well, thank you very much, commissioner hall. i usually ask you, are there any bright spots in the labor report. are there any green chutes or glimmers of hope? but today i can ask you, what are the bright spots and the glimmers of hope? >> this report, there's still substantial job loss, but the last three months, there's been clear moderation in the job loss. and the moderation has been, has been pretty broad, which i think is a good sign. while i would say that we're not in recovery yet, this is the path that we have to go to get to recovery. we expect to see moderation first, before we start actually getting improvement in the labor market. a couple things i'll mention, which are indicators of maybe

future conditions in the job market. temporary help services, the job loss there has slowed substantially and that oftentimes is a leading indicator of a recovery. and we had a tick up in hours worked. while one month, i wouldn't read too much into this, but sometimes it took up an hour's work, as an indication of a labor market that is strengthening and may sometimes lead to job gains down the line. >> do you believe we've seen the worst or is there more pain ahead? . >> we're still getting substantial job loss. but it moderated going forward. it's hard to say. it's hard to estimate or project what's going to happen. i think on a whole this is a good si. >> are there any sectors

experiencing moreob creation thanksgiving job losses currently or any signs in a any sector will start expanding in the near future? housing sales are up. and there are other areas. >> across the board, the jobs moderate. a few sectors like health care has continued -- they continued to increase employment all along. a few sectors like the financial activities, the job loss there moderated quite a bit and getting fairly -- if that trend were to continue, it is getting close to gting job gains in some of its service areas. and a few of the industries -- the job loss is not significant. in other words, it is around zero. >> all right. are there any indicators that overall job losses will continue to slow in coming months? >> i don't want to speculate too

much. 227,000 jobs, that's a lot of jobs. and that's a big loss. but given context of the sort of job loss that we've been having, again, this is a good trend at the moment. >> and what is the typical amount of time after a contraction ends before labor markets start showing signs of recovery? >> in one sense, the signs come right away. in the past two recessions, there's been significant period between consistent job loss and consistent job gain. there's been a bit of a lag. in the last recession, consistent job loss ended and we were in the middle ground where there wasn't consistent job creation for almost two years. this is one of the reasons why people talk about the labor market being lagging indicator. the 1990 recession, the lag was about a year. but prior to that, the lag was not so much. it was only a month or two before job increases started.

so i say it's hard to say. recent recessions have been slow to see -- we've been slow to see job growth. >> thank you. any other comments? >> thank you very much, madam chair. i was just looking at page two of this report. i was looking at the african-american figures, mr. hall. and from what i can see here, in july, the unemployment rate for african-americans, 14.5%. is that correct? july 2009? >> 14.5, thank you. >> and that compares to when we go back to may it was 14.9 and then in june, it was 14.7 then coming down to 14.5.

that, as usual, is substantially higher than the average rate for the country, is that right? >> that's correct. >> and while there is an improvement there, does that improvement, does that surprise you? is that pretty much the way you expected it to be? >> it's it goes up more during a recession. the actually change is due to match the overall unemployment rate. we have had a black unemployment rate for the past couple of months. >> moving on to another subject. you mentioned we are going through moderation. what is moderation mean? you said it has been brought. can you give me the significance of the broadness that you talk about tax cut? i think this recession in

particular is brought. that is not always happen that way. it has been very deep. we are backing out sorted the same way so far. the job loss is moderate in a broad sense. we are not seeing a particular sectors of the economy better starting to improve a little bit. we are seeing a broad improvement in terms of job loss moderation. >> is that a good thing? >> healthy it is a good thing because it is a matter of consumer confidence coming back in consumer spending coming back that is at the heart of a recession. consumers do not spend and then things do not allow for the economy. >> yes today the committee released a report to get to the committee released a report that discussed comprehensive health report and the impact on women. it shows as there are specific economic risks for comment

regarding the ability to obtain and keep health insurance. women are more likely to rely on their spouses. . . ey health insurance. for example, women are more likely to rely on their spouses' employers to provide them with health insurance. more often, this is due to the fact that women are more likely than men to work part time. and, thus, being eligible for employer health benefits. what is the unemployment rate for women? >> unemployment rate for women is 8.1%. >> how much? >> 8.1. >> and what is the underemployment rate for women? >> we don't break out the broader ubroad er under utilization numbers by gender. >> young women are facing high

unemployment, 15.7%. and, thus, less likely to have employer-based health insurance. by what industry is the segment of the population typically employed? that is a younger female worker? you wouldn't have that information either? >> no. i don't really know. we have a lot of demographic information. >> so you wouldn't know the current unemployment rate -- you wouldn't have that information? okay. the average length of unemployment is increasing as unemployed workers are having problems finding employment during a time when the economy is shedding jobs. how is this impacting women? do you know? do you have that information? >> yes. do we have it broken down by agendaer? >> i don't think we have the long time broken down by demographic information. you know, women have slowly

participated generally in the job loss during this recession. so obviously they're probably well represented in the long term unemployed. >> i see my time is running out. i want to ask you something about this cash for clunkers. i hope we'll have another round. >> thank you very much, madam chair. thank you very much commissioner hall. i want to focus first on broad figures and just go back to what you were talking about at the beginning about the hardest hit sectors. i know you mentioned construction, manufacturing and then on the other hand sectors that seem to be getting better more quickly, health care. i know you've always mentioned health care as doing fine. since my state is a health care mecca, maybe that's the reason we're beneath national unemployment rate. but what do you see as the hardest hit sectors and what are the ones that are the ones

you're seeing improvement? ? >> i think through this recession, some of the hardest hit sectors are construction and manufacturing. >> uh-huh. >> and i think broadly, services have been hit harder than normal. but services typically are not hit as hard during recession. >> and would construction manufacturing, has there been any -- is that slowed the unpolice departmeu unemployment rate there? >> there is improvement in construction and manufacturing. >> but you mean improvement, a slowing of the -- >> moderation of job losses, construction. manufacturing picture is a little less clear. there may be moderation. but it's coming -- if it's there, it's coming later than the other sectors. >> okay. and how about the areas of improvement? >> big areas of improvement are things like the financial activities that's been hit much harder this recession than almost any past recession. that's coming back. temporary health services, i

think is one of the more -- >> didn't you once tell me that temporary health services is always a sign there is some improvement or not? >> it is a leading indicator. health services started shedding jobs before the recession started and it typically starts to moderate and gain jobs. >> and people can start to take one step at a time and they think, wow, business is doing a little better. so we'll get temporary services first? >> i think that's exactly right. to a large degree that, is the advantage of temporary health. that they're there for the flexibility. they're there -- sometimes the first ones to be let go and the first ones to bring back. >> okay. all right. then i was going to ask you about geographic areas. one of the hardest hit states and what are the states that are doing better. and i remember when we were asked the worst of this at one of these hearings, you were saying how really couldn't really even point out a geographic area because it was

bad all across the country. i wonder if that's changed at all f there is dramatic improvement or dramatic decline? >> yeah, i'm not seeing any real big change in the pattern among states. the unemployment rate, the unemployment rate has moderated. it hasn't grown much. i think that's been roughly the same pattern, i think, throughout the states. i'm not seeing a big change. there might have been individual states still having troubles. >> what are the states hardest hit? >> largest losses -- >> or just the largest enemployment rate. >> these losses are states like michigan, arizona, nevada, florida. turns out overall numbers in california is the hardest hit. but that is also a large state. not quite so bad. >> and which ones are doing the best? you could come back on the

second round and tell me. >> i do have the numbers. i just need to find them. >> i thought i just ask one or two questions that actually got asked from our citizens recently. this is from a woman in lake shore, minnesota. and she says, "dear amy, i'm sitting here watching the president's news conference and realizing that my husband and i do not fit into any of the categories." this is a question for you, commissioner hall. "do not fit into any of the categories of families unemployed that he is speaking about. my husband and i own a small construction company. we don't have the option of filing for unemployment because we're self-employed. some of our friends are in the same position. my comment is that all of the figures and stats that are out there regarding housing and unemployment rraren't counting those of us that conditioned file unemployment and are on the verge of losing our home because no one else is building. i just need to get that off my chest." that's her talking. "there are people unemployed that at least can get

unemployment. yet, there are a lot of us that don't have any income at all. are there statistics" -- this is from a woman in lake shore, minnesota -- "on how many are not getting unemployment and are unemployed." she means that people that don't qualify to get unemployment but have lost their businesses or lost their income. >> we actually do collect information on people who are self-employed. in particular, the health club survey, the unemployment rate includes everybody. that's a phone survey to households. so -- >> and what do you see from the small business owners that are self-employed? >> sure. the self-employed have certainly struggled the same way that the others -- the nonself-employed have. that's been one of the remarkable things about this recession. it has been very, very broad. i think it's been broad with respect to the type of employment and small businesses. >> all right. so when we look at this, when we

look at these numbers, when we look at the 9.4% unemployment, that does not include -- we've already talked about the discouraged workers in the past. and people's hours have been reduced. it also doesn't include some of the small business owners who may be self-employed that have lost their businesses or -- >> actually, it does include this. >> so this doesn't include the people that lost hours? >> exactly. the class of people, for example, they're part time for economic reasons. we collect those. that data is not part of the unemployment rate. and then we have a whole category of discouraged workers. people who stopped looking for work who want to work. >> so the answer to this is while she can't collect unemployment, they do -- you do look at including her kind of numbers in your statistics?

>> thank you very much. >> we hear this is the greatest recession since the great depression. how does it compare to past down turns in terms of the impact on the labor market? >> right. with this recession, it has been a long recession. it's been the longest recession since we've been collecting data on the labor markets, 19 months. we've now lost 4.8% of our payroll jobs which is a lot. that's the biggest loss since the 1948 recession. >> manufacturing has been the hardest hit since 1945.

we've lost about 15, 14% of manufacturing jobs. and financial activities and professional business services, those are hit harder than any other recession. >> so this is the longest jobless period we've ever had? >> yes, since around 1940. >> in the last four recessions, how long did it take for employment to recover to the prerecession plan or peak? >> yes, see, the last recession it took a really long time. it took 39 months. the prior recession to that was 23 months. it's been getting longer and longer, actually, each of the last four recessions. the average has been about 17 -- about a year and a half. the average has been going up. the last two recessions, it was

particularly long time period for the recovery. >> one of the green shoots that's been reported is that new home sales rose last month. but there are still almost nine months supply of new houses in the market. and do you have any sense of what level and inven tore yif new home will lead to an increase in construction employment? >> sure. first of all, i got to say that the month supply of houses is not -- doesn't turn out it's not a very good predictor of construction employment. in large part because not right now we have nine months supplies and sales are very low. nine months of supplies is not very many houses compared to nine months, say, when sales are much, much higher. the good predictor is the number of sales. construction employment does pick up fairly much at the same

time. i can tell you a little bit about housing starts. once housing starts bottom out and right now housing starts have been level now for several months, it can take anywhere from a year to a year and a half for construction employment to pick up after houses hit bottom. so it could be a little while. >> how much of the economy is real estate and housing construction? and you are tracking how many of these new housing sales are tied to the program of a subsidy for new housing purchases? >> you know, we actually don't collect the housing sales data since the studies. in our data on construction employment and maybe on real estate employment might give some indication of how these industries are doing. there's really no way for us to sort of connect that, at least not the way we measure data, connected to any sort of policy in particular. >> thank you very much.

mr. cummings? >> thank you very much. what is the trend for hours worked and what does that mean for families that rely on overtime in addition to, say, base salary? >> sure. one of the things that happens with labor markets is the hours worked go down as well as employment rate goes down. and it's -- we have yet another burden on families, to be honest. that is a cost. and lately, it's been fairly flat and now it's kind of going up. and that's a good sign. and if it -- we start to see some substantial movement upwards, that can sometimes show an excellent improvement in the labor market. >> yesterday, i had the both of them had a lot of them

were involved in the crash for clunkers. and they said it's making a difference. and do you expect to see the impact of a program like that where we pump $3 billion into a program and you can add comments with regard to the auto industry, but do you expect to see anything, say, with regard to that? >> i don't want to forecast -- >> i know that. i'm not trying to get you to do that, really. >> i can say something. >> oh, wonderful. i'm always careful about what i ask you. >> i appreciate that. if automobile sales are stimulated, i think probably what has happened right now is sales are coming out of inventory and won't show up in employment at the factories. but if that's going to have an

effect, it will have an effect going forward because factories will go back online with new models and hopefully quicker and we'll see impact on automobile manufacturing later on down the line if it has a big impact. e manufacturing later on down the line. if it has -- as it has a big impact. >> as you probably know, the obama administration with regard to this stimulus is going to be a lot of money, a huge percentage of the stimulus money will be going into the economy in the next six months. and do you expect to see anything resulting from that? and a lot of it is going to infrastructure. and so i guess what, if any, areas -- what areas might be

affected by that? are you following me? >> yeah. yes, i do. that's actually a really difficult question in a period when the labor market is declining. when we do our surveys, we're asking how many people do you have onboard right now? we're not asking them to -- >> right. >> -- to speculate on what the impact has been on any other sort of policy. but if -- i don't know where the stimulus money is going to be spent, what industries. but if -- i would expect going forward if you look at those particular industries and look at how the industries are performing going forward, that might give you insight on the effect of the stimulus. >> you know, you talk a little earlier and you talked briefly about it, about consumer confidence. and how significant that is. from all that you have seen, what can you glean from your

report, are you -- i take it you get a hint, at least, that people are feeling a little bit better about things? is that a reasonable statement? i don't want to put words in your mouth. >> yes, i think it is. >> okay. if that were to continue, do you think that you would see this broad moderation that you talked about continue or do you think that it would -- you would see, say, in certain areas like manufacturing or auto sales or whatever? do you follow me? >> yes. that's a little bit tough. because of losses are very broad, i think probably the impact will be broad. so i would hope to see that the moderation continues until we get actual job growth. >> and so will you -- when you got this report today, how did you feel? i'm just curious? you always try to get anything out of you sometime.

i'm just curious. >> well, it's -- right now it's a strange feeling. because 250,000 jobs, that's really hard on people. but given the context of things, this is good news. >> thank you very much. >> all right. thank you. i was looking at the chart and thinking about how it was quite a bit worse in january of '09. that's right, commissioner hall? >> yes. >> i'm thinking about people getting frustrated with their economic situation, remembering the hole that we had to dig ourselves out of and understanding that it's not going to happen overnight. is that your history with the labor markets that they can't turn around quickly? >> that's correct. yes. >> okay. the past hearings i've asked you, i told you to keep me owe prized of what is happening with our men and women in uniform. one of the things i found most distressing is that those who have gone over to serve our

country, especially in iraq and afghanistan and have really gone over since the 9/11, we call them the gulf war era veterans that their unemployment rate is usually significantly higher because they left jobs behind. i think in minnesota our guard and reserve they left jobs behind and then they come back and those jobs are no longer there. what is the unemployment rate now for gulf war era veterans, those veterans that served in the arms services since september 2001? >> right now, it's 9.8%. >> 9.8%. so that seems closer than it was in the past. what was the last month? >> actually, i don't have that one -- i do. it was 9.3% last month. but in may it was 11.4%. >> that's when i last talked you to about this. in may, it was 11.4%. so that's a significant change.

>> yes. >> to go from 11.4% to either to 9.8%. do you have any reason to know why that happened? >> i don't. i don't. we might be able to look at it a little bit and see if we can see a pattern there. >> yeah, if you could -- maybe it's because my question about this every month. and all the c-span viewers see that and then hiring gulf war veterans and people who are serving. i mean i just find so it disturbing that people have done that and then they serve and then they come back and they don't have a job. so we're going to continue pushing on that issue. but we have seen some improvement. so it is still above the national unemployment rate of 9.4%. and that is 9.8%. but that gap can decrease, is that right? >> yes. >> it's a fairly small sample of veterans. so the variability in that number can be fairly high. >> all right. >> kit go up and down for no real reason other than

statistical. >> thank you. we've also discussed the importance of education and its impact on unemployment. what is the unemployment rate, commissioner hall, for college graduates and the high school graduates and those that do not -- have not completed high school? >> for college graduates, the unemployment rate is 4.7%. for people with high school degrees but no college, the unemployment rate is 9.4%. >> so they're at the national average then? >> yes. >> they're double -- the unemployment rate is that of those with college degrees. >> so what is the unemployment rate for people who haven't finished high school? >> 15.4%. >> you can see why the president made it a priority to try to get people to not just finish high school but to finish some, at least a year of college. so we go from 4.7% for college degrees to 9.4% for high school graduates to 15.4% for those who haven't finished high school.

how has that changed the trends? what are the trends in this area? >> well, the recent trend -- the recent trend is like the overall rate. they've been fairly slack all these unemployment rates have been fairly flat over the last month or two. but the growth since the start of the recession, for example, those without a high school degree, the unemployment rate has gone from 7.9 to 15.4. they had a fairly dramatic increase. >> and that's from what time? >> start of the recession. >> so they've seen a bigger hit percentagewise for people that didn't finish high school even though the other group started lower. they haven't seen as big a spike in unemployment. >> yes. >> okay. just to conclude with my round here, my colleagues were asking about the stimulus package and

the effects of this. we know 5% of the stimulus package money is out of investment piece of it. and so obviously you'll see more effects of that as we go forward. i think the other piece that people don't always think about is that the stimulus -- the recovery act was one-third of the investments. but the other one-third is showing state budgets and unemployment. but the other third is the tax cuts. a third of the stimulus package is actually tax cuts. many of them going to the middle class and tax credits. so what i think is interesting is that you can see the effect of that immediately in the home buying rates i talked about in minnesota and again i'm basing this on our minnesota stats. but also what the realtors have told me in term of what they're seeing. and the tax credits with the cash for clunkers program. do you see them ripple through the unemployment rates than do you with the spending just because it takes longer to get that money out there?

>> well, that's -- yeah. that would be my anticipation. my notion is that payout rate is an important thing on these things. >> okay. >> when they occur and so forth. >> all right. thank you very much, commissioner hall. >> thank you. commissioner hall, how have women fared in this economic down turn and what industries have women lost the most jobs during this recession? >> women have lost about 25% of the jobs during this recession. that means men are losing jobs 3 to 1 compared with women. but that's not -- in a sense that's normal. the last recession women lost a lot of jobs. but prior to the last recession, women often wouldn't lose jobs at all during the recession. so one thing that happened is while men are bearing the bigger brunt of the job loss, women are participating more in the job

loss than in the past. so women have lost, at this point, women have lost about 1.7 million jobs so far. >> certainly the equality in job loss is not something that we're working for. but are women moving towards equality in job loss? gaining in job loss during the recession? you could elaborate a little more? >> my guess is that the women's participation rates in a number of industries has gone up. you know, for example, on construction and manufacturing, they're underrepresente edunder. so when they're hit by the recession, women don't participate so much in the job loss. women representation in other industries can be fairly high. so they participate in the job loss. >> you could comment on the trends of unemployment for minorities?

specifically african-americans and latinos? have they leveled off or is it still rising at a fast clip? what is happening there? and in what industry are latinos and african-americans losing the most jobs? >> lately, the unemployment rate rise has flattened out the last couple months, pretty much like the national numbers for minorities. and i think for the most part, the changes to the unemployment rate, while they mirrored the overall unemployment rate, they just mirrored it to a bigger degree. so the overall unemployment rate goes up, it goes up by more for minorities. so the trend is much the same. >> you could comment on the difference between men and women, african-american women and african-american men and latino women and latino men and differences between african-americans and latinos in terms of unemployment?

>> right. the women's unemployment rate is 8.1%. >> for what? women -- >> just total women. 8.1%. men, 10.5%. put that in perspective. for african-americans, unemployment rate is 14.5%. for female head of households, african-american women, 17.8% unemployment rate. >> so there are more unemployed? >> yes. >> what about latino women? >> female head of household hispanic, 12.8%. and that's actually fairly much

in line with the overall unemployment rate latino unemployment rate of 12.3%. >> so latino women are 12.8% and men are -- >> 12.5% so men are probably around 12%. >> okay. and do you sthee leveling offeef or rising or what is the trend with minority unemployment? >> the recession trend lately is leveling off. and i think typically what happens is when things rise, they rise by more for >> and again, what industries are latinos and african americans losing jobs in? is it construction? >> the one that jumps out is construction. construction has been hard hit

by this recession. so hispanic unemployment rate has gone up quite a bit. there's a less simple pattern for african americans that i see in terms of industry, representation. >> and why are the numbers telling us that women in the african american and hispanic communities are more likely to lose their jobs or be unemployed than men? >> i don't know. that's kind of a big question. it's kind of a research sort of question. i would say certainly industry representation has an impact, but that probably explains some of it, but i don't know what else explains it. >> thank you very much. mr. couplings for -- cummings for five minutes. >> i want to go back to the questions about the military and

this whole issue of how much education a person has. i was at a town hall meeting the other night. this is a commercial, by the way. and i was meeting with some veterans. and they did not know about the new g.i. bill, which will allow them to get their tuition paid, in some instances their housing and fees at colleges. so i just wanted to know and let folks know that it appears from what you've said from the stats that the more education one has, the better their chances are being unemployed even during these times, is that right? >> yes. >> i'm letting the veterans know who might be watching this that they ought to find out about

this new g.i. bill, because it's something that went into effect on august 1. and i want to thank the senator for bringing up that issue of education and the military, because it's one thing to have these opportunities. it's another thing to know about them and another to take advantage of them. to of them. let's talk about health for a moment. it seems like health care stays pretty steady, doesn't it? in other words, it doesn't seem -- it seems to always -- it doesn't seem to go down very much. does it seem to suffer as much as far as unemployment. is that right? >> that's right. >> why do you think that is? do you have any idea? and why you think that might be? >> i don't. i mean there is some evidence that early in a recession there are shortages in certain occupations within health care.

more people are looking for work and willing to move over to health care. beyond that, i don't know. >> you know, on another note, yesterday during our press conference with regard to women and health care and i think we may have spoken about it earlier, we learned something that is very interesting. that you is have a situation where a lot of women during the babyboomer age were older than -- i mean the men were older than women they marry. and what happened, what is happening now is that as they go into medicare with their wives being younger and if the wife is dependent upon the husband for their insurance, when he goes into medicare, she doesn't have any insurance. and so i was just wondering, do

you know the unemployment rate for older women? let's say -- i didn't say old, i said older. you may even have a definition for older. i don't know. i want to be very careful. >> i'll take our our oldest group. 55 and older, 7.1% unemployment. >> okay. and is that -- have we seen any kind of trend with regard to that? i mean is this -- just like we've seen different trends going up, down, staying the same over the last few years or what? i mean, what do you see? i'm talking several months. >> it actually, that's grown a bit lately. last month, 6.4%. prior to that, 5.8%. so that one doesn't seem to have -- doesn't seem to have leveled off the last few months.

one of the things that is tricky though when you get anybody in the 55 and over range is whether they're in the labor force or not. it's because they can -- someone can lose a job and just stop looking if they're55 and over. it may underestimate the issue. >> so there is no way you'd have that breakdown? in other words, a person had a says, you know what, i retire? you wouldn't have that kind of information in these stats? >> no, we don't. >> so there's one other thing that i'm concerned about. and that is the states -- these states running out of money. do we see any impact with regard to those unemployment rates because almost every state is going through a lot of problems right now. and i'm just wondering, what do we see there?

>> the recent trend is they're starting to lose jobs. for a while, state governments were hovering around no job growth, no job loss. so the last three months, we've averaged -- government averaged declining 6,000 jobs a month. so it seems like the employment at the state government level has worsened a witt. >> i see my time has run out. thank you. >> thank you chairman. and commissioner, i was just reading the report here. we have the stock gain -- this is as of two minutes ago. stocks gained early friday after the government, that's you, commissioner hall, reported a surprise drop in the unemployment rate and a smaller number of job cuts than expected raising hopes that the economy is stabilizing. the dow jones industrial average gained now 75 points. the s&p 500 rose now 7.3 and the

nasdaq composite added 14 points. so my question of you is, is this a little bit too exuberant over this news? what do you see in the long haul as we go forward? >> well, first of all, let me say -- i've been -- i've been a very bad predictor of the stock market. >> now that may affect these numbers that you said that. mr. hall! >> and i'm even a bad predictor of how the stock market is going to react to our data. it is very hard for me to see that. so much of it i think winds up being what were people expecting. and that's hard to know. as to whether -- you know, i have -- i don't know. >> can you compare this to other recessions that you and i have talked before about this? it is so much longer than the temperatuorary recessions we've before. and what you think of these signs of recovery compared to

other historical recessions? >> yeah. i mean we're still having significant job loss. but we're not having job loss at sort of historic levels. for a few months we were having job loss at nearly historic levels. over half a million jobs lost per month. so, you know, we sort of settled into what maybe -- i don't want to say more normal. every recession is different. maybe a more normal recession level of job loss. so we still got improvement to go. but the trend sen courais encou >> all right. i want to follow up on the questions about health care and women and unemployment and clearly they've done some ground breaking work with health care with women and children and how it has a lack of health care has been an impact on them. but i'm getting back to the employment rates. because the first lady of california was out here a week or so ago talking about at some point here more women are going

to be employed by men in the workforce. maybe you don't have the numbers at your finger tips because it's not unemployment numbers. it's employment numbers. is that -- maybe it was just in certain areas. >> yeah. actually, i do have that data. >> okay. >> right now men are losing jobs 3 to 1 versus women. and there's been a large job loss. so that means that women's share of payroll jobs is growing pretty steadily. and it's now up to 49.8% of jobs are now held by women. >> right. >> which means that 435,000 more men are currently employed than women. >> is that why one of my letters that i won't read you to referred to this as a manseccion? so you have -- while women have

taken an inordinant amount, there tends to be more women with kids and lack of health care suffer more because of it. we still have seeing growing employment rates of women. and you see more men losing their jobs out of this? is that what you're saying? >> yes. yes. >> okay. >> all right. and why is that, do you think? >> you know, it's probably got to start with representation in particular industries that are hardest hit. you know, construction and manufacturing are particularly hard hit this recession and men are over represented there. >> and so that's where we have a lot of the stimulus money going of which only a quarter of that money has hit yet. so presumably that could help with that particular sector? is that right? >> potentially. >> i could have it come from a question from one of my constituents. it will be easier. the last thing i'm going to ask about is the importance of discouraged workers. you talk about that in your opening a little bit. these are people who want to

work full time but can only find part time work or people who want to work but haven't been looking lately for whatever reason, are those both of those categories in the discouraged worker groups? or it is just people that haven't been hit -- have given up looking for unemployment? >> yeah. well, we have -- something called marginally attached which are people who -- who want to work and that looked within the past year but haven't looked lately. >> and how are their numbers going? >> that number has gone up quite a bit. there are now something like 2.3 million people who are discouraged workers. so they're not counted in the unemployment rate. >> right. and have their numbers gone up each month? what was the number last month? what what was the percentage increase from the month before? >> yeah, that's tough. those numbers are not seasonally adjusted. there are seasonal things that change it. >> i'm wondering if maybe a

number of these people have become marginally attached. they have tried to work but they have tried to look for employment. they've given up and they're out of unemployment numbers s that right? >> that's right. although we do catch them. we have a very broad measure of labor utilization which includes that. >> okay. very good. well, i want to thank you. i'm going to have to head out to do some other things. but, again, just wanted to remind people of the -- what people are still despite this some good news here this month still continue to suffer. i just want to end with a letter we just got this week from a guy in minnesota. he says, my wife lost her job last august as her company shut her building down and moved all the jobs to boston. she was the major breadwinner in our house and has not been able to find a job since. she's applied numerous places but can't find anyone to hire her. we got a statement in the mail

saying our house value dropped from 194,000 to $174,000 yet we still owe over $190,000 on the house. we have a 14--month-old daughter and soon unemployment will end and we're really scared about what's going to happen. i continue to be reminded that while we have seen some stabilization and there is clearly glimmers of hope in this and people have been incredibly determined in my state to start businesses and keep going, we still have a lot of people in our country that are hurting. thank you very much, commissioner hall. >> thank you, senator. some of my colleagues have talks about the report that joint economic committee released yesterday showing that 1.4 million women have lost their health insurance during this economic down turn due to losing their jobs or their spouse losing his job. and we know that employers are looking at ways to cut costs and many of them are eliminating

health insurance coverage. and i'd like to know, commissioner, do you have any idea on the loss of e >> we don't collect data on that off en. right now, the most recent data is for 2007. we aren't going to get 2008 until this fall. >> when will you have this? >> it's a report that the census puts out in the fall, september or october, when they talk about health care coverage. we do have data on benefit availability by industry. it doesn't really tell you how many people have lost their health insurance, et cetera. >> can it tell you if certain types of employees are more vulnerable than others because they are employed in certain

businesses that are losing jobs? for example, are part-time workers and lower wage workers at higher risk due to the cost- saveg measures that their employers are taking to cut costs at this time? >> yes. our details will come out shortly for march. but, in general, i can tell you that right now 85% of full-time employees have access to health care and only 24% of part-time employees have access. one thing you see is shift from full-time to part-time work. and full-time employment, so far this recession has fallen by nine million people. so this is pretty significant where people go to no coverage or part-time work, which has only 24% coverage. >> and many employers have told us that the rising cost of health insurance is simply

unsustainable. and do you believe that the high health insurance costs are contributing to the slack labor market? >> i would imagine they are. to me, the most obvious impact is on wage growth. >> do you have any data on how that might impact on wage growth? >> there are some studies that have looked at the likely impact on wage growth and pretty consistent showing that when health care costs goes up, wage growth slows. we collect lots of data on benefits, but we don't do that much on waste causing benefits to decline. much on what's causing benefits to -- benefit decline. >> could you give to the committee the reports that have

come out on that particular area so we could study the impact on wage growth and the high cost of employer based insurance? and i'd like to get back to one of the questions from mr. cummings. is there a positive feedback in labor markets? is there a positive feedback in labor market because of the moderation and decline in unemployment? and does that increase consumer confidence and, therefore, lead to more sales and spur businesses to hire more workers? what is the positive feedback? >> it is sort of what i would -- what you always see. you know, when the economy turns bad, consumers start to lose confidence, stop spending. and then the lack of spending means people lose jobs and people lose jobs and they stop spending. so what we're talking about now,

hopefully, is the reverse. is spending starts to increase, job losses decline, job loss declines will increase confidence and we'll have this speed back. >> my time has expired. >> thank you, mr. hall, thank you for your testimony and just one question and then a comment. we know during a recession people will turn to higher education. to get graduate degrees and what have you. does this show up in any of your data in any way? for example, young college graduates who couldn't find work so they decide to stay in school and to -- would you have that data? any kind of data like that?

>> the trend is rising as more and more people are going to college partly because of a reaction about how much more successful people who go to college are in terms of higher earnings, lower unemployment. but also it is probably the case when the job market is this bad there are people who otherwise might have worked who go on to college or some other type of formal training because they're not really doing anything. so the participation in colleges is at record highs now. >> that's all the more reason why the gi bill that i talked about a little bit earlier is so important because that's another

thing that -- another thing that people don't seem to realize. we have a lot of colleges that sit on the board of morgue an state university in baltimore. and what we found is that there are a lot of students because of the economic situation that don't have the money to go to school. so when you have a gi bill which is going to pay tuition fees and boards and those schools, they can appeal to those gis to come back to schools. those are people that come and walk in the door with the tuition check and board-check right in their hand. so -- and, of course, that keeps your -- what we've found is we have -- just about all of our schools now have had to cut back with regard to employment of our

professors and workers because of the fact that the money is beginning to simply dry up. because of the problems and because of the recession, that does not help matters. did you have a comment, mr. hall? you looked like you needed to say something. >> i'm disagreeing with you. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> i think what we're seeing is a lot of things are beginning to slowly but surely work together. we haven't seen this since 2008. is that right? would this -- would this downward trend, mr. hall, with

regard to the unemployment? >> right. is that right? >> yeah. although, i would say it's a flat -- we haven't seen a flat unemployment rate since early 2008. >> early 2008. >> so it's been a while? >> you know. i guess what i'm trying to say is it's so easy for us to look at the glass half empty as opposed to half full. we have to say we're not overly optimistic. but at the same time when we're talking about consumer confidence, when we're talking about giving people hope and we're praying that they'll go out there and, you know, spend, if they can. we want them to save but also spend. that keeps the economy going. i think it's very important that we look at these things and say,

you know what? we are going in the right direction. we're not -- we're definitely not seem like we're falling backwards, we're going forward. an although we may be going forward very slowly, we may be inching along. it reminds me of an insect i saw in my house the other day. it is a little tiny insect. i look at one time on one wall and the next time it was over there on the other wall. it somehow got all the way around to the other wall. my point is that we may take small steps but as they say a journey of 1,000 miles. we begin with the first step. i want to make sure that, you know, we just don't poo-poo what we have been able to accomplish thus far. because i think we in leadership, if we're not careful and help people not feel the optimism that perhaps they might want to at least begin thinking about it. and so with that, mr. hall, i want to thank you. i want to thank both of you

gentlemen for your -- and your department. we rarely thank all the people that back you all up. but we thank you also. have a good month. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. cummings for your participation today and your insightful comments. commissioner hall, in my home state of new york, the unemployment rate was 8.7% in june. a jump of 3.4% from last june. and in new york city, unemployment rate jumped from 9.5% in june. and are these changes similar to the changes in the national unemployment rate? >> yes. they are. >> and on the national level, we've seen a deceleration in the pace of job losses in recent months. and how does that compare to the pay rolls of new york state and the pay rolls of new york city?

>> i think, especially the state, for a number of years now, it's followed very closely with the national numbers. i think new york state has a very diverse economy, like the u.s. economy. so the patterns are very similar. >> and what have been the largest declines in new york state? >> in terms of what industries? state? >> in terms of? >> job loss. >> i'm afraid should i have that, but i don't have that in front of me. >> you'll get it to me later? >> yeah. >> and how has new york state fared compared to the nation as a whole during recessions? >> again, lately it's been fairly close to the national numbers. last couple of recessions have been sort of jobless recoveries where the delay in the labor

market took -- created a problem when they wanted to recover. it's been pretty much the same for new york. >> and do recessions typically last longer at the state level? you can use the example of new york or any state. are recessions longer? >> it depends on the state. some states especially smaller states can look rather different than rational numbers over time. >> in fact, i would say during much of the 2000 there is a state or two that has probably been in recession for quite a while. >> what about new york? >> new york is not. new york is followed closely with the national numbers. >> could you give us insight on trade jobs? there's tremendous concern about the outsourcing of jobs to other countries and other reports that say trade builds jobs in our country. are you tracking the connection between trade and the job loss

or job gain in certain industries? do you have any reports on that? >> we don't and it turns out that's a rather difficult thing to do because at the factory level when something's produced, quite often that establishment doesn't know where it goes and in respect to imports, for example, as well, when a product hits the u.s. shores and customs we actually lose track of where it goes so we don't know how it impacts or how it's used inside the united states. it's very difficult to connect job growth and loss with trade specifically. there are studies that will do that. i know the department of commerce has done a couple of studies on that. >> we would like to see those study, and i would like for you and your staff to look into how we can track that and how we can see whether jobs grow or loss. >> i am told that one of my

financial industries just built a financial services item in another country and yet they were saying it is creating over 500 jobs in the u.s. due to the support services and the data collection. the fact that we are -- the world is flat and we are in a world of global economy, i believe we have to move to the 21st century and start tracking how those trade jobs are growing, are being lost and specifically you can track if a plant closes you lose those jobs. that's very clear, and i would think that with the changing economy you would look in this new direction. do you think you'll be able to do that? >> i'll take a look and see what we can do. i think it doesn't do enough to collect data related to trade to get the issues like offshoring and that sort of thing.

i'll take and look and see what we've got. it's going to be -- it would be difficult. >> often temporary help is often a leading indicator of abemployer's willingness to hire and how many jobs have been lost in the temporary health industry since the recession began and do you see any indications that job losses in temporary help industry are slowing and when was the last time that the >> this recession so far, temporary services has lost jobs that are pretty significant sm there is 10,000 jobs compared to 844,000 since the recession began. we never seen a job loss like this before, but the temporary health industries have changed quite a bit. it is now something in the order of