with the washington bureau chief of the detroit news about the toyota vehicle recalls. we'll also talk with a representative of the national association of riddles about housing. -- of realtors. about housing. "washington journal" is next. . . .

the senate will be in session today -- good morning, welcome to "the journal." we are going to start of asking you about jobs, in particular, will trade agreements boost u.s. jobs? there have been talks broke that the state of the union, and the comments by the commerce secretary last week. the numbers --

you cannot also reach us by e- mail, journal@c-span.org and twitter. we will talk to lease up from the politico who wrote friday about a possible jobs bill that the senate. they said there would be votes in the senate on the jobs bill. what is the status? guest: that is exactly right. he said it originally last thursday on monday, clearly it will not happen. senate aides are planing -- blaming the snow. but it is not clear whether they would have had a bipartisan bill to proceed even without the snow. reaching a bipartisan consensus on anything in the senate have been pretty hard, even on a limited jobs bill like they are talking about. host: the white house said they are pivoting toward jobs. the president said he called on jobs legislation. what are you hearing in the mix

of this legislation? guest: i far more limited bill than the type they were considering before scott brown's win in massachusetts. more corporate tax breaks, tax incentives, these types of things that it extended every year like the corporate r&d tax. it might include money for the highway trust fund. it is going to include payroll tax holidays sponsored by senator schumer and senator hatch. it will be a mix of things but largely focused on taxes. host: you wrote on friday there is intense pressure for the leadership to move the jobs bill leaves before the february recess. where is the pressure coming from awardees expect to see that in the february recess? guest: that is exactly right. they want to move before this

february recess but moderates particularly want that to happen. when the democrats' loss to massachusetts, it really shook people of in the capital of the titillation of moderate democrats up for reelection. people like evan bayh, blanche lincoln, there would like to have it before recess. they are supposed to go out friday -- although with the snow we have to see what happens. host: we are going to be talked about trade agreements to stimulate job growth. what can you tell me about any interest on the senate side of things? guest: i know the administration has been reaching out in support for trade policies. that has been happening in the senate as well. they are moving on these things, trying to at least. host: lease of lerer, you can read her work on politico.com -- lisa lerer.

a look at the headlines this morning. a lot leading with the super bowl, but when for new orleans. "the miami herald to close " courtesy of the newseum. any political change in new orleans, mitch landrieu sworn in as mayor. writing about his win in the open "the new york times" this morning. an article this morning in "the new york times." political news from new orleans over the weekend.

danny of the democrats' line. west virginia. good morning, you are the first caller. caller: this morning -- good morning. i am completely against the trade agreements. every time we do when it is a disaster and we lose more and more jobs. we've got five containers coming into the country with everyone we ship out. and the exports we are doing are just raw materials or components that it incorporated into products and should back to core markets. we can't afford to be giving away jobs. this should be the top question for every american voter. ask politicians if they support free trade agreement, and if they do, vote for somebody else and let them know that before the election. host: wilmington, north carolina. trade agreements. caller: they would kill them, as they did in the past. i agree with west virginia. a quick little aside -- one of

the local municipalities had to redo some lighting in a municipal building and they had to buy american. well, they were not able to buy anything that was not built in the united states for ballast. everything build was in china. host: why did they have to buy in america? was a part of the legislation? caller: yes, it was. there were particular waivers, but still, the fact was emerging that they were having trouble making this contract because everything was manufactured out of the country because it was made so cheap. still, start looking out for the united states and some kind of protest -- protectionism, if 50% of the parts are not made in the united states they are taxed. and we would be able to reduce the tariffs on imports and our

domestic market would pick up the products. host: different editorial views on job growth, trade agreements. here is one from "the "washington times." a legislator in north dakota rating -- this morning and ""washington times" from a legislator north dakota. their engines of job growth -- talking about some of the trade agreements -- which is the white house priority. walnut grove, georgia, on

independent line. caller: good morning. no, i don't think the trade agreements will help any because it never has. just like the last two collars, which is now three in a row, there are no jobs. let alone, just sit there and say we are going to work against people who can do it far cheaper than us. we pay too much, we want to much, which is good for america and -- it will not work on this economic scale. we can't go with this. we can't compete with them. the set here and try to do this with this -- china is out producing us, all of our corporations are over there. it is insane. no trade agreements. no, get rid of it. host: of memphis, vivien on our democrats line. caller: they need to bring back

jobs in america. stuff was made here when i was coming up. we did not have any bad products. everyone was proud of the product that our people made here. the big rich companies going for cheaper labor, bad products. they need to bring the company's back but there is no way to produce jobs when the big richman is sending his jobs overseas. thank you very much. host: portland, maine, oregon? caller: cupp calling from portland, oregon. of shoring is bad business for america. it always seems like we send off more jobs offshore to china. they are manipulating their currency and that is hurting us. not only do they pay their people slave wages sometimes, but they manipulate the currency, they have unofficial trade barriers. we have to pay a value added tax to send our products to their

country and their country for gives their taxes when they export to us. we can't compete with that. host: our question for you is about trade agreements, asking you whether they boost u.s. jobs. lead editorial and "the washington post." that is from "the washington post" this morning. here is the front page of ""washington times," a picture of sarah palin talking at the

tea party convention which you might have seen on c-span and she also recorded interview with fox news. >> why wouldn't you run for president? >> i would like, i would if i believe it was the right thing to do for our country and for my family, certainly. >> condi make the decision? >> it will be thankfully a lot of time to make the decision. right now i'm looking at, as i say, other potential candidates who are strong, and the position of having more information at their fingertips right now so the current events we are talking about today, they are -- >> wait, wait.

basically you are saying you will consider it. >> i think it would be absurd not to consider what it is i could potentially do to help our country. i don't know if it is ever seeking a title, though. maybe it is doing a darn good job as a reporter or covering current events. >> but you are going through the process of thinking -- >> i will not close a door that is perhaps to be open for me in the future. host: new jersey, milton, a democrat collar. caller: i want to make three points related to jobs and overseas contracts to build things over there. they call them trade agreements. there was a caller with the gentleman said with all of the trade agreements and companies going overseas to build stuff much cheaper, how in the world can we compete against that? i don't think we can compete against that. we've got a lot of jingles and this country. the new hot word now is dithers,

the new hot word was democrat party, a democrat senator, as if we start saying republic senators, republican senators to care more about the republic. we are so connected to jingles and cute little sayings and all the time the country is going to and handbasket. we were paying companies and giving them tax breaks to take jobs overseas and now we wonder why we don't have any jobs. actually doing what we say and say we do, which i think is nearly impossible at this point because the country is so built up on so that the allies. two wars -- another two unfunded wars four years and years and years, the longest war in our history along with vietnam,

totally unfounded, untaxed and unpaid for and all of a sudden we need to have all these -- would have all these jobs as we move jobs overseas. that is what our country is doing. there is no way another piece of paper that we sign with another cute little saying, trade agreement will help jobs. host: a is for your view. abilene, texas, republican line. caller: these trade agreements are ridiculous. we have 14 active trade agreements and with trade deficits with everyone of them. when it comes to colombia, they have gross domestic product -- product about the state of louisiana. we are already getting their coffee and their drugs. that is all they have to offer. and to bring -- all of this to allowed into this country all of this low-skilled labor. i don't know if they are not try

to soften us up so we will all be groveling for low-wage jobs. host: your concern, surely, is the straight agreement facilitate growth in low-skilled labor. caller: obviously. we have millions of people who are educated and trying to get jobs and they can't. all of the illegals, they are taking the jobs that are available there -- available. i can understand that because the people giving them jobs, that is all they can afford. host: taking your calls about whether u.s. trade agreements boost jobs. president obama reconvening a meeting on health care. the white house plans to televise the health care meeting.

the president making these comments in an interview with cbs news. >> what i have been doing this consulting with the leaders in the house, leaders in the senate, from the democratic side, and i want to consult closely with our republican colleagues. they will be coming into the white house next week. what i want to do is ask them to put their ideas on the table and then after the recess, which will be a few weeks away, i want to come back and have a large

meeting -- republicans and democrats, going through systematically all the best ideas out there and move forward. what i want to do is look at the republican ideas that are out there and i want to be very specific -- how you guys want to lower costs. how you guys intend to reform the insurance market's of people with pre-existing conditions can get health care? how do you make sure the 30 million people who don't have health insurance can get it? what are your ideas specifically? if we can go step-by-step in a series of issues, then procedurally there is no reason why we cannot allow faster. host: president obama in an interview aired yesterday. in that political article about the health care discussions that are going to be held at the white house -- at blair house, actually, mike allen writing, response from republicans obviously pleased --

also this morning, mike allen writing -- back to phones, della on the democrats' line. caller: the problem with the trade agreements is we allow corporations to ship jobs, to ship financial-services, to ship machinery, to ship entire fact is everywhere in the world where they can find cheap labor and low and environmental standards. labor, on the other hand, does not have a right to strike or

form unions or organized in any of these countries where jobs are going. if we were trading with countries who were allowed to form unions and organize and form unions and demand higher wages and better salaries and better workingt( conditions, we would not have this problem. but laborw7[ is the night of ths inç all the countries that we form trade agreements with, and that is the crux of the problem and i don't see why other people are not able to see this. henry ford knew that if he was not able to sell his cars, he had to pay his labor a high enough wage so they can afford to buy from him. so he raised their wages. we have to do the same thing with the countries we trade with. host: thank you for your input. lagrange, texas, mike on independent line. caller: if you look at the

trade agreements, it is real simple how to balance this. if you go look at a manufacturing plant and see how many employees it takes to manufacture something, then just go to a warehouse and look how many employees they have to unload the boxcars and the trucks, turn around and put on another one, d.c. in balance of about 80%. i would love to give you some famous last words. give me $750 billion and you can't know where it goes and who i give it to " prosecute nobody can give me my columbia -- colombian trade agreement. host: a column and "the new york times" about trade agreements.

host: lyle island, republican collar. -- l.i., republican caller. caller: the guys at a look at history, a casket, nafta, all of the jobs that have been the lead back to mexico and central america and not to mention,

china -- cafta, nafta. during his campaign, candidate obama was talked about we're negotiating nafta. if anybody recalls what big idea it was made into. him and a couple of other democratic candidates spoke and they were destroyed by it. i don't know why. i am a republican and i hate nafta and cafta. we lose jobs all the time. with so many things going into the discussion, and trade agreements is the tip of it. it is one part in this whole big mess that we have here as far as losing jobs, our economy, the wage decreases as a result of massive illegal immigration from countries like mexico. if you look at juarez, right across the border, across the way from texas, what is going there, corporations are going there because of the tax

structure. they can't afford to operate in america. they can't keep up with green. and what green power yesterday. this is why sarah palin is really popular. she wants to do both, bring in oil -- let's get oil into this equation but let us get off of oil. we need both things to go forward. right now we have a democrat party and a republican party and nobody is leading our government. it is stalled. this has been happening for decades. my father runs a defense contracting company in long island, he lost his job in the 1980's and never regained the that position or the amount of money he was making. he went from 70,000 or $80,000 a year to making under 40 working for a microwave power devices corp. beard this man was so intelligent, he was doing radar installations at the suez canal after the six-day war. these people were made to take jobs that were so far below their intelligence is not even

funny. and now instead of just making them take lesser paying jobs we are sending the jobs altogether overseas. host: another view from ryeland on our independent line. caller: i wanted to inquire, do you recall the smoot-hawley tariff act? host: yes, i have heard of it absolutely. caller: during that time we had that come up to the middle 1970's we had a trade balance that was in the positive. we had a steady trade balance. and when that bill was killed by congress -- apparently it was bribed by and of corporate big wheels. when they killed smoke haleh, that trade balance turn from -- smoot-hawley, it has gone from

plus to minus and now it is trillions of dollars. i think we need to restore the smoot holly -- smoot-hawley tariff act and eliminate nafta, cafta, etc., and renegotiate any trade deal we have with a foreign country and let it be done by way of treaties and not so-called agreements. a treaty would require a two- thirds majority. correct me -- host: do you think that could work its way through the senate? caller: a good question. we do have some people good people in the senate, byron dorgan. i don't know about most of the others.

. caught up in the tree frayed nonsense, which in my book, it should be fair trade. host: columnist paul krugman writes in this morning --

six louis on the democrats' line about trade and jobs. -- st. louis. caller: it will not do anything until we get rid of cafta awnd nafta, which bill clinton really loved. our senators and congressman, they don't work for the people any more. so i'm not looking for any trade agreements that will bring jobs to our country unless you are in the military industrial complex. if we are not using depleted uranium and dropping an innocent people we are not doing

anything. i don't understand my government any more. america used to be a place where you can get a good job but it seems like our senators and congressmen are hooked on slave labor. host: texas, republican collar. all because generally speaking, free trade is good for everyone. -- caller: generally speaking free- trade it is good for a name -- everyone. the problem is the tyrannical booed of government built with taxation, regulation, and litigation. you've got to stop treating business like the enemy. make a good business environment and those jobs that led this country for those better business environment will come back. the morons -- host: do you run your own business? caller: yes, i do parrot -- yes,

i do. the morons -- some saying we need more unions to increase jobs. what a moron? you know what i'm saying? it is unbelievable what i hear these democrats and -- keep treating business like the enemy, keep taxing the crap out of them, regulating that them to death and suing them to death and what little jobs we have left will leave. host: aside from the union, and, her, in addition if i recall, getting wages high enough so people can buy things. caller: wages will reach their proper level and a free-market. -- in a free market. host: chicago, lorena on our independent line. caller: wages will only reach their proper level when there isn't any interference on the

part of governments and people start buying made in america. we don't have to buy the products that are imported. i keep thinking -- yesterday when i heard the national anthem for the super bowl, i kept thinking of the guys at valley forge with the graves at their feet and they were willing to do that for our country but we will not buy something that is $10 more for this country. i just don't understand it. it really shames me. we need to take back that power and start buying this stuff. you don't have to buy the stuff made in china that poisons our children. thank you. host: here is what the headlines look. "chicago sun-times." cohen drops out of the lieutenant governor race. cohen calls it quits.

scandal forces out tearful candidate for the tenant governor leading democratic panel to pick pat quinn's running mate. the surprise --

the big story in the new orleans of course is the winner of the saints, and "who dat? nobody is the headline. and the brother of mary landrieu, senator of louisiana, and first white mayor of the city in 32 years. he held a news conference yesterday and here is a little bit of what he had to say. >> we have 90 days, which is more than enough time. i think cooperation with the reagan and his administration, put together a first-class team to run a first-class city. i really just want to concentrate on that today. again, we are very grateful for what occurred yesterday. it was a day where the people spoke really clearly. the message was simple, it was direct, and clear for everybody to see.

simply this -- the people in this city are ready to come together to find high, ground and to start getting things done so we can improve the lives of people of the city of new orleans and consequently the people in the state of louisiana and the people of america. host: back to your calls on trade and jobs. burlington, north carolina, debbie, republican caller? caller:ç do i think they will boost jobs? absolutely not. all you have to do is read a book written by renowned economist, the name of the book is "the myth of free trade." all you have to do is read this book, exactly what has happened to the united states is outlined. free trade agreement only hurt us. we've got to get rid of regulation and we've got to make the united states a good place to do business. we need to enact the fair tax.

if you put a fair tax and quit taking taxation on corporations, business would come back. we've got to make the united states business friendly. thank you, have a blessed day. host: and, independent. -- ed, independent. caller: in the 1960's it was declared everybody should take heat con 1 01 -- economics 11, and those in the course learn the multiplier effect had a very important place in the economy. when one person buys something, you turn around and create another job for another person when that stuff is made in the same country. wheat exported hour multiplier effect, -- we exported hour

multiplier effect. host: how do you explain it to the layman question of how did we export the multiplier effect? caller: simply buying in of equal amounts from another country, discounted all the jobs that are created when the person buys in the same country. host: back to john harwood in "the new york times" writing about the trade agreement. he writes as president, mr. obama has not moved to renegotiate nafta. host: chicago, david on the democrats' line. caller: one thing we have to keep in mind is that whatever trade agreements are past, they have to this list please state that only american citizens --

explicitly state that only american citizens would be hired to do the work or a trade agreement is no good, if american citizens can be displaced or bypassed by h1-b or other wacky visa programs. the indian offshore companies love these visas. they call it trade. if we give tax breaks to american companies who are supposed to hire american citizens as they were supposed to under the american jobs creation act of 2004, but the loopholes are so large, and instead they repatriate their profits and instead lay off americans, that trade agreement also does not work. regardless of whether it is often shoring of work or bringing in foreign workers, these trade agreements are worthless if they don't explicitly state only american citizens will be hired and do the work in our own country.

host: at a look at the front page of "the wall street journal." mahmoud ahmadinejad -- a front-page look at the iranian leader looking at a laser demonstration in iran. the story behind that, though, from the "u.k. guardian." i will flood the page into be the reaction of defense secretary robert gates on the news --

stafford, virginia, john is on our republican line. caller: how are you? i just wanted to say is i thing we should really get rid of all of these free trade agreements. i think nafta and gatt has been horrible. the manufacturing base has been completely decimated. there is a reason all of the callers don't want them, it is because it has not worked. i did not think people can trust all the congressmen and senators. they have been bought out a long time ago. there is frustration with the democrats and republicans. i think it is time we just start band together and looking at this as an american issue, not democrat or republican. i think it transcends a lot and we can't compete with china. it is ridiculous. there is one -- that i heard

that addresses the issue. his name is ron paul. callehost: what are you hearingn particular from ron paul? caller: less government. get rid of the free trade agreements, they don't work. i think he is just right. host: what about the argument that has been presented in a couple of columns that other countries -- the eu is making trade agreements with colombia and korea. is the u.s. getting left behind if we don't make the agreements? caller: i was not really familiar with the column, i could not talk about it intellectually because i have not read it. but i don't think the united states should be left behind, but i think americans are getting left behind and i don't think these agreements work.

host: one of the pieces we looked at, north dakota legislature wrote an opinion piece. at the engine for job growth. president obama quoted in a column in ""washington times." georgia, where a on the independent line -- ray on independent line. caller: the american workers can compete with anybody on planet earth and beat them. the way we do that, american workers are capitalists. capitalists receive the profits from their investment.

workers invest their time and energy, hands and brains and knowledge. so the profits from, let's say, living capital, must be paid to the workers. that means chinese workers working in a factory making to something and they sell here for 50 cents, they need to receive half of the profits from products that they are creating, all right? that would " -- cut corporate profits in half. anyway, the workers here in the united states need to receive the profits from our labor because we are cabalist workers. we are not communist workers. we are capitalists workers, we invest. in that case -- anyway, that's it. host: thank you for the call. gary, indiana, al on the democrats' line.

caller: this is directed toward by more conservative and moderate blue-collar brothers. these trade agreements work but they don't work for blue-collar people. history has proven that. i beseech these conservative and moderate fellow blue-collar workers to start listening and opening up their mind and not be distracted from these social issues that people pick act -- pick act and craig -- . -- pick at and create divisiveness. a constant barrage of nonsense that continues to divide because of social issues, the blue- collar ability to sell their labor for a fair price. host: one last look at john harwood's colorado. he writes that mr. obama was also pressed on trade at his

recent meeting -- one more call, seattle on our independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to say a quick thing about the caller who knocked a union. anyone who knocks a union who has -- has not been in one. pay is great, benefits are great

and people looking after you. without unions you would not have hollywood, you would not have the police or fire department or post office and so on and so forth, teachers. just about any industry that is worth its weight in the country. host: are you a union member? caller: i am trying to get in. right now i am a casual, on call worker. host: what occupation or what union? caller: it is the longshore industry, doing containers on the cargo boats here in the port. whenever i get off of that shift, i come home and watch "washington journal." host: glad to have retuning in and i hope you get sleep. that will about do it for that segment. more in a moment as we turn our attention to toyota.

it had nine in "the financial times." toyota to recall the new prius from japan. we will talk to david shepardson, washington bureau chief @ "the detroit news." [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> now for educators, c-span offers of a new c-span classroom.org. we redesigned the website to make it more useful for teachers with current and timely c-span videos. you can find the most watched video clips organized by subject and topics, the latest in education is, and the chance to

connect with other c-span classroom teachers. it is all free. signup for the new c-span classroom.org. >> the u.s. senate returns at 2:00 p.m. eastern with more work on the nominations for the judge on the third u.s. circuit court of appeals and the national labor relations board. senate leaders decided to push a boats back until tuesday after the weekend snowstorm. the senate this week may also pick up a jobs bill. the house returns tuesday for legislative speeches. legislative work at 2:00 p.m.. later in the week they will vote on intelligence program and to repeal antitrust exemptions for health insurance companies. live coverage of c-span, the senate on c-span2. >> this week on "the communicators" the proposed merger of comcast and nbc universal with analysis from a social depressed and the wall street journal. tonight on c-span2.

>> "washington journal" continues. host: david shepardson is washington bureau chief for "the detroit news" to talk about toyota appeared this morning the headlines are they will be called priuses. guest: about 311 worldwide -- 300,000 worldwide. there have been complaints about sluggish breaks especially when customers go over uneven surfaces. last month toyota replaced or refigure the software in the new prius, but have not figured out how to fix it -- or what they were going to do with the models already on the road. so we should see the next few days, maybe as early as today, official announcement of the recall. host: on a larger scale, why didn't we go to see the issue, the prius issue and issues of the stock gas pedal, on a wider

range of models? why didn't toyota see this coming? if guest: a good question. this is a company that has grown very fast and a short period. in 2002 it just had 10% of the u.s. market share. now the 17%. last year toyota may have sold the most retail vehicle than any of the maker and the united states. they have clients all over the world. and this company just did not take seriously enough on of these incidents. as a result, really -- even they would acknowledge the response was less than ideal. host: "see an end money" has figures of how much it could cost -- "cnn money." bianna the actual monetary figure, what is this going to

do toy -- beyond the actual monetary figure, what is this going to do to cuyahoga's brand? guest: 6% of the vehicles -- cost about 20,000 sales. you are right, well loizeaux, long time toyota customers accept the fact that toyota fix did or will they have basically concerned and decide to shop around? i think you are right, getting the reputation, fixing this and convicting the public will start with these congressional hearings. host: c-span3 will cover the hearings wednesday. we will open the line for a toyota owners and others. on the dealer level, what does this do to their business?

how does it affect their business? guest: incredibly difficult. many dealers have been staying open 24 hours a day. you are right, you go to the dealership and you want to buy a camera or matrix for -- toyota camry or matrix, and as a result some have gone to other brands. some of the dealers offering free car washes or food, anything they can to convince the customer is -- customers the understand how serious it is and they are doing everything they can to fix it quickly. host: how has toyo cupp's response been to you? guest: i think it has been a disaster. they were caught flatfooted. they brought in consultants and they allowed this to fester. it began in november, released september after a terrible crash in california that killed an off-duty --

host: the stock accelerator. guest: stuck the accelerator and the format. this was recalled officially and then after weeks of investigating toyota opted to recall the other issue january but didn't -- did not stop selling for five days later and one day later the expanded the floor mat recall by another 1.1 million vehicles. it has been an endless cycle of bad news for toyota appeared host: lots of questions. manchester, ky. charles, independence caller. caller: yes, sir. first-time caller. toyota is a perfect example of how fair trade works. they came here and created a lot of jobs -- host: i'm going to put your on

hold. i think he may be getting confused. turn down your radio or television. muncie, indiana. democrats line. caller: i'm curious. is there a specific plans, maybe the alabama plant, or a particular plant where the majority of these problems originated at? they opened a new plant in canada also. i think part of that is because they had so much trouble training down in the alabama plant. i'm just kind of wondering where the origin of this is. i am curious jiging do you think this is an attack -- the you think this is an attack on a toyota or the government just doing what is supposed to? guest: i think you raise an interesting question about the new plants. the pedals and question were produced by a supplier in

indiana, not a toyota plant itself. i think there are a lot of people, especially in the japanese media, raising questions that because of the fact the mud -- government owns the majority of gm, maybe regulators being tougher on toyota. there is no evidence of that. this is a significant safety issue, and if it were ford and gm the national highway safety administration said they would treated the same way. host: the independent line. caller: i would like to know, did the toyota motor co., when they close the plant last week, did they offer of unemployment to their workers? also, why is toyota being looked at as such a great car company when people can't even drive their cars?

i will take your answer offline. guest: in fact, all of the workers stayed on the payroll. they got retraining or were allowed to take vacation if they wanted to. they did restart production today. i think the reason why the company had such a great reputation is because the fleet is very few in addition, of the toyota prius is really the halo be a call for them, best selling vehicle for toyota in japan and they established the reputation for very good quality and obviously really in the last few years they have had problems with them. a spike in recalls in 2006 of about 2 million vehicles. and really as this latest incident shows, they've got things to look at. host: they don't have a history of regular recalls. guest: the didn't until about 2005 when they had 2.2 million vehicles, axton more than they sold.

the company said it expanded too fast. new vehicle launches, which the start of the toyota highlander. host: open "the wall street journal" talk about tuille, apostate u.s. achieve testifying wednesday. -- toyota's u.s. chief testifying. " is he and what should we know about him? guest: the north american ceo and president of toyota who will testify wednesday. he has been very involved in this crisis. he met personally with the head of ntha. he's got to convince congress and the american people that we'll tell takes it seriously and it will not happen again. host: is there any sense of that

the transportation problem was not on top of this early enough? guest: there are lots of questions how they handle this. they had six separate investigations on toyota about separate -- sudden acceleration and closed them all without doing anything. caller: i have a question. i'm a retired 40-year technician third and i think tuille it is on the wrong path. i think it does not have anything to do with a sticky gas pedal. the computer system -- foreign cars have always had a ground battle. i think when they get them changed they are going to have a rude awakening. guest: you raise an interesting question on the electronics, which is exactly the issue that question with the prius. you are right with the sudden

acceleration claims, there are a lot of safety advocates saying it has to be more than simply the format and the petals and is there something in the electronics of this vehicle. so far they have not found any evidence of that but last week they took the unusual step to agree to open this whole issue of whether the electronics is a contributing factor. host: shepardson, university of michigan graduate and head of detroit news washington bureau since 2006. talking about but toyota recall until it o'clock 30 a.m. eastern. your colleague wrote about the toyota profit report and the forecast, writing they raised their earnings outlook last week -- what does this prius recall due to the estimate? guest: if customers are convinced they got it right, it is not a huge problem to take

the vehicle in an reprogram the software. it should be a relatively simple fix. if it is something more than that and people lose confidence in the prius it would be significant. host: back about but they -- projected cost, for lost sales and actual repairs? guest: 1.4 million to fix the vehicles -- one. -- host: that is just the brake pedal not the prius issue. guest: they already made a fix on the vehicles being sold, unlike the last recall where they had to stop selling new vehicles. host: waterloo, iowa. independent. caller: a couple of things. was ford and firestone with the tires, two deaths of people to become an issue?

my question is, was it allowed to go this far with toyota because it would only cause a little less than half of the annual profit to fix it, so the bottom line, was allowed to go this far because of a money issue? guest: regulators would say that they did not have enough complaints. çthis issue of sudden accelerations is very difficult to pin down. in the case of the floor mats, the horrendous incident that involved the officer and the three other people who were killed in that accident, if you accept all of the complaints and face value, 19 deaths, 2000 complaints over 10 years over a population of 20 million toyota vehicles, a relatively small number. there are about 40,000 traffic deaths over the year. the ford firestone case, 300 deaths due to the for firestone

tires. . guest: can you imagine how difficult this is for a plea of no right now? people trying to -- difficult this is for toyota right now?

host: sandy, utah. caller: i wonder if this is an attack on toyota. europe has had a two year override so that this could take place ever since princess diana died. it costs $10 to put it in a toyota and $100 to put it in ford or any other car. the most important part is to put in the computer override so that people can not be harmed. europe has been able to take care of this problem for the past 15 years and american cars can do it as well. guest: the caller is right, there is a computer program called the great override. if you are pushing down on the gas pedal and the brakes, the brakes will override the gas pedal. in california the officer attempted to put his foot on the break, he did not override the

gas pedal. currently it is on luxury vehicles in europe, on all of their models except one and it will be on all models in the near future. host: "the new york times" wrote over the weekend about all of the computers wrote -- used in automobile technology. "it would be easy to say that the modern car is a computer on wheels, but it is more like 30 or more computers on wheels." so, what sort of issue does that present to dealers who have to be able to deal with this technology? are we better off with all of this computer technology than before? guest: think about it, the first thing that they do when you take it to the dealer is they plug in the computer system and they get hundreds of error codes. the mechanical nature of a

vehicle is changing. you used to push down mechanical paddle and it would connect to a mechanical device. now you are sending signals based on the depression of the paddle rather than a set of cables. host: kenneth, republican line. caller: good morning. i am 74 years old, and i have driven products from ford, chevrolet, general motors, and chrysler products. in 1986 i purchased a toyota camry. i still have it, 24 years old this year. i have since purchased a new camera, 2005. i have got about 40,000 miles on it. i have had so little trouble with both of those cars over the

years it is unbelievable. my other american made products, and i agree that it was years ago, they were constantly in the shop and the there is no telling how much i had to pay to maintain them. none of them will -- were ever called for safety issues, i agree with that. but i had a lot of problems with them and i just thought it was the way that it was. toyota has not had any problems. my new toyota as of 2005, i drove from arizona to cape cod, then back across the country through the upper midwest, colorado, wyoming, about 7,500 miles. i averaged 38 mpg. believe me, it helps with the price of gasoline these days. i will tell you that for sure. so, when someone asks what is so

great about a toyota, that is all i can do is give you my experience. host: what did you say that the mileage was on the first family? caller: getting close to of 190,000 miles. host: that is in 1986 far? caller: yes. guest: that caller perfectly represents what happened to detroit. 1996, detroit still had 74% of market share. last year they fell to an all- time record low of 44.5%. he is right, in the early 1980's the quality of detroit vehicles declined precipitously. people remembered a terrible vehicle that they had and they have not given detroit vehicles another shot. that is why they are offering rebates to toyota owners to

convince them to come to the lots and take a chance on them rather than go back to toyota. host: jackie, eastlake. caller: what was the rate of injury and death in this problem with toyota? and i am sure that some of them were lexius'. the newspapers put this story on the back page. if it were an american corporation, it would be on the front page of every newspaper in the country. çóthe problem is that the storis go back to page 7 and they do not talk about the number of injuries and deaths caused by this problem. i will take the answer of the air. thank you. host: -- guest: there have been 19 complaints regarding death

over the past 10 years for various issues on the vehicle. clearly this is a serious issue and it is getting a lot of attention. certainly, our newspaper has dedicated an enormous amount of attention. cuyahoga is not based in detroit, although there are -- toyota is not based in detroit, although there are workers there in michigan to. they may be giving more coverage to toyota because they have such a good reputation, so surprising that toyota would have problems like this. host: in response to the recall, toyota has taken out many full- page ad campaigns. "there's been a lot of talk about the recall. here are the facts for our customers. schedule an appointment with your dealers. they have extended their hours,

working 24/7 to fix your vehicle as quickly as possibleñi." how does their marketing efforts reach customers compared to similar instances in the past with u.s. companies? guest: the main problem that toyota has, there is a disconnect between japan and the u.s.. first, the time change. in u.s. officials want to handle things differently than japan. cultural issues were one of the reasons that nixon's administrator when there to say that you have to take this seriously and respond quicker. japanese toyota officials said that they were slow to react. now the company is moving far faster than it was in the past. host: david, colorado springs. democratic line. go ahead.

caller: yes, i had a toyota in the past. it was a 1976. i had some problems with it that toyota, it was the carburetion system, it was not fuel injected. there were problems with it the gas getting to the carburetor. it was like a freeze in the gas line when it warmed up. the engine was only half of the hemi because the spark plugs were halfway down into the motor. that is the only toyota i have had. i currently own a 1980 plymouth colt, made by mitsubishi. i have 280,000 miles on it. i do not see a problem with older cars, however having an

electronic background, i have to say that i believe that there are quite a bit of problems i have seen that in everything from ford to nissan. even the air filterñi sometimes, the censors do not react to the computer properly. host: we will get a response. thank you for the call. guest: he raises a good point on electronics and other issues. ford announced the they will call in theirçó fusion vehicles for a software glitch that consumer reports found. electronics have a tendency to have glitches or fail after a while. there is no reason to expect that cars will not have those problems either. host: the avalon, the toyota

corolla, the toyota camry, the toyota highlander, the toyota matrix, the toyota previoius, te toyota tundra, the toyota tacoma, all on the recall list. what about the lexus? guest: there are some of them on the format recall. there are some overlapping issues.  in the u.s. in total. host: john, good morning. caller: i have 85,000 miles on my toyota avalon and i have never had any problems with it besides the radiator and a

battery. also, i recently purchased a 2006 and they are putting the wrong size transmissions in those vehicles. they switched from a 75 -- from the 100 down to a 75 transmission. it cost me $2,500. i did not take out a warranty. they do not want to talk about me or have anything to do with me and i think that is not right. i have always taken good care of my vehicles, doing everything have to do. by do not think that it is right that they are selling a super dude the ford vehicle like that. -- i do not think that it is right that they are selling a super dude the -- duty for a vehicle like that. guest: when you consider the

number of vehicles sold in the u.s. every year, 300 million vehicles on the road, there are many problems. host: in your experience writing for detroit, have you seen a recall on this level before? guest: last year in october the ford motor co. completed the recall of 14 million vehicles in a cruise control switch where there was overheating and fires occurring. that took 10 years in eight recalls. clearly, no recall has gotten the amount of attention as this one has. there were 600 recalls last year, 16 million recall that in the united states. cars have a lot of problems.

host: are there any american cars made with toyota parts that are affected by the recall? >> -- guest: yes, the pontiac vibe. it was assembled on the same line and engineered alongside toyota. general motors is ending the pontiac brand and they only have a few of the lots. there are almost all gone. do -- they are almost all gone. host: democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. this is a perfect example of asian technology again. drywall, medication. seafood. i had a client whose company was

selling car seats back to michigan from china. it is a shame. this is taking too much money and i do not think that they really care what is happening. look at the recall all of these cars from 2005 through to now. it is ridiculous, don't you november i thank you. guest: i am not sure that that, although there are issues with chinese-made products in quality, in this case toyota has since the early 1980's billed for -- builds factories in the united states. -- bibuilt factories in the united states. ñihost: the news this morning is

that toyota is recalling the prius hybrid because of the brake failure. the brakes on those cars may fail in icy conditions or bumpy situations. the prius brake technology is their own testing technology, correct? guest: yes. what it does, as you break, the vehicle is capturing the energy in and returning it to the battery. the way that the hybrid works, they use the battery to run the car, if you come to a stop you might hear the engine turned off completely. host: wayne, michigan. good morning. independent line.

caller: toyota has had a lot of problems over the years. they have had a bad run. ñithey had a problem for 10 yeas where they had defied the engine blocking from sludge and where the front-end had the same problem. rav4 had the same problem in japan, but there was no recall in the united states. they have a problem where one of the major lawyers quit, saying the day of the leaded accident data. it seems like the media is giving them a free pass. the guest: the caller has made some good points. because they had such a high quality record for so long, maybe some of these complaints were not taken seriously. consumer reports said aside an

automatic recommended rating for toyota based on the recall problems from 2005. your right, they have been aggressive at times in declining to recall vehicles. now they will be closely scrutinized by congress and you can imagine that any decisions they make in the future regarding recalls are going to be closely scrutinized by the government and reporters. host: the head of the toyota u.s. program is going to be in front of the house oversight committee for a look at the recall issued this week. this week "the wall street journal" writes "a much less friendly audience, the congressional oversight committee, wednesday." there is also a piece in "the

associated press" from the other day about whether the u.s. is built -- bullying toyota on a recall. "u.s. transportation chief's public review raised eyebrows, given the u.s. government's major stake in general motors and chrysler. "the companies that gain the most out of this are general motors and chrysler." "their behavior is consistent with the general policy of the u.s. government, whether it is dealing with coffeemakers or cars." guest: i think that that is overblown. it's a toyota prius owner going to purchase a car from general motors or a honda abela there is a marginal potential for benefit

from general motors, but toyota owners are just as likely to choose a hon die or honda. -- hyundai or a honda. the government does have a clear financial incentive to see general motors duwel, but tokyo has 36,000 direct employees in the u.s., 170,000 people in dealerships. would they seek to damage the company just to help them out a little bit? it seems far-fetched. host: mark, independent line? all right, woodstock, new york. robert, republican line. caller: i wanted to comment that i purchased a toyota camry and five years later i bought the same model two ye.

they were remarkably different, which always struck me. 2007 had a more uneven performance. eventually also encountered major problems with it the gas pedal and the car taking off. basically a life-threatening situation. host: you were personally in a life-threatening situation? caller: the strange part is that it occurred within a few months of purchasing the 2007 camry. i had decided that i would be

exceedingly cautious, but for the next four months the problem never occurred again. it is an inexplicable situation. i recently took a car to toyota on the recall and a modified the gas pedal, carving out a piece, alluding to the fact that it was a problem with the format. the truth is that i never felt that it was, because we remove the the formats at a certain point. what i am trying to emphasize is that there seems to be a very big difference between the 2002 toyota, which we had no problems with, and the 2007 camry, which was markedly different. there was always that feeling that it was not the same car, in terms of quality.

there was definitely a problem that was badly life-threatening. i could see how it would result in something exceedingly hazardous. host: he talked about not reporting the problem initially. is there a sense about how many people do that? guest: how many people know to go to these websites from the government to file complaints? people have often never heard of the programs, and like everything else the number of complaints underestimates across the board automobile safety problems. host: terry, democratic line. caller: i agree with the other gentleman. i actually had accident in september, i was on the interstate. it was a 2008 camry -- rather, it was a 2009 that i've purchased in 2008.

i had 80 toyota camry in 1999 -- i had a toyota camry in 1999 and i had a good experience with it. my biggest problem were -- i could not stop the car and i had to change lanes in order to avoid hitting cars in front of me. host: did you report it to the dealer? caller: i did not and i will explain. i will tell you this, since i did not get a ticket and they wound up striking two vehicles, destroying the car, i was seriously injured. anyways, the insurance company sent the adjuster out to confirm it was destroyed. he came out a second time to check on the accelerator. right around that time they

started talking about the formats. after my accident they started talking about the format. and then they sent an accident expert out of a card to determine more. the worst experience of my life was not being able to control the car. host: you are okay? caller: except for my spleen, where blood is being discharged over time. i broke five ribs, lacerated my spleen. my left lung collapsed. host: to be clear, you had no previous indication that there was a problem? caller: no, i did not. i did not contact -- actually, i contacted the dealer and they

said to take out the formats. i thought that it was ok. but something else was wrong with a car. -- the car. what is disturbing to me is the slow nature in which this has on wound. i have learned about this not being a match. host: we will let you go there, thank you for sharing your story. guest: unfortunately, those kinds of chilling stories you see in the complaint files from people in these vehicles where they either get trapped by the format or they take off. there are a lot of similar resources to this. these cannot all be human error. clearly sometimes the wrong gas

pedal or brake pedal, but there has to be more to it. host: there were two stories of drivers that did not even report. you mentioned a website? guest: saveefercar.gov. host: are you sensing a change in how these problems are going to be reported in the future? guest: the government is going to more significantly require recalls. they have the authority nell, but i think that they will be requiring them to move faster now, showing that the government often waits for months and years before they decide to act. host: democratic caller from st. paul, minn. of.

you are on the air. caller: one of my questions, i am long time toyota vehicle owner. other than regular maintenance, i have never had any problems, predating the ones that have the manufacturing recall. i am curious, it seems to me that as the detroit auto plants started closing, more quality issues have come up in toyota, primarily in the south. has there been any look into whether there is sabotaging going on relative to the plans and policies? it is curious to me that a car that has had a high level quality mechanically suddenly becomes front-page.

it almost sounds like this is if ford or general motors story. -- this is a ford or general motors story. guest: people have jobs nationwide at of plants make very good wages relative to other people living in those towns. volkswagen is opening a new plant and they have received tens of thousands of applications. this is something that affects all automobile companies. everyone has recall problems but i do not think that toyota has realize the severity of it early enough. i do not think that the's idence of any other issues. engineering and research problems as opposed to sabotage. host: david shepardson, you can

xles at detnews.com. thank you for being with us. coming up next, we will be speaking with the chief economist for the national association of realtors. we will be right back. ♪ >> c-span is now offering the c- span classroom for educators at c-spanclassroom.org.

you can find the most watched video clips, organizing my subjects and topics. plus the chance to connect with other features. and it is all free. sign up at c-spanclassroom.org. >> the u.s. senate reconvenes today to discuss the judicial issues. leaders have decided to push back voting until tuesday. the house returns on tuesday. later in the week they are scheduled to vote on intelligence programs and a bill to repeal the anti-trust exemptions. >> this week on a "be

communicators" -- "the communicators" more on the comcast/nbc universal merger. >> "washington journal" continues. host: lawrence yun is here to talk with us this morning about the housing market, the latest trends and mortgages. what was the latest last week in terms of pending home sales? -- home sales, going up nearly 10.5%. what does that mean? if one looks -- guest: at the trend line, if one looks at profits were tumbling. 50% of the credit failed to have

a strong rhythm and it remains elevated as the latest figure indicating the fifth highest in the past two years. in the housing market there is momentum that buyers are feeling much better about the outlook. host: other evidence of that, existing home sales are down. is that a year to year number? guest: that was down from november. in november we saw a huge surge of viruses -- buyers. they now recognize that it has to be extended. we saw a huge surge, all those sales figures were still comparably higher compared to one year prior. host: the tax credit will be extended through the middle of this year, meaning that you have

to what? settle on your house by the middle of june? guest: they have to settle -- close a contract by the middle of april. host: your comments and questions about the housing market and mortgages, lawrence yun is with us. for republicans, 202-737-0001. for democrats, 202-737-0002. for independents, 202-628-0205. back to that tax credit, have you looked at all about what might happen? guest: the immediate months following the removal of the tax credit was a downward trend because some people had rushed to meet the deadline. people enter the market, but if they do it for the tax credit inventory is sold and values

tend to stabilize. the fear factor over purchasing a home can disappear with a home buyer tax credit. we will get to the point where we will start to see stable home pricing by the middle of the year. afterwards we will have normal home buying patterns with changes in job circumstances. host: what can you tell us about the new home market? guest: right now housing stocks are riding at half of a million. part of the reduction in construction, used to justify inventory -- when there is a large number of inventory,

builders are not in the market as the buyers are not coming back. one thing that we hear from the builders is that they want to build, but they cannot get the construction loan. because of the credit line, fairly optimistic. host: is that a fair assessment about the middle of the year belli guest: well, they are cautiously optimistic. i think that over the short term, unemployment will reach double digits again, as high as 10.5%. over the summer we will be hitting the peak level, i think. we will have job creation in the second half of the year.

host: first caller, what are your thoughts on the return of housing values bella "a economists warn that it could take a decade for homeowners to regain equity in their homes. some people in hard-hit areas of theay not see it in their lifetime. many economists think of the property will take a mighty tumble. this return to equity, what is your view? guest: in 2005 there were quite a number of years in recovery, people using the market today, it looks like a sign for civilization getting back to normal, roughly 3% annual appreciation each year.

people who purchased right at the peak or earlier, then refinance, you would take quite a stumble. host: calls are waiting. michigan, john. republican line. are you there? sorry, sirius b g shelby township. caller: -- sorry, here he is, shall be township. caller: i was able to go to the bank and combine my mortgages to a lesser payment, but it would not let me do it is because i did not have 20% equity in my home. this is frustrating, i at that -- i have heard nothing about this problem. hundreds of thousands of people could better their payment for

lesser, but they are not allowed to refinance because they do not have 20% equity. i think that is a big hole not for some people. guest: absolutely. currently the banks are very stringent about what they are providing. their capital situation is beginning to include many of the banks in the recovery process. it is a matter of time before more financing opportunities are available. right now we have rock-bottom mortgage rates. in a situation where we will have very little equity, people under water in their homes. meaning that the value is greater than the outstanding loan. the government is putting some effort in to provide guidelines

and make it easier for people refinance. particularly with the loans backed by fannie mae and freddie mac. they are trying to help finance so that mortgages will be less burdensome. there are still lot of obstacles in the process. it is frustrating. i hope that in 2010 we will be doing much better than last year. host: what is the average 30 year mortgage rates? guest: 5.1%. still pretty good for people that are able to tap it. host: are you seeing that interest rate likely to rise? guest: one should not anticipate that it can last a long time. certainly, the trend would be for higher rates. as well as macro economic forces. the economy is showing some signs of recovering after the

huge budget deficit. host: florida, an area very much affected. our next caller, barbara, go ahead. caller: good morning, gentlemen. there are tax credits and write offs for everything except the loss on your home. i was caught up in the peak and i was retired, i put the predominance of my savings into paying off my home, but i have lost half in equity, meaning half of my retirement. i would love to sell right now and move back north near my family, but i cannot sell at this tremendous loss. if there was some kind of incentive for us, they would probably move where lot more homes and have a lot more

people. guest: the goal of the home buyer tax credit is to stabilize value and mended backed up. -- men andd it back up. most middle-class families have their wealth tied to their housing and not the stock market or bond market. we continue to experience price declines, it would be difficult for middle america to get back on their feet. i think that the policy measure of the home buyer tax credits will begin to boost values. that is my anticipation. the worst is that i hope that it is over and we will be able to see a game in home values and recovery for the middle class.

host: i am looking at some of the hardest hit areas in terms of foreclosure rates. fort myers, las vegas, riverside, stockton, orlando, phoenix, miami -- what is the common denominator with these areas? guest: first is that there was an excess of demand, a large number of people entering the market and taking risky loans, subprime mortgages. also, oversupply. with that situation and some of the bad policy, we were left to the cascading effect of why we were arriving in closure with

seeing some signs of stabilization. host: we have been talking about single-family homes. what can you tell us about the multifamily market? guest: some of the government loans and their programs have more stringent requirements about condominiums, how much occupancy, how many people will be available. host: the next call is from marguerite, independent line. caller: let me tell you my experience -- we moved to connecticut and purchased a home that was marked down 1/3ñin

prize, 30% down -- giving us a lot of equity. but the interest rate is very high because it is a jumbo loan. my husband has a fantastic job making lots of money. we have taken the sun, and it has fallen quite a bit but we have equity in our home still after we refinanced into a better rate. in the two years i have been here, not one for sale sign has called off a lawn. we are paying very high property taxes, a one-third more than we should be. de realtors have told me this. my husband, his work was very solid, and now it is looking very shaky. we are 60 years old. if anything goes wrong, we will lose everything that we have.

we cannot wait for this. what happens to municipalities when this comes do? we will be reassessed next year and it will have to come down. when you look at the houses. the property taxes are too high, people walking out. i want to hear comments on that. thank you. guest: the market recovery has been predominantly on the lower price loans. on the more upscale homes activity has been very sluggish because the government loans carry higher interest rates that deter people from buying. but one of the elements of property taxes, they have dropped 1/3 from their peak levels.

local property tax level increased last year by moderate levels. something is out of whack. some of the assessments need to properly reflect today's market conditions. it puts an additional, large burden on homeowners. host: in terms of activity, take it further. suppose the they suggest a tax rate? the taxes on the house would be going down. guest: absolutely. lower property taxes would induce more buyers. therefore firming home value. host: what you think about the demand for housing for folks in their 20's and 30's?

guest: because of the weak job market conditions, there is a pump up demand. how it comes back to the marketplace is not certain. given historic low value in mortgage rates, qualified renters enter the market but they are hesitant about returning. the u.s. is one of the few industrialized countries that added 3 million people in homes each year. we have not seen a similar rise in housing demand from the new population, people are doubling up or moving back in with their parents. we m into a significant rise in housing demand. host: what about vacancies? guest: there is a rise in

vacancies. people finding a third room, or young adults moving in with their parents. host: robin, good morning. republican caller. caller: i lived in florida and my house faces foreclosure. we are going to court right now over the eviction. i wonder why the state does nothing about the no redemption laws. we offered to pay our house out to the ending balance of our mortgage. we were seven months behind but it would not accept the money. guest: the state-by-state closure law, there have been huge variations. the housing market, with its

subsequent boom and bust, is an abnormal condition. a 100 year flood phenomenon. we had 30 million closures last year. this year there are many factors. aid to just be a hiccup. policy -- it could just be a hiccup. policymakers need to be aware of the market's changing conditions. because of the changing market conditions, to apply the same rules as in the past is not fair to families. those still looking at your numbers from the fha last week -- host: looking at your numbers

from the fha last week, we have delaware, democratic line. caller: i know that they are in the business of making loans, but why would the banks be hesitant to refinance with someone who shows consistent payment when the value of the house has been reduced minimally by one-third given the market? they know who pays their mortgages, and they will have nothing to do with you. the gentleman with $20,000 in his house but they need 20% in the home, they insisted that he paid his mortgage, like i do, he is probably having a difficult time. the tax credits for new home buyers, why would they not do

something to give people tax credit if they lost value. we need some relief at this point and time. it was a situation where they were facing bankruptcy. guest: the first phase of the bank recovery, they are saying that they are going to boost capital. they will not lend it out, but they will have an insurance level of capital situation. given that the banks are in a better position, and remember that many of them got help from the u.s. government. they have repaid some of that money, but they got help from the taxpayer had a difficult time in their financial

circumstances. given that, what does the financial community say about the banks? banking institutions suffered a big loss. you will see it better to have the loans we modified with a response to all homeowners. -- re-modified with a response to all homeowners. this is over the longer period of time. host: jay, good morning. caller: i have a question regarding home appraisals. previously the way it was done before is that the house had to praise for the mortgage amount. now i understand that the way it

works is that it has to praise for the selling amount. i had personal experiences in that situation where the deal fell through. my sister tried to sell her house and was not able to do so in that situation, what are they doing to try to correct that? i see it as a major problem. people like myself, i have always paid the bills, never had an issue. what has happened is exactly that. i know a lot of people that want to get out, the seller and the buyer agree on a price. but the deal falls apart. the buyer, the seller, everyone

is the difference. host: what was the difference? caller: $10,000. ultimately, i see this is a big problem with people that want purges a home. bad. -- people that want to purchase a home. i know that this is one that the realtors have opinions about. host: we will get a response. guest: new appraisal rules went into effect in the middle of last year. we have been flooded, our

members with problems related to appraisals. host: are these federal rules? guest: there was a lawsuit in which the federal government agreed to apply these tools around the country. it is called a home valuation code of conduct, the intent is to remove it from from the system. on justifiable appraisals. -- appraisals that could not be justified. clearly, a good intent. but the results are bizarre. appraisers are receiving more compensation in you have this situation where they are driving much longer distances and they are not familiar with local, geographic areas, not participating in the unique features of the home by doing only drive by appraisals.

they are not even considering the unique characteristics of the home and as a result, appraisers have been putting in artificially low levels where the buyers and sellers had already agreed to a price but the appraisal process is holding it back. host: what about the banks themselves? they have been taken to task for bad loans in the past. part of the reason they are not lending is because they do not want to get back into the same situation they were in? guest: lenders need to be cautious about not getting back to their subprime blending positions, but sometimes there is a rule that has a good intense -- intent, like where their appraisers do not have local mileage.

-- knowledge. obviously this is leading to bad consequences, coming back to the proper way of valuing. from the lender's point of view , i do not think that subprime lending will resurface, but normal, underwriting and appraisal standards will help to slow the recovery. 30 year fixed rates are at historically low rock-bottom rates. but people are very cautious. they want to know that when they purchase a home, their monthly payment will stay the same. host: the alberta, republican line. go ahead. -- host: alberta, republican line. go ahead. caller: my question is -- does

the home buyer tax credit only attack -- only apply to first- time home buyers? guest: it applies to many first- time home buyers and some repeat home buyers. there are restrictions on what it needs to be, but when i look at the day that it looks like for most americans that our current home owners that want to trade, as long as they make it into their primary residence they would qualify for the home buyer tax credit. up to $8,000. for repeat dollars it can be up to $6,500. host: democratic line, michigan. go ahead. caller: i am a licensed real- estate agent myself. i feel that we have a responsibility to make this

projection to people. from what i am reading and seeing, what will be taking place down the line, it looks like the people that have gone into foreclosure and the people that have gone into short sale, closing with a realtor to find out what the market value of the home is or any way that they can work it out, if they cannot work it out for their finances than many people, as everyone knows, are going into foreclosure or short sale. .

caller: i feel that we have our responsibility to tell people that you need to be checking this out. if there is any way you can hire an attorney, you need to be checking this out. there will be serious consequences down the line for you and for your family. guest: in the hectic market conditions, where now we have situations, rising foreclosures, many of the home sellers requiring short sellers approval, having very good knowledge of the situation -- with any fast changing market conditions, there are sleazy people who want to come into the

marketplace, and in any fraud or violation of the eligible you, they should be prosecuted. -- any fraud or violation of the law, they should be prosecuted. from the consumer's point of view, they need to understand to work with professionals that have clear knowledge of the process. host: how many members does the national association of retailers have? guest: at the peak we had 1.4 million members. we have seen a large drops in membership. some people make it, other people don't make it. what we find the survey of customers is that nearly 80% of the clients like their retailers -- like their real terms, but they're not trusting other agents. there are people in the business who are knowledgeable, peopled by contrast, the people who are new -- sometimes it takes quite a time and experience to --

because the number one factor for the successful realtor is repeat business and referrals. host: what it -- has it been like in terms of the average salary in the u.s.? how much as a drop since the housing bubble? guest: we have experienced four years of the real-estate industry recession. the income level has been falling. the average income for realtors is about $40,000, but huge variations. the successful ones are in the six-figure level. many who have entered the progression in recent years are struggling. host: bethesda, maryland, next up. cindy on the independents' line. caller: i would like to ask the other realtor that just talked -- i have been our realtor in

maryland since 1986, and they came across a short sale or the seller was also our realtor. she said she was going to dump this place and just go buy and other one. i was reading this morning -- i didn't e-mail from the maryland association of realtors -- i got an e-mail from the maryland association of realtors called stopscaringus.com. a buyer can sell on a short sale and instead of waiting two years to purchase again -- i think in four coaches who have to wait for seven years to purchase again -- they are allowing people to purchase even before the two years as long as they have not shown delinquency in the mortgages. my concern is that from some of your prior callers, the real estate value in neighborhoods is dropping so severely because people are just -- there is no accountability. even if you can pay your

mortgage, they just dump their properties and move on to what is now are really good buy in areas, and leave their neighborhoods -- i mean, what's to say you cannot buy the house across the street? i don't understand where the accountability is the home under -- is for the homeowners selling on short sale and just being able to go and purchase something down the street. host: we will get a response. thanks for the call. guest: a couple of years ago, the problem was along the subprime defaults. in recent months, we have seen a strong rise among prime borrowers -- this could be related to the jobless situation where we have a weak economy and high unemployment rate. the other reason for a rise in the default rate among client borrowers -- those people with the financial resources and the income were turning and the keys because the home values are much lower than the mortgage balance. we have seen rising trends of

this. it is very discomforting, because we are a society of -- we try to fulfill our obligations, financially, and for people to just be faulted -- the first step should be to try to negotiate with the bank, that given this market condition, let's try to refinance to a better term. it raises the concern where we are beginning to seen many of the prime are was strategically defaulting. -- prime borrowers strategically defaulting. host: i want to get your reaction to this headline. "housing rebound in canada at spurs top of a new bubble. canada's housing recovery has been so rapid that some here are worrying about a bubble. last wednesday, the housing price index for canada's 6 highest cities posted its seventh straight monthly gain, showing that home prices in november or back to their pre-

recession peak." a chart here looking at the disparity in home prices and the rise of canadian home prices. what can you tell us? what you know about the differences between the two countries in the housing market? guest: if we have a situation where the buyers are entering the market and it is comfortably in their budget, i would not be concerned with the housing market. as long as the buyers are taking on at a mortgage that is comfortably within the budget, it will be fine. in the canada situation, most of the market is are not 30-year fixes. it is a very short-term adjustable rate mortgage. they may have low monthly payments this year, next year, or maybe even the year following. after that you readjust it is the -- if the interest-rate environment is to rise, some of the canadians who may have felt they were well within the budget today but not three years from now, they could run into a

problem. i don't know the level of down payments situation among canadian buyers, but people were entering the market with very the downpayment -- if somehow the interest rate begins to rise and the mortgage rises, that will put in additional concerns. host: a couple more calls. phil, good morning. republican line. caller: good morning. i have a question about something that seems a very mysterious to me, and that is the the scale of values on homes region in versus region. we moved to new jersey in the late 1980's, and we had a home in kansas city for $80,000, which seemed a fair price. we moved to new jersey and started looking at homes to buy, and found that the basic fixer upper, the one that needed a lot of rehab, which costs about $300,000. we decided to read. -- rent. eventually we moved to tennessee, and then in kansas, we bought a 4000-square-foot

home, we paid $70,000 for it, and the money pit is would equal in value. is about $160,000 right now. my wife, when she worked for fedex, an employee on the west coast visited her once, and it took a weekend and looked at homes. this gal was interested in buying a home. there was a 1000-square-foot house that was water damage, and they were going to sell it for four to thousand dollars -- for $400,000. this girl absolutely wanted to be why the home and they could not dissuade her from buying it how can you have a scale of values like this? for us, the cultural advantage -- kansas city up the road, we get the cultural advantage of kansas city, low primary care, school districts are fine. what accounts for such a strange difference? it is the value of lumber higher

on the west coast and east coast than it is here? what is it? guest: well, then the one difference that drives the cost of minces -- middle america, whether it is indianapolis, kansas city, homes are very affordable. you go to the coastal region, the california market, the median price even after the price drop is $400,000. on the east coast, anything from boston to washington, a very expenses. -- the very expensive. the building activity is much more restricted. it is hard to take that housing permits. it is much more expensive to take out a housing permits. some of the zoning restrictions that prevent building activity. in the current environment, we have inventory, i inventory, we want the building activity to remain in the normal circumstances, the number of housing starts that occur in the

coastal regions is very small compared to say, middle america. in middle america, if there is demand, they will build to satisfy demand. but on the coastal regions, if there is demand, builders sometimes just cannot deal. it is because of the difficulty in getting the housing permits. host: chuck, democratic caller. caller: thank you for taking my call. we are hearing a lot about homeowners who have lost their homes due to foreclosure. as we start the beginning of this year, we realize that there is a tremendous amount of people who still have homes who are watching c-span, bloomberg, "new york times," listening to the republicans and democrats and things of that nature. i believe there is thousands if not millions of people who are looking for some type of stopgap measure to say, ok, if this

happens, i am going to either walk away from the home, try to sell the home at a lower value, or just take my keys and mail it back to the banker. my question for the guest is if there were three things that you can identify that individuals who are looking to get rid of their homes can look to as a measure to either keep their home or get rid of their home, what would it be? as an example, should we look at the job market situation? and that, you mentioned a little earlier, is probably going to peak at about 10.5. if that's the thing that we see, it should be moved to getting rid of the home? and let me phrase it this way -- you are not giving advice to homeowners, but what i think americans really need is just

some real common sense. host: we will get a response to that just a couple of minutes left. guest: 4 people in their homes, maybe they are under water, but they can make mortgage payments, that is a good thing. people feel good about that, they are fulfilling their financial obligations. some of the harshest markets where prices have tumbled 50% and are deeply under water, at some are advising to go ahead and turn in the keys. i am not sure if that is the way did we have seen some demand recovery, and we are beginning to see some prices to firm up in the hard-hit areas -- florida, california markets. one of the first to go down, but also appears to be the first to come back on the recovery path. you look for some time to fully recover the value. if people view their home not just purely in terms of finances, but where they are raising a family and creating memories, they should think of

over the long term not only in their home but the long-term consequences on the credit history, the overall finance situation. but i do understand that people who lose jobs or suddenly get hit with a large medical bill -- it is very difficult to make the payment. banks have been in a very loose lending criteria during the boom and now very stringent. homeowners in a difficult situation -- i would say the first point of contact would be to talk to the lender and say that this is the situation, let's make a better deal. host: linda on our republicans' line. caller: i actually have two questions. on the tax credit, if you have got a loan modification, would you be able to get a tax credit? my husband and i got a loan modification. we did not get a home

improvement loan. that is one question. and with all the people losing their homes, is there is -- is there somewhere where you can get eight break out were people buying new homes at versus refund -- a breakdown were people were buying new homes and versus refinements, how many were fixed rate homes, how many were accessible rates? do you understand what i mean? guest: yes. one website that provides many information for consumers is called houselogic.com. there could be some of that information and there. if you cannot find it there, some of the government websites like fannie mae and freddie mac and the u.s. treasury department or hud.gov -- those would be the websites to look into it regarding the tax credit for loan modification got to my knowledge, it is for people independent of the loan

situation -- people buy a home and make it into the primary residence, as long as the person has the income i believe below $200,000, or $225,000 for married couples, and they don't purchase a home in excess of $800,000, i believe that most people would qualify for the tax credit. it is a matter of purchasing a home and making it to the primary residence independent of the loan situation. host: lawrence yun, could you to join us. -- good of you to join us. guest: thank you very much for having me. host: coming up, julian zelizer is the professor at princeton. his latest book is "arsenal of democracy." we will be right back.

>> now for educators, sees that offers the new c-span atclassroom. -- cspanclassroom.org. you can find that most watched a video clips, organized by subjects and topics, the latest in education news, and a chance to connect with others c-span classroom teachers, and it is all free. the u.s. senate returns today at 2:00 p.m. eastern. more work on the nominations of a judge on the third u.s. circuit court of appeals, and a member of the national labor

relations board. senate leaders have decided to push a votes until tuesday after the weekend snowstorm to the senate this week may also take up a jobs bill. the house returns at 2:30 eastern. later this week, antitrust exemptions for the insurance companies. live coverage is on c-span, the senate on c-span2. this week on "the communicators," the proposed merger of comcast and nbc universal, with analysis from the zero seceded press and "-- from the associated press and "the wall street journal." host: julian zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at princeton university and the author of this book, a brand new, "arsenal of democracy: the politics of national security from world war ii to the war on terrorism."

or does the title come from? guest: it comes from a famous speech by fdr, making a speech try to get america behind world war ii, saying that we need to build an arsenal of democracy. host: why was that speech significant? guest: fdr was a transition to a period where america has a permanent national security state. before world war ii, we fought wars on an ad hoc basis. second, fdr was a period where liberals were strong on the national security issue. during world war ii, he built a very big coalition behind the effort and he came out as a model of what presidents should do. host: your book is about politics from world war ii to the war on terrorism, but you really start during the spanish- american war, i believe, and before that. what was it about world war ii that fdr, he said created this

national security state. explain that in all but more -- explain that a little bit more. guest: i gave the backup to readers to understand basic history of foreign policy and national security. we went to war to take things apart. that is what happened after world war i. that is why i give the whole pre-history, so to speak to the national security state treated under fdr and truman this was to seek permanent institutions devoted to national security. the cia, fbi, a vastly enhanced navy and air force. even the draft. we always need to do with national security and we need to govern -- need government institutions working on this. host: julian zelizer is here to discuss the politics of national security and taking your calls.

what did fdr learned from the experience of his uncle, teddy, both in the spanish american war and in teddy's term as president? guest: one thing he learned was that politics is part of national security. he saw with teddy roosevelt that tr used to build a more internationalist role for america, a more permanent role abroad for the united states, and he built a political collision of progressive, republicans, internationalist republicans, to combat what was kind of isolationism and unilateralism in america. if the artist the same thing he proposed -- fdr does the same thing. he proposed these neutrality acts, and he learned that politics and security cannot be

separated. host: how was it a victory for the u.s. and for democrats? guest: they were steadfastly against intervention a natural world war ii. but fdr as a democrat led the way. because of the victory, democrats came out as the party you could trust, so to speak, to handle national security. host: what changed when harry truman became president, particularly in the election of 1950? guest: the 1950 elections make a lot of the politics of today seem tame. a very bitter election. a lot of republicans start to challenge democrats on issues like who lost china, when china fell to communism in 1949, and the emerging war in korea. by the end of the mid terms, the conservative coalition increases in congress, but the politics of the cold war are wide open and very bitter. host: the politics of national security is our topic.

kerri on our independence line, bill ahead. h -- gary on our independent line, go ahead. caller: i notice that most of the callers get about 60 seconds or so, so i will make this could pick on 9/11, at fox news interviewed number of citizens who said they heard multiple explosions as the towers came down. the interview firefighters -- they interviewed firefighters and they said they heard detonators. and there is a professor from brigham young university who was found residue of their might explosives from the dust of the twin towers. the fbi told him to shut up. host: is it your view that the towers were not attacked? caller: i am not try to put this on anybody. you can leave it with whoever you want to leave it with. i just want to make a couple quick more points.

i have a question, actually. flight 93 -- someone said that 20 minutes after he was on at the site, there were no bodies. it looked like someone dumped eight -- dug a 15-foot hole and dump trash in it. host: the issue of politicization of 9/11. guest: it was remarkable when i was writing this book, how quickly the politics returns. republicans and democrats by the first year are fighting over things like airline security, and should you have unionized workers or not. what is remarkable about 9/11, in addition to the tragedy, was how quickly the politics returns, and how little it changed the kind of political combat which we have had during the 1980's and 1990's. the politics never stopped at the water's0edge was 9/11. host: you wrote about the focus

of executive power. alberto gonzales' argued that it was a strong president to give that the commander-in-chief virtually unlimited power in war, that the president should not be bound by congressional law or international treaties. was this a new argument for the executive to make? guest: no, there was a view since fdr that the executive power had to expand during war, during national security crises. truman sent troops to war in 1950 without asking for a declaration of war. but it was a vast expansion under president bush. host: next caller. caller: i have a different perspective on all this national security. i think that americans, as we have seen from the tea party and the interests by sarah palin to get involved in, that we are getting fed up with security rebound and its effect on our businesses. for example, some to put on

expose of underwear and pretty soon we will be scanned going into airports to make sure that we are not the risk. who wants to have a naked body scanner of themselves floating around by these low-paid tsa agents? you have heard stories of some of these tsa agents doing their own criminal actions and breaking a laws and taking too much power. how do you feel about the rebound of what this does to our rights and business and what the constitution was designed for, to let this be a free economy? guest: i think the tension you talk about has been one within conservatism since the cold war, meaning on the one hand, a more hawkish posture in the gop and a call for expansion of government, and on the other hand, and civil liberties strand of conservatism, it libertarian's brand, which has been at odds with this. after 9/11, some of this faded away and the republican party had fewer prominent voices

questioning the national security apparatus agreed with the tea party, you might see some of our return to some of those arguments. host: you use a term called "conservative internationalism." what does that mean? guest: i think it was an alternative to fdr. war without sacrifice. you don't need tax increases or the draft. you can use a professional army. if the goods on using air power and technology -- a focus on using air power and technology as opposed to ground troops. it focused on unilateralism. host: the u.s. acting alone without partners. guest: kind of criticizing the united nations as an institution not to be trusted. host: next caller. caller: i want to say a quick thing about war ii. my grandfather was a chief intelligence officer. i've been going through archives in maryland and reading about fort hunt and our history. we used to bring in the middle

that some of the biggest middle -- the night some of the biggest nazis and interrogate them right here in alexandria and 400 a lot of the problem in this country is that we have a lack of knowledge of our world history and a lot of a fear that is without especially about guantanamo and prisoners and paranoia that is all abnormal. if you look at history carefully, we never had a year, no matter what we dealt with, -- never had fear, no matter what we dealt with, and as far as our military, world war ii and i, citizens would want to industry now we have people who were cowardly types who do not want to go to war and do not want their kids to go to war, so we

have to have an all-volunteer army depending on who is willing to fight. host: she says we never had feared a matter what we dealt with. -- never had feared no matter what we dealt with. guest: that is not true. during the cold war, it was pretty dishes. there were republicans attacking treatment for essentially treason. it was a great fear of the soviet union as essentially an evil empire intent on world destruction. democrats did some of the same thing, accusing republicans in the 1950's of being total isolationists and not caring what happened. fear is always part of national security politics, and often it does lead to bad policy making. host: i wanted to read a bit from the section on jfk and the cuban missile crisis. "from the start of his administration, republicans worked hard to undercut jfk's appeal on a national security. the john birch society, founded

in 1958 by california-based businessman, included 100,000 members, mostly in the sun belt. anti communism was the glue that held the society together, though opposition to civil rights was important for southern members. conservative radio hosts railed against the administration's failures to stand up to the soviets. conservatives enjoy a vibrant period of book publishing with companies like regnery." some of that is ringing true today. guest: we forget in the 1950's that the conservative movement was emerging. republicans were making keep a central issue of attack going into the midterm elections of 96 -- making to the central issue attack going into the midterm elections of 1962. we had a proliferation of conservative publishing, conservative radio and tv, and the question is today, some of that is being revitalized again. host: do you think the cuban

missile crisis was the height of u.s. your of the possible soviet attack? -- u.s. fear of a possible soviet attack? guest: no, it would continue he was scared and not just of the soviets but attacks on his administration. host: next caller, go ahead. caller: thanks for having me on this morning. there is a documentary out there on youtube called "national security alert." it is pretty astonishing. i spent a lot of time looking into 9/11, and i am one who stays on the side of logic. looking at this video, it has numerous eyewitness reports of exactly what they saw that morning, with the plane approaching the pentagon.

these people testified after 9/11, and the testimony is buried in the halls of congress -- host: what is the name of this documentary? caller: "national security alert." host: thanks for the call. thomas on the independent line. caller: might take on it is that it'll -- it all depends on a white racist to proceed at this country has existed for years. -- white racist super mehsud that this country has exerted for years. -- supremacy that this country has exerted for years. they are in this country, and they are nazis and they are living in this country, and there was a connection because of their heritage. if you move over, racism existed

even when you talk about national security. they would not allow the plaques to be in the military, would not allow the blacks -- not allows blacks to be in the military, not allow blacks to do this. guest: race has been part of national security. early in my book, during the spanish-american war, the perceptions of the u.s. need to civilize groups of people was part of the rhetoric of our president, people like tr. during vietnam, we heard a similar discussion of the vietnamese. there is a connection between racial attitudes and foreign policy. i think it is much more than that, but that is always a strain for certain politicians. host: was the credibility of the u.s. ever at stake because of our civil rights policy, before the voting rights act? guest: absolutely.

during the 1950's, a lot of pressure force of rights does not just come from the civil- rights movement, but from state department officials who are feeling pressure because the soviets are spreading word of all the racial incident in the united states, and what it says about our democracy. there are diplomats being arrested in the united states. some of the pressure comes from that, and also from african- americans who fought in world war ii and korea and wondered why they don't have the same rights here. host: george, republican color. caller: a few callers ago there was a lady who said that we are a tower the nation because nobody wants to join the armed forces. -- we are a tower to the nation because nobody wants to join the armed forces. in the 1980's, i volunteered for the air force. but as far as the voluntary force, yes, a lot of parents are refusing to have their children in this, because they are

looking at the amount of illegal aliens in the country. why isn't the president giving the illegal billions ideal -- illegal aliens a deal, if you want amnesty, four years and the military, get out within honorable discharge, then you get your amnesty. many refuse to have their children to join because of so many illegal indians but what are they going to do their part for their freedoms and their rights? -- illegal killion spirit what are they going to do for their part for their freedoms in th%ir -- illegal aliens. what are they going to do for their part for their freedoms and rights? guest: the president got rid of the draft was richard nixon. vietnam what on his presidency -- would haunt his presidency. that change the way we fight our wars. many citizens are exempt from the sacrifice required when we sent troops abroad one argument

was that it made easier to quit wars and deployed troops -- most americans are not scared of their children will be sent abroad. it was a profound change after 1973. host: outside of the vietnam, what were richard nixon bostick biggest accomplishments on national security -- richard nixon's biggest accomplishments on a national security and foreign policy? guest: detente. it culminated in something called salt in 1972, and the famous trip to china in 1972. detente -- easing relations in the cold war -- was key to his reelection in 1972, and if watergate had not happened, it could have made him a transformative president. host: how did that play with the more conservative wing of the republican party?

guest: they were furious. ronald reagan was absolutely livid with richard nixon, because it seemed to be betrayed everything he stood for when he was president. he had been a hard line anti- communist. another famous intellectual in the conservative movement was very critical. nixon, like ronald reagan in the 1980's, had to fight against conservatism in this term. host: you said that ronald reagan was not always as tough as he seemed on the soviets. guest: early on he had his hawkish rhetoric and at a big increase in defense, but later, in 1987, he accepted the opportunity to negotiate with mikhail gorbachev. many were not happy with it. one called him a dupe of the kremlin, and another compared him to neville chamberlain. host: the lesson there -- you

look at nixon and reagan -- at some point you have to ignore the criticism from within your party. guest: sometimes that is the case. by blocking the base of their party, they engaged in what were very important diplomatic initiatives. host: long island, anthony on the democrats' line. caller: it seems to me that governments have always define themselves by selling protection to their citizenry. after the collapse of the soviet union, it seems as though the united states was in great need of a new bogyman. what happened to the peace dividend? i believe that was all clinton was able to balance the budget, and the fact that they were able to cut defense spending. it seems as though now we have squandered the dividend to such -- we are collapsing ourselves now because of all of this. it seems as though there is no end in sight in this barrage of

agencies and bureaucracies selling as protection, nsa, cia, fbi, navy, army, coast guard, and now homeland security. they all point in each other with the goes wrong, like is the other guy's fault. like i said, where is the end? guest: when president eisenhower stepped down, he made famous farewell address where he warned about the military-industrial complex that he argued was taking shape, contractors who sell weapons, congressional committees and legislators who depend on military money through the defense budget. there is a document that we really cannot retrenched that, -- there is an argument that we really cannot return to that, in good times or bad times or whenever. there was talk of a peace dividend during the george h.w. bush and president clinton, meaning that money could be put back into domestic issues.

but after 9/11, that went away and we had a new cold war, this time with al qaeda. host: back to the speech he mentioned with president eisenhower and his farewell speech on the military- industrial complex, how big of a change was that from 1952? guest: it is huge. when he ran in 1952, he was part of a republican campaign that was lashing democrats for being weak on defense, allowing china to fall to communists, getting us into a stalemate in korea. he was a military hero and that was part of his attraction. but becoming president, he was frustrated by the inability to cut defense spending on what he sees as needless weapons, and democrats like john f. kennedy attack eisenhower, saying he is too conservative on balancing the budget and in danger in america and creating what is called a missile -- enda ngering america and created what

is called a missile gap. host: new orleans, independent color. -- caller. caller: good morning. i would like to know what is it, what mental incapacity, what orders you have been giving, that will keep you from addressing the hard facts and evidence that i keep on hearing from callers that call in about 9/11. when someone says there is evidence of explosives and buildings, you don't address it. when someone says there are hundreds of witnesses to explosives to buildings, you don't address it. when someone brings up any questions outer -- that counter the so-called official story of 9/11, you ignore it. you go on to something else. also, let me bring up one more

that a gentleman did not bring up. seven of the alleged hijackers were on bbc tv after the fact being interviewed. these things are facts. they are in the public record. i would like one time for c- span to address these issues. host: thanks for your input. anything you want to add to that? guest: no. i know the arguments are out there, they are there, part of the atmosphere. one thing that this change national security is the internet, and that have information filters out -- that kind of information fill this out quickly, true or untrue. host: trevor, republican column. -- caller. caller: i would like to comment on the last guy. you can make your conspiracy theories all you want. host: make sure you turn down

your television or radio there said that you don't feed back. caller: well, at the last guy -- it is a free country. you are here to say what you are gonna say and he will say. normal people will never know the answers so you might as well stop worrying about it. the woman earlier that called about cowards in our country today. i am 18 and i just listed in the united states army and i just wanted to let her know that there is cowards -- quite a few at the school i went to, and there are good hearted people out there who are willing to serve their country and die for their country. host: thanks for your call. houston, texas, democrats' line. caller: thanks for taking my call, i think the cable company for sending my payments so that we can have at c-span.

a gentleman called about 9/11, and those arguments that are out there. but on c-span today, something kind of amazed me, and it had to do with airport security. dr. kennedy gave testimony about the crotch bomber was allowed a visa by the intelligence agency. patrick kennedy worked for the state department. he was allowed eight -- allowed a visa, and his a boarding was allowed to continue an ongoing intelligence operation. he got on the plane, and landed -- host: this was i hearing you saw on c-span or something? caller: yeah. it was kind of amazing that

american lives were collateral to continue the cia operation. we also have these scanners, these liquid scanners, and have gone out immediately. this is a fact, not an argument, but the security for the airport where the crotch bomber boarded was the same security vendor that work on the london tube and all of the alleged departure dates for 9/11. host: in a little bit off topic, but anything you want to respond to? guest: one thing we learned with the christmas bombing effort and other incidents that, is that it changes after 9/11, trying to rectify problems in national- security programs. there was a commission report on it in 2000. it was not a completely successful transformation. there are holes in things such

as intelligence sharing, which the president spoke about. in terms of the kinds of the scanners were willing to fund. where we did make all the changes -- that is really the issue to grapple with. it is more attractive to say that president obama is responsible, president bush is responsible. but it is the post-9/11 system that we need to address. host: the president's security adviser john brennan was on the sunday shows. this headline -- "stop criticizing anti-terror effort. he says he briefed officers about abdulmutallab's a rrest and none of them raised objections. the officials said they were not given any information beyond the facts of his arrest." is this sort of political back- and-forth -- has this been done all throughout history going

back to fdr? guest: absolutely. going back to president eisenhower, he used to complain that democrats were aware that there was no missile gap. he had pictures proving they were wrong. but it was under surveillance so president eisenhower could not reveal it. lyndon johnson was busted, because republicans were far -- lyndon johnson was frustrated, because republicans were supporting him with funding and everything, and yet publicly they were criticizing him. there is always the tension between the political arguments and sometimes the back room deal. host: what was the political calculation that lyndon johnson made about the vietnam war? guest: it was a costly one. he was terrified that republicans were going to undercut democrats' on national security.

he was born in the 1950's in a garment of republicans saying that democrats lost china, -- 1950's environment of republicans saying that democrats lost time and had not fought real well. he was going to show that he was tough. many advisers, including a hawkish democrat, said that this is not worth of the war. it is too dangerous. is not strategically important. in the end, she did not withdraw, he accelerated the war -- he did not withdraw, he accelerated the war. in large part, he was terrified that republicans led barry goldwater and ronald reagan would say that any sign of weakness which show that democrats cannot be trusted. hubert humphrey wrote a memo to the president after the election saying that it was the opportunity to withdraw from vietnam. his response was to tell hubert humphrey, no more memos, and he kicked him out of the inner

circle of advisers. host: ron on our independent line. caller: what always troubles me is the hypocrisy of american foreign policy. we have always preached democracy and supported it dictatorships. i'm 61 years old. my whole life we have done this. we did it in the middle east, we have done it in south and central america, we are still doing it today. i've just never been able to understand it. it seems that whenever a foreign leader comes along and puts the lives of his own people ahead of the profits of american corporations, we consider him an enemy. i don't understand that. i think we would be a lot safer if we put people ahead of profit. thank you. guest: well, i do think there is a long tradition from the cold

war to the war on terrorism or there is a disconnect between our rhetoric of freedom and democracy and the fact that part of our foreign policy always supports governments that are entitled that -- that are antithetical to that. it is always part of our foreign policy. i did it is frustrating to many americans. host: you wrote about jimmy carter, "seeking studies to achieve peace with the soviet union while strengthening the image of democrats on national security. he seeked all the hallmarks of detente. he elevated the issue of human rights to the center of the administration policy. this is arguably his most

dramatic ideological move. he believed that the promotion of human rights could give more legitimacy to a foreign policy and it tensions that he believed resulted in support for the soviets." was he the first president to address this? guest: he was not the first, but the first to do it so dramatically. richard nixon was a practitioner of realpolitik and overseas working with henry kissinger, he downplayed ideological issues, saying that that could not be part of the foreign policy. jimmy carter was the first to make it front and center since the creation of the un. host: has a remain part of our foreign policy? guest: it has to remain part of our foreign policy. president bush used that rhetoric during the war on terror, drawing on language that jimmy carter used, and tapping into the image of a president that he wanted to separate

himself from. host: gerry, republican line. caller: earlier you talking about the tremendous attrition and the tension between republicans and -- the truman administration and the tension between republicans. i think in the defense department -- you glossed over that, but it was proven to be true when the soviets released the files i guess in the late 1990's. guest: i could comment on that. yes, we have had the release of the soviet archives saying that there was a soviet spy network in the united states and some of those accused were guilty. importantly, a lot or not. it was kind of scattershot, the attacks during that period. it does not mean that people like joseph mccarthy, the senator from wisconsin who leveled a lot of these attacks, was right and what he was charging. but a lot of the spy's existed.

host: dexter on the democrats' line. caller: good evening, gentlemen -- good morning. nobody ever mentions the project for a new american century. in 1996, they sent a letter to then-president bill clinton asking him to remap the middle east, and he declined the letter. it was signed by donald rumsfeld, dick cheney, richard armitage e, the whole cast of characters that wound up in the bush administration. guest: yes, neoconservatives and conservatives who used to be democrats and others who really emphasized foreign-policy, and during the 1990's, through these groups, there are pushing a new emphasis on iraq and certain other rogue states to define our

national security system. clinton is not a very liberal president on a national security. he sometimes is not that far off from where they are. but they become a very important voice under president bush and some of them are the architects of the war on iraq. host: washington is full of at think tanks and other idea at shops, for lack of a better term. have these organizations grown more influential on national security development and foreign policy development? guest: i think they have changed. back in the 1940's and 1950's, you had a handful of think tanks. you had places like brookings that dominated country but there is been a proliferation of think tanks -- dominated the town. but there has been a proliferation of think tanks and they have become more savvy with the media. they've become very important, even when certain groups are on the hou -- on the outs,

republicans and democrats, these kinds of think tanks are ways for parties to rebuild themselves. host: jim, good morning to independent line. caller: sorry to interrupt. host: go ahead, jim. caller: i do like the think tank. i like it went c-span covers -- when they have coverage from the speakers, and they have great topics from the think tanks. but that is not my question for what i want to talk about. i want to get back to roosevelt. prior to world war ii, and the constitution, did he take -- i am confused on this a little bit, and i have been reading a little bit -- did he take some liberties with the constitution to sort of expand his power outside the realm of the constitution? it is still in effect today.

i think it was 1933, prior to the war, or some time prior to the war. this was during, i think, the depression and the new deal. there was a lot of things going on, it was pretty busy in washington, as far as trying to negotiate everything with all the parties, because back then it was not just the republicans and democrats. it was eight barnum and bailey. host: we will get a response. guest: in the 1930's, late in the 1930's, and not in 1933, roosevelt pushed the boundaries of executive power. there was a neutrality act that restricted the president with what he could do overseas. he was very frustrated. there is a quotation in the book

where he says that hitler should put a statue of senator arthur vandenberg of michigan, who was opposing him in terms of intervention abroad. some of the themes of expansion of its executive power today were planted during this time or he tried to circumvent this with try to get money and assistance for the allies. host: who do you think best articulated national security policy? guest: i think fdr, who had a very compelling vision of why we had to fight and how we had to fight. he called for a full mobilization of this country, people having to fight this war, all people having to fight this war, and having to pay for this war. fdr expands the income tax from 4 million americans to 44 million americans. how to fight at home, who we fight against, very compelling

in his rhetoric and policies. host: kevin, go ahead, democrats' line. caller: i was wondering how we could build an arsenal of democracy, given what has happened in this country over the past, i guess, close to 100 years, starting with the federal reserve act that created the federal reserve. and corporations that control our money. leading up to today, where we have the globalists pretty much taking over the country. we cannot purchase anything in our country that is not made in china. it is driven out -- it has driven out all the labor in our country. host: the impact o