forward. >> i think earlier studies that focus on younger kids have seen difficulties for boys and certainly those difficulties are there for the adolescent boys but the study highlights some of the needs of girls, specifically. >> thank you, so much. we appreciate the work you have done and we hope that it will continue. we remained concerned about trying to help to the extent that it is possible. one thing i am concerned about is in some areas, it is difficult for us to identify with the military families are located. in california, that is not really the case. by understand it is the case in some states. . .

booktv began about science. after that, live coverage with an author on his book. this looks at the life and career of a president, and then, as former education secretary bennett examines the end of the cold war through terrorism. this is primetime all this week on c-span2. >> we have another winner from our documentary competition. we asked middle and high school

students to share their thoughts on one of the country's greatest strengths for the challenges the country is facing. today, we have a seventh grader from a middle school in griffin, georgia. welcome to your win to welcome to c-span, and congratulations on your win. >> i had seen what alcohol does, so i thought about it. >> how prevalent is under age drinking in your community? >> not as much as in other communities. >> is it prevalent in your middle school? >> well, in my great, not as much, -- >> -- in my grade.

>> and a police officer. >> did anything surprise you in addition to the interviews? >> wow bg in the internet. >> and what did you find -- >> on the internet. >> and what did you find? >> the effects and where they take place. the death toll. the amount of deaths per year. >> kevin was your partner, correct? >> correct. >> how did you share in the tasks of the documentary? did you focus on one thing and he on the other?

>> we help each other out. >> so what would your main responsibility? >> the interviews. >> and what was his? >> looking at intermission -- information and camera work. >> how long did it take you to complete, and as a third-prize winner, you receive $750, which you are going to split with kevin. what are you going to do with your winnings? >> it will go into a savings account for the future, part of it, and the other half, i will buy an ipod touch. >> congratulations again on your win, and here is a short clip on his documentary. >> drug abuse, the war in iraq,

and our economy. however, the greatest of these challenges is the abuse of all of by minors. the united states has every strength, and yet, without restraint, there is something else. are america's teenagers really being consumed by alcohol? >> it is by far and away the top abuse by american teenagers. >> you can see the entire documentary and all of the winning videos any time. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> next, we will hear from business and political leaders at an event hosted by the women's national republican club. it is two hours. >> data banks. a famous name already -- david banks.

if you brought your talking points, leave them. i am a tough moderator. our viewers and our audience and the american community at large, we ask that you change your way of thinking to a very simple few words. i will be factual. i will be honest. and i will use my first amendment god-given right to free speech and a proper manner. that is what it starts with. [applause] so let's get to it.

on my left, my good friend marc lamont hill. he works at columbia university. thank you for coming, marc. janks morton, whose films have awakened many to the truth, a documentarian at large. [applause] mr. banks, i went to jesuit high school, so i have to address them properly. the academy is an example of what america needs, not just the black community. [applause]

tara dowdell, political skills extraordinaire, in really, think you. we live 40 or input. not only as a business person but as a woman within the community, that inside is necessary if we're going to educate men. we must educate women, and the opposite is also true -- we look forward to your input. charles, you have an incredible story. i would shorten it for you. determination, desire, interest, and achievement. this is an example of what you can do when you start out in harlem and get all the way

downtown to wall street and then cover the globe. charles, fox business contributor, a ceo, we need your expertise. [applause] and we start with child -- charles and the community at large. implanted in business is the first topic, and they have to go together. two words intertwined. the leading question for this, and i start with you, charles, business in the black community is needed. it helps the community grow. where does it begin? >> business in the community or black people korean businesses in their own community? >> start with black people creating businesses.

>> one of my favorite stories that i tell people all the time is the chinese guy. what is the chinese restaurants, real famous? he drove an ice cream truck for years, said all of its money, and now, he is very, very wealthy. but when i look at black business, to be quite honest with you, first and foremost, the nation really has to be -- our fortunes are good to rise and fall. not necessarily at the same level, but if the country is doing well, then there will be more opportunities as the money trickles down, but i think we have to be less intimidated, probably more creative, and understand that there are a lot of pitfalls. i have to tell you, for me, personally, david, i made every

mistake in the book, and i have learned everything the hard way. i tell my son that he did not have to be a lawyer, but you have to another law. i have made every single mistake in the book. the most important thing is having a very open mind, not picking yourself to just what you might think. in other words, really thinking outside the box, and for me, it really bothers me when i hear basketball players say, "when i get out of the week, i am going to buy a basketball team. -- by a basketball team." by a railroad. >> very good. marc lamont hill, your thoughts on the -- on that? >> this is the first time i agree with them a little bit.

i think that to be sure, you need a community that things outside the box. if you're constantly responding to trends rather than getting ahead of them, you're always one to be in a reactionary position, so i agree that we need to think more broadly and more creatively about what we are going to do if we're going to have any type of success. i think another issue is that the african-american community has to have a commitment to cooperative economics, more so than any community perhaps in human history. we are committed almost to allow its dollars to leave the community. that is remarkable. it seems to me that black folks go to nonblack businesses before they go to black ones. i am new to new york.

i am from philadelphia by birth, and i come here, and i am riding through harlem. i tried to imagine what it would mean for blacks to be in chinatown, operating a chinese restaurant, and who would go to a chinese restaurant owned by a black guy? the reverse seems to happen quite often, so we have to have a commitment to developing our and business models and to finding resources to economically support them. now, a lot of times, you will hear that we need black veins. we're going to be restricted as anybody else, and the communities that they serve are going to be the most desperate economic and vulnerable, so you just cannot start giving money away. we need some kind of a structure. it starts with self love. it starts with a commitment i say my community matters and that my committee is worth saving. >> thank you, marc.

tara dowdell, let's talk about corporate flight, something you and i have talked about in the past. we can start our own businesses, but corporations and investment, as a business strategist, you work in the urban environment. your thoughts? >> first of all, let me see to david, i commend you for putting the panel together, and i think you for letting me be a part of it. i think there are a lot of problems, and david raises an excellent point. less than 6% of black business owners received bank loans. there is a correlation between receiving a bank loan and having a successful business. that is not across the board, because it depends on the size and scope of your business, but there is an actual correlation for that. the more likely you are to be successful is contingent upon

your access to capital. african americans start off with a disadvantage to capital because, frankly, we are new participants for economic development, for reasons that we know, so i will not rehash them, so, did the, i promised i with focus on solutions. how to address that? most of us know when these barriers are. there are a number of things that stop african-americans from being able to grow. it does account for $89 billion that we contribute to the economy, but despite that, we're under developed from a business perspective. it is great to see seven organizations here together cooperating with this panel, but what we need to have it is our organizations coming together and shifting from so much of a social policy -- yes, we know that, but the economic policy is so critically important, especially now, we need to come together and work together and develop a blueprint so that we can support our own business

owners with all of the people who are members of all of these organizations. there is no reason why our businesses should not be doing better. also, there are things call incubator programs. that is where government can make a difference. state colleges and universities operate these programs, and most people in our communities have no idea that they exist, and they are a win-win, helping small business owners gropius' those are programs we have to be supportive of and that we need to be aware of tax credits. as much as i am a democrat, i am in favor of tax credits because they allowed to grow specific sectors. we need to start talking about bigger issues -- helping small- business owners grow. but those are programs that we have to be supportive of and that we need to be aware of. tax credits. >> thank you, tara.

a round of applause for going right to the solution. you can have a right opportunity, and you can look for a job, but if you do not have education, and we will follow this, and you will see of this begins to tie together, but you need education. august david, i cannot stress enough. education that leads to business and growth, within and without, a little bit about that from your point of view, especially with the eagle academy. >> the reality is that you are not going to have a successful economy, you will not a successful businesses, you will not have successful competition or this country -- it's full potential unless you had an informed citizenry. you cannot have it, and in our community, we often talk about

how do we unleash the potential within the black community, and we have to begin to recognize that this is a global competition that we are in. this country right now is 30 seconds in science globally, 30 and mathematics globally -- 30 cent -- 32nd in science. 30th in mathematics globally. we have to understand that the world has shrunk, and we have to be prepared to compete, and if we do not put the time and invested into education, and it has been said in years -- for years that we have to invest in education. there is no one that will degrees -- disagree with that. but in the latin american

community, a less graduation rate, not only in the city but all around the country, in here in new york city, less than 40% of the graduation rate for african-american males. how can you be successful in business when you are not even graduating the population? and that is just graduating from high school. let's not even get into the graduations at universities. the eagle academy is just represents a clarion call, but you cannot expect to compete and leave such an enormous amount of wasted human capital on the sidelines. that is what it is about. we'll try to call attention to this. we created a school and the south bronx. when i say "we," we are talking about the 100 black men. i think the greatest initiative they ever did was to start this

school, because this school has now become a national endeavour, and since we korean the eagle academy, there have been other schools all over this country. -- there have been at other schools all over. since we began the eagle academy. >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you for the great work you do every day, and it is nice to see you are expanding because that needs to be repeated and repeated and repeated. did i say repeated? janks, we have thorton together for many years. i am a fan. "what blackmon think --

blackmon -- "what black men think." you go into the black community in a way that i never seen done before. education, my man. you talk to these people. you talk to the men, women, the children. follow this, if you can, and i know you can. >> i most certainly will pre- empt and of the eagle academy. i have worked with the eagle academy, and i take it to a different level. i want to take pac apology. the average african-american child walking into the eagle academy is already behind it two years in reading and mathematics. tell me if i start lying to you. these systems are handicapped. there is hardly a system that can make up that gap, and what i

say the pathology is is that when you divide a family or break down the family structure, all of our conversations become moot. i cannot talk to about education or penetrating businesses, corporations, the importance of college, until i talk to you about the 82.3% of african- american children born since 1990 that are guaranteed to live in a single household before the age of 16. all of the social challenges that we see with young boys and young girls today stem from the fact that they do not have two parents in the household, helping them to become responsible adults. so the conversation that we're trying to do, and this is again what i loved eagle, young boys do not have access to men. they are being raised in what is being called hyper feminine

environment. they are around with all of the time. eagle academy for boys is doing a remarkable job if you do not have a man to guide you to become a man, that you will not see it, and all the challenges we see the young boys pretty much stem from the fact that the family has been fractured, and they do not have anything from a modeling or in printing perspective to help them to send to proper adulthood, so what we want to talk about is the state of black america. start with the blended or amended or extended families the masculine and feminine id's on -- ideas on children, helping them to send to adulthood. >> thank you, janks. well said. charles, i love the story you told on glenn beck.

your education, obviously, was a success. you are where you are. you had to struggle to get their and did the right things. can you tie this together from the point when you as young charles payne decided where you wanted to go and how to get there, and wax poetically. go for it. >> well, it is interesting, because just to follow up on the idea of a broken family and how difficult it is, we know the facts. i think we are making the same mistakes over and over again as a people. for me personally, i had two childhoods. i grew up the first part of my childhood as an army brat, growing up in new york, then living in pittsburgh and texas and germany and pittsburgh and japan at texas and alabama and north carolina and virginia, and one day, it can come from

schools, and my mother said, "we are leaving." ok. my siblings and my mother and i got on the bus. i had my own big grin, korea bicycles all day, this idyllic life style on an army base where you're not afraid of crime, it was almost utopia in a lot of ways. all four of us lived in a rim. -- in a grim. we stuck out like -- in a room. we stuck out like a sore thumb. we wore the wrong clothes and everything. also, i guess, being the oldest in the family, i had to take a leadership role, and i started working right away. but i could see already where if

you do not start early, and this is why i think education is going to be a recurring theme up here and reaching kids early, it is really, really tough. i would see two arguing. i was so '90s. i just had no idea that things could be like that, and, you know, i remember one time -- i was so naïve. i was not eating too much. i think there was a mexican or something, and he was cleaning up, and there was a doll that was already up, are, the leg, and he was sitting there putting

it back together, and he said that he could not wait to give it to his daughter, and i said that i did not ever want to be that poor. if i say i had an idyllic life style on an army base, maybe would not have experienced it. -- lifestyle on the army base. i feel like an outsider at the same time because i was not born and raised in harlem. i think it gave me a good perspective on it. i learned how to hustle and scramble. and what is shocking is that it has not changed very much. we may have to look in the mirror and think we are going to do some major changes. >> thank you, charles.

dr. hill korea i am bringing you up a notch. -- dr. hill. your game has to be your a game, except i am jordan. we have seen the example of the eagle academy. the role of higher education. first, you have get to get there, like janks said. get them into secondary education. >> i think we have to look at it as a pipeline issue. it will be troublesome to think about the education dilemma that this country has, the crisis this country has, without thinking of as a pipeline issue.

reading is no longer accepted that you take. this means if you cannot read at the end of third grade, you cannot get past fourth grade social studies or take physical education or whatever the course requirement is. if you cannot read, you cannot pass anything else. students cannot read on grade level are exponentially more likely to drop out, exponentially more likely to hang around between ninth and 11th grade. there exponentially more likely to end up incarcerated. more likely to commit suicide.

any measure of social misery, not doing well in early education, you are more likely to achieve it. it is a very troublesome circumstance. we are talking about getting to penn state. for me, that starts with early literacy and early mentoring. one of the things that frustrates me so much about the current political situation is that we know what works. early childhood education works. early-childhood education works. music programs, arts programs, they were, but does seem to be the kinds of things that keep getting pushed away. we need fathers, and we need mentors. that is not the biggest issue behind educational failure. i think that we need funding. it certainly does not hurt to have money in schools. title one has listened to the

gap, but we need high-quality education, high-quality teachers. we need to direct the best teachers towards urban areas, which is a very difficult item we have right now. these are just some areas that we need to really think about before we can even get to the level of higher education. although, when you get to the level of higher education, access beyond loans, grants, the government measure of what it means to be poor is so high that there are seven parents who are middle-class -- everybody thinks they are middle-class, right? i am talking at middle class where you are $50,000 and have three kids. you are not poor, but it is very difficult to send a kid to school. there is been a pipeline that

has been stronger and stronger and stronger. we need to do this so it no longer resembles a prison. we are having all these punitive measures in school, which makes it more likely to leave rather than tuesday. we need to talk about the achievement gap, which is an interesting way to say it. white to black kids not achieve as well as white kids? it is a phenomenon, just like the difference between white kids and asian kids. but we are not just talking about an achievement gap. we are talking about a funding gap. when our schools not doing, what are superintendents not doing, others not doing to make these more vital and formal for our students? that for me is another key

issue. >> absolutely, a good point on that. i will let dr. banks finish this panel before we go to the it q&a. eagle academy obviously does a better job. what specific programs and your successes -- let's get some numbers and wrap this up. that example of what other people need to copy. >> i will tell you, in the final analysis, it is not about the things that we do in our particular school. what is really at issue here, we are really talking about solutions. this is a question of political will. there is nothing that is happening here in the black community or the african american, latino children that cannot be resolved if the powers

that be make up their minds that they want to resolve it. the reality is is that in new york city, and i hope you get this, 70% of the inmates for the entire state of new york's come from -- of new york come from 7 neighborhoods. that is the pipeline that marc is talking about. this happens in particular neighborhoods, and the response has to be in specific, targeted neighborhoods, and in particular is a uploads. -- and in particular zip codes. they have gone down to the

specific blocks or these are happening. -- where these are happening. you are doing as well on the debate team as you're doing on the basketball team. kids have an opportunity to play chess and be engaged in all kinds of activity. it is not this detective is that are really at issue here. the magic formula of eagle is that young men know that they are at a school with people who really care, we just do not talk about it. they are about it every day. they are on saturday in school, keeping them off of the street and engaged in all kinds of programs and activities. what marc alluded to is that we know these things work.

this is unfortunate. this is something you have to commit to a élan period of time. i want to sit, finally, that mayor bloomberg, and i applaud him for this, during the most recent state of the city address asked that i chaired a citywide initiative that will look at these issues impacting african- american and latino males city- wide. not everybody can go to eagle academy. what are the things that we can import all of this city? and if we can do that in new york, that we can hold up for the rest of the nation tuesday, said that is something we can engage in right now. >> thank you.

mike co-founder, if you can start on that side? and i asked you to keep on time here. please go to questions, and we will allow an answer and a robot on the panel. we're going to try to get through as many as began in the next 20 minutes, so if you would, janks, start over there. >> good evening, everyone. can you hear me? i am just not speaking louder? ok. i am a community activist sometimes, the times from harlem. how would you suggest that we implement some of your programs, and the reason i say that, tara, you talk about incubators.

well, my husband is the architect in harlem. we are the only and partisan in the country that does not have that. i am a president there. i can name the blocks are talking about, mr. banks, where we have issues, and people need to volunteer. mr.mr morton, i.d.'s sr. db d. college to suggest we put their feet to the fire and get these things done? >> the most frustrating -- this would get you mad about the congressional black caucus. they get mad at obama.

they are from districts where they have done nothing to address unemployment. this is for 30 and 40 and 50 years, and we keep the voting them in. it is mindboggling to me how charlie rangel or maxine waters still have a job when they have failed to deliver anything for the people. >> i thought we would get up here and disagree. >> your system has failed over and over again. i am from washington, d.c. i will put it back on your lap. you cannot tell me your state delegate because you walk in there blindsided, and that is short problem.

we have got to reclaim these that we have given away, and when i say give it away, you send it to us, we are going to lose. they do not care about you in your local maybin or community. take ownership. we cannot afford it. >> i want to add one thing, though. i think we've relied too much on the state to save us. this old thing about the government's saving us end this state saving us, when you look down in new orleans, right, i read an article last year in "forbes" magazine that the vietnamese community already rebuilt their committee because they did not wait for the government. we can do it without them. >> go ahead, tara -- they

already rebuild their community. >> we are saying to hold them accountable. this is what i wanted. i wanted some real fire appear. >> i actually agree with both sides. on the one hand, we have to have public policy that is responsive to the needs of the community, because there are some things that the government can, in fact, do effectively if we hold their feet to the fire. the other side is what we can do for ourselves, because i am a firm believer that we need to be on both tracks. we need to multi-tasker. on the government side, there

are programs that exist that are available to our communities. i want to go back to this. i talked about the tax credit. this puts federal dollars to build buildings, commercial and residential properties. when those monies are awarded, we need to be pushing for those rp's to have in them the requirements that people are hired locally. that is not even raise base. hired locally, and when you put those requirements in, you can legally say that people are hired locally, and that kids are people an opportunity to compete for the resources that are coming in and. we should not be boycotting stuff that is coming to us. on the other side, organizations need to come together and hold be elected officials' feet to the fire, and we need to be

directed as resources, again, back to the original point of the businesses, because there is no reason why the people come up with a great idea the cannot come to the community and get private-sector funding. why is that not happening? where are our angel investors? they need to come together and start investing in our own businesses. >> there is not enough fire on this panel. you are all a little shy, and i am a little disappointed. let's go to the next question. >> my name is -- i am running for the united states senate against charles schumer. my question to the panel is -- i am running as a republican. should the republicans -- what items are issues do you think we can find common ground with president obama that we can all

work together to help both the african-american and latino communities? >> we will give you a chance since you got shot out on the last one. >> there are a whole host of issues, particularly on the issue of health care. we never really got to dial down some of the tension that is happening right now because i've never seen this country in the position it is in. evan bayh. they are barely even having any conversations. the lines have been drawn some deep right now that there are some real serious things that are going to have to take place to really bring people together, and i think obama has been a tremendous surprise that his own persona was not able to bring this, bring us all closer together on this. there are a whole host of

issues, but, again, i do not think is really about the particular issues. we need something different to happen in this country. there has to be a cultural thing that happens. it should not take us waging another war to bring all of us together as americans, right, so outside of another terrorist attack or anything along those lines, we have really got to figure out how to dial it down, and i am not really sure how that happens, but it is going to take something very significant, i think, to really bring us together. the lines are drawn so deep that we are not even hearing each other. >> more questions? >> good evening, everyone. my name is shaquita -- shaquira. i am a blocker -- blogger, a

native of the bronx, and i went from the bronx to banking. i am kind of like charles. how beneficial the tax credits can be to our communities. i want to know what the panel feels the gop can do and black republicans in general to really start bringing these messages to the community, because i think that is one of the biggest barriers that black republicans face, but declined it received with," itoh, -- but we are often received with, "oh, you're just about pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps." i think it was interesting what dr. hill raised about where that intervention needs to take place, it is myself and many other of my professional friends have spent a lot of time entering in high schools, but it

is very hard to mentor an 11th grader who reads like she is in fourth grade, he and you are told to not help her prepare for college she cannot read. she cannot write. you cannot tell her that she can achieve everything because the truth is she cannot. she is not prepared to read or write or think analytically, and of that because she has not learned how to read. >> i want to say something, because a lot of stats are brought up about how many black kids drop out of school. with the economic situation, wall street banks, right? but why did they take such incredible risk? because they knew they are going to be bailed out why do black kids drop out of school? because they know they will not starve to death. hire minimum wage. i think that is so oxymoronic.

our esteemed is low, our goals are low, and we fight. here is the trick. we fight for things that are crumbs. they have reversed our thinking. i have been a registered independent since i was 18 years old, and i vote on both sides of the aisle, the i consider myself to be very conservative. of the people, coming out of slavery, decades and decades of racism, we are so equipped to go much further than we are going, or get about the entitlement mentality of it. i still think if we look within ourselves, when people were freed from slavery, they built the towns from scratch, and they took that away from us, and they called us, and we do not have that anymore. -- coddled us. >> a lightning answer and

question round. let's go right to the question. i know everybody wants to introduce themselves. >> i am privileged to be here. thank you, david. education and tax credits. these are things that think the tea party and grass-roots can build on. >> i would like to think that there is no issue that we cannot come to an agreement on an at some point come to the sensible solution. there are some things that are not reconcilable. i think one thing we need to do on education side is to think about, perhaps, to be the most ineffective policy of a last two decades has been no child left behind tea party and perhaps

grass roots activists can perhaps agree that no child left behind is not the best way to ensure educational achievement. in as a very particular way of being punitive. this also affects our ability to compete on a global marketplace. what does it mean to tear down nclb? i happen to be in the minority on this. there are whole bunch which supports school vouchers. i am not one of them, but there are a whole bunch that do. we might be able to produce a very interesting public policy that would provide a range of options. >> let's go to the other side of the room for another question. >> i am a writer for a website. my question is really directed towards charles, but i do have to say to you, marc, it saved my

life i would not be where i am if it were not for private education. you made a point on social issues about the presence of black males in the home. growing up in a single family household, it was difficult for me to realize what you get from having a full family, so how do you get -- how would this help the black community exceed? >> when is glorified to have a lot of different babies around town, when it is glorified in music, and the boys are, like, "this is good, it is embedded. i think everyone will agree that that is the key, and i think parents, by the way, are the

key. i do not care what school you go to. if your mother or father is not helping with your homework, you are going to have some trouble, problems. >> then we will go to janks. >> if you do not know this gentleman, you should google this man, and his name is wes moore. his mother said into a military school, and he ran away from there, but, ultimately, he was able to find a mentor that changed his life. he and that graduating top of his class from john hopkins university and one off and became a rhodes scholar. on the day it was announced that he is going to get a scholarship, the baltimore city sun ran a story about a another man on the same age, same and to -- same neighborhood, going to life in prison for killing a

baltimore police officer. two different light trajectories, and the difference was one guy with the got the intervention he needed. this stuff is not magic. the fathers are missing in action or a whole host of different reasons, how you can balance the family out, we have to culturally begin to change that. we have to say it is no longer acceptable for you to sit on the sidelines, making babies all of the place, and those children are everybody else's problem. we have to change the messaging. and we have to say it. bloomberg cannot say it. black men have to say it. they have to say that. >> ok, tara. >> i.d.'s what to say that in addition to the short-term issues, we have a lot of the young people who are growing up in these households. in newark, for example, 60% of

these kids are being raised by somebody who is not a parent -- it is just that i want to say in addition to the short-term issues. this is a very excellent way to expose our children so that they can think beyond or outside the box. we have to take our daughters to work. young people, taking a young person, very young, so they can see early, what they can achieve if they work hard. our positive messages and our influence has to be just as strong as the negative messages are, and right now, the negative messages are stronger. we all have to commit to taking someone to work. open somebody's eyes. >> what i love about the beauty

of your story, you have an ability to see us as the foul scourge that we left on you. also, not through "sounder. this is a new phenomenon. this is new, and it is a reflection of the boomers who decided to put themselves first korea i am not in the business of fixing marriages or relationships, but what i can do is take a community of men, and even though they cannot engage their own children, they can engage other boys. they do not have dues. nowhere. women outnumber men. church. sister-in-law, granma. he does not have dues.

this is what i keep uplifting eagle. it is not just that they have got the will. they have got dudes. you get the sense that these men care about these boys, and with that model, things look real quick. when you connect men with boys, things turn around relatively quickly, so i challenge your generation not to do what we did, which is to leave you alone or in a single-parent home. [applause] >> thank you. with that, we will close our first panel. i really appreciate your being there. dr. marc lamont hill. janks morto9n. -- morton. dr. banks, eagle academy.

stand up, everybody korea let them see you. tara dowdell, and charles payne -- stand up, everybody. we will take a few minutes' break and come back with our second panel. give yourselves a round of applause. again, i want to thank you all for coming. i really want to thank our first group of panelists. they did a great job, do you not think? all of these issues that we have discussed and will discuss tonight, we will continue to discuss afterwards and act on, something we will discuss at the end of the program, are intertwined. they are in no way independent

of each other. they are in no way independent of each other as the black community is independent of the american community. i sometimes have an issue with the use of those two words. my issue is this. it sometimes connotes separation. glassman talked about coalitions. in those terms, we are a coalition of ethnicities, of urban and ex-urban neighborhoods, a variety of immigration status, whatever. this nation has been called a melting pot, and it is, because all of us are in that pot. the black community is a subset,

a part of, no matter what were you use comet is a part of the american community, and our issues must be addressed in that vein. as i look around this room, as i look at our panelists, i see a variety of people come of age groups. those of you watching, whether you are in wyoming, whether you're in massachusetts, whether you are in harlem, whether you're in the fifth award in houston, east los angeles, -- the fifth ward in houston, no matter where you are, you are in america. .

>> talk about solutions if we don't know who we are talking about having a solution with an of. do you just want to hear speeches? do you just want to meet these fine gentleman and ladies so you can say you were here?

are you going to walk out of here and say that was really great? you are going to walk out of here, watch this program, and you can talk about all your friends and neighbors, you can do something a church, in your business. mentoring people from a young age -- adults need to mentor each other. adults have the responsibility of building the next generation. mentor each other. the challenges i issue on radio and television are broad and sweeping, but they are defined in their approach. laser focus says we cannot acquire solutions if we don't have problems. this is no 12 step program, but the first thing you've got to do

is say we have a problem. we also have to talk about the positives. there are lots of positives. look at each other. look at this panel. look at this room. look in your neighborhoods and look at your country and look at the world. it is not all bad. use the good examples and work toward that. sorry, i forgot i was not on the air for a moment. i tend to get in that mode. welcome to our next panel, where we will focus on health care, crime -- those are our two main topics and they relate to employment, business, and education. starting from my left, then said morgan, i can't -- a congressional candidate in the 15th district of new york.

jim 0 green, a media colleague, i use that title and someone who'd joined me in a radio version of this forum on martin luther king day. -- one of the pioneers and fighters who is still fighting. pras michele. we have just met and we're working on the 80 fund raiser together. he has achieved such success. who does not know the fugees? there are few people out there but they are not in this room. he brings his vision and point of view. -- do me a favor and put it back

in. michael faulkner, another candidate for congress running against -- not against each other yet, but you are on the democratic side, you are on the republic it beside her, running for the same office in new york. -- on the republican side, running for the same office in new york. if we're going to have balance, both sides should be represented. let's begin. we talked about education, business, employment and what is needed and what has happened. we have begun that. employment, health care, access to jobs all tied together. let's start with health care. that has been a big topic in this country. it is still going on. there's a big meeting tomorrow, thursday, when the president, members of congress on both sides will sit down. health care in the black

community has a couple of challenges and i will start with two. access and cost. >> i like to mix it up a little bit. access and cost. far be it from me, not a health care reform expert. far be it for me to put my head around we are about to see, which is the highest form of political theater tomorrow when the republicans go up to president obama and have this debate and dialogue. i it's going to be in treating, i think is foolish for those, regardless of what i may agree or disagree with president obama, there's quite a bit i disagree with as far as his agenda. it is -- you should not

underestimate his ability to get an argument across. i wish them -- at which the republicans well in this engagement. i hope there is a real dialogue and exchange of ideas because health care is quite complex. the talking point that some people on my side of the ideological section -- ideological spectrum have is we have the greatest health care system in the world, don't mess with it. it's true to some degree. if you have money, if you are upper-middle-class, if you are rich, no question about it, this is the greatest health care system not only in the world, but the history of the world. we talk about canada and how we ought to model canadian health- care. a former canadian premier that has to go through some kind of treatment left his own country to go to miami, fla., to get

treatment. so there is no question if you have resources, this is a great health-care system. but it's not a good enough talking point to say that. how do you deal with those who are not rich or upper income? there are legitimate concerns that i pray are brought up in this theater, political theater tomorrow. such as portability, increasing competition so that health-care entities can compete across state lines. to talk about healthcare reform and access to health care without talking about pork reform, which is an albatross around the neck of health care is foolish. for those too are serious about a real comprehensive reform, you have to talk about tort reforms of doctors and hospitals are not in a chilled stay want to treat patients. so there is a variety, and i mixed on the question. i do not have a hard right point

of view on the question of health care of reform. i do think we need to do something about those who do not have access to health care. but one more point -- when we're talking about healthcare, you're not only talking about medicine when you are sick, you're talking about preventive medicine and treatment and preventative behavior's. i'm so happy that in the last panel, the issue of family over and over again kept coming up. it is relevant here also. the fact that you have someone saying that a black man who is mia as far as families go and households with a number of african-american women who are married today are 33% -- number of african-american males were married today is 44%. yet a breakdown of the -- it has a direct impact on health care and preventive medicine.

preventive care, preventive -- preventive behavior's, what you eat and how often you eat. do you or do you not smoke? what you smoke, do you take drugs? we are going to deal with a variety of issues, but i say we're going to go back again and again to the foundation of all, which is the family. the foundation of our problems, and the foundation of our salvation. [applause] >> thank you. let's do that with our to political candidates for a moment. from the left side of the aisle, as they say, but right into the black community, what can be done in your district, what needs to be done to give access to make it work?

we can't solve all, let's start this off. >> he covered pretty much all of the broad strokes of the issues and i agree a lot with what he said. but bringing it back home, let's start with the national question of health care reform. first of all, it is the one issue that touches everybody, i don't care what color you are, what political affiliation you have, you are going to get sick at some point and health care system in this country is out of whack because it's too expensive whether have good health care coverage or not. you just don't see it because your health care coverage provides for that. when you are poor, when you don't have access to quality health care and insurance, you end of going to the emergency room for simple things that we all take for granted. a $500 trip to the emergency room for some aspirin when your stomach is hurting is not the answer. so it goes back to the point about preventive care and

education about what we need to do and how we take care of ourselves. >> what we do to educate people in the black community? what do we need to do down in that neighborhood where there is a neighborhood clinic and as families, what do we do? >> a goes back to the last panel about business and such as health care and all this. we need to start talking to each other and taking it seriously. second, we need to take personal accountability for the health and well-being of our brothers and sisters and neighbors and have them understand that. the thing that we always do, this came up in the last panel, is that it is someone else's problem or someone else will come and solve this. when we see our neighbor eating the wrong thing, we should talk to them about it. there's a brother used to work with and i see him every time i pass by on the corner, smoking a cigarette. everytime i see him, i tell them i'm a reformed smoker. i smoked from 16 until about 30

years old. smoked cigarettes and i stay on him. i say i'm not telling you this because i read about it, i quit and it's one of the hardest things i had to do. but i love you and then make sure i'm going to least remind you that you need to quit smoking. he always says you are right. i'm going to stay on him until he does treat is the simple things are going to take is to the next level and that leads to a conversation or we can all take seriously health care reform as an issue that impacts us all. the second thing i want to mention since we're talking about politics is i just got a list -- most of the people leading this discussion on both sides of the aisle are some of the biggest takers of money from health care special interests. how can we have a constructive dialogue about reforming the health-care industry wouldn't you have congress people and senators taking such a large amount of money from special interests? it just cannot be done. eliminate the special interests

from the dialogue about reform and then you have a serious conversation about fixing the problem. >> i hear a lot about accountability and our own personal behavior. michael faulkner, you are i reverend. the church plays a key role in the black community. what you say as a congregation and we say at the pulpit -- churches played a key role at all levels in helping people in need of things like health care or in need of financial help to pay the bills. we hear the debate, we did it ad nauseam on the news every night. we have for years, not just since president obama. but especially now, in that community, give us some solutions that work, tell us some failures, give us the real picture.

>> first of all, talking about the church, the pastors, the shepherds need to lead by example. gone are the days of do as i say and not as i do. about a year-and-a-half ago, i was 65 pounds heavier, led to a doctor and i told me i was pre- diabetic. at that point in my life, having a history of diabetes on both sides of my family, i had a choice to make. i had some choices about how i was eating and living. i won't go through the whole journey, but it has been a journey. long story short, i ran my first marathon in november and we will run another one this coming november. it was a choice. [applause] but on the issues of health care, we have to lead by example. we have to change the way we eat, live and think.

we have to change that and you don't need government to do that. you do not need government to tell you how to think or what to think. that is personal responsibility. we need to take responsibility for what goes in our mouth and how we live. we have the best doctors in the world, but we have the worst health care system in the world because our health-care system is not about curing diseases. it is about who pays for sickness. it is not health care, it is a sickness care. we make billions and trillions of dollars on getting sick. of all the industrialized countries in the world, we spend more of our gnp on health care, yet we are the sickest. we have the highest infant mortality rate, the highest death rate of any of those

countries. leave something is wrong with this picture, and the debate they're having in washington now is not addressing that issue. it is shifting the blame and talking about who is paying for it. the solutions are met -- the solutions honestly are helping people think wiser and better because a healthy person does not cost as much as a chronically sick person. there are lots of solutions and things we can do in terms of how weak, -- how we eat, understanding the body better, talking to your neighbors, those people who are obviously irresponsible in the way they choose. but we have to understand if we do not do that, you cannot afford to get sick anymore. if you are not a rich person, you cannot afford to get sick. the drug companies have such a stranglehold of legislation and

on the whole process that every time you go to a doctor, the first thing they want to do is what? write you a prescription. they don't even want to talk to you about you could do this for a change that, it is part of the mentality. it is the way they are trained. a lot to close with this point. i just came back from a mission trip to haiti and it changed my life. we were taking a lot of people who had conditions that needed to get to the doctors. the hospitals there are all staff with top american doctors. top surgeons, top nurses, top researchers, all going down there on medical missions. people are getting better because they have access to top quality health care. i looked at this picture and

nobody is paying anything for this. the doctors are going on their own nickel. i was watching this whole thing happened because we took a number of people who would have died had we not got them there. we were taking them to the specialists, top specialists that i could not afford, but they were getting the treatment they need to save their lives. i thought to myself, why can we have a system where we can have people who are poor, disadvantaged, have access to some of the best doctors in the world? why do these doctors need to go to haiti to treat the poor when there are poor in the united states that do not have access to the same care or coverage? there are solutions. government will not come up with them. >> when i would say deal with health care more than men in the night states. you are the caregivers, you take the kids to the doctor, you

probably know the insurance policy better than all of us. i think that's a fair statement. that's coming from a man. from the woman's point of view? >> i think it's even broader than just being from a woman's point of view. let me start by saying thank you for putting this conversation together. i agree that we have to change our way of thinking. at the women's media center, we worked every day to amplify women's for it -- women's voices and change the conversation. for many of the issues we're talking about tonight and on the previous panel, the same old tired conversation has to be changed. a good way to do that is make sure we are amplifying the voices of women. i know that you worked hard to reach out and have women on this panel and participate, but as

you can see from both panels we have a lot of work to do as a community and making sure women's voices are represented as it -- women's voices are represented. as it relates to health care, i have to take issue with niger's focus and those on the right, when they start talking about healthcare reform and immediately jumped to tort reform as being a huge missing piece of the puzzle. i have to prioritize not the settlements and financial issues of insurance companies over the lack of access and pain and suffering and death happening in the african-american community. i prioritize that over insurance settlement and i get a prague -- that it's a false argument.

but in the health care reform debate, there is an issue that will particularly affect the african-american community, not just women. it is our access to reproductive rights. projects -- protecting the reproductive rights that are currently under attack in a way that is stronger than anything we have seen in my lifetime. prior to the election of scott brown in massachusetts and readjusting that is going on with health care reform, we were very close to passing the largest role back in reproductive rights we have seen in a generation. that rollback in reproductive rights was not going to affect women on the upper east side,

families who are financially able to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. it was focused on women of color and low income communities. if women of color and in low income communities to access to make their own reproductive choices, i think you can see how the dots are connected to many of the issues we're talking about in the first panel, as we talk about family and single mothers and the increase in teenage pregnancies and the increase in sexually transmitted infections. all of these issues are things that are affecting the black community at a much higher level. the war on choice we are currently engaged in, and it is unfortunately, those on the

left have lost in many ways the partners and supporters within the democratic party that has been there on this issue and that is something the community has to come together and address because it is not about democrats or republicans, it's about fighting to make sure the government does not intrude on a woman's right to make her own health decisions. there is a war right now on choice and the folks who are leading that war on the right, the ultra right-wing conservatives, are using the black community as a talking point. if you look at atlanta, right now there is a series of billboards about how black babies are almost going extinct. this is their way of trying to push back against planned parenthood and a woman's right

to choose. that's clearly a talking point that needs to be shut down. if we see this war on choice, if they are successful, the community that's going to be hardest hit will be the black community, will be low income communities and women of color. we have to recognize we cannot take health care reform at the expense of our ability to make our own reproductive health decisions. >> thank you. one thing i know is when i asked for it you will give it to me straight. haiti is important, and other events and discussion. you came out of the neighborhood and did well for

yourself. what have you seen change, especially you travel all over the world and see a lot of different communities, not only on health and that issue, but let's move into the area of role models for kids. >> when i sit here and listen to these discussions, especially the prior one, i think one of the main things we're not realizing in the black community, in america, you have a culture and i think the black community so consciously created a subculture. while they created this subculture, it also victimizes itself. i'm not an expert on health care, but i do know clinton way

i had a situation where i am pretty well-off, but i had a situation where in 15 years, i never used my health insurance and it got canceled because i was moving. i would to a doctor to get an mri and it cost me $3,500. he said my healthcare had expired. it usually cost $50. [laughter] but i needed to pay because i needed the mri because i needed to see will was wrong with my foot. when you get health care, there is definitely reform that needs to happen. but if you look to these dialogues we're having, the key whether you talk about education -- i don't know if i believe that because in the black

community, single-parent, that's the reason why a lot of black folks are going in the wrong direction. i grew up in a two-family home and have a lot of friends to grow up in a two-family home and i grew up in the church. of all my friends i know what i grew up together, there are only three of us who made it out. some of them are dead. they had to parents' home. it is a cultural thing. -- they had two parents at home. when lyndon johnson signed the civil rights bill and go into the '70s and '80s -- the '80s were part of black folks, but the '90s, the claim of the first black president, bill clinton, we got a little bit relaxed. we did not hold each other

accountable. i don't believe in big government or the government can solve our issues. i think that culturally, we got away from basic american standards. i'm not that old, but there was a time where if you see a child in the community and he's not doing well, you know this child that was. you took care of that child. there was a time where we had role models. i'm tired of these superstars saying they are not role models. we put them on such a pedestal and don't hold them responsible. it's ok for them to do certain things. that's just tiger woods -- we have to stop that. [applause] what -- i'm not a politician, not running for office, but one of the reasons i'm here -- what

happened with haiti, i used to think, it's not me, and have to worry about it. but what i realized is there's a lost generation out there that needs someone like me to come back and say you might see me in videos, i might drive this, but i actually went to college. i went to yale. i may be a rapper, that's something i chose to do, but i got my education. buy me a standing here and able to represent myself and a different light than they would otherwise suspect, it's to inspire and motivate. i think a lot of our leaders have got away from that. that's what i want to bring -- i hate the word celebrity, but as someone who has been in the public eye. that's my take what's going on up here on the panel. [applause] >> that is a real take.

role models are important, not just celebrities or people who stand up and do the speeches, but a proper role model and i want to run across the panel on this role model idea. the debate on gang, crime, violence and all that's, a lot of that based on my experience is limited. it could be solved of these kids had something to look at. if these teenagers, adults commit crime too. until you get to be about 65 years old, the crime rates are pretty even across all ethnicities. let's go from left to right -- will models -- will models. stay in the community, forget you are a politician or candid. >> the role model thing -- after

the civil rights movement and, what happened was desegregation, which was great. i don't want to go back to a segregated society. but what it did was broke up these communities we had been trapped in what we had different examples of people. it role model does not have to be somebody who is as proactive in your life as a parent and household. i was raised by a single mother and a bunch of women basically, but i found my way. i don't know if it's just having a parent in the house or is the issue is after desegregation, the doctors and lawyers moved somewhere else. so there were not examples on the block of everything that we represented. willis left behind in many instances was bad examples of how we can progress.

as we went over time, it was exacerbated because our priorities as a country changed. we started putting priorities on different things and in our community, what is bad for the country and that magnified when it hits our community and is exponentially worse because we don't have the same support networks. it needs to start with being proactive. i talked about power of hello. i live in harlem and i walked on the street and see these young brothers and i just say hello to them sometimes and it freaks about. i walk past them and their first response to look at me like are you trying to start something with me. when they realize i'm not, they smile. we put this sought up in our community -- i remember a day when you use to go to the dance and boys and girls would dance with each other. you go to a dance now and they're too hard to dance with

each other. [laughter] what image are we promoting with young people or they have to be hard all the time? we have to teach our boys outcry and ask for help and how to say i don't know the answer to that and how to be human again. the only way we can do that is by showing them by example. whether it is a male role models for female role models in their lives telling them it's ok. >> that is the perfect segue to someone -- the women's media center does a great job. we found out awhile back that i was doing [unintelligible] while she was running it. but you mentor and he mentioned women. i don't want to just give you because you are a woman but i have to use you while you are here.

we have to be quick but women and rolls the template for other women and men in the community. >> i think specifically with women, in looking at the role women play in the black community, whether as a single mom, grandmother's raising grandchildren -- that public and talked about over and over. from a person in the media or not to talk about celebrities, but we have to do a better job of making sure black women are at the microphone, and for the camera, that they are visibly represented as leaders within the community. it's a probably have seen going back to the civil-rights movement and it is a problem

that still exists today. as the role women are playing on the streets, and their homes, it is so critical to the success of the black community, but from a media representative standpoint, it's not seen in our churches or organizations or the spokespeople who are tapped into as commentators for the black community. another point i want to touch on briefly is the accountability of our community and rap lyrics that you can point to that are filled with misogynist clerics and -- misogynistic lyrics and the path that we give to celebrities, young black men who have made it in the record industry. that has to stop.

there are many grass-roots efforts and the issue has popped of from time to time, when the bond imus -- when the don imus comment was made or oprah winfrey does a show about it and goes away. there has to be sustained accountability. [applause] it cannot just be a conversation we're having amongst ourselves. we have to hold up interscope records for the ridiculousness they put out and the unfortunate impact it has on stopping positive messages from coming from the record industry. it has to be sustained, in many ways, the past that we saw that many people talk about from the chris brown situation -- and that does not even deal with lyrics, but just looking at the impact of domestic abuse and the

black community. to review the comments and discussion in that issue was, we don't know what happened, we don't know what she did, he's a nice guy, he makes good music. are you serious? are we seriously given -- giving a person at pass after he brutally beat a woman and we saw the pictures -- i was shocked with some of the commentary from my peers and colleagues. people i've known for years saying we have to wait and see with the judicial system -- no. we would never allow that to happen if the perpetrator was a white man. we should not allow that to happen just because the perpetrator is black. it is that level of sustained accountability that just does not happen as much from a pop culture-celebrity aspect.

>> before we move to the question and answer, since she talked about the rap community, have you got a fall of thought on that? >> while i agree with some of the things she said, i feel like some of the things she said is infringing on the first amendment. freedom of speech. it goes back to the home. when i was growing up, my mother is from the caribbean. my mother, said she thought i was thinking something, she said what are you thinking about, you are not thinking about something right. that's how she raised me. you can sit here and tell someone what they should say and what they should not say people -- what they should not. people are willing to buy it. what might download these records and what i hear a gangster rapper, were in my

mind, i think he's a studio gangsters. i don't think he's a real gangster. like an arnold schwarzenegger used to jump off a cliff, he's the governor of california. it's all entertainment. the way you raise your children, you have to be able to let them decipher the difference. it goes back to that. he is a business and making money. we are in the it's enough not to raise our children -- listen, you should not be big bottles all day. listen, this rap thing -- you are not going to be a rubber or basketball player, the chances and odds are very slim. take your but the school, do your homework, and if they don't, you reward and punish a child. that's how i was raised, punishment and reward. [applause]

>> i agree with a lot of what he said, which is why, going back to family and the importance of keeping the family intact is even more important. but i don't buy these guys are out here just making money and are living the american dream and can put out whatever junk they want to put out for our community. it is poison, what is going into the veins and mind are children. it's worse that we don't have or bottles -- we do have role models. in households where children do not have parents at home and the father is mia and the mother is working two or three jobs, they do have a role model. they turn on the television, they turn on and tv, they see that culture, lyrics and nonsense that comes out of this multi-billion dollar industry and yes, they follow those role

models. those role models built lead to going to school. it doesn't lead to speaking proper english. in fact, if you speak proper english, because of a lot of that subculture promotion that occurs, you get called an uncle tom or you say -- they say you are acting white. [applause] i saw a boy in the that have recently run into the bus, almost bested his but because his pants were so low on his behind. where does that come from? i hear you, brother, and we have to be careful about the first amendment, and yes, these multi-million dollars entertainment industrial complex has a right to make money, but as a future parent, i also have a first amendment right to say if they are pushing pollution into the minds of our children, to call them on it.

>> thank you. i want to move to the question and answer -- and away from longtime. so a lightning round style. back to the first question. >> i did seven years in prison and i heard a lot about prison and education. i want to ask this question -- i did seven years in prison and they had no programs as far as reentry to guide me back into society correctly so that i could be a productive citizen. you have some people that say why give taxpayer money to jails so they can educate them. why does my kid have to go to jail to go to college, then on the other side, you have power to going to reform them without education? what do you suggest is the solution to that problem?

>> as part of the mentoring process and racing in people, especially our young men, we need to tell them that jails are a cottage industry. we have more people locked up in the united states of america than any other country in the world. black people represent 11% or 13% of the united states population and 50% of the prison population. something is wrong with that number. we have to educate our young people and say once you get caught in the system, you are part of a money-making machine. it's not designed for you to get out of the system. we have to educate our young people and let them know that. then talk about responsibility across the board. you cannot talk about responsibility in one area and freedom in another. you have to talk about

responsibility. understand that the things that you do have consequences. we have to let young people know that. the system is not going to do that. the community -- we have to fix the system. we have to fix the way we think and approach things because if we do not, we will lose another generation. brothers like you are part of the solution. you have gone through it and you know we'd put you in front of as many young brothers as we can, telling them what the reality is. it is not about scared straight. that was entertainment after a while. it's about telling them the truth and letting them take responsibility, letting these young men take responsibility and giving them options by providing serious role models, mentors, schools like the eagle academy. it's not rocket science. we just need to have the will to do it. >> let's go to the second

question -- >> i want to say part of the main problem -- you have these media outlets that are perpetuating some of the stereotypes and filth you are talking about. these are my kids. they are adults who take these things and pound it into children's years and tried to make a dollar. so you can blame someone for creating art the way want to create art, but some in the liberal media, and i'm not going to mention names because some of them are here, but they are not doing the right thing and being held accountable. >> i want to go back to the health care comments from earlier. i want to challenge rev. faulkner's personal pronouns in the use of wheat as the health care -- the use of wheat as a health care industry.

i also find it interesting that the finest health care providers in haiti providing this healthcare for free -- only as a result of a tragedy. it wasn't that he did not have health care issues prior to, they just became [inaudible] i was working with a community in brooklyn -- with places like brownsville, brooklyn, for a liquor stores to every food store, at least five fast food stores to every healthy food stores -- there's no -- you cannot say these institutions do not exist in poor, urban communities. how can we rectify that? >> that an excellent point. one of the problems that poor people have is they have no political clout, so no one cares. we did talk about healthcare, recidivism rate in providing

education for brothers coming out to reentry, but nobody wants to pay for. the point the finger of the problem but nobody wants to pay for it. the reason they don't want to pay for it is because it's somebody else's problem. we have become a country where the poorest among us actually do all of the dirty work. akeley our houses, a fight our wars, they have no access to the things we take for granted. until we have a serious conversation insert value in everybody in this country, we are always going to have that problem where it's a health care system we are not a part of or no access to reentry programs or education for folks or funding for eagle academy because it's always us not having that political clout to make it happen. we don't have as many lobbyists. >> we need some lobbyists for the people.

>> i have been an attorney in jackson heights, queens for about 20 years. i do serve the underserved and have been doing it for ages. we are the people. i always tell my clients, after they get their citizenship, if you go outside and the white your school, you go like shattered businesses, you think your community is dirty, vote. that will change it. what does the panel think about charter schools and merit pay for teachers? >> i think charter schools are great. i think is a serious problem on the left with in the official democratic establishment that there is way too much focus and

pressure put on and abided by from the unions to fight the increase in charter schools. i think it's something within the black community and within half the democratic party looks at its own base, it's an issue that absolutely should be at the top of the list. i'm a big fan of labor unions. i think they've done great work for our country, but when it comes to education, there's a clear disconnect and we need to prioritize and pushed back -- prioritize and pushed back. we are a special interest that we need to beat them on this issue with it comes to the democratic party. >> charter schools are the best public-private partnership, the best example we have. we need more of them.

it will change the way public education is done in this country and around the world. [applause] >> charter schools are great. very much in favor of the charter schools and merit pay. but let's not forget charter schools came to fruition because of a compromise against the unions that spot charter schools at one time. it came as a compromise because those of us who are hard-core on this issue are four full, unadulterated vouchers for parents. what the tragedy is, one of the greatest tragedies we do not see talked about -- we have a bunch of [inaudible] going to president obama pal and around the white house, but they did not call him and love the most horrific things -- his department said the way doctors from d.c. residents that wanted it. [applause] it is an outrage that the first

black president is the one that stripped the vouchers from mostly black parents and poor parents in washington dc. >> how about we start taking care of teachers? we pay athletes, celebrities, these crazy amount of money, but we only pay an average teacher salary of $45,000 a year. they're teaching generation after generation and we should take care of them. >> i agree with you, but everybody in new york cannot make what michael jordan made. >> not everyone is michael jordan. >> and not every teacher is a good teacher. i am for good teachers, [crosstalk]

if you have a michael jordan teacher, pay them. but you don't want to be intimidated by the unions. >> let's go for a final question. -- yet the point? >> i think most teachers are good teachers and a different perspective. there is a system in and of itself that is broken. but to attack the teachers i don't think is the route to go. it is the system that is broken. it is dealing with the unions and how education is funded, but the bulk of the teachers out there are good teachers and many to find a way to fund them and change the system work within. >> but we need to make sure we value teachers against the more people become teachers who are qualified.

value material things over things that used to be important. my life was saved -- i dropped out of high school i was 16. the only reason i got my butt back together was because the teacher said i'm not gonna let you fail and they did it. we'd have people who are attracted to going into professions we used to value -- teachers, police officers, all of the things that don't pay very much money that used to be the way black folks got ahead, we'll sort of left that behind and did not tell you anymore. >> i was born and raised in harlem in the streets. i'm a public school teacher and taught for 15 years. [applause] i started a not-for-profit called young faces smiling. the answer is, there is no funding. what has happened is this form must come back to the public

schools. of that no problem with charter schools but you cannot get private schools. i will approach them asked for interviews and asked them to come today classrooms and they came in. our celebrities, politicians, sports figures, they must come back into the public schools and give kids reality teaching. young faces smiling is everywhere. i have 75 kids in many went to college. we have to bring you all back into the classroom because you're not coming. when she graduates, you are leaving. [applause] >> thank you for teaching. it is arguably one of the hardest jobs on the planet. i could never do it. i wish i could take all the questions. i see hands up -- a quick one. 10 seconds. go for it.

[inaudible] >> very wealthy, have political power, but you must seize control of our resources. i say to you, places like harlem, we are the lab and the rat at the same time. we have not taken control over resources or attempted to control the industry's that we control. we produce music and there is nothing but the soul about music. why do we not see that? i say to you as a person who is outside of the community and different people said the same thing -- you and your people must understand, racism will be here.

you are in the same boat as every other culture at turn of the century when they grabbed control of natural resources, made money off the resources and demanded and got from this country what they put in. >> well said. let's get a round of final thoughts. [applause] >> i couldn't agree more. goes back to what i keep emphasizing -- let's stop putting blames on the government and other races. it's all on us. we have to take our children by the neck, but they're here, we have to tell them to stop eating, says. stop playing your wii station. we have to hold all of these so- called public figures, politicians to. even the rev.. we have to hold them accountable.

>> i'm with you on that one. let's go to the rev.. >> i totally agree with you. me to take responsibility for our actions and teach people they are accountable in all areas of their lives. we cannot get away from that. it begins with a vote. understand, talking about natural resources, our ancestors died for us to have the right to vote, but we have to vote and a vote wisely. we cannot always pull the same letter for the same initial simply because it is an initial and we think that initial s something to do with us. we think it has something to do with our liberation and it does not. we're not going to be liberated until we hold those we vote for who are accountable for what we want them to do. >> mr. morgan. your final thoughts. >> we have to change our

priorities in this country and that to us to make sure the priorities in our lives and our families are the example we seek in the rest of our community. next time i see a child pointed because they are in to a book as opposed to into a television show or video game in our community, it's got to stop. it is priorities that we have to make for ourselves that that impacting the people around us and our communities and in our country. >> i want to thank be women's republican club and others for putting this together. this begins diversity -- is not only important terms of race or gender, it's important terms of ideas. it is very important that our people see the diversity brought about here tonight. we're here to talk about

problems, but let's keep in mind we have made a lot of progress as a country. african-americans and minorities in general have made a tremendous amount of progress. there are a tremendous amount of us who have reached the middle- class and those of us who are going to college and graduate from high school in unprecedented numbers. politically, an unbelievable amount of progress. i don't even think the most optimistic of us in the civil rights revolution would think we have a person at 1600 pennsylvania avenue and a black family residing at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. .

>> i have had the pleasure of living american team. we started out this conversation with you talking about we need to change our way of thinking. i absolutely agree with that. i am so happy that this is the second black for my have been to this month where there was diversity. there were not just black faces in the audience. we cannot just continued in looking at that issues that are facing the black community, we cannot just continue to talk amongst ourselves or to keep our dirty laundry in our closet or to not hold a black person accountable, but when pointing the finger at a person of another race, that broadening of the conversation has to happen.

i am so pleased to have been able to participate in that discussion tonight. i think just going to your comments about taking control of our resources, in looking at all the problems that have been talked about tonight, there is not one solution to it. there is not the solution of the government is the fix, the family is the fix, the church is the fix, the media accountability is the fix. it is all of these various pieces that have to fit in with each other. we have to support obama when a policy is implemented that addresses the 30% unemployment within the black community, which happened today with the passage of the jobs bill. we also have to hold his feet to the fire. we have to do that not just with a black president but with the white members of congress and the white governors. we have to have these conversations, not just as black

representatives or the black community discussing amongst ourselves, but to use what this country, what our founding fathers provided for us as a platform of change. that is i think the best thing about america, is that we have all of the tools and the platform to change our situation if we tap into those resources. no matter where we came from, it is where we are going and the opportunity for us to do that. [applause] >> thank you, and thank you everyone. >> all this month, see the winners of c-span posies didn't jam video documentary competition. middle and high school students from 45 states submitted countries -- submitted videos. what's the top winning guyots every morning on c-span at 60 a.m. eastern just before

"washington journal." for a preview of all the winners, visit studentcam.org. >> last month it was a conference on the future of innovation. scholars talk about health the climate is favorable for new ideas. this is one hour. >> great challenges of the 21st century, which i will summarize in 20 minutes. there is something new under the sun. i would say there are a for things under the sun that challenges for the 21st century. for the first time an oral history, global connections make it possible that we may go toward a global collapse. in the past, collapse could -- societies could collapse one by one. another thing you under the sun, will feelings on resources such

as energy, water, seafood, and botha said -- photosynthesis. the third thing is that is nearly impossible to maintain any quality around coral in per- capita consumption. that is something i will talk about more. finally, we at last have -- all these problems are going to have to give solve within the next 50 years, because we are sitting on a series of time bombs such as energy, water, and climate. these are time bombs involving limited resources or resources that are being exploited and will run out in the next several decades if we did not change our direction. either we will solve these problems pleasantly in ways we choose, or they will resolve themselves unpleasantly, in ways

we do not choose. what innovations do we need to solve these problems? past societies have also faced challenges. individuals, tribes, companies also face challenges. i see a broad framework for all these levels. successes endeavors of individuals, tribes, and companies. let's start with the simplest case, namely challenges individuals. we faced personal challenges and crises which you all know about. our relationships break up. we may get divorced from a loved one, spouse, child, parent

dies, we get fired or promoted, we have a shot or sent back. all these things throw us into a crisis which calls into question our values and our ways to cope with them. in a crisis, we have to face a cruel truth. something about you was not functioning well. psychologists find that these personal crises last about six weeks, because you cannot stay in limbo forever. within six weeks, either you succeed in finding new and better way of coping, or alternatively, some people give up and remained stuck in their old ways. a key to success in dealing with a personal crisis is selective change. your initial sense in a crisis is of being overwhelmed with problems. it seems that nothing about you is working well. all of your values are called into question. other people go to the opposite extreme and practice denial. they may say i am ok, and refuse

to change anything at all. for all of us, some parts of us really are functioning ok and do not have to change, but other things do need changing. the key to dealing with the crisis is what psychologists call draw on offense. once you draw offense and say what is inside the fence -- once you draw a fence, you know longer feel overwhelmed and you can start to change what is inside the fence. if a company goes bankrupt or you are fired, then you do need to change your business strategy. it does not mean you are a bad spells or parent or socially inept, even though you may feel that way initially. why is it that some individual succeeded in growing through personal crises, while other individuals remain stuck in their old ways? partly it depends on whether or not you have had model of new solutions to problems, people

you know or have read about, or whether you have had previous experience with successful change. a big part of success with personal crises is what psychologists term rigidity as opposed to flexibility. you can change one piece of yourself at a time. bridgette person cannot draw a fence. a rigid person would say that how you talk to your children gets mixed up with religion and family values and your whole personality, so you never figure out how to talk to your children. the issue of -- cheap versus flexibility is one of the major issues underlying the success in working through financial crisis -- working through a crisis.

the tribes of native americans in north america and that thousand tribes that i worked with in new guinea -- there are big differences. all tribes around the world are facing the stress of being overwhelmed with the first world. there are big differences among tribes and how they cope with this first world society. in north america, why is that there are far more navajos than any other group of north american indians? there are 200,000 navajos. 500 years ago, there were about 5000. i don't think anyone would have guessed that the navajos would be by far the most successful native north american tribe at coping with the modern world. some of it is the luck of geography. a big part of it is not the whole social flexibility. navajos can continue to speak navajo and to live in their

traditional hogans while at the same time driving trucks and herding sheep, which they never had, and making great silver jewelry, which they never did, and playing basketball, which they never did. yet they still speak navajo and considered himself navajo. they are extending example of flexibility. they managed to draw a fence and change things inside the fence, like play basketball and driving trucks, changing single pieces of their culture ball outside the fence they remained navajo. these questions about selective change, something new under the sun, a rise not just with individuals and tribes. going up to the next level, they

also rise four successful companies. why is it that procter and gamble is held up as an example of the success story of a company that has gone through changes and has cope with changes? successful companies are ones that succeed in drawing a fenc. e they keep reinventing themselves. they retain their corporate identity outside. they cope with crises in a changing business environment, but still retain their longstanding, corporate entity -- identity. the final level after individuals and tribes and companies is the level of countries and whole societies. they also face crises. some societies refused to adapt, and they collapse, like easter island, or they get concord or

even die out. other societies go to the opposite extreme of casting away their entire identity and they merge with other societies, as is happening to quite a few tribes in new guinea that are losing their identity. the problem just as with individuals, tribes, and companies, is how to change selectively and maintain at the same time. two outstanding examples are the selective change of japan and the selective change in the u.k. after world war ii. i will talk about the change in the u.k., because that was a time that i lived through. i moved there in 1958 and lived there for quite a few years. the traditional image of britain up to world war ii was

of the mightiest empire in the world has ever known, an empire in which the sun never set. britain owned the largest fleet in the world and the british people viewed themselves as tolerant. before i moved to the uk, there were three blows that shook the british government. in 1956, the failed suez invasion made clear that britain was at the end of the arab when it could pursue -- the end of an era when it could pursue a major world foreign policy. in 1958, britain scrapped its last three battleships, and that was the end of the world's most powerful fleet. in 1958, a few months before i moved to the uk, came to it race riots. i saw the british struggling. i saw on the advertising board

and among the british people. some british people were trying to cling to the old ways. an example of that was field marshal montgomery arguing against entering the united kingdom and saying that british should keep out of europe and shore up the commonwealth. that was the phrase in those days. some other british people went to the opposite extreme and court resigned to britain merging completely. a friend of mine was an editor at that time and was pessimistic, saying that what lay ahead for britain was that it would become just another poor european country. he said britain would end up just another poor country like portugal. what actually happened was that the uk found a middle way through selective change. britain jettisoned the empire and ended up with only a small fleet. it became part of the european

union, but britain is the most distinctive independent part of the european union. britain found a way to become or remain our world leader in science, technology, innovation, and agriculture. there have been massive changes in british society compared to 50 years ago when i was living in britain, changes that i never anticipated. despite these changes, england will still be england. britain succeeded in drawing a fence and changing some things inside the fence, and remain british outside the fence. a fundamental world challenge that we face today is an unequal and unsustainable consumption rates around the world. per person consumption rates of energy and water and metals and other things in the first world, on the average or about 32 times those in the developed world.

that inequality, those consumption rates are unsustainable because of globalization. people in the developing world know about the first world lifestyle. they do not like the inequities. as long as of nickel consumption rates continue, -- unequal consumption rates continue, immigration will continue unstoppable. there is no way to keep out the people in the developing world who do not want to wait for their countries to become prosperous. terrorism will continue unstop pably. our present situation is uniquely dangerous in world history. the risk we face is the risk of global collapse. it is no longer possible that a country can collapse and isolation. when ireland collapsed in 1680, no one in the world knew about it.

when the mayan world collapse, no one in florida knew anything about it. nowadays, everyone knows about it and is affected. the state governor, and of somalia has collapsed, and that affects people around the world. the desperate pirates of somalia know about the wealth representing the rest of the world. there hijacked and ships coming out of the red sea all around the world. the global financial crisis around the world illustrates when one bigger economy his rough water, it affects big economies around the world. i can promise you that the only sustainable solution to the world's problems a few decades from now, if there is going to be still a first world economy, will be one in which consumption rates are more nearly equalized between the first world and the third world.

any other solution is not going to be tolerated by the developing world, and the developing world has found ways to share the unhappiness with the first world. this reality presents challenges, especially for americans. we have had the highest per- capita consumption rates in the world. the american dream is that everything is possible for everybody in this land of internet resources. our patriotic songs talks about spacious skies and amber waves of grain. our outlook is like the outlook of the united kingdom in 1958, and of japan just before the restoration in 1860. namely, how would dream that had worked for centuries is no longer possible in a changed world. we americans have to understand to fundamental insights.

number one, we americans are confused about the difference between consumption rates and standard of living. yes, consumption rates are related to standard of living, but they are not tied and coupled. much of our consumption is wasteful. it does not improve your standard of living that you are driving a humvee giving you 14 miles a gallon while someone else is giving it -- someone else is driving a prius giving you 48 miles a gallon. much of our consumption is wasteful and does not contribute to our standard of living. consumption rates in europe for petroleum and other essential resources are about half those in the united states, but the standard of living in western europe is higher than that in the united states, as gauged by life span, financial security in

old age, access to medical care, child survival, access to and public support for arts. europeans have lower consumption rates but somewhat higher standards of living. let's take a more extreme case. american consumption rates, incomes are about seven times higher than those in cuba, but the cuban government as a matter of policy has insured that infant mortality in cuba is lower than that in the united states, making clear that much of our american consumption does not contribute to any reasonable definition of standard of living, such as whether a child lives or dies. the other big new thing under the sun for us is that we have to realize that installation of the elite political from -- it

is a recipe for disaster. contrast hurricane katrina with the netherlands in 1953. the dutch learned that if there is a flaw -- americans in new orleans allowed the disaster of katrina to happen. we live in a gated communities within our country. literally, rich people live a walled off from the outside world. we are living as if the rest of the world were a gated community, but the gates and no longer keep out immigrants are terrorists. we need a wall, but the wall we need is all within ourselves, are drawing up a fence to figure out what traditional american

values are and which ones have to change. thank you. [applause] >> in addition to a provocative and i opening keynote, let me commend you for sticking to the time limit, a lesson that all of our speakers over the next two days should learn from. i am going to invite our first panel to discuss these ideas and take them forward. let me ask them to join us on stage. larry brilliant, former head of google.org. please give them a warm hand as they walk up. [applause] welcome, roger. [applause] a picture is at stanford university, welcome, paul.

-- a future wrisist at stanford university. one of the themes and went back to the great animated question of your book, what we have so much cargo? that is a question you asked -- that you were asked by someone in new guinea. you make the argument that stuff is not the same as quality of life. what is wrong with having stuff? is there something fundamentally reject is a moral question, or simply a question of an ecological footprint? is it intuitive, or at a moral judgment that you do not like as having a lot of stuff? there are different ways of looking at the problem. >> it is not a tight correlation

between staff and standard of living. i have chosen to live in the united states rather than new guinea. for most of the year, i like to be at home and listen to opera and live in might nice house. there is nothing wrong with having stuff, as long as we have stuff at a sustainable rate, and as long as the rest of the world has enough stuff that they are not angry at us and try to this story the world trade towers. >> our decisions here do have implications for other societies, both positive and negative. it was not true that the collapse of easter island did not lead to severe global repercussions. now, the crossover from viral

chatter does have an effect on our lives here. you spent a lifetime thinking about some of these problems. you head an organization that looks at global challenges. what do you think is different now about the challenges, if anything? back in the days of the plate in the middle ages, we lived in protect -- we live in perpetual crisis. you are devoting your resources and her considerable talents to this. how do you look at this problem? >> i am still thinking about it, and i think we all are. that is really why we are here. it is one of the differences, there are so many people now thinking about it. as i look at all these different global risks or global threats or catastrophic risks, i think there is a common body of knowledge, and maybe a dozen things that they all have in common. it is not the things we usually think about. number one, we cannot

communicate the risk. how do you communicate a 10% risk of a pandemic that is going to kill 1 billion people? it is 10% something i should worry about? no. 2, what we do about decision making under conditions of great uncertainty about of the time lag and the probability? how do we deal with science, which is the art of uncertainty? where are our great leaders? where are they to talk to us in ways we can all understand and communicate to the average person, the voter in a democracy, that they have to give up not just their big stuff, but even their jobs, their chance for the future, dealing with the things they want for their kids' education now, because if they don't, three generations from now, it is going to be terrible, and we are running out of time.

>> you have given a couple of challenges that begged the question. are they best addressed by the great leaders, but top-down, having a scientist and national leaders think about these problems, or are distributed solutions what is in order? what comes after it the nation state and talk about the city state. are beginning to a point where we are going to need to look for solutions from different places, particularly from the bottom up? >> societies tend to resemble the communication systems they are built around. corporations are the same way. in the 1960's, corporate

structures look like mainframe computer architectures. today they live more like networks. what is happening with global governance is that our global government entities are going through a very painful process, like moving from hierarchy based to a network based. that means are still be there are still points of influenza are greater than others, but we have to think of them as nodes on networks. the comment about the nation state, i am on record as saying there is maybe a 50% chance that the united states would exist as a nation by the middle of this century. what i am really saying is that what has happened to the nation's states, they had exclusivity, they had a monopoly until about the 1950's. they have lost the monopoly, and out of the chaos and

renegotiation is coming a new world in which the new center of gravity of international governments is the city state. that unit -- ag unit of life and economic and governance, if it is large enough to have a global impact. take silicon valley, which is small enough that everybody in it knows where they belong. that is the secret. much of what professor diamonds that is not controversial. we do have many of these problems. the question becomes, how should we respond? roger, you talked about the perspective of rethinking capitalism. can you give us a sense of where you thinking is, and how it might connect with overcoming some of the issues that were

brought up? >> i concur that is really important for every human to know where they fit in their community. if they feel that they do not fit, they will be unhappy. i think that -- i like your notion of what is inside the fence and what is not. i think we have inadvertently got into a point in the catalyst system in america where something has happened that we should be paying attention to that we have not. that is that rather than us rewarding people who create net value for the community, we are now rewarding at the highest level those to create no net value, who simply trade. in 2008, the person who made the

most money in america was james symons, head of renaissance technology. he took home $2.5 billion for doing what? the trading of shares. >> he is lubricating the wheels of commerce. are we going to be having a system where certain forms of commercial activity are worthwhile and others are not? >> we always have. we have always had the idea that when a former commercial activity is not helpful to the committee as a whole, we incorporate that as the rules of the game. john d. rockefeller thought that monopolizing all oil in the early '20s sentry was a good idea, and allegedly was going to blow up competitors to ensure

that. we enacted antitrust legislation that said that was not net benefit in the community, it was benefiting him. now we have a system where we are rewarding, to great extent, activities that do not benefit community, and arguably, have created an environment where it is harder for companies to invest. >> so we have had a challenge, those of you in the audience who are engaged in profitable but pointless cabalism, you have been put on notice. [laughter] >> the problem with our society is our midst are always struggling to catch up with our capability. -- our myths are always struggling to catch up with our capability. i would challenge you to cut -- turn off your blackberry for 30 seconds.

communications have become like oxygen. after three minutes, your unconscious, and after six minutes, your dad. -- you are dead. we have solved the problem of creating communities. the new problem we have created this, especially in this country, we are struggling to move away from the method of independence and towards the myth of interdependence. i would argue the vote that happen last night was the result of a struggle in that direction. ever real look, how do we shed the notion of independence and adopt -- everywhere we look, how do we adopt interdependence? >> i wish i could agree, but i am not sure. i think america has always been

a place that valued communities and valued the independence of committees. >> we have always had a rugged individualist myth about manifest destiny. >> there were always acted out in communities. >> reagan the cowboy, bush the cowboy. >> i am going to turn to the audience in a few minutes, so please start getting your questions together. >> we have just been challenged with some new things under the sun. one is ceilings, and the other is time. i would throw the challenge out, does democracy work in a world of those limits? how does the average person learn enough about the complex

risks we have in a world that is running out of time and make intelligent decisions in a democracy? >> you have stated numerous societies and talked about the problem of elite capture an elite being isolated from the problems that society might face. what insights can you give us about the question about democracy? is it up to the task of dealing with this? >> it is not up to the task, the of charges are worse. what all of us here are capable of doing, the problems that interest me and those that interest of your complicated problems that have to be explain clearly to the whole world in a democracy.

ridgy in a democracy, if voters do not do the right thing, it is the fault of the voters. all of us in academia and know that the academic world provides many disincentives to trying to communicate clearly to the public. [laughter] >> in the case of america, in this moment in history, the think our system is resilient enough? what is your intuition? yet issued clarion call for us to do better. do you think we will? >> in principle, yes.

in principle, our problems are solvable. i am not worried about an asteroid beyond jupiter hurtling toward us. our problems are ones we are causing ourselves. the question about whether we will succeed in solving them is, what will we americans decide? i cannot predict the outcome of the next elections. i can predict that if we take our problem seriously, we will be capable of solving them. there are reasons to be pessimistic about americans taking a problem seriously. on the other hand, last sunday we took something seriously and we took a vote on it. >> let's get the house lights up and get some questions from the audience. please wait for the microphone. there are a couple of ground rules for the next couple of days. please identify yourself and your affiliation, if you like.

please make it a question, short, sharp, preferably we, and not a long winded gasbag intervention, which is the purview of the chair. they will come and buy at -- come and grab the microphone from you if you violate the orders from the chair. let's start in the middle of the front row. let's start here and i will look for someone in the back. >> i have a question for dr. diamond. you mentioned that it takes six weeks for individuals cope or give up. are there similar limits for society? >> society is not something that

corresponds to the six weeks. for individuals, it has to do with the difficulty of living in limbo. a personal crisis starts to get results, or one gives up within a period of six weeks. i do not see any corresponding limits for society. some societies have struggled for decades with problems, and some saw problems acutely within a year or two. in the case of japan, it began in 1853. japan did not become a world power until the middle of the 1900's. that was the change over a course of a century. in the case of the united kingdom, the change to finding a happy new state took several decades. so no, there is not a corresponding limit for societies.

>> my question is really for the panel. i think most of the challenges you are outlining are ones that require one of two types of solutions, either an up-front cost that you have to pay in order to get long-term benefits, where you have to create a coalition where everybody has an incentive to defect or a free ride. i would argue that our current political institutions are better at doing either of those things. we have short-term horizons and we do not like to give up sovereignty in any way. i am more optimistic about our ability to solve these. -- more pessimistic. >> i think you have set in the past that pessimism is the new black. >> i am actually worried about

the one thing that i hope will help us out of this, and there are not enough people devoting in their life and their work to solving these problems. we are really get at solving problems, but we do not have enough people. they are not enough graduate school course is to give people a chance at solving these problems in the world. if we did that, i think the world would change dramatically. >> i am optimistic. i am optimistic about america leading on this front. >> you run a business school, but you are also a leader on design and innovative problem solving. you help bring that perspective to business. can you give us a short

perspective for the people in this room who might be thinking about getting into the field? what are useful tools in the tool kit that are devoted to trying to solve these problems? >> teaching our students will not to be reductionist, and thinking that everything is either/or. that is what education has become, reinforcing the notion that your job is to choose between options. we have to teach them the tools that say the job is to find a great option within the tools. i think we will produce a bunch of people that larry will hire. >> we have a gentleman and a lady here.

please identify yourself and make it a short question. >> i always come to the economist conferences. my question is this. why are some countries, third world countries doing better these days than the first world countries? what do we learn in this situation? for example, and peru we did not have inflation. we are growing 5% every year for the past 10 years. >> china has been pared the financial crisis, by and large. one can argue this is a good time to put your eggs in the emerging markets basket, the

last the years. it is argued that this is the century of the east. asian values will dominate. the author of argues that if time is up, step aside. is it something in that -- is it something cyclical that wu will see fadeaway, and 10 years from now we will be harry -- will be having a very different conversation? >> we are reduced into the question, and the chair has to answer it. i would offer one specific conservation rather than a generalization. we are all watching china with

bated breath, waiting to see what happens, if it is a bubble or not. if one looks historically at china over the last 18 years, all their government officials are engineers. hours are lawyers. you draw your own conclusion. the second one is the nature of the structure, where it seems that the way the chinese government works is in a state of what a friend of mine likes to say is a dynamic tension. it is not that they are stable in the center. there is a dynamic tension, and that dynamism allows them to respond much more quickly to changes in the environment, and that is something lacking in the united states. >> we are going to have aria huffington onstage later, who is going to bring up this topic asking if the united states is

becoming at least a second world nation. >> i think it is evident that foundational economic policy still do matter. australia had the smartest tax reform in the world in 2000. >> i am president of my own company and author of a book of quantum physics and strategic planning. i am surprised no one has challenged derrick about any limits to resources. i think it was put to rest in that it does not matter.

if we run out of stuff, we will just use other stuff. the whole notion that we should be afraid as economist in this room about running out of resources to me is just absurd. >> you will hear more about this in the second half of this panel. we have a guest who takes a more utopian view of the world, but you have been challenged, sir. >> thank you for formulating that point of view so clearly. there is a widespread idea that if one runs out of one resource, one can convert to some other resources. history teaches us the fallacy of that point of view. you cannot run out of 4 s. you cannot run out of topsoil. you cannot run out of people. you cannot run out of water.

there are not subsidies for water, forests, or people. there are people who adhere to this fantasy that technology will solve our problems. anyone who knows anything about technology is aware that technological solutions always bring unsuspected,-consequences. one person told me what people said when the automobile was replacing horses in the street. people of the technological solution would make american cities clean and quiet while driving courses and manure out of the street. but the motor car had unsuspected side consequences. that is universally the case with technology.

>> keep this in mind when you listen to ra. y -- when you listen to ray. the debate going on in society, you see it first round global climate change, but it spreads into all the issues we are talking about. on one hand, there are engineers. on the other hand, there are druids. the engineers are optimists. they say, go faster into the future. we can solve any problem. the druids are by nature, pessimists. they say no matter what you do, it is all going to break eventually. no matter how big the mountain is, it will end up as santa in the ocean. what i notice is -- it will end up as santnd in the ocean.

the pessimists tend to be our scientists, a geologist, because they are reminded of it. if ray is the arch engineer, is tempting to think about who is the arch druid. there is a middle ground between the two, but in this age of fashionable pessimism, the danger is that everyone always lies to the extremes. one group says the answer is to flee into the future, and the other groups as we need to flee into the past. i hope they both lose the argument. >> with all the feelings of dwindling resources, i've dealing very exhausted. we are talking about billions of people who cannot even participate in these conversations.

talking about fences, who defines the fences? >> if i can rephrase your question a little bit, we talked earlier about population pressures. it is almost like there is an idea if the number of people times the amount of cargo that the pushes up against these limits, i would argue that the way of solving that and really never body into the conversation is not whether you are an engineer or not. is good technology, but innovation, because the solutions are not readily apparent. the single best way to do population control is to vaccinate all the children and ensure that the girls are

educated. and to ensure that every child is kept alive. then everybody gets into the conversation. you do not wind up with the endgame of 9.6 billion people consuming the way americans do. that is what we are trying to avoid. >> the question about the disenfranchised and disempowered. how do they participate in this conversation? i would suggest all of history has been that way, this kind of innovation has been the preserve of the elite. i would argue that we have seen dramatic changes the last couple of decades, in part due to rising living standards and in part due to technology that make it a more democratic era of innovation.

the chances that destructive ideas can emerge from anywhere in the world, whether in the slums of johannesburg -- is a wonderful world in which we are able to see -- to give an example of how this is the most optimistic time for those concerned about empowerment of those who are traditionally voiceless. let's get a few more questions. we have a microphone already there. the third question will come to this gentleman here. i will take all three questions, and the panel will interest -- will answer in the interest of efficiency. please be short and to the point.

>> i am surprised that you did not mention the great cultural wars that are going on right now. the democratic model in china vs. the united states. the see those as major problems, or a fight for resources? >> the second question, please. >> the panel is called building a global society. we heard about educating women. [unintelligible] >> of great rebuke to the moderator for not keeping people on task. [laughter]

>> the link between consumption and the standard of living or quality of life. what is the role that the marketplace in regulating that consumption, since a lot of it is predicated on facilitating consumption. >> you are not asking about regulation by government, you are asking about the market. >> would you like to take on the role of the market? >> i can comment on a possible role of the market in regulating consumption. i am often perceived as being negative on the role of business in the markets. the companies have been adopting sensible, low

consumption policies because they think they can save money that way. some examples are that walmart noticed a few years ago that the fleet of trucks at an average consumption rate of 8 miles a gallon, which is terrible. walmart calculated they could save a lot of money if they had more fuel-efficient trucks, so they are working towards trucks that will average 18 mpg. they are doing it by it had having hybrid 18 wheeler's that run from fuel made from fats used in delicatessens. these your some examples of how some american businesses have discovered they can save money by reducing wasteful consumption.

>> there was a clash of cultural war riss. i know you think about some of the limitations of democracy, some of the temporary advantages of having an authoritarian model where you can get stuff done. is this a dominating team to think about? >> you talked about singapore. you could hear a certain degree of admiration that you had for that way of governance. i think in the short term, it is great to have a monarchy. in the midterm, it is great to have a dictatorship. in the long term, you have to have a democracy. you have to make it possible to empower voters. you stop trying to do sound bite politics. you have to take it seriously. if we do that, the world winds.

>> we have just a couple of minutes left. i know that is a cut in complete answer to your question about clash of civilizations. let's talk about building and innovation. if we had the resources, what should we do? >> thanks for the question. i would teach abducted logic. >> you want to tell us to just work on our hunch is. >> get good at it. practice it. we have an educational system -- we teach science as if they should only tes