michigan to highlight innovative technology. and in about 45 minutes, u.s. postmaster general patrick mcdonough co. and steven moll will discuss tax policy. we will talk with a national donald reporter about federal job-training programs. -- national journal reporter michael hirsh. >> a new poll finds only 20% of americans are satisfied with the nation's political system. less than half of americans support the debt ceiling bill passed on august 1. three-quarters of americans think the federal government is focused on the wrong thing. and just one-quarter of americans are confident that washington can solve our economic problems. when it comes to the economy, do you think washington can or

should do more to improve it? that is our question this morning. we will go through the papers. the phone numbers are on the screen. dial in now. /political affiliation. /political affiliation. 202 is the area code. can or should washington do more on the economy? three ways you can participate in our conversation this morning. you can send us an e-mail. or send us a tweet on twitter. finally, you can continue the conversation. we will look at these comments as well on facebook. facebook.com/cspan. can or should washington do more

to help the economy is our question this morning. . a front-page article on the pull. -- poll.

democrats are evenly divided on the matter. that only hints at the dissatisfaction aimed at political leaders in washington who must specify in excess of $1 strode in more in deficit reduction by later this fall or trigger across-the-board cuts in defense and non-defense spending.

now we want to hear from you. can or should washington do more now we want to hear from you. on the economy? we will start with william on the democrats' line from baton rouge, louisiana. hi, william. caller: tariffs need to be put on all imports. they need to close tax loopholes, raise revenue, get rid of medicare part d.

and -- host: you would like washington to be more active? caller: they definitely need to get on the ball. this is absolutely pathetic. i watched the entire debt bate.ng the bde senator merkle of oregon and sanders of vermont were the only people who spoke. the rest of them, they always ask the question, how did i get here? then they look around and say how did these other people get here? none of them should be there. host: riverdale, georgia, daniel

on our independent line. can or should washington do more to help the economy? caller: yes, good morning. they should do a lot more. i think the president should call congress back giin, because people have been out of jobs for a year-and-a-half. the so-called deal should have been a bigger deal. just kicking the can down the road through december and then they will, with this committee. we need a jobs bill. we need infrastructure. they need to start building roads. host: when you say a jobs bill, what would you like to see in that? caller: i am not talking about just words. if states have people ready to start with construction work, the state's need to come up with something.

the president as well as the congress. congress oppose the disapproval rating is at 70%. they disapprove of what congress is doing. [inaudible] unemployment will be 9% for awhile. if anybody tells you they know what's going to happen, they're not telling the truth. host: robert tweeted -- back to the article, confidence in obama to make the right decision for the country --

david is a democrat in oregon. you are on c-span. can or should washington do more to help the economy? caller: of course, they should. if the government is not going to do anything, who's going to? host: what should be done? caller: first, we have to have

these people stopped. electing the government opposition parties to run the congress. is congress it makes no sense. you would not hire a teacher who is opposed to education. you would not hire a builder who is opposed to building. you would not hire a policeman who did not believe in a lot. why would you hire congressman who are opposed to government? it makes absolutely no sense. we have an idiotic public voting, a public that is being misled by fear and all the wrong things that they are using to motivate people. host: we will leave it there. joe, american hero, tweets -- warren is a republican in

chester,. caller: i think the government should do more to help the economy. host: what you mean by more? caller: i think president obama started this whole mess when he said people are not going to get their social security checks. [inaudible] every time the government gets broke, they manipulate the people with statements like this. that's exactly what they are doing. if the government owns land west of the mississippi, why don't they sell land with instead of taking people social security checks? it's like the government cannot do without anything. host:lula in atlanta, democrats line. can or should washington do more to help the economy? caller: sure, they should do more. >i would like them to start some

wpa programs, but i hear everybody blaming the president. at first they called him a dictator and names like that. now they want him to get out and be a dictator when there is nothing he can do without the congress -- nothing. pass the laws and he signed them into law. up until then he can do nothing. they are just against everything that he has tried to do. that he has tried to do. i hear that his election will be in jeopardy because of the economy is in the tank because of the republicans. not because of the president. not because of the president. it amazes me how people to think. host: here are some facebook comments we are getting as continue the conversation on facebook as well.

mr. jenkins says they should let it collapse? you can participate as well and continue this conversation on our facebook page. facebook.com/cspan. this is one of the few cases

when we don't put the hyphen. now from redding, pennsylvania on the line. caller: i have feelings on what can be done to help the economy. i wish they would get out of the way. the executive and legislative departments both. we look at the bands that were put on oil drilling after katrina and thousands of jobs were lost in the gulf. we look at the preference that is given to people like the job czar that president obama appointed from general electric and general electric's closing their electrical imaging manufacturing plants in the u.s. and shipping them over to china a few months ago. the overlapping regulations that are put on our various industries. like you have epa and department

of fisheries and wildlife, bls, all involved with the same things. over regulating industry. just let the government get out of the way and let industry do its thing. jobs will be created. jobs will be created. at the same time, to protect ourselves, i think the only job of the government is if the industry screws up, do nothing more than set down cost of replacing what they lost. exit. exit. and then let industry to its own thing and it will be relevant. why are so many things going over the tracks? over the tracks? new balance , because of its fair wage laws and everything, they will have to close their plant and probably go to china. host: there was an article in the wall street journal on new balance and the four remaining

plants and about a thousand workers that it still has in the u.s. they are trying to hold on. their word about the free-trade agreements. >> yes. that is the government again getting involved in that, right? it is a treaty made by the u.s. government. host: thanks for your comment this morning. new tests for ben bernanke. his decision to open the door to an easier monetary policy.

the second editorial on the editorial page talks about the super committee choices. nine of 12 have been made, waiting on former speaker nancy szollosi to make third three choices. the debt deal super committee is stocked with nine of its 12 members. the conservatives are not happy. the liberals are demanding a major new tax increases and they're not happy.

p.j. in detroit on the independent line. can or should washington do more to help the economy? caller: i think they should do more. by the way, thank you for c- span. you know, i am an independent, but i watched from the time this president came into office when john boehner and others said they would not cooperate with the president and they wanted him to be a one-time president. that's part of the problem. mr. mccollum and john boehner have been there 49 years in the house and they act like it belongs to them. when the president came in, everything the president tried to do, it was no, they became the party of no. host: what specifically would you like washington to do to improve the economy?

caller: i would like for them to expand the vacation that the house is on and give them an additional two or three months until december 1, to give the president a chance to work with president a chance to work with his cabinet to create the jobs and to do the things that he knows should be done. i mean, it's not his fault. he cannot get any help. the republicans and tea party are double teaming him. host: mike tweaks that a good budget deal would balance the cuts and revenue -- a professor at the university of chicago and a scholar at the american enterprise institute has an naupa this morning in the wall street journal. "the folly of economic short- termism."

"usa today" --

jasper, tennessee. on the democrats' line. can or should washington do more to help the economy? know whereure don't to begin after listening to these people. i mean, the one guy, industry does its thing and for government to get out of the way, it's over regulation. i don't know why the republicans are so upset, because obama is a republican. i voted for him. it is the biggest regret and disappointment i've ever had in voting for president. he has gone along everything on the bush alliance as far as the

war's going and the tax cuts for the rich that the extended period getting criminals to run the u.s. financial system. and the health care, that was a complete debacle. i mean, and this guy that called in about when the depression, the wpa did help, but it kept people from starving to death. what we need is fdr, with a backbone. host: thanks for calling this morning. on our republican line is paul in pittsburgh. good morning. we are talking about what or should washington do on the economy. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. it's like a double-edged sword. we are in this mess because we

have too much government shutdown. i think the answer is less government, but we need substantial reform. we need to take an honest look at our taxes and reform that. we need to reform the entitlement programs. we are going down a road that we are just going to spend ourselves into oblivion. simply cannot do that. to try these failed policies again gets us nowhere. right now we just don't seem -- the president nor the congress seemed to have the backbone to do the things necessary. we need to get rid of some of these onerous regulations that we have put on business and on individuals. host: can you give an example? caller: the corporate tax, we need to lower that so we are competitive.

we have dodd-frank regulation that businesses are having to jump through so many loopholes. on top of that you have the obamacare, which has caused enormous confusion and apprehension in the business community. i think all of these things has served to bring us to the point we are at. businesses seem to be so reluctant. there's a lot of money sitting on the sidelines out there, but the businesses seem to be reluctant. i think it's because they're so much confusion and about all this regulation, all of this big government. some where it has to end. host: what kind of work do you do in pittsburgh? caller: i am retired. i was in the navy 30 years and am enjoying retirement. host: thanks for calling. --e's a tweet

ets --nnis tweaks twitter.com/ scpanwj. ets --nnis tweaks you can also join us on facebook. there. no hyphen here are some more comments made on this morning's question. we will start with tricia. she says the government can do more, but they will not.

these are all comments made in the last few minutes on our facebook page. now from wisconsin, cindy is an independent. what do you think? can or should washington do more to help the economy? caller: good morning. i think rather than doing more, washington needs to do the right thing. and i don't see them doing a lot of the right things lately. you know, i am really concerned, too, with our citizenship in general.

we have limited resources and money. the only government our money has is what we pay in taxes, what it takes from us. we cannot just go down this road. no household or business could live like this. we have to stop. we have to take a good hard look at what we need to do. everyone needs to get realistic about we cannot have everything. host: all right, cindy, thanks for calling. steve has sent an e-mail from his iphone. our next call comes from daryl, a republican in detroit. caller: good morning. i want to mention first that the media is very good at magician'' . ' everyone knows someone who's

lost a job or knows about a plant closure because of foreign competition. every 24 hours with about 1.4 billion overseas to purchase products. they are competing against us overseas. we should have tariffs on products from foreign countries. they said that would start a trade war. but we have been in a trade war since the last trade surplus in 1975. if we do these things, we can leave a legacy to our children and our children's children, no deaths, by putting tariffs. 3% unemployment, we have to do something 10 years ago. host: we will leave it there. from the c-span website, gop

presidential hopefuls campaign in iowa. there's a debate tonight, but c- span will follow, and hear from the presidential republican candidates at the iowa state fair in des moines today and at the iowa republican straw poll this week. we will be covering several of the candidates live beginning at 11:30 a.m. this morning at the des moines register booth at the iowa state fair. and then live coverage of the straw poll on saturday at noon of course. go to c-span.org for more scheduling information and to access our ""road to the white house" website, or to is all about campaign 2012 or i should say also about the election campaign. atlanta, georgia, mary on the democrat line. can or should washington do more to help the economy? caller: yes, good morning. this is my first time calling. host: welcome.

caller: thank you. i believe in barack obama. i believe president obama is doing the right thing. that is going to do the right thing. the problem with washington, but they voted all these republicans in to stop him from doing the right thing. you have democrats trying to move things and republicans trying to stop them. and i think there's going to be a collision. the best thing for people to do is to evoke these republicans, especially the tea party,. back, i think his hands are tied right now until we get the republicans and the party out of congress. host: what would you like the president to be able to do? caller: i would like to see him create more jobs. people need jobs. this is what they brought him in on. i don't think the u.s. and move forward without jobs. host: how would you like to see the jobs created? caller: he spoke about

infrastructure, bridges. i was in ohio a few weeks ago and the roads and bridges are so bad up there that i thought we would fall. so many damaged roads in so many damaged roads in mississippi and all-around places that you travel, you see bad roads. they need to be fixed. these republicans that we voted in are keeping his hands tied. host: sorry, thought you were done. thanks for calling. this is from the c-span web site. that will be live on c-span if you want to see the president talk about jobs in michigan. he will be a johnson controls, i

believe. that's at about 2:30 p.m. eastern time. and he goes on to new york city for a democratic fund-raiser. and this article -- spring, texas, on our independent line, don. can or should washington do more to help the economy? caller: yes, they should. i agree with the one fellow on the tariffs. we're losing $1 trillion per year to tariffs. if we fix that and over the next 10 years you have most of the deficit taken care of. and then the pentagon was just mentioned. you have this new cyber warfare

task force that supposed to be coming in to take care of computer attacks. if they can do that, surely they can audit the darn thing. there's something wrong there. and then obama, all these people calling in still supporting him. he came in and the big banks that were supposedly too big to fail and the ratings agencies, you got e-mails coming in there from some of the people working there saying "i hope i am rich and retired before this blows up, because it surely is." and some people from government saying that we should better against this because this is crap. that is what they said. you will remember the hearings. you showed them. i don't see how anybody can still support obama. i'm sorry. host: that was don. what you think about your governor potentially running for president?

caller: don't get me started. host: do you like anyone? caller: i don't like anybody from either of these two parties. they are corrupt. host: what you think about texas republican ron paul running for president? caller: oh, i really don't know about him. host: who do you want for president? caller: i would like a schoolteacher across the street. host: put his or her name on to the ballot and see what happens. here are some comments on our facebook page. can or should washington do more to help the economy? to help the economy? facebook.com/cspan. sandy has this comment --

sheila is a republican in fayetteville, new york. caller: hi, how are you? host: good, thanks. caller: i would like to see the government really look at the problems in a logical manner. first of all, they are worried about the debt as a percentage of gdp. one of the ways to lower the debt as a percentage of gdp is to increase the gdp.

they are also worried about the uncertainty. you can be uncertain on whether or not your taxes will increase. one of the ways to make its third is to raise them. -- one of the ways to make it certain is to raise them. even if we don't anextends unemployment, the government is laying out money for people being unemployed. if the government actually did some direct or indirect job creation, that expense would be eliminated. and instead these people would be paying taxes, which would broaden the base, as the republicans say they want. i believe that the president and many democrats should listen to

chris matthews on what he said friday night and the night before last about how to go about getting infrastructure agreed upon. and that is to keep the school buses from going over these terrible bridges. in districts like michelle bachmann's. and see whether or not they will agree to fix the streets and put that on local stations. host: we will leave it there. i but you might be interested in seeing the front page of "the new york daily news and" regarding the stock market yesterday. entrance bull at the to wall street. the next call comes from concord, new hampshire. nancy is a democrat. caller: good morning.

washington can do a lot to help us. that would be to stop acting like children and work together and do what we elected them to do. that is really to address the issues that affect america. when you see the republicans who used to help certain kings, that once the president tries to support them, they turn around and vote against it. -- when you see the republicans who used to help certain things. there's a lot they could do. when people say there's too much regulation, what regulations would you remove? the ones about oil drilling in your backyard and polluting your neighbor's water? so many different things they can do that ultimately would work for america, but also, the tariffs. the tax loopholes where business

is actually get tax credits for moving business out of the u.s., that must change, but nobody talks about that. c-span should do a program about real issues, a real loss, and how they affect us. are laws that allow companies to get tax credits for moving out of the country. host: what if the super committee takes on tax reform and gets rid of -- recommends getting rid of the mortgage tax like simpson-bowles did? caller: i decided because i was not getting any interest on the money in my bag, i cut its second paid off the last seven years of my mortgage. i decided there was no sense in giving the mortgage company that. host: congratulations. caller: i have lived in frugal new hampshire -- a frugal new

hampshire lifestyle. as a result i don't feel i am missing anything. but i feel our politicians have gotten so comfortable in their little circles. look at judd gregg from new hampshire. he stepped down as a senator and has now been hired by goldman sachs and they're giving him a lot of money and they are taking a thousand jobs from our economy and moving them overseas. he helped to write the bill that gave goldman sachs millions of dollars and now they are rewarding him. we are not seeing what they are really doing. i had my fingers crossed that the commission would have some reasonable, moderate individuals on there because our country was once run by moderates individuals. republicans and democrats both. host: is the obama white house

planning an october surprise for next year to give the president's reelection campaign a boost? right below that is this item.

and in "the hill" -- deirdre tweets -- cincinnati, ronald on our independent line. can or should washington do more to help the economy? caller: yes, they should. don't you think it's about time

to put money back into the country by getting jobs for people? host: how would you like to see that happen? caller: several thousand bridges out here are almost. condemned it what's wrong with fixing them? we let our house deteriorate and we attack our house by attacking jobs, sending them overseas. you have to stop the attack within. you cannot win. you have to take the ammunition away from these people who are trying to destroy you. they are going after obama. when people have downstairs and meetings, tell them, work together. we should not ambush somebody. if you want to ambush somebody, going to hunt quail.

they take care of the banks and everybody else. when are they going to take care of the people that put them in their? host: all right. very quickly before we bring out the postmaster general, a couple more articles that might be of interest.

the s&p downgrade, the architects of the capital and national archives. the s&p lowered the ratings on bonds backed by federal leases for the two government agencies. and anthony weiner's see it in play. a new york democrat pulls a narrow lead.

and democrats are forging ahead with efforts to recall wisconsin governor scott walker. coming up in just a minute is the postmaster general talking about the financial help of the post office, future plans of the post office, etc.. after that, stephen moore will be here to talk about tax reform. we'll be right back. >> it might not surprise you that we think good things come in two's. >> there's live coverage of the house on c-span.

>> and there is the c-span video library. >> c-span 2. >> listen to us on your iphone or your blackberry, following us on twitter. >> and join us on facebook. >> as an aspiring journalist, i am preparing myself for the very small salary that i will be starting out with. >> you have to be disciplined enough to be a journalist to put aside your bias and report the truth. >> the reason people of fox news and movies so much is because it is an experience, it's love and hate. >> from the conference at george mason university, expiring high school journalists on ethics, the role of opinion and commentary, and where they get their news and opinion in today's multimedia environment,

if sunday on c-span. >> this weekend, of c-span3, we will visit the office of the archivist of the u.s. as he shows historic documents that are of personal interest to him. the current defense secretary leon panetta recalls his years working in the republican administration of our to nixon, his eventual resignation, and his switch to the democratic party. on the 50th anniversary of the bay of pigs invasion, and operatives a critical look at u.s.-cuban relations in the 50's and 60's and the reaction of the eisenhower and kennedy administrations. get the complete weekend schedule at the website c- span.org. "washington journal" continues. >> patrick donahoe is the u.s. postmaster general and u.s. postal service ceo. general, thanks for coming on. how would you describe the

financial health of the post office? guest: we are in tough shape right now. we are being affected by two major issues at one time. one of them is electronic. people pay bills online and there's less first-class mail. that has a negative effect on our finances. a snail's pace is great for us. it keeps post offices open. the other thing that's happening is the downturn in the economy, people spending less in advertising dollars. half of our revenue comes from advertising. host: our revenues up in the post office? guest: revenues are down. in the last a full year's -- last 4 years we have lost 22% of our mail volume. first-class mail is the driver in this. that is our most expensive and

the one product that brings in the most cash to our coffers. host: our postal operations profitable on their own? guest: if we have the right balance of cost and revenue, yes. what we are trying to do right now is get squared away from the cost perspective. we have some request to congress to make some changes in the law and we are doing some things on our own. we have a very efficient organization. in the last 10 years we reduced the head counts in our organization by 250,000 people. that is while we continue to deliver to 150 million addresses. our people are very productive and do a good job. we are having issues with some requirements from congress. we are required every year to repay retiree health benefits to the tune of $5.5 billion. that is like 30% of our expenses. along with that, as we've lost

mail volume, we need to move to five-day delivery. those two are worth $8.5 billion. we would be profitable if we do that this year. we would save $3 billion if we went to a five-day delivery. host: can you do that or does that have to be approved by the folks up there? guest: there's a lot in congress that requires us to deliver six days a week. if we could do it we would have done it. we would have reacted much more quickly and would not have been in the position we are right now. host: let's put the numbers on the screen. if you want to talk with the postmaster general patrick donahoe, they are on the screen. go ahead and dial in. you can send us an e-mail or

send a tweet. we have set aside a fourth line this morning for postal workers in case you want to call in as a no. how many postal employees are there right now? guest: 560,000 career employees. and another 80,000 temporary people that still in on saturdays and whatnot. we have a big payroll. host: your web site, what is your relationship? are you a government agency anymore? what is the relationship between the post office and attacked their ample government? guest: we are part of the executive branch of the federal government. we are not considered an agency, but it's something like that, like fannie mae and freddie mac, an organization that is

affiliated with the executive branch. host: then you are a dotcom still? guest: yes. you can do plenty of work on the website from a retail prospective. right now over 45% of all transactions of the postal service happened outside the brick and mortar. a substantial portion. if 20% happens on the internet. host: what does it cost the american taxpayer per year to have postal service? guest: nothing. we take no tax money. we are self-contained. that is why this whole thing is a major issue going forward for us. we are unlike any other business. we are governed by the revenues that come into the organization. if we experience a downfall in revenue, we have to make decisions on efficiency

improvements and whatnot. we have done that. but when you hit a brick wall of around how to deliver mail six days a week, that $3 billion is something i need better control over to continue to reduce costs. host: you have to answer to congress. what is your plea to to with the u.s. postal regulatory commission? guest: we are part of the executive branch. there is a regulator. there's also a board of directors, than have postal management. the governors are just. like any just they set policy and we carry out that policy. the regulator is in a position, like any regulator for the utility, where they're looking at prices and level of service and those types of things. host: the governors are the regulatory commissions? guest: no, it's a board of governors like a board of directors.

. and host: what is your relationship with the regulator? guest: their role is like a utility regulator. they are looking at prices, level of service, extended service, any changes we make. in some cases they have to give a thumbs-up, like pricing. they have to register an opinion. host: last week we had the vice chair of the regulatory commission. i want to get your response to what he said. >> there's a need for speed because this is an important question for a lot of america. social service does not necessarily have the same place in society that it used to in terms of being the sole provider of communication options, but it is still a very important part of the american fabric, particularly in rural america. host: that was in response to a question that we asked about how long it will take the regulatory commission get back to the post office regarding the inquiry for

an advisory committee on changes to the post office. guest: one of the things that he said is true. we are an important part of the american economy and american society. we work with regulators in a way that tries to make sure we are providing a level of service that americans look for. the going forward for the postal service is important. we have control it -- it is important that we have control over finances. we don't want to cut back to the point we are not providing what america is looking for. host: there's a knock said this morning in the baltimore sun newspaper. "reducing postal service is not the answer."

" that's why i was asking you if postal operations were profitable. he agrees with you. he says post office management, union, and key legislators asked the congress -- do you agree? guest: i agree that we have to move away from the pre-funding of retirement. the second issue is looking forward. changing the requirement to pre- fund $5.5 billion would've been a great solution four years ago. with our revenues continuing to

go down, even if we reduced that funding and just do that, next august we are out of cash. so you have to take many more steps to change what we are doing. that is why we are pushing congress to refund some of the overpayments we have made into a retirement systems, to give us the operating cash that we need to handle some of these business changes going forward. host: among the bad ideas that he writes, this frenzy has produced the ending saturday delivery. guest: we have to address all of our costs. we will keep post offices open so that people can come in and buy stamps or mail packages.

if you need delivery on saturday, we will continue to run our networks. the problem going forward is that our revenues will be $55.5 billion. we are not the small potatoes operation. our revenue next year will be $64 billion. you cannot sit idly by the sideline and help wonder two changes to some funding -- you cannot sit idly by the solemn and hope one or two changes will help that. host: you sat down and predicted your budgets and projected $67.7 billion --

host: total revenue, $49.9 billion. are you on track to match your net loss, or will be greater than the $6.4 billion the new projected? guest: it will be greater. our standard mail at that time was up 9% over the same period last year. we were feeling a first-class mail had slowed a little. we have seen practically since about thanksgiving is a quickening drop-off in the advertising mail along with the drop-off of first-class mail. we have taken a lot of costs out

this year. we will have 30,000 fewer people. our people are doing a good job. you cannot catch up to that type of revenue loss unless you make revenue change. host: patrick donahoe is the postmaster general of the united states. donald works for the post office in massachusetts. caller: i retired as a letter carrier. i was also a clerk. i have an observation. the post office seems to be top- heavy with supervisors. most of them take the job because they don't want to get dirty or sweat. they perform no useful function as far as i can saee.

these people can be used in other areas that involve work. to follow people around with a stopwatch is just a form of harassment. host: mr. donahoe. guest: donald, thank you for your service. we have management like any other business. you can take a look over the past few years. we have reduced the headcount by 250,000 people. 250,000 people. we have reduced management by 20,000 people. 10% of the total. you have to have people to take care of things like purchasing. you have to have people that take care of payroll. a substantial portion of management does that.

from a standpoint of making sure that things run correctly, you have to have people to do that. i appreciate donald's service. i have to disagree that we are top-heavy in management. we are conscious of taking layers out just like everything else. host: anthony in alabama. caller: i am north of montgomery, alabama, the state capital. guy. small-government it seems to me it is clear that you are unever able to get ahead of the game. why shouldn't the postal service become privatized? guest: our focus right now is on profitability.

without refunding and some other requirements to deliver mail at six days a week, we can be very profitable. the postal service has done a great job from the standpoint of service and productivity. we're asking congress to give us more freedom to act like a business. the big issue around privatization is our requirement to provide universal service. that is universal service including places like alaska, including places like alaska, hawaii, and we do that. if you are in private industry, it is hard to get profits at the level that you want with some of those requirements. that is the balance that we manage. let us manage this like we know how to do would. -- like we know how to do it.

host: what about the business that competes with fedex. is that growing? guest: our fastest growing area is packages. is packages. we are fedex's largest customer. we use their planes during the day. it is growing at about a 6% rate. we work with ups and fedex to deliver last mile with our letter carriers. that is growing in double digits. e-commerce is very strong in the united states. it continues to be strong and we play a vital role. host: next call from long island, new york, marylilyn.

caller: the thing i am against very strongly is the note delivered on saturday. every time there is a holiday on monday, you have three days with no mail delivery. you have the nerve to tell us to to the post office. a lot of people but get medications delivered to not drive. i think maybe you should take when state or another day during the week. there are too many monday holidays and three days without mail is too much. guest: let me respond to that question. we are proposed that one solution would be to have mail solution would be to have mail delivered on saturday -- that is in play and there is some discussion around that.

from the standpoint the post of laws, the idea is that people need debt service and we want to make sure they know it is out there. the key thing for us looking at saturday is by far the lightest day of the week. if you had no delivered on wednesday, it would have a disruptive effect on business. that is why we picked saturday. host: our people sensitive to any slight change in their mail delivery? for example, what time the markets delivered or if you switch a carrier? the carrier in my neighbor just got switched and i almost called. he knew the neighborhood. guest: people are sensitive. even though there has been a lot of change in this country with the internet and people paying bills on-line, we still play an

important role in people's lives. and so the day the post office is critical in the local community. we're trying to balance how you can provide that service and cost at the same time. we've had to reduce our letter carrier routes by about 16,000 over the course of the past four years. when you adjust one route, you have to adjust all of them. as you make these changes, it will affect everybody. we're trying to figure out what are the bigger things we can adjust and get back to a normal tone and make sure we're delivering for the american public. host: is christmas your biggest season and is a profitable? guest: you have the fall mailing season which is the end of

august, september, october, and november. and then christmas. we generally have letter by the christmas because you have less advertising in the mail, but we have more packages. host: liverpool, new york. gail is a postal worker. caller: i am concerned about the tea party republicans who have been elected to congress including one of my own from the 25th. i'm concerned about reducing retirees' pension funds. mr. any information you can provide for me? -- is there any information you can provide for me? guest: thank you for your service. what we've talked about as we work with congress is focusing on the resolution of the health

benefit payment. that was not resolved in any changes to a person's retirement norther health benefit contributions. and asking congress to goes back the overpayment were made into a federal employmee payment system. the key for us is to get the finances safe and get back to profitability. thank you. host: do you expect congress to act this fall on your wish list? guest: i'm going to do everything i can to encourage congress to act this fall. we have a deadline of september 30, when i am retired -- i'm required to make the payment. we have been working closely with the house and the senate'. there are bills out there.

congressman conley has a bill. when people come back from recess, to try to hammer out what we can to get a very good, effective, comprehensive bill to address the we need going forward. the health benefit issue has to be addressed. host: have the proposed closing about 3700 post offices? post: we're reviewing 3654 offices. these are very low-transaction post offices and will we're doing is seeing any employee we could provide service in a better manner. the idea is that many of these small towns have a store and the post office and both of them don't have much business.

we think if you take the work of the post office and provided at the store, that is helping them from the standpoint to keep their lights on and it saves money for us. as we work through this, we'll be taking plenty of the input from the local communities and making the decisions. in some cases, we may consolidate one office to another. next call is from georgia, rosemary. caller: your tracking system is a service that comes with a fee. itry time i've tried to use on line, it doesn't work. tracking works just fine on ups and fedex. i want it to work.

what problems have you had? caller: it indicates that the item never left from the originating place. five days later, i get the package. i go back online and it will say that it was delivered, but nothing in between the originating place and the actual delivery. guest: you bring up a point that we are working on right now. filling in gaps across the country are key for us. if you buy eight delivery confirmation with priority mail, we do have a scant at the origin point and we're working to fill those gaps -- we do have a scan. we have increased our tracking points by about 75%. by the end of september, will be

at 100%. host: we have eight tweet from host: we have eight tweet from jim -- we have a tweet from jim. guest: it would cut costs a bi t. this year will still deliver 167 billion pieces of mail. we still have a substantial volume of mail in our system. it plays havoc with people who use know from advertising standpoint. to be able to say monday to friday, you can still have that window of delivery. it is a lot more reasonable for people who use us for advertising. we think td import five days a week and plan -- we think it is

important to have five days a week delivery. caller: i am assigned to a small route. i am an rca. host: what is an rca? caller: i am a sub. route. assigned to a i would love to go down to write five a day workweek. route will have to be prefigured -- refigured. that will be more full-time routes. routes. where you are saying all these people are going to be out of work, some of them will go full- time. guest: nancy, thank you. i agree with you.

there will be changes that we have to do from six to five. we will not have people delivering mail on saturdays. most of the routes will have one fewer days and that is where we will have the savings. host: we have a couple of e- mails. guest: we're talking with congress right now. we think that we should change the way the new hire pensions are handled. there are currently two pension funds that are fully funded. we of $280 billion -- we have $280 billion in pension funds. $280 billion in pension funds. we would fund a 401(k) and

social security. host: how can you protect the pensions for current beneficiaries? guest: we are fully funded. we've had discussions with congress about taking over the pension funds and managing them ourselves. we know that those funds are in place right now and are confident we have enough going into the future. as volume drops, you reduce headcount and that takes care of the pension issues. host: patrick donahoe has been with the post office all of your career. guest: i was an afternoon clerk and was going to school in the

morning at the university of pittsburgh and a worked after school for the first few years until i graduated. host: he has been the seventh 73rd post -- office in general. guest: you compete for the job, you were appointed to the job. i served at the pleasure. host: new york city, ken. caller: good morning. i live in a large city which could be any large city. there are these derelicts who are picking up trash, some put their containers in canisters. it says on the side, property of

u.s. post office. how much they cost and why nobody doesn't do anything about this tremendous waste. my second question -- the same with the little plastic grip buckets. sanitation picks them up and disintegrates them in the back of the trucks. in this day and age of electronic communication and all kinds of gadgets, why is the that will go to track, you have no communication with the driver? you would not have to attract if a package did not take five days to go from philadelphia to new york. i'll hang up.

why do you let this practice continue? that is a tremendous waste. why can't you track? guest: i don't know how much those cameras hampers cost -- canvas hampers. the flattops or buckets cost about 50 cents apiece. you find them somewhere and somebody uses them as a trash can. we have gone out and rounded these things up. we go and get that. you have people who unfortunately take our equipment. it is out there all over the place. we do our best to get it back. from the standpoint of

tracking, we fill the gaps on the tracking. we will make sure that if you look at one of the apps to attract on iphones is one of the most useful applications they have. that tracking information as you can follow your package through our system. host: have you thought about selling those plastic bins? guest: we should sell them. we have had roundups on those things over the years. there are companies that use them. you go in and they are using them. you probably have them in this room here. we find them. companies use them. the caller was 100% right. the problem is bringing them in every day is big because we are

all over the country. people say this is part of the federal government and i will just use it. it costs us money. host: charlottesville, virginia. caller: i like to know if there's an incentive to try to get some people using direct calls to save money. guest: thank you, walter. we're not going to be offering any incentives. we're running overtime in the system. we have done that in the past. we left off for some buyouts but right now we have no plans. host: we have an e-mail from james. guest: no. most of our people over the

years have left through attrition. we did have a small incentive for a management reduction this year. we reduced the head count of about 3500 people. we're still in the process with a number of people in the management ranks and we had a small buy out there. people have taken their retirement and gone on to something different. host: this is an e-mail from austin, texas.

guest: he is correct. there are two different models that we have. the where we pay our rural the where we pay our rural carriers -- the way we pay our rural carriers -- they serve in the volume. you are paid the same all year long. that model is great when you have a lot of volume. that's something that we've managed. you have the city carriers the you see here in the city. they are an hourly worker. you have it set wrote -- a set route. most letter carriers have much

of their letters sorted for them in advance. host: patrick donahoe is our guest. rock hill, maryland, ben. caller: i live near several post offices. they are never open before business hours. they want to get their mail before business hours, not after. every morning, there's always a line. i cannot take an hour or two hours set aside to go to the post office. maybe -- what can we do as far as our availability? a carrier who goes out and delivers, i bet they have lower health insurance cost than

someone who works in an office all day. thank you. guest: we appreciate your business. i'll look into the rockville hours. you may want to consider if your mailing packages usps.com, you can request a free carry a pickup. they will pick your mail at your business. we will look at that. we have changed hours in many cases. people have been asking about additional hours on the weekend. we pay uniform health care cost. we have never seen any real difference between people who work in the office verses out in the street. it would be harder to manage health-care payments based on the person's job.

everyone has a pretty physical job whether you're working inside and outside. thank you for your business. host: there is a blogger -- what comment which you have for him? guest: i have read his blog. i read them all. give me a ring and i can give more detail and get some facts straight. i'm not so sure that sometimes the facts are straight. host: heavy posted comments on his blog? guest: one thing that is critical is for everyone to know what we're doing. we'll spend a lot of time over the past six or eight months on

communications so that customers know what we're doing. from an employee standpoint, i do videos all the time. i have a video where try to reach out to every employee in the organization. taine minutes and -- 10 minutes and i have six of them lined up right now. our employees need to know that because that will help them better serve the american public. host: we have a tweet from james. what is stamps.com? guest: they are a private company that works with us. you can get your picture on a postage and go to stamps.com to do wit. host: really? so you could do any kind of stamp you wanted? guest: almost.

there is a list of pictures you cannot put on. they are a good partner. we have a great working relationship with them. host: pennsylvania, our last call for postmasters donahoe general. caller: i wanted to say thank you for the carriers and the staff at our post office. i am the elected tax collector and i do several large mailings a year. we have a great post office. we have great carriers and i want to say thank you. guest: let me say it thank you to you. i appreciate your business. we have great people in this organization. they do a great job for the american public every day. we need to focus on being able to take care of our finances so we can continue to provide that

great service. great service. host: patrick donahoe, please come back later this fall as legislation moves through congress. coming up next, stephen moore will be here to talk about tax reform. he is a "the wall street journal" editorial board member. after that, our continuing look at the american workforce series we have been doing all week "washington journal o." we will focus on the federal jobs program. up next, stephen moore, after this news update from c-span radio. >> david cameron says his government is going to look to the united states for help in fighting rioting gangs. the prime minister is telling lawmakers to look to cities like boston for inspiration and how

to tackle those gangs. you could hear that on c-span2 television. more violence in afghanistan today. five members have been killed in a roadside bombing. 51 foreign service members have been killed so far this month in afghanistan. the republican chairman of the house homeland committee says he is worried the obama administration will reveal sensitive details about the navy binls mission in the laden raid in an upcoming movie. the film is scheduled to open in theaters weeks before the 2012 presidential elections. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> this weekend, the designer of

the capitol grounds will be looked up as a journalist and abolitionist. a launch party for juan williams latest, book "muzzled." inside the world of "the pirates of somalia." signed up for book tv alerts. american history tv highlights the anniversary of the civil war. the new york city draft riots of 1853. >> this was fodder for lincoln's opponents. he said you will go to war and

you cannot afford the $3. you'll go to the battlefront and die. your family will starve while the rich stay home. >> the new york historical society held a panel discussion about how their work three days of rioting and the lasting effects they had on the city. the civil war on c-span3. "washington journal" continues. host: stephen moore is our guest. this is the front page of "the new york times." winning on democratic leader policy -- waiting on democratic leader pelosi to pick her three.

guest: i did not have real high hopes for this super committee. if congress could make these cuts -- medicare, medicaid, social security -- i think it is important we repeal the obama bill. i have been in this town for 25 years. we will see if this produces results. i do think the events of the past week or two with respect to the market's having a dreadful period suggest to make that investors around the world want to seek bigger cuts in the deficit. they want to see more spending cuts. it signals everybody in washington should get back and do more cuts. host: your paper's editorial this morning said about the

super committee that liberals are unhappy and conservatives are unhappy, but "the wall take is isrnal's" satisfactory. guest: i have never seen such an ideological grand canyon. democrats want to raise taxes and do not want to cut spending. republicans want big cuts in spending. there's a big golulf. i happen to be in the camp that says we need much less government. we have to get these spending programs down and government off the back of business to get this economy running again. host: is it possible to of massive tax reform? guest: i wrote an editorial last

week. a miracle happened in this town. we carry of all of the special interest loopholes -- not all of them. we cleaned out the tax system and cut the tax rates low. if you're a liberal or conservative, everybody can agree on one thing. bring tax rates down and getting rid of loopholes is an economic thing to do. maybe we finally reached the point where the stars might be in line where we can do that again. i would go all the way to a flat tax. care rid of all the deductions -- housing, municipal. you can get the tax rates down to about 70% or 18%. if you want to see the comet or % or 18%.ife -- 7017

there is a wonderful book about this. i talked to the author. it is rare to see the special interest groups and the k street corporate lobbyists get rolled. all the lobbyists are there to carve out loopholes in the tax system. the economy did really well. i think it is time to do it again and i think it would be incredibly economically productive. host: calls are divided by political affiliation. 202-624-1115 for republicans. 202-624-1111 for democrats. twitter.com/cspanwj. journal@c-span.org is our e- mail.

stephen moore is our guest. guest: people listening to this show are probably more of the liberal persuasion. the interesting thing -- if you look at the people who get all these loopholes, the people who buy the two million-dollar homes, they tend to be rich people. what i'm saying is if you get rid of those tax loopholes and lower the rates, you are potentially making the tax system more progressive because rich people do not have a way to shelter their income from the irs. host: we have two tweets. one on the national sales tax.

guest: i wasn't talking about a national sales tax. this is the idea of the fair tax. the fair tax would be even more radical than what i'm talking about where you just eliminate the personal and corporate income tax entirely and move towards a national sales tax. just like at the sales tax you pay tax every time you go to the 71-eleven. this is an interesting idea. we need to start taxing people on consumption, what they take out of the economy, and stop taxing work and savings and investment. the building blocks are saving and investment and job creation.

host: we have 8 a tweet. guest: i am not sure exactly what that means. the rates are lower than the work at the end of the 9 1990's, but not significant. capital gains and dividends came down. more money,e got especially on capital gains because people will sell stocks and you'll get more turnover and more revenues. the most important lesson over the past 40 years is that tax rates do matter. you get more economic productivity. reagan prove that in the 1980's. reagan prove that in the 1980's. riggins broad it down to 20% --

reagan boarded down to -- reagan brought it down to 28%. we need to get back to that. what is different in the world today is that there is a more competitive world today. we're competing with china, india, europe. we cannot continue to lead the world with a tax system that is so dysfunctional. we did not mention the corporate tax system. that clearly needs to be changed. it but american companies at a disadvantage and it does lead to the outsourcing of jobs, which is something no one wants to see. host: callers say the tax system promotes and pays companies to outsource jobs. guest: in some ways it does.

host: number two -- guest: if you have -- it is like a tariff on our own goods and services. it puts every american company the produces goods and services the produces goods and services at about eight 10% or 50% disadvantage on a tax basis. that makes no sense -- about a 10% or 15%. if we went to a flat tax, we would go from being one of the hypertext rate companies -- countries to one of the lowest. host: people say corporations do not pay any taxes. warren buffett pays a lower tax rate dennis secretary. guest: those are good points.

the real dysfunction of our corporate tax system is in is very high tax rate. it is incredibly expensive for u.s. businesses to comply with. of companieso's all the time. they say is a mess. it hardly raises any money. it cost a huge amount of money and has high tax rates and doesn't have any money. that's my point. let's have a 18% rate. general electric did not pay any corporate taxes last year. other companies had to pay the high tax rate. that is not fair. warren buffett -- it is true

that warmth of a as a low tax rate. he is the principal owner of his company, berkshire hathaway. if you count taxes of the company that he owns pays, he is paying a fairly high tax rate. if we want to get this debt down and get the tax revenues up, we to create a lot more rich people. i'm tired of the idea in washington about the idea that it is ignoble to be rich. we need more warren buffetts. he is a great american hero. host: the number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week below400,000, assigned the job market is improving slowly after a recent slump.

guest: that is good news. when unemployment insurance claims for, that is an indicator rates will come down. perhaps we'll see the unemployment rate falls below 9%. that is still a disaster. we're supposed to be in an economic recovery right now. we have had 9% unemployment now or ball for 24 of the past 26 months. a tweet. have 8 guest: i don't understand that. it does exactly the opposite. if you are an american company, a car company, afford. ford produces a car in the united states. there is no tax applied to the production of that court in the united states.

if it is sent overseas, there's no tax on tha. it. toyota built a car in japan and salesave to pay the 7017% tax when it is sold in the united states. one of the things you talked about on this show is the manufacturing prices in this country. if we want more manufacturing jobs, the sales tax would be a fantastic way to achieve that. host: dave honor democrat's line from washington. caller: yeah. i disagree diametrically with just about everything you say. you are nothing but a puppet for the wall street robber barons.

you go back to the lie you tell about ronald reagan. that story has gotten blown clear out of proportion. the comet was overheated -- the economy was overheated when he took over. he cut taxes. the rust belt developed. it is astounding how little people know about the tax code, about the taxing system. manufacturing jobs, that cost is written off against their taxable income. when you lower taxes, because the incentive to binvest back into the business. you guys are so full of it. the editorial board of "the wall street journal" is nothing but a bunch of dumb-dumbs.

host: what did you do for a living? caller: i am a financial engineer. i saw this a long time ago. you financial wizards to not seem to understand -- nobody saw this coming. i saw the crash six years before it happened guest:. we would love to have them back as a subscriber. i think rupert murdoch has improved the paper. i think it is as good as ever. it is not just a financial newspaper. it covers society, culture, sports. our readership is up. one point on the reagan story. i lived to the 1970's. those were the worst periods --

people think things are bad now. you cannot get a job as a burger flipper. we had 15% inflation. talk about the rust belt that was created in the 1970's. when reagan took the presidency, we created 16 million jobs. many of those were manufacturing jobs. there was an incredible recovery in manufacturing. reagan achieve that by cutting tax rates and he got the inflation rate down from 15% to 3%. that made america and much more attractive place to invest. the big story is that the fed is saying it will have 0% interest

rates for the next two years. i would not be surprised if the gold price and goes to $2,000. host: so what is $2,000? guest: it matters because the gold price is a lead indicator of where inflation is going. why do people buy gold? they buy gold when they lose faith in paper currencies. people are buying gold, silver, cotton, real-estate. they are worried about what these countries are going to do. there is a debt crisis all over the world. people will accelerate inflation and paying back the debtors with and paying back the debtors with paper money that is not worth

anything. that is why the gold price matters. host: an article in your paper this morning. higher food prices on the way because of the higher prices of commodities. commodities. fairfax, virginia. caller: what specific deduction or credit incentivizes companies to ship jobs overseas? i thought it was our higher rates. rates. why didn't the republicans pass out of the house 8241 ratio of debt increase to current spending cuts -- a two-for-one ratio? guest: we are and about 840% tax rate in the united states. the rest of the world -- we are at about a 40% rate.

we have 815 percentage point disadvantage. let's have a system that is patriotic -- we have a 15-point disadvantage. i forgot his second point. that is his answer to the corporate tax issue. host: the u.s. dollar is still the top choice for investors. this is from "the new york times" this morning. guest: what has happened in the last couple of weeks during this global panic or people are afraid about investing in anything, people are investing in treasury bills. we set a downgrade for treasury bills. i think it was kind of absurd

when we lost our aaa bond rating. i think they swung and missed on this one. host: only the s&p. guest: we do not know what moody's is going to do. it is absurd to say that the treasury securities are not aaa rated. i refuse to believe there is any risk to default on u.s. treasury securities. it is not going to happen. there is not going to be a default. the full faith and credit of the united states government stands behind those bonds and they will be paid. host: next calls barber from all oil on our independent line.

-- our next call is barbara. caller: i disagree about how the democrats do not want to cut spending and the republicans do. it depends on where we are cutting. that is the difference. it is nothing but greed. i care about me and the hell with you. it has to stop and people like you have to quit getting on the phone. the do not know about average everyday americans and how they are struggling. guest: you say democrats want to cut spending. tell me what you want to come ut. caller: we would like to cut these foolish wars. for 10 years, bush was looking for bin laden. host: democrats want to cut --

guest: what about the defense spending? caller: congress should live by the same rules they give to the people. guest: amen. i do think we can save money and there's a lot of waste at the pentagon. i did not think we should conclude that the reason we have this enormous spending problem is because of the defense. spending of gdp is about 5%. the big growth in the budget over the past 30 years is medicare, social security, and medicaid. if we want to get serious about the entitlements, we must, must come must repeal obamacare.

we cannot afford to put 30 million more americans on medicare. if you have the titanic that is sinking, you don't put more people on the deck, and that is what obamacare does. host: a tweet from emma. guest: i'm so angry about the mortgage crisis. the march crisis is not over yet. we still have a surplus in housing in this country. one thing that is inferior to me is if you look at the current situation, 90% of the new loans that are being made over the past year or two years of virtually100% government

guaranteed. why are we providing government guarantees on mortgages? it is what is encouraging people buying houses they cannot afford. it creates a moral hazard problem. the mortgage originators make these loans because they know if they go sour, the taxpayers will have to pay for them. fannie mae and freddie mac -- the two biggest losses for the taxpayers and we still have not gone of those institutions. host: this is from mark honest enjoyed phone -- on his andr oid phone. guest: i like the idea of taxing

consumption and not saving. when you tax somebody's net worth, you are taxing people on what they say. you do not want to tax people on what they say. saving and investing are the seed of a growing economy. i do like the idea of taking the taxes of wages and profits and putting them on consumption. putting them on consumption. that was the point i was making earlier. it is true rich people would benefit from a lower tax rate, but they are the ones that benefit from the tax break. let's close the loopholes for rich people and get rid of write offs. t i think the evidence of the 1980's when we cut the tax rate from 70% tax payments went

through the roof. we collected a higher percentage of taxes from the bridge after week cut tax rates than before. this is something john f. kennedy said. he said if you want more revenues come a cut the tax rates, do not raise them. host: you mentioned moody's. we are still waiting on moody's recommendation. when is that expected? is expected to go the s&p route 4 stay with aaa? -- or stay with triple a? guest: i do not know the answer to that. nobody knows the answer to that. if you ask me that question a couple of weeks ago, i said i think it will downgrade. i think s&p took a black eye when it downgraded. there was such a negative reaction. when the interest rates on those are at record low, everyone is

saying how could you downgrade them? if people were worried the u.s. to limit was going to default on the treasury obligations, people would be demanding a higher interest rates. in fact, what has happened over the past few weeks is the interest rate has fallen. that's it just investors are not worried about the fault, nor should they be. -- not worried about default, nor should they be. caller: thank you for c-span. i would echo the former callers to have said we need to cut expenditures where we are waging war, and also, i think on the home front, the medical system should be changed so that position -- doctors are paid for curing people, helping people.

not for repetitively doing procedures that bring them money. the medical system should be paid for how far has the bird flown? not how many times has the bird flapped its wings if that makes any sense to you. guest: it is an interesting metaphor, and i agree with you on your second point. i think the way we pay for health care in this country is so inefficient. physiciansewarding and hospitals for results, we're just rewarding them for more and more procedures, and that defilade drives up the cost of health care. i love of pay for performance type of system. that might mean allowing people to use alternative medicine, anything that works and allows people to get healthier i am in favor of.

the most important function of our united states government is our military to keep us safe from foreigners who would do as harm. this is the part of the constitution that says the u.s. government provides for the national defence. certainly we should not forget that 10 years after 9/11. the second point i wanted to make is that when it comes to the economy and military spending, if we were to have more terrorist attacks against our country, and thank god we have not, it would be almost impossible for our economy to function. look at what 9/11 did to our economy. we have to keep our country state as a nation, but also our economy needs to be protected from terrorists. when the terrorists attacked us, they were attacking our way of life and our system of capitalism. host: how many serve on the

editorial board? guest: i think there are seven of us. the staff is 20 or 30 people. we right in the editorial, two or three per week. or three per week. host : when was your last one? guest: i have one on friday about the economic report. it is one of the few newspapers, may be the only one, that many of the resources -- many of the people, they turn to the editorial page first. host: have you ever met with your across town rivals? guest: we will compete editorially. they pretty much have a

completely diametrically opposed you of the world. i think it is the wrong view of the world. i try not to read their editorials, because i do not think there is much wisdom in them, but i know my boss does because he has to keep track of what the competition is doing. host: the next call comes from michigan. marcus on the independent line. caller: good morning, gentlemen. i want to say kudos to the first couple of callers. i think they and -- echoed the sentiment of the average american. i guess your guest started by asking which would you rather have lead the market for government? based on his answer, he believes free market should lead. everything else he has to say is geared towards the free market

leading. i believe capitalism and free market is a great thing and cannot live without it, but i sure do not want to turn my life over to letting it lead. of the nation, -- as a nation, and that is what we are, i think he believes we should measure our ability to be successful by the number of millionaires we create. as a society, i think we a much greater goals than that. we should measure our success by the people -- [unintelligible] guest: i agree with that. the real measure of the economic successes, -- is not commonly millionaires we produce, but what is happening to the average family. are they feeling economically secure or losing their jobs and feeling like the economy is coming down on the shoulder? right now i think it is the

leader. i would make the case that everything we've done in washington for the past three years has been the wrong thing to do. we have had a massive blow up of government spending on a scale we have never seen in this country, and has not worked. it has produced 9.1% unemployment. with the stock market crashing and people losing confidence in the currency. everything is lying in the wrong direction in the united states, and i think it is primarily the responsibility of government out of control and get out of control. host: philip emails in -- guest: n it is an interesting point. interesting point. we do not want a single payer health care plan, because as not

worked anywhere in the world. health care in the- world is unquestionably here in the united states. the way we pay for health care is unquestionably inefficient. i would like to move to a system where people pay more up front for their health-care costs. i think it should be more result oriented. the idea of having the government take over the health- care system. you just have the head of the postal service here, and i admirer what he is trying to do, but we do not want the help chrysostom to be run like the postal system. host: their role treatments been -- darrell tweets in -- guest: when the gold price goes up when there is economic

turmoil, when people flees a cold and are worried about the economy of the major industrialized countries, i think that is what happens. if you look at successful presidents like reagan and presidents like reagan and clinton, the gold price was very stable. what that meant was the dollar was as good as gold. the dollar today was worth and cold with the dollar will be worth five years from now. what is all under george bush, the gold price went from $300 to $900 per ounce. that met people were losing confidence in the u.s. dollar. -- that meant people were losing confidence in the u.s. dollar. so and 2.5 years the gold price has doubled. that means people are losing confidence in america and our currency. host: republican from texas on the line. caller: yes.

you wrote an editorial attacking my tea parties brothers and sisters, telling them lies, and i have got news for you. meeting after meeting cover rally after rally, we will our members to cancel their subscriptions to "the wall street journal." host: what did they say? caller: they called us names. they said we were too stupid. what is wrong with these rhinos? we're the ones that put the republicans back in. here they are writing lies about us and calling as names. host: that is probably the first time we have been called rhinos. guest: i think the members of

the tea party are great american patriots. i think what you've done has changed this company for the better. i have talked to groups all over the country from california to maine, and these are concerned citizens were looking out for what is happening in this country, seeing the enormous debt, the increase in government spending and the bailout and all the things that washington is doing that is ruining this country, and i think it is a wonderful thing with the two- party people have done. the idea is a very inspiring thing to see. i call it the second american revolution. we did take a shot at the tea party during the debt negotiations, it basically saying that we have to get real, we do have to raise the debt ceiling. and for people to say we do not have to raise the debt ceiling, that simply was not rational and my opinion. i want to assure you, i love the

two-party movement. keep doing what you're doing here did you are the salvation. you are the people. you are the people. this is great to see citizens get involved. the idea that people are becoming involved in politics is a great thing to see. host: have you retracted the word? guest: no, we have not. host: david tweets in -- not say ituld better. in host: east point, michigan. you're on the line was even more. caller: the tea party should be called the kool-aid party. cut corporate welfare.

we know the middle class is being choked out right now. they are the job creators. where are the jobs? i lost 85% of my clients due to the economy. host: what do you do? caller: i and my hair designer at the salon. we are a luxury. we're the first thing that people part. once again games are being played again. "too big to fail" very good movie. i recommend that. host: corporate welfare. when you hear that term, what do you think up? guest: i think of all the money

that washington spends to bail out companies. for example, when we bail that gm and chrysler. that was corporate welfare. when i think about the billions and billions of dollars we are facing on the green energy prices that are funded by taxpayers. when a big about the money being spent through the tax code or through a government grant programs like the department of commerce and energy. i have been writing for 20 years that we have to eliminate corporate welfare. there should be no federal grants provided to american companies. american companies should get their money from the private sector and private buyers, not from the government. this is one of the results of having a four trillion dollar government. businesses now view the government as a consumer. host: democrats line.

what do you think he meant by corporate welfare when he used that term? guest: people are really angry about what happened with the bailout is. there is a sense of their that -- out there that i have a lot of sympathy for, we build that wall street and big bankers but did not a lot main street. the real tragedy of obama and the fact of the policies have not worked and have higher unemployment now is a gentleman like this who runs a business, on the front line of the economy. he is a great barometer for how things are going, and his business is hurting. it is a tragedy to see more and more businesses go bankrupt because obama's policies have not worked. host: final article.

matt tweets in -- that is not true. we have had the biggest in a blowout in american history over the past 2.5 years. we have not stop the spending. the budget is going through the roof again this year. that is due to a lousy stock market. our debt -- i did not see that story. we are at 72% of gdp. that is manageable. when we came out of world war

ii, it was well over 100 percent said. the real question is it going in the right direction over the long term? even after this that deal, we will still borrow another eight trillion dollars. there is a saying in washington that one trillion is a new billion. when we first came to the town we talked about the budget in the billions of dollars. now we talk about it and trillion dollars -- now talk out in the trillion dollars. >host: as always, think you for being on the washington journal. -- thank you. we are continuing our week-long series looking at jobs in america. monday we both of the work force training programs. tuesday, a technical education. yesterday public/private partnerships. today we're looking it keep several jobs programs.

tomorrow women in the forecast. we will be right back to talk about federal jobs programs after this news update from c- span radio. >> as jobless numbers drop below 400,000 for the first time in 17 weeks, the commerce department said the trade deficit widened to the highest level since 2008. and american producers sold fewer industrial engines, electric generators and farm products to the rest of the world in june. leaders moved to address the financial situation in europe. reports this hour say that the french president is expected to meet with the german chancellor next tuesday. in a statement the president's offices they will come up with joint proposals on the governance of the euros own before the end of this summer. this report having a positive affect on wall street. dow futures are up 85 points. the u.s. coast guard has rescued a crew of marine corps

fighter jet that crashed into the pacific ocean near san diego. and carter -- water at 2:30 this morning. they were going to a hospital and listed in stable condition. -- they were flown to a hospital and listed in stable condition. >> per throughout this month, c- span radio will feature lbj tapes. this friday here president johnson talked to the vice president hubert humphrey about vietnam, the paris peace talks, and the presidential race. >> i am trying to do a job, and i will do it. if i can get peace at 4:00 this afternoon, i am going to get it come hell or high water. >> listen to c-span today.

>> as an aspiring journalist, i am already preparing myself for the very small salary i will be starting out with. >> to be a good journalist, you have to put aside your bias and report the truth. >> the reason why people love fox news and movies is because of his inexperience, love and hate. >> of aspiring high school journalist on ethics, the role of opinion and commentary and where they get their news and information in today's multimedia environment. c-at is sunday on se span's q&a." host: on monday we begin the week what series looking at work force training programs. -- week-long series looking at

work force training programs. wednesday will look at private/public partnerships that create jobs in america. tomorrow we will looking at women in the work force. today the focus is on but grow jobs programs. jobs programs. our guest is the chief correspondent of the national journal, michael hirsch. in how many different programs are out there on the federal level for people that want to get a job, a train to get a different job, etc.? guest: almost too many to count. the government accountability office did a study recently identifying 47 different programs across many different agencies, most are overseeing -- under seen over the work force investment act, which was implemented in 1998.

it is now currently a topic of debate. one of the big problems here is many of these programs remain llowed.ad -- site loa llowed.ad -- site loa each state has a number of these now that attempt to let jobless people come in, it to find out what skills they have, and buys them and coordinate with industry. it does not quite work that way. perhaps one of the most alarming things in the middle of this very troubled recovery, if you will come is that very little money is being spent on this overall. -- if you will, is that very little money is being spent on this overall. i have heard as low as 15

billion. we're talking about one-tenth of 1% of gdp. that is far less than other countries in terms of a government job-creating program. host: for all of these different programs, and we will show them in just a second, is there a bang for the buck? guest: that is another big problem. the effectiveness of the programs really has not been assessed. since 2004 only five of the 47 programs has really been assessed for effectiveness. over half of the programs have never been assessed. there is a moving congress to require that by 2015. it is really a huge problem, because what we hear and what we reported is that many of their programs are not affected.

to the extent that industry began -- is looking for people doing this a lot on their own, using state money, siemens is even borrowing from the older apprenticeship program in germany. you're looking at a time of chaos when the time of the problem of companies looking for people but not finding they need with the right skills and people looking for jobs but not having the right skills, were the problem has become really acute in the middle of this really high unemployment situation hoon. host: they have apprenticeships from a dislocated workers come indian and native americans, job corps migrant and seasonal farm workers, people with

disabilities, seniors, trade act programs, veterans, youth programs. these are the type of programs you say are not communicated. guest: my colleague at national journal wrote a very interesting wase about andrew 1levin michigan's labor commissioner, and he was so frustrated by the fact that there was so much money -- all of the money was in nokes and crannies. he hired a person in michigan to do nothing but a search for the money. he alternately develop a pretty effective program. he had to really go out of his way to search for that money. when you go to the labor department or go to the department of education, you really do not get the specificity. you do not get a sense that there is a real programmatic

effort. effort. we have patty murray of washington state, an effort to reauthorize and really go over the work force in this act, because it needs serious work. host: you talk about the work force and thus act. here is the target population. we will put our numbers of on the screen. we have set aside our fourth line this morning for those of you who have been in a federal job program. we want to hear from you and hear your experience with the program. if it got your employed, etc.. what the application process was like and training. like and training. the work force investment act of, you say this is the department of labor is the

target population. all adults 18 years or older are eligible. employed adults can receive services to obtain or retain employment that allows for self- sufficiency are some of the criteria. if you are an auto worker in michigan, where do you go? let's say your plant is being shut down or you are being laid off, what would be the first thing someone would do? guest: there are one-stop shops. your employer should be aware of them and direct you to them. i keep going back to the limited amount of money. it is not a lot. only 3.6 billion has been asked for the most recent fiscal year,

but they do exist the and have it since the law was enacted in 1998. the theory is it brings together other employers looking for people with the kinds of skills you might have a. in addition, community colleges and texas schools -- tech schools let you can be directed to to be trained at for the more specific skills. the more profound problem here is that as this so-called jobless recovery has gone on, companies have become pickier and picture about the kinds of people there hire ring, even down to the level of gender. even the job of a salesperson has gone so far beyond the image of issue shining smile.

you have to know finance pierre did you have to no product development. there is a lot of training that is required for jobs that once were more simple. if you look at the jobless numbers, it is quite extraordinary. there has been a giant net loss of jobs for people who have high school degrees or less than high school degrees. it is almost entirely the net gain of jobs since the recession officially ended in 2009. clearly what this economy is doing is rewarding that those with higher skills of some kind. there's a big gap that needs to be billed. be billed. host: in your long article from july 30 in title "desperately seeking skills."

here is the church. there has been an increase with those with a college, a bachelor or higher degrees. total overall is 0.8. you're right educated workers with the right skills are for the most part doing alright. and far better than those with very little education. guest: a problem is also that as the industrial middle-class has declined, along with manufacturing, what used to be honored in this society, which was the ability to work at a

good, middle-class-type job, whether it is an electrician or plumber, these jobs have become more sophisticated, and there are fewer people going to vocational and technical types schools to qualify for those kinds of jobs. we created a culture where everyone is supposed to go to a liberal arts college. liberal arts college. you have a skills the bloolag, widening gulf between companies that are looking for a certain type of skills. even those that were identified as formally middle class skills. that do not require a secondary degrees, but are just not being filled. this is where the federal jobs training program has really fallen short. they have not creating a meeting of minds between industry, job-

seekers from the community colleges, vocational colleges to really designed the skills letter dated out there. host: michael hirsch is our guest. we're talking about the program. what it entails and who was qualified. their effectiveness. this is part of our week-long series looking at jobs in america. our first call comes from susan in east point michigan who is participated in a federal jobs program. what did you participate in? caller: the first time i participated in it wasn't 1980's. i recently had been laid off and now going through on the job training with unemployment. -- the first time i participated -- the first time i participated it was in 1980's. it is out there, and they're letting people know about it. host: were you in autoworker

since you are calling from michigan? what kind of training are doing now and how is it paid for? caller: i would like to go more into medical. but the unemployment program that is run through the federal government, they will pay half your salary, and the business to go into pays the other half. they will train you on the job. host: are you employed again? caller: not right now. i just target. -- just started. and host: are you getting a salary while you're on this? caller: i will once i get on to the job. it will be on the job training. think you. esthost:

do you know specifically which program you are in? caller: it is in macomb county. they do some letters. guest: as i mentioned earlier, mich. developed one of the most progressive and impressive programs, which we featured in our package of stories, so i am not surprised to hear that she is somewhat satisfied. unfortunately this story elsewhere around the country has not been quite as impressive. in i think the michigan program, we are hoping, could be seen as a kind of pilot program approach for the rest of the country. host: she said all she went to is called michigan works. our states responsible for a ministry federal bodies? guest: yes.

states are partly responsible. it is still foot road monday, but the one stop shop work force investment board's that are being set up are overseeing on the state level. host: from the article that you wrote for the national journal. of the 9.2% of americans who are currently unemployed, 78% did not finish high school. plymouth, minnesota. patty on the republican line. caller: good morning. i have to give an example that happened this morning. sure if it is federal or city of plymouth, but down at the lake i was walking. we have had some storms and a couple of trees were down. i am not exaggerating, america, there were nine men working

they're putting up a couple of trees. one guy had a song and the rest of them standing around watching. had a saw and they rest of them standing around watching. at i said to be work for? for sure it is the government. that is why the hair dresser does the understand it. we taxpayers pay the man to stand around. we have to say -- pay so much in property taxes and income taxes and sales taxes to pay that kind of nonsense that we cannot afford to go better hair cut. he is exactly right, the got the call that on the last dust. last guest. guest: we have all had that

experience where people seem to be standing around. i will say related to the point at hand, that one of the problems of the work force and best actor in the way it has been implemented is that has created a large bureaucracy. we always complain in this country about too much influence of big business on government policy making, but this is one area where you do need businesses, because there are the ones doing the hiring. one of the complaint to hear about the work force investment act is that's businesses are seen as volunteers, their advisers will come, but they are not part of the process. the government bureaucrats and community colleges do not tend to make them part of the process. that is a problem, because after all it is the businesses that will offer up the jobs. host: reading from your article. the consulting company predicts

the skills gap will widen by 2020. they estimate the u.s. will have 1.5 million q -- you were college students to meet college demands while nearly 6 million americans who did not finish high school will probably still lack work. washington has been almost useless on this issue. the federal government's main work force training what is a bureaucratic mess. guest: one of the scariest things that come from the statistics is the large number of permanent unemployment. people who have been unemployed over 27 weeks. the bls has been keeping the status since 1948, in the percentage of population has just skyrocketed compared to any previous area -- verera.

the percentage as of june was 43% of the unemployed has been unemployed for more than 27 weeks. many of those will go for more than a year. what you have there is all section of the population whose skills are atrophying. all studies show the longer your out of work, the less likely you are to get a job because you lose your skills, what ever skills you might have had. this is a crisis. it is a crisis that federal government is addressing. the amount of money is little compared to what other industrial economies are spending. host: one of the federal jobs program is apprenticeship. joining us from charlotte, north carolina. he is mark grant -- joining us from charlotte, north carolina is mark sprinkle. what does siemens do as far as apprenticeship go?

caller: first of all i would like to say siemenses building the power generation equipment in north carolina. we made the decision about two years ago to make it a hub for world production of 60 hertz power generation equipment. in order to be competitive in the global market, we have to use high-tech processes. we aren't there is a shortage of folks that can come in and beat machinists. -- we found there is a shortage of folks second gunman and the machinists. we decided to launch a apprenticeship program. germany has a very intensive apprenticeship program. k it is a partnership with the community college here in

charlotte. they will work with us and work with the college in the 3.5 your program. when they are done, they will have a two-year degree and be ready to run a machine by themselves for us. host: are you finding a lot of people are eager to participate in your program? caller: yes, there really is a large group of folks that have decided they will not go on and get their four-year degree in would like to get into a track of a technical skill, but there is not a lot of opportunities to do that. there are a lot of people interested. we're starting up slow, only six students in this first program. it was hard to narrow it down, but we believe there will be no problem finding people that are interested in the program. host: have you found in your experience that this is pretty unique for a company like siemens to introduce this apprentice program in the

charlotte area or in the u.s.? caller: in the u.s. i think it might be somewhat unique. they do it extensively in germany. we're trying to do some of the things that i've been successful over there. i think there are a handful of much smaller companies that are on the program with this year in charlotte. host: have you been working with the department of labor and their office of apprenticeships on this program? we do not get funds from the federal level. and there is participation from north carolina at the state level. host: have you looked at the department of labor's website or their requirements for apprenticeships registration, and if so, what you think about them? caller: i have not looked at them, so i cannot comment on that. host: any questions for mark pringle? guest: i interviewed mark for

the article we did. i would be interested in asking him further whether he thinks more of the way the u.s. conducts these programs with apprenticeship should be modeled on? caller: i believe there is a key are for trinity for all of us to work on industry and the government. there is a large percent of the unemployed population that does not have a four-year degree in does that have the means to get one. these people would be great employees. if we can find a way to get them this technical training. this approach where we provide them a job, source of income while they are being trained is a way to accomplish that goal. and guest: it is interesting the way germany has advanced its programs. there was a lot of controversy about the old style of

apprenticeship where it was the most futile. you would start working for and been trained by a certain company right out of high school, but you really could not go anywhere else. there continues to be a culture of long-term employment to a degree of japan and other companies. that became controversial because people want to get more choice, so they did the ball the programs where you get a a kind of universal certificate or you can go to work elsewhere. i think that is what they're partly trying to do here, create programs were you get a certificate and work as a mechanic or machinist at almost any type of company. that is really where i think they need to fill the skills gap. we featured the siemens program because we thought it was an interesting private program. host: you also said in your

article about the american attitude is kind of quaint. it is a quaint little program. and guest: there has been an attitude in this country, which i think is largely justified over the many decades with there is a pride in flexibility of the u.s. economy. people cast a cool eye on more stagnant economies like germany's, but what a different situation now. we seem to have this problem of long-term unemployed. also, there is this issue of the rise of the west. the rest of the world has caught up to us. it is not like an old days were while lecturing everyone else on the virtues of capitalism, we were aware that they were stuck in these stagnant economies.

what worked for as before, the fact that we were not paying a lot of attention of the federal level to job-training type programs is not working out. we need a dramatic rethink. host: mr. crinkles, are you finding the schools -- mr. pringles, are you finding that schools are still teaching those kinds of courses or not? caller: no, actually. that was almost a generation ago that there was a large technical capability and the high schools. this died off somewhat, and we need to rebuild that. host: mark pringle from north carolina. you see any reason for this not to expand? caller: not right now.

we fully expect it to expand. we wanted to start as low and picture we work out how we will worked in nature we take care of the best interest of the students. it is our intent to make it our stream of future employees. host: thank you for joining us this morning. michael hirsch is our guest. we're talking about federal jobs programs in our week-long series on jobs in america. arlington, texas. rose participated in the jobs program caller. caller: yes, and i'm having a wonderful experience. i was a waitress in a casino for 30 years. i made good money and got laid off. i got into the jobs program for seniors, and i am learning so much. i never thought at this stage i would enjoy learning as much as i do. host: what are you learning?

what are you doing? caller: when i started, i never worked in an office before. i did not even know how to work a xerox machine. i am learning how to enhance i am learning how to enhance pictures, fax, make copies, enter information into the computer. i greet customers. and i am looking for the health and human services commission. -- i am working for the health and human services commission. and i am learning how to direct clients on how to get help for needs.specific mean-spirite i get glowing comments because being in the customer service field for so long, i have people skills. the clients thank me constantly

for their kindness. in the casino business you have to smile to make money i am going back to school. host: it really is fascinating. when you let the casino, did they tell you you could go to this place, a federal jobs program? caller: no. i found out about the jobs program by accident. and a friend was searching the internet and told me about it. i feel really bad, because since i have started they have decrease my hours from 20 to 12 per week. i hope they continue to fund the program, increase the funding, because i am perfectly healthy. host: thank you.

we will leave it there. thank you for calling in. what did you hear there? guest: first of all, i am happy she is having a good experience. i would point out to issues we have already discussed. one is she found out about it by accident and she appears to be working for the government. it is great there are training programs, but the ultimate goal is not to train newlyris unemployed workers. host: i want to show you this article. you can see all the little triangles. the bigger the try and go, the more jobs that are available. -- the bigger the triangle, the more jobs that are available.

it is government and health services, which are the biggest triangles in where the jobs are available. guest: this goes right to the other debates we're having right now about stimulus, government spending. most economists will say we needed a bigger stimulus and need another one. obviously the mood in washington has made that all but impossible. you have people like the previous guest to argue -- to argue it does not work at all. the government has been ou responsible for creating a lot of dogs. healthcare has always been a big part of the sector. those also point out a larger problem in the economy, which is where is the new great job

growth and to come from? is it clean energy type jobs? the obama administration in the stimulus the 2009 attempted to put a lot of money into that, but that is already largely dried up. we do not really know where the next big thing is coming from. in the interim, that is why i think it is all the more necessary to focus on these types of programs, even if you cannot attack the 9.1 percent and unemployment rates right now, you can at least whittle away at the edges. i think that is what the job training programs are all about. host: next call comes from fairmont, west virginia. george on the republican line. caller: good morning. i think the big thing is is the government does not create jobs. the government does not create jobs. the only jobs the government should create is having a strong military to protect the american people. it is the private sector that creates jobs, and as far as

going out to look for a job, each individual has got to know what type of job they want to do. if they get the job that they want to do, they will do it 150% and not your job to do not like. as far as job training goes, it is the private sector that should set up the job training, because that is to there will be working for. the federal government should stay out of it completely. guest: well, unfortunately it is not working that way. most companies to not want to invest in job training. they are extremely wary of hiring anyone knew. they have a lot of cash on their balance sheets, but they are extremely leery of spending that. one thing a calller said is very important. that is that people want to do the jobs that they want to do

and find the right jobs, but there is another pick up in what people are being trained to do -- a big gap in what they're being trained to do and what is available. a fellow at google that i spoke to for my story made the point that there is this information asymmetry out there. people do not know what to train for any more. there are not enough signals out there in the market to indicate what you need to learn, even at a four-year college or two-year college. that is where government can step in. i do not agree with the calller. we all want to keep the size of government down, but there is an intermediary role that the government could be playing in should be playing and doing it much more objective. much more objective. host: are companies such as google or siemens required by law to give information

training, assistance or anything like that? guest: no, they are not. a lot of companies do it because it is a culture of the company. this set of training programs. no one enjoys laying off people. -- they set up training programs. we featured siemens because we thought that was an interesting way of reaching out to the local colleges, local community colleges and high school and say let's work together. i think it would be nice if more companies did that sort of thing, but i do not think it thing, but i do not think it will happen. it happened at a company like siemens because as the culture germany. that is where you could use a product from the federal ever met that has been somewhat lacquered so far. host: new albany, indiana.

tina go ahead. caller: i would like to know where the jobs are that people need to be trained for. it isn't that the first up for the government at their board to set up a program like this? all we hear about is we need more engineers and scientists. 70 percent of the unemployed do not even have a high school degree. therefore i think the programs are clearly useless. the point of the matter is that we have allowed our politicians to create trade policies, which have sent the manufacturing base to third world countries for workers to work for nearly slave wages and no pollution control, environmental control, and the environmental control, and the result has been a massive trade deficit and massive loss of jobs, and the only way to recover is to bring back some of the low-skill jobs that pay decent wages in the past and try to return to the sovereignty of

the united states the way it used to be. exit the wto. host: we got the point. guest: the current work force and asthma act was preceded by the job training partnership act, which was designed largely to address the problem that the calller just raised, which is jobs retreating offshore under free trade agreements. i do not see any effort or desire to change that are perched indeed. what you hear from the obama administration and congress is an even greater push for trade agreements to create jobs here. those old jobs are largely gone. of the same time, there is still a need for not necessarily college level agreed type, but a lot of jobs like machinists,

highly-qualified sales people, it is an amazing thing for how much of a demand there is for highly-skilled sales people. one of the people i ever do -- interviewed was the secretary for education, and he admitted the technical programs were way behind. many of the jobs programs were jobs from 20 or 30 years ago. host: according to the department of labor, job growth by industry sector, 34,000. business services, health care with 31,000. retail trade 26,000. manufacturing, 24,000. leisure and hospitality, 17,000. construction 8000. that is according to the department of labour. mansfield, ohio. about 30 seconds. what was your experience?