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>> the president wrapping up an appearance at a battery parts manufacturing plants in north carolina that received $49 million in the economic stimulus fund. so far, $355 billion has been committed to states by the federal government. that is an increase of $2 billion from last week. a total of two under $5 billion actually spent. that is as of march 23. you can follow the economic stimulus in news -- economic stimulus news at our website. this year's student competition as the middle and high school

students to create a five to eight minute video dealing with of our country's biggest strengths or challenge the country is facing. here is one of the third-place winners. >> there is a lot of misunderstanding about what free markets are, what they work, how they do not work. we have the system, but people really do not understand how the system works. a disaster came along in the summer of 2007 and so we had to focus on the fact that the whole idea of free markets and capitalism had taken a real hit. ♪ >> since colonial times, immigrants from around the growth have traveled to america to seek their fortunes. from the industrial revolution to the great depression, the united states has had their share of ups and downs. whether she is experiencing a recession or an economic boom, america remains the land were opportunity is abundant.

>> we really kind of stumbled into it. when i was in high school, my business partner was a junior. we were in a band and we wanted to make our own band shirts, but we did not want to pay anyone to do it. he bought some supplies and we'd made to our own frame, are less green at of just would that be cut. we stressed the mesh over it and did everything very primitive glee. -- primitive. we started printing for some other bands. we started doing some stuff with schools just for fun. we ask my dad for a mini loan and he gave it to us. >> i decided to open a gourmet pasta company because it has been in my family for three generations. we are third-generation.

it has been in our family since 1926 someone to carry on the tradition. >> i found something for me to retire to. i have business experience, there was this choice for me to choose as a small business. >> i started my business by doing some side work. i had a full-time job.

this was more fun. i got laid off from my electrical engineering job. the two companies i was working for sure the same accountant. she invited me to a meeting. >> only in america would be possible for these four men to start their businesses. by starting their businesses in the united states, they have capitalized on our country's greatest strengths. the american free market economy. >> a free market economy is the only way to go in america. i do not know if we have a true free-market economy in this country there is definitely a bit of crony capitalism going on as far as who gets to fail and tickets to succeed. on the small-business scale, which is where i think the free market economy is the most true, it is the only economic system i can imagine where on to

bring yours can thrive and grow. -- or on to bring yours -- you need to be able to fall little bit. you need to be able to stand up. i think it is important to have a free market economy. >> free market is the only way out of the crisis we just had. individuals are better served handing over their own money. absolutely, a free market. if you look at the economy's who have choked off free development, -- free markets are the only way you can get out of this. >> in a free-market economy, anyone has the ability to open a business.

over 600,000 businesses are open each year in the united states alone. due to the nature of capitalism, when third of these businesses will fail within two years and over half will close within four years. can anyone start a business? >> yes, i think anyone can start a business. you have to have drive. it has to be something that you are motivated to do. you have to try to find the resources. in this day and time, it is difficult to find the resources. if you start small, we eventually graduated to. from there, we added a line of salt and cheese and corn and oil. if you start small enough, and you have something that people want -- nobody else does what we do. the machines that we have have been in our family since 1926. it is a hand made product so it

is going to be something that is not a quantity item, but it is a quality item. if you do that on any type of business, it could be successful. >> not everyone can start a business it takes an incredible amount of dedication. you have to live it and read it. -- you have to lift it and breathe it. you do not see many people willing to do that. >> starting a business is no small task. there are factors and limitations beyond the owner's control. however, starting a business in the united states would be nearly impossible without the free market economy and the american dream would be unattainable. >> it is not that easy over there. they talk about connection. you need to have some connection to government officials and things like that.

not just your initiative and your own self. a lot of times, they need the family support of their. -- over there. not just from your savings and making a loan from banks. it is very difficult and very different. >> the american dream does exist. not only does america the land where anybody can be successful, but for everybody has the opportunity to participate in the system that has proven itself again and again brit is truly the nation's greatest strength. the american free market economy. >> it is difficult to attain the american dream.

it takes brains, personality, determination. >> attainable, yes. it is attainable. from personal experience, yes. >> to see all the winning entries of this year's student competition, visit studentcam.org. >> this weekend on book tv, from the virginia festival of book, rebecca on the best-selling -- best seller. his book is "superpower relations." find the entire weekend schedule at booktv.org. >> the minutes that the wall street firms were in the business of harvesting middle-

class and lower middle class americans for their home equity value and making loans to them against it, there was a natural risk of abuse. >> sunday, michael was on the subprime mortgage crisis. his latest is the "big short." michael lewis at 8:00 on c-span. >> a discussion on how the media can support whistle-blowers. speakers include 60 minutes producer and former nbc news investigative producer. the national whistle-blowers legal defense and education fund hosted the event brit -- hosted the event.

>> he is a distinguished french investigative journalist with the post brith he is a former executive director of the washington times. he worked extensively with sources and whistle-blowers. will have more extensive introduction to recall upon them. i have represented whistle blowers since 1984 and i have been working with the press ever sense -- ever since.

the whistleblower can get a sense of vindication by having their issues resolved. whistle-blowers have worked with the news media from the beginning of the republic and i hope that they will continue to work with the news media. our first speaker is the producer for "60 minutes." he has been a producer for 22 years. that show needs no introduction. he has won awards for journalism, including five any awards. he has covered a wide range of stories on terrorism, the middle east, and exposes about government. and corporate misconduct. he did an extensive

investigation on the anthrax investigation. he worked on the case showing how the fbi pursued the wrong man in the espionage case. he did extensive interviews and worked with richard clark. he has worked with corporate whistle-blowers, including shot him all -- chuck hammell. he is currently working on a book about iraq, which is expected to be published next year. it is a true honor to have him here. to many whistle-blowers that we

have worked with have worked successfully with 60 minutes. it is a premier program and we're truly honored to have him here. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you for having me. i've been at the show since 1984. it is been about 25 years now. the two things i have learned about whistle-blowers is that there is often difficult persnickety personalities. that trait is exactly what makes them whistle-blowers. they're not willing to go along -- get along to go along.

the other thing i have learned about whistle-blowers is that almost always they're motivated by altruism. they want to act in a way that they see as in the public good or in the interest of national security or to honor some higher principle. almost always, that has been the personality traits that i have encountered. one of the best examples is dick clark. he was a counter-terrorism adviser. he was the guy who was telling everybody that osama bin laden and al qaeda was targeting the u.s. and meanwhile, the bush at the station was not taking it seriously. -- the bush administration was

not taking it seriously. we were talking about it as it was all unfolding and it was all off the record and i could not report it. but there came a time when he wanted to go public. the dilemma for him was when you work for the president of the united states, york -- your loyalty is to the president. you are there to represent his interests. that is something that he took very seriously. he felt this higher calling that the administration was trying to play in iraq -- try to blame iraq for the 9/11 attacks in order to justify invading iraq. he did not believe that and he had to choose between his

loyalty to the president tand hs sense of duty to the country. i know he was motivated by a sense of duty because i sell a high school yearbook that he wrote when he was a teenager. he said made the seventh ring of be reserved for those who remained silent when it is their time to come forward. this was something that was central to his character. the other thing he had to weigh is that when you take on the president, and you take on the government, you are going to be dealing with a ferocious counterattack, political, personal, legal. it is a real tough decision. it is almost always -- if you are motivated by this higher calling, it is almost always better to run into the

spotlight, the glare of the news media, then remain in the shadows just complaining about it internally. by going public, it inoculate see in many ways to retaliation. -- it inoculates you in many ways from retaliation. he had already made the decision to quit the white house. he was not worried about losing his job. but credibility was a big issue. he came to us with unbelievable information. he is a highly credible source, as my colleagues will tell you.

you never go to broadcast or print with just one source. you have to verify things, especially when you are taking on the president. one of the things that he told us was that right after 9/11, the president pulled him into a little room outside the oval office. he was already saying that this was a signature al qaeda attack. the president told him, no, i want saddam hussein. he felt like the president was pressuring him to jury rick the investigation so that they could pin it on saddam hussein. this is him in a private meeting with a president. there were several other people in the room and we were able to get them to verify off-camera

his version of events. when we then interviewed stephen for the peace -- piece, he did not exactly deny it. he said, there is no record of such a meeting. he is -- that is not saying that the meeting did not occur. lesley stahl is the correspondence that i worked with. for the next week, condoleezza rice was saying publicly that there was no record of such a meeting. she was attempting to a tic -- attack his credibility. five-seven days later, some of our confidential sources then decided to come forward and go public and say, i was there. he was telling the truth. right after our piece, which was a two-part piece, the 9/11

hearings occurred. he followed up our peace with his testimony. what he did was framed the debate, what he did was establish his credibility. tv news can let the viewer is looking in the eyes. -- ken -- tv news can let the viewer looking in the eyes. you are defining yourself before those twwhom you are attacking are going to come out and attack you. i know for a fact that he did not regret for a minute going on the show. that was a smart move. to me, that anecdotes'

illustrates both the virtue of going forward to if you are a whistle-blower. it is a very personal decision and is never going to be easy. there are benefits to going public. it also demonstrates the values that the whistle blower ways in him or herself. duty to president, a duty to truth duty to a higher calling. in many ways, the networks face that same dilemma. our sister broadcast is no longer on the air. one of the grape came to them, the pentagon lobbied heavily against that story.

it made an argument that everyone in the news business cares about is that that story would inflame anti-american sentiment among the al qaeda. it could jeopardize soldiers. that was a very compelling concern. i think the broadcast molded over for a couple of wheat -- molded over for a couple of weeks. -- mulled it over. we have documented evidence that some of our people were doing things that were so awful, that even in times of war, they are prohibited by the rules of war.

what do you do? it is a very tough decision. obviously, in the end, for competitive reasons and for that reason, they went with the peace. -- piece. there instances where we have had really good stories that we have not run because in the end, the government's argument may -- running into a compromise something that the story is not worth doing. that has happened to me. we will not run with it. in any event, those are the crux of the issues that whistle- blowers and reporters alike have to grapple with. finally, i would say in terms of what we're looking for, stories

of consequence. they go to the heart of what we stand for as a country. they go to the heart of what an administration stands for and whether there is a level of hypocrisy or deceit that needs to be exposed. that would be the extent of my remarks. i handed over to you. >> thank you very much. our next speaker is the former senior investigator producer for nbc nightly news. he