then talks about military operations. after that, if george mason university professor on a mission and gaul of the rotc program and its presence in all branches of the u.s. military. plus, your phone calls, e-mails, and tweets. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: cause republicans will hold a test of this evening to increase the debt ceiling by $ 2.4 trillion without spending cuts to demonstrate it is politically impossible to have a clean vote. all 241 democrats will meet with obama. house democrats will meet on thursday.

bipartisan discussions with vice president biden continue this week ahead of the of the second deadline. the senate is on break this week. good morning on this tuesday, may 31. we will begin what the housing industry. it is still -- is owning a home still the american dream? the telephone numbers are on the screen. we have a special line set aside this morning for renters. we want to hear from you as well. let me show you the front page of the open clay usa today." almost 4 million homes have been lost of foreclosures and a last five years, turning many former homes into rentals.

of the 100 marjah cities, some of those were irvine, california, which went to 4% --

we want to get your take on this -- it is owning a home still the american dream? what do you think about housing policy as well? this story is on the front page of the "new york times calls " this morning. it says that the giant -- the desire to own your own home --

the telephone numbers are on your screen. renters, we want to hear from you. is owning a home still the american dream? we will keep reading while we wait yfor your phone calls to comment.

we will go to dallas, texas, a democrat joining us. what do you think? caller: i paid $12,500 from my home in 1974. i was making $2.65 an hour. our house payment was $125. that is not going to happen no

more. host: are you mortgage rates now? caller: definitely. host: do you have kids? caller: i had a two brand new kids, actually. host: would be your advice for someone seeking a home? to you think it is the american dream? caller: i do not think so. i think it is gone. i am on medicare and also supported in social security. if i had a house payment, i would free. host: to you think it is the role of the federal government to help people get a home? caller: that will have to. it will be that or 20 people living in the apartments. it is scary. host: you said if you had a housing payment today, you would

be out on the street. how much was your payment? caller: $125. my house now, they're renting for $500 a month. i could not do it. just could not do it. ast: let's hear from steve, renter in arlington, virginia. caller: i think the premise is incorrect. i think the american dream is to give your children a better opportunity than you had. that is why immigrants come to our country. it is what we strive for as citizens. host: ok, so about owning a home, you think that is not the american dream. caller: it might be a target, it

might be in and resolve, but the primary part of the american dream is just doing better by your children. host: so you think that the government has no role in this? caller: the government has a very little role in much at all, yes. host: let's go to vancouver, jim is joining us. caller: i don't think that question is is that still the american dream. i think it should be is it feasible to even buy a home with the market in the past few years. host: are you a homeowner? caller: no, i am a renter, i military and i bounced around a lot. but this is what i have seen of the american dream as far as owning a home. first, the elderly are not given

any tax breaks. when people get between the age of 55 and 65 and start having problems with their health care, i have had family members who had to sell their homes to cover the cost of their health care. not to mention the taxes and not bloating of the market to sell. washington watched the market get inflated with nothing to regulate it. now people are you losing their homes left and right. and another issue, we do not have an economy. host: have you looked into possibly buying a home? i know you are in the military and bounce around. but as an investment? caller: i did back in 2004. the air force had been stationed in tucson, arizona. i was down there i year earlier

and i took a look at some nice starter up, 2-bedroom homes going for $75,000. i thought that would be a good investment. when i got myself transferred a year later, the same homes were going for twice that. and then when these real estate brokers were telling me that i qualified, i am thinking to myself, the math is not working. and that is what these people were trying to do, scare me into buying. they kept saying things, if you do not buy now, you never will be able to. and when you see everyone's way dropping as the housing industry goes through the roof, you know of some point, someone is going to be pulling the market out from underneath there. i was around during the savings- and-loan scandal with john mccain. they did not do anything to

correct the problems. they shifted the scam. host: what have you been doing with your savings and you have been a renter? caller: most of my savings are put into the bank. but with today's housing and banking market, you can only get 0.25% interest. when i first target saving kid -- money as a kid, i got 6%. the mentality of the people, it is a big disconnect between main street and wall street. wall street is basically trying to figure out every way were they can get as much money out of the consumer as possible, no matter how crabby the product. host: we go on to the democratic line. viola is joining us. you are on the air. caller: yes, i have a question.

i asked my husband, a major migraine question. i think it got so bad that the a has treated him. he had to take early retirement. he was a soldier and is not quite what he was. host: what does this have to do with housing? caller: he ended up overdosing from the madison the va gave him. and i called 911 and took him down, but they would not accept him away. they turned him away and would not treat him no more.

and he was sent back home, and he committed suicide because they are -- because he always thought the army would protect him. he had protected them for so long and that they would surely protect him, but that was not what happened. and just after that, i am diagnosed with lou gehrig's disease. host: we are sorry to hear about your situation. let's go on to sally, an independent in california. is owning a home still the american dream? caller: not under this situation, absolutely not. the woman had a lot of pain with her situation. but we need to shift in this country. i am a conservative fully trained accountant, and in the area i live, it is very expensive.

you're looking at $4 a square foot as a renter, which is ridiculous. we need to completely shut out ideas about transportation and housing. -- a shift our ideas about transportation and housing. we're going to have a transient work force and we need to shift our perspective about the belongings that we are lugging around and the rules about housing. in other words, we need to be able to own a piece of property, be able to direct alternative forms of housing on the property within a certain set of rules by men is a palace, but they need to change the building codes to allow transitional housing that people can generate by communities on their own. host: what happens right now, those municipal codes that

prevent transitional housing? caller: you have the housing industry, the builders and all that, these huge lobbies to put these regulations and the place. host: what are they? caller: the building materials that you can use. i do not know the actual details. but they are locked up by lobbyists from the building industries. it is all to keep in place this whole dynamic of the 30-year mortgage. what has happened in this country is that now we are -- i saw this coming 20 years ago. we are on an evening play infield with the rest of the world. the cost of housing has got to come in line into the reality that most of us will be transitional workers, no longer

the company jobs. host: what does transitional housing look like? caller: you could have cob houses, straw bale housing, much more affordable materials. and it is going to be based on the weather patterns of the regions, but it has to be allowed within these municipalities. host: we will keep taking your phone calls. some more headlines. this is the cause of " usa today" about sarah palin and her speculation. palin told cnn yesterday that she would definitely had to iowa. she was quoted as saying that she was sure she would go to iowa at some point. she is coming in to% percentage

points behind mitt romney. romney is expected formally announce later this week. she told chris wallace on sunday they she could win the presidency if she chose to run. cnn out with a new poll showing that mitt romney would win if he were to get into the race. romney came in second, juliani about 16%, from the 15%, and palin comes in third in this latest poll at 13%. more about politics coming up this morning at 7:45 a.m., talking about 20 to politics than. but we will keep taking your phone calls about owning a home. in a minute, this editorial from

the "washington times" about a vote happening this week in the house. one of the things that democrats like about high unemployment is the ability to dole out of to 99 weeks' worth of free money to those without jobs. here is the "new york times" territory. the economy needs more help but health -- help is not forthcoming. if washington will not do what

needs to be done, there can be things done to keep the economy from getting worse. mike is a republican in virginia. your our next phone call on the issue on whether owning a home is still the american dream. what do you think? caller: i hope it is still the american dream.

my wife and i are both retired and we had a good income. we are able to afford our house. we're making about a third of what we used to make. powerhouse lost some by you, and yet it is still more the what are mortgages worth. we are hopeful. we're concerned about our children. my son is renting a house in a rented by situation. host: how does that work? caller: he wants to buy a home eventually. i am hopeful that people will still look at buying a house. i understand the ladies. , sally, she had a lot of fantastically good points. but most people do not want to be transient, moving from place to place. they want to settle down in one community and establish ties there. their children can go to good

schools. housing, living in a good neighborhood, those are things that people still aspire to. we want to live in a good neighborhood with good schools. we want to see our children educated. we want to see our grandchildren educated. i am hoping that people still believe in buying houses. granted, the economy is terrible. and we would like to see that change. i think that article that you had where people, hundreds of thousands of people could refinance at a lower rate, and thereby encourage spending, it would make the economy better. but i do not know that they would refinance my house, considering my age, and everything. host: that is the "new york times" if there auctorial, their opinion. let me tell you about this survey. 76% of adults feel that they're

more manages to renting versus hundred 64% cited having the responsibility for major repairs as the major region. -- the main reason. those of the latest statistics. we will go to andrew in boulder, colorado, a democrat. go ahead. caller: i wanted to make that comment, and i could be completely wrong about this, i am not terribly familiar with the housing market, but it does seem to me that we have politicians counting that

regulation is socialism and we cannot be doing that. but this is a situation in which regulation would have helped us and would have prevented the situation that we are in. host: sally as a renter in pennsylvania. caller: thank you for taking my call this morning. i just want to comment that in order to -- we actually need three working adults to make our rent. i know that you think that the issue is that we need reform in financing, because the average person needs to have about 20% down in order to buy. and there are not enough programs with the government to help you do that. years ago when i was a first- time home buyer, there was a program that my husband and i qualified for, or the government helped us with closing costs. they helped us with a down payment. and then there was a 20%

forgiveness on that which we eventually did not have to pay back. i think those programs are so much harder to qualify for now. and also, i do not think that the government has a real -- no real understanding, because i believe that the average government pull things that the average household makes $67,000 a year. host: you think it is a lot lower. caller: absolutely. we have three adults working here, and our combined income is that. so it is very unrealistic that the government thinks that the average person is making $65,000-$70,000.

it takes three adults working to make our rent payment and pay all of our bills and have a light. host: who is in your household that you have three? caller: my son contributes and my boyfriend and i. host: how old is your son? caller: 23. host: could he not afford his own place? caller: i think it is a convenience for him but i do not believe that he is ready to go out and up for his own place, no. host: another statistic for you. let me show you a recent story that appeared on fox news about a proposal being floated by house republicans. lawmakers have not introduce the bill but a discussion draft calls for significant changes,

particularly, a provision increasing the minimum down payment on an fha-backed loan from 3.5% to 5%. also, other headlines for you this morning. the front page of the "miami herald." this is a story in many of the papers. martin dempsey will leave the joint chiefs. he announced that yesterday. this is the front page of the "miami herald." we will talk about national security issues at 8:30 a.m. with bill gertz, the national security editor for the "washington times." this story about afghanistan. a big factor in troop

withdrawals. $113 billion for this year. parts of the conflict. too high. it says, the military is on track to spend $113 billion on its operations in afghanistan this fiscal year and is seeking one of its $70 billion -- 107 billions for the next. related to that story is the "wall street journal." violence clouds u.s. pullout plans in afghanistan. you've seen the recent reports of violence in that country. andy "wall street journal" has the story -- "cyber combat act of war -- it can constitute an act of war, a finding that for the first time opens the door for the u.s. to respond using traditional military force. if you shut down our power grid,

maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks. that is at the "washington -- wall street journal." richard, you are on the air. caller: thank you for the opportunity and taking my call. the american dream is opportunity. opportunity to have the ability to advance in your job and your position or to whether you want. that opportunity is supposed to be there, the constitution, the founding fathers, that is what they talked about, to raise your standard old living above the generations before you, like your parents. it has been taking away basically by our government and debt and manipulating the government, at injecting themselves into the housing

market. if you take three entities out of what happened to housing market, the pathology that came from congress, the federal reserve, and freddie and mac, the housing market would be steady and stable today, and stabilize. we do not have that because, and also opportunity has disappeared along with it. that is why we have the ability to buy a home, send their kids to college, and buy new cars, that is all disappearing. what we're seeing is that of third world -- third world country economics. host: we're listening, richard. caller: that is about all i have to say. host: we will move onto gregory and los angeles, a democratic caller. caller: thank you for the opportunity to comment. the challenges that i see is

that the market was inflated based on false appreciation. it was based on market demand. the purchasing or the buying of the homes became so overwhelming that demand pushed every other part of our economy. it pushed the cost of cars, rentals, and renters right now are probably paying a higher rate than most people on mortgages. it is all based on that same inflation of purchasing in the housing market. they are making adjustments to the homeownership, the interest rates, but they -- nothing has changed for the housing and rental markets. i think it is sad. host: if you do not want to call in, you can have the conversation with our fellow viewers on twitter. go to @cspanwj, or you can send

us an e-mail. let me read eight weeks from james parker duse's -- here is an e-mail that says -- sterling, a renter in fairfax, virginia. you are on the air. caller: hi, how are you? thank you for taking my call. host: is owning a home still the american dream? caller: i do not think so. i agree with your last caller

about the inflation issue. supply and demand will bring housing prices back down so i am waiting until then. host: do you think you have enough to buy a home but you are sitting out for now? caller: i think that my wife and i could buy a house of we really wanted to, but we would have to stretch ourselves then. i think that is largely because your last caller's comments about the inflation and housing market. we are going to wait. host: will be the key indicator for you? caller: from what i hear, markets are supposed to drop down because they are still above the 100-year averages. i would wait until prices came back down another 20% to 30%, but i am also waiting because

the possible downturn of the real estate market would cause even more trouble for the rest of the economy. host: what about interest rates being so low? any fears are concerns that they would go back up? caller: i wish that they would go back up. i think that is what is causing the housing market to stay so high. host: we will go to the andover, new york, a republican joining us. caller: two. i would like to make. a person can buy a home but he does not own it. he is required to pay state taxes and local taxes and if he does not, his home was confiscated. the other point is that if the

home appreciates over time, the government again steps in and increases the taxes on the property. if you own any other item, if it appreciates, the taxes you pay are only paid on the difference of what you paid for it and what the appreciation is. host: the "financial times" has this headline. in a high-risk move, accompanied by industry warnings about price rises, andrea merkel committed europe's largest economy to doubling the amount of electricity from a new mobile sources to 35% this decade.

the story continues inside the paper on the prediction of rising prices. it says that electricity prices could rise 30% if all nuclear plants close by the end of the decade, a number consistently dismissed by the government is overly pessimistic. the story is in many of the newspapers this morning. i wanted to give you an update on the situation in libya, with the "financial times." they have used up their stock with no certainty of when

production can resume. eight libyan officers have defected from the gaddafi regime and. in rome. they believe that this is more evidence, another sign that the libyan regime is crumbling. james, anext to independent in lafayette, indiana. it is up owning a home still the american dream? caller: it took a long time but i finally got my house paid. now why rent from the county or $2 a day. that is my real estate taxes. i do not think it is any better than that. i would advise everyone to buy a home and stay with it. you can treat the american dream. host: matt, a democrat in memphis, tennessee. caller: it is still the american dream to buy a house.

one woman was talking about having a transient work force and people trying to get rid of their baggage, their extra materialistic things. people will need to loosen the regulations about building codes. i think people would find a lot more affordable housing if they did not get a house was already built before. a lot of the houses today are so big. people are going have to chase their perspective on what they want to have in their houses. i appreciate this opportunity to comment. yes, our dream is just changing. host: a republican in kansas city. caller: i do not think it is the american dream anymore.

people get into their mortgage for 30 years [unintelligible] host: we are getting a lot of feedback from your television. remember to turn it down. "new york times" frontpage.

this plan is drawn fire from hospitals which say they have little control over services after a patients discharged and do not even know about them. they are apprehensive about medicare plan to reward and penalize hospitals based on untested measures of efficiency that include spending per beneficiary. the front page of the "new york times calls " this morning. a democrat in tennessee. host: i think it is a good deal to buy a house. a lot of people end up paying more in rent that what i house could be purchased for. they should go ahead and buy one. but i think it is wages of the last 15 years that are hurting us the worst. host: ok, and that contributes to the housing situation. caller: yes, i believe that it does. our wages did not go up but the

cost of living, housing, insurance, and food is going up. host: are you a homeowner? caller: yes. host: what is your situation? is your mortgage worth more than your home? caller: i am not upside down in my home. i could sell it and walk away and have some, but not a lot. host: we will go to terry, a republican in illinois. good morning. go ahead, sir. caller: back in 2006, i had a mortgage with a fairly good reputation on being a good lender. after i lost my home, i would send the money and that would send it back and give me

excuses. then they would get money and put some in escrow, and before it got all done, they ended up wanting me to give them $12,000 out of my retirement. well, i could see what they were doing. they were putting me behind to get into my 401(k). at the end of a long winded story, i have an arbitration clause and my mortgage contract which they would never honor. i ended up losing my home and i am ready now. i still think the american dream can have a home. but right after i lost mine, stockortgage company's went down to $1 a share. they are out of business. the united states government's takes care of what it can catch. maybe one day we will get back on our feet. but there are some slippery people out there trying to get their hands on our homes. host: do you still aspire to own

a home? or have you decided that is not for you? caller: i will try to. i am paying enough on rent, if you get a good location. the value of your home will stay solid. host: how much is your rent compared to your mortgage? caller: my mortgage was a less than $500 for a house and 43 acres of land next to my father's farm. the place that we are living now, it is $400 a month, but we also pay the maintenance. so it is getting into our pockets with that type of an agreement. host: we will go to a lawrence, an independent in florida. caller: am i on? i almost think that the question that we are asking is the wrong question. i think that when we refer to owning a home as the american

dream, it does a lot of damage. if you want to dream, you should be sleeping. owning a home is their responsibility and an accomplishment. and i am talking about primary residence. i understand how the real estate industry wants to perpetuate this industry. but when the political process seize in washington do the same thing, that is how we get in trouble. on in the home is their responsibility, an accomplishment. if you work your way up and then when you are ready to retire or later on your life, if you can buy a home cash, then you are buying a dream home. you're buying the community, the fire department, the schools, why have you. but those are accomplishments. we do it a disservice when we call it a dream. that is how we get people into trouble. we get people who do not have scanned in the game and they want to buy a home. we also have government

officials that are saying that if you are upside down in your home, you should not pay your mortgage? if that were the case, buying a new car, as soon as you drive it off the lot, you should stop paying. host: we need to read a few more headlines. top domestic issues to the all- purpose role in the administration. does bipartisan talks continue this week, despite the senate being out. the house is in session. they are taking a debt ceiling vote tonight. we will have to it tuned in to c-span for our coverage which begins at 2:00 p.m. eastern. there will be taking that test vote to raise it by over $2 trillion. no spending cuts included. that is slated to be right before all 241 democrats meet on wednesday.

this morning in the "wall street journal," democrats hitched a ride on auto industry rebound. also, the "washington post" with a story on tax deductions. a new report coming out that tax rates will not fix the budget. that is talking about deductions for your 401(k), employers that get them for your health coverage as well. our last phone call, go ahead. caller: i absolutely believe that running a home is still the american dream. it will continue to be as long as we can buy property.

it has become somewhat undesirable q2 certain things like the dry wall from the chinese material, things of that nature. i think that americans have to become more aware and more responsible when buying homes. a lot of that is because we have people who are migrating and coming to this country as immigrants who may need to become more aware of buying a home, the responsibility, repairing the foundation, repairing their root, and so on. i do not believe that income and wages pay such a large part in buying a home. i believe that the american dream has many parts and the owning a home has been part of it. and will continue to be as we continue to do what is necessary to own a home. host: we will end it there.

we switch from public policy to politics, 2012 politics our topic. we will be right back. ♪ >> the c-span video library makes it easy to follow campaign 2012. get instant access to events announced and potential presidential candidates, all searchable, shareable, and free. it is watching your weight. >> kahlo "washington journal" on twitter. it'd vance notice on guests,

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at the website, it is not like she has set up a schedule of places to go. it is hard to speculate about. someone asked her at gettysburg if she was running. she said she did not know but the republican field with shakeup a lot. sending mixed messages. this is a strong sign that she is getting on a bus and going up and down the east coast and in new hampshire, she is thinking about it seriously host: she added to cnn that she will go to iowa. guest: i think i would figure prominently in her calculus here she is going to go for this nomination. iowa had good numbers in since the 2008 campaign. we've seen her approval rating trail of some, but she has clocked in good favorable among iowa. she was at 70% shortly after

2008. that would be a good place for her to go. no reason for her not to, i would put it that way. host: what is the impact of her not saying that she is running? guest: it is a guessing game for everyone. if your temple auntie -- if you are tim pawlenty or mitt romney, you're guessing. you know what to plan what you're doing around sarah palin running are not, but you have to wait and see whether the followers of sarah palin will turn out against them or if it will not be an issue. host: and will be the impact if she decides to get in? guest: it will be interesting. it is hard to know how she will do. she polls well. she is around second place right now. mitt romney is the clear leader in this race, but the polling is early.

it is a reflection of name recognition. how many republicans out there know you, and that they know you, you will do all well in the polls. mitt romney is around 50%, and sarah palin in the 12% range. -- mitt romney is around 15%, and sarah palin is in the 12% range. i think we know that nationally people have made up their minds about sarah palin. she is seen as a divisive figure. are on the badles side of 50%, but republicans seem to like her. when people are presented with a few options, when sarah palin passed a debate with mitt romney and others to come out an attacker, it will be interesting to see what happens. no one has wanted to take swings

at sarah palin for the last couple of years. after that starts to happen, who knows what will happen? host: how much money is sarah palin raising with his bus tour? guest: i do not know the engine to that question. her organization sarahpac is doing quite well. it is not at the level of nest in words. sarah palin is pretty good at fund-raising. mitt romney is also pretty good. i do not know what his bus tour will take in for her but it is generating interest. people show up and will see that she is going to be there, they will show up and wait. it is a label like a book tour. she goes around and people show up to see her. she does not need a lot of advance work.

at the motorcycle rally, she only had one advance person with her. she can draw people. host: it is pac, sarahpac. are there legal limits to what she can do with that money? host: i think your tap at $5,000 per person. you cannot just take an unlimited money for your group before you are running. in terms of restrictions, it is very similar to running a presidential campaign. the federal limit is low enough that you cannot just rake in a couple of donors. you have to spread yourself then. host: when she was asked, she told people to go to the website. i want to show you an ad for the bus tour featured on her website. we will come back and go to your phone calls. >> ♪

>> we have a vision for the future of our country, high time tested approach. freedom is at god-given right and it is worth fighting for. [applause] the constitution provides the best road map for the more perfect union. these are enduring truths, and these enduring truths have been passed down from washington to reagan and now to you. we know that our best days are yet to come. [applause] host: sarah palin in the latest cnn poll comes in at 30%, third place behind juliani who got 60% and mitt romney, who got 15%.

guest: interesting to seeguiliani up there. i did not see a lot of people thinking that he is seriously considering running. it seems like those polling numbers are more about people knowing who he is and having higher recognition. everyone knows him from the days after 9/11. it is interesting to see a candidate that people do not think will win topping the race. you have to discount that and look at after him, who is it? his polling so well, our people unsatisfied with the field? do people want someone else to get in? if he got in or chris christie, the governor from new jersey, died in, would people glom on to him? or would it be a short honeymoon? the candidates that they have maybe the best ones. host: those people were asked who would be your second choice. mitt romney that 50%, and they

newt gingrich just up the third place at 10%. guest: i do not know if he would be happy about doing better in the second place poll. interesting to see, when you figure different candidates in and out of the equation, how they shipped all around. when donald trump was in the race, it actually hurts sarah palin. now she is doing better by a couple of percentage points. when you look at polls coming out, she has bumped up a little bit. trump took some of the wind out of her sales. if guiliani says he is not running, what will change? host: newt is in a three-way tie with michele bachmann and sarah palin. they each come in at 10%.

is michele bachmann running? guest: i think she is probably running. she is taking steps in that direction. i think that palin's presence might change the calculus for her. people see her as a sarah palin part ii. she is beating back that impression. they had been pretty close politically. they held rallies together. bachmann really allied herself with sarah palin. host: shelley is a democrat in west virginia. 2012 politics is the subject. caller: thank you for taking my call. sarah palin is not running for president. the reason is, if she was, roger ailes would have suspended her from being a xbox contributor a long time ago. i would not vote for any way.

host: melissa, a republican in buffalo, new york. caller: thank you for taking my call. first of all, i am a republican and i would never vote for sarah palin. if she could not hack it as governor and she resigned after two years in office, there is no way in the world she could handle being president. i do not buy the story that she quit because of ethics investigation. her own lawyer confirmed that she quit because of all the pressure put on her by all of the critics. secondly, i would not vote for michele bachmann because she has this problem with rewriting history. i think another problem is that during the 2008 elections, or 2010, i am sorry. no, 2008, obama was running for president and have a problem with the democratic party started a rumor that rush limbaugh was that the facto leader of the republican party. and then the republican leader

started apologizing to him. we need leadership in the republican party that will not kowtow to democratic rumors and to some radio disc jockey with a loud mouth. host: of those who are running, who would you vote for? who might you vote for? caller: i answers in looking at herman cain as a candidate because i like his perspective on the israel-palestine relationship has the united states goes, and i like his ideas about the economy and where we should be going as a country. guest: it is interesting to hear positive comments about herman cain. he is a guy running from the tea party support. apparently, a very smart guy. at think he has an advanced degree in computer science and works for the navy developing

ballistic. he is clearly a smart, charismatic guy that could draw some support. i do not think enough people know about him but he is definitely an intriguing candidate. it is interesting to hear melissa say the republican party needs leaders who are not going to kowtow to rumors and saying she will not vote for sarah palin because i think she wants to be seen as someone who will stand up to president obama and go at him to the extent that that might be catching on. caller: good morning. i have a think chris might want to look into. you cannot do any typical. all tipping are pro rated against the salaries.

it is just pro rated against the salary taxed, and then that money is given to the stadium. gov. tim pawlenty was in support of that and so was the republican that ran last fall. u guys should really look into this because this is a character of this crazy man who is coming out of minnesota. >> you never voted for tim pawlenty? caller: why would you? i did not know that those rich billionaires and needed welfare like that. host: have you voted democrat? caller: i voted republican a long time ago and democrat. a check out michele bachmann and summer her crazy stuff, too. host: what about the governor

tim pawlenty's record in minnesota? could it come back anything? are people looking into that? i feel bad any pennies being dumped on you like that. quality is running on his record in minnesota. as we delve into it and find out more about it, maybe people will start challenging him on it, but for now, that is one of his selling point when he goes out and speaks about stuff. he is talking about how he left minnesota in a good, a financial shape and that is what he campaigns on. that has been a huge topic of discussion before it democrat politics and republican politics. some of the talking points are about how he negotiate better deals for taxpayers and the

unions. he sees his record as a strong selling point. host: the next call comes from dallas, tx. is gov. rick perry going to run? guest: i do not know. at that would be interesting. he is a guy who has generated headlines by appearing at a tea party rally and suggesting that texas seceded from the union. i would like to see rick perry in the race. it would be very funny and entertaining to see how he handles himself in that debate. anybody hinting at a run at it is tough to tell if they are serious enough. host: go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am curious to know how is it sarah palin's bus tour being financed? who is contributing to that?

thank you. guest: i believe it is being financed through her political action committee. the restrictions are that are such that she has to take donations from people and not corporations, all financed with money that she is being given by individuals or other political organizations. the cap on that is pretty low at around $5,000. it is not like there is a company financing her bust door or anything like that. a-- her bus tour or anything like that. caller: i wanted to say that as far as 2012 politics go -- i am 17 years old and 2012 will be the first election that i will be able to vote in the.

-- in. originally, i set out three candidates. mike huckabee, herman cain, and mitch daniels. i like herman cain because i am a black conservative, a son of a preacher, and he is a really good guy. a ticket to really want to see in 2012 and that think we have a good chance of seeing is mitt romney end allen west. that is going to be a very powerful ticket against the democrats, and alan west is going to make a great leader. he has a big future ahead of him. that ticket is going to be pretty big. host: that corresponds with this headline. r and the of the candidates

that we talk about the most or have said they are going to run for sure -- mitt romney expected to make an announcement later in the week -- or any of them considering the tea party candidate? guest: mitt romney, i think probably no. since the rise of the tea party, mitt romney is one of the few national politicians -- there was never a point when you saw mitt romney drive hard for the tea party vote. tim pawlenty -- i do not know if he is a tea party candidate. he has some of the talking points in his repertoire and is all for reining in government spending. does he really have the feel of a tea party candidate? part of the tea party is these messages about reducing spending, raising taxes, but it

is kind of an anger and outrage associated with the tea party that i do not know if a guy like tim pawlenty will be characterized by that kind of candidate. sarah palin could be a tea party candidate. newt gingrich is kind of played for the tea party vote, and the kind of a firebrand when he wants to be. he could vy fo the tea party vote. the tea party vote has not been secured debt. i do not know if any one candidate will end up with it. host: let's talk about the other side of the aisle. here is the associated press this morning, saying that barack obama tapped into a record nearly 50 million voters for the first time.

what do you make of that? guest: that has been the question of his campaign and the political arm of his presidency. he brought so many people in who were not actively engaged in politics. it was kind of situation where people thought is that this permanently going to change the landscape? expanded the democratic field? to perpetuate that, the democratic national committee spun off his campaign and created this organizing group with the idea of keeping everybody engaged and involved

in getting them to lobby on the grass-roots level. they try to get people together at their houses in a non- election year to sit around and talk about what they like and what they do not like. it will be a test whether people will stay engaged in that. now they are turning it into this group organizing for america and now is going back to the 2012 campaign. it is a difficult thing to do. i guess we will find out whether it worked or not. host: the washington post has this front page story.

guest: the last part is definitely right. that would be a really bad thing for republicans if obama was able to carry one of those states. can he do it? that is pretty tough. if obamacare wins taxes in 2012, i think that is a big, big thing that no one would've seen coming. you know, maybe wishful thinking on the part of democrats? getting out there now saying we are going to win the texas and georgia and present a strong image to piggyback what they did in 2000 aid. trying to get people to vote for

democrats in north carolina in virginia, to have a democrat carry that state, that was big. you know, we do not know if it is going to continue going in the next election year. you saw the momentum in north carolina when democrats started getting barracks organizing came together at the neighborhood level. getting people together because they did not like what george bush was doing as president. now we are removed from that. that definitely helped all the way for the obama victory and the shift. host: we will go to baltimore, independent line, john. caller: thank you for taking my call. how are you doing?

i have two things. the congressional seats that are open for reelection should be more interesting than the presidential election i think. as far as the presidential election, the incumbent usually does win, but on the republican side, i would like to see herman cain or rick perry, but ron paul, you do not hear much one way or the other about ron paul. i agree with a lot of his ideas. if he does not get the republican nomination, he would make a good vice president i would think. i still think especially of the senate seats up for grabs are going to be more important than the president will election. host: why do you say that and which ones are you watching? caller: there are more

democratic seats up for grabs in the senate, and i do not know how many in the house. the republicans control the house already even though i am not 100% happy with either party. that is why i am independent. when you have a republican- controlled senate and house, you probably get more done whether the president is a democrat or republican. host: here is the front page of the boston globe this morning about that senate seat in massachusetts -- guest: that is like a barometer

election. took away the democratic supermajority and the senate. the republicans can not like hearing that, and that their candidate who was a golden boy for a little bit who led the resurgence in congress, that he is not fearing to well at home. if there is a canary in the coal mine to say anything bad about republicans, i think that is what we are looking at. it might not be that surprising. there was starting to be backlash against the president and what democrats were doing, and maybe some of that has faded. he has had to find his way in congress. it is kind of a finger that the media does now, when something like the right and budget happens, everyone is asking scott brown what he thinks about it.

people want to see if scott brown is going to side with them. so scott brown is now drawing tremendous attention from everybody if he is going to go with the republican party. he is the first guy that people ask when the ryan budget comes out. host: this tweet coming in with different numbers from the gallup polls -- talk about the impact of the economy on 2012. guest: that has been a story line that everyone is following. the economy is supposed to be the driving factor for president obama and how much it has to recover for him to win reelection.

i think it is still driving things out there, and its drove a major backlash against him when the stimulus came out and people saw the government spending money. as the economy improves, i think obama is it may be getting on a surer footing, but the question is will it be enough? even though the incumbent usually does win, it is hard for the and, to win when the economy looks bad. it is something that president obama will have to overcome if it does not get better. host: we will now go to new york. caller: the comments concerning sarah palin, i have been thinking to myself, my god,

[unintelligible] how is she going to overcome the from the media? to me, it is so daunting. the only hope that she may perhaps have -- whether or not she has to go through that filter, i would think she does not have a chance. but the same token she is able to avoid it, maybe the the new internet has lessened the impact of the media, the old mainstream media, i do not really know but that has to be on her mind. these vicious, non-objective attacks on her as she has come

into the scene. a host: so, jim, she would have your vote? caller: absolutely. guest: sarah palin in the media has had advertisements for so long. she has opposed herself as someone who speaks the truth while the mainstream media distorts things. it has been a constant fight. the interesting there is, yes, i think it would be tough for her to go through the media filter especially when you have commentators say you bad things about her, but she has almost insulated herself from that same period a whoever criticizes sarah palin in the media has been discredited about what she has said about the media. the fact that she has campaigned against the media and on its inherent falsehood, it is kind of like you are either with her

or against her, and if the media says something bad about her -- i do not think the media saying something bad about her can turn someone off that is supporting her. i think it reinforces the narrative about what she has put out there about what the media is. sarah palin is such an interesting candidate to look for because she may not even need field staff in the traditional sense as far out as other people do in states. as we saw at her book tour, she can go to bars and nobles and thousands of people can turn out for her. candidates setting up their campaign this far away, we have not seen the sarah palin dudack,

and that might not be a problem for her. a -- we have not seemed sarah palin do that, that might not be a problem for her. is totally irresponsible to think that she could do well without getting into gear sooner, but sarah palin has this innate draw. host: does that mean the other candidates have a set of field offices in all -- and iowa and new hampshire and getting together resources? guest: yes. i don't know how many volunteers that have, but tim pawlenty has people in iowa, mitt romney has a lot of people in iowa. the top candidates are on their way to building a campaign structure. the ones who have not announced yet, we do not know how much they are spending.

they are in this legal limbo that it will have to announce to the federal government that they are testing the waters. they do not have to start regularly reporting to the federal commission until they announce they are running. as a certain number of days past, they have to file regularly. yes, they are raising and spending money, but we do not know how much. host: it was reported that tim pawlenty was able to raise $10 million in one day. guest: and that was on top of how many millions of dollars of his own at that he can spend. host: but we do not know how much he has spent yet. will that figure come out this week? guest: i am not sure if it will be this week. it will be each month or quarterly. i will have to get back to you on that. host: george, an independent, go

ahead. caller: yes, i would like to talk about tim pawlenty and minnesota. people do not know but there are eight classes of a felony in minnesota. the most in the nation are too easy to make criminal. the fifth amendment does not apply to the states. as i understand, sandra day o'connor is going out on a mission to get rid of this notion of an elected judges in states. i have not seen any politicians talk about these things but it needs to be aired. thank you. caller: hello? i would never vote for a republican for three reasons. when bush was in, the bankrupt this country. at least the democrats -- bush

was in office for all of those years and they did not get him. he was too close to the oil wells. that is number one. host: we will leave it there. we saw george w. bush was an issue back in 2008. what about 2012? guest: someone pointed out recently that obama won in 2008 running against george w. bush had had such a favorable lansky for his election because of that. at that point, nobody liked president bush. people thought he was so terrible. his approval ratings sank below 30%. it was a bad situation for

republicans. it was a tough situation for john mccain who had to go to the white house. this time, are we far enough removed that george bush does not matter any more in this election? do people still -- to republicans still have to deal with that issue? i think we might be far enough away for some people, the memories of bush fading. it might not be a campaign issue, but it might be an underlying issue. host: here is a headline in the baltimore sun that this morning --

guest: none of the people sitting on the sidelines of the republican party are running for president. no one has been as forceful as chris christie. he has been so adamant that he is not running. if people in iowa are begging him to run, is it going to look like chris christie has passed on the election? host: according to "politico," chris christie is meeting with organizers at the governor's mansion in princeton, new jersey?

guest: yes, it looks like they really want him to get into. -- in. host: monroe, louisiana. caller: why are we putting iraq on the back burner when it is becoming a very democratic state and it is going to affect all of the other countries are read it? we see part of it by the uproar, going in with syria and iran -- host: what do you think a role that it should play in 2012? caller: we are currently creating a state with obama's help that will help israel, and picture the other states around it watching what is happening in iraq which is great.

host: what about national security issues? guest: afghanistan is going to be a huge issue. it is interesting to hear iraq posed in that kind of light as a success story because it has been such a political albatross for politicians here. to hear it posed as a success story, you know, it is an interesting thing to hear. the big question in domestic politics is voters will be voted on afghanistan in 2012. the withdrawal that is supposed to begin pretty shortly here, how fast is it going to be? we do not know. it is such a tough and because if things go badly there, it is going to look bad for obama and tough for him to win votes. if he does not pull out fast enough, he loses support from his base. i think the war is going to be a

major factor. host: we are going to be talking about national security issues shortly with bill gertz from the "washington times." let me show you this piece. iowa's record there back in 2000, pickled george w. bush. they have not picked the right one since 1988. with these two states have an impact on 2012? guest: i think so. there is so much momentum you can get from coming in second or third. we saw the last time around michael huckabee carried a national campaign way into the 2008 primary. i think he was the last man standing against john mccain because basically he won iowa.

they might not pick the front runner, but if you look at who places second or third in new hampshire, i think it has a lot to do with it. host: jimmy, last phone call for chris good. caller: i have three points. number one, the economy will be a major obstacle or a major asset for barack obama. i think he can quickly say it is better than what it was when i first came into office. if you look at the empirical data, that is the case. sarah palin has had numerous opportunities to convey what she thinks publicly. we have long debates and you can really see that she more relies on talking points when it comes to the heavy knowledge base that

you need. i don't think that is changed. she is a wonderful, likable person, but in terms of an intellectual heavyweight running for president, i think she lacks that and the media sees that. i think mitt romney will be the nominee for the republican party. the problem with him is he has is social policy when it comes to medicaid and medicare that he authored in massachusetts. now he is running away from that. i am sure the democrats are going to pave that out. thank you for taking my call. host: thank you for being with us. we are going to switch gears and talk about budget cuts and defense spending with bill gertz, but first a news update from c-span radio. >> more on the 2012 presidential race. mitt romney in an interview says president obama is "one of the

most ineffective president he has ever seen a." he went on to say that president obama was not responsible for that recession, but "he made things worse." asked of his mormon faith, governor romney said we are not electing a pastor in chief. we are electing a commander in chief. he plans to formally get in the gop race later this week. "political" is reporting that senators are sending a letter this morning to treasury secretary tim geithner, asking him to stop paying members of congress if the nation defaults on its obligations. the letter says it is wanting to vote no on increasing the debt limit to send a message, and a dangerous thing to bring the legislation that down. the house of those today to raise the debt ceiling by $2.40 trillion.

defense secretary gates is making his final overseas trip as the pentagon chief, attending defensering of asian de chiefs in the singapore. secretary gates steps down from his post at the pentagon on june 30. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> the cs been networks -- we provide coverage of politics, public affairs, non-fiction books, and american history. it is all available to you. find our content any time on the c-span video library. it is one symptom your -- it is washington your way. >> sunday, the balance between

security and liberty, the difficulties of a climate change treaty, and the limits of international law. your questions for author eric posner. he will take your calls, e- mails, and tweets, live sunday. >> "washington journal" continues. host: bill gertz is the national security editor with the "washington times." let's begin with the change of leadership at the obama administration. the president announced that general dempsey will take over of the joint chiefs of staff. >> martin dempsey is one of our nation's most respected and combat-tested generals. in iraq, he led our soldiers against the brutal insurgency.

he knows the nation's must take responsibility for their own bread soaked -- responsibility for their own security. he understands that in iraq and the contestant, security gains and the progress must go hand in hand. just as the challenge to the army to embrace a new tactics, i expect him to push all of our forces to be ready for the missions of today and tomorrow. host: bill gertz, the "washington times" says after two months, the president has now made him the head of the joint chiefs. who is martin dempsey of what we know about him? guest: he is the army chief of staff. this will clearly give the army prominence within the small circle of top military advisers. i think the real story here is who did not get the job who was

general car right who was considered obama's favorite general. he lost out in a big political battle with the current chairman as well as the current, outgoing defense secretary bob gates. it is very interesting. it was a matter of a lot of people felt car right was a brilliant general but was not considered a team player. he clashed with mullen and gates on strategy in afghanistan. he was still a well-connected to the president and in and on the osama bin laden secret operation. he also had some personal issues related to his family life, some questions there. it was a classic washington political battle. host: what is it about general car right the cost of this controversy? guest: the whole question is and this gets into the real

interworking. should we have a counter- terrorism strategy and afghanistan or a counter insurgency strategy? the issue is should we go after al-qaeda or rebuild afghanistan? that is the debate that is taking place right now and is at the forefront of all the issues related to troop levels and defense spending. host: what does it mean that general density is now the joint chiefs? guest: is not clear. we do not know his views on this internal battle. again, kind of the larger issues here is what to do with resetting the force? that is going to be his big challenge. president obama said he was going to cut defense spending by $400 billion over 12 years. defense secretary bob gates has given three different comments recently warning that the

military could be hollowed out by unwise defense spending cuts. host: that is the headline from may 25 front page of the washington times. he is reaching back to the 1970's. guest: during the 1970's and again in the 1990's under first the carter administration and then the clinton administration, steep cuts were made in defense spending, and the military began moving in the direction of being a hollow force. your military is not ready for war. that has been the high point of our military, that we are ready for any battle.

he is warning that we could face a hollowed out military if we do not have these defense cuts properly. host: he and others have said that our debt is our biggest national security threat. how do you square those two things? guest: and that gets into the bigger issue of how we fix the economy. the zero economies is a problem. the argument being made that defense can be part of the solution to that problem but it should not be the only solution. there are real fears within the obama administration that it is basically being to the left of center is going to go after the military with a vengeance in terms of defense spending cuts and programs. we are going to be hearing a lot of debate in the coming weeks from the capitol hill and the house. host: that is the issue on the

front page this morning -- $130 billion for this year. guest: this is getting back to the argument of what should be the strategy in afghanistan. typically, the strategy has been at nation-building. we are busily building a country from scratch. host: that is called a counter insurgency? guest: the strategy is designed to counter the insurgency by rebuilding the nation. the counterterrorism strategy has a much lower footprint which is focusing on using special operation forces to go after terrorists on a much smaller scale than actually rebuilding the entire country. who is in which camp? guest: it is been reported that the joe biden is leading the

charge for the smaller footprint strategy, and others like general petraeus and gates have been arguing let's do the nation-build and strategy. host: for those who have said the military is on the table, it would seem that a drawdown from afghanistan would fit the bill, of the recipe for getting the debt and the deficit under control. guest: i think that is the thrust of the people speaking to newspapers today. if you or hearing voices from the white house saying it is not going to just be a battle over the counter terrorism and counter insurgency. it is the fact that we are running out of money. that has been my view of these conflicts, that basically they are very, very expensive, billions of dollars. the figure in the article said it was like $1 million per

soldier deployed in afghanistan. it is very expensive to do these operations. now the argument is being made that we cannot afford it anymore. host: new political pressure on obama much of it from fellow democrats. guest: yes. this is a reflection of the debate in congress. over fiscal conservatism vs defending our values and objectives overseas. host: what about the foot side of that, the concerned about day being viewed not supporting the troops if you want to draw down

because of costs? guest: the arguments are being made on both sides that if you do not want to continue funding the operation, you are somehow working against the military. it is very typical in washington. host: how will that play out on capitol hill? guest: is going to be interesting. you have a republican-controlled house which is originating a lot of the defense bills, if you have a democratically-controlled senate, which to me is the formula that you will bossy a lot of big changes taking place. the house bill gets worked over in the senate, and then the real work gets down. when they hash out all the differences -- it is going to be hard to predict how these issues will fare. host: this is the washington

post numbers. host: talk about that figure. thguest: the figures speak for themselves. do you want to cut and run? do you want to give up and say we cannot do this because it is too hard? that is going to be at the core of it. right now, we are still working on of the surge.

this was supposed to be able to make real gains. it worked in iraq and that is not clear if it is working in afghanistan. that will be a big challenge. host: and independent in dallas, texas, you are on the air with bill gertz. caller: good morning. i would like to ask a question. on september 10, 2001, donald ross filled announced a trillion dollar loss by the pentagon -- announced afilumsfeld trillion dollar loss by the pentagon. it has never been discussed. guest: i an not familiar with that statement having covered rumsfeld back then.

i think he was referring to a lot of the fray -- at a lot of the fraud, waste, and abuse in the pentagon. the latest effort is an attempt at efficiencies under the current administration. they are trying to save money by becoming more efficient at the pentagon. i am a bit skeptical that it will be successful. the way that they do business is the way they do business. people have tried to change it and have not succeeded. host: why has it not succeeded to have some sort of auditing of the books? guest: this is an enormous institution, a very difficult challenge to try to get this thing under control. my own view is a government bureaucracy is definitely out of control. i think that is why we see the tea party movement developing. host: budget cuts and defense

spending are our topic. we are with bill gertz of the "washington times." michael is joining us from hawaii on our independent line. you are next. caller: good morning. my question is for you, bill. i believe that general cartwright should have been -- i wanted to ask you about that and the astronomical $100 billion plus money towards this war. i would like to get your input on that please. guest: we are addressing that someone. general cartwright is not a

combat veteran. i think that is one factor. certainly, he has had a remarkable career. no one questions his amazing service, but people had differences with his outlook. for example, there right now is a debate in the pentagon on how to deal with the emergence of china. it is not get attention with all the other issues going on. the pentagon is fighting whether our forces should be structured to deal with high end conventional conflicts with china or to refocus as defense secretary gates has done on these counter insurgency conflicts or what some critics call general custard type indian wars. that is the debate that is going on. general cartwright was suppose

in some of the military efforts to build up conventional forces for dealing with the growing military problem of china. host: what is the role of the joint chiefs? guest: the chairman is the principal military adviser to the president. the chiefs themselves have a role of also being part of heading their services as the top general in charge of their services. they are the ones that confer on all the issues, the big money issues and the force issues. host: so they are big picture strategy, philosophy? what do you make of this front page story?

guest: yeah, this is a new area that the military has recently entered with the standing up of the u.s. cyber command which is up the parkway here at fort meade. basically, the military is looking for how to deal with these issues. they are very complex and very much shrouded in legal issues. how do you define these issues? are they conflicts that would relate to the military? are the intelligence that would relate to intelligence gathering? there are still legal issues that have not been sorted out. on the other hand, you have the problem of most of the civilian infrastructure is in the military's hands. they are beginning to deal with this. but they have issued a number of strategy papers. it is a growing area of concern.

the big problem is being able to identify or attribute the source of an attack. they are getting better at it but they are still not there yet. you have to find out who is attacking you, and most of the attackers know how to mask their attacks. they take over a computer system in finland to conduct an attack. a lot of these attacks are coming from china and russia. of course, that is really where they are beginning to look at some of the big strategic cyber threats. host: the wall street journal says this as well. guest: i think the story is probably overstating it a little

bit. stating that you are going to take military action in response to a is a bird attack is one of many options on the scale. you would have to consider what sort of an attack would warrant a military strike on another country. clearly, they are looking across the spectrum of different things. the internet is basically a lawless environment, and people are beginning to understand defending your systems is going to be a never ending process. they are beginning to look at how you go on the offense. host: internationally, the rules of war are such that how would that -- how with the united states say if someone cyber attacks us, how can you retaliate? the guest: you have the inherent right of self-defense if you are under attack. you can take defensive measures

including military action to defend yourself. they are extending that to include our networks and computer systems. host: is the unit states looking it other countries and what they do to get an agreement? guest: there has not been a lot of consensus on this because i think a lot of states are beginning to set up their own military cyber units. the chinese last week announced they have what they call a cyber warrior unit. that was a very unusual revelation for the very secretive jennies. we do not know much about a lot of the other countries, but many of them are moving in this direction to create an area for international discussions on controls of cyber attacks. host: let's go to dave in denver. caller: i have a question.

since our military mission has changed in the last 10 years, with budget cuts and defense spending, can we reduce those by cutting back or closing overseas bases that were established for the cold war? guest: well, a lot of that has been done. at the bottom line is the u.s. has a major, a global strategic responsibilities especially to allies. japan comes to mind. i think japan does not really have its own military, relying heavily on the u.s. we have international commitments. i think the real cost of defense spending, in which you talk about pensions and health care. i think secretary gates has said recently the costs are just astronomical to maintain these. these are the promise -- this was the promise made to our military men and women that they

would take care of those things. these are the things that are the real expensive units. i think there are a lot of concerns that we will not be able to fulfil these international responsibilities. a lot of nations count on the unit states and its military to protect freedom of navigation, to provide a deterrent to would- be aggressors, and the kind of thing. host: the annual reauthorization bill was approved by the house last week, and part of that included increases in fees for retired workers to help curb spending for the department. guest: at the costs are going up. this is going to be -- the question is how can you pay for everything? how can we afford it? host: the senate has yet to take up the defense authorization

bill and plans to do so next month. we will go to john in the wisconsin, an independent caller. caller: you have been talking about the issue of costs of the military. since we have a large defense budget and a large national deficit, i see the signs all the time that we support the troops , cut my taxes. i do not know how you have military spending and constantly put it on a credit card. i am generally pretty conservative, but it does bother me who our nieces could be paying for the worse now. guest: it is not just the wars that it will be paying for. it is overall government spending. that is part of the debate. guns and butter. how do you manage to have

irresponsible federal government budget when you do not have enough money? i do not have all the answers to that. i definitely come down on the side of supporting our national defense. i believe the united states has a major mission in the world and it needs to continue fulfilling that mission. the host: this tweet coming n -- guest: no, it hasn't. host: where do things stand with our actions in libya? guest: the administration used in certain provisions that allowed it to conduct military operations without having to go to congress to give formal authorization. we know that was also an issue after 9/11. the bush administration used basically a resolution as the basis for its war powers.

this is a constant debate in washington over the war powers act and it will continue. host: san antonio, florida. caller: i have a question. if a gang attacks us, would we go to their countries and occupied it like we do overseas? host: what is your point? caller: that is my question. if these higher power country terrorist groups look to attack us, would we do the same thing that we are doing to the middle east? guest: i would certainly think that the chinese and noticed the amazing special forces raid on

bin laden showing that we have the capability to carry out a military operation in another country successful. whether we would do that, i do not know. i cannot imagine a scenario where we would be doing that, but it is certainly conceivable. you can hypothesize that if terrorists had stolen a nuclear weapon or a device in some other country, our forces are trained to go after those kinds of things. those are the benefits of other nations as well. host: fairfax, va., republican, dolores. caller: you said that we are in many countries defendant, for example, south korea and japan. should these countries not be paying us to do that for them? i am wondering why this

president did not have the foresight, him being so analytical as and they say, to see that we do not have enough money to finish the job. guest: on the first part, yes. the military always once war from nations that also support. most of those countries to pay for some of it, not offsetting of total cost, but some of it does. i think this is an issue, up as the u.s. plans to transfer and number of troops from okinawa to guam. the japanese government is going to spend billions of dollars to take care of that. host: caller: i am a registered democrat, but i am really leaning towards more of a

citizen view. it is apparent to many that a lot of our international affairs really come down to dollars. it appears the me go into these countries where we've said we are going to have a democratic rule, but it appears that they're just looking to increase market share and open up new markets for business. generally speaking, these politicians who run our country are businessmen. they do this to spread business. but the same time, the american people are losing are losing -- american people are losing their homes and jobs. how do you see this thing in to enter national security scheme of things? guest: it goes back to the guns and butter argument.

do you spend your money at home or do you want security abroad? that has been a debate that has been under way for decades. some people argue that peace can be assured by promoting stability abroad. that has become a very expensive proposition. that is being re-evaluated since the 2008 financial crisis. i think that there will probably be some changes to that. can you afford to do these kinds of international security missions? i do not know how that will come out, but that will certainly be debated. host: indianapolis, independent caller. caller: good morning. i am speaking with 25 years' experience as a department of defense auditor. there are spending a lot of money on high ticket items that

get you jobs in your home district and you are not sending any money on maintenance and training. that way you end up with flashy equipment but no one that can use it. you have a lot of smaller equipment that cannot operate. secondly, we will never get out of a problem until we have an accounting system that can tell congress how the money is being spent. that will not happen until the department defense gives up control of their own accounting. the question i have is in do you think there'll ever be the will to stop helping the eu with massive military defense? about 25% at is providing the nuclear umbrella and a defense guarantee the eu nations such as france, germany, spain, and all of these countries that are quite wealthy and could very

well spent. they spend less than 1% of their gdp on defense and are quite willing to criticize everything that we do. guest: there's no questions that the europeans have not been spending their fair share on defense and has been riding on the u.s. defense umbrella, blanket, however you want to put it. some of the things that may have changed that are new concerns about a resurgent russia. we saw the russians going into georgia a few years ago. that definitely alarmed a lot of the eastern european new democracies there. they are obviously concerned about that, but the western europeans definitely have not been doing their fair share. i do not see that there's a lot of the pressure for them to do more so the u.s. can produce when they spend. host: here is the may 29th

version of "the washington post." "go big or go home with the weapons that you have." what did they decide on this helicopter? guest: i think they canceled the program. helicopters are one of the most important counterinsurgency weapons and clearly if you are going to have a counterinsurgency-oriented military, you need new helicopters. host: the caller brought up big weapons systems and there has been talk about a second system for the f 35. how has that been shaping up in the defense debate? where are they when it comes to big weapons and machinery? guest: the house authorization bill provided provisions and they said they would threaten a veto with.

one was that they wanted to keep open the idea for alternate engine for the f 35. practical aircraft debate has been raging for the last several years. we have big problems with it. the defense secretary canceled the f-22 which was really the most advanced fighter jet that we had. they capped the production at 187. they decided arbitrarily, and i do not think analysis was done if we should have a mix of both plans, and we are now going to the f 35 and they want to ever to thousand. there is one big problem. they are designing this in three models, one for the air force, one for the navy carriers, and one for marines for a vertical takeoff and landing. it is plagued with problems, cost overruns, and it is creating nervousness at the top of the military that we do not have this tactical aircraft. that is one big ticket item.

how do i get this aircraft feel that? at one hearing last week about the shortfall of 267 aircraft because this has been delayed so long. the older aircraft is being taken out of service to alleviate some of the problem so they will be purchasing more f- 15s. -- f-18's. one was the white house objection to the provision that would require the obama administration to tell congress and the specific terms what it planned to do with our nuclear modernization. this is going back to the debate over the new start treaty with russia. they basically said that there was a provision that said the administration could not undertake provisions under the new start treaty unless they underlined in specific detail what they need to do to the aging nuclear arsenal, the

backbone of our strategic nuclear deterrence. in then there are issues related to guantanamo detainees and whether they will be transferred to third countries and issues like that. there were 17 different issues. again, this is early and the sausage making process and we will see a lot of changes in the senate and the real work in the conference. host: the house and the senate will have to come together and negotiate their differences. republican in kansas. caller: i have a question much of the budget crisis, do you know if anyone is challenging the constitutionality of forcing u.s. taxpayers to provide free education, for health care, and welfare checks to an illegal immigrants, foreigners who are here illegally, stealing our

identities, negating taxes by working for cash, and stealing our jobs? host: i think that is outside of bill gertz's expertise. next caller. caller: do not cut me off. i have been watching c-span since the beginning. this is an important call. who owns "the washington times?" how long have you worked as a reporter for the military? why does he not know about the trillions of dollars that are missing in which donald rahm spelled gave a speech about it should be investigated to find the money -- donald rumsfeld said was missing. guest: i have been at "the washington times" for 26 years and we are under new ownership. we are rebuilding the paper and going forward with a redesign and a rebuilding effort.

i have been covering the pentagon for a long time, and it has been a fantastic experience. i have traveled all over the world. i have gone from china, russia, and backe including all points n between. host: when will of the redesign the launched? guest: we are now in the rebuilding process. they will be announcing a new editor in the coming days. host: wisconsin, go ahead. caller: congressional week is pensions and health care. what affected do they have -- host: pensions. guest: i am not aware that they have a major impact.

that is always one of the shares -- one of the issues. a recall one of the editors that mentioned that certain legislation would be swiftly moved to converse. i told them healing thing that moves swiftly through congress is when they do their own pay raises. host: leon panetta will take over at the pentagon for secretary gates. what are his takes on the spending cuts? guest: that will be interesting. he is walking into a very, very difficult situation. leon panetta is a centrist democrat. he has done a pretty good job at the cia. he is going to have to deal with all of these issues that the outgoing defense secretary has sounded the alarm about. he has some experience in doing that. i would say that he is going to

have a very difficult challenge, to be able to work within the pentagon system as it is set up now. we heard from a former dod are offset -- the auditor about how difficult it is to do that, but on the other hand he has the trust of the president so he will be given a lot of authority to try and implement these large-scale spending cuts. host: one more call for bill gertz, the national security reporter for "the new york times." times."washington caller: a remember you were on a radio show in california in 1999. at that time, you told the george and the audience that the russians had no way to deal with the change going into the new century, okay?

you said there missiles were very likely to go off and attack the united states. you said that you had a very secret information because of your contacts, okay? guest: i do not remember saying that. caller: this was a dean -- was the y2k problem. host: last call for bill gertz from akron, ohio. caller: the donald rumselfd issue $2.3 trillion missing. so you don't know? guest: it keeps going up with every call. host: let's talk about the

battle between the administration and republicans over these spending cuts. what does the president want to do to lower the pentagon's budget? what do the republicans want to do? guest: defense has always been a target for liberal democrats. that is clear. republicans want to hold the line. the have always been in favor of more defense spending. how can they come to terms and finding middle ground where we are spending our money wisely and not wasting it? both sides of going to have to come to terms about how to deal with that. host: bill gertz, thank you for being here. coming up, turning our attention to the rotc program, its mission, and history. >> 9:14 a.m. eastern. prohibiting air strikes on nato

air strikes on houses. a city air strikes will have no immediate effects on strikes. they say they never do such strikes without afghan approval and that these are key on the war against insurgents. war on the 2012 presidential race. michele bachmann is considering a run and says that she does not compare herself to sarah palin but president obama. she went on to say that she has no problem running against a friend. congresswoman bachmann is expected to address this next month. the first presidential primary in iowa is next year. she recently filed disclosure reports for international travel that she had failed to report a race -- over a time of several

years. they filed for official committee travel to africa, south america, europe, and the middle east for trips taken from 2007-to thousand nine. travelers accompanying her included other committee members. the documents showed expenses of more than taking thousand dollars. her office said it was a paperwork error. -- expenses of more than $15,000. >> the c-span video library makes it easy to follow campaign 2012. get instant access about potential presidential candidates. it is all free. the peabody award winning c-span video library. washington, your way. >> policies ban's "washington journal" on twitter. give advance notice of tomorrow's guests, the question of the day, and links of a key

program highlights. you can also add your comments to the conversation. do not miss any updates from "washington journal." twitter.com/cspanwj. host: we're back with major paul kremer. he teaches military science at george mason university talking about the world and the mission of the rotc. when was it found it? what is its mission? guest: it was federally founded in 1916. started with president wilson that authorized the rotc nationwide. the mission of the rotc, and it is to recruit young leaders, develop those leaders, retain them in our program for a series of years until they graduate.

the ultimate goal of a cadet command is to commission them as the new young officers for the army. host: how does it work? guest: they come into the office, contact us on our website, and express some sort of interest. we look at their qualifications. we get them into a class and do our best to find a way forward it they are able to continue in our program. host: some of the requirements are that you have to be a u.s. citizen between the ages of 18- 26. a minimum score of 920 on the sat. what are the physical standards? guest: we have a a two-mile run, said ups, pushups. host: and have to serve for how long? guest: the contract is a

standard eight years. depending on scholarships or just a commission, that determines on how many years to actually have to serve. host: are you joining the army when you become involved in the rtc? guest: we have students to have a no intention of joining active duty or reserve and it just want to take the class. in the first two years, we do not contract to them. we want them to learn about the military. if the values are there and the scores are right, we will proceed. host: why is the rtc needed? -- rotc needed? guest: we needed future leaders for the army. it is producing about 5000 officers per year. the bottom line, we need those leaders in the formation. host: why do you go to college campuses to find these types of

officers? guest: we want a diverse set of individuals to the the army. just like our soldiers are from different backgrounds, we want our leaders that the same diversity in our ranks. host: what types of colleges do you go to? guest: we are nationwide. virginia tech, georgetown, pretty much every college out there. there are 273 host schools including alaska, hawaii, guam, puerto rico. host: what the teacher at george mason? -- what to do you teach at george mason? guest: it is standardized but we have to teach to commission someone as an officer. we teach them a little about the army, how the right structure worked, how we are organized. we teach ethics and army values. as sophomores, we introduced them to public speaking and

field training which is how we navigate and. the junior year is a little bit more intensive. can they get a squad of their peers through the woods to an objective? as a senior, that is the last chance to convert them from civilian to a commissioned officer. host: what can student's major in? guest: with the army, they can major in anything they would like. we want a diverse set of people. science, technology, engineering majors. there are very intense operations around the world. we want people to have as many technical degrees as possible, but any major is open for business. host: how is it different than a different enrollment in college?

guest: they can enroll in our koses -- classes the same as an english 101. again, there is no contract. they just sign up for the class as they would any other. host: are their scholarships available? guest: they are merit based. not everyone gets them. my unit is 40% on scholarship. the rest are there because they want to be leaders in the army. there are minimum requirements. the scholarship policy coming have to succeed standards and score very highly in some of those areas. we are producing quality leaders for america. in the past 10 years, we have seen consistent conflict and we have seen our leaders perform very well. that is our success.

what our nation has asked the army to do, we have accomplished. host: we're talking with major from george mason university. we're talking about the reserve officers training corps. the numbers are on your screen. we will take your questions and comments. let's talk about rotc. is it like a boot camp? guest: with a lot of similar tasks. i went to basic training in 1990. we take the enlisted soldiers and in and week "boown" them. rotc, you can only show up for two.st horu our or

it's not boot camp in terms of required.oruurs are host: if you only shop for one hour, and do you owe time in the end? guest: no. it is just an orientation in the beginning. for those who give an indication that they want to serve, they spend many more hours. the average freshman at least spend is 5-10 hours per week in some sort of training. host: it is in eight years' service after you graduate. you cervical time for four years. four years with the individual ready reserve and they cannot choose army reserve or army national guard while pursuing a civilian career. guest: for the students to do not want to go into active duty and have dave civilian career in

mind. many of our students want to work in the department as a gs civilian. host: fort myers, fla., on the independent line. caller: can you hear me? i had not heard of the rotc, so i wanted more information as possible. you are trying to look for the new leaders of america? guest: that is correct. those who want to be out there and lead the troops. caller: and this is not related to preserving the federal reserve? host: bowling green, ohio. caller: when i was an elite -- thethe rotc in the 1950's,

first two years were mandatory at my university. that created an awkward situation for the older cadets who had to deal with some not so very serious young girl cadets. -- younger cadets. is there still any mandatory rotc? guest: non-contract to the cadets have not signed up. all they have done is in a role in the class. that is all voluntary. they just show up for class and that is all they have to do. most of our students who are serious is a bit in physical training 3 days per week, go to the leadership laboratories, and do other events. the contract did cadets, even as a freshman or sophomore, they have many more requirements.

once the contract, they get a monthly stipend to the army, thus they owe certain hours and training requirements. it has probably evolved a little bit since your time in the rotc. host: next caller on the independent line. good morning. caller: i was calling because i have experience with the rotc and it turned me completely against the military. we spent our first years learning how to read maps. we spent the second year taking apart the m-1 rifle. that was no accomplishment. was that the rest of the -- host: and the issue with that? can you turn your television down? can you speak to that? guest: i'm not sure how many

years ago that was. the army has been very professional since i joined in 1990. we have an outstanding curriculum. we follow it very strictly at my campus. riemer give the class's every semester. -- wheat review at the causes every semester. we cannot spend a year on weapons training. we focus on leadership development. we are not teaching them combat skills. we teach them how to be future leaders to have strong moral values, want to be physically in shape, and know how to lead their peers. it draws people to our program. host: is the rotc just army? guest: the navy and the air force also have rotc. host: the total to that number for 2008, there are over 36,000

-- 46,000. these of the numbers from 2008. democratic line, good morning. caller: good morning to and c- span and i think the young man for his service. are we equally recruiting young men and than young women? that is my first question. the second part of the question would be, are beginning to eventually getting this into middle schools since kids are growing up much sooner? in texas, we have the problem where they want college students to carry guns on campus. as far as gun safety and so forth, i would like to say that the rotc could be very beneficial.

i think it is time to polish it up for the time frame and get more information now. i have a son that was in special-education and was inundated with recruiting of her last year and i have a concern when they go and clean up the prisons and take them into the military when we were in wartime. i want to make sure that you look at people psychologically. guest: i will try to work through this. for recruiting, we want our leaders and soldiers to mirror america. we actively recruit men, women, all races. we want them to look like america. that is who we are as an army. male, female, we are really concerned about that. what we are concerned about if they are willing to leave and have the skills to lead. when george mason, we are 25% female.

we just graduated decommissioning costs about 10 days ago, so once the freshman class shows up the numbers will change a little bit as we see who actually comes in the door as freshmen. in middle schools, we do have the junior rotc program. i believe there are 300,000 students in the junior rotc programs all across the country. we're not trying to recruit them in jrotc but teach them life skills and how to be better citizen. i have personally never heard of any driver pushed them into middle schools, but it is a very sought after program in our nation's eyes schools. -- high schools. host: you talk about how the

rotc tries to look like america. here is an article from "the christian science monitor." i am wondering about the impact of not having rotc on certain campuses and what does that mean about the type of leaders we have in this country? guest: we operate under certain budgets and therefore due to personnel and budgetary means, we cannot be on every campus nationwide. we are only at 273 schools currently.

command will sometimes reassess themselves and see if we are in the right places at the right times. i am not a part of those discussions, but we do want to be as representative of america as possible. we do lessons learned and try to figure out if we are doing the right things, if we made mistakes in the past, and how to better serve the country in the future. as far as those colleges, i am sure of their rugby some assessments made and find a better way to represent the american -- i am sure there will be some reassessments made. host republican in pennsylvania. you are on the air. go ahead. caller: my nephew graduated

rotc from indiana university and is a second lieutenant. he saved the life of a brigadier general and spent 1.5 years in iraq. anyone who downplays the rotc my point of view, these liberal colleges to kick them out, they are american. -- unamerican. he gave the commencement speech two weeks ago at i.u. to the graduating rotc class. guest: there are many success stories through the rotc. with commissioned over 5000 other tenants for the army. success stories, there are plenty of generals out there.

one of the former army chief of staff for the army came out of rotc. there are many others out there as well. host: republican line from georgia. caller: it is interesting this is your subject. my husband talked about this before he left the house and he was talking about the donald rumsfeld book. he was telling me about him going through rotc and he had a teacher that was interested in helping him get along, helping him get into princeton. he did not have the funding, but for the rotc he was able to train that way. his own father went into the military at 38 and then went on to officer training. i do recommend that book, "known and unknown." i think it is interesting he was

helped into the military and his long career through rotc. host: can you speak to your own story? guest: i started out in the air force rotc. i did not know which of service was best for me. i tried that for one year, thought it did not work. it did not fit what i wanted to the. i then transferred to army rotc. i was already in the army reserves. i served my four years. i then decided that it was something that i truly wanted to explore further. i got commissioned in 1995 and in the past 10 years have done incredible things for the country. host: how much does it pay for the college education? guest: if you are a scholarship winner, it can pay your full tuition at the college of your choice. back then, it was about $8,000 per year, but now it can be up

to full tuition. it does not cover remand borden, but sometimes you can negotiate for additional benefits. -- it does not cover room and board, but sometimes you can negotiate. host: "the christian science monitor" has some more information about rotc. alabama has the 10 programs, for example, while los angeles has just 4. the army likes to keep lines of communication open with universities interested in

hosting a program. we go back to the dawn lines. o'leary, an independent, from louisiana. larry, an independent. caller: i have a son in high school. he is a straight "a' student and he wants to be a doctor. how should he pursue getting a scholarship and financial aid? thank you. guest: many of our students struggle trying to meet those bills, especially in today's environment. if they want to apply for scholarships, the deadline for this current year has already passed. if they're going to be a senior this school year, they can complete the application process. you work with the financial aid process at the university want to go to.

the only way to have the rotc pay is to win a national scholarship. contract cadets do earn a monthly stipend, but it still does not cover the expenses of today's education. if your cursor is to become a doctor one day, army rotc does offer that option. when you are a junior, you talk to the professor and figure out what you need to take to get into medical school and apply for an educational delay. there are a very limited number of those each year. to have a great grades, which would then hopefully carry over in college, and then they can choose that option to pursue through rotc. host: democrat in lubbock, texas. caller: how are you today, sir? i'm a college student right now

at texas tech university. i just wanted to say that i am proud when i see rotc students walking around in a uniform on campus. my roommate last year was in rotc and was a scholarship winner. i have nothing bad to say about it at all, and i just wanted to comment as a current college student. host: next caller from massachusetts. caller: my two sons went through with full scholarships. one went to tulane. the bove completed their services and they both enjoy their time in the navy. one went on a second tour and got his master's degree from georgetown in the humanities.

the other did not state and went into the reserves and became a commander in new york for a while. host: do you think your sons would have gone to college if they had not gone into the rotc program? caller: we could not have afforded to send them to such good colleges. my grandson also went through rotc partial training and spent time in korea. he then went on to get his cpa degree in colorado. host: independence caller from connecticut. caller: my wife has been responsible for some years for supervising they've -- the rotc program at a school in pr.

i have been extremely impressed at the graduation ceremonies by the quality and the commitment of these young people. these young men and young women. as a former military person myself, i have been extremely proud, as a newly nationalized american as well, of what the people has been doing. columbia university has rejoined or is booking and rejoining the program. congratulations on that, i think. what is the puerto ricans commitment relative to the rest of the united states proportionally? my understanding is that there is a larger number of people in combat from puerto rico. is that also true in the rotc program? guest: i really have no facts to

back that up. i did not know of any state that is over represented in the war efforts. bottom line, regardless of the numbers come everyone volunteers. you volunteered to join the army and we go where the army and the nation tells us to go. if the numbers ever get disproportionate in certain theaters, the bottom line is that they volunteered. going back to what you said about the quality, it is amazing to see who is in the program. this is not your grandfather's rotc. and is very different, very professional. some of the leaders we produce will be exceptional for the future of this nation. host: as you look to the history of the program, what has surprised you about it? guest: lou holtz is a graduate.

that was interesting to see. some of the generals, you do not realize that is where they originated from. when we talk about rotc, when you graduate from there are west point, went to become an officer, you are an officer. host: and you are all equal? guest: you are based upon the merits and capabilities. it is not about where you came from, race, gender, but what you are capable of in the future. host: albuquerque, new mexico, on the democratic line. caller: thank you for c-span. you said rotc was created when it? guest: federal law was passed in 1916. caller: we cannot cut defense spending at all. we have not won a war since the

1940's. i am wondering why we are wasting money going to colleges when we cannot win war. what is the point if they are not really helping the military except for in technology? i do not understand why all this money is being spent on this if it is not changing anything. since world war ii, what have we won? host: what is the point? the benefit of the spending, i think. they say startup costs are estimated at about $1.60 million. guest: for starting up a new program? when you start any new department at any university, there will be cost for office space, and employees come equipment. the value is what you produce. the costs are pretty low and my

program at george mason for what we provide. 10 days ago, we provided 21 near future leaders. it is now active duty. half of them are army reserve or national guard. these the same skills of leadership, army values, and the expertise in how to motivate their peers. host: next to haymarket, virginia, republican. caller: major, i have a daughter who is going for the neighbor -- naval jrotc. she would like to go on to maybe the naval academy. how hard do you think it is for a female who has a plan in mind, an honor student, to get into a good school for biotechnology to move on as a

female nowadays? guest: i do not think there is a different challenge than an email trying to get through the program. i have four daughters of my own. if they wanted to pursue rotc, i would welcome that. i will not push them, but if they so choose, i would be willing to let them in the program. from brussels perrins, in terms of training -- from personal experience, in terms of training, i have no problems with they do in the military. there are limitations is still with where females can serve, but there are plenty of opportunities out there. i had some outstanding female officers in iraq did exceptional work. in terms of gender, i do not think about it. host: last caller, independence from scotts valley -- scottsdale, arizona.

caller: what is the purpose when you have military academy? guest: they produce roughly 1000 officers per year for the active-duty army. rotc has produced an additional 5000 every year in order to meet the requirements of the army. in addition, while west point commissions all of their officers for active duty, the rotc also commissions for the army reserve and national guard. so for all of those units across the country and those who work primarily civilian and then one weekend a month and two or three weeks for summer, they need leaders as well. rotc is the source of those leaders. host: think you're talking to our viewers about the rotc program -- thank you for talking to our viewers.

we will talk about public policy issues, anything you see out there that you want to talk about. start dialing in now. let me assure you the associated press on the housing industry with the latest numbers. we talk about that in the first 45 minutes, whether or not owning a home is still the american dream. home prices have reached their lowest level since the housing bubble burst driven down by foreclosures, unsold homes, and the reluctance or inability of many to buy. many observers will be looking for this latest news. they reached their lowest point since the housing bubble began.

a record number of foreclosures are forcing prices down. they're expected to keep falling for route this year. democrat from memphis. what is on your mind this morning? theler: i'm calling about dave rotc program. since in teaching rotc retired from the army. my comment is with the gentleman about the caller a few minutes ago wanting to know what the point was of having the rotc.

host: we are listening. caller: like this said, i have talked rotc -- taught rotc for the last 10 years. our program in memphis helps students become better citizens of the united states. it is not all about getting someone ready to go to war. it is about producing better citizens for our country. host: we are talking about public policy issues for the last 10 minutes. what are your thoughts on the latest debates? the house is back in session this week. around 6:00 p.m. this evening, they are expected to take a test vote on the debt ceiling. they will put on the floor a vote to raise the debt ceiling that will not include any cuts. republicans are timing this vote

to show that is politically impossible to raise the debt ceiling ahead of a meeting that all 241 republicans will have with the president on wednesday. the democratic caucus will meet with the president on thursday. the ap is saying the house is expected to say no on a vote to raise the debt ceiling. every republican and many democrats are opposed. in misery, independent call. go ahead. -- in missouri. caller: how come the banks aren't eating this? they raise the prices. banks, insurance companies, realtors are the ones who did this. the banks are sitting there rich. host: houston, texas. caller: prais the the lord.

i was a member of the rotc army national guard all the way through high school. i love it. i loved it. then i went in late as a chaplain in the army. jesus christ would not be a republican, you conservatives. host: vice-president by downplaying deal maker this week. -- vice president biden playing dealmaker. there are now talking about something more ambitious. all this wheeling and dealing has something in common, vice- president biden, emerging as the deal maker-in-chief.

that is in "the usa today." the front page of "the new york times," has the housing story today. next to that is a story about medicare. medicare plan for payments irks hospitals. from michigan, independent scholar. caller: concerning the housing problem, a lot of homes are on the market at a very cheap price, but the cities and townships who but the taxes on the houses, they do not recognize that these are going down. they still have the same tax on home today as they did 10 years ago. they will not lower the price of the house.

the ones who do the appraisal on the house are the cities and counties. it is to their benefit to keep the taxes as high as possible. if they do that, they will not get rid of the house is because the taxes are more than the payments themselves. host: democrat from seattle, washington, you are next. caller: they cannot balance the budget or cut the deficit without dealing with the trade deficit. we have a $300 billion trade deficit with china. we have a $350 billion trade deficit in crude oil. this represents about 13 million jobs. there are 20 million jobs caused by our $650 billion trade deficit. this means that our g.d.p. is a $3 trillion less than and should be. if they cut the budget without

dealing with the trade deficit, they will collapse the economy. then these people seem to be dealing with the structural problems that have been developing since 1980. 24% of our gdp is in financial services, overhead. 18% is medical. that is overhead. we have developed an economy which is all over head and no wealth creation. host: on libya, this is in "the wall street journal." the south president says to be ready for troops. -- for truce. he met with the libyan leader on monday. also, could the financial times" says that the rubble of's oil supply is running dry. -- rebel's oil running dry.

independence, from los angeles, good morning. caller: midmorning. host: go ahead. caller: the way our economy is, it started with the reagan and it ended up with bush. now obama is trying to get everyone out of trouble. more people come in, we support their country's instead of the united states. does anyone know the people who are working here in the united states? every year we let more foreigners in who get jobs because they are bilingual. host: republican from illinois. caller: if you look through

everything that has been going on, why are we being moved to a socialist-type government alike of the u.s.s.r.? it does not work. it fails. every nation that went to that way failed. you never hear about the u.s.s.r. it went bankrupt. we are going bankrupt if we do not change our ways. we but not going anywhere. host: on germany, they have chosen to close nuclear plants. they will close 17 nuclear power plants which generate 25% of their power by 2022. inside "the financial times," it says predictions for energy

prices could rise 30% if germany goes that way. they will use incentives and less red tape to improve the private sector investment. next caller, go ahead. caller: first of all, i would just like to say that a lot of the money we are in debt with the does not really exist, does it? how do they expect us to pay back imaginary money? it does not make sense to me. secondly, all of this talk about the buyout and the deficit, all of these big numbers that really we have no idea if they exist or not because the money that we use is legal tender. my question is how does the government or how do these people that our country so expect to get money that does not exist if it isus