be protected, for one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and grandchildren the united states of america used to be like when men were free. i am not gonna have that conversation with my grandkids, and i do not are going to have that conversation with your grandkids. help me to put united back in the united states of america. >> watch more video of a can of its can track the latest campaign contributions with c- span's website for 2012.

candidate biographies, latest polling data, plus links to primary information in the caucus states. >> night, robert gates talks about the future of the military, the political climate in washington, and the transfer of power in afghanistan. forces willat be out of afghanistan by december, 2014. the question that seems to me is one of pacing between now and the end of 2014. and the other -- the variable is how fast you bring our forces out. the other variable is how f ast and welle can you train the afghans to take our place.

this is a conversation that i had with petraeus and a lot of our leaders in iraq and afghanistan over the years, and i would tell them the hardest thing that you are going to have to decide is that inflexion point where these guys doing it adequately is better than us doing it excellently. >> most all of google's problems are self-inflicted because they did not play by the rules of the game and they do not obey them all. >> if you wonder if you are getting in on this result, on behalf to move that mouse and go to yahoo! or facebook and you will see if you are getting the fair results. >> scott cleland and david balto

tonight at 8:00 eastern on c- span2. >> in the senate, a vote for fiscal spending of 2012 is expected shortly at around 5:30. it will give $3.6 billion in disaster relief funding which contains no offsets. "national journal" writes that kerry lead will not get the expected votes for his legislation. without the legislation, the government will run out of money on timber 30. the real threat does not seem likely as voters have assured that it will be resolved ahead of friday. charles rangel was honored by

his colleagues last week with an official portrait in the house ways and means committee room. this event included john boehner, nancy pelosi, and members of the new york congressional delegation. he is in his 21st term and served as chairman of the committee from 2007 until 2010. this is just under an hour. >> welcome. i want to thank you for coming today for recognizing charles rangel, and and i want to talk a little bit about everybody reno as charlie. he was a very close friend of a former member of this committee and a dear friend of charlie

rangel and to me, and there is a few moments in every person's life who defines who he or she is, and most people talk about chinese being fought back by charlie. others will point to his early hard work as a member of this house, including helping establish the congressional black caucus. for me, it is more personal. what charlie did for guy vanderjack symbolizes it all. charlie rangel open up this beautiful room for his funeral service, and i saw the decency and gracious as that charlie rangel has shown throughout his tenure in congress, where no matter who you were or how long is served, the matter what party were from or if you were from a different party, charlie has

always been charlie. open, receptive, kind, but a pragmatic, and one of the first bills nike had -- bills i had to work with in this committee, and the senate was not want to move on this bill. manycharlie rangel's help, children have been placed in loving and save homes because of that work. thank you. i want to say when i was a new member of the committee, i was in the minority, then the majority, then the minority, now i am in the majority, but through all of that, charlie

rangel was the same, with fairness and mutual respect. charlie, i want to thank you for your leadership on this committee and in this congress, and i want to thank you for asking to this event. i would like to welcome a prominent community leader from harlem who will be leading us in an indication today. reverend. >> are pleased tto be able to share in this ceremony. i do not think we gave him a big applause at the beginning.

let us about our heads in prayer. eternal god, we are grateful for this day and the privilege of life, and for the opportunity to witness the enshrining of a great man in this great hall. as we read his brief by art murphy, -- via ruffly, we see it is noted that he follows the concern for the least of these, but we also know like solomon he has been granted a wise and understanding heart. we thank you for his wife, who stands by his side, and we thank you for his family who surround him with love and encouragement. what a wonderful day it is to see all of these friends gather

in this place to cheer on our beloved charles rangel. thank you for the grace and concern and most of all thank you for empowering his hands and his mind to the great work that has benefited us all. thus this occasion with every spiritual blessing. if charles and his wife could years and long life, great health, and prospering affairs. for all of us, maybe we continue to work together, not only for the building of a greater harlem, but for the building of a greater nation. it is only because it is in you that we trust that we have been able to come this far. truly, we have come this far by faith, leaning on the lord. trusting in god holy name, and with charles rangel and with the rest of us, our god has never failed us yet. now made the words of our mouths and the meditations of our

hearts be acceptable and eyesight, o god, our strength and our redeemer. let us all say, amen. >> have the honor of introducing someone who came to congress with me 20 years ago and who has served with charlie rangel and myself all these years. i have the honor of introducing the speaker of the house, john boehner of ohio. thank you. >> let me start by congratulating charlie, alma, and all of you who are involved in this great project. some of you know that charlie and i have considered each other friends from literally the first day i was here. i need jack kemp before i got here, and before i got here, he

said get to know charlie rangel because you will get along just fine. while we always do not see eye to eye, over the years we have talked virtually almost every day on the floor. in some things we are cut from this in cost. we are both pretty particular about our parents -- our appearance. i cannot wait to see what outfit you have got on, charlie. secondly, we both enjoy what we do, and whether we agree or disagree, we try to remain as happy a warrior with each other as we can. we both love the people's house, and here you meet people that you never would have met, work

with people that you would never dream you would work with. you begin to find out what people from different parts of the country are likely. all i can tell you his on most occasions charlie and i have always understood each other real well. one thing that we also understand is that he and i, being here, just like all the other members, we are just a temporary occupancy of this institution. at some point our time will come to an end and others will come along and take our place. this portrait, however, will be held in the house collection as a permanent tribute to charlie and the long and highly decorated record of service that he has provided to this institution. charlie, on behalf of all of us in the house, know that we are proud of you, proud of your accomplishments, and hope that you have a very enjoyable evening. thank you.

>> thank you, speaker boehner, and now i would like into this a person who has always as i have always found to be a person of great civility and personal grace, the democratic leader, at a historical leader in their own right as the first female speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, for bringing us altogether. it is a tribute to charlie rangel that so many people are gathered here today to pay their respects to him, the speaker

of the house listen, both sides of the out, the chairman of the congressional black caucus. and so many members of congress, past and present, a democrat and republican. charlie rangel said this -- four years ago while delivering the commencement address at a college -- he told graduates, " he knew at the end of that rainbow of hard work and sacrifice there would be an opportunity for you and your family say, yes, notwithstanding the odds in this country, i can make it, i will make it." that has been the story of charlie rangel's life, a sort of patriotism his country -- as a

public servant in the york, the member of assembly, so many roles that he played there, and as a member of congress. his love of alma and their family is very clear to all bus, has it is what brings a smile to his face. what brings a passion to his work is the fact that charlie rangel is a deeply religious man. many times has he said to us, the gospel of matthew made me do it. when the costs will talk about the least of our brethren, and they were hungry, when they needed shelter, needed clothing, even christ said when i was in prison, he visited me. very important. in charley list of accomplishments, which are too many in this big crowd, but they

were about the gospel of matthew. they were about a patriotism of liberty and justice for all, they were about being a grandfather and making the future better for the next generation. so i want to join a the speaker in saying this petey is not just about a portrait of unfailing. this is so that generations of children, when they come to the capitol, when they come to this room, will see a painting of a man there who might have beginnings similar to theirs, have had obstacles to overcome, but who was a pioneer in representing the diversity of our country in the leadership of the congress,, and in addition to that, he opened the door for so many others to follow, as a leader of the congressional black caucus, a leader in this house of representatives, in this congress, and in the

country. congratulations to you, chairman charlie rangel, for your tremendous leadership. ma, forou,, alm sharing him with us. congratulations. >> thank you, and now would like to have a big welcome to a very good friend of mine and, the democratic whip of the house, steny hoyer pie. >> thank you very much, david. my fellow new yorkers, i was

born in charlie rangel's district. and i lived in manhattan until i was nine years of age. so i am a brother new yorker of my friend charlie rangel. an historic figure in history of the house and of this nation. charlie rangel, hero. charlie rangel, who was called by his country to serve to defend freedom, in a far-off place that he may never have thought of, that was being overrun to be subjected and whose freedom was to be robbed. charlie rangel answer the call of his country and became a

hero, not in his mind, but in us.mind of all buof charlie rangel came home from korea, having served his country extraordinarily well and came home to new york, to serve his country again, to serve his country in insuring proper law enforcement as assistant prosecutor. charlie rangel answer the call of his country. and then his district asked him to come to washington to serve once again four decades ago. and so for 20 times, his district has asked him to continue to serve. and in that capacity, he has not only been a hero, but a

humanitarian as well. a person who cares deeply about those who are disadvantaged, who cares deeply about those who have been left out, who cares deeply, as leader pelosi said, about his faith, that admonishes him to lift up those who have fallen, clothe the naked, house the homeless, feed the hungry. charlie rangel, hero, humanitarian. he was sent here by new yorkers because they knew he was a leader, he came here and he has led, and what he has shown us is he is a leader and an extraordinary religious leader, u.s. not for himself -- who acts

not for himself, but for his people, and not for his district, but for a nation, and indeed the global community we have all been privileged to have the honor to serve as colleagues of charlie rangel. but i consider myself, alma, more honored to be his friend, to respect that that he has done, the service he has given them the courage he has shown. even at times of extraordinary stress, charlie rangel has stood very high. has at least three beautiful grandchildren here. is that accurate? are your grandchild -- are you a

grandchild, too? what do your grandchildren call you? >> papa. >> i want you to know that you could be very proud of your papa as all of us are as well. this portrait, which will be unveiled, and i presume the artist is here, and i presume the artist is extraordinarily talented, but to capture the essence of charlie rangel must have been an extraordinary challenge. god bless you for trying. we look forward to the results. the bless you and thank you, charles rangel, our friend and colleague.

>> thank you, and we know that the new york delegation is a close family. senator fromsenior cente new york, charles schumer. >> thank you. thank you, and it's great to be here for my friend, charlie rangel, our friend, our great leader, the dean of that delegation, and the guy of indomitable spirit. he is just the greatest. and you all read a biography and everybody knows all the things he has done, but i want to say this -- when you look at charlie how he got to where he has got, it gives you faith in the future of this country, as long as the charlie rangels can rise as he has, our country

has a great future caree. thank you. i want to mention two things, and i see so many of my friends from new york who have come down here. anyone here from brooklyn? a few? or is it just carlyn and manhattan? a great borough, i might add, where i get a higher percent and i even get in brooklyn. i want to mention two things. you learned a lot about the person when you see him work behind the scenes. and i was speaking to speaker pelosi and we were looking up at the picture of dan rostenkowski, a former chair of the ways and means committee, and charlie one of the stalwarts on that

committee. we used to work and those they, they would have to pass these tax bills, so that we do not do these days -- [laughter] and those were hard, with heavy lifting. you had to vote for taxes. they would go to the chairman of the committee, and they would go to the members of the committee, and say, what do you need to help you get to be for the bill? and most members, would like a tax break for this company in my state, i would like a tax break for this friend of mine, i would like this, i would like that. every year, on every tax bill, this man asked for one thing only. he said expand the low-income housing tax credit. it did not benefit him politically, but he knew it was

the right thing to do for so many people who could not afford housing and would not have housing without that tax credit. and because charlie doing that, it is one of 800 great things he did, but because of charlie doing that, there are hundreds of thousands of americans who have a roof over their heads today who might not otherwise, and it speaks to the generosity and the mettle and the courage of this man. and the other thing i would like to mention, that deserves a lot of applause, it does. this other thing i would like to mention is this -- as you all know, life in the accord lord gives us our ups and our downs. everybody has their good times, everybody has their bad times. we all know that. it happens every single one of us in so many different ways.

but no matter what the times were like, this man, this great, wonderful man, who i am so lucky who has been a mentor and friend, always has that big smile on his face. his spirit is so strong and so good, and he is so grounded in his beliefs in who he is and what he is that nothing, nothing can ever break or stocks the great charlie rangel. charlie, we love you, we're proud to see your picture there, and we hope you have many, many more years with us in the united states congress, representing harlem and new york state. thank you. >> thank you, senator schumer.

the next speaker current chairman of the congressional black caucus. he and charlie rangel have contributed immensely to the african-american community and the entire nation, so please join me in welcoming the hon. emanuel cleaver ii. >> let me just, so the family will know we are here, the members of the congressional black caucus, some of them are behind me. if he would just stand for a moment just so he can see you. thank you. thank you very much. no disrespect. i am going to speak out of my religious tradition and out of the religious tradition of

charlie rangel, and i hope that those of you who are from other traditions will be able to relate at least to a part of the symbolism of what i will do, which is to talk about probably the single most well-known scripture in the dacalogue, and it is called the parable of the samaritan. he probably call it a good samaritan, which i am hoping to clear up in my book that will come out in about easter, not the i am shamelessly plugging it. [laughter] the text says nothing about the good samaritan. it says is american, and the reason the text does not say it was good is because it would

have been a put do-down. samaritans despise. many of the people use this text to talk about bigotry. the samaritans or half breeds. they had been taken into captivity in what we know today in part as iraq and babylon. and when they returned home, they were despised and they were confined to a little every day, -- it was like the get go, we do not go through some area. as the text goes in the 10th chapter of luke, it says, and

i'm not going to read the whole tax, an expert of the law, and attorney -- and attorney -- [laughter] raised the question, what must i do to inherent eternal life? what is written in the law? how do you read it? he answered it, love the lord, your god, all your strength and your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. you have answered correctly, and jesus replied, do this correctly and you will live. he wanted to justify himself, and so he asked who is my neighbor? you know the story. this was the most dangerous 19 miles in the nation of israel.

a dangerous 19 miles. he has been been beaten and left on the roadside and base american comes along, not a good samaritan, a samaritan. the suggestion here is that contemporary folks put on it, most americans -- most samaritans are bad and this was a good one. and so the bible does not get into that. it was a samaritan. you know the story. this american takes care of the wounded man -- thus american takes care of the wounded man. as decent -- as jesus tells the parable and ends it, the man says to jesus, who is my neighbor? jesus explains it and says go and do likewise. go and do likewise. be like the samaritans. go and do likewise.

when the unborn generations step into this room and looked at this portrait, of charles rangel, the hope is that some of them will say who is this man? when the question is asked, my hope is that those who provide information will say this was a man who loved his country so much that he was willing to die and live for it, go and do likewise. who was this man? this was a man who got up every day, every day of his life in congress and tried to do the right thing, go and do likewise. who was this man? this was a man who scratched,

claude, crawled and did any and everything else could to stand up for the court -- the poor, the hurt, and of the wounded. go and do likewise. this is a man who has the personality of a basketball. any time he hit the floor, he bounced up. [laughter] go and do likewise [applause] >> now, i would like to welcome dead junior senator from new york. we are always happy when former house members who have gone on to the senate come and visit. thank you. >> its such an honor and privilege to be here today to recognize an extraordinary

leader in our nation's capital. i want to recognize our former speaker and leader, thank you for the service you do in the house. want to recognize the senior senator from new york, thank you for being such a wonderful partner with me. i want to recognize the amazing congressional delegation around me. thank you for what you do every single day to be a voice for hard-working americans. and now, to charlie, everyone here talked about his distinguished career, his public service, the fact he's a war hero, the fact he pulled himself up from nothing and has created a career that has been extraordinary. but what i want to talk about is what a friend you've been to me from the beginning of my career. as a young congresswoman when i came to washington in 2006, charlie always took me under his wing, gave me guidance, steered me in the right way and gave me the most thoughtful advice every

time i needed it. he was the first one to stand there when i appointed to the senate, he invited me to the cbc reception and i sat at his table and i can't tell you how much it meant to me to have such a gracious and extraordinary host who not only introduced me to everyone they knew in the room, but stood there by me as an encouragement and as a friend. thank you charlie for always being there for me. i want to talk briefly about some of the extraordinary work he's done in the house of representatives. not only has he been a champion for working families, but he reaches out to those who need it the best. one of the bills we're working on right now is asking our faith-based leaders to help those most at risk, those families suffering from aids today. i can tell you they have no better friend than you in the u.s. capitol. you are the one who's a champion

for those who need it the most, who are most risk and need a voice in washington. you are an extraordinary public servant and someone i feel blessed to count as a friend. thank you, charlie [applause] . >> thank you. we have a number of special guests here today, but we have one really extra special guest. mrs. charlie rangel, alma rangel, who met a young charlie rangel a year or two ago on the dance floor of the savoy ballroom in harlem. while i have not seen charlie dance in person, i have heard rumors his grace is not just a personality trait. it is a true honor to have you in washington today in this committee room. [applause]

>> [inaudible] [applause] [chanting charlie, charlie, charlie]

[applause] >> i think we can all agree this is a remarkable piece of art. we will now hear from the artist. he's a distinguished portrait artist whose subjects include justice thurgood marshall, president william jefferson clinton and first lady hillary rodham clinton. >> good afternoon to everyone. let me begin by expressing my pleasure, given the privilege

and opportunity to participate in this celebration in honor of congressman rangel. he has been a continued source of inspiration for many of us for many years. commissioned portraits are our way of saying to those in our midst that we celebrate you and would like to keep your image around for years to come. [applause] it is the responsibility of the portrait painter to portray a true like this of his subjects. i have included in this portrait of congressman rangel some items that may speak to his loyalty to this country, to his community, and to himself. finally, i thank the ways and means committee and his supporters for giving me the opportunity to paint a portrait of this great american who has

given so much to so many for so many years. again, thank you to his staff for their support and a special thanks thank you. [applause] >> now it is time to hear from the man of the hour, chairman charlie rangel. [applause] >> i am moved. i just want to know this is no

substitute for a funeral. [laughter] i don't know where to start. i do know that those people have come here today have a very busy schedule and have come along way. i want to publicly thank my wife, when i've -- [unintelligible] come up here. [applause] i just brought you appear so that when you start next week telling me what to do roundhouse and taking up the garbage, maybe i can get a better start. thank you. [applause] my best friend was my brother. he was my brother, my friend, campaign manager. i lost him when he was only 52 years old he had three wonderful

kids and thank you for coming and being with us. [applause] my cousin -- sometimes you can look to your teenage daughter when she's a mother and you just stare each other. but i just say yes. i could have treated you lot better if i knew you were going to give me three grandchildren like that. and thank you to her husband and my grandkids, come up here. [applause]

thank you, a gang. all of -- there are so many people here that i couldn't possibly name all of you. i don't even -- i can't think david enough because he made certain that happened and fixed the spot where you'll be seeing it to our morning. the leadership, it's true we've had some rough time with the other side, but this wonderful committee has done so much wonderful bipartisan work in the past and i hope we will be able to do it again. sandy and the ways and means committee gang, let me thank you, will you stand? [applause]

the conscience of the congress, whether i was chairman or whenever i was doing, said keep driving for the people that believe so much this country can be all what she can be, will the congressional black caucus people put up your hand or stand or do something? [applause] i don't know whether it's true or not, but they say those from the city and state of new york has far more self-esteem and then they need. i wish they would stand. peter keane -- where are we? what makes my life so much easier politically here while so many members are prepared to see

and fear what their congressional district lines look like, my county chairman is here today. i'd go or member the last time i said anything nice about him, but i want all of you to know there is never been a county chair like him. [applause] and a dead new york state assembly, my long and dear friends, thank you for being here. and of course, back at home, i don't have to worry about the city council issues as some of my colleagues do because the leader that runs not just my part of the district, might co leader, i nez dickens.

i just want to tell my chairman of the cbc that back home, my pastures, they don't wait for people to die before they tell them good things can happen. the the -- he's president of the senior development corp., a professor in new york state college. he succeeded adam clayton powell was the powerful pastor of abyssinian baptist church and i just tried to be his partner because adams shoes were too big for both of us. thank you for coming down here. and, on the democratic side, now seek -- nancy pelosi, it's been totally exciting.

i see gretchen their from the virginia part of the family. i know i'm missing a lot of people and i hope you give me an opportunity to make up for this, my friends from korea, this goes beyond a trade bill. andew their grandfathers' -- [speaking korean] our ambassador for the united states of america, thank you for being here. my staff, george henry, put up your hand. jeff -- for the staff, and just waved. without you, -- it softball a

big thing -- it's all a big thing. i hope that this hour, i'm here to thank all of you that you recognize i have been so blessed. marty, where is he? there is marty. i told you i was going to make it. he didn't believe me, did you. anyone who wants to ask about the ethics committee, i'm not asking any questions. [laughter] many years ago, when i was a student, i was in charge of the criminal law institute. it was like the law review and i was assigned to a young assistant district attorney. from there, i became assistant u.s. attorney. if you are talking about any illegal thing, he lives and breathes the united states constitution. [applause]

all i can tell you is this has to be the greatest country in the world. it's absolutely fantastic how people can leave their country just to come to a place most of them have no idea what's in store for them. they take a gamble, most make it and for most all of them, it's a far better life no matter what degree of success they have here. i'm always reminded that nobody is trying to leave the united states of america. everybody, they can complain, but they're trying to get in and stay in. when you have all of the best countries from asia and europe, i think of the congressional black caucus members that unlike the irish and some of my jewish friends, we don't have

the history and make-up like some of these people do. as soon as we got to the united states, they started shredding the african songs and all the language and it's very difficult for our children to be able to dream. they have nothing has been taught to them to dream about. that's why we in the congressional black caucus, i think a way of saying thank you to america is to make certain you break down the barriers that so many people really believe they should make it in this country that provides so much hope. we know there's a lot of hypocrisy involved and a lot of racism involved, but there's no country in the whole world that has been as good to all people as the united states of america. [applause]

i think that means we have a great responsibility. nancy pelosi talks about st. matthew's, but for those priests and nuns who know me well, i wasn't that close to the bible and i should have been. [laughter] but i tell you one thing. dedicating my whole life to politics, i can look at something and it has to have some value. 19 think about medicare and social security and foster kids and adoption and education do you know what i think about? the man who said that when i needed help, you were not there for me. you did not visit me in the jail, you did not come by and

give me comfort. don't all of us have an obligation to make certain those of us who follow us don't have to go through what we are going through and it's up to us in congress, if we can do it then the people have to do it, to make certain that included in that constitution is not just due process but a compassion and understanding for our brothers and sisters in this country and not just this country, it's for every country that believes we have a sense of liberty and justice and we take care of our own. it's sometimes embarrassing to see people that want so badly to get elected. those who have been elected know that when we are running, reason has no place in our challenge to get reelected. it is unfortunate that god has planted the wrong seats, but -- no matter who goes under the

bus, no matter what happens to happen, you may feel a degree of bad feelings after it, but when you are ready to go, nothing stops a candidate. therefore, we can't have that right now, when the country has a fiscal crisis, we find so many people are jobless and homeless and hopeless, we have to pause for the election and get our americans back to work to be able to have that self-esteem and have the american dream come true. my life is a story that anyone can make it. from a high school dropout to having been chair of this great committee. [applause] thanks for all of you folks coming today. i hope that out of this you see yourself, i hope you think of

other people who tried hard to do the right thing. i hope that because you are here, it's symbolic you associate with the things we have tried to do, but the most important thing is that at the end of the day, and people asking just what you have done, you can say it's not just what you have done, but what did you try to for the lesser of our brother and sisters. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, charlie for your invaluable service to your country, your home town, your friends, family and this committee. this portrait will be a reminder every day of this service and i look forward to

your continued service. thank you everybody, for being here. we will close with the benediction in honor of this occasion. >> i share the following remarks -- thank you for giving me the offer -- i feel privileged to have the opportunity to express my regard for you in public. i am disappointed i will not be able to do it in person. upon your insistence, i will accept the officers crossed for the republic of poland from the president in new york at a -- at the time of year ceremony. my colleague will read my prayer. charlie, you have my prayerful

best wishes for help, -- health, strength and long life to continue your devoted service to new yorkers and our nation. your friendship, warmth, compassion and passionate commitment to human rights and tolerance have touched many lives for good. they the lord bryce year and be gracious and -- made lord bless you and be gracious. in that spirit, let us pray. merciful god, we in both your blessings today upon a deer and a longtime friend, charlie rangel. a man who has devoted our lot -- his life to our nation as a war veteran and legislator and committed to building a better world and a quality of life for all americans. we remember today's contribution of the chair of the ways and

means committee and his passionate commitment to human rights, freedom, equal opportunity, and tolerance. the great architect received his mission to build the tabernacle because he possessed the divine wisdom and the heart. charlie rangel has used these qualities to serve his constituency, new york city and state as well as our great nation for more than 40 years. we invoke the prayer recited in all synagogues on saturday mornings, those that serve the needs of the communities. in this spirit, we play you -- we pray you bless charlie rangel of health, strength and fulfillment. bless him, his dear wife and their entire family. less the president, the vice- president, the speaker, and all members of the united states congress. give them wisdom and guide them

in their deliberations for the benefit of the american people during these challenging times. god bless america, the land of freedom and opportunity, stand beside her and guide her and let us a man. -- let us say amen. >> tonight on c-span, former president jimmy carter and his wife talk about current affairs in the u.s., global issues and married life. >> i was cruising around with my sister and her boyfriend looking for a date. rosa was in front of the

methodist church on sunday night and i asked her for a blind date and she went with me. i won't describe the evening, but the next morning, when i got up and went into the kitchen, my mother was cooking breakfast. i said i went to a movie. she said did you go with anybody? i said yes. is it what did you think of her? and i said i'm going to marry her. >> more from those remarks at the carter center tonight at 9:05 eastern on c-span. >> tuesday on a "washington journal" a discussion on the house and senate versions of the house -- of the spending bill. then a discussion on the joint deficit reduction committee. our guest is the senior director of the economic policy project. later, a look at redistricting and the newly don -- newly drawn

congressional maps. "washington journal" take your calls and e-mail live every morning here on c-span. the federal reboard -- federal board of a governor's members spoke about monetary policy in job creation at the university of maryland business school. she said despite the slow economic recovery, for their monetary easing is needed. her remarks were part of the school's distinguished lecture series. >> i'm the director for the center of financial policy for the school of business at the

university of maryland. the center actually came into existence as a result of recent events in the global economy. the main goal being to promote research and inform policy. today's talk is part of an ongoing distinguished speakers series hosted by the center. we do a variety of things. toward the end of the speech, we will make a major announcement about an upcoming conference on systemic risk. today, we are privileged to have our guests speak to us on a timely topic -- monetary policy and job creation. the subject of job creation is content fan in the news almost every minute now. i will say it is a most pressing

policy issue. i've always labour how to link monetary policy and job creation. there'll be ample time for questions but you have to write them on an index card and it has to be legible. if it is knowledgeable, it will not be read. let me formally introduce our distinguished speaker. she took office at the federal reserve last year. prior to her appointment to the board, she was a commissioner of financial regulation for the state of maryland. she was responsible for regulating all types of financial institutions, including banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders and servicers, and trust companies among others. under her leadership, the commissioner's office played an

early role in the state's response to the financial crisis, including reforming the foreclosure process, combating foreclosure rescue and elevating licensing and lending standards. prior to serving as commissioner -- she has a wealth of experience. she was the managing director for the monetary financial group and served as a banking consul for the u.s. senate committee on banking, housing and urban affairs. in addition, she worked at the bank of new york and joint committee of the congress. we are pleased and privilege your joining us today and i'm very happy you are from the state of maryland and you are at this school which is part of fed

university. [applause] >> thank you for that lovely introduction. good morning to everybody. it's a great pleasure to be with you and i want to thank the center for financial policy at the robert h. smith school of business for inviting me to participate in this forum. i'm delighted to see the center for financial policy is already thriving. in 2008, when i was a commissioner for the state of maryland, two of the founders of the center came to my office in baltimore and talked to me about starting up the center and asked for my ideas about what such a center might accomplish. i'm glad to see that despite the formidable challenges facing all such new projects at the center is fully engaged in addressing financial policy issues that are critically important to our

country. today, i want to talk about how monetary policy can promote the objective of maximum employment in a context of price stability. i'm going to set the stage by reviewing current labor market conditions and then i will talk about the tools the federal reserve has been deployed into foster job creation and promote a stronger economic recovery. i will do my best to make these points in plain english rather than in economic jargon. but feel free to correct me if i lapse into it. my children have no hesitation in doing that. it goes without saying these remarks are intended to express my views only and not necessarily the opinions of my colleagues on the federal reserve board or the federal open market committee. the global economy began slowing in late 2007 and early 2008.

it turned downward sharply in the autumn of 2008 when the financial crisis intensified. resulting in the worst recession in many decades. by the end of 2009, the unemployment rate had reached a horrifying 10% cut corresponding to 15 million americans being out of work with all the attendant social consequences, including lost income and wealth, mortgage foreclosures, family strain, health problems and so on. officially, the recovery from the recession began in the third quarter of 2009. but the pace of recovery has been modest. we have learned from recent comprehensive revisions of government economic data that the recession was deeper and the recovery weaker than had previously been thought. he indeed, the most recent reading on real gross domestic product in the united states, the one from the second quarter

of this year, still has not returned to the level had attained before the crisis. the increases in economic activity over the past two years have been their rate in sufficient to achieve any sustained reduction in the unemployment rate. the latest employment report issued by the bureau of labor statistics was bleak. private sector employers added only 17,000 non-farm jobs in august, far fewer than the already weak average monthly gain of about 110,000 recorded over the previous three months. the headline unemployment rate was 9.1%, representing about 14 million americans out of work in august. nonetheless, as many families know, the headline on employment numbers don't fully capture the weakness in labor market conditions. beyond the headline number, an additional 8.8 million workers

were classified as what is called part-time for economic reasons in august because their hours had been cut back or they were unable to find a full-time job. in addition, about 2.5 million americans were classified as what is called marginally attached to the labor force. even though they wanted to get a job, they had not searched for one in the past four weeks. almost half of that group, nearly 1 million individuals, have given up searching for employment altogether because they don't believe any jobs are available for them. so it's not just those currently classified as unemployed who are excluded from mark. the underemployed, the marginally attached, and be discouraged, all of whom artists -- are concerned about the security of their livelihood, housing, and the rising cost of living can speak powerfully to the weaknesses of the recovery.

the economic data in this regard corresponds to what i've seen firsthand of the past several years. i have travelled to once robust manufacturing cities in the midwest and have observed vacant lots, burned down factories, metal scrap heaps and foreclosed homes. i have visited unemployment insurance offices and job- training centers and i have met lots of people have been out of work for more than a year or two. out of work so long that some of them are embarrassed to show their resumes to potential employers. these circumstances have called for perk -- for forceful policy measures. i'm going to talk about the conventional and unconventional at chin's the federal reserve for its part has taken to foster economic recovery and job creation. first, the conventional tools. the conventional tools of monetary policy works to modify

the near-term passive interest rates. a reduction in current short- term interest rates and a corresponding downward shift in private sector expectations about the future path of such rates will tend to reduce borrowing rates for households and businesses, including car loan rates, mortgage rates, and other long-term interest rates. this policy accommodation tends to raise household wealth by boosting the stock market and prices of other financial assets. with greater household wealth and cheaper borrowing rates, consumers tend to increase their purchases of houses, cars and various other goods and services. in response, businesses ramp up production to meet the increased level of sales. moreover, with lower costs of financing new equipment and structures, businesses may be inclined to increase their own spending on investment projects

they might previously have seen as only marginally -- marginally profitable. in the near term, firms can increase demand by resorting to temporary and part-time workers. but over time, there are strong incentives to increase the number of regular, full-time employees. consequently, conventional monetary accommodation is expected to lead to greater job creation, though some time with substantial time lags. the federal reserve has used this policy tool aggressively since the onset of the financial crisis. in particular, the federal funds rate target which stood at 5.25 %, which was subsequently deuced 20 by the end of 2008. that target range has been maintained since then.

the fomc has been applying it smacks -- a policy tool to the maximum possible since 2008. there is a vast economic literature regarding the effect of conventional monetary policy and i'm not going to review it, but simply pose a counterfactual question, which is what would have happened to u.s. employment this monetary policy had failed to respond forcefully to the financial crisis and economic downturn? economic models, and there are the fed models as well as others, suggest that if the federal funds rate target had been held at a fixed level of 5% from the fourth quarter of 2007, and -- rather than having been reduced to its actual target range of zero to .25%, the unemployment rate would be several percentage points higher

than today. in other words, by following our actual policy of keeping the target funds rate at its effective lower bound, since late 2008, the federal reserve save millions of jobs that wouldn't otherwise been lost. of course, substantial uncertainties around various specific testaments, but there should be no doubt the federal open market committee's forceful actions helped mitigate the consequences of the crisis and thereby sparing american families and businesses from even greater pain. given the magnitude of the global financial crisis and its aftermath, the federal reserve clearly needed to provide additional monetary accommodation beyond simply keeping short-term interest rates close to zero. consequently, like a number of other major central banks around the world, the federal open market committee has been applying conventional policy tools to promote the economic

recovery. the economic recovery. there are two types of tools that have been used. we have provided the conditional for guidance about the likely future path of the federal funds rate. that is one area of an unconventional tool, and the second we have engaged in balance sheet operations that involve changes in the size and composition of our security holdings. broadly speaking, these two types of tools affect the economy through channels that are similar to those of conventional monetary policy. how can each of these forms of unconventional policy be helpful in promoting a stronger economic recovery? first, let me say something about the additional forward guidance. and the central element of good

monetary policy is effective communication. any democratic society, central banks have the responsibility to clearly and fully explain their policy decisions. good communication is also essentials for strengthening the effectiveness of monetary policy. expectations about the future played a key role in the decisionmaking of households and firms, for example, how much to spend, save, work, invest, or higher. moreover, when financial market participants understand how the central bank is likely to react to incoming information, asset prices can adjust in ways that reenforce banks' expected policy actions and support the central bank's objectives. clear cut vacation can help anchor the expectations and enhance the extent to which the

central bank can take forceful action to promote job creation in the context of price stability. with the federal rate constrained by its effective floor bout, effective to meet cases with the public had become more important than ever. since 2009, the federal reserve has published the committee's participants longer run projections of the inflation rate, unemployment rate, and economic growth, four times a year in contrast with the minutes of the meetings. based on their long run projections for inflation, committee participants judge an inflation rate of 2% or a bit less, as measured by the price index of the personal consumption expenditures, is most consistent with ash that for a mandate of maximum employment and price stability. the committee currently strive for as low and unemployment rate

as possible, consistent with price stability. their most recent projection, committee participants predicted that the longer sustainable rate of unemployment is around 5% or 6%, which is well below the current rate of 9.1%. since december, 2008, the fomc has provided guidance for the federal funds rate. from march 2009 through june 2011, the committee's guidance indicated that exceptionally low level of the federal funds rate or likely to be rewarded for an extended period of time. in august, we decided to be more specific about the timing, and our two most recent meeting statements have indicated that economic conditions, including low rates of resource suilization in a said s

bdued -- for guidance can provide monetary accommodation by leading investors to expect a longer period of time of low interest rates. as i noted earlier, a downward shift in the expected path of the federal funds rate is associated with reduced longer term interest rates and generate as said it boost to consumer and business spending. simulations of the model that the federal reserve uses, the frb u.s. model suggests for guidance can be a potent tool of monetary policy. secondt's talk about the unconventional tool. since may 2008, the fomc engaged in two rounds of all large-scale

asset purchases. first round of all purchases of about $1.40 trillion in agency mortgage-backed securities and agency debt securities and about 300 and dollars in longer- term treasury securities. those purchases were executed during 2009 and the first quarter of 2010. the second round of lsaps involve an additional $600 billion in purchases of longer- term treasury securities, and that was completed at the end of june of this year. by purchasing a longer-term securities in the open market, the federal reserve can exert downward pressure on longer-term yields, thereby reducing private borrowing rates and raising household wealth. consequently, just as with conventional monetary policy, lsaps helped boost consumer

business, and exports. it helps generates a stronger pace of job creation. meeting, theomc committee established -- by selling $400 billion of securities and purchasing an equivalent amount of long-term treasury securities. this maturity extension program, which is referred by some as operation twist, should exert downward pressure on longer term interest rates and help make broader financial conditions more accommodative, thereby, supporting a stronger economic recovery. recent work by an economist at federal reserve bank of san francisco suggests a similar costly put in place in 1961 had

effects of long-term interest rates that were roughly comparable to those of qe2. another significant policy action taken at last week's fomc meeting is that the principal payments from our holdings of agency securities will now be reinvested in agency mortgage-backed securities, rather than in treasury securities. our assessment appears to have been successful in narrowing the spread between rates on agency mortgage-backed securities and treasury securities of comparable maturity. that spread had widened substantially since earlier this year, and the continuation of such a trend could have pushed up mortgage rates and continued to adversely affect the housing sector. in my judgment, the federal reserve's employment of our policy tools has been completely a corporate income of promoting maximum employment and price stability. ideally, such policy decisions

would be informed by precise quantitative information about the facts of each tool, but in reality, the estimated effects of the fomc's policy actions are subject to considerable uncertainty, which is intrinsic to real world monetary policy making at any time, particularly relevant under circumstances where the scope for conventional minister policy is constrained by the zero lower bound by the federal funds rate. that leads and conventional tools the only way of providing a further monetary accommodation. although these monetary policy tools have been successful in pushing down interest rates across the maturity spectrum, the magnitude of the transmission to economic growth and employment has been somewhat more muted than i might have expected. indeed, it seems plausible that

the effectiveness of our policy tools is been attenuated by a number of unusual persisting factors, including an excess supply of housing, and impaired access to credit for many households and small businesses. under normal circumstances, in a typical recovery, residential construction is an interest- sensitive sector of the country that has played an important role in controlling too? the previous economic recovery, especially the brisk recovery that followed the downturn in 1981 and 1982. in the wake of the bursting of the house of bubble, -- the housing problem, the sector has remained exceedingly weak. in the fact, there is an excess of supply of housing that seems likely to decline only gradually in spite of a record low level of mortgage rates. thus, in this crucial sector,

one can argue lower interest rates have not shown through to higher activity in the same way that would be expected under more usual recoveries. consumer spending is also being restrained by the excess supply of housing, which has put downward pressure on home equity values and household wealth. a substantial portion of home owners now have negative home equity and are unable to refinance at historically low mortgage rates. many more have seen a drastic decline in the value of their homes, which would typically affect collateral for second mortgages. the slow progress in repairing and restructuring household balance sheets may also be lowering the lower responsiveness of consumer spending to a decline in market interest rates. in particular, the lenders continued to maintain relatively

tight terms and standards on credit cards and to a lesser extent other consumer loans. consequently, many households may be unable to take advantage of the lower borrowing rates that are available to those who have a high net worth and christine credit record. many small businesses appear to be facing unusual obstacles in obtaining credit. if this recovery or like others, we would expect a smoother transition in which lower interest rates would fuel credit expansion that would be used to finance expanding payrolls, capital investment, inventories, and other short-term operating expenses. nonetheless, the latest federal reserve senior loan officer opinion survey on bank lending practices, taken in july, indicated that although domestic banks continued to ease standards on their commercial and industrial loans, the net

fraction reporting easing on such loans to small firms remained low and was well below that of loans to large and middle sized firms. in its august survey, the national federation of independent businesses reported a noticeable increase in the proportion of smaller businesses reported that credit -- that credit has become more difficult to obtain. these businesses not only expect credit to become tighter in coming months, but like other businesses, have turned sharply more pessimistic about the broader economic outlook. finally, and perhaps most comprehensively, it is worth observing that the financial crisis has undermined the wealth of many americans. low and moderate income families entered the recession with little financial buffer against the adverse effects of wage cuts, job loss, and drops in home values. according to the 2007 survey of

consumer finances, home equity accounted for about half of the total net worth for low and moderate income families, which made them extremely vulnerable to the eventual markham -- housing market collapsed. families at the lower end of the income distribution sought a substantial drop in their network between 2007 and 2009, and families in the middle of the income distribution fa red worse. combined with widespread unemployment, housing and stock price declines, and increasing rates of mortgage defaults, foreclosures, bankruptcies, the assets of many american families have been significantly eroded. the effect of these developments may be to attenuate the revival of normal consumption patterns that would otherwise be dictating increases in consumer demand and growth.

even if the usual effectiveness of monetary policy is being attenuated by factors that i have mentioned, that conclusion should not be taken as implying that additional monetary accommodation would be unhelpful. indeed, because conclusion might be the case, -- the opposite conclusion, i might be the case, that additional combination might be warranted. mymfomc colleagues and i have been faced with complex decisions about the use of unconventional policy tools under extraordinary economic and financial conditions. and while we may not all agree with every decision, i believe that the public can have a very high degree of confidence in the fundamental integrity and soundness of our decision making process. indeed, some commentators have signed a label of hawk or dove

to the participants in the attack is to prioritize price stability. in my view, such labels are ill- conceived and misleading because really everyone and the committee is fully committed to promoting both these goals. incidentally, since my kids now love describing everyone as a hawk or eight of, or some other kind of bird, i have taken to reminding them of this conviction that i have -- when my colleagues and i are doing our jobs correctly, where neither hawks nor doves, but owls, meaning we are trying to be as wise as possible and employing all the tools we have to fulfil our legal mandate. in summary, the economic recovery has fallen well short of restoring labor market conditions to historically typical levels. given the elevated rate of unemployment and a large number of individuals who are

experiencing long spells of unemployment, both fiscal and monetary policy makers should be considering a wide array of approaches for promoting job creation. in my view, the deployment of our monetary policy tools needs to be carefully gauged about corporate lead time, and clearly communicated to the public. moreover, to the extent that some factors may accentuate the usual effectiveness of monetary policy, there is a compelling case to identify and implement policy measures to mitigate those factors and thereby strengthen the fact of the monetary accommodation that we have already put in place. finally, in light of the economic hardships that are facing our nation, i want to underscore that the federal reserve is fully committed to doing everything we can to promote maximum employment in the context of price stability.

thank you again for the opportunity to speak with you today, and i look forward to hearing your questions and comments. >> a moment for questions and comments. i thinking on i am going to -- what are your views on the pros and cons of expanding the gse's refinance programs [unintelligible] ? >> ok, said the question for everybody has to do with the harp program, which as many as you know, is one of the programs that the administration put in place to help deal with the issue of people who are under water and need to refinance to

lower rates. it is a good question because, as i talk about in my remarks, it is one thing for the federal reserve to put in place lower interest rates, and it is another thing to be able to see those lower interest rates translated into real activity in the economy. and if you are somebody like me who thinks that one a significant obstacle to having those lower interest rates translated to real activity is housing, then you will pay attention to programs that are developed, like a harp program. i've watched carefully the yves aleutian of the program -- the evolution of the program. it is a well conceived program. it is intended really to help people take advantage of the lower interest rates are currently in place. but there are obstacles to it.

there have been a number of issues that have kept it from actually being used in a greater extent and having more of an effect. and one such obstacle has to do with the fact that it is very hard for people who are under water in their mortgages, meaning that they owe more than their homes are worth, to actually qualify a. and the features of the provide -- of the program have to be looked at very carefully with an eye to see whether those impediments can be impediments that can be addressed and removed in the program so there can be greater uptick and a greater use of the lower term interest rates that have been put in place. >> [unintelligible] traditional area of exclusive state control action.

[unintelligible] >> this is a question about foreclosure loss, which are in the province of state legislatures and typically foreclosure has been a question of local control and local determination. question of athat former local commissioner of financial regulation for a state, and i have to say i am of the few that the foreclosure laws need to stay in local control. they are clearly -- there are big delays in foreclosures going now. they have little if anything to do with the fact that state laws are somehow contributing to the backlog. i think we have a number of factors that have been -- that have made the foreclosure

process exceedingly difficult now. many of these factors have to do with some of the practices that have gone on in mortgage servicing. in my view, and again, my opinion issued by having worked locally on foreclosure laws, i think that foreclosure laws and foreclosure reform at the state level is very important. i would not maintain that we need one set of foreclosure laws that would apply to 50 states, however. >> ok. what if any does political pressure from the and the shares or congress have on policies of the fed? >> ok, good, so this is a question about political pressure on the federal reserve.

as we all know, the federal reserve is a creature of congress, and it was treated -- federal reserve act created the federal reserve, and that is of the the congress chose to create. and the federal reserve is accountable to congress. and in the actions that we take, it is very critical that we always do remember that, and i think we do. one aspect that we want to keep in mind in that regard is when congress created the federal reserve, it treated and in independent central bank. it wanted a central bank that was insulated from short-term political pressure. from that perspective, i think congress was pretty smart, because what we see in other countries where there are central banks, is that if you have a central bank that is not

insulated from political pressure, you do find high degree of correlation with inflation. so for people who believe in price stability and want to maintain price stability, i think you also tend to be of the few that you want your independent banks to be insulated from short-term political pressure, and that is my view. >> please comment about potential consequences operation twist for a corporate nation, corporate earnings, and insurance profitability. >> this is a question about operation twist, which, as i described in my remarks, is the balance sheet operation that the federal open market committee recently took at its september

meeting, and the centrally -- and a essentially, in that balance sheet operation, the federal reserve will be selling $400 billion worth of short-term treasury securities by june, 2012, and will be buying back long-term treasury securities, and, hence, the twist. the virtue of this operation, balance sheet set of steps, is he essentially to keep the balance sheet size roughly constant, this is not growing the balance sheet in a way, which, for many people, is something that could have implications for inflation expectations. operation twist keeps the balance sheet at roughly the same size, and from that perspective is considered a good

thing. the market has responded quite positively to it, thus far, but as i mentioned in my remarks, the real effect of it is whether long-term interest rates did get translated into greater real economic activity. the question raises the issue of lower interest rates and questions regarding solvency of pension funds and other investor groups, and obviously that is something that we would need to monitor very carefully. but again, the overall effect here is one that is intended to stimulate economic activity. >> let me try some more. could we now be facing a new normal, unemployment remaining higher than 5% or 6% for a long

time? >> so this is a question about whether we are in a new or more, whether -- a new normal, whether the rates we're seeing are going to be the rates that we're going to be living with forever. and this is something that you will get different views based on who you ask, and in asking me, i tend to think not. i think we are in a recovery, that it is moving forward, it is moving forward slowly, but i see an upward flow, a a slow upward trajectory. i do not think it is a permanent state that is going to go for decades and decades. >> ok, so low interest rates are usually linked to the

stimulative economic activity. do some parts of the economy or some of the economy respond more readily than others? [unintelligible] >> if i understand the question correctly, it has to do with the effective interest rate of short-term interest rates in different sectors of the economy. it is an interesting question because there are parts of the economy that are more interest- rate sensitive than at others -- than others. historically housing has been sensitive because when you see lower interest rates to see a higher rate of home creation, home sales, those kinds of activities. other sectors are clearly less interest-rate sensitive. i have to confess to not be an expert in every industry in

knowing what sensitivity is, but i would point out to the questioner that is very important that broadly speaking weeks see a translation between lower interest rates and higher rates of growth, that that piece of the transmission is what is important in having resumed economic activity. >> what is the right solution for qrm regulation? what should the down payment be for qrm? >> so this is a question or aqrm, is a qualified residential mortgage standard which is set out in the dodd-frank legislation. it is a piece of legislation that requires the federal reserve, as well as other banking regulators, to come out with regulation that does what

congress intended in the dodd- frank act. it is out for public comment. the question for others to throw in the views out regarding an initial attempt to define qrm implement what isn't dodd-frank. i will say there are vast views on this proposal. it is a question that generates a lot of interest. in particular, i am guessing that the questioner is concerned about the 20% down payment notion in the qrm standard. of that i believe has generated quite a bit of commons, primarily for the reason that the 20% itself, the 20% notion is not specifically described in

the statute. that should instead leaves regulator -- the statute instead leaves the regulators with a question to determine what is the gold standard of a mortgage, mortgage.ified r the question is whether the regulators have done that correctly, whether there there has been a right articulation of what qrm should be. this has significance for what bank regulation in the area of housing is going to look like. it is an important thing to keep an eye on. >> to more questions that are related. one has to do with the back of- inches rates on monetary policy, and the other has to do with fiscal policy. what ramifications does the fed pc to negative interest rates

that could come from monetary policy? can these ramifications attenuate the desired results of your policies? >> snowe this notion of-interest rates -- of negative real rates comes from the idea there is an inflation component that is essentially could be altered in creating a lower interest-rate that decision makers would base their decisions off and generate great. i think the question here is asking whether the federal reserve would be comfortable moving into an arena where real interest rates would get flattened by virtue of raising

inflationary expectations. at to speak for myself, that that is something that would be quite leery of, but i am speaking for myself. one of the explicit mandate by congress is price stability, and keeping inflationary expectations anchored is extremely important as we resume growth for this recovery. >> would you please address to what extent the effect of monetary policy is attenuated certain expectations of fiscal policy? >> so this is and the poor in question, and it is not easily quantifiable, but there is a sense that enhanced the

uncertainty and reduced confidence are what is driving a lot of the slow rebound that we are seeing. if you look at different surveys of confidence, and the ones that i tend to follow most frequently is the michigan survey. the michigan survey has gone down in terms of showings for consumer confidence and keeps going down. correlates with a little of some of the actions in congress, so there was a sense that one of the dips and consumer confidence had to do with the effects of the impact over the debt ceiling and some of the wrangling in congress. however, he would maybe think that that effect would be diminished now in people's minds, but we have not seen a big resurgence of confidence. confidence is very important

because from a monetary policy perspective monetary policy works through to the belmont and setting of expectations. and if you have a sense that things are going to be bad and are qantas the bad and are never going to return to the way of life that you come to expect, you will engage in different kinds of behaviors. you may not spend if you have a sense that you are going to lose your job or your income is not want to go up. affect howy well e you major spending decisions, and you can see in that scenario that confidence could be at such a low that they could overwhelm people sense of consumption, which could feed into the sense that businesses themselves did not want to expand because they do not see a resumption of consumer demand. they themselves to not hire.

and you move into this vicious downward cycle. the notion of consumer confidence is important, and it is one that has not been highly qualified, but one that clearly we are thinking about and figuring out its impact. i think the question of for that. >> i know you are here as a central banker, but somebody's got asked you a question. what is your view on --2 financial institutions and the continued role of -- >> excellent regulatory question, one of my favorite areas. as the questioner knows, i had been a regular at the state level and engaged in a bank

examination, bank regulation, really, for the height of the crisis until i came to this court role. the question has to do with capital ratios, and capital ratios i think are very important. they are a significant offered to institutions that are facing loss. what examiners will tell you, and i am completely of this of you, capital is but one aspect of a bank's safety and soundness. in addition to capital, we look at a whole host of other factors, including the bank's management, the bank's earnings, the bank's liquidity, the banks sensitivity to interest rates, its portfolio, its business. those are all critical factors as well in assessing the health of a bank. capital, as you might know, is

most easily quantifiable, and i want to underscore the importance of capital. is -- andy _ that it clearly underscore that it is necessary to assess a bank's health. i remind examiners at least at the federal reserve that we are looking at the entire health of an institution, that is judged more than just buy capital, and we try to maintain a holistic approach regarding the health of the bank. >> the role of continued capital? -- contingent capital. >> this is a proposal that has come out a lot in the basel set

of hearings and negotiations regarding a kind of capital that would in essence be triggered -- it would not start as capital, but would be triggered if the capital upon certain occurrences regarding the bank's health. it is a concept that is very interesting. it has a certain amount of intellectual appeal, analytical appeal to it, but it also has some operational issues that also need to be addressed. there is a full discussion regarding contingent capital, and it will be interesting to watch how it develops. >> they give very much. i will turn this over to -- i want to recognize an assistant director of the center for financial policy. she has been responsible for a full range of logistics --

>> good morning, everyone. [unintelligible] on behalf of the center for financial policy, and all my colleagues at university of maryland, it is my great honor and pleasure to thanks ms. raskin for being here today. these are among the most crucial issues that the country and the world faces today, and it is rushing and have an open session with governor raskin. we really do appreciate you being here today. [applause] if i could find it, we have a very small token, within government guidelines, are persia asian for -- of our appreciation for governor raskin.

i also want to spend 30 seconds giving you all a commercial for our next center for financial policy event, which will be here october 5 and 6, here at the ronald reagan can this other school of business. it will be our conference on systemic risk and the issues. this is one did not want to miss. we're very excited about this lineup. it will include keynote from keynote fromreed as well as robert engel. it has tremendous panels from just about everybody in washington, and some of the leading lights in academic systemic risk issues. this is a session that i should note is sponsored by our policy center here at smith, but also nyu, uc berkeley, and -- i

hope you can join us here on october 5 and 6. let's give one last round of applause for governor raskin. thank you, all. appreciate it. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] then they, ed o'keefe, discussion on the challenges facing deficit reduction committee. our guest is stephen bell, and lay there and look at redistricting and the newly drawn congressional maps. we hear from tim torey. "washington journal" like every

morning starting at 7:00 eastern on c-span. in mountain view, california, to the, president obama said the reduction plan would raise $1.50 trillion in new revenue. >> thank you for joining us today on a town hall discussion on a subject that is truly important, and that is putting america back to work. i will be introducing a very special guest. i think the days of venue, the computer history museum, is a very fitting one for our

discussion. there is a number of folks who have come to silicon valley, not just for jobs or a career path, because they are interested in changing the world. that is possible here because of the amazing technologies and companies that have been born in this area. you think back to the semiconductor revolution, the age of computing, and of course the internet. most recently, with regard to the internet, the rise of social networks connecting hundreds of millions of people around the world in milliseconds. perhaps more importantly are the behavioral changes taking place as a result, the way in which to go on line representing our identities to stay connected to friends, families, and colleagues, and of course share information, knowledge and ideas, and opinions. it is fundamentally transforming the world. the way we live, the way we play, and the way we work. it is that last dynamic, changing the way we work, which is where linkedin is focused.

we can add hundreds of millions of people around the world by connecting talent with opportunity. today, 120 million members on a global ban -- bases, and that is growing north of two members per second. when we talk about connecting talent with opportunity, we are not just referring to people enabling to find a dream jobs, we're talking about enabling people to find jobs that they are already in. this is what we do day in and day out. our dream is even bigger than that. there are 153 million people in the american workforce. there are 3.3 billion people in the global workforce. ultimately, our vision is to create economic opportunity for every one of them. is somewhat unusual about this vision is it will not be manifested by the employees of our company, but by our members as well. every individual that joins the

work -- lastly, on the subject of economic opportunity, there seems to be one number on everybody's mind these days -- 9.1%. the unemployment rate in this country. over 14 million americans are unemployed, and that number grows to north of 25 million when you factor those who are underemployed and marginally attached to the workforce. the number of available jobs in this country, 3.2 million. we have everything we need to begin to put this country back to work. the raw materials, the basic building block and perhaps most importantly, the will of a nation. what we need is the way.

with the american jobs act, our president is leading the way. ladies and gentlemen, it is migrate honor and privilege to introduce the president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. thank you. nice crowd. and i have to say, jeff, you warmed them up very well. >> thank you, mr. president. >> thank you so much for your hospital atlanta and let me

begin by saying how excited i am to be here. every time i come to silicon valley and every time i come to this region, i'm excited about america's future, and no part of the country better represents i think the essence of america than here, because what you see is entrepreneurship and a forward orientation, an optimism, a belief, and you have a good idea and willing to put in the sweat, blood and tears to make it happen, not only can you succeed for yourself, but you can grow the economy for everybody. and it's that driving spirit that has made america an economic superpower. but obviously, we are in a period of time where the economy is struggling and a lot of folks all across the country are struggling. so part of what i hope to do is have a conversation with all of you about how can we continue to

spark the innovation that is going to ensure our economic success in the 21st century. how can we prepare our work force to be able to plug in to this new economy. how do we recognize that in this competitive environment, there are all kinds of opportunities, that linkedin presents for interconnecttiveness and people working together and spread ideas around the world and create value and there are perils as well. if our kids aren't properly educated and don't have an infrastructure that is world class and not investing in basic research and science, not doing all the things that made us great in the past, then we are going to fall behind. and we've got a short-term challenge, which is how do we put people back to work right now. i put forward the american jobs

act that would put thousands of teachers back into the classrooms who have been laid off due to downturns in state and local budgets, make sure we are rebuilding our infrastructure, taking extraordinary numbers of construction workers who have been laid off when the housing bubble went bust and putting them to work, rebuilding our roads and bridges and schools, broadband lines, all the things that help us be successful and making sure we provide small businesses the kinds of tax incentives that will allow them to hire and succeed. and i have said to congress, i understand that there is an election 14 months away and it's tempting to say that we aren't going to do anything until november of 2012, but the american people can't afford to wait. they need help right now. and all the proposals we have put forward in the american jobs act will not only help us now,

but will help us in the future, will lay the foundation for our long-term success. last point i want to make, it's all paid for. and it's paid for in part by building on some very tough cuts in our budget to eliminate waste and things we don't need. we have made over $1 trillion over the next 10 years. propose a half trillion over the next 10 years on spending cuts and adjustments on programs we want to keep intact but haven't been reformed too long but what i have said, in order to pay for it and bring down the deficit at the same time, we have to reform our tax code in a way that's fair and make sure that everybody is doing their fair share. i have said this before, and i'll say it again. warren buffet t's secretary shouldn't be paying a lower tax rate than he is. someone paying $50,000 as a

teacher, shouldn't be paying a higher tax rate than myself or jeff -- i don't know what you make, jeff, but i'm just guessing -- [laughter] >> who have been blessed by the incredible opportunities of this country. and i say that, because, whenever america has moved forward, it's because we have moved forward together. and we have to make sure we are laying the foundation for the success of future generations and that means each of us are doing our part to make sure we are investing in our future. with that, thank you so much for the terrific venue and i look forward to a bunch of great questions, both live and through whatever linkages that we've got here. >> so we are going to be going back and forth between folks in the audience and some previously generated questions from the linkedin group.

this is from chuck painter. and chuck, we are going to get you a mic. >> good morning, mr. president. >> good morning. >> i'm from austin, texas and been in sales and plastics industry for 20 dwreers and lost my job in 2009 and fortunate enough to become re-employed. what can we do as american citizens to unite ourselves in a healthy economy? >> are you a native of austin, because that's one of my favorite cities? >> i'm a native of charlotte, north charl. >> charlotte's not bad. [laughter] >> that's why i'm having my convention in charlotte. how long did it take you to find a new job after you got laid off? >> took nine months. >> took nine months? >> yes. >> and that's one of the challenges that a lot of folks are seeing out there.

you've got skilled people with experience in an industry. that industry changes and you are fortunate enough to be able to move. some folks because of the decline in the housing industry, are having trouble with mobility, finding new jobs and relocating and pursuing opportunity. >> yes, sir. >> the most important thing we can do right now is to help jump-start the economy, which has stalled by putting people back to work. and so, not surprisingly, i think the most important thing we can do right now is pass this jobs bill. think about it. independent economists have estimated that if we pass the entire package, the american jobs act, we would increase g.d.p. by close to 2%. we would increase employment by 1.9 million persons. and that is the kind of big,

significant move in the economy that can have ripple effects and help our recovery take off. there has been a lot of dispute about the kind of impact that we had right after the financial crisis hit. but the fact is, the vast majority of economists have looked at it and said the recovery act by starting infrastructure projects around the country, by making sure that states had help on their budgets so they didn't have to lay off teachers, firefighters and others, by providing tax cuts to small businesses and by the way, we have cut taxes 16 times since i have been in office for small businesses to give them more capital to work with and more incentives to hire. all those things made a big difference. the american jobs act is putting more of those folks back to work. we still have a housing situation in which too many homes are under water.

and one of the things that we have proposed as part of the american jobs act is we are going to help reduce the barriers to refinancing and put more money into people's pockets and provide tax cuts to not only small businesses but middle-class families and have more money in their pockets and will spend it on products and services which provide additional incentives for businesses to hire folks like you. so, it's the right step to take right now. long-term, we are going to have to pull together around making sure our education system is the best in the world, making sure our infrastructure is the best in the world, continuing to invest in science and technology and stabilize our finances and continue to drive down health care costs, which are a drag on our whole economy and continue to promote trade, but make sure that that trade is fair and that intellectual property protection

is available when we are doing business in other countries like china. there are a lot of long-term agendas we have to pursue. right now the most important thing i can do for you, even if you already have a job is to make sure your neighbors and friends also have jobs because those are ultimately customers for your products. >> thank you, chuck. we would like to take a question from the audience. anyone interested? >> this young lady right here. >> thank you. >> i have a question for my mother, who is going to be 65 next march and she lives in ohio, which has a very high unemployment rate. she has a g.e.d. and always worked in food service and currently unemployed and getting section 8 housing, social security and food stamps. when can she get a job and what's going to happen to social security and medicare? >> where does your mom in ohio?

>> mentor? >> east side of cleveland. >> tell mom hi. you get points for being such a good daughter and using her question to tell me what's on her mind. >> oh, you have no idea. [laughter] >> my mother in law lives at home in the white house, so i have some idea. [laughter] >> first of all, let me talk about social security and medicare, because this is obviously been an issue that has been discussed a lot in the press lately as we think about our long-term finances. medicare and social security will be there for her, guaranteed. there are no proposals out there that would affect folks that are

about to get social security and medicare, and she will be qualifying -- she is already starting to qualifying and qualifying for that soon. social security and medicare together have lifted entire generations of seniors out of poverty. our most important social safety net and they have to be preserved. now both of them have some long-term challenges that we've got to deal with, but there are different challenges. social security is the easier one. it's a pure simple math problem and that is right now, the population is getting older, so more people are going on social security and fewer workers supporting more retirees. so if we don't do anything, social security won't go broke but in a few years, what will happen, more money will be going out than coming in, and over

time, people who are social security would only be getting 75% on every dollar they thought they would be getting. so the social security system is not the big driver of our deficits, but if we don't -- if we want to make sure that social security is there for future generations, we have to make modest adjustments. when i say modest, i mean, for example, social security contributions are capped at a little over $100,000 of earnings and that means the vast majority of people pay social security taxes on everything they earn, but if you are earning $1 million, only 1/10 of your income is taxed. we could make that modification and that would solve a big chunk of the problem. medicare is a bigger issue, because not only is the population getting older and more people using it but health care costs have been going up way too fast. and that's why part of my health

care reform bill two years ago was, let's start changing how our health care system works to make it more efficient. for example, if your mom goes in for a test, she shouldn't have to then if she goes to another specialist, take the same test all over again and medicare pay for the two tests. right now, that's not happening. what we have said is, let's incentivize providers to do a more efficient job and over time, we can start reducing those costs. i have made some suggestions about how we can reform medicare, but what i'm not going to do is what, frankly, the house republicans proposed, which is to voucher the medicare system, which means your mom could pay $6,000 extra and i'm assuming she doesn't have it. we are going to push back against that kind of proposal and that raises the point i made

earlier. if people like myself aren't paying a little more in taxes, then the only way you balance the budget is on the backs of folks like your mom, who end up paying a lot more for medicare and can't afford it, where i can afford to pay more in taxes. that's on medicare and social security. in terms of her finding a job, the most important thing we can do right now is to pass the american jobs act, get people back to work, because think about it, if she has been in the food service industry, that industry is dependent on people spending money on food, whether it's at a restaurant or cafeteria or buying more groceries. and if a construction worker and a teacher or a veteran have a job because of the programs that we proposed in the american jobs act, they are going to be spending more money in food services and that means that

those businesses are going to have to hire more and your mom is more likely to be hired. >> one of the other issues is a matter there is a big age gap between her and the other folks who are willing to work for less money. >> that is a challenge -- it is tough being unemployed if you are in your 50's or early 60's before retirement, that's the toughest period of time to lose your job. it's never fun to lose your job, and it's always hard in this kind of really deep recession, but scariest for folks close to retirement. that's part of the reason why one of the things that we are also proposing separate and apart from the jobs bill, we have to do a better job of retraining workers so that they

in their second, third or fourth careers are able to go back to a community college, maybe take a short six-month course or one-year course that trains them on the kinds of skills that are going to be needed for jobs that are actually hiring or businesses that are actually hiring right now. we have done some great work working with community colleges to try to make sure that businesses help design the training programs so that somebody who enrolls like your mom if she goes back to school, she knows after six months, she will be trained for the particular job that this business is looking for. all right? tell her i said hi. >> we are going to go to the linkedin group. and we had thousands of questions. and this is from marla hughes. she is from florida and owner of an apartment cleaner. >> as a small business owner,

high taxes and regulations. what are you going to reduce regulations and taxation on small businesses? >> it's hard to say what regulations or taxes she may be referring to, because it differs in different businesses. but as i said, we have actually cut taxes for small businesses 16 times since i have been in office. so taxes for small businesses are lower now than they were when i came into office. small businesses can get tax breaks for investment, capital investments. they are able to get tax breaks for hiring veterans, able to get tax breaks for a whole host of areas, including, by the way, a proposal we put forward that says, there should be no capital

gains tax on a start-up to encourage more small businesses to go out there and go out there and create a business. in terms of regulations, most of the regulations that we have been focused on are ones that affect large businesses like utilities, for example, in terms of how they deal with safety issues, environmental issues. we have been putting forward some tough regulations with respect to the financial sector, because we can't have a repeat of what happened in 2007. and the fact of the matter is that if what happened on wall street ends up having a spillover effect on main street, it is our responsibility to ensure that we have a dynamic economy, dynamic financial sector, but we don't have a mortgage brokerage operation

that ends up providing people loans that can never be repaid and end up having ramifications throughout the system. so you are going to hear from republicans over the next year and-a-half that somehow if we just eliminated pollution controls or we just eliminated basic consumer protections that somehow that in and of itself would be a spur to growth. i don't agree. there are some regulations that have outlived their usefulness. i have said to all the agencies in the federal government, number one, you have to take cost as well as benefits into account when you are proposing new regulations. number two, don't just be satisfied with applying that analysis to new regulations. look back at the old regulations to see if we can start weeding out. and we initiated the most aggressive, what we call

look-back where we say to every agency, go through all the regulations that you have on your books that flow your agencies and see if some of them are still necessary. and it turns out that a lot of them are no longer necessary. well, let's get rid of them if they have outlived the usefulness. there were some regulations that had to do with the transportation sector, for example, that didn't take into account that everybody operates on g.p.s. now. well, you have to adjust and adapt how the economy is changing and how technology has changed. and we have identified $10 billion worth of savings just in the initial review and we anticipate that's only going to be a fraction of some of the paperwork, red paper and buyer buyer. i will -- bureaucracy.

i will make sure your water is clean and food is safe to eat, peanut butter that you feed your kids is not going to be contaminated, making sure if you take out a credit card, there is some clarity about what it's going to do and you aren't seeing a whole bunch of hidden fees and charges that you didn't anticipate. that's always been part of what makes the marketplace work is if you have smart regulations in place, that means the people who are providing good value, good products, good services, those businesses are going to succeed and don't want to reward folks who are gaming the system or cheating consumers. and that's how most americans feel about regulations as well. they don't want more than necessary but there are some things we need to do to protect ourselves and our environment and our children. >> thank you for your question.

we will take a question from another linkedin member from chicago, illinois. >> good morning, mr. president. as just said, i'm from chicago. recently unemployed. and my fear is that the longer i'm unemployed, the harder it is for me to get employed. employers are hiring people who are currently employed because they are in touch with their skill sets. what programs do you think should be in place for individuals such as myself to keep in touch with our skills, be in demand, markettable and eventually hired? >> first of all, you, obviously are thinking ahead about how to keep your skills up and most important thing you can do is to make sure that whether it's through classes or online training or what have you, you

are keeping your skill sets sharp. we, as part of the american jobs act are actually supporting legislation in congress that says employers can't discriminate against somebody just because they are currently unemployed, because that doesn't seem fair. that doesn't make any sense. but the most important thing probably we can do for you is make sure the unemployment rate goes down, the labor market gets a little tighter so that employers start looking beyond just the people who are currently employed to folks who have terrific skills and just been out of the market for a while. so passing the american jobs act is going to be important. there's legislation in there that says you can't be discriminated against because you don't have a job. one other thing we can do, make it easier for you to be able to

go back to school if you think there's some skill sets that you need, making it economical for you to do it. one of the things we did during the last 2 1/2 years and the student loan programs were run through the banks. the banks weren't taking risk but taking $60 billion out of the entire program, which meant there was less money to go directly to students. we ended that and cut out the middle man and said let's use that money to expand the availability of pell grants and increase the amount of pell grants, each pell grant a student could get. and through that process, you have millions of people across the country who are able to actually go back to school without incurring the huge debt loads that they had in the past, although, obviously, the cost of

a college education is still really high. but if we can do more to make it easier for you to keep your skills up even when you're not already hired, hopefully that will enhance your marketability to employers in the future. but just looking at you, i can tell you are going to do great. >> our next question is from another linkedin member. he is from phoenix arizona and spent 26 years flying naval aircraft and is now a program director for american express. >> i'm from phoenix, arizona. retired in 2007. when i retired, networking was how i got all my jobs after retirement. how do you envision the

government's role in integrating networking tools that aid veterans that are leaving the service and getting jobs? >> it's a great question. and first of all, let me thank you for your service to this country. we are very grateful to you for that. [applause] >> but you were extraordinarily skilled and even then, it sounds like you had to rely on informal networks, rather than a formal set of processes for veterans in order for you to find a job that used all your skills. we have not done as good of a job in the past in helping veterans transition out of the armed services as we should have. i will give you an example. i had lunch with a group of veterans from the iraq and afghan wars up in minnesota.

and young man i was talking to had just gone back to school and getting his nursing degree and worked in emergency medicine in iraq, multiple deployments and had dealt with the most incredible kinds of medical challenges under the most extreme circumstances. had received years of training to do this, but when he went back to nursing school, he had to start as if he had never -- never been involved in medicine at all. and so he had to take all the same classes and take the same -- take the same debt burdens from taking those classes as if i had just walked in and can barely put a band-aid on myself, but he had to go through the

same processes. well, that's an example of a failure on the part of both d.o.d. and the v.a., department of defense and veterans administration to think proactively how can we help him make the transition. let's have a reverse boot camp. as folks are thinking about retiring and thinking about being discharged, let's work with them while they are still in the military to say, is there a way to credential them so that they can go directly into the job and work with state and local governments and employers so that if they've got a skill set that we know is applicable to the private sector, let's give them a certification and give them a credential that helps them do that right away. we have started to put together a network of businesses, and i

actually asked for a pledge from the private sector, and we have a commitment now that 100,000 veterans will be hired over the next several years. and that creates a network and maybe they'll end up using linkedin, i don't know. but what we want to do is make sure that whether it's the certification process, whether it's the job search process, whether it's resume preparation, using electronic networking, that we are using the huge capacity of the veterans administration and the department of defense and all the federal agencies to link up together more effectively, because not only not only the federal government a big employer itself and we have significantly increased the hiring of veterans within the federal government, including disabled veterans and wounded

warriors, but the federal government is a big customer of a lot of businesses and nothing wrong with a big customer saying to a business, you know what? we aren't going to tell you who to hire, but here is a list of extremely skilled veterans who are prepared to do a great job and have shown incredible leadership skills. you have 23, 24, 25 year-olds, who are leading men into battle, who are handling multi million dollar pieces of equipment and do so flawlessly. those skills should translate directly into jobs. last thing i will say, the american jobs act also would be helpful, because it provides additional tax incentives for companies to hire our veterans. [applause]

>> thank you, wayne. and thank you for your service. let's turn to the audience now. a lot of hands going up. mr. president, you want to pick someone? >> well, you kind of put me on the spot here. the guy in the glasses right in the back there. why not. >> thank you, mr. president. i don't have a job, but that's because i have been lucky enough to live in silicon valley for a while and worked for a small start-up down the street here that did quite well. i'm unemployed by choice. my question is, would you please raise my taxes. [laughter] >> i would like very much to have the country to continue to invest in things like pell

grants and infrastructure and job training programs that made it possible for me to get to where i am. and it kills me to see congress not supporting the exploration of the tax cuts that have been benefiting so many of us for so long. i think that needs to change and i hope you'll stay strong in doing that. >> well, i appreciate it. what was the start-up. give me a little hint? >> feas a search engine. -- it's a search engine. [laughter] >> worked out pretty well? >> yeah. [laughter] >> let me talk about taxes for a second. i made this point before, but i want to reiterate this. so often the tax debate gets framed as class warfare. and as i said at the outset,

america's success is premised on individuals, entrepreneurs having a great idea, going out there and pursuing their dreams and making a whole lot of money in the process. and that's great. that's part of what makes america so successful but as you just pointed out, we're successful because somebody invested in our education, somebody built schools. somebody created incredible universities. i went to school on scholarship. michelle, her dad was -- what's called a stationary engineer at the water reclamation district. never owned his own home, but always paid his bills. had m.s. never missed a day on the job,

never went to college and was able to send his daughter to princeton and harvard law school. we benefited from somewhere someone making an investment in us. i don't care who your but that's true of all of us. look at this room. look at the diversity of people here. a lot of here bsh -- -- a lot of parents and grandparents came from somewhere else. they came from a university system or infrastructure that allows us to move products around the globe or scientific research that silicon valley is built on and no individual company would have made on their own, because you couldn't necessarily capture the value of the nacent internet. so the question becomes if we

are going to make those investments, how do we pay for it? the income of folks at the top has gone up tremendously over the last couple of decades whereas the incomes and wages of the middle class have flatlined over the last 15 years. so this young lady's mom who has been working in food services, she doesn't have a lot of room to spare. those of us who have been fortunate, we do. and we're not talking about going to punitive rates that would inhibit you from wanting to be part of a start-up or work hard to be successful. we are talking about going back to the rates that existed as recently in the 1990's, when as

i recall, silicon valley was doing pretty good. and well-to-do people were doing pretty well. and it turns out, in fact, during that period the rich got richer. the middle class expanded. people rose out of poverty because everybody was doing well. so this is not an issue of, do we somehow try to punish those who have done well. that's the last thing we want to do. it's a question of how can we afford to continue to make the investments that are going to propel america forward. if we don't improve our education system, for example, we will all fall behind. we will all fall behind. that's a fact. and the truth is that on every indicator from college graduation rates, to math and science scores, we are slipping behind other developed

countries. and that's going to have an impact in terms of, if you are a start-up, will you find enough engineers. it will have an impact that the infrastructure good enough here that you can move products to market. it's going to have impact on your ability to recruit top talent from around the world. and so we all have an investment in improving our education system. money is not going to solve the entire problem. that's why we have initiated reforms and have higher standards for everybody and make sure that we empower teachers and hold them accountable and improve how we train our principals and our teachers. we are willing to make a whole bunch of reforms, but at some point, money makes a difference. we don't have enough science teachers in the classroom. we are going to have problems.

somebody's got to pay for it. and right now we have the lowest tax rates we have had since the 1950's. and some of the republican proposals would take it back as a percentage of g.d.p. back to where we were back in the 1920's. you can't have a modern industrial economy like that. so i appreciate your sentiment. i appreciate the fact that you recognize we are in this thing together. we aren't on our own. and those of us who have been successful, we always have to remember that. >> i a know a lot of people in that same situation and said they would support an increase in their taxes. so, please. [applause] >> we're going to get to work. >> thank you for your question. next question was submitted from a linkedin employee, theresea sullivan.

first, do you think our public education system and unemployment rates are related, and second, what, if any, overall in education is necessary to get ready for the jobs of tomorrow rather than the jobs of 20 years ago? >> there is a connection long-term between our economic success, our productivity and our education system. that's indisputeable. when we were at our peak in terms of growth back in the 1960's and 1970's, in large part, we were doing a better job of training our work force than anybody in the world. now the rest of the world has caught up or is catching up. they're hungry. and as i said before, we are slipping behind a lot of developed countries. so our proportion of college graduates has not gone up, while everybody else has gone up up. our proportion of high school graduates has not gone up while

everybody else has gone up. and if you've got one billion chinese, indians and eastern europeans who are entering into a labor force and becoming more skilled and we are just sitting on the status quo, we are going to have problems. now, what can we do? this is a decade-long project. it's not a one-year project. and we have been pushing since we came into office to look at the evidence to base reforms on what actually works. the single most important ingredient in improving our schools is making sure we have great teachers in front of every classroom. and, so, what we have said is, let's make sure that we have hired enough teachers, let's train them effectively, let's pay them a good wage, let's make sure we are putting special

emphasis on recruiting more math and science teachers where stem education is where we have fallen significantly behind. let's make sure they are accountable but give them flexibility so they don't have a cookie-cutter approach that squashes their productivity and prevents them from engaging students. but at the end of the year, let's make sure they are doing a good job and teachers not doing a good job, let's retrain them and if they aren't able to be retrained, we should find them a different line of work. we have to find great principals. we have to focus on -- there are some schools that are just dropout factories. less than half of the kids end up graduating. a lot of them, the students are black and brown, but that's the

demographic that is growing the fastest in this country. if we don't fix those schools, we will have problems. we said to every state, focus on the lowest-performing schools and tell us what your game plan is to improve those schools' performance and may be we have to also in some cases rethink how we get students interested in learning. you know, i.b.m. is engaged in an interesting experiment in new york where they are setting up schools similar to the concept i was talking about with community colleges, where they are saying to kids pretty early on, i think, as early as eighth grade, we are going to design a program -- i.b.m. worked with the new york public schools to design a program, and this is not for the kids who are in the top 1%, but for ordinary public school kids,

you follow this program, you work hard, i.b.m. will hire you at the end of this process. and it suddenly gives kids an incentive and says the reason i'm studying math and science is because there is a practical outcome here, i will have a job and there are practical applications to what i'm doing in the classroom. it's true of high-end jobs. we want to do more to train skilled workers even if they don't have a four-year degree. it may be that the more the concept of apprenticeship and the concept of a rigorous vocational approach is incorporated in the high schools so kids can see a direct connection between what they're learning and potential career, they are less likely to drop out and see more success. so one last point i'll make about this is, george bush

actually was sincere i think in trying to improve the education system across the country through something called no child left behind that said we are going to impose standards, there is going to be accountability. if schools don't meet those standards, we will label them as failures and they are going to have to make significant changes. the intent was good, it wasn't designed as well as it could have been. in some cases, states lowered their standards to make sure they weren't labeled as failures. there wasn't enough assistance given to these schools to meet the ambitious goals that were set. we have said we will provide states waivers to get out from no child left behind if you provide us with a plan that children are going to be college and career-ready. and we are going to hold you accountable and provide you the

tools and best practices that allow you to succeed. so last point i'll make on this, there is also a cultural component to this, though. we, as a country, have to recognize that all of us are going to have to up our game and we as parents have to instill in our kids a sense of educational excellence and turn off the tv set. i know it's dangerous to say in silicon valley, but put away the video games sometimes and all the electronics, unless it's school-related and we have to get our kids more motivated and internalizing the important sense of learning. and if we don't do that, we are going to continue to slip behind even -- some of these school reforms are successful. >> thank you, theresea. next question from robert holly,

who is joining us from charlotte, north carolina. after a promising career in financial services, he was recently laid off. robert, what is your question? >> good morning, mr. president. as jeff mentioned, i have a 22-year very successful career in i.t. management and found myself displaced and not only that, i look at the statistics for unemployment, 16.7% for african americans. and my question would be and not just for the african americans, but also for other groups who are also suffering. what would be your statement of encouragement for those who are looking for work today? >> what i would say is just given your track record, given your history, seeing you stand here before this group, you are going to be successful.

you have a leg up on a lot of people. you have skills, experience, a track record of success. right now, your challenge is -- not you, it's the economy as a whole. and by the way, this is not just an american challenge, this is happening worldwide. so i hope everybody understands, our biggest problem right now, part of the reason that this year where at the beginning of the year, economists had estimated and financial analysts said the economy was going to be growing, and that has not happened. part of it has to deal with the middle east and arab spring which disrupted energy prices and caused consumers to pull back because gas was getting so high. what's happening in europe, which -- they have not fully

healed from the crisis back in 2007. and never fully dealt with all the challenges that their banking system faced and now being compounded what is happening in greece. they are going through a financial crisis that is scaring the world and they are trying to take responsible actions, but those actions haven't been as quick as they need to be. so the point is that economist all around the world -- economies around the world aren't growing as fast as they need to be and that affects us as well. the encouraging thing for you is when the economy gets back on track in the way that it should, you are going to be prepared to be successful. the challenge is making sure that you hang in between now and then. that's why things like unemployment insurance, for example, are important and part of our job is to maintain unemployment insurance. it's not an end all be all, but

helps folks meet their basic challenges and means they are spending that money and recirculating it in the economy and it is good for businesses generally. some of the emergency measures we are taking and proposed to take help bridge the gap to where the economy has fully healed. and recessions are deeper and last longer than after the usual business cycle recessions. so i guess the main message i have for you is, the problem is not you, but the economy as a whole. you are going to be well equipped to succeed and compete in this global economy once it's growing again. my job is to work with everybody i can from the business community to congress to none-for-profits, you name it,

to see if we can speed up this process to recovery. and in the meantime, we will make sure that things like unemployment insurance to help people during tough times like this are going to be available. and since you are in i.t., if there are areas where you need to be sharpening your skills, as the young lady here mentioned, we are going to make sure there are resources available for you to go back to school and do that. >> that was our last question. we are going to begin to wrap it up and before i turn it over to you for concluding remarks. i want to say thank you and let you know how much we appreciate the work you are doing. i speak for a lot of people when i say i can't think of anything more important than creating economic opportunity when it comes to profoundly and

sustainbly improving the quality of life, the lives that they can create jobs for and in hard-hit cities and developing countries around the world, they are creating role models that they didn't even know was possible. on behalf of myself and on behalf of our founder reed hoffman without whom none of this would have been possible, on behalf of our employees, of course our members, on behalf of our country, thank you, mr. president. >> thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you. let me just say, these have been terrific questions. and i so appreciate all of you taking the time to do this. i appreciate linkedin helping to host this. and those of you viewing not in this circle, but around the

country, maybe around the world, i appreciate the chance to share these ideas with you. look, we are going through a very tough time. but the one thing i want to remind everybody is that we have gone through tougher times before. and the trajectory, the trend of not just this country, but also the world economy one that is open, linked and one that offers greater opportunity but also one that has some hazards. if we don't prepare our people with the skills that they need to compete, we are going to have problems. if we don't make sure that we continue to have the best infrastructure in the world, we are going to have problems. if we aren't continuing to invest in basic research, we are going to have challenges.

if we don't get our fiscal house in order in a way that is fair and equitable, so everybody feels like they have responsibilities to not only themselves and their family, but also to the country that's given them so much opportunity, we are going to have problems. and so i'm extraordinarily confident about america's long-term future, but we are going to have to make some decisions about how we move forward. and what is striking to me, when we are out of washington and talking to ordinary folks, i don't care whether they are republicans or democrats, people are just rook looking for common sense. the majority of people agree with the prescriptions i just offered. majority of people by a wide margin think we should be rebuilding our infrastructure. the majority of folks think we

should be investing in education and science and technology. the majority of people think by a wide margin that we should be maintaining programs like social security and medicare to provide a safety net. the majority of the people thinks the way we should close our deficit is a balance of cutting out those things that we don't need, but also making sure that we have a tax code that's fair and everybody's paying their fair share. so the problem is not outside of washington, the problem is is that things have gotten so idealogically driven and everybody is so focused on the next election and putting party ahead of country that we aren't able to save our problems. and that has to change. your voice is so important. the reason i do these events, i want to hear from you and i want your voices heard in the halls

of congress. i need everybody here to be speaking out on behalf of the things that you care about. and the values that made this country great. and to say to folks who you've elected, say to them, we expect you to act responsibly and not act in terms of short-term political interests. act in terms of what's going to be good for all of us in the long-term. if that spirit which all of you represent starts asserting itself all across the country, then i'm absolutely confident the 21st century is going to be the american century like the 20th century was. thank you everybody. god bless you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

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