and freight. it is washington, your way. washington your way. in about 45 minutes, the census bureau director, the president of the alzheimer's foundation of america, and a look at the economic forecast with an economist with the international council of stopping centers -- council of shopping centers. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] host: majority leader harry reid, "washington post" and "bloomberg news" declared it one of the most productive in decades. we will look at the 111 congress and what it produced and what it didn't do as well. what do you think? is the 111 congress the most productive in a long time?

what do you think about the past two years in congress? you can also send us a tweet or an e-mail. here is bloomberg news from yesterday. no congress since the 1960's makes as much law affecting the most americans as the 111. how ever history judges the 535 men and women and the house and senate, but thing is certain -- the 111 congress made more law affecting more americans since the great society legislation of the 1960's. for the first time since president theodore roosevelt began the quest for a national health-care system, more than 100 years ago, the democrat-led house and senate took the biggest step toward achieving

that goal by giving 32 million americans access to insurance. congress rewrote the rules for wall street and the most comprehensive way since the great depression. it spent more than $1.67 trillion to revive an economy on the verge of a depression, including tax cuts for most americans, jobs for more than 3 million, construction of roads and bridges and investment in alternative energy, and it and almost two-decade ban against openly gay men and women serving in the military and yesterday ratified a nuclear arms reduction treaty with russia. for all of its ambitious achievement, the 111th congress that adjourned yesterday also witness a voter backlash driven by a 9.6% unemployment rate that cost democrats control of the house and the next senate majority -- "this is probably the most productive session of congress since at least the 1960's, what -- ," said a

historian. all the more impressive given how polarized congress has been. that is from bloomberg news this morning. here is "the washington post" -- we want to hear from you. what do you hear about the

111thth in the past two years. fred is a democrat in alexandria, virginia. caller: good morning to you, too. i wanted to counter a point that was just me because i feel that this congress and passed congress has been a total failure. a thing between "don asked, don't tell" and 9/11 law enforcements of our bill, those might be the only two productive bills. i don't think the economy being the main issue right now, the wars, i did not think they have been solved to any degree with the failed stimulus and wall street bailout. and i did not think serious measures have been taken up until this point. that is just my comment. host: gary, sterling, virginia. here in the suburbs. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am afraid that his successes are spelling the decline of the republican party.

but i also feel that we have brought it on ourselves with this insistence on this ideological correctness. and i say where that begins is this insistence on no family- planning, no abortion, use of federal money for abortion -- i find it wrong because i don't want to end up like haiti. host: regards, democrat, oakdale, california. what do you think about the 111th congress. caller: i think what is going on is the republicans kept vetoing everything americans need -- i mean, filibustering, and i think that's why they vote for barack obama because i feel republicans put them in there --

they screwed up america so that that what is going to happen is they will take over power and we will have another herbert hoover and depression that you have never seen before. host: here are some of the things that the 111, was achieved -- health-care reform, financial regulatory reform, stimulus spending, tax cuts, " podcast, don't tell" repeal, start treaty ratified and 9/11 responder's help the bill. harry reid was the demint -- eb ullient.

new york. charlie. republican line. did i say this city right? ok. caller: before i make a comment, can i ask a question? why don't you do away with the sheer raid of the one call in 30 days. there is a guy from michigan who calls almost every day. he gets on the air every time he calls. and the reason you let him on the air is because he is a liberal, he worships obama and he hates republicans. it is impossible not to recognize the voice of someone who calls three or four days a week. host: ok, charlie, what do you think about the 111th? caller: we have a president who is singing the praises of a congress who has a 13% approval rating. everything that they did it was everything of the american

people did not want. it was not only unemployment that they got shellacked -- it was because of health care, stimulus, financial regulation -- you know, peter, there was one thing that the people who watch fox news no that the people who watch "washington journal" don't know, and that is, when president obama signed the healthcare bill into law, the government either owned or controlled almost 50% of the economy. host: the next call comes from faith, a democrat from -- ohio. caller: happy holidays, everyone. i have been listening to "washington journal" for probably five years. i think we have the best president that we had an opportunity to have in a long, long time.

i think it is really a shame that our congress is acting like little children in kindergarten. and i also think that you should just, just start enforcing the laws that we already have. we don't need new laws. we need enforcement of the ones that we already have. host: independent line. arlington, virginia. caller: happy holidays. thanks for c-span. i am a first-time caller. host: welcome. caller: my comment is on the 111 congress, the most production. -- productive. the 13% approval rating to me, in my opinion, is due to actual denial of representative democracy.

when i attempted to explain my feelings -- two first principles, for we the people under the constitution. one first principle of the voters, living, breathing citizens of the united states, and the other first principle, fictitious people, never living. thousands of people hiding under the banner of groups in competition with tens of millions of voters in the united states. host: midland, texas. richard, republican line. what do you think about the 111 congress? caller: i think it is the most

expensive congress we have ever had. the amount of money, amount of federal money they spent in their congress adds up to more money than was spent from the first to the 109th congress combined. if you really want to know a productive time when we had a good congress, you have to go back to 1997, 105th, there congress started four years where instead of federal deficits, we have federal surpluses. that is when the republicans were in charge with newt gingrich and dick armey, people like that running the show and we had a much better -- make the -- they may have not made as many laws but it kept us from spending all our money. host: tweetin gin --

"usa today," congress hits stride at end of lame-duck session. this is the conclusion of the article by john fritz. osage beach, missouri. you are on the air. hi, linda.

caller: the worst government i think in history. complete of control spending. and the government cannot govern if the majority of the people do not support the government. at least, for all of this criticism, george bush is a u.s. citizen. thank you. host: detroit, mike, democrat, what do you think -- the caller: absolutely overwhelmed by the fact that this congress -- the most productive ever and here in michigan we have suffered the most out of the entire country. i simply feel, giving it social security recipients one time too wanted of $50 at the most crucial time in the economy for these folks, it could not be passed. completely overwhelming. host: "usa today" editorial this morning. amid the doom and gloom, reasons for christmas cheer. some things they are the standard the last one they list is bipartisanship has broken out in washington.

the next call, indiana. bob, republican line. you are on the air. caller: i think the first thing that we should do is start getting rid of some of these republicans in the next election. "don't ask, don't tell" -- they should have given soldiers opportunity to get out of the service with no restrictions, honorable discharge. liberals celebrate murdering babies. the next thing they will push for is a recognition of pedophilia. if you don't believe that, you can look at what ruth bader ginsburg wrote about changing the age changing theto 12.

thank you. host: what do you do in indiana? would you do in granger, indiana? caller: right now i go to work. host: what were you doing prior? caller: work in a factory. host: thank you for calling in. from "the new york post." port st. lucie, florida. scott on the independent line. what do you think? caller: upset at the unemployment -- i felt we were

kind of duped. 15.8%, going on 16% unemployment. i have been out of work for awhile. i am a 99er. i maintained job schedules -- there were able to check and look and could not find work. this congress passed extension of unemployment and duped all of the 99ers, thinking they would able to get unemployment, which they did not. it did not get extra unemployment. it past some tactics and for the rich but they left the unemployed -- and they passed some tax exempt for the rich and left us. they duped us. we are specifically looking for work. work force innovation making us look for work. host: thank you for calling in. tweets in --

"the washington times" this morning. alaskan pork rolls for the alaskan -- alaskan court rules for murkowski. janet, gaithersburg, maryland. caller: clinton left office with a budget surplus. i think bush ruined the economy by cutting taxes to the wealthiest 2% and getting into the iraq war which was unnecessary. i am disappointed in a president obama because he didn't fight for going back to the taxes for

the wealthiest two percent saw -- 2%, those making over a million, and that the economy, which was destroyed under bush, he should have fought harder because i cannot see how we can continue not getting money make over a million dollars. if you don't get your economic house in order, it does not matter how many great bills you pass. host: mount clemens michigan. independent line. caller: thanks for c-span and happy holidays. i am calling because i don't believe they have been productive at all. i am a disabled veteran. i have been disabled for quite some time. i served during desert storm. i am not getting anything. i entered port. -- i am dirt-poor. i am trying to get into a hospital i cannot get into because it is so far away. i am not getting help from anywhere.

i would like to say for all of the people getting all of the tax breaks and going to all these dinners and having a good time, just think about what you are doing and think about the people that don't have. thanks. i am really glad that you guys have this program because i think it is the best program on tv because you get an actual voice rather than some observers from other people. host: the front page of "the daily news" out of new york this morning. talking about of $4.9 billion health bill that passed congress yesterday. georgia. charles, republican. caller: yes. i have never been more afraid in my whole life. i am 82 years old right now. the democrats have just about ruined in the country. if we can't have some constructive, real republicans get up there and trying to

defeat some of these things in some way. host: can you give an example of what you think needs to be defeated? caller: the high taxes, the stimulus, the health insurance plan -- just about all of it. every time i hear debates about these people are rich -- these people talk about the people that are rich, we want to tax the heck out of them. but if we did not have rich people we would -- when it comes to businesses. host: happy holidays to you. tweets in -- kyle in henderson, nevada. democrat. caller: now i am so confused with what i was going to say. i would like to say -- i am a

conservative democrat, but i don't think that the congress should be patting themselves on the back where the president. i think what they proved is that they can play games. and they played games for two years. because they could get all of this stuff done in the end, and they should have gotten it done when they were prancing around with their majority and really -- mostly it breaks my heart. to listen to people talk about what is going on in this country and to see the direction we are going, it really breaks my heart. i have been in the non-profit sector all of my life. my husband now has to live in california because that is where his job is. we make over -- we used to make over $250,000. i did not know where these people are calling from. that is not rich in california. it is not rich in henderson, nevada. to call us a rich people and make us villains because my

next-door neighbor things i need to give him money? to me, i do not know what happened to the american dream. i did not know what happened to this country when we went from being able to -- you are supposed to be able to do as well as you can do and make as much as you can make, and now nothing -- host: can you give us a brief snapshot of what the economy is like currently in henderson, nevada? caller: i would say -- you can tell the housing, everywhere you look, there are houses that are boarded up and i know lots of people who had to move, who lost their homes. there just aren't a lot of jobs here. i should not say that -- there are jobs, but there are a lot of people who just will not take those jobs because they are actually making more on unemployment. and there are a lot about that i know who say they will at least wait for the holidays or

something -- they are making more, they have more free time. host: what do you do? caller: now i don't do anything. i lost my job because of the health care thing. our company had to lay off people -- and that was another lie. i am so disappointed. i don't know why they are doing this to us. i don't know why we are letting this happen. but that was just a lie. everything about that health care thing it is a lie. we lost our jobs because of that. host: c j in the southern california -- another e-mail from robert from south carolina -- carol in clinton, new york --

one more -- steve, democrat from kentucky -- metropolis, illinois. joe on the independent line. caller: i think the past congress has been an absolute unmitigated disaster for our country. in fact, i think the leadership should be tried for treason. the fact the bills for 1000, 1200, 1400 pages long tells me something. they have a bunch of stuff hidden in them. it is not necessary to write a bill that long to get a law passed. the whole constitution of the united states is about a dozen pages long, and look at what it was able to do? i think congress has really done -- there are two branches

of a single government. in my opinion. host: from "the washington post" this morning. norton to lose her limited both -- vote.

the lead editorial in "the washington post." a good year in iraq. formation of the government offers chance of success.

ohio. wendell on the republican line. what do you think? caller: i think the past congress will go down in history as probably one of the most deceptive the congress's ever. you know, we passed health care legislation but interestingly enough, the u.s. military -- u.s. government has probably one of the largest number of health- care workers, doctors, working for it through the u.s. military and of course the national institutes of health and other things like that. the only intervention all -- let me say that again, the only military medical interventional

drug trial is for refined fish oil for 256 lucky soldiers in camp tajik iraq. host: where are you going? caller: this is one of the things "the washington post what -- "the washington post" won't report, and the information c- span is promoting, is we have a do nothing government looking for refined fish oil for mood disorders when we have guys getting crippled, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury. there is a drug called -- host: you know what, we would go -- leave it there. thank you for your information this morning. right, democrat from phoenix. -- rick, a democrat from phoenix.

caller: all i wanted to say is i am a liberalist democrat, but i am in arizona. and john mccain is correct -- which, i did not vote for him. he is correct in that we have to control spending. john mccain is right. the first thing would do is sign -- excuse me, veto any earmarks bill, he was correct. that is all i wanted to say. i am a liberal democrat but john mccain's approach is correct. bill tweets in -- from "usa today, what iraqi

christians call off observances.

anthony, new haven, conn. independent line. what do you think about the past congress? caller: merry christmas and happy new year. i think they were productive. let me explain myself. susan had a question a couple weeks ago, why do you watch c- span. when the house debates -- and i go turn to the senate on c- span2. i am not going to say that every see thattch a bill, i republicans were objecting. i was like, where do the people get their information from? this is where i can try to get back. i am not like the guy from ohio talking about drugs -- but what

i am trying to get at, you have a list of what they passed. you left out, i believe it -- maybe i am not correct -- the equal pay for women. i cannot remember last name. host: the first bill that they passed. caller: i get so aggravated. my 91-year-old dad lives with me. i was born in 1941. it's, again, just kind of focus -- what about the 111 of congress did you like or dislike? caller: a lot of people were so angry because of the economy. and i understand that. but that is not a negative thing. people are upset because -- they

did get a lot done, it is just that they were so angry. the past -- small business bills, i think it was 16. i could be. host: you found that they got a lot done. caller: there is so much you can do when there is a democratic congress -- democratic house and democratic senate and democratic president. i believe, like i said, i was watching c-span2 -- i object, i object. instead of objecting, the sitdown at the table and work with the president. host: all right, thank you for calling in. merry christmas to you. dean, republican. london, ky. caller: first of all, merry christmas to christians everywhere and to remainder, enjoy your day off with pay, i guess. i did not deal congress has been

very productive especially when you see the trend in the bill pass. give them about eight or nine months when they start going through this stuff and see what was so called productive, which will turn out to be a destructive congress, what they have done to this country and us tax payers. and i am not a supporter of rich people necessarily, but they are necessary for our economy. i get so tired of people wanting to raise taxes on the wealthy, raise taxes on the wealthy. listen, folks spirit the wealthy are going to start leaving this country -- listen, folks -- the wealthy are going to start leaving this country. countries like brazil are begging them to come down there and bring their money with them. you wait and see what happens if you start harassing these folks tax wise, they will start doing this very thing. and if that happens, look out. we are headed for dictatorship

under one of the most evil administrations in my lifetime. and i have voted in several presidential elections. right now we are really in a mess in our country. we better drop to our knees, thank god for what we have an pray to god he will lead us through where we are right now. host: from yahoo news -- journalists in norway and russia did wikileaks files. -- get wikileaks files.

that is in yahoo news this morning. from "politico," barack obama's plans to close it didn't know in a shambles. -- close gitmo is in shambles. this is from "the wall street journal." may not surprise a lot of people. he throws chief says he will give up his bonus. -- heathrow chief says he will

give up his bonus. is in "the wall street journal" this morning. highland park, new jersey. peter, democrat. good morning. caller: i think if you or anybody watching this program and little while today they would understand one of the big problems in this country, and it is education, it is the fact of the matter is that nobody knows that december 21, christmas, is a national holiday and that is

the holiday. i think 90% of the people do not know that 2011 is the christian new year, when jesus christ was born 2011 years ago. host: 111th congress. caller: oh, the 111 congress, they are the best money can buy and whoever gives them the most money, they do their bidding. this all started with ronald reagan. when he became president, the national debt was under $1 trillion. he doubled it. every other president since then realized to get reelected they have to borrow and borrow to get the money out to people to make them happy and then they will get reelected and in the meantime the younger generation who are complete idiots in their college, 20's 30's, 40's, they

have to pay for it -- host: we are going to leave it there. you have a great christmas season. lead editorial in "the financial times." odd outcome for net neutrality.

here is the conclusion -- that is "the financial times" editorial. paul is a republican from charleston, south paul is gone. we will go to barbara in north carolina. independent line. caller: good morning. caller you know, i cannot think whether

you are a democrat or republican or independent or tea party or whoever you are, we are american citizens. and our country should be taking care of us. just like they are giving the rich and the tax breaks and the cuts. there are people who are out here -- they are able to work, making money. they use their money to make money. but people like us that have been injured and disabled -- going on my third year. none of us on disability. we have not even gotten a cost- of-living raise. but there for with the new stimulus and health care, but then our health care and prescription cost goes up, our monthly payments go down, and right now at the point in my life, i cannot even live. i cannot even afford to pay rent and utilities. i and below the poverty level. -- by now below the probable

level. we worked like everybody else. if we did not -- we did not ask to get hurt or injured. we did not choose to have to live on a fixed income. where is the people that help us? host: elizabeth, texas, democrat. caller: thank you for taking my call. the 111th congress, they did not accomplish as much as they could have because -- i listened to it over and over, night after night and it seems like all they could do is say no to everything. the republicans would say no, the democrats would say, let's try it to see if there is some way we can pass this bill or whatever it was and they would just go on and on and on. we did not get as much done as we should have. we could have gotten so much more accomplished.

with regards to the taxing -- the major issue is the taxing -- yeah, the taxing of the wealthy. there is a wonderful thing coming up, tax reform. tax reform is really important and i think we will get to the source of the problem if we just look at an outside the box. host: thank you, elizabeth, calling in pared from "the detroit free press, " john conyers reimburses taxpayers for the car his son drove.

george e. in warren, ohio. democrat. you are on the air. what do you think? caller: my opinion, i think they did a great job and mr. obama is doing an excellent job. these republicans need to realize he did not even serve his presidency yet and he is picking up all the slack bush left us and i give my hat off

to president obama. the only disappointment is when he passed the tax cut, he should have included the 99ers in there so we could have a nice christmas. host: where have you been laid off? caller: construction company. laid off a couple of years. in and out every day, interviews, and all they tell me, occupation for six months -- it is heartbreaking especially when you have three children. host: george, thank you for calling in this morning. coming up in 45 minutes we will be looking at alzheimer's research and that funding for that. but up next, the director of the census. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

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this weekend, a "q&a" continues saturday and sunday with interviews from london. the lead -- labor party's shadow minister for public health on budget cut plans and her experiences as a minority in parliament. sunday, comparing the british and american forms of government as we talk to our guest about elections, impact of money in races, the power of the prime minister, taxes, social issues and the cost of living. this saturday and sunday night at 8:00 p.m. >> it should not take a constitutional crisis, a terrorist attack or financial calamity to someone from each of us and his body collectively the greatness with which we are capable, nor can america afford to wait. >> search for a farewell speeches and hear from retiring senators on the c-span video library. with every c-span programs since

1987. more than 160,000 hours, all on line, all free, it is washington your way. >> "washington journal" continues. host: robert groves, director of senses. . "usa today" headline. the subheading is, the nation sees the slowest growth, 9.7%, since the great depression. why? guest: if you look at many decades of the last hundred years, like a lot of developed countries in the world we are gradually reducing the rate of growth. still growing but the rate is slowing. two exceptional decades -- the decade of the great depression had the lowest overall growth rebid, then the decade of the

1950's that saw the baby boom had the huge growth rate. you take bid two points out, gradually reducing. a 9.7 over the past 10 years. we are still growing. the why of that generally believed to be the combination of the aging of the population -- as we see in this society, but also the lower fertility rate of developed countries. all the countries are experiencing immigration but the net effect is the slowing of growth. host: in the growth, how much ease immigration? guest: we do not know exactly. if we look outside to other data sources, are best best in this decade would be maybe 60% of the growth was natural increase of resin and population and maybe 40% migration. host: if you look at this knapp from yesterday, it looks as if michigan is the only state that

lost population in the last 10 years. guest: in the 2000 census, no state lost population but in the 1990 census, four states lost population. it goes up and down and changes over time. host: what surprised you about the senses this year? you come i think there are several notable things. this is the first time we have gone over 300 million. the last senses was 208 1 million. that is a bit of a threshold. the second, the slowing of growth. and then the third that you can see on every map that we produce is a reduction of of the growth rate in of the northeast and midwest regions. so, your example of michigan shows some of that. and then higher growth rates in the south and the west. this has been going on for some time.

host: will that continue? guest: who knows? you first have to ask why it is happening. it is really quite complex. we know the midwest was the heartland of the manufacturing sector. we know what happened to that sector recently. we also know the aging of the population is producing retirement mobility to the southern areas. so, there are a lot of different regions. host: 202 is the area code for all of our numbers. roves is our guest -- demographically, how does the u.s. now breakdown by race? guest: we don't know that from this census yet.

the reason that we did a couple of days ago was to fulfill the constitutional purpose of the senses, which is to guide the reapportionment of the house of representatives. we based that on state population totals. starting in february, all of the details of the data will start coming out. host: any other details that you released yesterday or that you have that you can share? guest: i think some things are kind of interesting. we tracked the population center -- what do we mean by that? imagine the united states was on a balance beam and everyone weighed the same amount and we try to find that point that balances the country. it has been moving west and south for decade after decade. in fact, in 1790, do you know where the center of the nation was? kent county, maryland. so, it has gradually moved west and south. right now it is sitting in the

state of missouri. we have not calculated this yet, but we've speculated it may have slipped to arkansas. that it is going to go south and west a little more. we have not seen it yet. host: you have quite an interactive web site. guest: thank you. we love our website. it's could tell us about it. guest: it is 2010census.gov. i think you will enjoy it, and history buff or anyone mildly curious about their state over time for their region. it is interactive and it allows you to click through the years to see how the country or your state change. it also allows you to look at apportionment figures over time. host: do we have economic data yet? guest: not yet. i need to remind you we had a

very short questionnaire. we did it deliberately to keep the burden down. so the amount of information will be less than the prior decade. we have this wonderful new sample survey, of the american community survey that annually will pump out estimates on socio-economic issues and housing and so on. host: ok. so, you released the apportionment data for reapportionment. we know who gain seats and who does not. we have that information out there. texas is the big winner. new york and ohio, the big losers. california didn't change for the first time. guest: that's right. california did not change the the first time. it is remarkable. california in the last century had the momentum of the largest single growth. in 1960, california got eight new seats based on the senses because of its gigantic growth. but it is not that california is

not growing. it is indeed. it is not growing as fast as other states in the region or country. for host: have you made any predictions regarding politics with regard to the senses? guest: that is the thing i know least about, as it turns out. one of the things i am very proud of about the census bureau is that we are a nonpartisan agency. we, like you, are devoted to getting information out to the public and letting them decide what it means. so, there will be tons of political scientist who will comment on the politics. host: february of 2011 is when we can see a more and more comprehensive information. guest: let me tell you how it works. the next step in the political or governmental process is the redistricting. they do that on their own. we have nothing to do with that. but we supply them the data for doing that. that starts in february. that is very rich, block-level

data. population counts broken by race and ethnicity. so, jumping on those data, which millions of people do, will allow description of things as small as school districts and other things. later on we will produce other products with richard deyton. host: west palm beach, florida. kathleen, democrat. you are on what the director of the census bureau. caller: good morning and happy holidays first and foremost. i wanted to find out -- in social science we say that there are too many variations within any group to constitute a true race. how as americans are we supposed to identify ourselves if we are interracial or hispanic -- black-hispanic.

how is it done? or is it whenever you feel? it's got i think we got the point, kathleen. guest: that is a great question. let me give a little history. in the year 2000, for the very first time all of us were able to check multiple boxes for our racial identity and ethnicity. not too many people did it. we, again, gave ourselves the opportunity of doing that in the 2010 census. now, what has happened between 2000 and 2010 -- the decade of tiger woods and barack obama, we have had tons of discussions about combinations of racial identity. so, one of the very interesting things i think sociologically as you referenced is how many people check multiple boxes on the race question. we will know that in a matter of months.

the second thing that you raised is how we measure race. we left that to the individuals. that is, we self-identified our racial categories, and that is how we have done it for host: we are going to go to california, and dana, caller: independent line good morning and merry christmas. i was just wondering if with all of the anti-government, anti- incumbent air, if you notice a drop in the amount of census forms returned because of that? was it more or less, compared to other years? do people seem more cooperative or less cooperative? guest: great question.

something i gave daily attention to a few months ago, because of all the press about this. first, i want to remind us that throughout history the census, during the taking of the senses there is often the controversy of one sort or another, so that is not unusual. second, the data analysis could not pick up that trend. we don't have any evidence. there were press stories on this and did dividual comments made by folks around the country, but it did not seem to have an effect on the bulk of the american public. despite -- in other surveys and those done throughout the country, and the lowering of participation rates year by year, we ask the american public achieved the same rates that we did in 2000 -- we as the

american public. we came through. host: robert groves. and the estimates of the illegal population? guest: we don't have that. we released on december 6 another way of estimating the population, which is based on birth certificates and death certificates and estimates of migration. dare we brought in the best stenographers in the country to help us do that. there was an agreement that we cannot estimate the immigration write very well as a community because of the lack of documentation on some illustration -- immigration. we had a range of numbers between 306 million and 313 million. when the census came in at 308.7 million, that is just a little

higher than the middle of that range, so that makes us feel good about the census. we never know the answer to your question from the measurements we do. host: does the census bureau estimates that in any way? guest:no, but the carefully estimate the total number of immigrants. piecing those two things apart is a really hard demographic problem. host: one of the states with the biggest population game was idaho. barrie, on the republican line. caller: good morning. i would like to wish those unfortunate people in this country a very merry christmas and i pray for them every day. my second point is i was wondering if the "dream act" is passed, what effect will this have on our census? thank you.

guest: let's go back in history. maybe that is the best way to do this. in march of 1790, the first house of representatives passed a census act of 1790. a lot of the founding fathers were members of that first congress, by the way. they specified that we count everyone in the country whether they were citizens or not. although this is, a controversy that comes up every 10 years, for every census since 1790 we have counted everyone, whether they were citizens or not. so, unless there's a change all a part of congressional action with regard to who we count in the census, which by the way the constitution gives as a responsibility to congress, we will continue counting everyone who lives in the country.

the "dream act" would have no effect on who we attempt to account. host: robert groves, people are moving to the south and the west. where are they moving? guest: we can see the big gainers. texas received four states because it grew at a rate of 20.6. the biggest percentage growth is nevada where a 35.1%. nevada is not a really large state in terms of overpopulation, but that is an enormous growth rate. in the year 2000, nevada in 10 years grew 66%. clark had a good growth rate this year as well. -- florida had a good growth rate. the south and the west are growing with each decade. for the first time, the west

region has larger population than the midwest. this is a shift, a turning point. those states that came to the union at the last point are gradually filling up and getting more balance in terms of the population. host: city's growing, rural areas growing? guest: we don't have that yet. we will in a few months. host: ohio on the line. caller: i am the owner of a property in ohio and another in florida. i got in the mail the florida property house. i called the post office. i never received the ohio property. they said they returned it to the census.

they did not afford that mail to me for my ohio property. i have many friends that filled out the one for florida, but they don't live in florida. they live in ohio. guest: it's a great question. kind of complicated answer, but let me talk you through its. first of all, the folks like you that have multiple properties do get multiple forms often. we ask that they report on the form where they usually live. the second -- so i don't know your personal circumstance, but the second thing to notice bais that on all the houses whee we don't get a return form, we go back and knock on doors. if we knock on the door and no

one answers, then we get information from a proxy respondent, which could be a building manager in a condominium development or it could be a neighbor. many times, people who don't remember getting interviewed face-to-face are correct in their memory, but we have obtained the information from other sources. at the end of this process, i can promise you that for every address that we had on our list, over 135 million addresses, we have a disposition that came either from the mail questionnaire returned, a face- to-face interview, or the reports from the and knowledgeable other person. host: census 2010, 380 million, 745,000 people in the u.s..

-- 380.7 million. when it comes to reapportionments and redistricting, texas got four new house seats. florida got two. arizona, nevada, south carolina, utah, and washington state all got another seat. new york and ohio each lost two seats. losing one seat are louisiana, michigan, missouri, new jersey, and pennsylvania. guest: indiana grew at a lower than average rate, 6.2%. its population was suspect in

the algorithm, they retain their same seats. the same in minnesota, which was on the edge. the very last seat was assigned to minnesota, under the algorithm. that allowed them to keep all of their seats. the state that just barely lost out, you could think of that as they 436th seat, if we had one, was north carolina, which would have been a jump for north carolina. the difference between those two states was about 15,700 or so population, so that's a pretty big gap. in the last decade that was less than a thousand, much smaller. host: alabama did not do as well. guest: alabama grew at a 7.5%

rate. the way that the assignment of seats goes, it is a function of the relative size of the state, but also the population count. the first thing that is done is that we assign one seat to every state and then we rank the states after that. and we start filling out the other seats. in that ordering, the big states get all of the nice seats and then gradually you get down host: california has 37 million people, so you do a 37 million/500,000? guest: actually, it is the harmonic mean. it is the square root of the population over the rank, times the rank minus one. we have done this in baseball. it's a fascinating thing the

this is in law since 1940. the 1920 census was a unique one in that the legislature did not reapportion itself in 1920. this was the first year that it decided to be 435 total. suddenly there was a zero sum gain. it was also a massive movement from rural areas to urban areas before that. so they went 10 years without reapportioning themselves. finally agreed on these terms that have stock since 1940. host: in 1920, did some of the longtime rural districts have a lot more power than they should have? guest: yes. the 1910 reapportionment, we were a more rural area. also, in 1910, we went up to a larger town. the nation was growing.

restarted with the hosts of rep with 65 members and they kept expanding -- kept expanding overtime. that made it easy. as soon as you say 435 and no more, then it becomes a zero sum game. host: this will take effect in 2013. so the 2012 election will be the old? guest: the congress that begins in january, 2013, based on the election of 2012, will do the reapportionment -- will reflect the reapportionment. the states have a lot of work to do in redrawing boundaries. even though the states have not changed in numbers, internally, the population distribution might have shifted and they are redrawing boundaries as well. host: next call from mary on the

independent line from minnesota. thanks for holding. caller: good morning. i have two questions. one is for c-span and one is for the gentle man. tryinging a good job in to educate the americans, but since the early 1900's there has not been that much change in terms of representation. because of that and since up to the 1960's, we are not getting civics lessons. americans don't understand how things are different up -- divied up. wyoming has less than 600 with one representative. states like california or minnesota, we keep getting shafted. that is why the founders made it possible in the early days so that it was 30,000 41

representatives, and 30,000 population -- for one representative. please help educate the americans that they need to push congress to make it more representative so that you don't have smaller states all the time micromanaging what happens to this country. host: thanks for the question. what is your question for the census bureau director? guest: i know that he cannot change it because i listened to what he said a few days ago when the report came out. could he help educate americans so that they can know what things are so they can get congress to change because we are a democratic republic after all. role in this is to supply to the congress itself

these numbers as honestly and as professionally as we can. then it is the role of congress to make these decisions. i remind us, for brief time there were 437 members of congress when alaska and hawaii came in before the census and then it went back down to 435. the problem of equal representation across the states is a been shoveling problem. if you agree that every state gets at least one representative, then by definition no matter what, your population size is you are going to have at least one. there was the wyoming case in that regard that you cited. the only way to make this work in terms of arithmetic is if we have many, many more representatives and then we could make things a little more equal.

returning to the days -- and you correctly cited -- that very first congress where each representative was attached to about 34,000 people. we are now over 700,000 per rep. there is no end to this process unless we increase the numbers of people in the house. that is an issue for congress and the voters. host: this is a tweet. now to annapolis, maryland on the republican line. caller: i worked for the census in annapolis. guest: thank you. caller: i have some questions. one of the things we did was we went to soup kitchens and

counted the number of people. people do not live at soup kitchens. in some cases when a few days later we would go to another soup kitchen i would see the same people that i already counted. it's about three blocks from the other soup kitchen. what is that about? guest: thank you. you are one of our heroes. there were about 1 million people like you who, as a public service, even though we did not pay you very much, you helped america to count itself and you are one of my heroes. let me go to your question. the difficulty of counting people who are homeless is enormous. we do the best we can, but we admit we are not perfect. how do we do this? on march 29, 30, and 31, we had

three days of operations, which was the culmination of months about reached to community organizations, working with them to find out where homeless folks congregate. we went to where they get services. soup kitchens, shelters. we also identified the outdoor locations where they sleep. over those three days, we reached out and tried to account folks. when we had full identities of folks, for example, you encounter the two people at two -- the same person at two superstitions, we tried not to duplicate cases when we had identifications of people enumerated multiply, we did that. we added goes to the aggregates. the number of 308.7 million includes all of the homeless folks that we counted in that

way. let me tell you, we admit imperfections in that. i know that there is probably somebody in florida living out in the woods in a tent and i suspect we did not count that person. we did not count people who want to evade the account that are homeless. we do the best we can. we tried to improve with every census, but it is a challenge. host: how did it out meyers of the hawaii and alaska do -- out ?lliers guest: alaska grew at a higher rates, 13.3%. to 630,000 people.

the population density of alaska remains the lowest in the country with 1.1 persons per square mile. host: the highest census? guest: on the east coast. d.c. is the highest for sure. host: but of the state's? guest: it could be rhode island. i don't have in front of me. host:paul from massachusetts. caller: two questions. first, with respect to residents of the united states who are undocumented, how did you reach out to try to count as many of those people as possible? second question, on the map you showed, the largest increase in members of congress, the shift

was to the southwestern part of the united states, which many of the governors of those states have indicated that they have the largest population of undocumented residents. i was wondering if that -- those undocumented residents -- has contributed to the increase in population there for the increase in the number of house seats? guest: two great questions. first, how did we go about counting the undocumented? we counted them the same way as all other people. what did we do to reach out to them? this was, i think, one of the most heartwarming stories of this census. we had over 250,000 partner organizations, small community groups, sometimes these were

things like residents associations in an apartment building or it could be a community group, the ymca or community center. they got the word out. these or all volunteer activities. no money exchanged hands. they helped us get the word out to their communities. in the immigrant communities, especially the latino community, the energy and activity countrywide was just enormous. all sorts of activities were going on especially in the southwestern states. we worked with community leaders to convey the message that the way we do a census in this country is completely separate from any enforcement agency activity. when you answer the questions in the census, the data is kept constaand confidential. your group, your community,

benefits through those counts. to the extent that message got out, we feel good about the the results. it's a tough problem. consistently getting the message, we do the best we can. over the next few weeks and months, i think, instead of expressing my opinion, we will have real data to evaluate so we can compare to the benchmarks. host: tina tweets this: guest: it is an important responsibility that is shared by state governors. in some states, under the voting rights act, the department of justice, the u.s. department of justice, oversees the construction, the boundaries

of districts in order to make sure it is fair for minority representation. host: the next call for the census bureau director robert groves, milton, from new york. caller: good morning. why does it cost $13 billion? you just said that you cannot count the immigrants. if they are undocumented immigrants, this documentation, so you should be able to count them. if they are not documented, why are they not sent back? all ice and send them back. -- call ice. guest: economy reiterate, we count every resident. we count people whether they are documented or not. by the way, remember, on the census questionnaire, we never ask whether you are a citizen or not or whether you have

documentation. so we really don't know the breakdown of the immigrant population. in terms of estimating the immigration, because of the undocumented portion of immigrant populations, it is very difficult for us to use records along to estimate. your first question was about the cost of the census? the census is an expensive activity of the federal government. i think the final tally will be about 13 billion. the-- when i came into my appointment in 2009 our estimate was it was going to cost 14.5 or $13.7 billion. since i've been in, some

wonderful things have happened. we have a budget this year, this fiscal year, a $7.4 billion. we were able to return $1.8 billion of that to the treasury because we did not need it. since we did not need it, we returned to the treasury. host: how did that happen? guest: $800 million of that was a contingency fund in case that things happened likes hurricanes. we were reported about age the h1n1 epidemic. none of those bad things happened. we saved $800 million on that. the rest of the money, kudos to the american public for returning the forms, which means we did not have to pay salaries to people to knock on as many doors as we were prepared to do. the other thing that happened was we hired people in this recession with job skills and

experience and with desire to work that need the money that were so productive that they finished the work at very high quality levels faster than we thought. that yielded savings. i am worried about the cost of the census. i believe in these economic times we have to plan for the most cost-efficient sense as we can. we are working on that and try to be as cost-efficient as we can in 2020. tweet:here's a guest: i would guess new york or california. whenever you have 600,000 people on the streets, a lot of things happen. we had over 700 incidents when our folks knocked on the door, they were greeted with a gun in their face.

600,000 people on the streets. people knocking on 50 million households doors. out of 100 million knocks on the door, 700 times of guns in the face. we had one shooting death and another due to a traffic accident. each of these things are real tragedies. it hurt us as a family, but it is a relatively rare event. 700 over 100 million. host: last call for robert groves, from baltimore. caller: i have a question regarding redistricting as it relates to the 2010 census. look at the states where the population might have shifted.

if you can answer this, why are the district's gerrymandered? could there be a case uses for the results of the senses to make the case that the district's need to be more square and true and truly represent the people? guest: this is truly out of my domain of authority. i do know that the data we are given can be analyzed by anyone. in some states, citizens commissions have been appointed for the redistricting process, in an attempt to address the issues you have raised. in other states, this is a straight political process, it would be subject to negotiations. the ability with cheap computers now to form geographical boundaries to achieve all sorts of desired ends is almost

unlimited. this will be an interesting decade redistricting, but it is not part of our job. host: robert groves, director of the census bureau, how much longer will you be in this position? guest: i serve at the pleasure of the president. i may have a memo on my desk tomorrow. if not, it will be in tied to this day in office. host: i hope you will come back to talk about more intricate data. guest: i would love to. host: in 45 minutes, and economic discussion. next, a discussion on alzheimer's research and funding. first an update from c-span radio. >> russian president is pleased the u.s. senate ratified the nuclear arms control treaty and is urging russia lawmakers to do the same. his spokesman says the russian lawmakers will need time to

analyze the ramifications before making their decision. president obama is in hawaii for his 10-day family vacation. joining his wife and daughters and their dog, vacationing at the family's rented house oceanside since last weekend. there is expected to return to washington on january 2. north korea is planning to launch a sacred war. the comment from the defense chief of the north comes hours after the south staged massive air and firing drills on the ground as well. gov. bill richardson of new mexico is worried that tensions could flare if the north tondons pintentions abandon from retaliation. heathrow airport in london

is getting back to normal slowly. it expects only a few cancellations or delays. yesterday the airport finally reopened both runways for the first time since saturday. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> on christmas eve, nancy pelosi and other members of congress like the capitol christmas tree. president obama and the first family attend a peace ceremony. and and the first television debates, michael dukakis spoke about that and the impact on the presidential campaign. on christmas day, the former minister.rime mir and supreme court justice sandra

day o'connor talks about life on the court. "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined by the president and ceo of the alzheimer's research group. how much of the government contribute each year to funding for research? not nearly enough. a small portion of the money is used for research over all. there's a growing population of individuals with alzheimer's disease. it is estimated at 5.1 million americans with alzheimer's disease. that's about one alison of aid over the age of 65. out of 8 over the age of 65. what we are looking at is an

incredible group of individuals impacted by this disease. simply at this moment, not enough money being invested in research for the cure. above all of that is also to an investment in infrastructure that is required to support caregivers and to provide care for individuals with alzheimer's disease. host: according to the national institutes of health, alzheimer's research, government funding is estimated at $480 million for 2011. the figures have been dropping since 2006. why is that? guest: i am really not sure. there is enormous amount of sensitivity in washington. every single elected official? i have spoken whisper -- wiht recognize --everyone i have

spoken with amrecognizes this problem. this disease is front and center and we are focusing all of our federal agencies to look at how they could coordinate their service is better. additionally, start to take a serious look at what is required to be this disease, what is required as an infrastructure of care until we end up with a silver bullet. it comes down to finances and coordination. host: when have we learned in the last 20 years of research? guest: i think we have learned a lot. there's an enormous amount of hope. the hope is in the hearts and hands of researchers all over the world. i've had the opportunity to meet many of them in my travels. they are incredibly compassionate and determined to make a difference. there is an enormous amount of

expertise. probably the greatest minds on the plan is working on research for the cure for alzheimer's disease. the problem is we are not sure what the cause of the disease is. in the absence of knowing exactly what causes alzheimer's disease, we are really not able to come up with a cure. in the meantime what is left is the burden of caregiving for the population we have. mostly it is being picked up not by federal dollars to as much as family members providing the care day in and day out for love once. host: we have set aside the fourth line for those affected by alzheimer's disease. if you are care giver or family member. we want to hear your point of view as well. according to the alzheimer's foundation of america, the national cost of caring for individuals with alzheimer's is estimated at $100 billion annually.

alzheimer's disease costs u.s. businesses $60 billion a year. stemming from lost productivity and absenteeism by primary care givers and insurance costs. the annual cost of caring for one individual with alzheimer's ranges from nearly $18,500 -- again, how many people are estimated to have alzheimer's currently? guest: about 5.1 million americans right now. with the ratio being one in 8 over the age of 65, this disease has no place to go but to grow. simply because we are not in a

position where at the moment we have a cure. but i think the other piece to the numbers that you just mentioned, peter, is what is not included is the evaluation of what the cost would be around caregivers' actually providing care. if we were to pay them a fair wage for their activities, what would that increase be? it is estimated there is about 11 million caregivers for this population of alzheimer's disease. if you were to do the aisle worst, i have heard members as great as $50 billion being added to that number. -- if you were to do the hours. that is being a sore spot families. host: can you make the -- that is being absorbed by families, the cost.

there was talk of aluminum been the cause of alzheimer's disease. there was a statement made three or four years ago. the problem is that at the foundation we ended up with a lot of phone calls from family members, mostly women, who believed they had given their husbands alzheimer's disease because they used to cook in aluminum pots and pans. there was enormous confusion about the statement that was being made. at the moment, aluminum has every other possible component and element and is being looked at as a possible cause for the disease. but there's no definite research that is the cause of alzheimer's disease. host: where does it come from? guest: the name comes from the

founder, who was able to determine its 50 years ago in one of his patients that was coming to them and he was able to capture what were some of the manifestations of the disease. it is attributed to the doctor in this regard. the whope is that as we are learning more -- and folks need to know there is an aggressive move to try to determine what the cause is -- there's no doubt that over 100 years there's been an aggressive move to use every facet of our knowledge and experience to come to a determination. i believe what we are probably looking at in the next 15 or 20 years is a combination of treatments that will offset the progression of the symptoms so that we will die of some other

natural cause. it is the situation the aids virus presently enjoys. individuals with hiv can live a long time given the treatments readily available. our hope is alzheimer's disease may have that. simply because i don't know if a silver bullet will be found. what our experience is, is doctors are saying it might be a combination of different activities, different situations and scenarios. a perfect storm that accursed in the human body that brings about alzheimer's disease. for the last 100 years to now, we are in a situation of trying to find out exactly what is the cause. host: richard is calling from north carolina. go ahead. caller: hi, i want to find out if they are going to do more research on alzheimer's.

i had two sisters that passed away with alzheimer's. guest: sure, absolutely. the federal government is looking at this now. i do know from testimony that i recently gave before congress that everyone is sensitive to it and realizes the irritants. the foundation has been asking for an increase in the fiscal year 2010 national institutes of health budget to increase its to 1.4 billion, and to be allocated specifically to the national institutes of aging. the reality of chronic diseases, especially alzheimer's disease, really need to be head-on because it is an investment that will pay off in the long run. the alzheimer's foundation of

america has a very bold attitude in this regard. the private sector is also engaged. a lot of major pharmaceutical companies all over the world are invested as well in trying to determine by research what exactly is the cause. not just with coming up with a cure, but more effective treatments as well. some of us know that there are some treatments available that seemed to slow or offset the progression of some of the symptoms of this disease. regrettably, as with everything, the disease ultimately wins. we hoped that overtime and the more we learn and are able to implement our knowledge, that we will be in the position to hold off the disease and the progression of the symptoms of disease so they will die of some other natural causes or that their role be a cure. host: the next call is from denver. go ahead, john.

caller: good morning. i witnessed my grandmother being the valedictorian and then went then nothenwh -- knowing who i wsa. was. is there a connection with mad cow disease? guest: i have also been impacted with alzheimer's in my family. my mother, two years ago, a relaxed lunch, she had terminal cancer as well as dementia -- in her last month. the incident you mentioned about your loved one being the valedictorian, being someone of cognitive capacity and

intelligence, it is the very traumatic experience. i feel your pain and i have experienced it personally. it is the one thing we have in common, as a nation, many of us have been impacted personally by this disease or we know someone impacted. this is really the time for all of us as a country to start a unifying our voices behind this disease and really pressing congress to do more. the national alzheimer's project act is a good for step. it talks about putting together a national plan and putting together funding and putting alzheimer's disease front and center. it is really going to take our collective voice to get this done. as a nation we will have to make sure they understand how important this is to us and that we want the pain and suffering to stop. that is something that we, as a nation, uniting our voices, can do. your question about mad cow

disease and the relation to alzheimer's disease has been looked at and continues to be looked at. regrettably, if it was that simplistic, i am sure we would have come up with an understanding of that by now. host: burleson, texas, andrew. caller: good morning. i have a question. you partially answered it. could you elaborate a little bit more on the dementia part of alzheimer's. how does that connect? my mother is in the early stages and is living with my sister. her basic thing is she wants to live at home. she has been diagnosed with mild dementia. i was looking at a program the

night when they passed a bill that was supposed to allocate more money for people to start living and palt home. guest: dementia is an umbrella term. it speaks more to a specific medical state of experiments in one's brain. that impediment we commonly recognized as forgetfulness and the like. dementia is an umbrella term. 60% of all diagnosed cases of dementia is alzheimer's disease. there's also a huntington's disease and louis [unintelligible] all of those involved and deprivation in the brain. my recommendation is to try to determine by either the approve the position that you are presently seeing or maybe by way

of of royal to someone more specialized in dementia, you want to find out exactly what type of dementia we are talking about. treatments will veary according to what type of dementia. you want to truly capture an accurate diagnosis because treatment will make the difference. it is based on the diagnosis. host: diagnosing alzheimer's thoroughly, is it possible that there are some treatments now for early diagnosis, and is a hereditary? guest: diagnosis of alzheimer's disease right now is probably up percentile that they

are able to diagnose. the most common thing is memory problems. it's the one thing that if you ask someone on the street what alzheimer's is, they say forgetfulness. the alzheimer's foundation of america fully believes there is the opportunity of capturing early diagnosis and that we as a nation needs to speak about that and get educated on what are some of the cognitive difficulties, what are some of the issues that we might be experiencing, so that we can hold an intelligent conversation with our doctors. many of us have not been talked about how to discuss some of our cognitive issues. if we were having memory problems, how do we communicate that with our doctor? we all have ideas of what causes diabetes. we all understand hypertension. those types of common knowledge that we have as a nation is the cause of national campaigns.

the alzheimer's foundation of america has established national memory screening day seven years ago. that was not talking about alzheimer's disease specifically, but rather stepping back far enough to look broadly at the most common manifestations, that being memory problems. the benefits of that is that we found tens of thousands of people participated on national memory screening day and went to see a health care professionals to have their screening done. and to determine whether they have memory problems. then the ability for that individual with education, then they were able to go back and talk to their doctor and find out what was the cause of some of their memory problems. what folks need to know is not all memory problems mean you have alzheimer's disease. there are a lot of common causes of memory problems that are irreversible. vitamin d deficiency, stressed,

combination of prescription drugs your doctor has prescribed for other health issues you have. a combination of some of these treatments can cause side effects of memory problems. it comes down to an enormous amount of education and stepping forward and talking to your doctor. the alzheimer's foundation website has lots of information did educate you on how to talk to your doctor. there are treatments right now available early and mid-stage alzheimer's disease that are able to offset the progression of the disease. are they as effective as we want them to be? absolutely not. all of us watching right now, when we are sick, we go to the doctor and tell them what the issue is and they give us a pill and generally we get better. the commonality of this disease is it does not presently enjoy that mode of operation. what we have is what we have. the most precious thing around

alzheimer's disease right now in absence of a cure comes down to quality of life. how long can we sustain the highest quality of life for the longest amount of time. that's the goal and objective. i have not met one person in my travels whose, to me and not said they did not want one more presses de with their mother or father or loved one. that is the goal. -- that they did not want one more precious day. host: amarillo, texas, margaret's. caller: good morning. guest: good morning. caller: my husband had alzheimer's. he was 6 most of the time. he was 59 and died when he was 69. -- he was sick most of the time. i kept him at home seven years

and finally had to put him in an alzheimer's unit. my husband had been an electrician. we had a business. when this happened, when i had to put him in the alzheimer's ward, we had to sell everything we had for the money. it was awful. i am 78 years old and now and i have nothing but my social security check. people areow how poor going to survive like this. we worked so hard and my husband worked so hard all of his life. [crying] thank you. guest: i am very sensitive to your issue, margaret.

you represent the many heroes in our country who have stepped up and provided care, not just financial. we could probably talk about the emotional and psychological and the physical toils that came with being a caregiver for your husband. i have no doubt about that. i know people are listening right now and watching and they feel where you are coming from and understand right now what you have, your social security checks, everything other than that had to be sold to provide care. that's a common issued for loved ones. for people without long-term care insurance, it becomes a difficulty. and not all long-term care insurance covers alzheimer's disease scare. we need to be sensitive about that. the problem right now is medicare does not afford a benefit for the diagnosis of

alzheimer's disease. unless there is some other co- issue that exists that allows you to get mental care and have that scare reimbursed, it comes out of pocket. so it is absolutely a difficulty. i know that you chose the facility that you chose and you spend what you spent because you knew that it was in absolute best interest of your husband and it was your love for your has been that made you do that. i know that passion is still there. i know that you would not change anything in that regard because you know that it was love for him that you did that. that is being replicated all over the country. people are going through an enormous fight because of the true love that they have for their loved ones. you are one of the heroes of our country. there's no doubt. i am glad you took the time treblinka up because i know there are the people listening and watching who have the same

experience and feel they are isolated and alone. -- i am glad you took the time to call us up. we don't have the resources to care for this issue across the country, but we can make sure you are not alone and make sure you are appreciated and supported as much as we are able to support. host: i want to have you go back to the medicare and medicaid role when it comes to alzheimer's. guest: regrettably right now medicaid is state-by-state. it allows the opportunity for different states to allocate what they will or will not cover in relation to alzheimer's disease. medicare right now, the one thing we were able to do in the new health care reform law is we were able to put into law the question of cognitive impairment in new annual medicare exam.

it was a big step because medicare does not have a benefit for alzheimer's disease at the moment. by putting in cognitive impairment in to the annual wellness' example, that raised the bar. medicare will be able to focus on some of the cognitive issues as a result, which ultimately alzheimer's will be part of that. is it enough? no, more needs to be done. we are doing the best we can at the foundation to make sure that we are pushing the argument, that we are trying to get as much done as possible. maybe one day there will be a benefit for alzheimer's disease. that would help so many caregiver is providing care out of their own pockets. host: the next call is from

lancaster, pennsylvania. go ahead. caller: are you saying the diagnosis of alzheimer's is eliminated by any other cause? can it not to be seen on an mri or cat scans? my father is slipped into dementia couple years ago. buildup ofs show the plaque and tangles in the grain. that ise's a pet scabn more specific in this regard and is helpful. there's a need to eliminate possible other causes to make sure what we are talking about is alzheimer's. years after my father was admitted to nursing care facility, the geriatrics

physician attending him gives me the explanation still that your dad has a mixed bag dementia. to me this is not acceptable. in doing research, i have run across a complication called hydrocephalus. it spoke about the misdiagnoses of patience that actually have hydrocephalus which is treatable and reversible, but the family is being sold your loved one has alzheimer's and and there's a vested interest in the geriatric position who works for the facility because it costs $5,000 a month to keep him there. i find the lack of fairness from a well-known -- host: all right, we got the point. eric hall. guest: i would follow your hunch, finding an opinion, talk

to another doctor in the field, and have them come up with the diagnosis as well. the education you have bases some concerns and issues and you should follow them. host: a tweet -- guest: yes, regrettably, absolutely. that is an experience that more research is being focused on now. and brain trauma from war veterans, or multiple concussions from, say, sports and sport activities, all of this is raising an enormous amount of research to determine exactly how prevalent that is in the onset of alzheimer's disease. yes, there seems to be a significant number of researchers who believe that there is a connection there to be had. host: a recall is the president

and ceo of the alzheimer's foundation -- eric hall is the president and ceo of the alzheimer's foundation of america. caller: i just have a question on the prevalence of alzheimer's in the united states versus other parts of the world. guest: age is a prevalent risk factor, obviously. aged 65, one in eight over that age, and as the technology has grown, we're able to live much longer. it is recognizable that medical developments have allowed that to happen. we have had an increase in alzheimer's disease related to that. in some countries, the life expectancy would not be 78 as ours is your and there would be a lesser incidents. i would caution people to recognize that this disease does not simply back to the old.

there are cases -- does not simply impact the old. there are cases of people in their 50s and early 60's being diagnosed with alzheimer's as well. it does not in any way or shape or form choose one over the other, although it seems to be more prevalent in the older years. host: republican. caller: does obesity have anything to do with alzheimer's? guest: where we are out right now is that a lot of the language and messaging surrounding, say, a cardiovascular health, really is applicable now as we're discussing preventative measures or risk-reducing measures about getting alzheimer's disease.

a healthy diet, exercise, making sure we are watching our diet and cholesterol and hypertension and diabetes. all of these things we now know impact directly the brain being part of the physical body and, ubviously, being processed thr as everything we've taken and exercise and everything we do has benefit as well. a lot of the messaging about heart help is now we understand probably very applicable to bring health. host: via tweet -- guest: about 2% of all cases of alzheimer's disease that has a hereditary peace. if folks are concerned and have issues, it is great to hold a conversation with your doctor and get more information. if you like, you can come to the alzheimer's foundation of america.

we have information on our website on issues surrounding hereditary disease, or you are free to talk to one of our licensed social workers who answers the phone. we can get you a lot of information in the mail so that you can educate yourself. host: eric hall, the alzheimer's foundation, when did it begin and how did you get involved? guest: it was established in february 2002. and the founding chief executive officer -- i am the founding chief executive officer. our goal -- first of all, for both of us, we were impacted by alzheimer's disease in our family. secondly, it was seen that there was more that needed to be done in the area of care of alzheimer's disease. there was an enormous amount of emphasis and energy and financial resources going for a corporate don't get me wrong, we hope there is a two or -- going

for a cure. it up to me wrong, we hope there is eight -- don't get me wrong, we hope there is a cure, but in the meantime, what we do for the millions of people who are caring for someone with alzheimer's disease? the other thing we are really sensitive about is making sure that people with alzheimer's disease enjoy equality of life, enjoy their integrity, that they were given the respect that was due them, and then, also, making sure that families providing care for them to receive all the necessary resources they codicil that they could do their job as effectively as possible. in our mind, it does not fall on the federal government, but it falls on families, and it is in all of our best interest to make sure that they are well provided for and supported. host: the national tab for caring for individuals with alzheimer's disease is estimated

at $100 billion annually. alzheimer's disease costs u.s. businesses about $60 billion a year stemming from lost productivity and absenteeism by primary care givers and insurance costs. the annual costs of caring for one individual with alzheimer's disease ranges from nearly $18,500 to more than $36,000, depending on the stage of the disease. the total cost of care is expected to rise from approximately $172 billion in 2010 to more than $1 trillion in 2015. this figure includes expenditures for medicare, medicaid, private insurance out of pocket costs, uncompensated care. funding from the government, according to nih -- 2006, approximately six harbor $43 million for research. down to a $480 million today. massachusetts, jonathan, you are on with eric hall.

caller: one thing that would make that research more effective is different autopsy protocols allowed information sharing between people, because it is the only way you can detect it was alzheimer's. the only conclusions that can be drawn is the autopsy data can be available to the researchers. also, there is a problem with a research dollars being too tightly targeted to specific avenues. as new promising avenues become available, they cannot jump into the new path because they will lose their funding, because the funding was slated for something slightly different. finally, if you are not careful and you get an early diagnosis, it will just allow insurance companies to cut back on their coverage. thank you very much. guest: no, i mean, some of the points are well taken. there are concerns about all of those areas. privacy and outpatients --

privacy around patients, the ability to share the reports. looking inside the brain. you are absolutely right, there is a lot to be had from that type of information. if that could be used by researchers, that would be great. yes, regrettably, the early diagnosis in some regards help policies and entrances -- an insurance dropped individuals with i'd slamme -- with alzheimer's disease. it is a catch-22. left to itself, alzheimer's disease is devastating. if there are treatments available, they need to be accessed as quickly as possible for the good of the individual. if the family is the one providing care, the more time they have to adequately provide a plan of action around the legal financials and the care

plan, it really does come down to being the most beneficial. yes, we have to address those pitfalls that, but with early diagnosis. -- that come about with early diagnosis. host: where is the early alzheimer's research done? guest: it is done all over the world. i have been most impressed -- i am not a scientist, obviously, but i am most impressed by their determination, their desire to truly make a difference. they understand that this is the greatest challenge now facing our country, facing the world. they understand that, as we are all aging, not just here, but every country, this is going to be the one disease that is going to have an incredible prevalence across our society an incredible costs as well, to provide care for all of these

individuals with alzheimer's disease. the other difficulty is that individuals who are diagnosed, we can live up for very long time with this disease. it is not necessarily immediately breaking down our immune system. we can live, on average, seven to 10 years, as margaret was talking about with her husband, with this disease. i think researchers in the private sector, in government sector, are looking for the cure, i think they fully understand what is the challenge before us. host: next call, houston, texas, michael, you are on the air. caller: how are you? host: good morning. caller: my wife passed away a year-and-a-half ago from ftd. are you familiar with that? host: the wellhead with your

question. describe what it is and go ahead with your question. caller: dementia. she was diagnosed finely at age 59. front temporal lobe dementia. i was part of, and half of them had the same -- i was part of a terror group, and half of them had the same symptoms as my wife -- part of a care group, and half of them had the same symptoms as my wife. it is terminal, but they never mentioned to me that it was terminal dementia. i had to go on line, the university of california-san francisco. there is a doctor at the that as these studies. -- dr. out there that does these studies. host: did your care regimen change after that? caller: absolutely.

my wife cannot read or write the last three years. that lady explained it perfectly. it is the most devastating thing to a family. you cannot believe. this was a young, beautiful -- she graduated fourth in her high-school class, a graduate from college in three years, and believable musician, everything. to see the deterioration is unbelievable. guest: i think it highlights the need for the proper diagnosis. again, we utilize experts in the field to help us diagnose what our cause of the dementia we are experiencing you make a great point. we never used the word " terminal" when it comes to demint, and yet that is what it is that makes the crisis more devastating -- when it comes to dementia, and yet that is what it makes the price is more devastating.

host: last call. caller: good morning, c-span. eric, you are doing great work. he mentioned a few things about the nature of the disease itself. you mentioned vitamin d deficiency. personally, i've been studying clinical nutrition for years. there is an enormous amount of information about how thousands of the losses are directly and indirectly related -- thousands of illnesses are directly and indirectly related to nutritional deficiency, and how to possibly reverse and prevent many diseases. when you said b of vitamins, i want listeners to go out and do their own research -- particularly b12 and alzheimer's disease. there is an enormous amount of information on that. and also, certain nutrients and

antioxidants, like blueberries, raspberries, other fruits and vegetables, have shown promising results in treating many black belt -- many plaque buildup conditions in the body. and the work with linus pauling, a giant in the medical field -- guest: i would just say that there is an enormous amount of research being done in the area. we're looking at how nutrients impact the body, what are some of the early causes of this disease, and what might be preventable by taking vitamins of whatever sort. the jury is still out. the clinical trials are not quite done. there is still an enormous amount of research being done. i am sure there is a threat in there that will be very important going forward. host: eric hall is the president and ceo of the alzheimer's

federation of america. thank you for being on "washington journal." guest: thanks for having us. we are grateful. host: this headline just out -- "spending up into the holidays." we will speak to michael niemira of the international council of shopping centers. >> 9:16 in washington, here are some of the headlines. former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel cleared a big hurdle in his bid to be chicago mayor earlier today. his name will be on the ballot even though he spent much of the last two years in washington working for the president did the ruling, which needs final approval from the chicago board of election commissioners, it is a political win for rahm emanuel, because it might silence critics who say that he

is not a chicago resident slightly fewer people apply for unemployment benefits last week, the second drop in three weeks. it is a sign, say analysts, that the job market is slowly healing. the number of those seeking benefits edged down by 3000 to a seasonally adjusted 420,000 in the week ending december 17. americans spent at a moderate pace last month. government said that consumers increased their spending by 4/10 an, but they are reluctant to go on a buying binge is needed to lower the unemployment rate. in comes grew by 3/10 of a percent last month. orders for long-lasting manufactured goods outside of the volatile transportation category rose by the largest amount in eight months. the commerce department says

that while total orders for durable goods dropped 1.3%, without transportation, orders rose 2.4%. that is the best showing since last march. more on the economy coming up on "washington journal." those are some the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> this weekend on c-span3's american history to be, we visit the museum of the confederacy, and find that many christmas traditions began during the civil war. from the nixon library oral history project, the early space program and the liaison to the white house on the apollo 11 moon landing, and the director of the eleanor roosevelt papers project reveals the politics and controversies and media savvy of the former first lady. see the schedule online at c- span.org/history, where you can

press the "c-span boller" button and have updates emailed to you. every morning, "washington journal," our live call-in program about the news of the day. during the week, watched the u.s. house and the coverage of the transition to the new congress. every week that, congressional hearings and policy forums. supreme court oral arguments. on saturdays, "the communicators," sunday, "newsmakers," "q&a," and prime minister's questions from the house of commons. it is all searchable on the c- span video library. c-span, washington your way. a public service created by america's cable companies. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined by michael niemiraril -- michael marrio

of the international council of shopping centers. this is the holiday season. how does spending look? guest: it looks pretty good. we started out on the strong side of it in november. momentum has continued through december. of course, we had, the last few days before christmas, time to evaluate, and post-christmas shopping. but it is shaping up to be probably the strongest holiday season since at least 2006 and a 2005. -- and maybe 2005. host: how much of the recovery is going to be consumer spending-driven? guest: the arithmetic is that it is going to be about 2/3 of gdp. when you look to 2011, you have

a series of positives that will presumably give you some support to the pace of consumer spending. one thing in particular is the payroll tax deduction that will give consumers additional disposable income in 2011. we are ending 2010. -- we are ending 2010 on a positive note for consumer spending, and a tax rollback for 2011. host: this year association feel that there is enough uncertainty now -- does your association feel that there is enough certainty now with the tax situation in the united states? are you satisfied with what came out of congress? guest: well, certainly, the extension for two years of the bush tax cuts of 2001 adds a little more certainty, and we

will probably worry about what the outlook looks like again two years in. but for now, i think that the extension does provide that certainty, and that is a positive for the economy and for consumer spending. host: before we get to calls, talk about the economic situation in the united states and consumer spending and the outlook for 2011, i want to go through the papers and get your reaction to the headlines in some of these stories. this is the associated press -- "factory orders outside of automobiles and airplanes sore. orders for long-lasting manufactured goods outside of the transportation category rose by the largest amount in eight months. growing increase for computers

and heavy machinery." guest: you have to step back and ask what is driving that. it is a sign that the recovery is in full force in certain areas. but if you'd step back, since the recovery began in summer of 2009, one of the things are really was the catalyst, two things up with a catalyst for the recovery, was the manufacturing sector that had taken inventory down so much and started to rebuild them, but also the improvement in corporate profitability. that is the key reason that, since late last year, you sought capital spending -- saw capital spending on equipment and software really booming trade that continues even with today's report. -- really booming. that continues even with today's report. by the way, profits will

ultimately be the story why employment picks up in 2011. host: "wall street journal," page a4, "economic growth exceeds forecasts. forecasters have been raising growth projections for the fourth quarter and for 2011. optimism about the u.s. recovery has grown sharply in the past month, fueled by a series of economic reports showing everything from consumer spending more freely to bu sinesses curbing layoffs." that is "the wall street journal" this morning. here is "the financial times," the lead story on their front page. "slow u.s. growth highlights fragility. the housing market continues to struggle, highlighting the challenges of sustaining a

fragile recovery." those seem to be contradictory stories. guest: well, that is not unusual to have different perspectives. let me step back and say what is the long-term trend for growth? that may color the way you interpret these data. if you look at the last 20 years, real gdp on average grew 2.5%. that is not terribly different than the third quarter numbers. is it weaker than expected, stronger than expected? certainly that is against expectations for rendition. -- for revision. but the real story is what is going on at the high level and what is going on beneath the surface. by and large, though, when you look ahead, there are reasons

to be a little more optimistic. we revised that forecast after yesterday's numbers as well. part of the story is the sense that we think it will be carried in 2011 budget payroll tax reduction -- by the payroll tax reduction that could add as much as 3/4 of a percentage point to consumer spending. host: "usa today" this morning -- "online sales soar for the holidays." does this hurt your group, international council of shopping centers? guest: no, not directly. we are seeing, i think, pretty much strength across all channels. you say, long-term, on-line

takes away sales from in-store, and that is probably true long- term, but right now is more active -- and i doubt it is more addictive -- right now it is more additive. host: we have said the numbers up, so if you want to call in, please do. /it political affiliation -- divided by political affiliation. we are talking about the economics of the current world and the economic outlook for 2011. michael niemira, give us your prediction for 2011, some macro figures. guest: we're basically looking for a piece of real growth at a

little bit above the trend that i just spoke of. gdp growth of about 2.6%. when you start to look beneath the surface, we are more optimistic on some of the final sale categories. one of the key stories up until now was the strength has really been largely in inventory. inventory has been rebuilding about half of the growth we had since the recovery set in. that story is likely to change in 2011. the driver of the growth is likely to be different. it is starting to give some indication that the numbers are changing at hand. that is normal. in this case, it has been normally strong on the downside, the reduction, and the

rebuilding. that is starting to moderate. 2011 is likely to see stronger final sales, stronger employment growth. we're looking for employment growth to average on a per-month basis by the fourth quarter of 2011 about 150,000 range. we look for slow employment growth to continue, but certainly an improvement on what we are seeing currently. profits are likely to continue to look pretty good. that is indeed the catalyst for a lot of this improving economic activity. the profit growth pace is likely to slow. there are obviously some concerns -- bair oil prices will translate into higher gasoline -- higher oil prices will translate into higher gasoline

prices. higher food prices will push overall inflation. and get back into the core rates. the non-food, non-energy consumer prices, increasing by maybe a percentage point over the course of 2011. that will also likely mean higher interest rates than we are seeing even today, like the to be with us for much of 2011. a changing economy, but one that will continue to look pretty good overall. again, the composition of the growth is likely to change. host: michael niemira is the chief economist and director of research for the international council of shopping centers. new jersey, david, you are on the air. caller: good morning, peace to the world. one of the things i wanted to

speak about is that we fixate on chopping issues and how much money consumers are spending. we never really address structural issues when we are talking about the united states economy. this is something that has been a big disservice to america. one of the issues we have with stopping right now is the fact that -- with shopping right now is that across the united states you have millions of the square footage of shopping malls that are being closed and abandoned, because of structural changes in the economy, people going to the internet, that type of thing. we are not really helping our economy by going out and continuing to spend 2/3 of our gross national product. what i look at the united states and i think about the things we really have problems with, our infrastructure, a human capital, and particularly in the area i live, the urban areas of the united states, where you

have such illiteracy. back in the 1920's and 1930's, the people who were ancestors of the folks now here came from the south and other areas of the united states to come to the industrial heartland. well, that industrial heartland is now all gone. we're not even doing things to ensure that people who are in these areas are going to be the so-called consumers of the future. we have not invested in human capital. host: mr. niemira. guest: well, there are lots of issues in that question. first, let me make a broad comment about the importance, actually, of the shopping center. in fact, one in 11 jobs is as a dependent at the shopping center environment. extremely important to the broader economy. keep in mind that there is a perception that the only thing

that people are going out and buying at these shopping centers is probably big ticket items, apparel and so forth. the shopping center includes lots of different types of retailers, from your grocery store to the dry cleaner to even educational facilities now being housed in these facilities, shopping centers. the shopping center is evolving with the economy. more services that is a -- more services. that is a key thing to keep in mind. broader structural changes in the economy is a question that congress needs to address. right now the concern is getting through some of the transitional

effects of the past recession. the caller's perception that we have longer term problems is certainly correct and we will revisit this over the next congress and beyond. host: we have this tweet for you. guest: well, it is all of those. something of 1/3 of all purchases are debit cards and credit. i don't think that is so much an issue, certainly with the trends and a consumer credit looking much better -- in consumer credit looking much better.

i think a lot of the spending is coming from improvement in the economy that generates more in come. average weekly earnings is something in the 3% to 4% range over the course of 2010. that is pretty much the kind of pace we are seeing for much of 2010 spending. i think that the strength is coming because income is stronger. host: huntington, new york, please go ahead with your question for michael niemira. caller: i work in a bakery now, and this time of year, we get a very busy thing they're going. -- thing there going. but after the holidays, we kind

of slow down a bit. we are also feeling the impact of the big retail outlets, online shopping. so we do a lot of -- we advertise that we do a lot of, you know, online shopping for most of our customers. you know, everyone who benefits from our goods and services -- we do try to provide a variety of different services where i work -- host: as business been good this christmas season? caller: eh. so far so good. host: ok, thanks.

mr. niemira. guest: there is a seasonal pattern that you alluded to, and will slow down after the holidays in some industries. keep in mind the broader economic story. a good holiday season is more often than not statistically followed by a good economic year. the fact that overall, the holiday season for all types of retailers is looking stronger this year is encouraging for 2011. the momentum is there. i guess that was the key point. the on line, i guess, was addressed by the caller. that is here to stay. retailers are figuring out how to use that to the best

advantage, integrate it with the in-start channel. it is working, and it will continue to help the industry evolves. and with it provide probably better service for the consumer. host: connecticut, jon, good morning. caller: i would like to say that c-span is a christmas gift to the nation. this is a great show. i watch it every morning. one thing the media is missing, i don't hear a lot of talk about technological employment, in the form of, let's say, self-serve checkout counters. i understand that are giving businesses credits to get the economy kick started. but if, say, ups were to equip or of their talrucks with gps

all the stores having self-serve checkout counters, and makes it drops the people building these things, but the ultimate goal -- it makes the job is for the people building these things, but the ultimate goal seems to be eliminating the human factor. all the capital on the sidelines is invested in equipment to get rid of the human capital in the equation. self-serve check out -- that used to be an entry-level job for a person getting out of high school. i don't know where they acquire skills to participate in the workforce in the future. just your comment on that. i did not really have a question. host: thank you. mr. niemira. guest: that is sort of the story

of all economic growth over a long period of time. whether it was 150 years ago, agriculture, manufacturing, and today, the service economy. one of the benefits, though, of the improved technology in the workplace is higher productivity. a back to the first caller, the structural issues that need to be addressed, indeed that is the issue. how do you generate new industry, new ideas triggering more employment and so forth. the evolution of the economy from agriculture to manufacturing to services was certainly a story of technology. that is not necessarily a bad thing.

i think the question is what fills the gap today and into the future. host: this tweet from sasha -- guest: well, in many respects, all the technology is making it more efficient and more -- and holding down costs the consumer. it depends on what statistic you look at. you look at a measure from the commerce department for what is known as gapfo stores. we are seeing a 3% decline in prices.

that is coming from a lot of the efficiencies, and technologies part of that, that retailers have been investing in four years. it may not show up as a discount simply because you are doing self-check out, but it certainly shows as a discount for the prices of goods and services that you are buying. host: next call, charleston, west virginia, bop, a democrat. caller: merry christmas to you all, georgia the world, the lord is come -- joy to the world, the lord is come. the 600-pound gorilla in the world, the real triggering factor, in my perception, but it economic downfall and the loss of jobs, was $4 a gallon

gasoline, in which people, myself, people over the place could not spend money in the marketplace because they had to spend it on gasoline. we are seeing it go back up. we may be $1-a-gallon away from not just a great recession but a national depression. host: michael niemira. guest: well, certainly, gasoline prices cut into discretionary spending power of the consumer. but it is not the only thing. at times, and probably in the 2006-2007 period, you saw that the ups and downs and gasoline prices were mirrored in consumer confidence and expectations for inflation. you saw the same ripple effect and spending. at a different time, you have

less of a connect but you do not have as much of a connect with actual spending not hurting disposable spending, but there are other things that are probably more positive, helping. it is a worry if we start to see gasoline prices continue to move higher in 2011. we do think at that will ultimately cut into spending. but other factors are all set. at least in 2011. keep in mind the payroll tax does no -- the payroll tax alone will put $112 billion back in the hands of workers, and ultimately consumers. that is probably far more important right now.

there is the concern of the psychological impact of rising gasoline prices at the threshold levels. that could affect the timing of consumer spending in the year. but it is not, again, the only thing. think back to economics 101. consumption is a function of income plus other factors -- confidence, a price impacts. host: michael niemira is part of a a group of economists that worked with "the wall street journal" on economic predictions and forecasts. "economists expect the jobless rate in december 2011 to be 9%,

compared to the current 9.8%, at an estimated 9.1 million jobs added over the next 12 months. economists see little risk of rising prices with the consumer price index expected to remain below 2% 32011." -- through 2011." michigan, you are on with michael niemira. caller: i have a question regarding public service, telephone polls, what kind of suggestion there might be that people are moving to an internet shopping less frequently now, or could it be possible that people migrate from the internet as shoppers back to the perk and mortar stores for a certain experience -- the brick and mortar stores for a certain experience that you never hear about except from newspapers.

i do not have data to substantiate either side. guest: certainly, you have to actual spending data -- you have to have actual spending data. but you are absolutely right. in our industry, we always talk about the experience, the experience, the experience as the key reason to go to many of the shopping centers and the country. increasingly, that is the focal point, not just the purchase. more entertainment, wmore restaurants, more leisure activities being built in, more opportunities to sit and relax and talk. the experience is crucial. even when you look at the broad numbers from commerce statistics, the share of internet -- the share of retail

sales is a little under 5% currently as a whole. it is still relatively small. out there, the consumer is still going to the store to do most of their purchases. host: another tweet -- guest: part of the gasoline rises a general rise we're seeing and a lot of commodities, and that comes from a weaker dollar. the dollar, since its peak in march 2009, is about 12% lower. on a year on year basis, down 1%

from a year ago. the weaker dollar is part of the story for the higher prices at all types of commodities. a lot of these are internationally traded. a weaker dollar acts how -- affects how the prices are looking. host: michael in queens, new york, on the republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i wanted to talk to mr. niemira regarding the impact of regulation on christmas shopping. what is the impact regarding regulation of the card act? a lot of merchants that and saying that when they swipe certain cards like american express and others, you get charged a higher fee, and they pass that cost down to the

consumer. how do you actually get that cost down, or how do you use regulation to get the cost down so that you don't have higher costs passed on to the consumer, i prices, and they go somewhere -lse, like we're seeing with d commerce? is there any truth to the second christmas rush of shopping, exchanging goods? i wanted to ask you real quick about gift cards and regulation coming from the card act. host: mr. niemira, it ought to work with there. -- a lot to work with there. guest: yeah. on the interchange fees with cards, it largely does not affect the shopping center itself, i must have a card for

the shopping center itself. -- unless they have a card for the shopping center itself. it is mainly a retailer issue. and the federal reserve board has come under a proposed regulation to limit the interchange -- comment on their proposed regulation to limit the interchange fees -- the application is not necessarily clear. it depends on if the fees are lower for the retailer, will the retailer pass them to the consumer? that is yet to be seen or determined. i think that is the key, if the retailers themselves will capture more profits, or will

the retailer actually discount to the consumer directly? that is something we need to watch. the regulations are at hand, and the federal reserve board is addressing them right now. -- withth regard to th regard to the post-christmas rush, consumers do come out in force and -- in the post- christmas period. all's half of all consumers plan to shop in the week -- almost half of all consumers plan to shop in the week after christmas. it would be a post-christmas rush, if you will, and it would be the consumer looking for bargains. some of it will be returning, but they often returned and make

new purchases. to cut redemptions will be the last week of this year -- gift card redemptions will be the last week of this year, in terms of the rush. all that happens. it is the normal pace of the season. the gift card redemption rate continues to be relatively high for the first couple of weeks of january as well. january is a big month for gift card redemptions. host: the market's just opened about 20 minutes ago. looking at the lot numbers, it does not look like the stock market is going up much, given what seemed like good economic news coming out at 8:30. guest: well, today is probably not terribly robust trading day. but i suspect that the broad feel will carry through to next

week, that the economic picture does look better. it is not just one indicator. it is a whole series of indicators that a crucial -- are crucial. the holiday season was part of that improvement of h -- improvement that we saw. we will get more indicators come up with the most important ones will be -- we will get more indicators, but the most important ones will be early january. of course, we get the employment report that week as well. lots of economic news to come to cheer the stock market. host: arizona, we have a few minutes left with our guest, michael niemira of the international council of shopping centers.

caller: i would like to make a suggestion that may put people back to work. fda gives microloans, say, 100 people, $5,000 each. it would have to be spent locally and the money would be paid back in peril deduction. -- payroll deduction. there be an equivalent amount, property, or take extra from the board room to the mailroom, save the economy getting as much to the euro by giving money -- getting switched to the row by giving money to the unemployed and businesses that gone bankrupt. it would be a good way out of this mess. guest: certainly, microloans are

part of the broader landscape, and the imf has talked about that in a light. -- in a way. it probably is not a total answer to generate new business. and there is also some consequence on the budget side. i think that the caller is addressing an important point -- we need to generate new industries and new jobs with it. we need to find new ideas in a longer-term, more structural kind of question that we need to address. it is not necessarily just getting somebody to work today, but to have a strategy for growing the economy, growing business in the years to

accomplish -- . the -- the years t o come. host: indiana, go ahead with your question. caller: there has been talk about similarities between what happens now and what happened in the 1970's. if you feel like maybe we could get into an inflationary cycle like existed in the 1970's -- and since americans are working longer and not leaving the work force, is that having an impact on the jobs created in this country the last five years? guest: well, i think that when you look at comparisons with past cycles in the 19 seventies and so forth, what strikes me is that there are lots of changes to the broader economy.

the economy is much more service-oriented today. frankly, one of the reasons economic growth is not strong or that it is because it service growth is a lot weaker in this recovery. that is a function of what we have been seeing in the last several recoveries, too. ,f you went back to the 1970's we had more of an inflationary impact from rising gasoline, food, other commodities, but there was also a the gilmor -- a little more path through it was happening at that time. today we're not seeing that, and we have seen runups in energy prices and food that been ingrained in the underlying

inflationary pace. now, there has been the concern that a lot of the work that some academics asuch as carmen reinhart and rogoff from harvard look at various financial crises, and most of them ended in higher inflation -- that is a different kind of story. that is a story of inflating your way out of the problem. time will tell if that is our future. it is certainly the history of a financial crisis, and something to worry about. and -- host: i'm sorry, go ahead, finished. guest: the issue about older workers in the work force longer workers in the work force longer