povertlevel pays something for the constitutional rolef the federal government. those who end up hurting more and having more will have to pay more. but we need to transform the system to where we are looking at consumption taxes to a greater extent, as well as of reforming the income tax system. host: david walker is the author of three books. the latest "comeback america, turning the country around and restoring fiscal responsibility." if you go to booktv.org, you can type and david walker. guest: frankly, i think that what happened with regard to the subprime crisis is something that is tragic. it was a failure of private

sector govnance systems. it was a failu of government oversight and regulation. and quite candidly, people have not been held accountable. and i think the american people ought to be demanding accountability with that. at the same point -- and there have been reforms regarding recent legislation but not enough. what are we going to do about fannie mae and freddie mac? here is another angle i think you have to keep in mind. the four factors that caused the mortgage-related subprime crises, that end up imposing a lot of losses on taxpayers increasing the deficits and debt dramatically, exist but the federal government own finance system. the risks are much greater and nobody is going to bail out america. we have to solve our own problems and elected officials better get started. host: jim and oxford, mean. you are on the line with a david walker. caller: good morning, mr. walker. how are you? a couple of questions. you say the entitlements are

probably hurting us the most -- the biggest deficit. why did they cut the 2% from medicare payments -- and what i have not heard, the employer pays 2% less? and the other question is, when i they going to raise the limit of what people pay into social security? they raised it for years -- and gets up to $100,000 and they did not what people make more money to pay an extra in. those two things to not make sense. guest: the reduction in the payroll tax was for social security, not for medicare. there are things that were in the health care reform bill that talk about saving money in medicare spending -- provider reimbursement. but there is a real debate about whether not those would actually take place. with regd to social security, clearly, if you look asocial security reform, there are several major elements. first, we need a defined benefit program for the bass program. we need to strengthen the

benefit. it raises the benefit for people near the poverty level. we need to still than that -- provide benefits for middle and upper income but a little less. we need to encoure people to work longer because those are the demographic realities and it is possible for the nature of our economy. yes, we need to look at possibly changing the cost of living index and raising the wage based in cape -- cap. raising it, but not eliminating it. it was eliminated from medicare but that was 1.45% on the employer and individual -- social securitys a 6.2%. those are some of the things we need to have on the table a part of social security reform. host: you can go to the website that mr. walker talk about -- we will put that up on the screen in just a second. but, if you want to short cut it, you can go to "the washington times" which featured the study that his group did this morning. survey says u.s. financial

house in state of disoer. we have been talking about this since 1986. gramm-rudman hollings -- that is what really took out and became a big issue. the balanced budget amendment to the constitution. what do you think whitman guest: look, i am not against a balanced budget amendment but the problem is there will be so many loopholes that i am not sure it will be effective. in my view, we ought to be thinking about having a limit on how much debt as a percentage of the economy the u.s. can take on. a constitutional limit. in addition, we need statutory budget controls like i have been talking about that would hopefully keep us from ever approaching that constitutional limit. we can think about a line item veto. we can think about making sure that federal spending is actually for somhing that has a national purpose. you would be shocked, federal money are spent for things that don't have a darn thing to do

with something of national significance. host: this tweet from james -- guest: first, the fair tax proposes to elimite the income tax, to eliminate the payroll tax, and to eliminate the irs -- which sounds good, but the reality someone will have to administer the new tax system. but it will be replaced with a progressive consumption tax. basically a tax that would be on most, but not all major commercial transactions, and that people who are earning at the porty level for close to the party level would get a rebate for how much taxes otherwise they might have to pay. from an intellectual it makes more sense from the standpoint of economic growth. if you will get to the underground economy. my view is we need to move more

that way, but you will never get their policly all at once. we will meet to consider a consumption tax. we might be able to get that at some time. republican.-tex caller: there is a company called health science institute of baltimore that gives information that would cut our medical expenses dramatically credit and would you tell us what do you think needs to be done. guest: we are the only country in the world that does not have a budget for what they spend on health care. you cannot write a blank check. secondly, we need to rationalize our promises. we need to make sure that we

have universal health care for catastrophic and productive, for everyone, in respect of age, the liver to the private sector with competition. if we need to get out of the business for -- of providing subsidies huge, very wealthy, the court of health-care programs for wealthy people and top executives. we need medical malpractice reform. we need pay upon results, not procedures. i could go on and on. host: david >> tomorrow, megan scully and missy ryan discuss the mission in libya and how could change and more about libya with

general wesley clark. he will talk about who should be leading the mission and what role the u.s. should play. also your e-mail, tweets, and phone calls. every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern from c-span. >> tonight, a look at education reform with former washington d.c. schools chancellor michelle rhee and kevin johnson. there will discuss disparities between children of different races and why they think student achievement has worsened despite a doubling of spending. >> it is always doing our part. we have to do our part. there are too many kids languishing and schools that are doing well. their kids that live in nice neighborhoods and their schools are not serving them to the degree they should as well. >> i concur with him. we are in a position in this

country where if you were to tell me this of code a child lives in and the race of that child, we could with pretty good accuracy tell you what their academic achievement levels are. that is one of the most of american things that i could possibly imagine. it is betraying the ideals by which we live as americans. >> watch this a bit from the university of arkansas tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> the brookings institution how the discussion on the role of community organizations and other civil society groups in egypt. panelists talked about civil society opportunities in setting a reform agenda. >> thank you. i will focus my comments on civil society organizations that have worked on democratization

and human rights and some of the comments will echo what jackie mentioned about the development organizations and what other panelists talked about in terms of capacity building. civil society was restricted by the regulatory climate and security climate that affected their ability to move and operate. they were affected by a population that was seen as apathetic. this has changed in the post- revolution environment and there is a huge opportunity for organizations to serve as the link between state and society. a couple key opportunities that exist now for civil society organizations. the first is setting the agenda during the transition process including activities like consensus building, policy analysis and targeting effective advocacy. also keeping the momentum for change going and monitoring the transition process and that

includes monitoring and getting information on the transition process, community education and mobilization efforts, to keep the pressure going for democratic reform. another area that has been closed or restricted by the state, including -- a wide range of legislative reforms concerning opening up the regulatory environment that restricts the ngos, political parties, professional associations, labor unions, and other institutions in egypt. also engaging with sectors that have been closed off including universities, student clubs, and the media, especially broadcast media which has been restricted. another point i would add is insuring greater transparency and accountability on the part of decision makers especially at the local levels, where there are elements from the former regime. i would add to the accountability and transparency

that there is a need to go beyond monitoring policy and practice and look at fiscal policy and expenditures. which is an area that needs to be developed within the interest of society. i would add that there is one sector that has been absent from the larger political reform discussions and that is the small and medium enterprises which will play an important role in linking the economic realities with political reforms and there have been some inklings of associations that have developed within that sector, but they need to play an active role in the policy setting. in terms of the challenges that are facing these groups that need to be addressed in this time, there were three categories of priorities we had identified for supporting civil society efforts. one is supporting coordination efforts, the second is scaling up models and the third is measures for sustainability. it is important to know that

there are already some coalitions that are forming within the egyptian civil society. there have been good examples such as the front to defend protesters that was established a year ago. legal assistance and -- to provide legal assistance and medical assistance and followed by reports of the tensions of political activists and protesters. there is another coalition of 200 delmon and several organizations that have formed to promote active and informed engagement in civic education. there is a coalition of 16 human rights organizations within two resignationarak's issued a road map on reforms that need to btake place. there is also accord

nation committee that unites between the coalitions. there are some local, organic coalitions that are forming and there are some divisions within society but these are issues that need to be supported and i would caution against supporting them financially. they are working on a voluntary basis. there is a greater need to support them through technical assistance. in terms of strengthening linkages between different civil society actors, this is another important point. there has been a blurring of lines between the different forms of civic institutions. a blurring of lines between ngos, political parties, unions, media. the needs to be of better understanding of how the work together -- the work together to reach an objective. now hopefully with the regulatory environment, hopefully theythere opportunitis

to open that up and they may morph into working as political parties or civic union's instead of registering as unofficial ngos that could potentially open and register as different institutions. in terms of scaling up, there is most of the civic and political organizations have been consolidated in the cairo and greater karr region. there are some groups who emerged over recent years that link between local governments and constituent needs. there is going to be a need to expand beyond the capital area into supporting initiatives. i hear also, -- i would caution against over funding agencies. we have to be cognizant of the ability of these organizations to absorb additional funding.

in terms of policy impact, instead of working in silence, it is important for these groups to be felt on -- the impact to be felt on a larger bases. much money has been spent on education programs but they have been limited to a certain group of beneficiaries, because there is not the ability to institutionalize them. levelhave to push on that as well. in terms of sustainability, my colleagues have touched upon the need for capacity building. there are incredible groups of activists and great innovation and creativity among civil society leaders. there is weak institutions so there is a need for building democratic, sustainable institutions and part will include the legislative reforms were talked about opening up the space and the restrictions that are restraining these institutions from operating in the past.

thank you. >> thank you. hamid has been observing and commenting on movements in egypt and will get some thoughts on the political evolution and civil society. >> ok, here's the thing. even in the best of circumstances, democratic transitions are notoriously messy, uncertain, and unpredictable. we have to be aware that from the get go -- aware of that from the get go. the role of civil society is important in ensuring this process moves forward and the demands of the revolution are fulfilled over a longer period of time. this is where organizations face a major challenge. they have been oriented around opposition. they have never had a stake in policy-making, and that is

different from the role of civil society here in the u.s. where a civil society is a partner with the government, sometimes in terms of helping pass legislation, meeting with congress, policy makers, and so on. we're talking about a shift in the model. we are talking about 60 years in opposition and all of a sudden, we're asking groups to decide how they're going to transition to a new scenario. this is unprecedented and a lot of these groups are learning on the go. there is going to be a learning curve. maybe a word about a youth coalitions. they were at the forefront of these revolutions. a lot of people are watching what they're up to in the coming phase. this is where we will see some major challenges for them. if we look at the eastern european, revolutions, the major

youth movement in serbia. after milosevic was overthrown, they had to think about what are we going to do with the new serviette and there was a lot of internal division about whether they should stay outside of the system and play the role of government watchdog, or to take part in the political process and even in government. they formed a political party but the only won -- they won 1.6% of the vote. groups are thinking about that and there is a discussion of whether or not they should take part in political parties. that is an important lesson to remember. if these groups want to become effective political force, they will have to talk about not only what they are against, but provide positive constructive vision for its future and get into details and vision. maybe that is one area we have been lacking. it is early on.

it has been slightly over one month since the revolution happened. civil society can play a very important role in setting the agenda. this is -- up until now, i think one problem we have seen is that these civil society organizations have gotten sucked into this debate about the referendum, and that was the number one focus. they have not looked at the medium and long-term issues that might be more crucial. now that there referendum passed, there put in a difficult position. we will have parliamentary elections and the time has become shorter. civil society can play a role in talking about electoral design and this is one thing i have been harping on a lot about. what electoral system is egypt going to have? there has not been a robust

discussion about that as of yet. egypt has a winner takes all majoritarian system similar to what we have in the u.s. this is not a good system for smaller parties. it makes it impossible for smaller parties to win. it benefits larger, well organized parties like the muslim brotherhood or the remnants of the old national democratic party. if we are talking about how to have been in close of political transition, we want a smaller parties to make sure they have a stake in the political system. how did you do that? you have a proportional representation system. even if they get 10% of the vote, they will not be locked up. there will have to% representation. -- of they will have a 10% representation. the that is the kind of thing that civil society can take the lead on. this is not easy, because egypt

has not had to have that discussion for 60 years. [no audio] >> this is the kind of role that civil society can play.

that is one area that -- so, one last point. in terms of learning from past transitions, this is not the first time a country has gone through a transition. there are other emerging democracies that went through their transitions recently, like indonesia. or the latin american country that had to deal with these same issues. this is where i think civil society in egypt can learn from this past mistakes and lessons. we have to think of ways to bring those groups together. egyptian counterparts should be meeting with their eastern european counterparts with their indonesian counterparts and discuss how they can play a more constructive role in the coming phase. i will class with --

close with a last thought. we talked about civil society allot in washington -- a lot in washington. what is the biggest ngo in egypt? it is the muslim brotherhood. the conversation has become so focused around secular and are losing's, we sight that many are faith-based. the role that churches play in terms of providing social services, charity, and other things to benefit the community. we also have to have a discussion about how to -- how do secular ngo's engage with their islamic counterpart and how does the u.s. didn't engage with islamically oriented

ngo's. there has to be some interface and up until now, we have not had that discussion. i will close there. >> thank you. thank you for handling the microphone, so well. one of the fun things about moderating is i get to ask the first couple questions and i will. let me assure you we will move to the audience to further ask questions. i will assert my right as chair to ask two or one, depending on how long the panelists take. as we're watching coverage on fold -- unfold, one could not escape the sense that part of the issue of justice is linked to the economic model.

both countries have gone through a process of reform and liberalization and an opening to the private sector. unless one gets the economy going again, the issue of jobs, which was during much of the center of this, will not be solved. for a long time sympathetic viewer, there is a sense in many parts of these societies that the kind of economic system that came out of the liberalization effort was not fair for a just system. at this moment, there is a real risk that there could be a backlash against the engine that would create jobs, which is the private sector. i was wondering if the panelists had some view on how civil society could help balance the need for a vibrant, active, job-

creating private sector with what i think is a deep-seated sense there has to be a certain degree of social justice in the system as well. i think -- let me turn to whichever of the panelists will respond. this balance between, we need jobs and we need business and business people, but we need an open system in which the aspiration to become businessmen and the way businessmen operate create a sense of justice and