tv Washington Journal CSPAN August 28, 2010 7:00am-10:00am EDT
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national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] we're going to get your thoughts on the next 45 minutes. if you've noticed a shift in how you're spending and what it does for the overall economy, your chance to share your thoughts. the numbers are on the bottom of our screen. an epidemic of thrift is hamplering economic growth. that from the financial times this morning. your thoughts in just a little bit. two other ways you can reach us this morning. journal at c-span.org, the website, and twitter is also
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available to you. here's the paper this morning and here's what the major headlines are. they all stem from the federal reserve chairman's speech yesterday. to give you a sense, here's the headline from the "washington post." from the "wall street journal," they make it a larger type. if you go to the pages of the "new york times" this morning, they're saying that the fed is ready to dig deeper to aid growth. but it's in the pages of the financial times that we want to turn our attention this morning. here's the story fom new york. an epidemic of thrift. you'll notice that's in quoteations, is hamplering attempts to kick-start growth of the economy. here's what he writes this morning. the dilemma confronting policy make sers that this new-found love of thrift by households
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and financial institutions is precisely what the fed wanted after the wave plunged the country into the crisis. yet it also puts the brakes on economic activity at a time when the u.s. is in desperate need of a driving force to kick start its stalling recovery, household caution holds back consumer spending while business holds back employment. he ts chief u.s. economist at ihs global insight in a recent note. we want to talk if you are noticing countrywide, in your own personal life, perhaps, an epidemic of thrift and i guess its connection to the overall economy. here's how you can do so again by phone.
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our first call this morning on our republican line. go ahead. what do you think about this concept of epidemic of thrift? caller: well, i think it's all a bunch of bull if you want to know it straight up. host: why so? caller: in the beginning, when our president come in, he said he wouldn't -- i mean, to go along with this in the long run, that he would not mess with our social security, he would leave it alone. but he also said that after -- after, now, that he had already disrupted us and took out money away from us that we was eligible for. we was already having it hard enough and he has taken it away from us instead of giving anything to us. and i can't hear anything
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anybody saying anything about this. i'm getting close to $200 less nan what i was getting. i don't think it's fair that to come in here and take our little medicare money away from us when it was already hard enough. host: again, you can share your thoughts on twitter as well if you want to e-mail us. again, that's one of the ways that you can share your thoughts on this topic this morning. fort worth, texas. michael, democrat's line. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: well, my economic part of it, what your topic is this
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morning, is that my habits have not changed. i still go to the grocery store and i still go out to the home depots andlows of the world and spend money. how is it that this can change to where my tax dollars in the local economy and my gasoline purchases and everything, why -- i guess this is a comment to you and the other people listening in morning. how is it that people are still being born, people still have to buy washers and driers and tax dollars -- why is it that our economy is doing as poorly as it is? and i guess my question, here again to the leaders and people listening this morning. is everybody here in the united states is spending these dollars and tax dollars, is it
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really costing that much more for us to survive? host: next call, maryland. caller: good morning. good topic. i don't know whether it's an epidemic of thrift or stag nation and a combination of stag nation and lack of purpose. there's $1.8 trillion held by the for tune 500 but the managers no longer function like businessmen used to do. to keep their careers, they get their bonuses yet they don't have to manage people because they prefer not to hire people. they prefer to manage cash. and when you have a class of business people who control corporations, who don't produce things personally, and don't manage people personally, they are kind of withdrawing the
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energy that can be found in all that money from creating jobs and doing new things. host: our previous caller said he hadn't changed his spending habits much. have you changed yours and do you think that overall consumer spending is playing into this epidemic of thrift idea? caller: well, my unemployment expired sometime ago. i'm solvent only because i'm wiping out my savings. i have never been -- working 43-year-olds. i've never been a spend thrift and i save what i can. but there are so few opportunities out there, it's like they're starving the beast. and i'm very much afraid that if this class of managers keeps managing all that money and in fact just hoarding it, it is
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really damaging the country. you cannot keep going on with 9.5%. at some point these business managers have to become more patriotic and more willing to thep greater society by doing the innovations, doing the new things in green energy or building plants or helping their own companies to grow. host: we'll have to leave it there. summerville, south carolina is next. democrat's line. go ahead. caller: good morning. thrift and the economy. the beast is starved. and i think this is really where the conflict in our country is coming from. and it sounds like people are wanting to talk this morning, and i hope so, because i think
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it really breaks down to socialism versus capitalism. and the problem with capitalism is it represents corporate interest and consumerism, and if we don't have jobs, then we can't buy. so we can't consume. so how can we be capitalists? host: have you changed your spending habits at all? caller: oh, a lot. i'm saving all the time now. but i try and buy every once in a while and i try to buy american things. host: big ticket items? caller: like around $100 or so. host: thank you. there's a story this morning talking about taxes and as far as how much time and effort is invested by americans overall.
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that, together, they deprive the treasury of an estimated $118 billion a year. also writing that at least 18 provisions benefit taxpayers with educational expenses. our thoughts this morning are on the economy, particularly something called an epidemic of thrift. this is what analysts have said may be contributing to a slowdown in the economy.
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the pages of the financial times is where you'll find this story talking about the saving habits of consumers and institutions. we want to get your thoughts on it as well as a concept and how it's affecting the economy. phoenix city, alabama. republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i don't think it's so much the epidemic of thrift. i think people are aware of the costs that are looming with this present administration with where we find out now health care is going to be more expensive. i think businesses are afraid because we see they're talking about a cap and tax which could dramatically affect their bottom line. health care. health care also will affect businesses in a negative way with the costs. and i think people are like me,
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you're paying off your credit card, you're going to the store but you're looking for bargains. and i think people are aware they need to be saving more. but i think it is the fear of this administration and their cap and trade, their health care plans, their regulations, their fees. everybody knows that they're going to have less money, and all the money that we have to in taxes give to the government is money that we can't spend on cars, vacations, appliances. this is why you're not getting the kick from the stimulus, because we know that in the end run we're going to have less money in our pockets. host: can you give an example of maybe way that is you've changed your spending habits? caller: yes. i'm very careful. i'm paying off all my credit
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cards. i'm not taking like the big vacations that i might take. and i'm just being more cautious. i'm just not buying thing that is i don't think i need. host: thanks for your input this morning. new york, independent line. paul you're on. go ahead. caller: good morning. i just would like to comment, and actually your last caller kind of made a point for me. our economy really changed when the law changed in the late 70s, early 80s, with the credit cards. people started extending themselves in way that is they never used to extend themselves. our economy changed through a service-oriented economy, where as in the past it had been a manufacturing economy. people saved money more. people then overextended themselves. and that's why we find
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ourselves where we are today. and an epidemic of thrift, to me, can only bring us back to where we belong. saving our money and building our wealth. host: and that's auburn, new york. we're going to continue on this topic of an epidemic of thrift as you find in the pages of the times. maybe you want to read it for yourself. but this story was a side bar story statements made yesterday on his thoughts on the economy in wyoming. the front page of the "wall street journal" this morning, a story, the headline is "fed ponders bolder moves." can you talk about the securities aspect of one of the other proposals that mr. bernanke made about the tools that the federal reserve has to help the economy?
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guest: wole, the most important aspect of what the fed chairman discussed, the fed has the ability to buy more assets. that means the fed over the past couple of years has bought more than $1.7 trillion worth of securities and the purpose was to try to lower interest rates across the economy. it helps. morning rates are at all-time lows. a lot of lending rates are at lows. whaw what the chairman is saying they could come lower and the fed could support that by taking that step. what he was doing in the speech was to step up and make it clear to markets and to consumers that the fed has the tools to act, the ability to act. if the economy were to continue to falter. and he wanted to really make it clear that we haven't run out of options yet, and that there's a way to still kick-start the economy. there's been a lot of doubts about whether the fed really has the ammunition to e be able
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to get it out of a slowdown and he was trying to make the message that, if necessary, they do. host: the securities take the form of treasury bonds that are sold. is that what he is talking about? guest: he's talking about treasury securities. during the downturn the fed bought morning securities and bought what are called agency-backed morning-backed securities, those that are supported by fannie mae and freddie mac. and the purpose was to directly target the housing sector and broader interest rates through that. and it did that, some estimates are that the fed brought down interest rates for consumers. by perhaps half a point, maybe a full percentage point. and in this case what they would do is buy treasury securities, expand their -- effectively print money to go out and buy treasury securities to lower the yields on long-term treasury securities and market interest rates. the fed generally holds treasuries on its balance
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sheets and historically has done that. and has the ability to do more of it if they feel necessary. host: did mr. bernanke describe what conditions have to happen in order to put more of these tools from the fed to secure the economy? guest: well, he seemed to be deliberately vague about this. he still is trying to support the notion that the conditions are still in place for a pickup in growth next year. the expectation earlier this year was that we were coming out of the recession with a fairly decent recovery, and that changed around the spring coin siding with some of the problems in europe and in financial markets that since then we have seen this really damaging weakening of the economy, a lot slower data in many areas, weak housing, some signs that manufacturing could start weakening. and just an overall slowdown of the economy of the economic growth rate on friday it was
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revised down to 1.6%, which is about half the pace you need just to maintain the unemployment rate and keep it steady. so we're not expanding quickly enough to add jobs. that's the real problem. the fed's mandate is to make sure that prices are stable, and it certainly has been. inflation is below the target. it is also to aim for full employment. and obviously we're just shy of 10% right now. so the fed knows it's not achieving its target in both areas, and that's why they've left the door open. but what chairman bernanke is saying is if you don't see the pickup that the fed is expecting, if consumers are continuing to be concerned about spending, if corporations are hoarding their profits instead of making investments and hiring people, then the fed may need to step in and provide that spark. host: as far as him trying to sound upbeat, how do those who watch the economy, whether on
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wall street or economists, how do they respond to those words, especially from a chairman trying to sound upbeat? guest: well, there's the position that the economic data, the evidence is showing that the economy hasn't been reliving its growth in the way that we had hoped it would. so just looking at the numbers you can see that. the fed chairman is in kind of a difficult position here because he wants to make sure that he communicates that the fed is able to act but he doesn't want to talk down the economy and really contribute to that self-fulfilling prophesy by saying that the economy is weak. people will recognize that and start making adjustments as a result of it. so he is trying to make sure that the force that is are in play now to support the economy continue and say that if by their natural course they don't take care of this, then he is willing to step in. but most private forecast casters are actually more pest
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miss tick than the federal reserve is right now, at least according to the latest forecast in where the economy is and where it's going. so the fed is a little more optimistic for growth in the second half of 2010 and into 2011. but they certainly could downgrade those forecasts in their meeting in september. host: in the "wall street journal," you can read it in its paper version or on line. thanks for giving us the time this morning. guest: thank you. host: for those of you waiting at home, we've been talking about another story in the financial times. the epidemic of thrift, as it's known, and its effect on the economy. and getting your thoughts on it as a concept and seeing how it plays out in your personal life as well. wheeling, west virginia. thanks for waiting. caller: hey. i've decided to agree with the republican tea party, that people have to be self-reliant
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and thrifty. capitalism is perfect. so we need to get rid of all the entitlement programs today. they're right, we need to get rid of social security and medicare today. old people are a drain on society. if they have no money, it's too bad. and you know what? it's funny to me but the people that get the most entitlements, the middle class and rich white people who have taken and taken and taken from society who want their medicare but don't want to give health care to the poor, the old people that have taken ran our country into the dirt have our generation with a mountain of debt, who are getting old who don't have the money to take care of themselves, who need their social security, we need to get
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rid of it. host: kansas, phil on our republican line. caller: good morning. yeah, actually my wife, who is the savor in our family got the epidemic back in the early 90s. she described the economies something like gravity, they go up and they go down. but it kind of amusing me that they put out this piece. i haven't read it. but talking about the epidemic of thrift that's hamplering the recovery. i knew sooner or later that somebody along the line would blame us for the problem. so we're saving too much. host: well, they talk about that and institutions as well. it's not just consumer. caller: i understand. but the -- i'll give you a snapshot. i liver in a small town in -- live in a small town in kansas.
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we know the government is spending way beyond its means, and now the state is the doing the same thing. and our local government, they're doing things to us like for instance our county just told us that they are giving a property tax relief in the form of sales tax. so they tax sales to give us relief from property taxes and everything actually goes up. our property rate is 20% and people can't figure out there's a mantra that goes around, you have to shop local. people don't have the money to shop local. and yet it's sort of like this is our fault. people trying to live within their means. it's sort of mystifies me that a question like this would come up, i guess. yeah, people are being thrifty. it only makes sense. host: you had said your wife was the saver. what does that make you? caller: i would be the one who would spend like a drunken sailor if i could. but she's got the purse
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strings, which has really served us well. if it had been up to me probably in the early 90s, we'd be broke right now. but we're not. we're not rich and we don't intend to be but we're happy enough with the way things are. and i'm glad for it. i wasn't glad then but i am now. host: thanks for your comments. mobile, alabama on our independent line. beverly, go ahead. caller: hi. good morning. host: go ahead. caller: i just tund it down. i used to be a democrat but i'm now an independent. and it just seems to me that if you extend yourself and then you find yourself in trouble, i mean, that's self-evident. we've cut back in a lot of ways
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because we have less to spend now. our jobs have been cut back, our hours have been cut back. and that's just like a domino effect. and also, i'd like to say that if i seriously thought that our government would quit spending, i would volunteer to send them in money that would be dear to me to pay down the debt. but i feel that the more you give them, they're just like a crack addict. the more you give them, this particular administration, the more they spend. and i don't feel like they live in the real world. i think they live in a washington bubble and they have all these high lofty philosophies, and they need to just really get out in the real world. they are so far removed from reality, it's just crazy. and -- it's just crazy. host: here's what's coming up. in about 20 minutes we'll have
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the reverendal sharpton. later on in the program, you will meet karen durham with the army corps of engineers, and she is one of the key people talking about the levee system in new orleans and what's happening since they spent about $15 billion to upgrade and reinforce those levees. so you'll get a chance to ask her. later, raffle reed with the faith and coalition. and you'll see glenn beck's rally. so you'll have a chance to talk with him about related issues as well. in the miami herald this morning, there is a picture, robert colten's picture and it's air force senior master of homestead, a u.p.s. driver in civilian life returned home on friday to kiss his wife at miami international airport stories about the future of iraq.
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the president spoke about it himself in his weekly radio and internet address. on our "newsmakers" program, which you can see tomorrow at 10:00, our guest is senator dick lugar, the republican from indiana, the and he spoke with reporters on a large variety of topics. one of them on the difficulties of pulling troops out of iraq and then relying on the civilian government. >> it comes at an unfortunate time because obviously the political situation in iraq has been unsettled now for three months or so without a prime minister, with no prospect, really, of negotiations reaching leadership, with the problems of the oil law and the kurds and all of that still unsettled. and the problems likewise for just regular iraqi citizens of pottable water, 80% of it suspect, 70% sewage difficulties.
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about 70% of the power off at various times in most of the cities. so there's demands of that government or of us, whoever is responsible to pay for all this, are enormous. now, on the good side, iraqi oil is back up to 2.5 million barrels a day, about what it was before the war. and there are other companies in bidding for it. but the question like wise come down to whether people from iran or even kurds from turkey or others interested in the country will leave all of that alone. so you've got the cost to the united states that congress is going to be asked to fund very complex sets of measures which are not clear right now. host: senator dick lugar with the republican from indiana and the ranking member of the senate foreign relations
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committee tomorrow on our "newsmakers" program. you can catch the reair at 6:00 in the evening. an epidemic of thrift is hamplering economic growth. that according to the economists. a story in the financial times today. austin, texas, democrat's line. what do you think caller: i kind of look at this in a different way. rather than being an epidemic of thrift, i think it's more an epidemic of greed on the part of corporations where the huge salaries are not being utilized and cut to hire more people. they have a bottom line that they want to meet and nobody is willing to give up any profits. and on the other hand, i think people are reallocating their spending because prices are going up, the price of food, goods, services, especially in the field in medication. medication prices are soaring. they are absolutely out of sight, particularly on
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life-savoring drugs. and people are more shopping at thrift shops, spending more of their money on food, stuff like that, rather than on luxury items. and i think that's what's stalling the economy, is because we have to spend way too much money on food. and i don't think it's the fault of the democrats, the fault of the republicans or any independent candidates. i think it's just what has happened in the past and that no matter which party is in, we would be in trouble. host: american hero off of twitter this morning who adds. joe from acron, ohio caller: good morning, i never thought thrift would be a dirty word or even capitalism. i believe the obama administration is very capitalistic. in other words, they love that money.
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they want more money. and the problem from refinancing our housing and the democrats virtually giving away houses at no interest rates, no down payments, that has got us into this and paul crugman like many libs want to borrow even more money. and as far as corporation salaries for the scuteives, that's a very small part of the total pie with the corporation executives getting a salary. host: so what do you think about this turn looking at the consumer rather than bigger economic issues as far as the condition of the economy is concerned? guest: well, the consumer is over borrowed and it's time we are thrifty. and we're going to force our government to be thrifty. host: indiana, thanks for waiting. gale on our independent line. caller: thrift is not the problem. why would anybody want to try to save money when you go to the bank, cd pays 1.5, 2%.
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not even hardly covering inflation? jobs. the lack of jobs. is a big problem. they tried to go away from manufacturing to service industry. well, people have to have things that need service to -- for the service industry to thrive. and without manufacturing jobs, i don't see how they can do that. these gentlemen that just spoke that said the democrats were trying to give away the housing, i think if i remember right, under the bush administration was the one that was always advocating home ownership. and it was all republican controlled white house. house, senate. that's all i've got to stay. host: story in the "washington post" this morning talking about birth rate saying that the united states birth rate
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many areas including taxes, corporate taxes as well as trade practices culminating in nafta allowed corporations to take products that were being produced in indiana and move them to foreign countries. so when you're trying to buy american now, if you think you're an american consumers, you're probably stepping out of your house or sitting around your home right now wearing not one item of clothing produced in the united states, even though all the corporation say united states companies. and up to 50% of the so-called imports of trades that we're dealing with now are coming into the country from foreign manufacturing but are actually -- the products themselves are actually being sold by american companies as their own goods. host: do you try to buy american only? caller: no, i don't.
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i'm actually one of those guys that have cut way back, identify been unemployed for four month,. portland, maine doesn't manufacture a lot of anything any more. and working in marketing and sales, basically all we've got up here now are services, hotels and restaurants and things are getting tight. host: republican line, james. caller: just set up a website that will pay down the debt and give a printout to where they pay down the debt, and then they'll feel proud to be an american paying down the debt and put it up in their room. and at the same time, they'll do a service to their country. you know, set up a website to pay down the debt. it's that simple. because if the debt is at an even level or on the surplus, everybody is happy. host: arizona, chuck on our independent line. caller: good morning.
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for me, my philosophy is buy nothing. years back, many of us on the left started a movement 2 day after thanks giving called buy nothing die, which i subscribe to. host: to fight off black friday? caller: right. and i subscribe to that. and that's become more or less a philosophy of life for me every day. host: why do you hold to that philosophy? caller: well the way i look at it, every day i look up in the morning, i'm basically at war. it's me against the capitalists. now, if i can buy nothing that day, i win. now, if i can string four or five days together without buying anything, that's a pretty good winning streak. now, if i go out and buy a bunch of stuff, the capitalists win, i lose, because the
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capitalists basically wants to separate me from my money. now, if i can keep that from happening, i win. i live a very minimalist lifestyle, i own no automobile, i don't have a credit card because -- well, i don't want to do business with that group of robber barrens. i do everything in cash. and i get along just fine. for me the philosophy of buy nothing or as close to nothing as possible works real well for me. host: so how many days before you buy food or clothes or things that you need to sustain you? caller: that's the dilemma. i do my grocery shopping once a week and i spend about $35 a week at the grocery. that has to last me that entire week. if i run out, tough. i run out. i make sure and budget that food for that week. clothing, i make my clothing last. i on one pair of shoes.
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that's all i need. you know, i'm legally blind so i don't -- i'm not able to drive any more, i don't need to -- i'm not out to impress anybody. so to me, a minimalist lifestyle works real well, and i'm much happier this way than i was 30 years ago when i was out chasing things, if you will. host: thanks for your input this morning. georgia, you're next. caller: i want to call in because i'm spending just as much money as i ever spend and i have more money because my kids are all grown and gone, and i'm probably spending more. my wife is still working but i'm retired. i retired three times over. and i think the only reason that big business is not hiring is because they are -- they don't want their taxes to go
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up. and by keeping the american people off balance like they've got them off balance, they think the republicans are going to get in and let them keep the money and tax the middle class. really, i don't care which way it goes. but i'm saying this, i think we should get out and spend because this money, you can't take it with you so you might as well spend it. host: what did you do before you retired three times over? are you there? caller: that's all i have to say. did you ask me a question host: what did you do before you retired? guest: i had 23 years with the military, 23 years with the postal service. host: since you retired and the kids are out of the house, what are you spending the money on? caller: i want. i got about 19 suits. i got everything i want. host: ok.
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virginia, republican line, florence. caller: thank you. my comment regarding the public and the thrift business. we were highly overinflated for the past -- starting right after 2001. i would like to correct a previous caller, too. he intmate that bush -- and he did -- pushed home ownership, but it was actually during clinton's term that the push was made to make housing affordable to low income persons. this was a traditionally ploy it appears for the democrats to give to the needy. this caused an explosion that wasn't real. we then took eight or nine-year tour, and everyone got on the
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band wagon. it benefited many people but it overexpanded many people. individuals and governments. and of course, the natural turn of events would be that we must draw in and get ourselves back to a sense of reality. this is just common sense. i don't know why anyone would have difficulty understanding why individuals would take a look at their financial position, realize that they in effect have spent much more than they could hope to accome date, and it behooves me that our government doesn't understand this about the individual but then in turn look at itself and realize that it put itself in the same position. hence, the tremendous debt that our country now faces. host: port st. lucie, florida. you are next.
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red on our democrat's line. go ahead. caller: yes, sir. it all started back in, what, 70-something when reagan got in and fired all the air traffic controllers because the unions, big business and big money got mad at the unions, shipped all of our jobs overseas and it has been that way ever since. host: and one more call, new jersey, warren on our independent line. we're talking about the epidemic of thrift. you're the last call on this. what do you think? caller: i think a lot of things. just in response to pretty much all your callers. for one thing, the national debt, a great bulk of it is due to the bush tax cuts and not the obama administration. they've done their part, but it's just unconscionable to me that every one of these callers
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that has called in has ziveragedse the democrats somehow, that they have this stigma attached that they can't get rid of. it's just not true. and regarding prices, we are facing deflation right now, not inflation. if there's any inflation in true prices, it's due to a drought in russia, poor weather in south america, not due to anything that's the democrats or the government at all is doing. regarding house prices, the government isn't giving them away, not the federal government anyway. the federal reserve is keeping interest rates at zero percent, which is droughting down the cost of morning. i don't know. i just don't know where most of these callers get their
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information. host: we'll leave it there. we appreciate all the input that we had on the question this morning. coming up, the reverend al sharpton, sponsor of reclaim the dream rally that takes place today in washington, d.c. we'll talk with him when we come right back. >> as the gulf coast marks the fifth anniversary of hurricane katrina, look back at how the federal government responded to the crisis. on line at the c-span video
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library, all free, every program, since 1987. it's washington your way. >> we now have a generation coming up who didn't have the arts very much as children and didn't have the arts in the public school certainly. these are now the 20-year-olds. i'm very concerned about that group of people, because it's not clear to me that when they get to be 40, 45, 50 that they're going to come to the arts. host: sunday night, he'll talk about helping struggling arts organizations and the future of the arts in the u.s. this weekend on c-span's 2's book tv, saturday looking at the aftermath of hurricane katrina and argues that businesses and faith-based organizations are better equipped to handle disasters that the federal government. offering a critical view of talk show host glenn beck. and on "afterwards," on hedge
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funds. for a complete listing, visit booktv.org. host: many people describe the rally as a counter rally tho to that being sponsored by glenn beck. is that a fair characterization? guest: not at all. if anything i think he's holding a counter rally. we've held this for many years. the first time we started doing these was exactly ten years ago, where dr. king's widow introduced both her son and martin iii who will be speaking today and myself at the rally. so we had determined and announced at our national convention in april that we were going to come back to washington this year and we were going to start at a
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school, dunbar high school, the symbol of segregation at one time, and march to the site where the king monument would be bit. at that time we didn't even know beck had changed dates. i don't even know if he had changed dates. originally his rally was going to be september 12. he late irchanged the date. so there was no way for us to know he was going to be here. a lot of people are concerned about some of the statements he made in light of that but we're not a counter rally. we're here to affimple the dream of dr. king and to talk about what it means in these times and what we need to do to achieve it. host: in the press release it says this, that glenn beck and others are expected to push for the expansion of state rights, the exact antitsdz test of the civil rights movements. guest: i think if you read dr. king's speech, you can't redo a speech. it is what it is. you can look at our website.
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national action network.net. and we posted the entire speech. he talked about how we needed the federal government to secure and protect the rights of american citizens, blacks, who he called the neeggro at that time, that couldn't vote in parts of the south and couldn't enjoy the public accommodations. he talked about governors whose lips were dripping with the words of interposition and nullification. the kind of politics that mr. beck and governor palin and others have represented is that they're coming to say, government, stay out of our lives. government, back away. that's the exact opposite of what the 63 march was about and what our march is about today. we're saying that we don't want government running our individual lives but we want government to protect civilians and citizens' rights. we want government to uphold the law, and we don't want states to be able to null if i, in the words of dr. king. one of the reasons i marched in
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arizona around immigration. so i think you can all of us cap embrace dr. king and all of us should embrace dr. king. but you can't rewrite what dr. king's speech was and dream was. it's not his birth day. this is the day of a specific speech and i would recommend people read the speech. host: what are you row claiming? guest: one, we must reclaim the fact that there is still work to be done to make america equal. we still have a huge race gap in the economy. we see blacks doubley unemployed to whites according to data, latinos almost the same. we see a huge gap in education. one of the thing that is president obama has worked on is and talked about all the time is closing the achievement gap. in fact, he challenged knut gingrich and i, ed duncan, on that. and we did five cities together. we see a huge gap in the
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criminal justice system. he talked in 63 we canned stop until police brutality stops. we see the oscar grant case in california. so again, we are saying we reclaim what dr. king talked about then that is still unresolved now. the second part is we've got to deal with some of the conduct in our own community. dr. king and others didn't fight and die for the right for us to have this kind of reckless violence, this killing, the killings that we've seen among gangs and youth in chicago and new york and atlanta. even in smaller cities around the country. we're going to be calling today for us to reclaim the spirit of nonvilings and of cooperation, one to another, and stop this seemingly obsession with thugism and gangsterism in our own community. host: how do you follow up on a street level? guest: i think with community organizations and institutions and churches engaging the
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community, the young people, and not just having a hands-off out of fear but really getting in there and really turning around the thinking, working in local communities, with former mayor of new york used to talk about community policing, because we're the victims of this and we need to turn it around. host: you'll be with us until 8:30. here's how you can ask questions. three lines. first call for reverend sharpton is houston, texas. republican line. mike, you're on. go ahead. caller: good morning. i'm 45 and i don't remember a time when the general population of the black community didn't vote for a
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democrat. they seem to be in a -- in this phase of equalizing misery with their standard of living and they continue to vote for democrats. and it seems to me there's a dependence on each other but the black unemployment rate is double what it is for whites. i'm going to give you an example of someone who just stuns me as far as personal behavior. antonio crew marredi, an another least plays with the new york jets. 24 years old. seven kids. sen kids and five mothers. five women. now, do you even think he know it is color of his children's eyes? how are those kids going to be raised without a father in the house to be productive contributing citizens of our country? guest: first, let me say this, people vote their interests. there was a time most african americans were republicans
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based on the fact that abraham lincoln, who ultimately signed the emancipation proclamation, signed it and many african americans in the post-slavery era were republicans. when the republican party began moving away from that kind of lincoln republicanism and the new deal and roosevelt came in, they started in the african americans moving toward the democratic party. and it was probably cemented according to my study around the kennedy-johnson age. why? because under that we got the civil rights act of 64, the voting rights act, open housing of 66. so there is no magic. people vote for the party that serve their interests. and i think that if in fact the republican party wanted the support of african americans or women or whatever constituency, they have to talk in their interest. you cannot have policies that
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people don't feel furthers their progress. and expect them to say in the name of bipartisanism i'm going to vote for you even if it's against my interests. in terms of being double unemployed and the other chasms that we see on race in this country, he's correct. that's why we're moiching today. but let's remember, the last 20 years and the last quarter of a century, 25 years, we've had reagan and two bushes. we've only had under two years of president barack obama and eight years of bill clinton. so i don't know how he blames that economic current just on the democrats. i don't think either party has done enough. but i clearly think the democrats have had a track record that is better than the republicans, which is why most blacks have gone there. but this is not a party march today or rally. this is about trying to close the gap that dr. king told us to stay on the field and do 47 years ago. and this is a new generation.
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last night we had a rally at howard university. there is a generation behind us that wasn't even born when dr. king made the speech. host: you're talking about african american voting for their interests. for those who voted for the president do you think he's serving their interest? guest: first, when the president came in, the country was on the verge of economic collapse. i think the saving of the country, bringing it back, walking it back from collapse was in every americans' interest. i think what he has done in terms of health care and certainly in the african american community where we have more health care needs than most according to all data, we have more of the health infirmties impacting our combhuents and other communities. i think that health care legislation that he passed has serious impacts in our communities. so i think that he has and i think he is engaged in dialogue with all groups including civil rights leaders.
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we've met with him specifically on these issues. and i think that in the less than two years he's been there, he has done a great job for the country and i think inclusive of that is african americans. duh does he need to do more? yes. host: tulsa, oklahoma. larry on our independent line. caller: you i just want to commend you on the job you're doing. i want you to keep it up. keep up the good fight. don't quit. i'm a black dutch and i think you're doing a wonderful job. and i want to commend you. god bless you. caller: guest: thank you. god bless you. host: mobile, alabama. caller: yeah. this is a comment mostly i need to make concerning this march, this so-called march of glenn beck and sara palin have mass craded there. it is nothing but underlying racism is all it is and we need
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to call it what it is because things are not going to get better, it's going to get worse. if these people continue to let these people have their way. and talk about states rights and all this kind of rights. the federal government has always exceeded states rights, and it is the one that is the ultimate authority over this country. and these people have refused to accept that. all of a sudden the republicans have been talking about how they can fix the economy. they tore down the economy. where were they when the man who was in office for eight years gitching away the taxpayers money? and where were they? now we know this and we know that. people would be very stupid if they go out and vote for republican. and i said it. especially the people that is unemployed. if they don't have a wakeup call now about these people, going out there calling
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themselves the tea party, this party ain't noth but a bunch of racist people. caught it what it is. host: we'll leave it there. guest: i think clearly when you see the states rights kind of fervor in what they're representing, i think that the structural breakdown of a strong national government, which is what they're calling for, is something that does not serve the interests of the nation and is something that dr. king and others fought for -- against. it is ironic to me that they come on the day of the speech where dr. king appealed for strong government to protect civil rights and they're going to the site of abraham lincoln who saved the union against the state rebellion. so i think that they are more contradictory in trying to put a king-lincoln kind of aura
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over a message that is blatantly the opposite of what both represented. they have the right to gather. no one contested their getting a permit. but i think you cannot try and make one thing fit another when it just doesn't fit. host: so when mr. beck says this is part of taking dr. king's speech and expanding on that? guest: my response is take the whole speech and the whole statement. he said take the dream. the dream that he will live in a nation where people are judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. obviously if we have blacks 2-1 unemployed, we have a race gap in education and other areas, there are still people who are not judging people based on the content of their character but on the color of their skin. and that is what dr. king's speech said. so to just take the one word out, character, and not deal
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this disgusts me. i will tell you why in a second. this is a man who standing a few steps down where martin luther king spoke and he had the audacity and meanness to call the first african-american president in our country somebody, who is a racist in hates white people. second, i have spent a lot of time watching. i have seen him compare our president to not seize, adolf hitler, and then he got sarah palin up there.
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just last week, she endorsed what dr. laura said over the air. fort glen back to stand on these capitol steps is disgusting to me. >> thanks. i think the caller raises a contradiction they bring out. they have the right, but then to try to cause on this day, which he claims he did not know, then he turns around and makes the statement, i am going to reclaim the civil rights movement is wrong. reclaiming it by calling president obama a racist with his mother and grandparents white, reclaiming it by saying dr. laura ended her radio career
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over the use of the "n" word. if they do not step into the area saying they respect sybarites -- but to misinterpret what the civil rights is and to try to hijack the meaning of something that means some much too many of us, i think it is something that many had to speak out on. it is to bring about of the equal opportunity under the law for all citizens. that is what the civil rights is about. we are still not there yet. there are a lot of problems. we cannot forget we are a long way away from where we work. we got there because people struggled. we want to make that necessary so that they will enforce these
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laws. you know you are finished when you have equal opportunity and equal protection under the law. child born of one color should not be different than the child from another in this nation. host: republican line. caller: i am a 66 year old white woman. to me, sharpton thinks he owns the right to king's speech and no one can repeat it. this is a problem. all people are equal. though balk -- you do not have the rights to his speech. i am really upset with this.
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guest: you are right. i do not think any of us have the right to his speech. michael, the head of the teachers' union is speaking. i do not have the right, but i do not think anybody, black, white, or anyone else have a right to his speech. but when my father came to the march on washington, i can ride first class on an airplane. i can be in a nice hotel or eight in a nice restaurant. i want to see other results for my children and their children. i do not want to distort this, continue in the course of dr. king. the secretary of education is a track -- addressing education.
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this was the beginning -- it had nothing to do with -- i thought the event was going to be september 12. a teacher union leader and others will be there. host: you can read about it on c-span. we have a link on our website c- span.org tied to it. next caller. host: i think the civil rights movement has put a curse on black people. i think we have so many blacks in prison. we have so many blacks shooting each other in the street, young kids.
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i supported president obama. i supported al sharpton. and the president is doing a terrible job. look at urban areas, abandoned homes. he is a -- the latest. i listen to glenn beck. what bothers me is look around in the media, a tv, radio, abc, nbc, cbs, no african american host. cnn, fox, no african-american host. up and dr. king's name down every year. it has only gotten worse. you have used it against black
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people. black people can do anything anybody else can do. beck has a right to say and do whatever he wants. host: let's have a call sharp and response guest:. he is kind of all over the place. i can only say that let us see who has been in charge for the last couple of decades. that is why we still have some of these same problems. in terms of civil-rights and black, blacks can do a lot more because of the civil-rights movement. host: florida, thanks for waiting. caller: good morning. the gentleman before you should
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have your job representing black people. spot on the money for the most part. you personally did do not offend the. your coalition, the banner you fly under, what is it? guest: no justice no peace. we will never have peace and harmony until there is fair justice. host: some are deeply offended about use sayingn no peace. guest: the slogan came from his speech. i think dr. king often talked about how people's say peace, but they really mean quiet. host: do you have a question? caller: is it true that martin
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luther king said no peace? i cannot believe that. he was all about that. he was a peaceful marchers. -- marcher. guest: if you read the speech, what dr. king talked about regarding peace -- the question is do we want a lasting in real peace or do we want people to suffer in science -- silent. -- silence. there is a difference between quiet and peace. [unintelligible] i am not old enough to talk about the 1960's other them what
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i learned from people i grew up with. we had a rally last night. and lots of young people get it, because they are the ones in these communities that have no programs. i remember when i was growing up. they had manpower training development. you could engage young people in training. that is not the case anymore. the young people know things are not there for them. it they have loans for college that are at such a high interest they would be almost my age before they can pay it back. in lots of young people have been waiting for a movement to connect to them. host: palm beach, florida. democrats won. caller: -- democrats line.
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caller: the last few callers are not listening hard enough if they have not realized the democrats were the people -- the republicans are for the corporation. niece luther king's aligning herself with glenn beck saying the first black president is a racist. i am shocked that she would align herself with this man. i listened to both sides, but i am a white woman. i vote for the people. i just cannot believe -- i wish someone in her family would set her straight. this is a disgrace that this woman would align herself with back. that is all i have to say. thanks and keep up the great work.
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guest: i spoke with ms. king last night. i think she has firm feelings. we will see when she does today. she said -- i respect her. she lost her father. i would never this respect the king family. i may disagree, but i am not going to use a public platform to ridicule people that have paid a price that have made the country better. host: what are some of the themes? guest: we need to make the dream a reality. we have not arrived. we have made a lot of progress. the rally will be from 11 to one. then we will march had 115.
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we will march towards the site where the martin luther king monument will be built. all we have the memorial and monuments to president washington and jefferson and lincoln. now there will be a permanent monument erected to martin luther king. long after president obama is in office, that monument will stand so that it would represent people black and white it changed america to open it up to everybody. host: republican line. caller: i am an african-american male. let me respond to the white collars that just was condemning the niece of dr. king. as an african-american, i resent that the sentiment that a black people have to sink the same
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way in be in the same box. we have a diversity of thought. that is not what i call. my question for the rev. is this is 2010. here we are dreaming and dreaming. when are we going to start living? you are living. you are not dreaming. we are concerned about jobs, trying to pay our bills, trying to raise our families. you all are telling us to dream and drain. you are from the older generation. we are the new generation. we want to live and advance and have progress. you are putting us back to 1963 and haven't as a dream and the dream. the dreaming never stops. guest: all action starts with vision and a dream.
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all living comes as a result of that. to have action without a vision is to just have motion without low will movement. when we think about reclaiming the dream, if the dream has not led to will action -- after marching, we had voting rights acts. you cannot change reality unless someone can dream beyond what is there and make it happen. you are telling people to dream. let's get up and make it happen. i was not old enough to deal with these 1960's. we are dealing with issues right now. i think that for us to play this old/new.
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we've just elected president obama a year and a half ago. at the same time, we have had to deal with all kinds of inequality that still exists. if we can act as though someone is dreaming when we are trying to capture something that is not in our reality and make it real, i think you are missing the point of action and vision. host: how would you rate the president's efforts on race? guest: i would rate him high in the sense that he has confronted some of the structural and equality. he is confronting structural inequality, which is the problem with how we deal with things in the 21st century. he is the president of the united states. it is our role to raise the
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issues and disparities through him and to the congress. it is their role to executes. when i meet with the president, i would expect members -- we have to understand the roles in this country. if we all try to move to the same place with equal opportunity and protection under the law, those roles will come up. host: should he speak more directly to the issue? guest: the speech he made when he was running in philadelphia, i think what he said around the situation i think he tried to address them from his perspective. i do not expect him to be an advocate of civil rights himself. there is a misnomer that president obama -- it is our job
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to bring the issues of fraud. people consider john kennedy a friend of summarize. we cannot expect our job to be done by others. >> new york, good morning. caller: i have always for many years thought of view as one of the most successful black leaders, even though i have a certain dislike. i wonder, -- the only problem i
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have with you is a particular case. when is this claim ever going to be satisfied? the detective that was there and slenderize. guest: a case i took 25 years one of thelieved people and they accused sued? he has the name and results wrong. if you believe in something, you stand up for it. i stood up for what i believed in. i believe some men were not
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guilty in a different case. at some point, in the end, people find out you are right. host: rev. al sharpton is the president of a network that has a rally that will be live on c- span. thank you for your time. we will continue on with calls concerning this topic. you may have seen a picture and video about some of the rally is going on today. after this program today, a rally sponsored by beck will air on this network. as we look at that, we continue on for the next few minutes or so. here are the numbers where you can call.
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again, at some of the activities you are saying right now on television is some of the set up on the rally that will take place later today. democrats line, thanks for waiting. caller: [unintelligible] when it comes to the disabled, the property manager housing providers, they have been -- it is not the lack of money, but these property managers are not putting the money in these units. they need to change the whole structure of the contract. they needed to give the money
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directly to the clinics. as we speak, everybody is aware of this. i support all of the council members. my thing is, they need to go after these slumlords 100%. what i would say to al sharpton is, i waved my privilege rights. i'd like them to take a look at my case. they are dealing not only with the housing authority, but with the lack of them creating negligence. i am disabled. i have been in washington, d.c. all of my life. that is just because of the fact that these slumlords are not
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putting together this money in federal funding. host: arizona, republican line. caller: the next time you get to it mr. sharpton, ask him a couple of questions. i want to know where his funding comes from. which church he belongs to. and where he got his doctorate. him and the rev. jackson, they all talk reverence, all i hear them talk about is one thing. beck was talking -- [unintelligible] host: austin, texas, independent line. caller: a black friend of mine told me when i was filing some complaints against police officers that i would find out what it was like to be black in
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america because of the retaliation i would receive. she was very right. i am scared to death of the police because of the retaliation. i feel very sorry -- sorry about african-americans who have to experience that on a daily basis. legislation can do away with some things, but institutional racism still exists. young people have to realize that reverend sharpton talks about dreams and having to fight for dreams. the institution of racism in society exists. that is going to take a long time to do away with. it does not change the institution. the third thing is that although black america is only
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a third of our population, according to the cdc, 49% of all newly diagnosed hiv and aids cases. they advanced aids more quickly than any percentage of the population. host: the rally that beck is sponsoring starts at 10:00. people are already heading towards lincoln memorial and have been doing so since early this morning. there are some of the people that will participate. as you look at that, we will continue with calls. democrats line. caller: i would love to have talked to mr. sharpton. i think he is a great man along with obama. over 300 years, blacks were in
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slavery. it is going to take a while to make things right. what i would like to say is people talk about what happened in 1964. it has not been that long since the rights movement. when something goes wrong, they yell for police. but yet they complain about the police. i think all of these people have a right to talk. but if you knew what they had been through, you would not do that on this day. many people have lost their lives so that i as a black person could walk into a store and not be discriminated. host: utah, independent line. caller: there are progressive democrats and republicans.
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they are ruining our country. beck is a down good man. ms nbc there -- i cannot even watch that. glenn beck was on cnn. bill o'reilly got me started. i watched msnbc.com and i cannot stand it. i go to cnn and watch glynn back. i started watching him. he is pretty fun. it is progressive politics. that is what is killing our country. get rid of the constitution. did you can transform america. host: white marsh, md., democrats won. -- line. caller: it is not just race but the old politics and the way
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that all politicians are dealing with old politics. it is indicative for everyone to come together. based on the history of this country, you have something to call it the old news on how they see things from the 1950's and '60's and we have changes that need to take place now. there is a dream to put things into action. i do not understand the political process. a great job you are doing. thanks. host: we are going to change topics and talk about the levy system in new orleans. she is what the army corps of engineers. she will join us in a few minutes. here is a campaign 2010 update first. >> it is primary day in
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louisiana. joining us from the newsroom of political is someone to talk to us about this. one man is running for election. >> a lot of republicans thought he was vulnerable last year. they thought a primary challenger could give him a run for his money. that has not been the case at all. he filed in the last hours of a filing a month ago, and the campaign has not turned out to be as strong as they had hoped. he will probably have an easy day on saturday winning the republican nomination. favorite and it is his for the taking. >> what about picking the candidates for the fall election to take the seat of the late
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senator byrd. how was that shaping up? >> there are some many candidates in this race. let us start with the democratic side. joe mansion, a moderate democrat is a front runner in the primary. no one really with the kind of star power politically. it is almost a lot he will win the primary tonight. on the republican side, a businessman, john who has run for the senate many times before. he will probably be the front runner. and the bird a legacy, how does it play out in this race? he was such a legend in the state.
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i think it is addressed and you like to follow in the footsteps. >> thanks. we appreciate this 2010 campaign of state. >> thanks for having me. >> for more information, go to our web site, >> washington journal continues. >> joining us from new orleans is the task force coast director for the army corps of engineers. explain your relationship to the rebuilding of the levee system. guest: thanks for inviting me here today. this reduction system we are building for greater new orleans and the surrounding parishes, i oversee the program and look at the budgeting
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aspects. one of the things i enjoy the most is the tremendous stakeholder engagement between our levee authorities and the public in louisiana and the parishes. especially the public, they are so involved in what we did and did give us a lot of help with input and solutions. host: how would you tell someone the difference between the levee system now and five years ago? guest: five years ago, we did not know as much as we know today. there is a task force of levees and stations and flood walls. and maximum probable storm. there is a storm -- it was a landfall. it was something no one had ever thought of. a surge of over 32 feet.
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before katrina, it was the one form that happened in the past. now almost 150 storms with the numerous tracks anywhere from a 25 year to a 5000 year frequency. we look at all of those storms and the possible ways they can come on land. then we estimates the consequences of the storm. that is what we design for today. the work we are building, its dramatic example is around the eastern part of the system. we have a new wall with a difference in height and magnitude. we are not in the same universe anymore when it comes to the practices with how we deal with
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this complete system. >> if you want to talk to our guest this morning and ask questions about the system in new orleans, call the numbers at the bottom of your screen. earlier this week on our show, we spoke with a governor who is with the center for national policy about the same levee system. he has some critiques. listen to what he had to say in response to it. >> the maintenance has improved. it is still only prepared for a one in 100 years storm. the reality is there should be a 300 years storm. we are talking category three. one thing people do not realize is as big as katrina was at the
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last minute, new orleans did not take a direct hit. the system still fails. we were talking about a much more direct it. we do not know how well the levies will work. host: will they hold up for a direct hit? caller: they will. what was a huge lesson for katrina and to the corps engineers and those that work on these things is you cannot relate the size of the storm by the wind speed. let me give you an example. at landfall, katrina was category three by wind speed, but the search it brought in was bigger by hurricane camille which was category five.
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one of the things we do now that we did not do with katrina is of all the different possibilities that the hurricane could hit the gulf coast, there were literally 63,000 combinations. we do know the difference raise that water can come into this. host: when you talk about the modeling, have some criticize the type used to develop how these levies would be rebuilt? caller: this was done with external peer review. there were numerous people involved all around the country. we as people from other nations, united kingdom, canada, the netherlands. the design criteria is dramatically different from what we used to do in the past. not only do we have a system we are building today, but higher
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level reduction throughout the gulf coast. this is truly a state of the art way we have gone about it. we can always learn more. we design for a 50 year rise. this area has a huge record with different rates in different areas. we factor all of that in. we also have different factors of safety to account for different combinations that could overtop the system. host: what has changed in five years in terms of the bedrock? caller: the engineering criteria we have used for the dirt to make the curtain of levees.
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-- earthen levees. rick are building this over the navigation canal -- we are building this over the navigation canal. have in new structures to give you structural strength. [unintelligible] several new things compared to the way it was designed before. there are areas with stabilization techniques in areas that had difficulties with the soil. this is a way of stabilizing the soil in place and take some of the water out that we build upon. another thing we have done is
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probably the largest operation in the world where we bring in a mix that will stabilize the soil there and use recycled material for levies. in the mississippi river, where they intersect, the hurricane system, we have some projects for stabilization. we know it can stand up to heavy conditions. host: she is the task force coast director of the army corps of engineers. we have some lines that you can call at the bottom of your screen. there is a line set aside for new orleans residents.
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fort worth, texas, you are up first. caller: thanks for taking my call. my comment is hurricane katrina, this happens over five years ago, mississippi, alabama, and all of these other states affected have moved on. i do not understand why louisiana is having such a difficult time. the government did give them money, like a $30 million. they took that money and build a casino instead of using it for buses. while this is going on, i was seeing on the news, people running around stealing tvs and everything else while this was going on. host: we are talking about the
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levy system. do you have a question about that? caller: no, i think they should move on from it. host: you have talked about the timeframe of these products involved. louisiana was much harder hit than other areas. some of the work has 30 started. i have been here for almost four years. working at the brooklyn institute and the kaiser foundation, it shows that residents have and optimism and feel they are confident about the work. that is the overhaul in the education system but also with the hurricane system. as far as the time frame, the first thing we did was repair
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the existing levy system. that was completed june 2006. we also put in interim pumps so that we could keep water from coming in and around firm is concentrating in the city. we continue to make improvements on that. that work stands today. it will be 2014 before we have construction on a permanent placement. the other time frame was developing a new design structure. it takes time to run different hydraulic systems and design around it. then figuring out the overall cost of the system, doing the estimate and trying to get the appropriation from the administration. the other thing we have had to do is -- we had to know what
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type of soil we were dealing with. what i think about the size of this construction program, it is 60% of the panama canal, to give a perspective of it. an incredible amount of work has been done in a short time. having the right teams, construction contractors, engineers, all of these factors you work with is what -- as well as our public partners. small businesses and large businesses -- a team is working seven days a week. some contractors working 2 shifts, 20 hours a day. an incredible amount of construction program in a short time. host: our next caller is from colorado on our republican line. caller: good morning.
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i am from a huge indian reservation. there are issues in the past where undocumented workers apparently have a priority for jobs. have a mechanism for they wanted equal opportunity for everyone there. guest: we spend a lot of time on the industry days with small and large businesses. a veteran zone. we have awarded billions to small businesses. overall that is 30% of the structural work -- construction work.
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as far as a question, as far as court engineers, we have all of them adhering to federal law. we also have people working out here for the designers as well. >> as far as a completion date, when should this be completed by? guest: congress did mandate to this. our goal is to have a system in place by next year. there are other parts of this program that have improvements to the pump stations. kermit, construction, interior drainage. there is -- permanent pump
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construction, interior drainage. host: fayetteville, north carolina caller:. a. >> how has the war in iraq affected the corps of engineers? some members of the national guard was in afghanistan during the time of katrina. the technology was less than what we have now. the corps of engineers has really been affected. guest: people do not realize the u.s. corps -- u.s. army corps
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of engineers the ploy is people. i was deployed in iraq and i was over st. the reconstruction of the schools and electricity and water treatment plants. -- overseeing the construction of the schools and the electricity and water treatment plant. we have a lot of people their right now. it has affected us, but in a good way. we have used the way we do large construction programs to thousands of construction and design activities. many deployed and come back home to louisiana and apply some of the things we have learned from over here. rhee really believe in public
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service. that is why we deploy civilians along with our military. we tried to apply those programs here at home. host: washington, d.c. good morning. caller: thanks for your service. there were a couple of questions raised at the book signing of kathleen cooke the other night. one was, a charge that the core and the partners had billed the levees are and they are sounder and more strong than the ninth war. i was like to get a response to that. -- ninth ward. i'd like to get a response to
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that. can you make a contrast or comparison america protecting new orleans from hurricanes and the dutch from certain storms? guest: i will do the best i can. our engineering criteria is regardless of what perish we work in. one thing we learned from katrina is it is only as good as the weak link. everything connects. the criteria is consistent. we often are criticized on our levy's i did not have a problem with katrina, why do you not have the same standards? we know we need an improvement in standards.
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the second thing is -- i will talk about the dutch connection first. a couple of days ago, the system in the netherlands was just completed. it took them 57 years. we are hoping to beat the record by 52 years. the second thing is we have a lot of people on our team from the netherlands. these conditions in louisiana are much stronger storms. that is a pretty good description. the maximum storm surge was 11 feet. there was a surge of 12 feet. there is no comparison in the
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search. those types of conditions, they do not have that same level of protection across the country in the netherlands. the level of this consistently applied across -- as far as i know, there is no lessening of standards to where we work. host: next caller. caller: i am an engineer from arizona. 30 years have maintained the structural rights up to a few years ago when i closed my office. i am doing consulting for litt haïtian.
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i spent a year and a half down at hurricane katrina. flying back and forth every week in doing reports. we have probably done 300 or 400 reports of all types of residential construction. my concerns are a little bit different than knowing the history and studying the history of the flood walls involved in state governments and falling the corps of engineers in the federal government. is pushed tot's louisiana, we are basically never used for flood walls, but bureaucratic things and also the
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airport. the basic problem that she is going to have and does not address is that even though they do these concrete systems, toward the airport side, there are areas that probably will not be brought up at all. after talking with consultants in the area, if they have the same level hurricane 3 more lanes, they claim it will not have much left. guest: i will talk about the part that involves the army corps of engineers. we were putting in a system around the perimeter that includes the west bank and intersections with a certain
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parishes. there is a connection around the perimeter that is out near the airport. it is on the other side of the river as well. the hurricane system that started out was incomplete. that was due to a very low level of funding as well as not a sense of urgency from everybody. that program was only 30% complete. it was only 60% complete on the other side. even though we are not finished, it is better. it is as well as some of the outlying areas in surrounding parishes. host: linda, thanks for waiting.
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go ahead. caller: i grew up on an island. there was a lot of damage done during a hurricane. after time, the spirit in people want to work. i want to know, have businesses that were damaged been destroyed so that people can go back to work? i understand that $20 billion was sent to another country to make batteries for the united states, when we need jobs here. why can't those batteries be made here? that is an example. host: as far as the way you went about building this, what questions did you ask yourself going into this?
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what kind of information did you have to take in as far as redesigning? guest: one thing about the contributions to the area, many indirect jobs of people in the field for us. there is a huge economic boom that is part of the hurricane recovery. to get back to your question, we have 18 with a review of over a hundred 52 members. they did the engineering and they did risk analysis as well
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as what i talked about earlier in terms of the fleet of storms that they had to deal with. we had to get out into a complete physical of the area. all of the pieces in the ground is what we needed to build. we had to apply the design criteria to that. the engineering characteristics of the soil, all of the difference heights that exists here -- one thing that is interesting is a graph from the '70s. what is high ground and then it is high ground now. they were clustered around the french quarter. but those outlying areas were
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marshlands. it was saved up with people and a very good system with conveniences that carried water out of the system to the lake. we also learned a different way to do this through and out -- throughout the entire metropolitan area. one house did not a flood during katrina. they found a natural way on higher ground to deal with it. we learned host: what is happening as far as the neighborhood's where the of levies are being rebuilt? guest: it depends where you go. there is one active area where they put everything back the way it was.
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if you go out too late to you, there has been a tremendous boom in the building. people are elevating their homes. it is a mixed bag as you go out to some of the other areas like saint bernard and the ninth board. --ward. there are areas of new orleans that are still vibrant. this will be reported by the brookings institute and the kaiser institute. there are a lot of differences. i was reading comment the other day by a man who bought house on the 17th straight canal. he did that because he felt confident in what was being put in the ground now compared to before. that is a measure of the choices people are making. host: are democrats line, go ahead caller: i would like to say first that i am from new orleans.
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i have been back several times since the storm. [unintelligible] i think it is redesigned to withstand another katrina if it comes to that. i think you all are doing a great job. guest: i appreciate your call. we are putting in a system that is resilience to buffet a storm. if it is a bigot of storm, the system will stay there. -- if it is another big storm, the system will stay there. we appreciate you coming back and forth to new orleans. host: our guest is with us for another 10 minutes, are democrats line is next. caller: how are you doing? my brothers ex-wife came from louisiana, from the orleans.
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i used to go there and i am 45 years old. wife -- i used to go visit her in the 1980's and 1990's. i always noticed that the bodies in the cemeteries were injured above ground. i was not surprised at the disaster that when katrina hit because a lot of people would tell me back in the 1990's and 1980's that we buried the bodies above ground because the water level here is like 6 feet under the ground. new orleans was built by french engineers hundreds of years ago. what percentage of the damage to the city was due to the water level being so close to the surface? caller: the water level is very close to the surface. many times you will hear that
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new orleans is below sea level. part of it is below sea level. compared to the midwest, you will not seek homes with basements because of the water level being so close. if you go to the cemeteries, the tombs are above ground. as far as the damage that was done by katrina, there are numerous aspects of that. there is engineering and forensic reports that have been issued. there is a hurricane decision committee that performs real forensics. all the decisions that were made by federal, state, and local governments that led to the state of an incomplete system when katrina hit. the damage done by katrina beside there was a big problem with lateral fo facilitate. that is why we change the way we go about constructing levees.
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we have t-walls that have a large basis for stability and are sitting on piles and can go down as much as 200 feet to counteract a storm surge coming in. host: one question of e-mailed -- what were the levees not examined for all the problems before 2005? what about refurbishing the marshlands and the hurricane protection? caller: let me answer the second question first. we have multiple lines of defense. there's a structural solution. non-structural was things like elevating homes and evacuation plans and choosing areas that will not be developed. there is the environmental part. along with the state of louisiana, we're working on marshland restoration as part
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of the areas we build across the lake. we had over 700 acres of marshland to be re-marriage. we have created 25,000 actors of new marshlands. there is a lot of work to do in that area. we have more work to do by the end of the year. as far as the first question, there was a rigorous system of construction but also the inspection. what was done for katrina was not done enough. we have the inspection system of the work and the marsh system had to come afterwards and that is dramatically different. that was the lesson that was learned across the lesson. states like louisiana, california and so forth have a very robust inspection systems of completed work that did not exist prior to katrina so people can get a better understanding about these levees and so forth react across time. host: conn, independent line, go
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ahead. caller: i want to thank your guest or her service to the country. all the money that the corps of engineer received from the federal government, how much is going toward the development of the levees and dikes in new orleans and the restoration project? guest: the corps of engineer's civil works program is roughly $5.5 billion per year. the construction piece of that is about $2 billion per year. the recovery act added an additional $4 billion to the program for operation and maintenance of our dams and our flood damage reduction structures and another $2 billion for construction. the program for greater new orleans which is both the 100- year system as well as work in the outlying areas and an improvement to the interior
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features is about $15 billion. that means it is over three times what their normal program is for the nation. as far as the coastal system restoration, there have been ongoing programs in louisiana for quite some time. we are hoping to be able to increase that with the engineering studies we are trying to complete by the end of this year. host: new orleans, go ahead. caller: 50 t-wall --if the t- wall areas -- i was in new orleans east and i was told that that area that flooded and we got between nine and 12 feet of water. guest: if you live in new orleans east, you would be now
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inside the perimeter of the new 100-year risk reduction system. when you go outside the perimeter, there is a two-fold levee system. there is the the river levees and as you, and further into the greater new orleans area, there is a hurricane system. some things we are doing is part of the program is to bring the non-federal levees into the federal levee system. that means using new design criteria. we will make those levees higher and broader and stronger. we are also looking at where the mississippi river levees and that tributaries system intercepts by hurricane system and to make improvements for that. there is the factor of the amount of surface that can come up a river during a hurricane. we have two projects going on right now where the mississippi river levees may cover
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consistent. host: port arthur, texas, on our independent line, go ahead. caller: i am impressed with what you are doing in new orleans. bridge city is next to stored to a spirit -- is next door to us. our seawall has cracks in the but the city does not have a sea wall. what is the possibility of having a levee built here by -- like what your doing in new orleans? guest: as far as texas, there are improvement projects that are being looked at throughout texas as a result of hurricane ike. right now, i don't know the status or if those projects will be funded. i can tell you that they are being looked at to improve what is in that area. host: what is the manpower like in new orleans? guest: are we able to get sufficient labor? host: i am more interested in
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how many people are involved guest: there are thousands of people involved record team on the ground as over 1000 people. because the project is so big, we are using people across the corps of army engineers across the nation. we have the work force of our architects/engineers to design this. the construction work is being done by a construction agency. we don't even count all the people who are helping from afar. host: do you coordinate with federal offices? guest: absolutely. we have numerous interaction with our other parts of the federal government. we have exercises with fema so we are ready of another hurricane should hit. that involves the coast guard and the local responders, fema, the american red cross.
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there is a federal, state, and other agency habitat evaluation team. they are working together and all of the coastal and ecosystem restoration. that will include non- governmental organizations. they help with solutions on improving the ecosystem i have worked in a lot of places around the country as well as overseas. i have never seen the amount of engagement both inside the federal government, with state governments, and especially with the public that we have here in louisiana. host: on our republican line, from port st. lucie. caller: how is the elevator industry keeping the machines
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working there, how is that monitoring? there is a night -- there is a high level of usage and break down because of the rusting that occurs in the ropes on the elevators. guest: that is way outside the work of the army corps of engineer is doing. i cannot answer your question, sorry. host: jerry, on our democrats line, go ahead. caller: i appreciate her expertise. i know you know what you are doing.
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for the outlying parrish's like the one i live in, and that water has to be diverted somewhere. are you doing anything to help the places that do not have levees like where i m. am? places without levies -- are you diverting the water? guest: first, we completed a project to improve the levees in tarribone and there is an environmental aspect of that that is going on now. we have improvements in grand island most of that is done before everybody was hit with the oil spill. we have work that we will have under way in the venice area and others. all the areas i just mentioned
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right now are outside the authorized reduction. we are making numerous improvements to the levees. there are additional engineering studies on going. there are divergent structures and certain ones we talked about. these are studies we are trying to get completed by the end of this year. this is so congress can appropriate the funds and start them together with the state of louisiana. there is a lot happening here and there is more to follow. host: as far as the time line of finishing next year, what is the next major milestone that comes up as far as this project is concerned? calle guest: we are building two-miles of the new t-walls that need to be complete. we have the last surge gate to be completed. that will be along the western
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and cloture complex. we have the titans on the eastern part of the system. we will have improvements where the causeway that goes across lake pontchartrain will be on the south side. there is more to do. we are pretty amazed by the progress we have made and we will continue to make. it is a good place to be right now. host: our guest works for the army corps of engineers. we appreciate the time you spent with us and the viewers. guest: my pleasure, host: thank: our final guest will be at the events at the lincoln memorial today concerning the glen beck "restoring on the" rally% we will say what political cartoons have been doing this
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♪ ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: who comprise a short coalition? guest: it is a grass-roots organization of people and people of faith, evangelicals, pro-family roman catholics, observant jews, and pro-freedom voters, anti-tax voters, small businessmen and women. we started about one year ago. we are up to about 400,000 members. we have state affiliate's up and
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running in 23 states. we will be distributing a voter education literature and turning out of voters about every major congressional and governor's race and the country. we are growing about 1000 members per day. it has been very exciting area host: did you have any role of bringing out people to the rally today? guest: compared to glen beck? we have a pretty big e-mail lists glen is a friend and i believe in this event and i support what he is trying to do. yes, i am here, our supporters are here, and not just them. i just left the mall. i think it is fall all the way down to the reflecting pool already and they have one hour to go and they are streaming in from all over the city. host: you just had breakfast with glen beck and sarah palin? guest: it was a fund-raiser for
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the warrior foundation which provides college tuition and assistant to the children of special forces, veterans who have lost their lives defending our country. it was a very moving breakfast. they had one of the beneficiaries of the scholarship program whose father was killed in a training exercise in korea. i believe it was 16 years ago. she was a graduate of the program. it was very moving. i know that glen beck has been attacked or criticized by some by choosing the anniversary of dr. king's "i have a dream" speech. i grew up in the south and went to school in rural georgia a few years after they actually desegregated. it was many years after the brown vs. board of education decision. i know what it is like to grow up in the region that is filled with the sting of discrimination
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and the people being treated as second-class citizens. only because of the color of their skin. i recognize this as a sensitive and emotional issue. host: do you think the criticism is not valid? guest: i don't think it is because the lincoln memorial is for all americans. obviously, for those who struggled in the civil rights movement, who paid the ultimate price and some lost their lives, to see however many hundreds of thousands of people will be here today saying that they are committed to dr. king's vision of a country that is colorblind, i think that is ultimately a good thing. host: what about the characterization that this is a political event-guest: i understand why people would say that. i was at breakfast this morning and someone said at the end,
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everything is political. everything has a philosophical component and at the end of the day, there will be disagreements about it. that is civics. that is politics. i take glen beck at his word which is the focus of today is not on a victory of one party or another over another or a victory of one candidate over another. that is not ultimately what we need to do to turn our country around. what we ultimately need to do to turn our country around regardless of who wins on november 2 or in subsequent novembers is to see a return to the principles upon which our country was founded and those principles are judeo-christian values of hard work, faith in god, the centrality of family, the primacy of marriage and caring of the least and lost among us and a charitable impulse. when i was on glen beck's show in july, i quoted a book redding graduate school but i
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never thought i would "on a cable news show. does a book by an historian. it is about the quakers and -- in colonial philadelphia. in it, the author stresses the fact that the entrepreneurial impulse of the quakers was indistinguishable from the charitable impulse. they viewed the success of their businesses as inextricably linked to their ability to found the purse lending libraries, the first hospitals, the first priest tool -- preschools, the first health clinic. all of that was a part of a whole. i think that is still true. to the extent that we look to washington, to the extent that we look to government, to the extent that we try to have the government meet those needs instead of mothers and fathers and families and pastors and rabbis and priests and faith communities and charitable enterprises, i think that is
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contrary to how we work. host: our guest is with us until 10:00. the numbers are on your screen. hal has the role of faith in politics changed since your days in the christian coalition? guest: at the risk of sounding triumphal, i suppose the biggest change really is that it is not quite as controversial as it was 10 years ago or 20 years ago or 30 years ago. i think it was very read the thing in the late 1980's when jerry falwell founded the moral majority to have an independent baptists pat -- pastor/preacher going around the country telling evangelical christians to get registered and boat.
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today, that the less it's a yawn and i think that is good. my own view is that faith is a bright thread that runs through the american narrative from the origins of the first landings of the first european settlers all the way through the antique slavery movement, the suffragette movement, the temperance movement, the social gospel movement in the early part that was an essential part of the progressive movement, the civil rights movement. if you go back and look at the footage of the crowd on the mall 47 years ago today, the buses that lined the mall, that brought those people to this capital to say that segregation was wrong not because it was philosophically incorrect or economically inefficient but because it violated a moral law that violated nature and nature's god, they were making an explicit theological
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statement that they had been created in god's image and it was wrong for the law to treat them differently because it by leaded god's precepts. those buses were not trail is buses or growl -- greyhound buses, they were church buses. they had names like ebenezer baptist and ame church or wherever they came from on the side of the bus. i do not see this as a partisan phenomenon. on the left, there are certainly more liberal christians that went out as an expression of their faith on things like climate change or anti-poverty measures, the went out and supported barack obama as an impulse of their faith and i say good for them. the highest form of flattery is imitation. 20 years ago, when i was at the christian coalition, it was mostly focus on the right side of the aisle. now is on both sides of the aisle and i think that is a good thing. host: how you apply that to what
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we are seeing in new york city e?out the mosque attack you have a lot of these groups you talk about intersecting. guest: i am actually pretty optimistic about the outcome of this. i am not a pessimist of where we will end up as a country. i am an historian, that is what i am trained to do. if you go back and look at the rounding up of japanese- americans who were in turned in camps during world war two. japanese-americans who had done nothing wrong and violated no law, in many cases, serve their country with honor and they were herded into internment camps and the supreme court of the united states up held that unconstitutional internment. you had a german-americans who were able -- unable to do
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business during world war one. i am not in any way justifying opposition to a moslem or somebody of a different ethnic background during this current conflict, but i am saying compared to previous episodes, from historical perspective, if you look at president bush going to a mosque, i can remember how many days after 9/11 but it was within a week, president bush went to a mosque and removed his shoes as a sign of respect and he gave a public statement on behalf of the country and said we are not at war against a religion. we are at war against haters and murderers who have perverted that religion i thought that was an extraordinarily healthy thing for a president to say at a moment of great national trauma. with regard to the mosque, you
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have to bifurcate two issues. is there areue -- right to build an islamic center that includes a mosque? there is unanimity that there is such a right. within the governing parameters of local zoning laws, anyone of any faith can build a house of worship anywhere in this country. that is not true in saudi arabia. that is not true in pakistan. that is not true in many other places around the world. that is true here. that is not is what is being disputed. what is being disputed is that e view of the imam. my opinion is that it is not
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appropriate and it would be advisable -- if five or were advising him that i was of his faith and i were attempting to advise them on how to advance and make his faith more amenable within the country, i would advise him to work out a compromise with mayor bloomberg and governor paterson. i would guess that is ultimately what happens here. my guess is that it will be built. it will likely not be built where it is. he has a right under the first amendment and the constitution to do that. the people we are honoring today on the mall, the people who fell like special forces, soldiers, and navy seals and others who died that we are honoring shed their blood so that he would have the right to do that. that is not what this debate is about. the debate is about whether or not this is a good idea of host:. we have calls for you and the
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first one is from big spring, texas on our democrats line. caller: this is about faith and freedom. 47 years ago, what happened was very important. when he mentioned he is from the south and understands what blacks have been through, you cannot understand what blacks have been through. for years and years, we have been discriminated against. i believe they have to -- the right to hold that meeting today because that is what the first amendment ssays. how can you not know what happened that year 47 years ago. glen beck says he did not know. you cannot not know how it feels to be black.
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47 years ago you could not drink out of the same water fountain. faith and freedom, if you believe in god, you will take a different turn, thank-you guest:. i did not say i knew what it was like to experience discrimination. i did not say i knew what it was like to be an african-american and experience that discrimination. what i said was is that i grew up in a region of the country that had been through that. i don't think that the caller actually characterize what i said. august 28 will either now or at some point in the future will belong to all americans. the genius of dr. king was that he did not speak only for
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african-americans. he spoke for all americans about why segregation and treating people as second-class citizens because of their color was wrong. abraham lincoln said something and we will be at the lincoln memorial in about 15 minutes. abraham lincoln said slavery is wrong not only because of what it does to the black man. slavery is wrong because of what it did to the white man. i would say that the caller, and i appreciate the call, that segregation is wrong not just because of what it did to black people and how we treated them, it was wrong because of what it did to white people. if we are divided based on race and of one group of people think they are better than somebody else because of the color of their skin, we are all losers. we have a ways to go.
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i don't think anybody believes that dr. king's dream has been fully achieved yet. we have made enormous progress. we have the first african- american president in american history. that is something, even though i opposed him, that is something of which i as an american am proud. we are clearly making progress. we need to continue to make progress. i think people should hold their fire and give glen beck and the organizers of this event today the benefit of the doubt. let's wait and hear what is said and wait and see we see the spirit in which they say it on the mall and let's give them the benefit of the doubt. host: georgia, republican line, good morning. caller: how does an advance that -- how does an event of which is about restoring honor and character and that will be attended by many african- americans as well as white
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americans -- the liberal media has somehow attempted to twist this around and turn this event into some sort of a white power- racist -- how did this happen? i don't understand this. guest: 4 give me for being cynical but i think -- i don't mean to sound cynical, but i was sitting in the green room before i came out and was perusing through""the new york times and the washington post and one of the headlines was something to be a factor that tea party claims king's dream. this is not a tea party event. this is not a political event. we are 60 some odd days from an election.. i don't think it's controversial to say that some of the
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mainstream media outlets are not sympathetic to the agenda of many conservatives. i think there is a deliberate attempt to mischaracterized in some cases like you are alluding to. host: william, on our independent line, south carolina caller: let's keep israel. keepis a racist -- let's this real. this is a racist the event. how much money is being paid to the performers to speak at this event? guest: i don't know whether or not sarah palin as being compensated. that is better directed to the people organizing the event. i knowalvita king well and she
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was a guest on a program last night. i don't know of anybody who is more on the liberal side of the aisle and al sharpton and he did nothing but express respect for her. he said he had no words of criticism for her. he considers her to be a friend. he considers her to be somebody whose family lived through the trauma of the civil-rights movement and she has earned her right, sir, to speak wherever she wants whenever she wants. she is someone who has had family members who have been murdered, fighting for civil rights and i don't think what she said about her is fair and i reject. i think the american people will reject it. host: charles, on our democrats line, go ahead. caller: i heard what you said
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this morning. the fact is, glen beck has said a lot of racist comments curr. he was on the radio the other morning. [inaudible] we see right through you. have a great day. host: have a good day? guest: have a good day? i was at the kennedy center last night for the events that glen beck cat. had. there were african-american pastors from the largest african-american churches in the country that were on stage with them. it is not because they are
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endorsing a particular candidate or particular political party or particular political agenda or even any particular cable news network. they were not there speaking on behalf of any of those things for their message was very clear -- we need to, as people of faith, go out there and get outside the four walls of our churches or if i am jewish, outside the four walls of the synagogue, or the four walls of the temple or the mosque, what ever it is, and we need to touch people who are hurting in our communities, people whose marriages are breaking up, people whose children may be involved in crime or drugs, people whose children cannot read or write who are in schools that are war zones where they can't read and they can write, women who are in shelters for battered women and abused women. we need to go into drug counseling centers and addiction centers and we need to touch
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people with love of god. i don't see how anyone can object to that message. i think what it shows candidly, i think it is unfortunate, but i think it shows that not the glen beck is about politics, it shows that there are some people on the left who are very nervous about the elections in 60 days and they have reason to be nervous. i think they see what is going on on the mall today as a threat. they see those folks coming out and expressing the views that were expressed last night at the kennedy center as a threat. i don't know why they see it as a threat. i don't know why that is a threat to anybody. telling people to go out and touch other people with the love of god and raising millions of dollars to fund scholarships for the children who have lost their fathers and mothers in battle defending this country -- i don't see how anyone can be against that. i don't think it reflects well
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on them that they are against it. again, i am more on the other side of the aisle. i have an awful lot of democratic friends and a lot of them are pretty smart. if i were revising folks on the other side today, i would say that if i were you, i would pray for this. i would say good for them. they are talking about restoring honor and i'm for that, too. they are talking about raising money to pay for scholarships for children whose fathers or mothers died in conflict, good. here is my contribution, count me in. instead of criticizing it, they should be embracing a host: it. 10:00 is when the event starts. you can still alive after this program. there are some people lining the mall now at the lincoln memorial. we will keep looking at that as we continue our conversation reed. ralphee
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caller: the previous callers have taken the words out of my mouth. it is a sad day when somebody can clearly look at glen beck and try to distort this event. this is something that he has put his heart and soul with love and the lord's name. i don't understand how that can be twisted around to make it look like he is racist. for al sharpton to say that glen beck is trying to reclaim the civil-rights movement, i am just not clear on that. if you could shed some light on that for me or at least try, i would appreciate it. thank you. guest: as i said at the top of
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the show, i certainly recognize and understand having grown up in the deep south, that this is a very emotional issue and we have heard some of that in this segment. we will hear it throughout the day. that is fine. we have to remember that to a very great extent, race was america's original sen. yes, we were a nation that was founded to advance freedom but we are also a nation that from the very beginning had two kinds of shifts of that came here. -- ships that came here. one carried white european sellers and the others carried slaves. our economic system and our social system was built on the backs of those who were kept in slavery. it is one of the great contradictions of our history as a country that we became a nation that advanced freedom and
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became a refuge for people who were oppressed all over the world and yet from our origins, we help people in bondage. even after 600,000 people died in the greatest civil war that the world has ever known in order to settle that dispute and in that institutional slavery, even after that, we treated people who are african-americans as second-class citizens and did not give them their full rights as americans until 47 years ago and dr. king marched on the mall and even after that, they could not break the fall southern filibuster in the senate for it required the assassination of john f. kennedy a few months later and lyndon johnson, the first southern president since the civil war, by the way, to bring that about. i think we have to recognize as americans whichever political side we are on whether we are white, black, brown, or yellow,
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we need to recognize that given that history, that this is a very difficult topic. if we can talk about it in mutual respect and if we can agree or disagree without being disagreeable, i think we will go a long way. on an optimistic note, no, i don't know what it means to have felt the sting of that discrimination. as a southerner, i have seen it. i have had friends who have experienced it. i would just say that you look at where we were 47 years ago when an african-american in the south could not go away restaurant or lunch counter or get into a school of the wanted to. that is where we were 47 years ago today. today, not far from here, a mile from here, an african-american sets in the white house and there are african-americans in congress and we still have a first amendment that protects
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the right of glen beck and al sharpton to go + out and protest and no one will be billb beilly a bi will clubbiong protesters. you compare 50 years ago from where we are today, it is a much better country host: do you think the tea party has an influence on the perception of this event? guest: no, not beyond the prism of politics i alluded to. i don't have a problem with that either. as i was coming down here, i happened to run into, believe it or not, a man of came here from afghanistan 30 years ago. he was commenting to me and he said why are all these people doing the best. he said why would hundreds and
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thousands of people from all over the country at their own expense fly in here to protest their government? he says he did not get it. it says obama has been in for a year and has met a chance to succeed or fail and why protests? i said because we are americans. it is in our dna. we were born as a country protesting a government that we thought the night is our right and is in our dna. this is what we do. that is what the tea party is about. you can agree or disagree with the elements of their agenda. i think it is instructive that we are going to one of the most wrenching financial and economic crises that we have seen in the history of a modern global economy. all over the world, people are in the streets protesting. everywhere else they are protesting against government cuts. they are protesting against
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benefit cuts. only in america are people pouring into the streets by the millions to demand cuts. to demand that we reduce the size and scope of government. it gives you a little bit of insight into what a unique place america really is. in the end, we would rather be free then have comfort. rather than be cared for, creel to the grid by the government and have that security, we would rather be free. i think that is what makes america great and i said to my friend from afghanistan, i said you may not like the traffic jams today but we must be doing something right because people like you come here. host: does this shade your opinion on social security and medicare as far as what the government should do? guest: i would say yes and no. we have largely resolve the debate about if we are going to
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have a social safety net. i think we will have a debate about what that means. i think that actuarially and demographically speaking, as you combine an aging population because people are living longer and they are healthier than they have ever been -- in 1935 when social security was enacted with the retirement age of 65, the average life expectancy of an american male was 62. they basically set a retirement age that was three years after the average person died. as people are living into their 70's and 80's and 90's, actually speaking, this whole system of entitlement is going to be bankrupt. that is not a personal opinion. that is an actuarial fact by the president's own commission. they say there is an unfunded
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liability of $50 trillion. at some point, we will have a very heated debate about how we will solve that. we are not going to be able to keep these programs going as they have gone without some changes. i think that is really acknowledged on both sides of the aisle. host: harlem, new york, on our independent line. caller: good morning, mr. reed. i am 64-year-old black man, i am a vietnam veteran. i may first responder to the world trade center. i am one of those people that was not allowed to go into a restaurant even though i was wearing the uniform of the united states army. that was in 1965, columbia, south carolina. i was a first responders to the world trade center. i was down there for a. four month i had a piece of my long remote. i live in new york.
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there are things more offensive around that problem than the mosque. you seem to elevate your religion over another one. i fought for the first amendment, freedom of religion, that is not going where it is supposedly going there are buildings blocks away from the world trade center which will be a strong recruiting tool for al- qaida. the main media has glen beck's rally as a counter-rally to the more and luther king rally. the martin luther king rally would have gone and i if we had of a missedbeck.mr.ck the insensitivity that to clamp the mosque would do although you agree and everybody agrees it is
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a right, don't you think that glen beck having his situation on the martin luther king anniversary is insensitive? guest: no, i don't. i don't think it is. he has stated very explicitly that he does not claim the mantle of dr. king. he does not claim to have a right to stand where he stood or clinical level of moral leadership that he did. i just left a breakfast where he said this. it would be one thing if he got up and said that he is the successor to the king cobra. he has not said that. he has said the exact opposite. i think he has approached this with humility and honesty and that is all anyone can ask for
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it when i don't that is fair to ask is for glen beck or any other american to surrender their first amendment rights to be on the mall because it happens to fall on a date where can "gave his i have a dream speech. i don't think that's fair. i think it is a double standard. the caller believes that the mosque could be built but the rally should not take place. all i said was that if i were advising the imam, i would advise him to work out a compromise with minor bloomberg and pa governorterson. i have acknowledged he has the right to build this. people need to take eight -- take a deep breath and recognize that america is not out on the streets fighting each other as muslims and christians. that is not what is happening. we're having a disagreement. we are having a debate. that is our right as americans. there is nothing unhealthy about
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it. what is on health is to try and not have the debate. winston churchill said something one time that i think speaks to this moment. he said democracy is the worst form of government ever conceived a except for all the rest are i. democracy can sometimes be massive. you will have death on the mall and -- you will have glen beck on the mall and al sharpton will have his counter-rally. what is worse? that or living in a country where you cannot get a permit and have your protest? i would rather live here. i don't think i am alone. there are people who have crawled across broken glass and crossed oceans in order to come here. this is pretty special that we can do this today. whether you agree or disagree with what glen beck or al sharpton is doing, i thank god i live in a country where we can
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speak what we want, when we want, where we want, as long we -- as long as we live according to the noise ordinance is. host: what do you make up perceptions about the presidency and what type of faith he has? guest: i was in a working group when he was in a group with us in the mid 1990's. i know him. there have been some things that he has done that i think again if i were advising him, i would have probably acted differently host: such as a guest:? i think he probably should should help the national day of prayer ceremony in the east room. that has been a practice going back to the 1980's under democrats and republicans. he did not hold that event. it is not a big deal to make,
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but if i were advising him and he wants to overcome themis- impression that he is not a person of the christian faith, he needs to find a way to express it in a way he feels comfortable. everybody made a big deal out of the fact that 18% of americans thought he was a muslim. a plurality of people said he was a christian. the most concerning thing to me a aboutpoll if i was his adviser, is the start number of people that said they did not know what he was pardon. without judging the president's fate, which i don't, there is that old saying that if you were put on trial for being a christian, would there be sufficient evidence to convict you? i understand people are uncomfortable about wearing it on their sleeves and that is
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apparently the case with president obama. i respect that. i think it would be good for him and good for the country if he could find ways he was comfortable with where he could express his fate. he has in fact done that. in fact, in the past, and i believe in 2007 or 2006, he gave one of the speeches that became a defining speech for him in which he talked about why liberals should not be critical of conservative christians for bringing their fate into the public square. he said we have made a mistake as liberals to attack other people for bringing their fate into the public square. we should applaud it and we should do it ourselves. he should probably give a speech or two like that. host: stockton, california, go ahead caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. reed, where to begin?
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host: we have about two minutes so go ahead. caller: the notion that this rally that mr. beck is spearheading today is either not political and is a commemoration of dr. king and the"i have a"dream speech is laughable on its face. glen beck, the race-baiting commentator who called our president a racist and who uses every minute of every show that he has to attack this president has some kind of manchurian candidate and who is bringing sharia law and is taking this
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country into some maladjusted place in his mind is the reason that you are not being believed as having benevolence that this is some kind of commemoration of dr. king's speech. host: we will leave it there, thanks. guest: to be clear, now we don't have a not a time to develop particular, the quotes that you a look -- the quotations you allude to where glen beck is a lot -- has allegedly made those inflammatory statements, what he was referring to in the context of those remarks were people who served in barack obama's administration in various administration in various capacities
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